THE PERFECT STORY
by shiningbright

A/N: Sorry about the delay for this chapter. I had no idea what to write about! I still need to write chapter 12, but I'll catch up. Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own a new CD by Depeche Mode (WHO ROCK SOLID, BY THE WAY) but I still have yet to become the owner of the Harry Potter books. Yes, I know, you're disappointed.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: A GRIM OUTLOOK

They'd taken her window after the her attempt to escape. It was pretty stupid, actually. The window was far smaller than she was and she didn't have magic to enlarge it. All the cuts from the first attempt were barely healed and she wasn't too anxious to split them open again any time soon.

It was the last day of her first week at the manor and captivity didn't suit Ginevra. Neither did the fact that she wasn't allowed to shower. The chamber pot in the corner of the room was emptied once every two days and she tried her best to avoid it. But the room was smaller than a broom cupboard and avoiding a pot proved harder than she thought.

Ginny wondered if someone was still standing guard, after all, she hadn't talked to anyone since Draco last saw her. The days were long, boring, uneventful. And so Ginny passed the time with a pasttime she had, up until recently, forgotten about.

Singing.

She was a soprano and very rusty. She stuck to Lucilda Vanderbilt's songs, having found that she, like her mother, enjoyed the sultry tones of the soft, melodramatic voice of Lucilda. She wasn't quite sure of the words, really, and often made up her own. But she certainly helped the time pass and that made her just a little bit happier- if she was even happy to begin with.

"You were walking
Right passed me
And I saw you
You didn't see me
I wanted to cry
But all I could do
Was slip a little love potion
In your evening pumpkin juice...

"And suddenly you were there
We were holding hands
And running fingers through our hair
Oh, darling
I can't tell you the truth!
For if you knew
What a fool I've been
Well, let's just say
It would be bad"

Ginny stared aimlessly at the wall. She wondered briefly whether or not Harry had remembered her, thought of her, as he fought Voldemort. She wondered who killed him after he killed Voldemort, or if he was even dead. His body hadn't been found, she knew that. Did she dare dream?


Pansy felt odd in Draco's embrace. A rush of memories from their days at Hogwarts overwhelmed her. It was too much. Inside, all she wanted to do was scream and get out. But on the outside she melted into his arms, feeling a familiarity she had no idea she had missed.

That was when she felt a hand slip inside her robes and grab her wand, which Draco Malfoy proceeded to slip into his pocket before muttering an incantation that sent Pansy to the ground, where she couldn't move. She hadn't even registered what had happened until a split second later. Draco spat in her face.

"I'm not stupid, you know," he said lazily, pulling out his own wand and twirling it around his fingers. "I knew you were still alive, Pansy. That you were working for the retards up at the ministry. And you thought you could fool me. Ha! But I, Draco Malfoy, was two steps ahead of you. And you didn't even have a clue."

Pansy struggled for a moment against her restraints, then relaxed. She should conserve her energy. It was no use anyway.

"So, you walked right into me, Pans," he whispered, an evil grin plastered on his face, which, Pansy thought with disgust, was no longer as handsome as she remembered. She turned away from his face.

"What? Were you searching for that blood traitor, the Weasley girl?" Malfoy snarled, slipping his hand into her robes. Pansy flinched. "Don't touch me!" she cried, disgusted. Draco dropped her. Pansy fell to the floor, cowering beneath him. Malfoy glared at her. Pansy watched as he snapped his fingers, ordering some Death Eater to take her to a room. Pansy watched him silently, a brooding look on his face.

For a split second a look of deepest regret flashed across Malfoy's face. Pansy glanced back, eyes wide. But he was still glaring, still snarling. Pansy recoiled, not even bothering to struggle against the cloaked Death Eater, although his breath smelt something wicked.

"You'll be staying here," he said, dropping her on the threshold of an old oak door. Pansy rolled her eyes at him. He shrugged. "Master Malfoy says to bring in a second bed, although the room's so small it might be better without. Don't bothertrying to escape." He lowered his voice. "She already tried."

Pansy opened her mouth to ask who "she" was, but before she could, the ill-smelling Death Eater had shoved the door closed, sprawling her into the room. She closed her eyes, rubbing her sides.

"Parkinson!" cried a shocked voice. Pansy looked up into the brown eyes of the very person she'd come to rescue. "Ginny." she sighed, sitting up.

Ginny Weasley stared at her, open-mouthed. "Oh my word!" she whispered. "What are you doing here? I thought you were dead!" Ginny clapped a hand over her chapped lips. "Oh no...Oh...no," she said, hysterical, pacing. "I'm not seeing things... No! It's being alone for this week... No..."

"I'm alive, Weasley," Pansy corrected her, rolling her eyes. "Very much so."

"But you were dead-"

"Yes... Well, sort of... During the war my father made some guy take some Polyjuice Potion to look like me- he knew the Order was after me, thinking I was a Death Eater- andI wasn't!" she cried at Ginny's shocked face. "So he was killed. I was in hiding. And then only a few months ago I was taken in by the Order when my father died. I got a job at the Ministry. And they sent me here to rescue you from mister I'm-So-Cool-Because-I-Can-Kill-People and that obviously didn't work out..."

Pansy sighed. "Well, fill me in. Why are you here and what the hell happened?"

Ginny slumped onto the bed. "It- well, I was sent to downtown London last week in search of a story."

"A story?" Pansy snorted, examining her nails (one chipped when that hulk of a Death Eater dropped her).

"I'm a journalist for the Daily Prophet."

"Oh. Continue."

"Well, I walked into a small coffee shop to get a hot drink. Then I heard screams and saw Malfoy and a million Death Eaters in the square... Malfoy grabbed me and knocked me out. Three days later I woke up in a basement about three stories below us. Been here ever since." Ginny looked forlornly at the wall space where the window once had been.

Pansy rubbed her hands together. "I don't know what to say..."

Ginny looked up at her. "Well, you could tell me what's going on."

"Oh," Pansy nodded. "Well, the second day you were missing, Shacklebolt got the Order together. He's been leader since, well..."

Since Harry died.

"...Anyway, he got the Order together at Hogwarts. Your brother Ronald and Hermione were there, so was Bill, Charlie, your mom, and a handful of others. Um... We talked about various plans, where you'd most likely be... Someone said here. So they picked me as a 'secret agent' to sneak in here and save you... And here I am." Pansy waved her hands, dropping her head as tears rolled down her cheeks. Ginny sighed.

"Well, at least we're not alone."

Pansy looked up and smiled grimly. Ginny nodded. "We'll-we'll be fine," her voice caught as she choked. "We'll be okay...I promise.."

"Don't bother." drawled a snarling voice from the doorway. "It isn't even worth it."

shiningbright