A/N: Chapter Three!! I wrote some of this during my Psychology class… shh! Don't tell the teacher!
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Pairing: Draco/Ginny, Hermione/Severus, and possibly others, depending on if the mood strikes me.
Rating: Erm… PG-13, unless I get to be a bad little girl.
Disclaimer: Okay…
Anything you recognize à J.K. Rowling
Anything you don't, a.k.a. Andrew Salinse, Tim Rovenwood, and Emile Kandov à me, hasapi
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Ginny sighed, leaning back in the chair. In less than half an hour, they had gone from thoughtful comments and ideas to the most ridiculous things that had ever come out of a witch or wizard's mouth. She almost groaned aloud when she saw Auror Salinse begin to speak again. He was, by far, the worst of them all.
"What if we made a Polyjuice Potion and pretended to be a Death Eater wanting to join in on the fun?"
Most everyone cracked up at that. Hermione, however, was outraged. Again. She stood and glared down at Salinse while he was quaking and Severus was trying to control his laughter. "It takes a whole month to make a Polyjuice Potion, Salinse! And," she continued, "don't you think that any of the Death Eaters who would be interested in it would have already been in on it? It's ludicrous." She fell back into her chair and groaned, rubbing her temples. "Ugh, I'm getting a migraine."
Ginny offered her friend a sympathetic smile while everyone regrouped. She glanced over at Draco. He seemed to be debating something. The conflicting emotions were plainly visible on his face. His silver gaze her own blue one, and she shivered involuntarily. Collecting herself, she raised an eyebrow in silent question. He gave her a small smile and turned towards Rovenwood. Ginny stared at him in shock. He had just smiled at her. Draco Malfoy had smiled at her. Shaking her head in bewilderment, she turned back to Hermione.
***
Draco watched Ginny out of the corner of his eye. He almost laughed out loud at the shock on her face when he had given her that small smile. Not that he didn't notice the pang near his heart when he realized that she didn't expect that kind of behavior from him, of course. Sadly.
He shook his head and caught Rovenwood's eye, jerking his head toward the door. Rovenwood nodded, and spoke to the room. "Auror Malfoy and I are going to step out for a minute. Feel free to keep throwing ideas around." He walked out of the room, Draco on his heels. They walked to Rovenwood's office and the older Auror locked the door before turning around, facing Draco with crossed arms. "Well?"
Draco took a deep breath. "I have an idea as to why they went after the Express."
Rovenwood furrowed his brow. "Why didn't you say this in there?"
"Because, one, there's a very large possibility that I'm wrong. And two, it's, uh," he coughed discreetly, "kind of embarrassing."
The Auror looked intrigued, motioning for the younger man to continue.
"Professor Weasley."
"Why her? No money, really no connections. Can't be ransom. Malfoy, I'm sorry, but you've got to explain what the hell you're talking about."
Draco nodded. "Well, you see, I have a feeling that one of the Death Eaters is my father. And I don't think he ever gave up the idea that I was the one that had turned him in. He wanted to get back at me."
Rovenwood closed his eyes, looking very angry. "Okay, I get that. But you still have not gotten to the point. Why Virginia Weasley?"
Draco closed his eyes in silent mortification. He wasn't ashamed that he loved her, of course, but that didn't mean it wasn't difficult to admit, for the first time (to someone other than himself, of course), that he'd been hopelessly in love with the daughter of his father's enemy for five years. And that it was because of this that 500 students were at the mercy of five unsympathetic Death Eaters. Maybe if he'd hidden his emotions better… He shook his head, opening his eyes to find Rovenwood staring at him with a frown. "My father knows I have feelings for her," he said quietly, watching understanding bloom on Rovenwood's face.
The brown-haired Auror nodded slowly, pursing his lips. "Okay. I think it's definitely worth looking into. But you do understand that if you're right, we're going to have to find a way to get Professor Weasley back on the train?"
Draco's body jerked involuntarily, but he nodded. He had thought of that; it had been one of the reasons for his hesitance in telling Rovenwood. But he had done it; he had told him. Now they all needed to put their heads together, and come up with something brilliant.
Draco snorted to himself, following Rovenwood back to the briefing room. Like that would happen.
***
Ginny buried her head in her arms, ready to scream from the frustration of it all. Draco and Auror Rovenwood hadn't returned yet, and without them, the group's ideas had degenerated even more. She wasn't even listening anymore.
They needed to come up with an idea soon. She couldn't believe it was almost one o'clock. Well, actually, she could. But the students had been with the Death Eaters for almost two hours. Time was running out.
Her head popped up when she heard the door open. Rovenwood had some parchment that he hadn't before, and Draco looked like a huge weight had been taken off his shoulders. He caught her eye and gave her a small smile. She wasn't as shocked to see it this time, and hid her surprise relatively well, smiling back.
