Letting Go

Chapter Three: Facing the Snake

"Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite and furthermore

always carry a small snake."

- W.C. Fields

Ginny woke up in a dungeon with a severe headacheAll she remembered was traveling by floo powder with Blaise. He hadn't told her where he was going and had bound her hands and legs. When they arrived at their destination someone had stunned her. She guessed who ever had done so hadn't caught her as she fell, which explained the headache.

She had begun to grasp some control over herself and the headache had started to fade when the door to her cell opened. Blaise entered, followed by Lucius and Voldemort himself. She stood slowly, as if bored. Glaring at them with stubborn pride. In actuality she was in pain and didn't have a wand. Ginny had a snowballs chance in hell of escaping or fighting them.

"So, we meet again, Ginevra," Voldemort said, breaking the silence. "How sad that it had to be in these circumstances."

"Yes but what must be done will be done. What must be done involves your daughter. So we come to the question of the evening: Where is she?" Lucius demanded.

"We can always make a new charm bracelet and then where would Jade be? Dead. Now, we wouldn't want that would we? After all the hard work you did to protect her," Blaise added.

"We will let you decide on both your fates tomorrow. It is time to get over this rebellious episode," Voldemort concluded. "It is time for you to become one of us willingly, or unwillingly."

~*~

A winding river flowed through a forest. Jade sat in a small boat by herself. She could see everyone she knew on the shores around her. She saw her mom first. Then Draco. Her grandparents came next. Before her uncles and their families. Last she saw Blaise and the other Death Eaters. They were glaring at her, trying to grab the boat with hooks. She looked around, trying to find something to fight them off but she could see nothing. Someone hooked the boat and Jade jumped out of the boat. That is when she saw the dark figure swimminghrough the water. It surfaced and she faced the huge basilisk in front of her. It hissed as if she could understand it. She screamed and the dream faded...

Jade woke up in an old dusty room. She almost panicked, wondering where she was. She tried to calm her breathing. Then she saw Aunt Hermione, Aunt Angelina, Aunt Fleur and Aunt Lonna sleeping on the floor. She was in the new Order headquarters. After the Black house had been destroyed they had moved the headquarters to an old abandoned house in northern Scotland. It was huge and could fit all the families seeking refuge comfortably, if not a bit snug. All the kids slept in a nursery downstairs but Jade had never been able to sleep without her mother coming in to say goodnight. So her aunties took it upon themselves to comfort her.

Knowing it couldn't be more than six o' clock, Jade got up and quietly tip toed through the house to the kitchens. She knew that grandma would be up in an hour to make breakfast for everyone. She began to get everything out and organize it. At about a quarter to seven she had enough batter for pancakes. She had also made some bacon. It was keeping warm in the oven and she was currently getting eggs out for her grandmother to cook. Molly came into the kitchen and was quite stunned at the accomplishments of the young girl. But she just thanked her and started on everything elhes quite willingly after breakfast.

Everyone could tell Jade missed her mother. Jade remained with Molly for the rest of the day. She helped with the cooking and cleaning. Jade had not been away from her mother in all her life, so it was understandable. But they all knew that Ginny was with Blaise and this wasn't a position they thought was safe. They could even use Ginny as a hostage to retrieve Jade from the Order. They would not say that in front of Jade though.

By lunch Molly was tired and wanted a nap. Jade retreated into the living room, curling into a little ball on the couch. She watched Ron play chess with Rose. Bill, Fred, George and Charlie had gone to work. Percy had been told about the situation, too, but chose to stay in Paris. Jade didn't want to play chess and she was quite bored despite her mood. But then she looked up to see Dumbledore in the doorway. She didn't know Dumbledore so that didn't excite her. It was who was standing beside Dumbledore and behind Tonks and Harry.

"Draco!" Jade yelled and ran to give him a hug.

"Hello little one. How are you?" Draco greeted, he gave her a small smile.

"I miss mommy. When can I see her again?" Jade asked.

"I don't know, but I will see her tonight. I am going to try to get her here if I can," Draco told her. "No promises though."

"OK. I guess I can wait that long," Jade said with sorrow in her voice.

"I bet you can," Draco smiled. "I have to go into a meeting but I will come say goodbye before I leave."

"Ok," Jade said, smiling slightly.

