Disclaimer: Harry Potter is JKR's, not mine.

A/N: Happy New Year to everyone! Also, I hope you've all had wonderful holidays! I spent my Christmas visiting my sister and relatives one the other side of the country, and I had a really good time. I've just found out that my aunt (the one I was visiting) is a huge Harry Potter fan also! And it was really funny actually because we started talking about theories so much after dinner one night that the rest of my family (who have never read the books actually) left the table. It was quite funny. So who else is super-excited about the title for book seven? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows… the possibilities are endless! It's mind-boggling. My birthday's coming up in a couple of days, actually, and I'm really excited because I'll be turning 18:) Anyways, thank you to everyone that reviewed my story. You guys made me happy. I'm trying to improve my writing skills, so please tell me what you think! I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

­Keep the Faith: Chapter Two

She was running; running hard and running fast. It was dark, and all she felt was blind fear. She couldn't see anything around her, but she was strangely familiar with her way around. She was running from something, and she couldn't look back.

Her breath was short, her hair whipping out behind her, she ran as though her life depended on it. A touch to a wall around a bend told her that it was stone. A stone hallway of some sort, but she didn't have time to think about that, she had to get out of there. She had to get out of there fast.

She stumbled once, twice, getting up with difficulty before continuing her escape.

She could hear a noise, some yelling and curses. They must not be far behind. She had to escape. She had to keep running. She had to get to him.

The darkness surrounded her, engulfed her, and she was scared. She felt fear for her life, and for his. She crossed a doorway into another hallway, shadowed, but aglow with moonlight. If she could just get to the end; she could make it.

She could make it to him.

The shouts behind were becoming louder than ever. Her throat was parched, her head was pounding, her legs felt numb, but she could make it. Not too much longer. Casting a quick look behind her, she saw the dimly lit wands of her pursuers.

"Ginny!" his voice called for her. He stood at an open doorway, waiting for her, hand outstretched. She sprinted the last stretch of hallway and he clasped her hand in his, and they shared a brief, but intense look, before he took off through the hidden doorway with her in tow.

Ginny's eyes snapped open. Her breathing was heavy and her heart was beating fast. Cold fear seeped through her to the bones, with the irrational feeling of waking from a nightmare. She stared up into darkness. Where am I? Ginny's breathing relaxed a little bit as she realised that the fear wasn't real. She pressed the cool palms of her hands to her eyes to relax. She couldn't remember anything but the dream itself. She was running from something, she didn't know what, or where, but she remembered the comforting touch of his hand around hers. Who's hand? She didn't know. What a strange dream. It felt so…real.

Ginny opened her eyes and sat up gently. She felt around her touching the rough, cold surface that she lay on; a stone floor. Why would I sleep on the floor? Ginny furrowed her brow in puzzlement as she racked at her memory. Nothing. The last thing she remembered was Luna. The two of them had been talking about something… about Harry, and then she'd felt like she'd needed air, so she'd gone for a walk near the lake. But then what? She couldn't remember. It was like she had a mental roadblock.

Slowly her eyes were adjusting to the darkness and she could see vague outline of objects around the room. She made her way carefully over to what looked ominously like a couch, which it was as she soon discovered and tentatively lay down on it. It was then she noticed that her head was pounding slightly. Also that she really needed something to drink. She vaguely remembered feeling these things in the dream, which was already fading from her memory. It was probably just her unconscious feeding off what her body was really feeling.

There was a blanket folded up on an armrest of the couch and she pulled it around herself, fighting off the cold chill in the room. She forced herself to think. Why in Merlin's name would I be in a dark room all by myself? Sleeping on the floor of a room I've never been in before. Maybe I sleepwalk? She looked around, and felt around in her pockets. Wait a minute... She climbed down onto the floor where she had woken up. Where's my wand? Something was wrong. She always had her wand in the same place, even when she was sleeping. She started to get a very bad feeling. Something was dreadfully wrong. ­"Where's my bloody wand?" She searched frantically all around. It had to be there somewhere.

