Chapter Six
The General Jeremy Hot-Diggity cleared his throat and stood at the podium.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, that is you, you young fighters," began Jeremy as his eyes swept across the auditorium.
Today in this early morning you will be portkeyed directly to the entrance of the Fencult forest. From then on you will have an assigned area of the forest to explore. We have maps but only of little area of the forest. In the centre, we have set up a safe house for you to rest. You have two monthsh to recuperate before you must carry on.
You will be pushing the limits of you capabilities and delving further into that forest. Right at the end, where magic seems to have some barrier you will find Voldemort's lair. Your objective, help Harry Potter kill him."
A wave of heads turned to look at Harry and his partner Amanda. Harry blushed beetroot red and Draco surpassed a small chuckle.
Ginny noted how deep his voice was, and shivered in spite of herself. She had always been a sucker for men with deep voices.
General Hot-Diggity continued "as you all know, Ginny Weasley will be carrying Godric Gryffindor's sword."
Now it was Ginny's turn to blush.
But Ginny had more control of her emotions than before and her blush was only a slight pink tint.
Draco found it adorable.
Draco remembered what Harry said about Ginny carrying the sword. Since Ginny had direct contact with Tom, even though he was a mere memory, she felt some sort of connection to the sword that ultimately ended her living nightmare in her first year. Dumbledore had noticed this and recommended Ginny be the carrier.
Jeremy kept droning on about how dangerous the Forest was, adding onto the Aurors already frazzled nerves. He finally got to the part where they would be leaving.
"The moldy donut in front of you and your partner is your portkey."
All of a sudden, moldy donuts appeared in front of everybody.
"On my count you will touch the portkey and you will be transported to your designated area of your forest. You have all your equipment with you already," announced General Hot-Diggity.
"We will try our best to save you but ultimately you are on your own when you are in trouble. You are all competent fighters, but trust your partner, and finally, good luck. You shall honour us all!"
Everybody stood up in front of their donuts and got ready.
Hot-Diggity spoke for the last time "everybody, on three. One."
Ginny steadied her breathing.
"Two."
Draco swallowed hard.
"Three."
Both Ginny and Draco's breath caught as their fingers brushed each other's and touched the donut at the same time.
After traveling a long way surprisingly for a portkey, Ginny and Draco appeared on a dewy hill.
Ginny collapsed from the awkward sensation from just being portkeyed for a long time.
She nearly threw up. Nearly.
But she held it in because no way she would show any weakness before Malfoy, before they even made it into the forest.
"You okay?" asked Draco as he offered his hand.
"Fine," was Ginny's reply and she got up ignoring his hand.
Draco sighed and pulled out his map and so did Ginny.
"Looks all in order," muttered Ginny. She continued on saying "got anything I need to know Malfoy? Anything I need to worry about so I can save your arse later?"
Almost hit a nerve thought Draco, almost. But he kept his face emotionless now and simply said no.
Ginny scoffed.
Draco wondered how much more he could take, and they hadn't even made it into the forest yet!
"Alright then, let's go," said Ginny and off they went into the forest.
The forest was mostly just bushes and shrubs and first but soon the two of them entered dense forest. It reeked of dark magic.
Ginny and Draco both had their wands out listening carefully. The sword that was bumping silently on Ginny's hip was giving her comfort and confidence.
'Good old Godric,' thought Ginny.
A loud shrieking shook Ginny out of her reverie and she saw a bat vampire bat fly overhead. A real vampire bat which could kill you if it sucked enough blood out of you. Immediately she reacted and yelled the spell which would get rid of it and so did Draco. The combined power of their spells was very strong and both looked at each other with surprise.
The further into the forest they went the darker. An eerie light was illuminating the whole place though which was good. Ginny didn't mind the dark too much, she had trained solidly in it. It was just more damned complicated.
For Draco it reminded him of his childhood, and he detested it but put up with it.
The path they were traveling was slightly worn out but still visible. But they had to walk in single file since the track got narrow. Ginny had to using a cutting spell to slash apart the foliage blocking their way. If Ginny hadn't trained in these conditions for years she would be extremely frightened.
