Disclaimer: I own basically nothing. I have a car, but that's about it. Even the characters you don't recognize have first/last names stolen from the series, I just gave them a story. The Song featured at the beginning and the end is The Devil Within by the Digital Daggers. It is awesome, I highly recommend the song, which vaguely gave me the idea for the story, among other things.
Chapter One
You'll never know what hit you
won't see me closing in
I'm gonna make you suffer
this hell you put me in
I'm underneath your skin
the devil within
you'll never know what hit you
Ginny had never felt so exhausted in her life even if it was still early in the morning. Her mind felt melted and her body completely drained, unsure if she could walk or even form a sentence. Her eyes were so incredibly swollen and red from crying all night that she couldn't tell if that was keeping her eyes closed or if it was the thought of opening them and continuing with life. There are so many why reasons the night is long and it is the longest when you are lying awake, thinking of everything and nothing all at the same time. Staring at the darkness, going over all of it...back and forth...and the clock ticks on as if you are sleeping like anyone else.
Ginny wasn't even sure how much she slept over night or if she even slept at all, possibly just lying there all night in an exhausted sleep like state, much like she was in right now. She could feel her mother's body hold her close and tightly while she was running her fingers through her hair and whispering soft and kind words into Ginny's ear, something she didn't recall stopping at all throughout the night.
The previous night just kept replaying in Ginny's head over and over no matter what she did or what other thoughts she tried to put in her head. She always ended up right back to walking across the school grounds, walking back to her dorm room. She could still smell the crisp night air and feel the cold wrap around her body, not sure if that was ever going to go away now as she felt chilled to the bone while covered in blankets. She had been nearing the dorms when she noticed all the wand lights in one direction and what sounded to be screams or cries. Unable to continue walking without knowing what was going on, she began to head towards the wand lights, noticing quite a few of the wands belonged to Aurors and school guards. The professors were out there as well and it was McGonagall who shifted her wand light slightly, giving Ginny light in the right spot to notice that Draco was standing among the group.
Ginny began to walk faster now knowing a student was over there, but it didn't take long for her to notice another head of red in the wand light. Once she noticed Ron bent over and heaving, she broke into a run, soon seeing Pansy kneeling a few feet away from Ron's feet. The horrid screams and uncontrollable cries were coming from her; two things Ginny was sure Pansy never did. Ginny's feet hit the ground hard as she rushed over to the group, McGonagall hearing her footsteps approaching and turned around. She quickly pointed in Ginny's direction and hissed something at Draco that Ginny was close enough to swear it sounded like 'stop her'.
Ginny was right as Draco ran the couple feet Ginny had left, colliding with her to stop her from going any further. He held on to her tightly and even though her running force pushed against him, he stood almost still holding her back. Feeling his arms around her again after all this time would have normally been enough for her to surrender into them and let him protect her but it was too late. Just over Draco's shoulder she could see what the commotion was about and she knew why Draco would respond so quickly and instinctively upon seeing her to protect her from what he had seen. Beyond Draco's shoulder, Ginny could see the recognizable blonde hair in a tangled mess attached to bloody, almost unrecognizable body, which lay cold and lifeless, sprawled out on the grass. Ginny screamed, yelling out her name hoping that it would magically wake her, but it only made Draco grab on tighter and Pansy scream louder…
Ginny stared into her mirror, contemplating the upper half of her body before standing on tip toes to see what she could of her bottom half in her small mirror. Her room, like her mirror, was small, square shaped and it said a lot more about who she was at ten then what she looked like right now did. In one of the corners closest to the door was her small, old yet entirely comfortable bed, which had a small blanket that she crocheted two summers ago at the end of the bed. In the corner on the other side of the door was a worn-down dresser that had several different kinds of stickers decorated all over it, some of them holding parts together.
Ginny reached out and fixed a sticker that read 'Not all those who wander are lost', that was starting to peel off. She glanced over to the other side of her room where a small desk was placed in front of her window. Not much sat on the desk most of the time because Ginny mostly used it to sit on when she is looking out the window, or to make it easier when she climbs onto the roof to get some air. She looked back to her mirror that was on the wall in the middle of her room, the rest of the wall mostly covered in posters of different kinds, anything that interested her when she came across it.
Now that she thought about it, a lot of the posters on her walls and stickers on her dressers were old and outdated. She didn't have money to get any new ones so she never bothered to take the old ones down, not wanting to see the ugly pink walls she liked when she was four. Settling her restless mind back on the mirror, she finally just sighed and gave up, the second-hand uniform she was wearing was oversized and visibly worn. Her skin was pale and covered in freckles, which wouldn't be so terrible if her hair wasn't flaming red. Her eyes were a dull brown color, especially without a little makeup to bring them out, not that she even would know how to put it on if she could afford it.
