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The next morning Mr. And Mrs. Weasley arrived at Hogwarts and immediately Mrs. Weasley wrapped both her children up in her arms. She cried when she saw Ginny's face, she saw how broken she was already. She held Ginny in her arms for what seemed like hours just whispering that everything would be ok in her ear. Ginny sobbed in her mother's arms, she forgot what it was like to let her emotions out and to have her mother hold her. She hadn't let any emotions out to her parents since the final battle, of course a sob here and there, but to just release everything finally made her feel a bit lighter.

Later that day Mr. And Mrs. Weasley stayed for dinner and we're speaking with McGonagall at the head table.

“Minerva, we know Hogwarts is safe, we wouldn't dream of pulling Ginny or Ron out, this matter was different. They need to be here, I think it's good they get out of the Burrow, especially Ginny” Molly said after giving the Headmistress a friendly hug.

“Oh, thank you Molly, it is just sad to see more students leave after we have only just been open a few days. We are down to under 100 students now,” she sighed shaking her head. “Albus would be so disappointed.”

“Nonsense Minerva, he would be glad that the school is opened again to the students and I'm sure things will blow over and the school will be full of life by next year again. There are just a few hiccups we need to work through.” Arthur said patting McGonagall on the hand.

McGonagall noticed Draco walking into dinner and watched him take a seat, she turned her gaze to Mr. And Mrs. Weasley. “I need to figure out what to do with Draco, Lucius is sure to strike at any time after his son's betrayal, there's only so much I can do to try and protect him until the holiday break comes, then who knows what will happen.”

Draco wasn't aware of how much his name was being thrown around between the Order members, after he stood against his father and Voldemort during the final battle it was clear he wanted out of the death eater role, but when he went back to his father's side out of fear they still questioned where his loyalties lay. McGonagall backed Draco up and she knew Dumbledore would have also and she was surer now than ever that he could be trusted after he stood up for Ginny Weasley. They just needed a place to have him stay that was safe enough where Lucius would have trouble finding him. Lucius wanted Draco dead just as much as Harry because of his betrayal. It was more of a personal vendetta now. He would destroy anything in Draco's life that brought him any satisfaction or joy in any way. Lucius wanted his son to suffer before he ended his life.

Molly and Arthur looked at each other and exchanged an understanding look. “Minerva no worries, Draco can stay with us during the holidays at the Burrow, we have more advanced wards up this time, so he would be well protected I assure you” Arthur said.

McGonagall couldn't help the small smirk that came to her face, “That would be a great idea, except making him agree to do that is another story, I suppose we will address is when the time comes” she smiled at them.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley said their goodbyes to everyone and headed back to the Burrow. Ginny and the trio walked back to Gryffindor tower and turned in for the night, hoping that the next day would be better than the previous few days.

_______________________________________________________________________

Classes were cancelled again the next day as the one hall was being repaired from the attack the other day and some parents that were informed of what occurred immediately withdrew their kids from the school saying it was too dangerous. The Great Hall during this morning's breakfast was the barest that Ginny had ever seen. She glanced at the Slytherin table and noticed about seven students altogether not counting Draco who wasn't there. She sighed and looked down at her food just pushing her eggs around.

“Ginny you need to try to eat something” Hermione said in a caring tone.

“Yeah, I know Hermione!” she snapped.

Hermione looked taken aback and Ginny felt bad at the way she acted, “I'm sorry, Hermione, I didn't mean to snap, I've just got a lot on my mind, I know you're just looking out for me” she said looking over at the Slytherin table again.

Harry put his arm around her and rubbed her back “its ok Gin we understand”

Ginny's body tensed up and squirmed away from Harry's arm and slid down a bit away from him, “DON'T TOUCH ME!” she said loudly.

Harry looked like he had been kicked in the gut with the look of hurt that was planted on his face. Ginny immediately felt horrible about how she just acted. “I'm sorry, I just can't...............I'm going to take a walk” she quickly said and took off out of the Great Hall.

“I should've known better" Harry said to himself.

