Chapter Sixteen:
Ginny took a deep breath as she stood on the edge of the mock cliff and leaned back in preparation for her descent. She made sure her hands were in exactly the position Aaron had told her to hold them. Her right hand was clenched tightly but carefully around the rope that extended all the way to the ground behind her, holding in against her thigh to keep it tight against the D-ring in her harness. Her left was lightly clasping the rope, preparing to guide herself as she stepped backwards off the edge. Cautiously she took another two steps and with a deep breath, kicked lightly off, loosening her right hand as she fell about ten meters. A quick glance to her right assured that she was almost in time with her partner as she shifted her right hand once more and slowed her fall.
The redhead forced her breathing to remain calm and tightened her legs as she swung towards the faux rock face and kicked off lightly once more, releasing her right hand and falling another twenty meters. Anticipating the approach of the ground beneath her, she tightened her right hand again, but only enough to slow her fall for the final thirty meters as she kicked off the wall again. Her heart was beating slightly faster than normal as she landed on her feet a second or two after Draco, and she unhooked the rope from her harness with nearly steady hands.
It was the third straight day they had spent practicing their controlled fall, a fairly short amount of time, in her mind, considering the progress she had made. It had actually taken longer for them to match their pace than it had for her to learn the mechanics of rappelling, but it was important that they entered the cave as one so that his Mark could allow them both entrance past the warding.
Even with that extra time, however, they had reached adequate proficiency much quicker than she had anticipated. That was not to say that they were done with their lessons. Neither Draco, nor his brunette friend, were satisfied with the speed or ease of their tandem descent. They would probably end up practicing rappelling the nearly sixty meter drop for another few days before they declared both of them ready to tackle the next step. After all, once they had gotten down the shaft into the cave, they would need to come back up again.
She was reasonably confident of her ability to properly ascend the mock cliff they had been practicing on, it looked easier than rappelling, especially when the strange little machine Blake had shown them would be doing most of the work. Her confidence only grew as the sandy-blond Muggle showed her and Draco how to operate the small winch two days later. Her hands barely even shook as she stood at the bottom of the wall of fake rock and hooked the rope into her D-ring for what felt like, and probably was, the thousandth time that week.
She spared a quick but not too terribly nervous peek at Draco as he did the same, and aimed the small remote at the winch above her head. As soon as she pressed the right button, the witch felt the small machine tug at the rope, taking up the slack until she was forced to take a step closer to the wall, and then one onto it. It was a strange, but by now familiar feeling, to basically walk vertically, though this time it was up the wall instead of down it. Whichever direction it was in, it was just familiar enough that by now it took little conscious effort to adjust her stance and position herself correctly in the harness as she ascended.
Hoisting herself the last foot or so over the edge was a bit more difficult, but countless hours of practice throwing a Quaffle had not left her arms too weak for the task and she soon found herself standing next to Draco and his muggle friends with a nearly confident smile. The expression lasted only until Aaron announced that he had arranged for them to start their parachuting lessons the next day and it wasn't until a week and two dozen jumps later that she found the smile returning. She wasn't the only one who noticed.
The days of training and drills which had preceded any actual parachuting had left her with the distinct impression that a rogue Bludger had been let loose in her chest. Despite her abundance of rather raw nerves, their first trip hadn’t been that difficult as it had been purely observational, with her and Draco watching the others plummet towards the ground with little more than a large piece of fabric and a few dozen strings to slow them. She had the feeling that had it not been for her presence, the guys would have forgone the demonstration, and though it was nice that Aaron and the others were trying to ease her into it, she felt all the more resolved to master the challenge before her in a manner and at a speed that would not embarrass her in comparison to Draco’s surprising ease with such endeavors.
That inner determination proved helpful, and quite warranted as her stomach had knotted up harder than one of Hagrid’s rock cakes as soon as the jump door of the plane had opened on their second trip up. She had tried not to let it show, but she was sure that the others noticed, if only because Carren didn’t say anything when she was too busy listening to the wind roar through the plane to hear him when he went over the instructions one last time.
The appreciation she felt for the normally jovial boys not making a joke, good-natured as it would have been, out of her fear was the only thing that kept her from hating all four of them as she jumped from the aircraft. As the lessons had continued, however, she had needed less and less of a reason to not dislike the rowdy teens, even when she found herself the topic of their jests. The more she flew and jumped, the less her stomach rebelled at the thought of doing so until it eventually began to fill with butterflies instead of Bludgers. Hence her returning smile. And Aaron’s answering grin.
"Hah. I knew you were one of us," the brunette stated rather smugly.
