One
London, 2004
A servant girl wasn't supposed to speak to the son of one very successful dictator, much less climb up to his bedroom. Only the gods knew what would happen to her if she were caught. She would probably be whipped mercilessly before being booted off the estate.
Virginia Weasley shimmied up a support column, curled her skilled fingers around the ironwork of the second-floor balcony, and hung suspended for a moment before swinging her legs up with a grunt of effort. Catching the edge of the balcony with her right heel, she pulled herself over the balcony and eased over the railing.
Crouching low in front of the expensive French doors, she cupped her hands on either side of her eyes and peered into the bedroom, where only a single lamp was burning. A boy stood before his dressing table trying and failing to both pull a brush through his flyaway hair and ease a thick black sweater over his bare-naked chest. The sight filled Virginia with a rush of pleasure, and she doubled over in silent laughter, her body twitching and shaking.
Young Master Malfoy...the only son and child of the cruel Lucius Malfoy. He was cold at times, low-spirited, even, but still he was beautiful in all ways. Having been allowed too much freedom by his inattentive parents, Malfoy had spent most of his life roaming about his family's lavish London estate. Lord and Lady Malfoy were too caught up in their own social affairs to give any real consideration to the supervision of their one child. The situation was not uncommon for families of high politics and stature who inhabited the homes nearby. The notions of parental responsibilities were quickly dashed away by worries of what to wear to an important ministry official's home and what to serve at an upcoming banquet.
Since the day Virginia had arrived at the age of 14,going on 15, she and Malfoy had become constant companions (With the exception of the perpetual bickering, of course) for nearly two years. Their friendship had been easily overlooked because of the sheer size of the estate. They knew just the ways to avoid people visiting or looking for either one of them.
But, eventually their relationship had started to change. No healthy man could fail to be stirred by Virginia's doleful eyes and athletic form, and yet no sane woman could turn from the face of Malfoy and resist the temptation to take just one more look.
But back to the story...
At the moment it seemed that Malfoy had succeeded in his duel with his appearance and though a few choice strands were strewn haphazardly along the sides of his face, his hair was tamed and his sweater correctly placed over his back.
Collecting herself, Virginia gently tapped on a glass pane of the French doors. Malfoy turned towards the sound and regarded her without apparent surprise. Virginia rose to her feet, watching him intently.
Folding his arms across his chest, Malfoy regarded her with a scowl. Go away, he shouted through the closed doors.
Virginia raised her eyebrows well above their resting place, busy thinking about what the hell she had done now. To her knowledge she hadn't been involved in any pranks or mischief, today. She had even taken special care to avoid the low hanging trees that were constantly inviting her to climb them (she always suffered punishment whenever she was caught). So, shaking her head stubbornly, Virginia remained where she was. She reached down to rattle the gold encased door handle in a subtle warning. They both knew that if she were discovered on the balcony, she would deal with the brunt of the consequences, not him. And it was for that reason- to save her hide- that he finally, reluctantly opened the door.
"Did you forget that we were meeting by the lake today?" Virginia asked without preamble.
Malfoy regarded her with attentive eyes, his lip curled, and one eyebrow lifted. "No, I didn't forget." His voice that usually showed no emotion whatsoever carried just a hint of surliness.
Again, Virginia raised her eyebrows, and she threw her hands up into the air with exasperation. "Then, where the hell were you?!"
"Does it really matter?"
"I asked you to meet me by the lake because I wanted to see you." She replied, after a brief silence.
"Oh, really?" Malfoy asked feigning surprise.
"Yes, really."
"I assumed that you had changed your mind– since you seem to prefer someone else's company to mine." As Malfoy read the confusion in her expression his mouth twisted impatiently. "I saw you at Diagon Alley this morning, when my father and I went to Gringott's."
Virginia tilted her head cautiously. "Yes. And..."
"Oh don't be such a twit, I saw you with one of your bloody brother's friends. You kissed him. Right there on the street for the whole world to see!"
And so she had. Her companion had been Keith Waterly. One of her brother's notorious friends, with the whole bad-boy image and everything. One of the boys who didn't know the meaning of no. Virginia loved those kinds of boys.
"Draco, you have got to be joking. You're angry with me because I gave Keith a mere peck on the lips? It was over almost as soon as it began, and meant nothing to either of us."
"A peck on the lips?!" His voice was shrill, and Virginia was tempted to clamp her hands over her ears. "A peck on the lips you say?! That was more than a peck on his blood y lips!"
"You're blowing this way out of proportion."
"Does it look like I care?"
"You seem almost...jealous."
His eyes bugged out of his skull, unnaturally, and his voice grew in tempo. "Jealous?!" he laughed, cruelly. "Preposterous."
"Preposterous, indeed." Virginia threw herself onto his bed, and hugged herself. "It's not as if that was my first kiss."
"What!!!"
Hello, friends. Okay, here's the first chapter to "An uncommon beginning", as you well know. I look forward to updating, but I will only do so if you REVIEW this chapter. The poit of you reviewing is for you to tell me whether I am one of the worst authors alive, my story sucks, you don't see where this story's going, you'd rather me not continue, you have suggestions for upcoming chapters, all of the above, etc...
That's all I have to say, so tah for now.