Ginny exited her room, shutting the door behind her, and headed downstairs towards the kitchen. The Weasley family house was old and needed some work, but it was a pretty decent size, which was beneficial since her family was big. Her parents stayed on the first floor, Ginny, Percy and the spare bedroom that used to be Charlie's room were on the second floor. There is a separate little loft, that was probably supposed to be an attic, but her parents turned into a bedroom for the twins, Fred and George. Ron's bedroom was in the basement, but it wasn't always down there. It had been Bill's room, while Ginny and Ron shared a room when they were young. Bill moved out when Ginny was seven and the twins moved into the basement and Ron into the loft.
However, within weeks their parents had come to realize the twins, who were ten at the time, did not have nearly enough supervision down there. When Percy had a fit about moving down there, eight-year-old Ron was forced to move down there. Even when a room opened after Charlie moved out Ron still stayed down there. Ginny could only wish the seven-year-old version of herself had jumped on having the basement bedroom for the little bit of extra independence. Of course, that didn't cross her child-like mind back then, not that her parents would have let their little girl move down there.
When she reached the kitchen, she found her mother, Molly, busying herself cleaning up the kitchen. Ron, Fred and George were all at the table already, dressed in their uniforms and stuffing eggs into their mouths. Ginny sat down at her seat, a plate of food in front of her, not that she was entirely hungry. She never is hungry when she first wakes up, but today was also her first day at Hogwarts, so she knew she needed to at least attempt to eat.
Hogwarts was the Wizarding School Ginny's brothers and now she attended. The story of the school's almost destruction and then the rebuild was a very common bedtime story told in their house when she and Ron were young so Ginny knew all about it. A dark wizard who had gone by the name Voldemort, although no one ever said it or talked about him really, had brought on a war. The dark lord was a powerful wizard, her mother had said, who spent ten years after school diving as deep as he could into the dark arts. He then spent another fourteen years gathering followers and by the beginning of 1970, it was an all-out wizarding war against the dark lord and his followers, better known as deatheaters.
Her mother said if the dark lord continued to torture the wizarding world like he had for the first two years of the war, he would have had more chance at succeeding. However, he believed himself to be invincible and pushed himself and his followers to the limit that not only destroyed them, but several innocent lives as well as most of the school and grounds. With the dark lord defeated and the school destroyed and having to perform far too many memory charms on muggles to make them forget any form of magic they had seen, the school decided to rebuild with change, which the Ministry of Magic approved.
Hogwarts was rebuilt, but not as great and grand as it had been before. It was rebuilt with the same mysterious magic and with the room for the students to learn, but there were no house dormitories built or anywhere for the students to live, except for a few dorm halls for traveling students and those who wish to stay at the school. In hopes to be slightly more secluded, in the abundance of land surrounding the school, they had four towns built for the students, their families, teachers, alumni and pretty much wizards in general. The Wizarding City of Hogwarts had been created.
Molly had told Ginny and Ron that the four towns, or better yet sections of the city, had been named after the four house dormitories at the old school, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. The school was now in the center of the four towns, in the center of the city of Hogwarts. Each of the four towns had two smaller schools, one for children from five to ten, for their primary schooling. The other school in each of the towns were the wizarding prep schools for students age eleven to thirteen, because Hogwarts was only for fourth through seventh year students, which Molly said is a lot different than when she had gone there.
The new wizarding city was just that, still very new and becoming what it will be. Ginny didn't know very much about the other sections of the city. In the wizarding prep school, the students had a class 'History of Gryffindor' along with the regular 'History of the Wizarding World' class. Those who live in Gryffindor are known for their bravery, known to be daring and fiery as well as mischievous, passionate thrill seekers, as well as having a tendency of speaking before they think. Now, while Ginny was all those things, well she at least hoped she was brave, she didn't know if she was raised to be that way or if she was going to learn who she truly was after Hogwarts. Her brother, Percy, had graduated from Hogwarts the previous year and immediately moved out of the house, not unlike most after they finish their schooling. However, he moved to Ravenclaw and things have been tense, at best, since. Once you move to a new section, a lot of wizards see it as choosing a new life and saying goodbye to your old one. Not many come back once they leave and those who have returned, are not always welcome anymore.
