Twisted Cinders- chapter four
By Mell8
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"Hello Harry," Ginny said as calmly as she could. "What are you doing here?"
"I was invited by your mum to come to the family dinner tonight." Harry said as he pushed past her to enter the Burrow. "Ron and Hermione are just behind me. They needed a few extra seconds to get their kids ready. I decided to go on ahead."
Ginny turned and walked haughtily back to the kitchen without acknowledging that he was still trying to talk with her.
"Ginny, we really need to have a talk. I know we're still together but we never go on dates or anything."
Ginny froze in the doorway and counted to ten. She counted again for good measure and then to twenty because she felt she had to, before slowly turning her head and piercing him with a hard, angry glare.
"You are a bastard Harry. A bloody bastard!" She was seething mad and Harry took a quick step away from her before she gave him bodily harm.
"You broke up with me after your sixth year ended at Hogwarts. I was able to move on and have other relationships; you already know all of this so stop shaking your head like that! When the war ended we got back together and I realized that you weren't the perfect, infallible godlike being I had imagined you to be."
"But Ginny, I thought-" Harry began but was sharply cut off by Ginny.
"It doesn't matter what you thought or think, Harry. All that matters is that I left. I returned that ugly engagement ring you gave me, and yes, Harry, it was unbelievably ugly, and moved back home. I can't believe that you would still think we were together; it's been five years!"
She slammed her way into the kitchen muttering, "stupid blighter," over and over again under her breath. Harry just stood out in the entryway, stunned, until Hermione and Ron arrived and woke him from his shocked stupor.
III
Dinner that night was a stressed affair. Ginny had to sit next to Harry but was giving him the cold shoulder, much to the rest of the families' confusion. Ron and Hermione had to rush home when their youngest child had gotten sick all over the sofa. Fred and George had sent their apologies along with a package of dragon dung for Percy.
Percy sat at the other end of the table and seemed to be playing the silent game since he wasn't talking at all. Bill and Fleur were also sitting across from Ginny and Harry. Their children had been left at home with a sitter. They spoke quietly to themselves in French or to Arthur and Molly in hushed tones.
Molly was just bringing out desert, a huge chocolate cake, when the eagle owl arrived. It landed in front of Ginny and held out a leg. Tied to it was another invitation!
Ginny gasped happily and quickly took the envelope from the owl.
"Dear Miss Weasley,
"You are cordially invited to attend a ball on the nineteenth of June of this happy year. Please arrive around six in formal attire.
"Narcissa Malfoy nee Black," Ginny read the invitation to herself, eagerly devouring the words.
"I'm going up to my room," she murmured absentmindedly to her mother. She stood from the table with a small smile on her face and seemed to float up the stairs as she hummed a waltz.
Molly knocked on her daughter's bedroom door later that night.
"Ginny," she said as she let herself in. "I just wanted to tell you that on the nineteenth your father and I are going to be staying with Ron and Hermione. You'll have the house to yourself and will have to find dinner yourself too."
Ginny looked up from the invitation she was gently holding in her hands quietly thanking the world for her amazing luck.
"Thanks mum. I'm sure I'll find something to occupy my time." Ginny smiled softly and Molly knew that her daughter was in love with the boy she had met at the ball.
"I'm sure you will dear. Goodnight." Molly stepped out of her room and sighed happily. After that messy breakup with Harry she had been worried that her baby girl would never find someone to love, but now she knew that there was no cause for worry. Ginny was in love, even if she herself didn't know it yet, and Molly would do everything in her powers to make sure that her daughter was loved in return, including owl Narcissa Malfoy for information.
Molly went to find ink and some parchment. She had a letter to write and plans to make and it all had to be done before the nineteenth.
III
Ginny sighed happily. Another ball, another chance to laugh with Blaise, and most importantly, another chance to belittle Draco Malfoy to his face.
"But what colors should I choose to wear this time?" She said to herself. Ginny turned around in her mirror, imagining herself in different colors.
"I should wear something daring; something a Weasley would never wear…" Ginny held out her arms in a waltz position and spun around the room with an imaginary partner who had blond hair and grey eyes.
"I should wear Slytherin colors. I look good in green and black. With an emerald necklace and…and a tiara, if the tree can do jewelry too…" Ginny glanced at the hazel tree with a little apprehension.
"Two days," she murmured. "How am I supposed to wait two whole days until the ball?" She flopped down onto her bed and sighed happily. "Two days."
III
"Two days, I've got two days to figure out how to force those two to fall in love." Edessa paced back and forth across the handrail of the large marble stairs in the ballroom. Her long magenta skirts rustled loudly as she walked.
"This has to be true love so I can't use a love spell. Oh, I just don't know! Maybe something will happen during the ball that will tip me off." She sat down and swung her legs back and forth into space. "This time there will not be any alcoholic drinks or chocolates. I will not allow myself to be distracted." She thumped a fist into her palm. "This is my last chance and I will make it count."
III
"Shiver and quiver, my little tree, green and black throw down over me."
