Disclaimer: I'm not even going to try to do anything funny here. I don't own Harry Potter and that's the long and short of it. The only thing that I own is my own novel. Oh, and the short stories I had published in a writing fair thing. I own those too! Yay!

Zomg. I'm so sorry, guys. For those of you who actually remember this story… bravo. For those of you who don't or are new readers… bravo to you too. So anyway, I'm so sorry. It's been almost 2 years. That's unforgivable to me, so I'm extremely sorry. If you are all very mad at me, I totally understand. But at least I'm updating… I was looking through my old stories and came across this one. I was like, "Oh yeah! I remember this! Hey, it's not that bad…" so I edited it a bit, and started writing chapter 7. (Yes, I am that far. I don't know why I never posted this and chapter 6…) So yeah. Here we are. Read? Review? Thanks.

Ginny's PoV

The next day was spent sleeping. Hey, getting attacked and meeting someone for the first time in five years in the same night is tiring, OK? Anyway, I had to go down to the kitchen to eat around six-thirty. w00t. It was interesting; at least it was until the topic changed to me.

"So, Gin, why were you so late getting home last night?" Ron asked with his mouth full of steak and kidney pie.

I shrugged. "Took me a while to find the ingredients."

Which was a complete lie, but I wasn't going to tell them about Draco. They wouldn't like it too much. However, I did quickly (and uneventfully) Apparate back to the dark alley and pick up the ingredients after I noticed I had forgotten them.

"Yeah, and your hair was all messy," Harry chipped in. I rolled my eyes.

"I ran my hand through it, stupid."

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'. I'm going to finish my report for Professor Dumbledore," I said, pushing back my chair.

"Uh-uh-uh," my mum said, shaking her head. "We're having a meeting in a few minutes. Now clear the table if you're so willing to work."

I sighed a long-suffering sigh and banished all the plates, whether the people eating off of them were done or not, over to the counter. This provoked a lot of angry muttering, but it stopped after they got a death glare from me. "Now what?"

"Off to bed, you," Mum said to Bill and Fleur's child, Olivia. Did I forget to say that they have a little six-year-old girl that looks exactly like her mother but with Bill's red hair? She's adorable and we all love her to death and spoil her tremendously. Olivia was now pouting.

"Do I hafta go? Don't wanna go."

"Yes, Liv, you have to go," Bill said, swinging her onto his shoulders, and carried her upstairs. When he came back, we cast the usual charms and spells on the door and windows and got started.

It wasn't until halfway through the meeting that I noticed that Snape was gone. Not that I missed him or anything (my personal opinion was that he should go jump off a cliff and stop terrorizing little eleven-year-olds), but he was an important part of the Order. Unfortunately. And he was never late for a meeting unless…

Snape appeared just as I was wondering where he was, making a dramatic entrance as always by storming through the door like a madman, stopping just in front of Dumbledore. Snape started talking to the old man in a low, hushed voice while the rest of us strained to hear like a little kindergartener eavesdropping on his or her friends discussing their birthday present. Finally they stopped talking and Dumbledore cleared his throat.

"Ahem. Severus has brought us some interesting news for us," he announced. The room fell dead silent. We all knew that when Snape had news, interesting news in particular, it was almost always bad. I swear, that man was incapable of being the bearer of good news.

"Tonight, as some of you know, is the eighth anniversary of Voldemort's" – people shuddered – "rebirth. In honor, he has organized a raid on a Muggle village for tonight. Once we get the signal, those of you capable will Apparate to the village and capture as many Death Eaters as you can.

People nodded by remained silent, waiting for the signal. Suddenly, Snape put his hand to his right upper arm and nodded to Dumbledore. Dumbledore shouted one word – the name of the village – and we Apparated to the village.

It was chaos when we got there. People were screaming, kids were crying, dogs were barking, and above all, curses were ringing out through the night.

We got to work right away, some of us taking out the Death Eaters and some taking care of the Muggles who were still alive. I was the appointed caretaker of the children. My job was simple – heal and protect the children if at all possible.

At the moment, I was healing a little boy's leg. He was about the age of Olivia, and it made me sick, even after three years of being an Auror, to think that a kid that age would have to face horrors like that raid. Suddenly, his face turned terrified and he started stuttering unintelligibly. I turned around in time to hear someone mutter "Crucio!" and had just enough time to fling myself in front of the little kid and intercept the curse.

I despise my noble tendencies.

I was fairly used to that particular curse – we had to be able to withstand torture in my line of work – but I hadn't been able to fully throw it off yet like Harry could. Hence, it still forced me to my knees. I remained aware of my surroundings, so I was, on some level, aware that the kid was crying and screaming for help. For me. Humanity never ceased to amaze me when I least expected it to.

