She lay there, her heart beating rapidly beneath the soaking brown stain covering her white shirt. Cold sweat ran down her forehead and into her red hair. Why is he doing this? she thought to herself. She couldn’t understand “ he had showed her the Mark. It was gone.
She could have kicked herself. He was lying to you, you idiot she thought furiously He’s still the same arrogant, slick, cruel, Death Eater bastard. Why did you believe him?
Ginny did not know how long it had been “ two minutes, half an hour, a day “ possibly a decade she had been lying on the floor but her heart leapt when she heard her name.
“Ginny? Lisle’s asleep.”
He wasn’t shouting “ in case Lisle awoke. Ginny tried to speak but her lips were motionless.
“Ginny?”
She could hear him coming down the stairs. The living room, she pleaded in her head Not the kitchen…
She heard the kitchen door open. Her thoughts were screaming “ they were wasting time.
She could hear his footsteps in the hallway…he was so close…
The living room…Please!
The door creaked open and Ginny suddenly saw Harry’s white, upside-down, shocked face staring wide-eyed at her. His eyes roved down to her shirt stain and back again. He whipped out his wand and instantly said the counter-curse.
Ginny leapt up, adrenaline coursing through her veins. She collapsed against Harry, sobbing uncontrollably. She couldn’t help herself.
“G-Ginny?” Harry stammered, his voice shaking fearfully. She looked up into his sea green eyes her vision blurred. “What happened? Where is he?”
Ginny could barely get the words out. “H-Harry! He “ He left! He immobilised me and then “ and then…”
She looked straight up into his eyes again and she could see the panic and shock mirrored in his.
“He took…Amy.”
The last of the colour in Harry’s face drained. Ginny could feel a tear slide down her trembling cheek. No. Now was not the time for tears. She had to think “ quickly.
“Listen Ginny, we have to go after him,” Harry said firmly, his voice shaking slightly. “Which way did he go?”
Ginny shook her head vigorously. “Harry “ it doesn’t matter if he went two feet away! He’ll have Apparated for sure, and we don’t have a clue where he’s headed to!”
“We have to contact the Order,” Harry said, in the same firm voice “ but Ginny could tell he was sick with fear, “and quickly. They need to know “ ”
“What will the Order be able to do about it?” Ginny cried, her hands flailing up in despair. “This is all so terribly wrong “ if only I hadn’t gone in the kitchen for tea! Why did I believe his stupid sob story lie? Of course he’s still a Death Eater, he’s Malfoy! I “ ”
“Ginny, I know it’s an emergency situation, and I know how serious it is!” Harry cut across her somewhat impatiently, “But we have to think fast! The more time we waste discussing Malfoy is not helping our daughter to get back any sooner!”
Ginny ran a hand over her sweaty brow. “I know. You’re right. I’ll Floo the Order immediately. One of them has to stay here to watch Lisle. The rest of us…”
Her eyes locked back to Harry’s and he nodded; his face solemn. They understood each other perfectly.
Draco felt a dizzying sense of imbalance as he felt his feet hit the floor again. The baby had not enjoyed Apparition “ she was screaming, her cheeks red. She waved her arms against Draco’s chest and was making sucking movements with her mouth. Draco suddenly was scared. Even he could tell what that meant.
“Aah, back right on time. I was beginning to wonder where you’d got to.”
The oily voice of Severus Snape came from the shadows of the dark and dusty room they were in. His pallid face loomed before Draco, a smirk written upon his pasty lips. Draco suddenly felt a small wave of angry defiance “ but it lasted a nanosecond. He peered down at Amy’s face.
“This baby needs feeding,” he said flatly, his voice expressionless. Snape chuckled.
“Failed to bring Mummy along with her? But you do have a point. I don’t think any of us will tolerate much longer with the racket it’s making.”
Draco did not look at Snape. “It’s a ‘she’.”
Snape smirked again. “Well, well, well then. I suggest you feed her then.”
Draco supported her head with his hand. She was so very warm and soft. Her tiny back arched and then dropped. Her cries stopped for a second but then came back, her mouth sucking frantically. Draco remembered a spell his cousin had done with her infant “ a spell for witches who didn’t want to feed their children the natural way. He whipped his wand out and a bottle with a teat materialized in front of him. He said the incantation and the bottle filled.
Carefully, he brought the teat to her moving mouth. She ‘latched on’ for a second or two and then stopped sucking the teat. After a few more moments of this she eventually got the hang of it and was soon sucking continuously. Snape let out a cruel laugh.
“Becoming quite the fatherly image, aren’t you?” he chided, snidely. “I wonder how long that incantation took to learn.”
Draco felt a tiny flame of anger rise in his chest, gnawing momentarily at his heart full of blank emotions. Then he heard the deadly soft voice of Snape speak inside his head, echoing sinisterly.
