A/N: Yes, the chapter names do create one long summary—In which distant relations become friends, a detail is (partially) revealed, a mishap occurs, a plan is made, and they all just hope for the best. (In that order.)

Enjoy the final chapter!

Chapter Five: ...And They All Just Hope for the Best

I raced out after Ginny.

"Wait!"

She glanced back, furry in her eyes.

"Why would you do something like this? Put me and my family in danger like this?"

"Listen, Pansy told whoever she's working for about this. Not me. I thought you knew that." Had Pansy gone behind Ginny's back? I certainly hadn't expected that from Pansy, but then again—she kept doing the unexpected. "And besides, I want to keep you safe. You're quite clearly in danger, and you shouldn't have to do this alone. I love you, Ginny, and I don't want something bad to happen to you!"

"That doesn't give you any right to sell me out like that!"

"I didn't! I just—I told them a little more." I felt guilty as I said it. "But they already knew all of the big things!" I felt tears in my eyes. "Look, I love you, and I hate watching those that I love suffer. I love you."

She watched me in stunned silence, then asked slowly, "Like… friends, or…?" She trailed off.

"Or," I agreed.

Then she did something I had never expected her to.

She leaned up and kissed me. It lasted seconds, maybe minutes, us just standing there, pressed up against one another.

Finally, I pulled back, my gaze meeting hers. And for just one moment, the two of us were just happy—happy and nothing else, and I thought that perhaps she wasn't mad at me, the way it had seemed before.

Then she turned around and ran away.

I felt my heart sink in my chest. I had really liked that. Wanted that. I had assumed she had, too, since she started it but maybe…

Maybe she hadn't?

"I need advice," I said as I walked into Pansy's house that afternoon.

"On what?" Luna asked at the same time that Pansy said,

"Don't just come barging into my house!"

"Well, it's not your house, is it?"

"Not legally," she sighed, admitting I was right. "What do you need advice on? Whether or not to give up your obsession with this case? Because I think that it would be a really good idea to—"

"I know how you feel about me being a part of this, Pansy, but keep in mind that you haven't really pushed me away all that hard." She gave me a look. "Just saying." I flopped down on the couch next to them. "But that's not what I came here for. I've got… well, girl problems."

"Ooh, do elaborate," Luna prodded.

"See, Ginny kissed me, but she's also mad at me, so then right afterward she ran away. I don't know what to do."

"Wait, what?" Pansy asked. "Has this been, like, a thing?"

"Oh, sorry, I guess I probably should start from the beginning. So, I've got a bit of a crush on her, and we've been kind of friends for a while now, and I told her that you guys were… well, making a move soon—you know, with the case—and I guess I implied that you were going to try to keep her safe and she flipped out, and then she ran away, and I followed her, she got even more upset, made it sound like I had been the one to tell your people about her being… well, not wanting to be involved with the Death Eaters, which isn't true—I just let them question me about things they already knew—and—"

"Is there a point to your run-on sentence?"

"Right, sorry," I said. "The point is, she was upset with me, I told her that everything that I've done has been because I love her… well, I said something along those lines. Anyway, she kissed me. It was really nice."

"And what's the problem again?" Pansy asked.

"Then I pulled away to tell her something and she ran away. What should I do?"

"Talk to her," Pansy suggested, which I found completely unhelpful. She must have seen something in my expression and so then elaborated, "Do you know why she ran away?" to which I shook my head. "Then you should try to understand before you launch into anything extravagant. Don't overthink things; just talk to her. It's the best thing that you can do in a relationship." She made it seem much simpler than I had been making it in my head.

"I guess you make a really good point," I agreed. "What should I say, then?"

"Well, just ask her why she did it. That's what you're wondering, right?" I nodded. "So, ask that." I shot her a look. She shrugged. "It's true. Just try it. If you're really meant for each other, you can talk. That doesn't mean that it's always easy, but it does mean that you try."

That's stuck with me for a long time now. At the time that Pansy said it, I didn't understand exactly how much it's true. But through good and bad times, I've learned that honesty is the best thing when talking to those that you love. Anyway.

I decided that Pansy was right and went to talk to Ginny later that evening. I wasn't sure what she'd say—and I was terrified beyond belief that she'd say she didn't really want to be with me, that she'd made a mistake, that it was a spur of the moment thing—but knowing was better than not.

