Disclaimer: No, I don't own Harry Potter...right NOW, at least. I'm saving up to buy Harry Potter! :-D At the rate I'm earning and saving my money, I should be able to buy the rights to the entire franchise in...9,496,082,542,623 years! Yay!!!

Author's Note: Gaah, sorry I wasn't on time with this update! See, now that I started to get into the main plot of the story, I didn't want to just write a chapter without knowing EXACTLY what was going to happen in the rest of the story... So I didn't wanna get this chapter written until I had the entire plot planned out, starting with chapter seven. And, being that I have very little free time because of school and also that the best time for me to brainstorm is while drifting off to sleep, time which I only have about two seconds of each night (because I'm always dead tired)... I didn't get the story outlined for a while.

Please forgive me! I hope you all like this chapter.

OH! Before I forget... I've started a C2 community!!! :-D Yup, you guessed it... It archives Draco/Ginny fanfiction. :-) It's called DracoGinny Goodness (the darn slash gets erased between their names), and so far I've got nine stories archived. I add good, completed Draco/Ginny stories (no one-shots), and if any of you want to subscribe to the community (so that you're e-mailed when new stories get added), just go to my profile, click on "C2 Communities (1)" and then "DracoGinny Goodness," then click "Subscribe." (breathes in) Woo, okay. Oh, and if you want to become a staff member (being a staff member doesn't have any obligations; it just means that you can add stories to the list whenever you want), just e-mail me at crypticdreams(underscore)whitestar(at)yahoo-dot-com (not that exact address, though... I just typed it like that so it would show up...). My e-mail address is in my profile, too.

--

Draco stood next to the Slytherin common room fireplace, a handful of Floo powder nestled in his palm. What exactly should he do? As soon as he had heard the news of Ginny's disappearance from Ron, Draco had fled to the common room to floo straight to his mansion and save her, but now he paused in front of the fireplace to formulate a plan. He was glad that the common room was empty, every greedy Slytherin currently stuffing his or her face with breakfast.

He couldn't just walk into the house without suspicions from Lucius arising, nor would he be able to find her quickly in one of the numerous dungeon cells at the bottom of the house. Plus, Draco's entire plan was based on his assumptions that Lucius had in fact kidnapped the girl and taken her to Malfoy Manor. Draco was almost certain this was the case, for he knew his father well. Lucius was an impatient man, and he often reacted immediately to things. This was not to say he was a rash man, for Lucius's mind was full of a cleverness and cunning that gave him this ability to act quickly without acting rashly most of the time. Despite this knowledge of his father, Draco could still not be too sure of his suspicions.

He was sure about one thing, however: He had to save Ginny. It had nothing to do with wanting her to be safe, for he felt absolutely nothing but disdain and disgust towards the pest, but he knew what the consequences would be if he failed to retrieve her. Eventually, he himself would be captured also, and then there would be no hope left for the Light Side to win the war. Draco remained stubborn when it came to being involved with this war, though; he still planned to do no actual selfless fighting, just for the sake of others.

He turned his attention to the fire, staring into the glowing mass of bright oranges and reds which reminded him of Ginny, once more beginning to contemplate his plan of action. Should he simply waltz into the house under the pretense of visiting Lucius? His father would not fall for such a ploy. He could use his invisibility cloak to sneak in, but how would he find Ginny?

The jewelry! he remembered. Our jewelry leads us to the other when we have to find each other! He took out his earring, genuinely smiling at it as he reveled in the fact that the two pieces of jewelry could somehow feel their owner's wishes and lead them to one another. This was definitely a special sort of magic, and he was glad for it. In his palm, the silver metal of his earring began to feel warm as the emerald colored jewel started to glow, sensing Draco's need to find Ginny.

Suddenly feeling sure that Ginny was at Malfoy Manor, Draco squeezed and pocketed the jewelry. He walked to his dorm room, retrieved his invisibility cloak, and went back to the fire. He'd decided he'd have to keep his little "visit" secret, and for this the cloak was a necessity. When Draco realized the Floo powder was beginning to stick to his sweaty palm, he threw it into the common room fire. The flames shot up into the air and turned a bright green color as Draco wiped the rest of the powder off on the couch beside him. Just as he was about to step into the flames and shout his destination, a voice stopped him.

