Chapter 14: Run

Ginny glanced into the oven, squinted, and then walked out of the kitchen, throwing open the front door. "Mum! I think the rabbit's done!" Much to her trepidation, Ginny had been put in charge of dinner tonight as her mum went out to plant cabbage and spinach in the garden. With spring well on its way, the amount of garden work needing to be done was sky high. Normally the Easter holidays was a time when her brothers would be around to help, but this year they were all preoccupied. Fred and George were working incredibly late hours, and Bill had his own home with Fleur now.

"I'll be right in!" Breathing a sigh of relief, Ginny walked back into the kitchen and checked to see if the glazed carrots had cooked enough for a fork to go through them smoothly. While she knew her way around the kitchen, she still very much liked her mum double checking everything. Particularly meat. She checked in on the boiling potatoes, and felt her heart beat a little faster as she imagined cooking like this for her and Draco in their own kitchen. Would he like the same food as her? While they had eaten the same foods in the Great Hall for nearly six years, it was possible that what he ate at home was vastly different to the simple fare she had grown up on.

"Ginny dear, take those potatoes off and start draining them. Brought in a little bit of sage with me. Can you pluck the leaves quick?" Ginny nodded and brought out her wand, focusing fiercely. She felt her mum eyeing her as she tried the spell that would cut all the little leaves off, saving herself from tediously hand plucking them. It was a tricky bit of magic and Ginny had sliced a finger clean open last summer when she had tried it. The slice went through, and bits of sage fluttered onto the counter. Upon closer inspection, the slice had cut through the leaves so half of it was still on the stem, but it was an improvement.

"Well done dear. Now put that wand away and try carving up this rabbit." Ginny bit her lip to keep from smiling. She knew that her mum was training her to be a wife and mother in her own home someday. What her mum didn't realize, was just how soon both of those things were going to happen for her. It would have to wait until she was of age of course, but depending on how things went, she might be married as soon as August. Only four months away.

Of course everyone would be shocked. She had tried to imagine her parents' reactions and was rather sure they would be speechless at first. Then worried. Maybe angry. But they would come around. She was nearly positive her family would never blast her off the clock. Percy still had a hand on the clock after all.

To be perfectly honest though, she wasn't nearly as preoccupied with thoughts of her family as she was with thoughts of Draco. She had been in a pleasant mood all day, Draco's owl having come last night. Part of her good mood was due to the reassurance that Luna was still alive and unharmed. Before heading back home for the Easter holidays, they had agreed he would send her a short letter that would give away nothing other than let the potential interceptor know that they were shagging. Not exactly secret information, given that all of Hogwarts knew about it. If the ink was black, Luna was dead. If it was blue, she was alive but hurt. Green ink meant she was alive and well.

It had been emerald green ink, and it was still sitting in Ginny's bedroom where it had been delivered at midnight. She had reread it three times already, smiling idiotically at his words. And it was those words that had kept her in good spirits all day. She didn't know why exactly seeing him put something in writing made her so giddy, but it did. It wasn't long or poetic or even nice. But she loved it. It had simply read;

Weasley,

Been hard for you all night. Want nothing more than to ram my cock right into your tight, little body. Meet at Tapestry of Trolls upon arrival. Don't keep me waiting.

It had sent shivers through her, imagining his voice saying words so crass and demanding. It was written proof that she had entered the secretive, adult world of sex. And though she knew he might have only written it because it was the easiest way to keep an interceptor from thinking he cared about her, she was very pleased with the thought that he had been hard for her. Lying in bed with his hand around his cock, thinking only of her.

The familiar sound of the fire roaring to life heralded the arrival of her father, and the beginning of supper. Halfway through, Fred and George came in unexpectedly early, and everything became a little louder and a little more fun. She had a carrot in her hand ready to fling it at Fred, both of them grinning like idiots at each other, when suddenly she gasped. The carrot dropped to the floor forgotten, and Ginny's right hand clutched her left arm. Everyone looked at her in shock, and Ginny tried to think what to say. What to do. She had gotten so used to having the armband on, she barely gave it a thought anymore. "Gin, are you okay?" "What is it sweetie?"

