Author's Note: I have finished all my Chapters!! The story goes to Chapter 20, and then there's an Epilogue. The Chapters will all be up by Wednesday at the latest. Yay, it's done!

Harry, Ron, and Hermione gazed at the man who had sired Draco Malfoy. He was the man who had been responsible for the cursed Diary ending up in Ginny Weasley's possession and the opening of the Chamber of Secrets. He was the man who could probably kill them all, right then and there.

"My word, aren't we a pathetic lot." Lucius sneered at the Trio, in his famous Malfoy way. "I dare say your mere presence here had almost gone unnoticed. I, fortunately, had taken a break from the Death Eater meeting in our Chamber, and had come across some blood on the floor in the foyer."

This was a lie, as Nagini had sent Voldemort a message before Harry slew him, and the Dark Lord had sent out Lucius following a plan. The trio knew none of this, of course.

Harry cursed under his breath; he thought he had cleaned up after himself better than that. He had been wrong, it seemed.

Continuing his story, Lucius proceed. "Now, by the absence of my Lord's beloved pet from his appointed post in the hallway, I came to the conclusion that there were some rather unwanted guests in our midst."

Lucius shoved Harry into his companions, and continued with his tirade. "I have many options, here, as you can see." He paced in front of the frightened trio while he talked.

"I am not allowed to kill you; there have been specific orders not to directly attack those who oppose us at this time. Your deaths will come soon enough, and I will revel in the mere thought of your inexistence."

Harry prepared his wand for an attack, but Hermione pulled him back, in fear of the consequences for his actions. Lucius was an escaped convict, and a murderer. It would be wise to stay clear of his wrath as long as possible, no matter what he said.

"Foolish boy, your silly wand waving cannot help you. Only I can. You see, it would be quite beneficial to my master if you were dead. However, I can be merciful, and let you go free, but I am afraid you will have to leave your precious Cup behind. It is far more precious to my master." Lucius drawled away.

"On the other hand, it is the Dark Lord and you pathetic excuse for a boy who must battle in the end. And with that Cup in your possession, it still will never be enough for you to defeat the greatest wizard in the world. We shall prove his glory in the end, so take your silly Cup, boy."

The trio stared at the man. He seemed mad with arrogance, but they were not about to complain; he was indeed planning to let them go, with the item they had come for, too!

Lucius turned his attention to the boy standing next to Harry. "Red hair; a Weasley, no doubt. How is daddy dearest doing?"

Ron could only sputter at the man's words. He could not fight back, for fear of putting his life at risk.

"Do you know why your father was kidnapped and tortured, my boy? Do you know why your precious father was tormented in my manor's dungeons?"

"Yeah, I know, because you bloody well ordered it, you nasty ponce!" Ron could not control himself, and ended up yelling at his captor.

"Ah, but you do not know the reasoning, I presume. Let me enlighten you, all of you. Then you can return to your Order." Lucius was going to reveal the true nature behind the attack, only to wreak havoc with the information. He was obviously enjoying this.

"You are aware of your sister's affiliation with my son, are you not? I had become aware of that myself, even when I was still in that wretched prison, Azkaban." He smirked at the three unsuspecting children. "I ordered the attack. I ordered your father's kidnap and even implemented the torture myself! Why?"

He continued, simply. "Ginevra Weasley."

The trio gasped, audibly, in shock of the man's words. "You leave my sister alone, old man!" Ron angrily yelled.

"Or you'll what, boy? You will attack me? I am not afraid of what you might do to me."

"My son, despite his betrayal to the Dark Lord and my disinheritance of him that followed, is still, by blood, my son. I will not have him cavorting with the blood enemy! Punishment was due, and it was given without mercy. You should thank me for putting an end to your sister's whorish ways, boy."

Ron was beet red with anger, and was being held back by his friends. "You bleeding lunatic. You will live to regret this. I'll personally make sure of it!" Ron was overcome with a will for revenge.

"Your idle threats do not frighten me, child. Run along, I suspect you have some lamenting to do over this. We will kill you soon enough."

With that, Lucius Malfoy stalked out the room, his black cloak licking his heels with his exit.

The trio stared at the open door in disbelief. They were free, but the shocking truth of Arthur Weasley's kidnapping and torture was a fresh blow.

"Right then, 'Incendio' and Gubraithian fire all around." Ron commanded with renewed will to fight in his voice.

They all complied and succeeded in the destruction of the final Horcrux. They had finished their task.

Harry then activated the portkey and sent the trio back to the outskirts of Hogwarts.

Pausing to gather their wits, Hermione had a look of confusion on her face and took the opportunity to voice her concern. "That was too easy. They're planning something; I just know it! Voldemort is obviously up to something, and it's got to be huge if they let us get away!"

They continued on to the castle, running through the entrance, all the way to the Headmistress' office. Hermione screamed the password and they ran up the spiral of stairs to let the witch know that they had completed what had been asked of them.

Relaying their story, Ron purposely left out the bit about the Malfoy's motives for his father's kidnap and torture. That information was his to bear, and he would choose with whom to share it. The evil man and his motives would be Ron's drive throughout the war to defeat the Death Eaters at all costs. The war had just gotten quite personal for Ronald Weasley.

A couple of weeks had since passed, and the castle's inhabitants were fraught with stress and a sense of what was to come in the near future.

Ron had yet to confront Ginny and Draco about the information gleaned on their mission, but he would do that soon enough.

Ginny, on the other hand, was blissfully unaware of Ron's anger, and was only happy to know that her brother and friends had returned unscathed and successful from their perilous mission. Aside from her nightly rendezvous with Draco and Blaise in the library, she was content to spend time with her brother and friends in their Common Room. Her newfound respect and love for her brother were enough to annoy Ron to no end, as he tried so hard not to let the information in his head cloud his better judgement.

Ron knew that his sister was not directly at fault, and that it was Malfoy's fault, if anything, that Lucius had even bothered in the first place. However, it hurt to know that even back then Ginny had been consorting with Malfoy, and had kept it a secret for longer than he had thought.

The end of May drew nearer and the time was nigh for Ronald Weasley to confront his sister and her ill-chosen friend.