Thanks to her cleverness, she was now standing at the front of Honeydukes Sweetshop, attempting to make herself seem quite interested in purchasing something for her sweet tooth. In reality, she was staring out of the frosted window with a fixed gaze on The Three Broomsticks.
Not a quarter of an hour ago, she watched Harry, Ron and Hermione walk through the front door of the pub, no doubt to grab a quick butterbeer to warm them up.
She was told by a fellow Gryffindor that she’d seen them in Hogsmeade during their last trip to the village. Why they were there, Ginny didn’t know, but she had to be certain that they were, indeed, there. She had to see them, even if she couldn’t let them know that she was there.
Ginny had been thinking about the three of them a lot over the past six months. She missed them terribly and admittedly, Hogwarts just wasn’t the same without them, or Dumbledore, around.
But most of all, she missed Harry. The last time she’d seen him was at Bill and Fleur’s wedding. It had been a lonely six months since the last night that they held each other, unwilling to let go, unwilling to walk away from their love.
[Six Months Prior]
Ginny sat a small table off to the side of the dance floor. She had gotten quite caught up in a story that Neville had been telling her that she was finding it unbearably hard to breathe as she rolled with laughter.
Neville chuckled at her as he finished his story and enjoyed the fact that he could, once again, have a nice evening with such a dear friend.
“You look beautiful, Ginny,” Neville blushed but didn’t move his gaze away from her.
Ginny was wearing a beautiful champagne colored bridesmaid’s dress and her hair was pinned up with tiny curls falling all around her face and neck. It made her look very elegant and well beyond the age of 16.
She did have one thing say though: thank Merlin that Fleur has good taste in clothes (even though Ginny had never been one to wear many dress robes.)
As her laughter died, she smiled sweetly at him and reached across the table to pat his hand lightly.
“Thank you, Neville.”
Ginny sat back in her chair, looking content as she watched Bill and Fleur dancing together.
“You know, I hate to admit it but they do make a cute couple, don’t they? It’s really sickening, the thought that she’s now officially my sister-in-law, but it’s still sweet, all the same. Bill deserves to be happy.”
Neville observed her face as her smile faded to reveal that she seemed to be recollecting certain memories from her past.
“You deserve to be happy too, Ginny,” said Neville. “I know that he makes you truly happy and that this whole ordeal has not been easy for you, but he’s doing this for the right reasons.”
Ginny hung her head finding a sudden particular interest in her hands.
“I know he is and I understand. I just wish it didn’t have to be this way.”
Neville sighed, feeling his heart break at the sight of her melancholy state. He knew that he would never be anything more to Ginny than a friend, but at least he had her as that.
He stood up and reached his hand out to her, “Dance with me?”
Ginny looked up at the sound of his voice and drew a long breath, “Er…Neville…”
“Come on. You and I both see nothing else in this other than a dance between friends. Besides, you need to lighten up and have fun. Now is not a time to be depressed.”
“When did you become so bold?” she chuckled.
“Well…you don’t go through the past two years that I’ve been through, being friends with Harry Potter, and not come out stronger.”
Ginny laughed again and stood up to take his hand, allowing him to lead her to the dance floor.
“I see you’ve gotten a little better since your fourth year,” she smiled as they began to dance.
“Yeah. Gran made me take a few more dance lessons. She said that I wasn’t a proper ‘gentleman’ unless I knew how to swoon the ladies in dance.”
Ginny tried desperately to suppress a chuckle and arched an eyebrow in question.
“Your Gran said that did she?”
Neville rolled his eyes. “Yes…and you’d better not tell anyone I told you that,” he said, glaring at her.
“I won’t tell anyone…honest, Neville.”
“Well, good. Now that we’ve got that clear, I think there’s a certain gentleman that you should go ask to dance.”
“Ugh…Neville don’t start. Besides, isn’t it the guy who’s supposed to ask…not the girl?”
“Stuff the formalities, Ginny. You always have. What makes this moment any different?” he said with sudden firmness.
It was enough to make Ginny’s head snap up and her eyes to go wide.
“Neville!”
“What? You can brutally honest and I can’t?”
Ginny looked affronted. “I didn’t say that,” she scoffed, “but…I don’t want to dance with him. I want to dance with you.”
“Liar,” Neville smiled.