"Going somewhere, Draco?"

Draco turned around to stare into the icy blue eyes of Pansy's, which were glowing eerily in the light of the green flames. She was leaning on the wall next to the door to the common room, arms folded casually across her chest. Her mouth was a straight line, her eyebrows raised slightly above her penetrating eyes.

"What's it to you, Parkinson? Get out of here; you've done enough damage as it is." Draco didn't need this girl messing things up any more for him.

"Damage, Draco? DAMAGE?" Pansy uncrossed her arms and balled her hands into fists at her side, looking as if she could attack Draco any second. She was furious at the way Draco was treating her, keeping her in the dark about what he was doing and acting as if she were a nuisance. What right did he have to talk to her in such a way? If anyone were doing damage, it was him. "I was merely helping the Dark Side, which is definitely not something I can say for you. Exactly which side are you on, Malfoy?" Pansy emphasized his last name to remind him that he quite obviously belonged on the Dark Side.

"I am on no side, Parkinson--no side at all. I owe allegiance to no one but myself; I am loyal to no one but myself. I will not be brainwashed so easily by my family and fellow Slytherins, nor by some pitiful excuse for a wizard who doesn't even do his own dirty work." After finishing, Draco mentally beat himself for having done the same thing for the better part of his time at Hogwarts, always hiding behind Crabbe and Goyle. How pathetic.

Ignoring Draco's attack of her Dark Lord, Pansy addressed Draco's earlier statement. "Brainwashed? Is that what you're saying I am, Draco? I'm brainwashed?"

"I think it's quite obvious that you don't have a mind of your own when it comes to the War, Pansy."

She crossed her arms again, this time defensively, feeling unnerved by the fact that she really hadn't ever thought things out for herself, instead always doggedly listening to her parents and friends. She remained defiant, however. "Why does it matter that I let my family choose my path early on in my life? I still would've chosen it no matter what my upbringing!"

"Would you really have, Pansy? Would you?" Draco asked with finality, staring deep into her eyes. He then pulled his invisibility cloak over himself and walked into the fire to clearly shout, "Malfoy Manor!"

As he began to swirl up out of the fireplace, Draco distinctly heard Pansy scream, "SCREW YOU, MALFOY!" He smirked, because he knew he'd hit a nerve, which was good, since it might make Pansy actually think for herself for once.

Back in the common room, Pansy threw herself up the stairs to her dorm room, angry and confused.

--

"Harry, Ron! What's wrong?" Hermione asked, alarmed at the looks on the faces of her two best friends. She had just been woken up by them, as she had been studying in the library all night and had fallen asleep.

"What's wrong?! What's wrong?!" Ron screeched, his face turning red from worry and stress. "While you were in here all night, GINNY WENT MISSING!!!"

"What?!" Hermione gasped, turning to Harry for confirmation, which she received in a saddened nod. "What happened? How do you know she's not just wandering somewhere around the castle? She does like to be by herself a lot, Ron," she rationalized.

Harry shook his head this time, frowning deeply. "No, Hermione. When her roommates said she wasn't in bed this morning, and the clothes she had set out for today had remained untouched, we checked the Marauder's Map to find out where she was. Wherever she is, it's not in Hogwarts."

Hermione bit her lip, mentally laying out everything before her and trying to figure out where Ginny could be. "What do you two think has happened, exactly?" she asked.

"What does it matter what we think?! All we know is that Ginny's not here, and she could be in grave danger if we don't DO something!" Ron shouted.

"Don't you think it's possible that Ginny might've decided to sneak out and go to Hogsmeade? She is a bit of a rebel, Ron--like the twins. Maybe she went to visit Fred and George?..."

Harry and Ron looked unconvinced. "That could be it, Hermione," Harry spoke, "but Ron's right. We should still take precaution and tell Dumbledore or something!"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE ACTING SO CALMLY, HERMIONE!" Ron exclaimed, flailing his arms out in frustration.

"Well, I'm sorry, Ron, but it just seems irrational to me to think that Ginny would be off somewhere and in trouble! Remember, she's been acting oddly lately, so this could be a result of that."

Harry restrained from screaming at Hermione that there was still a chance that Ginny was in trouble and that they were obligated to make sure that she was okay. He didn't yell this because he didn't want her to think he was just wanting to be the hero like she had said two years earlier. "Hermione, I really think we should talk to Dumbledore anyway. Don't you care about Ginny?"

