Ch.9 Every Rose Has Its Thorns
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
A/n: I know. It has been forever since I uploaded. But I think I can have a pass because my husband came home from a deployment. After this though I will return to uploading every Sunday until the end of the story, I promise. Also I'm not found of this chapter. It is mostly filler connecting the last chapter and the one following.
I am still not quite sure how Harry, Ron and Hermione managed to replace a fake horcrux with a real one by sneaking into the ministry. All I'm really sure of is it took almost two months of planning and Ron ended up getting splinched in the not so perfect escape plan.
The days were starting to blur together and none of us were quite sure what day or even month it was. My best guess puts us somewhere in October. But the uncertainty about the date was the least of our problems. We were each taking turns wearing the locket and it was making us fight with each other all the time. One night, Ron snapped. Hermione was on guard with Harry and we were all asleep until Rona fighting with Harry woke everyone up.
"You were supposed to have a plan!" Ron shouted and all of us scrambled out of our beds to watch him completely lose it. "And I see the way you look at her! Don't you have your own girl! "He gestured wildly to Hermione who looked on the verge of tears.
"Ron calm down and give me the locket" I commanded slowly sticking my hand out but he back away and turned his attention back to Harry.
"And do you have any idea what this is doing to Ginny's health!" He made another wild gesture in my direction.
"There is nothing wrong with my health Ronald!"
"Spare me, Ginny. You're so skinny that you have all but disappeared. Half the night, you are up coughing. Obviously you are sick and you should be home resting." I had never wanted to slap my brother more than I did in that moment. But I held my temper the best I could which only lasted about five seconds before I was yelling back.
"We are all skinny Ron. It's not exactly easy to come by feasts when you are on the run. And also maybe I have a cold but that is bound to happen with all the traveling in the different climates. And also home isn't exactly safe, or did you forget where we made our escape from. One of the probably now high ranking death eaters wants me dead, so I think if I am going to stay alive anywhere, then it is here with you all. Just take the damn locket off Ron and you will quit talking like this." I was sure at this point my face was as red as my hair. Draco wrapped his fingers around mine and I began to calm down.
"I don't need to take the locket off. I'm sick and tired of aimless wandering without a purpose. I'm done." He yanked the locket off throwing it at Harry before storming out of the tent. Hermione ran after him and we all stood around silently waiting. About five minutes later she returned without Ron and with tears pouring down her face.
"He's gone." She whispered before walking past us and crawling back into her bed, clearly not wanting to talk about it. We all stood around for a moment, completely bewildered by what had just happened before we all found our ways back to our beds.
The next morning was a somber one as we packed up our camp and went on our way again. In fact for the first week or two that Ron was gone; I could hear Hermione crying at night. My cold wasn't getting any better either, and even Draco was starting to look worried. But he kept his mouth shut, even sick, I was safer with them then I would have been any where else in the world. But we kept going aimlessly for awhile, and I was beginning to understand Ron's frustration. It was beginning to seem like we were just running around in circles with no real goal but finally when the chill of winter had already long ago set in Hermione and Harry made a solid decision. We were going to Godric's Hollow.
We apparated into the village like town under no invisibility cloak and no deception. Probably not the brightest idea if you are one of the most wanted people in the wizarding world but Harry wanted it to be like that so we followed his command and walked the streets as ourselves.
"Oh my, I think it is Christmas Eve." Regan exclaimed when we turned a corner near a church. Faintly we could hear the sound of carols being sung from within and we all smiled pausing for a moment before continuing on our way. Suddenly Harry stopped and we all automatically looked around afraid he had caught onto some threat that we had missed. But there were no hooded figures after us; there was no one at all.
"Harry what it is?" Hermione questioned still lost as to why we were just standing there.
"Do you reckon my parents are in there?" He raised one hand and motioned to the large graveyard next to the church.
"They might be" She responded, leading the way as we all followed her inside the old iron gates. We split up, all looking for Harry's last name on one of the many grave stones.
"I feel so bad for Hermione." I whispered to Draco when we were beyond the ear shot of the group. "I don't know what I would do if you just took off like that."
"Hermione and Ron are different than we are love. While they have obviously been madly in love with each other for a ridiculously long time, neither one has been able to truly get a grasp on that concept. And while they need each other, they also can function alone. Hermione is probably taking it better than Ron is. She can throw herself into the mission. "Draco kept an arm wrapped around my waist never letting my body be far enough away to miss his warmth. Off in the distance we noticed Hermione, Regan, and Harry all standing together at one gravesite and started making our way towards them. "You and I need each other to survive. It may not always be that way. But you are my heart and I need you to keep my blood from freezing. And I am your air; always surrounding you making sure that you can breathe." He kissed the top of my head and I smiled up at him as we stopped at the grave stone marked with the word Potter in giant letters.
I stood back with Draco and Hermione as Harry knelt down in front of his parents' graves with Regan at his side. When the stood, turning to face us, I realized that Regan was looking over my head at something.
"What is it?" I asked not wanting to turn around a draw attention to us.
