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Chapter 7: Diagon Alley
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The next morning, the trio, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley set out for Diagon Alley. Mrs. Weasley was becoming overbearing, and all teenagers wanted to escape as quickly as possible. No matter what they said or did, Mrs. Weasley never let them leave. Ginny had resorted to begging.
"Please, Mum, I'll be fine, can't you just let me go by myself?"
"No! Things are too dangerous nowadays to be wandering around by yourself. There's no guarantee that you'll be protected." Mrs. Weasley grabbed Ginny's arm to pull her along, but Ginny wrenched it out of her grip.
"Mum, I'm not a child!" she said fiercely. "Stop treating me like I'm five years old!" Mrs. Weasley sighed and kept walking, her fuming daughter following her. Harry, Hermione, and Ron started walking again, completely bored out of their minds. When Mrs. Weasley suggested they go visit Fred and George in their shop, they all lightened up. A joke shop full of people and chaos would be the perfect way to escape. Just as they all suspected, the shop was filled with students buying joke supplies. While Fred and Mrs. Weasley were talking, Ron beckoned for his older brother, Fred's twin, George.
"What?"
"Keep Mum busy, we're trying to ditch her."
"Ah, trying to play the rebel, little bro?"
"She's overbearing."
"Of course she is, she's Mum. I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks, George, we owe you one." George nodded and joined his brother talking to their mum.
"Mum, you've got to see some of the new things we've come up with. Should be a high seller." Mrs. Weasley agreed to go, and while they were walking away, George gave Ron a thumbs up to tell him to go. Ron grinned and turned to his friends.
"Alright. Let's go. See ya later, Gin." Harry, Hermione, and Ron all apparated at the same time, leaving Ginny. But it didn't matter to her; she'd rather be by herself than with the trio. She stepped out of the store and onto the street, deciding where to go next. When she and Harry last talked, Ginny had pretended that she was ok with everything, but the truth of the matter was she was still angry about it. The only member of the trio that Ginny really talked to was her brother, only because he was the only one who hadn't betrayed her or tossed aside. She was furious with Harry, and hated Hermione with a passion. Every little thing about Hermione irritated her, from her intelligence, to the fact that to Harry, Hermione could do no wrong, that he had her on a pedestal that no girl could ever measure up to. And then he said he didn't love her, that there was nothing between them. Foolish boys, they couldn't see love if it was standing right in front of them. And Hermione was just as foolish, she said there was nothing between her and Harry. Ginny laughed to herself. And people thought Hermione was smart. And that was what hurt, and made Ginny's jealousy of Hermione grow even more than it had been from day one. Ginny didn't realize where she was going until she reached the end of Diagon Alley, about to go into Knockturn Alley. She turned around, but didn't realize three men beginning to follow her as she made her way back to Diagon Alley. She sensed someone following her, and turned, and that was when they grabbed her. Ginny tried to scream, but one of the men covered her mouth with his hand. She tried to reach for her wand, but they were quicker, and flung the wand onto the streets as they carried Ginny deeper into Knockturn Alley.
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"You know what this means, not going back to school this year?" Ron whispered, his face brightening while they were in Flourish and Blotts.
"What?" Harry said, as he was the only one Ron had to talk to, Hermione had disappeared behind the shelves of books.
"We won't have to take our N.E.W.T.s this year! We won't be here for most of the year, so we won't have classes, so we won't be able to take the tests!" Harry smiled and nodded.
"Well, that is a plus, but don't tell Hermione about this. She might be sad." Hermione popped out from behind a shelf, making both Harry and Ron jump.
"Ron, don't tell me about the N.E.W.T.s, I've already thought about that we won't be there," Hermione snapped.
"Why do you want to take them, Hermione? I mean, it won't decide what our jobs will be, if we make it back, I'm sure the Ministry will give us all any job we ask for."
"It's not that. It decides where we're going with our life. What we can do. I don't want to just have something handed to me, I want to earn it. Like any other normal person would." The conversation died there, and they went back to looking for books.
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It was the scariest moment of Ginny's life. She didn't what was going to happen to her, whether she'd live or die. Her mind was numb to what was actually going on, all she could think about was that she was going to die. She didn't see someone reach down and pick up her wand and hold it in the opposite hand of the own that held his own wand. He held his wand at the ready.
"Let her go," He said in a threatening voice. The three men stopped and looked for who spoke. One of them sneered at the intruder.
"What do you want?"
"I want you to let her go. Now."