Unfortunately, my journey did not go uninterrupted.

I intended to speak to Ginny directly after dinner, as I'd be able to see where she went from the mess hall and hopefully be able to snag a moment alone, but my friends had other ideas.

As soon as we were dismissed, I shot from my seat, ready to get talking—the sooner the better, right? Procrastination only makes anxiety worse, after all.

"Where are you off to?" Ron asked, making me stop.

"Er… I was hoping to catch someone real quick before bed," I said.

"Oh, well," he glanced at Harry. "We were kind of hoping that you'd stay for a game of chess. You never play with us anymore, 'Mione, and we wanted to, you know, get back to that."

"It really can't wait," I said, eager to be getting going. "But I'll play with you another time."

"That's alright," Harry said, nodding understandingly. "But if you don't mind me asking, what's it over?"

"Well…" I debated telling the truth. I decided to go with a version of it. "I kissed Ginny this morning, but I think she's mad at me about it, or something." Mostly honest.

"That's what she was upset about?" Ron asked. "It seemed like a lot more than that!"

"Well, there was some stuff that happened before that which might be part of it. I kind of… told some people some things that she didn't want me to tell them. Is she really that upset about it?"

"Well, she was sobbing for ages earlier today," he said. It was the weekend. "She wouldn't tell me what it was about, but if it was you, you need to go fix it." He glared at me. He tended to be pretty protective of his little sister.

I nodded quickly at him, feeling guilty all of the sudden. He was right. I did need to fix this.

But now I didn't know where she was. She definitely wasn't in the Great Hall anymore, but that still left the rest of the school—and grounds, and town, I realized—up for grabs.

I thought I remembered her going left, which was the direction of our commons (and also the front door of the school, unfortunately), so I decided to start there.

I went up to hers, first, but she, unfortunately, was nowhere to be found. I wasn't too surprised, though. She didn't seem to like her roommates too much and therefore wasn't around her dorm a lot.

I decided, then, to check mine, which I felt was a doubtful location, but she had spent a lot of time there lately and had become friends with Lavender, so I figured it wasn't too much of a stretch.

But I didn't find her there, which left me at a loss as to where she could be. The library, I supposed, was the only other school-run place that was still open at this time, and seemed like the only other place she might be, so I headed there. In the process, I asked various people if they'd seen her, but the general consensus was that either they hadn't, or they'd seen her heading toward the commons, neither of which helped me.

In the library, which was right next to the front entrance, I asked around about Ginny, but no one knew. I began to search up and down the isles. At that point, I was starting to worry that I wouldn't find her. After all, she did have a tendency to not be found unless she wanted to be.

I decided she probably wasn't in the library and headed out the front doors of the facility, miraculously unspotted (we weren't allowed outside after dark).

I glanced around, not really expecting to find anything, but stumbled upon a dark blue bag, the kind that you sling over one shoulder that latches on one side like a purse.

But it wasn't just any bag, I realized with a growing sense of dread.

It was Ginny's.

"I don't know what to do," I said hurriedly, my voice squeaky with worry as I concluded my story. "I've tried her cell, searched all around the school. I'm sure she's not here. I think it was Voldemort."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," I said. "Please, just tell me what to do!"

"Come to my house," Pansy said calmly from the other side of the line.

"We don't have that kind of time!"

"We also don't need to panic," Pansy reminded me, her voice much more level than what I would have expected. "I'll ask around and see if anyone has heard anything, but it's really important that you don't do anything rash." She put a lot of stress on those last four words.

"Yes, but—"

"Did you hear me?"

"Yeah, 'don't do anything rash,'" I repeated back. "But, if she's been taken by Voldemort, she doesn't have the time for us to just sit on our asses and do nothing! You, of everyone, should know that! Please, Pansy." I knew I sounded desperate. But why didn't she get it?

"We can't just go barging in there. They already know that you've been trailing Ginny, alright? You can't go back there, and it would be foolish to call in a strike team right now. We've got a working plan, and I don't want to eliminate that for a hunch, alright?"

"Do you not believe me?" I asked, almost hurt.

"I—no, Hermione, I do believe you," she said with a sigh. "Listen, I've already gotten in trouble for involving you in this, alright? I don't want to lose this job." She sounded just as desperate as I felt. She also sounded regretful, which made me feel better—maybe she wasn't totally righting me off, after all. "This could be my only way out of the legacy that my parents have built."