"Yeah, don't you care about her?!" Ron echoed.

"Listen..." Hermione announced authoritatively, "your mother has a clock that shows where everyone in your family is at the moment, correct, Ron?" She didn't wait for him to answer, but continued. "If Ginny doesn't know where she is, the clock would say Lost, and if she were in danger, wouldn't it be on Mortal Peril or something? If this were the case, then your parents would do something about it immediately. Is there much we could do that they couldn't, being underage students? We should just leave things to your family, though I still doubt that there's something seriously wrong."

Harry narrowed his eyes in thought, realizing that what Hermione had to say made sense. Ron stood defiantly, begrudgingly saying, "But we're still HERE, Hermione! Wherever Ginny is, she's closer to us than she is to Mum and Dad, so we could get things done much faster!"

"Okay, Ron, how about we wait things out until classes are over for the day, THEN try to find Ginny? If she hasn't turned up by the end of the day, we'll know something's up and we can go search for her."

Ron mumbled something under his breath, then complained, "I'd hate not knowing where she is... And if I find out that she wandered off campus during the night and that's all, then I'm REALLY going to let her have it, putting me through such worry. It would be loads of fun seeing her get in trouble with Mum after I tell on her..."

"I'm sure that's all it is, Ron, so you can have fun getting your 'revenge' afterwards," Hermione laughed, along with Harry, who had decidedly calmed down after listening to Hermione's rationalizations.

"Hermione's right, Ron," Harry assured Ron. "We shouldn't get involved just yet, when it's probably nothing."

Ron sighed. "Fine, but I really hate not knowing where she is. Where could she be?..."

Harry and Hermione shook their heads in wonder, letting Ron's question hang in the air. The three uncertainly gathered their things and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast.

--

Molly Weasley took a sip of pumpkin juice, sighing in pleasure. She was currently sitting in her living room, knitting a sweater for Hermione that said "Head Girl." She had been so proud of Hermione when she'd found out that she was Head Girl, almost as if it were her own daughter. She'd been working on the sweater as a congratulatory gift for her, and she'd been working on it ever since the kids left for Hogwarts. She wanted it to be a surprise, and Hermione had remained at the Burrow all during August.

Molly was happy with the progress she'd been making on the sweater, and she loved the quiet of the house after all of the action that it had been full of during the summer. With all of her children home, along with the addition of Hermione and Harry, everything had felt like the old days. However, Molly had to admit she was glad things were back to normal, and she was perfectly content right now.

She glanced up at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room, which she did every so often to make sure her family was safe and where they were supposed to be. Along the edge of the clock were the words Home, Work, Shopping, Traveling, Prison, With Friends, Lost, School, Having an Adventure, Hospital, and the two dreadful ones: Mortal Peril and Dying.

The clock used powerful magic to determine where each Weasley was. It was easy for the clock to tell if someone were at home, at work, in prison, etc., but it was harder to figure out the ambiguous ones such as Lost and in Mortal Peril. If the clock couldn't choose one of the basic locations for a Weasley, it would somehow tie into their thoughts, using these to find out where they could be. If the person didn't know where they were, they were Lost; if they sensed that their life was in danger, they were in Mortal Peril; if they were excited or scared, but not in any real danger, they were Having an Adventure.

Currently, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, and Arthur were at Work, Molly was at Home, and Ron was With Friends. Molly smiled when she saw Ginny's hand on the clock, which was pointing to Having an Adventure. Molly wondered what Ginny was up to this time, and she hoped she wasn't going to get herself into trouble so early in the school year. How Ginny reminded her of Fred and George...

--

Draco shook himself off after stepping out of Malfoy Manor's living room fireplace, trying to rid himself of the hot ashes. He despised traveling by Floo powder. It was so...uncivilized.

He looked around the room to make sure no one occupied it, but he knew he wouldn't find anyone. The only purpose of the living room in Malfoy Manor was to use the fireplace to travel to Hogwarts and back, and no Malfoy could ever be found in it if this weren't their purpose. This was what Draco was used to, and he had always found it ironic.

