Potter vs. Malfoy: Bridging the Gap
By Jedi Tess of Gryffindor
Summary: Aware of the fact that her most beloved fic had in it a gaping hole, J.T. set out many months ago to make things right. Here (she hopes) is a ficlet that will satisfied any unsatisfied "War's End" readers and, indeed, finish forever the "Potter vs. Malfoy" saga.
A/N: I can't even begin to apologize for my loooooong lack of updates. I can't believe how long many of you have stuck with me and how many of you have sent me scathing but well-deserved reviews to the effect of "update, or we'll riot!" You're an amazing bunch to write for and you keep me in the fan fiction world, even as I'm being forced out by the large amounts of original fiction I've had to put my time into.
This ISN'T the last chapter of "Bridging the Gap", but you've all be so eager for updates of any kind that I decided this would be your week-till-Christmas present. Hopefully, you'll be getting a few more gifts as the holiday draws near hint hint. This is nice and long, but does end with a cliffy. Still, hope you all enjoy! New chapter of "Bend It" really is coming along. It's the checking for plot accuracy that makes it such a tedious process. Have faith, my beauteous fans. Have faith!
If you're interested in reading more of my writing, an alternative to slouching around waiting for my updates, is available for you! It can be found at my Live Journal, Clever Pooh (…and how!). It's not Harry Potter, but it IS pretty goofy, with skits, rambling, recs, etc. Have fun!
Loves!
J.T.
Disclaimer: I solemnly swear I am up to no good – er, I mean, I own nothing. Yeah... All characters and situations taken from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter canon are solely hers. Original, non-canonical plot ideas belong to me, Tess Williams, as of August 2002, when this piece was originally begun. I intend no copyright infringement by dabbling in the Harry Potter universe!
Part 3
One Year Later – July, 1999
Blaise tossed and turned, feeling the weight of heat on her body and the tug of restlessness in her mind. She shifted again, tucking her pillow more firmly under her head.
"Do you mind?" her tent-mate demanded in a whisper. "Some of us have training tomorrow."
"Poor little dear," Blaise hissed, giving a final, fruitless toss before giving up and getting ponderously to her feet. She stalked out of the bedroom of the tent and into the kitchen, swearing when her toe found the doorway. She rubbed her eyes, which were already well adjusted to the dark.
"Incendio," she muttered, pointing at the open spit in the center of the kitchen. Cheerful, smokeless flames caught the charred logs and lit the small kitchen in a way that Blaise found almost soothing.
She turned away from the fire to the kettle and pointed her wand at it. It leapt into the air, filled itself with water from the sink, and settled itself over the fire. Blaise pulled a mug and a plate of old biscuits from the cupboard and went to the table. There was a lot to be said for a good wizarding tent, she thought, taking a seat and gazing out of the small casement over the table. The almost-full moon was oddly dulled by the wisps of yellowish cloud cover, and the stars seemed dim, lifeless. In her sleeveless top and knickers, Blaise was sticky and irritable.
The kettle whistled shrilly and Blaise smirked as she got up the brew her tea. Her tent-mate would surely be awake now. Indeed, half the camp would probably come to at the summons of that kettle. Mrs. Weasley had sent it along with Ginny and Blaise amidst many tears and made them promise never to replace it.
"It'll bring you good luck, dears," she had sniffled. "I had it during the last war … and now –" Blaise didn't like to think about the horrible sobs of Mrs. Weasley on her daughter's leaving. Blaise was mortified at the sobs on her leaving. Little she deserved the love of a Mrs. Weasley.
"Got another cup, Zabini?" a hoarse voice said from the doorway.
"I thought you have loads of important training tomorrow," Blaise said sullenly, nevertheless reaching into the cupboard and extracting another chipped mug that said "World's Most Magical Dad" and had red and gold hearts on.
Revolting. Blaise draped a tea strainer over the side and poured water over it. She handed the cup to her companion and reseated herself with her own mug, which, to her dismay, featured the words "Property of Harry Potter, the Boy Who Takes Girls for Rides on His Broomstick". Harry's seventeenth birthday had not been a quiet one and Draco was largely to blame.
"I do have loads of important training tomorrow," Ginny retorted. Blaise appreciated the interruption of her reverie. "But how can I possibly sleep when you're slamming about the place at all hours?"
"Oh, bite me," Blaise sulked into her mug. "I can't sleep because of this bloody heat."
Ginny paused. "And so you started a fire?"
Blaise glared at her. "It's heatless, you know."
Ginny shrugged. "Sorry." Blaise raised her eyebrows. Ginny bit her lip. "Okay, so I wasn't really sleeping. But you could still respect your flat mate."
"It would be thrilling to actually be able to say that we're flat mates without sounding mad because we don't actually have a flat," Blaise grouched.
"Well," the redhead said thoughtfully, "someday we may have a flat. We might as well adjust."
"And why would I want to have a flat with you, exactly?" Blaise demanded. She was not a morning person, but she was ten times worse when she couldn't sleep at all.
A red eyebrow disappeared into redder fringe. "Are you serious? Who would you live with, exactly? Bulstrode? Parkinson?"
Blaise winced, annoyed that her friend had a point. She had spent almost seven years in close quarters with Millicent and Pansy and had sworn before witnesses that she would never live with either again. Whether the snores or the constant stream of additional occupants was worse, Blaise couldn't say.
"What's your schedule like tomorrow?" Ginny asked, taking a sip of tea.
Blaise smiled grimly. "Divided between patrols and more mapping of the village. We think we know where the Death Eaters' hideout is, but we need to not actually enter the town until we're sure."
"Do I get to know how close you are to finding Lucius Malfoy?"
Blaise sighed a world-weary sigh. "Gin, you know I'm not supposed to talk about that." Ginny's eyes narrowed and Blaise grinned. "But since it's you …"
"Too right," Ginny said stoutly. "I wouldn't want to have to …" she waved her mug menacingly "… torture it out of you."
Blaise's eyebrows shot up.
"We've just finished interrogation in training," Ginny explained with a shark-toothed grin.
"Something I'm sure you excel at," Blaise said, thinking of all of the times she had seen Ginny, with little or no effort, extract information from her father and brothers in minutes, which they swore to take to the grave.
"So what's new with the Malfoys?" Ginny asked, leaning forward.
"What, doesn't Draco keep you posted?" Blaise sneered with liberal insinuation.
"Please," Ginny snorted, the implication rolling off her like water. "He glories in secrecy. Don't think he doesn't imply every kind juicy tidbit, though. If Harry were here …" Ginny winced, looking down at her chipped mug. "Sorry."
"So …" Blaise said immediately, unwilling to let the silence carry on. "The Malfoys. The truth is that we think he may be part of this group we're tracking right now."
Ginny looked up quickly, leaning forward across the table. "So that's why you won't go into the town, really. You think you have a handle on Malfoy's group."
"Sure." Blaise took a sip of tea. "I mean, we know Malfoys would never be caught dead in a tent, so it can't be one of the groups hiding in woodland areas. And we have a lead on Narcissa Malfoy here. Her sister, Bellatrix LeStrange was reported in this area shortly after an attack on a Muggle house." Ginny gasped. "Don't worry, we had already cleared the house. The son was Muggleborn. But you know that they've probably realized that we're already onto them and may be moving out soon. That's why we've been in a rush to map the town."