She responded with a raised brow, though she couldn’t quite keep the smile from widening, drawing a laugh from the Muggle. She chuckled as well, knowing exactly what he meant and having to agree, even if only silently. When she’d first started learning all the crazy, seemingly suicidal things they’d been teaching her and Draco, and realized all the other crazy stuff he’d already done with them, she’d thought them all quite thoroughly insane. Yet, once she’d gotten comfortable with the idea of such things, she’d started to truly enjoy herself and finally see why the four boys liked it so much. What was it they had called themselves? Oh yeah, adrenaline junkies. She was pretty sure that if she kept this up very much longer that she could actually see herself eventually fitting that definition as well.
Eventually.
She was still a little unsure of what else the teens would find to throw at her over the next little while, and was pretty sure that they could come up with something that would completely terrify her if they put any real thought into it. Regardless of how much fun she’d managed to have so far, it had always come after a period of outright fear during which only her pride and stubbornness, and foolish Gryffindor bravery had seen her through. She was almost positive that Draco knew that too. He, and his friends by extension, had been unerringly considerate for the first period of her training when she was most afraid, only to then tease her mercilessly once she had started to work past the fear.
The former behavior was somewhat puzzling coming from the Slytherin, though the latter certainly wasn’t. Much of what she had seen and experienced in her interactions with the blond wizard had left her feeling off balance. She’d thought she’d known him back at Hogwarts, at least enough to be able to predict his behavior on a basic level. But so much of his behavior now contradicted what she would have expected even as that same snide arrogance often crept through, making her second guess whether he had really changed as much as it appeared.
She’d never have expected, for example, Malfoy to have done anything physical which didn’t involve a broom and the snitch. Yet he had obviously taken up many Muggle activities like the ones they were learning now. He’d met the other boys because of his martial arts classes, something, once it was explained to her, seemed at once fitting and the opposite of the image of him she’d long carried. He’d always seemed the sort to enjoy learning ways to hurt others weaker than himself, yet she’d once watched him in an Aikido competition and while he’d shown himself aggressive and even arrogant in the sport, his fighting had not seemed to her in any way malicious.
Malicious had appeared to define him at Hogwarts. Then again, so had pure blood elitist hater of all things Muggle. Yet here he was, not just hiding in the Muggle world, but truly living in it. And appearing to enjoy himself while he was at it. He interacted in the surroundings she still found foreign and difficult as if he’d been born to it, which he most certainly had not. This meant he had probably had to put considerable effort into acquiring the proficiency in Muggle technology and customs which he so effortless displayed. Why had he chosen to do that? If she’d had to hazard a guess, she would have thought he’d mope and sulk and cling to his supposed superiority if placed in such a situation where his other option was to join Muggle society. So why hadn’t he done exactly that? And why, when it came right down to it, had he even been in the type of situation where he faced such a choice in the first place? Why had he been sent to stay with the Tonks'? How had he become embroiled in the Order?
“You can act like you hate it, but you know you love it just like we do,” Aaron elaborated, as if in answer to the silent question she had posed before they’d started laughing.
The words brought Ginny back from her musings, causing her to laugh once more with a shake of her head. She avoided an all out admission, however, not quite sure she wanted Draco to know how much she was enjoying the activities she had so vehemently argued against when he’d first proposed them the day she’d remembered which cave it was they’d be attempting to basically break into. If one could actually break into a cave. Before her thoughts had a chance to wander off along that road, she focused once more on the dark-haired teen making his way to her side.
“Ready to go again? We only have the plane another two hours today.”
Her smile dropped into a grimace as she sighed and followed him back towards the aircraft with a nod. Even a developing enjoyment couldn’t take the full sting out of the practice schedule Malfoy and his friends had devised. As soon as she – and Malfoy, but mostly just her – had been declared adequately proficient in rappelling, ascending, and parachuting, the day before, they had decided to begin loading them both down with all the gear they would need to bring for the actual trip through the cave.
Over and over again over the next few days, they practiced doing everything with increasing loads, until the witch and wizard could jump, land, rappel, run, climb, and ascend with more weight strapped to them than Ginny had once thought she could hold. There were the ropes, lines, and winches that would take them up and down the shaft, as well as their main and backup chutes and harnesses, though thankfully they’d be taking those off when they landed. And that didn’t even take into account whatever they might need to extricate themselves from the area when they were done, a process they still hadn’t figured out, though Draco assured her he and the others were working on it.