"Can't we do anything?" I couldn't handle if something happened to Ginny.

"Listen, I'll have Luna see if she can get into their security cameras. They've gotta have some in Little Hangleton, and if they do, we can see what's going on. Alright? In the meantime, why don't you hop on a bus and come down to my place? Cool?"

"Yeah," I muttered. It was better than nothing.

"Okay." She sounded like she didn't believe me. "Just don't do—"

"Anything rash," I finished. "I know."

"Okay," she repeated.

I briefly considered doing just that—something stupid, I mean—but then decided that she was right. It would be smarter not to.

So, instead, I headed over to Pansy's house as I was supposed to, where I discovered Luna looking through security camera footage upon crossing the threshold.

"Ah, Hermione," she smiled. "I just got in right when you showed up! What perfect timing."

"Er… yeah. I didn't know you could do… that," I said, gesturing to the screen.

"That?" she asked, seeming oblivious.

"Hack," I said, irritated.

"Ah. Yes. I can."

"It's actually how she figured out a lot about… well, everything," Pansy added. "She knew something was going on with me and with Ginny and with Little Hangleton. She's really quite intuitive."

Luna smiled a little bit. "Yes, but that's not why Hermione is here right now."

"Right," Pansy said quickly as Luna put a hand on her shoulder. "What are you seeing?"

"Ginny's in there," I said, pointing at one panel on the screen. It showed Ginny tied to an… office chair? A bright red one, at that. There was no one in the room with her, though. She appeared to be unconscious and, from what I could see, was pretty banged up, a gash running along her forehead from which blood gushed. I covered my mouth.

"Well, I guess you were right," Pansy murmured softly. "But… well, is there any way to know that what we're seeing is real? It could be a trap."

"Is there any way to know that what we're seeing isn't real?" I countered. How could she say that, with Ginny beaten and bruised right in front of her? "Why would it be a trap?"

Pansy sighed, shaking her head defeatedly. "I'll call my agency. I'll tell them what we know—not about this part, though, because that would get Luna arrested, too, and I don't want that."

"How long with that take?" I asked.

"Five minutes. Luna can keep an eye on the feed, and if anything changes, signal me over."

"Okay," I hesitantly agreed.

Pansy walked into the other room. For a couple of minutes we could hear a dull chatter, not quite audible words, but then shouting began.

"That's not fair!" Pansy cried. "I swear, this is real!" Quiet for a moment. "How do I know this? Come on, look at the evidence before you." More quiet. "Look, I've given you every—" A little bit more quiet. "No, wait, I have—" The final set of "quiet" began, and then….

"Fuck!" she yelled. There was a loud crash from something. She stormed out.

"I didn't think you were that passionate about this," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"She doesn't like to get people's hopes up," Luna told me.

"Did you add in the part about the security cams?" I asked Pansy, as that was our largest piece of information that we could have offered.

"No," she snapped. "I said I wasn't going to."

"Yes, but—"

"I tried. He hung up."

"Then try calling again!"

"He told me they're not going to contact me again until Wednesday, and if I call before then—specifically about this—they'll suspend me."

"But—"

"Hermione, I think we're on our own for this one!"

I nodded, my stomach turning a little. This was going to be dangerous, then, if we had no help from the professionals. Anything could go wrong now. Who am I kidding? I thought. This was never going to go well to begin with.

"We're going to figure it out, though," she said. "It might be dangerous, but we'll do it. Listen, I'm going to go grab us a set of coms to communicate through while we're in there. Luna, get that security feed on your phone so that we can take it with us. We're going to leave in a few minutes." Then she turned on her heal and marched upstairs.

Luna and I stood still for a little while, neither making a move to hook up her phone with the appropriate things. Then Luna took a step, which reminded me—"Do you love her?" I asked suddenly.

"Yes." No pause.

"Does she know?"

"Yes." Luna seemed thoughtful for a moment. Then she turned to me and asked the same thing: "Do you love her?" Ginny.

"Yes," I responded.

"Does she know?"

"I'm not sure," I told her.

"You should tell her."

"I have."

"Then make sure she understands."

Thirty minutes later, we were sitting in Pansy's car a block away from Little Hangleton, bickering over who would go in.

