"It's time," she said grimly, opening the door. "Oh, shit! Hermione, I'm so sorry…" Ginny slammed the door on the pair of blushing people in the four-poster, giggling. She knocked this time, before coming in, to find a shirtless man in hastily thrown-on pants and a furiously red Hermione sitting in the bed with an over-sized T-shirt on. She saw Draco gaze surreptitiously at Hermione with softness in those steely eyes and the laughter died in her throat. It could all end. Any second.
"The Mark's burning. Are you all ready? We have to move." She turned and wordlessly left.
Draco ran a hand through his hair. How long had they been in this enclosed paradise within the gloomy confines of the Black House? A day? A year? Only to have them emerge as if it had never happened. Only to be thrown back into Peril's deadly cold hands. They dressed silently, in plain black robes that would not billow too much, enlarging the target.
Hermione hoped to the gods that Ginny wouldn't tell Ron about what she had seen. It was too much for him to handle just yet. Too much almost for even her to handle, to accept. What would she do when this was all over? How could all of those people closest to her simply accept him as changed? Well, she thought fiercely, they would have to. She wasn't going to give him up.
When they went downstairs, they were greeted by Ron, Harry, and Ginny. Ginny was smiling slightly out of the corner of her mouth at them. Hermione raised an eyebrow when she saw Harry's hand slip behind him to toy with the back of Ginny's robe. Ron, as usual, was oblivious to everything, and handed out the brooms, rapping out last-minute instructions and advice.
"Anyone gets hit, the closest person grabs them and we fly like bats out of hell. Stay low, near the trees. The curses will be more easily deflected. No one uses Unforgiveables. No one," he said, looking sternly at Malfoy, and at Harry. "This is going to be widely publicized, and I don't want word of Ministry officials using illegal curses."
Everyone nodded, and Disillusioned themselves. The mood was quiet and tense, and no one spoke more than they had to. They shuffled around one another in the small kitchen, grabbing wands and Cloaks and finally, they were all invisible and ready.
"Let's go," said Harry, and because he was invisible, no one noticed as he gripped Ginny's hand before she Apparated to the Malfoy Manor.
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Remus and Sirius woke early and in silence. They had not exchanged two words since their conversation the night before. It was as if it had never happened, and yet they knew that it would be impossible to disregard. It was too painful, too close, and a little to sharp to think about, at least for Sirius.
"What do you reckon?" he finally asked. It was time to get on with business. "How do we get into the building?"
Remus ran his hand through prematurely graying hair. "We do what James would have done. Walk right in." Sirius grinned.
"Perfect."
They made their way to the address, and wore suits, for extra authority. It was an old warehouse, which claimed to store antique goods of all origins and ages. They strolled right in and up to the desk. Taking the good-cop bad-cop routine, Remus spoke first in a solemn, soft voice.
"We're here to pick up a package from Mortimer Ludlow that was shipped here. He contacted us about it, and we are interested in acquiring it." Praying that it was the right thing to say, he waited for the security guard's answer.
"Can I please see some identification?" he asked in a bored, accented voice.
Sirius barked out a laugh. "I don't think you understand. We're interested in acquiring a valuable and rare object that we are compensating Mr. Ludlow and your establishment very generously for. We are not accustomed to being treated in this undignified manner. On your feet, and take us to the package, or suffer Mr. Ludlow's displeasure." He said this in his best imitation of his father, clipped and haughty. The security guard stood, eyes wide and intimidated.
"This way," he said, fear inundating his voice.
They were led through a large corridor to a smaller room, which held several shelves of boxes, all packaged away. On the bottom of one of these shelves, the security guard pointed to a small package, which looked like it held a basketball or something of a similar size.
"Thank you," Sirius said, in the same clipped tones. "That will be all." The security guard was too intimidated to argue. He merely backed away, always facing them, until he passed out of sight behind a stack of boxes. Remus went to see where the security guard was, and saw that he was walking long-strided back to his desk.
"Let's go," he said, returning. "We'll open it back at the hotel."
When they returned, climbing through an open window and mussing their suits terribly, they immediately sat by the fire and ripped open the package. Inside was an urn, but the strangest urn they had ever seen. It had no handle, and rim at the top was slightly uneven. There were dark etchings over it, that looked like…
"A head…" Remus mused. "If you turn it upside down it looks like a head."
Sirius stared at it, and then Transfigured it back to its original form. There, lying on the rich blue carpeting of the hotel room was Cornelius Fudge's body. His eyes were wide and still staring, but otherwise no mark was on him.
"Bad," Remus said, hollowly. "This is very, very bad. We need to get back to Britain. Now." Sirius transfigured Cornelius back into an urn, but this one was much prettier and better done. He had always been excellent at that sort of thing.
They packed quickly, and Sirius paid for their bill while Remus booked two tickets back to London on a flight that left in 3 hours. Later, while they both slept, Remus woke sweating from a dream of a security guard lying, eyes wide and staring, on the floor of a warehouse.
