A/N: Hello again and sorry for such a long wait! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 4

Ginny and Malfoy had to go to Diagon Alley in a carriage, which didn't seem like a good idea to Ginny. When she asked what happened to portkeys, Malfoy answered curtly that portkey wasn't suitable in this case and didn't elaborate – and Ginny thought it would be below her to ask for details. That would be more communication with Malfoy and that is what she was going to avoid at all costs.

The ride to Diagon Alley was quiet. Ginny didn't want to talk to Malfoy, so she looked out of the carriage window instead, feeling a bit strange – she so didn't belong in that carriage… With all the Malfoy crests, cushions with golden monograms and velvety curtains, the carriage looked ever so posh – and posh would be the last word to describe Ginny Weasley.

Malfoy didn't look eager to converse with her either, so they remained in a tense silence until their arrival to Diagon Alley.

The door of the carriage opened and Malfoy stepped through. Ginny followed. She sincerely hoped that nobody would see her here with Malfoy… Apparently, Malfoy was sharing that hope.

'Too bad I have to be here with you when you're looking like a disgrace to the whole wizardkind, let alone Malfoys,' Malfoys said through gritted teeth. 'Should've let my mother work on you first. Then again,' he smirked, 'maybe the wizarding world will appreciate my tolerance of my inferiors'.

Ginny's face went red in anger.

'Don't you go saying that, you miserable – idiot,' she hissed. 'You weren't so outspoken when you were with your mother, were you?' She hoped this hint at his cowardice would insult him, but he just glanced at her with a somewhat puzzled look in his eyes.

'Of course I'm respectful to my mother,' he said, clearly not understanding what she was implying. 'What else would you expect me to do? Then again, I've always known that Weasleys are weird,' he concluded and started walking.

Ginny went after him, astonished. Malfoy respecting anybody? That was definitely something new…

'Where are we going?'

'Where do you think?' Malfoy answered. 'Oh, excuse me for forgetting that you don't think…'

'I didn't think it'd be so hard for you to answer a simple question, Malfoy,' Ginny said, fuming.

'A pointless one, too,' Malfoy shrugged. He never stopped walking, so Ginny felt humiliated by his lack of attention to her. She could just run away any minute and he wouldn't notice… however, what good could running away do?

Finally, they walked into a jewelry shop Ginny's never been to before. Then again, she wouldn't have had a chance to go into a place like this, because her family never had enough money to buy new robes, let alone jewelry… Stop that, Ginny Weasley, Ginny told herself sternly. You will not think of your family in such a way!

'Good afternoon, Mr. Malfoy,' the clerk said joyfully, greeting Malfoy. He positively beamed as Malfoy walked into the shop.

'Good afternoon, Fibbs,' Malfoy said, clearly not sharing the clerk's glee.

'Good afternoon, young lady,' the shopkeeper greeted Ginny. She felt a bit uncomfortable. This was the first time she was ever called a 'young lady' by strangers. Usually it wasn't more than "Miss". I've been upgraded, Ginny joked gloomily and smiled at the man.

'Good afternoon.'

'How can I help you, Mr. Malfoy?' the shopkeeper asked.

'We want to buy wedding rings,' Malfoy said in a bored voice – one could think he was purchasing a couple of cabbages at a market.

'Oh how delightful! I see, you are going to get married. Now, congratulations, Mr. Malfoy and Miss…'

'Weasley,' Malfoy supplied coldly. 'Thank you, Fibbs. Now, could you show us some of the rings you think would be fitting for the occasion?'

'Of course, of course, it's such an honour to provide rings for the Malfoys, I'm most delighted-' the shopkeeper hurried off somewhere behind his counter and came back with several small boxes. 'Now, here are the best rings we have, reserved for special customers like you.'

Ginny was getting a bit frustrated from the shopkeeper's delightful blabber. He seemed genuinely happy to serve Malfoy, while Ginny was appaled at how Malfoy was treating him. He didn't even say "Mr." when he addressed the man and spoke in such a cold tone… However, she found it difficult to point that out, because when Malfoy didn't talk, the shopkeeper did – which left no silence for her to break with her comments.