The weeks of training and practicing were long and grueling and she was eager for them to end. Even considering that when she wasn’t too tired and sore to remember her own name, she’d really begun to enjoy herself, she was anxious to be finished and ready to take on this last task before the Order could focus on the Dark Lord himself. The end seemed like it might finally be in sight soon, but she was well aware of all the problems that still loomed ahead of them.
They still didn’t know what they were going to do with Nagini once they got to him, how they would get themselves and the snake away from the cave. Not to mention if they’d be able to successfully do any of what they had, and had yet to plan. Stealing Voldemort’s pet was no small or easy task. And she had little idea of what exactly would happen if they were successful in getting the snake. The redhead swallowed hard. Not if, when. They would succeed. She wasn’t working this hard in order to fail. They couldn’t fail. The Order was depending on her and Malfoy to do this, and they would. Yet even success wouldn’t end the questions plaguing her. Once the last Horcrux was obtained, it would have to be destroyed, and once it was destroyed, the battle would start, and her part in it all was sure to come out eventually.
How would everyone react to that news? Harry, Hermione and Ron were sure to be upset and she had never actually gotten up the nerve to ask Moody what he’d told her parents about what she was up to. Seeing as no one had tried to drag her back home, she assumed he’d lied to them the same as he had to the trio, saying she had been moved somewhere ‘safe’. And even if she weathered their reactions and the battle with the Death Eaters, there was more to consider. She’d probably have to return to the school to make up for all she’d missed while here with Malfoy. And Malfoy… What would he do when it was safe for him to leave the Tonks’?
The youngest Weasley closed her eyes with a silent groan. There were just too many questions buzzing around in her head and it was going to drive her absolutely nutters if she thought about it any longer. As far as their job was concerned, Malfoy had told her to trust him; that he would solve the remaining problems there and she was actually starting to find it possible, if not easy, to do so. He’d found Muggle techniques and tactics to get them to and into the cave; he’d find the ones to get Nagini and extract all three of them when they were done. He’d get her through this last task, and what came after that would wait until that time had come. For now, she thought, she’d simply enjoy the parts of the training process she could. Ginny glanced over at Malfoy and the others as they worked on storing their chutes and other gear for the night. The wizard looked up then and fixed her with an expectant look.
“You going to put away your stuff, Weasley? I’d like to get to dinner sometime before midnight.”
Where once there would have been rancor in his words, there was only a tired impatience and for some reason she found herself rolling her brown eyes with a small smile.
End Chapter Sixteen
Ginny took a deep breath as she stood on the edge of the mock cliff and leaned back in preparation for her descent. She made sure her hands were in exactly the position Aaron had told her to hold them. Her right hand was clenched tightly but carefully around the rope that extended all the way to the ground behind her, holding in against her thigh to keep it tight against the D-ring in her harness. Her left was lightly clasping the rope, preparing to guide herself as she stepped backwards off the edge. Cautiously she took another two steps and with a deep breath, kicked lightly off, loosening her right hand as she fell about ten meters. A quick glance to her right assured that she was almost in time with her partner as she shifted her right hand once more and slowed her fall.
The redhead forced her breathing to remain calm and tightened her legs as she swung towards the faux rock face and kicked off lightly once more, releasing her right hand and falling another twenty meters. Anticipating the approach of the ground beneath her, she tightened her right hand again, but only enough to slow her fall for the final thirty meters as she kicked off the wall again. Her heart was beating slightly faster than normal as she landed on her feet a second or two after Draco, and she unhooked the rope from her harness with nearly steady hands.
It was the third straight day they had spent practicing their controlled fall, a fairly short amount of time, in her mind, considering the progress she had made. It had actually taken longer for them to match their pace than it had for her to learn the mechanics of rappelling, but it was important that they entered the cave as one so that his Mark could allow them both entrance past the warding.
Even with that extra time, however, they had reached adequate proficiency much quicker than she had anticipated. That was not to say that they were done with their lessons. Neither Draco, nor his brunette friend, were satisfied with the speed or ease of their tandem descent. They would probably end up practicing rappelling the nearly sixty meter drop for another few days before they declared both of them ready to tackle the next step. After all, once they had gotten down the shaft into the cave, they would need to come back up again.
She was reasonably confident of her ability to properly ascend the mock cliff they had been practicing on, it looked easier than rappelling, especially when the strange little machine Blake had shown them would be doing most of the work. Her confidence only grew as the sandy-blond Muggle showed her and Draco how to operate the small winch two days later. Her hands barely even shook as she stood at the bottom of the wall of fake rock and hooked the rope into her D-ring for what felt like, and probably was, the thousandth time that week.