It was burning. Burning in a way that left her in no doubt to the fact that someone was suddenly very interested in killing her. Felix. She needed her potion. The luck potion would let her know what to do. "Nothing, I just…I just remembered I needed to check something. Be right back!" And with that, she pushed out of her chair, and sprinted up the steps to her bedroom. Pawing through her trunk, she scooped up the small vial and downed it.

A strange sense of calm immediately came over her, and she found herself with the overwhelming desire to get a head start on packing her trunk for school. "What in Merlin's name are you doing?" Ginny looked over and found Fred staring at her as if she had lost her mind. Ginny looked back to her trunk and kept stuffing books into it, vaguely aware that packing "Goblin Tales to Terrorize Tots" wasn't something she would normally do. She had thumbed through it last winter when Bill gave it to her for Christmas, but otherwise, it had been sitting on a shelf collecting dust.

But right now, having reading material that would help whittle away hours of time seemed like a very good idea. Why? She didn't know. NEWT classes had given her enough reading and assignments to put an end to any thought of reading for pleasure. Fred was still looking at her expectantly though, and she had to say something. "I er, I promised a friend I'd bring back some books for her. I'm going to loan them to her until next year. She's a bit of a Hermione she is, planning to read away her summer. I for one, have every intention of practicing flying every day this summer."

It might have worked; Fred might have bought her explanation, but for the wince she couldn't conceal as her armband heated up again. "Like hell! Let me see that!" And before she could stop him, he had her arm in his grip, yanking up her sleeve. She struggled against him, but rather uselessly. His brow furrowed, and Ginny wondered for a moment if he would think it nothing but an odd piece of jewelry. "What the….? Mum! Dad! Get up here!"

Her hopes plummeted and a knot twisted in her stomach. She didn't want to have this conversation. This argument. Not right now. They would demand to know where the armband had come from, who had given it to her. And then she would either be forced into lying, or coming up with some semblance of the truth about why she trusted Draco Malfoy.

She knew she would need to tell them about her relationship at some point. But not right now. Honestly, she had avoided thinking about the particulars of how she would do it. A part of her was hoping they would just end up hearing it from someone else, and all she would have to do was confirm what they had heard, and add in that they were in love. If they were yelling at her, she would have no problem being defensive and yelling right back at them. She didn't mind confrontation in the least. But if she was the one who had to tell them everything? Watch them be concerned, confused, worried? That seemed much more daunting.

"What in Merlin's name is that?" Ginny winced as her mum gripped her arm. She felt her mum about to touch it, and in a panic, Ginny yelled "No!" It was too late though. Her mum had touched it and screamed as the armband burned her hand. Her mum released her grip on her arm, and stepped back, nursing her burned hand while her dad's face reddened in uncontrollable anger. "Take that off right now! That's dark magic young lady! How could you be so irresponsible? Where did you get it from! Who did you buy it from?"

She didn't know what came over her. Her dad was only voicing what she had initially thought about the armband. But some part of her took it as a terrible insult. "It's not dark! It's protective magic! It's warning me that someone is actively trying to kill me at this very moment! So if you don't mind, let's all stay focused on me staying alive and not about where I get my jewelry from!"

At this, George spoke up and Ginny turned to face her brother who had come up with her parents. "Oh don't be thick Gin! The Burrow is coated in protection charms and no one has any reason to target us now all of a sudden. Dad was just at the Ministry an hour ago. Nothing has changed since then." Ginny squinted her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "Well obviously something has, or the armband wouldn't have gotten hot."

He matched her glare and spoke in an insultingly condescending tone. "It's probably just charmed to do that sporadically so you think it's working. It's just a piece of junk. How much did you pay for it? A galleon?" Before she could answer, the door crashed open and all five Weaselys froze in fear.