Mr. Fibbs showed them several rings. Ginny gasped in amazement. They were all so beautiful! There was a golden ring with some green stone and a ring from some silvery metal and some other stones, and…

'This one is very elegant – platinum with diamonds… oh and this one is splendid too – gold and emeralds, or maybe white gold and sapphires? Or this one – platinum and emeralds! Or perhaps you're fond of rubies?'

Ginny didn't know what she was fond of and Malfoy didn't seem to care. He said he'd settle for a plain platinum ring and that Ginny was free to choose whatever she liked. The problem was that she liked them all and that she wasn't able to pick one – and Malfoy was getting impatient.

'For heavens' sake, just choose one and let's go, what's the big deal?' He said, trying to restrain his temper in front of the shopkeeper.

'I can't choose – they're all so pretty…' Ginny said, forgetting whom she was talking to. The shopkeeper smiled, pleased. Malfoy rolled his eyes.

'Well you'll have to choose one in the end…'

Finally, Ginny settled for a platinum ring with emeralds – they reminded her of Harry's eyes. The thought made her a little sad, but the feeling was quickly replaced by the joy of getting such a pretty jewel.

'I see your future wife has quite a taste, Mr. Malfoy,' the shopkeeper said. 'This is a beautiful ring.'

Ginny beamed at him and Malfoy rolled his eyes again.

'That will be… five hundred eighty galleons,' Mr. Fibbs announced happily. Ginny nearly collapsed from shock. Were the rings so expensive? That was madness, to buy them – surely, they couldn't afford…

'Oh…' Ginny gasped.

'There you go,' Malfoy said, handing over a sack full of galleons, clearly unimpressed by the price. Ginny looked at him incredulously. What was he – mad, to pay so much?

'There you go. I hope you will have a wonderful wedding – wish you all the best – and you are always welcome at my shop, of course,' the shopkeeper said, handing the rings over.

'Thank you, Fibbs. I'm sure my mother will drop by soon.'

'Oh yes, Mr. Malfoy, please send her my warmest greetings and tell her that a new collection from Venice has arrived! Sapphires that would match her eyes wonderfully, do tell her that, please!'

'Of course. Good bye,' Malfoy walked out the door.

'And Miss Weasley – I do hope you will become one of our permanent clients, like the Malfoy family had always been! I've got some earrings of gold with rubies that would look magnificent on you – do come again!'

'Thank you, Mr. Fibbs, I – I will,' Ginny said, positively sure that she'd never do that, because this shop was definitely too expensive for her liking. The Malfoys did seem to be old customers, though…

She walked outside and saw Malfoy, who was glancing at his watch impatiently.

'I hope you're done wasting my time,' he said edgily when he saw her.

'I am, yeah,' she answered off-handedly. He then extended his hand with their wedding rings in it:

'Take it back to the Manor. I'm leaving.'

'Wait – how do I get back?' Ginny asked hurriedly. Malfoy sighed.

'By the same carriage, it's waiting in the same place…'

'What place?'

'For fuck's sake, Weasley, I do wish you'd use the little brain you have sometimes,' he growled. 'It's near the Leaky Cauldron. Do you have any sense of direction at all?'

'Yes,' Ginny answered in a dignified manner, while it was a total lie. She didn't have any sense of direction whatsoever – she was famous for that among her family and friends.

'Well then stop asking me stupid questions,' Malfoy snapped and Disapparated, without as much as saying goodbye. Ginny sighed and went in the direction of the Leaky Cauldron, not letting herself be distracted by the shops around her – that would make her lose her course for sure…

In the carriage, she examined her ring all over again. It was so fantastically beautiful. Ginny never knew she liked jewelry – but then again, she'd never had any…

After arriving back at the Malfoy Manor, Ginny was guided to where Narcissa was. This time she was in a different room – one of the bedrooms by the looks of it.

'Come in, Miss Weasley, come in,' Narcissa Malfoy called pleasantly. Ginny walked into the room and was startled to discover that there were more people in it. In fact, there was some chaos, too, which is not what Ginny would normally associate with the Malfoys. Everyone looked at Ginny expectantly.

