"Sir, do you want to see it before we pick her up?"

An evil smile spread across his face at the question. "Yes," he said before following the man into another room.

"This is perfect...I can hardly wait to see how she handles this one," he laughed before leaving the room.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ginny woke up the next morning and was relieved that the sleeping draught she took worked. She gave a long yawn and stretched across her bed before her eyes fell on the letter on top of her vanity. She rolled her eyes at the content of the letter she read yesterday and threw the blankets off of her. She walked over and grabbed the letter and read it again.

"Pft, consequences, huh? What are the consequences of me doing this?" she said to herself as she tore it in half and crumpled all the pieces up into a ball.

Seeming pleased by her refusal to let this letter get to her head, she headed to the bathroom to take a shower and got ready to head to Draco's.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ginny apparated right outside of the wards to Malfoy Manor and she stopped for a moment and bit her lip as she thought back to the other night with Draco. Everything seemed so perfect between her and Draco right now and working slowly to a relationship was working out better than she could hope for. She knew she loved him and she wanted to tell him and she was going to...soon. She just didn't want to ruin anything between them right now, she hadn't even heard Draco say the actual words "I love you" directly to her yet. She only knew of his feelings of love for her...but that was the same thing...right?

She quickly shook her head free of all the thoughts running through her head before she overcomplicated the entire situation.

"You really need to stop overthinking," she said to herself. "Well, you also need to stop talking to yourself so much," she mumbled.

Just as she was about to walk through the wards, she heard a branch snap in the wooded area beside her.

"Hello-"

She barely had the word out of her mouth before everything went black around her and she fell unconscious.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Oh, Ginnnnnny? Wake up; I've been waiting long enough now."

Ginny opened her eyes and found herself on the floor inside some sort of room with clear walls. She got to her feet and automatically looked for her wand, but it was nowhere around here. She saw someone standing outside of the room with a face mask on and all around him and the rest of the room was complete darkness. The only light was inside this plastic room she was in that she quickly glanced around. The wall behind her had hundreds of spikes sticking out and along the entire room was boxes covered with a black cloth, some were bigger than others.

"Where am I? What is this?" she asked, anger rising in her voice.

"THIS...is the consequence, Ginny," he said with a sad smile.

"How did you know I told Harry about the letter?"

"That shouldn't be your concern, the only concern you should have is where you should step next," he said, gesturing to the tiles on the floor she was standing on.

He waved his wand to uncover the first small box to reveal a rat inside of it.

"Let the rat out of the box," he simply said.

She just looked at him and went to walk towards the rat when she felt the tile under her foot press down and the rat suddenly exploded, filling the box with blood and guts.

Ginny fell back onto the floor in surprise and just stared at the box and then snapped her head over to the man.

"You have to be strategic now," he laughed.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, as she tried her hardest not to panic.

"Because, Ginny, it's fun. Do you know how much pleasure we get out of torturing you and your friends and family? I'm not going to lie... a FUCKIN lot." he laughed. "See, everyone keeps asking why we haven't just killed this person or that person, but it's honestly so much more rewarding to keep you guys alive and make you suffer as much as we possibly can."

"I will follow the directions you tell me to from now on just please...please let me out of here," she begged.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that Ginny, but I can't possibly let you out until you see what else we have to blow up," he said before he clapped his hands excitedly.

He waved his wand and uncovered the next two things in the boxes, one was a cat and the other was some random house elf.

Ginny just stood there afraid to take the next step.

"You better start making a decision, time is not on your side I'm afraid," he said as he waved his wand again and the wall full of spikes behind her started to move towards her.

Ginny let out a shaky breath as she took the next step and let out a sigh of relief when she saw the cat was still in one piece.

"Aw, that is one lucky cat," the man said, obviously amused by the obstacle Ginny was faced with.

She took a few more steps before she came to some more tiles, the wall of spikes still safely at some distance. The next box was the house elf and she felt her heart racing as she stepped on one of the tiles. At first, she thought she chose the right one, but as soon as her foot left the tile the house elf exploded.

Ginny let out a gasp at the horrid scene she just saw and quickly wiped away a few tears that fell.

"You're a sick fuck, what's wrong with you?" she spat.

"A lot actually, ANYWAY, I saved the best for last," he said, practically jumping up and down with excitement. "Believe me, Ginny, this one you're going to love," he said, as he waved his wand once more and uncovered the last big box.

Ginny's legs suddenly failed her as she saw her brother Ron chained up in the last box, his mouth covered and his head bleeding.

