Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Draco, Ginny, the Ministry, and practically everything else! They’re not mine, please don’t sue.

 

A/N: Sorry if this took too long to post, I’ve been busy with homework, soccer, and The Return of Salazar Slytherin :P

 

Chapter Five

The Crash

 

Ginny woke up at nine the next morning. She could’ve slept a lot longer, but her stomach was rumbling and felt so empty she forced herself to get up.

Draco was still sleeping, a lump in the bed. All she could see was his hair, which seemed perfect even though he had slept without brushing it. Throwing him a dark look even though he was sound asleep, she turned and headed out of the room, sure to seal it behind her.

She went downstairs, hoping there was a free breakfast. She stiffened as she past the front desk, but there was a man attendant instead of the lady who had been there the night before.

To her immense relief, there was a free breakfast buffet. She piled her plate as full as she could and sat down. It didn’t matter that the room was full and anyone could watch her being a pig. She scarfed the food down anyway. Afterwards, she was so full she began to feel sick and dragged herself back up to the room slowly.

When she turned the corner that the room was on she froze. Standing in front of the door was a couple, their luggage all around them, repeatedly trying to insert the card to open it.

“D’you reckon they gave us the wrong key?” the woman asked her husband.

“Maybe,” the man agreed. “I’ll wait here with the luggage – be a dear and go down to get someone to help us.”

The lady nodded and started coming towards Ginny. She smiled briefly as she passed her, thinking nothing of her.

Damn! Ginny thought. Why couldn’t he leave, too?

The man continued trying to open the door, sighing in frustration. Ginny kept at the corner, wondering how she would be able to get Draco out. She didn’t have a watch so she didn’t know what time it was. But who knew how much longer Draco would stay asleep? Not to mention if he suddenly waltzed out there would be questions to answer, especially after the help came and wanted to know why they were staying in a room that was supposed to be empty.

Better get him out now before anyone else comes, she decided, and approached the man.

“Excuse me, sir,” she said, putting on a broad false smile. He stopped and looked at her. “Would you like some help?”

He eyed her warily. “Do you work here?”

“Yes sir,” she lied quickly. “Here, let me try.”

She gently pushed him aside, turning her back to him so he wouldn’t see her use her wand. Just as she reached for it a voice called out, “Dear, I found someone!”

Ginny jerked her head to see the woman returning with a man wearing the maroon dress of the bellboys. She hurriedly shoved her wand back in her pocket and stepped back from the door. Great, now she would be in even more trouble once the bellboy says that she doesn’t work there.

The lady once again smiled at Ginny, but her husband grabbed her arm rather roughly and pulled her to the side. The bellboy, probably around Ginny’s age, ignored her totally and started on the door.

Ginny was debating whether on running or staying. A few yards away the man was whispering to his wife, glancing in her direction every so often. He even pulled out the newspaper and pointed something out, causing the woman’s jaw to drop and her hand to fly to her mouth. Now they both stared at her.

Oh no, Ginny thought. They recognize me!

“Are you Ginny Weasley?” the man asked, stepping closer to her and thrusting the newspaper out, almost angrily. His wife grabbed his arm, as if terrified that he was putting himself at risk being so close to Ginny.

The bellboy stopped and turned to inspect her even closer. His eyes widened with recognition and then fear.

Ginny swallowed thickly and glanced at the newspaper. There was a black and white picture of her and Draco on it, but the pictures were completely still. They were in Muggle newspapers! Oh God, everyone was looking for them now.

Ginny tried to laugh nervously. “Wow. She really does look like me, doesn’t she?” she said, hoping her voice didn’t come across shaky.

But the three’s stares did not soften nor cease. The bellboy gave one glance and then turned and sprinted down the hall. Ginny watched him go, helpless.

He was probably going to alert everyone that she was there.

The man suddenly lunged for her, grabbing her shoulders and spinning her around so her back was pressed against his front. His wife screamed and Ginny struggled, trying to get herself free from his iron grasp on her upper arms. Who did this guy think he was, anyway, grabbing her?

“Let me go,” she hissed through clenched teeth.

“Jim, let her go! She’s dangerous, Jim, please!” the woman pleaded.

Ginny jerked forward and out of his grasp, reaching for her wand and spinning around to defend herself if he came after her again. To her surprise, he had stepped back and held his hands up as if surrendering.