Or rather, Pansy and I were shouting about which one of us would go in and get Ginny while Luna sat in the corner with her fingers over her ears.

"SHUT UP!" she finally yelled. Pansy and I froze, staring at her. "Thank you," she sighed. Neither of us had realized that she could be quite so loud. "Why don't you both go in? I'll monitor from out here. I'll give you updates, tell you where to look. That sort of thing."

"No," was all Pansy said.

"No?" I asked.

She nodded. "I can't put you out there. If you die, it's on me."

"No, it's not," I told her, looking her in the eyes. "I have a mind of my own. No one tells me what to do. If I go in there, it's because of me, not you. Besides, you could use backup."

"You've never done anything like this," she sighed.

"I used to take martial arts," I offered. Given, I had never been really great, but she didn't need to know that.

"What, when you were seven?"

"No, up until last year."

"For like six months?"

"For like six years. I can handle myself."

"Fine. But you follow my lead, got it?"

"Yes, ma'am," I agreed.

"Alright, we'll walk in through the front entrance. They know me. If you just stand there and fiddle on your phone or something with your hood down, they won't recognize you, and it won't matter because they trust me. Got it? Now, if someone stops to speak to us, you say nothing unless you have to. Keep fiddling on your phone. I'll lead the way to where Ginny's being held. We want to act as natural as possible. If we act like we're just doing whatever, like it's totally fine, they shouldn't get on our cases, alright?" I just nodded. "Then we get out of there as fast as possible through the window in the bathroom. We get in there, lock the door, and climb out. Ginny first, then you. I'll go last. If something looks like it's going to happen, you get out, alright? Don't worry about me." I nodded again, but silently decide to stay behind and help if needed.

"Are you okay?" she finally asked.

"Fine, why?" I responded. "Can we just get going?"

"You seem… much calmer than I expected. I figured you'd be freaking out at least a little."

I shrugged. "I don't know. I feel pretty—"

"Flat?" Luna asked. I frowned. "You're worried and you're trying to suppress it. That'll pass, though."

"Let's get going, then," Pansy sighed, and I tried not to think too much about Luna's words—that it would pass.

We hopped out of the car a few minutes later after changing our jackets quickly and tying back my hair (Pansy's was pretty short and therefore didn't need it).

"Testing," Pansy said.

"Bobcats," came Luna's voice through our earpieces.

"Bobcats?" I asked.

"Bobcats," Luna replied knowingly.

Pansy shook her head and mouthed, "Forget it."

We began our trek down the street and into the alleyway.

We marched like it meant something, heading straight—well, as straight as two young gay women could—toward the door.

"Password?" the guard said. Today it wasn't Malfoy's dad. I didn't recognize this one.

As planned, I had my head down, looking at my phone, as Pansy answered, "But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys."

"I'm impressed," the man responded. "It's a long one this time."

"Yeah," Pansy agreed. "But it's the Masque of the Red Death, which I've read a hundred times anyway. I practically already had it memorized."

"Of course you did," he laughed. "Come right on in, you two."

We entered as casually as we could, sharing a glance as we did.

It seemed that our eyes were telling each other, "I can't believe how easy that was!"

But it wasn't the time for celebration just yet. We still had to cross the entire bar and make it down the back hallway unscathed.

I continued to play on my phone, watching Pansy out of the corner of my eye, and we began to walk across the room.

About halfway, a bubbly young woman stopped us. "Pansy! It's been ages since I saw you last!"

"I know!" Pansy said, giving her a hug. "We should totally hang out sometime!"

"You bet!" the other agreed. "I'll text you later; let's work out a time!"

"Sure," Pansy said, nodding along.

"Maybe we could go down to the dueling club nearby? We haven't sparred in ages!" I inwardly rolled my eyes. I had been expecting her to say something like "nail painting".

"Oh, I know. I've still got it, though, and I bet I can still flip you on your ass in ten seconds flat!"

She laughed. "You're on. And, um, just so you know, that's not gonna happen this time." She winked. "Have a nice night!" She walked away, humming softly to herself.

I raised an eye at Pansy, who just shrugged, smirking slightly. She seemed pleased with how casually she'd pulled that off.

We made it to the other end unscathed after that, and the hallway that followed seemed eerily deserted except for two guards at the end.