"RON!" she cried out as she went to run over to him.

"NOT, so fast...remember...choose wisely," he said, pointing to the tiles.

"PLEASE LET HIM GO, HE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY OF THIS! " She screamed out.

"You see, Ginny, that's just it, the focus has been on you, Draco and Harry, but I just wanted to remind you that NOBODY is safe...nobody. I will admit I would have LOVED to have Draco in that box, but I JUST COULDN'T GET HIM IN THOSE FUCKIN WARDS!" he yelled. "But no worries, no worries...we'll get him. Now, back to the show," he said, waving his hand for her to continue.

She locked eyes with Ron across the room; her heart sank at the sight of him. She watched the spiked wall get closer to her, but she was too scared to take a step. She shook her head as the fear of possibly being responsible for killing her brother consumed her.

"Please don't make me do this," she begged through her tears.

"Damn, I wish I didn't have to, BUT you don't know how to fuckin listen." he shrugged. "If you choose the right one, I'll let him go...I promise," he said with a smile.

The wall was moving closer and closer, and at one point she felt one of the spikes poke at the back of her leg, causing her to wince in pain.

"Better hurry,"

She locked eyes with Ron once more, who gave her a nod that he trusted her to save his life. She went to take a step and quickly stopped and reconsidered where she was stepping. She let out an angry growl as the panic set in and the wall was poking her closer and closer. She couldn't move anymore unless she chose a tile and she suddenly froze with fear. The only thing that snapped her out of her petrified state was the feel of one of the spikes piercing the back of her thigh as she let out a painful scream.

She let out another scream of frustration and fear as she finally stepped on one of the tiles and covered her ears and shut her eyes as she awaited the outcome. She slowly peeked her eyes open to see that Ron was fine. The walls around her disappeared suddenly and the man grabbed her roughly by the hair and started dragging her across the room.

"Where's Ron?" she managed to ask through the pain of trying to stand on her leg.

"I let him go as I promised, don't worry, I'm going to let you go also, but first...I want to show you something," he said, his voice filled with anger this time.

He continued to drag her by her hair into another dark room and threw her to the floor. She grabbed her leg in pain and felt her pants start to become soaked with blood where the spike pierced her thigh.

"Stay put," he ordered her.

She went to try and stand up and she suddenly felt his fist hit her face.

"I TOLD YOU TO STAY FUCKIN PUT!" he yelled at her.

He grabbed her face so roughly that she felt her teeth cutting into the sides of her cheeks. "Take a look around you," he said, before grabbing her by her hair and pulling her into a kneeling position.

Ginny looked around the dark room, she couldn't tell what kind of room it was, just that there were other people in it...A LOT of people. She saw they all had black masks on also and she saw him shoot a Lumos spell into the air and her breath caught in her throat at what she saw. There were hundreds of people there, all of them following the man who had a tight grip on her.

"Just think, Ginny, one of these people...even me, could be the person that killed your baby, the one who killed Astoria...Blaise...all these people are responsible for all the heartache and pain you've had to endure."

Ginny knew there must have been a lot of people that were behind all of this, but she didn't realize just how many people were involved.

"You've been brushing up on your charms and spells have you now?" he asked her.

She just looked at him and he kicked her hard in the ribs. "ANSWER ME!"

"Y-y-yes," she choked out.

He grabbed her face tightly again, "Why don't you listen, Ginny? Now that you see what you're up against are you going to have a problem following directions?"

Ginny was fuming; she wanted to blast this guy into oblivion.

He grabbed her up to him and dug his finger into the wound on the back of her thigh making her scream out into the dark room.

"Are you going to have a problem following directions?" he asked again.

"NO!" she screamed out.

"Good, very good. Now there's no way I can send you home looking like this so I'll let you run off and tell whoever you want about this whole ordeal. I'm really a nice guy Ginny; honestly, I am, as long as you just do as you're told we'll be best buds."

He pulled out her wand and handed it to her, "Now keep practicing...because when we do finally have our showdown and believe me we will, I will expect a proper duel from you, Miss Weasley," he said with an evil laugh before she felt herself being apparated somewhere.

She fell to the ground and saw she was on the sidewalk right outside of the Ministry and she quickly scrambled to her feet and dragged herself inside. She had people coming up to her and asking her if she was alright, but all she wanted right now was to get to Harry. She spit a mouthful of blood out into her shirt as she stepped out of the elevator and limped down the hall as fast as she could. She was shaking with a mixture of anger, shock, and adrenaline as she made her way towards his office. She saw Will standing outside of his office talking to someone and he quickly was by her side in an instant.

