This story is for anne-writes.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the books.
Ginny was so excited about starting Hogwarts it was hard for her to walk instead of skipping as her parents led her through Diagon Alley to buy school supplies. The bookstore was insanely crowded, and it wasn't long before she found out why. Gilderoy Lockhart stood in amidst a crowd of flustered witches, beaming and signing autographs. His stupidity was so intense it hung like a cloud around his head, but she had to admit, there was just something about blondes…
She turned to face her father just as Harry dumped a load of books in her cauldron. Arthurs normally passive face was contorted with rage as he said something through his teeth to a tall man with pointy features and long, sleek blonde hair. She saw a boy standing behind the man, looking uncomfortable. She couldn't help but appreciate his silvery blonde hair, but was puzzled by the way his mercury gray eyes widened as his father tossed back a book he had plucked from her pile. He looked like he wanted to say something, but let himself be ushered out of the store with a helpless look on his face.
So much happened after that, she didn't give the incident much thought. She learned the man was Lucius Malfoy, a suspected Death Eater (in fact her father couldn't understand why the man wasn't rotting in Azkaban), and the boy was Draco, someone she had heard Ron complain about and the twins plot against.
Draco watched his father slip the small black book into Ginny's text, not knowing what it did but knowing that nothing his father ever gave came without some sort of price, and that the daughter of a sworn enemy would pay dearly if she trusted this object. Draco also knew that openly defying his father was simply not safe. It could result in curses, beatings, or worse. He did not want to find out how patient Lucius was feeling on that particular day.
And so he waited. He hated the Weasleys, but he still worried about what his father may have done. He decided to keep an eye on the girl, and see if anything happened.
For the first few weeks, she seemed to be adapting to Hogwarts very well. She walked through the halls with more confidence than any first year had a right to feel, and beamed radiantly at everyone and everything around her. Draco couldn't put his finger on the day things had started to change, but by the time the Chamber had opened, he noticed she had stopped smiling and walking with her head held high. Ginny had lost weight, and there were bags under her eyes. She was rarely at meals, and did everything she could to avoid conversation. Draco wanted to talk to her, to find out what was wrong, but was terrified that somehow his father would know that he had been associating with the enemy, so he did nothing.
Already, Draco was starting to wonder about the things he had always accepted as fact. Did a child's parents really determine everything about them? He couldn't help but hope, deep down, that he wasn't like his father. And muggles… They seemed harmless enough, but even if they were bad, did that mean their children always were? Wouldn't that make him just like his father? He didn't want to be cold and ruthless, a man who couldn't truly love even his wife or his child.
No matter how much he thought these things, he knew he had to keep them to himself, for his own safety.
Meanwhile, Ginny got thinner and sicker. No one even bothered really trying to talk to her anymore, and he knew that somehow, his father had done this. He wanted to reach out to her, but he just couldn't. Instead he spent his nights wide awake, staring at the hangings and wondering whether she would survive. He thought she must be suffering the effects of some terrible, unspeakable curse.