Don’t fight against it. You won’t get anywhere. Do as I say.
Draco tried to fight with the voice, but it was too strong. He relaxed into a dreamlike, blissful state again, rid of all emotions. Snape’s oily voice filled his head again.
Exactly. Keep your mind closed so they can’t find us. Occlumency “ Draco, you are a skilled Occlumens.
Then he heard snide laughter echo through his brain, mockingly.
Half an hour later, the Potter household was full of people. Members of the Order were around “ some had gone out on search parties, some had gone to inform the Ministry’s Aurors, and there were some simply in the house, with Ginny. Hermione, Tonks and Ron had joined Ginny in the living room “ in spite of her protests of wanting to join the search parties with Harry and the others.
“Ginny, can I get you some coffee?” Hermione asked tentatively. Ginny said nothing, but continued to stare ahead at the drapes, covering the very window she had seen her daughter disappear through. Hermione sighed.
“Ginny look, they will find her “ ”
“Yes,” Ginny said suddenly, “and when they do, I won’t be there to help.”
Tonks squeezed Ginny’s shoulder. “You can’t go out “ remember last time? It certainly seems as though you or Amy are bait “ it would only be playing into their hands “ ”
“Last time, I was in my third trimester and I was crawling through air vents,” Ginny pointed out bluntly, “I no longer have a giant bump on my stomach, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“It doesn’t matter if you’re pregnant or not, Gin,” Ron said, speaking for the first time in ten minutes. “They’re Death Eaters “ they are powerful. They want you, we don’t know why, but it’s safer here. Going after Amy now is what they’re hoping you’ll do.”
Ginny sat in silence, angry at everything. She knew he was right but she was terrified of what was happening to Amy. She could barely fathom what kind of things Malfoy and all of the Death Eaters were capable of.
“Come on Ginny,” Hermione smiled weakly. “They’ll find her. When they do, she’ll be as right as rain.”
Ginny didn’t look convinced, but Hermione looked at her in the eyes. “Trust me,” she said. “I’ll go and get some coffee.”
“Hold it!”
Harry spun round. They hadn’t Apparated, but they were searching the street for clues that could lead to where Malfoy had Apparated. They were standing beside a bush and Charlie Weasley was holding something small up. Harry’s eyes widened as he took it in his hands. Numbly, he gasped.
It was her sock. Amy’s tiny sock. It was muddy and snagged from the thorns in the bush.
“It “ must have dropped off,” Lupin said in a hushed voice. Harry turned around.
“She’s probably close,” he said firmly. “Keep looking!”
Draco looked back down at the baby. She was fast asleep, fortunately. However, there wasn’t a crib anywhere.
“Where shall I put the baby?” Draco intoned, almost bored. Snape looked up, his eyebrows raised.
“Wherever you bloody want to,” he said carelessly. Draco stared directly into his cold, black eyes. He could feel his mind struggling suddenly. The Curse was too strong “ yet he could feel himself almost overcoming it.
“Draco,” Snape spat, his voice cold. “Don’t fight it. Imperio.”
Draco felt another wave of bliss, but it only lasted for a few seconds this time. Instead, he felt a sudden surge of shock. Why was he here?
He put the baby down on an old, moth-eaten sofa. It was the best he could do. Snape’s back was turned. He was muttering in low whispers to the other Death Eaters. Draco caught snippets of their conversation.
“Tonight…Potter…Yes, yes of course…completely unsuspecting…the Mark…”
Draco’s skin went cold. The Mark. Of course.
Draco knew he had fought off the Curse. His mind no longer felt free “ he remembered her face…the look of terror…her hair like fire…
It happened in a flash. The memory of himself taking the infant was over faster than he could comprehend it, but he almost staggered over with the impact of it hitting him.
Looking white-faced at Snape’s back, he realised. He wasn’t supposed to be here. He had been set up. He had to do something.
Fingers trembling, he reached into his robes for his wand. Anger began to claw at his insides. Revenge. Pointing his wand at Snape’s back he opened his mouth.
“Stupef “ ”
“PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!”
Draco’s wand fell from his fingertips as he crashed, immobilised, to the floor. Snape leered triumphantly, pocketing his wand as though to gloat. Draco glared up at him.
“Funny,” Snape hissed, bending down so that his face was close to Draco’s, “I took you for a simple weakling. I must say, I’m impressed you managed to fight off the Curse single-handedly. I didn’t know you had the strength.”
His looked smugly at Draco, then violently slammed his fist against the younger wizard. Excruciating pain shot all the way to Draco’s brain. Blood trickled from his nose, pouring onto his robes.