The third dress was the prettiest of them all. It had a corset style top in green with black lace accentuating her chest and tiny waist. Flowing green skirts completed the dress with more black lace on the hem. The tree had given her the usual shoes and jewelry as well. It had given Ginny a black choker with and emerald in the middle and a purposefully tarnished silver tiara, that appeared to be black because of the tarnish, with more emeralds.
Ginny quickly did up her hair in a style that flattered the tiara and rushed to get her cloak. She was running over an hour late. It had taken a while to help get her parents over to Ron and Hermione's and Ginny had to stay for an afternoon snack. She was finally able to make her excuses around when the ball had begun.
Ginny knew that she could have thrown on the dress and left and only been about five minutes late, but she hadn't wanted to show up looking and smelling a mess so had taken her time in the shower.
Ginny buttoned her cloak and was gone with a small pop.
III
"Look he's sitting all alone. I should ask him to dance!"
"I guess that girl he's been spending time with abandoned him."
"Maybe he'll dance with me!"
Draco groaned and ignored the girls crowding around on the edge of the dance floor giving him doe eyes.
Why hadn't Little Red shown up? He had waited at the bottom of the marble stairs for twenty minutes, looking like a fool the entire time, before stomping off to sulk in the corner he was now sitting in.
"Wow! You do the moody but sexy look very well Draco." Blaise took the seat across from him with a smirk.
Draco sighed morosely. "What do you want Blaise?" He asked with a groan.
"I'm just trying to cheer you up mate!" Blaise shrugged. "Anyway it doesn't seem like our mystery girl is coming. Why don't you pick one of those drooling girls and go sow your wild oats for a hour, if you know what I mean." Blaise lifted an eyebrow and leered meaningfully at Draco. "Obliviate the girl and come back here. No one has to know."
Draco dropped his head in his hands with an exasperated sigh. "I really hope you're using a contraceptive charm Blaise or one of those girls you've "sown your wild oats" with is going to be pregnant without a clue how that happened."
Blaise gasped. "Draco, I would never sink to your level and make a girl forget she had sex with me. Honestly, where do you get these wild ideas from?" Blaise stood up and towered over his friend. "Besides," he winked. "A memory charm isn't strong enough to make a girl forget about an hour spent with me." Blaise laughed and walked off leaving behind an aggravated Draco.
"Oh no, she's here. Now I'll have no chance with him!"
Draco heard the sobs from his admirers and his head shot up from the table. She was just gliding to the dance floor after traversing the entire staircase herself.
And… "Damn bastard!" Draco swore. Blaise was waiting for her at the bottom. As Draco watched, Blaise turned his head to look at Draco and waggled his fingers at the blond behind his back where the girl couldn't see.
Draco stood and nearly sprinted across the room.
"Of course I'll dance with you," she finished saying the second before Draco arrived at her side.
"Hello," Draco growled but his glare was all for Blaise.
She looked up at him and watched as his angry expression melted as he looked down at her.
"Hello," she answered back with a smile. "I'm just going to dance with Blaise once, as friends. Then we can dance as many times as you like."
Draco struggled with himself to do the courteous thing and let her dance once with another man. He finally managed a stiff nod and left to find a table as the dance started.
His chair faced the dance floor and his head unconsciously swiveled to follow this friend and the girl as they moved around in slow circles.
Draco snarled when Blaise leaned in to whisper in her ear and when he held her too close after one of the more difficult spins. And he watched as her smile grew the longer Blaise ran his mouth.
"That's it." Draco hissed. "I'm brewing an impotency potion and am force feeding it to Blaise."
After an agonizingly long time the dance ended and Blaise walked her over to where Draco was waiting.
"She's all yours mate." Blaise smiled cheekily and reached up to ruffle his friend's hair. Draco brushed him off angrily and gently pulled the girl back onto the dance floor.
"I hope Blaise wasn't too terrible," Draco twirled her once and pulled her back into his arms.
She giggled and Draco basked in that wonderful sound. "He spent the entire dance explaining in detail why he thought you were gay."
Draco hissed. "That's it. The impotency potion's going to be a permanent one now!"
She laughed. "Oh, don't. I thought it made you sound cute." She laughed again when his cheeks tinged red. "Although I do have to admit that it isn't exactly normal for a man to spend hours on his hair."
"And maybe the potion should make him shrink too." Draco added under his breath.
"Stop," she said in a hard, commanding voice that straightened Draco's spine. "He was only being funny. There's no need for you to hurt him like that and if I find out that you do give him that potion I'll be very angry."
Her eyes showed strength that Draco had found to be uncommon in most girls but made her even more endearing to him. She would never trail after him because of his money or his looks. She would never make him uncomfortable with doe eyes filled with lust for things he wasn't willing to give. He had already found that she had a sharp tongue and wasn't afraid to speak her mind or to put him in his place.
In short, she would never let him become his father. He could be Draco around her rather than Lucius's son.
"Alright," he conceded. "I'll be nice."
"Good." She smiled and led him off the dance floor. "Will you go get me a drink please?"
He was back in a few seconds with a glass of white wine.
"Thank you," she said pointedly.
"You're welcome." He shot back and was gratified to see her smile grow.
They sat in comfortable silence and sipped their drinks while watching Blaise try and fail to fend off a flock of girls.