"Mum! Dad! Everyone! Come quick! We've got to go now!" It was Bill. Bill sounding just short of desperate, fear evident in his tone. Ginny didn't gloat that she was right. In fact, she didn't say a word. None of them did. Picking up her trunk, she went down the stairs as quickly as possible, while everyone else summoned basic necessities and apparated downstairs with them. Bill stared at them all in astonishment. "You knew to pack? How?" And then before anyone could answer, he shook his head. "Right, not important. You all need to get to Aunt Muriel's. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were caught. They escaped, but they know Ron's with Harry now."

Ginny felt faint. They had been caught? When? How? Were they hurt? "Oh Arthur! What.."

"Not now Molly! Accio broomsticks! Everyone on!" And as one frantic, jumbled mess, they all piled onto the three broomsticks that came whipping through the door. With one hand, Ginny clutched tightly to Fred, and with the other, she clutched her trunk to her side. For once, it being small and battered was a blessing instead of a curse. Once everyone was securely on a broomstick, they shot off, her father dousing everyone with disillusionment charms. It was one of the worst flights Ginny had ever had.

It wasn't just that Fred was steering one handed, clutching his own things to his chest with his other hand. It wasn't that her arm was dead with the strain of holding her trunk. It was the stomach churning certainty that someone would spot them and inform the death eaters. Worse, that they would land at Aunt Muriel's to find their aunt bound up, and Ministry officials waiting to take them in on charges of abetting undesirable number one. Even if they weren't caught, they were officially criminals. They would have to live hidden lives. Trapped in whatever safe haven they could find. Ginny could only think of how such an existence had done Sirius in.

All of her plans for her future had been smashed to pieces. She stared down at the passing landscape, unable to get a hold of her emotions. Eventually, they began to descend cautiously into a grove of trees. "We'll need to wait here for Muriel's signal. Bill said he'd contact her through the portrait of my great uncle Gwain." Ginny watched as her father took out the broken off handle of a milk jug, and stared intently at it. It was a pale blue at the moment. Ginny honestly wasn't sure what he was waiting for, but she was for the first time truly appreciative of how thorough her family had been in having emergency plans set in place.

After endless minutes of waiting, the handle flashed dark blue, and her father took a deep breath. "Right. We're going in. Top-most window to the left. If you see anything amiss, fly back to Devon and to cousin Edward. Fred, George, you remember the farm? We used to go there for Easter when you were little." The twins nodded and Ginny felt a little pang at missing out on the family get togethers her brothers got to experience before she was born. "If something doesn't feel right at the farm, fly to the Isle of Wight. Charlie has a friend there that we can stay with. Never seen the place myself to be honest, but we'd be looking for herds of bicorn."

As it turned out, they didn't need to head to Cousin Edward's or to the bicorn man. Miraculously, Aunt Muriel's home stood unmolested, empty save for their aunt.

They had hardly gotten into the room, before Muriel came bursting through the door. "Lucky you, that damn Ministry sent Fick out here to question me. The boy's father used to help me grow mandrakes in the cellar. We'd sell them to Flaghtery for a tidy profit, let me tell you. All I had to do was remind the little bugger that it was our mandrake operation that bought him his toys at Christmas growing up. That got him so flustered he could barely keep from running off. His sort can't stand to be reminded of their family's illegal doings. Speaking of pompous dolts, where's that other son of yours?"

Ginny felt her stomach churn as she realized she had forgotten about Percy. Had he already been arrested? He would never fight Ministry officials. She saw her mum clutch her dad's arm, her eyes clouded with worry and unshed tears. But her dad remained calm and resolved. "He'll be left alone. Everyone working at the Ministry knows he's had nothing to do with us for some time now."

Muriel raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips. "If you say so. Still, I'll keep an ear out for you anyhow. I have tea with Irma Hoppich tomorrow. That woman knows anything and everything about the misfortune of others. Biggest gossip I've ever met. Now you all stay put and I'll send some firewhiskey up. Merlin knows you all need a shot of it. Hell of a day you've had."

