I was feeling rather adventurous today.

So here's a chapter to my long-dead story, Ginny's Phantom.

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She was spun around, so she was facing her captor, a very pale, and very angry, Lucius Malfoy. His nails cut into her wrist where he was holding her, and his eyes were bloodshot and heavily shaded. He looked dreadful, a fact that Ginny wasn't about to tell the obviously manic man.

"What have you done with my son, you wench?" he hissed, but, luckily, his hand was still clamped over her mouth, so she wasn't forced to answer the ridiculous question.

"Dragging my family into this rubbish… What have you been doing with Draco? Answer me, woman!" He gave her a little shake, then, finally realizing his hand was still over her mouth, released it, drawing his wand out of his pocket and pointing it at her. The meaning was clear; scream, make a noise, and you die.

"Your family? You've never cared about your family…about Draco. Your only allegiance has been greed." He raised his hand to strike her, then thought better of it, lowering it again.

"I could kill you now… Stop all of the Dark Lord's 'queen' nonsense…" He paused, quickly warming to the idea.

"I would suggest not, Lucius. Your time is up." Then Tom…No, it was Voldemort, the cold hearted murderer, whispered the two words signaling the end of Lucius Malfoy's life; Avada Kedavra. A flash of green, and Lucius was an unmoving heap on the cold ground, a token to Voldemort's power.

Voldemort himself seemed less concerned with Ginny as he was with Draco, and she could catch "Malfoy" in nearly every sentence he muttered as he paced in front of Lucius Malfoy's body. Ginny was frozen to the spot. How could he just ignore the corpse in front of him? A minute ago, it had been a man, and now it was nothing but a memory. He had just been living, breathing, talking, and on a whim, was now dead. So what was stopping Voldemort from killing her, too? His strange infatuation with her couldn't last, and then she could end up like Lucius.

I'm not going to let that happen.

"It seems I'll have to find the other Malfoy myself… but that wont be very hard with your help, my dear." Now he turned to Ginny with a dark smile that made her shiver just to look at. He reached out and took her wrist, which she hadn't noticed was bleeding until Tom was frowning down at it. He pressed his wand to it and the blood disappeared, but he continued to hold her wrist, as if he could see on it something that she couldn't.

"It's strange, seeing blood…" he murmured, and she realized that he was watching her pulse. Then he blinked, pulled her to him, and they apparated.

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They were back in London, Ginny soon realized, but Tom disappeared moments later, leaving her standing in a room she had only recently vacated. A tall, blonde figure that Ginny knew so well, with his back to her, was staring silently into the fire.

"Draco!" He spun around, his face absolutely ignited with relief.

"Ginny! Is that really you?" She ran to him, trying desperately not to cry, as she heard a crack, signaling someone's apparition. With a sinking feeling, she knew it was Tom Riddle. She felt Draco stiffen and, suddenly, someone pulled at her waist, pulled her away from Draco, as she tried desperately to fight back. There was a thump, and she saw Lucius' crumpled body on the floor at Draco's feet. Tom's voice, at her ear, sounded cold, like death.

"That is your father's fate, for touching my queen. And you have not only touched her, but… defiled her, and for that, your fate will be worse than his." He then, one arm still encircling Ginny's waist, signaled Draco to look at his forearm; there, emblazoned on it, and recently activated, was the Dark Mark, the sign of a Death Eater.

"I'll be waiting…" Tom said, and she could almost hear the leering tone in his voice, as they disapparated back to the graveyard.

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When safely back in the graveyard, Ginny was placed next to a gravestone, tied to it's base by invisible bonds. Voldemort was angry, she could tell, and commenced to ignore her as he paced, waiting for Draco. Oh, how she needed her wand… she could see it, sitting on her nightstand next to her bed in the dormitory. But, without it, she was absolutely useless to Draco; just a distraction that he could live without.

Then there was a voice behind her; a familiar, beloved voice, even at a barely audible whisper.

"Just hang in there, Gin… he has the last horcrux. When you get it, destroy it… then he can be destroyed." Then there was a crack, and Draco disapparated. Voldemort dashed over, his eyes nearly in flames, and looked around distractedly.

"What was that? Did he come?" He hissed, about to drag Ginny to her feet when he remembered she was bound.

"I dunno…" she muttered, not at all able to look him in the eye. He regarded her silently for a moment, then sighed, resuming his pacing. After an hour, he grew bored, unbinding Ginny and taking her to the small hut he had entered previously. He locked her in, still preoccupied, and she immediately ran to the small, grimy window, pounding on it angrily. He couldn't just keep her in this house until he needed her! She wasn't a servant, a house dog. Then she remembered what Draco had said; he had the last horcrux. To get it, she would need to be a good little bride-to-be, until he trusted her enough to give it to her.

She stared down at her "engagement ring" with a certain fascination, not entirely surprised when she realized the stone was red. It had ornate carvings along the side of it's golden edges, and she took it off to study it further, noticing a small bit of writing on the inside.

Godric Gryffindor

With a choke, she almost threw it down, then caught herself, forcing her eyes to look at it again. There, in perfect etchings, was the name again. She couldn't be mistaken; this had been Godric Gryffindor's. Which also meant… that this ring could be the last horcrux. But how could she destroy it? And when she destroyed it, how could she get back? She had no idea where she was, other than the graveyard where Tom Riddle's father was buried. Harry would know where she was, but Harry was under the Imperius curse, and possibly even dead. Draco knew where she was, but he couldn't come here without risking capture, and torture from Voldemort.

She looked around the small, one room hut. A cot, a dusty, three-legged stool, and a writing desk. She thought about her wand desperately again, then about Draco. There was no way to contact anyone, and she didn't know how to apparate. And nothing in the room where she was held was capable of destroying Godric Gryffindor's ring. Ginny, exasperated and scared, threw herself onto the cot, staring at the rickety ceiling. She could hear Tom, in the distance, speaking in parseltongue with Nagini.

There was no way out, other than death itself.

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sorry it's a bit short. I'm rushed, as always.

And tomorrow, i hope to update the trouble with ferrets.

And maybe even introduce another story. If i have enough time, that is.

-quel