Ginny blinked as the light entered her room and washed over her. Whatever dream she had entered was whisked away through the cracked door, and her memory of it was something that she couldn’t hang onto. It had been that way for some time now, she realized. Each time she had a pleasant dream at night, she woke up feeling good, but unable to recall what that dream had been about. She knew it had to be pleasant because waking up was the only time of day she was ever truly happy. The other times, she was either being forced to smile or completely miserable in her duties of caring for the Malfoy family.

It had been a particularly difficult day for Ginny. She had had to cook a complete dinner for her family, and had cleaned the entire manor with her hands and a rag. Her leg, which she had injured when she fell down the stairs that morning, was black and blue. It had given several painful throbs throughout the duration of the day, but she had been ordered to ignore it. Now, as she awakened, it gave another throb, and she winced in pain.

“Hello, my dear,” came the malicious voice that she hated so. Rolling her eyes, she turned around to see Draco Malfoy entering the room. She turned her back on him. He layed his hand on her shoulder and forced her to turn around. Then, he leaned down and kissed her roughly on the lips. She looked at him blankly.

“Who do you love, now, Ginny?” he asked her, and planted another kiss on the base of her neck.

“No one,” she answered, and tried to push him away. He restrained her hands, and she had to give up the fight.

“It’s a shame you never had a real boyfriend,” he sneered in her ear, and he pulled her up into a sitting position. Stroking her legs, he brushed his hand up and down her arm. She felt a shiver roll down her spine.

“I think I did at one time,” she said to him, and he shook his head.

“Believe me, you didn’t,” he told her, “No one ever truly loved you. You were a girl that people looked at, asked out because you were a trophy to have on the arm. No one dared love you. You weren’t something anybody wanted for life.”

Ginny wasn’t listening to him. Instead, she had her eyes focused on the wand in his pocket. Without thinking about her predicament, she locked her lips with his. He laughed in the back of his throat as she worked her hand around his back. In his mind, she was finally giving into him. That, however, wasn’t the case.

Her hand plunged into that pocket and she retrieved the wand. Slowly, she pulled away from him and pointed the tip at his face. Laughing, Malfoy shook his head.

“You can’t do it,” he said, but she raised the wand higher.

“Oh, I won’t, will I?” she asked, “Malfoy, after everything you have done to me, there is nothing I wouldn’t do anymore! You took away my family, torturing them in a harsh prison. My brother is forced to kill innocent people against his will. Me? I’m nothing but a house elf in a human’s body! No, you’re wrong when you say that I won’t do it, because I will!”

“You will not kill me, Ginny,” he said, “Lower the wand and give it back to me. Give it to me now.”

And though she wanted to, though she could have killed him then and there and not felt a bit of remorse for it, she felt a weight come down upon her arm. She stretched out the wand and could only watch as he took it back. Then, with a small chuckle, he raised it up and cried, “ Crucio!”

The girl’s screams echoed through the house, and nobody seemed to care.

Harry collapsed onto the ground of the small forest at the front of the manor. It had been a three days walk that they had taken through the hills and woods to make it here. Hermione had regained her mortality. Her and Ron had told stories to each other, kissing every now and then and holding hands, happy to have one another again. Harry had grinned throughout the trip, but he hadn’t felt the same. His legs had felt like weights, dragging slowly. Often, he had fallen behind his friends, and had had to brace himself against a tree to catch his breath. Every now and then, a brief bout of dizziness had washed over him. Now, however, it felt as if it would never end.

“Harry?” he heard Hermione murmur from behind him. She said something about him having to get up, but he ignored her.

“No,” he replied, “I think I’ll just stay here and rest. I’m just…I’m so tired.”

“No, Harry,” Ron said to him, “We’ve got to keep going, okay, mate? My sister, she needs our help. Remember Ginny ? The love of your life ? She’s only a few yards away, Harry. You’ve almost got her. We’re going to get there tonight. We’re going to save her.”

“What’s the use?” he asked, “She doesn’t love me anymore. Just…just leave me here, Ron. I’m done…I’m through. He’s won, Voldemort has. Through my heart, and not through magic, he broke me.”

“Harry,” Hermione said, “The only reason that you’re still conscious is because of Ginny. She may not remember you, or she may be so sad that her love is dwindling, but deep in her heart, love is still alive. She may not realize that it’s for you, but it is still there. She has to truly love you for her memory of it to be gone but the feeling to still exist. I know that you have to be tired, because the strength is dwindling out of you. But if you truly want to give up, give up when you know that all hope is lost. That moment isn’t now. It’s when you see that there is no light at the tunnel.”

“The light is flickering,” Harry said.

“But it isn’t out yet,” Hermione exclaimed, “You’re the key to making this world right again, Harry. Let’s do it, okay?”

“Yeah,” Ron said, “What she said.”

Hermione extended her hand to help her friend up. With great effort, Harry lifted his arm and took it. Swaying as he stood up, he felt Ron’s shoulder under his right elbow. Hermione put hers under his left. Together, the three of them began to walk.

“So,” Hermione asked, trying to keep Harry’s mind fresh by asking questions, “Where’d Snape go, do you suppose?”

“Dunno,” Harry said, “He…he said something about hunting for surviving members of the Order. He knew that Lupin and Tonks had been killed, but he wasn’t sure about Moody and the others. Some escaped from the battle, he said.”

“Moody survived,” Ron said, “I heard Malfoy talking to Avery about it a couple of nights ago. They haven’t been able to find him.”

“Snape’ll do that,” Hermione said passionatly, “He probably has some kind of connection to him. We’ll have more help in no time.”