“Oh Harry, don't beat yourself up over that, she's just really sensitive right now” Hermione said

He gave a small nod and they finished their breakfast and then Hermione took off to the library while Harry and Ron went to pay Hagrid a visit.

______________________________________________________________

Ginny walked down the hallways of Hogwarts noticing how bare they were. She didn't know why, but she felt so annoyed, so lost, she didn't know what to do with herself. She felt like everyone was staring at her still, like they could see through her clothes; thinking she was some slut begging for attention. She felt dirty, she was showering twice a day because she couldn't get the dirty feeling off of her. Every time she closed her eyes she could see Warren's blood all over her and then she would have nightmares reliving the whole ordeal.

She was lost in her thoughts and turned a corner and slammed into a seventh yeah Slytherin. He glared at her and Ginny's body froze in place, “Watch where you're going Weasley!” He spat. She just kept staring at him, scared that something bad was going to happen any moment.

“Well?” he said, sounding annoyed.

She just continued to stare at him, her eyes wide. He rolled his eyes and pushed past her mumbling “Stupid bitch”. Ginny ran down the hall and around a corner and stopped and leaned her head back against the wall. Her breathing was heavy, her heart racing, she was gasping for air. She started crying and slid down the wall into a ball just sobbing. She was sick of feeling scared, she felt like the walls were closing in on her, like at any moment someone was going to reach out and grab her. She felt so vulnerable; she didn't know how she would ever feel safe again.

“Ginny? Are you alright?”

Ginny looked up to see Luna standing in front of her. Ginny nodded, she wished Luna would go away. She didn't want to talk about what happened to her or what it was that was making her feel this way. She also didn't feel like lying either she just wanted to cry here without people asking her every few seconds if she was ok. No, of course she wasn't. She knew Luna didn't know any of this and felt bad for being so distant.

“Yeah, Luna, I got to go” She said getting up and walking quickly in any direction that was away from people.

She didn't know why she was walking down to the dungeons, something in her mind told her to go there. She didn't know why she was getting ready to knock on his door. She hadn't spoken to him since before Warren attacked her. Her mind went back to that day when Draco was wiping her face and hands off using his robes. The way he told her it was going to be ok, the day he took down those three Slytherins, she felt safe, and she felt protected. She knocked rapidly on his door and then again and again. He opened the door and was surprised to see her standing there. Her eyes filled with tears as she walked into his room without a word. He closed the door and turned to see her sitting on the couch in front of the fire he had just started. He walked over to her and sat down on a nearby chair. There was silence for a few moments.

“Where have you been? Why haven't you been to breakfast? Why haven't you spoken to any of us? Or to me?” she asked suddenly sounding hurt.

Draco was taken aback at the slew of questions she demanded answers to. He didn't know what to say.

“Why does it matter?”

She looked at him, a tear slid down her cheek, “I don't know.”

“Weasley, why are you here exactly?” he sighed with annoyance.

Ginny looked at him again, her expression turned to confusion, “Why are you being like this?”

“Like what?” He asked, although he knew what she meant.

“Like we all weren't just attacked by Death Eaters the other day,” she said with more anger.

“What do you want from me? What are you looking for? It was just another day right? It's over with, we did what we had to do and now things go back to normal,” he said making it seem so simple.

Ginny felt a fresh wave of tears come to her eyes, she felt abandoned suddenly. Why was Draco completely shutting her out? She knew they weren't friends or anything but she thought he would at least be civil to her and now he was just being mean.

“Well, it wasn't just another day for me, and right now, I don't know what normal feels like anymore” she cried looking down towards the floor.

Draco felt horrible how he just acted towards her. The last time he was face to face with her was when he was cleaning her attacker's blood off of her face and hands. He realized then that Ginny wasn't just dealing with the assault against her, but that she had killed a man.

They sat there in silence for a few more moments, just hearing the crackling of fire and the occasional pop of it. Ginny gave a few more sniffles and wiped a few more tears away and her breathing started to slow down.

“The bruise, it was from my father” Draco whispered suddenly, looking into the fire.

“What?” Ginny asked, scooting a little closer to better hear him.

