Fic II:
(Intro)mission
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Type of fic: Three-shot
1st part - A twist of fate
2nd part - Mission… not accomplished
3rd part - Glitter
Summary: When Draco decides the Dark Lord's reign has nothing good to offer for the future, he tips the balance to the side of light and allows his last year at school to be the best; especially when Ginny decides she is a better pranker than her brothers and takes up a mission but doesn't measure her victim up. This will end up with a VERY different result than what she originally planned.
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A/N: Even though this is not my ABSOLUTE favorite ship, I like it very much, and it fit perfectly with the rest of (Intro)mission. Forgive me if some linkages (between ficlets of each story) seem a little forced, but please bear in mind that each ficlet had to stand as a story itself and not seem like just a chapter.
Part 1
A twist of fate
The school had finally re-opened after the terrible battle that had taken the life of so many brave people. It had been over a year and it felt incredibly strange for Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and the rest, to start a Hogwarts year care-free for the first time in their history as students of the ancient school.
Naturally, after the Death Eaters had taught little more than nothing throughout the last year Hogwarts had been open, that year was pretty much erased from all the records. Harry and his fellow classmates were nearing their twenties and going back to school, much to their happiness, while Ginny and Luna re-started their sixth year with much more experience than anyone could give account for.
As they reached the station in Hogsmeade, Ginny looked up at the castle in the dying light of this first of September, starting anew without Lord Voldemort or his shadow looming overhead. She remembered the last time she had set foot in this same station, she'd seen jets of light illuminating the midnight sky and the sense of panic was overwhelming…
(two years prior)
But she had to continue, she had to get there and make sure everyone she cared for was safe… however, her feet seemed to be rooted on the spot and she had forgotten to cast the Concealing spell as soon as she had entered the limits of the little all-wizards town.
Before she could beckon her mind to engage into action, a set of jets of light came her way and she barely had time to duck. When she managed to retrieve her wand from her robes, a group of freshly cast spell had been already launched her way and one of them caught her square on the chest, sending the redhead flying towards the wall of the station. Her head slammed hard against the polished wood and she felt consciousness wanting to slip out of her but she fought it and took a hand to her injured skull, warm blood drenched her hand and she winced.
Looking up at her attackers, she knew she had little more than no chance of making it; why had she not cast the Concealing charm? Shakily, she stood and sent two hexes, one after the other, resulting in one of the masked figures collapsing to the ground in pain. Immediately, the other six charged against her and she couldn't avoid all the curses with her Protean charm. She was sent flying again, and when she managed to open her eyes again, six masks blocked her view the starry night.
"I say we torture her and then hang her from a tree at Hogwarts so Pottrer can see her."
"Oh, that would be fun."
"Shut your trap, Goyle, or you will sound more stupid than you already are."
"No more than that stupid son of his, though," another voice laughed.
"He's not THAT stupid," Goyle senior defended.
"Yeah, he is," Ginny said in a stupid rush of daring.
"Shut it, blood traitor! Crucio!" The first man who spoke shot at her and needles penetrated every inch of her skin.
Ginny let out a scream and tried in vain to fend off the six Death Eaters and received a slap on the face in return. "I said, shut it!"
"Don't!" one of the masked men said when seeing the blood pouring not only from her nose, but also from her head from the first attack.
"What is it, Malfoy? You want to do it?" the second voice asked, bemused. "We can't deny she is a nice piece of meat… and she is your age, right?"
Malfoy looked at the man who had spoken and leaned closed and tried to lift her head, but Ginny spat on his face. "Get your filthy hands off me, you-you Death Eater!" she said with such hatred, that he recoiled a little and pushed her back to the floor, wiping his face clean.
"Crucio! You disrespectful little muggle-lover!"
Ginny screamed in agony again as the unforgivable cursed through her body and they all laughed, kicking her on the ribs next. "I say we throw her, barely alive on the Great Hall."
"Oh, that sounds better, and Potter will crawl to his blood-traitor lover and hand himself in," one of the Death Eaters laughed.
"He would NEVER do that! And I am not his lover, you idiot!" she replied and it earned her another Crucio and a couple of kicks on the ribs more.
"Stop it! You'll kill her!"
"Why wouldn't we want to do that?"
"Be-because… because if she goes to the castle and is murdered in front of Potter and his gang, it'll be much more useful," Malfoy said hurriedly.
The other Death Eaters regarded him for the longest time and then the one who appeared to be the leader nodded. "He is right, let's take her to the castle. But first… Crucio!"
Ginny's screams tore through the night; if they continued like this, she would end up like the Longbottoms, she knew it. Hoping that her own demise wouldn't be too hard on Harry and the side of light, Ginny resigned herself to die or go mad with pain.
Then, another hex. She was ready for it, for the capstone in the terrible future that awaited her. But more pain never came and she dared open her eyes with the little consciousness she had left, and saw the Death Eater that had been torturing her, collapse to the ground, revolving in pain.
She looked up and identified the curser. She must be hallucinating already.
After only some thirty seconds of torture, the curse ended and the Death Eater didn't get up. Ginny stared at the silvery-blond locks that escaped the mask and stared... not only because she was surprised at the strength of Malfoy's attack, but at the sudden turn of events that had just saved her life.
"What the hell are you doing, Malfoy!" One of the other Death Eaters asked.
"Ensuring my future, of course…" he said, sounding much braver than Ginny was sure he felt.
A lot of jets of light later and a blurry memory of a battle, Ginny heard silence and wondered if her attempts to keep awake had finally failed her, or if it had finally ended. She heard footsteps and readied herself for more torture or the killing curse, but it never came… instead, a gentle hand pushed her hair out of Ginny's face.
It caressed her almost as a lover's hand would, but she was scared to open her eyes. The hand slid down to her neck and Ginny braced herself for the worst, but the hand stayed on her neck, feeling her pulse. She heard a sigh of relief.
"Let's get you to the castle, we want Potter in his best state of mind before he gets here," D Malfoy's tired voice spoke and he picked up her frail body as if it weighted nothing.
(back in September 1999)
Ginny blinked and had to shake her head to return to the present year, to her sixth year of magical education. This year was going to be good; nothing would attack her from the shadows or from behind… and she would have never imagined that such a horrible time like the war would have ended in her falling in love with him-never in her whole life; and she had a good plan to get what she wanted this year, even though she was sure he didn't see her as more than a friend.
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A/N: Hope you enjoyed, please let me know your thoughts on this piece of work because it was my attempt to break the writer's block that has been looming over me for the past month at least.
Oh! And for those of you reading "What is Love?", the next chapter is coming, so don't lose faith, please, we are almost there!
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