Tel' Qualohtarie

Chapter Seven

Ginny woke very early and decided to owl Malfoy about missing lessons yesterday. Not bothering to change her clothes from yesterday or put on any shoes, she left her roommates still sleeping soundly. Not for the first time, Ginny was grateful for her thick woollen socks. She was almost to the Owlery when she decided that she would go to the Manor and apologise personally. Maybe he wouldn't be so angry with her then. She turned around and made her way to the grey window, quietly stepping into Malfoy Manor. She looked around at the high ceiling and carpeted staircases and wondered what had possessed her to come here right now. She must have not been thinking straight. Her hand was on the door to leave when she heard Draco behind her say, "Ginny? What are you doing here?"

He had never called her Ginny. She turned around to find him standing on the stairs in his usual Manor attire of khaki trousers and an untucked white shirt and socks. He was carrying an unidentifiable, small black object and a Muggle screwdriver and looking completely confused. "I was just asking myself that question."

"You do know that it's about five in the morning, right?"

"Yes."

He studied her for a moment, taking in her messy hair and rumpled clothing and asked, "You want some breakfast?"

"Why not?" she shrugged and followed him through a door on one side of the foyer. They entered into the large, warm stone kitchen and Draco placed the things he had been carrying on the table and went to the refrigerator. "What are you doing?" she asked, fingering the small black box.

"Fixing breakfast. You like pancakes?"

"I meant what are you doing with this?" she held up the object.

"I'll show you later." He began compiling breakfast ingredients.

She nodded and watched him stirring the batter for a minute. "Why don't you call the house-elves?"

"They're sleeping."

"Right."

"There's no point in waking them up to make breakfast at five in the morning."

"You know, I figured a place as big as this would need more than three house-elves."

"It does."

She was getting nowhere fast. "Okay. So why don't you have more house-elves?"

"I sent them away." He began to pour the pancakes; she could hear the sizzling as the batter hit the pan.

"Why did you send them away?"

"Why do you care?"

"Just curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"But satisfaction brought him back." He turned to look at her and she smirked. He brought over two plates of warm pancakes with strawberries and cream, sat down, and began eating. The food was delicious and she told him so. He nodded in affirmation and they finished their breakfast in silence. The pair left their dishes on the table and Draco retrieved the black box and screwdriver.

He led her up the right staircase, through a large lounge, a truly magnificent library, and into a room filled with junk. The library was awe-inspiring and she was disappointed that she couldn't stay there, snuggled into one of the leather armchairs and surrounded by floor to ceiling cherry wood bookshelves holding hundreds, possibly thousands of wonderful books. Ginny vaguely noticed that she sounded just like Hermione and made a mental note to stop when she began writing study schedules.

Draco seemed to read her thoughts because as he padded around the counter he said absently, "You may borrow any books you like as long as you return them." Ginny sat down on a wooden stool and he began tinkering with the box. She took a closer look at the things around her and felt like she was in her father's shed. This was obviously his workshop. Muggle electronics were covering practically every surface. Some were blinking or doing whatever it was they were supposed to and others were taken half apart, wires sticking out everywhere. Ginny began to wonder if she had stumbled into some sort of alternate universe. Malfoy being nice to her and cooking her breakfast was strange enough. And now to discover that he and her father shared an obsession.

"What are you doing with all this stuff? I thought you hated Muggles."

"I do," he replied, hitting a button and putting the box to his ear. "Damn it." He returned to fiddling with it, taking out his wand and muttering spells under his breath.

"Then why do you have all this Muggle stuff?"

"Business." He put it up to his ear again and smiled. He held it up to her ear and seemed to be waiting for a response from her.

It was making a funny buzzing noise and she looked at him in confusion, "I don't understand. Is it supposed to do that?"

He pulled it back towards him and nodded happily. Draco walked around to another counter and picked up another black box, identical to the one in his hand. He handed it to her and said, "If it makes any noise, push the green button and put it to your ear. I'll be right back." She nodded, completely dumbfounded. This was simply too bizarre.

