AN: Sigh. I tried really hard ot finish this story before HBP came out. But, as you can see, that didnt happen. I've still got this story in my head though, and i have every intention of finishing it, even if there are only 3 or 4 chapters left. However i am sad to report that this story is now officially AU after 5th year.
It was morning by the time they reached a town. Draco wasn't sure what it was, but it was awfully small. Ginny led him into the town, but he soon realized she knew exactly where she was going. She led him into an abandoned building before he began to question her.
"Ginny?" He asked, squinting to see her in the darkness. "Where are we?"
"This is a passageway to the underground tunnel system. You'll see." She explained, climbing down a ladder into the darkness. Reluctantly, he followed.
"I can't see where I'm going." He complained down to her. He could almost feel her roll her eyes.
"You're the one with the wand, genius!" She shouted back. Her voice sounded farther away than he wanted. He pulled out his wand.
"Lumos!" He shouted and the tunnel brightened. He followed her down as best he could until they reached the end of the ladder. It seemed as though they had reached a dead end. "Now what?" He questioned, holding his wand up high.
Ginny grabbed his arm and took his wand out of his hand. "Draco, you've been gone from the wizarding world too long. Don't you remember platform 9&¾?"
Draco scowled. "Go on then." He poked her in her mid-back. She smirked at him before turning back to the wall.
"There we go." She handed him back his wand, apparently finding the right spot of the wall. She jogged right through it. Draco hesitated. Where was she taking him?
Sighing, he jogged through the wall behind her and bumped into her on the other side. Ginny pointed to his still lit wand.
"Nox." He mumbled and the wand put itself out. He looked around and was thoroughly surprised.
This place did indeed remind him of platform 9&¾, but it was much larger and underground. There were lots of people milling about their business, some carrying luggage, others fussing with their children, and some reading magazines while waiting for their… train? Those didn't look like trains at all.
"Where are we again?" He asked, bemused. Ginny began walking through the crowd and he followed closely.
"This is the wizarding subway. After everyone figured out how to track apparition, it was hard to find a safe way to travel for wizards who weren't aurors other than portkeys. This is an underground subway system that runs all through Europe, the same way the Hogwarts train used to. Harry came up with the idea, but Hermione designed it and made it work."
Ginny continued to lead him through the crowd until they reached what appeared to be a ticketing station. The witch inside was old with large glasses. She was chewing gum and reading a coffee stained edition of Witch Weekly. Ginny tapped her fingers on the desk impatiently.
"May I help you?" The woman finally looked up.
"I need two tickets to London on an express. It's urgent." Ginny said into the mouth piece of the glass.
"Right. The next train leaves in 10 minutes, is that alright?" She asked, looking in a book that was constantly changing and re-writing itself.
"That's fine." Ginny answered impatiently. It had been a long time since Draco had seen her act this way either. He suspected getting used to her moods again would be an interesting ordeal in itself.
"That'll be 6 galleons, 13 sickles and 17 knuts." The witch replied, waiting expectantly. Ginny reached down her shirt for something but apparently couldn't find it when she started cursing.
"Those bloody bastards! They took my auror badge!" Ginny told him, very upset. She let out a frustrated squeal before turning back to the toll-booth woman. "Listen, my name is Ginny Weasley. If you could just look me up you'll see I'm an auror and I still have an emergency pass-" Ginny was telling the witch, but 'Simone' as her nametag read, didn't look interested.
"No money, no badge, no tickets. That's the way it works honey." Simone tried to close the window but Ginny grabbed Draco's wand and shoved it in her way.
"Call the ministry! Call anyone! Look it up in your big dusty book over there! This is an emergency, don't you understand!" Ginny pounded her fist on the counter, but that did little to impress Simone.
The older woman sighed and reopened the window. She went to the back of her teller booth and opened up a large book. She began flipping through it page by page, licking her fingertips after each page.
"Weasley! It's Weasley! That means it'll be in the back!" She shouted at the woman through the glass, her ears turning red. Ginny turned away from the desk and crossed her arms over her chest, leaning against the counter.
"What!" She glared over Draco's shoulder at someone behind them. Draco didn't have to look to know they were now alone in line.
They waited for several minutes, Ginny growing more frustrated every second. Draco wanted to do something to comfort her but it had been so long that he had no idea what.
"There she is, Ginny Weasley." Simone came back to the window with the book to show Ginny. "It says she went missing in action just this week. If you don't have proof of identification I'm afraid I can't let you use this emergency pass."
"Yes, I went missing in action because I was captured, but I escaped! That's what those emergency passes are for!" Ginny shouted, dropping her head into her hands.
"Ginny?" A voice from behind them sounded. Ginny turned abruptly. Her face brightened into a huge smile.
"Neville!" She shouted, jumping on him. Neville Longbottom stumbled backwards at the greeting but hugged her back close.
