A/N: Sorry about not posting a chapter last week. It was the holidays, and holidays are always chaotic and busy. So here is the next chapter. I got some positive and negative feedback on the song I put in the story. If you could please tell me what you thought of it, that would be great. So, I haven't really proofread this story, and it's one in the morning, hopefully there aren't too many spelling/grammar errors. If you find any, please let me know and I'll fix them. Thanks all!
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It is said that a sound you hear constantly, or often, in this case, your brain tends to ignore. So when Draco walked into his rooms that afternoon, he didn't notice the crying girl shaking on the couch or the older one trying to console her. It only took him a few seconds for his brain to process what was going one and then he was beside Ginny and Alexandria in a flash. "What happened? Is she alright?!" He demanded, staring at the redhead in confusion.
If the girl noticed his sudden rude entrance and questions, she didn't seem to care. "I don't know. We were cleaning, or I was anyway, and then she went to lay down in your bed…uhh, sorry about that." He waved it away with a hand. He didn't care if Ginny fell asleep in his bed, even if he did, that was the least of his worries. "Well then I went to check on her and found her sitting there rocking back and forth and mouthing something, like she was trying to talk, but she was saying anything so I couldn't understand her and then she just started crying."
Draco nodded and stroked Ginny's hair. "Shhh, Ginny, stop crying. It's okay, we're not going to hurt you."
"Mister Malfoy…If I may speak?" She asked, resting a hand on his arm.
Draco lifted an eyebrow at her. "I told you to call me Draco and feel free to speak your mind in my presence. We are equals, Miss Alexandria."
She smiled slowly and nodded, a gleam of respect in her eyes. "Then you shouldn't call me Miss Alexandria. It makes me feel silly. Alex will do. Well, look at her eyes. See how glazed over they are. She doesn't seem to see us; it's like she's in a trance. I think maybe she's dreaming or have a seizure or something. I don't know much about seizures but from what I've heard from muggles, but they aren't good."
Draco nodded, his lips pursed in a worried line. "Floo Blaise, maybe he can figure out what's wrong with her. The floo powder is on the mantel over the fireplace in the living room."
The girl nodded and stood, running from his bedroom to the fireplace nearby. Draco put a hand on Ginny's face, looking into her eyes. She was speaking again, or trying to anyway. The only sound that came out was a faint whisper of a noise, no more than air leaving her lungs in a whoosh. It was almost as if her vocal cords didn't work, or as if they were gone. She was forming words, he could catch a few of them from the way her tongue moved around the words and the air left her lungs and lips, and it almost seemed as if she were singing to herself.
"Draco, move aside." He heard the familiar voice of his good friend and sighed in relief, getting out of Blaise's way. The older boy had a medical kit in one hand and his wand in the other. Thank goodness one of them was smart. In Hogwarts Blaise had studied to be a mediwitch. He knew all about magical and mortal maladies, their causes, and how to prevent or cure them. Had it not been for his parents forcing him to become a Death Eater, Draco was sure he would be a respectable Mediwitch at St. Mungo's by now.
"Is she having a seizure? Is there a potion we can use?" asked Alex, who stood nervously behind them, twisting her hands.
"No, it's not a seizure. It just seems as if she's asleep…" Blaise answered, shining a light in both of Ginny's eyes.
"Asleep?" Draco asked skeptically. "She has her eyes open. With all of this ruckus she would have woken up by now."
Blaise shrugged. "Asleep or in a trance. It could be a cursed placed on her to cause horrible nightmares she cannot wake up from. That seems to be the case. It's an interesting idea, but I've never heard of it actually being done, and if it has, it's rare."
Alex shook her head. "Nobody put a curse on her. I've been with her all morning, and she was fine. And it's not like I have a wand to curse her with."
Blaise nodded as he snapped his fingers in front of the girl's eyes. No reaction. "Ennervate." Still nothing. "She seems to be stuck inside her mind or her dream. Either way, I think the only way to wake her up is manually. No spells seem to be working on her, so it must be in her mind, and not a curse at all."
