Disclaimer: I only own Haven.
Heroes Shed No Tears
Part IV
By VirtualFaerie
Ginny jerked her hand back, looking at him fearfully. “I-I’m sorry,” she stammered. She tried to reason, “I was just trying to check if you had a head wound.” Her eyes darted around the tent, hoping that no one had woken up.
He pulled his hood back up to cover his brown hair. “I don’t need your lame excuses,” he spat. That tone of voice was so familiar, where has she heard it before.
In her head, wheels turned and clicked into place. Her eyes widened in recognition as she looked down at him, deeply surprised. Of all people, she hadn’t expected him. “Draco?” she whispered, her hands instinctively going up to the chain on her neck, feeling of the comfort of the dragon.
“Shit,” he cursed. “You better not tell anyone.” He shoved back his hood forcefully and pulled off the mask. He grabbed his wand and pointed it towards his head; his brown tresses immediately turning to their natural pale blond. Ginny watched as his deep grey eyes traveled up to her neck and rested on the pendant and his eyebrows shot up. “Where did you get that?” he demanded.
Ginny glanced over at Haven, thinking he might have woken. He hadn’t; this?” she asked, pointing to the silver dragon resting on her skin, glittering in the firelight.
“Yes,” he looked at her impatiently, his cool grey eyes probing her own warm brown ones. “Where did you get it?”
“I got it when I was little,” she said not meeting his eyes.
“At the park, and you were crying,” he asked. It was impossible for her to tell what he was thinking his eyes were shrouded. How did he know?
“Yes,” she answered slowly. “How did you know?” He looked at her for a moment; Ginny took advantage of the pause and studied his face. It hadn’t changed too much from Hogwarts, besides the added lines on his face that didn’t belong there. There were dark purple circles under his eyes that glared out at you and his mouth was set in a straight, serious line. Despite it all, he still looked just as handsome as he had in school.
“That was mine,” he said, eyes trained to the necklace.
“You were the boy who was trying to get me to stop crying,” she said . Realizing his father, Lucius, had been yelling at him about the necklace. She had never forgotten that day. “Do you want it back?”
Draco studied the necklace, “no, it’s yours.” He shifted in the bed and winced. “How about that Skele-Gro?” he groaned.
“Wow,” Ginny said, trying not to smile. “I’ve never had such and eager patient before. Not for Skele-Gro at least.”
“When you’re leg is hurting as bad as mine, Skele-Gro sounds heavenly,” he said thickly. Ginny nodded and began measuring out a spoonful of the medicine for him.
“This is my last bottle,” she remarked, looking at it sadly. Even though the New Ministry always wanted healers around, it was hard for her to get her hands on any type of manufactured medicine. Most of the time she just had to make her own medicine with the herbs that were around camp.
“I’ll bring you some more next time I come around,” he said dismissively. “But only if you get that over here, fast.” Ginny suppressed a laugh as she tipped the spoon into his mouth. He made a face. “Eugh, that stuff is worse that I remembered.”
Haven stirred in his bed and turned over, his eyes wide and curious as he looked from Ginny to his father. “Daddy?” he whispered, his eyes lighting up.
Draco smiled softly at Haven. “Yes, I’m here. Be quiet, we don’t want to wake everyone up.” Haven nodded grinning brightly. He leapt out of his bed to crawl into Draco’s, snuggling against him. Ginny felt her heart leap as she saw this, and then there was that twinge. Surely Draco would take Haven with him this time.
Ginny went and put the Skele-Gro up and dimmed the fire a little, getting ready to climb in her own bed. She climbed in; noticing Draco had his hood and mask back on. Just as she was about to pull up her blankets, she heard Haven from the other bed. “I want Ginny,” he said sleepily.
“Three of us won’t fit in this bed,” Draco said to him. Ginny stared at Haven, not knowing what to say.
“I can’t sleep without her, she scares the evil wizard away,” Haven pleaded. “Please, Daddy?” Draco looked over at Ginny; she shrugged and crept over to their bed. She climbed in next to Haven and made sure that he had the covers tucked up to his neck. She told herself it was okay since Haven was in the middle. She just hoped that she would wake up before Ron.
~*~
“Ginny,” Ron bellowed. Beside him, Harry woke up immediately and clamped his hand firmly over Ron’s mouth.
“Shut up,” he hissed, squinting, his eyes still not adjusted to the sunlight. He reached over to the table beside the bed and grabbed his glasses, shoving them onto his face impatiently.