"Looking for something?"

Ginny stopped what she was doing.

She was looking up at a man as he stood there dark and imposing. Her very own wand was between his fingers as he twirled it, laughing softly.

Ginny rubbed her temples. That was bad. Was that a dream too?

Light shone on his face for a split second. It was Draco Malfoy.

Oh shit. Memories came flooding back. Draco Malfoy must have taken her somewhere.

Draco.

Bloody.

Malfoy.

She found the vague outline of a door in the darkness and ran to it. It was locked. Pounding on the door, she yelled. "Help! Someone let me out of here!"

Stopping herself, she looked around once more. It was most likely there wasn't anyone nearby that would help her, if she was right that Malfoy had brought her there. She changed her approach: "Draco Malfoy, you bloody prat! Let me out of here!"

…….

Neville and Luna sat together at a table in the Great Hall. There were no longer any tables attributing to each of the houses. It was supposed to create a sense of unity in the school, according to Professor McGonagall. It was one of her ideas as the new headmistress. Luna knew that she tried really hard to be a good headmistress to the school, but she was greatly affected by the fact that Dumbledore was gone, and as a result had become even more harsh and shrill than before. It was really a shame, thought Luna to herself as she watched the head table. All the teachers were solemn looking and a few were in conversation. She knew that some of them had lost loved ones to the war. As was true with almost everyone these days.

Luna sighed and rested her face on her hand. It was dinnertime and the sky was already dark.

"Hey Neville, have you seen Ginny lately?" asked Luna.

"The last I saw her was at lunch, actually." He frowned, as he finished off his mashed potatoes. Dinner was almost over, and it was very unlike Ginny to skip dinner.

"That's odd. I wonder where she went." Luna said dreamily. She played around with her food on her plate. "She was thinking about Harry earlier this afternoon, so she went for a walk to clear her head. That's the last I saw of her."

"It is strange that she hasn't shown up yet. Maybe she just went back to the tower." Neville gulped down his last bit of food, and looked to the doors. Luna could see that he wasn't convinced.

"Well, you know Ginny," Said Luna. "She's a free spirit that's been locked in a cage for the past few months. Maybe she's just been out flying on her broom or something." At Neville's wide-eyed look, she added, "Well, I know that it's not allowed anymore, but I don't think Ginny would care much about the rules here. All she wants is to get out of here, and she only obeys them so that she doesn't hurt her family or McGonagall." Neville looked horrified at the idea of Ginny doing something like that.

"All of us are getting frustrated that we're trapped here at Hogwarts, unable to do anything with the war." She continued. "You especially, right Neville?"

This comment caused a dark look to cross Neville's face. He didn't answer her, but the look he gave to the air in front of him spoke loudly. She wasn't quite sure exactly what he was thinking, but she knew she was right. "Ginny's the same, you know. There's Bill, and Percy hasn't spoken to her since her fourth year. Ron's gone away with Harry doing Merlin knows what, not to mention Harry himself breaking up with her and just taking off with Ron and Hermione. Her whole family's right in the middle of everything, and don't forget her first year." She looked at Neville. "Ginny's got more reasons than most to want to take some kind of action against them."

Neville looked at her like she had two heads. Having regular conversation with Luna this year took some getting used to, but deep conversations like this one always took him a little bit off guard. "Yeah, b-but what does that have to do with her not showing up for dinner?" Luna twirled a piece of her long blonde hair absent-mindedly.

"My point is, she's been feeling restless and I'm sure that it's bound to lead to something. I don't know what, but I don't think that she'll want to stay around here much longer."

"Do you really think that she'd leave the castle?" he looked worried.

"Well, like my dad always said, Crumple-horned Snorkacks are almost impossible to find because if they come near to being captured, they will vanish into thin air." Luna said matter-of-factly. Neville stared.

"What?"

