Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it is the property of the brilliant J.K Rowling. This story is the product of her marvellous characters and world and my imagination.

Hope you enjoy the chapter. Any reviews or constructive criticism are welcomed.

Ambush

Before she knew it everyone else was leaving. Her whole family, as well as Harry and Hermione, had engulfed her in hugs and she was trying to reassure herself that she would see them again soon. After a quick good luck from Dumbledore he too left them alone.

They told her that they would be apparating to just outside their safe house since the wards wouldn't allow direct apparation. They would then split up, with the two assigned as permanent guards taking her into the house and the rest going to report to the Order once they were sure it was safe.

Tonks held out her arm and Ginny gripped it tightly. The next moment she was gaining her first experience of side-along apparation and it was not a pleasant feeling. They all appeared simultaneously and looked around the area, which appeared to be clear.

They proceeded cautiously until they almost reached the safe house. Seemingly in the clear Moody spoke, "we better find out who the two permanent guards are." He looked questioningly at the group and Tonks spoke up, "I'm one of them." Ginny was relieved, Tonks was a powerful witch, but also lots of fun to be around. Kingsley then confirmed he was the second guard, which also made her feel better, knowing he was an exceptional wizard.

Moody nodded in approval, "right them. The rest of us should probably get back to …" But he was suddenly cut off by Remus' low growl. "There are others here, I can smell them." Almost as soon as the words left his mouth there were dozens of pops and death eaters clad in masks began to arrive in the clearing.

The guards formed a circle around her, wands drawn, but there were about 25 death eaters - they were surrounded. Everyone's reactions were immediate, Kingsley whispered hurriedly to Ginny, "get your mind shield up now and no matter what happens make sure you can concentrate. Even if they take us all out keep the shield up and others will come to help you."

She nodded, though petrified with fear, and started the spells for her shield, pleased when a blue glow surrounded her, signalling that it was working. At the same time she could clearly hear Lucius Malfoy's voice ringing out, "remember what the Dark Lord said, the girl is not to be harmed, take her as soon as possible. As for the rest of the filth we have here, kill as many as possible."

These words filled Ginny with dread, but she remained concentrating on her shield. Just as the walls came fully up the fighting broke out. Watching the Order and the death eaters duel was a frightening experience, but she tried to focus only on the shield and not any causalities.

She saw an unknown Order member on the floor before it began. It being the assault on her mind. With her mind occupied on the shield, her occlumency was non-existent and Voldemort was now invading her unprotected mind. The pressure was mounting and she struggled to hold her shields.

She cried out and both Order members and death eaters heard it. The last thing she saw before she blacked o9ut from the pain was both Order guards and masked death eaters racing to get to her, she could only hope the Order would reach her first.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Order had been expecting some death eaters, but half a dozen at most. When 25 turned up they knew things were going to be bad. They began duelling almost straight away and only had a few seconds to check that Ginny was ok. Thankfully she had got her shield up pretty quickly and they could concentrate on fighting.

They managed to hit a few of the death eaters before the first disaster - Hestia got hit by the killing curse. This distracted both Sirius and Remus, who had been in the same year as Hestia in Hogwarts, but there was no time to mourn, only to duck and avoid the barrage of curses.

The battle raged on for a few minutes more before both groups were distracted by an agonised scream - Ginny was holding her head in pain and her shield appeared to be fading. The Order knew one of them would have to get her and apparate out of there quickly, but as both Tonks and Sirius raced towards her they saw that two unknown death eaters, as well as one with platinum blond hair they recognised as Lucius Malfoy, were also running towards the young girl. The question was who would reach her first?

Sirius was quicker than Tonks and made to grab Ginny, only to be pushed out of the way by a death eater. Everything seemed to go still and quiet as Lucius Malfoy grabbed Ginny's unconscious form and apparated away with a triumphant smirk.

Just as quickly as the silence had begun, it ended with the restarting of the battle. Dedalus Diggle fell by Dolohov's wand, but was struck down by an angered Remus, his eyes flashing amber for a moment. Moody cried out to them all, "she's gone, grab the bodies and get away." With that Sirius grabbed Dedalus and Remus picked up Hestia, then the Order soldiers apparated away.

Once the death eaters realised there was no one left and that their target had been secured they too apparated away, back to their headquarters and Voldemort.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, the rest of the Order were waiting anxiously for news in their new headquarters. The guards were a little late and while Dumbledore insisted that this didn't mean anything, many of them, especially the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione, were getting rather edgy.

Silence reigned since no one really knew what to say to anyone. When they heard the door everyone was on edge and they knew something had gone wrong as soon as Mad-Eye Moody came through the door. Dumbledore observed him and the ever present twinkle in his eyes disappeared as he spoke sharply, "what happened Alastor?"

Moody just shook his head and motioned behind him. Kingsley and Tonks trudged in with dejected looks on their faces and followed by Sirius and Remus, who were both carrying a body each. Mrs Weasley gave a cry and her hand flew to her mouth. Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore exchanged pained looks and everyone noticed Ginny was not present.

Mrs Weasley spoke quietly, "where is my daughter, where's Ginny?" Sirius looked at her with a mournful expression, "I'm so sorry Molly, there was nothing we could do, they took her." Mrs Weasley burst into tears and her family gathered round trying to comfort her while Hermione sobbed on Ron's shoulder and Harry looked close to tears.

Dumbledore turned to Moody, "could you please explain the full story Alastor." Moody nodded and began speaking gruffly, "well we had arrived just by the safe house and everything seemed to be going by the book until Lupin sensed something. We were ambushed by twenty-five death eaters led by Lucius Malfoy." He broke off there as gasps filled the room and after a few moments he cleared his throat and continued. "We had no chance to leave and had to fight, Shacklebolt told the girl to put up her shield and she did. We started fighting and we were doing ok, the girl was safe and we'd managed to hit a few of the scum, but then it all went wrong. Hestia got hit and then we all heard the girl scream. I thought it was some sort of reaction to Hestia's death, but she was clutching her head like she was in pain and the shield was fading."

He broke off to clear his throat and then carried on, "she collapsed after a few minutes and the shield dropped completely. Black and Nymphadora were closest and they tried to get to her, Black almost had her, but one of the bastards came out of nowhere and tackled him. Malfoy grabbed the girl and disapparated just as Dolohov got Dedalus, though Remus paid him back in kind. We knew we had to get out of there so we grabbed the bodies and left. We weren't followed."

Arthur spoke up for the first time once Moody stopped speaking, "but Dumbledore, you said that the shield would hold against anything but Avada Kedavra." Dumbledore nodded sadly, "it does. But there must be intense concentration. I practiced with Miss Weasley and her focus was excellent. Alastor said she seemed to be clutching her head in pain and there lies the answer, while focusing on her shield Ginny can't keep up her occlumency shields. I had thought Voldemort would take them for granted and not try to enter her mind, but it appears he did. With no shields, Voldemort could attack her mind and cause her to lose focus. This brought down her shields and was what caused her to fall unconscious."

They all shook their heads and sighed at this development. Molly had finally stopped crying enough to speak, "what will we do now Albus? I want my Ginny back and away from that monster, he's caused enough damage." Dumbledore looked grim, "we will first gather information, like where Ginny is being held and the security there. Then we will go from there. But first," he gestured to the two bodies, "I am afraid we have two funerals to arrange."

They nodded and began their separate preparation tasks while Snape dealt with the bodies and hoped he would be called to Voldemort soon to gather more information. The atmosphere was dim, everyone in the room feeling the loss of Ginny and her bubbly personality.

As normal, the next chapter should be up in a few days.