"What authority do you have over us, Malfoy? You're so low on the Death Eater chain, that you're not even fit to wipe the dirt off of our shoes. You think we'll listen to you?"
"I could curse you. Remember all of those curses Voldemort taught me? I could use them now." The third man pointed at him.
"Don't say his name, boy. You're not worthy enough to use it!"
"C'mon, you two, let's go. Let this traitor have the bitch," The second man said, and they all disapparated. Draco knelt next to Ginny, who, wide-eyed with fear, tried to get up and run away, but Draco held her still.
"Are you alright, Weasley?" Ginny didn't answer, now more scared than she was with the three men.
"I'm not going to hurt you." Ginny finally found her voice.
"Why should I believe anything you say, Malfoy? You're the enemy!" Draco stood, and offered his hands to Ginny to help her up.
"I'm not the enemy. I've been exiled by who you call the enemy. I'm no longer part of them." Ginny laughed, not taking Draco's offer and still sat on the ground.
"I refuse to believe that. What would make them send you into exile?"
"The fact that I couldn't complete a mission. I'm actually very lucky, I could've been killed for my failure."
"Why should I believe your story, how can you prove it?"
"If I was meant to be a Death Eater, don't you think I would've gone through my mission?" Ginny looked at Draco hesitantly, but finally took Draco's offered hand and he pulled her up.
"Do you have the…Dark Mark on your arm?" Draco nodded slowly. "Trust me, Ginny, I've taken Dumbledore's advice and come over to the other side. Though as a silent follower, I'm sure no one will be pleased to have me right away."
"I must be crazy, but I'll give you a chance for right now. And…thank you, for…saving me."
"You're welcome." They were silent for a while, neither one really sure what to do next.
"So, are you still going out with Potter?" Ginny looked up and glared at Draco.
"Don't. Remind me of him. He's nothing but a…there are no words to describe him."
"That bad?"
"Actually, it's not him I'm mad at it. It's not him I hate. It's that female best friend of his that I can't stand."
"What's wrong with Granger? Besides her being an overbearing know-it-all."
"Harry loves her and not me, and he's too much of an idiot to realize that he loves her."
"Well, I knew that, everyone knew that."
"You all knew that he didn't love me?"
"Everyone knew he would never love you, Ginny. Because of Hermione. And no one ever understood why you wasted your time with him. Sorry to be so blunt, but…"
"How could I have been so stupid and foolish?" Draco shrugged.
"I guess we're all allowed to be stupid and foolish sometimes."
"Yeah. Well, I should probably go, my mother will looking for me." Ginny turned to go.
"Hey, Ginny?" Ginny stopped and looked back.
"Want to do something daring and rebellious?"
"Like what?"
"Want to meet me again sometime?" Ginny smiled.
"When?"
"I don't know. Next Friday?"
"I can't. There's a whole bunch of family stuff going on that day. Are you going back to school?" Draco shook his head.
"Well, we can meet up in Hogsmeade. How about the first Friday after term starts?"
"Alright."
"At seven?"
"Yeah."
"Alright. Till then." Ginny smiled and nodded.
"Bye." As Ginny walked away, she thought to herself, `What am I doing? I just said I'd meet Malfoy in Hogsmeade! What is the matter with me? What will people say? Ron would be pissed, and…' Ginny smiled, `So would Harry.' Suddenly, the risk she was taking meeting Malfoy didn't seem so dangerous now.
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"Ginny, where'd you go?" Ron asked his sister later after they had met up and were going back to Fred and George's joke shop.
"Oh, just…around. I went to a…whole bunch of places." Ron nodded in understanding.
"Mum's going to be furious." Ginny shrugged.
"Oh well, what is she going to do, you're seventeen now, I'm going to be in a few months, we're not kids anymore."
"Have fun convincing Mum of that, Gin." Ginny shrugged again and turned her attention to Harry and Hermione who were walking along in silence.
"You two seem awfully quiet." Hermione gave a half smile.
"Just thinking." There was no time to say anything else, they had reached Fred and George's shop, and Mrs. Weasley stood outside the door, hands on her hips, and a glare that would rival McGonagall's famous glares on her face. The four teenager's looked at each other and in unison sighed. This was not going to be pretty.
A/n: Ok, not the greatest chapter in the world, but it's setting up stuff for later. Yeah, Malfoy a little OOC, but I figure, he's just been kicked out of the Death Eater cult and probably suffered horribly for it, so his ego and arrogance has deflated a lot. I don't know how to describe it, but anyways, hope you liked this chapter, and as always, please review!!
Husker_fan_2006
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