"Ginny you better hurry up and eat if you want a ride with Ron and Harry." Molly reminded Ginny, not facing her daughter but clearly knowing that she was hardly touching her food. Ginny was extremely nervous about starting at Hogwarts since she hadn't done so well socially wise at her previous schools. She came out of her first eight years of schooling with one friend, Colin, and he wouldn't even be there for the first day, so she would be starting the day alone and friendless. Colin Creevy and his family moved in, or as Colin put it, 'they were assigned' next door to the Weasley's after Colin got his letter when he was eleven. His parents are muggles and he also has an older muggle sister and a younger brother who turned out to be a wizard as well. They would take vacations every summer, only this summer they were dropping off Tori at her muggle boarding school, so they would be coming back tonight. Colin would miss his first day at Hogwarts and his brother, Dennis, will miss his first day of prep school.
"You should also work on finding your own rides." Ron said in a low voice to her when Molly walked back to the other side of the kitchen. Ron and Ginny were very close, but when it came to school and his friends, he wanted keep that as separate as possible. She knew the twins would offer her a ride, but they were already up from the kitchen table, plus she didn't want to be the little sister who depended on her brothers. She needed to do this on her own, not that she had a choice since the only person who socializes with her won't be there. Ginny decided as Ron got up from the table that today would be the perfect day to become the new, independent Ginny. "Harry's here and we are leaving in two minutes." Ron said, leaving the kitchen. Ginny pushed her plate away and rushed upstairs to grab her school bag.
She would start being more independent when she got to school.
The Potter vehicle pulled up to the front of Hogwarts, Lily dropping the three of them off at the front door. Per Mrs. Potter, her husband, James, never bothered to get his license as a few older pureblood wizards chose to do, or better yet not to do. A clear majority of the wizarding community used vehicles, normally a muggle form of transportation, to commute between the communities or if they were heading to muggle town nearby. It had been a very popular addition to the wizarding world, but not everyone agreed.
"Would you be able to watch the boys tonight, Gin?" Lily asked as the teenagers were exiting the car. Harry and Ron took off without even looking back or waiting for Ginny to finish up with Lily. Lily and James had three boys, Harry, who is Ron's best friend, and two younger boys, Danny and Matty, who are eight and seven respectively. Ginny usually had much more free time than Harry, who had friends and was involved in activities, so she would usually watch the boys for them.
"Of course." Ginny responded with and Lily gratefully thanked her, explaining how James and she had some war victors' ball to attend. Ginny shut the car door and turned to face the school as Lily drove away. Students ages fourteen to seventeen were all around the campus, dressed in the same uniform as Ginny, most of which were in better condition. As she did a second look, she realized that all the uniforms were not the same. She, along with her brothers, Harry all had uniforms that's main colors were red, gold and black. A few students had similar colors, while others had blue and purple or green and silver, she had even seen some yellow and orange.
Pulling her schedule from her bag, she walked into the school with her head high, trying not to look nervous. She quickly glanced down the map on the back of the schedule to find her locker, before folding it back up, not wanting to look like a lost and confused fourth year. When she reached her locker, it took her four times to get it open. A girl who has her locker that is near Ginny's, who clearly wasn't a fourth year, but didn't look much older, looked the red head up and down. She smirked at Ginny, a mischievous gleam in her hazel eyes, before shaking her head in slight disgust. She walked away without a second glance at Ginny, her wavy, black hair, with pink streaks, fell flawlessly halfway down her back as she disappeared around the corner. Her uniform had been the green, silver and black one.
Feeling shaken up from a simple smirk from the extremely put together girl from the locker next to her, Ginny quickly grabbed her bag and filled it with what she needed right away, slamming her locker shut and rushing off to find the potions classrooms.
The first class Ginny had was potions, which she liked a lot when she was in wizarding primary school, however, the professor at Hogwarts was terrifying. He looked like an oversized bat with bad hygiene. His shoulder length black hair was greasy; his teeth were yellow and his eyes were dark and penetrating. Ginny had sat up front because the professor hadn't been in the room when she first got there, almost late. She regretted it after he spoke two sentences, but was thankful she was at least on time. One student had been late and Ginny was sure he was about to cry when he finally got to sit down.
The second class that she had was Herbology, with a short, round and always brightly smiling witch. Her last class before lunch was transfiguration, with a tall, very stern and very prim looking woman. Despite fearing her quite a bit, Ginny decided she liked her as soon as she realized she was the cat sitting in front of the room before the class began.
Now it was lunch and Ginny stood in the cafeteria, with her lunch tray in her hands, trying to find somewhere to sit. Tables closest to the food were filled completely with students all loudly chatting and eating their lunch with their friends. As Ginny made her way to the back of the cafeteria, she noticed Ron and Harry, but wanting to be on her own and not depending on them, she continued towards the back. There were smaller tables in the back, a lot of which were full, but there were a couple that were close to empty.
