Yes, yes, I know. Not only is it long in coming but it's the sort of cliffhanger you'd beat me about the head and shoulders for. If you're confused about anything, refer back to the previous chapter. Keep faith, I am still writing. Look for a story called Agitation coming out within the next two to three days. Unrelated Draco/Ginny ridiculously smutty one-shot. Many thanks to where_is_truth and rainpuddle13 for handling the beta as always.
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Several Aurors kept residence in the small village of Hogsmeade. When Harry, Hermione and Ron ran down the block to Nymphadora Tonks' home, she was already preparing to meet Dumbledore, Snape, and the Weasleys.
"I've already heard the news," she panted as she ran towards Hogsmeade Station with the trio hot on her heels. "There's a group of Aurors and Dumbledore and Snape at the station."
When they arrived, breathless and sweaty, Tonks and the three were accosted by a now-sober Molly Weasley and Mad-Eye Moody.
"What makes you think you're going?" Moody and Molly yelled in unison at Ron, Harry and Hermione. Moody's eye swiveled agitatedly and Molly's face turned bright red.
"Did you allow them to come?" Moody thundered, aiming his wrath at Tonks while Molly spat, "You're all going back to the Burrow and that's final!"
A cacophony rose as the group debated the use of the trio and Harry planted himself in the middle of it.
"We're all going, and that's final," Harry yelled above the din. "If there are Death Eaters, there's Voldemort. I'm the only one who can fight him, and the rest of you will just have to concentrate on finding Ginny!"
The group instantly went silent. In the mottled darkness, Harry could see a nodding Dumbledore alongside the visibly suffering Snape.
"We will need their help, Molly. They will be the final line of support; you have my word on that," he said, as much to Harry, Hermione and Ron as to Molly. Molly merely sniffed indignantly and gave them harrowing looks that clearly said stay out of trouble!
"Harry's logic is correct," Dumbledore announced. "If Miss Weasley is indeed in Death Eater hands, I fear they may be exacting revenge for the Chamber of Secrets."
His words served as a call to action. Quickly, a plan was organized to raid Malfoy Manor. Aurors would be the first line of defense, and there were seven in the group assembled. Next would be Dumbledore, Snape and the Weasleys, followed by Ron and Hermione, with Harry if need be.
Dumbledore created Portkeys out of nearby sticks and twigs.
"Constant vigilance!" Moody cautioned as they prepared to depart. "Remember, we have no idea what the actual conditions will be."
***
Lucius was disappointed. He had conjured the Dark Mark with a great deal of excitement. Now, his little playroom held fewer than twenty Death Eaters, and he didn't count the traitors. Even Severus had failed to arrive, which sorely nagged Lucius.
Long before he brought Draco down to the dungeon in conjured shackles, he had seen to the girl's arrangements. She hung naked from yet another set of magic shackles, which could be moved at Lucius' discretion. Admiring his handiwork, he fed her a potion to wake her. With a roar, he summoned the diminutive house elf who was keeping his precious crop safe. After explaining the house elf's role to her, he departed.
Ginny Weasley awoke nude and alone, hanging from a wall. A great pain wracked her body, and she struggled to look down to find the source of it.
Reading the bloody gashes that served as letters on her abdomen, she numbly picked out the words "muggle lover."
She screamed to the sound of her blood dripping onto the floor until she fainted.
***
Draco could hear her screaming from his dank holding cell in the next dungeon. Gagged and hands bound behind his back, he had no way to either wipe away his tears or call out to comfort her.
Before his father had dragged him down here, he deduced what Lucius had carved into his body.
Blood traitor.
He only hoped Ginny had not suffered the same fate.
All he could do was sit and wait. Or perhaps die.
***
"Time for you to make an appearance, dear son," Lucius snarled at him some time later. "Get up and walk to the next dungeon."
The dungeons were identical squares that ran exactly north-south below Malfoy Manor. In all, there were two entrances, one in the upper right and bottom left corner.
Struggling to gain balance, he worked himself to his feet. Walking head-down in front of his father, he was marched into the same room as Ginny.
He couldn't see her, not at first, but he could hear her.
And when he turned to see her, he wished he hadn't.
Not even her thrashing or renewed screams could deter them. Her thrashing body hung left of the north door. Ginny was surrounded by five or six of his father's brethren, stomach mutilated with the very phrase Draco had himself used in reference to her once upon a time. The Death Eaters were fondling her breasts and between her legs. One even chanced to lick the congealing blood from her torso and Draco fought to hold back the bitter bile that rose in his throat.
His father kicked him viciously from behind, and he tripped, almost falling. Lucius made quick work of securing his body to the wall right of the south door. Draco could hear muted laughs and jeers directed his way. He was fiercely glad; he would do anything to draw their attention away from Ginny.
Above Ginny's agonized screams and the Death Eaters' cackles, Lucius' voice rang out loud and clear.
"Silencio!" he shouted, spearing the spell effortlessly through the crowd around Ginny to hit her directly in the chest. To her credit, when she realized she had been quieted, she immediately clamped her mouth shut as she struggled with the men around her.
"Get back, you dogs!" Lucius cried, pointing his wand once more. Draco was astonished to see him land his gaze on the knot that was touching Ginny.
"She is a prize, fools!" he hissed. "Take care not to damage her! She is for the Dark Lord himself!"
Shuffling and mumbling, the masked men ambled over to a corner of the room where the rest of the Death Eaters stood.
Lucius began to speak again. "Our Lord is coming! Can you not feel it? Be reverent in the face of our Lord!" As if on cue, the group of sixteen Death Eaters fell to their knees and began saying an incantation Draco could not make out.