“But she’s in bed with…that man!” Ron said heatedly as soon as Harry had removed his hand.
Harry glanced over at them. “Yes,” he said rationally, “but Haven’s in-between them.”
“I don’t care,” Ron said angrily, trying to get out of bed. Harry grabbed a handful of the back of his shirt and jerked him back to the bed, a small “Oof” coming from his mouth as he landed back on the mattress.
“Shuddup, Ron,” Ginny mumbled groggily into her pillow from the other bed. Haven was nestled between her and Draco; an arm slung around her waist and another around his father’s, his teddy lay above his head on the pillow. Ginny carefully took his arm off of her and placed it onto the mattress, sliding out of bed trying not to disturb them. She covered Haven back up. “I only slept there because Haven wanted me too,” she explained to Ron, rubbing her eyes.
Ron still didn’t look very happy. “But we don’t even know who that man is,” he argued.
Ginny was silent as she got a worn pot from one of the battered wooden crates. Ron stared at her, an odd look on his face. She measured a cup of lentils and some water, pouring them into the pot. She would have to ration the food even more now that they had one more person to feed.
“You know who he is,” Ron said slowly. “Don’t you?” Ron looked at Harry, who shrugged, then back to Ginny. She didn’t answer. “Who is it Ginny?”
“Does it matter?” she asked finally, looking at him guardedly.
“Well, yeah,” Ron scoffed. “He is staying in our tent,” he said wrinkling his eyebrows at her. “Tell me, Ginny,” he commanded.
“It’s not my secret to tell,” Ginny said stirring the lentil soup. “If he really wants you to know, he’ll tell you himself.” She gave him a look over her shoulder, noticing that Harry was rolling his eyes at Ron. She wanted to smile but knew that would just fuel Ron even further, so she didn’t.
Ron glared at her, “If he’s going to stay in this tent—“
Ginny cut him off swiftly, not wanting to hear him anymore. “Ron, I’m the able-body who is in control of who stays in this tent and who doesn’t. If you were better I might let you have some decision, but as of now I am in charge of this household. Don’t get on my nerves.” It was an empty threat and they both knew it. Ginny would never throw Ron out.
“So…” Harry said clapping his hands together and raising his eyebrows at them. “Is that soup ready?”
Ginny gave him a sideways glance. “No, it’ll be ready in a few minutes. You watch it, I’ll be back.” She sighed and pulled on her worn boots, they were tattered, their heels falling off, the front part flapping, and they were coated in the rusty colored dust that covered just about everything else in the camp. She needed a little time on her own to think, she pushed the flaps of the tent open and stepped out into the sunlight, letting it flood around her, enjoying the warm feel of it on her skin.
One thing she had noticed since the New Ministry had come was that there were death eater guards all over the camp. They wore their black robes with the dark mark on the back, glaring maliciously at anyone and everyone who passed. The dirty little kids that used to get their only fun from playing outside had retreated to their tents, the death eaters have scared them off.
She passed by the New Ministry building, which resembled a small castle. It was tall and menacing casting shadows at the camp that hadn’t been there before. The stone was a gloomy grey and all the dark windows seemed to glare down at her. Even though it was new, she could smell the musty dankness of the place as she walked by.
A death eater watched her from his perch on a low tree limb. The tree was already scraggly and pitiful enough with its skeletal branches fluttering noisily in the wind without the death eater sitting in it. Poor tree, Ginny thought.
The death eater hopped down and started towards her. Ginny frowned, what did he want from her? Then she noticed another one step out of the trees and followed the other one. She felt her heart beating and her hands flew up her necklace to try to pacify her fear.
The two death eaters stopped in front of her, “W-What do you want?” she managed to stutter.
“Miss,” one said, taking her by the arm. “I’m afraid that we’re going to have to—“ another death eater ran out of the trees, panting loudly.
“Gods you guys, why didn’t you wait for me? Oh!” he said, looking at Ginny.
The death eater that had been talking jerked his head at the death eater that had just walked up. “Anyways, we’re going to have to take you back to your tent.”
“All of us are going to take you,” the silent death eater said. Ginny looked at them curiously. They didn’t act like death eaters. She figured they must be young recruits or something. They grabbed her arms and started pulling her after them.
“Uh, guys,” she said carefully. “My tent is the other way.”
~*~
They pushed open the flaps of the tent and immediately Ginny saw that Ron was standing next to Draco, trying to look as menacing as possible despite his very pale skin. Ron wasn’t supposed to be out of bed. Ginny pulled her arms out of the men’s grasp and ran to Ron, ushering him back to his bed. “What were you doing? Do you realize that you could be worse off than you were before now? Gods, you’re so stupid, Ron.”