"Ginny, what happened?"

She just pushed past him and ignored his question and she finally threw the door open to Harry's office.

"HARRY!" she yelled out to him.

"Ginny? GINNY?" he had her in his arms before her name fully left his mouth.

She pulled away and quickly made her way to his office door and closed it before turning back to him. "I was there," she whispered.

"Where?" he asked her, guiding her to a chair to sit down and starting looking at her injuries. "What happened? Wh-"

"HARRY!" she yelled out, grabbing his face with both hands and making him look at her. "I was with them...these people...they put me in this room and Ron...WAIT, WHERE'S RON?"

"Ginny, how did you-"

"They tried to have me kill Ron, I-...Harry, there are so many of them...a lot...hundreds, they-"

"Ginny, calm down...look at me," he said, brushing a piece of her hair behind her ear. "I'm going to find Ron, let me take you down to the medical wing first, ok?"

He went to stand up and she grabbed his arm firmly and pulled him back down to her. "Harry...They. Are. Everywhere." she emphasized through clenched teeth. "You can't trust anybody."

He nodded that he understood and then helped her up and took her down to the medical wing. As soon as they entered the medical department Ginny saw Ron was already there with her dad.

"RON!" she yelled out before throwing her arms around him.

"Gin, are you ok? They dropped me off right outside and I saw dad."

She just nodded before wrapping him up in a tight hug again. Ron told them how he was on his way to see George and Percy at the joke shop when he woke up in that box. Ginny then told them what happened to her and everything the man told her while she was there. She even told Harry about the second letter she received after the first one she gave him.

Mrs. Weasley soon showed up and caused a very emotional scene and finally took Ron back home with her after he had his head stitched up. She wanted to stay with Ginny but Harry assured her he would bring her home after a few more healing spells.

Harry came walking over with a glass of water for her and sat on the edge of her bed.

"Harry?"

"Yeah?"

She looked at him, her face covered in defeat. "I don't want to be scared, I REFUSE to be scared, I want to fight."

"Gin-"

"PLEASE, please do not tell me some bullshit to shut me up...I'm done, I'm done living like this. What about the number of followers this guy has? We don't stand a chance."

He just looked at her and then took her hand in his. "I promise you, I'm more prepared for this than you think. When the time comes and I finally find out where they are...we'll be ready, it will be one hell of a fight, but we WILL be ready."

She just stared at him, what exactly did he mean? Was Harry working more on this case than she ever thought?

"Oh, look who it is," Harry said suddenly with a smirk.

Ginny turned to see Draco walking towards her.

Harry leaned down next to her ear. "I summoned your boyfriend for you," he teased as she slapped him hard on the arm.

She watched Harry tell Draco what happened which she was thankful for so she didn't have to repeat the horrible ordeal again. She watched Harry leave the room and Draco finally made his way over to her and took a seat on the bed. She just looked at him and he didn't say anything, he just looked back at her.

"What?" she asked.

He just shook his head, "Nothing, I'd ask if you're alright, but..."

"Physically...I'll be fine...Draco, I don't think you should leave the Manor anymore, I was snatched right outside of your wards...you need to be careful."

He just stared at her; the fact that she was grabbed by these people right outside of his home was unsettling.

"Hold out your hand," he said suddenly.

She just looked at him. "Why?"

He grabbed her hand and turned it so her palm was facing up and he pointed his wand at the center of it. She heard him say some sort of incantation in some other language and then felt a cooling sensation throughout her body. It soon faded and she looked at him once more.

"What was that?"

"THAT...was so you can apparate inside our wards and inside the Manor, it's too dangerous for you to apparate outside of them anymore...I want you to be safe and...I trust you."

She bit her lip to try and hide the smile that formed on her face, but she couldn't help it.

"Are you sure your parents are ok with that?" she asked.

"Yeah, they probably like you more than they do me," he said with a smirk. "Anyway, I think Potter is waiting to bring you home, I'm just glad you're alright." he said before giving her hand a light squeeze before letting it go.

Draco got up and headed back into the hallway and saw Harry making his way back. "Was she able to tell you anything about the place she was at?" Draco stopped to ask him.

"No, she just said it was dark and there were hundreds of people there," he said with a sigh.

"Damn...well at least she and Weaslebee are ok."

"I guess let me get her home," Harry said, getting ready to walk back into the medical wing.

