Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters.

Warning: None as of yet.

A/N: Another new story which I am writing to fill in some time. I'm sure you'll understand.

A Drunken Mistake

Ginny Weasley sipped her coffee with a slight scowl. Tomorrow was her twenty-fifth birthday, and she was single, working in a menial job with boring colleagues, and getting paid the minimum wage (which wasn't much).

“I'm just so successful,” Ginny stated sarcastically to no one in particular as she took another sip of her coffee.

The waiter gave her a strange look but appeared to be too polite to say anything. Ginny found herself even more annoyed by that fact. Anything would have been good right now to save her from her boring existence, even if it was a false accusation from a stupid waiter saying she was crazy.

“You got something to say to me?” Ginny snapped at a fat woman wearing an orange cardigan who had been staring curiously at her.

The woman muttered something to her companion and shifted tables, much to Ginny's delight. It wasn't like she was on display here for weirdoes to stare at her for their pleasure. Sure, she may look like she just crawled out of bed, but it was 7:30am in the morning, and Ginny wasn't a morning person. Plus, she had work in one hour, and that was not exactly a thrilling event to look forward to, so she had an excuse to look wild and grumpy.

The wireless network started playing a familiar song, and to Ginny's horror tears started to burn at her eyes. It was the song that had played at her wedding to Harry, not that she ended up getting married…

Ginny looked around the church as she walked up the aisle. Molly was crying into a handkerchief, her head resting against Bill's shoulder, who was grinning broadly at Ginny. Fred and George gave her two thumbs up, and Charlie inclined his head at her with a kind smile.

Ginny glanced up at Arthur, who gave her a reassuring nod. She turned her face to the front and saw Harry staring in awe at her. He smiled nervously at her and took her hand as Arthur released her arm.

“You look beautiful,” he whispered in her ear.

Ginny merely nodded. She thought if she opened her mouth she might vomit.

The ceremony began and finally it came to the “I dos.” Ginny gazed into Harry's emerald eyes as he spoke those fatal words, “I do.”

“And do you, Ginevra Molly Weasley, take Harry James Potter to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health to love and to cherish till death do you part?”

Ginny's chestnut eyes flicked around the room at all the crying and smiling faces. They all wanted this, but did she?

”Ahem.” The Minister coughed slightly, “Miss Weasley?”

”I d-“ Ginny stared at Harry with an almost apologetic look. She knew now she did not love him, and if she didn't stop this here she was never going to be happy, “do-oon't.”

”You, do-on't?” the minister said, shocked.

“Ginny?” Harry questioned, a confused and hurt expression on his face.

”I don't!” Ginny said firmly. “Sorry, Harry, but this wedding is over.”

And with that she threw off her veil, picked up her skirts, and raced out of the chapel, leaving a stunned crowd behind.

”Anyone want some cake?” Colin Creevey squeaked timidly.

Ginny sighed and wiped her eyes. She wondered if things would have been better if she had just married Harry and been done with it. Her mother hadn't talked to her for weeks, but Fred and George had thought it was a great joke, which only made things worse. The biggest blow was Harry getting over it so quickly. He probably thought he was making a fine escape Ginny thought bitterly to herself.

Ginny glanced at her watch and realised she'd better get to work if she wanted to get there on time. She stood up and walked over to the counter to pay her fee, rummaging through her purse for the coins.

The lady at the counter tapped her fingers impatiently, which was really beginning to grate on Ginny's nerves.

”I know I have the money in here somewhere,” Ginny said, blushing slightly as her fingers scraped on material but, sadly, no sickles. Was it possible that they had fallen out into her bag?

Ginny sighed and tipped her bag upside down, causing lip gloss, papers, and pens to fly out onto the counter and onto the ground. The lady raised her eyebrow and sneered slightly at Ginny.

”You don't seem to have enough to pay,” she said snottily as Ginny held out a few sickles in her hand.

”What?” Ginny said in disbelief. “But coffee is only six sickles.”

The lady rolled her eyes and pointed at the little blackboard, which had changed since the last time Ginny had been here. It now read, “coffee - six sickles and ten knuts.”

Ginny sighed. “Look, it's just ten knuts. Can't you let me off today?”

The lady laughed. “Considering that you already drank the coffee, I'll be expecting you to be here with the money by the time we close today. No excuses.”

Ginny nodded to the lady and quickly walked out of the coffee shop. Her face contorted into a mimicking expression of the lady as Ginny muttered mockingly, “I'll be expecting you here with the money by the time we close today. No excuses.”

Ginny huffed, “Stupid woman, at least I don't look like a tortoise wearing a red turtle neck.”

She kicked at an empty bottle and screamed as a hand clamped around her mouth while something dug into her neck. It felt horribly like a wand.

”Don't move,” a voice said hoarsely by her ear. The overpowering smell of stale alcohol drifted to her nose, and she had the sudden desire to cough.

Ginny tried to say something, but all that came out was “mumblewumble.”

People were staring at them curiously, and Ginny wondered why they weren't doing anything to help her.

”Hey you!” the man yelled in a strangely familiar voice, “Make yourself useful, and call the Aurors!”

The person the man was yelling at jumped and quickly sent up red sparks. Almost instantly ten Aurors appeared with their wands ready, including Harry Potter.

Ginny felt the man tense behind her, but her brain was still too fogged by fear to think of any good ideas to get away.

”So nice of you to join me,” the man said loudly in almost mocking tones.

”Get away from her!” Harry yelled.