As the door slammed shut, the room seemed eerily quiet. The silence was almost smothering. Hell of a day indeed. "Do you think Percy knows? About us being fugitives?"

"I dunno George. Could be. He wouldn't…he wouldn't help them look for us would he?"

"Frederick Alban Weasley! How dare you! Of course not!"

"I was only asking mum! We need to be ready for anything!"

The tension in the room was palpable when glasses of fire whiskey popped into existence. Relieved, her brothers snatched up a glass each and downed it. Her mum gave her a long look, and then sighed. "I wouldn't normally approve of this, but if you want one…" Ginny felt her body stiffen, and then she shook her head. "No, I um, I've tried it before. Too strong for me." It was nearly the truth. She had tried it before at Hogwarts and it was a rather strong drink.

Ginny didn't realize how much her statement had shocked her mum though, until she was being yelled at. "Tried it before! When was this! Who is it going around providing alcohol to underage girls?" Ginny could see George and Fred having gone very still out of the corner of her eye, and made sure not to look in their direction. It had in fact been the twins who had given her a shot of Firewhiskey ages ago. "Oh honestly mum! I had some at Bill's wedding of course. Drinks were floating around the tent all night!" Her mother seemed temporarily speechless at this, but quickly recovered. "Those were for wizards and witches that had come of age! I never would have…someone ought to have stopped you. Arthur! Where were you when all this was going on?" Suddenly the target of her mum's ire, her dad sputtered out a response about chatting with Uncle Bilius and showing off some muggle gadget to a whole gaggle of interested onlookers, and what was the harm anyhow? Ginny was nearly of age now. Just a few months short of it.

Unhappily, her mum was forced to let the issue go, and the rest of the evening was spent unpacking and figuring out sleeping arrangements. Exhausted, Ginny went to sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. The luck potion had done its job. They were alive and safe and together. Everything else, they'd figure out another day.

"Mmm, is that bacon?" Ginny peeled her eyes open at the sound of her brother's voice and let the memories of last night come back to her. They were at Aunt Muriel's, hiding as fugitives. It was as they were all sitting and eating breakfast on the floor that her dad started to stare at her, brow furrowed. Uh oh. "Gin? We never did finish talking about that armband of yours. Where did you get such a thing? Something that can warn you of danger like that is normally a guarded family heirloom."

She could lie. She knew it would be the easiest way. But maybe this was her chance. Her chance to introduce the idea of Draco as someone who, did in fact, care about her. In a fit of bravery, she decided to take it even a step further. "It was a Valentine's Day gift actually." Without exception, they all looked at her in abject confusion. Finally, her mum spoke. "Was it, was it from Harry? Did he manage to send something?" Ginny's eyes widened in disbelief.

"No, of course not! Why would you say something like that? He broke up with me if you remember." Her mum pursed her lips at that, and her dad looked rather uncomfortable. Fred and George had no reservations though. "Oh come off it! You know-" "he'll run right back to you once this is all over with."

Ginny's mouth thinned. "And what exactly will he have expected me to have done in the meantime?" The truth was, she was rather sure if Harry did win, he would be so scarred by the experience that he would be quite a different person. At the very least, he would have committed murder. She would be a different person as well. She already was.

"Better question sis. What have-" "you done in the meantime?" Well, this was it. A moment of truth. Maybe this was the best scenario for this conversation. Trapped in a room together for an indefinite amount of time. They would be forced to hear her out. To go through whatever emotions they were going to go through, and not be able to act on any of them. "I've been seeing someone."

"Since when?"

"Who?"

"You do move fast, don't you?"

Ginny glared at Fred for that last comment and continued on. "For a number of months now. We don't always see eye to eye on everything, but we care about each other quite a lot. With everything that has been happening, he was worried for me and gave me the armband to try and protect me." Her mum had listened to all this with an expression of much more concern than Ginny could have predicted.

