It All Began With Dwarfing Draco

"Everyone ready?" Harry whispered. He looked behind at his two friends and the headmaster who gave him a quick nod. "Draco?" he asked, looking in the Slytherin’s general direction. Harry had learned the tricks of the invisibility cloak almost to perfection. He could pretty much tell where a person under a cloak was by looking for certain signs: footsteps, breathing, etc. Draco found it rather creepy and unnatural.

"Almost too ready," he replied as confidently as he could, trying not to let on how scared he really was.

"Right. Professor, Hermione, I need that dis…"

"Way ahead of you Harry." Hermione already had drawn her wand and pointed it directly at the shack before muttering a spell under her breath. Purple light shot from the tip and sped towards the blacked building. There was a huge crash as the front door flew off it’s hinges and disappeared inside, followed closely by many screams and shouts. Death Eaters immediately began to flood out.

"Find them, find the brats! The Dark Lord wants them dead!"

"Nice to know that we’re loved here eh?" Ron mused cynically. Ten, fifteen, twenty! The Death Eater’s just kept coming, like clowns that filed out of the small cars in those Muggle circuses. Only this time, they weren’t clowns and were definitely not happy. A moment later, Hermione jumped to her feet and aimed her wand at the approaching hooded figures.

"Immobulous!" she screamed and smiled victoriously as every single Death Eater stopped dead in their tracks, some even falling over. Her pride was quickly swallowed though, as reason began prodding her once more. "Get going!" she hissed. "Before more come!" The boys didn’t need to be told twice. They hurtled towards the now open doorway and crept in side, wands out and ready.

"Okay," Harry whispered as they slowly moved through the building. "Draco, you need to go find Ginny. Ron and I will keep watch all right?"

"Got it." Draco scanned his surroundings through the cloak, trying to decide which way was the right one. There were three different corridors, all leading in different directions. Choose the wrong one and your screwed.

"Hey Draco?" It was Harry, his voice concerned and hesitant. "Be careful, all right? And bring Ginny back to us, we don’t want to lose either of you."

"Thanks mate," Draco whispered back. "I’ll be careful. You two do the same." There was a moment of silence as the newly formed bond of friendship strengthened a little between the three.

"Enough of this," Ron said, his voice sarcastic to match the grin on his face. "It’s time to go kick so Death Eater butt!" Harry and Draco couldn’t help but chuckle.

"As soon as you have Ginny, get out of here and head towards Hogwarts. We’ll catch up," was Harry’s last order before and Ron took off down the middle corridor, Ron cackling like an idiot as they went. A second later, curses were already being thrown.

Draco took a deep breath and began making his way down the corridor to his right, remembering the grate on the wall outside. It was dim with little light, the only source coming from a floating torch every so often. There were doors on either side, way too many doors and Draco was beginning to run out of time. No doubt reinforcements were already on their way. He looked desperately from one to the next but none gave any indication of which door hid Ginny. They were all the same.

"Damn," he quietly cursed. Then an idea struck him that made him hit himself in the forehead because of his stupidity. A locating spell, it was so obvious! He quickly muttered the spell and watched a blue light trickled from his wand, forming a map that outlining the entire building.

"Ginny," he said forcefully and waited for something to direct him. His eyes flicked from one end to the other in search of anything that would hint on Ginny’s whereabouts. There! A red light shone brightly in a room about ten feet from where he stood. Then suddenly, the light went out and appeared in another room, on the other side of the building! Frustration began to twist his insides as the light jump to yet another room. There must be something wrong with the spell, something made it faulty within the building walls.

"Where are you Ginny?"

* * * * *

Ginny ran to the grate, hearing a loud crash outside and then many angry voices.

"Find them, find the brats! The Dark Lord wants them dead!" Death Eaters were pouring out of the building. There were so many that she couldn’t keep a count of them.

"Immobulous!" someone screamed, causing the Death Eaters stopped dead in their tracks while others fell to the ground.

