Chapter 33

"Neville, I want to do more," Ginny complained as she threw a pillow in the common room angrily to the ground.

The fire flickered with life as Neville looked up from the herbology book he had been reading. "Ginny, we got together the remaining Dumbledore's Army who still go here, and managed to recruit several new members. In our free time, we wreak havoc in the school, and give the Death Eaters hell."

"But it doesn't feel like enough! It won't help Harry in his mission to know that a few Death Eaters are suffering. I want to do more, Neville, and this just isn't cutting it."

"Ginny," Neville said softly, as he stood up from his chair and sat down on the couch beside her. He placed a hand on her arm and looked at her, "Harry still loves you, even though he ended it with you. You remember why he did that; to keep you safe. And he won't think any less of you for not being able to do any more than you can."

"I know, Neville, I know. But I need to do something. It's killing me to sit back, we talked about that."

"Okay, and what do you want to do then?" Neville questioned her.

Ginny was silent for a long time before responding, "I want to steal the sword of Gryffindor from Snape."

Neville's jaw dropped, "Ginny, you've got to be kidding. There's no way that we could do it successfully."

"It's his by Dumbledore's will. He wouldn't have wanted Harry to have it if there wasn't a reason behind it. And if the Ministry refuses to get it to him, then I want to get it to him myself. If there is something I can do to help him, then I have to Neville. It's great to annoy the hell out of these Death Eaters, but I need to do something to make a change.

"Okay, Gin. Okay. Let's do it tonight; you, me, and Luna. It's always been the three of us through everything; it should be the three of us through this too."

The three met in front of the Great Hall that night at midnight. Neville looked slightly nervous; however to an onlooker who did not know him, they would not have suspected a thing.

Ginny cast a disillusion charm upon them and then a silencing spell. That way it would be easier to communicate without fear of being heard. She had no idea how muggles managed to get anything done without magic; not because she thought they were inferior, but because magic made their lives so much easier and she couldn't picture a life without it.

"It's in Snape's office, in a glass box by his portraits. At least it was there when Dumbledore was still Headmaster. For all we know, Snape might have hidden it since then," Neville said as they walked down the hallways.

Ginny loved Hogwarts with all her heart, but she would be lying if she said she didn't find the school to be slightly scary at night, especially with the current unwanted habitants.

"It's still there," Ginny said firmly. "I saw it about a month ago when one of the Carrows sent me to his office for badmouthing Voldemort."

"Yes, and I do wish you would stop doing that. It's great to see someone put those horrid people in their place, but one of these days Snape is going to snap and your punishment isn't going to be pretty. He didn't get to be one of Voldemort's most trusted followers without killing a few souls," Neville said with a sigh.

Ginny scoffed, "What could the coward do to me? I don't think he could hurt any of us to be honest; he's far too soft and weak to do that."

"I would still be careful if I were you, Ginny. You never know when trouble may strike," Luna's voice spoke softly. Ginny nearly stopped in her tracks when she heard the tone of Luna's voice. It was so lucid, compared to how dream like her voice usually sounded. Luna must have been quite worried to awake from her trance.

She sighed. "Okay, I'll lay down on the provoking. I can't help it though. Every time I see him, I'm reminded of the way he betrayed Dumbledore, the way he betrayed all of us."

By then, they had arrived at the door of Dumbledore's old office.

"We don't know the password!" Neville hissed nervously from behind her.

"Then we'll just have to guess," Ginny as she turned away from her friends. Her deep red hair covered the side of her face like a veil, blocking them from her vision" the door didn't budge. "Dark Lord? Death Eater? Mudblood?" Nothing. "Blood Purity." The door did not even appear to have moved in the slightest.

"I got nothing," she said, as she turned to face her friends.

Neville have her a defeated shrug, but Luna stepped forward.

"Let me try," she said, as the soft texture returned to her voice. "Dumbledore."

Ginny didn't want to believe it. It seemed like a cruel joke that Luna would even suggest such a thing. But as Ginny turned to look at the door, she was surprised to see that they had opened.

"That bastard," Ginny hissed. "How does he live with himself? After everything he's done, he goes and takes the name of the poor trusting soul that he murdered? Dumbledore begged with him! He pleaded for his life; and that bastard kills him anyway, and then changes the password to Dumbledore's office to his name?"

"We should go in Ginny. If we wait too long, we could get caught, and that wouldn't be pleasant for any of us," Luna said again in a soft tone. She didn't appear to be surprised by Snape's choice of a password.

"Fine," she said, as she pushed open the doors to Dumbledore's old domain. "Let's get the sword and get out of here as quick as possible."