Draco grabbed Ginny by the shoulders and turned her towards him. He leaned in close, staring into the girl's glazed, blank eyes. "Ginny, I need you to wake up." He glanced at Blaise, who nodded. "I need you to listen to my voice and wake up. It's me, Draco. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm your friend. Please, Ginny." He shook her lightly. Maybe that wasn't the best idea, he didn't want to shake her brains out or dislocate her neck, what with her head lolling around like that, but this was freaking him out. "Ginny, wake up!"
And then as quickly as he had found her, crying in his bed, she was awake, her eyes focused, darting around, a confused look on her face. Her mouth opened and closed, "Ah…ah…ah…" The whooshing of air was all that came out. She closed it when she seemed to realize she could not speak.
"Ginny, are you okay?" Alex asked, kneeling down beside her and stroking her hair. "Just nod if you are." Ginny merely stared at her.
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Draco took a deep breath and fixed his shirt. He was dressed in the usual casual Malfoy attire: perfect black dress pants, a silver silk shirt, and shiny black shoes. Blaise gave him a slight nudge. "C'mon, I want to get there sooner or later."
Draco glared at him. "You are asking me to have dinner with my father and mother by choice. Forgive me if it takes a moment to calm my senses." His voice was dripped with sarcasm as he fixed his immaculate hair once again. Draco finally pushed the heavy oak door open to the dining room.
His father sat at the head of the long dining table, his back perfectly straight and his usual smirk in place. His mother was in the seat to his right, and Draco took the seat on his left. Blaise joined them. "So nice to see you dining with us again, Draco." His mother commented, smiling her falsely sweet smile.
Draco's own lips cracked up into a forced grin. "I am sorry I do not join you more, mother. I am simply too busy and find this dining room much to formal for my desires." The door opened and slave entered, carrying a dish of steaming food, more slaves following behind her. She stopped before Draco, lowering the plate in front of him, and for a brief second their eyes met. Alex curtsied low to him, almost as if she were mocking him, and winked. Draco nodded his head every so slightly so that his parents didn't notice, and then the moment was gone as she walked back out the door to the kitchens.
For a few moments the only sound that could be heard was that of metal hitting plate, for Malfoys of course did not make noise when they ate, until Draco felt Blaise nudge him under the table. He glanced sidelong at his companion, who lifted an eyebrow. Draco cleared his throat. "Father, I am curious about my new slave. Where exactly did you get her from?" Draco asked. He tried not to let his voice waver, tried not to let his father see the deeper meaning behind his simple question. He forced his eyes to lift to his father's.
Lucius was smirking again. "Ahh, an interesting one. She was a prisoner of war staying in the dungeons of Azkaban, rotting away with all of the other blood traitors like her."
"That is very interesting, for she seems much too young even now to have fought in the war. Where was she captured?" Blaise asked right on cue, his voice a perfect mixture of curiosity and offhand chit-chat. Draco envied he could do that.
"Of course she wasn't in the war. She was captured in a raid."
Draco nearly choked on his food and began coughing so loud Blaise had to slap him on the back.
"Draco!" his mother scolded. "We are not barbarians. Chew your food before you try to swallow it."
Draco nodded and tried to clear his airways. Blaise beat him to the question. "A raid?"
Lucius looked up, surprised that the boys wanted to hear more. "Yes. We attacked the Weasley household in the hopes of finding Harry Potter there. This was a year ago, before the final battle. Potter was not there, but we did kill that scrawny red-headed Weasley he went to school with and five of his family members, including a mudblood. It wasn't until my boys were leaving that they found the youngest Weasley hiding under a floorboard crying. What a sight it was too! To see the littlest, female Weasley cowering there in the dirt, covered in blood and begging for her life!" He smirked vindictively and laughed.
"Blood? How did she get injured?" Blaise asked, leaning in. He was absorbed now, and did not bother to hide it.
"Not her own blood. Her family members' blood had dripped through the cracks in their nasty little house and covered her."
Draco felt his hand tighten around his silver fork and it took all his strength to unclench it. A civilian? They killed civilians and captured one as a prisoner of war? How dare they! She must have seen her parents die, she had been covered in their blood, after all, and they did not feel any remorse for the fact that these people were innocents?! No wonder she was so fucked up, she probably had a front row seat to the slaughter, and who knows what else they did.
