Terminus Est

Ron was angry. He was so angry that he barely noticed Nott put a Binding Charm on him. He gave Malfoy a deadly glare as the blonde boy smirked at him.

He should have known. Harry should have known, and Ginny should have known. Hermione should have known, she thought she was so smart. They had all been stupid, trusting this son of a Death Eater. Why had they so readily believed that Malfoy had changed?

Malfoy had fooled them all, biding his time until he could turn them in.

One thing still bothered Ron. When he had beat up Malfoy at Grimmauld Place, Malfoy hadn't fought back. Why hadn't he fought back? Ron would have thought he'd relish the opportunity to hit a Weasley.

Malfoy had acted different during his stay at Headquarters. He smiled instead of smirked, laughed happily instead of derisively, and didn't seem to hate everyone so much. Even in his fury, Ron had to acknowledge the completeness of his acting. He had pulled the wool over all of their eyes, and was now standing before the angry boy, triumphant in his moment of glory.

As Nott lead him away, he kept his back to Malfoy, refusing to let the other boy see his pain. Not physical pain, but mental pain. Now what would happen to Ginny? They'd never get themselves out, much less her also. It was all for naught, they had been betrayed.

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

Ron was angry with him, he could tell.

Draco smirked all the more. If Ron believed his act, then certainly the half-brained Nott would be fooled. He hated to do this to Ron, but it was necessary for all of their sakes. They would never rescue Ginny if they were both imprisoned.

As Nott turned the corner, delighted with his prize, Draco turned the other direction. Stupid git didn't even think to ask Draco what he'd been doing in the dungeons. No wonder the Dark Lord's forces were dwindling. If they were all as incompetent as Nott, it came as no surprise that the Order had been able to outsmart them.

Now the only thing standing in his way was his own ignorance. He had no idea which cell Ginny was in. He supposed he'd just have to open them all.

"Alohomora," he muttered, pointing his wand at the nearest cell. The door sprang open, and he looked inside. Empty.

The next one was empty, as was the one after that. They were all empty, all the way down the corridor. Draco figured that he had wasted at least ten minutes. He turned the corner, continuing to open the cells as he passed.

He had no luck with the entire corridor, and quickly reached the end of it.

"Alohomora," he said half-heartedly, pointing to the second to last cell. He was already thinking of walking the other direction, where Nott had taken Ron.

He gave the cell a cursory glance, not expecting to see anyone. But his eyes were captured by a dark bump along the far wall. The dark bump was looking at him with wide brown eyes.

"Ginny?"

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Ron was laughing to himself as Nott lead him along. He quickly sized the Death Eater up, and realized that the Nott was rather on the short side. Nott was also out of shape, as evidenced by his wheezing. If he couldn't walk the length of two corridors without getting out of breath, there was no way he could take on a physically fit teenage boy.

Ron stopped suddenly. Feeling the line from the Binding Charm go taut, Nott turned to his captive, his wand held loosely at his side. That was his mistake.

Ron kicked the wand out of Nott's hand, sending it soaring down the corridor. He then kicked Nott's feet out from under him, causing the man to crash to the floor. His head hit the floor with a resounding 'Thunk.'

Ron stood over Nott, his arms still bound to his sides. Yes, the man was unconscious. He might even be brain damaged, but Ron didn't care. He sank to his knees, and fished his wand out of Nott's robes by maneuvering the trunk of his body over the unconscious man.

He muttered the counter curse to the Binding Charm, and the ropes vanished. He took Ginny's wand from the man too, planning on giving it to her after he soundly thrashed Malfoy. Hell, thrashing was too good for the son of a bitch. Ron was going to beat him senseless, tie him up and leave him for the rats.

With that happy thought, the red-headed boy rushed down the corridor in search of his sister, hoping he could get to her before Malfoy did.

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

Ginny refused to hope. When she heard the alarms go off, she refused to think that it may be her rescue party. They'd have to be mad to attempt such a thing, anyways.

Before the alarms went off, she had been searching her room for a way out. A crack in the stone, a loose bar on the window, anything. There had been nothing so far. After the alarms went off, she was too nervous to do more than sit against the wall and hope.

She had promised herself she wouldn't hope. But it was pointless to promise, and she was filled with the hope that someone may come and rescue her. Then she got mad. As if she needed someone to come rescue her! She was perfectly capable of rescuing herself.