Ron glared at her feebly as she jerked his blankets up and rolled her eyes at him. She continued, “What do you think you would have accomplished anyways? I can tell you, you couldn’t have done anything in your state. I don’t see how you’re ever going to get better this way.” She sighed and looked over at Draco, her hands on her hips. “And what are you doing out of bed? As I recall you are sick too? I advise you to get back in bed right now before I have to make you.”
“You can’t make me do anything,” he grumbled, walking towards the bed anyways.
Haven was sitting on his father’s bed, watching this all with a small smile on his face. He thought it was funny. He noticed the men standing at the door. “Who are they?” he asked Ginny.
Ginny whirled around to face the men. She had forgotten they were there. “Oh,” she said. “Do you guys need something?” Then she felt like she was going to start panicking. Draco was in the tent with them and as far as she knew he was a wanted man. The Dragon of Hope wasn’t safe in this tent if three death eaters were in it as well.
One of the death eaters stuck out a pale freckled hand with a small bird shaped scar on his right hand knuckle. Ginny’s eyes widened and her face broke out in a grin. “Oh my gods,” she cried launching herself at the man. “Oh my gods,” there were tears streaming down her face.
“What are you doing, Ginny?” Harry asked startled.
The death eater’s arms flew around her and one of the others came around to her and hugged her as well. By now the whole tent was staring at the fixatedly, wondering why Ginny was hugging two death eaters. “We missed you, Ginny,” one said thickly.
Molly’s head shot up from her pillow, she gazed at the two men her eyes glazed over. “No,” she said smiling. “It can’t be? My babies?”
The two men threw back their hoods, revealing the grinning faces of Fred and George Weasley. “We sure had you tricked didn’t we, Ginny?” Ginny chose to just nod, instead of informing them that they had acted to nice to ever possibly be death eaters. “Mum,” they said, rushing over to her bed and letting her gather them in big hugs.
“Fred? George?” Ron called, there were tears in his eyes. After their mother finally let them go, they went over to Ron and hugged him as well.
After everyone was hugged and accounted for, they stopped in front of Draco, big grins on their faces. “Well if it isn’t the little bugger himself,” Fred said.
“And what’s he doing in a tent full of Weasleys?” George added.
“I could ask myself the same question,” Draco said gruffly, but there was a small smile visible on his face. Ginny noticed that he had a dimple on one cheek that showed when he smiled.
“Oh well,” said George. “You put up with us all the time, what’s three more Weasleys anyways?”
“Way too many.”
“Excuse me,” Ron said loudly. “You know who he is too?” Then he looked to Harry, “If they know, you must too.” Harry smiled and nodded. “This isn’t fair, why can’t I know?”
“Because,” said the other death eater, stepping away from the entrance of the tent and pushing back his hood. It was Neville, only his voice was deeper, and he had lost all of his baby fat. He was tall, and lean with dark eyes and equally dark hair. “You would freak out the most.”
“I bet I would not!” Ron said indignantly.
“Yes, you would,” Draco said, pulling back his hood as well.
Ron let out a cry of surprise. “You!” he shouted accusingly.
“Yes, me,” Draco said rolling his eyes. Then, just as quickly, he narrowed them, “You breathe a word of this and I will rip out your intestines and strangle you with them.”
Haven looked at his father wide-eyed. “Daddy?” he said unsurely.
Draco looked over to Haven, “Daddy didn’t mean it,” he said. “I just want to make sure he knows how bad it is to tell on me.” Haven put his arms around Draco and looked at Ron pleadingly.
“Please don’t tell on my daddy,” he said softly.
Ron gaped at them all in disbelief. “I can’t believe this, it’s a conspiracy.”
“No it isn’t,” Harry explained. “You’ve been stuck in the godforsaken refugee camp for too long. Malfoy has been on our side since the war began, working double time as a spy. There are people out there that you never would have known to switch sides, I bet you didn’t know that Dean went over to Voldemort’s side did you?”
“No,” Ron said in dubiously.
Harry nodded, “Malfoy’s been our best spy and the most help to anyone alive.”
“Then how come he’s still such a prat?” Ron asked, recalling his earlier fight with Draco.
Harry smiled and looked over at the sneering Draco, “Because, Ron, some things never change. He still hates us. But he hates Voldemort and what he’s doing even more.”