Jade watched as Ron followed Harry, Tonks and Dumbledore into the dining room with the other adults present. They closed the doors placing a silencing charm on the doors. Jade felt alone, like she had been this morning. Sighing, she got up to go over to a window. Looking outside at the rain made her feel a bit better. The day was cloudy and gray with a distant sound of thunder. Just like her mood. She wanted to tell Draco that she knew. She wanted him to hug her and tell her that everything was going to be all right. She wanted someone to say that her mom was coming back.

But Jade wasn't stupid or naive. Jade hadn't grown up around Death Eaters and not learned the hard cold truth. There was always hope, her mother had always told her that. But the world wasn't all bunnies and puppies with flowers and smiles. Jade held the innocence of a child but the maturity that no one her age should know. She knew by the weak smiles that everyone gave her that there was a chance her mother wasn't coming back.

~*~

Inside the dining room, Draco was becoming increasingly frustrated. There was no plan. No one could find a way to break Ginny free without jeopardizing his cover. He had offered to blow it but Dumbledore said it wasn't a choice. How could it not be? Did they not see that Ginny's life was on the line? The more they talked and failed to co-operate the more irritated he became.

"Why can't we just go in and raid the place while claiming we got a tip from somewhere else?" somebody asked.

Draco had his eyes closed and was trying to calm himself.

"You cannot enter the Malfoy grounds without five different passwords. You cannot make it through any door without Malfoy blood in your veins or with a key. Lastly, you cannot make it into the dungeons unless you are a Malfoy," Draco said through gritted teeth. "So, unless you people can come up with something betterhan that, I think I will leave and come up with my own plan, because you are fucking gambling with Ginny's life!"

"You called her Ginny..." Ron stated.

"I thank you for pointing out the blatantly obvious, Weasley. Does anybody else wish to waste my time?" The room was silent. "Good."

The Weasley's were quite curious, though, none so much as Ron. Dumbledore sat quietly with a small twinkle in his eye that mirrored his amusement over Draco's outburst. Everyone looked to Dumbledore to see what he was planning to do next.

"Now, about Jade," Dumbledore began.

"I will take her," Draco said, completely devoid of emotion.

"Why would you take her?" Ron said, sounding both indignant and curious.

"I will because I want to. She knows me better than anyone else and..." Draco cut himself off. He didn't need to explain that she reminded him of Ginny.

"Why else? I heard an and," Ron pushed.

"Shut up Weasley! The point is I will take her. That is all there is to it," Draco got up and left.

Jade looked up when he walked into the living room to say goodbye. Rose, Chantal and Marc stopped in their tracks and looked at him nervous. Draco snapped at them when they made a noise or ran around. They didn't like him too much. But he ignored them and went over to Jade.

"She isn't coming back is she?" Jade said calmly, but sadness was clearly in her voice and movements. He saw tears in her eyes.

"Nobody knows that for sure... I am going to do my best to get her back for you," Draco replied.

"I don't want to lose her..." Jade said, and the tears began to flow.

Draco lifted her into his lap and hugged her. A foreign gesture for him but he never felt too awkward with Jade. This wasn't something he understood but he didn't care. Jade had made her way under his skin just like her mother. He was amazed at this, but somehow it had seemed right. After all the denial and sorrow along with anger and the fighting against it all. The love he felt for both of them was there. He didn't want to deny ianymore. If he got the chance he would admit it, but right now he had to work on making it work. Ginny had to be alive for him to do this. If she didn't survive then he would take Jade. The little girl needed someone who understood what she was feeling. A happy bunch of Weasleys wasn't going to help.

Draco stayed until he was sure Jade was ok. She fell asleep in his arms and he carried her to her bed. When he left he ignored all the odd looks he was given. He went home to his apartment. It was probably the most secure place in all of Britain because of his experience. He knew what a dark wizard would do to get into a place of residence so he knew how to protect it.

Entering the apartment, he looked around not knowing what to do. The apartment was quite large. It had a master bedroom and an extra room he had made into a guestroom. They were alongside each other at one end of the apartment with a bathroom between them. In the middle of the apartment was a living room that also held the entranceway. It was large with a sliding glass door, opening up to a nice porch. On the opposite side of the apartment, from the bedrooms, were the kitchen/dining room beside the laundry room and smaller bathroom. The living room was painted a dark burgundy color that looked like it had black in it. The floors were dark hardwood that went well with the black leather couch and loveseat. The wood was Brazifee table was small black and had a glass top. The only other furniture in the room was a small desk made of the same dark wood as everything else and a painting on the wall above the couch. A painting he had done himself. ! The rest of the rooms were done in the same wood but painted various different colors.