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"I knew he was not in Dublin, My Lord," she said. "The evidence was not there."
"And yet," Voldemort hissed, "he was seen with that Mudblood friend of Harry Potter leaving through the Floo Network gates to your brother's shop in Diagon Alley. What do you say to that?" Ginny flinched. She had tried to prepare for this. She had to play her trump card, and hope it didn't blow up in her face.
"We are uncertain if that was Draco Malfoy, My Lord. You forget that Draco has never befriended Harry Potter or any of his friends. You forget that they are most unlikely to help him. It could be that they use his image as a disguise for when they are traveling. He and Harry Potter dueled many times. It is possible that Draco's hair has been for use in a Polyjuice Potion. Besides," she said, rather smugly. "Lucius' team of people was not able to capture them, or even successfully follow them. We will never know if it was Draco or not."
"Your insolence is treading a fine line, Miss Weasley," he spat. "As little as we know of Draco's whereabouts, you should have been first to follow any sight of young Mr. Malfoy. Lucius was the only one with the incentive to do so."
"Lucius," she retorted, "is acting to save his own reputation in the knowledge that he could not even make his own son a loyal supporter of you. And, though he didn't tell you, Crabbe Sr. was arrested by the Muggle authorities and was later taken to Azkaban. He has single-handedly united the Irish Muggles and the Ministry." She stepped back and surveyed the crowd of Death Eaters, head raised. Voldemort looked at her with a rare expression for him: surprise.
He looked incredulously at Lucius, who was squirming and glaring at Ginny. "Is this true, Lucius? What else have you been concealing from me, my friend? Legillimens."
After a few moments, Voldemort laughed. "You doubt my trust in the Weasleyette? You doubt my acceptance of her? Perhaps you need to learn that the authority of Lord Voldemort must be unquestioned. Crucio!" In that moment of confusion and pain, the air filled with more than the painful gasps of Lucius Malfoy.
Curses, jinxes, hexes began to fall out of the air like rain, showering down upon the Death Eaters. Taken off guard, many fell at once, immobilized and stunned. Ropes hurled down and attempted to pick some of them up. MacNair was successfully taken and sent to Dumbledore in Hogsmeade, waiting for them with Neville Longbottom. Bellatrix and Voldemort were the first to recover from the shock of the attack, and soon a full out battle was being waged in the woods of the Malfoy Manor.
A concealed figure watched it all from the trees. Derek Boyden, staff journalist for the Daily Prophet watched and recorded it all from his well-concealed hiding place. Curses flashed and rebounded off trees and branches, sending sparks and flashes of light high into the dark night air. Red, green, hex, curse flew to and fro in the blackness. Ginny's face was illuminated in fear, as she began to fire back upon her brother, her lover and her closest friends, purposefully misdirecting, praying to anyone and everyone to help her through this fight. But at that moment, as they say, the shit hit the fan. Avery beside her threw out a cutting curse. A voice that she would later place as Ron's cried out, "Protego!" and it hit her.
Four voices called out her name in anguish, as Harry flew straight towards her. She lay bleeding, feeling oddly light and airy. Draco followed and in that instant, time slowed down. Voldemort turned to her at the last moment and aimed a killing curse at her. Harry reached her too late and they could only look on as the bolt of green light flashed towards them.
Draco reached out and disapparated, as only he could within the Malfoy grounds. Hermione and Ron sped down towards the trees, grabbed Derek, and flew away to safety, panting and worried for their Ginny. They dropped Derek off at Hogsmeade and left Dumbledore to deal with the captives. Crabbe and Goyle Junior had been hit with their own killing curses, and MacNair had been taken to Azkaban. Bellatrix's husband lay unconscious under the watchful eye of the Headmaster. After an eternity, they arrived back at 12 Grimmauld Place.
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"You saved our lives," Harry said disbelievingly as he stared at Malfoy and then back at Ginny, lying peacefully in Hermione's bed. "Both of us."
"Shut up, Potter," Draco growled. "This doesn't mean I have to like you. This is about Ginny, not you. But you do realize what this means. This little war timeline of ours just skipped a lot of steps. We have to go to war now before they pick us off one by one. The foreplay's over, Potter. It's time for the real thing."
"That's a great image, Draco, thanks," Ginny mumbled before turning over onto her good side. "Now go away and let me rest." They both turned to leave the room. "Potter, did I tell you that you could go? Get your ass over here." Harry grinned as Draco grimaced and left to wait for Hermione.
"You were so brave," Ginny whispered into his chest as climbed into the bed beside her. "So brave." And she went to sleep.
A/N: Okay. I've decided to start this one up again because of the combined inspiration of the HBP and the GoF movie. Also because I just really want to know how this ends and see it all played out on paper. Plus, it's on 17 people's fav story list (Thanks guys!) and I feel terrible letting everyone down. So there it is. Please review, and I promise it will get finished. Soon.