“You keep this up and I’ll suddenly become the one with two left feet.”
“Well, I’ve got news for you Ginny Weasley. I- I’m n-not afraid of you!”
She narrowed her eyes at him, with her mouth gaping open and sharp words on the tip of her tongue when she suddenly burst out in laughter.
“I think…you had more help…” she said between laughs, “than growing up with Harry Potter…to give you such courage.”
Huffing loudly, he said, “If you must know…” but stopped in mid speech, as if he had just laid himself on the chopping block.
Ginny raised a curious brow as to what the rest of that statement was going to be.
“Yes?”
Neville rolled his eyes and decided to just tell her, because she certainly wouldn’t stop pestering him unless he did.
“I took assertativeness- assertativ- assertiveness classes,” he stumbled.
Some assertiveness classes these were, she thought.
“With who?”
“Professor McGonagall,” he muttered.
“McGonagall?! Really?”
“Yes,” he hissed. “Now, just drop it Ginny…or I will signal Harry to come over and take you off my hands.”
She sucked in a sharp breath, “You wouldn’t dare?!”
“I would,” Neville nodded. “He already asked me more than once tonight how you were doing and if I thought you would actually speak to him if he tried to approach you again.”
They turned on the dance floor and Ginny caught sight of Harry. He was still sitting in the same chair he had been 20 minutes ago, with his back slumped over, wringing his hands out and just…looking thoroughly miserable.
Her heart ached to see him that way, but she was determined. She had been focused on being determined so much tonight that sometimes she forgot why she was being this way to begin with.
This moment was one of those brief moments that she happened to forget as she sighed sweetly at his appearance.
“Shall I call him over then?” Neville’s voice rang with a happy curiosity and suddenly he spun them around so that he could see Harry.
“No, Neville!” she growled at him, but it was too late; Ginny felt his hand lift from her shoulder and wave Harry over.
“Neville!” Ginny growled again. This time he stopped waving and looked down at her to see the lingering threat in her eyes.
“I don’t understand why you just won’t talk to him…” he said guardedly.
“I just…I just can’t right now,” she heaved. She only regained her composure when she looked at Neville’s face. He looked fearful, more so than he had been seconds ago.
“So help me, Neville,” Ginny said narrowing her eyes at him. He wasn’t meeting her gaze.
“If he comes over here, no amount of assertiveness classes are going to save you from my bat bogey hex.”
“Gin?” spoke a low voice. She knew it wasn’t Neville’s because if he’d attempted speak at that moment, it would have been quivering with fear. Plus, he was the only one, besides her family, that called her Gin.
Shite, she thought, closing her eyes and praying that it wasn’t really him standing behind her.
Neville had stopped dancing before she knew it.
“Neville…” Harry nodded in hello.
“Hiya, Harry.”
God, why did he always have to be so friendly?
“May I cut in?”
“Sure-”
“No!”
Ginny and Neville spoke at the same time.
“Actually, I was speaking with Neville, here…” she narrowed her eyes at him again.
“That’s alright,” Neville said, stepping away from her. “We’ll talk later. You two have a good time,” he said, practically running away by that time.
“May I?” Harry asked, offering his hand.
“No,” she said and he frowned.
He certainly didn’t expect that answer, especially one as abrupt as it had been.
“Please, Gin?” There was earnestness in his voice and she begrudgingly took his hand as he brought the other to rest on her waist.
She bit her lip in protest of where his hand was placed.
“Fine,” Ginny gritted out.
The song changed just as they’d begun to dance. It was a slow one. She cursed slow dances since the day he told her they couldn’t do this anymore.
This.
What was that supposed to mean? Had it meant nothing more to him instead of just referring to their relationship as this?
“Talk to me,” his voice suggested.
She huffed.
“Please?”
She huffed again.
“Well, at least tell me why you’ve been giving me the cold shoulder all night.”
An indignant look crossed her face and she fixed him with a cold stare.
“You sure are playing the ‘dumb’ card tonight,” she bit.
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t act like that.”
“Like what?” Harry was completely lost as to what she was talking about.
“Like that! Stop it.” Neither one of them had realized that they were no longer dancing until Fred sent he and Angelina colliding into them.
“This,” he motioned with their arms, “is called dancing for a reason.”
“Yeah,” George added as he and Alicia barreled into them. “Enough lovers’ quarrels,” he said dancing away from where Harry and Ginny stood.
