NA: In this chapter, I'll explain the way this world works as well as the relations between some characters. The story is divided in two, one about Harry and Ginny, this one, and the other is under another title and about other characters that appear here.

CHAP 1

It was a dark time to be a Muggle. Many centuries before, the Wizarding World had unleashed a curse against every creature that had no magical quality. The purity of blood prevailed over all. Expressions such as "toujours pur" could be read in every corner – especially in France, where slavery took place for the first time.

Muggles lived in the lands of the Great Lords, wizards and other magical creatures with human shape, to whom they owed obedience and tithes, plus the lease and use of their lands. The tithes were suffocating, chiefly for the small villages such as Haut Champ where winters were hard. The snowstorms made it difficult to harvest, trade with other villages, etc.

Winter was notorious for famine and mortality. That was why children started working when they were toddlers. Many worked in mines, crops, etc. Some slaves were lucky and worked in their Lords' estates. Their lives were different from the commoners, they had food every day, heat...they didn't need a lot to survive. If their Lords permitted, they could pair with other slaves to live together as a couple. Nevertheless, their children wouldn't be legally theirs. The legal authority over them was possessed by the noble family they served. That was Ginny's case. Ginny was the one lighting the burner, small tasks in the kitchen, etc.

One wintry morning, Lord James Potter and his girls went to the village. Some Muggle children took the chance to play tag in the garden. They didn't know that up there, by one of the windows, there was a boy looking through. It was Harry Potter, the son from James's first marriage. James Potter was a British Lord who moved out to France when his first wife died. He wanted to leave everything behind. He purchased lands from noblemen who were sinking into debt hell. He was one of the first wizards to invest in business.

He met Apolline, his wife, in a Yule Ball with other wizards. Apolline was a young Veela who had the Wizarding society's favour. As a Veela, she had all creatures' support, and as a graced Lady men were eating from her hand. But that was not what attracted James to her, not even close. She was widowed pretty young, she was alone with her daughter Fleur: it was so similar to what happened to him. They were meant to be. Both had the same sorrows and being married to a Delacour gave you a place in France. He embraced Fleur as his own. A few years later, the couple had a daughter together, Gabrielle Potter.

Ginny had barely seen them, but it was known that the girls enjoyed making Muggles suffer. The typical spoiled brats who don't care about anyone else but themselves. No one knew Harry too well, but rumours said he was serious and strict. All what a good heir requires. Others said he was like his sisters and found pleasure in hitting Muggles, but never by his own hand. What no one could have guessed was all the things the Potter children and Lady Fleur Delacour had to study while slaves were playing in the garden: Rhetoric, Wizarding History, Latin, Potions, Dark Arts, Extraordinary Creatures, Law, etc.

They weren't allowed to run like slaves did. Two young ladies couldn't get dirty without any reason. Who would marry them? And letting the heir of the House of Potter play without a wand? Are we crazy? What if he fell and hit his head? Too many risks.

Even when Muggles worked almost the whole day, wizards were not freer. Unlike them, Muggle children scampered in the garden.

"Ginny, stop playing and go to light the burner!" Molly shouted from the kitchen's door. "The young master complained! For heaven's sakes, hurry up!"

Ginny didn't care working completely dirty with mud and snow. The only thing she cared about was making people stop complaining so she could live.

"Damn!" The little girl burned herself trying to light the burner. She needed three tries to get it right. When she was done with wood trunks, she realized someone had given the last one to her. She turned round and saw the one and only Harry Potter. "Sorry, master."

"You're dirty," he commented. Ginny didn't reply. "Muggles are dirty all the time. My father is right. It's in your blood."

Ginny went red in the face. More than usually. The difference was that this time it was because of fury. She clenched her teeth to resist the urge of throwing a flower vase at his head. Her attitude confused him. Harry expected a reply, but she only gave him loneliness. She got out of that room, saying, "For cleanliness we have thy blood, master."

"And then I said, 'for cleanliness we have thy blood, master.'" Ginny was having her dinner with the rest of the slaves. It was pretty late when they gathered to have their meal. Their masters were sleeping and they felt strong enough to mock them behind their backs.

"Mm, Ginny, one day your sarcasm will be punished," Molly sighed. "You are very young to talk like that."

"Nymphadora talks like that all the time."