"Some old lady is just standing in the street watching us." She whispered holding on to Harry tighter than she was before.
"That's Bathilda Bagshot." Harry smiled before walking straight towards her and following her as she turned to walk away.
"I have a bad feeling about this" Hermione sighed as we followed Harry.
"Don't say that, every time anyone of us says we have a bad feeling about something, we always end up in trouble or near death." I frowned as we stepped into an older looking house.
Harry followed the woman upstairs while Hermione looked around. Regan kept glancing nervously up towards the second floor and Draco and I stayed together with our fingers wrapped around our wands.
Everything turned to chaos rather quickly after that. Hermione opened a closet and screamed around the same time a loud crash was heard above us. Hermione turned running up the stairs first and followed closely by Regan, Draco, and I. Most of what happened next was lost amongst the chaos of spells flying. Somehow we managed to escape the giant snake that had slithered out of the skin of Bagshot and apparate to a snow covered forest.
"Well damn" Hermione sighed catching her breath as she fell into the snow. A gash on her face was dripping drops of red onto the white landscape.
Harry had his arms wrapped tightly around Regan who was sporting a nasty bruise on her cheek. Harry had blood dripping off one of his hands but I couldn't really make out where he was injured. I hadn't even realized that Draco was holding my hand until he let go and suddenly I was freezing despite my coat. He stood and began the enchantments to hide us.
"I can't believe tomorrow is Christmas" Hermione whispered when she finally stood and began setting up the tent.
"I know" I frowned, swallowing tears that were beginning to creep up on me. I had never spent a Christmas away from my family. And the last Christmas I had spent at home was when I have confirmed that I was pregnant with Merci. I swallowed again as a fresh wave of tears threatened to escape. I wouldn't fall apart now. There was too much at stake, too much to be done. "Who's on watch tonight?"
"I am" Harry spoke up, looking at me over Regan's head and for a moment it seemed as if he could see right through the fakeness of my strength but he didn't say a word.
"I'll stay with you, if that is alright." Regan looked up at him and he dropped his gaze from me to her and nodded. I was still watching the two of them when Draco stepped in front of me again.
"Come on, you'll freeze to death just sitting here in the snow." He held out his hand for me and I wrapped my fingers around his letting him lead me into the nice warm tent. "Breathe, darling. You are strong no matter how weak you feel at the moment. I know the look in your eyes."
"I'm fine. I just need a moment, that's all." I smiled weakly at him as he helped me out of my coat.
"Come lay with me for a little while." He wrapped an arm around my waist and led me towards his bed. I kicked off my boots and curled up with him enjoying the warmth of his body around mine. It had been too long since we had shared a bed. And I knew that if Harry walked in he would make me move. It was an unspoken rule that none of the girls would bunk with the boys despite relationship status. But Harry was outside and Hermione didn't even bother saying anything when she walked in and went into the bathroom to change. I fell asleep before she even came back out.
The next morning yelling made me fall out of bed.
"Hermione, Ginny, Draco" Harry's voice called from outside. Hermione jumped out of bed slipping her boots on and running outside. Draco and I followed after he helped me off the floor. I stopped dead in my tracks when I finally made it out of the tent.
"Ron?" I rubbed my eyes, sure that I must still be asleep.
"Ginny" He half smiled at me and it took all I had not to burst into tears right then. Instead I made my way over to him and promptly slapped him across the face.
"You ass! How dare you just abandon us? You are supposed to be my big brother and yet you ran away like a child!" I yelled.
"I'm sorry. Okay I am. I wanted to come back as soon as I left but I couldn't seem to find you all again." He took a step towards me and I felt the tears burn my frozen cheeks as they fell.
"How did you find us and that?" Hermione was pointing at the object in his hands that I recognized as the sword of Gryffindor.
"Well Harry found this" Ron lifted the sword up. "But I found you all with the deluminator. It led me back to where I found Harry taking a midnight swim trying to get the sword."
"Where exactly did you find the sword?" Draco asked raising an eyebrow at Ron's last statement.
"It was at the bottom of a frozen lake. A patronous led me to it and then I made the mistake of attempting to jump in with the horcrux still around my neck. So after nearly drowning Ron pulled me out of the water with the sword and we destroyed it. So that's one more down." He smiled weakly, perhaps trying to calm Hermione and Me who were both somewhere between pissed off and relieved to see Ron again.
"Well, now what?" Regan wrapped a blanket around Harry and handed another to Ron.
"I'm not really sure." Harry stated with his shrugging shoulders evident under the blanket.
"I have an idea." Hermione walked into the tent coming out a moment later with a book in her hands. She pointed at a symbol on one of the pages. "This keeps reappearing. It was in the book Rita Skeeter wrote. It's in the book Dumbledore left me. And I know one person who might know what it means."
"Well who is it, then?" I questioned.
"Luna's father was wearing it to the wedding around his neck. I think we should pay him a visit and see what it is about." She replied.