“Are you friends with him?” Ron asked accusingly.
Draco snorted, “No way in hell would I be friends with that.” He looked over at Harry disdainfully, “It’s more like I barely tolerate him. Being in his very presence make my skin crawl.”
Ginny shot Draco a withering glance, “You should watch your mouth, Malfoy.”
He blinked at her, “I’ll do what I want, Weasley.”
Neville cut in, “Alright guys, stop it. We aren’t getting anywhere with this kind of arguing.” He cast pointed looks in Draco and Ginny’s direction. He held out his hands, “The reason we came here was we heard that this was going to be the Dark Lord’s—“
“Still too scared to say his name, Longbottom?” Draco sneered.
Neville scowled at Draco, “Fine, we heard this camp was going to be Voldemort’s new base. We didn’t know for sure until we sent Harry.” He glanced around at everyone. “We have to get to him before he gets any stronger; he’s still weak from his last battle with Harry. We have to get him while he’s down.”
Ginny and Ron looked to Harry, who nodded, “It’s true. Hermione is back at Hogwarts with Dumbledore and the other’s trying to devise a plan for the best way to fight him. The resistance is on its last legs, this may be the last chance we get. We have to get you guys out of here and back to Hogwarts so we can prepare.”
“But I thought you said that it was too risky for us all to leave,” Ginny said, wrinkling her eyebrows.
“It still is, but I said that before when I wasn’t sure that this was Voldemort’s new headquarters. Now we have to get you out of here because it won’t be safe,” Harry said.
“When are we going to leave?” asked Ron.
“We’ll have to leave in three days at the latest. But we’ve got to wait for Malfoy to get better so that he can make an appearance at the New Ministry building so it doesn’t look too suspicious that he hasn’t been seen in awhile.” Neville said, looking at Draco scornfully.
“But there will be death eaters on patrol and they must have set wards up by now,” Ginny reasoned. “There won’t be a way that we can get out undetected.”
Fred and George smiled. “This is where we come into play,” said Fred.
“On our way in we made a small hole in the ward placed around the camp. Or at least we weakened it so bad it wouldn’t be able to stop us, or alert them.” George said proudly.
“Don’t you think they would have detected the fault by now and fixed it?” Ginny asked curiously. “They must at least check if this is going to be Voldemort’s headquarters.”
George frowned, “Must you always burst our bubble?”
Ginny shrugged, “I’m just being careful. You never know what could go wrong.”
“The wards aren’t strong over the stream, the water breaks them down,” Draco said. “They would be easy to puncture and get through.” He looked at Haven, “That how I got him in,” then he nodded his head at Harry, “him too.”
“How are we going to get to Hogwarts after we leave the camp?” Ron asked, sitting up straighter in his bed, not wanting to be left out of the conversation. “Not all of us are going to be able to apparate.” He smiled remembering something Hermione had said, “Not that we’d be able to apparate into Hogwarts anyways.”
Harry gave Ron a look, “You actually listened to Hermione?” Ron’s ears pinkened.
“We’re going to get to Hogwarts by broom,” Draco cut in, glaring at them for getting off the topic. “We’ll have to walk to my mother’s house, which is about 60 kilometers from here. I have plenty of brooms there.”
“60 kilometers? That’ll take us forever!” Ron complained.
Draco glowered at him, “Well what do you propose we do? Flap our wings and hope that the wind isn’t blowing in the wrong direction?”
“Hey now,” Ginny cut it. “If you can’t say anything nice….”
“Don’t say anything at all,” all the guys in the tent chorused together.
“That’s the spirit,” she grinned.
~*~
The moon shone down fiercely, its craters highly visible, it seemed to hang lower in the sky than normal. Ginny felt that if she climbed to the top of one of the trees that she could reach up and touch it. She was standing outside staring up at the sky listening to the trees shake and whisper in the darkness. They had all talked for hours about what was going on, and how they were going to get to Hogwarts.
“You know, the aliens aren’t going to take you if you look so eager,” Harry said softly coming up behind her.
She glanced back at him confused, “Aliens?”
“Sorry,” Harry shook his head. “I forgot, it’s a muggle thing.”
“Oh,” she said quietly. She sighed loudly and shivered in the cool wind. Harry stepped up closer behind her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She settled back against him comfortably. “Everything is going so quickly, it seems like just yesterday Haven got here,” she murmured.
She turned her head up to look at him, realizing how close their lips were. “Harry, I—“ she never finished. Harry leant down and sealed her lips with his own.