“Yeah,” Harry said, his head bobbing. Hermione lifted it up with her free hand.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do once we get inside,” Harry mumbled, barely audible to his friends, “I can’t fight anyone like this.”

“It’s just Narcissa and Draco,” Ron said.

“Just ?”

“Right, sorry.”

The trio continued in silence. Every now and then, Hermione would check to see that Harry was awake. His green eyes fluttered occasionally, but they remained alert. Sometimes, he would start to sing the school song to keep himself awake. Ron would hum along with him. Hermione’s mind, however, wasn’t just concentrated on Harry.

She was thinking of a plan to get inside. The Invisibility Cloak was tucked in Harry’s knapsack, and she knew that they could drape it over two of them without a problem. However, the three of them couldn’t fit so snugly inside. It would have to be Ron who stayed out. He was the only one who the Malfoys knew to be alive or uncaptured, and he was also a known Death Eater. He wouldn’t be happy about it, but he could do it. He could be the one who was delivering the news of Lucius’s death to the family.

“Ron?” Hermione asked.

“Hmm?”

And she told him. He didn’t argue with her. He could see the logic in the plan, and knew that it was the only thing that would make sense to the dangerous people inside. Harry grunted in agreement.

All grew quiet as they began to approach the front door. Closing his eyes and making a wish, Harry took a deep breath. His tired body was beginning to pump the remaining adrenaline through his system. He felt Hermione’s shoulder slide out from underneath him. She quietly unzipped the knapsack and retrieved the cloak. Throwing it over herself and Harry, she threw her arms around him and bent over. He shuffled his feet up to the door, each step taking longer than it should. Ron reached up and wrapped on the door.

It was Malfoy, and not Ginny, who answered.

“Weasley?” he sneered.

“Evening, Malfoy,” Ron said, and Harry and Hermione slipped past him and into the manor.

It was dark inside. All of the lights had gone out for the night, and it was difficult to see. Harry, whose vision was already impaired, was nearly blind as he shuffled through the hallways. Hermione whispered directions into his ear, for she could see much better than he could. The bat-like instincts still hadn’t quite worn off, even if her vampire hunger was gone. The moonlight shone down a set of stairs, presumadly from an open door or a window of some kind. Hermione told Harry to follow the light. He lifted his feet slowly up the stairs, each step tougher than the next. Finally, though, they reached the top. The door was a jar. Clearly, Malfoy had left it to answer the door.

Ginny was laying on the bed, tears running down her cheeks as though she had been in pain. Hermione quietly shut the door behind them. She shot up in bed.

“Malfoy, just leave me alone!” she shouted. Hermione and Harry pulled the cloak off. Ginny opened her mouth in shock.

“Hermione?” she asked, “Is…is that really you?!?”

“Yes, Ginny,” Hermione said, and tears were now streaming down her cheeks, “It’s really me.”

Ginny pushed past Harry and rushed to meet her old friend. She kissed her lightly on the cheek.

“Ginny, we came to rescue you,” Hermione said, and she gestured out to Harry. Ginny walked over to him slowly. Looking into his eyes, she felt a small twinge of familiarity.

“Hello,” Harry said to her. He was so tempted to fall onto the bed, but something was keeping him standing there. It was the eyes of the girl he loved. He longed to take her in his arms, to kiss her, but he knew that she didn’t recognize him. He was a stranger to her.

“I know you,” Ginny said, “don’t I? You’re someone that I used to know very well.”

“Yes,” Harry said, and he brushed her hair back from her face. She pulled away. Hermione shook her head.

“Ginny, listen to my order now, okay?” she said, holding the girl by the shoulder,“Remember this boy. He’s the boy that you were meant to be with. Malfoy and his cronies have told you to forget him. Push past that order. Remember the name Harry Potter .”

And suddenly, the girl’s eyes began to light up in recognition. The water welled up in those tear ducts. Memories flooded her mind, wonderful memories of walks on the lake and stolen kisses between classes. Suddenly, her chest swelled in happiness. And there, standing up against her bed, was the boy that she had thought she would never see again. She had heard that he was dead, yet he looked very much alive to her. He was tired, and looked as though he might fall over any minute, but he was there.

“Harry,” she said. Nodding, he walked over to her. Then, in a moment that could have held an eternity, he kissed her. Hermione stood back, crying in joy as she watched her two friends find each other again.

“I told you I’d be back for you,” Harry said to her, and she kissed him again.

“Took you long enough,” Ginny cried, and he held her tightly in his arms. She was smelling the scent of him, a scent that she had forgotten. Malfoy had left a giant loophole in that curse of his, and she couldn’t be more thankful for that.

“You look so tired,” she told him.

“I can tell you about that later,” Harry said, “Right now, we’ve got to get out of here. Ron is distracting Malfoy and his mother downstairs. We can slip out without notice if we hurry.”

“You didn’t move fast enough,” said a voice from the doorway. The three turned to see Narcissa Malfoy, standing with a wand in her hand, a smile on her face. She marched over to Ginny, placed the wand in her hand, and laughed harshly.

“What a shame this will be,” Narcissa said, “killing the person you love. You know, Potter, I was told that it was the Dark Lord who would be the one to finish you. I thought he had. He thinks that now, too, and will never notice if someone else finishes what he started. Now that I have discovered that it was you who killed my husband, I’m not going to hesitate anymore. Ginny, as your master I order you to take this wand…”

“Narcissa, no!” Ginny pleaded.

“…and without hesitation…”

“PLEASE!!!!”

“ Kill him.”