"Explains Draco's enthusiasm, anyway," Ginny muttered.
"The other problem," Blaise went on, "is that there's a safe house not five miles off. We're concerned that LeStrange and her group might have a tip on it, if they are hiding in this town. It would explain their presence here. If Harry were here with the Marauder's Map …" It was Blaise's turn to look away. She bit her lip, looking sideways into the fire.
"Look, I'm sorry, Zabini, but I have to ask," Ginny cut in, not looking at Blaise. "Do you know where Harry is? Are Ron and Hermione with him? I mean … well, you have the inside track, don't you? Surely someone's spoken about it to you by now. And … Ron's my brother," she said quickly. "I'm really worried."
It was Blaise's turn to avoid Ginny's sharp eye. "I've heard nothing." Catching Ginny's look, Blaise added impatiently, "For Merlin's sake, give me some credit, Weasley. I know how important your brother is to you and I would at least tell you if I knew where he was. And I know you're worried about Potter. But you know that the last time I saw Harry was when you did, right before he went back to Hogwarts. I assume your brother's there, too. Harry mentioned something about it. Dumbledore doesn't trust anyone. He didn't even tell Harry why he was being recalled." Blaise bit her lip. They all had a fairly good idea, even if neither she nor Ginny mentioned it aloud.
"Right," Ginny said, exhaling hard. She tried a smile. "Hey, at least I know where five of my brothers are. Reckon that counts for something, doesn't it?" Blaise finally looked at her. The smile didn't really work, but Ginny kept on determinedly. "I mean, it's Ron and Harry. The Dream Team. They're always getting into scrapes and they're always fine. And if they're together, they've got even better odds. They would never let anything happen to each other." The smile relaxed a bit. "And if they've got Hermione, they're really set. Hermione can think her way out of anything."
"Of course," Blaise said mechanically. She had less faith in Granger's brain than Ginny, but had to admit that Harry's odds were better with a thinker at his side.
"I'm kind of tired," Ginny said after a long pause. "Think I'll turn in." She tried another smile. "Try not to make so much noise."
"Right. Night, Weasley."
"Night." Ginny dumped her cup haphazardly into the sink, which was to say that she set her cup on top of a tottering pile of dirty dishes, before edging around the fire and heading for the bedroom. Blaise heard the door shut quietly behind her and the faint rustle of turning bedclothes. Then silence filled tent.
Blaise couldn't help it – her mind immediately returned to Harry. It did that a lot.
"This is no time for – well, whatever you two are up to."
"Friends?"
Blaise bit her lip. Sure; friendship had done well for them both. After their fateful almost-shag on the bathroom floor of 5 Inmind St., they had both made a creditable effort at separating themselves romantically. They had done well, although Pansy spent a lot of time complaining that Blaise was dull and boring, and Ron Weasley spent a lot of time complaining that "this is worse than the Cho fiasco, Harry!" At first, keeping their hands off each other meant spending much less time together. Blaise went to a lot of bother not to be in the same room with Harry for more than five minutes and threw all of her attention into two projects: preparing for her N.E.W.T.s and researching the Holy Grail, as per Dumbledore's assignment after the night in his office. Fear that she would fail the former and genuine fascination with the latter helped stave off a good portion of the ache in her chest and kept her sharp attention focused elsewhere.
And when she began to fear that completing her N.E.W.T.s would leave her open to the same ache, she was informed that, should she choose to join the Order of the Phoenix, she would begin training just days after she completed her N.E.W.T.s. Blaise accepted immediately and also sagged with relief when she discovered that she and Harry would be training under totally different people. With her superb eyesight and sense of hearing, Blaise immediately went into stealth and espionage training with Nymphadora Tonks. Several members of the Order tried to warn her beforehand that Tonks was by far the least stealthy Auror ever to be in the Order, but Blaise ignored them in favor of keeping herself occupied, and thus had rather a trying time for the first month. Tonks had had to study particularly hard to pass stealth and espionage in her Auror training, so her knowledge of it was extensive. In practice, unfortunately, she was a dreadful instructor and after a while, she took to simply giving Blaise directions and observing her. Once they had that sorted, training went much more smoothly.
With time, much of the ache in Blaise's chest dulled, making it possible to spend more than ten minutes in Harry's company without wanting to cry and scream at the same time. Eventually, she could have decent conversations on general topics. By Christmas, they had had a long talk, instigated by Harry, about the failed relationship and the friendship which he insisted would be material in getting them both through the war.
"I still need you," he had told her quietly, under cover of a lively caroling session led by Fred, George, and Ginny (arguably the three most tone-deaf Weasleys). "It's just – a different need."
Blaise knew him better than to believe that he really meant it, but observing that he was trying very hard to convince her, she played along. "I know. I'll be around. If Tonks doesn't get me killed during training."
"What's she got you doing?" Harry wanted to know, his lip twitching.
"Sabotage with Muggle weapons," was all Blaise said to cause Harry to wince in sympathy.
"Try not to loose an arm," he said, giving her shoulder a squeeze.
Blaise closed her eyes, blocking out the tent's kitchen and the merry fire. From Christmas on, things had been much easier between them and the war had picked up enough that had she still been harboring sharply painful feelings for him, she would have been too distracted to give them more than a fleeting thought. With Hogwarts empty of students and remaining Death Eaters, Dumbledore had been convinced to turn it into the base of operations. The choice couldn't have been made soon enough, since a traitor within the Order (though fortunately not high-level) was known to have been trying to slip the Dark Lord the coordinates of 5 Inmind St. Only days after the last members and high-level Death Eater's children had been moved, Death Eaters had stormed number 5. Snape later weeded out the traitor (someone Blaise didn't know called Umbridge) before they could pass on the new headquarters to the Dark Lord, and Blaise knew that she was being kept under careful lock and key in Hogwarts.
Shortly after the move to Hogwarts, almost in tandem with the attack on 5 Inmind St., Draco, Ron Weasley, and Remus Lupin disappeared for several days into the Slytherin dungeons and returned tired, hungry, irritable, and with several brilliantly innovative designs for better safe houses. Blaise remembered wondering at the time how and why the three of them wound up collaborating and how in Merlin's name Draco and Weasley had managed not to gut each other.
"It helped, I think," Lupin had quietly told Blaise, Granger, and Ginny, "that Ron is quite a brilliant architect. Draco was so busy trying to out-think him that he hadn't much time for bickering."
"And Ron has a one-track mind," Granger said, lip twitching. "He's the same with chess. Nothing disturbs him when he's at chess."
Meanwhile, older safe houses across the country, hastily created for high-risk Muggle families, in addition to the ones still housing Hogwarts students, were beginning to come under attack. Blaise recognized the danger of the Dark Lord's strategy. Having mobilized small pockets of Death Eaters, rather than an obvious army, he was picking off groups quietly and subtly, so that the damage and danger didn't seem considerable until one actually began to take a careful look at the numbers.
