Chapter Six

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Sorry about this really short chapter, we have been really busy during the past few days. Hope you will enjoy! Happy reading!

"Ginny? Ginny, can you hear me?"

Ginny groaned. Her head was throbbing. Her arm felt like it had been through a wood chipper. But still, her eyelids fluttered open, to see a very concerned Luna, Lavender, and Neville hovering over her.

Luna broke into a relieved smile. Lavender let out a huge breath. Neville whooped.

Ginny tried to smile and wave, but winced as pain shot through her right arm. She saw her friends' smiles falter a bit as they noticed Ginny's pain.

"Okay, what the hell happened? First the Cruciatus Curse, then this. What did the Carrows do this time?" Neville questioned, a bit angrily. Ginny felt the corners of her lips lift up a bit at his concern.

"I'm fine, Neville."

"That's what you said last time. I'm not believing it." Neville crossed his arms and turned sideways away from Ginny.

"Seriously. I've been Crucio-ed before. You think some cuts can kill me?"

"Some cuts? Your arm was bleeding for hours!" Neville shot back. His arms came out of their crossed position and he made wild hand gestures.

"Um, we're here too, Ginny!" Lavender said, breaking their argument.

"And really, what happened?" said Luna softly. Ginny sighed. She propped herself up in bed with only her left hand, not wanting to hurt her right one.

"Okay, so I went to Professor Carrow's classroom, for my detention. They were both there, again. As usual, one of them cast a soundproofing spell. I thought they would Crucio me again," Neville growled at that. "But they didn't. And then I realized I couldn't move."

"Imperious," Luna whispered in a hushed tone. Ginny nodded, and Lavender's eyes widened.

"Exactly. And I tried to fight it, but it was impossible. They made me open a drawer and… and I pulled out a dagger." Ginny's voice wavered slightly. Neville clenched his jaw. She forced herself to continue.

"And… they made me cut myself. You know. And after they stopped, I fainted." Ginny closed her eyes, still being able to feel the pain in her arm.

"... And then? How did you get here?" Lavender asked hesitantly, her fingers twisting with one another.

"That's the thing. I have no idea. I fainted in Professor Carrow's classroom, and when I woke up, I was here." Neville looked skeptical. He should be, I am too.

"Do you have any idea? Any little hints?"

Ginny dug into her memories, thinking hard. Then, a memory lit up like a candle in the night sky; she remembered.

"I… remember something. Not much. But it's something. I remember drifting into consciousness, just for a minute. I think… I felt someone brushing my hair back. And…" Ginny searched her mind furiously. "I think whoever took me here… they gave me a kiss on the head. " Ginny touched her her forehead with her left hand, deep in thought.

Luna tilted her head.

"Well, that person must have taken you here, then. Can you remember anything else? Maybe what they looked like, or their voice?" With that, Ginny searched her thoughts, and found a spark of memory.

"I think… I think it was a man. He said something after he kissed me on the forehead." Ginny frantically rummaged through her muddled memories of that night. "I'm sorry. I can't remember what he said."

"That's okay." Lavender reassured. "Now we know it was a male. That narrows it down."

"Time's up!" said Madam Pomfrey, sliding open the curtain and poking her head in. "Time for you to go, now. I'm sorry, doctor's orders. But she'll be back to healthy in no time, don't you worry." They all stood up, but looked at Ginny reluctantly. She smiled.

"I'll be fine. I heal fast." her friends nodded and slowly shuffled towards the curtain. On their way out, Neville looked back and gave Ginny a thumbs-up. Ginny, with her left hand, gave him one back. She felt herself grinning.

Ginny stood in front of the door on the battered mud hut. The sun shone brightly in the sky. She didn't want to drag Hagrid into all this, but… she needed help. The clinking of the bottles of firewhiskey she carried only added to her guilt. You're a prefect, Ginny! Ginny heard Hermione's voice hiss in her mind. You can do it!