She pointed her wand menacingly at them, still afraid he would suddenly come to grab her once more. Using her criminal reputation as being dangerous she said in a low, threatening voice, “Don’t come any closer. I’m warning you now.”

Oh God. I just threatened someone. Instead of pleading my innocence I just made it worse. Now more people will testify against me – even though Muggles don’t really count, do they?

“We don’t want any trouble,” Jim said. “Just put that . . . thing away.”

Ginny tried to make her face look as soft as possible and still not let him think that he could grab her again. Without taking her eyes off him, she pointed her wand at the door and said under her breath, “Alohomora.”

The door sprung open.

Of course, she had been told all her life to never, ever do magic in front of Muggles. But this was different. No one would really believe them if they said she somehow made the door open using some kind of stick, right? They’d just say that Jim and his wife were too afraid to even see and think straight.

It’s not like I’m some big murderer or anything, Ginny thought. All I did was use an Unforgivable Curse . . . I wonder what I did to make the Muggles think I’m so dangerous?

“Don’t move,” Ginny said, hoping her voice wasn’t as harsh as it had been before. Then she hurried into the room.

Draco was still asleep.

“Draco!” she whispered loudly, not bothering to close the door. “Draco, get up!”

He spoke without opening his eyes, his voice as normal as if he’d been awake for hours, not just waking up. “Shut up, Weasley, I’m trying to get some sleep.”

“Draco, we’ve been discovered,” she said, talking in a low hiss so the couple outside wouldn’t hear.

Slowly, Draco sat up, his hair smooth and sleek as it had been when he’d gone to bed the night before. “Discovered?” he repeated, sounding dubious.

Ginny reached forward and grabbed his arm, yanking him off the bed. “Come on, it’s only a matter of minutes before the whole hotel knows about us.”

He didn’t look the least bit panicked, but shoved his shoes on quickly. Then he went out into the hall, barely glancing at the couple who had not moved since Ginny had left them. The woman let out a dry sob when she realized she was standing near two convicted felons.

“The guy ran off that way,” Ginny said, pointing down to the right. “So let’s go this way.” She gestured towards the left.

Draco merely nodded once and led the way.

But when the reached the stairs, they found that about five people dressed in black (Ginny recognized them as what Muggles called policemen) were hurrying up from the bottom.

Ginny and Draco backed up and went back into the hallway. Ginny was beginning to panic.

“It’s not like we killed anyone,” Draco said under his breath, and Ginny nearly laughed, even though it was more ironic than funny that he had said the exact thing she had been thinking.

“The elevator,” Ginny said. “That’s the only other way down.”

“I hope you know how to operate it,” Draco replied, evidently agreeing to use it.

Now Ginny led the way, back past the frozen couple and their room and towards the direction the bellboy had fled. At the elevators, there were two buttons – one with an up arrow, another with a down arrow. Ginny pressed the down arrow because they obviously wanted to go down.

It seemed to take forever for the elevator to come. Ginny wasn’t sure what to expect, but nothing was happening and she was wondering maybe if she hadn’t done it right.

“They went that way,” Ginny heard Jim’s voice tell the men that were after them. In a second they would round the corner and find her and Draco.

With a ding, a pair of the double doors on either side of the buttons slid open. It was empty, which relived Ginny further. Without hesitation she hurried on, searching for more buttons. Her eyes rested on the panel to her right. There were numbered buttons, labeled 2-9. There were also buttons with the letters L and P on it.

“What do I push?” Ginny cried frantically.

“Well, we want floor one, don’t you reckon?”

The doors slid shut before the police could even get a glimpse of them. Some of the panic in Ginny’s chest subsided, but she knew it was only moments before they realized where they were.

“There is no one!” she said.

“Then – push P,” Draco suggested, sounding agitated that he had to make the decisions.

“What does P mean?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know? Just push it, will you?”

Ginny pushed it.

There was a slight sensation that they were moving downwards that let Ginny know that they were beginning to go down. She let out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. Anything below floor two would be good, so she knew they would end up on the ground floor.

A minute later the doors opened again to reveal a wide, dark concreted area. There were many parked Muggle cars, and Ginny struggled to remember her year of Muggle Studies. Parking garages, were they called?

Ginny pointed towards the ramp that led out into sunlight, stepping off the elevator. “That way,” she instructed.