She pulled me back where I stood—peering around the corner—and procured something from the pocket of her trench coat.

I looked at it curiously.

"Smoke bomb," she whispered. I hadn't known about this. "It's a distraction."

She pulled me further away from the entrance of the hallway.

"Luna, what do you see?"

"It's just those two guards on your side of the door. If you set off the bomb now, they'll probably go for it. There are four more with Voldemort, though."

"Right, okay."

"Oh, yeah, sorry, probably should've mentioned this: Voldemort is in there with Ginny."

"Yes, that's what you just implied," Pansy agreed.

"Yeah, he's talking to her right now."

"I'll just… I don't know, tell him that one of his guards told me that the explosion was something he should check out."

"Alright," Luna and I said at the same time.

"Okay, Hermione, cover your ears and look away."

I did as she said and a moment later I heard a large explosion, a couple of screams, and then chaos.

Sure enough, the two guards who had previously been standing at the door walk out of the hall and into the main room. A moment later, two more follow, presumably from inside the room.

Pansy and I stood still in the corner and waited. Pansy's brow furrowed. She pulled out another smoke bomb.

"What's that for?" I asked in surprise.

"I don't really want to have to talk to him. It seems like when we'd be most likely to be caught." She set it off, then pulled a fire alarm a moment later. People start rushing out, the fog in the room thick now.

Finally, we heard the door at the other end of the hallway open. A moment later, four armed guards emerge flanking a man that I assumed was Voldemort. He looked furious.

We slipped behind him and dashed down to the door. Pansy started rummaging through her pockets, then pulled out lock picks. She jostled the doorknob and upon finding locked, as she'd clearly expected it to be, began working on getting it open. My heart was starting to pound in my chest as my stomach kindly decided to tie itself in knots and my pores chose to unload all the liquid I had had in the last twenty-four hours.

It was finally hitting me, I realized—everything that we were doing—and tried to force my breathing from my chest to my stomach in an effort to calm down.

After about ten billion hours, Pansy had the door open and we bolted inside. Ginny looked up, first appearing concerned, but then realized it was us. Her facial expressions went from confused to shocked to surprised and then to positively gleeful and relieved.

I yanked a rudely placed gag off of her mouth, whispering, "Don't worry, we're gonna get you out of this."

Pansy began tying her hands while I worked on her feet.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Someone from the school must have been listening to one of the three of us at some point. Oh, God, they know everything!" she whispered. Pansy and I glanced at each other. "They wanted to know who else knew. Oh, God, they know about the FBI's involvement, everything! Everything!"

"It must still be compartmentalized, then," Pansy said slowly, but I could hear the dread in her voice. "Because no one I talked to when we got here seemed to know. Right?"

"I guess," Ginny breathed. "Let's worry about that later, though, and get out of here!"

"Okay, good idea," I told her. "And… Ginny, I'm sorry about everything."

"No time for chit chat," Pansy chastised us. We fell into silence for a moment longer, then finished unbinding Ginny from the chair.

The three of us then shot up. Ginny wobbled slightly.

"You alright?" I suddenly thought to ask.

"Yeah, yeah, fine, just got a sprained ankle, I think." She winced. She wasn't usually one for showing much pain, which made me worry that perhaps it was worse than she was letting on. "I'll tell you the whole story later."

I said nothing, but grabbed her hand—accidentally leaving her behind if she fell wouldn't be great, after all this—and we bolted.

At first, everything seemed amazing. Sure, Ginny was hurt, and that wasn't ideal, but we were going to make it out!

And we did. We made it all the way out to the front door, which we decided to go through since everything had been evacuated and getting out a window with Ginny's ankle could have been challenging.

Unfortunately, we emerged to none other than Lord Voldemort himself. And he had Luna in his grasp, a knife pressed to her throat.

"Did you really think I was that dumb?" he asked us in a simpering voice. "You're not getting away that easily. Any of you." He smiled sweetly. He had known this whole time. Known that we were here. "Unless, of course, you want your dear friend Luna to die, and I don't think you do."

I don't think that any of us really knew what to do at that point, but Pansy pulled out her badge and started talking. I had the quick thinking to start recording on my phone. I stuck my hand in my pocket, glanced down, swiped to the side, and pressed the red button at the bottom of the screen.