Neville looked thinner than Draco remembered, but his dark brown hair was still trimmed well and his face looked just the same. He was wearing bright blue robes and carrying a large suitcase.
"Ginny! What are you doing here! We, well we thought you were dead!" Neville had her by the arms and was looking at her in shock. Ginny giggled.
"Rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated." She mused, glancing at Draco. Draco stayed where he was, unmoving. "Neville, I have to get back to London, and I don't have my badge or any money." She explained.
"Well of course-" Neville looked up for the first time and caught sight of Draco. He seemed to take a step back as though expecting a hex to come from Draco's smirk. "You… well I mean, uh… your… what…. What're you doing here!" Neville said, his voice quivering. It was good to know some things had not changed.
"Relax Neville, I'll explain later. He's with us." She said shortly. Neville glanced between her and Draco several times before nodding.
"Excuse me," Simone said through the teller window. "Are you going to buy tickets or not, because your holding up the line."
Ginny, Neville and Draco all glanced behind them to see there was still no line before turning back to Simone.
"Look you old bag," Ginny began. "I need two tickets on that express train, NOW!" Ginny shouted.
Neville slid his Auror card under the glass. "Make that three." He added quietly. The woman passed the tickets and Neville's badge back to them.
"Thank you and have a pleasant day on the Underground Wizard Express." She closed the teller window.
"First thing I do when I get back is change that emergency pass law. The second thing is have her fired." Ginny huffed. She began to lead the way to the express platform.
The sub-train was about to leave, and Ginny, Draco and Neville all had their tickets stamped and climbed in. The train was rather luxurious inside, and it did indeed remind Draco of the Hogwarts express. They found a compartment and got in.
"So tell me what happened." Neville insisted, sitting opposite Ginny and Draco.
"It's a long story. The gist is that I got captured, taken to a prison camp, and Draco rescued me. I'm sure the whole exaggerated story will be in every tabloid by the end of the week, so you can read it there. I'm sorry I'm so grumpy Neville but I'm terribly low on sleep. Do you mind?" Ginny asked, pouting and slumping down in her seat.
"Not at all. Get some rest; we can talk about it all when we get back to the ministry." Neville assured her. Ginny nodded and sighed, pulling a pillow down from the wracks above them. She put the pillow on Draco's lap and collapsed on it.
Neville's eyes widened slightly before he looked away, and Draco rearranged to make her comfortable. They sat in silence until Ginny's breathing evened out and she was fast asleep.
"When did you come back into the picture?" Neville asked quietly, suspiciously. Draco raised an eyebrow.
"What would you know about it?" He sneered. He didn't feel like arguing right now. He felt like leaning his head against the cold wall of the compartment and going to sleep as well, but as long as Neville was here he knew that wouldn't happen.
"Enough." Neville spat back. They glared at each other for another moment before Draco sighed and averted his eyes.
"This is stupid." He stated. "Ginny was captured by Death Eaters and brought to my camp. Yes, I'm a Death Eater. I don't deny it. But I saved her. End of story. No underlying intentions, I'm not a bloody spy. I love her. Now drop it." He said quietly, glancing at Ginny's sleeping form.
Neville stared at him for a moment before dropping the hard stare to a concerned one. "Then why did you leave her before?" He asked, staring at Ginny now.
"She… told you about that?" Draco questioned slowly, not understanding.
"Everyone knows about that now." Neville said casually, but Draco's eyes snapped up. Why did everyone know? What did everyone know that he didn't? "If what you say is true, you'd better get some rest. You've got a long day ahead of you." Neville leaned back and closed his own eyes.
Draco stared at him for another moment, deciding sleeping would not be the best idea. But leaning his head against the wall to take the strain on his neck off couldn't hurt…
"Draco?" The voice in his ear was soft and warm. The hot breath on his skin wasn't bad either. "Draco, wake up. We're in London." He felt her lips brush against his ear gently before he opened his eyes to the redhead.
Draco glanced around the compartment, blinking to clear his vision. So it hadn't been a dream, after all.
"Sorry." He mumbled, standing. Neville was outside the compartment waiting. Draco tiredly followed them out of the train. How long had he been asleep? Not long enough, obviously.
This station was very much like the one they had just left, and Draco wondered if the passageway out was the same. But it wasn't. Ginny and Neville led him through a door in the front and they came out into a similar place with a lot of stairs.
"We have to get to the ministry quickly. We don't have much time left." Ginny was telling Neville.
"Time for what?" He asked, lugging his case up the stairs. Draco realized belatedly that this was a muggle subway, much like the Wizarding one. They hurried up the stairs into daylight.
Draco looked around, stunned. It had been a long time since he'd been to London. At least 3 years ago, before he had been a registered Death Eater. Ginny and Neville seemed to be ignoring him completely.