She didn't want to do this, but both Luna and Neville agreed that this was the best way to learn something, anything. Hagrid is a vault of secrets, and alcohol is the key to opening it. A week had already passed since Ginny's detention, and the Carrows' classes were getting worse. They constantly failed students, didn't give out any points to anyone, and overall, they didn't even learn anything. If this went on, they would all fail. But failing wouldn't be the worst thing to happen now, thought Ginny darkly.

And with that reminder, Ginny made up her mind. She knocked on the door.

"Err… gimme a second! Just gotta, um… put on some pants…" Ginny smiled at that gruff voice. Hagrid used to be the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, but ever since Snape had become Headmaster, he had been banned from the school, and the subject had been gone ever since.

The door creaked open, and Hagrid (thankfully with pants on) beamed at the sight of Ginny.

"Aye! Hello Ginny! How ya doin'?" he reached down and patted Ginny's head affectionately.

"I'm great, Hagrid." Ginny assumed Hagrid didn't know about her detentions, and didn't want to tell him either. I don't want to make anyone else worry about me. And I'm fine anyways.

"Come in, come in!" Hagrid shouted. Ginny followed him into the hut.

The first thought that came to Ginny's mind was home. Hagrid's hut smelt like fresh pumpkins and apple pies. On the table that sat in the middle of the single-roomed house was two rock cakes. I hope I won't have to eat those. Hagrid's hut felt more like home than the entire Hogwarts, combined. The large man's voice dragged Ginny out of her thoughts and back to reality.

"Oh, and is that…" Hagrid mumbled mostly to himself, catching sight of the firewhiskey Ginny carried. Ginny brought the three bottles out, pushing away the guilt gnawing at her stomach. Hagrid's eyes brightened.

"Ah! Firewhiskey, I was just about to go get a bottle, but look at you, you already brought some! Thanks, Ginny! Come on now…" Hagrid hustled over to the table and placed two glasses on it. "Care for a glass?"

Ginny sat down beside the table, and noticed that before she responded, Hagrid was already pouring her a glass. As Hagrid raised his cup, Ginny followed suit, and sent a silent thanks to Neville for predicting that this would happen. As Hagrid drank, Ginny muttered Evanesco, and the firewhiskey slowly drained itself.

Her guilt was almost unbearable now; Hagrid was completely oblivious to Ginny's plan, as he filled himself glass after glass, as Ginny muttered incantation after incantation.

"So, er, Ginny. What brings you here again?" Hagrid asked, words slurring. Ginny forced down her guilt.

"I wanted to talk about Hogwarts." Hagrid's eyes darkened slightly.

"Ah… 'Ogwarts. A fine school, if not for those, er… Carrows?" Hagrid slurred, on the second bottle already.

So on they discussed. in every direction, every topic Ginny could think of. The teachers, the subjects, the students. Luna had warned her not to go too far until Hagrid seemed completely drunk, and at this point, when Hagrid was sobbing over a student who had apparently gotten a Dreadful ("Oh, the sorrow! Poor kid!"), Ginny thought it was time.

"So, Hagrid…" Ginny ventured carefully. "When was the last time you went into Headmaster Snape's office?"

"Oh…. a while ago, probably a few months, with a Gryffindor kid… didn't welcome us. Eh, don't know why Snape hates Gryffindors so much… has their sword in his office…" Ginny, who had been absentmindedly nodding, suddenly looked up, alert. Hagrid didn't seem to notice his little slip, as he continued talking. "Doesn't really make sense, if ya think about it. Should belong to McGonagall…"

What? Ginny thought, anger starting to grow. Why does Snape have our sword?

Not noticing her anger, Hagrid continued talking. "Asked him 'bout it once… wasn't pretty…" Ginny got up and handed her seemingly empty glass back to Hagrid.

"Well, Hagrid, I need to get back to class. Thanks for the drink!" Ginny said cheerfully. It was a Saturday. Hagrid looked up blearily, with drooping eyes.