"Listen, if you put her down right now and go quietly, we can give you some leeway, alright? You're going to prison, Voldemort, for life, but you might be able to get a better deal if you cooperate, alright? That's better than nothing." She was slowly creeping towards him.

He smiled maniacally. "Yes, but I haven't been arrested yet, have I? And I got out once; I'll do it again. So I'm not going to worry about that right now." He pressed his knife closer to Luna's skin, a bead of blood forming, though she remained silent, glaring defiantly at the guards in front of her. "That means that I have no qualms about killing little-miss-monitor here if you don't do as I say."

"No, listen, you don't want to do that," Pansy said, taking another step toward him. "Alright? There's another way."

"To kill someone? Sure. Drowning, burning, suffocation, hanging. I could sit here all day and list options for you."

"No, you know what I—" She took a deep breath. "You don't have to kill her."

"You're right. I don't. If you do as I say."

"You can also choose the right path," she said. She was almost to him now.

"Right. Anyway, don't think I haven't noticed your creeping," he said. "Guards, seize them and throw them somewhere they'll never see the light of day again. Well, maybe they will, but only many days after they're dead." He laughed again, seeming overly pleased with himself.

I stopped the recording right then and brought up my contacts list.

"Get that phone away from her!" Voldemort screamed, realizing what I must have been doing.

In a panic, I clicked Sirius Black's name—he was the first in my contacts—and clicked send, then typed "to police" and fumbled the send button, only barely managing to get it.

Then I made a break for it, knowing I couldn't let them cancel the message, but they were hot on my trail.

I glanced at the bar at the top of the screen—the video was halfway sent and that wasn't changing very fast.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shitshitshitshitmotherfuckingshit, I thought. What did I do? I couldn't outrun them. I took a hard left and bolted for the nearby park.

I leapt up and over the fence, miraculously not tripping, and hurtled my phone as far as I could into the bushes and trees.

Adrenaline pumping, I glanced behind me. They were almost there. But I wasn't going to give up just yet.

I broke into another sprint, my heart pounding in my chest, my lungs feeling like they were dying. Where could I go? I had no idea where the police station was.

Anywhere with people.

I sprinted around to another bit of the fence, lept back over, and made for one of the stores. The streets were relatively deserted, so I had to make it inside.

I was so close to an open place when I felt a hand grab the back of my hood, snagging some of my falling-down hair with it.

I let out a yelp, both of surprise and of pain due to having my hair pulled. I stomped down as hard as I could on the person's foot and then flung my heel up to hit them in the groin. I shocked even myself by doing that.

Luckily, the person let go, but I didn't make it even two more steps before being hit on the head by something heavy and cold—probably metal, but I never actually got to find out what it was, as I was unconscious before I hit the ground.

I had no idea how long I was unconscious for, but one thing was certain: my head hurt worse than anything I'd ever dealt with before. Then again, I'd also never been hit over the head with something that hard before.

"What happened?" I muttered as my eyes drifted open. It was dark in the room. Was it morning? Had I dreamt everything that had happened?

But as I shifted around, I realized that my hands were tied, and came to the conclusion that it had, in fact, all been real.

"Oh, fuck," I wheezed.

"Didn't take you for a swearer," Pansy commented. "I take it you now remember? Or was that the headache speaking?"

"The headache was swearing," I clarified. "But yeah, I remember. What happened after I bolted?"

"Well, about five guards took off after you," Pansy said. "The rest of us tried to get free and go after you, or, at least, get out, but a few of the Death Eaters that stayed behind grabbed us, and we couldn't. We all really hoped that you would, though."

I glanced around the room. It was solid, plain concrete with nothing but one barred window in the corner and two pillars in the center. Pansy and I were tied to one, Luna and Ginny to the other. Luna and Pansy were facing each other; Ginny and I were facing the walls.

I craned my head around, trying to see people a little better. "Are there security cameras in here?" I asked, realizing it would probably be an important thing to know.

Ginny jutted her head at one corner.

"Right, okay."

"Yeah," she sighed. "Thanks for trying to come get me, by the way. Even if you did totally butcher it." We all shot her a look. "Just saying."

"Are you still mad at me?"

"For telling people about my involvement in everything? Yeah."

"Okay, listen, I didn't 'tell' anyone. The feds already knew, which I thought that you knew about, but I guess not. I did give them some extra information, but just so that they could help keep you safe!"

