taking control

Chapter 26: Fight or Flight

A/N: As I'm sure most of you are quite anxious to read the chapter, I'll keep this short. Thank you to all my reviewers for taking the time to leave me your thoughts. Thank you to Christine for your continued help on the story. Without further ado, I give you...

Chapter 26: Fight or Flight

Ginny stumbled and fell to her hands and knees as the Portkey dropped her in an unfamiliar room. The voice that greeted her, however, was all too familiar.

"Not who I was expecting," the haughty voice declared from behind her. "But you will have to do."

Keeping her arm hidden, she casually flicked her wand from her holster into her hand before standing and turning around. She narrowed her eyes at the platinum-haired man in front of her.

"Tut tut," he spoke upon seeing her wand in hand. "What do you hope to do with that? I suggest you put it down before you get hurt."

"Where am I?" Ginny demanded, ignoring the threat. She could not take her eyes off her foe to examine her surroundings, but from what little she had seen, the place appeared quite extravagant.

"Where are my manners?" Lucius asked himself. Sweeping his hand in a wide gesture, he said, "Welcome to my modest summer home."

Without warning, his wand was in hand and a sickly orange spell was heading her way. Ginny was prepared, however, and had already side-stepped the curse and retaliated with several of her own. Malfoy lazily batted her spells aside and returned with more of his own. Not knowing what most of the spells were, Ginny dodged all she could, leaving her wand-arm free to return fire.

With each spell he cast, Malfoy's haughty sneer seemed to fade, giving way to his growing anger and frustration. Evidently, he had not anticipated this much resistance. She had no time to celebrate that fact, though, as she was busy fighting for her life. As Malfoy's frustration continued to mount, his concentration began to lapse. His attention was so focused on the offensive that he failed to react in time to block a Cutting Curse. Lucius bent down to hold a hand to his injured leg, and Ginny used his distraction to quickly send a Stunner, knocking the elder Malfoy unconscious.

Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Ginny walked cautiously towards the downed Death Eater. Remembering a lesson Harry had drilled into her, she Summoned his wand before drawing too close. The wand shot out of Malfoy's limp hand and into Ginny's grasp. She went to break the wand over her knee only to bite back a gasp of pain as the wand did not break. She tenderly rubbed the spot on her leg where the wand had struck. After a moment, she aimed her own wand at it and cast a Cutting Curse through it, cutting the other wand clean in half.

She turned her attention back to Malfoy's prone form and noted a small amount of blood beginning to pool around his leg where she had hit him with the Cutting Curse. She knew no healing charms to stop the bleeding, and she was not about to revive him. She did not think the cut was enough to put him at any serious risk, so, seeing no other options, she decided to leave him there and try to find a way out. If she could make it outdoors, she would use her Animagus abilities to transform into a lioness and make a hasty escape. First she had to find a way out of the building.

There was only one door, so she cautiously approached it. Easing it open, she peeked around the door into a corridor lined with various paintings and tapestries. She was thankful to find it was devoid of anyone. Taking a step back, she pointed her wand at her temple and cast the Disillusionment Charm. She felt a chill run through her body, and when it reached her toes, she knew the charm was in full effect. Breathing deeply, she snuck out into the hallway and quietly closed the door behind her. Looking back and forth, she saw no windows or any indication of which way would lead her to the nearest exit. She chose a direction and slowly crept down the hall in search of a way out.