Draco turned to look at her, “On the train, the bruise on my ribs, it was from my Father.”

Ginny gave a small nod to show her understanding, her eyes moved down to his hand where she once saw it bandaged. He followed her eyes to his hand. “That was from me hitting things that I shouldn't” he smirked at her and she gave a small smile back.

She then caught sight of a large cut on Draco's wrist. She furrowed her eyebrows, wondering more to herself what happened, but wouldn't ask. He looked at her, he saw her eyeing him, and he mentally cursed at himself for wearing a T-shirt.

“It was me,” he barely whispered, “And this,” he added, bringing his fingers up to the small cut on his neck.

Ginny didn't have to ask him to elaborate; she knew exactly what he meant. She went over and kneeled down in front of him and their eyes locked. She slowly pulled up the sleeve of her shirt baring her forearm to him. He turned his gaze from her eyes to her pale arm where he saw very faint pink scars. He unknowingly realized he was tracing his fingers over them. Ginny felt an explosion of butterflies in her stomach as he gentle touched her arm and her body was instantly covered in goose bumps. Draco sensed this and took his hand away and cleared his throat.

“Um, uh, I should get dressed and show my face for lunch I suppose” he said quickly getting up. Ginny stood up as well with a pink tint to her face.

“Yeah, so I guess I'll see you around,” she said walking towards the door

“Yeah, I guess so.”

She opened the door to leave and turned around to face him. She opened her mouth a few times to try and speak, but finally managed something to come out. “Draco?”

“Yeah,” he said, turning back to face her.

“Thank you”

“Thank you? For what?” he asked.

Ginny didn't know why her mouth was talking when she didn't tell it to; all she knew was that for some reason everything she seemed to be thinking was falling out of her mouth.

“I'm scared ok? That's why I'm here and I don't know why, but you make me feel safe. I came here because I keep thinking that at any moment I'm going to be attacked or something and I panicked and I know you probably hate me for telling you this right now but I just don't know what else to do or say. I'm scared to be alone, I'm scared to walk through these halls without someone with me, I...........I......I'm sorry” she said and then quickly turned and left.

Draco just stood there for a moment, letting the words sink in. He couldn't help the smile that formed on his lips. An actual genuine smile and then as soon as it appeared it faded away. He couldn't let himself feel anything; there was no debating on this it's how things needed to be.

_________________________________________________________________________

The next few weeks went by in what seemed like a blur. After that day that Ginny went to Draco and confessed her thoughts of feeling safe when he was around she kept her distance from him. She felt awkward and from the sneer and blank expression he wore around the school every day she could tell it annoyed him more than anything. She felt like such a baby, why would she have said that to him? Now she probably looked like she couldn't take care of herself. Ginny eventually was able to get into some kind of normal life again and her fears of walking around the castle had soon diminished. She was feeling like her mind was finally giving her a break from the waves of emotions and thoughts that constantly cluttered it.

One thing that wouldn't seem to ever leave Ginny's thoughts was Draco. She didn't know why she was so intrigued by him. She thought it was because of the poor position he was in. She felt herself always wanting to know more about him, to be able to peel the layers back that he hid under. She could tell when he had endured some type of punishment from his father. He wouldn't show up for breakfast or would not show up to class. One time she didn't see him for almost an entire day and contemplated if she should check on him. She decided not to, mostly because she was still trying to figure out why she was so concerned with what was happening with him. To her relief she saw he had attended dinner that evening looking horrid. Her heart sank a bit at the sight of him.

Classes had presumed and a new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher took over, which happened to be a good friend of Professor Lupin's. He reminded Ginny a lot of Lupin also; he was friendly and had a great way about him that actually got you excited to come to class. His name was Professor Croxley and he had a warm smile and you could tell he had his students' best interests at heart. Today in class they were learning about the Hauriendum spell. The spell allowed you to absorb the effects of certain dark magic. It levels out the full effect of the curse or spell into the two people. The Hauriendum spell was only meant to be between two people at a time and once you performed the spell on someone you couldn't perform it again on the same person, it had to be a different person who took the place of the absorber.