Except she wasn't so good at rescuing herself, said a little voice in the back of her mind. She was still stuck in this cell, wasn't she? That stupid voice sounded a lot like Hermione.

Okay, Ginny admitted that she might need a little help. Preferably in the form of someone tall, blonde and...where had that thought come from? She would take help in any form.

She still didn't remember what happened, but it was coming back to her in short little bursts. The face of a Death Eater. An evil laugh. Then blackness. The blackness surrounded her, consumed her. She shuddered, and pushed those thoughts away.

From what she had been able to piece together, she had been surprised by a Death Eater as she sat outside Grimmauld Place. He had taunted her, then knocked her unconscious before she could scream. And here she was.

C'mon, she thought desperately. The alarms stopped ages ago. Come and get me!

But then a thought struck her. What if they had been captured? "They" being her rescue party. Now they were all trapped in here, and maybe Harry was with them. Voldemort would kill Harry the first chance he got. It was too much to hope that Harry had stayed at Grimmauld Place. He wouldn't stay put, not with one of his friends kidnapped and possibly dead.

Ginny held on to her hope like a lifeline. Without it, she would drown in the sea of worry and despair. It could have been a distraction; they could be on their way right now. They could come through that door at any moment.

As if on cue, her cell door sprang open. In the doorway stood Draco Malfoy, his hair mussed, his clothes torn slightly, and a worried look on his face. He didn't see her at first, his eyes scanning the room. The relief was evident on his face when he spotted her.

"Ginny?" he said.

Her name, one word, yet he managed to convey worry, fear, surprise, relief, and something else she didn't want to name. She nodded her head, not trusting herself to speak. She was afraid that this was a dream, and if she spoke, she'd wake up. She didn't want to wake up.

"Ginny!" Malfoy exclaimed, walking swiftly across her cell. "Ginny, are you okay? Is anything broken? Did they hurt you? Can you walk? Can you speak? Ginny, talk to me!"

She almost laughed at his fretting. He reminded her irresistibly of her mother.

"I'm fine, nothing's broken, they didn't hurt me, I can walk," she said in a rush. "Did I cover everything?"

He chuckled lightly. "Gin-girl, we've been tearing our hair out over you."

She gasped. "Not your beautiful hair?!" she cried in mock horror. "How could you, Draco?"

He laughed again, and she decided that she loved his laugh. But then, she figured she'd love Mundungus Fletcher's laugh if he came and rescued her from a dark, scary dungeon.

Suddenly, Draco's laughter died on his lips. He seized her in a huge hug, and gripped her so tightly that she could barely breathe. She could tell this was a comfort hug. He needed to know she was really there, and that she was okay. She understood, and hugged him back tightly.

He murmured something into her hair, but the words were muffled, and she didn't quite hear him.

"What was that?" she asked.

He pulled away from her, his smile firmly in place again. "I said we had better go," he said.

She knew that wasn't what he had said, but she was in no mood to argue. She was free! Well, as soon as they got out of here, she would be.

"Where's everyone else?" she asked, abruptly coming back to reality. Draco wouldn't have come to rescue her alone. The others wouldn't have let him.

An odd look passed over his face. "Harry, Hermione and Blaise are causing a distraction."

"And Ron?" she asked.

"That's the one problem," Draco sighed heavily. "You see, I--"

"You turned me over to that incompetent Death Eater, you traitor!" cried Ron from the doorway.

He had his wand raised, pointed directly at the middle of Draco's chest.

"Weasley," Draco said, raising his hands in an appeasing manner. "You don't understand."

"I understand perfectly," Ron spat out. "You betrayed us all. Tell me, Malfoy, what would you have done to Ginny if I hadn't shown up?"

Betrayed? What was Ron talking about? Draco didn't betray anyone, he came to rescue her. At least, Ginny thought he came to rescue her. Although, Draco's guilty look was somewhat damning.

"Weasley," Draco said again, this time sounding slightly irritated. He threw his wand away, and it clattered loudly on the stone floor. "Look," Draco continued. "You're armed, and I'm not. Now will you listen to me?"

"Like hell, Malfoy," Ron said, throwing his wand, and another wand she recognized as hers, onto the ground. Then he jumped on Draco, lashing out with his fists.