“Just go find a broom cupboard or something,” he called across the dance floor.
Ginny’s face had turned beet red with fury. The nerve of her brothers; it was one thing to have Ron breathing down her neck all night, constantly urging her to say something to Harry. But now, Fred and George just had to jump on the bandwagon.
God, they are all just pissing me off tonight.
She turned back to face Harry and realized that his face had gone completely scarlet from George’s comment.
She rolled her eyes at him, “I think I’m just going to…” she said, trying to walk away…to pull her wrist from his hand but he held on as she turned to leave.
“Harry…let go of me,” Ginny said warningly.
Harry stiffened his back, “No, Gin…not until you tell me why you’re angry with me.”
She shot him another hot look and he could feel the blaze that he saw in her eyes. She was so angry at him for not realizing that she was upset because he was leaving his home, because he was leaving her and he could care less if she wanted to go with them. He wasn’t going to let her go.
Ginny closed her eyes, attempting to calm her nerves.
“You just don’t get it, do you? You knew that I wanted to go with Ron, Hermione and you to help with whatever this mission is. Instead, you told me that you wouldn’t let me go with you. I understand that you don’t want to take the chance of anything happening to me. I know that.
“God help me; I wish I didn’t love you so much,” she said, her bottom lip quivering from her mixed emotions. A single tear ran down her cheek as she tried to continue, “…but I wanted nothing more than to be there with you…just to know that you were safe…so that I would know that Voldemort hadn’t got to you.”
“I thought that you were okay with this?” Harry said, confused. “You knew that I didn’t even want Ron and Hermione going with me but they refused to let me fight on my own.”
Ginny clenched her jaw desperately trying to hold back the tears. Her pent up emotions were gradually becoming too much for her to handle.
“That’s exactly it. They refused to stay behind…and you gave up trying to convince them not to go with you. But with me…you bloody refused to accept that I would go with you.” She sniffled, “I am not some precious damsel that needs saving.”
“So that’s what this is about, then? This is why you’ve been avoiding me all night?”
“Damnit, Harry!! Are you that daft?” she raged as her emotions broke loose.
“Gin…I don’t really think that this is the place…” he said, looking around at a few faces that had turned in their direction when Ginny had raised her voice.
“I don’t give a damn if this is the right place or not, Harry…this is where it’s going to happen.”
Harry swallowed the hard lump that had been in his throat and closed his eyes, willing her anger to fade away.
“How dare you not let me go with you? How can you walk away and fight this war and leave me here?” She was annoyed that he thought he was the only one who could protect them.
“Yeah…it may come down to the fact that the final battle is between Voldemort and you…but there are other witches and wizards there to fight this war alongside you. It’s not just yours to fight, Harry. Hell, there’s a whole team of Aurors that have sworn to help in every way that they could.”
He stood there, staring at her, not knowing what to do or say.
“Gin…Dumbledore…he…” Harry said hoarsely.
“He wouldn’t have wanted you to do this on your own. He never would have expected that. Why do you think the Order existed in the first place?” Ginny tried to compose herself, but she’d reached the end of her rope.
She wiped away the tears from her eyes and spoke again, with an unsteady voice.
“Maybe it’s best…that you leave me alone,” Ginny finished, trying to move away.
“No!” he protested, pulling her back into his arms and embracing her. She struggled against him and he held her closer.
“Gin…” he breathed into her ear.
She continued to fight against him until she grew tired of fighting and went limp in his arms. He could feel her ragged breath on his neck and knew that she was doing all she could to keep from crying.
“Gin…I…I want nothing more than to have you with me…but I won’t let Voldemort know that you are a target for him. Just let me do this…please?” he sighed. “Let me know you’re safe here while I take care of this.”
He pulled away from her slightly, “I’ll do everything I can to come back to you.”
Her heart was aching with every word that he said and the more he spoke, the more she felt like she was falling apart.
Watching him, Ginny saw him open his mouth to say something else and she leapt at the chance, kissing him with fierce passion and desire. She always knew how to catch him off guard.
They melted into each other’s arms as his tongue sought out her hot mouth. Just as they pulled away and stared dumbfounded into each other’s eyes, Fred and George rounded on them.
“Don’t get all fussy,” Fred warned Ginny as he grabbed her by the arm.
