Chapter Twelve:

Draco Malfoy felt his cheeks ache from the size of the grin he had been wearing for the last mile and a half, but didn't have the slightest inclination to drop the expression as he glanced behind him and noted the lead he had maintained for much of the race. The satisfaction he was feeling only increased when he looked forward once more and saw the finish line speeding towards him as his bike flew over the asphalt. When Aaron had proposed that they try their hands at motorcycle racing, instead of the auto racing that they had been playing with the previous few weeks, he had thought it would be fun, but he hadn't thought it would be this much fun. Though it may not have been if their wealthy elitist tendencies hadn't led all four of them to buy the newest, fastest bikes on the market two weeks before.

The young wizard let out a whoop as he reached the Tonks' driveway and swung his bike in a wide arch, braking just before he would have collided with Carren, who had arrived moments after him. The shorthaired teen screeched to a halt and pulled his helmet off with a glare. Draco just grinned back, too exhilarated by the ride to even respond.

"You're a bloody speed demon, Draco," Blake shouted as he and Aaron came to equally sudden stops.

The ice-blond thought of the times he'd snuck out of the dungeons and flew through the inky pitch just to see how fast he could push his newest broom, and smirked in agreement. "And you ride slower than shite."

Aaron shook his head, laughing at his friend's response as the four young men piled into the house. Carren just rolled his eyes at the affronted expression on Blake's face as he headed into the kitchen to grab a few snacks as the others piled onto the couch and tuned the telly to the football game that had started a few minutes earlier.

Draco nodded in thanks at the short-haired daredevil as he brought an armful of less than healthy options into the room. The Malfoy heir rose to help him spread out the food and drink on the coffee table, wondering how it was that Coral always knew when to stock up on junk food. He didn't remember mentioning that his friends would be coming over to watch the game today, but he must have said something, as she usually didn't have quite so much unhealthy fare at the house. He made a mental note to thank her for the foresight as he opened a soda and joined the others in yelling rather enthusiastically at refs and players alike, completely unaware that the rowdy chorus was being carried out the open window and into the ears of the two people currently approaching the small home.

Ginny Weasley glanced questioningly at the former Auror as they stopped in front of the tidy two-story house, her brows furrowing slightly as the sound of several voices reached her. It reminded her of the Burrow when all her brothers were home and a Quidditch game was playing on the wizarding wireless. The sounds were somewhat loud in the otherwise quite street and the redhead found herself even more confused than she had been a few minutes before. Neither wizard had seen fit to explain their destination to her before Moody had whisked her off. Nothing about the house seemed special or unusual to her, though she wasn't overly familiar with Muggle homes.

"Is this it?" Ginny asked as they continued to stand on the sidewalk. Her escort merely grunted and she was left to shift impatiently from one foot to the other as she waited to be told what they were doing and why exactly it had been so important that they did it. From Dumbledore's insistence that "he" was their "only way in", she had to assume that they had gone in search of someone to help them access the last Horcrux. The ward that Voldemort seemed to be placing in her memory was a formidable obstacle, and left them with few choices as to gaining access.

Logically, if she had been right about the type of ward, they had to be looking for someone who had, or knew someone who had, a Dark Mark, and yet was loyal enough to the Order to help them. The options were very slim. So slim, in fact, that Ginny could only think of one person who fit the criteria, though a nagging feeling in her gut told her that if they were meeting up with Professor Snape, she would not be needed.

"Where exactly are we?"

At first, Moody made no reply to the hesitant, almost apprehensive question, but after a moment he answered. "Garald and Coral Tonks' house."

The youngest Weasley let his words seep into her mind as she furiously examined the possible ramifications of that answer until she recalled the spell that had kept Harry safe with his aunt and uncle for so long. Surely that had nothing to do with them being here. Surely the relationship was too far removed to serve the purposes of that spell. But that didn't mean that particular spell was the only reason a familial relationship could be useful when looking for a place to hide someone. "Who are we meeting?"

Alastor Moody seemed to scowl even harder as he met her gaze. "Draco Malfoy."

The name confirmed the suspicions that had only begun to form and it was several seconds before she could get her thoughts into order and work out exactly what she was doing there. "You're not coming in, are you?"

Another grunt was her answer and she chose to overlook the main reason why she was being sent in his stead, not wanting to imply that he would be unable to behave professionally enough to get the younger wizard to help them. Certainly, the gruff man would be little help in even the semi-diplomatic mission they were currently on. She was the most logical choice of the two of them, since Dumbledore could not leave the former Auror's rooms, yet even knowing this, it took her a moment to set aside her own prejudices and calm her nerves enough to set about what she knew she had to do.

"It sounds like he has company," she said in a tone of forced calm.

Whatever she had thought of Malfoy the last few years they had gone to school together, the mere fact that he was hiding with his somewhat distant Muggle relatives and not with his parents and the Death Eaters proved that she was at least a little wrong in her assumptions. It was hard to believe that she had been so far off on her assessment of the Slytherin, however, that he would be a willing participant in the source of the raucous noise currently being emitted from the house in front of her. The sounds were those characteristic of the boys she had spent much of her time with, but seemed entirely too cheery for the perpetually sulky and bitter image of Draco Malfoy she had formed over the years.