He left the room and a few moments later, the box began ringing. It startled her, but she pushed the button and cautiously held it to her ear. "Weasley? Can you hear me?" Malfoy's voice was coming from inside the box.

After staring at it a moment, she put it to her mouth and shouted, "Yes, I hear you! Can you hear me, Malfoy?"

She put it back to her ear and heard Draco cursing. "Fuck, Weasley. You don't have to shout. Just talk normally."

"Okay," she replied in a normal tone.

"Much better," his voice was louder and closer as he appeared in the doorway. He came and took the box from her, pushing buttons and mumbling to himself.

"Um, Malfoy? I still don't understand why you have all this stuff and what are those things?" Ginny questioned, returning to her stool across from where he was working.

"They're telephones."

"Oh. What are you doing to them?"

"Modifying them to run on magic instead of batteries and changing the frequencies so that they don't need a wire network to transmit calls."

She gawked at him, "Huh?"

"I'm taking Muggle technology and modifying it to work with magic. Simple enough for you, Weasley?" he asked in annoyance.

"But you said you hated Muggles."

"I do. I dislike Muggles. Not their things. I'm not above using their technology to profit."

She searched his face thoughtfully. He was bent over the two telephones and his eyebrows were drawn in concentration. She decided to change the subject and tell him why she had come here in the first place, "I'm sorry about missing our lesson yesterday. I thought maybe you'd understand, considering..."

"It's alright, not the end of the world," he headed into the library and she followed.

He pulled a book from the shelf, flipped through it and put it back, pulling out another one. "Well, I just wanted to let you know that I am sorry and I'll try to make our lessons from now on. I know how important it is, especially now," she said, feeling a little silly. "Did you know about all the people that have gone missing?"

"Yes, Luna told me about it the other day. She feels she needs to keep me informed since I've cancelled my subscription to the Daily Prophet. I get more information than I want as it is."

"What?"

Draco finally found the book he was looking for and turned to face her. They were only inches apart and Ginny felt her cheeks beginning to flush but he stepped back and said, "Luna told me about it the other day."

She couldn't even begin to comprehend what he had said. He returned to the other room, and after a moment of stunned silence, she followed him asking, "What were you doing talking to Luna?"

"She ran into me, bawling her eyes out. Nearly knocked me over, she's got some power for such a little thing. Anyway, I didn't have anything better to do at the moment."

"Are you telling me that you actually comforted Luna?"

He looked at her like she was a twit, "Well, what was I supposed to do? It's Luna. She was crying and going on and on about her father and like I said I didn't have anything better to do. She may be a bit loony but she's still a mem- well, is it so impossible to believe that I didn't particularly like to see her crying?"

Ginny shrugged and said, "Well...yeah." Draco pursed his lips and returned to his telephones. After a moment, she had thought it over and decided it really wasn't so impossible. "Look, Malfoy, I mean- Draco, listen. I didn't mean that-."

He cut her off as he began prying one of the boxes apart. "I don't want your apologies, Weasley. You want to clear your conscience, do it on someone else's time."

She scowled then felt ashamed of herself. "I'm going to go home to get ready for the funeral." He shrugged, not looking up from his work.

~&~

The sky was grey and the gathering clouds threatened rain when she went to the window and whispered the spell that would take her to the Grey Knights. They gathered around John Davies's grave, their robes swirling a pattern of mist within the mist that was falling lightly on their heads. Around the group of Grey Knights encircling the grave, other descendants of the Grey gathered. Ginny only recognised them as such because they stood together as groups, all wearing matching grey uniforms of their respective groups and silver star pendants like her own. Her Book only told of a few of the groups, but she knew there had to be more than those few and now her suspicions were confirmed. Everything and everyone was wet and muddy and grey and Ginny felt that it was quite appropriate.

John's only living family was his wife and son and they stood together on one side. Mrs. Davies was crying and her son held her close, whispering softly to her. Pulling her hood up, Ginny saw Malfoy, Tonks, and Ethan standing quietly together and made her way over to them, slipping a hand into Tonks' as she joined them.