“Right, just pay attention to what we say,” George said, grabbing Harry’s arm.
“But act like you totally hate us-”
“-And it wouldn’t hurt to act like you’re going to hit us with your Bat Bogey Hex.”
“It’ll look convincing,” they chorused.
“Oh,” Ginny hissed through gritted teeth, “that won’t be hard to do…at all.”
“Right…but you’ve got to act embarrassed too,” Fred continued.
“Because dear ol’ Mum is the one who sent us over here to drag this…”
“Scene,” they both mocked.
“…Away from the dance floor,” George finished.
Fred and George had indeed come over to escort them to a secluded spot near the house, due to their mother’s persistence. She insisted that one of the Weasley boys get Ginny and Harry away from the sea of faces that were now staring at them as if they were listening to the Witch’s Weekly Soap Opera Saga. What was the name of one of those shows? The Old and the Demented?
What was next the next line that would’ve been in the script? ….Harry, I’m not having your baby…it’s…it’s Dean’s baby. Enter dramatic music here.
Ginny rolled her eyes at the thought of that sodding radio program. Her mother loved listening to them, but they honestly made her ill. It was all complete rubbish.
As the four of them reached a less crowded place near the garden, Fred and George released their arms and narrowed their eyes while wagging their fingers in Harry’s and Ginny’s face.
“Now…I’m having a hard time keeping a straight face,” Fred started.
“So, we’ll make this quick,” George picked up.
“Don’t start laughing at us!” Fred and George reprimanded them as they were finding it unbearably hard to hold in their laughter.
“As much as we loved that you cut out the lovers quarrel,” Fred rolled his eyes.
“…I told you to find a broom cupboard,” George reminded her.
Ginny’s face flushed red again and the surge of feeling to throttle her brothers, that she had earlier, was now back with a vengeance.
“But this spot should do you fine, now…no meandering eyes,” added Fred.
“No fighting now kiddies.”
“Play nice!”
The twins smiled mischievously and walked away back to their scowling mother who, Ginny knew, wanted a report as to what her brothers had to said to her and Harry.
After a minute of confused silence, Harry was the first to speak.
“What the hell just happened?”
“Fred and George…those gits. They were being spies for Mum!” Ginny said as she continued to stare after her brothers, who were now talking to Mrs. Weasley.
“No…that’s not what I meant,” Harry paused. “What just happened between us?”
She broke her spiteful concentration on her family and turned towards him as her mind raced in search of an answer. When she didn’t say anything, Harry averted his eyes, as they shown with sadness.
“Gin…” he breathed.
As he gently spoke her name, Ginny closed her eyes letting the moment overcome her. Every time her name fell from his lips, it always made her breathless.
Harry started to continue on but she shook her head, silencing him.
“No words right now, Harry. Let’s just try this dance thing again, okay?” Her words hung sorrowfully in the air as she offered her hand to him.
“Here?” he asked without moving.
“Yes, Harry. Here. Now be quiet and take my hand…unless you don’t want to dance with me anymore.”
He stepped up quickly, allowing her to gingerly place his left hand on the small of her back. She waited until he pulled her close a moment later and then wrapped her arms around his neck.
As the music began, Ginny wove her fingers through his tousled hair and felt his right hand finally trace its way from her shoulder, down her back, to hook with his other hand.
She took in a deep, heady breath as she laid her chin to rest on his shoulder. She could feel his muscular torso pressing against her small frame and swiftly noticed him tilt his head to lean against hers, as they both gave in to the night.
Ginny’s heart ached with an all too familiar pain. It hurt her more, she thought, to stand there holding him so close than it would have if he had just kept his distance…if he’d just stayed away. But if it helped him fight his battles any better, she would give him his strength. She would give him this moment…she would give him her heart, even if it cost her everything.
Without either one of them realizing it, the music stopped. Had they not heard Mr. Weasley begin to make a toast, they would have contentedly remained in each other’s arms.
“Gin…” Harry whispered as Mr. Weasley spoke almost inaudibly behind them.
Ginny’s eyes fluttered open and she slowly pulled away from where she’d been comfortably swaying in his embrace.
Looking into his emerald eyes, she knew that he was searching for the right words to say, but she couldn’t bear to hear him reveal his soul to her. Not now, not before he tore himself from her life for Merlin knows how long.