"You look very good in your dress." Draco said when she had finished her wine. "Green and black are very good colors for you."
Her face turned the same color as her hair making Draco chuckle.
"I'm serious." He said solemnly. "You are gorgeous and that dress accentuates your beauty."
"Thank you." She said softly.
III
Edessa watched them interact with a small smile on her face.
As the night wore on they danced for a few more songs, stopped for a quick snack and another drink, danced again, and harassed that Blaise boy.
Midnight chimed and went by as the hours on the clock faded towards dawn.
There was nothing she could do that would make their already budding relationship any stronger but she would continue to watch and wait to see if an opportunity arose.
III
The ball was winding down and Ginny had to admit that her feet were a little sore from all the dancing she had done. But that was okay because she had had an amazing time with Draco.
The clock sounded four times as the musicians finished their last song. Draco continued to sway with her out on the dance floor while the instruments were packed up and the remaining partygoers began to leave.
He slowly bent closer and Ginny raised up on her toes to meet him. Their lips met in an explosive kiss that sent Ginny's mind reeling. He broke away and leaned his forehead against hers.
"Stay with me tonight?" He whispered into her hair. He bent down and nuzzled her ear.
Ginny snapped back into focus. Stay with him? He was clearly asking for much more than Ginny was willing to give.
"Draco," she said regretfully as she pulled away from his intimate embrace. "I can't…I'm not." She grimaced as she stumbled over her words.
His grey eyes shuttered behind lids as he pulled away in confusion.
Ginny scrambled for the right thing to say. "It's not that I don't like you." She said quickly, "because I do. I really do." She was blushing at this point.
"But I barely know you. Three balls are not enough time to get to know someone, I mean really get to know someone."
Draco nodded slowly.
"If we spent some more time together, went on dates, and really began to learn about each other, then…" But she stopped quickly as her cheeks flamed up even more.
Merlin, she was speaking about eventualities when she would sleep with Draco Malfoy! She held her hands up to her burning cheeks and took a quick step away from the man in front of her.
"I need to go," she whispered. She shot off like a rocket but this time Draco wasn't going to let her get away without a good explanation. He was hot on her heels as she rushed up the stairs and out into the entrance hall. She was fast, much faster than a girl should be able to run in a dress, but embarrassment lent wings to her feet.
She was out of the mansion and heading towards the apparition point when she thought she saw a pair of tiny wings and her slipper came loose from her left foot. She stumbled and felt her skirts slip through Draco's fingers so did not stop to pick up her discarded shoe.
She was gone with a soft pop leaving behind a panting Draco and one green and black slipper.
III
"Molly, you've got an owl." Arthur said that morning at breakfast. "And a package."
"Oh!" Molly stood and collected the letter and package from the majestic owl before retreating to Ron's study.
In the package was a black dress cloak and the letter was from Narcissa Malfoy.
"Dear Molly Weasley,
"Thank you for your letter. You were correct in your assumptions that your daughter has met a boy at the ball. My son has become quite infatuated with her and I believe that she returns that sentiment. Oddly enough, it seems that she has withheld her name from Draco and has effectively slipped from his grasp. I must commend your daughter on standing her ground against my son and putting him in his place more than once.
"It is my strong belief that they are perfect for each other, especially in personality, and I would urge you to put aside our past differences in order to allow our children to love. Please read the morning post for more details regarding our children's relationship.
"Narcissa Malfoy nee Black
"P.S. The cloak belongs to your daughter. She accidentally left it behind last night."
Molly sank back into a chair with a hand to her heart and tears in her eyes.
"Of course." She whispered. "If they truly love each other I won't ever get in their way."
III
Wanted! Malfoy heir on the search for his beautiful date!
"She's a beautiful girl with long red hair, big brown eyes, full pink lips, and tons of freckles. She's short, only about five feet, skinny, and very shapely. And she's the most gorgeous girl I've ever laid eyes on." Mr. Malfoy describes his missing date and says that over the next few days he will be stopping by every household an invitation was sent to.
"My only clue to her identity is this green slipper. I'm looking for a girl who fits my description and also has feet that are small enough to fit into this slipper."
You have been warned! If you attended the ball last night expect Mr. Malfoy to appear on your doorstep in the near future.
"Shit." Blaise slowly put the paper down and banged his head on the table.
"Red hair, freckles… How did I not see it before? How can Draco not see it now?" He slowly leaned back in his chair and groaned. "She's a Weasley, Ginevra Weasley."
"Oh good! You've finally figured it out." Narcissa Malfoy swept into the dining room with a smile on her face. "You'll be accompanying Draco on his journey," she began and pierced him with a hard look. "I expect him to find Ginevra Weasley instead of some bimbo who is good a pretending. If he comes home with anyone aside from Miss Weasley you will pay."
Blaise gulped but nodded since saying no to this woman was even more dangerous than saying no to her son.
Narcissa swept back out of the room and Blaise banged his head on the table again. Weasley started with a 'W' and that was at the very end of the alphabet. Unless he could convince Draco to start with the end and work in the other direction, they would be at this for days.