Rovenwood walked to the front of the room and cleared his throat. "I have just been informed that the Death Eaters have made their official demands." He held up the sheaf of parchment he had carried in. "I'm going to read it to you." Seeing the disbelieving looks he was receiving, he cracked a smile and continued. "Don't worry, it's not this long. It's just about 18 inches of parchment. The rest is preliminary ideas and possible courses of action. That's for me and the seventh guard," he nodded to Kandov and Draco.
"Anyways, I'm sure you're all quite anxious to know what demands the Death Eaters are making. Oh!" He looked up from shuffling the papers. "They identify themselves in here as well." His eyes flickered over to Draco and Pansy, both of whom nodded slightly.
"Alright then…
"Section 1.a.
"We, Lucius Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, Sr., Edward Macnair, Adam Goyle, and Cordelia Parkinson, state that the following is true, and we will attest to these facts and requests.
"Section 1.b.
"All monies in our names will be made available to us.
"Section 1.c.
"All charges against us will be dropped, and neither the charges nor ourselves will be pursued by the Ministry of Magic.
"Section 1.d.
"All Death Eaters currently incarcerated within the Prison of Azkaban will be released, all charges against them dropped, and all their money made available to them.
"Section 2.a.
"If all requirements in sections 1.b. through 1.d. are met by 3:00 p.m. on this day, we will release all students unharmed.
"Section 2.b.
"If said requirements are not met by the appointed time, one student will be killed every fifteen minutes until the requirements are met.
"Section 2.c.
"If the requirements are not met by 5:00 p.m. of said day, we will instead demand Professor Virginia Weasley in exchange for all hostages."
A loud gasp filled the room, followed by everyone leaping up and yelling at the top of their lungs. Both Draco and Ginny, however, were paralyzed with shock. Neither could move, nor would they know what to do if they could.
"They can't do that—"
"It's impossible—"
"It's stupid, why would we do that?"
"Why not? One person in exchange for 500 students?"
"Are you insane?! That's my best friend you're talking about!!"
"Everyone quiet!" It was Rovenwood speaking. No one listened. His face was red with fury, and he opened his mouth to yell once again when Draco held up his wand and muttered a charm. Everyone was suddenly paralyzed. Ginny looked around (she and Draco were not affected by it), surprisingly calm.
She smiled at Draco. "How did you do that? In all my studies, I've never come across that charm before…"
Draco attempted to smile back, failing miserably. It was really more of a grimace. "My father," he spit out the title Lucius should never have been able to call his own. He glanced around at everyone, whose eyes were now dawning with comprehension. "I'm going to release you all now. I suggest you all calm down, or I'll do it again," he threatened, before muttering the counter-charm.
Everyone sat down, eyeing Draco with surprise, and, amazingly (in Hermione's case, at least), respect. Rovenwood cleared his throat.
"Alright, then. After that childish display," he glared at them, all of the Aurors looking sheepishly back at him, "I believe we have demands to finish reading. I'm not quite finished yet." He skimmed down the page, finding his place.
"Section 2.d.
"If Professor Weasley is not exchanged for the hostages by 5:15, one student will be killed every fifteen minutes until she is.
"Section 3.a.
"This concludes our demands. We, Cordelia Parkinson and Lucius Malfoy, wish to make a statement to our children, Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy, respectively.
"Section 3.b.
"To Pansy Parkinson: I, your mother, would like to say that I am extremely disappointed in you for marrying that piece of Mudblood filth. I hope you rot in hell."
Pansy paled, though anger could be seen in her eyes for her mother daring to insult her husband.
"Section 3.c.
"To Draco Malfoy: I hope you see, son, that what you love can be easily taken away from you. Love only yourself, for that person is the only one worthy of your love, if such a weak emotion even exists. I am ashamed to be your father.
Draco looked almost sick
"Section 4
"This is the end of our statements. Comply with our demands, or the next generation of the Wizarding world will go to waste…"
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A/N: Eep! Scary, eh? No D/G action, sorry. There probably won't be for a very long time. Well, here are the replies to your reviews…
LadyRhiyana: By D/G action do you mean kissing and stuff? Or just them liking each other in general? If you mean the former, I'm definitely not doing much soon. If it's the latter, then, well, "relationships formed in intense situations never last," or something like that, so I figure it's better for them to have a history of liking/hating each other, if only so that the quote that I took from "Speed" is true. Btw, that quote isn't accurate. I can't remember the exact words right now. ^^
Witch am I: Sorry that I don't update too fast; school can do that to you. However, I am writing as much and as fast as I can, I swear!
FTCWriter and Lady Godiva: I'm glad you guys like it so much! I'm definitely enjoying writing it.