"Oh, Potter, I have some more sleeping draught if you need it."

"Sleeping draught?" Harry asked him with a raised eyebrow. "Why would I need that?"

"Ginny asked me for some for you because you were having trouble sleeping."

"I hate to tell you this, Draco, but I'm sleeping fine...well fine enough. I know she's been having nightmares, but I didn't think they were so bad that she had to seek out sleeping draught."

Draco thought about confronting her, but he decided she had been through enough today and right now sleeping draught seemed like the best thing for her.

"Guess I'll head back," he said as he gave one last look across the room at Ginny.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The next day Mrs. Weasley wanted to have a family dinner to try and lighten everyone's mood after everything that went down. Ginny barely slept at all because of another nightmare and fell asleep on the chair near her window after the one she had last night. She ended up sleeping most of the day to catch up on some sleep before dinner tonight and had just stepped out of the shower and got dressed as everyone starting arriving.

"Knock, knock," Harry said from the doorway of her bedroom.

"I guess I'll let you in." she teased.

"So, listen would you be weirded out if Pansy joined us tonight?" he asked.

She couldn't help but smile at his question. "Absolutely not, so it's that serious, huh?" she asked, nudging him with her elbow.

"Actually, I thought as a FRIEND to her, she might enjoy being around some decent people and not alone like always."

"You think we're decent people?" she laughed.

"More decent than the people I normally hang around." came Pansy's voice from behind Harry.

Ginny watched the way she greeted Harry, she just sort of grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him to her for a quick kiss. Ginny couldn't help but smirk at the gesture and then released a small giggle when she saw Pansy run her hand wildly through his hair real quick to purposely mess it up.

Ginny couldn't help but be amused at how handsy Pansy was and she knew Harry wasn't used to that.

"I, uh-I think dinner is ready...excuse me," he said, clearing his throat and quickly making his way downstairs.

As soon as he left Pansy turned to Ginny and they both laughed. "I love making him feel uncomfortable," Pansy said before she walked into Ginny's bedroom. "Huh, so this is the youngest Weasley's room?" she said, before plopping down on her bed.

"Yep, this is it," Ginny said as she tried her hardest not to stare Pansy up and down. "So...you and Harry, huh? That's unexpected...he doesn't really seem like the type of guy you'd be into."

Pansy just stared at her with a giant smirk. "Oh, you mean because of my infatuation with Draco? Well, you know things change...people change. The next thing you know you're married to a Mudblood and having his baby." she said, her smirk turned into a genuine smile as she seemed to get lost in her thoughts.

"You married a Muggle? That's..."

"Pretty hilarious, right?" Pansy finished her sentence. She pulled out a picture from her back pocket and showed Ginny, it was of her and her husband and their son. "His name was Jacob, and that mess of a man was Jonathan, fuck I loved him. He won my heart when he tried to have me arrested one day." she laughed.

Ginny looked at her for an explanation.

"It's a long story, but yeah, bet you never thought Pansy Parkinson would fall in love with a wanker like that, but this little boy though...I miss him so much,"

Ginny wasn't sure what to say or what to do, she hasn't seen Pansy in years and barely said a whole sentence to her the last two times they saw each other. Now here she was openly sharing pictures of her family with her.

"I'm sorry to hear about what happened to them," she said softly.

"Ok, this is the weirdest thing I've ever walked in on," Draco said from the doorway as he saw Pansy sitting on Ginny's bed.

"DRAKEY POO!" Pansy yelled out as she jumped off the bed and pulled him into a hug. "It's been a long time," she whispered in his ear before placing a kiss on his earlobe.

"YEESH, I really don't miss you," he said, pushing her away from him.

"Calm down, haven't you heard...I'm into Gryffindors now...well, the Gryffindor is in me really," she said with a smirk.

"Ok, gross, why don't you go find him," he said, leading her out of the bedroom.

Ginny just shook her head as she heard Pansy's maniacal laugh as she headed downstairs. "She's a trip," she laughed.

"Well, she's Harry's problem now."

"So strange having you and Pansy here at the Burrow, all that's missing now is Voldemor-" she was cut off when he grabbed a pillow off her bed and threw it at her. "I'm just kidding, I didn't realize you were coming...what a pleasant surprise," she said with a smirk.

"My parents went into a panic when your mum sent a letter saying it was a FAMILY dinner and invited us."

"Aww, how sweet, the Weasleys and the Malfoys, one big happy family,"

They both laughed and then became quiet for a few moments before Draco went into his pocket and pulled out two vials.