“Alright everyone class is dismissed have a Happy Halloween and enjoy your Hogsmeade trip this weekend” Professor Croxley called out to his students.

They all shuffled out of the classroom and started heading to Transfiguration, where Professor Talca stood at the head of the class greeting all the students as they came in. The investigation on Talca came back to be that reputable sources had put her forth for the teaching position. The case regarding Warren was still underway.

“Hello students, welcome, welcome, nice to see you all again” Professor Talca said as they all took their seats.

Transfiguration was always interesting to Ginny. Trying to turn objects into something completely different she always found fascinating. Today they had learned how to transfigure pumpkins into baskets.

_______________________________________________________________________

It was soon time for dinner and Ginny entered the Great Hall and made her way over to the Gryffindor table. She did her routine eye sweep of the Slytherin table to see if a certain blonde was present, which he was, looking lost in his thoughts.

“Hey guys” Ginny said, taking a seat next to Hermione.

“Hey Gin” Harry said. Ron just nodded; he was too busy going to town on a plate of food. Ginny just giggled and shook her head at her brother. She turned to Hermione, who was writing down something.

“What's that Hermione?”

“Oh, Professor Flitwick asked me to go over a few things with Malfoy because he's missed a good handful of classes. So I'm just jotting down the spells and topics we need to cover.” she sighed. Obviously it wasn't ideal to have to share her evening with Malfoy in the library going over coursework. She was at least thankful there was less animosity between them all.

None of the trio ever mentioned Draco, they all just came to an understanding of what happened during the first week they returned and knew where Draco's loyalties lay. It was just simpler to go about their lives like nothing happened and not bring up the stuff Draco told them about his Father's cruel punishments he put upon him.

“Oh” was all Ginny said and then looked over to the Slytherin table again.

Her eyes were met with those icy gray ones. She couldn't help the small smile that formed on her face when she saw him. He just gave a smirk and looked away. Hermione took notice of this, but didn't think anything of it.

“Well, I guess I should get going, I'll see you guys a bit later” Hermione said planting a light kiss on Ron's stuffed cheek, rolling her eyes at his lack of manners.

Ginny gave a small laugh at the two of them and then watched Draco and Hermione meet at the entrance of the Great Hall and made their way to the library.

____________________________________________________________________

“Alright, let's get this over with already” Draco sighed, grabbing a chair and slouching down in it.

“Believe me, Malfoy, the last place I want to be on a Friday night is in the library tutoring you.”

He glared at her.

“I much rather just BE in the library minus you” she added.

He looked up at her and she gave a small giggle and he stifled a laugh.

She took out a piece of paper and handed it to him, “Here copy these notes.”

Draco took out his wand and waved it over the paper.

“What do you think you're doing?” Hermione demanded.

“Uh, copying the notes” he said lazily.

“No, no, no I don't think so, you need to write them, this way they sink into your brain.”

“You're kidding, right?” She looked at him with a stern look, “I guess you're not” he added.

They sat in silence for a few moments with just the sound of Draco's quill scratching against his paper.

“So how's Weaslette?” he asked, not looking up from his notes.

Hermione brought the book she was reading down from her face and gave a small smirk, “She's doing better,” she said simply and went back to her book shaking her head a bit with a smile on her face.

“Good, so Potter and Lovegood are an item now, huh?” he said still not looking up from his notes as he kept writing.

Hermione brought the book down again and looked at him as he kept jotting away, a mischievous smile forming on her face. “Yeah, it seems to be that way.”

“Hmm” was all he responded with.

Hermione sat up a bit straighter in her chair and leaned her elbows on the table.

“Why do you ask?”

“Ever heard of small talk Granger” he said still not looking up.

“Yes,” she said slowly; her smile growing even bigger.

He finally looked up when he felt her eyes on him to see a sly smile on her face.

“What?” he said, sounding annoyed.

“Draco Malfoy, do you fancy Ginny?”

“What? Hell no,” he said, looking back down at his notes.

“Oh, that's too bad.”

He looked back up at her, “Why is that?”