Heroes Shed No Tears
Part IV
By VirtualFaerie
Ginny jerked her hand back, looking at him fearfully. “I-I’m sorry,” she stammered. She tried to reason, “I was just trying to check if you had a head wound.” Her eyes darted around the tent, hoping that no one had woken up.
He pulled his hood back up to cover his brown hair. “I don’t need your lame excuses,” he spat. That tone of voice was so familiar, where has she heard it before.
In her head, wheels turned and clicked into place. Her eyes widened in recognition as she looked down at him, deeply surprised. Of all people, she hadn’t expected him. “Draco?” she whispered, her hands instinctively going up to the chain on her neck, feeling of the comfort of the dragon.
“Shit,” he cursed. “You better not tell anyone.” He shoved back his hood forcefully and pulled off the mask. He grabbed his wand and pointed it towards his head; his brown tresses immediately turning to their natural pale blond. Ginny watched as his deep grey eyes traveled up to her neck and rested on the pendant and his eyebrows shot up. “Where did you get that?” he demanded.
Ginny glanced over at Haven, thinking he might have woken. He hadn’t; this?” she asked, pointing to the silver dragon resting on her skin, glittering in the firelight.
“Yes,” he looked at her impatiently, his cool grey eyes probing her own warm brown ones. “Where did you get it?”
“I got it when I was little,” she said not meeting his eyes.
“At the park, and you were crying,” he asked. It was impossible for her to tell what he was thinking his eyes were shrouded. How did he know?
“Yes,” she answered slowly. “How did you know?” He looked at her for a moment; Ginny took advantage of the pause and studied his face. It hadn’t changed too much from Hogwarts, besides the added lines on his face that didn’t belong there. There were dark purple circles under his eyes that glared out at you and his mouth was set in a straight, serious line. Despite it all, he still looked just as handsome as he had in school.
“That was mine,” he said, eyes trained to the necklace.
“You were the boy who was trying to get me to stop crying,” she said . Realizing his father, Lucius, had been yelling at him about the necklace. She had never forgotten that day. “Do you want it back?”
Draco studied the necklace, “no, it’s yours.” He shifted in the bed and winced. “How about that Skele-Gro?” he groaned.
“Wow,” Ginny said, trying not to smile. “I’ve never had such and eager patient before. Not for Skele-Gro at least.”
“When you’re leg is hurting as bad as mine, Skele-Gro sounds heavenly,” he said thickly. Ginny nodded and began measuring out a spoonful of the medicine for him.
“This is my last bottle,” she remarked, looking at it sadly. Even though the New Ministry always wanted healers around, it was hard for her to get her hands on any type of manufactured medicine. Most of the time she just had to make her own medicine with the herbs that were around camp.
“I’ll bring you some more next time I come around,” he said dismissively. “But only if you get that over here, fast.” Ginny suppressed a laugh as she tipped the spoon into his mouth. He made a face. “Eugh, that stuff is worse that I remembered.”
Haven stirred in his bed and turned over, his eyes wide and curious as he looked from Ginny to his father. “Daddy?” he whispered, his eyes lighting up.
Draco smiled softly at Haven. “Yes, I’m here. Be quiet, we don’t want to wake everyone up.” Haven nodded grinning brightly. He leapt out of his bed to crawl into Draco’s, snuggling against him. Ginny felt her heart leap as she saw this, and then there was that twinge. Surely Draco would take Haven with him this time.
Ginny went and put the Skele-Gro up and dimmed the fire a little, getting ready to climb in her own bed. She climbed in; noticing Draco had his hood and mask back on. Just as she was about to pull up her blankets, she heard Haven from the other bed. “I want Ginny,” he said sleepily.
“Three of us won’t fit in this bed,” Draco said to him. Ginny stared at Haven, not knowing what to say.
“I can’t sleep without her, she scares the evil wizard away,” Haven pleaded. “Please, Daddy?” Draco looked over at Ginny; she shrugged and crept over to their bed. She climbed in next to Haven and made sure that he had the covers tucked up to his neck. She told herself it was okay since Haven was in the middle. She just hoped that she would wake up before Ron.
~*~
“Ginny,” Ron bellowed. Beside him, Harry woke up immediately and clamped his hand firmly over Ron’s mouth.
“Shut up,” he hissed, squinting, his eyes still not adjusted to the sunlight. He reached over to the table beside the bed and grabbed his glasses, shoving them onto his face impatiently.