"Here is that sleeping draught, I was going to give them to Harry, but being that he doesn't need it and they are really for you...I thought I'd just hand deliver them to you myself," he said looking at her.

She looked away from him. "I'm sorry I lied-"

"Why though? Why didn't you just tell me you were having nightmares? I went through the same-"

"BECAUSE IT'S MORE THAN THAT!" she yelled out. "It's...I can feel...everything, it's like I'm reliving the entire attack all over again every night. I can't take it anymore, I can't sleep, I-"

He grabbed her into a hug when he heard her voice start to crack with emotion. "Just don't lie to me, there's no reason for it, I'll help you through whatever you need as best as I can." he took her hand and placed the vials in it. "Sleeping draught is only a temporary fix...you don't want to become reliant on it."

She gave him a quick nod.

"I'll meet you downstairs," he said before he tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and left her bedroom.

As soon as Draco left the room there was a tap on her window and she turned to see the same black raven that had delivered the last letter. She felt her heart sink and contemplated ignoring it altogether, but as she started walking away, she remembered the horrid consequence she had to endure the last time she went against what the letter asked of her.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and opened the window and grabbed the letter.

Miss Weasley,

You know how this works...need I remind you what happens if you choose not to follow...

Put an end to the relationship between Harry and Pansy.

Do this and I'll make those realistic nightmares go away.

Ginny was angry, was it these people who were making her suffer through these nightmares? She knew something was different about how real they felt and the thought of them finally going away was a huge relief. She heard Pansy's laugh from downstairs and she walked into the hallway and peeked over the stairwell to see her and Harry standing at the bottom. They were both laughing about something she couldn't make out and she watched Harry for a few moments. She smiled to herself when she saw the smile on his face never fade as he got lost in conversation with Pansy. Seeing Harry happy right now meant more than anything, especially after what he did for her.

She looked at the letter in her hand and then took one last glance down at the two of them and she ripped the letter in half. She knew what she was giving up and she knew there would be another punishment of some sort, but she wouldn't jeopardize Harry's happiness for anything. She threw the letter in the trash can in her bedroom and made her way downstairs to dinner.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Miss Weasley? I wasn't expecting you today," Narcissa said, as she opened the door for Ginny to come inside.

"I know, do you think we could practice for a bit? I need to get my mind off of some things," she asked, her eyes pleading for her to say yes.

"I suppose for a little while, what things are you trying to get off your mind?" she asked as she led the way downstairs to the arena.

"Just nightmares and stuff," she mumbled.

"And stuff?"

"Can you teach me some sort of wandless magic?" She suddenly asked.

Narcissa just looked at her, "What makes you think I know that much about wandless magic?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I've seen you do it when the wards were disabled...when you started conjuring those attacking orbs," she said, reminding Narcissa of the event.

She was quiet for a minute. "Ginny, wandless magic is...very advanced and I don't think-"

"Please, I'm begging at this point. It doesn't have to be anything crazy, I just want to be able to get myself out of a situation when I don't have my wand and I'm left defenseless." she pleaded again.

Narcissa gave her a sad look and then nodded in agreement.

"Well, you will have to start out with your wand, see there are so many different ways to make it seem like you are doing wandless magic when in fact you're just finding a way around it. For example, there is a spell where you can retain a magical energy for a short period of time and then release it when desired. Although there is a spell for it, you would still need to learn how to release the energy when you need to. It's very hard on the physical body and can be very draining so you have to be smart when using it."

Ginny nodded that she understood, she took in every single word she spoke so she didn't miss a thing.

"There is also a potion you can drink that does a similar thing with storing magical energy, but the most advanced type of wandless magic requires you to use the energy around you. This could be anything such as physical energy from you or your enemy and energy from your surroundings, especially if there are other spells and charms around you," she explained.

"Show me," Ginny said anxiously.

"Throw an Incendio spell at me"

Ginny nodded and raised her wand, "INCENDIO!" she yelled out.

The fiery spell shot out of her wand and flew right at Narcissa, who caught it with her hands and then pushed her hands together and extinguished the flames.

"That was...amazing," Ginny said with a wide smile.

Narcissa just gave her a smirk, "You're not going to think so in a moment," she said, as she opened her hands back up and there was just a clear orb-like object in her hand that she suddenly threw at Ginny.

Ginny flew backward and fell to the floor; a warm sensation ran through her body.

"Shit, what was that?" she asked, as she pulled herself back up.