The portraits on the wall were in deep sleep when they entered the office. They knew now that they had to be quieter than they had been through any of this mission so far. If so much as one portrait woke up, then they could kiss their chances of getting the sword out good bye.

Ginny walked carefully over to where the sword had been a few months ago. The sword was sitting there, glistening in all its glory. The sword looked exactly the same as it had five years ago when Harry had pulled it out of the hat. She still remembered waking up to find Harry kneeling on the ground, in a puddle of blood as his arm was cut open to the bone. She had been terrified that he was going to die, and it would have been her fault. It had been the first time she had come into contact with Harry's noble complex.

She had cried when she saw him there like that. But thankfully for her Fawkes had come to his rescue and cried its magical tears onto his arm and healed him. Ginny had no idea what Harry needed the sword for, but if it would help him, she had to get it to him.

She carefully lifted the box over the sword and handed it to Neville. He looked nervous as he held the box, afraid that with one wrong move, it would fall to the ground.

Ginny lifted the sword ever so carefully from the stand. She instantly felt a surge of magic flow through her, and it was as if Gryffindor's bravery had been passed to her in that moment.

"Not to sound nervous, but we probably should get going," Neville said, as his voice brought her back to the moment.

"Let's go," she said. As the three of them turned around, they were met face to face with a joyous looking Filch.

"My, my, students out of bed," he said with a twisted smile. "How the Headmaster will punish you." He stroked Mrs. Norris' fur.

"We should knock him out," Luna said with a smile.

Ginny nearly started laughing at her sudden outburst. Luna had changed over the past few months at the school as well. She had not only gained a lot of insight into some matters, but she also managed to stay true to who she had been before all of this.

"I agree," Ginny said. "Petrificus Totalus" she said softly.

The caretaker's body instantly stiffened as he fell to the ground with a 'Thud'. Unfortunately for the three of them, the sound woke up one of the portraits. And when you wake up one portrait, you wake them all up.

Blaise looked around nervously, as he walked down the streets in Diagon Alley. It had been roughly two months since he had turned down Voldemort's offer of joining up with the Death Eaters, and so far there had been no consequences.

"I don't want to join up with you," Blaise said, as he attempted to keep his voice as levelled as possible.

He had no idea where he currently was, and all he did know was that the room was dimly lit by a few floating candles. Blaise supposed that Voldemort wanted that eerie effect to scare the new comers. He was standing in the centre of a circle comprised of Death Eaters. They each had their masks on, however Blaise had a feeling he knew who each of them were. To the direct right of him was Lucius Malfoy, father of the friend he just lost. To his right stood Nott Sr, Yaxley, Travers, and Rookwood, and on Malfoy's left was Dolohov and Pettigrew. Standing directly beside Voldemort was Bellatrix Lestrange and Rodolphus.

The Death Eaters chuckled to themselves.

"Oh? And why is that Mr. Zabini?" Voldemort's low voice hissed out softly. "Are you too afraid to join my forces? Are you afraid that you will die? Or simply that you are too much of a coward to stand up for what you believe in?"

"None of that. I'm not afraid, but I do not wish to end up like Draco. My Lord, I may believe one hundred percent in the need for blood purity, but I still am a Slytherin through and through. I care for my personal safety above all else. So because of that, I do not think I will be joining you tonight. I am sorry for the disappointment."

"Young Malfoy died a valiant death for our cause, and he is esteemed in the highest. It is due to his work that the second greatest wizard this era has seen has died, and because of him that our mission is one step closer to ridding ourselves of the mudbloods of this world. Don't you want glory? Or the fame and power associated with the job?"

"No, my Lord. I do not seek greatness, I seek self-preservation."

Voldemort's lip twitched, "I see that there is no changing your mind. Well, so be it then."

He had felt that it had been slightly too easy, the way that Voldemort let him off so easily. Theo wouldn't have gone into hiding if he knew that you could just say no. But as time went on and Blaise saw no signs of harm coming his way, he lowered his guard.

But something felt off today; it felt as if he was being watched, and even followed. He turned around but the street behind him was abandoned. There was no one anywhere near him and no one as far as he could see. Blaise turned back to the path ahead of him and kept walking as he picked up the pace. All he needed to do was get to the store and pick up a few supplies and then get out. He hated leaving his house without reason, but he knew that ever so often he had to leave.

Blaise had chosen not to return to Hogwarts. He knew that there wasn't much of a choice anymore, however there was very little that money couldn't buy. Voldemort's cause always needed more funding and throwing a few thousand galleons his way seemed to get the 'Ministry' off of his back about not returning to school.