Morick was standing to one side and as the final few Grey arrived, he turned to speak, "We have come here to recognise the passing of John Michel Davies." Few faces could be seen through the rain and mist, though the ones she could see all wore grief-stricken expressions. Ginny glanced up at Tonks and saw the tears streaming silently down her cheeks. Morick said, "We bring our brother to rest in peace, that his spirit may join our ancestors among the stars. Namaarie toror'amin."

The rest of the Grey sought out the hands of the others, all connected in the circle of the Grey Elves of the Mist and chorused softly, "Namaarie toror'amin, John Michel Davies." Farewell my brother, John Michel Davies. There was a bright flash of light over their heads and Ginny turned her face skyward barely in time to catch a glimpse of sparkles fading into the grey clouds. He had been restored to the magic of the universe and that part of him that lay within each of the Grey Knights had been returned. With that, most of them disappeared, respectfully leaving the family and Knights to mourn their loss privately.

Ginny and the three others turned to leave, but Tonks paused, "Please. Wait just a moment." She turned and walked over to John's wife. Tonks said something to her that Ginny couldn't hear and gave her a hug.

Tonks returned to Ginny, smiling sadly through her tears and said, "Let's go." She took Ginny's hand and with a stomach-turning sensation, they were back in Hogwarts.

Ginny felt like she was going to be ill. "That's how I got to St. Mungo's yesterday. But I don't know how to Apparate."

"I'm sorry. It's not really Apparating, but I'm sure Draco will explain that to you later. You'll get used to it, the sensation decreases the more you do it."

Ginny nodded and sat down on the hard stone floor. She looked up at Tonks and said, "You can go, I'm alright. Tonks, I'm sorry things happened the way they did, too." The older woman only nodded sadly and disappeared. Ginny sat on the floor with her head in her hands until Luna came and sat down next to her, her sweater, trousers, and boots- all grey- unusually normal-looking.

"Ginny, what's wrong?" Luna asked.

She glanced up, "Nothing, Luna. I'm only a bit depressed."

"I'm sorry for the loss of your comrade," Luna said quietly.

They sat in silence until Luna said, "I know that you're hiding something Ginny and I think I know what it is."

She gave her friend a cautious, curious look and protested, "Luna, I don't know what-."

Luna interrupted, "Ginny- I may be a little spacey, but I'm hardly stupid."

"I never said anything like that!"

"No one said you did. I just want you to be careful," she said calmly. "I have no desire to attend anymore funerals in the rain."

Ginny stared into her friend's eyes in surprise, noticing for the first time that Luna's straggly hair was wet and there was mud on her boots and a small silver star dangled from her neck. She grabbed the star and pulled the other girl closer so she could read the word engraved on the middle bar. The words 'Tel' Toror' Taur'ohtarie' were there and her brain automatically translated it into 'The Brotherhood of Pathfinders'.

She smiled in disbelief, it was practically unimaginable that one of her friends was a member of the Grey as well, "How did you find out about me?"

"Sometimes, uncovered secrets become nothing more than myths and everyone forgets that they were really secrets to begin with. The Grey Elves of the Mist left many descendants," Luna smiled dreamily, pushing her hair behind her ears to reveal their slightly pointed tips and got to her feet, extending a hand to Ginny to help her up. "We need to change clothes."

~&~

Ginny and Luna had gone down for lunch after they had showered and changed clothes to find Ron, Harry, and Hermione waiting for them. Luna took the seat next to Hermione, Ginny sat down next to Harry and said, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. We're starting the D.A. again this year. Are you in this time?"

Luna replied immediately around her chicken, "Of course."

Ginny thought carefully and replied, "I can't."

Hermione made a noise of protest and asked, "Why not?"

"When will you meet?"

"When most of us can, just like last year."

"I can't. I'm sorry, but I just don't have time," Ginny said.

