Alone

Chapter 17

"And there ladies and gentlemen, we have the understatement of all time," he managed to say before dissolving into laughter.

Derek, meanwhile, was puzzled.

"And why, exactly, is Voldie dancing around with pink bunnies funny?" he asked as Jake laughed softly.

"You haven't actually seen him have you?" Jake asked. Derek shook his head. Jake nodded understandingly.

"Alright, imagine a really tall guy with no nose except a couple of holes in the middle of his face, no lips except two lines, and evil looking red eyes. Add white, sickly looking skin to that and voila! You have Voldie," Jake described as Derek nodded.

Before he could say anything, the door burst open and a red headed figure burst into the room.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry that I'm late, Albus, but the mission in France took way longer than I thought it would. I just got back, and the first place I should've gone to is to bed, but since I'm late, I decided to came here to report back..." the figure trailed off as she realized that the whole Order was there and was staring at her.

"Er," she began awkwardly, looking around the room and spotted two guys that she didn't know. "Am I interrupting something?"

Draco smirked.

"So the famous female Weasley finally decided to show up," he drawled.

"Shut up," Ginny replied automatically.

Before a serious argument could break out, Albus cut in.

"Ah, good of you to join us, Ginny."

Ginny smiled at Albus, but it turned to a scowl as she refaced Draco. Draco just smirked back.

Jake raised a mental eyebrow. He'd been wondering where the youngest Weasley was. Despite all the rumours in the past, they had never seriously dated, just very good friends. Since Ron and Hermione had gotten together in their sixth year, Harry had been lonely. While the couple tried to be there for him when they could, their relationship could never go back to the way it was before, and Harry had accepted the fact that Ron and Hermione won't be there all the time.

So, instead of interrupting their cosiness, Harry had found friendship in Ginny. Ginny had never gotten over her crush for Harry, but she didn't let that stop her from being friends with him. Although Ginny did make it clear that if Harry wanted to get together with her, she'd welcome him with open arms. The only exception to this rule was when Harry and Ginny had a brief fling near the end of Harry's sixth year. While Ginny had enjoyed it immensely, Harry had ended it by the summer holidays, however, he made sure they were still good friends and comfortable around each other.

Jake was pulled out of his thoughts when a sharp elbow entered his rib area. Derek leaned over.

"Who's she?" he asked, his eyes darkening at the prospect of another person he might have to kill because she too had hurt Jake.

Jake rolled his eyes and was about to tell Derek who the red head was when she interrupted them.

"And who are you?" Ginny asked rudely as Derek raised an eyebrow at her; Jake remained emotionless.

Since when is somebody so rude? Derek thought.

"Derek Thompson" Derek introduced stiffly while Jake remained silent still.

"Right," Ginny muttered under her breath and glanced curiously at Dumbledore. Who were these people? Her gaze shifted to Jake and she squinted at his face.

"Do I know you? You seem very familiar," she said, almost to herself.

"Jake Stevens," Jake offered half-heartedly. Ginny stuck her hand out.

"Ginny Weasley," she introduced as Jake smirked, but didn't take her hand.

"I'm surprised you don't remember me, Virginia," Jake purred as Ginny looked at him in shock.

"If you're going to flirt with her, Potter, then at least do it while other people aren't here. I certainly don't need my breakfast coming back up," Draco drawled as Ginny stood rigidly, not quite believing that this was Harry Potter sitting in front of her.

~~*~~

Lucy stared out the window. This was connected to Jake. She just knew it. Of course, it also could have something to do with Blaise as he had come in her room a few minutes earlier and set about explaining Harry Potter and Voldemort's history. One glance at the picture and she immediately thought of Jake. The resemblance was uncanny, and while Jake was older than the picture and his eye colour was different, there was no mistaking that the person in the photograph was really Jake.

Staring up into the blue sky, Lucy let her thought drift to the day that Jake and she met.

**Flashback Part1**

Lucy was hurrying along to class when all of a sudden, she ran into a solid wall of muscle. Her notes and books went flying out of her hands as she sprawled to the ground in a heap. Rubbing her head at where a heavy phycology book had fallen, Lucy glanced up into unfamiliar blue eyes.

Picking herself up, she quickly bent down to grab at her fallen books.

"Sorry," the stranger apologized as he too bent down to help pick up her strewn notes. Lucy snatched the papers from his hand.

"Why don't you watch where you're going next time!" Lucy snapped. As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she wished she could take them back. It wasn't his fault that the stranger had run into her, but she was in a bad mood and late to class.

"Well, I'm sorry that I ran into you, but you don't need to snap! I apologize, but if you weren't running down the corridor then maybe we wouldn't have crashed!" Jake snapped back. Lucy was fuming, although, deep down, she knew it was her fault, she just didn't care.

"If you had eyes then you would've seen me coming down the corridor!"

"And how, pray tell, am I supposed to see a blur that represents someone running down the hallway if I'm not looking for one?"