Blaise shivered, considering that if anyone but Dumbledore had been in charge, this strategy might have completely immobilized the Order. But Dumbledore was in charge and had taken immediate action against the small, slippery forces deployed across Britain by the Dark Lord.
In April, a year after Harry and Draco had been expelled, the Order began sending out mobile forces of its members to track down Death Eater groups and to protect the safe houses while the new ones were being built. Auror groups were also overseeing the transfer of groups from old to new safe houses. These groups slept in tents and went out for weeks at a time, scouring the countryside for hidden Death Eater camps and posting round-the-clock guard at various at-risk safe houses.
Blaise completed her training by the end of May, along with Harry and Draco, and was immediately sent out with them to the Midlands to begin a town-by-town search for a Death Eater hideout known to be located there. Along with several highly trained Aurors, they set up camp several miles from each town and did comprehensive sweeps.
Blaise remembered someone – Draco or Ginny – trying to reassure themself that since they were all new to the Order none of them would wind up on the front lines fresh out of training. She snorted. So much for that theory.
Blaise took a sip of tepid tea and smiled crookedly. Ginny had somehow manipulated her way onto their team. Blaise supposed she had used the fact that her brother Bill was on their mobile team and was also her head trainer to convince HQ to let her come along. Between them, Bill and Draco were training her in various fields. Blaise vaguely recalled seeing Bill and Ginny practicing sabotaging Harry's tent. Ginny had also said that Draco was working with her on hand-to-hand combat. Blaise let a full smile escape. The irony of Draco Malfoy, proud and pompous Pureblood wizard, having a natural affinity for down-and-dirty Muggle wrestling, boxing, and Martial Arts, was something that Harry in particular would never, ever let him live down.
Blaise sighed, her expression drooping. Things had been good when the four of them had been on one team. At first, Harry had been regretted being separated from Ron and Hermione, but had also be pleased to be with Draco, Blaise, and Ginny. They worked particularly well as a team, something Remus Lupin had been quick to notice during group training sessions (some of which Ginny had weaseled her way into, even before finishing her N.E.W.T.s). Their first few assignments together had been short and lower risk, as they were newer and had fewer top-level Aurors with them. As a result, they had enough work to keep them busy and feeling useful, without having to contend with anything particularly life-threatening.
And then Harry had been recalled to the school. Blaise bit her lip savagely, forcing herself to think back over it. He hadn't had to tell any of them why he was recalled. They all knew what it meant.
Neither can live while the other survives.
The prophecy revealed to Harry during the summer after graduation had changed everything. In the beginning, it had dramatically expanded the abyss between Harry and Blaise. In fact, for a time it had expanded the abyss between Harry and all of his friends. He wouldn't speak to Ron Weasley at all, and all of Granger's cajoling and perseverance was futile to check to depression so evident to everyone in the house. Draco had ranted and raved and stormed about "selfish bastards who have to take everything on themselves, damn them" and Weasley had pummeled him for it. Harry himself had broken up the fight, and then been roundly told off by both Draco and Ron for being so bloody stubborn that he didn't even trust his own friends.
The bite had stung, but convinced Harry that his friends cared enough for him to keep the secret and help him complete what could be his final mission. He took Weasley, Draco, Granger, Blaise, and Ginny into his confidence and told them everything he could about the prophecy. Only he could destroy the Dark Lord. Only he had the power.
"But that doesn't mean we all can't help you figure out how, right?" Weasley asked bracingly. "Six heads are better than one and all that."
"Exactly," Granger said in a tone that irritated Blaise but seemed to bolster Harry for some reason. "Zabini and I were the brightest witches in our year. Surely we can figure something out."
Though they hadn't come up with anything staggering, they never stopped brainstorming. Even as Harry worked through the weight of the prophecy and came to terms with it, they all kept his mission in the back of their minds, in case of epiphany or inspiration.
When Harry was called back to the school, Ginny, Draco, and Blaise were pretty sure they knew why and they confronted him.
"It's Voldemort, isn't it?" Ginny asked anxiously. "You're going after him, aren't you?"
Harry looked mightily guilty. "No, not exactly."
"What, then?" Draco demanded. "Fess up, Potter. We're not stupid, you know."
"And we want to come," Blaise said firmly. "You can't do it alone and you know it."
"I'm not doing anything yet," Harry said sharply. When they had all looked surprised, he sighed. "Sorry. Nothing's final. But Dumbledore expressly told me to come back without you. He says you two," indicating Blaise and Draco, "are two of the best and most trustworthy Order operatives he's got right now and he needs you to find Lucius Malfoy. And Gin, you know you wouldn't be allowed to help since you're still training."
"Bloody typical," Ginny mumbled, but they all knew Harry was right.
And so he left. He didn't tell them when he was going, but one afternoon he found Ginny and Draco going over the Five Steps of Successful Wizard Duels just outside Ginny and Blaise's tent. He didn't say anything, but as Blaise came through the tent flap after a short nap, Harry caught her in a tight hug and held her there for a long moment. Just when Blaise began to feel uncomfortably like she was reliving a moment from the not-too-distant past, Harry pulled quickly away and turned to Ginny. Ginny watched him quietly, and it seemed to Blaise's too-keen eye that they shared something silently in that moment. Then Ginny gave him a quick, bone-crushing hug.
When Harry turned to Draco, the blonde scowled at him in a way reminiscent of their days of constant animosity. Harry nodded to him. Draco grudgingly nodded back.
They didn't see Harry again that day.
Blaise stared out through the casement, watching the hazy clouds vainly attempt to blot out the moon. She wondered where Harry was now. She wondered when they would see each other again.
His eighteenth birthday's coming up, she remembered suddenly. And what would he be doing on his birthday? She remembered him saying that until his seventeenth birthday, he had had his birthdays with the Dursleys, who did their best to ignore them. Blaise smiled. No wonder Harry had put up with all of Draco's pranks – he had simply been happy to have family and friends around him.
Family and friends.
Blaise withdrew her eyes from the casement, gulping down the rest of her tea. She went to the sink and gingerly settled her mug on top of the tottering pile. She doused the fire with a wave of her wand.
Family. She thought her of her own parents, undoubtedly working alongside Draco's for the glory and greatness of the Dark Lord. Blaise snorted. Working tirelessly to watch him fall at Harry's feet, she thought forcefully. Having never been close to her family, she had felt numb when she chose to join the fight against their cause. And while she hoped she never met them in a fight, she was, she thought, prepared for such an instance.
She tiptoed down the hall to the bedroom. Not only her parents, but many of her former friends would be against her in fights to come. She remembered Harry saying something about having "close enemies", not friends, in Slytherin. Blaise smiled grimly as she realized that her close enemies had invariably become friends during their time at 5 Inmind St. Millicent and especially Pansy had become as near to genuine friends as Blaise had ever had within her House, and while both of them flatly refused to have anything to do with the war, Blaise didn't begrudge them their ambivalence.
I wouldn't be here if it weren't for Harry, she thought with a sardonic smile as she crawled into bed. I got dragged into this bloody war by a boy
)BTG(
When Draco awoke the next morning, he was annoyed to discover that not only was it already boiling hot, despite the fact that the sun was barely up, but that Ginny Weasley was directly outside the window of the bedroom, stretching.
