Harry twisted back around only to find a tree trunk directly in his path. He swerved, and the broom did a loop. Ginny braced herself against Harry's back. The broom suddenly stopped, and Harry whispered, "We're here."
Ginny got off the broom, followed closely by Harry, who flicked his wand and the broom vanished.
Ginny noticed that there were no bright colored trees anymore, and rubbish lay everywhere. The sky was already getting dark.
Ginny followed Harry behind a bush. Harry brushed a few leaves out of the way. Ginny looked where he was pointing and saw what appeared to be a campfire.
There were many people sitting around the fire in a circle. More than Ginny could have imagined. Thirty, at least. They all had dark cloaks on. Inside the circle, the leader was pacing around. Harry and Ginny could barely hear what he was saying.
"The filthy Mudbloods have to go. One by one…"
"Are we just going to sit here?" Ginny asked Harry quietly.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"We have to know what they're planning next, Ginny."
"Maybe we should get closer," Ginny suggested.
"No, Ginny!" Harry tried to grab her arm, but she was already too far away. "Ginny! Come back here!"
Harry chased after her. It was at that moment that Ginny stepped on a stick with a crack. Harry and Ginny both froze.
"What was that?" the leader of the group suddenly asked.
"Probably just an animal, My Lord," said a man in a black cloak.
"It was not just an animal," the leader said angrily. "Pull out your wands, men. We have company."
Harry suddenly dashed at Ginny and grabbed her hands. He Apparated all around the woods with loud pops. He was apparating faster than any normal wizard could, and it sounded as though there were dozens of wizards everywhere.
"What did you do that for?" Ginny hissed when Harry finally settled down.
"We have to make them think there are many of us so they'll be afraid," Harry answered.
"But won't they flee?" Ginny asked.
"No," Harry said confidently. "They don't know how much we heard. They'll want to finish us first."
It was at that moment that a man in a dark blue cloak yelled from behind them
"I've found two of them! Over here!" He pointed his wand at Harry and Ginny. "It seems like you two are in for – "
He stopped chuckling as his eyes started rolling around in his head. He fell onto the ground and started withering in pain. Harry grabbed Ginny by the arm and pulled her past the man and farther into the woods.
"How did you do that?" Ginny asked, amazed. "You didn't use your wand…"
"I'll explain later…"
Men's voices could be heard where they had left the man. "They went this way!"
"Ginny," Harry said. "We've got to split up. You go that way, I'll go this way. Maybe they'll lose our trail."
Harry and Ginny sprinted off in opposite directions.
Ginny started panting as she went deeper and deeper into the woods. She could see the men slowly gaining on her.
"There!" one of them shouted. "I just saw the girl right there!"
Ginny sprinted faster. She didn't see a log sprawled on the ground, so she tripped on it and fell. The men had reached her. They were all wearing dark blue or black cloaks.
"Oooh," one of them said. "The pretty lady has fallen down." He smirked. "Do you want us to help you there?"
Ginny tried to get her wand out, but the man was too fast. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her up.
His face was very close to hers, and Ginny could smell his putrid breath.
"Would the pretty lady like one last kiss before she dies?"
The other men in the group laughed.
Ginny sucked her breath, and then kicked the man very hard where it hurt.
He scrunched up together like a ball, and let go of Ginny. She took off. The other men in the group were too startled to do anything.
"Well!" shouted the man impatiently. "Hunt that bitch down!"
Ginny ran through the woods until she reached the road. She saw a deserted alley off to her left, and took off that way. The men were quick on her trail. She looked back and saw them pointing and screaming at her. She ran faster. She ran into the alley – straight into the arms of another of the men. He grabbed her by the waist and clamped a hand over her mouth. She struggled to get out of his grasp, but he was too strong. He pulled her into a nook in the alley. The other men ran straight ran straight past them.
Why didn't this man turn me in? She wondered. But at least he had sweeter breath than the other guy. Much sweeter. A familiar kind of sweet actually. Ginny looked up at her captor. He had a handsome face, messy black hair, and beautiful green eyes that looked at her tattered clothes in worry.
"Harry!" Ginny almost screamed in relief.
Harry clamped his hand over her mouth again. "They might be back," he explained. Just feeling his breath down her neck made Ginny's heart flutter again.
The men were not back, however, so Harry wrapped himself around Ginny and Apparated back to his office at the Ministry.
Ginny dropped onto Harry's chair, clearly exhausted.
"So, how did I do?" she asked.
Harry slumped against the wall and smiled. "If I was testing you now, I would give you an excellent!"
Ginny sat up, startled. "What for?"
Harry smiled again. "For surviving."
"So you didn't expect me to survive?" Ginny asked. "And you left me alone!"
"Well," Harry started, trying to not sound full of himself. "As long as you were with me, I expected you to be safe."
"Why did you make us split up then?" Ginny asked again.
"I'd figured out by then that I wasn't given you enough credit," Harry said.
Ginny smiled. "You know, the old Harry, the one who remembered me, he would have never let me do that. He'd come up with something about having to protect me or whatever."
"So I shouldn't have sent you out there?" Harry asked guiltily.
"No," Ginny reassured him. "I like this part of the new you. The one that lets me do anything even if it's dangerous."
Harry smiled.
"Well, it's kind of late right now," Ginny said. "Did you get the letter I sent you? You wouldn't want to come over to the Burrow, would you? Everyone is probably already there."
Harry remembered his party. Now that he had gotten to know Ginny a bit better, he actually wanted to go. Maybe he'd meet more people like her. They could be friends.
"Please say you'll come," Ginny pleaded.
"Definitely!" Harry smiled.