"Yes, I know, sad, isn't it?" Luna began humming to herself and picked up her latest version of the Quibbler that she had brought to dinner with her and began to read a news article about how some witch claimed a Death Eater came to her neighbourhood to destroy her neighbour's lawn decorations. Neville shook his head and went back to his dinner.

Five minutes later, Neville made a noise and she looked up to see him looking up at her, a worried frown crossing his features.

"Maybe she just decided to have dinner in the kitchens." He suggested hopefully. Luna almost smiled at Neville's inability to believe that someone would break the rules when there was not a pressing reason to do it.

"Yes, maybe she did."

They sat in silent thought for a while thinking about the odd possible scenarios, but a while later, Neville was worried.

"Okay Luna, I really think we should go look for her." Luna looked up. That thought had been on the back of her mind also.

"Yes, it has been a long time. I hope nothing's happened."

"We should go look for her. It's too bad we don't have Harry's old map."

"Yeah. Alright then, you go look in the kitchen and the astronomy tower. I'll go look in Gryffindor tower and the room of requirement. Let's meet up in an hour back here, and we'll check the grounds.

…….

Ginny sat on the floor against the wall in the farthest corner of the room with her legs tucked up against her chest. An unsettling feeling was in the pit of her stomach. After kicking and shouting at the door for what seemed like an hour, Ginny got tired and had given up with that approach. She guessed she would just have to wait until someone came to her.

She needed to think of what she would do when that time came.

What would she do if he was violent? For some reason, Ginny didn't think he would be. She just had a feeling that since he had always been mean to her and her friends, but had never used his fist on anyone, he wouldn't do anything really bad. He would most likely use his wand, and unfortunately she had no defence against that.

There was nothing she could do if he took that approach. Ginny realised that she knew nothing of what he was going to do, or why. Not one single person in the order had been able to find where he was, or what he'd been up to, or even if he was alive at all. From the small tidbits that she managed to squeeze from the order members, death is the scenario that they'd thought was the most probable. But since he undoubtedly was still alive, she had to wonder how that was even possible. Wouldn't that mean that he was still in league with Voldemort? He had to be, or else wouldn't Voldemort have killed him himself? If Voldemort knew that he'd failed the task that was set for him…

Harry had told her that Draco wouldn't have killed Dumbledore. She knew that Harry certainly wasn't the best judge of things, but he wasn't stupid either.

Ginny couldn't see worth a damn because of the darkness, and she knew from her small tour around the room earlier that it would be a far stretch to find something useful she could use for a weapon anyway, so she decided to think about that later.

It wasn't much longer when the door opened. She heard it creak at first, and her head shot up, causing her to wince from the headache.

Bright light filled the room from behind the silhouette of his tall figure. Ginny scrambled to her feet, shading her eyes.

Draco Malfoy walked into the room and a light turned on above them. What on earth? She finally noticed a light switch on the wall. Ginny couldn't help but stare, stunned. She hadn't even considered muggle electricity. She'd automatically assumed that they were in a magical setting.

"Kneazle got your tongue, Weasley?"

The insulting voice brought her back to reality. She glared at the man in front of her. He stood in the middle of the room between her and the open door, watching her closely. His look was made of stone. Her eyes shifted to the open door behind him.

"Don't even bother. You'll never find your way out." He told her plainly. Ginny scowled. That didn't mean she wouldn't try.

"Are you going to tell me what you want?" She told herself to control her temper for the time being, seeing as she was defenceless.

Draco advanced, walking slowly. "No." He stopped a few feet from her. Without the hood, she could see his face better. He almost looked...older…more intimidating. She told herself not to be scared of him. He hadn't done anything to her yet.

"No?" she repeated.

"Well, not in the sense you're looking for." He shrugged.

"What are you on about?" she asked. She had unintentionally taken a step backwards and she brushed the wall. "Bollocks." She whispered to herself. She realized she'd trapped herself in the corner. Draco's mouth twitched up in a smirk at her dilemma.