Quietly slipping through the living room, Draco walked into the hallway and turned towards the dungeons. He felt some sort of force pulling him in that direction, and he suspected this was the earring's doings. As Draco made his way down the hall, he began to hear music float out from one of the rooms to his right. Pausing cautiously to figure out what the music was, Draco realized it was a woman humming. He sighed silently and moved towards the doorway where the humming was coming from.

Sitting in the forest green rocking chair was Narcissa Malfoy--Draco's mother. She had her eyes closed, and she was quietly humming a classical piece that was written by a wizard composer back in the 1800's. A small smile shone on Narcissa's face, and Draco couldn't help but grin widely at this. It was a very rare thing to catch his mother smiling, as she made it a point to always show no emotion around others, unless in public, where she would act superior to everyone else. She didn't speak much either, for she'd found this was the best way to deal with Lucius.

This façade used to disturb Draco, either making him feel like his mother was pompous like his father or just completely apathetic. When Draco was eight years old, however, he had caught Narcissa smiling to herself one day while relaxing on one of the Malfoys' couches. A few other times he caught her alone, but he was lucky whenever he was able to, even after he had received his invisibility cloak. Draco decided that Narcissa never realized that he would watch her, or she would have wiped all emotion from her face.

It made him happy to see his mother happy, because... Well, he wasn't sure exactly why. He didn't love his mother, because she had never exactly interacted with him in his life, and he couldn't develop loving feelings towards someone who was just...there. He thought that maybe he just felt a sort of understanding with his mother, being that they both had to put up with Lucius. He felt connected to her, so when she was glad, he was glad too. If he saw Lucius hit her, he felt pained too. If she kept her emotions hidden, he hid his too.

Draco couldn't help but stand in the doorway for a few minutes, just watching his silver-haired mother sit in the chair. There were no windows in the room, so the only thing lighting it up was a single candle in the corner, its flames making shadows across Narcissa's pretty face. It was a beautiful sight, surreal and enchanting, and Draco was entranced by it.

Draco finally shook himself out of his reverie and turned back around to search for Ginny once more, stealing one last glance at his dream-like mother. As he started back on his path towards the dungeon, he heard a whisper of, "Goodbye, Draco" from the room.

Bewildered, Draco paused for a second, but then continued back down the hall again, disregarding the voice. He decided that he was just hearing things, for he had been invisible the entire time and there was no way Narcissa could've known he was there.

He then pushed the thoughts of his mother out of his mind, again focusing on his goal of finding Ginny. He silently moved to the dungeons, working his way throughout the passageways and letting himself be guided by the force of his earring.

--

"Ah, I see you're awake, girl," Lucius drawled, spitting out the word "girl" as if it were poison on his lips.

"How observant of you," Ginny replied scathingly, glaring at the man behind the door. She wasn't going to let Lucius walk all over her like she'd let Draco do the past two times she'd run into him, and she felt like she had a score to settle with the entire family. She wasn't going to go out without a fight.

"I see you have a lip on you," he sneered, taken aback by Ginny's reply. She obviously didn't realize whom she was dealing with, and the only reason he wasn't going to make her pay for her comment was that her attitude amused him at the same time that it disgusted him. He also needed information from her. "If you value your life, girl, then you'll comply with my demands." Pulling out the red amulet with a swish of his robes, Lucius continued. "Now, I have a few questions for you."

Ginny raised her eyes to see her necklace in his hand, just as she had suspected. Seeing her precious amulet in the enemy's hands right before her began to fill Ginny with fury at the fact that he had taken, without a second thought, what rightfully belonged to her. How dare he. And that's not to mention the fact that he also took ME. The git.

Ginny's thoughts were broken as Lucius spoke once more. "How does one control this item, Virginia?"

Ginny shivered at the sound of her full name on this serpent's lips. She wanted so badly to slap him across the face right now, but not only would that be the stupidest thing to do, it was also impossible as he was on the other side of the large door. "Like I'd tell you anything, Death Eater."

"Sure of yourself, aren't you, Weasley? Possibly hoping that the other mystimorph will come and save you?" Ginny's face remained stolid. "Well what would you say if I told you that I have captured the other mystimorph as well?"

An involuntary gasp escaped Ginny's lips at Lucius's revelation. He's caught Draco too?! He's caught his own son?! Is he in another dungeon cell? NOW what's going to happen?