Molly told her off again, there was a huge difference. "First of all, we don't accuse each other! Secondly, Nymphadora isn't a child. She is a woman!"

"I am not a child either!" Ginny rose up. "I've been working since I was born. I am a grown woman. Nymphadora says..."

"Here we go again with Nymphadora says this, Nymphadora says that!" Molly was tired of Nymphadora's lessons. She didn't have any say about what Nymphadora told Ginny, she had no right over Ginny.

On the other hand, Harry couldn't focus on his classes. He had been thinking about that redhead the whole morning. He couldn't understand why the ginger girl didn't get mad. Why didn't she defend herself? Definitely he didn't like her. She was dirty, without discipline and respect.

"Dear, are you fine?" His step mother asked. Apolline loved being surrounded by family. She was homely and by nature she wasn't able to stand watching her stepson fretting.

"Yes, don't worry. It's… do you know when my father and the girls are coming?" he asked. He saw the snowstorm getting harder and harder.

"I guess when the snow stops. Keep calm; your father is a strong man, he can take care of himself. If the snow doesn't stop, I'm sure he would find his own way to come back home," the Frenchwoman said, misunderstanding Harry's worries.

"Apolline, I have thought that...maybe, Fleur, Gabrielle and I could play in the garden tomorrow evening." Harry saw her weird gaze so he explained further. "Tomorrow evening we don't have classes, no one comes to visit, we won't have homework..."

The Frenchwoman lifted her hand. "Dear, you are talking nonsense. It's not appropriate for girls to stain their clothing with mud like peasants. And, certainly, it's not appropriate for the heir of Potter's House."

"If we are careful we won't get dirty."

Apolline repeated the same gesture. "Harry, this is the end of the conversation. Please don't ask your father. He would be furious."

Harry knew his stepmother was right. It was better to let it be. Nonetheless, he was sad because it had taken him too much time to build up the courage to ask.

Why slaves could do it?

"What about the girl whose hair is in flames?" Harry was curious. Something about her disgusted him.

Apolline didn't think it was an important matter. "What about her?"

"I don't know. She lights the burner and then she has the rest of the day free to do as she pleases?"

The Frenchwoman laughed. "No, dear, obviously you don't have a slave just to light burners."

"Ok." Harry wasn't in the mood to talk a lot.

When they were done eating, Apolline read a letter written by his godfather, Sirius Black, the "Great Auror" of the family. He was an adventurer. He always had something new to tell in his letters. Harry admired him. When he was reading his letters, he dreamed about being like him one day. They had read the whole letter when James, Gabrielle and Fleur arrived.

Harry ran towards them. "Dad, dad, I want to be like Uncle Sirius."

"I see that Apolline has read the letter to you," James said.

"Yes, she did," he said proudly. "I want to be like him when I get old. I'll travel around the world, I'll run to catch the bad guys..."

"Oh, you won't do such a thing," Gabrielle said. That was when Harry realized that behind his sister there was a new girl. Probably a slave. Her clothing seemed cheap, but was confused about the new girl and offended by his sister.

"Gaby, don't bother Harry. He will be whatever he wants to be," Fleur intervened in Harry's favour. They were like siblings. They always had each other's back.

"No, Fleur, Gaby's right. My son has to accept this, and the sooner the better." The patriarch stated. "You will not be an Auror, Harry. You are the Potter heir, the bearer of our House and our business. You'll meet a beautiful lady and will get married to her. You two will give me grandchildren. Then, they will do the same as you did, and so on in order to keep our House alive."

Harry had his eyes full of tears so he ran to his chamber. No noble should show his tears; that would only show weakness.

"That was harsh," Apolline opined.

James was pissed and moving around the place. "Sirius sends letters and fills his head with crazy ideas. Apolline, certain ideas are dangerous and we should cut them before they grow. When you let the madness grow, it can destroy everything."

The discussion wasn't new to the Muggles of the manor. They had seen many such. What was strange was a small scene that Fleur tried to have with the new girl.

"Surely these things don't happen in a Muggle family," Fleur said. She felt their slave's eyes during the scene. Fleur circled the brunette. "I bet, Muggles don't care enough for their children, not even when they have to work in dangerous jobs such as mines. Take your father as an example. He didn't cry. Right now, he must be celebrating that he has one mouth fewer to feed."