"That was the Incendio spell that I threw back at you, I extinguished the flame so I wouldn't harm you, but normally you would just be able to throw the spell back in its original form."

"I want to try, throw a spell at me," Ginny said, getting ready for whatever Narcissa was about to throw at her.

"It doesn't work like that, Ginny; you need to be aware of what is going on around you a lot more than you are right now."

"I AM AWARE! NOW THROW A SPELL!" she yelled.

"Gin-"

"DO IT!"

Narcissa flicked her wand and Ginny flew backward. She let out a growl of frustration and then picked herself back up.

"Again, do it again," she said, taking her stance once more.

"No" Narcissa simply said.

"Why? You don't think I can do it?" Ginny asked with a snarl.

Narcissa just watched her for a moment; she could tell something was wrong, especially with how Ginny was acting suddenly.

"Ginny, what is going on? You know, I tried to show Draco wandless magic after everything that happened and he practiced for months and still has not been able to execute it."

"Well, I'm not Draco," she spat.

Narcissa just looked at her, "Why do you feel the need to master this in one day?"

Ginny just started pacing back and forth before she stopped and ran her hands through her hair in frustration. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Malfoy, I just...I NEED to be able to perform magic whenever wherever...I need to be ready for anything." Ginny said as she thought about the letter she received and how she knew there was a consequence waiting for her.

"What's going on, Ginny? Well, besides the obvious?"

"I...I can't say"

"Draco told me about what happened with your brother, would this happen to be something in relation to that?"

She remained silent.

"There is no way you will learn wandless magic anytime soon I'm afraid, the potion that I spoke about earlier takes at least a month to brew and even with the spell I told you about you would still need to learn the technique. There is no easy answer when it comes to that type of magic; however, I think you just need to be smart about how you currently use it. There are spells and things you can do to make sure you aren't always defenseless."

"Would you be willing to show me some?" Ginny asked.

"Of course"

Narcissa showed her a few different strategic spells like replicating her wand and how to cast a full body Protego charm.

"The full body Protego charm will sort of act like your own personal ward around your body. It's invisible like a regular ward and could only be noticed if you are being attacked. The charm only lasts for a few minutes, but it is incredibly handy and could potentially be life-saving."

As Narcissa was speaking, she could see Ginny losing her focus once more. "Let's wrap this up for today, Ginny."

Ginny just gave a small nod.

"Just think about everything you already know and find new ways to use those spells. You have to be inventive. That is how I learned a lot, all the charm work I've mastered has come from just finding new and strategic ways to use all the magic I know. Try focusing on that for now and see where that gets you...ok?"

She nodded once more, "Thanks, Mrs. Malfoy, I guess I'll say a quick hello to Draco before I leave." she said, making her way to the door.

"Draco isn't here right now."

"Oh, where is he?" Ginny asked.

"The Ministry sent a letter that required him to come in for questioning about that Gregory Pines case," Narcissa said with a light sigh.

"Pines? But I thought that was all over with? Harry said it was taken care of." Ginny said, more to herself than anything.

She looked at Narcissa's face and saw she was concerned about the same thing Ginny was. Why wasn't she called in for questioning? She had to talk to Harry and find out what was going on.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ginny was getting ready to walk into the Ministry to find out what exactly was going on. Why did this Pines case keep coming up? Every day it was something new or another problem arises and she was done with the whole thing.

She was walking towards the door when she suddenly stopped and saw a man with that black face mask on standing in her path looking at her. She took off suddenly as fast as she could to try and get to a different entrance into the Ministry. Her heart was racing and she slid her hand into her pocket around her wand and mumbled the replication spell that Narcissa just showed her, but that was all she could suddenly remember.

She was running so fast and concentrating on the new spell Narcissa had shown her that she didn't notice a man with a mask suddenly step out in front of her. She didn't know how she managed to skid to a stop so fast and turned around and went to run a different way, but as soon as she turned around she slammed right into another man. He roughly grabbed her arms tightly and she refused to go easily. She hardly had a chance to squirm free or anything before she felt that tug behind her navel and everything went dark.

When she opened her eyes again, she was in complete darkness; she couldn't even make out her hand in front of her. She went to take a step, but she hit something hard in front of her and soon realized she was in some kind of box that was all around her. She could tell someone else was here with her and she felt her stomach twist into knots as she awaited whatever punishment she was about to endure.

The lights suddenly went on and she turned to see who was there with her and she was shocked when she saw Draco next her in the same kind of box.