The man laughed. “I bet you thought we'd all disappeared, right, Potter? That nobody would come and spoil your precious safe little world now that the Dark Lord is dead.” He let out a harsh laugh, and Ginny could almost visualize the mocking gaze that he would be giving to Harry. “Well, guess what? Not all of us died. And I'm not going to give up till I get revenge for everything you took away from me. Starting with this girl!”

Ginny felt his grip tighten on her and gasped as the world began to dissolve around them.

As they apparated into somewhere Ginny had never been, Ginny's first thought was that this place really smelled…that was until she crashed into the ground head first because her captor had decided to let her go. Then she thought of words best left unsaid.

She sat up and stared at the man now rummaging through a box on a rickety table. He had wild blonde hair that looked like it hadn't been washed for days, and his face was hidden by a large amount of the same.

“Don't you ever shave?” Ginny said, clearly disgusted by his lack of hygiene. And really, did he even know the meaning of the word clean? His house was a mess, if you could even call it a house. There were empty firewhiskey bottles and muggle beer bottles and cans littering the floor, not to mention the pizza boxes that had moldy half-eaten pizza sitting in them.

The man looked at her in surprise. Ginny found the coldness in his gray eyes disturbing; they were like steel and strangely familiar.

”Shave?” he said in a hoarse voice and laughed. “Why should I shave? It's not like I could get a job or go places. I'm a criminal, you know.”

Ginny rolled her eyes. “I gathered that when you kidnapped me. But that doesn't mean I am going to be stuck with you in this smelly house. So either you clean yourself up and make this house at least habitable, or I will make sure you regret you chose me for a hostage.”

The man laughed. “I'd like to see you try.”

Ginny glared at him and was surprised when he threw a cloth at her. “Why'd you do that?” she asked angrily.

”You're bleeding,” he said bluntly and pointed at her head. “Clean yourself up.”

Ginny checked the cloth for traces of dirt. Once she had decided it was clean enough, she started to wipe the blood from her forehead. She glared up at the bear-man, as she had decided to call him, and watched as he continued to rummage through his box.

“You know, I could just leave right now.” Ginny said as she walked towards the door. “You're not even paying attention to me, are you?” Ginny said slightly frustrated.

“I doubt you could.” The man said without looking at her. “There are anti-disapparating wards all around the house. Only I can come and go as I please. The door is locked with a charm that Alohomora won't even open, so even if you did get my wand off me at some point, you won't be able to escape.”

Ginny inwardly let out a sigh of relief. She didn't want to look desperate, but being kidnapped was the most exciting that had happened to her in a long time, even if it was by a drunk lunatic.

The man continued to look through his box and Ginny found herself coming to stand next to him, as she too looked in the box.

“What are you looking for?” she asked curiously.

The man sighed and looked at her. “A book, if you must know.”

”What do you want with a book?” Ginny asked.

”What anyone else wants with a book: to read it, of course.”

”What kind of book is it?” Ginny persisted.

”A spellbook,” the man said shortly.

”What kind of spellbook?”

”None of your business,” he snapped.

”Why won't you tell me?”

”Do you always ask this many questions?” the man asked in frustration.

Ginny nodded. “Does it bother you?”

The man looked at her suspiciously, and Ginny had to try hard not to laugh.

”So, are you going to tell me your name?” Ginny asked.

He looked at her puzzled. “You don't know who I am?”

Ginny shook her head. “It's kind of hard to tell with all that hair on your face, you know?”

The man frowned. “Well, I wasn't expecting this…I wonder if Potter recognised me?”

”What is with you and Harry, and why would he recognise you?” Ginny asked curiously.

The man stared at her coolly and went back to his box to pull out a dusty photo frame. He grabbed her hands roughly and shoved the picture in her hands. “Look, and you'll see.”

Ginny frowned at him and glanced down. She gasped and almost dropped the picture as she stared into the face of Draco Malfoy. His sleek blonde hair was falling softly around his metallic eyes, and his lips were curved into a cold smile. He still had the pointed rat-like features of his Hogwarts days, but Ginny could see that this picture was taken when Malfoy was about eighteen.

”Malfoy?” she said incredulously as she looked at the unkempt man before her.

He nodded.

”What happened to you?” she said, half laughing.

Malfoy scowled and snatched the photo out of her hands. “You people winning the war is what happened to me. My inheritance, my very life was snatched away that day, thanks to Potter and his stupid friends.”

”So, you've kidnapped me to get back at him?” Ginny said slowly. She knew that Malfoy had been put in Azkaban for attempted murder when he was nineteen, but he was let out later because Pansy Parkinson's family had spoken for his innocence and paid a lot of gold to the Ministry. It still hadn't completely cleared his name though.

”Do you know how hard it is to get even the smallest job when people think you are a murderer?” Draco asked, his eyes shining with a mad gleam.

”N-no,” Ginny stuttered. She wasn't scared of him, but a very drunk and angry Draco Malfoy could be dangerous.

”I'm practically living in the streets, and it is all because of Potter!”

”What are you going to do with me?” Ginny asked hesitantly.

Malfoy's eyes unfocused slightly as he pointed his finger at her. “I'm going to-”, but he trailed off as the drink finally got to him, causing him to crash to the floor where he started to snore softly.

Ginny jumped slightly but realised that he was asleep and sighed. As she stared at his sleeping body, a wicked idea came to her. She knew he would be angry with her the next day, but hopefully once he sobered up, she might be able to get some sense into him.

With an evil smile Ginny picked up his wand and muttered a few well-chosen words.

A/N: So, slightly random, but I can promise that this story is going to be a lot of fun! Please review and tell me what you think so far!