Terminus Est

Ginny struggled against the ropes that held her. Her hands and feet were tied, and she was cold and uncomfortable. She was lying in a damp cell, with no memory of how she got there. All she knew was that she didn't like being tied up. As she fought her physical bonds, she fought the bonds of her memory. What had happened?

She looked around the cell, hoping to find a clue as to her whereabouts. The last thing she remembered was storming out of the door and hiding around the corner of the house. Draco had been up in Blaise's room, and she had been furious. But that was where her memory stopped.

The cell was dank and dark, reminiscent of a 15^th century dungeon. The stone was fused as if by magic, which, Ginny reminded herself, it probably was. The walls and ceiling were joined together to create a seamless stone prison. She didn't know if she could escape from such a place. They had taken her wand; all she had to work with was her brain. She didn't even have her hands, as they were tied behind her back. How would she ever get out of this cell, even if she managed to loosen the ropes that bound her?

She renewed her struggles with fierce determination, knowing that she had to try.

-----------------------

Draco was exploding with worry. He hadn't noticed the absence of adults at Grimmauld Place until now. Tonks and Lupin had left while he was in Blaise's room, and there were no other adults. Even Fred and George Weasley would have been a welcome addition.

Hermione kept saying that they should wait for someone to come to Headquarters. That they were just a bunch of kids, and didn't know what to do. Draco wondered how she could be so collected. She and Blaise had been trying for the last two hours to calm the three boys down. They weren't having much of an effect.

Harry kept saying that it was his fault she was gone. That Voldemort was using Ginny to get to him, and he should go get her. His nauseating heroism was starting to get on Draco's nerves.

Ron was pacing the floor, alternating between moody silence and shouts of "We should be doing something!" Draco knew that his own worry was nothing compared to Ron's anguish. He could imagine the boy's torment, not knowing where his sister was. Not even knowing whether she was alive or not. He winced at the thought of Ginny dying; he refused to believe it was true.

Draco was going out of his mind. The need to act was too strong. He wasn't the type to sit idly while waiting for instruction. Neither were Harry and Ron, but they were past rational thought at the moment.

Draco abruptly stood from the table, causing everyone to visibly flinch, before turning to him, their drawn faces reflecting the past two hours of worried uncertainty.

"We've got to do something," he stated.

To no one's surprise, Ron was the first to agree. "Absolutely," he said. "But what exactly are we going to do?"

Blaise spoke up. "We're going to go get Ginny, of course."

Draco looked at her in astonishment. She thought they were going to march up to the Death Eater's fortress, knock on the door and say, "Yes, we'd like our hostage back now, if you don't mind?" That would go over well.

"Draco," she continued, seeing his incredulous look. "We know where they are, we can get in."

"Wait one second," Harry said suspiciously. "How do you know where they are?"

Draco and Blaise both rolled their eyes. "Are you kidding?" Draco asked him. "Our parents are Death Eaters, Potter! Of course we know about their super secret fortress." He adopted a high, feminine voice, mimicking his mother. "'Draco, darling! Run these top secret plans up to Daddy, would you?'"

Blaise added her own piece. "'Blaise, sweetums, your father forgot his blueprints. Would you mind taking them up to the fortress?'"

"So you see," Draco continued, this time in his normal voice, "we can get us in. We can navigate the place pretty well too. But I am drawing a blank on any plans to get Ginny out of there."

"Well," Harry said, taking charge as Draco knew he would. "We need to know where they're keeping her, first off."

"In the dungeon," Blaise replied promptly. "Guarded by one or another of the incompetents. We can almost count on the fact that they'll underestimate Ginny. They'll think she's a low security case, that she doesn't need to be watched closely. That'll make it easy for us."

"But," Draco said, "they have all sorts of magical wards around the cells. I don't think there's any way around them."

"We'll find a way," Harry said. Draco was sort of starting to admire his nauseating heroism.

"I've got it!" Blaise exclaimed. Everyone looked at her expectantly.

"Here's the thing," she said, "the flaw in the master plan. The wards set off an alarm, but they don't let you know where the intrusion is."

Hermione looked excited. "So," she said, "all we'd have to do is cause a distraction in another part of the fortress and set off the wards there...."

"And make a lot of noise so the Death Eaters come running, leaving the way to Ginny free," Blaise finished.

"But, what happens to the people who cause the distraction?" asked Harry.

"They run really fast," Hermione said. Everyone looked at her in astonishment.

"That's it?" Ron said skeptically. "Your entire plan is 'run really fast'?"

"What?" she said. "It's not like we have a better idea."

"Well," Ron said, "if that's the plan, what are we waiting for?"

"Who's going to go get Ginny?" Harry asked.

"Me, of course," Ron said. "And you, Harry. You three," he pointed at Blaise, Hermione and Draco, "are going to cause the distraction."

"Bullshit," Draco said. "I'm not going to 'cause a distraction' while you two muck things up!"

"What do you mean, muck things up?" Ron said angrily. "You think I can't take care of my own sister?"

"What I think," Draco said, "is that I should go get Ginny."