"But Harry…" Harry? Was that what was concerning her mother! Ginny felt a rush of annoyance. "Harry did not share his dreams for the future with me. Harry did not help find a way for me to hone my Quidditch skills so I can have a shot at following my dream. Harry does not even know that I want to be a Quidditch player."

"Well he could know all that. And I'm sure he'd be more than willing to help you with whatever career you want. You two just need more time together. A chance to really chat." Ginny struggled for a response, knowing that her mum wasn't wrong. Really, she was just making excuses. The truth was, she just didn't feel as strongly about Harry anymore. She didn't have good, solid reasons for it. She couldn't explain it with logic. She just felt so good in Draco's arms. Was that a reason? That another man felt like home? That she simply didn't want Harry the way she wanted Draco?

"Alright fine! You're right! On parchment, Harry is a good, solid choice. I have no real reason to not be with him except that I don't want to be. I fell in love this year mum. I can't even describe it. I'd sound like a loon. There's just no place I'd rather be than in his arms. He challenges me. Makes me really think about what I believe, who I want to be. I'm just happy with him. Content and excited and optimistic about the future, or well, I was."

"It sounds like you two are rather close…" Ginny took a breath and nodded. "Yeah." It was silent for a while after that, but Ginny didn't notice. She was daydreaming of Draco, remembering the last time they had been together before the Easter holidays.

"And who is this fellow?" Ginny snapped back to reality, and tensed. "I am just going to remind everyone that this is my life, and it is my decision who I want to be with. But if you must know, since around November, I've been in a relationship with Draco Malfoy." Silence. A whole ten seconds of dead silence, and then the tension broke.

"Absolutely not!"

"Get that armband off right now! You are not wearing anything that belongs to that family!"

"You have gone completely mental!"

"Is this to get back at Harry?"

Ginny chose to focus on her mum's comment and nearly yelled her response. "For the last time I don't care about Harry like that! I've moved on!"

"Well move back! Oh I knew we should have found a way to keep you home this year! What were you thinking?" Ginny glared at her mum, feeling positively indignant.

"I was thinking that I like being happy. He cares about me mum! You should be over the moon really. If anyone is going to use every trick in the book to try and keep their family safe, you know it will be Malfoy. Isn't that what you want for me? To be kept safe?"

"Yes! Kept safe from people like him! I can't believe this! If Ron had been at school this year, none of this would have ever happened. How could you ever-"

"Molly, stop." Ginny was just as surprised as her mum that her dad had interrupted the tirade. His hand was firmly around her mum's arm, and his eyes were staring intently at Ginny. Even Fred and George realized how serious their dad looked and remained silent as they all waited for him to speak. "When you spoke just now, you included yourself as his family. Just how serious have you let this relationship get Ginevra?"

Ginny paled slightly, hearing her full name come out of his mouth. His quiet, calm tone invoked a terror in her that her mum's screaming never did.

A weighty silence filled the room. It was a deep and uncomfortable silence, finally broken by her mum's gasp as she came to her own conclusions. "You're engaged, aren't you? Oh how could you! It's this war, that's what it is. Forcing everyone into rash decisions. Thinking that it has to be now or never. Oh Arthur! We never should have told them we got engaged before graduating school! Now look what's happened!"

Her mum's comments thankfully gave Ginny a distraction. Hopefully, her father's question could remain unanswered. "I'm not engaged! Not yet anyways. We just, we've talked about it is all. Is that so bad? To know that there is someone out there who wants to marry your daughter?"

Both of her parents remained silent, stubborn looks of disapproval on their faces. Ginny gave a very dramatic huff of frustration, and stomped over to her trunk. "Fine. Don't be happy for me. Don't bother giving a chance to the man I love. Be close minded and stubborn and pessimistic. I'm not stupid you know. I wouldn't be with him if I didn't think it would work." And then she sat down with the book she had taken out of her trunk, opened it, and began reading, effectively ignoring the rest of her family.