"Well I know that," Ginny was saying. "But the point is that's where it was, and maybe if we can get a scout out we can catch them moving." She told him, waving her hand in frustration. "I'll, oh I don't know, I'll figure it out when we get there." She told him. Neville glanced back at Draco for the first time.
"They aren't going to let him in, you know." Ginny glanced behind her at Draco. She reached back and grabbed his hand, pulling him along side her like a small child.
"Yes they will." She assured him.
"It's not like they can just put down the wards for him. He won't be aloud in the ministry as long as he has… the dark mark. He'll have to go through the prisons." Neville told them.
"Not if I can add his name to the ward. Then it'll let him in." Ginny acted as if that was obvious, but Neville looked scandalized.
"You can't do that. They won't authorize it until he's been qualified with a Veritaserum test, probably by an auror who hates him, like one of your brothers." Neville stopped just outside an abandoned door. "Or worse, by your father."
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Ginny said, going down an alleyway.
She led them to a dumpster in the alleyway, and Ginny pushed a button on the side of it. A little yellow slip of paper flew out of the dumpster. Ginny picked it up, and as she was standing the dumpster spat out a pen as well, and it hit her square on the head.
"Nice shot." Neville commented dryly, and Ginny glared at him. She scribbled something on the paper and tossed it back into the dumpster, tossing the pen in a second later, perhaps in the thought of hitting whoever reached for the paper.
They waited patiently for several minutes, Ginny tapping her foot and Neville growing nervous.
"This is bad Ginny. Any moment now they're going to-" no sooner had Neville began speaking that had a dozen or more aurors appeared from different places around them, all with their wands out.
"Oh here we go." Ginny complained, holding her hands up. Draco didn't move as they came in close and began walking them around the building again. They went to a red dumpster on the other side.
"Nothing funny." One of them commanded. Ginny stopped where she was and put her hands on her hips.
"George? George is that you?" She asked, stepping towards her would-be brother.
"Uh… no. I'm not authorized to uh… Oh get in the dumpster, Ginny." He ordered. Ginny did as she was told, complaining under her breath. Neville followed her and several of the aurors followed them. Draco was next.
He jumped in expecting to feel solid ground several feet below him, but instead he went speeding down a tube into pitch blackness. He landed on his butt after several antagonizing moments of this only to have a wand shoved in his face.
Draco looked around. It was suddenly bright where they were. All around him were what appeared to be plastic boxes with people inside. This must be that they referred to as a prison. Draco thought it looked more like an insane asylum. Each of the prisoners was bound by glowing blue ribbons.
Draco recognized only a few of them, smirking at the outraged looks on their faces. George had removed the concealment charm from himself and was hugging Ginny tightly while glaring at Draco over her shoulder. Neville was being helped to his feet, but when Draco tried to stand, several wands were shoved in his face along with an order of "Don't move, Malfoy!"
Draco sighed heavily, looking imploringly at Ginny. She turned to walk towards them, shoving their hands away.
"Put it away." She told them, reaching down the help him up. "He's a friend." She pulled him to his feat, wiping the dust off his cloak.
George crossed his arms. "You." He shook his head ruefully. "It's about time you showed up." He gave him a meaningful look that Draco didn't quite understand or perhaps didn't interpret right, but before he could say anything back there was a shout from behind them.
"Ginny!" Granger yelled, rushing in with Ron and Harry behind her. Ginny hugged her tightly before moving onto her brother, who looked like he would pass out at any moment.
"Ginny, I thought we'd lost you!" He exclaimed, squeezing her tightly. Ginny giggled, squeezing him back.
"Glad to hear you have so much faith in me, you Prat." She told him affectionately. Ron smiled and squeezed her tighter.
"I had faith." Harry chimed in, hugging her next. Ginny swatted him affectionately on the arm.
Ron caught sight of Draco and stepped forward, crossing his arms with a smirk on his face.
"Well, I guess I owe you again, hmm? First me, and now Ginny." Ron smiled fully at him, holding out his hand. Draco was struck with a sudden sense of Deja-Vu, but he shook his hand anyway. "By the way," Ron said, turning to George. "Something for you, from the minister."
Ron passed him a little piece of paper. George unfolded it and read it over, nodding his head every few minutes.
"Just as I thought." George said, glancing up at Draco. "In light of the recent information of Mr. Malfoys involvement in Miss Weasley's capture and rescue it is requested that he take a Veritaserum test to assure of his trustworthiness and intentions so that he can resume his useful place among the wizarding community." George folded up the paper and stuck it in his pocket. "Do you consent?"
Draco looked around him for a moment, realizing that there was no turning back. Ginny was starring back at him nervously, her eyes showing her hopefulness. Draco knew that there was no denying her what she had gotten her heart set upon.
"Yes, I consent."