"Bloody hell," he muttered, flipping over to lie face down on his mattress.
"Even after a year of Order hours, you're still not a morning person, are you?" Bill Weasley asked. Draco turned a grouchy eye sideways to look at his tent-mate and glowered.
"Bill, Draco!" Both men turned their heads as Ginny bounded into the room, looking wide awake and ready for another long, toilsome day of training. "Why are you two still in bed?" she demanded, striding across the room and pulling Draco's pillow out from under his head.
"Hand it over, Weasley!" he said sharply, taking a swipe at the ascending pillow.
"No, you've had it quite long enough," Ginny said brightly, tossing it into a far corner and making for her bother's bed. "As for you, Billius –"
Bill shot out an arm and caught Ginny around the waist as she moved to tip his mattress. She shrieked as she tumbled onto the bed. "Bill, stop it!" She shrieked again as he began mercilessly tickling her sides.
"What have I told you, Ginevra, about waking me up in the morning?" He oomphed as Ginny managed to head-butt him in the stomach, but held on tight and went for her feet. If there were Death Eaters nearby, Draco thought absently as he watched the fray, they'd be wide awake by now.
"Bill, geroff!" Ginny bellowed. Somehow she was upside down, her feet kicking dangerously into the air.
"And what have I told you about entering the sleeping quarters of men you're not related to?" Bill said, somehow winking at Draco around Ginny's side.
"All right, all right! I won't ever do it again!" Ginny cried. She was giggling hysterically and tears of laughter were running up her red face.
"I think you're lying," Bill said, as Ginny righted herself and simultaneously tumbled onto the floor. She scrambled away from Bill's bed, consequently ending up with back against Draco's.
"I'm not," she pouted. Then her eyes got big and round and her lower lip stuck out and she blinked up at her oldest brother and Draco was not at all interested in this heinous violation of decency.
"What?" Bill said warily, pushing back the single sheet under which he had been sleeping. Draco wondered how he could manage even that in the humidity.
"Bill, I'm your favorite little sister, aren't I?" Ginny said, blinking up at him and chewing her lip.
"What do you want?" he demanded, backing away. Ginny stared, doe-eyed, up at him. He rolled his eyes. "Fine," he growled. "But don't tell Remus." He turned his back on her.
Ginny squealed and took at flying leap, latching her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. He caught her with another oomph and carried her, piggyback, out of the bedroom. A moment later, Draco heard her order Bill to "keep walking, ninny, I'm not that big and you barely carried me ten feet. When I was a little girl you used to gallop," and Bill saying, "Oh, for the love of –" And then the uneven footfalls of Bill bounding through the front of the tent.
"Bill, what are you doing?"
"Oh, that's torn it. Thanks a lot, Gin," Bill said, and Draco sat up in time to see Bill dump Ginny unceremoniously onto the grass as Remus Lupin approached, an expression of wonder on his thin face.
"That was a pathetic piggyback ride!" Ginny said, folding her arms pettishly. Then her whole face changed and she gave Bill the evil eye. "Well, I guess I'll just have to ask Draco to give me one instead."
Bill tried to grab hold of her arm, but Ginny darted away and a moment later, reentered the bedroom.
"Don't even think about it, Weasley," Draco warned, lying back down and throwing an arm over his eyes. A moment later the side of his bed sagged and he could smell Ginny's hair. He tried very hard to ignore her, but she just sat there waiting and finally he removed his arm and glared at her. "What, Weasley?"
She pouted. "When can we start training?"
Draco groaned and covered his eyes again. Never, in his limited but recently very active experience at training or teaching of any kind had Draco had a pupil whom he had to fight off with a broom. Normally, they hid from him or whined pettishly through his training exercises.
Not so, Ginny. She was eager to train and was ready every morning to begin, long before Draco. Draco had toyed with giving her "homework" for a time, but then she expected him to look it over and after a while, he grew weary and accepted that the sooner he had trained her up, the sooner they could get back to – well, whatever had been going on before Dumbledore had paired them together for part of Ginny's training.
"Why are you invading my personal quarters, Weasley?" he said by way of an evasion. "You're overeager at the best of times, but this is getting absurd."
When she didn't immediately respond, Draco uncovered his eyes and looked at her closely. There was definitely an air of guilt about her.
"Well," she said slowly, toying with her cuff. "Only don't be angry, but someone sort of told me we were near some Death Eaters, so …"
"Zabini," Draco muttered darkly, glaring in the general direction of Blaise and Ginny's tent. He turned his eyes on Ginny, rather hopelessly hoping that she would go away. "It wouldn't matter if I trained you starting now and until supper tomorrow without stopping, you still wouldn't be allowed to ambush any Death Eaters with us," he informed her coolly.
"Oh, why not?" she whined, and Draco had to quickly avoid her eyes, which had become round and pleading. Telling Ginny no was a dangerous game and he hated to think what would ever happen if he gave in to those eyes.
"You know perfectly well why not," Draco said, sitting up quickly and pushing passed her off the cot. "You're not fully trained and you haven't had your tactical training at all yet. You've only been training for a few months, haven't you?"
He was very sorry indeed that when he turned back she was stretched out on the cot, pouting. He made for the lavatory with all speed, trying to ignore her pleading tones as he retreated.
Mercifully she was outside the tent with Blaise when he returned from a quick shower. Blaise was setting up the mapping that had so far been completed on a table under a large tree and Ginny was trying hard to see the maps. To Draco's supreme annoyance, Blaise wasn't making much of an effort to hide anything. She encouraged Ginny too much – Ginny wasn't officially a full member of the Order yet and had much training to undergo before she would be ready.
It was, Draco thought darkly, all Dumbledore's fault, really. The old bat had allowed Ginny and few other trainees to accompany their trainers to their camps, to get "active, practical experience". And while Draco had to admit that their particular camp wasn't exactly on the front lines, it was still near enough to a potentially dangerous batch of the Dark Lord's followers. Ginny had no business here.
Draco exited the tent just as Bill shunted Ginny away from the mapping area, which was filling up with their small team.
"Weasley!" Draco called. Bill glanced up, shielding his eyes against the sun. Draco winced, rolling his eyes. "Other Weasley," he tried again. Bill nodded and pulled Ginny away from the maps.
"Oh, go on, Bill," she pleaded. "Just a peek."
"I thought you were desperate to start training," Bill retorted. "Draco's all set now. Get to it."
Ginny waited until his back was turned and then stuck out her tongue.
"Heard that!" Bill called without turning.
"Very mature, Weasley."
"Shut up, Malfoy." She was sulking.
"Look," he said, "the sooner you finish your training the sooner it'll be you around the table, yeah?"
"By the time I finish my training," she said with a bite in her voice, "the war will be over." She sighed heavily. "Sorry. I'm just – oh, never mind." She nodded to their little patch of training ground. "Shall we get to it, then?"
Draco had found very quickly that training in this weather required alternation between practical and instruction-based approaches. If they trained too long at combat in the heat, even if they were only dueling, they would wear out and would be no match for anyone if an emergency cropped up in the camp. But simply sitting and studying books, maps, and strategies was boring and, in Draco's opinion, useless without the practical experience. With this in mind, he had devised a system that split their sessions in half and kept Ginny's attention engaged for most of the day.