"GINNY! Are you ok?" he asked her as he ran up to the thick clear wall between them.

For some reason, Ginny was finding it hard to speak, knowing that Draco was here with her only meant that there was something horrid to come.

"GINNY!" he yelled out to her again and he pounded on the wall with his fists.

"I'm-I'm fine...are you?" she asked, taking a small step towards the wall and placing one of her hands on it where his was.

He nodded.

"Now that you both are here, we can get started," came a voice from the darkness.

Ginny saw the man walk into the light, he had the black mask on, but she could tell it was the same guy from the last punishment she went through.

"Ginny, Ginny, Ginny, you know, if only you would just do what I ask, you could have avoided all of this. I will admit though, having you be defiant and do whatever you want is so much more fun, so I'm rather enjoying it," he said in amusement.

"FUCK YOU, WHAT KIND OF SICK TWISTED FUCK ARE YOU?" Draco yelled. "YOU AND YOUR PRETEND DO GOODERS ARE GOING AROUND KILLING EX-DEATH EATERS THINKING YOU'RE DOING THE WORLD A FAVOR WHEN IN FACT YOU'RE JUST LIKE THEM...PROBABLY WORSE. KILLING INNOCENT PEOPLE, WOMAN AND CHILDREN, WHAT KIND OF GOOD IS THAT?" he yelled out with such anger.

Ginny didn't think she had ever seen Draco so angry, she wanted so bad to console him.

The man just started laughing, "Oh, Draco, you know it's been so long since I've seen you in such an intimate setting. I have you all to myself and I can do literally ANYTHING to you that I want," he said, walking up to the box. "I just want you to know, that it was me personally who slit your fiance's throat that night. I'm not going to lie, she had such soft silky skin, I mean my blade...cut right through with no problem," he said with a wide grin.

"YOU PIECE OF SHIT, I'LL FUCKIN KILL YOU!" Draco screamed as he pounded his fists hard on the wall of the box with everything in him until they bled.

Ginny had her hands over her mouth in shock at the words the man spoke. She watched Draco's anger rise to a level she didn't think existed as his face turned almost purple with hatred and a sneer like nothing she's ever seen before was covering his face.

"You know you should really be thanking me, I mean, if it wasn't for that you never would have hit things off with our girl Ginny here," he said with an evil grin.

Ginny watched Draco turn to her, she just shook her head at him, but she was surprised when she saw his face soften a bit as he locked eyes with her.

"ALRIGHT, now for the main event." the man said as he clapped his hands together and rubbed them excitedly. "As you can see there is a button in each of your boxes,"

They both looked around the box to better take in what was around them, Ginny noticed at the bottom of each box was what looked like a drain.

"The rule is simple, one of you has to die, so who will gladly take that fate today? If neither of you pushes the button I will kill you both, just so we are clear."

Ginny and Draco looked at each other and they both at the same time jumped towards the button to push it before the other could, but it was Draco who got to his first. As soon as he hit it, water started filling his box from the floor.

"NO! DRACO, PLEASE DON'T DO THIS TO ME! DRACOOO!" she cried out to him as she slammed her hands on the wall of the box.

She kept hitting her button over and over to see if anything would change or stop the water, but it just continued to rise. She placed her forehead against the wall when she realized she was out of ideas and Draco leaned his forehead against the wall where hers was.

She suddenly remembered her replication spell and sure enough, they had taken the replicated wand from her so she still had her original concealed. She quickly pulled it out and started shooting spells at the wall, but nothing was working.

"What's this? Oh, wow, Ginny Weasley pulled a fast one on me did she?" the man said as he saw her pull out her wand. "You know, I really admire that kind of slickness so I'll tell you what, if you can find a spell that will get you both out...I'll let you go free today, unharmed," he said with an evil grin.

Ginny looked at the water rising around Draco, it was up to his waist now and she started to panic. "I'm going to get you out," she cried, as a tear slid down her cheek.

He just gave her a silent nod as he prepared himself for the worst. She could tell he didn't think he would be making it out of that box which made her try that much harder.

She shot so many different spells at the box, one of them ricocheting off of the wall and hitting her. She flew hard against the other wall of the box and let out a growl of pain as she slid to the floor.

"GINNY!" she heard Draco yell out.

She glanced over at him and saw the water was now up to his neck and his feet weren't touching the floor anymore. She noticed he barely had any room left in that box until it reached the top. Her eyes traveled from the top of his box to the floor and then over to hers and she realized the floor wasn't made of the same material that the walls were.