"You still told them! And I'm willing to bet it's your damn fault we're even in this mess!"

"What?" That surprised me. How could she say something like that?

"I think it was your blathering that gave them the tip about all of us." She glared at me, hate in her eyes. That one hurt. I hadn't thought it was me, but… I supposed she was right.

"I didn't mean to," I whispered, feeling very much like a small child in trouble for knocking over a vase or something by accident.

She sighed. "I know you didn't. I guess I can't blame you."

"So you're not mad?"

"Oh, I'm mad; I just don't think I should blame you."

"Explain," Pansy said, and Ginny and I suddenly realized again that we weren't alone.

"Oh, right," Ginny said hesitantly. "Well, it's like 'Mione said, she was just trying to protect me. That's why I'm in this whole mess, after all—trying to protect the people that I care about."

"I love you," I whispered suddenly.

"What?" Ginny asked, looking up.

"I said that I love you. I don't just care about you, I love you." I spoke louder this time.

"Oh," she said, and it seemed like it really sunk in this time. "I'd go over there and hug you if I could, but…" She tilted her head at the pole behind her where her hands were tied. I nodded.

Then we were all quiet for a moment.

"'Mione?" she finally said.

"Yeah?"

"If we don't make it out of here, I think that you should know I love you, too." I didn't say anything for a long while. "'Mione?"

"Yeah?"

"Please say something."

"I don't know what to say, though," I protested.

"Are you mad?"

"No. Why would I be?"

"I've known for a while now that you loved me but I didn't say anything."

"Oh. Why not?"

"I don't know. I guess I was scared."

Nobody really knew what to say after that, so none of us said anything.

But finally, after maybe a half hour, we all looked over to Luna, who was making a ruckus by trying to kick off one of her shoes.

"What on earth are you doing?" Pansy asked.

"My feet are sweaty," Luna replied simply, as though that were obvious. "I hate shoes." But there was something off about the way she said it, and Pansy definitely noticed.

Pansy deliberately looked at the camera, then back at Luna, who gave a slight nod.

Then Ginny and I had a silent exchange:

Me: Do you know what they're talking about?

Her: No clue.

Me: Escape plan?

Her: Well, obviously.

I rolled my eyes at that. It was funny how well we could read each other.

"Look, now your shoes are right in front of me," Pansy complained loudly. "They stink!" Pansy wasn't much of a whiner, but neither Ginny nor I said a thing about it.

"Fine, I'll take them over here," Luna said, pulling them with her feet. "But then Ginny still has to deal with them, and so do I."

I had had my head craned back to listen to what was being said and to be able to see the others more clearly, but now silence had fallen, making my positioning conspicuous, I realized. Pansy seemed to, as well.

"I hate how tight my hands are tied," she said, though it seemed a little forced. She was allowing me to keep looking.

"I know. Me too," I replied.

We watched as Luna jammed a finger into her shoe and pulled something out, though we couldn't see what it was. Then she stopped moving, prompting the rest of us to go back to our normal places and be quiet.

A moment later Ginny let out a gasp.

I turned my head again, trying to see what had happened, though nothing appeared to be out of place.

"Gin?"

"Yeah?" she replied casually.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, I, um, my, I just, I was, this thing…"

"Is it your back again?" Pansy asked sympathetically, which confused me for only a second. She was giving Ginny an excuse.

"Uh, yeah," Ginny agreed. "It's just this position that I'm sitting in right now. My back's getting all cramped up and I think it's starting to… er… spasm."

"That's awful," Pansy said, sounding sad for her. I would have bought it if I hadn't known it was a lie.

Then Luna said, "Why do you guys like shoes so much?"

"What?" came the voices of several of us.

"Really," she said. "It's so much nicer to have just your slim, bare foot out in the open. You should try it! Come on, take off your shoes!" Why the emphasis on "slim"?

"I don't really think now's the best time for that," Pansy told her. She seemed as confused as I was.

"Well, I mean, Luna's always trying to get us to do weird things like this for her," Ginny reasoned. Evidently, she understood what the hell Luna was going on about. "Isn't now a good time to do one of them? Since we might not be around much longer?"

Then I realized what she meant.

"Yeah, okay, I suppose," I agreed.

"I don't understand you people," Pansy sighed. "But fine."