The next three days seemed to go on forever. With an active search for them still going on, they were forced to stay in the bedroom that had been coated with concealment charms, outfitted with intruder spells, and doused with defense wards. All the while, Muriel worked to maintain an appearance of normalcy to deflect any suspicion. She had guests over for tea, talked with the neighbors, went shopping.

And everyone else began to go stir crazy. George and Fred worked to create games out of the little they had in the room with them. They all spent time reading the books Ginny had packed. Everyone but Ginny got to practice defensive spells and whatever other wandwork they wanted. Her parents would have let her practice too, but it would have activated the trace. And given that Aunt Muriel supposedly lived alone, the trace going off would have been like a flashing sign, declaring that she was hiding an underage witch or wizard. But even with all that to occupy them, it wasn't nearly enough. They all yearned to stretch their legs. Get fresh air. Do something productive.

It was made even worse for Ginny as the rest of her family followed her mum's lead in refusing to acknowledge anything had ever been said about Ginny dating, never mind whom she was dating. It was truly as if her mum had decided the conversation had simply been a bad dream. It left Ginny depressed. What if her mum was right in a way? A future with him really was a dream now. Nothing would ever be able to come of it. Not with her being a fugitive. Her future felt even bleaker than it had back in October.

Not even the cooling of her armband on the fourth day was enough to break her out of her dark mood. She simply looked up from her book and found her father's eyes. He looked back at her with a furrowed brow, and Ginny rolled up her sleeve. "It's cooled. I'm not completely certain, but I imagine it means they've stopped actively searching for us."

Fred and George stopped their dueling at her words, and had one of those silent conversation moments Ginny had always been a bit jealous of. They looked back at her with unnaturally serious expressions and Ginny felt her defensives come up. "What?" Her question had been low and icy in tone, but the twins didn't falter.

"It's just if Malfoy can somehow control that armband-" "how can we trust he's not trying to lure us into a sense of safety?" Ginny's eyes narrowed, but she tried to keep a clear mind. To try and think logically. Was there any circumstance in which Draco would be forced into helping capture them? After Harry, Ron, and Hermione's escape, it was quite possible You Know Who had interrogated his death eaters. She knew He was supposedly a skilled Legilimens. Would You Know Who have found out about the armband? Would He force Draco into helping her be captured to prove his loyalty to the Dark Lord? Was Draco being threatened with death if he didn't comply? Draco could be counting on her and her family being smart enough to evade capture.

Or what if Draco really was mad at her? What if he had decided that she had done this to herself, and she deserved whatever she got? She still remembered those early conversations in November. How he had lost it and destroyed nearly the entire room when she told him she'd do the right thing, no matter the cost. How he had fumed at her for doing things to earn detention. How pissed off he had been in January when she had tried to save that dog. What if he had seen this as the last straw? What if he now saw her as too reckless, too stubborn, too dangerous to care about? She blinked furiously, keeping the tears at bay.

She couldn't know for sure. She couldn't risk it. Even after everything they had been through this year, they could still end up facing each other on opposite sides of battle. Draco could still be the one who would end up killing her. "You could be right. If the search for us has really been regulated to the back burner, we'll wait for the Order to tell us." And then she very slowly slid the armband off of her arm, fighting back tears as she did it. The silver clanged onto the floor and Ginny stared at it, waiting for the ache of pain that had gripped her heart to subside.

If anyone spoke, she didn't hear it. It wasn't until she felt her mum's arm around her that she became aware of her surroundings. Her mum squeezed her shoulder, kissed the top of her head, and sighed. "I'm proud of you Gin. Trust me, this is for the best. People like us have no business with people like them." Ginny only swallowed and continued to stare at the armband. Right. She had no business with him. He was a death eater, and she would be arrested if she did anything but fully commit to fighting against You Know Who and his followers.

The choice had been made for her. It was time to move on.