"You'd better listen closely, Ginny Weasley." He ordered. His gaze was steady and unnerving. Ginny knew that he was trying to act as though he had control over her. She resolved to make her standing clear to him. He continued, "You are here not by your choice, but by mine, so you will listen to my orders, or Merlin help you."

"You cannot bring me here and not tell me what it is you want." She snapped. "You went all the bloody way to Hogwarts to kidnap me, Merlin knows why, and you've taken me to a bloody muggle house, which is a little bit out of character don't you think, Malfoy?" He stared at her angrily.

"Shut up you stupid witch." He interjected menacingly. "You are here because I brought you here, yes, to a muggle-" he grimaced. "-house. It is necessary. And if you do anything I don't like, I can do what I like with you. Don't forget that."

"I can hardly imagine that you've brought me here for the company, Malfoy. Obviously you have a reason, don't you?" she raised an eyebrow. "What is it then? Do you want revenge on me for hitting you with that bat-bogey hex a while back?" Ginny knew that this was utter rubbish. She found it difficult to imagine he'd go through all the trouble for that. Ginny almost smirked at the frown on Draco's face as he must have been recalling the memory himself. She thought that maybe if she kept on like this, he would slip up and tell her the truth. "Or is it because you think that kidnapping me will hurt Harry Potter? Are you going to try to lure him here to save me? Fat chance!" Just thinking of the subject of Harry put her in a bad mood. He'd just up and left with Ron and Hermione without a care for her. She knew that he did it to prevent anything from happening to her, but if it was the case here, then that would all be for nothing, wouldn't it?

Draco fought the urge to roll his eyes. If only she knew how wrong she was. "I am not interested in petty grudges or Harry Potter, Weasley." He advanced a couple of steps toward her. She wasn't afraid of him, it seemed. He decided that taunting her might do the trick. "What happened to wonder boy, then? Did he break it off with you?" Ginny clenched her fists, glaring. "I heard he disappeared off the face of the planet. What happened, Weasel? Did he take off with your brother and the mudblood into hiding and leave you behind? -Hey!"

Ginny had hit him in the face before she could stop herself. She now held her hand against her chest. "Watch it, you wench." He growled, touching his left eye.

"Shut up Malfoy! What makes you so special?" Ginny shouted at him. There were tears in her eyes. It angered her that he could be so right and so insulting at the same time. It hurt to hear it from someone else. "All you are is a bloody Death Eater! You probably go around raping and killing everyday!" The moment she'd said it, she'd known that she'd gone too far. A split second later, Malfoy had her pinned up against the wall. Her body hit the wall hard, making her wince. His face glared down at hers, his breathing was harsh and his nostrils were flaring. She looked into his eyes and saw a fury of emotions: anger, hatred, and what was it…desperation?

"You don't know what the hell you are talking about Weasley." He said with more control than it looked to her like he had.

"Really, Malfoy?" Her brown eyes glinting in anger, or was it fear? "Aren't you working with the Death Eaters? Was it their plan to kidnap me? Aren't you just Voldemort's pawn all over again? Do you have men outside that door somewhere that plan to beat me, or…or rape me?" His face was inches from hers as he looked at her menacingly. Ginny couldn't have stop herself even if she tried. The words came out of her mouth before she even knew she was saying them. "Or is that what you're supposed to do?"

"Shut up!" he yelled, slamming his hand onto the wall beside her head, his face contorted in anger. Ginny winced, closing her eyes. She couldn't stop a tear from falling down her face. "You will listen to me. It is none of your bloody business why you are here-"

Ginny clenched her fist. None of my business?

"Let me go Malfoy, or you will be sorry." She struggled against his hold.

"-you will obey my rules or-"

"Or what? You'll kill me?" she snapped sarcastically.

There was a long pause as they glared at each other.

He started to say something, but it caught in his throat. Ginny watched as he gained back his resolve. His face closed down and she could no longer see any emotion there. Her unblinking eyes couldn't leave his face.

"Yes." Draco answered at last, disdain evident in his voice. "I will." With that, he turned and left the room, leaving Ginny to stare at the closed door in shock.