All at once, Draco felt the overwhelming sickness that signaled the Dark Lord's presence. Fighting the nausea with the strength gained from Snape's intensive teachings, he was able to glance at Ginny. She was a miserable suspended lump, trying in vain to crumple into a ball to fend off the sickness.
Voldemort appeared with a crack sound and a burst of light. He was merely a specter now; his sole purpose was to feed off Ginny and her precious energy. In his frail, translucent hand, Draco could see him grasping his sinister wand, all the while wondering how he could accomplish such a feat.
Voldemort looked right at Draco, causing his stomach to twist in violent knots.
"Too bad for you, boy, that whatever you've done has landed you here. You would have been my successor," Voldemort hissed, coming closer and examining Draco's mutilated form.
"Well, well, what have we here?" the Dark Lord asked, reaching out one trembling, skeletal finger to touch Draco's heaving chest. Draco gasped as Voldemort ran his finger over the bloody mess of his binding mark. Shivering, Draco thought perhaps Voldemort's finger could not have been colder had it been ice.
"Let's have your esteemed father explain this, shall we?" Voldemort shrieked, moving away, making the hair on Draco's neck stand on end.
"Lucius, please explain why you have called this meeting. I am weak, and I wish to know now."
The gathered Death Eaters rose from their knees and gathered in a semi-circle around Lucius and Voldemort, who stood directly in front of Draco.
"My Lord, my son has committed a most grievous misdeed," Lucius began, clearly grandstanding. "You see, he allowed himself to be bound to her, and in doing so betrayed his family and his position with you."
Draco formed his mouth into an O and forcefully spat on the ground, partially covering his father's shiny boot. Skimming his eyes up his father, Draco sneered his Malfoy best and eyed his father defiantly. Despite the dire situation, Draco enjoyed seeing the purple rage mottling his father's pale face.
Draco was completely unsurprised when his father unsheathed his wand again and hissed "Crucio!" in his direction. Feeling the spell hit him, he was able to throw it off in several minutes, his training insulating him from the pain. As Snape had instructed, he writhed and twisted in fake agony while his father smiled tightly above him.
"Forgive me, my Lord; he has been infected by the Muggle-lover."
"Perhaps, Lucius, you allowed him too much free rein," Voldemort snarled, eyeing Draco.
Over Draco's whimpers and occasional screams for "My wand!" Voldemort stepped closer to Ginny to inspect her.
Because the entire assembly turned to see how the Dark Lord would deal with his new flesh and blood, no one saw the single-minded house elf who held the Distress Portkey tell Draco she would bring the young master's wand to him.
***
When the frail form of Voldemort approached her, Ginny could only see one thing in her mind -- beautiful, cold, deceptive, deadly Tom Riddle. How he had charmed and enchanted her.
She opened her mouth to speak as Voldemort mostly glided through the air to her.
"Remove the spell, Lucius," Voldemort said tautly.
A whispered incantation and suddenly Ginny Weasley's voice was the strongest force in the room.
She had fought back her nausea long enough to speak. Drawing on a reserve of Weasley temper and strength, she lit into Voldemort as if she were Molly berating the twins.
"Tom Riddle, you ruined my life once, and you won't do it again," she declared, curling her bruised lips with disgust. "How do you plan to do it now, Tom? Do you want to seduce me again with your lies? I thought you were my friend!" she bit out venomously.
Voldemort did the unthinkable. He stepped one step back, blindsided by her short speech.
"Do not call me by my father's name!" the Dark Lord screeched, the shrill sound causing several Death Eaters to cover their ears. "How dare you call me that!"
The room was deadly silent. Even the still-faking Draco paused in surprise for a moment before falling back into his wretched screams.
As if realizing he had reacted like a wronged girl, Voldemort struck out with his own words.
"Perhaps the Chamber of Secrets was perfect for you. Maybe the best thing that ever happened to you. It only made you stronger, and when I make your life mine, rest assured I'll relish every screaming, thrashing and bloody second of it." He paused for a moment to cock his head in a thoughtful manner, reaching out to cover Ginny's mouth with his icy hand as she took a breath to spew his own trash back at him.
"I think a little punishment is in order tonight, my followers. And I believe we should first punish this blood traitor over here, right in front of this shoddy bint's eyes."
***
The house elf was named Toddy, though she was female. Young, dumb, and good for singular tasks only, she had mindlessly heeded her young master's call for his wand. After she carefully stowed the magicked item Master Lucius had trusted her with, she scampered past Draco, through the dungeons and finally to the master living quarters.
Toddy had seen Master Lucius take young master Draco's wand into his office. Using her limited magic, she screwed her eyes shut and reappeared on the other side of the heavily locked door. Summoning the young master's wand from the pile of parchments on the desk was simple. Snapping her fingers, she appeared at Draco's side and slid his wand into his back pocket a split second before the Death Eaters turned like a tide towards him.
***
Feeling her mouth go completely dry, Ginny tried to scream again to gain the Death Eaters' attention, but to no avail. When a tiny house elf skidded to a stop with a riding crop in her thorny hands, she couldn't form the words necessary to ask for help. The elf dropped the crop a few feet out from her body and scampered away.
***
Lucius turned to his Lord and the Death Eaters.
"My Lord, I request that you let me take over this foul task. I do not wish for you to sully your hands with the Muggle lover. And, if I may be so bold, he doesn't deserve to die a wizard's death, no. Let me finish it with this Muggle knife, so he may die the way he lived." Lucius paused and throwing a look at his still-struggling, screaming son. "Shamefully."
As Lucius looked to Voldemort for guidance, the waif nodded his agreement.
Lucius smiled terrifyingly and rustled in his robes' pocket for the jeweled Malfoy dagger. As his hand closed around the hilt, he withdrew it and began advancing on Draco.
The Aurors attacked from behind.