After what seemed like forever, the curse was lifted. I slowly stood up and faced the hooded and masked figure.

"If you touch them, any of them, I will kill you," I snarled, picking up my wand from where it had fallen on the muddy ground, and pointed the wand at the person. The assembled children crowded behind me and peeked out as the Death Eater walked towards me, keeping his wand trained on me. I tried to back up but I almost tripped over the kids.

"I don't think you'd kill me, would you, Ginny?" he (now I knew it was a he) murmured in my ear. I stiffened.

"Draco," I acknowledged quietly. I could imagine him smirking below that hood.

"Very good. Now get out of here."

"What?"

"You heard me. Get out of here or you'll be killed. Hell, I'll kill you if you don't leave. We're under orders to kill everyone."

"Draco, I'm not leaving. I don't care if I get killed; I can't leave the children. Besides, if they catch you, they'll throw you in Azkaban."

As he was about to answer, I saw Ron sprinting towards me.

"Quick!" I hissed urgently. "Stun me?"

"What?" he asked with confusion laced in his voice.

"Just do it! Stun me and Disapparate! I'll be fine. Do it!"

Draco stepped away from me and called out, "Stupefy!"

My last thought as I drifted into darkness: He trusted me…

When I woke up, my first thought was, "Is Draco OK?" I didn't say it aloud, of course. My first words were, so eloquently put, "Mmph."

I got up after that; the worst thing that stunning does besides knock you out is make you sore. I hadn't be out for long, I surmised, since people were still fighting, so I wasn't very sore. I accepted a quick hand up from Tonks and set off to stun, kill, capture, or otherwise harm the remaining Death Eaters. Whichever method was easiest at the time.

I kept an eye out for Draco, but I couldn't see him, much to my delight. Not seeing him equaled him being safe. And that was a very good thing.

We finished with the Death Eater quite quickly, since there were less of them and more of us – I wasn't the only one protecting the Muggles, and since the Death Eaters were focusing mostly on us and not the Muggles, we were free to fight without shirking our jobs. As soon as we had brought the few Death Eaters we had captured to their holding cells at the Ministry and had gone back to Number 12, Grimmauld Place, Ron walked up to me.

"Hey, Gin, you alright?" he asked.

"OF course I'm OK. I'm always OK!" I snapped. Why was it that meeting Draco always made me crabby to everyone but him?

"Right, Ginny, you're always OK. Riiiight."

"I am!"

"Dear, I think you should go to bed. It's late," Mum said, coming up behind me. I glanced at the clock.

"It's only five in the morning, Mum. I'm a big girl now; I know when I need to go to bed," I said, ending in a tremendous yawn. Mum and Ron exchanged looks involving a lot of smirking and eye-rolling. I scowled. "Fine, but it's only fair that Ron goes to bed too."

"Ginny, you're acting like a little kid," Mum scolded. I put on my best little-kid puppy-dog pout.

"Ronniekins has to go to bed too."

"Ronniekins has work to do," Ron said smugly.

"Well, so does Ginny!" I snapped.

"Oh, both of you, go to bed," Mum said tiredly, rubbing her eyes.

"But-" Ron protested.

"No buts. You may be an adult legally, but I'm your mum and I can still boss you around. Go to bed."

Ron stomped up the stairs like he was eleven again and I followed, much calmer, in his wake.

When I got to my room, there was a plain bit of parchment on my pillow. I walked over to it and picked it up, looking at it curiously. Words appeared on the paper before my eyes, making me almost drop it in surprise. I quickly scanned the paper before read it carefully and slowly from the top.

Dear Ginny,

I charmed this parchment permanently to only have the words appear when you hold it. I'm sorry if it startled you; it was essential.

What I really wanted to say was thank you. You know I don't say that often, so don't make me do it again.

You saved me from Azkaban, and now I owe you. If you need to find me for a very important reason that you really need me for, put your wand on the parchment and say 'transport'. It only works on you, and it can tell the reason. If the reason's not good enough, nothing will happen. I can't have Aurors invading my home, can I? I would have to kill them and you wouldn't want that, would you?

It was unsigned, but it was obvious who it was from. I dropped the letter on my desk, watching as the words instantly faded, leaving a completely word-less sheet of parchment. The door opened behind me and I quickly dropped the letter into the desk drawer.

"Ginny, I'm going to bed," Hermione said from behind me. "Could you go to bed too, so that the lights can go out and it'll be quiet?"

"Sure, Hermione," I muttered, stepping away from the desk and getting out my pajamas.

I fell asleep at around six in the morning, drifting off while thinking about Draco's letter.

Falling asleep thinking of him was beginning to be a habit.