Ginny looked away from his gaze, desperately attempting to hide her deepest feelings for him- her fears, her anger…her love.
“I just wanted to say…” he began.
“Harry…please don’t-” she begged.
“…How amazing you look tonight.”
Her eyes shot back to his, seeing every bit of longing and tenderness in the green pools that she could always drown in.
“Thank you,” she said with bated breath.
Neither of them knew how long it was that they stood there, searching each other’s soul, but something in Ginny snapped her from the trance. She began blinking furiously, willing the cursed tears away; she knew that she couldn’t stay there with him any longer.
With all of her strength, Ginny pulled herself away from Harry’s loving arms and began to walk away without another uttered word, until her conscience thought, one more time.
“Harry?” she said turning back to see that he’d been watching her walk away.
His eyes questioned her, yet he remained silent.
“You’d still stop me from coming with you?”
All Harry could manage to respond with was a nod and with that, Ginny turned, again, to leave.
Damnit! What is the matter with me? Harry thought.
“Ginny!” he exclaimed, causing her to spin around.
With swift steps, it was mere moments before he was standing next to her again. Her heart threatened to burst out of her chest, as she stood there watching him, unable to move.
And then…that kiss; it had come back to her, catching her by surprise.
How was it that two people could feel such strong emotions for each other?
At that moment, Ginny didn’t really care to think about it. All she was concerned with was the feeling inside of her now; the one that made her feel as if she was about lose the most precious thing in her life.
“Just come back to me,” she cried as his arms engulfed her and she sank into him.
“Please come back to me.”
That was the day that she felt a piece of her heart break.
A warm trickling on her creamy white cheek brought Ginny back to present day as she realized that her eyes were stinging with tears; she wondered how long she’d been crying. Quickly wiping away any trace of her saddened state, she looked around the shop to make sure that no one had been watching her.
Satisfied that she hadn’t been seen, Ginny turned back to the window, hoping to catch sight of Harry, Ron and Hermione again. After twenty minutes, she had just begun to wonder exactly how long she’d be able to stay away from the castle, without being missed, when something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.
Walking up the street were three wizards wearing hooded black robes. They were walking with their heads down but Ginny could tell that one of them was talking. The other two listened intently, until they neared The Three Broomsticks.
To Ginny, they looked rather suspicious and she wondered why they had considered going into the busy pub where it was always hard to speak a word in private.
Her eyes followed them cautiously as the wizard that had been speaking stopped and waved them inside.
Surely, she thought, Harry and the others will be coming out in a moment and they’ll catch sight of them. She waited patiently…but there was no sign of her three friends leaving.
Twenty-five minutes; Professor McGonagall is going to kill me! She thought as she looked impatiently at the clock, on the street corner, across from the shop.
Taking one more look around for her friends, Ginny decided to venture over to the pub to see if she could figure out what the men were up to.
Quietly sneaking out the front door of Honeydukes Sweetshop, she cautiously made her way down the street, attempting to avoid gaining any unnecessary attention.
It wasn’t long before she’d reached The Three Broomsticks and started for the door when she saw the knob turn. She quickly jumped around the corner out of view, pressing herself firmly to the building and breathing heavily as she tried to keep silent so that whoever was leaving wouldn’t hear her. When she heard the door close, she turned her head to the right, waiting to see someone fade from her view as they left.
She would’ve thought nothing more of them and went about her business; however as she narrowed her eyes on a particularly bushy head of hair, she thought it seemed too familiar to be a coincidence. It was wavy and brown and the only person that she knew with hair like that was Hermione.
Ginny started to move away from the building and call after her friend, seeing as no one else was with her, but just as she rounded the corner of the building, the pub door opened again and out walked Harry and Ron. Her eyes grew wide with panic and she threw herself against the side of the building again. If they caught her there, she’d never hear the end of it.
“I think the Chudley Cannons might actually make it to World Cup this year. I mean, did you hear everyone talking about how well they’ve been doing?” Ron echoed. Harry could do nothing but chuckle at his friend.
“You say that every year, mate.”
“Yeah…well, I think they could make it to the Cup…” Ron let his voice trail off. “I just wish that the wizarding world wasn’t in the state that it’s in. It would be nice to see one of their games again.”