Ginny's eyes landed on a girl, who had her hair pulled back into a tight plait, her nose in a book and her food barely touched. Ginny also noticed that she was in the same colored uniform and decided it was her best bet for the first day, making her way over to the table and taking a seat, leaving one chair between her and the other girl.
"Hey." Ginny greeted the other girl as she sat down her tray. The girl glanced up from her book, a look of surprise on her face. However, when she seen the redheaded girl standing in front of her, her face changed to a friendly smile.
"Hey." She greeted, "My name is Hermione." She introduced herself as she set her book down, but not before she marked her page.
"Ginny." She replied as she opened her drink and took a sip. "Are you a fourth year as well?" Ginny asked, hoping to keep the conversation going.
"No, I am a fifth year." Hermione responded, before gesturing to the empty table. "I didn't really click with my classmates." She explained with a small smile and Ginny nodded, completely understanding.
"My only friend is the boy who lives next door." Ginny explained, stating that she completely understood what Hermione had been telling her and was far from judging her lack of social skills compared to their classmates.
"I can't really complain. I babysit for a lot of Hogwarts students' younger sibling. I have come to find that a lot of the wealthier families have problems bigger than their bank accounts at Gringotts." Hermione rattled off with a bit of a giggle at the end.
"Can you get me some babysitting jobs?" Ginny asked which led to Hermione asking if she had any experience. Ginny did have experience babysitting Harry's younger brothers, as well as Dean Thomas's younger sisters. Although Ginny was the youngest in her family, she could probably even count watching her brothers as babysitting experience as well.
"That would actually be great. One of my regulars asked if I had a friend that could handle her close friend's twin daughters. I have younger twin siblings, so if you would like to take on my regular, I can pick up the new one." Hermione offered and Ginny gladly accepted.
"Let me guess, the mother of the twins will be paying more." Ginny responded with a laugh and Hermione nodded a bit.
"They both pay very well, but yes, watching twins will get me more. Are you free tomorrow?" She asked and Ginny nodded her head. "Good then we will both be next door to each other babysitting." Hermione finished with, which led to Ginny asking who the older sibling was of the kid she was watching. This led to Hermione explaining what she knew about each of her classmates.
First Hermione explained that the uniforms were based on which section of the city they lived in while in school. She clarified that she had to go through some test when her family first moved here, because like Colin, she was muggleborn. She also mentioned something about how it didn't make sense splitting everyone up by where they live and having them live by certain traits there, but no one was interested in talking about it.
The older brother of Damon, the boy Ginny would be watching, is Draco Malfoy, a guy sitting across the cafeteria with shaggy, white blonde hair. Per Hermione, he plays on a travel Quidditch team, which are very costly to even try out, as none of her brothers could afford to even do that. Ginny was vaguely sure she had heard her dad mention the name Malfoy when referring to work before. The tall, skinny, caramel-colored boy next to him was Blaise Zabini, and although he has the money to play on the Quidditch team, he chose to play on the Lacrosse team offered by the school. His sister, Bailey, sat on his other side and looks just like him, although she had longer curly hair. The twins Hermione would be babysitting belonged to the Zabini family as she explained. Both families were very close and very rich, the family names going back many generations.
They each had two girls sitting directly across from each of them. One was Ginny's locker neighbor, who Hermione said was Pansy Parkinson when asked, even adding that she was the snake behind an angel's face. Hermione also said she had at least one older brother, but she didn't know his first name, but she was almost sure he was a seventh year. The girl sitting next to Pansy, was Daphne Greengrass, with her messy golden blonde hair complimenting her beautiful heart-shaped face. She was a cheerleader, one of the activities offered at the school, as well as a player on the field hockey team, another sport offered through the school.
Other girls at the table were a white-blonde haired girl named Alexandra Runcorn, who played Quidditch, as well as a heavier set girl named Millicent. There were the identical twins, Aubree and Charlotte, both wearing Hufflepuff colors yet strived to as different as Fred and George were alike. The last two girls were Tracy Davis, who was a cheerleader and was rumored to be sleeping with a professor, or so she claimed, while the other girl Hermione assumed must be Daphne's younger sister. Hermione continued to go through the group at that table, not sure on all their names.