Draco liked his apartment very much because he had done it himself and he felt that it somehow reflected him. Especially the paintings he did. Though nobody knew it, painting was one way, and the only way, he would express emotion. It was something that he wouldn't be sharing with anyone. Something he was holding inside for now.

Dropping into the couch in the living room, he closed the blinds; blocking out all the light in the room. He didn't want to think right now but the thoughts wouldn't leave his mind. He had no idea how to pull off a rescue like this. A rescue he had to pull off right under the noses of many Death Eaters and their Lord. Blaise knew him the best out of all of them but he hadn't become one of the best Occlumens for nothing. Hiding the plan he came up with would be easy. Carrying it out would be the hardest part.

Draco knew hing that had happened, Ginny wouldn't forgive him easily. He knew that he wasn't the most morally perfect guy and he hadn't treated her all that great. In fact he had mostly ignored her ever since that night in the Leaky Cauldron. He had come around the house so many times. He was there watching her go through labor because Blaise had insisted and had fainted halfway through. He knew that if he hadn't been a stubborn jackass she wouldn't be in that mess. He knew how Blaise treated her.

But he also knew that he had a job and making Blaise suspicious didn't work well with his goal. The job he was doing for the Order was too important to jeopardize. Only one other Death Eater was working for the Order. Dumbledore needed at least two informants in the circle since Snape had been found out. The old man now stayed in the Order. So Draco took over along with someone else that Dumbledore hadn't revealed. That job didn't include a family or friends outside the Death Eater circle and the Order. But within those circles he had found few of the above.

Family was important to him though. He wasn't thinking about the sappy big loving family that everyone wanted. Raising kids scared the shit out of him though. The lingering suspicion that he would turn into Lucius caused him to be distant with all kids. Jade seemed to ease that atle. But he just wanted a small group of people where he knew he could be himself and be accepted. Where he could love and be loved.

Then again, he had thought of Jade's mysterious birth. Lucius, Voldemort and Blaise had all chosen to ignore or hadn't noticed anything about her birth. He wasn't an expert but everyone knew that babies came after nine months, not seven. He knew where Ginny had been two months before Blaise had married her. But he wasn't sure what to believe. Jade did have his eyes. He knew that. But he had insisted also that gray eyes were not that uncommon. He wasn't sure he wanted to believe Jade was his. She was the only child he actually liked at this point. Yet he knew that if she was his he had missed her life. He hadn't seen her first step or her first lost tooth. In fact, the only event in her life he had known was learning to tie her shoes. This wasn't a happy thought.

Then there was Ginny. There was the fact that he didn't deserve her but there was so much more besides that. He loved her long fiery red hair that tumbled in curls down her back. The chocolate brown eyes with the slightest touch of gold in them captured his attention easily. She was pretty but she wasn't overly so. She was the sort of person you would look at once and not do a double take. That was until you got to know her. Her personality enhanced all her natural beauty and mad her stunning. The emotion she held animated her as well as her personalir fiery temper set her eyes on fire. Then there were her more passionate moments when she seemed to glow. Mostly she was stone though. With no emotion, her eyes were still but her movements were more graceful than usual. As if her body was trying to hide everything as well.

Draco rolled off his couch and went to get ready for the Death Eater meeting. Tonight Ginny's fate would be decided. Tonight her life depended on him getting her out of there. He didn't want to watch her die. He knew he couldn't handle it. But giving himself away wasn't an option either. It was proving to be impossible. He knew he had to get her back though. Tonight was certainly going to be interesting.

~*~

Ginny sat in her cell bored out of her mind. All the fear had disappeared from her. She had accepted her fate and was giving up on being rescued or doing any escaping. It was late in the game for a plan or even spontaneous actions. She was thinking about Jade for the moment. Ignoring the rocks digging into her back, her thoughts drifted off to the two men she had come in contact with the most over the past few years. Blaise and Draco. Draco was the man she still loved and Blaise was the she was married to.