Blaise broke the silence, saving Draco from exploding in rage. "Why didn't you just kill her with the rest of her disgusting family, Mister Malfoy?"
Malfoy nodded, beaming at him. "A very good question. Well, my boys had been for a while without woman's touch, and her mother was a bit on the older side, though they took a go at her. She was a pretty, young thing and they were all fighting over who would get her first, so instead I had her locked up so I could get any information out of her. Then I would let my best men have their way with her. However..." he grimaced in irritation, "she was mute, as we quickly realized, a spell or curse of some sort put on her. My men still wanted to rape her but I told them to hold off until we could get any information on her. Unfortunately, I still have yet to find a way to make her talk." He shook his head. "No reason in letting such a pretty young thing go to waste, though, I suppose. That is why I gave her to Draco as a gift. Have you had your fun with her yet, son?"
Draco nearly choked again. He glared at his plate in fury. He knew that was what his father expected of him, and if he believed Draco was not raping her, he would think Draco was weak and then feed throw her to the wolves to be rampaged. He could not allow anyone to think that, ever. "No, not yet, I simply haven't the time."
"Well what are you waiting for, son?! I'm sure she's still a virgin!" His father roared with laughter. "Untouched by another man, yours to claim. I am almost tempted…"
"No!" A silence fell over the room and Draco blinked in surprise. Had he said that? Shit. "I seem to be a bit possessive of her, my apologies. I just want to be the first to claim her. I have simply been waiting for her to plump up again, so she isn't so thin."
His father nodded in approval and continued eating. His mother was silent as she listened to the conversation, her face stoic. "A wise decision. A lady like that should be curvy and full-breasted before you do anything with her, or else she is merely spoiled."
"I agree…If you'll excuse me, but I do believe I'm done eating." He stood, throwing down his napkin, too disgusted to eat anymore, and Blaise rose as well.
"I must excuse myself too. Thank you for having me for dinner Mister and Misses Malfoy." He bowed gracefully and followed the fuming Draco as he stormed towards his apartment.
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The next morning found Draco and Blaise sitting on Draco's balcony which overlooked the gardens below, the same gardens Draco had taken Ginny to the first time she saw rain. Well, it wasn't the first time she had seen rain, obviously, but everything with Ginny now seemed to be a first. She was like a newborn child just opening her eyes to the world, innocent, amazed, wondrous. As Draco stared silently into his tea, brooding over Ginny Weasley, said girl made an appearance.
"And I now present to you, Ginny Weasley in all her finery. Doesn't she look wonderful people? How about an applause," sounded a familiar voice behind them. Draco smiled and looked up from his tea, Blaise mimicking his actions. Alex had her hands displayed like a show host on a muggle game show, a silly grin on her face.
Nobody was there. Blaise coughed inconspicuously into his hand, trying to hide his amusement. Draco lifted an eyebrow at the girl. "She's invisible now?"
Alex blinked in surprise and turned her head to the open door, looking exasperated. "Ginny! You were supposed to come out when I said that." Shaking her head, the older girl stomped over to Draco's bedroom door and pulled Ginny out, tugging her into the room.
Draco almost choked on his tea (he seemed to be doing that a lot lately) at the sight before him. Ginny had gotten one of the slave uniforms issued to all of the servants in the household. It was simple really, a black skirt for the girls, black pants for the guys, a white blouse, and a frilly white maid's apron to go over the skirt. Alex had, of course, dolled her up a bit. She had given Ginny a multilayered, white, lace petticoat to go underneath, fluffing the skirt up considerably. She had high white socks going up to her thighs and a frilly maid's hat on her head.
Draco felt his face go hot. Alex was grinning like a fox, Blaise's eyebrows seemed to have receded into his hairline, and Ginny stood there awkwardly with her feet turned in, looking confused and innocent as always. "Wh-what is this?! What did you do to her?!" Draco asked, standing up. He sounded mortified, even to himself.
Alex's face dropped. "What do you mean? I thought she looked cute?"