Hermione then pointed out Harry, Seamus, Dean and Ron who were sitting several tables away from the other group. She knew that Ginny knew who Harry and Dean were as she babysat their siblings, but she went on to introduce Ron, hinting at a bit of crush, which Ginny ignored. "Yeah, Ron is my brother." Ginny admitted and Hermione immediately stopped talking. She turned red for a moment from embarrassment before she pressed on, not letting it bother her in the least.
"So you're the girl Weasley? I heard you were starting here. First girl in generations." Hermione stated and Ginny nodded impressed with Hermione's vast amount of knowledge just about their Hogwarts classmates. Also, slightly frightened to know she has that much stored in her mind just about the students at the school.
"You seem to know an awful lot about your classmates for not knowing any of them." Ginny pointed out, only noticing this when Hermione knew that she was the first Weasley female in generations.
"Yeah I like to observe and read. There is book your family is mentioned in." She added, which surprised Ginny because she had no idea. "It's like the pureblood directory and it's from the 1930's. Although published anonymously, it seems like it was written by a man with absolutely no knowledge in the history of purebloods." Hermione said with a small laugh, tapping her hand on her book as the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Hermione and Ginny parted, making plans to meet again tomorrow for lunch, where they would make the plans for Ginny's new babysitting job.
After lunch, Ginny had three more classes. The first of the three was Defense against the Dark Arts, which she had loved when she was in primary school. The professor that taught that class was Professor Teller, who was probably close to thirty, but still held on to his teenage looks. He looked like he could be a seventh year if he put a school robe on making Ginny assume that by the professors she met so far, this was most likely the one that Mandy girl claimed that she was having an affair with in the staff. He was generally great teacher, keeping the class interested, although he did sometimes get distracted talking about off-subject related items.
After Defense was History, which Ginny never thought could get more boring until she came to this school. The professor for this class was so used to teaching his class, that when he died in his sleep, his ghost got up the following morning for class. He continued, to this day, to teach his History classes, in the same tone he probably has used for centuries.
It wasn't until the last class that Ginny finally met Luna Lovegood, a slightly kooky girl with long bleach blonde hair, with wide and bright, blue eyes. The last class was Charms and the two girls sat next to each other during the class. By the end of class, they were good friends and learned that they had Herbology and Defense together. By the end of class, they agreed to sit together in all three classes tomorrow and Ginny invited her to join her and Hermione at lunch the next day. When they were leaving the classroom, and going to go their separate ways, Ginny heard several students mocking the girl. She turned around to watch Luna walk away, a group of boys following her and calling her Looney. Not able to stand for that, even though Luna seemed fine ignoring them, Ginny stormed off after them. She refused to let them treat her like and there was no way she would let her walk alone now.
Ginny met with Hermione in front of the school at the end of the following day just like they had planned at lunch. Colin and Luna were both jealous they were going to Slytherin territory into some of the most expensive houses. The two girls got in Hermione's car and heading off to pick up Hermione's siblings. The two of them chatted while sitting on the trunk of Hermione's car, which was parked in the back of the Gryffindor Prep lot by the lake, enjoying the weather while waiting for Hermione's siblings to reach the car. Emma and Ethan were in their second year at Gryffindor Prep and Hermione picked them up on her way home from school. She wasn't sixteen just yet, but wizards haven't exactly figured out their driving laws yet.
Emma and Ethan both look very like Hermione with chestnut hair and golden eyes, but their hair was much tamer than Hermione's hair, but far from straight. In fact, if they were walking around the halls of Hogwarts, they would look like they fit in with the age group. After they dropped the twin twelve year olds off at home, both matching Hermione early maturity, heading off into the house to lock the doors, do their chores and their homework until their parents get home. Their parents are both full time dentists with their own office so they work long hours, but can take vacations when they want.
Afterwards, Hermione took Ginny by her house, where Molly force fed them a second lunch before she would let them leave. They ate as fast as they could before they took off again in Hermione's car, heading off to the land sectioned off as Slytherin territory, which was on the opposite side of the city center from Gryffindor, where both Hermione and Ginny live. The traffic through city center will be insane now that school has let out, so Hermione chose to take one of the other roads that connects all four territories to one another. She cut through Ravenclaw, where everything had a slight blue hue to it, before they ended up in Slytherin where everything was just greener.
Hermione pulled up in between two mansions, explaining to Ginny that her parents will come by here and pick up the car shortly. Her father has an errand to run and until Hermione has her own car, she drives her dad's. He will also be picking them up, so Ginny wouldn't have to worry about finding a ride home. Ginny was about to ask why her parents didn't just apparate, but she stopped herself when she remembered they were muggles. She simply couldn't not imagine what it was like for Colin and Hermione's parents to be muggles living in a completely magical community.