The slaves who passed by looked horrified by this lack of humanity of the young lady. What was wrong with her that day? She was cold, but not that cold. She had never looked for a confrontation the first day. And with her sister's new slave? That was new.

At midnight, when masters were sleeping, all the slaves were having their dinner. Well, all but two.

"Where's Rosmerta?" Molly asked. Rosmerta was Fleur's personal slave. Molly kept a dish for her friend, just in case.

"Haven't you heard it?" Nymphadora couldn't believe that there were some people who didn't know it. She wasn't a gossipmonger, not specially, but she always knew what was happening in that manor.

Severus, the butler and mainstay of the house, protected his masters overall. "Nymphadora, shut up."

She ignored him. "Finally she got a roommate. Seemingly, they went to the village and kidnapped a little girl."

"Purchased," Severus corrected her.

"They say it was a whim of 'Evil Angel's'," Nymphadora said. "Evil Angel" was how Gabrielle was known when no wizards were in sight. "She's too young for being a personal slave. I think they don't know what to do with the girl."

"Which girl, 'Evil Angel' or newbie?" someone asked, making everyone else laugh.

The rest of the dinner was about the scene between Fleur and the new girl .To Ginny that wasn't important; the girl called her attention because she was a new slave. That was fascinating. What would she be like? Would she be kind and play with them? Or would she be a loner and a betrayer rat like some of them? Maybe she would be an adventurer. She had decided. She would meet the new girl.

After dinner, the little redhead snuck upstairs, where the noble's chambers and their personal slaves were. The wizards' doors were fancy so Rosmerta's room was easy to guess. She burst into the room as if it were her own.

The new girl had unkempt hair like a lion. Shrunken on Romesta's legs, she made noises.

"The new girl is crying," she said to herself. It made an impression on her. She didn't get her suffering. "What is wrong with her?"

Rosmerta, who had just noticed her presence, thought it wasn't the best situation in which to introduce the girls. "Nothing, Ginny, please..."

Ginny ignored her; she never, ever listened to lies. "Is it because of your kidnapping?"

"Ginny, please! No one kidnapped anyone!" Rosmerta was horrified by that word. If it came to the Potters' notice, she could be punished. She knew she had heard it somewhere, from someone.

The girl nodded.

"It's not a kidnapping," Rosmerta insisted. "Our Lord has every right to call you into his service."

"Blasted!" the new girl shouted. Rosmerta, shocked, covered the new girl's mouth with her own hand. She talked even with that impediment. "I'll run away, I'll go back home to my father."

"I don't know why you complain so much. We are not so bad off here," Ginny said and sat down in front of the girl to look at her. "When we don't have anything to do, we play tag."

"Ginny, I don't think she cares about your scampering," Rosmerta cut her off.

For the first time, the new girl looked back at her. Her eyes got wide with hope. "You run around?"

Rosmerta saw the new girl's interest and allowed Ginny to continue. "Yes, we do! And we also dance."

"Do you dance here?" At that point, the girl's eyes were open like an owl's.

Rosmerta intervened. "Yes, we do. Some of us make drums and things like that to play music. Others sing...it's not so bad."

The little girl concluded the authenticity of those stories mightn't be so great. A place where you can dance and scamper couldn't be so bad, right?

"I'm Ginny," the ginger introduced herself.

"My name is Hermione."

Ginny eyed her with a weird face. "What an ugly name!" That got her a slap in the back by Rosmerta. It wasn't something appropriate to say. Hermione had a reproachful face. "D'oh! Ok. It doesn't matter. Anyway, when you don't have any task, you can find me in the kitchen or in the garden. I'm sure you'll have a lot of free time. Nymphadora says that personal slaves barely work and you become lazy."

Rosmerta was going to correct Ginny, but she decided otherwise. It was better not to tell all the tasks a personal slave must undergo in front of the new girl.

"Then, I'm going to bed." When Ginny arrived at the door, she said before going, "Sorry about your kidnapping again."

When she was out of their sight, each thought of the other, "What a peculiar girl."

At that time, they didn't realize the importance of their friendship.

NA: English is not my first language but Qoheleth is helping me out with the story because I am very absent-minded so you can guess the stupid mistakes I have in my written. Most of them are the capital letters hahaha very stupid mistakes. Thanks Qoheleth for dealing with my English.