"That's exactly the problem! She's…she's…she shouldn't look like that! She looks like a…like a…"
"Woman?" Blaise suggested.
"Exactly! She shouldn't look like that! She's much too innocent! She's too…" Draco trailed off, seeing the grins on Blaise and Alex's faces. "What?!"
"A bit possessive are we?" asked Alex, smiling at him.
Blaise made a noise of agreement. "I don't think he likes seeing Ginny Weasley look like a grown-up woman. I think it scares him that somebody might find her…attractive or something?" Blaise taunted him.
Draco would not have it. This was ridiculous. Ginny's confused look displayed that she clearly did not understand what was going on. She had the mind of a child. She shouldn't be dressed so…provocatively. Her clothing showed way too much skin and would incite way to many eyes, especially in this house. He knew the perverted creeps that slunk around the manor, looking for female servants to pick on. His parents either ignored it or encouraged it as long as it was in private, but in this huge house anybody could drag Ginny into a dark room and have their way with her.
"I won't have it. She can't go gallivanting around the manor looking so suggestive. Someone might get the wrong idea. They might think she's…trying to get sex or something!"
Alex rolled her eyes. "Nobody is going to bother her Draco. I'll be around to make sure of that. Besides, I think she looks cute."
"She's a child!" He yelled, trying to get them to see the danger in their actions. "She doesn't understand! You can't tell her to wear these things and expect she'll understand! You can't tell her to do anything, because she'll do it without realizing her actions! She'll-"
"She is not a child!" Alex roared back. "And she is not stupid! You can't continue to treat her like a child, you have to let her grow up sometime! You are not her father, her father is dead, you are not her older brother, you are not her mother-" She stopped mid-sentence, as if seeming to realize what she'd said.
All eyes zoned in on Ginny. She was staring at the ground, a confused, sad look on her face, as if she were trying to remember something, or perhaps forget something, that she did not want to remember. As if she was trying to understand. Her face dropped and her eyes became blank and empty. She was escaping, Draco could tell immediately, and suddenly he realized he'd been wrong. She wasn't a child, she wasn't confused or stupid. She was just broken, sad, traumatized. Her blank stares were not those of someone who did not understand, but rather those of someone who understood too much. The stare of someone who merely wanted to be numb, lifeless, alone, dead. She had used up all of her emotion left, and now all she had were her blank, dull eyes. Ginny was impossible to read, to him or anybody else, because her eyes were so deep, so dark brown they seemed endless, like a void or black hole. Eyes are the windows to a persons soul, and her soul was dark with sadness.
Draco dropped his head in shame. "I'm sorry," he and Alex said at the same time, apologizing to each other and to Ginny. Alex stopped and let him continue. "Sorry, about saying that stuff. You aren't a child, and I guess I should let you dress however you want to…but umm…that doesn't mean I'm going to stop protecting you, Ginny." He brought a hand to her face. Ginny looked up. She understood, or at least seemed to. "So I guess…you know…you can wear that if you want to…"
Alex jumped up and clapped her hands happily. The chiming of Draco's clock seemed to startle her. "We should get to work Ginny. Let's go." With that they were gone.
"Your protectiveness wasn't the reason you didn't want her to wear that," commented Blaise who, sometime during the argument, had sat back down with his tea and simply observed.
Draco turned to him, lifting an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, you didn't want her to not wear that because of what other people might think of her. You didn't want her to wear that because of what you thought of her." Blaise smirked at his friend. "Her outfit…made you feel something…inappropriate?"
Draco glared at his friend. "What the fuck are you talking about?! That's so sick, Blaise. She's just a-" he stopped. He was about to say child, but she wasn't really a child, they had already determined that. "She's…she…"
Blaise smiled at his friend and motioned to the seat beside him. Draco sat down with a mixture of a sigh and a huff. "It's okay, to be attracted to her, you know."
Draco shook his head. "It feels wrong…"
Blaise shrugged. "My relationship with Cécile felt wrong as well…many told me it was wrong…" Blaise trailed off, lost in thought. "And maybe they were right. But I loved her anyway. And you…do you love Ginny?"
Draco couldn't answer this. He wasn't sure how.