"So Narcissa Malfoy and Beverly Zabini are very close friends and next door neighbors. You will be watching Damon Malfoy, the most lovable and angelic little boy ever. I will be right next door, watching Beverly's twin daughters. They are going to the same party together and I'm sure they will come home together." Hermione explained to Ginny, not needing to rush her words as they walked up the walkway to the front steps of the Malfoy Manor. Hermione knocked on the one of the two gigantic doors in front of them. Suddenly, Ginny felt under dressed in her school uniform just for a babysitting job.
The door swung open and instead of seeing a human standing before them, their heads dropped down to see a house elf grinning up at them. "Missus Hermione. Is nice to see you again." The house elf said to them as soon as he recognized Hermione. "I let the Lady of the House know you here." He said excitedly as they were let into the house and he was shutting the door behind them.
"Thank you, Dobby." Hermione said just before the house elf disappeared. A few moments later a lady came walking down the hallway just behind the stairs, dressed very elegantly and smiling as she greeted them. Hermione introduced Ginny and Narcissa Malfoy, before saying she should get next door.
"Good idea. I think Beverly will lose her mind if she thinks she has lost another sitter already." Narcissa said with a caring laugh, shutting the door behind Hermione and turning to face Ginny. "Let's sit down and get to know each other, shall we?" Narcissa said, leading Ginny into the sitting room right off to the side of the foyer. They both took a seat, Dobby appearing seconds later with a tray of tea and cookies.
"Thank you so much for the opportunity, Mrs. Malfoy." Ginny thanked as she took her cup of tea from Dobby, smiling down at the house elf, who was very pleased to receive a smile.
"Please, I dropped the 'r' in the divorce. It would be Ms. Malfoy, but you can call me Narcissa." She replied with an elegant laugh, taking a sip from her tea and setting it back down on the table. "So you are in your first year at Hogwarts? Gryffindor, right?" She asked, assuming correctly that Ginny was from Gryffindor based on her uniform.
"Yeah, it's nothing like Gryffindor prep." Ginny admitted honestly and Narcissa gave her a genuine smile, before proceeding to ask Ginny a few more questions about herself, including about her family and how much experience she had babysitting. Narcissa even let out a loud chuckle when Ginny named who she babysat for, but stated that growing up with six older brothers gave her the most experience.
"Oh, my goodness." She said, a chuckle still in her voice. "My Damon will be nothing compared to six brothers." She told Ginny, before telling Dobby to bring Damon down to meet Ginny and say goodbye. "My rules are pretty simple. One, use your best judgement, Dobby will be here to clean up or help with anything. Two, put a movie on in his room at eight, watch it with him and he will go right to sleep."
"Sounds like a simple night." Ginny said with a smile and Narcissa nodded.
"My last rule is you are not relieved of babysitting until I get home. My ex-husband should never stop by while you are here, but I am also referring to my older son, Draco." Narcissa explained and Ginny raised an eyebrow. "I am very serious about this matter. My son, I'm afraid, is not someone I trust to watch his brother alone. Not that he would hurt him, but responsibilities are far from Draco's mind." Narcissa continued to explain and Ginny nodded her head, not wanting to push the issue any further.
"I completely understand." She said to reassure Narcissa, who smiled at her, saying she would also appreciate it if she wouldn't mention that to Draco. Before Ginny could respond, Damon entered the sitting room and Ginny could tell just by looking at him that Narcissa was right. Damon was an angel, a spitting image of the boy she had seen in the cafeteria, which made her wonder what was so wrong about him.
Hermione followed the house elf to a gigantic bedroom, bigger than she had ever seen, especially for one person. Beverly Zabini was sitting in front of a vanity mirror, a table full of makeup products, creams, lotions, potions and a bunch of other bottles that Hermione didn't have time to look at right then. Beverly turned around, looking very well put together, but stating that she was running very late and was feeling frazzled.
"I hope it isn't a problem that I have Brooke this week." Beverly said after she sent the house elf to fetch the twins, gesturing to the baby in the play pen on the other side of the room. "I completely forgot until her father dropped her off a couple hours ago. The house elves will keep an eye on her most of the time." Beverly said, a hint of pleading in her voice, but Hermione had assured her that it wouldn't be a problem.
Beverly then went into rambling off the house rules, usually losing her train of thought, but Hermione got the general idea and as it went for rules, Beverly didn't even to enforce that many and none were even close to unreasonable. She began to explain how to get ahold of her and what time she would be home, when the house elf returned with the two girls, one dressed for a night out and one dressed for a night in.