“But she’s in bed with…that man!” Ron said heatedly as soon as Harry had removed his hand.
Harry glanced over at them. “Yes,” he said rationally, “but Haven’s in-between them.”
“I don’t care,” Ron said angrily, trying to get out of bed. Harry grabbed a handful of the back of his shirt and jerked him back to the bed, a small “Oof” coming from his mouth as he landed back on the mattress.
“Shuddup, Ron,” Ginny mumbled groggily into her pillow from the other bed. Haven was nestled between her and Draco; an arm slung around her waist and another around his father’s, his teddy lay above his head on the pillow. Ginny carefully took his arm off of her and placed it onto the mattress, sliding out of bed trying not to disturb them. She covered Haven back up. “I only slept there because Haven wanted me too,” she explained to Ron, rubbing her eyes.
Ron still didn’t look very happy. “But we don’t even know who that man is,” he argued.
Ginny was silent as she got a worn pot from one of the battered wooden crates. Ron stared at her, an odd look on his face. She measured a cup of lentils and some water, pouring them into the pot. She would have to ration the food even more now that they had one more person to feed.
“You know who he is,” Ron said slowly. “Don’t you?” Ron looked at Harry, who shrugged, then back to Ginny. She didn’t answer. “Who is it Ginny?”
“Does it matter?” she asked finally, looking at him guardedly.
“Well, yeah,” Ron scoffed. “He is staying in our tent,” he said wrinkling his eyebrows at her. “Tell me, Ginny,” he commanded.
“It’s not my secret to tell,” Ginny said stirring the lentil soup. “If he really wants you to know, he’ll tell you himself.” She gave him a look over her shoulder, noticing that Harry was rolling his eyes at Ron. She wanted to smile but knew that would just fuel Ron even further, so she didn’t.
Ron glared at her, “If he’s going to stay in this tent—“
Ginny cut him off swiftly, not wanting to hear him anymore. “Ron, I’m the able-body who is in control of who stays in this tent and who doesn’t. If you were better I might let you have some decision, but as of now I am in charge of this household. Don’t get on my nerves.” It was an empty threat and they both knew it. Ginny would never throw Ron out.
“So…” Harry said clapping his hands together and raising his eyebrows at them. “Is that soup ready?”
Ginny gave him a sideways glance. “No, it’ll be ready in a few minutes. You watch it, I’ll be back.” She sighed and pulled on her worn boots, they were tattered, their heels falling off, the front part flapping, and they were coated in the rusty colored dust that covered just about everything else in the camp. She needed a little time on her own to think, she pushed the flaps of the tent open and stepped out into the sunlight, letting it flood around her, enjoying the warm feel of it on her skin.
One thing she had noticed since the New Ministry had come was that there were death eater guards all over the camp. They wore their black robes with the dark mark on the back, glaring maliciously at anyone and everyone who passed. The dirty little kids that used to get their only fun from playing outside had retreated to their tents, the death eaters have scared them off.
She passed by the New Ministry building, which resembled a small castle. It was tall and menacing casting shadows at the camp that hadn’t been there before. The stone was a gloomy grey and all the dark windows seemed to glare down at her. Even though it was new, she could smell the musty dankness of the place as she walked by.
A death eater watched her from his perch on a low tree limb. The tree was already scraggly and pitiful enough with its skeletal branches fluttering noisily in the wind without the death eater sitting in it. Poor tree, Ginny thought.
The death eater hopped down and started towards her. Ginny frowned, what did he want from her? Then she noticed another one step out of the trees and followed the other one. She felt her heart beating and her hands flew up her necklace to try to pacify her fear.
The two death eaters stopped in front of her, “W-What do you want?” she managed to stutter.
“Miss,” one said, taking her by the arm. “I’m afraid that we’re going to have to—“ another death eater ran out of the trees, panting loudly.
“Gods you guys, why didn’t you wait for me? Oh!” he said, looking at Ginny.
The death eater that had been talking jerked his head at the death eater that had just walked up. “Anyways, we’re going to have to take you back to your tent.”
“All of us are going to take you,” the silent death eater said. Ginny looked at them curiously. They didn’t act like death eaters. She figured they must be young recruits or something. They grabbed her arms and started pulling her after them.
“Uh, guys,” she said carefully. “My tent is the other way.”
~*~
They pushed open the flaps of the tent and immediately Ginny saw that Ron was standing next to Draco, trying to look as menacing as possible despite his very pale skin. Ron wasn’t supposed to be out of bed. Ginny pulled her arms out of the men’s grasp and ran to Ron, ushering him back to his bed. “What were you doing? Do you realize that you could be worse off than you were before now? Gods, you’re so stupid, Ron.”