She spared a quick but not too terribly nervous peek at Draco as he did the same, and aimed the small remote at the winch above her head. As soon as she pressed the right button, the witch felt the small machine tug at the rope, taking up the slack until she was forced to take a step closer to the wall, and then one onto it. It was a strange, but by now familiar feeling, to basically walk vertically, though this time it was up the wall instead of down it. Whichever direction it was in, it was just familiar enough that by now it took little conscious effort to adjust her stance and position herself correctly in the harness as she ascended.
Hoisting herself the last foot or so over the edge was a bit more difficult, but countless hours of practice throwing a Quaffle had not left her arms too weak for the task and she soon found herself standing next to Draco and his muggle friends with a nearly confident smile. The expression lasted only until Aaron announced that he had arranged for them to start their parachuting lessons the next day and it wasn't until a week and two dozen jumps later that she found the smile returning. She wasn't the only one who noticed.
The days of training and drills which had preceded any actual parachuting had left her with the distinct impression that a rogue Bludger had been let loose in her chest. Despite her abundance of rather raw nerves, their first trip hadn’t been that difficult as it had been purely observational, with her and Draco watching the others plummet towards the ground with little more than a large piece of fabric and a few dozen strings to slow them. She had the feeling that had it not been for her presence, the guys would have forgone the demonstration, and though it was nice that Aaron and the others were trying to ease her into it, she felt all the more resolved to master the challenge before her in a manner and at a speed that would not embarrass her in comparison to Draco’s surprising ease with such endeavors.
That inner determination proved helpful, and quite warranted as her stomach had knotted up harder than one of Hagrid’s rock cakes as soon as the jump door of the plane had opened on their second trip up. She had tried not to let it show, but she was sure that the others noticed, if only because Carren didn’t say anything when she was too busy listening to the wind roar through the plane to hear him when he went over the instructions one last time.
The appreciation she felt for the normally jovial boys not making a joke, good-natured as it would have been, out of her fear was the only thing that kept her from hating all four of them as she jumped from the aircraft. As the lessons had continued, however, she had needed less and less of a reason to not dislike the rowdy teens, even when she found herself the topic of their jests. The more she flew and jumped, the less her stomach rebelled at the thought of doing so until it eventually began to fill with butterflies instead of Bludgers. Hence her returning smile. And Aaron’s answering grin.
"Hah. I knew you were one of us," the brunette stated rather smugly.
She responded with a raised brow, though she couldn’t quite keep the smile from widening, drawing a laugh from the Muggle. She chuckled as well, knowing exactly what he meant and having to agree, even if only silently. When she’d first started learning all the crazy, seemingly suicidal things they’d been teaching her and Draco, and realized all the other crazy stuff he’d already done with them, she’d thought them all quite thoroughly insane. Yet, once she’d gotten comfortable with the idea of such things, she’d started to truly enjoy herself and finally see why the four boys liked it so much. What was it they had called themselves? Oh yeah, adrenaline junkies. She was pretty sure that if she kept this up very much longer that she could actually see herself eventually fitting that definition as well.
Eventually.
She was still a little unsure of what else the teens would find to throw at her over the next little while, and was pretty sure that they could come up with something that would completely terrify her if they put any real thought into it. Regardless of how much fun she’d managed to have so far, it had always come after a period of outright fear during which only her pride and stubbornness, and foolish Gryffindor bravery had seen her through. She was almost positive that Draco knew that too. He, and his friends by extension, had been unerringly considerate for the first period of her training when she was most afraid, only to then tease her mercilessly once she had started to work past the fear.
The former behavior was somewhat puzzling coming from the Slytherin, though the latter certainly wasn’t. Much of what she had seen and experienced in her interactions with the blond wizard had left her feeling off balance. She’d thought she’d known him back at Hogwarts, at least enough to be able to predict his behavior on a basic level. But so much of his behavior now contradicted what she would have expected even as that same snide arrogance often crept through, making her second guess whether he had really changed as much as it appeared.
She’d never have expected, for example, Malfoy to have done anything physical which didn’t involve a broom and the snitch. Yet he had obviously taken up many Muggle activities like the ones they were learning now. He’d met the other boys because of his martial arts classes, something, once it was explained to her, seemed at once fitting and the opposite of the image of him she’d long carried. He’d always seemed the sort to enjoy learning ways to hurt others weaker than himself, yet she’d once watched him in an Aikido competition and while he’d shown himself aggressive and even arrogant in the sport, his fighting had not seemed to her in any way malicious.
