Chapter 2: Rude Awakening
Harry lazily rolled over, his arms flailing, reaching for Ginny. He sat up when he felt nothing but cool sheets.
"Ginny?" he called glancing at the clock. 7.23. Harry frowned, throwing the covers off and pulling on a pair of grey sweat pants. Ginny wasn't usually an early riser. She was a night owl. Though we did have a relaxing night last night. He thought, a silly grin covering his stubbled face. She probably just fell asleep quickly like I did.
He made his way to the kitchen, fully expecting to find Ginny with breakfast and his morning coffee waiting for him. His brow furrowed when all that greeted him was an envelope bearing his name and not the slightest hint of coffee wafting in the air.
"Ginny?" Harry called again this time with more force. When he heard no reply he muttered, "Where the hell are you?"
He snatched the letter up as he slouched down into the kitchen chair. His face paled as he read the slightly messy scrawl he knew so well.
"Oh dear god no!" he breathed knocking the chair over backwards as he rushed to the fireplace. Within in 10minutes nine Weasleys crowded his kitchen.
"They've taken her!" Harry exclaimed as Hermione alternated between comforting Harry and Ron, unable to decide who needed it more. "That's the only explanation!"
"Oh my poor baby!" Molly Weasley cried before burying her face in her husband's robes. His arms came up mechanically to comfort her, absently rubbing her back. His face deathly pale and etched with deep worry lines.
"Are you sure someone took her, Harry?" Bill asked quietly, Ginny's letter weighing heavily in his hands. "It just this letter doesn't make it sound like she was taken."
"WHAT?" Ron exploded, slamming his fist down on the table, the sound reverberating around the room. "Death Eaters took her Bill! DEATH EATERS! Who bloody well cares what they made it sound like! They took her!"
"I'm just saying what's right here in the letter," Bill said calmly. "And there's no sign of a struggle either. I-"
"So they cleaned up after themselves! SO FUCKING WHAT?" Ron screamed, the vein in his forehead pulsating dangerously. His face, ears and neck were all stained purple with the strain. "They're just trying to buy themselves some time! To get her as far away as possible! You don't know her like I do! She would never leave Harry!"
"Ron's right," Hermione spoke up, meeting Bill's eyes with a deathly glare. "Ginny would never leave Harry."
Bill looked down at the letter once more. Re-reading the words for what seemed like the hundredth time. I'm not so sure.
Ginny sat nervously in her seat on the Muggle aeroplane. Her bag stowed carefully above her. She took a few deep breaths, checking again that her seat belt was fastened properly.
"First time flying?" the man next to her asked in an American accent. She nodded, giving him a nervous smile.
"How could you tell?"
"That's the fifth time you've checked your seatbelt and we've only just hit the runway!" he laughed. "Don't worry about it. Barring pigeons we'll be fine."
"Pigeons?" she repeated sceptically, eyebrows raised, her voice a few octaves higher than usual.
"Yep. You get one of those caught in the engine and nothings keeping this baby in the sky."
Ginny's eyes flew open, her face flicking from terror to mortification and back again, unable to decide which was more important. Upon seeing her face, the American continued guiltily.
"Guess that wasn't the best thing to tell the terrified first time flier, huh?"
Ginny shook her head emphatically.
"No," she croaked.
"We need to get as many Aurors as we can!" Molly said as she bustled around handing out steaming cups of tea. "I'll floo Tonks. She'll know exactly who to call. The sooner we get people looking the sooner my baby can come home."
"Mum, I think we should wait. Like I said, I don't think Death Eaters were responsible for this."
"William Arthur Weasley! You will stop all this 'Ginny left of her own free will' nonsense this instant! Do you understand me?"
"No, Mum, I won't 'stop this nonsense'!" Bill yelled, slamming his mug on the table, tea sloshed out running unnoticed down his hand. Everybody stared at Bill, shocked at his sudden outburst and blatant disregard of his mother's wishes. It was a well-known fact that in the Weasley family that you defied Molly at your own peril. Nobody was going to risk bringing her wrath down upon them for anything. Given her current anxious state, going against Molly was akin to poking a sleeping Hungarian Horntail with a hot poker.
"Have you even read this letter?" he continued, waving the parchment in his mother's face. "She left her ring, Mum. Her ring.Why would Death Eaters leave her ring? Why isn't there any sign of a struggle? If there was a struggle, don't you think Harry would have woken up? Ginny's a hell of a witch she would never go down without a fight! She left!"
An uneasy silence encompassed the room. Molly was shaking her head at Bill, at a loss as to what to say. Tears welled in her eyes. Every body's eyes went to Harry as he slowly stood and made his way to the bedroom. He emerged seconds later, a thin piece of black wood cradled as if it was precious commodity, in his hands.