Whatever he might or might not be doing inside the house, however, it didn't change the fact that she needed to go inside, to talk to him. They needed his help to have any chance of getting past the ward that Tom had erected to guard Nagini, and her standing out here on the sidewalk looking at the house was not going to get them that help. She had to go in.

"I guess it's time to break up the party."

She didn't wait for the grizzled wizard to reply to her muttered words, a part of her vaguely
noting that he had made another grunt before heading silently back to the alley to Disapparate as she took a deep breath and made her way to the door.

The few moments it took for someone to answer her knock passed slowly for the redhead as she tried to mentally formulate an argument that she thought the Malfoy heir might allow to persuade him to cooperate. She hadn't even decided on an appropriate introduction, however, when the door before her opened to reveal a dark-haired Muggle about her age, maybe a little older. The teen shot her a wide grin that was more than a touch appreciative as he looked her up and down.

"How can I help you?"

Ginny swallowed past the urge to tell him exactly what he couldn't help her with as he continued to stare. "I'm here to see Draco."

There was a subtle flash of disappointment on his face that he didn't even try to hide as he turned and hollered over his shoulder at the crowd of his friends that were still yelling at the television.

"Dray, visitor."

A distracted voice she recognized from countless insults reached her from the other room. "What's that? Kick the ball in the bloody goal not the stands ya arse!"

"Visitor. For you," the brunette told his friend in a much louder voice, this time managing to penetrate the surrounding cacophony.

Draco spent all of half a second processing the first word and running through a few possibilities as to who could be here to see him before coming up with a scenario that included him and all his friends on the floor under Cruciatus. The fact that his visitor had knocked politely at the door rather bursting in, wand drawn, however, implied a less than nefarious intent, but he still had to fight to hide the sudden tension in his shoulders and the battle-ready look in his eyes as stood swiftly from the couch and prepared to activate the charm hiding his wand in his watchband.

Even poised to encounter any number of Muggle or Death Eater acquaintances that might be at the door, he felt a second's shook as he took in the person waiting for him.

"Weasley."

The name was stated almost hollowly and without any kind of inflection that might indicate the tone of her reception, so she decided to be as neutral as possible in her own greeting as she nodded at the ice-blond. "Malfoy."

They stared at each other in silence for several seconds, earning them a strange look from Aaron as the dark-haired teen glanced between them. "What, not going to introduce us, mate?"

The question brought Draco out of his stupor, and he turned almost reluctantly to his friend, as if afraid to take his eyes off her for even a moment before turning back to stare somewhat suspiciously at his unexpected visitor.

"Aaron, this is Weasley, Weasley, Aaron, Carren, and Blake" he said blandly, gesturing to each in turn as the other two filtered in rather curiously.

"Ginny," she corrected, forcing a smile through her nerves and shaking hands with the Muggles as if she wasn't standing on the threshold of an apparently allied Death Eater's hide-out. "My name's Ginny."

"Well 'ello there, Ginny," Aaron stated with a leer.

"Nice to meet you," said Carren.

"That it is. What is it that we can do for you?" asked Blake with a snobby expression that left little doubt in the redhead's mind what he and Draco had in common.

"I need to speak with Draco actually."

"Really?" drawled the sandy-blond with a slight sneer. "Why exactly would you want to do that?"

The youngest Weasley glanced over at the wizard, half expecting a vicious retort to the insult, the redhead surprised when all the snake did was roll his eyes at the other boy and fix her with a look that asked much the same question.

"We went to school together," she said when nothing better came to mind.

"Bit early for a class reunion, isn't it, Weaslette?"

She shot him a chilly glare, and though the hated name had been delivered with less venom than it ever had before, Ginny replied rather caustically just so that he knew she wouldn't simply let him insult her as she had so many times in the past.

"Not according to Fawkes," she replied, hoping that he understood the reference to the Order.

Being a Slytherin, however, he had little trouble interpreting her use of the phoenix's name, and only hopped she understood his own message as he crossed his arms and placed his right palm over his left forearm just below the bend of his elbow in a subtle reminder of the danger of someone from Hogwarts coming to visit him. "I suppose he would be appropriately conscious of his timing here."

"He would," she said seriously, doing her best to confer the precautions she had taken in coming and the necessity of doing so.

The three other teens looked back and forth between the two, various expressions of curiosity and confusion clouding their eyes as they listened to the almost cryptic sounding exchange. None knew quite what to make of the appearance of the girl, or their friend's reaction to her, but it was obvious to all of them that something was going on and the latent tension hanging heavily around them gave the impression it was something that the two should probably discuss themselves.

"Well," the other blond said, drawing out the word in an illustration of his confusion.

"Now that that's settled, we should get back to the telly before we miss our game, right mates?" Carren asked, giving his other friends a meaningful glance as he led the way back to the couch. "Nice to meet you, Ginny."

She nodded as she watched the three leave, shaking her head at the grin Aaron shot her over his shoulder before returning her full attention to the wizard. He returned her stare for several seconds before stepping back and gesturing for her to come into the house. "We can talk in my room."

End Chapter Twelve
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