And so it went. Draco's primary responsibility in the camp was Ginny's training, but in the late afternoon, shortly before tea, he was debriefed about mapping and HQ news by one of the other Order members in camp. After tea, he and Blaise had additional advanced dueling and hand-to-hand training of their own from Lupin, Bill, and a witch called Kirem Balrash. By nightfall, Draco was ready for a snack and his bed. He doubted that he had ever worked so hard in his life.
He doubted, too, whether he had ever been so committed.
"We're at war, you know," Blaise said one evening as they sat together by a smokeless bonfire someone had built up. "We shouldn't be enjoying ourselves."
"Who says we are?" Draco said, tossing a twig into the flames.
"Come off it, this is the best time we've had in ages and you know it," Blaise said, prodding him with a stick on which she had been roasting marshmallows by the handful. "No parents, no school. This is more freedom than we've ever had, Draco."
"Or are ever likely to," he agreed. He paused, kicking a clod of dirt on the ground with his toe. "Do you – I mean, what do you reckon we'll do after the war?"
"Reckon Gin and I will find a flat," Blaise said, shrugging. She knew better than to mention that they had to contend with surviving the war before they could move on after it. "I sort of promised her we would."
"Oh, really." Draco stared into the red and gold flames.
"Hey, you haven't promised her anything," Blaise said, eyeing him shrewdly.
"Drop it, Blaise."
She did, and Draco knew why. She was thinking of Potter.
Draco scowled. Bloody Potter. Where was he now?
"Don't suppose," he ventured, "you've had any word from Golden Boy."
"Why does everyone assume I know where he is all the bleeding time?" Blaise snapped. When Draco gave her an incredulous look, she said shortly, "I'm not his keeper, am I?" and stalked to her tent.
"Well, if you don't tell me, who the hell else do I ask?" he called after her. She politely gave him the finger and disappeared into the tent.
"Well done," Ginny said, sliding over to join him. "You have a staggering way with women, Draco."
"Show me a woman around here –" he began, ducking her arm just in time.
"Watch it," she warned, picking up Blaise's abandoned stick and reaching for the sack of abandoned marshmallows.
"You didn't know what I was going to say," he muttered, watching her warily.
"Oh, really?" Ginny suddenly slid over until she was pressed against his side. Nudging him playfully, she said, "What were you going to say?"
Draco's breath caught in his throat and for a moment, he sat very still, watching the firelight drizzle over her hair. Then he shook himself and stood up. "I don't remember," he lied. "Night, Weasley."
"Good night, Draco," she said coldly. Draco shrugged it off and went to his own tent. She'd be fine by morning. She always was. During training she was sufficiently interested in his lessons to keep her attention from settling on him. It was in quieter moments that she started in on him. He had become an expert at avoiding such confrontations or noticing quickly enough that she was eyeing him in that way that meant trouble.
Not now, he thought. Not ever. Not when any second one of them might be hurt. Or worse. Draco knew better than to put himself in a position to be emotionally manipulated when a maniac like Voldemort was out there somewhere. When one's mind might be read like a book, there was every reason not to keep anything unnecessary there.
)BTG(
Six hours after she'd left Draco by the fire, Ginny lay wide awake in her bed, gazing up at the roof of the tent. The canopy was worn and with little difficulty she could see the stars, though they were still muted by hazy yellow clouds.
She imagined looking through the roof as looking through Draco. Though the roof tried to cover and protect her, she had no difficulty spotting the disturbing, dirty clouds beyond. It tried to protect her from rain, from wind, but she could still see and feel both, easily. Draco tried to protect her by hiding the beyond from her. But she could that beyond – it was his belief in his own inadequacy.
In a weird way, she was reminded of her brothers. For much of her childhood, she had loathed their constant restraint upon her and her activities. She hated it that they did dangerous things all the time, but expected her to sit quietly and cautiously inside, where she mightn't be hurt by anything. It had taken years before she had begun to see beyond that. Certainly, they tried to protect her. But they weren't really protecting her from rogue Bludgers, dark wizards, or magical creatures; at least, not directly. They were protecting her from their fear that they wouldn'tbe able to protect her.
I have that fear myself, Ginny thought, watching a cloud caress the moon. I'm always afraid that my strength won't be enough for those I love.
She got the feeling that Draco wasn't so much surprised by her refusal to leave him alone as her refusal to be angry when he pushed her away. But she knew how it felt, powerlessness. She knew that the only way he would ever be convinced that they could be together was when he saw that he didn't always need to protect her.
When he saw that he couldn't and learned to accept the fact.
Ginny felt her eyelids grow heavy. He would learn. She had no intention of leaving his side until he did. Ginny grinned a little. Fiery, she might be, but she was also stubborn.
She rolled over and was on the edge of a doze when something caught her attention. At first, she thought it was the wind slapping the side of her tent. Then she realized that the sound was too rhythmic to be a rogue tent line. Carefully, quietly, she rolled her body back onto the center of her cot, seeking the source of the noise. Across the tent, her eyes fell on Blaise. In the faint light of the full moon, Ginny could see Blaise's eyes glittering. Her head was cocked to one side and she was staring at Ginny without seeing her. She was listening, too. Once again, the silence made Ginny wonder if she hadn't just imagined the noise, but soon the rhythmic pattern picked up again.
Muffled footfalls.
Blaise was already sitting up in bed. Ginny hadn't heard her move, and realized with some admiration that Blaise must have been one of Tonks' best students. Blaise motioned to Ginny to sit up as well and Ginny was grateful that she had long ago stopped putting blankets on her bed. Moving slowly and focusing on every moving part of her body, she got to her feet, careful to keep her weight centered and her movements as simple as possible. Blaise was already up and clutching her Caduceus tightly in her hand. Keeping far enough from the side of the tent to avoid casting a shadow, the girls slipped from the room.
A silence exploration of their three-room tent confirmed that no one else was inside. And unless someone had an invisibility cloak, there was no magical concealment afoot. The wards around the camp were designed to recognize magic that did not belong to one of the rightful occupants. Either whoever was sneaking about in the middle of the night was a rightful occupant or (what seemed far more likely to Ginny) they had a pretty good idea of what sorts of edges the wards around the camp included.
Ginny looked to Blaise again; the girl was, after all, technically in charge. Blaise nodded toward the tent flap and they started in that direction. When the reached it, Blaise extended her Caduceus and tapped the tent pole just above the doorway. A trickle of red magic oozed from the wand onto the pole and shot along it. When it reached an intersecting pole that ran to the ground, it trailed down and disappeared. Blaise nodded and stood perfectly still. Still, the only sound was the rhythmic beat that was so quiet it was almost unnoticeable. Ginny's heart pounded and she clenched her wand.
After a minute of tense waiting, Blaise pointed to the floor. Slimy green magic crawled rapidly along the tent poles and stopped before Blaise. She nodded, and flashed and hand signal at Ginny.
Death Eaters.
Ginny swallowed hard, but forced herself to think about her training, not her fear.
How many? she mouthed to Blaise.
At least ten; maybe more.