Ron glared at her feebly as she jerked his blankets up and rolled her eyes at him. She continued, “What do you think you would have accomplished anyways? I can tell you, you couldn’t have done anything in your state. I don’t see how you’re ever going to get better this way.” She sighed and looked over at Draco, her hands on her hips. “And what are you doing out of bed? As I recall you are sick too? I advise you to get back in bed right now before I have to make you.”
“You can’t make me do anything,” he grumbled, walking towards the bed anyways.
Haven was sitting on his father’s bed, watching this all with a small smile on his face. He thought it was funny. He noticed the men standing at the door. “Who are they?” he asked Ginny.
Ginny whirled around to face the men. She had forgotten they were there. “Oh,” she said. “Do you guys need something?” Then she felt like she was going to start panicking. Draco was in the tent with them and as far as she knew he was a wanted man. The Dragon of Hope wasn’t safe in this tent if three death eaters were in it as well.
One of the death eaters stuck out a pale freckled hand with a small bird shaped scar on his right hand knuckle. Ginny’s eyes widened and her face broke out in a grin. “Oh my gods,” she cried launching herself at the man. “Oh my gods,” there were tears streaming down her face.
“What are you doing, Ginny?” Harry asked startled.
The death eater’s arms flew around her and one of the others came around to her and hugged her as well. By now the whole tent was staring at the fixatedly, wondering why Ginny was hugging two death eaters. “We missed you, Ginny,” one said thickly.
Molly’s head shot up from her pillow, she gazed at the two men her eyes glazed over. “No,” she said smiling. “It can’t be? My babies?”
The two men threw back their hoods, revealing the grinning faces of Fred and George Weasley. “We sure had you tricked didn’t we, Ginny?” Ginny chose to just nod, instead of informing them that they had acted to nice to ever possibly be death eaters. “Mum,” they said, rushing over to her bed and letting her gather them in big hugs.
“Fred? George?” Ron called, there were tears in his eyes. After their mother finally let them go, they went over to Ron and hugged him as well.
After everyone was hugged and accounted for, they stopped in front of Draco, big grins on their faces. “Well if it isn’t the little bugger himself,” Fred said.
“And what’s he doing in a tent full of Weasleys?” George added.
“I could ask myself the same question,” Draco said gruffly, but there was a small smile visible on his face. Ginny noticed that he had a dimple on one cheek that showed when he smiled.
“Oh well,” said George. “You put up with us all the time, what’s three more Weasleys anyways?”
“Way too many.”
“Excuse me,” Ron said loudly. “You know who he is too?” Then he looked to Harry, “If they know, you must too.” Harry smiled and nodded. “This isn’t fair, why can’t I know?”
“Because,” said the other death eater, stepping away from the entrance of the tent and pushing back his hood. It was Neville, only his voice was deeper, and he had lost all of his baby fat. He was tall, and lean with dark eyes and equally dark hair. “You would freak out the most.”
“I bet I would not!” Ron said indignantly.
“Yes, you would,” Draco said, pulling back his hood as well.
Ron let out a cry of surprise. “You!” he shouted accusingly.
“Yes, me,” Draco said rolling his eyes. Then, just as quickly, he narrowed them, “You breathe a word of this and I will rip out your intestines and strangle you with them.”
Haven looked at his father wide-eyed. “Daddy?” he said unsurely.
Draco looked over to Haven, “Daddy didn’t mean it,” he said. “I just want to make sure he knows how bad it is to tell on me.” Haven put his arms around Draco and looked at Ron pleadingly.
“Please don’t tell on my daddy,” he said softly.
Ron gaped at them all in disbelief. “I can’t believe this, it’s a conspiracy.”
“No it isn’t,” Harry explained. “You’ve been stuck in the godforsaken refugee camp for too long. Malfoy has been on our side since the war began, working double time as a spy. There are people out there that you never would have known to switch sides, I bet you didn’t know that Dean went over to Voldemort’s side did you?”
“No,” Ron said in dubiously.
Harry nodded, “Malfoy’s been our best spy and the most help to anyone alive.”
“Then how come he’s still such a prat?” Ron asked, recalling his earlier fight with Draco.
Harry smiled and looked over at the sneering Draco, “Because, Ron, some things never change. He still hates us. But he hates Voldemort and what he’s doing even more.”