"Come on, Gin," Ron pleaded, swallowing the bite he had in his mouth. "We've been hearing things about You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters planning an attack and members of the Order have disappeared. Lots of people have gone missing or been killed, like your friend- that John guy. We have to be ready. What could be more important?"

Ginny looked up at him in surprise and said, "I knew about those in the Prophet, but who else has gone missing?"

"Moody and Hestia Jones, two nights ago," Harry said quietly, picking at his food.

"Ron, why are you so eager for me to join? You never want me to do things like this."

He sighed and rubbed his face, "Look, Ginny, you're my baby sister and I love you. I don't like the idea of you doing any kind of fighting, but the truth is...You're in danger. We all are. They've been targeting people close to the Order and Harry and the Ministry. They can't find them anywhere."

"Why didn't I know about this before?" she asked, trying to calm herself.

"We didn't want to worry you until we knew anything for sure," Hermione replied sadly, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "And- and well, we didn't want to see you crying again. You cried from March to July, almost continuously. In case you didn't notice, I've been watching you lately, trying to figure out the best time to tell you."

Ginny sat back in her seat, on the verge of tears herself. "Really? It wasn't because you think I can't handle anything?"

They shook their heads no and Ron reluctantly said, "After you helped us in the Ministry and helped us rescue those kids last year...we trust you." He glanced over at their other companion and amended, "And Luna."

At this admission, Ginny felt determination well up inside her and she said, "I'm in."

Harry smiled, "First meeting next Friday. Same place, same time. Spread the word." Ginny nodded and the topic changed quickly to more mundane matters and when they would next be going to visit Charlie, on Wednesday. After a while, her eyes began to blur and she excused herself, heading upstairs to take a nap before she had to go to the Manor for her training. She noted Sarah's soft breathing that signalled she was already asleep. It wasn't unusual anymore to find people asleep at odd hours. Harry and Ron had just told her that Dean Thomas had been in bed since yesterday afternoon. Ginny supposed that it could be compared to being ill. The only thing to do was sleep until you were better or it went away. The only problem with that was that this wasn't likely to ever go away.

As she lay back on her own bed, Ginny felt strange. The past couple of days were simply too much. The Dream Team trusted her and had actually shared some information with her, John Davies had just died, her brother was completely addled just like Narcissa Malfoy, Luna turned out to be a member of the Grey, and none of this seemed to faze her. Ginny imagined that she was operating on shock, she had heard of people who experienced trauma and walked around doing normal things like zombies for a while. Changes and unusual happenings were to be expected outside, but not here. Not with the people she had known for most of her life. It almost seemed that Ginny had been living two lives and now they were merging. She had never felt her freedom slipping away like this before. The beginning of school had always been a sort of relief, but now...She didn't want to think about it right now. Ginny closed her eyes and concentrated on falling asleep.

~&~

That afternoon, she arrived at Malfoy Manor, expecting to finally have a little order and normality restored to her life, only to have Ethan Rosier nearly run her over as he ran from the kitchen, a piece of parchment in his hands. Familiar strong arms caught her from behind as Ethan tumbled to the floor and sat up triumphantly holding the paper above his head. "What's going on here?" Draco asked, releasing Ginny once he was sure she was steady.

"He found Welshim," Ethan said, handing the parchment to Draco.

"Where?" he asked as he scanned the paper.

"France."

"You coming?"

"Absolutely. I've got a score to settle with Welshim myself."

"Um, what's going on?" Ginny tentatively asked, feeling both boys' eyes focused on her. There goes my chance to restore order and finally have something normal happen.

"Our lesson will be cancelled for today. I've got some business to attend to in France."

"Well, who's Welshim?" she asked, a little bolder.

Draco's eyes got dark and stormy and Ethan quickly replied, "He's part of the group that murdered Lucius and sent Narcissa to St. Mungo's."

Ginny's eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped as she turned to Draco, "I- I didn't know they were-were-."