“Because she fancies you,” she said, bringing the book back up over her face.

“What? She said that? When? What did she say?” He said, grabbing the book from her and tossing it on the table.

Draco was now completely focused on the next words that would come out of Hermione's mouth.

“No, she never said that, but you just confirmed that you fancy Ginny, why else would you be interested in what she said about you?” Hermione folded her arms with a look of triumph on her face.

Draco just looked at her in shock, “Ooo, Granger your evil you know that” he sneered at her.

She laughed at him for a moment and then continued, “She may not have said that but her actions do.”

“Like what?'

“Like the way she always looks over at the Slytherin table to see if you're there. The way she smiles at you from across the room. See look, your smiling at what I just said” Hermione said smiling brightly.

Draco quickly removed the unknown smile that crept across his features and put his mask back in place.

“Yeah, well, I have no interest in the Weaslette” he said, trying to sound convincing but failing miserably.

He went back to copying his notes. Hermione was quiet for a few moments.

“Why do you do that?”

“Do what?” he asked, sounding angry and started to write faster.

Draco had to get out of there, he could never let himself feel anything for anyone...... it was better this way.

“What you're doing now, you retreat, you go right back to being cold and distant instead of actually just saying what's on your mind.”

He abruptly stood up, knocking the chair he was sitting in over making Hermione jump and he leaned over the table. He looked at her with such an icy stare and a put that sneer he wore so well on.

“THE ONLY THING I'M DOING RIGHT NOW IS WONDERING WHY THE FUCK I'M LETTING A FILTHY MUDBLOOD TEACH ME SILLY CHARMS!” he yelled at her and roughly grabbed his bags and stormed out of the library.

Hermione tried not to take his actions personally; she knew he was uncomfortable with the conversation. She sighed and gathered her things and made her way to the Gryffindor common room.

_______________________________________________________________________

The next day was the Hogsmeade trip, which Ginny was so thankful for. She loved coming to the small village it really helped her clear her mind. She was also glad she would get a chance to visit George at the joke shop. They all walked into Zonko's joke shop and immediately were greeted by George's voice.

“Well, look who it is!!!” He said, sweeping Ginny up into a tight hug and put Ron in a headlock and ruffled his hair up.

“Hey George, how's Mom and Dad doing?” Ginny asked anxiously.

“Relax Gin, they are great, mom is excited to have you guys home for the holidays soon.”

Ginny gave a bright smile and gave George another hug.

They all chatted for a bit filling George in with all the latest gossip and whatnot. They told him about Professor Croxley and about recent visits with Hagrid. After they said their goodbyes, they headed to the three broomsticks for some butterbeer. The first snowfall of the season would be approaching soon and it was quite cold out this evening. Ginny and the trio walked into the small tavern building and saw it was completely empty with the exception of a person sitting solo here and there. They walked up to the counter and ordered their drinks. Ginny saw Draco sitting in the corner by himself reading a book. He looked tired and defeated.

“Hey, let's go sit with Draco” Hermione said leading the way over to him before anyone could reject.

Harry and Ron exchanged looks as if wondering if Hermione had gone completely mental.

Hermione sat across from Draco with Harry and Ron and Ginny sat beside Draco.

“Hey Draco, mind if we join you?” Hermione said happily, ignoring the fact that he had yelled at her last night in the library.

“Well, you're already sitting so does it matter?” he drawled without looking up from his book.

“Draco, did you notice the man outside-"

“Brown hair, about 5'10, medium build, black robes? Yeah, I saw him” Draco said, cutting Harry off and putting the book down.

They exchanged looks and nodded.

“Huh? Did I miss something? What's going on Harry?” Ron asked, confused looking at Hermione and Ginny to make sure they were just as confused as he was.

“Well, we passed him earlier on our way to George's shop and then he was roaming up and down the street. Now I saw him again when we came in here and wondered if we should be concerned. Now, seeing that Draco's in here and this place is deserted and we just walked in, I'm definitely suspicious now” Harry explained.

“Are you saying someone's following us?” Ron asked, looking around the tavern.

