Ginny Weasley and the Dementors of Azkaban
Disclaimer: if I owned Harry Potter the movies wouldn't ever be so horribly inaccurate.
Also I have no personal issues with the Welsh, but I do watch Torchwood(something else I don't own) and I'm taking from Jack's humor with Rhys and Gwen when I bring up the Welsh.
September 1st
"Go Away Ginny" resounded in my head as I stood alone in the train corridor. 'I should have known, Ron doesn't really want me around after all…and neither do Harry or Hermione….' 12 year old Ginny Weasley held herself and her resolve. 'No more tears just because someone doesn't want you' she demanded of herself, willing away the sudden rejection. After a few deep breathes she fiddled with her long and thick ginger waves, highlighted by days spent under the Egyptian sun and regained her composure. Her full cotton white eyelet skirt swished a bit as she walked past compartments full of students she never got to know the year before and wanted nothing to do with her now.
With each step she felt the load of her pack; the purple patched corduroy was over-filled with books, art supplies and her uniform, causing the leather latch to stretch. The weight of her bag pulled her shoulders back, and the puffed sleeves of her buttercup yellow blouse stood out nearly as much as her already budding form. She hadn't spoken to anyone since the school year had ended, no owls from Luna, nothing from any of her roommates, and even Hermione only sent her bits and pieces through her letters to Ron. The train was cold and the sky outside was growing darker as she grew weary from her situation, she about gave up as she neared the end of the train, and was prepared to stay with the luggage in the caboose when a door slid open after she passed it.
"You can sit with us if you'd like."
She stilled at the words spoken with an aristocrat's accent. The same accent that called her Harry's girlfriend over a year ago.
Wand in hand she turned around slowly, the impish red head faced Malfoy standing like a silver shadow in the dim corridor. His white skin almost glowed against his black clothes, and despite herself she would have loved to sketch the scene before her. Draco Malfoy had grown taller over the summer, just like Ron, but he actually paid attention to his posture and poise, only adding to his stature.
"Any and all of these compartments are available to you. You only need to knock and the doors will open." He spoke with a confidence that replaced his normal false bravado before showing her just how true his words were. He barely tapped one door when the heads of several of his fellow Slytherins popped out the rest around them, watching them as if they were some sort of play.
"Why should I?" she responded with equal etiquette, silently adding 'Trust another Slytherin? Especially the son of the man who ruined me?' without letting her fear and anger be exposed. She wasn't stupid enough to try anything in the snake pit.
His grey eyes glanced to an older girl in another compartment, who suddenly closed the door to her compartment, and quickly the others followed like dominos. They were virtually alone when he spoke again.
"On behalf of the House of Malfoy I wish to apologize for the events of last year."
"Explain." She would not be swayed by sincerity, though she was bound by modus operandi. Even Tom had been sincere in everything he said. "On behalf of the House of Weasley I will listen to your apology and consider it. You have two minutes before I start throwing curses." 'If I have to, at least none of the others will be able to intervene.'
There was a ghost of a smile on his face that did not match is eyes. "I will, I swear on my wand I will, if you would only come inside first, where there are suitable witnesses."
Her brown eyes widened at his pledge. 'He just vowed against his wand. He must be serious, if something were to happen to me at all his wand would crack.' "If you insist on going to go to such lengths." She could still manage a peak at his smirk as he opened the door for her, bowing as she walked past him.
"Here let us have it" Crabbe offered immediately, taking her bag from her before she could protest. He effortlessly swung it up with the rest of their luggage. "You shouldn't have to carry around something so heavy. I bet it weighs more than you do" She couldn't help but notice he didn't look as incompetent or menacing in his crisp cobalt shirt that forced her to realize his eyes were a startling dark blue.
"What is in that? It looked like the seams were going to rip at any given moment" Daphne Greengrass asked, but surprisingly Ginny found it was an insult, just curiosity. The golden girl wore a French blue sundress was adorned with white polka dots and her curly hair was in white ribbons.
"Oh, the essentials, books, art supplies, my uniform."
"You draw?"
"Daphne - not that I don't want you to get to know her but this is a bit off topic, Ginny can we call you Ginny?" Malfoy asked from behind her, and while he wasn't cruel to her like he was Ron, this was the most sincerely nice he'd been in front of her, let alone to her. "Has only given me two minutes before she starts cursing me."
"Only my family and friends call me Ginny…" She was caught off guard by their friendly behavior. These were the children of Tom's minions, she had expected them to already be covered in his dark magic, but she felt nothing of the sort coming from them. She felt herself relax a little.
"Would you rather Ginevra?" Blaise Zambini offered, his slight Italian accent causing her not to hate her name entirely. He was dressed just as nicely has Malfoy, only he was dressed in solid pure white, accentuating his olive skin and ebony hair.