“Are you friends with him?” Ron asked accusingly.
Draco snorted, “No way in hell would I be friends with that.” He looked over at Harry disdainfully, “It’s more like I barely tolerate him. Being in his very presence make my skin crawl.”
Ginny shot Draco a withering glance, “You should watch your mouth, Malfoy.”
He blinked at her, “I’ll do what I want, Weasley.”
Neville cut in, “Alright guys, stop it. We aren’t getting anywhere with this kind of arguing.” He cast pointed looks in Draco and Ginny’s direction. He held out his hands, “The reason we came here was we heard that this was going to be the Dark Lord’s—“
“Still too scared to say his name, Longbottom?” Draco sneered.
Neville scowled at Draco, “Fine, we heard this camp was going to be Voldemort’s new base. We didn’t know for sure until we sent Harry.” He glanced around at everyone. “We have to get to him before he gets any stronger; he’s still weak from his last battle with Harry. We have to get him while he’s down.”
Ginny and Ron looked to Harry, who nodded, “It’s true. Hermione is back at Hogwarts with Dumbledore and the other’s trying to devise a plan for the best way to fight him. The resistance is on its last legs, this may be the last chance we get. We have to get you guys out of here and back to Hogwarts so we can prepare.”
“But I thought you said that it was too risky for us all to leave,” Ginny said, wrinkling her eyebrows.
“It still is, but I said that before when I wasn’t sure that this was Voldemort’s new headquarters. Now we have to get you out of here because it won’t be safe,” Harry said.
“When are we going to leave?” asked Ron.
“We’ll have to leave in three days at the latest. But we’ve got to wait for Malfoy to get better so that he can make an appearance at the New Ministry building so it doesn’t look too suspicious that he hasn’t been seen in awhile.” Neville said, looking at Draco scornfully.
“But there will be death eaters on patrol and they must have set wards up by now,” Ginny reasoned. “There won’t be a way that we can get out undetected.”
Fred and George smiled. “This is where we come into play,” said Fred.
“On our way in we made a small hole in the ward placed around the camp. Or at least we weakened it so bad it wouldn’t be able to stop us, or alert them.” George said proudly.
“Don’t you think they would have detected the fault by now and fixed it?” Ginny asked curiously. “They must at least check if this is going to be Voldemort’s headquarters.”
George frowned, “Must you always burst our bubble?”
Ginny shrugged, “I’m just being careful. You never know what could go wrong.”
“The wards aren’t strong over the stream, the water breaks them down,” Draco said. “They would be easy to puncture and get through.” He looked at Haven, “That how I got him in,” then he nodded his head at Harry, “him too.”
“How are we going to get to Hogwarts after we leave the camp?” Ron asked, sitting up straighter in his bed, not wanting to be left out of the conversation. “Not all of us are going to be able to apparate.” He smiled remembering something Hermione had said, “Not that we’d be able to apparate into Hogwarts anyways.”
Harry gave Ron a look, “You actually listened to Hermione?” Ron’s ears pinkened.
“We’re going to get to Hogwarts by broom,” Draco cut in, glaring at them for getting off the topic. “We’ll have to walk to my mother’s house, which is about 60 kilometers from here. I have plenty of brooms there.”
“60 kilometers? That’ll take us forever!” Ron complained.
Draco glowered at him, “Well what do you propose we do? Flap our wings and hope that the wind isn’t blowing in the wrong direction?”
“Hey now,” Ginny cut it. “If you can’t say anything nice….”
“Don’t say anything at all,” all the guys in the tent chorused together.
“That’s the spirit,” she grinned.
~*~
The moon shone down fiercely, its craters highly visible, it seemed to hang lower in the sky than normal. Ginny felt that if she climbed to the top of one of the trees that she could reach up and touch it. She was standing outside staring up at the sky listening to the trees shake and whisper in the darkness. They had all talked for hours about what was going on, and how they were going to get to Hogwarts.
“You know, the aliens aren’t going to take you if you look so eager,” Harry said softly coming up behind her.
She glanced back at him confused, “Aliens?”
“Sorry,” Harry shook his head. “I forgot, it’s a muggle thing.”
“Oh,” she said quietly. She sighed loudly and shivered in the cool wind. Harry stepped up closer behind her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She settled back against him comfortably. “Everything is going so quickly, it seems like just yesterday Haven got here,” she murmured.
She turned her head up to look at him, realizing how close their lips were. “Harry, I—“ she never finished. Harry leant down and sealed her lips with his own.
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