'Um… hello,' she said nervously.

'This is the girl,' Narcissa then told the people. 'Miss Weasley – Ginevra, isn't it?'

'Yes,' Ginny nodded. 'You can call me that, if you want.'

'Wonderful. Now, you see that there is a lot of work to do,' Narcissa said, addressing the people, 'so what are you waiting for?'

They immediately sprung to action. A short bald man dragged Ginny by the hand to some weird kind of chair on wheels; then he flicked his wand and the chair started moving towards a door in the room's wall; Ginny's eyes opened in horror as she neared to closed door, but then the door sprung open, revealing a bathroom.

'In we go, in we go, young lady,' the bald man said. The chair wheeled itself towards the sink and then the bald man called, 'Kitty!'

A young girl appeared, bringing towels. Ginny didn't get what was going on and the speed with which things were happening frightened her a little bit.

'Sorry, but – what are you doing?'

'What do you mean, what we are doing, we are getting you to be as beautiful as you can be, young lady Weasley, for I am no other than Etienne Beaufort, the greatest Beautifier of all times! We are going to wash your hair with that elixir I have made myself – I call it Etienne's Exceptional Elixir – Kitty, pass me that – and then we are going to comb and cut and style and dry your hair into a fashionable hairstyle, not what you have right now – what a shame, really, young lady, one would think you're a commoner with such hair, this is such a shame, oh, Kitty, pass me the towel – now, you better be careful and close your eyes, because that elixir might be a little bit wrong for your eyes,' completely confused by the never-ending monologue and not always understanding whom the bald man was talking to, Ginny closed her eyes and tried to protest:

'Are you sure you know what you are doing? I mean, I'm not sure I want to have this-'

'What do you mean not sure, of course you are sure, we are all sure, this is outrageous, it has to be done, just look at yourself, you can be such a pretty lady and you look such a not pretty lady but it's fixable, oh everything is fixable with Pere Etienne!'

Ginny thought in horror what her family would say if that Etienne person did a lot to her. The thought of trusting someone with her hair was terrifying. So far only her mother ever cut her hair and Ginny never wanted any other hairdresser…

However, soon enough worried thoughts fled from Ginny's head as someone was doing her a wonderful head massage. Ginny'd never had a head massage before and she had to admit it was great. She heard people rushing about distantly, but she didn't really care what was happening around her as she was nearly drifting off to sleep in relaxation.

Then she suddenly felt something on her face; it was most likely some kind of a cream or a scrub. Ginny wasn't too happy about not knowing what was happening to her, but since there was nothing she could do about it, she just tried to take it calmly. One day she'd sure do something to repay Narcissa for this. Oh, and Draco Malfoy too, just for existing. Though the head massage was really good…

In a while, Ginny was raised to sit up, the cream cleaned off her face. She blinked twice before her eyesight became normal again and her first instinct was to try and touch her face, but the shriek, "No no no young lady, don't do this, this is very very wrong of you" stopped her. Ginny's wet hair was done up with a towel, which the bald man, Etienne or whatever, was holding.

'So is it all done?' She asked hopefully, to which Etienne responded with laughter.

'No no no, young lady, this is only the beginning!'

And it definitely was. Several people worked on Ginny at the same time – Ginny had no idea how they did it, because working on her hair and face simultaneously must have been very difficult. She felt her hair being cut and wanted to protest, but then felt one hair from her eyebrow being pulled out and yelped in pain. When she was about to comment on that, she felt more hair being cut and already opened her mouth to protest, but someone closed her mouth and put some kind of cream all over her face. In other words, Ginny was forced to accept everything that was being done to her without even protesting much.

Narcissa Malfoy sat in an armchair all this time, looking at the people's work and occasionally throwing comments at them.

Finally, after what seemed like several centuries, Ginny was done. Everyone stepped away and finally let her look into a mirror; Narcissa Malfoy got to see her first, though, and said,

'Well done, Etienne. I knew I could trust you on this.'

