Chapter 3

Chapter 10

The training schedule that Voldemort had made was not easy, Ginny had discovered. She was given books with spells on one day and had to know and use them the next. The Maze was becoming more and more difficult. The creatures became more dangerous and Ginny always got hurt. She was kidnapped for over a month now and still no attempt at escaping was made...but that doesn't mean that Ginny isn't planning anything.

You see, Voldemort knows that Ginny is the Princess of Fire and he knows that she is strong. The powers that Ginny has that come with being the Fire Princess (being able to do wandless magic and the control of Fire) Voldemort doesn't know about these. And that could work to Ginny's advantage.

The only way for Ginny to escape, is to escape while being in the maze as it is the only place where she is not surrounded by walls or hundreds of Death Eaters. So when Ginny was alone in the cold dungeon, practising the spells that she learned out of the books, she also practised her wandless magic and her control of Fire. The thing was Ginny had little time to practise these things and the progress went slow.

But steadily she was becoming stronger. Not only her magic increased with spells every day, but her martial arts improved too. Some of the Death Eaters are also in the maze and Ginny could defeat most of them easily now. She wanted to escape everyday so badly, but didn't make an attempt to. She could use the element of surprise with her secret powers only once so she had to be sure she was strong enough to escape or she might not have a chance again.

She had not heard any news of Hogwarts or the Order. No information to know if there was someone out there looking for her. But she knew that it would mean nothing. Seeing as hundreds of Death Eaters were here plus Voldemort himself would mean that this place would have some MAJOR defences to keep anybody from coming in uninvited.

Every night Lucius brought her dinner (If you could call little, old and lumpy bread and some water dinner). Ginny was once again in the dungeon, knowing that in a few minutes Lucius would come to give her, her food and throw a few insults.

The door creaked open and a Death Eater stepped in. Ginny knew there was something different. His posture didn't quite look like Lucius'. The Death Eater took of his mask and Ginny's eyes widened...

Professor Snape!

She stood up. "You filthy son of a bitch! Did you too betray me huh?" she hissed.

"SSSSHHH keep your voice down...Lucius is away and I was assigned to bring you your food. I am a Death Eater yes, but I am also a spy for Dumbledore" Snape whispered.

..."You are?"

"Yes, we are trying to get you out of here, but...to be honest we don't know how" he looked a bit peeved.

Ginny's face fell. When she heard that he was a spy she had hoped to get out of here soon, but fate has other plans it seems. She would have to stick to her own plan. But her plan wasn't finished. Her plan contained: step 1: Increase powers, step 2 break out of the maze and step 3 RUN!

The first two steps she could manage but the third one would prove to be difficult. She had no idea what was out of the Maze and where to go when she was out...maybe Professor Snape could help that.

"Professor are you here everyday?" He nodded "Only when I am not teaching a class"

"Okay...we can work with this. If I can get out of the maze...do you know how to get away then?"

He looked surprised. "Do you know how to get out then?"

"Well I know how, but preparation will still take a while and for safety I don't want to tell you how...I hope you understand"

"I do understand...hmmm...when you know how to get out of the maze, run! as hard as you can towards North and pray to Merlin that you will reach the Forest that lays there, earlier then when the Death Eaters catch up. In the woods try to lose them. You can't apparate, but I can and there is a apparition-border in the middle of the forest. If you can cross it, I could apparate you to Hogsmeade"

Ginny frowned. "But how will YOU find ME while there are MANY, MANY other Death Eaters looking for me too!" she asked desperately.

"I don't know, but you said preparation will take a while. In the meantime I will find a way for us to find each other"

"Okay...there's still one thing.."

"Yes?"

"Don't tell anyone about this, not even Dumbledore...you don't know who is listening and this is probably my only chance" She said sadly.

Severus Snape looked at the girl. He didn't say it, but was immensely proud of her and very impressed. He had watched her every time she went into that hellhole of a maze. He had seen her fighting Dementors, defy werewolves and besting more Death Eaters then anyone else he could think of. A month had gone by and her spirit was still not broken. Damaged yes, but not broken.

He kneeled down on the cold floor and looked Ginny in the eyes.

"I promise" he said and pulled her into a hug.

Ginny stiffened at first. After a month of seeing only people and creatures that only want to kill you, such contact is a little strange. Soon she relaxed and hope built up once more in the idea that she was not alone in this.

She saw the look of respect in his eyes, thinking of how good she had held herself against anyone else, but he didn't saw how lonely, how desperate she was. Still, she would not give up. Only fight harder.

Snape stood up.

"I must go now and I'll see you soon...Gin" Surprised that he had called her Gin, she only nodded. It would seem rude, but Ginny knew that Snape knows how much this all meant to her...and now? Ginny was more ready to fight...now more then ever!

"Let them come" she whispered to herself and began training her control of fire again.

She made a ball of fire, letting it grow the size of a bludger and back to the size of a snitch. Ginny also discovered that her fire didn't burn her. Because she made it, it would cause her no burns if she touched it. She knew she had to be able to make her fire grow the size of an ENORMOUS fireball, to burn a hole right through the maze and to break trough all the magical defences.

It would take her a few weeks and it would seem long...

It IS long, but Ginny was determined now. She could do this and she would.

"Let them come" she said again, but louder this time..