"Oh… OK. 'ee you soon. 'ave a nice time in class!" Hagrid waved goodbye to Ginny, then slumped onto the table; fast asleep and snoring. Ginny rushed out of the door and closed it with a quiet click. Ginny leaned against the wall. Finally, that's done and over with, thought Ginny with relief. A feeling of guilt washed over her. Ugh, why did I have to do that? Couldn't it have been Luna or something? Ginny ran up the steps of the castle and hurried up the twists and turns to the Gryffindor common room. She gave the Fat Lady the password and rushed in. Neville was there to greet her. He looked up eagerly.

"Hey Ginny! Did you get anything?"

"Yep! The last time Hagrid was in Snape's office, he saw the Sword of Gryffindor in there! Then, he told me that Snape shouldn't have it! He said that it should belong to McGonagall!" Ginny exclaimed. Neville's eyes widened.

"The Sword of Gryffindor? Hell no! He shouldn't have it!" Ginny nodded angrily. "We should confront him."

"Wait, no!" Ginny said. "Hagrid said he asked, but it 'wasn't pretty'. We need to think this through."

"Well, then let's just steal it! Snape doesn't deserve it. We'll steal it, and present it to McGonagall. We won't get in trouble; McGonagall's supposed to have the sword."

"When you put it like that, yeah…" Ginny pondered. "Okay, let's do it. But with Luna, right?"

"Of course. And we gotta plan this through, so nothing goes wrong. Backup plans, too."

"Jeez, you're starting to sound like Hermione."

That night, Luna and Neville met Ginny in her dorm.

"Okay, so we need to steal the sword," Luna concluded, having been told about Ginny's discussion with Hagrid. Ginny nodded.

"Yep. And we need a plan." Neville seemed to be pondering something. He seemed to make up his mind. "We need more people." Ginny rolled her eyes, annoyed.

"I told you, Neville. It's too dangerous. Even you agreed."

"Yeah, but stealing the sword from Snape's office, just the three of us? We don't stand a chance."

"Well, maybe we would, if you would listen and do what you're asked for once! I don't want anyone else putting themselves in danger for me!"

"Why don't you stop trying to do everything yourself! We're trying to help you here!" Neville countered. Luna looked back and forth between the two of them nervously.

"Look, I don't want to upset you… but maybe we should have more people. Neville's right, we can't steal the sword if there's only three people." Neville looked at Ginny triumphantly.

Maybe it was the stress, the detentions, the anger, or all of that, but Ginny snapped. The anger rushed up in her and her mouth acted quicker than her mind. She stood up quickly, knocking over a pile of clothes on her bed.

"You know what? If you're going to have more people… you won't need me anymore. I quit."

As Luna gasped and Neville gaped, Ginny turned and stormed out of her dorm, away from her friends.

The next few days crawled by, agonizing slow. Ginny was so angry, she barely noticed any of the Carrows' jeering. She barely raised her hand in class, and she ate lunch by herself.

Eventually, after a few days, she gave in. Loneliness sneaked in like a swarm of mice, until she couldn't bear it, just couldn't ignore it anymore. But she still couldn't talk to Neville or Luna, so she wrote a note:

Dear Neville and Luna,

I'm sorry for trying to quit. I'm really stressed these days. Please forgive me. Meet me in my dorm tonight.

Ginny

She slipped it in Neville's book bag, trusting he'll find it and share it with Luna.

That night, she waited. And waited. Until the clock struck eleven, not even a shadow came. Merlin, please forgive me! I'll allow more people, please! And as if the prayer was heard, Ginny heard a rustling. Then, Luna poked her head in.

"Hi. Sorry we're late. Neville fell asleep."

After fifteen minutes of persistent arguing, Neville finally relented.

"Okay, okay, fine! We'll steal the sword before we recruit the members! Happy now? Wow, you're stubborn!" Neville said, throwing his hands up in the air, exasperated. Ginny grinned.

"I am not. I'm just always right."

Author's Note:

We hoped that you have liked this update. Please, please, PLEASE, review! The more the better. If you want to tell us that you don't like it, feel free too. We would like feedback about our story and we are not completely sure that people like it. Those who have reviewed, THANK YOU.

-Zigostia