"Yes, there was a reason for that," Draco glared at Ethan, who shrugged. He turned and started up the stairs, Ethan and Ginny following. They soon came to a room Ginny had never been in before, though she saw the training room through the door on one side of the room. It was an armoury and Draco began choosing weapons and handing some to Ethan.

"Um...so, what are you going to do when you get to France?" Ginny asked as Draco selected a particularly sharp-looking dagger.

"Torture, maim, possibly kill him, and then bring him back here to the super maximum security section of Azkaban to rot forever," he spoke as nonchalantly as though he were merely discussing the weather, but Ginny felt as though someone had kicked her in the stomach.

"You're not- you're not...serious?"

He gave her an odd glance and said, "Of course I am. What would you do in my place? Wait around for the Dark Lord to finally forgive them and have them come crawling back to get just what they wanted in the first place? I think not."

"I- I thought...well, I guess it doesn't matter what I thought," she sighed dejectedly.

"You're right there, Weasley," he replied as Ethan left, motioning for him to follow. Draco nodded and focused his attention back on Ginny. He was so close to her that she could feel the warmth from his body and that hitching in her chest began again. She thought perhaps he was going to kiss her again until he said, "The dirty cowards destroyed my family and I'm going to destroy them. I don't know exactly when I'll be back, but I'll owl instructions to the house elves for your training. You can't afford to lose any more time."

Ginny nodded in a kind of stupor and with a light kiss to her forehead Draco left. Ginny dropped heavily to the floor, her head full of random thoughts and questions. So that was why Narcissa was in St. Mungo's? Did they try to kill her and bungle it? Why did they kill Lucius- what were they hoping to gain? Did Malfoy already kill the others? Was he really going to kill Welshim? Why didn't I see this coming? Draco's a Death Eater. That's the only explanation. But he can't be a Death Eater; he doesn't have the Dark Mark. Did they try to kill Draco too? Why would Ethan want to torture and maim his fellow Death Eaters? Well, former fellows now, even if he was a spy like Snape. Why did it all come as such a surprise? How can he be so nonchalant about it? Malfoy's a murderer. Ethan's a murderer. And they almost had me fooled.

Her chest hurt and her breathing was uncontrollably short and difficult. She needed some air. Ginny stood and slowly made her way down to the front doors, completely shell-shocked. She was running on autopilot and didn't even realise she was crying until she heard Zacharias ask her what was wrong.

She looked at him blankly and said, "Hello, I didn't see you there."

"I've been talking to you for about five minutes now." He looked concerned.

"Really?" she asked, unaffectedly, still walking. "How odd."

"Ginny, you're starting to scare me."

She didn't respond because she didn't think she could without screaming. The tears were starting to pool in the hollow of her neck and she wiped at them disinterestedly as she led Zacharias into the Gryffindor common room. Ginny climbed the stairs to her dormitory in a kind of trance. She could hear Zacharias calling after her, but his voice was far away and unclear. She stripped down to her knickers and camisole and very carefully folded her pyjamas. Tucking them under one arm, Ginny knocked on the bathroom door.

"I'm bathing. I'll be out in a minute," one of her roommates called.

Ginny nodded silently, forgetting that the girl couldn't hear her nod and went back down the stairs. As she passed from the girls' staircase to the boys' staircase she vaguely heard Ron exclaiming, "Ginny! What in the bloody hell are you doing? Ginny?"

She paid no attention to him and trudged up the stairs to the boys' bathroom. As the taps were running, she pulled off the rest of her clothes and stepped into the practically scalding hot water. Ginny absentmindedly poured the entire bottle of her favourite bubble bath into the bathtub and simply sat there. After a long time, she noticed the water running over the edge of the bath and the large pool that covered almost the entire floor. There were so many bubbles that the large mound of them came up to her neck and she pushed through them to turn off the water. Glancing over and seeing the pool of water reflecting the light brought back so many memories that she had tried to keep buried in the deepest parts of her mind.