"Men! You expect women just to move out of your way because you're male!"

"Women, you expect men to do your every bidding just because you suffer from PMS or something!"

Lucy glared at Jake as Jake glared at her, none of them willing to give into the glaring competition.

"That was uncalled for!" Lucy exclaimed as Jake snorted.

"Hey, I'm not the one that ran into someone and then bit their head off!"

Without another word, Jake brushed past her and headed towards his next class.

**End of Flashback Part 2**

Ginny didn't realize that she was standing in front of Harry Potter with her mouth opening and closing like a fish. Jake obviously did, as his smirk grew wider.

"Why does everybody assume that we are going out?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, facing Draco.

He didn't answer, but at that moment, Ginny threw herself into Jake's arms, crying her hearty out.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry, Ha-Ha-rry, I-I d-didn't, oh, I-I'm sorry," she sobbed, clutching desperately on to his neck as Jake turned to an alarming shade of blue from the lack of air.

"As emotionally moving as this is, Weasley, if you don't want your precious Harry to die, then I suggest you get off him before he suffocates to his death in the next, oh, five seconds or so," Draco said calmly as Ginny sprang apart from Jake.

For the next minute, all that could be heard was gasping from Jake as he tried regain his breath and sobbing from Ginny who had moved to cry into Derek's shoulder since he was the closest one. Derek shifted uncomfortably, but patted Ginny awkwardly on the back, his eyes pleading with Jake to help him get the hysterical woman off him.

"I understand that you have a lot questions, Ginny, but the main thing is to get Lucy back, and we need a plan on how to achieve that," Albus said finally.

"Well, I was getting on to that before Weasley interrupted," Draco said as Jake sighed exasperatedly.

"Get on with it, Malfoy."

"Fine then, Potter. Anyways, there's a forest surrounding the manor. We can get to the door undetected through there, as there are a lot of trails in the forest leading up to the house. We'll follow the one nearest to that side of the manor and voila! There's the door we need. After getting into the manor, I'm guessing Lucy should be in the dungeons if Voldemort's holding her prisoner, but since discovering that letter, I think she would probably get one of the best guest rooms. There are about twenty guest rooms that Voldemort would probably use but luckily, they're all on the same floor. All we have to do is check them quickly, grab Lucy, and get out of there."

"How do we get there?" Jake asked after a moment of silence. Draco grinned at him.

"Why, by broomsticks of course! You can't get to it by land unless you're a Malfoy or have an invitation from a Malfoy, but it'll probably be safer to go by air. Also an invisibility potion might not be a bad idea."

"What if there are guards or something? I somehow don't think Voldie is going to let Lucy run around," Jake said. Draco seemed to mull over this.

"We'll just have to tackle her guards," he stated finally. Jake nodded while Derek started to pout again.

"Why can't I go again?" he asked. Jake sighed as Draco rolled his eyes.

"Are we going to go through this, again?" he asked exasperatedly. Derek glared but said nothing.

Ginny seemed to notice that she was still leaning on Derek and jumped off, her cheeks a flame. Derek sighed softly in relief. Ginny had stopped crying by now and was looking uncomfortably over at Jake.

"Who's Lucy?" she asked at last, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

~~*~~

Lucy yawned and stretched. The day that Jake and she had met was hilarious. Apart from making a scene in the middle of the hallway, she had managed to be half an hour late to her lecture. Though that was nothing compared to that night.

**Flashback Part 2**

The doorbell rang and Jake groaned. He was in the middle of studying and another of Derek's seemingly never ending girlfriends was probably at the door. With another groan, Jake pushed himself to his feet and went to get the door.

"Can you get the door for me, Jake? I'm be down in a minute, just tell Lucy to wait for me in the lounge room!" Derek called from his room. Jake grumbled under his breath.

"Yes, you majesty."

Opening the door, Jake stood face-to-face with the girl that had run into him that morning.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she exploded. Jake was equally appalled.

"I live here," he answered curtly. Lucy stared at him in disbelief.

"This is not happening. You do not live here. This is all a dream. When I open my eyes you will be gone," Lucy muttered as she closed her eyes. Jake rolled his eyes. Just what he needed: a half crazy, moody woman that was going to be Derek's next girlfriend.

Lucy opened her eyes to find that Jake was still standing there, real as ever. She sighed in disappointment.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, honey," Jake drawled as he leaned on the door frame. "But I'm afraid this is real."

Lucy scowled at him.

"I am going to kill Derek," she muttered under her breath.

Jake didn't say anything, but agreed silently.

Derek came bounding down the stairs, but stopped short as he felt the negative vibes coming from the pair.

"Alright, what's going on here?" he asked uncertainly. Jake straightened and gathered his books.

"I'm going to my room to study," he announced, climbing the stairs to his room.

"Bastard!" Lucy called after him.

"Bitch!" Jake retorted before his door slammed shut.

**End of Flashback Part 2**