Neither of them saying another word, they began to jog towards the ramp. They emerged into the bright sunlight, finding themselves in another parking lot on the side of the hotel. In the front there were black and white cars parked everywhere, blue and red lights flashing.

More policemen were there. So far, they hadn’t seen them yet.

“Across the street,” Draco said, pointing towards their left at the shopping center. “Quick.”

But then there was a shout, and Ginny turned to see that they had once again been spotted.

“Damn your hair!” Draco snapped, and began to sprint across the street.

Ginny, a little angry he had blamed their being spotted on her hair, turned and ran after him. Horns blared around her as she crossed, and she prayed that no one would crash into her.

She made it safely to the other side and glanced back. The police had jumped into the black and white cars and were pulling out the lot, preparing to cross the street after them.

“We’ll never outrun them!” Ginny shrieked at Draco.

“We will!” Draco shouted back in her face, annoyed that she had shrieked shrilly right in his ear. “We have a little thing they don’t and it’s called magic.”

Draco started towards one of the shops, as if hoping to hide from them.

“The only way we can use magic to help us is to hurt them or stupefy them or something,” Ginny shot back, right on his heels. “And I won’t do that. That’ll only add to my record.”

Draco ignored her. He seemed to be searching for the best store where they could get away from the police.

Ginny looked, too, though it seemed futile. What was the use? The sirens were wailing loudly, only reminding her of how close she was to being put in jail . . .

A car suddenly pulled in to a parking spot about ten yards from Ginny. The driver, a middle aged woman, got out and, oblivious to the police sirens, went inside the shop. It was then Ginny noticed something – she hadn’t turned off her car.

A wild plan began to form in Ginny’s head. If they had a car, they’d have half a shot at escaping. She wasn’t totally sure how to drive, but she had flown the car her father had bewitched when she was around ten. Of course, that had been over eight years ago. Plus it wasn’t the same as driving it on a road, with other cars.

“Damn,” Draco whispered under his breath, realizing they had no way to escape.

“Into the car,” Ginny blurted before she could stop herself.

“What?” Draco snapped his head to look at her.

Ginny’s heart began to thud at the thought of actually driving it away. Glancing back at the police cars, she saw they were having trouble getting across the road. It was busy, and no one was letting them out, despite their loud sirens.

“Weasley, you’re not actually thinking of driving that, are you?”

Ginny could not tear her eyes from the vehicle, but she slowly thought about his question. Was she? They would have a better chance of escaping. How could they use magic in a shopping center full of eyewitnesses? The Ministry would have their hands full trying to erase the Muggles memories, and Ginny didn’t want to cause her father any more stress than he was already under.

Her mind made up, Ginny dashed over to the right side of the car and jerked the door open. It was a luxury automobile, but she did not have the time to be grateful at the moment. She turned to see if Draco was coming, and saw him still standing a few yards away.

“Hurry!” she called.

“Are you mad?” Draco demanded. “I am not getting into that and letting you drive it. I’d rather be captured by the Muggles.”

The sirens seemed to get louder as the police cars finally managed to get out of the hotel parking lot.

“On second thought, imagine the humiliation of being caught by Muggles,” Draco added, and got into the passenger side.

The woman had left the keys in the ignition, of course, since it was already running. Now all Ginny needed to figure out was how to back up . . .

“Damnit, Ginny, hurry!” Draco snapped. “You do know how to use this thing, don’t you?”

“Of course,” she shot back, her eyes searching madly over the dashboard and steering wheel, hoping to find something that would help her.

I need to do something, she thought, struggling to remember the layout of the Ford her dad had bewitched. Something besides pressing the gas pedal . . . Oh, God, which is the gas?

“Oh, bloody hell,” Ginny muttered, and pulled out her wand. She pointed it at the steering wheel and said, “Ritoria!”

The car began to roll backwards.

The police cars had pulled into the parking lot.

Draco looked in his side mirror, watching as they flooded the exits to the parking lot. “We’re never going to get out of here,” he said through gritted teeth.

Ginny’s heart was pounding so hard she was having trouble breathing. She reversed the spell so the car stopped rolling backwards, but she couldn’t use magic on making it move forwards. They needed to do more than roll – they needed to speed and somehow make it past the policemen.

She began to push every button. A loud voice was calling, “You’re surrounded, come out with your hands up . . .”

