Chapter Seven

Stab My Back

Ginny collapsed onto her bed, exhausted. The past two months had been rough. Everything hurt and had hurt for weeks now. Sirius was pushing them hard. She understood but it still wasn't easy.

Sleep came quickly and when she woke again it was still dark. She lay on her bed, blinking sleepily and wondering why she was awake. She was about to let sleep reclaim her when she heard something. She sat up, wincing at the stiffness in her limbs.

She sat there, listening. On the other side of the hall was Cedric's room and it was from there that she heard noises. It sounded like someone getting up. She rose to her feet, buttoning her jeans and slipping her feet into her boots. She tapped them with her wand and the laces tightened and tied themselves.

She slipped out into the hall. Cedric followed her. He jumped at seeing her then put his fingers to his lips and pointed in the direction of Draco's room. Ginny looked and saw Draco's figure disappearing down the hall.

She nodded and motioned for him to go get Sirius. Ginny didn't wait for his confirmation, just turned and strode after Draco.

Draco was moving fast and quietly. Ginny followed at her own pace, keeping a gap but not losing him. She knew him well enough to know that he'd done this on purpose. He was trying to protect them.

From what? she wondered. With Sirius on their team, there wasn't much that could cause a serious problem. What was Draco trying to protect them from?

Draco leading and GInny following, they slipped out of Black castle. Ginny was familiar with the terrain and she knew almost instantly where they were and where they were going. THere was a clearing just outside of the magical borders of the castle. But what was Draco doing going out there? Especially in the middle of the night by himself.

Finally they were in the clearing. Draco looked around nervously.

"Mum?"

Ginny, still within the borders, went still as death. She was so relieved. Draco had come to see his mother. She nearly fell with the relaxation that followed the relief. She hadn't been aware how tense she was until she heard that.

Draco stood in the clearing, looking around. "Mum?" he repeated, louder.

"No."

Ginny tensed at that voice, as did Draco. They both turned as a man with pale blonde hair stepped into the clearing. Ginny was very glad she'd sent Cedric to get Sirius. They were really going to need it.

Lucius Malfoy sneered down at his son, wand trained on Ginny's boyfriend. Draco reached up and touched the charmed dog tags that Sirius had given him. Ginny, still in the shadows, did the same but to the charm bracelet she and Sirius had magiced. She fumbled around until she found the silver and garnet cross. She pressed the garnet and muttered the key word that would release the magic in the cross. Each charm on her bracelet held a different spell and each only needed one word to activate. The idea had been hers but Sirius had helped her imensely in executing it, as had Fred and George, who were remarkably good at that sort of thing.

THe cross would activate a locating charm and a distress signal. If Sirius didn't already know that they were in trouble, he would now.

"Where's Mum?" Draco growled, pulling out his own wand.

"Your mother has no idea about this and that is for the best," Lucius said. "I would hate for her to have to watch me kill her only son."

"I don't die so easy, Dad. But you should know that. You tried last time."

"The only reason you're still alive is because that little bitch knows more than she did when we last met."

"Stop insulting my girlfriend," Draco snapped.

"I can do what I please," Lucius said. "I'm sure that blood traitor uncle of yours taught you a few tricks but there are plenty more that I know. He can't have taught you everything."

"Try me," he growled.

Ginny tightened her grip on her wand. She knew Draco would not appreciate it if she burst in right now. Draco had issues to resolve with his dad. Still, it wouldn't hurt to stick around. She had faith in him but Lucius knew a lot of things that no one else could know.

Even Sirius would have trouble.

The two men faced off. Ginny held her breath as they began to fight. Lights flashed. Green, red, orange, purple, every color in the spectrum. Draco was doing surprisingly well for himself. Ginny knew he hated his father but still it took a lot of courage to do what he was doing.

She wanted to step in but she knew better. The two blondes fought. Lucius was better than Draco but Draco was faster, younger and had more energy.

All in all, they were almost evenly matched.

Then Lucius got in a lucky strike. Draco fell, blood flowing from a cut on the side of his face. His wand skittered out of his grasp. Draco scrambled up and moved towards his wand but Lucius stepped on it. Draco moved out of the way before Lucius could put his knee into his face.

Ginny took that as her cue. She cast the first spell she could think of, coming out of the woods. The spell hit Lucius in the side and he fell. Draco grabbed his wand and came fully to his feet. He shot her a look half between resentment and relief.

"Miss Weasley. I'm pretty sure they have a saying about this kind of thing," Lucius said. "Two birds with one stone."

Ginny frowned. She glanced at Draco. His eyes widened and she saw the magic a second after he did. It hit her like a blow to the chest, knocking her down. She gasped. Draco threw himself on her and the pain lessened. She knew he was taking the brunt of the spell.

"Draco!" she cried.

"I'm okay," he groaned. "Why is it I'm always getting hurt saving someone?"

"Because you're a fool," Lucius said. Draco rolled to his knees and Ginny followed suit. He brought his wand up and they all stared at it. The wand was disintergrating before her eyes.

"Shit," Draco said. "Ginny, get the hell out of here."

"No fucking way," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. "We go down together."

"How touching. Have fun in the afterlife," Lucius said, pointing his wand at Draco.

"Get the hell away from my son."

Everyone turned to face the opposite end of the clearing. Narcissa Malfoy stood, illuminated in moonlight. She had her wand out and she did not look happy.

(A/N: :3 Gotta love Narcissa. She's awesome.