"Oh what a lovely name." It was Millicent Bulstrode who had spoken now and the rather large brunette seemed envious. "Your mother's idea I take it?" Ginny nodded, her artistic eye noticing that Bulstrode looked so much better in her cinched maroon blouse and black pencil skirt then her shapeless school robes. It took off at least a stone from her appearance. Ginny had always thought the girl was built like a box, but it was clear now she was hiding a pleasant hourglass figure.
"If you haven't noticed she has a thing for old romantic names. She had been dying to use Ginevra since Percy was born."
"You're lucky, my grandmother named me, after her grandmother," Ginny nodded in true sympathy for the girl. Millicent was an antique name even in Wizarding Britain.
"Ah yes your brothers, most of them are named after the Knights of the Round Table. My elder sister Peony was in Charles year, had a bit of a crush on William though…Mum was so worried, that is until she actually met him…"
Ginny nodded to Parkinson who looked delicate in her magenta empire waist dress and her short curly black hair pulled back in a matching hair band.. House rivalry never mattered to the girls of Hogwarts when it came to Bill. "There's a reason Bill gets away with his life whenever Mum asks him to change his hair or clothes."
Malfoy cleared his throat. "Ginev-"
"Oh just Ginny please" She insisted. "Ginevra means I'm in trouble."
Malfoy smiled. It was a little disturbing, mainly since it made him cute. 'but I don't really want anyone calling me Ginevra…not since Tom kept using it' She glanced around and found the others seemed very happy with themselves as well.
"Ginny Weasley, I, Draco stand in front of you and witness as the heir to the House of Malfoy and profess an undying apology with the deepest regret for the harm befallen you maneo annus. "
"I, Blaise Zambini of the House of Zambini, bear witness to the apology of the Heir of the House of Malfoy. Do you Ginevra of the House of Weasley accept?"
"If maneo annus was so regrettable to the House of Malfoy, why did the Lord of the House of Malfoy give me the diary in the first place?"
Malfoy's demeanor tightened with her cold words. "It was meant to be a strategic move, one that would please the Dark Lord and damage your father's reputation as well as his department. It would make your lives more vulnerable to economic needs, and more pliable to the idea of a match that would help elevate such issues. He never dreamed the Dark Lord would harm a pureblood witch, especially one of your standing. He never harmed pureblood children before; it was assumed that you would have been in safe hands."
"Your father's stupidity knows no bounds." Malfoy glared at her accordingly but it wasn't as harsh as it should have been. "The damage of the first war alone is evident that children were the least safe of all. How many will never exist because of the deaths caused by the Deatheaters?"
"You have a valid point." It was Marcus Flint. "One that Pansy made earlier this summer. It turned out no one really kept track of that during the war, and after people just wanted to forget."
"My father works in the Ministry Department of Histories. Before me; no one had ever made a legal documentation of how many families were lost in the war. Extinguished. Well, given the resources at my disposal Daphne, Blaise, Vincent, Greg, Draco, we all researched it. The loss is sickening, the War to cleanse our blood of muggles, and muggleborns actually cost us the blood of more pureblood families than the slow dilution of integration."
Ginny never really expected the apology to lead to this, she was half expecting Malfoy to hand her a bag of gold and be done with it. The idea that the children of Deatheaters were defecting astounded her, she knew Tom wanted to instill absolute loyalty from birth. She couldn't help from frowning at Parkinson's wording. It was clear the racism had managed to be taught. "You do know I do not believe muggles dilute the blood."
Crestfallen, Parkinson made a whimper of sorts and turned to Blaise.
"I think, Ginny, regardless of your beliefs you should allow Pansy hers. Those who fought for the Dark Lord did believe in dilution of the blood, they still do, and now they wish to preserve. The point is that the Dark Lord carelessly wasted away the bloodlines: Prewett, Black, Haverty, Maverick, Windsor, Harkness and more are all gone forever. Without these families wizards will be forced to seek mates outside the Wizarding world in a few generations in order to safely reproduce. Everyone in this compartment is related, even as distant as fourth or fifth cousins, even you and Draco are in some manor or form."
"Through the Blacks, but my mother is a Prewett. She was the only one to have children. The name died with her brothers when they were killed by Dolohav and four others. Dolohav is the only that survived that night."
"Exactly our point, the true results of the war is an atrocity. Once we had the documentation we showed our parents. Most of whom you are well aware followed the Dark Lord."
"Yes. More than a few even went to school with Tom."
"Tom? You refer him to his first name?" Malfoy asked in awe, looking at her like he had never seen her before.
"It's the name his mother gave him, after his muggle father."
She took more pleasure in stating that little fact then she really should have. It was a fact she had only told Bill and Charlie, when they took her to lunch in Cairo, and only because they weren't treating her like breakable witches glass. They treated her like she was the strongest witch they knew, knowing what it took to survive such a possession for so long. They were proud of her and looked at her with a new form of respect. Just like the Slytherins had done the whole conversation.
"Did you-"
"just say"
"That the Dark Lord"
"The former Heir of Slytherin"
"The vile wizard that wiped out half of us"
"for the sake of blood purity"
"was a half-blood?"