"Alone?" Harry said, raising his eyebrows at Draco.

"No," Draco replied. "With you."

"Bull!" Ron cried. "I'm not going to sit around while you two rescue my little sister!"

"Fine!" Hermione said loudly. "Harry, you come with us. Ron, Draco, you two go rescue Ginny!"

Blaise rolled her eyes. "Boys," she said.

Hermione nodded her head. "Boys," she agreed.

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Ginny had finally gotten free of her ropes. She continued to lie there, mainly because she had no feeling in her lower limbs. Someone had tied her ropes so tight they had cut off her circulation.

She almost remembered what had happened. It was like reaching for an idea that just barely touches your conscious thoughts. Her subconscious knew what had happened, and she searched the corners of her mind for the information that eluded her. She could almost...reach it....

Ouch. She could feel the circulation coming back now. It hurt. Damn them to hell, whoever they are.

As soon as her limbs stopped shooting knives of pain through her nerves, she'd get up and look around.

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After taking the Knight Bus to within two miles of their destination, the five teenagers crept up the hill to the Death Eater fortress.

Draco thought it was quite ironic for him to be teaming up with the Dream Team against the Death Eaters. He had changed so much in the past week that he barely knew himself.

Harry gave Ron the Invisibility Cloak. "Good luck, mate," Harry said. "You too, Draco."

Draco and Ron nodded their heads. "And you too," Draco said.

"Yeah," said Ron. "Run fast, guys."

Everyone smiled. Hermione ran up and gave Ron an enthusiastic hug.

"If you get yourself hurt," she said, "I'll find you, rescue you, and then kill you."

"Right," Ron said.

"Let's go," Draco said. "We'll wait for the signal."

Everyone nodded. Without another word, they split up. Ron and Draco put on the Invisibility Cloak, and Harry, Hermione and Blaise ran off in the opposite direction.

Draco and Ron made their way up to the castle. They quickly found the side door, and stood quietly beside it while they waited for the signal.

Well, maybe not too quietly.

"You're standing on my foot, Malfoy," Ron said irritably.

"Well, your breath smells, Weasley," Draco replied.

"Could you not stand so close?" Ron asked. "I don't like you like that, mate."

"Shove it, Weasley," Draco said.

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Harry, Hermione and Blaise ran up the hill. They thought it best to sneak in, being quiet until they hit one of the wards. If they went charging in recklessly, the Death Eaters would suspect a ruse.

Harry crept through the door, Hermione and Blaise following silently. Harry thought he heard voices. He turned to the girls with a quizzical expression, and they both nodded. They had heard the voices too. Harry followed the sound until it suddenly began growing fainter. He turned back around and retraced his steps, until the noise level increased again.

He looked around to find the source of the sounds. He found himself staring out a window. Outside, in a large courtyard, there were black-cloaked figures standing around something. He couldn't make out what the something was through the dirty window, but he was willing to bet it was important.

He motioned to Hermione and Blaise to follow him. He walked down the hall until he found a set of stairs. He made his way up the stairs, listening intently for any sound indicating their discovery. He came to the top of the stairs, and looked at his surroundings.

They were in a large room, furnished richly in velvet tapestries and elegant furniture. As he had hoped, there were large windows in the walls. He made his way over to one, Hermione and Blaise following closely behind.

They clustered around a window, through which they had a clear view of the courtyard below. Harry could now see what the Death Eaters were surrounding. The "important" item was a box. It was an unremarkable looking box, although it was rather large. It was about as high as Harry's waist, and as big a-round as one of the tables in the Gryffindor common room.

Hermione must have recognized it though, because she gave a short gasp. Harry and Blaise turned to her, expecting her to tell them what the box was. They barely had time to register her shocked look before Blaise put her hand on the windowsill.

The alarms went off.

-----------------

Their bickering was stopped by a loud wailing noise. Draco immediately forgot about fighting with Ron.

"That's the alarm," Draco said.

"No shit, Sherlock," Ron replied snidely.

As if on cue, both of them fell silent and moved forward. As they snuck in the door, there was a barely noticeable increase in the pitch of the alarm. They walked silently down the hallway, Draco in the lead.

He turned into the dungeons, his heart beating fast. They were going to get Ginny back; everything was going to be okay. That is, if the other three ran fast enough.

There they were, the seamless stone cells. Draco reached for his wand, but before he could utter Alohomora, someone appeared.

It was Nott, Theodore's father. Draco was surprised, until he realized that the Invisibility Cloak had slipped off of him in his hurry. He turned around to see Ron holding the cloak, looking dumbfounded.

"Well," Nott said, looking at Draco with a strange gleam in his eye. "If it isn't the little deserter."

Bugger.

"Deserter?" he said. "What do you mean, Nott? I was undercover."

Nott and Ron gave him identical looks of astonishment.

"Honestly," Draco continued, "did you think I wanted to live with Potter, the weasels, the traitor, and the Mudblood?"

Now Ron's look had changed into one of anger. Draco turned his back on Ron; his old haughty sneer finding it's way back into his voice.

"I've just come to deliver another Weasel."