"What the…" Ginny began but stopped in mid-sentence when two figures ran out from the forest towards the building. Both were tall and through the darkness, Ginny could just make out a messy mop of red hair. Wait a minute. She glanced quickly at the other. There was a flash or a reflection of light off of something on the other person’s face. Glasses.

"Ron! Harry! Over here!" Ginny cried out but they didn’t hear her, more like couldn’t. Ginny had exhausted her voice quite a while ago now and there was nothing left but a hoarse whisper. She watched in despair as they ran right past and out of sight.

Slamming her hand against one of the bars, she groaned and said words that would have definitely have made the twins proud. Rage suddenly filled her. Why had she gone and sung her voice out?! Harry or Ron would have surely heard her for sure if she hadn’t. She wanted to scream but couldn’t and that made her even more angry.

Grabbing the bars tightly in her hands, she began trying to shake them. Pulling and then pushing with all her might, trying to shake them loose. But the more she pulled, the more her anger faded and was replaced with understanding and hope. They were coming for her! They would find her!

Ginny wiped around and sprinted the short distance to the door. They wouldn’t know where she was so she would help. She pounded her fists on it as hard as she could, praying to the gods that they could hear her.

* * * * *

Draco’s head shot up from the map. Thumping, he heard thumping, as if someone was pounding on a door. It was muffled almost to the point that it was barely audible but it was there. The question was however, where was it coming from? He began pressing his ear to each door, one by one. He felt the pulling sensation again as he moved forward. It was just like how he felt in Ginny’s room. That confirmed it, it must be her. He moved quicker, afraid that she might stop.

"Keep going Ginny," he whispered. "Let me know where you are." There! It was coming from behind a solid oak door. Draco hastily grabbed the old, rusted handle and twisted it as hard as he could. It wouldn’t budge. He tried using the unlocking spell but the door remained locked. He pulled at the handle again out of desperation but was only left with it in the palm of his hand. The stupid thing had come loose and fallen out! He threw the handle angrily at the door with a satisfying bang and searched his memory for anything that he could use.

* * * * *

Ginny’s heart nearly leapt out of her chest with joy. They were here! They’d found her!

‘Come on!’ she mentally cried out because her voice wouldn’t do it for her. ‘I’m in here! It’s me! Come on!’ She kept pounding, urging the person on the other side on while tears started to spill down her cheeks.

* * * * *

"I hear you," Draco whispered. What spell had Hermione used? What was it?! He lightly tapped the heel of his palm against his brow, trying as hard as he could to remember. Then suddenly it hit him.

"Ginny! STAND BACK!" Hoping that she had received his instruction, he moved back and shouted a spell that sent the door flying backwards into a stone room. He sprang into the room and found Ginny pressed up against the wall beside the doorway, breathing heavily. Draco ripped off the invisibility cloak and before it even had a chance to hit the floor, Ginny had flung her arms around his neck and was crying into his shoulder. Draco wrapped his arms around her and held her as tightly as he possibly could. He kissed the top of her head and gave sighed with relief.

"It’s all right," he cooed, saying it partly to convince himself as well as Ginny. "I’m here. You’re safe." Ginny pulled back and stared into his eyes while reaching up to touch his face. It had only been a day since she had been taken but it felt like an eternity to her. Later she would laugh amusedly at this feeling but for now, it ran alongside her feelings of love and want. She didn’t know how much alike her feelings were to Draco’s.

"Are you okay?" he asked gently as he brought up a hand to wiped away her tears. She slowly nodded, causing a worried expression to form on Draco’s face. Ginny smiled as best she could, fighting the urge to cry again. Standing on her tiptoes, she gently pressed her lips against his and was grateful when he kissed back. For a moment, she felt her world slide back to normal and that everything was going to be okay. But that was only for a moment. Suddenly, cynical laughter filled the room causing her to flinch and pull away from Draco.

"It’s about time you graced us with your presence, Draco."