So Ginny figured she didn't look that bad, but looking into the mirror just took her breath away. She didn't look like herself at all. AT ALL. Ok there was some resemblance, but not much. However, looking at herself for a bit longer, Ginny realized that not much has been done, really, but it made her look so different – so… pretty. Her hair was tamed and done into a fashionable hairstyle; it was layered and it looked completely different around her face, making her look much prettier than before. Her skin was more even now; her eyebrows were symmetrical and her face had a healthy glow. Besides, make-up had been applied to her face. She had foundation, eye-shadows, mascara and lipgloss on – and even though she recalled promising herself never to wear make-up in her life, from now on she decided to drop the idea.

She looked gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous, and even she herself admitted it.

'Oh,' she gasped, looking into the mirror.

'Now that looks much better, doesn't it?' Narcissa said, obviously satisfied. Ginny nodded, unable to utter a word. She couldn't find a way to express her amazement at the difference.

'Oh,' she said again.

'I see the young lady is pleased,' the bald man said, chuckling. 'The young lady is looking very good indeed. However, I will be giving her instructions to follow in order to maintain her newly found beauty,' he said.

'Oh,' Ginny said for the third time, still unable to vary her vocabulary a little bit.

'This is the tonic you will clean your face with, this is the cleansing foam, this is the cream, this is…' he trailed off, pointing to an army of bottles on the dressing table.

'Ok,' Ginny agreed obediently. They could be sure she'd do anything to stay this pretty! Harry was so bound to notice her now!

The thought of Harry made her smile and her heart started beating faster. Now he'd regret his engagement to Hermione! Hermione was a wonderful girl, but Ginny was so much prettier now – and it's common knowledge that guys always go for pretty girls…

Ginny stood up and looked at herself in the mirror. She was at once startled by the contrast of her worn sporty clothes with her elegant, feminine looks.

'Oh,' she said for the fourth time.

'Yes yes yes, we've taken this into account,' Etienne exclaimed, meeting Narcissa's look. 'Marie-Anne will be here soon enough with all the clothes – oh here you are, Marie-Anne, now, hurry up, hurry up, don't let us keep Madame waiting…'

Marie-Anne, a petite dark-haired young woman rushed into the room with a lot of hangers with clothes on them.

'Here I am, here I am, sorry, Madame, there was a little delay…'

'Not to worry, not to worry,' Narcissa said graciously, looking with interest at the clothes that Marie-Anne brought. Ginny didn't really understand what was going on at first, but then it hit her: these clothes were for her!

As Marie-Anne and Etienne took out some things and started laying them on the chairs, Ginny stuttered:

'No, this is…'

'No? What do you mean – no? Madame?' Etienne turned to Narcissa.

'Perhaps Ginevra isn't sure what to wear just now, since there is so much choice. However, she will be changing directly, won't you, Ginevra?' There was a slight hint of metal in Narcissa's calm voice now. Ginny looked at her and whispered:

'But this is… it's too generous, I can't – this wouldn't be… my mother wouldn't approve…'

'Ah, don't be so silly, Ginevra. You are becoming a part of the Malfoy clan. Malfoys don't think about money. Besides, your old style doesn't go with your new look. And your mother… well, I don't see how she'd have any complaints, Ginevra.'

Ginny's cheeks blushed.

'She would say it's wrong to accept such stuff from the Malf-' she started bluntly. Narcissa sighed.

'Such matters will not be discussed under this roof, as long as you will be part of the Malfoys,' she said in a final tone. Ginny was a bit surprised at Narcissa's peacefulness – she didn't insult the Weasleys even though Ginny gave her a perfect opportunity for that – and didn't bite Ginny's head of when she implied that something was wrong with the Malfoys. She didn't seem to be willing to acknowledge that there was any conflict between the Weasleys and the Malfoys at all, actually.

Which, as you realize, young lady, is the wisest thing you could do, because you can't go forever biting the Malfoys' heads off – not if you want to have anything resembling normal life, that is – that's what Ginny told herself sternly and went to change into one of her new outfits.