Malicious had appeared to define him at Hogwarts. Then again, so had pure blood elitist hater of all things Muggle. Yet here he was, not just hiding in the Muggle world, but truly living in it. And appearing to enjoy himself while he was at it. He interacted in the surroundings she still found foreign and difficult as if he’d been born to it, which he most certainly had not. This meant he had probably had to put considerable effort into acquiring the proficiency in Muggle technology and customs which he so effortless displayed. Why had he chosen to do that? If she’d had to hazard a guess, she would have thought he’d mope and sulk and cling to his supposed superiority if placed in such a situation where his other option was to join Muggle society. So why hadn’t he done exactly that? And why, when it came right down to it, had he even been in the type of situation where he faced such a choice in the first place? Why had he been sent to stay with the Tonks'? How had he become embroiled in the Order?
“You can act like you hate it, but you know you love it just like we do,” Aaron elaborated, as if in answer to the silent question she had posed before they’d started laughing.
The words brought Ginny back from her musings, causing her to laugh once more with a shake of her head. She avoided an all out admission, however, not quite sure she wanted Draco to know how much she was enjoying the activities she had so vehemently argued against when he’d first proposed them the day she’d remembered which cave it was they’d be attempting to basically break into. If one could actually break into a cave. Before her thoughts had a chance to wander off along that road, she focused once more on the dark-haired teen making his way to her side.
“Ready to go again? We only have the plane another two hours today.”
Her smile dropped into a grimace as she sighed and followed him back towards the aircraft with a nod. Even a developing enjoyment couldn’t take the full sting out of the practice schedule Malfoy and his friends had devised. As soon as she – and Malfoy, but mostly just her – had been declared adequately proficient in rappelling, ascending, and parachuting, the day before, they had decided to begin loading them both down with all the gear they would need to bring for the actual trip through the cave.
Over and over again over the next few days, they practiced doing everything with increasing loads, until the witch and wizard could jump, land, rappel, run, climb, and ascend with more weight strapped to them than Ginny had once thought she could hold. There were the ropes, lines, and winches that would take them up and down the shaft, as well as their main and backup chutes and harnesses, though thankfully they’d be taking those off when they landed. And that didn’t even take into account whatever they might need to extricate themselves from the area when they were done, a process they still hadn’t figured out, though Draco assured her he and the others were working on it.
The weeks of training and practicing were long and grueling and she was eager for them to end. Even considering that when she wasn’t too tired and sore to remember her own name, she’d really begun to enjoy herself, she was anxious to be finished and ready to take on this last task before the Order could focus on the Dark Lord himself. The end seemed like it might finally be in sight soon, but she was well aware of all the problems that still loomed ahead of them.
They still didn’t know what they were going to do with Nagini once they got to him, how they would get themselves and the snake away from the cave. Not to mention if they’d be able to successfully do any of what they had, and had yet to plan. Stealing Voldemort’s pet was no small or easy task. And she had little idea of what exactly would happen if they were successful in getting the snake. The redhead swallowed hard. Not if, when. They would succeed. She wasn’t working this hard in order to fail. They couldn’t fail. The Order was depending on her and Malfoy to do this, and they would. Yet even success wouldn’t end the questions plaguing her. Once the last Horcrux was obtained, it would have to be destroyed, and once it was destroyed, the battle would start, and her part in it all was sure to come out eventually.
How would everyone react to that news? Harry, Hermione and Ron were sure to be upset and she had never actually gotten up the nerve to ask Moody what he’d told her parents about what she was up to. Seeing as no one had tried to drag her back home, she assumed he’d lied to them the same as he had to the trio, saying she had been moved somewhere ‘safe’. And even if she weathered their reactions and the battle with the Death Eaters, there was more to consider. She’d probably have to return to the school to make up for all she’d missed while here with Malfoy. And Malfoy… What would he do when it was safe for him to leave the Tonks’?
The youngest Weasley closed her eyes with a silent groan. There were just too many questions buzzing around in her head and it was going to drive her absolutely nutters if she thought about it any longer. As far as their job was concerned, Malfoy had told her to trust him; that he would solve the remaining problems there and she was actually starting to find it possible, if not easy, to do so. He’d found Muggle techniques and tactics to get them to and into the cave; he’d find the ones to get Nagini and extract all three of them when they were done. He’d get her through this last task, and what came after that would wait until that time had come. For now, she thought, she’d simply enjoy the parts of the training process she could. Ginny glanced over at Malfoy and the others as they worked on storing their chutes and other gear for the night. The wizard looked up then and fixed her with an expectant look.
“You going to put away your stuff, Weasley? I’d like to get to dinner sometime before midnight.”
Where once there would have been rancor in his words, there was only a tired impatience and for some reason she found herself rolling her brown eyes with a small smile.
End Chapter Sixteen
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