Everything was happening too fast. It was too much. She couldn't handle it anymore. This war was crazy, this world was crazy. She was crazy. Too many things were too unreal, too hard to believe. And too many other things were too real and too easy to believe. Nothing was how it should be, everything was mixed up. Ginny didn't know who was on what side and why it even mattered anymore. Honestly, deep down she had never really believed that Draco was evil. A prat, yes- evil, no. The people that she had thought were one way were really another and no one could be classified anymore. The room began to spin and Ginny felt the hitching of her chest once again. It was all too confusing. The world was no longer black and white. It was full of shades of grey, literally. Everything that Ginny had ever been taught and everything that she had ever taught herself was distorted and unclear. There were no more lines, everything was fuzzy.

Ginny opened her eyes and saw that everything really was fuzzy. Her eyes wouldn't focus and the room simply refused to stay still. She couldn't take it anymore. Any of it. Not Tom or Voldemort, not Harry, not Ethan, not Charlie, not John, not Luna, not Malfoy. It was too much, too fast. She couldn't cope. So, she screamed- at the top of her lungs until her voice was hoarse. Ginny screamed and screamed, no words, just noise. Somewhere behind her screaming was the sound of a person or persons banging on the door and yelling for her to open it. She didn't remember putting a charm on the door, but she must have because they couldn't open it. Still she screamed, not responding to their pleas.

She heard the yelling subside and the whispered arguments going on on the other side of the door. There were a few new voices, but she didn't really care, she just kept screaming. Unexpectedly, the door slammed open and Draco Malfoy stalked in shouting at the top of his lungs, his grey boots splashing in the pool of water, his head thrown back, and his hands balled into fists, "GINNY AILEEN WEASLEY!! YOU STOP THAT SCREAMING RIGHT NOW OR SO HELP ME MERLIN, I'LL GIVE YOU A REASON TO SCREAM!"

She stopped immediately, in complete shock, yet very grateful that she had used the entire bottle of bubble bath. Ron, Hermione, half of Gryffindor House and Zacharias squeezed in behind him and Ginny caught the glares directed at Draco's tunic-clad back. She felt the ire rising in her and shouted right back, "GET OUT! All of you! NOW! I don't have to put up with you while I'm in the middle of taking a bath. I'll scream whenever I DAMN WELL PLEASE! And as for you, Draco Lucius MALFOY, I don't even know what in the HELL you're doing here!! Aren't you supposed to be in FRANCE TORTURING, MAIMING, AND MURDERING some Death Eaters?" As soon as she said that it hit her that he was in fact disposing of Death Eaters, not normal, good, innocent people. And honestly, normal, good, innocent people wouldn't have murdered his father in the first place. Somehow, that made a lot of difference in her perception of his actions.

"ETHAN, the son of a bitch, MADE ME come here and ask YOU if you wanted to go with us because he's an idiot and thought it would be good for you to get some practical training!" Draco shouted furiously as everyone else gasped at Ginny's speech and edged slowly out into the hallway. He reached over and threw her a towel. "Now get your ass out of the damn bath and let's go! You'd better be down in the common room ready to go in twenty minutes or there'll be hell to pay!"

He turned to leave and Ginny stood, carefully concealing herself beneath the towel as she replied stubbornly, "Don't you talk to me like that Malfoy! I'll hex you into the middle of next week!"

Draco turned and glared at her, his voice chillingly soft, "Then I will kick your sorry ass on Thursday! Now move, Weasley!"

She growled in frustration as he stormed out of the room, pushing past the small knot of stunned people outside the door. "You are an insufferable bastard, Malfoy!" She gathered her pyjamas and stalked out of the bathroom, muttering to herself. "Damn, Malfoy. Damn, Rosier. Ought to hex them both, the arrogant little pricks! Assuming I want to go with them, ordering me to go with them. Disturbing me in the bath and embarrassing me, he'll pay for this one!"

Ron grabbed her arm as she went past him and said, "Ginny. I refuse to allow you to go anywhere with him. Especially not to France to murder people. What are you thinking? Have you gone mad? Are you ill? What has he done to you?" He looked concerned and a little angry and Ginny was infuriated further.