"Where do you think you are going, Brianna?" Beverly asked upon taking in her daughter's appearance.
"I told you we weren't going to the party." The other twin said to Brianna, who ignored her, pleading with her mom, who didn't want to hear any of it. When she realized that she would not get her way, Brianna stormed out of the room, not even bothering to acknowledge Hermione.
"That was Brianna." Beverly said, a slamming door heard off in the distance. "This here is Bethany." Beverly introduced the other twin to Hermione.
"I'm the not crazy one." Bethany said with a smile, receiving a sharp look from her mother. "What? It's how you tell us apart." Bethany said, making her mother sigh and roll her eyes, but say nothing to defend herself in that matter. Bethany did have a point though; the girls were completely identically except in personality it seemed.
"I will be taking off momentarily, why don't you show Hermione around the house and grounds while Bria cools downs." Beverly said, before returning to getting ready without waiting for a response from either girl. Bethany tapped Hermione's arm, beckoning her to following her as they left the room. Bethany led Hermione to an elevator that took them to the top floor, which was much more convenient then walking up all the stairs.
The floors were mostly made up of an assortment of bathrooms and bedrooms. Blaise and Bailey's bedrooms were on the top floor, along with Raegan Avery; a follow fifth year Slytherin, who is a step-sibling of sorts since Beverly is currently unmarried; along with bathrooms and an extra guest room. The following floor held the bedrooms for Bria, Bethany, and Bryce, their deceased brother. Along with the other floor, it also held bathrooms and two extra guest rooms. The second floor is where Beverly's room was, as well as Brooke's nursery, a guest room, two bathrooms, and a study. The ground floor is where the ballroom, kitchen, dining room, tea room, plus two guest rooms and three bathrooms. Hermione was sure she had seen other doors, and although she knew one was to the basement, she wasn't too curious about the rest, feeling there were far too many rooms.
"Missus Bethany?" A house elf called as they walked through the kitchen heading to the screened breakfast nook. "Missus Bria has requested a snack; would you be wishing for one before dinner?" He asked her in his squeaky voice and she politely declined with a shake of her head. As they walked out into the nook, Raegan came walking in, whom Hermione recognized as soon as she seen her. She's a cheerleader, but not your typical one since she is more the troubled, tortured artist and not very peppy outside the sidelines of games. She has straight, silky brown hair and with soft tan skin and slate grey eyes, her lips complimented with maroon lipstick and eyes heavy with black liner.
"Hey, have you seen Blaise?" Raegan asked Bethany, not even noticing Hermione. Bethany simply shook her head, smiling at her older step-sister. "Okay. I'm going to tell Boochie I'll be around for dinner tonight. New sitter?" Raegan asked when she finally stopped moving, her eyes finally stopping at Hermione. She didn't even wait for a response before she walked out of the room and into the kitchen. Hermione followed Bethany onto the grounds before she spoke to her again.
"You don't seem to talk much around your family, do you?" Hermione asked as they walked through the garden, following Bethany's lead as there were many paths to choose.
"Noticed, have you? They don't." She replied with simply, leading Hermione towards a cottage looking building by the tree line towards the back of their property. "I'm going to move into the furnished pool house when I'm old enough. Escape from the craziness of the family, when I don't need to have sitter." She said in a sort of bitter tone, which Hermione seemed to understand, as there was a house full of house elves that seemed to attentively watch the girls and older siblings that were generally always around. Not to mention, the girls weren't that young and Bethany seemed to be quite mature for her age.
"My brother and sister are about your age. I would hardly say I still babysit them so I am sure it will happen soon." Hermione said trying to encourage the girl, who was now walking around the edge of a pool, the water lapping at the feet.
"What are their names?" Beth asked as she slid a foot across the top of the water, her voice sounding interested but her interest in the water in the pool said anything but interest in what Hermione was saying to her.
"Emma and Ethan Granger." Hermione responded, taking a seat on one of the poolside chairs. Beth's head jerked up, finally showing interest, but the words that spoke next didn't come from her. Hermione jerked around to see Brianna standing by them, rushing to sit down in the chair next to Hermione, holding a piece of fruit. Bethany was joining them in a second, her wet footprints leading from the pool to the chairs, sitting down next to her sister.
"You cannot tell Ethan we are still being babysat!" Bria exclaimed once her sister sat down next to her. Hermione then sat there and listened as Bria went into a full detailed story about how they knew who Ethan and Emma were and they were both incredibly cool and popular. Beth sat next to her sister, nodding with what she said, but not adding her own input. Once Hermione assured the girls that she would not share with her siblings that she was babysitting their classmates, dinner was announced. Walking back up the house, Bria was at Hermione's side, no longer disgusted with her sitter and Beth looked interested in what was going on, rather than disconnected.