"Her wand," he whispered. Bill stared at the wand. Would she leave without it?
"Still think she left me?" he asked coldly. "It was on her bedside table. Right where she left it last night. She didn't have it with her. She never had a chance. Molly, I think it's time we flooed Tonks. If that's alright with you of course, Bill?" Harry sneered.
"You know you can undo your seat belt now," the American man said to Ginny as he brought a ham and salad sandwich to his mouth. "We've been in the air for five hours now. It's perfectly safe."
"No thank you," Ginny replied stiffly, popping an almond into her mouth. "I'm quite comfortable with it on."
The man laughed. Ginny couldn't hold back a small smile at the sound. After he'd apologised and reassured her that no creature big or small could bring this plane down, they had got along smashingly.
His name was Alex Brixson. He was a 36year old Los Angeles native with chestnut brown hair, though a few stray greys were starting to make an appearance, and brown eyes. He had laugh lines around his eyes and mouth but instead of making him look old, made him seem warm and quite handsome.
Alex also had a 14-year-old son named Jet, who looked nothing like his father. He had bright blue eyes with a touch of green in them and dark blonde hair.
"He's with his mum right now in Seattle. So I took the opportunity to come over and see my brother. He moved to England about a year back. Got offered a position at the London branch of his firm - he's a lawyer – and jumped at the chance. Don't think I could live there personally though. Too cold. That why you're coming to LA? Escape the cold?"
"No," Ginny said. It's not the cold I'm escaping. "Just wanted a change of scenery. Spice up my life a little. I've always wondered what America's like so once I had enough money saved I hopped on a plane." It wasn't a total lie. She really had always wanted to come to America. She just never thought she'd be hiding from her family and everyone she'd ever known when she went.
They spent the remainder of the flight continuing to talk about themselves, their lives, the merits of the in flight movie and anything else that took their fancy. Ginny was tight lipped about her own life, preferring to listen to Alex. He was a very charismatic man. For the first time in longer than she could remember, Ginny was genuinely happy to be around someone. No, that was a lie. She could remember the exact moment she'd given up.
"Revenge," he'd said coldly, sneering at her.
"What?" she asked in disbelief. Berating herself as she heard her voice crack. He was still staring at her as if she were a piece of bubble gum stuck to his shoe and not a nice flavour either. One of those cheap and nasty bubble gums. The kind that had no taste and turned to rubber mere moments after popping them in your mouth.
"You actually though I'd let you get away with doing that to me? That you could choose him and then come running to me because he was everything I told you he was?" he turned away from her as her first tears began to fall.
She cursed her own weakness, unable to stem the flow. She watched through bleary eyes as he calmly poured himself a fire whisky from an elegant crystal decanter. She wanted to yell at him to stop, to explain why he was saying these things to her but all she could do was stare, lost in the hurt and disbelief.
He said he loved me. Didn't he? Was it all just a lie?
He was facing and attacking her with his words again before she had time to gather herself.
"Did you really think that I'd still want you after all this time? After everything you did with him? Did you think I'd still you when every woman in London is throwing herself at me?"
She couldn't hold back the loud sob that wracked her body and he laughed. He laughed, when every word that left his mouth made the vice clamping down on her heart tighten its grip.
"Although I have to say," he said moving towards her, running a hand down her bare arm and over the top of her thigh before coming to a stop at her hip. She cursed her body's reaction to his touch as he smiled down at her sardonically, his hand lightly trailed along the flesh beneath the top button of her jeans. "that you really were a good fuck."
She jerked back from him, slapping his arm away from her. She felt as though he had just slapped her.
"But really," he continued, seeming oblivious to the pain he was inflicting upon her. "I can get a good fuck anywhere. Course if you want to go again for old time's sake…"
No! She wouldn't do that. She wouldn't think about him. That was the past. That way lead to pain and anguish and she had left that behind. She focussed instead on breathing normally as the plane came into land. She was immensely grateful that Alex kept his sniggering to himself as he watched her try and control her fear, outwardly at least.
"Nothing to worry about," he said, giving her arm a reassuring pat.
They parted ways as Alex made his way over to pick up his bags. He bowed elaborately, tipping his non-existent hat to her. Ginny laughed giving a curtsey in return.
"Enjoy Los Angeles!" he called as he disappeared into the crowd. Ginny continued on to the exit. She looked warily at the glass doors that opened of their own accord on her approach but went through the quickly, as a swarm of Muggles came up behind her. She revelled in the feeling that swept over her body as the Los Angeles sun beamed down on her.
She was free.