Finally, her hand rested on the stick between her and Draco’s seat. Her foot pressed firmly on the pedal opposite the brake (hoping that meant it was the gas pedal) she jerked the stick backwards.

They tore forward with a jerk.

Ginny shrieked before gathering her wits about her and slamming on the brake. She fell ahead and slammed back against the seat. They had managed to get very, very close to the police cars, parked only centimeters from one of the bumpers.

There were so many people dressed in black, Ginny’s heart plummeted to the ground. They were never going to get out! Why had she been stupid enough to hope?

Beside her, Draco was taking out his wand.

“No magic –” Ginny started, put Draco cut her off.

The wand pointed towards the front of their car, he whispered, “Iniliaror.”

Nothing happened. But Draco held his wand in the air as if waiting for something.

“What was that for?” she asked him angrily.

His eyes were on the policemen, his expression unreadable, wand still upraised. “Go,” he said softly.

“What?”

He finally looked at her. “Go!” he repeated furiously.

Ginny was so startled she obeyed without thinking, her foot falling down on the gas pedal. She gasped when she realized what she’d done – but to her surprise, instead of the car going straight into the police vehicle directly in front of them, the front lifted off the ground. And to her surprise even further, it went forward and over the line of police cars, as if it had taken a giant leap.

Draco dropped his wand into his lap, and the automobile crashed down onto the road. Cars coming towards them honked loudly and swerved, managing to avoid them and get back on the street correctly.

“Keep going!” Draco instructed.

Ginny pressed her foot on the gas pedal once more, this time knowing that they had a chance to escape. Though she was furious that he’d used magic, she bit her lip and began to concentrate on driving.

First she had to get in the correct lane. Twisting the steering wheel she pulled into the left lane, wondering how fast she should be going. Then it didn’t matter – the sirens were starting again, and in a matter of seconds the police would be right on their tail. They had to go fast.

She pressed her foot down even further.

Cars whizzed by in the other lane. Unfortunately, it was only a two-lane road – one lane for each direction – and Ginny got stuck behind some slow person.

“Move!” she shrieked, glancing in the rearview mirror and noticing the black and blue lights of the police cars.

“Just go around them!” Draco ordered.

Ginny checked the right lane. No cars were coming – at least, they were far away and she could probably make it back in time. So she increased her speed and passed the slow car in front of her.

The road stretched on, and the next car was a little while away. Ginny pressed the gas pedal down as far as it would go and gripped the steering wheel.

“This is so dangerous,” Draco said under his breath. “Why do Muggles use these?”

“Well, they normally don’t try and run from people,” she replied, slightly breathless. She looked in the mirror again – the police were only getting closer!

The road started to go up a hill that obviously went back down again, because it disappeared down the ridge. They had gained on the car that had been a bit ahead of them and now Ginny had to get around this one, too.

She swerved into the right lane, preparing to pass it.

And then, from above the hill came another car, heading head on for Ginny. Draco yelled out and she jerked the wheel to the right, only seconds from hitting the unfortunate person ahead of them.

The area around the road stopped down steeply, and only about a hundred yards down from it was a forest. Ginny was going too fast to stop, though she desperately tried to find the brake. Where was it? Oh God, why couldn’t she find it? Her foot kept hitting the floor, not a pedal.

Ginny stopped concentrating on the brake once they began to go through the trees. Instead, she tried to steer them around the big trees, praying that they wouldn’t hit anything.

Flashes of green and brown whizzed by. Beside her, Draco was gripping his armrest so hard his knuckles were white, whiter than the rest of him, and it was obvious he was gritting his teeth just preparing to smash into something. If Ginny hadn’t been driving she would’ve been screaming out of her wits.

Somehow, keeping an eye on the trees kept her voice from jumping out of her throat. They were going so fast it was amazing that she hadn’t hit anything it. The car bumped constantly, and one time Ginny’s head struck the ceiling. When were they going to stop?

Behind them, the sirens had disappeared. Or maybe the sound of wood and bushes rushing by drowned them out. Either way, Ginny didn’t have time to worry about them.

She had to worry about keeping alive.

And just when she was beginning to get the hang of it, just when she thought they’d be able to roll to a stop without being killed, a huge tree came out of nowhere. It all happened to fast – she had no time to jerk the wheel, had no time to try and find the brake again. One minute it loomed in front of them and the next the car had rammed into it.

