"You go on ahead; I'm going to look around a bit more. I'll be fine, Hermione. I promise!" she added as Hermione gave her a concerned look. "I just want to look at a couple of these, they look really interesting."

"Your mum will butcher me if she finds out I've let you alone in Diagon Alley, Gin. Especially with what's been happening lately."

"They won't find out!" Ginny assured her. "They won't, I promise."

"I'm trusting you, Ginny."

"I have the phone!" Ginny reminded her, pulling out the small plastic contraption that Hermione had brought her. "I know how to dial and everything, I'll call and check in."

Hermione hesitated. "…Oh, alright, if it's for books. But don't be long!"

"Fifteen minutes, twenty tops."

Hermione warily consented and paid for her books, leaving Ginny to browse around.

Forty-two minutes later Ginny glanced at her watch. "Merlin!" she looked at the price of the book she'd been skimming and put it back on the shelf regrettably. "Vultures," she muttered, leaving the store in haste.

She walked around quickly for a few minutes before realizing that she didn't know her destination. She pulled out the cellular phone, thanking Merlin that she didn't have to check every single store.

She dialed Hermione's phone and paused upon seeing her shoe was untied. She knelt down to correct it, pausing once Hermione answered.

"Hermione. Yes, sorry I lost track of time. Fred and George's? Yes, yes I'll be there in a few minutes I'm just blocks away."

She hung up and sighed, standing as she slid the phone back into her pocket. She had barely moved half a foot when a voice sounded from the alley next to her.

"Good shop. Didn't know that Weasleys knew how to run businesses."

Ginny froze, turning slowly to face the boy who had spoken. "What are you doing here?" she questioned. Her voice came out softer than she had expected, and surprised her almost as much as Draco Malfoy skulking around Diagon Alley in the middle of the day.

"I've got business to attend to, just as everyone else here."

"You've got some nerve," Ginny said hotly, taking a bold step towards him and into the shadows. He backed away a few feet. "Showing your face in public after what you did."

"I did nothing. You of all people should know that."

"You let them in. Do you have any idea the consequences of letting filth like that into our school? Do you have any idea what happened to my brother?" she hissed, taking two more steps into the alley.

He backed up a few more steps and shrugged casually. "I was just doing my job."

"You're despicable," Ginny breathed.

"It was my job," he repeated. "But no matter; I didn't kill him, and now I have a different mission."

"How's it feel, serving that thing?"

"How did it feel being in love with its diary?" he shot back icily. His light eyes danced as Ginny felt tears fill her eyes.

"That's in the past."

"As is my involvement in the attack at Hogwarts," another step back.

"That's way different, and stop backing away from me, you coward!" she hissed, taking two more steps forward.

A smirk crossed his face, and he shook his head. "You Weasels…you rose to the bait, just like I knew you would, just like you always do," he sneered. He took a small step forward, something that remained imperceptible to Ginny. "Ever stop to think that, possibly, I was simply trying to lure you out of the crowded street?"

The words registered through Ginny's brain and she didn't even have time to start to grab for her wand before she was spun around and held tightly against his chest, with one hand tightly around her waist and the other covering her mouth and her nose—tightly.

She made a pitiful noise and struggled against him as he pulled her further into the alley. "You're very stupid, Red, I must say. Stupider that your brother, if it's possible. Hmm," he contemplated slowly. Ginny's hands clawed and tugged at his arm with growing futility as she found that she needed air worse and worse. "I suppose if I conducted a test of some sort it would be easier to figure out…ah, well, no time for that now."

Ginny tried to suck air through his hand but alas, it was far too solid. She made another small noise and tugged at his arm harder, trying to get him to understand that she was about to pass out. The dark alley grew darker as her vision faded in and out surreally.

She tried yelling 'I can't breathe!' to him, and was almost positive that he had understood, but his grip remained as firm as ever. She began to feel herself going limp and falling to the ground, held up only by his pale arm clutching her middle. He yanked her up forcibly and pulled her head back so his lips were right to her ear. "Do you promise to be good, if I let go?"

Ginny made another noise and nodded as best she could. She would agree to anything if she could just breathe air again.

"No funny business," he added to her softly, threateningly. "No running or yelling." Ginny nodded again and tried to, again, pull his hand from her mouth.

He reached into her pocket and removed her phone and wand in slow motion, as if testing how long she could go before passing out. Before she realized what was happening, he had thrown her away from him. She caught herself on the opposite wall, doubled over and took loud, gasping breaths. Like a wind he was behind her again, his hand on her shoulder.

"Shh, shh," he whispered in her ear softly as she heaved for more oxygen. The air of the alley had never tasted so sweet. "Shh, now, quietly," he warned her.

Ginny took another sobbing breath and turned her face to him fearfully. She hated that she was afraid of him. "What do you want with me?"

"Your cooperation," he stated, as if it were obvious. He glanced around them. "They'll be coming for you soon, if you don't show up at the shop."

Ginny knew this to be true and envisioned the Trio walking in on the scene at any moment. She wasn't so lucky.

"You're going to gather information. I know you have ways of getting it," he added accusingly when Ginny showed signs of protest. "I know you do, and you will, and you will pass it to me."

"Dream on!" Ginny had barely spoken the words before Malfoy's hand pinned her against the wall by her throat.

"You will," he assured her. "And it would be best for you to not try anything tricky, because I have people to watch your every move."

"Why me?" Ginny still wasn't sure about the concept.

"I would think it was obvious," he listed the reasons off on his fingers, "You're close to Potter and Friends, you're good at getting information other's wouldn't be able to, but most of all, no one notices you," the words stung Ginny and she found this to be true as well. "And because no one notices you, no one notices you listening in. Understand?"

Ginny glared at him. "And what makes you think that I'm going to do this for you? Have you gone nutters, Malfoy?"

"I know, because if you don't, well, there are a lot of options on that one…" he trailed off, chuckling softly.

"What makes you think I won't die to protect the Order?"

The phone that currently resided in Malfoy's pocket began to ring. He pulled it out and glanced at it. "It's the Mudblood."

"I will die for the Order," Ginny answered her own question. "Death threats won't break me," she stood, tall and erect, with a determined air about her.

Malfoy only chuckled again at this, shook his head, and, leaning to her ear again, breathed: "What makes you think I would kill you?" The cell phone ceased to ring, and then started again after a minute. "So?"

"I can offer you better," Ginny informed him softly.

"What's that?" he sounded almost interested.

"A place to hide. A chance to live—truly live," she stressed slightly. "Give me a day or so, and I can get you and your mother in. We can protect you."

He laughed bitterly and her and sneered. "You're pathetic. What makes you think that this isn't what I want?"

"I know it's not," Ginny confided. "Just as Harry knows. You can't do this; this isn't the life you deserve. You belong with us."

"What makes you think that, little weasel?" he laughed once more, though it seemed that he was losing confidence in his own argument.

"Your hesitation."

He stared at her for a moment before sneering. "I'll keep in contact. Remember, one wrong move…" he tossed her the phone, which had started ringing for a third time, and tossed her wand away from him before disappearing with a crack into the shadows.