They were opposites in so many ways. Blaise had the brown eyes, brown hair, and dignified manner. Yet he was ill tempered and stupid. Draco had the blonde hair with gray eyes and attractive looks. If a male were ever called beautiful it would be him. He was the kind of guy that girls giggled over in school. The kind of guy women dreamed about. Draco was calm cool and collected. She wasn't sure what she would be doing with either of them. Blaise was the type of guy anyone would expect her to be with. Without the Death Eater and abusive qualities, of course. Draco was everything that people told her to stay away from. But he was everything she wanted to be near.

The door opened to her cell and two hooded, masked figures entered the small space. They beckoned her forward and grabbed her roughly by the arms when she got up. Not particularly perturbed, she let them drag her without complaint. They ended up in a large room that looked like it could have been a ballroom in a castle. Now it seemed to serve as a thrown room. It was almost comical to think of Voldemort sitting on the thrown and commanding Death Eaters to bring him food or amuse him. But right now Ginny could hardly manage to think of the humor.

She was brought into the middle of a circle of Death Eaters two rows thick. It was silent. None of the masked Death Eaters were moving or making noise. Even their breathing was hard to hear. She glared at all of them. Then, just as she was about fed up, the door near the throne was opened. Voldemort walked through with Lucius and Blaise at his side. The only three unmasked. They broke the circle and stood inside before it closed in again. It was a tense silence where Ginny's boredom was replaced with anger. The anger began to cloud her judgment.

"So, Mrs. Weasley," Voldemort began, "how did you like your accommodations?"

"They were quite nice thank you," she commented coolly.

"No complaints?"

"Yes, a) the bed was non-existent b) the food as well and c) I want the fuck out of here,&ot; Ginny answered calmly.

Blaise looked furious. "You should watch your tongue and think about who you are talking to."

"I only watch my tongue when I am talking to people I respect," Ginny replied, looking bored again. "Someone who enchanted me through a diary and made me try to kill Muggle-borns isn't on the list of people I respect. That isn't even including every other horrible deed he has done. Of course, the rest of you idiots helped him along the way. Oh and by the way, is Bellatrix Lestrange here? Because Harry would like to personally ring her neck."

A movement in the circle was enough to let her know exactly where Bellatrix was. She smirked cheekily at the general area. She also noticed Blaise was looking more livid. Lucius however was looking like a cat staring at a mouse.

"We have already begun to make another charm for your daughter so I would be careful if I were you. Blaise, I am sure, wouldn't take his daughter's death lightly," Lucius said delicately.

"Yes, do think about these things Mrs. Weasley," continued Voldemort.

Ginny was too far gone to care about the words coming out of her mouth. "Blaise couldn't be upset about his daughter's death."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. How many reasons could there be for someone not caring? You should be the expert on that Lucius and you too Voldemort. We all know how much you care about people around you," Ginny stated sarcastically.

"Watch your tongue or you might be without one," Blaise snapped.

"Considering I don't plan on having a life after this, that doesn't really matter," Ginny snapped back.

"The lovers quarrel," Lucius interrupted mockingly.

"The lovers aren't quarrelling because for that we would have to be lovers. I wouldn't touch Blaise if my life depended on it," Ginny spat.

"Well, considering you have a child I don't see that as truth," Voldemort replied.

"Well, you would see it as the truth if you had paid a little more attention to my pregnancy," Ginny smiled despite the situation.

"What do you mean?" Blaise hissed.

"Sorry, let me clarify that for you. That night you stumbled into my bed clearly smashed to the point of no return. We never did anything. You assumed and I was already pregnant. Two months in fact. You morons never noticed that detail," Ginny replied.

She could hear the stunned silence in the room. Blaise sputtered not knowing what else to do with his mouth. Voldemort and Lucius both glared at her. She simply returned it with a smirk that rivaled a Malfoy's best. She had no idea how long the silence went on; only that she quite enjoyed it.

"Who is the father?" a voice deadly, and threatening came from Voldemort.

"I have no idea whatsoever. Must have slipped my mind. With all those men, you know, they all seem to run together," Ginny said with mock vexation.

"Crucio!" Voldemort's voice came high and cruel as he raised his wand.

The pain she had endured only days ago came back only it was worse this time. She was immediately brought to her hands and knees. She bit through her lip fighting the urge to scream out in pain. The knives just continued to dig. It was all she could do not to cry. She would not show them her tears.

When the pain was gone she brought herself to her knees and paused before standing again. Glaring at everyone in her line of vision, she stood tall once more. Voldemort only smiled thinly as though he was going to enjoy breaking her.

"Imperio!".