Soon enough, she was staring at herself in the mirror, looking like a totally different person. She had white pants, navy-blue and white shoes on small heels, white shirt and a dark-blue jeans jacket on. She looked totally different from the Ginny Weasley she used to see in the mirror every day. This Ginny was a stylish, elegant young woman – even her eyes glittered self-confidently now. She looked like a woman from those fashion magazines – the ones she always used to mock – and she was totally enjoying it.

'Better,' Narcissa Malfoy said, 'much better. Now, we need some jewelry to go with this. Will you kindly pass me that box? Thank you,' she said to Kitty, one of Etienne's assistants and opened the box – which turned out to be a jewelry box. 'Let me see…'

Narcissa picked out a baby-blue watch with some white shining stones – crystals or diamonds, Ginny decided not to ask, which – and pretty silvery (or maybe white gold, or maybe platinum…) earrings with the same kind of stones in them and a modest necklace – just a star on a chain.

'Put it on, now, Ginevra,' Narcissa said, handing it all over. Ginny obeyd without complaint, even though she thought Narcissa was being way too generous. Wait – a Malfoy? Generous? What was she thinking?

Ginny put it all on and she had to say that she looked like a fashion queen. When Etienne handed her a black and white bag, her image was complete.

'Stunning. Charming. Wonderful,' Etienne said happily.

'Yes, I have to say I'm quite satisfied, Etienne,' Narcissa agreed, looking at Ginny approvingly.

'I… I don't know how to thank you, um, Mr., um, Etienne… Madame,' Ginny said shyly.

'Oh it was an honour to work for the Malfoys,' Etienne exclaimed. Narcissa only smiled. She was obviously quite used to compliments.

'Thank you for your hard work, Etienne,' Narcissa said, bowing her head slightly. 'You will naturally receive your reward, but I'd like to thank you from myself – it was a pleasure to work with you, as usual,' she smiled kindly. Ginny couldn't believe her ears. A Malfoy was actually saying something nice to someone? The world must be going nuts…

Ginny was nearing The Burrow and the closer she approached, the worse she felt. She could just imagine the reaction of her relatives to her new appearance. That's not to mention that the suitcases with her new clothes must have already arrived and she'd have to explain it all… Oh, it wasn't good. It wasn't good at all.

Well, at least she looked great, she told herself. Also, it was the right thing to do – to come back for the dinner. Narcissa did offer her to stay for dinner in the Malfoy home and it probably wouldn't have been that horrible since Draco Malfoy wasn't coming back and Ginny had started thinking that Narcissa wasn't that horrible after all; however, Ginny realized that her mother would get worried about her whereabouts. Besides, it was just wrong – to leave for the whole day and then come back at night, looking like she did and chattering about the Malfoys. No. That definitely wasn't the way to go.

So here she was, already at her door, a bit scared to go in. However, Mrs. Weasley's clock was definitely working; the arrow "Ginny" must have been pointing at "just out the door", because Mrs. Weasley suddenly swung the door open and said:

'Ginny dear, there you-' but words got stuck in her throat. 'Ginny?' She asked disbelievingly. 'Oh goodness, Ginny – is that you?'

'Yes, mom – I know I look a bit different, but…'

'Oh you look smashing, absolutely gorgeous – you did something to your hair and you obviously went shopping and – oh! Wait… how did all this…' Mrs. Weasley frowned, clearly struggling and failing to understand. 'Come in, Ginny, and tell me…'

So Ginny did. It wasn't easy to explain it to her mom and it was even more difficult to explain it to her family. The idea of her taking something from the Malfoys seemed terrible to most of them. Nobody had real problems with her new look, though; nobody except Luna, who said disappointedly that she lost hope that Ginny had any sense of style. Considering that it was coming from a girl who was wearing socks of different colours and a carrot on a chain instead of a pendant, Ginny didn't really think she needed to take the criticism seriously.

Ginny started feeling deep affection for Fleur and Aunt Georgina. First of all, they were very approving of the way she looked. Secondly, they argued her case to other members of the family. And thirdly – their chattering successfully shut everyone else up…