Ginny's eyes popped open, not sure what made her suddenly wake up. She was laying on a bed with her arm wrapped around young Damon, who was still fast asleep. She hadn't intended on falling asleep, but Damon had fallen asleep so fast and looked so comfortable that Ginny had fallen asleep while trying not to move. The movie on Damon's wall was rolling through the credits at the end so she hadn't been asleep for very long, maybe an hour. Then came a crashing sound that sounded so far away, but Ginny was sure happened in the Manor. She looked down at Damon, who was still fast asleep and began to work her arm out from underneath him. He rolled slightly, but did not wake as Ginny climbed out of his bed and made her way of the room.
She quietly shut the young boy's bedroom door and made her way down the dimly lit hallway. It wasn't until she was heading down the stairway that she could hear someone talking and it seemed like they were mumbling to themselves rather than talking to someone else. Narcissa had said something about her ex, who shouldn't be around, and her son, who wasn't allowed to relieve her from her job. Hoping it was one of them and not someone trying to rob the manor, Ginny continued her way down the stairs.
When she arrived at the final landing before the last few stairs, she could make out that it was Narcissa's son's silhouette in the lights from the candles. He was mumbling to himself while handling what looked like a broken vase. She started walking down the steps to see what was going on when he finally spoke out.
"I'll replace it, mother." He slurred out, having heard someone come down the stairs. Ginny realized why he wasn't allowed to relieve her. He was drunk and Narcissa knew he would show up home like this making Ginny wonder how many times he would come home plastered on a school night.
"She isn't home yet." Ginny finally said, making him look up and drop the pieces of broken vase that he was holding. If they could use magic outside of Hogwarts school grounds, she was sure that the Vase would be fixed and wouldn't have cut himself on one of the shards. "You cut yourself." Ginny said as she started walking over to him. He looked down at his hand, unaware of the small gash on his hand, but before he could say anything, the front door opened and the light from the front porch lit up the foyer. Draco and Ginny both turned to the door to see Narcissa standing in the doorway, her eyes going from the broken vase on the floor to Draco's bloody hand.
"Oh Merlin, go clean yourself up before you make a mess!" Narcissa snapped at him. "You wonder why I can't trust you with your own brother? You can't even take care of yourself!" She continued snapping at him as she waved her wand and cleaned up the broken pieces of vase. They appeared put back together and back on the ledge where it had been before Draco knocked it over. She began to shoo Draco towards the bathroom, telling him she would be right behind him to clean up her cut. She turned to Ginny and apologized for her son, before handing her some galleons.
"He just came home a few minutes ago. No big deal." Ginny said, waving it off and heading towards the door.
"Hermione's dad was pulling up when I dropped off Beverly." Narcissa informed Ginny before thanking her and heading after Draco to clean him up, while Ginny walked out the front door, shutting it behind her. She began walking down the path towards the road, placing the galleons in her pocket, hoping that she would have the chance to continue babysitting Damon.
Hermione jumped when someone spoke behind her. She had been shutting the twins' door as quietly as possible, trying not to wake them as it had been taking forever to get them to fall asleep. The baby, Brooke, had been asleep for a couple hours, but the twins hadn't given in until the last half hour. When she turned around, Blaise was leaning against a well underneath a wall torch so he was very noticeable in the dark hallway. She just stared at him a few seconds before finally asking him to repeat himself.
"You don't look like one of my sisters. Did my mother get remarried?" Blaise asked her with a playfully but Hermione remained quiet, not sure what to say. "I can't imagine my mom hired a mute sitter for the girls." He said and finally Hermione spoke.
"They just fell asleep so I would really appreciate if you could be quiet." She said to him pointedly in a sharp whisper. He smirked at her as she tried to walk passed him towards the stairs.
"My mom is home so they no longer fall under your responsibility anymore." Blaise said to her with a smirk and she just stared at him for a moment, before saying her father would be outside waiting for her because he is always in a hurry to get home after picking her up. "Actually I think my mom is talking with your dad over tea." Blaise confirmed for her, before letting her walk passed him. "Make sure you get extra money for Brooke." He added as she passed him, making her look at him one more time before rushing down the stairs. Blaise watched her go, a smirk on his face as he shook his head with a laugh and headed to his room.
I will be here
When you think you're all alone
Seeping through the cracks
I'm the poison in your bones
My love is your disease
I won't let it set you free
'Til I break you