"Ahh, by your reaction, I assume you know this person. This is good... Now, tell me whom the other mystimorph is, Virginia."

"W-what?" Ginny spoke, confused. Hadn't he just said he'd captured the other one? And now he was asking her whom it was? "I thought you had them captured!"

"Of course not, you gullible fool! It was a way to find out if you even knew of the other mystimorph!" He smirked at his ingenuity. Ginny silently cursed herself, realizing that she had fallen for his mind game. If she had just pretended like she didn't know there was even another mystimorph, then Lucius would have left her alone, for she wouldn't have been of any help! "Now, the other mystimorph. Give me their name."

"Never!" she bit back at him.

Lucius smirked at her reply, which he had been expecting. "Not going to comply, then? I think this would normally call for some Veritaserum to get what I want quickly and efficiently, but... I think I might just give you a taste of the Cruciatus Curse instead. Well, Virginia? Wouldn't that be fun?"

"Yes. I would enjoy that." On the inside, Ginny was beginning to tremble. She had never experienced the Cruciatus Curse before, and she had always hoped she never would. Talking back to Lucius seemed like a mistake right now, but sometimes she just couldn't hold back that tongue of hers, even in situations such as this. She wasn't planning on telling Lucius about Draco, though, so this was obviously unavoidable. At least, she thought, the pain would have been no less searing even if I had chosen to act cowardly before this demon.

Lucius sneered at Ginny's reaction. He began to wonder what had happened to the timid Ginny Weasley whom he had known five years past. He would be sure to wipe this new trait, this courage and defiance, off of her immediately. Just as Lucius lifted his wand into the air and Ginny glared into his cold eyes, preparing herself for the inevitable torture, faint footsteps could be heard by Lucius's keen ears. He turned around, wand arm still held high, prepared to catch a glimpse of this intruder. No one, save himself, should be allowed in the dungeons at such a time...

Ginny's eyebrows furrowed when she saw Lucius turn around. Why did he turn around? What could have happened to distract Lucius from the forthcoming pleasure of cursing her? Her questions were answered when she began to hear slow footsteps making their way through the dungeons, but now new questions arose to replace the old ones. Who was that coming? Was it Voldemort? Icy fear coated Ginny's insides at the thought of meeting that reptile again face-to-face. Please don't let it be Voldemort...

--

Author's Note: Why does the Weasley clock not say Mortal Peril for Ginny??? Will Draco be able to save her??? Will the Dream Team have to get involved??? WHO KNOW?! You sure don't, and you won't until I update! And I won't update unless you REVIEW!!!!!

I'd like to add that Narcissa's character and the whole thing with Draco catching her smiling to herself was inspired by the relationship between Adam and his stepmother in East of Eden by John Steinbeck (which I don't own, of course). If you haven't read that book, I highly recommend it.

Time for thank you's!:

alecatq - Amen! Poor everyone! X-P

The Fate In Purple - Yay, you really liked that chapter! :-D Yes, yes, I guess addictions aren't TOO bad. It just depends on what you're addicted to. I LOVE THAT YOU'RE ADDICTED TO THIS STORY! :-) Was this chapter long enough (and good enough) to satisfy your addiction for now?

fieryred20 - Thanks! :-)

Novalee Sims - Yeah, I know Ginny's real name is Ginevra Molly Weasley, but if you read my author's note in chapter two, you'll see that I'm choosing to use Virginia just 'cause I like it better. I'm stubborn, I know. :-/ Heh, and now you can see that I'm not finished with Pansy just yet. I WAS going to end her part in the story after the last chapter, but then I decided to use her more because she's such a fun character to work with. Hope you liked her in this chapter! And thanks for your wonderful review! :-)

Ha, thought you'd get away without me doing something crazy in order to get reviews? 'CAUSE YOU'RE WRONG, BWAHAHAHAH! I shall sing you a song about the importance of reviewing.

Oooooh...

Reviewing is good!

Reviewing is fun!

If you review my story

I'll give you a Draco plushie!

Wasn't that a great song? I mean, other than the fact that it had no tune, didn't rhyme, had no meter, and wasn't 100 percent truthful? Of COURSE it was a great song! SO REVIEW!!!!!!!!!! (holds up imaginary Draco plushie to motivate you)