Ginny bit her lip, a painful spasm in her throat. Ten. Their camp included fifteen altogether. And Ginny wasn't the only fresh meat.
Blaise waved a hand in front of Ginny's face, and Ginny jumped. Her eyes having adjusted to the dark long ago, Ginny could see Blaise's eyebrow raised in question.
Are you ready for this?
Ginny gave her a firm nod, tightening her grip on her wand and raising it slightly. Blaise nodded grimly. They both knew the procedure for the moment. Stay in the tent and wait for orders from higher up. Ginny was therefore surprised when Blaise stretched herself out on the floor and lifted the very edge of the tent flap. Ginny squatted beside her, trying to be silent as she lay down and pressed her face to ground, trying to see through the tiny gap between tent and floor.
For a moment, all they could see was clearing and Bill and Draco's tent beside theirs. A hissing breath from Blaise brought Ginny's attention to a pair of boots not three inches away, accompanied by a switch of white cloak. Both girls stayed still, watching the boots pace back and forth. Though Blaise had barely raised the edge of the tent an inch, Ginny felt sure that at any moment the Death Eater was going to look down and see them peering out. She gritted her teeth, her stomach in knots.
After a moment, the boots moved a little way off, and were joined by another pair of boots. At that moment, another slimy green light worked its way along the tent pole, though it tracked Blaise to the floor and stopped in front of her. She dropped the edge of the tent and sat up to examine it.
Ginny nudged her and lifted an eyebrow. Pitching her voice so low that no one closer than a foot would hear (another trick undoubtedly learned from Tonks), Blaise murmured into Ginny's ear. "Your brother says that I'm on diversion duty."
Ginny pointed at herself, trying not to get angry. If Bill was in charge, there was no way in hell she was going to be allowed to go anywhere outside of the tent unless the tent exploded.
"You're with me," Blaise returned. She grinned when Ginny's jaw dropped. "You're not to stray an inch from my side, is that clear, Weasley? No heroics." Her expression was grim. "The Malfoys are probably out there. There's a good chance Bellatrix LeStrange is with them."
Ginny gulped, but nodded her understanding. Blaise motioned her to stand, then leaned close again. "When the blue light appears, we have ten seconds and then we need to get out there and cause as much confusion as possible. I think we're going to hop from tent to tent. Aim for Bill and Draco's first. Then we'll hit Connolly and Digget's, and then on to Lupin and Kelly's. We'll stay in Lupin's for a few minutes because by then the others will have started their attack. We watch, and when we're needed, we'll begin again. Got it?"
Ginny nodded again.
"And if things start to look bad – I go down, or we're outnumbered – you Apparate out of here, you understand? Fuck unlicensed Apparition. You can do it. Get yourself as close as you can to Hogwarts and then get inside the gates and sound the alarm. Is that clear? You've got a mission, too, Weasley. No one else can leave without risking leaving someone behind. It's up to you if things go to shit."
Ginny looked into Blaise's eyes for a long, defiant moment. Like hell she would run if her friends or brother were in trouble! But Blaise lifted her chin, her eyes flashing. Ginny scowled, but bobbed her head one last time in compliance. She straightened up and began a quick self-check that Draco had introduced a couple of days ago.
"You need to know exactly what kind of shape you're in before you go into combat," he had told her. "You need to notice everything. Are you stiff for any reason? I expect you will be if you have to go into battle right after getting out of bed. Do you have any outstanding injuries? Does any part of you feel weak from past injury? Is your mind clear? Do you know exactly what to do, so that even if your brain shuts down in the middle of battle your body will keep going automatically?"
Ginny fixed her goal in her mind, as she would a pushpin to a wall. Diversionary tactics were simple – call as much attention to yourself as possible while you run for it. Use as many bright, flashy spells as possible and make yourself impossible to ignore. At the same time, use spells that can add to your own protection. Spells that inhibit basic senses, such as sound repressors, illumination enhancers, and weather inducers.
Both girls stood before the tent flap for another minute, waiting for the signal. It came, a blue blob of magic that moved up to sit in from of Blaise on the tent pole. Blaise lifted her hands and began a countdown with her fingers. Ginny finished her self-check and felt her adrenaline surge. Throughout school, she had experienced a variety of action-packed, often terrifying, adventures. And yet, none of them quite compared to this. This was real. This was war.
With a sudden, impressive surge of energy and accompanying yell, Blaise burst through the tent flap. Before she had time to register what she was doing, Ginny was through the flap as well, yelling and waving her wand. Illumination spells engulfed them as Ginny and Blaise simultaneously began firing Lumos spells in every direction. Though blinded by their own spells, Ginny and Blaise could hear an explosive rush of noise as the rest of the camp came to life in as a synchronized unit. Ginny registered the abrupt change in volume only peripherally. As she had anticipated prior to battle, her mind had frozen and she was relying completely on instinct. Her instinct told her to follow Blaise and keep firing distracting, noisy illumination spells, so that was what she did.
The next thing her mind registered was the inside of a tent. Blaise had pulled her through the flap of Bill and Draco's tent. Both girls dropped to the ground, crouching low and listening to the cacophony of shouted spells, explosions of misfired spells, and the cries of the fallen. Ginny's blood was on fire, her adrenaline pumping. Her hand clutching her wand shook.
"All right?" Blaise murmured, flicking her wand compulsively against her knee.
"Fine," Ginny breathed, trying to calm herself a bit before the next run. She knew they couldn't stay there for more than a few seconds.
"Let's see where we're needed before we take off again," Blaise said, dropping to her stomach and lifting the edge of the tent. Ginny stretched out beside her. It was very hard to see anything, what with booted feet flashing past, spell vapors hanging like dank clouds over every part of the camp, and trained warriors moving so fast that their movements were impossible to follow.
"I think we'll stick to the plan and head for Connolly and Digget's tent next," Blaise mumbled, abruptly getting to her feet and heading for the other side of Bill and Draco's tent. Ginny followed, wiping a sweaty palm against the rough fabric of her pajama shorts. The other end of the tent turned out to be the kitchen and Ginny saw, with no small degree of surprise, that the table was set for tea. Apparently, Bill and Draco had been having trouble sleeping as well. Ginny was strangely glad that they seemed to be forming a connection.
Blaise had reached the back door. "Come on, Gin, stick close," she ordered, her hand on the doorknob. Ginny hurried to her friend, clearing her mind and focusing on her goal:
Make it to Connolly and Digget's tent.
Taking a deep breath, Blaise counted to three aloud and then shoved the door open. Had the situation not been so dire, Ginny would have laughed when the door slammed into the back of a Death Eater in a face-off with Digget.
"Thanks!" the old Auror called, before charging off into the thick of the fight again.
"Lumos maximus!"
Blaise and Ginny tore through the battle again, barely able to see as the light of their spells exploded around them. During this second run, Ginny found herself registering more specifically what was going on. She could tell when she and Blaise caught a Death Eater off-guard. She could tell when they helped a companion in distress. The members of the camp knew what Blaise and Ginny's job was and knew to stay out of the way when they came barreling through. The Death Eaters had no way of knowing what the girls were doing or what their motives were and were thus taken totally unawares by the manic pair charging about without any seeming pattern or design.
