A/N: Yay, thank you guys muchly for the reviews! Glad you're liking it. I apologize for the crappy formatting of the last chapter. I hate it when this site does that. And of course, because this site hates me so much, this chapter will be just as badly formatted. Does anyone know how to fix it? It's really annoying. Grr. Anyway, here's chapter two. Enjoy!
Ginny was in the basement, ripping open boxes and raiding shelves, searching for the red flag. It wasn't an easy task; the basement
was very dark. The only light came from two small windows near the ceiling. Not to mention the fact that the place gave her the creeps,
especially since, when trying to clean the basement when they first arrived, Ginny found a disembodied hand in a jar. What on Earth Sirius'
parents needed with a disembodied hand in a jar, she didn't want to know. She shuddered at the thought.
The game had been going on for almost an hour. As far as she knew, no one had been caught, and neither team had any idea where
the flags were. As slow as the game was moving, it was still thrilling.
Ginny kicked aside a pile of empty bottles, briefly examining each one, just in case. Suddenly, the basement door slammed shut,
causing Ginny to jump and spin around. 'I could have sworn I closed it when I came down here...' she thought. Her eyes scanned the
darkness beyond the dim light, searching for who – or what – had caused the noise.
Slowly, alertly, she moved to the staircase. She looked up into the dark hallway, but couldn't see anything except for a thin beam of
light under the door. 'It must have been Kreacher,' she thought, trying to reassure herself. 'God, I hope it was Kreacher.' For a
moment, it struck her as odd that she was actually hoping it was Kreacher, but then she realized that the Black family's evil House Elf was
probably better than a giant monster that wanted to eat her flesh with barbeque sauce and a side of chips.
Ginny turned, meaning to go back to searching, when the heard a creak to her left. Her eyes darted to the area of the noise. Then
there was a rustling sound to her right. I know what you're thinking, and yes, it was exactly like something out of a bad horror movie. Her
heart was pounding. "H-hello? Kreacher? That you?" she said quietly into the darkness. Silence. Ginny stood, scanning the darkness for a
while longer, almost afraid to move.
'Ginny Weasley, you are being ridiculous!' she mentally reprimanded herself. Ginny took a deep breath and held it, closing her
eyes and trying to calm down. When she exhaled and opened her eyes, there was a tall, dark figure in front of her.
"Hello, Ginny," came the low growl. Her scream was muffled by a hand over her face. She struggled to escape, but when she felt the
cold water running down her neck, she knew it was too late.
"I have a prisoner!" proclaimed Sirius proudly as he entered the study, the Ninja team's prison. His hand was still over Ginny's
mouth and he held the nozzle of the gun to the side of her head. He didn't really need to, since she had already been shot, but he had seen
something like that in a Muggle movie once, and it just looked so dramatic, so he did it anyway.
"Brilliant! Hello there, Gin," said Hermione, an undeniably evil glint in her eye. Ginny hadn't thought Hermione was capable of evil
glints, or evil anything for that matter. She was officially a little scared.
"I'll never talk! You'll never get the flag!" Ginny yelled, hoping the volume of her voice would conceal the nervousness it held. She
reminded herself to kill Bill for giving the other team costumes that are camouflaged in the dark. Hermione only gave a small laugh.
"We'll see about that," she said, pacing the floor, a menacing grin never leaving her face. "Sirius, come here, I have an idea." Sirius
released Ginny and went over to Hermione who whispered something in his ear, causing an equally menacing grin to spread across his
face. He giggled. Yes, the mighty Sirius Black giggled like a girl.
"No!" he said in a hushed tone to Hermione, but Ginny still heard. "We can't do that! That's cruel..." Hermione continued to whisper
to him. He glanced over to the prisoner, who was trying and failing at keeping up a fearless expression. When Hermione was finished,
Sirius sprinted to the door, glancing outside to make sure the coast was clear, then sneaking out like the stealthy Ninja he was.
Hermione took to pacing again, looking contemplatively at Ginny, as though she wasn't quite sure the torture she had devised was
horrible enough. Ginny swallowed, her throat dry from fear. They remained in silence, Ginny sitting quietly, stoically in a chair, Hermione
now leaning against the desk, examining a very shiny, very sharp letter opener. The evil grin had returned to her face.
After a few minutes, the door burst open, trailed by a jet of water, which Sirius just barely ducked. He slammed the door and leaned
against it, panting slightly.
"You got it?" asked Hermione anxiously. Sirius grinned.
"But of course!"
Ginny couldn't quite tell what the mysterious weapon was. It was about medium sized, translucent, no real shape or form. Sirius
slowly unfolded it. It was – 'Oh, God, no,' though Ginny. Lying flat on the desk in front of Sirius and Hermione was a large sheet of
bubblewrap. The color drained from Ginny's face and slightly from her bright red hair too, which was saying something. Still, she tried to
look calm.
"How – how did you know?" she asked. "Did George or Ron tell you? I'll kill them..."
Sirius laughed. "Don't you remember? You told us!" Ginny tilted her head in confusion.
"What? When?!"
"Your dad brought some back from work one day and started popping it, at which point you let out a string of four-letter words and
demonstrated your infamous Bat-Bogey hex. It was very funny actually," he said, laughing. Ginny blushed at the memory. That little
incident had gotten her grounded for a week. She couldn't help it, though. The sound of popping bubblewrap just made something in her
brain snap.
"Sirius, would you like to do the honors?" offered Hermione.
"Thanks, but I'll leave this one to you. Flags to find, Pirates to capture, you know, the usual."
"Of course. Good luck!"
"The same to you. Have fun, girls!" On his way out the kitchen, Sirius gave Ginny an almost apologetic glance, but on the inside he
was laughing, and she knew it. She wished a watery, painful death upon him.
Once again, Ginny and Hermione were alone. Hermione had taken to pacing and grinning like a madman again. Ginny hated it when
she did that.
After a few moments of tense silence, Hermione spoke. "You know," she said, "It doesn't have to be like this." Ginny remained
quiet. She knew where this was going. "I don't want to do this to you, Gin. You're like a sister to me." Her tone was almost sympathetic.
Still, Ginny remained quiet. "However...I will do what I must." Hermione took a corner of the bubble wrap in her hands, running her fingers over the plastic. A bead of sweat rested on Ginny's forehead. This was it. "Now, where is the flag?"
Ginny remained silent, glaring daggers at Hermione.
Hermione laughed. "I thought so."
POP! Ginny flinched. "I will ask you again, where is the flag?" Still, Ginny said nothing.
POP! POP!
'Don't give in,' thought Ginny. 'Don't give in...'
POP! Went the bubblewrap again. Seeing that this would get her nowhere, Hermione thought of something that made her grin in a
very Grinch-like manner. She placed the bubble wrap on the floor. Ginny's eyes widened in horror.
"NO!!!" she cried. "You can't! Please, no. Please, God, no!!!" she sobbed.
"I don't have to!" said Hermione innocently. "Just tell me where the flag is..."
Ginny raised her head, he face red with anger. "No," she stated simply and quietly.
"Very well," said Hermione. She raised her foot above the bubblewrap. Ginny braced herself.
On the top floor, Tonks and Harry heard the screams of anguish. They glanced at each other, sadly, knowingly. "There's nothing we
can do," said Harry. They resumed their search, fearing what the Ninjas could possibly be doing to poor Ginny to make her scream like
that. And then there were four on the Pirate team.