Suddenly, he felt his body stiffen. He couldn't move, or even catch himself as his body hit the ground. He turned to try and see his attackers face, but he was met with a mask.

"W-who are you?" he cried out.

His attackers held out their wand and even though Blaise couldn't see their face, he could have sworn that there was a smirk plastered across his face.

"Not so brave now are you, little Slytherin?"

He knew that voice; that strong deep make voice. However, before he could place it, he was met with darkness.

Blaise woke up to darkness. Where was he? How long had it been before he had woken up? There was a sort of magical bond over his hands.

"Ah, Mr Zabini, I see you're awake now," a cold voice called out through the room. "Did you have a nice nap?"

"Who's there? Let me go you bastards!" Blaise cried out, as he struggled through the bonds.

"Language Mr. Zabini. It's not nice to speak so impolitely. Didn't your pureblood mother raise you better than that? Oh that's right, she was too busy whoring herself out for money to care about taking care of you."

"Don't you dare speak about my mother, you son of a bitch. She is far better of a person that you could ever be."

"Don't speak to the Lord like that," a woman screeched out. Bellatrix. She raised her wand at her him and cursed him, "Crucio,"

He felt pain surge through his body as he lost all logical thoughts. "Ahhh!" he cried out.

"Zabini, did you really believe you would get off that easily? Now, I will give you one more chance to change your mind. Will you, or won't you work for me?"

"Never!" Blaise sputtered out in pain. "You can kill me, but there is no way in hell that I will work for you willingly."

Voldemort laughed, and Blaise felt his ears bleed at the sound. "I thought you might say that. But Zabini, remember how you said you were one hundred percent Slytherin? I find that statement to be false. You see, I think that you have a bit of a Gryffindor complex to you. You may not be brave or noble, but you have the stupid self-sacrificing quality. So maybe you won't join for us, but what about your dear old mother?"

"She's safe from you and your Death Eaters," Blaise said, attempting to keep calm.

"Is she now? I heard that your latest stepfather passed away, and that your mother already has her eyes set on someone else. Yaxley, I believe it was?"

"You're lying!"

Voldemort only curled his lips into a smile as he waved his hand. Before him, he saw his mother, off on a date with another wizard. Upon closer inspection, he saw that it was indeed Yaxley accompanying her."

"How do I know that it isn't just a vision you created?" Blaise trembled.

"You don't."

"You wouldn't do a thing to her! It's me you want!" he pleaded.

"Ah yes, but I have long learned how valuable leverage is. Now you see this can go two ways. You can either accept to join up with me, and have your mother spared, or you can decline. If you chose the second option, then Yaxley will kill your mother, and I shall place you under the Imperius curse. So the choice is up to you."

There wasn't a choice, not really. One way his mother would live, and the other she would die. And either way he would be stuck as a Death Eater.

"Fine, I'll do it. Just leave my mother out of this," Blaise said, accepting defeat.

"I knew you would see it my way." Voldemort said arrogantly. "They always do."

The other Death Eaters laughed and their cruel voices filled the room. The candles seemed to gain more light and it heightened the shadows on the walls.

He didn't want this life, but he wouldn't do what either of his friends did. He wouldn't run like Theo or give in like Draco. If he was going to do this, then he wasn't going down without a fight.

The journey he was going to take would be difficult; he would have to master some of the highest forms of magic, and the most complicated ones. But he wouldn't just let Voldemort wave his wand and threaten him. If Blaise Zabini was one thing, it was strong minded. His mother used to complain that Blaise would never give in easily when he didn't want to do something. But once he saw that it wasn't going his way, he would take a step back, and reassess the situation. He would then take a different approach and get his way. He didn't care was Voldemort said about him being like a Gryffindor, maybe he did have a bit of the dorky house's tendency, but he was still far more of a Slytherin than Voldemort was going to give him credit for. And if it took playing Voldemort's good, obedient dog to get him what he wanted, then he would do that. But he would bring Voldemort down, and everyone who follows him. He would wipe the smiles right off of their tainted faces. He would do it for Draco, and for every other soul who got wrapped up and it was too late for. He would bring down his entire empire, and when he did, he would finally have achieved what he wanted: his freedom.

"So when do I start?"

A/N: Hello everybody. So next week, I will be gone on a trip, leaving on Friday morning and only coming back on late Sunday. Now because I am gone, if I have time, during the week I will try and write a chapter to post when I get back; however, if I do not, there will be no chapter for next week. And once again, thank you for all the continuous support. It means a lot to receive your feedback and know what I can improve on.