Harry’s voice was somber when he answered. “Yeah…me too, mate. It would be nice to see a lot of thi-” he’d started until something out of the corner of his eye distracted him.
“What is it?” Ron asked as Harry’s head snapped up, immediately fixing his eyes towards the corner of the building.
He blinked and opened his mouth slightly, “Er…nothing, I just thought I saw a bit of something…red go around the corner. I must’ve just seen someone go down the alley,” Harry said, trying not to get his hopes up of Ginny being anywhere in Hogsmeade.
It couldn’t be her; I haven’t seen any other Hogrwarts students out today.
If Ginny ever thought she might die from fear, it was now. Her breath quickened as she listened to the two of them talking. She’d made it this far without being caught and one overwhelming need to see her friend almost ruined everything. She could care less the amount of ranting that her brother or Harry would do but she would’ve been expelled from Hogwarts, not to mention her mother would have locked her in her room, at the Burrow, until she turned 40.
“Yeah…I’m sure the ‘lot’ of things that you’d like to see is a Quidditch game. Uh huh,” Ron chuckled. “You’ve got Ginny on the brain, mate.”
Harry shook the thoughts of her from his head.
“What are you on about?” he denied the idea.
“Oh come on,” Ron said. “You just thought someone with red hair walked down the alley. It’s obvious.”
“What’s so obvious about that?”
“Honestly Harry…only one person makes your head turn that fast and it’s not me…even though, I do have red hair, but let’s not go there,” Ron pulled a disgusted look on his face.
“Yes, let’s please stay away from whatever subject that would’ve led us to.”
A moment of silence passed before they heard a voice from across the street.
“Are you two coming? Honestly, how long does it take to pay the tab? Come on,” Hermione said as she trudged along in the snow.
“Coming,” they muttered as Ron pulled the door shut.
Ginny was still standing hard pressed to the wall and praying that they would quickly catch up with Hermione so that she could find out who the three hooded wizards were. Obviously Harry, Ron nor Hermione noticed them while they had been inside and she was determined to find something out.
She watched her friends as they slowly walked out into the cold weather, drawing their robes tight in attempts of keeping the warm effects of the butterbeer. They were talking intently, concentrating on something as they walked back up the street with their bags over their shoulders. It looked like they were leaving Hogsmeade; leaving without saying a single word to her.
Ginny bit her lip, angry and hurt with tears glistening in her eyes. However, she swallowed her fragile emotions and edged around the building, finally slipping through the front door, undetected.
When she walked in, Ginny noticed Madam Rosmerta closing a door on the left, near a small table that sat under a dusty window. The door obviously led to a room behind the bar which insured Rosmerta that no one would be able to eavesdrop without her noticing. But she didn’t know that one fiery little redhead had ways of her own, thanks in part to Fred and George, of course.
As the woman turned her back away from the crowded pub, Ginny casually walked towards the small table next to the window, picking up a discarded copy of The Daily Prophet, as she passed an empty booth.
Sliding into the chair, she quickly made herself busy skimming articles, in order to hide away. Ginny almost choked with laughter as she pretended to read an article regarding the Ministry’s most recent supposed ‘good deeds’.
“Can I get you anything, love?” she heard Madam Rosmerta ask tiredly.
Without moving the paper, she said, “Butterbeer,” disguising her voice as best she could and within a moment, a bottle landed on the table with a small thud.
Peeking over the edge of the paper, Ginny finally decided that it was safe to stop her nonexistent reading, since she’d been quite willingly ignored by the surrounding crowd.
She flinched as she put The Daily Prophet down, being blinded by the flooding sunlight, from an upstairs window, which spilled across her body.
Frowning at the bright glare, Ginny quickly regained her composure and reached inside her robes, pulling out a little something of Fred and George’s creation: extendable ears.
After she successfully managed to slip it under the door, Ginny quickly sat up straight, pulling the string to her ear to listen in. At first, all she could hear was muffled whispering and then a quiet but strong voice stopped them all.
“Enough!” said the suppressed voice. “Now is not the time for quarreling. We came here to do a job…so let’s get on with it.”
The room went deathly silent and Ginny pressed the string closer to her ear, thinking that she must have missed something, when she suddenly heard a chair scraping back across the wooden floor. There were footsteps shortly after that and she froze in a state of panic, afraid that they’d noticed her listening in.