This time, Blaise led Ginny round the back of the target tent, ducking through the kitchen door, which was at an angle that would make it difficult for anyone fighting (namely Death Eaters) to see. Ginny slammed the door shut behind them and the girls sank to the floor, gasping for breath. The combined effort of running flat out and firing continuous spells was draining, despite the ever-present adrenaline.
"All right?" Blaise asked again. Ginny nodded, unable for the moment, to do anything apart from suck in as much air as her lunges would hold.
"I think we were actually a help this time," Blaise panted, smirking faintly. "I know we got that Death Eater aiming for Digget with a Confundus charm."
"And I think … I think we got between that huge Death Eater and Bill right in the nick of time, too," Ginny added, when her breathing became steadier.
"Good," Blaise mumbled. She got to her feet and, keeping low, crept across the tent. Once again, she lifted the edge of the tent just enough for them to see under and they took a survey of the battlefield.
"Looks like that gap between here and Lupin and Kelly's tent is just where we're needed at the moment," Blaise whispered with satisfaction. "Come on."
They got to their feet and hurried to the side of Connolly and Digget's tent that was nearest to Lupin and Kelly's. Ginny felt her adrenaline win a battle over her fatigue and gripped her wand.
Blaise counted, and they ran, throwing themselves dangerous into the middle of duels and generally causing as much confusion as they could. When they reached Lupin's tent, Blaise suddenly grabbed Ginny's arm. The next moment, Ginny felt as though she were being squeezed through a straw. She gasped, her chest heaving against a heavy pressure. Suddenly, she was standing in Lupin and Kelly's tent, gasping for air.
"Sorry about that," Blaise wheezed, pulling Ginny to the ground with the hand still gripping her arm. She was breathing even harder than Ginny, her chest struggling with exertion.
"What the hell happened?" Ginny demanded, rubbing her own chest, which was still aching from the intense pressure.
"Tandem Apparition," Blaise managed to say, before allowing her head to drop onto the floor of the tent. "Had to," she added with some effort. "We accidentally threw ourselves in between a two-on-two confrontation and I saw about ten spells headed our way. Had we just dropped to the ground, we would have been a huge liability to our fighters." She stopped to breathe for a moment before adding, "Besides, this way if someone saw us tent hopping and was following us, they won't know where we are now."
Ginny had to agree that Blaise's quick thinking had probably saved several lives besides their own, but she was still somewhat shaken by the Apparition. Tandem Apparition was uncomfortable even when the wizard doing it had years of experience. In Blaise's case, she had had plenty of emergency training, but, Ginny suspected, little practical experience.
Ginny glanced down at her friend. Blaise was lying with her eyes closed, chest still rising and falling far too sharply.
"Shall I go have a look at the battle?" Ginny asked, shocked at her own inability to take control of the situation. Perhaps she had fallen to quickly into a feeling of security with Blaise in command.
"Crawl," Blaise muttered, managing to look annoyed even while utterly flattened. "Try to stay away from walls where you'll cast a shadow."
"I know," Ginny said. She rolled onto her hands and knees and tottered across the tent into the bedroom, which was nearest to Blaise and Ginny's own tent. She was just passing the nearest bed when she heard a low growl and felt a breath of air against her neck. Fortunately, she was too terrified to utter a sound, but not too terrified to push herself away and scramble far enough back to see what had made the noise.
A wolf lay on the floor of the bedroom. Ginny could see its outline and the outline of its raised head. For a moment, she had no idea what to do. Then her brain kicked in and she took a closer look.
"Professor Lupin?" she breathed, staring hard at the shadowy animal. For a moment, the animal didn't seem to respond. Then slowly, its head nodded. Ginny sagged back against the doorway of the bedroom in overwhelming relief. She began to shake, the combination of terror and adrenaline catching up with her in a rush.
"Ginny?" Blaise's thin voice hissed from the front room. An instant later, Blaise was at her side. She was no longer gasping. Ginny felt a sense of immense relief that she wasn't alone anymore.
"I'm fine," Ginny murmured. "It's just Professor Lupin." She pointed toward the wolf.
Blaise jumped, swinging her wand around when she saw the dark shape in front of them.
"No, he's fine," Ginny assured her, stepping quickly in front of the raised Caduceus. "Trust me, he's had his potion. I was about an inch from his mouth when I realized he was there."
Although Blaise lowered her wand, Ginny could see that, far from looking reassured, she looked anxious.
"What is it?" Ginny demanded.
Blaise took a deep breath. "Shit," she said.
"What?" Ginny demanded again.
"Voice down!" Blaise hissed. "So it's fine and dandy that he's a harmless wolf. But by harmless, we're also talking helpless. If Death Eaters get inside the tents, he won't have any power to defend himself. The Wolf's Bane potion takes away every fighting impulse he has, including the impulse to defend himself."
"Oh, no," Ginny breathed. She thought for a moment. "Can't you tandem Apparate with him?"
"There're different Apparition methods with animals than with humans," Blaise murmured. "I've not been trained with them." She paused. Lupin whimpered. Ginny had never seen him like this before. Tired, he usually was, but he always seemed so self-sufficient, so capable. Now, Ginny felt her heart twist in her chest as she saw him trapped in that useless body, totally unable to lift a paw against anyone. Impulsively, Ginny slid closer to him, reaching out to scratch his chin. He made a snuffling noise and slid closer to her, resting his chin on her knee.
"Suppose you'll want to leash-train him now and take him home with you," Blaise muttered. She winced. "Sorry, Professor." Lupin licked her hand. Blaise rolled her eyes. "Delightful."
"We have to get him out of here," Ginny said. "I don't know what Kelly was thinking, just leaving him."
"There's nothing Kelly could do," Blaise retorted in a whisper. "His job is to defend the camp. I expect by the time he woke up, the Death Eaters were in the camp. Lupin had a better chance in here than trying to sneak off during the fighting. He's safer."
"Until Death Eaters start going through the tents," Ginny shot back.
"You're right," Blaise said grudgingly, her face pinched. "We need one of the Aurors. They're all trained in animal Apparition. If one of them can get outside the Apparition barrier around the camp, they can take Lupin to Hogwarts and be back again in a few minutes." Apparition barriers worked in such away that you could Apparate within them, but only within them. To Apparate outside of the area of the barrier, you had to leave the area the barrier protected.
"Which Auror do we want?" Ginny asked, still scratching Lupin's ears.
Blaise stepped over Lupin and stretched out on the floor, peeking under the edge of the tent. She didn't speak for a long moment.
"We want Connolly," she said at last. "She's closest, and doesn't currently have a duel to contend with. She's going to help Draco." Blaise jumped to her feet. "Gin, stay here with Lupin. I'm going to get Connolly."
"But –" Ginny began, hurt that she was being left behind to babysit.
"Orders, Weasley!" Blaise snapped. Ginny glared at her. "Look," Blaise said, taking a deep breath. "You're not fully trained and you wouldn't last long in this type of battle. Besides which," she added over Ginny's protests, "Lupin needs someone to protect him if Death Eaters find their way in. He needs you, Gin."