She looked at his hand on her arm in incredulous anger and smacked it away, "I am neither mad nor ill and if I were, it wouldn't be any of your concern! I wasn't planning on going anyway, but now I am. How dare you tell me what to do! You're my brother, Ron. NOT my father! I will go wherever I want, whenever I want, with whomever I want! And there's not a damn thing you can do about it, do you understand me?"

Ginny threw her hands up in the air and said to nobody as she walked off, "I can't believe this! They're all ordering me around like I'm some kind of child. First Malfoy, now Ron. Who's next? Dobby? This is utterly unbelievable. Where are the twins when you need them? I can't get a moment's peace in this place. Maybe it's good I'm being forced to go away. If I stay here, I'll have a nervous breakdown before the day is through. Hell, I'll probably have one anyway!"

She reached her room and pulled on her tunic, grey trousers, and boots, stuffing her grey robe into her knapsack, muttering to herself all the while. She threw in two extra sets of clothes, a cloak and blanket, her grey book and a quill and ink, her sword, other various necessities, and grabbed her broom from under her bed. Hastily, she wrote a letter to her mother telling her where she was going. She grabbed her things and stomped down the stairs. Roughly brushing past Ron, she stood in front of Draco and said, "Alright. Let's go."

He nodded and Ron burst out, "Ginny! You can't go! This is Malfoy!"

She glared at him, "Yes, I'm perfectly aware of who he is. And I'm only going to spite you, so shut it!"

Hermione spoke up, "Ginny, please listen to reason. Malfoy, why are you doing this? Let her alone, it's obvious she's ill. Or have you put a spell on her? She's even wearing the same thing you are. This is too suspicious, Malfoy."

Draco eyed Hermione carefully and said, "It's her decision. But you'd better make it quick. Tonks and Ethan are waiting."

"Tonks is coming?" Ginny asked, receiving a nod from Draco. "Then I'm in. I've never been to France."

"We should hex him right now and be done with it," Hermione said.

"You can't go. You have to answer to Dumbledore. He's not going to let you go with Malfoy," Ron said, crossing his arms and looking rather smug. Zacharias had not made any reply, but she caught the looks the three and the rest of the students gave each other at that. All of them were looking exceedingly self-satisfied and it was beginning to make her angry again.

Ginny looked at Draco, an obvious question in her eyes. "Already done," he answered, knowing what she was asking. "I even owled your mum."

She turned to the people behind her and said, "Goodbye. I'll see you in a few days."

She started to follow Draco out the portrait hole when Zacharias stopped her, "Please, Gin. Don't do this, you're only going to get in trouble. That prick's not worth it."

Ginny gazed at him quizzically, "I'm not doing this for him. I can take care of myself."

Malfoy interrupted, "Look, are you coming or not? I don't have time for this."

Ginny looked from Malfoy to Zacharias and her brother and Hermione and back again. Her mind was made up; she was breaking free- if only for a few days. School had begun again and Ginny was only more confined to Hogwarts and kept more in the dark about what was happening to the wizarding world. She was tired of worrying, crying, not knowing. She was angry with the Dream Team for always knowing everything and professing to be great friends with her, but not telling her anything important or useful. She was bored with Zacharias and his tendencies to be a pushover and overly sensitive. She was completely dissatisfied with herself, her life, and practically everyone in it right now. Ginny needed a break or she felt she really was going to have a nervous breakdown. If it meant going halfway around the world with Malfoy and torturing, maiming, and possibly murdering some Death Eaters to get a little adventure and forget about her worries and what was going on elsewhere and be treated like a competent adult witch for a while, then so be it.

"I'm going. I'm sorry, but I can't stay here right now."

"Then we're going with you," Ron called.

"You most certainly are not. Goodbye," Ginny closed the portrait hole and locked it with the spell she used on her trunk. She turned to Draco and said, "That should hold them until Dumbledore or one of the house-elves comes along. Let's go."