A/N: No copyright intended. All rights belong to J.K Rowling.
This Fanfiction will not follow the storyline past the sixth book. We have changed characters' personalities and situations for this story. It will be A/U.
We hope you enjoy! Also, please check out our author page. That would make us very happy pandas. :)
Lily & Ashley
By the time Ginny had graduated from Hogwarts, the war was over. Voldemort had won. Harry was supposedly in hiding, although she had overheard Ron talking to Hermione about Horcruxes one night over the Christmas break. She had no idea what that meant, but she had a feeling it had something to do with stopping Voldemort's reign, and that gave her hope- even if only a little.
A marriage law was passed shortly after Graduation, a law to bind those together of pureblood status to purify the line of witches and wizards to be born into the Wizarding World for the years to come. She remembered the feeling of horror when she received her letter.
She had been assigned to Draco Malfoy.
But no matter how much she resisted- or how much pain it had put herself and her family through, the wedding commenced on September 5th. It was a small occasion, as her and Draco went to the Ministry of Magic alone to get their license. Then, she packed her things and, unwillingly, moved into Malfoy Manor shortly after.
However, despite the circumstances, it wasn't all as terrible as she had preconceived. With Lucius and Narcissa out of the house permanently (as the Deatheater Headquarters had recently been moved to a new location), and with an entire suite to herself on the opposite end of the Manor, she found herself pretty much alone most of the time. And she couldn't say that the Manor wasn't nice. It was luxurious- everything she had dreamed of when she was a kid. But this wasn't her fairytale, and she became depressed much of the time there.
The only contact she really had with Draco was during dinner, which was mandatory. She was starting to get the feeling that he didn't like very much being a Deatheater…
And to top it all off, Hermione was missing. Rumors swirled around a conspiracy- rumors that she had been captured by Deatheaters on Voldemort's orders, that she was being used to get Harry to come out of hiding.
Ron wouldn't talk of it. Ginny heard from her mother that he never left his room unless he was disappearing off somewhere mysterious. And during these disappearances, rumors were that he was with Harry, as Harry's face would sometimes pop up, usually in the darkest places of the world. People would swear that he had seen him- even if only for a moment. Ginny didn't know if these rumors were true- that people had actually seen Harry. But she did believe that Ron was with him wherever he was, helping him with whatever he was doing.
All she knew was that Ron was a mess, and so was she. She was scared. Had Hermione really been captured? If so, why? And where? Or did she go into hiding just like Harry had?
The dining room of Malfoy Manor was silent, except for the echoes of forks scraping against the most expensive crystal and the clinking of glasses of wine as they would both take a sip and place it back down against the mahogany table. This was usually how they spent their dinners- in silence.
Sometimes, however, they would make small talk. She didn't know why, but this is when she felt most happy- when they were talking. It wasn't that she liked him much. Or did she? She didn't know. All she knew was that when they talked, her worries temporarily went away and she could pretend that the world wasn't in such a state of terror, that Voldemort didn't win, that nobody was in danger, that everything was alright- for the moment.
Draco cleared his throat and wiped away at his mouth with a silk napkin.
"I'll be leaving tonight for a few hours."
Ginny nodded, looking down at the table, dejected, as she played with the food on her plate without really eating any of it. She hated being in the house alone, even if she was as far away from him as possible. It scared her.
But her interest was peaked.
"Another meeting?" she asked, looking up at him.
He usually never talked of the Deatheater meetings he went to, but when he did, he never seemed very happy about it- something she noticed with interest.
"Yes," he said. "Will you need anything while I'm gone?"
"No, I've got Libby," she said, speaking of the House Elf that Draco had assigned to her when she had moved in.
Nodding, he rose from his chair and placed his napkin on his plate.
"I must get ready. I will you check on you when I get home."
These were the times when she felt most confused. He would always say things as if he cared for her, but he didn't, did he? How could he? She didn't know, but she couldn't lie and say it didn't make her feel better about her situation at the end of the day.
Just as he was walking out of the dining rom, her heart jumped.
"Draco?"
He stopped and turned to look at her.
"Hermione-" she started.
She could see the recognition of her question in his eyes. He already knew what she was going to say. She looked down, feeling stupid.
"If you see her," she said quietly, her heart caught in her throat, "Please-"
"I will."
She didn't know what this meant- she never did. What could he do anyway even if he did find her? Bring her home? Free her? What was most confusing was that she didn't automatically assume anymore that he would do the wrong thing, the bad thing. She was starting to believe that he'd be honest with her, and she didn't know what that meant just yet.
"Thank you," she said, her eyes gleaming.
He nodded at her, turned, and walked away.