She lurched forward, but something cushioned her fall. If it could be called “cushioned”. An airbag popped out of the steering wheel and softened the jerk. Beside her, an airbag in front of Draco had also appeared. But they had rammed the tree on the left side, on Draco’s side. Ginny’s side wasn’t looking too good, but it was a lot better than his. The front must’ve trapped him between the dashboard and the seat because he had barely jerked anywhere. The airbag had just come out.

Ginny felt stunned for a moment as pain shot up and down her body. The dashboard had also mashed in enough to hit her in the knees hard, and falling into the airbag had knocked the wind out of her. But she was alive, and stunned.

“Are you –” Ginny turned her head to look at Draco, her voice trembling. But when she saw him she cut off.

His head was lying limply to one side, and blood was streaming down his face. Her heart jumped into her throat.

Oh, God, don’t be dead! she thought, too scared to move, too shaken to move. Please, don’t be dead . . .

Not only was she upset that he was possibly dead, but how could she live with herself if he was? She had insisted they take the car. She had been driving. It was all her fault. What was she going to do?

She couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not. The airbag covered his chest. But all she knew was that there was a slight chance he was okay, and that she had to get him out of there. She was going to get him out, and then they would run from the police. It would take them a while to get down there.

Ginny pushed the door open. It stuck at first, but after a few shoves it finally sprung free. Her knees were pinched painfully between the seat and the area underneath the steering wheel, the wheel itself digging into her thighs. It caused her too much pain to pull them out themselves, so she used her arms to yank them free. The pain was so great her eyes welled up with tears. But she knew that whatever she was feeling Draco was feeling ten times worse – or, at least, he would be if he were conscious.

She could not walk. So she quickly fixed her legs using magic just enough so it wouldn’t hurt terribly when she used them. They still ached terribly, but at least she could stumble around the car to Draco’s side.

The front of it was hissing smoke. She was beginning to get afraid that the car might blow up. She had to get Draco out and fast.

But his door wouldn’t open. No matter how hard she tugged it would not budge. She could understand, considering how far the front had been smashed in. But hers had opened, why wouldn’t his?

So she ended up using magic to open that and was finally able to get to Draco. Blood was pouring down the right side of his face, dripping onto his shoulder and disappearing into the black of his clothes. Ginny’s body felt shaky, hoping that blood still oozing was a sign that his heart was still pumping.

She stabbed her wand into the airbag and popped it so it wouldn’t be in the way. Then she inspected the situation. How would she get him out? He was pinned between the dashboard and the seat, and she couldn’t even fit her hand between the dashboard and him they were so close. What was she going to do?

She didn’t know any magic that would help. She’d only taken Muggle studies one year, but she had a feeling even if she’d taken it all seven years of her school career they still wouldn’t have taught her how to use magic and extract a person from a bashed up automobile.

Holding her wand in her teeth, she reached in and gripped Draco’s shoulders. She tried to pull him free but it only caused his head to jerk slightly. With a sigh of frustration, she let go of him, the hand that had gripped his right shoulder covered with sticky blood.

Think, Ginny, think, she commanded herself. You can do this. There has to be a spell to get him out. Think.

Noises up the hill made her jerk her head in that direction. The police were coming down, though she couldn’t see them through the thick foliage. Soon they would find them and she would have killed Draco for nothing.

He has to be alive, she thought stubbornly. He has to.

She tried his legs this time, tried pulling them out. It took a few seconds, but she managed to get one of them out from underneath the dashboard. Happy at her small achievement, she worked on the other.

Within a minute, Draco was at an odd angle – his hips up were still facing forward, but his legs were out to the side. Ginny would’ve laughed had the situation not been so serious.

She grabbed his left arm and tried to tug his torso out. It moved ever so slightly.

Now she could hear voices. They Muggles were getting closer. She didn’t have much more time.

She yanked again, this time harder. If he had been awake it would’ve hurt tremendously, but at the moment all she could think about was getting him out and getting them away fast. She would heal his wounds later.

With one final tug, Draco fell out of the car and slumped to the ground. Ginny let out a breath of relief. Then, without hesitating, she levitated him up into the air and began to run deeper into the forest, making sure that he was trailing behind her, on his back in the air, and not hitting any more trees.

 

A/N: Hope you liked it! Please review, I love reviews!

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