Draco and Ginny talked very little, not wanting to draw attention to themselves. But they learnt a lot about each other from their actions.
Draco realized Ginny was a very confident person, and that was important. He couldn't have an introverted partner, it just wouldn't function well. He also admired her skill. The Underground must have been an extremely good training centre.
Ginny noticed Draco was a very calm but precise Auror. Ginny had to admit, even as skilled as she was in fighting the dark arts, she was glad Draco was behind her now. Even though they were only five hours into the forest. This forest had dangers and only now Ginny realized she shouldn't be doing this mission alone.
The two travelers found a clearing and decided that was where they would camp for the night.
"We're not safe you know," muttered Draco.
Ginny who was thinking smarter now didn't having a sniping reply, she instead said "yes, the creatures of this forest will know of our existence now." She dropped onto her knees and whispered into Draco's ear "they're watching us now, calculating how dangerous we are."
Draco only nodded back in agreement. The warmth coming from her body was extremely comforting but it was soon gone since Ginny was setting a perimeter around their sleeping area and chanting protection spells.
The spells weren't ultimate protection, nothing was. But it did stop any creatures from entering the perimeter and it would set off an alarm to everything inside the perimeter.
As Ginny was doing that, Draco was kindling a fire. The both of them were glad of its warmth.
They could sense the seemingly invisible creatures shrivel in disgust as they now regarded the two people as enemies. How dare they bring heat and light into their cold realm?
"You've put the permanent burning charm on that right?" asked Ginny.
"Yeah."
With a sigh, Ginny conjured up a small tent out of thing air and crawled inside of it. Just big enough for two people. She was writing down a journal of events, it would be essential for any future missions.
"Ginny?" came a questioning voice from outside the tent.
Ginny poked her head out of the tent only to be hit by the welcoming smell of warm food. She had nothing to eat all day.
"If you think tempting me with food will make me talk to you, you're wrong," muttered Ginny.
Draco only laughed lightly and handed over some dinner to Ginny. In spite of herself, Ginny smiled and Draco's face lit up.
"Come and join me?" asked Draco softly, smiling.
"Um, no, got to finish off that journal."
Draco's face fell a bit and nodded quietly, returning to his food and listening intently to the crackling of the flames.
Later on that night Draco cleaned up the post dinner mess and re-checked Ginny's protection perimeter. He crawled into the small tent and into his sleeping bag. They could have had fancier sleeping quarters but they didn't want to use too much unnecessary magic.
Ginny was consulting her map for the next day and Draco had to fill out his Journal. The day was uneventful and he was glad, though he could sense danger ahead.
After he had finished he noticed Ginny's wand light had gone off. She must have already fallen asleep. He looked towards her and was surprised she was on her side facing him. Her eyes were closed and her hair had fallen adorably over her cheek. It was warm inside the tent and the oversized baggy t-shirt she wore slipped off her shoulder revealing her pure milky skin.
'Merlin she's beautiful.'
Ginny was no fool, she was still awake. She could feel Draco's gaze on her but she didn't mind. Not that night anyway. But she wouldn't let herself get in too deep. This was Malfoy she was sharing a small tent with. Only five centimeters space in between the both of them. Only thin air separating the two of them.
'What am I thinking?'
Ginny snapped open her eyes which were immediately focused onto Draco's blue and grey ones. Eyes that seemed to be looking straight into her soul. Her body and soul seemed to have risen ten degrees.
'Why is he making me feel like this?'
'She can see me, into me'
"Goodnight Ginny," murmured Draco in his husky deep voice.
Ginny made a slight mewing noise in her throat which sent blood coursing to parts of Draco's body.
Draco gulped and Ginny quickly squeezed her eyes shut and flipped around so her back was facing Draco.
'Oh god, not him, not now, please not now.'
'Oh god!'
And you,
You bring me to my knees, again,
All the times
That I could beg you please, in vain,
All the times
That I felt insecure, for you
And I leave
My burdens at the door..
Hidey-ho. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter! The italics are lyrics from the song Outside by Staind. I love those lyrics and. Review please!