My Beloved Ferret
by StopBlowingHolesInMyShips/Krystallia

AN:
No one has won the muffin yet. But whoever guesses what movie Gin's kidnapper quotes from at the end of this chapter wins another muffin. (This one has sprinkles. The Chapter-Nine one has got...umm...frosting D) Hint: It's a kid's movie. Hint 2: He is quoting the bad guy.
Hey! This fic is in double-digit chapters now!
Hooray...lol.
Clarification of events from last chapter: I didn't intend to word it so that it seemed like H/Hr ahem 'did it' but if you feel it would better the story if they did, you are free to imagine that D I left it open on purpose because my one friend was like "OMG they shouldn't do it" and my other said "OMG they should totally do it!" and my third friend was all "What? they did it?"
So, it's your choice...If you want them to have done it, they did. If you want them to have not, they haven't. Everyone wins D
Another note...I have finished the entire fic already and am submitting the end with a few hour intervals between chapters. I am posting this one at 10:45. Chapter 11 will be sometime late tomorrow morning. The last chapter will be out by the afternoon...sob
Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Chapter Ten
Life's Not Fair

"Oh, all right, all right..." Hermione yawned and followed Harry back downstairs. McGonagall breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of them.

"Oh, thank goodness, you're here!" she exclaimed.

"Professor..." started Harry. "What's happened?"

"I am afraid that...a student has been kidnapped!"

Harry swallowed.

"Who?" he asked urgently.

"Oh, Potter..." began McGonagall. "Ginny Weasley. The poor dear must've gone down to the Common Room in the dead of night for whatever reason and was snatched away by someone who broke through the window. As you've seen."

"Damn her," muttered Harry. "Damn her, damn her, damn her..."

"Why can't she listen to me just for once?" cried Hermione with anguish. "I said not to follow me!"

Harry took Hermione's arm and led her away. "Hermione," he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper, "We are leaving tonight. There's no other choice. He'll be snatching you next. Get the note."

"Fine. But how do you know it's him?" asked Hermione, the tone of her voice wavering between irked and, well, pissed off.

"Oh, I don't!" Harry admitted. "I'm just...assuming."

Hermione sighed with exasperation--or was it sad frustration? "I thought you said last night that it wasn't him."

"I--oh, nevermind. No, I don't think it's Voldemort himself, but I am inclined to believe it's the same group of followers."

Hermione let out a short, humorless laugh that reminded Harry of Sirius. It was the bitterness that did it. "Who's left?" she asked. "We killed them all of."

Harry smirked. "Shh," he teased. "It was a good thing, but we don't want to send Hogwarts into a frenzy thinking that the people running them are cold-blooded murderers."

"The only cold-blooded murderers in this mess are the ones we finished off," Hermione reminded him.

"They don't know that." He nodded his head in the direction of the general public.

Hermione just smiled and walked over to Luna Lovegood. The blonde girl was frowning, her eyes cast off in a faraway world.

"Hi Luna," Hermione said.

"Oh, hello Hermione..." Luna sang dreamily.

Harry watched them for a few lingering moments, then shook his head and went back upstairs.
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Ginny woke up and tried not to get sick from dizziness. There was a muscular male character flying the broom she was strapped to. She could see faintly in the light that he had Cocoa in his backpack.

"So," she cried, testing out her voice, "What's up?"

"You might want to shut up in case I drop you or something," he said harshly. His voice was muffled. Then he softened. "Not to be rude or anything, miss, but I don't think it would be too great if you distracted me and I dropped you. Pretty high up here."

Ginny struggled to nod, but her neck was killing her. "Deal."

"Good. My name's Robin," he told her.

"Is your last name 'Andbatman'?" she asked, then snickered at her own corny little joke.

"Very funny. But whatever floats your boat," Robin replied.

Ginny pilfered a moment of cheeriness and saved it in her mental bank for later. She might need it in case she never got through this.
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"Hermione," stated Harry, his voice with no emotion.

"Yes?" she squeaked back.

"Please stop whimpering."

"I'm not whimpering!" she squealed as they crawled through the dusty cellars of Candida Maine, a large mansion. Nobody had ever bothered to check behind the Shrieking Shack. Oh, no. Of course, it was Harry Potter's job, and apparently, Hermione's too.

Hermione had shivered and shook, clutching Harry's hand nervously as they ascended stairs, creeped along crawlspaces, and entered an odd, spooky basement filled with spiders who only shrieked with laughter at anything Harry and Hermione did. Now, Hermione wasn't usually too scared of things. Ghosts didn't faze her, vampires didn't interrupt her daydreams or anything like that. Her worst Boggart ever was failing a class. But something about this place was really, really creeping her out.

They climbed out of the cellar and walked towards the kitchen, when suddenly Hermione screamed and fell down--a tunnel?

Harry tried to grab her, but he lost his balance and fell down with her.

Voice and touch were all they had to lead them down the tunnel. They held the other's hand but kept one free to brush along the wall as they dropped. Finally, they landed with a soft flump, Hermione's back on Harry's front.

"Oof." Harry lifted her gently, and she sat down with her legs crossed.

"I'm tired," she yawned.

"How long d'you think we were dropping for?" Harry asked curiously. It had been a long fall, but somehow the landing was soft.

"I don't know. A minute or two?" Hermione rubbed her eye sleepily. She was too drained to think. Within moments, she was asleep on the floor lying next to Harry, who had nothing to do but sleep and be plagued with worry and guilt.
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"You're not being very fair, you know," Ginny told him matter-of-factly. They had landed in a cavern underground, and the man had set her in a chair. As a twisted joke, he pulled up a stool from a child's playset and placed Cocoa on it.

"Life's not fair," he smirked. "For I shall never be king, and you...you shall never see the light of another day." Ginny looked like she was about to burn his hair off with her eyes, so he added quickly, "Just kidding. Of course you will. We don't permanently imprison the cute ones."

Ginny sighed and slumped in her chair. "Couldn't you at least take this spell of me so I could maybe...stretch my legs a bit? If I'm so cute, you should be able to maybe...pull some strings for me?"

"Sorry, luv." He squeezed her calf. "It's set on a matter of minutes. Nothing I can do until the clock strikes one."

"Don't call me luv!" she spat, smiling. "Unless I know you...?"

"Oh, you aren't going to wriggle this one out of me. Nope. Not telling."

"Can I guess?"

"You're free to guess if you want, luv, but I won't say a word."

"Mmkay. Hmm...Neville?"

The man stayed silent.

"Ron?"

Silence.

"Of course you're not Ron. That would be...odd. Are you...umm...Oh, I've got it. You're Draco Malfoy!" she guessed enthusiastically.

The man shook his head, but Ginny could see a smile lurking under the shadows.

Her mind tumbled over the words he'd said, his mannerisms...right down to his shy, sweet smile.

Ginny's face turned white as ice. She opened her mouth, but only a shocked whisper came out. "Blaise?"

The man turned and exposed his face to the light. Ginny could only gasp and try to keep from blacking out.