“But of course I had a back-up,” Snape hissed menacingly, his face getting closer, “Do you think I’m stupid? I sensed you were fighting against the Curse, so I decided to let you. Instead I decided since you were stupid enough to fool with a Death Eater, you shouldn’t be worthy of the Imperius Curse. You would only make things worse for yourself. So, you’ll have to stay behind while we have all the fun. Look after the baby, do some knitting, bake some pies.”
He laughed cruelly and straightened up. The rest of the Death Eaters were laughing, mockingly. They had started to emerge from the shadows and Draco was horrified to see so many. There were at least fifty that he could see, but they kept coming. After what he assumed was all of them, they were still. Draco knew there had to be a hundred, or possibly a few more. Had he been able to speak, he would have cried out, in spite of himself, “What isthis place?”
Snape smiled a horrible smile. “Why Draco! This place is like our home! You see, there are more of us than what meets the eye.”
Then he turned to the others. “Everybody, it is good to be reunited once again. Finally, after many years, we have become strong enough to carry out what has been the Dark Lord’s wish for over two decades. The last and final battle is not over yet. There is plenty left that Harry Potter hasn’t predicted. And now, with him hunting for his beloved child in the wrong place, we shall meet him. Him and his faithful Aurors. None of whom were strong enough to override the Dark Lord’s faithful and noble followers.
“So, let’s go, while the meat is still…fresh.”
With one last vindictive look at the helpless Draco, Snape and the Death Eaters all Disapparated, cracks filling the air.
After that, it was very silent.
Ginny was curled up in an armchair, willing herself not to sleep. It was growing late. Half past eleven. Murmurs and people moving buzzed around her, some entering and some vacating the room. None of them were visible to Ginny. She was only thinking about one thing.
Amy was gone. Barely two months old and in the hands of a Death Eater. What kind of parent was she? How could this happen?
Just when she had begun to feel safe. Nobody was safe “ even now. She realised that now.
Ten minutes passed. Ginny wanted to wail out in despair “ rage “ anything to fill the horrible hollow, empty feeling she had in her gut. Anything to get rid of the guilt and fear. She could feel her eyelids drooping. She knew what she needed was rest, but she knew she couldn’t. She wouldn’t allow it.
Harry was running. He was running through a dark field. Charlie, Lupin and the three other Aurors were running behind him, calling him back, but he had seen something.
He could see it again. He was getting closer to it “ a bundle. Now metres away, he could see that it was a bundle of white cloths lying in the grass. He was almost there.
WHAM.
A curse hit him, forcing his ankle upwards so that he fell face down onto the hard ground. Feeling winded, he looked up. His ankle jerked again, and he was forced upside-down, writhing helplessly in mid-air. Lupin and Charlie were shouting, but two more curses hit them. Harry could hardly see, but he could make out a few blurry black shapes. The bundle was still there.
“WATCH THE OTHER TWO!”
Harry could see two of the Aurors running back, surely to alert the others. Spells flew in all directions, but all of them missed. His heart was thumping madly as all the blood rushed to his head.
“BELLATRIX “ DESMOND “ ONE OF YOU DO IT!”
Harry could make out a blurry black shape reach for his or her wand and point it directly at the sky.
“MORSMORDRE!”
Green erupted around Harry’s eyes, almost blinding him. He blinked rapidly, waving his arms to cover his face. He looked up at the sky.
An enormous, glittering, emerald skull was leering down at him, the wrong way up. Harry recognised it instantly.
The Dark Mark.
“HELP!”
Ginny wrenched her eyes open, realising she had fallen asleep. She leapt up from her chair. People were rushing about, yelling. An Auror with a bloody nose stood at the doorway. Everyone was crowded around. Ginny instantly made her way to the front, elbowing people.
“What happened?” she cried, beside herself with worry. The Auror wiped his nose and held something up. As Ginny took it, she recognised it instantly as Amy’s sock. Her heart skipped a beat.
“We found it a little way down from here, near that vast field. It “ was in a bush.”
“What else?” Ginny cried, but heard a scream from the garden.
“LOOK! LOOK “ AT THE SKY!”
Everyone rushed for the door. Ginny heard gasps and more screams as she squeezed past Hermione and Ron. She went into the dark garden. Green was glowing from above.
As she looked up, her eyes widened. She let out a gasp of terror as she stared up at the inky-black sky.
A huge skull loomed above them, contrasting vividly against the usual black, starry sky. A serpent tongue was with it. People screamed. Ginny could feel sickened with fear.
It was back.
A/N: Thanks for reading! I'll try to get chapter 14 up as quick as possible...please review if you haven't already, if you have, you know how much i like reviews so please feel free!!!
Oh and by the way, the summary of this story has been changed, because I thought the new one is more relevant to this story.