I kicked off my tennis shoes and listened to Pansy do the same.

"I don't know if I can get mine off," Ginny said. "You know how tight I tie my shoelaces." That part was true. She had a pair of dark red converse that she always laced so tightly that they were practically socks.

"That's alright," Luna told her. We all thought for a second. Finally, Luna continued, "It's not a must-do. I guess my dying wish isn't for you all to have your feet bare. It's not like I'd be screaming for it as you carried me to my grave."

"Alright," Ginny replied. "Thanks for understanding." We all assumed that meant "I got the message."

Luna then said, "Do you ever wonder about why people count down from ten?" None of us answered. We didn't know where she was going with this one. "Like, in those movies about astronauts. Why not three?"

"I think it's for more time for everyone to prepare," Pansy said. "If you counted down from three, it would be more of a… surprise, right?" she realized.

"Exactly!" Luna agreed. "Aren't surprises a lot more fun?"

"So you're saying you would make the astronauts shit themselves so that you could surprise them and count down from three, instead?" Ginny clarified.

"Yeah," said Luna. She smiled at us all. Then she moved a hand over to Ginny's, leaving us to wonder what she would do next. Then she mouthed (she was pointing away from the camera), "Three, two, one." She tapped Ginny's wrist once with each number.

When she reached one, she kicked off the binds that had been on her feet and shot up, her hands suddenly free. She'd pulled a knife from her shoe, I realized, and Ginny's gasp had been at getting her bonds undone.

Ginny got up too, although more unstable than the rest of us, as her feet were still tied. Luna cut through Pansy's ties and then mine. She dropped the knife on the ground and grabbed two lock picks from her shoe, handing them to Pansy.

Pansy quickly picked the lock while Luna and I worked on untying Ginny's feet.

My heart was pounding in my ears. I hoped that this worked because there wasn't any guarantee anyone was coming for us.

Finally, we got her free, and she stood—or, tried to, at least, but nearly fell. I caught her before she could hit the ground.

"Ankle?" I asked, remembering earlier.

She nodded.

I turned my back to her, saying, "Hop on."

"What?" she asked.

"Just get on, alright? We don't have time! Luna, grab your knife." Both did as I asked.

Pansy finished, Luna grabbed her knife, and we crept out through the hallway.

We could hear quite the commotion at the other end.

"Wha—" I started to ask, but then I heard the sirens.

Sirius had gotten the message. I almost fainted with relief.

We jogged down the hallway, to find a whole bunch of police.

"Excuse me, you're not supposed to be in here," one woman told us, eyeing us skeptically.

"It's okay," Pansy said, pulling out her badge. I was impressed she even still had it. "They kidnapped us."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," the woman said immediately. "Please, come right this way."

Outside, where we discovered that the sky was already lightening, we were wrapped in blankets and questioned briefly about what happened.

And then, after that, they told us… that we could go. That all would be well.

So the four of us headed down the street to the car, me carrying Ginny all the way.

When we were almost there, we ran into none other than Ron.

"Oh, there you guys are!" he exclaimed. "I've been looking everywhere for you! I'm heading over to Mum and Dad's—I'm going to the bus stop right now—for the start of break. I was about to lose it, Ginny! Where have you been?"

The four of us looked at each other.

"It's a long story," Ginny said. We all nodded in agreement. "I'll tell you over dinner tonight. Do you guys want to come?" She looked at Pansy, Luna, and me. We all shrugged. "They'll be coming. And I'll be riding with them."

Ron frowned. "Why is Hermione carrying you?"

"Because I fell and she's chivalrous like that." I blushed a little when Ginny said that. Then, Ginny leaned forward, brought her lips to mine, and kissed me slowly.

And all of my other problems fell away.

After that, we all lived happily ever after. More or less.

Chapter Release Date: January 8, 2018

A/N: I had a lot of fun writing this part of the Christmas Chronicles, and I hope you guys had a lot of fun reading it! I'm looking forward to next year's installment, but I don't really know what pairing I'd like to do. I'm thinking Snape/Lupin (or possibly Serious/Lupin), Pansy/Luna (since we don't know their story just yet!), or Dean/Seamus. Tell me which of these you'd like, or suggest another pairing if you have one you'd prefer. Remember that they all take place in (relatively) the same universe so the characters from this one and Chemistry would remain as background characters. See you next year!