For Us . . . All of Us

Chapter 5: Complications

They got to their assigned room, which was on the second floor, eight doors down from where Lucius Malfoy held court. Since they were impersonating higher-ups, they got an assigned room in the headquarters.

They went into the room, shut the door, and magically protected the room from eavesdropping. Ginny had dropped onto the bed and was staring blankly ahead in shock. Harry checked to make sure the magical barrier was in place, then knelt in front of Ginny.

"Gin?" Harry asked gently.

"He's dead. He's supposed to be dead. He's supposed to have been dead for years!" Ginny said, her voice scaling up towards hysteria.

"I know Gin. But I think I figured out how he got here," said Harry.

"How?" asked Ginny, trying not to cry.

"The Dementors," said Harry simply. "We know that they were on Voldemort's side when he was alive. I doubt they'd have a problem with helping one of his most faithful Death Eaters."

"But why now? Why wouldn't they have just pretended to have him die six months after he was imprisoned? Or six weeks?" Ginny asked, still getting control of herself.

"I don't know," said Harry, his brow wrinkling, making the face of Lars MacNair look rather menacing. "I expect it has something to do with the plan Lucius referred to."

"We need to figure out what they plan is," said Ginny, suddenly filled with determination. She stood up and seemed like she would march straight up to Lucuis and point-blank ask him.

"Wait!" said Harry, jumping up and grabbing her arm. "We can't just go around asking everyone if they know what the plan is."

"Why not!" said Ginny, instantly enraged.

Harry was a bit taken aback at the hostility in her voice, but dismissed it as a result of the emotional stress she was under. "Look," said Harry, letting go of her arm. "We 'll find out what the plan is as soon as we can, but we can't push it. They'll know something's up."

"You're right," said Ginny, here eyes filling with tears. "I guess my mind just isn't working properly."

Harry gave her an encouraging smile and gently guided her back to the bed. "It's alright, you're going through a lot right now. Why don't you get some sleep and I'll find out what we're supposed to do next, ok?"

"Ok," said Ginny, giving him a watery smile. "I'll try."

"Alright," said Harry, giving her another warm smile. "I'll see you later. I'll magically lock the door from the outside so no one can get in, ok?"

Ginny nodded and lay down, suddenly exhausted. With all the stress-induced irritability no wonder, thought Ginny, just before she drifted off to sleep.

*~~~~~~~~~~*

Ginny woke three hours later to Harry coming in the door looking rather worried. He magically soundproofed the room again, then turned to Ginny.

"What?" asked Ginny, dread creeping along her spine.

"We may have a problem," Harry said. "The Death Eaters have noticed that Harry Potter and Ginny Malfoy have suddenly dropped out of sight three days after Draco Malfoy's capture."

Ginny's eyes widened with panic. "What are we going to do? They'll figure it out!"

"Ginny! Calm down! There's no way they could know that we're here. The Ministry's not releasing that they captured the real MacNair's. Only a handful of people know about it," Harry answered quickly. He was growing increasingly concerned with Ginny's rapid and violent mood swings.

"Oh, of course," Ginny said, blushing at her reaction. "I don't know what got into me."

Harry eyed her closely then said, "Gin, I'm a little worried about you. I know you won't like it but, next time we go out on a mission for the Death Eaters, we're going to get you checked out at the Ministry."

"What! I'm not crazy!" exclaimed Ginny.

"I know," said Harry quickly, frantically thinking of a way to calm her. "I'm going to get checked out to just to make sure no one's slipping us anything, ok?"

"Fine," replied Ginny coolly, getting up and heading over to the door. "Let's go back to work."