Draco fought back, using his fists to pummel Ron repeatedly in the gut and face. Ron continued to punch any part of Draco he could reach, looking like he didn't particularly care where his blows landed.

Ginny ran over and scooped up all three wands, and put them in her pocket.

"Hey!" she shouted. Neither of them listened to her. "Boys!" she tried again, with the same result.

They were making an awful lot of noise. The three of them were sure to be caught, and she didn't want that to happen. Not when she had been so close to freedom.

So she raised her wand, and pointed it at the tumbling mass that was her brother and her...boyfriend? Friend? The bloody love of her life? She didn't have time to sort out her relationship with Draco, there were more important things to do.

"Stupefy! Stupefy!" she shouted. Both boys froze. Thank you, Harry and the D.A.

She walked over to them, dragged Ron off of Malfoy, and put herself in between the two boys. They wouldn't fight with her in the middle, she just knew it.

"Ennervate, ennervate," she muttered. Both boys opened their eyes, looking slightly confused.

Ron started to speak, but Ginny cut him off. "Listen," she said angrily. The blonde boy and the red-head both stared at her. "I don't want you two to fight. We've got more important things to worry about. But I do want to know what's going on. If someone doesn't tell me right now, I'll do something drastic."

Draco spoke before Ron could start. "Ron and I were coming to get you. We ran into a Death Eater. Thinking quickly, I surmised that Nott was no match for Ron, and therefore pretended to turn Ron over to him. If I hadn't done it, our cover would have been blown, Nott would have gotten help, and we'd both be in cells instead of rescuing you."

Ginny looked at him. She believed him, but she wasn't sure if Ron did.

"Okay," Ron said, "that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. He betrayed us, Ginny! He would have given Harry to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named if he'd had the opportunity!"

Draco looked stunned at this accusation. "I would not have!" he exclaimed angrily. "I would never do anything of the sort! I knew that Nott would be no match for you, that's the only reason I let him take you away!"

Ron looked slightly convinced, but still doubtful. Ginny rolled her eyes, then turned to Draco.

"Draco," she said, looking him squarely in the eye. "Are you telling the truth?"

He met her gaze, a serious look on his face. "Yes."

That was all she needed. She could see no lie in his eyes. She trusted him.

"He's telling the truth, Ron," she said.

"Yeah, whatever," Ron said. "You only say that because you've been snogging him all over the place."

"No comment," Ginny replied breezily. She walked out of the cell without another word. They didn't follow her. She poked her head back into the room to see them glaring at each other.

"Honestly, you two," she sighed. "Harry, Hermione and Blaise! We've got to find them, remember?"

"No," Draco said, turning to look at her. "We're supposed to meet them back outside."

A loud scream echoed through the castle.

"Hermione!" Ron cried.

"Damn," said Draco vehemently.

They rushed out of the room.

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Damn, damn, damn. Leave it to Harry Potter to screw things up. Can't even have him trip an alarm without getting caught. Idiot Gryffindor.

Draco rushed down the hall, following the Weasleys. They stopped at the end of the corridor, and turned to Draco.

"Which way?" said Ron, a note of anguish in his voice.

"What would you two do without me?" Draco muttered, running down the left-hand hallway.

He led them towards the courtyard. With any luck, that's where the Death Eaters would take Harry, Hermione and Blaise.

Luck was with them today. Draco looked out one of the grimy windows to see the three teenagers, surrounded by Death Eaters. What was that box, though? He squinted through the dirty glass and swore under his breath. Maybe luck wasn't with them, after all.

"Bugger!" he muttered fervently.

Ron and Ginny looked at him askance. "What?" Ginny asked.

"It's the bloody Chest of Set," he replied.

"The chest of what?" Ron said.

But any explanation was halted by the sound of a cold, cruel voice.

"Lock them up," said Lord Voldemort.

Draco, Ginny and Ron gasped in unison.

"But, my Lord," said Avery, who had a rough hold of Harry. "Why not just kill the boy and be done with it?"

"You know the powers of the Chest of Set," said Voldemort. "We need the other boy."

"The Malfoy child?" asked Goyle.

"Yes, Goyle," said Voldemort, in a voice that made Draco's blood run cold. "The Malfoy child."