“What he's saying Weasley is hold on to your knickers because we're in deep shit” Draco said, standing up and pulling his wand out followed by the rest of them.

As if on cue, the side of the building was blown in. They all dropped to the floor and quickly turned the table they were sitting at on its side and piled up behind it. Draco grabbed Hermione's arm and pulled her quickly over to him as a curse missed her arm my mere inches. She was breathing heavy and panted out a “thanks”.

“And yes Granger, I really do fuckin mind if you sit by me” Draco sarcastically said.

A Death Eater came walking into the tavern, their boots scraping the debris under their shoe around against the wood floor. He stopped and started lightly laughing a maniacal laugh.

“No need to hide Draco, the place is surrounded. But don't worry; you and your friends are going on a little trip” the Death Eater said with much amusement in his voice.

Draco had a confused look on his face and whispered “A trip?” Then it finally made sense. “GET AWAY FROM THE TABLE!” he yelled, but it happened too quickly. He saw the light of the spell hit the table and soon he felt the familiar tug behind his navel and then they were all gone.

Suddenly, they all fell to the ground, feeling the cold marble floor beneath their bodies. Draco hated the feeling of traveling through Portkeys, it always made him nauseous. He put the feeling of nausea aside as he heard Ginny's voice.

“What happened?”

“They turned the table we were behind into a Portkey and brought us here,” Harry said, getting up from the floor and immediately pulled out his wand.

“Where is here?” Ginny said, looking around the room, noticing how massive the place was.

There was a grand staircase behind her covered in black marble. The marble covered the floor and even was on some of the pillars to the sides of her. The foyer alone was bigger than the Burrow; she couldn't help but be amazed at how stunning the mansion was.

“Malfoy Manor” Draco answered, trying to swallow the lump that formed in his throat. He turned to the four people behind him with a look of urgency on his face. “You guys need to get the fuck out of here now,” he said, looking around to see where their captors were.

“You really think we're going to just walk out of here without you? And even if we did it's not going to be that simple” Harry said, standing back to back with Draco.

They all had their wands drawn and formed a circle with their backs to each other. Draco started feeling the Dark Mark on his arm tingle and his head throbbing. He knew what was coming and he quickly put his hand to his head as the throbbing turned into a stabbing pain.

“Draco?” came Ginny's voice.

“AHHH” Draco winced in pain and fell to his knees.

“Draco!” Ginny yelled and started running over to him.

Ron grabbed her arm and held her back as he saw them become surrounded by Death Eaters. They all had their wands tightly gripped waiting for the first spell to fly. But nothing happened; instead they heard someone walking closer to them. They heard the clicking of their boots on the marble floor as they slowly stepped towards them. Draco's heart was pounding in his ears, he knew who was here and he would be lying if he said he wasn't a tad concerned about what was about to happen.

“Ah, Draco..........my son” came Lucius' voice

Draco finally was able to stand back up and he stared across the room straight into his father's steely eyes. His blood was boiling, he knew they were in trouble, but he wasn't going down without a fight. He heard Harry whisper something to him, “Get ready to run” and Draco gave the smallest of nods to show he was on the same page.

“Warren warned you that betraying us would come at a high cost. I promise you Draco, you will beg for me to kill you and I will, but I'll make sure you suffer as much as possible before that day comes. Oh, and don't worry, your new friends will meet the same fate.” Lucius drawled pulling out his wand.

“We should have killed you along with Voldemort, you ungrateful bastard” Harry spat at him.

Lucius only laughed at this, “Exactly Potter, that's just it, you should have but you didn't. You think having a kind heart gets you anywhere in this world?” He glared at the group before him with a malicious smirk, “Kill them” he said and it was like a firework going off suddenly.

Draco didn't know whose spells belonged to who, all he knew was his instincts told him to grab the redhead beside him and pull her to safety. They ran to the side of the staircase and crouched down to take cover from the battle. There was about ten Death Eaters not counting Lucius. Draco watched Harry dueling with two Death Eaters across the way and Hermione and Ron were taking cover behind a pillar. Draco turned to Ginny, who had a fierce look in her eyes as she watched her friends fighting. A Death Eater was walking past them to go after Harry when Draco shot a killing curse at him and he fell to the floor. He turned to Ginny and she had a terrified look on her face.