Having effectively removed the wind from Ginny's sails, Blaise got to her feet and slipped silently from the bedroom.
"Well," Ginny said softly. "Guess it's just you and me, Professor." Lupin rubbed his chin against her knee, snuffling. Ginny sighed, getting a firm grip on her wand and watching the door. She kept up the rhythmic movement of her hand against Lupin's head and neck. Though irritated that she wasn't allowed to join the big fight, Ginny grudgingly understood the importance of her own job. Lupin's life was well worth protecting. The Order needed him and he had given much to it. Ginny recognized the horrific irony that on the night of the full moon, one of the Order's top defenders was totally incapacitated.
Bet one of the Death Eaters knew he was a werewolf, Ginny thought bitterly. If not all of them.
Lupin whimpered, and Ginny felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up against her fingers.
"What is it, Professor?" Ginny asked, rubbing her knuckles against the crown of his head. Lupin removed his head from her lap and shifted himself backwards until he was under one of the cots. Ginny got to her feet, recognizing that he was trying to tell her someone was very wrong. It was the best he could do. Ginny shifted her wand, facing the door of the bedroom and realizing that she was backed into a corner. She debated about setting up a blocking charm now. She listened hard. She heard shuffling from the kitchen area of the tent.
They could get out of the tent, she knew. They could squeeze under the back of the tent and run for the woods. The problem was that if they were seen, they would become a nearly helpless target. And Ginny had no way of knowing what Lupin's reaction to a threat would be. The real Lupin would never lose his head. The werewolf Lupin, however…there was a good chance that he would respond poorly to fright. Helpless animals tended to do that.
Fine. The best chance Ginny had was staying where she was, facing the only entrance, and knowing that Blaise was already very likely on her way back with Connolly. Ginny set her teeth, hefted her wand, and waited.
She didn't have to wait long. Lupin whimpered again and suddenly, a Death Eater stood in the doorway. The Death Eater's mask and hood were up, so Ginny had no idea who her assailant was or what gender she was facing. If she were facing another woman, she would have a better shot with hand-to-hand combat. If she was fighting a man, her skill-level with hand-to-hand would probably be insufficient. Ginny swallowed hard. She would have to stick with magic until Blaise got back to give her a hand.
"Oh, how quaint," the Death Eater purred, in a decidedly female voice. "A mother and her pup."
Ginny felt fear bubble in her chest, but bit her cheek against it and said coolly, "Oh, how amusing. A Death Eater who thinks she's clever."
"Do not play with fire, child," the woman advised, not rising to Ginny's insult. "You're in enough trouble already." She glanced past Ginny and clucked. "Oh, dear, Lupin. Having a bad day?"
The wolf under the cot whimpered again. Ginny stepped sideways, blocking Lupin from view and glaring at her assailant. "Your fight's with me. Leave him alone."
The Death Eater laughed harshly. "My dear, I don't think there is going to be much of a fight with you. Anyway, Lupin owes me. He is, after all, one of the glorious band who put me away in Azkaban."
Ginny felt her throat go dry. "Let me guess. Bellatrix LeStrange."
"Word does get round, doesn't it?" Bellatrix said, and with a flourish, she ripped hood and mask from her head. In the darkness, Ginny could make out her outline, as well as her pale eyes.
"Not word you'd care to hear, I expect," Ginny said, wondering if she could simply stall for time until Blaise got back. Bellatrix seemed to be enjoying the banter.
"Does my reputation precede me?" Bellatrix asked, in a voice that could only be described as flattered.
"I'm a friend of Neville Longbottom's, if that's what you mean," Ginny snapped.
"Oh, yes. Dear Neville," Bellatrix murmured, with a deadly hiss in her rich voice that made Ginny burn with fury for Neville and fear for herself and Lupin simultaneously. "I suppose you're the Weasley girl, then?" Ginny started. "Oh, yes, I've heard reports about how close the two of you are. I suppose I should expect a Weasley to keep company with riffraff like Neville Longbottom. Disgraces to the wizarding world should keep together. They're easier to find and torture that way."
"Forgive me, but I think a true example of disgracing the magical world is standing in front of me," Ginny bit out, her whole body shaking. "Unlike you, I don't find it impressive to torture my fellow Purebloods into insanity. I don't think it's amusing to terrorize school children. I don't think it's okay to kill anyone you fancy. But I guess that makes me the loser, doesn't it? Not wanting to be a monster."
"I'm not a monster, my dear," Bellatrix breathed, taking a step toward Ginny. Ginny took a hasty step back, keeping herself firmly between Bellatrix's wand and Lupin. "I'm a purifier. You wouldn't understand, you're far too young."
"Let me guess," Ginny offered. "Purebloods used to rule the roost in the wizarding world. The bloodlines weren't tainted but Muggle blood. We must end the contamination so we can all go back to being incestuous producers of increasingly unstable children who invariably grow up to be just like Voldemort."
"Don't you dare profane the name of the greatest sorcerer in the world," Bellatrix snarled, taking another set toward Ginny.
"I didn't," Ginny said stoutly. Her next step back brought her up against the cot. The next thing she knew, her head snapped sideways and her cheek exploded into sharp, stinging pain. Bellatrix withdrew her hand.
"That's the very least I can do to make you hurt, Miss Weasley," she said darkly. Ginny heard an unstable wobble in the Death Eater's voice, and for the first time, pure terror shot through her. She was facing the woman who was known to have used the Crucio as a hobby during the first war against Lord Voldemort. Ginny's knees shook, but she forced herself to remain standing and ignore the throb of her cheek. Bellatrix must have seen the fear in Ginny's eyes, because she laughed mockingly. "Now, before you soil yourself, Miss Weasley, kindly get out of the way so I can have a word with your dear Professor Lupin."
Every inch of Ginny wanted to step aside. She wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. Quite irrationally, she wanted her mother.
Then Lupin whimpered again. Suddenly, Ginny felt her fear ebb. She was needed. Someone else was curled up in a ball. Someone else needed a mother.
"No," Ginny growled, spreading her legs and settling her weight into a fighter's stance. She hefted her wand. She was needed. Whatever happened, she would keep herself between Lupin and Bellatrix for as long as she possibly could.
"Are you sure, girl?" Bellatrix asked, sounding menacingly amused. "If you move, I promise you your end will be swift and painless."
"See, that's what you just don't get, LeStrange," Ginny somehow found herself saying. "It's why you'll never beat us, even if you strike me down tonight. You don't understand what it means to protect someone else. You don't understand what it means to be loyal to those you love and respect, and know that they'll be just as loyal and protective of you." Ginny snorted. "I doubt you've been loved a day in your life."
"All this rubbish about love," Bellatrix snarled. "It's not going to save you, little girl."
Ginny smiled shakily. "It's not meant to, you pathetic little worm worshiper. And yeah, by worm I mean Tom Riddle."
Ginny wasn't really surprised when her world burst into a shower of blinding pain before she could lift her wand. And though she was consumed by it, and wished the end would come quickly, she couldn't help feeling a final flash of pride at what she had done. She had stood between a friend and darkness.
I'm ready to join the Order, was her last irrational thought before she blacked out.
)BTG(
To Be Concluded ….