I had only been to Luna's home once in all the time we had known each other. It was exactly as I remembered it and yet it seemed to be lacking in something. I couldn't quite put my finger on what is was though. Mr. Lovegood looked less than thrilled to see us and definitely more nervous then I remembered him being. But he welcomed us in regardless.
As he explained to us the story of the Deathly Hallows, I noticed that he kept looking out the window as if extremely nervous about something that was about to happen.
"Mr. Lovegood, where is Luna?" I shifted in my seat. Something was definitely off here.
"She's um…she's" He looked out the window again and turned back to us.
"I think we should be going" Harry stated, obviously sensing what I was sensing.
"No! You can't go! They took her! They…all they want is you!" He snapped pointing at Harry. "I have to save her"
Suddenly the windows began to break and I realized we had been sold out.
"Go now!" Hermione yelled. We all grabbed on and suddenly we were gone.
"I can't believe he betrayed us." Ron looked angry as he gathered his breath.
"Do you blame him? He just wants Luna back." I argued. "It doesn't matter. We are safe now."
"Um, I don't think so" Regan sounded panicked and we all looked around. We were surrounded by snatchers.
"Run!" Draco exclaimed and we were off. They were fast though and we were outnumbered. One by one they grabbed us and dragged us together. I noticed when we together that Harry's face was all wrong and that probably Hermione had tried to make him unrecognizable.
One by one they asked us for our names and we all lied in turn. When they got to Harry, the leader examined him for a while and smirked.
"Boys, I think we may have caught Harry Potter!" He stated.
"Are you sure? Because if we are wrong, they will laugh us out of the ministry."
"We're not going to the Ministry. Let's go!"
The old stone house they brought us to was cold and terrifying. I felt Draco tense beside me and I turned to look at him.
"Do you know where we are?" I whispered as the leader dragged Harry to the front speaking with someone that I couldn't see at the gate.
"This is my home. We are at the Malfoy Manor. It's where you know who holds his meeting now." His eyes looked worried as we passed through the gate and up into the house. Once inside we were lined up and I could see that it was Bellatrix Lestrange who had met the group at the gate. On the other side of the room, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy stood together looking shocked and yet relieved to see their son alive.
"Oh Draco, I see you have switched sides on us" Bellatrix looked him up and down. "I heard you had betrayed us for some Weasley filth but I didn't believe it until now."
Draco clenched his teeth. He was well aware that speaking here could be dangerous for us. His mother took a step towards us though.
"Bellatrix we don't even know if that is Potter. Calling the dark lord without strong proof would be insane." She stepped next to her sister but didn't move any closer.
"Fine then, someone fetch Bickman" She called out.
And then several things happened at once. Draco grabbed me and pulled me behind him while my friends gathered in front of me. The snatchers began to panic at our sudden need to fight back and the one who had been holding the sword of Gryffindor dropped it on the floor.
"Where did you get that?" Bellatrix yelled at the snatcher walking over and grabbing him by the neck.
"It was in her bag" He pointed at Hermione with a trembling hand.
"Leave now!" She instructed and the all began to run away just as Bickman walked into the room. I kept my head down behind Draco so he would not be able to see that I was here.
"You called for me?" His voice made me tense and Draco slipped his hand into mine behind his back.
"Not anymore. Wormtail, take these children down to the dungeon." She grabbed Hermione by the arm pulling her away from us. "I'm going to have a little chat with this one."
Once we were in the dungeon Ron used his deluminator to give us some light and out from the shadows stepped Mr. Ollivander, Luna, and a goblin from Gringotts.
"Luna!" I broke away from Draco and embraced my friend. "It's good to see you alive and well."
"It's good to see you too. What happened to Harry's…" Before she could complete her sentence we heard Hermione screaming above us and we all froze cringing in our spots.
"Someone's coming" Regan stated and immediately Ron pitched us into darkness again.
"Come on Goblin!" Wormtail called from the doorway and the goblin followed him up the stairs and away again.
When the lights returned we all heard a small popping and suddenly Dobby was standing in front of us.
"Dobby?" Draco looked surprise to see one of his home's old house elves.
"Dobby has come to rescue Harry Potter and his friends"
"Dobby you can apparate in here?" Harry questioned.
"Of course, Dobby is an elf."
"Dobby can you take , Luna, Ginny, and Regan to…"
"Shell cottage" Ron finished for him. "Trust me"
"Yes I can, meet me at the top of the stairs in thirty seconds." And we were gone.
I was suddenly standing on a beach looking at the cottage where Bill and Fleur where suppose to be living after their wedding. Even though I knew this, I was still surprised when Bill and Fleur came running out of the house together. Fleur took the others inside while Bill wrapped his arms around me tightly.
"Oh Ginny, everyone was beginning to think that you had died." I could hear the tears in his voice and it took everything I had not to start crying right then.
"I missed you too, Bill" I whispered and we stayed like that until we heard another popping sound behind us and turned around.
Everyone was on the ground. Ron was holding Hermione in his arms and Bill made his way towards them. Harry was holding Dobby who was lifeless and bloody with Draco next to him.
"He's dead" Harry cried.
And I let the tears finally fall as Draco stood up and held me.