But wait…he wasn’t walking towards her. He was walking away from her and then a heightened, muffled whimper came from the far corner of the room.
“No one saw you?” the commanding voice asked.
Whoever he asked the question of must’ve nodded because she heard the same man’s voice again.
“Good.” She could almost sense that there was a smile on his face.
The room was silent again, causing Ginny to frown, and then the strangled whimpers came again. Someone was clearly afraid of this man and she felt goose pimples crawl across her flesh as she distractedly took a sip of her butterbeer.
“We’ll have none of that now. Just a few questions… understood?”
The whimpering became almost absent as quickened breaths filled the air.
Ginny heard a slight rustling of material and then a heavy sigh of relief that she thought came from the person that was being held against their will.
“Where is it?” his cold voice came again.
“Where’s what?” a man’s voice trembled. “I- I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You shouldn’t play games with me…”
Ginny heard a tightening of what she thought might be ropes. The man whimpered in pain this time and, out of instinct, she made to move toward the room when she remembered herself, as Rosmerta shot her a strange look.
“Silencio,” he said with a shrewd laugh. “You’re going to tell me where it is, even I have to torture you to find out.”
This time the whimper came from Ginny’s lips.
“Something wrong, love?” Madam Rosmerta said as she walked over to the small table, eyeing her carefully.
“Oh…” she squeezed her eyes shut and then opened them quickly. “No…I- I’m fine. I just thought I was about to be ill.”
“Well, you’d better rush yourself to the loo if you throw a whitey. I don’t want to be cleaning this floor for the next two days,” the curvy woman said as Ginny nodded in consent.
“Give him the Veritaserum!” she heard somewhere in the back of her mind, drawing her attention back to the room and away from Rosmerta, who was now walking to a nearby table.
“Where is the locket?” the man asked.
What locket is he talking about? Ginny thought. All of this hoo-ha is over some locket?
“I…don’t…know,” he choked out.
“You still know something. Who took it?”
“I don’t know…I heard a kid say R.A.B.”
“Who was the kid? How does he know about the locket?”
The man grunted, trying to keep his mouth closed. Ginny thought that he might be attempting to fight the potion, but she knew it wouldn’t last long.
“Harry…Potter. I heard…him telling the Weasley boy… and that Muggle-born witch.”
Ginny drew in a sharp breath; her eyes grew wide with terror. Oh God! What does Harry know about this locket?
“He came in the pub not long ago…I overheard them talking about it. He had a locket in his hand.”
“Then you lied. You knew who had it,” the angry voice spat out.
“NO!...no. He kept saying that someone by the initials of R.A.B had the real locket.”
“Did he say who this R.A.B. is?”
“He didn’t know. All I heard…was that they couldn’t figure out…who R.A.B. was.”
“URGH!” the leader let out with frustration.
“What do we do now?” said one of the other men.
Ginny’s chest was rising and falling in a quick rhythm as she waited to see what they would do with the man that they were holding captive. She expected to hear the bitter voice again, but this time, a voice came from outside.
“I’ll get it Ron…I’ll meet you and Hermione at the post office, yeah?”
She cursed under her breath. It was Harry; when he found out she was there, he’d be angry at her…but she let a smile form on her lips. He’d help her rescue this poor man before anything terrible happened.
Just then, Ginny looked up as she noticed that the room had become slightly darker around her. The sunlight that had been pouring over her earlier was now casting a darkened hue.
She frowned as she heard another door open and then she heard the man seal her fate in one foul swoop.
“Do it; bring the whole place down…with everyone in it,” and the door quickly shut behind them.
Her head was spinning with the man’s muffled screams and her frantic thoughts. Ginny quickly turned back to the window to see Harry walking up the street…only 6 meters away.
She frantically began searching for her wand.
“Damnit!” She cursed and then, in desperate attempts to get his attention, she banged on the window.
“HARRY!” came a muffled voice and he looked up to see her face through the foggy panes.
He frowned at her, “Gin?”
Then, mere moments later, the building in front of him exploded; the blast sending him crashing to the ground 3 meters away.
The last image in his mind was her…screaming his name.
A/N: Ok everyone…I know it’s a cliffhanger, but the rest will come soon. Trust me. So, do me a favor and read & review. Tell me what you think of the story so far. I’d really like to know.
Thanks.