“We need to survive, you do what you have to, you understand?” he said, shaking her from her daze and she shook her head yes.

He ran out from behind the staircase and went for his father. They started throwing spells so fast at each other Ginny couldn't even tell what was happening. She ran out from behind the staircase and over to Harry to help him out. She threw a disarming spell at one of the Death Eaters causing him to turn to her and then Harry was able to finish him off. He immediately went back to dueling the other Death Eater and Ginny turned around to see two Death Eaters coming her way. She started running up the marble staircase and lost her balance as a spell flew right past her face. She fell against the banister and quickly rolled to the side as another spell blasted the side railing into pieces. She got to her feet and starting fighting the two Death Eaters throwing every spell she could think of at them.

The Death Eater Ron was fighting shot out a binding charm that wrapped around Ron's legs and pulled him to the floor. Ron tried to regain his balance on the way down, but couldn't and his head collided with the marble floor and everything went black.

“RON!” Hermione screamed and ran over to his side. She threw a Bombarda spell at the Death Eater and he flew across the room into the wall.

Ginny was cornered on the staircase, one Death Eater at the top and one at the bottom. She threw an Incendio spell at one and they were engulfed in flames. The man's screams ringing in her ears. The other Death Eater threw another curse at her that she barely dodged. She saw the opening in the staircase from where the railing broke and without thinking she jumped off the side of the stairs. She landed with a hard thud and felt the burning feeling run up both her legs, but she ignored it and kept running.

Lucius and Draco battled for what seemed like forever when Lucius shot a spell at Draco that he dodged, but hit the marble pillar behind him making it explode into a bunch of pieces. Draco jumped out of the way of the fallen debris, but a big piece fell on his leg and he yelled out in pain.

Across the way Harry had taken down another Death Eater and was helping Hermione with another two. One Death Eater lost his wand and had Hermione in an arm lock when Harry Stupified him and he fell to the floor. While Harry's focus was on helping Hermione another Death Eater shot a spell at Harry making him fly into one of the nearby walls. Harry felt his shoulder pop out of place and he gave out a painful grunt. Hermione sent a forceful spell at the Death Eater, as he flew into the wall beside Harry but fell unconscious. Hermione ran over to Harry to see if he was ok.

“Harry, are you ok?”

“Yeah I'm fine, where is Ginny and Draco?” he winced at the pain in his shoulder.

Back over where Ginny was taking cover she saw that Draco was pinned under a large piece of marble and Lucius had his wand pointed at Draco across the room. Ginny noticed Draco struggling to try and get out from under the slate on top of him. She saw he lost his wand which was just out of reach from him. She immediately sprung to her feet and started running to him as fast as she could. She flew past spells that whizzed by her, some just missing her ear by mere centimeters. She jumped over bodies that lay on the floor like they weren't even there just to get to him in time. She heard the Avada Kedavra spell leaving Lucius' mouth. She heard Harry and Hermione scream for her to stop, she heard Draco screaming no to her but she didn't care. She came to a skidding halt right in front of Draco and pointed her wand up over them. She felt the spell hit, her face was turned away; bracing for the impact as was Draco's. When she turned to look she saw her Protego charm was up just in time to block the curse.

She let out a burst of breath she didn't know she was holding in and turned to Draco and gave him a smile and he returned it. Harry and Hermione shared a look of relief and ran towards them.

“You did it Weasley” Draco said finally freeing his leg from the rubble.

He then saw his father's face twist into a look of such hate and animosity. Lucius shot out a quick spell at Ginny's Protego barrier and then a sick smile formed on his face. Ginny's barrier slowly died down and her wand arm fell to her side. She slowly fell to her knees and her wand fell out of her hand.

Lucius gave a maniacal laugh and the remaining Death Eaters started apparating away. “I told you I'd make you suffer Draco” and with that he disappeared.