She gripped her wand tightly and pointed it at the drain on the bottom of the box. She put up a Protego charm as best she could in the small box and then shot out a Bombarda spell that exploded the floor of the box. Ginny was slammed hard against the wall again as her Protego charm only held up partially from the explosive spell. She heard a ringing in her ears as she blinked a few times to find through the disoriented feeling. She looked over at Draco and saw he had just taken his last gulp of air before the box was completely full of water.

She fought through the pain and crawled through the opening in the floor and out from under the other side of the wall. She was standing face to face with the man, a slight sneer on his face at her successful escape.

"Let him out, you said you would If I made it out," she said through clenched teeth.

"No, I said if you get BOTH of you out," he said with a smirk as he stepped aside and gestured with his hand for her to try and free Draco.

She watched Draco's face and could tell he was about to pass out from lack of oxygen and she was scared she was going to lose him. She quickly did the same spell at the ground outside of the box he was in and although it blew a few chunks of the ground away, she was going to have to do a few more to get through to him. She was completely panicking at this point as all movement in Draco's box stopped and she pointed her wand at the ground at a different attempt to get him out.

She had so much hatred for the man beside her and wanted to kill him so bad, but her focus was on Draco. "REDUCTO!" she screamed out.

As soon as the spell hit the floor she could see the water starting to spill out of the box and then she suddenly felt herself being apparated out of there.

She fell to the ground of some wooded area where the man dropped her off and she saw Draco lying a few feet from her unresponsive. She scrambled over to him with her wand and tried shaking him awake.

"DRACO! WAKE UP!" she screamed out in a panic.

She grabbed her wand and pointed it at his chest. "RENNERVATE!"

She just watched his body jump lightly, but he still wasn't breathing.

"DRACO, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!" she screamed out to him, as she pointed her wand at him once more and cast another reviving spell.

After no change, she started her own mouth to mouth in another attempt to make him start breathing again.

"DRACOOO! DAMMIT! WAKE UP!" she screamed at him.

She suddenly remembered she was able to apparate right into the Manor and she wasted no time grabbing him and apparating to Malfoy Manor, as she was landing she was already screaming for Narcissa.

"NARCISSA, PLEASE HELP HIM!" she cried out as she came running over to her.

"Draco? DRACO!" she screamed out as she grabbed his lifeless body to her.

She quickly waved her wand over his body and Ginny saw him lift a little bit off the ground and sort of just float there.

"What are you doing to him?"

"She's is using a time-freezing spell on him." came Lucius' voice from beside her as he watched with worry. "It will keep any damage from being done to him while he is unconscious and without air, it's a very temporary spell so she needs to word fast."

Ginny just watched Narcissa attempt to save her son's life, she noticed Narcissa's wand hand shaking as she tried to cast a spell. Ginny had never seen Narcissa like this before, she was scared and she couldn't focus.

Lucius gently grabbed the wrist of her wand hand and gave her a reassuring nod to remind her that their son needed them right now and she needed to pull herself together. Narcissa quickly wiped a stray tear away and in a matter of seconds conjured up a tiny blue ball of something that landed on Draco's chest and absorbed into his body.

"What's that?" Ginny asked through her shaky breathing.

"It will absorb any water in his lungs and help boost him awake when she attempts to revive him again," Lucius explained.

Narcissa pointed her wand at his chest once more. "Rennervate," she said.

Draco's body suddenly fell the few inches to the floor and he started coughing up water and gasped for air as his eyes snapped open.

Ginny's legs gave out as relief filled her when she saw he was alive and then watched his head fall to the side as his eyes started to close again. She watched him look right at her as he fell unconscious once more.

"Is he going to be ok?" Ginny asked.

Narcissa nodded. "He just needs to rest," she said, her voice cracking as she was overwhelmed with relief.

Ginny got to her feet and quickly excused herself into another room. She sat down on the couch and buried her face in her hands and just cried. She leaned back against the couch and just thought about the life she was stuck in right now. How did it all get to this point? She knew, but when she thought about how her life was now and what it was like only a few months ago she had a hard time accepting it.

Her thoughts went back to Draco's lifeless body and how she almost lost him. It made her think about the night she was almost killed and how Harry must have felt. Watching the person you love almost die was nerve-wracking, and between Draco and almost Ron the other day she didn't know how much more she could take. Then to top it off, she was having these unbearable nightmares; her head was getting ready to explode from everything. All she knew was that she felt herself getting ready to snap and that was the one thing she couldn't do right now.