The feather light feeling filled her body but she was the one laughing now. Even with the curse being preformed by Voldemort he wouldn't break her. She knew this curse like the back of her hand. She could fight it most easily. As a voice started going off in her head ('tell me') she breathed deeply and found the place inside herself where she could go and find nothing. It was only peace for a while. She was fine until she woke up from her state and all the pain would come back as her physical self reminded her.

For now she endured the Cruciatus curse and Imperio without any consequence. That is until a name was mentioned. That name being called caused her to lose her concentration. The pain came back. She saw him walk up to the three unmasked men. She saw him peel away his mask to reveal the platinum blonde hair and gray eyes. Somehow she hadn't thought he would be there. It hadn't occurred to her once during the whole time. She couldn't even look at him right then because it hurt so much. She chose to watch the floor as the now four unmasked men talked together.

When they finished they all turned to her and Ginny tried to focus on anyoneust stared at her as if trying to be intimidating. Then Draco lifted his wand and whispered something. She could see that he was giving away nothing. A glance at his face proved that he was hiding anything that would give him away. She wondered why he needed to hide anything. Then she felt him enter her mind and memories pass through her mind. She realized almost too late what he was doing. She concentrated on pushing him out of her mind. She felt him leave and she opened her eyes that she hadn't noticed she had closed. Draco turned to the other three.

"The father is Potter. Not that that is surprising considering the time she spent trailing him like a puppy," Draco said tonelessly.

Ginny was surprised. She had no bloody clue where he got that idea. She hadn't even kissed Harry passed a sisterly peck on his cheek. What was he playing at?

'I am just going to pretend I know what he is talking about...' Ginny decided.

"Harry Potter's child was in our grasp and nobody told me?" yelled Voldemort.

The Death Eaters immediately set about doing damage control. Ginny watched as they hurried to stop a full on temper tantrum. Lucius was especially dealing with it well. Quite cunning as he was, he blamed it on the one person who really didn't need the attention.

"So," Lucius said menacingly "the Littlest Weasley decides she can trick the Dark Lord. Thinks she is smart sneaking Potter's kid in the house of a Death Eater. Well we shall show her what happens to people who are cheeky to Voldemort." Lucius raised his wand "Avada..."

"Stop Lucius," Voldemort commanded now calm. "People who are uncouth get more than a simple death. Send her home with your son to use his extensive resources. That way we can go talk about some business."

"I suppose that is a good idea. The kid still needs some practice," Lucius said disappointedly.

"Bring some proof of her death back boy," Lucius snapped before dismissing him. "And you Mrs. Weasley, try not to have too much fun." He smirked before hitting her across the face with the back of his hand. Then stunning her.

~*~

Calm settled through Ginny as she looked around. She was in a small apartment and it looked familiar. Then she realized it was her old apartment in Diagon Alley. All of a sudden Jade came running into the room with a painting she had done. She ran up to her mother sitting at the kitchen table and showed her the picture. It was of a house with a family was standing outside and they were smiling. But there was a Dark Mark hovering above the house. She looked at Jade alarmed before asking her why she had drawn it. Jade only smiled and grabbed her hand.

As she followed her daughter outside onto the balcony, she was still looking at the picture. Jade shook her arm to catch Ginny's attention, which moved to the view from the porch. There was death everywhere. The Dark Mark was scattered over every house in view. People lay in the streets motionless and even in her dream she seemed to smell the metallic odor of blood. An evil laugh seemed to come up from the streets and Ginny grabbed Jade and brought her into the house, locking all the doors before she hid her daughter in a cupboard.

She waited a few minutes before the bang echoed from the door. It exploded suddenly in a burst of blue light. She couldn't see who opened the door but she knew she was about to die as a burst of green light entered the room. Then she woke up...

~*~

Draco jumped as a moan came from the bed. Ginny lay in his guest room on the bed and she seemed to be having a bad dream. She turned towards him suddenly before her breathing became normal again. He had brought her to his apartment following the meeting. Voldemort had wanted to discuss something and hnot aloud to hear whatever they were going to divulge. So he had been sent to kill Ginny with an order to bring back proof.

After bringing in a chair to sit in he had grabbed a book and sat in the corner reading. He was hoping she would wake up soon because he needed some proof that she was dead. That was something he did not want to go about doing. Draco was especially doubtful about cutting off a finger or something similar.

This worrying would stay until she woke up, whenever that was.