"I think I'm going to faint"
Ginny stared at the Slytherin Quidditch Captain; he was as green as his shirt. She hadn't had much previous interaction with him. To be honest he left her alone whenever he came across her in the halls. 'Probably for fear of by beaters of brothers'
"Adds a bit more salt to the wound doesn't it?"
"How did we not know this?"
"Who would have suspected it?" She supplied, giving Malfoy some credit. Dumbledore was the one who came for Tom when he was eleven; Dumbledore is the only alive to remember he lived in an orphanage in Wales."
"He's Welsh too boot" Malfoy joked, his body relaxed and he sat down next to Blaise.
"No wonder he was so hard to please" Blaise joined in. The two of them were clearly closer than she ever thought they would be, they fit next to each other like the twins.
"Add that to list of what went wrong during the first war."
"Item eleventy one is so noted."
"Thank you Pansy. Where were we again? Ah yes, our parents. Their reactions were as expected, first came the denial, mostly from our fathers. Then the glares from our mothers, who seemed to keep better track of these things mentally. Finally regret and clarity, which is what lead to this." Malfoy handed her a crisply followed parchment. "It's a written formal apology from my father, Lord of the House of Malfoy, legalizing that the admittance Malfoy's did indeed harm you, and an official statement that we will always be in debt to you, Ginny, until you deem it repaid. It details the circumstances and all of the parties involved. Given your lineage and his, it defaults that he too was guilty. The second paper is a copy of a formal document that was sent to the Ministry, declaring you the Heir of Slytherin."
Ginny could hardly believe it, but took the parchment, "I'm not the Heir of Slytherin."
"It's true you weren't born the Heir of Slytherin, and according to my Mother's complex records of the families, you actually haven't a recorded drop of Slytherin's blood in you. Remarkable, considering the Weasley's have been around since Merlin, and in Britain no less. I assume it has to with the fact that your bloodline mixed with Gryffindor some time back in the 1100s, and given the feud between the families it's understandable that they wouldn't mingle. It's just amazing that they accomplished it for so long."
"It doesn't hurt that the second most direct lines feud themselves." Parkinson interrupted with a sly look. Ginny was still too busy looking over the parchments to notice Malfoy turn to her, his grey eyes pleading. Parkinson returned with a sniff and looked away.
"However, given the nature of the crimes committed against you, the old laws are very plain in the consequences. He threatened your life, your innocence, and left you forever changed. While the laws were written with other crimes in mind, it still applies, and as such his titles and estates have been forfeited to you. The House of Malfoy has created a separate vault in your name, adding to it a sum of funds equal to Slytherins, one that we will continue to add ten percent of our annual income for no more or no less than seven generations."
She finally found the papers for the bank; the numbers took her breath away. Her balance was higher than her actual vault number. She could support her whole family on the interest itself. "Why was I not consulted before this came to be?"
"You were unreachable. Owls were sent only to come back tired and testy. We suspect a barrier was placed on you to keep the public from attacking you with mail. Your name never appeared in the papers, after all, not even in the article about your father winning the lottery. The Goblins tried to contact you directly in Egypt, but you were never alone long enough, and you know how Goblins are. Privacy isn't just a word to them."
"Since the House of Malfoy has already decided this for me without my knowledge I would dearly like to know the catch." She had no idea about anyone doing anything to stop her from receiving owls, but she didn't trust Malfoy and the others enough to let them know that. She just hoped that was why she never received word from Luna.
"The only catch would be that great wealth comes with great responsibility and as heir apparent to such a noble house you must attend the most prestigious balls and events. Not that you wouldn't already be attending such events, or at least invited to them after your 13th birthday. You will now hold a title, and be announced as such. That and hordes of sycophants are going to be sickeningly sweet to you."
"Joyous." Ginny folded the parchment back up and placed it in her inner coat pocket. "Since this is already on Goblin record, I Ginevra of the House of Weasley, Heir to the House of Slytherin, accept the apology of the House of Malfoy and all that comes with it. Now, since I've done what you wanted I need to go before the twins start looking for me."
"Of course," Greg stood this time and got her bag down. But it was handed to Malfoy, who had spoken up. "This bag is far too heavy for you, may I carry it?"
"I don't believe that would be very wise," Ginny stated and with a silent movement of her wand the bag floated in mid-air. "Thank you again." And with that she walked out of the compartment and headed to the other end of the building, as a collection of amazed eyes watched her go, the large bag floating behind her.
AN: For my virtuous readers, I am not giving up on this story, but I am rewriting it. One reason is that for some reason the format is all wrong on the site! It's annoying. Another is that I have been taking writing classes for a year or so, and they are actually helping! I think I did a better job the second go.
I will update next four chapters, and January will be redone completely. I wrote it for Comet Moon's birthday, and while it's good, I can do better.
If I can keep up this rate, I should be able to write October tomorrow night, or at the very least Friday morning.
Thank you!
Cerdwyn3