(Disclaimer) I don't own Harry Potter or its characters.
In Magazines Ch. 4 Confessions
"Ginny Weasley, where on earth have you been?" Her mother exclaimed as she walked in the door.
Ginny was taken aback. Her mom usually didn't wait up for her, let alone get mad at her for being out too late.
"Really mum, I'm twenty years old. I can control my own life..." Ginny started irritably. Malfoy's last few comments had put her in a bad mood. Suddenly, George came in from the kitchen.
"You being out late without telling anyone where the blazes you went off to is not our concern," he said.
"It's more the little matter of leaving one of our stores unstaffed all day long with the door unlocked," Fred finished following George into the room.
Shoot! Ginny had forgotten all about the store in her excitement and had even forgotten to lock up. "I–I'm so sorry Fred and George–I'll pay you back if anything was stolen–I promise..."
"Luckily nothing was stolen," George said slowly.
"But we did miss out on any sales we would have had," Fred said. "Don't worry about it though, Gin...just never let it happen again."
Ginny sighed. "It's ok. I'll pay you back for the possible money you could have lost."
Her mother raised her eyebrows. "Out of your college fund? Oh no! You've been saving that for forever! Your brothers are far rich enough from their silly business." She shot them a look.
"No mum, it's all right I promise..." Ginny said. "I've got another job that pays very well. In fact, that's where I was today. I'm sorry I have to quit on you, Fred and George."
"What job is this?" Fred asked suspiciously.
Ginny sighed. How was her family going to take this? "Um.." she started, "I'm going to be a model for Wit and Wiz magazine," she finished in a rush.
"Gah!" Fred and George both exclaimed while her mother let out a slight gasp.
"You've sold your soul to the devil!" George exclaimed.
"You do realize that it is owned by Malfoy?" Fred asked in amazement.
Ginny sighed. Just the reaction she had feared. "Draco may be a prat," she said, "but he's not the devil. Besides, he's giving me two million galleons a year."
Fred let out a low whistle. "It's a lot of money to be sure..."
"But the real question is, is it worth your soul?" George said pretending to be serious, but Ginny caught a gleam in his eye.
She heaved a sigh of relief. At least Fred and George seemed to understand. They must know how much the money would mean to Ginny's life.
"Two million galleons?" Ron's voice came from the upstairs. "For what?'
Ginny groaned. Were they having a family reuinion?
A moment later, Ron came bounding down the stairs. "Why didn't anyone answer me?"
Ginny rolled her eyes. This wasn't going to go over well. "Draco has offered me two million galleons to be a model at his magazine Wit and Wiz, and I've accepted," she rushed out.
Ron's jaw dropped. "G–Ginny," he finally managed to get out, "Not only did you call Malfoy by his first name, but you're working for him!? You'd really take that evil twit's money? And...and what are you doing in that get up?" He motioned to her dress.
Ginny sighed for seemingly the hundredth time. "I didn't know he owned the magazine when I agreed to go in for an interview," she started, but Ron interrupted her again.
"When Malfoy interviewed you he agreed to give you a job and two million galleons!?" Ron asked skeptically.
"Well, no, he actually told me to leave but..." she tried again.
Ron looked like he was going to explode. "That git! How dare he!? Then how...!?"
"Ron!" Ginny yelled in exasperation. "If you would stop interrupting me, I might be able to tell you what happened!"
She took a deep breath and continued in a more calm voice. "Now, the talent scount that brought me in...Jack is his name...convinced Dra...Malfoy to see me made up. After that, Dr...Malfoy was still his rude self, but he had an important dinner with a potential investor..." she sighed. She supposed she had to tell her family the whole story. "And he needed a date. Every girl was busy or mad at him, so he took me...offering me a two million dollar contract at the same time."
She stopped, waiting for the news to sink in with her family. Everyone seemed to be stunned. Her mother was the first to speak.
"So, Ginny dear, you're saying you went out with this Malfoy boy?" she asked in not very well concealed concern.
"Well, kind of..." Ginny said slowly. "It was only to get the man to invest. And it was just dinner and a Quidditch game..."
Fred and George both said, "Oi," at the same time.
"You got to go to the Arrow vs. Magpie game tonight? No wonder you agreed to go. I'd go with Malfoy myself if it meant tickets to that game..." Fred said.
"Not to mention the two million galleons," George added. "But poor Gin...having to put up with Malfoy for that long!"
Ron looked at them all as if they were all crazy. "Are you being serious? How can you calmly talk about Ginny going out with Malfoy? This is insane! My little sister is dating a Malfoy!? Well I don't think I need to tell you for you to know, but I don't approve; in fact I forbid you going out with him again!" He finished in a stern, important sounding tone as if his opinion was the most important in the family.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Calm down Ron!" she said. "I'm not dating him at all! Besides, tonight was a business dinner. He obviously wasn't any more happy about being with me than I was to be with him..."
Her mother sighed sounding concerned. "Dear, that most likely isn't true. I mean, you look stunning in that dress. Be careful...don't feel obligated to do anything with or for him that you feel uncomfortable with just because he's your boss..."
Ginny laughed. "Honestly mum! I'm sure he can resist me! He deals with beautiful women everyday at the magazine, yet still chooses to go out with Pansy Parkinson for some strange reason. Besides, he is very good looking himself, so it's not as if he couldn't get a prettier girl than me who's not from a family he hates..."
She cut off when she realized that everyone was staring at her. "Oh," she said, blushing a little. "I know about Pansy because the stylists were gossiping while doing me up..."
"That's not the reason we're shocked," George said with a slight smile.
Fred looked at Ron. "Perhaps he'd like to tell you why," he said smiling. "He looks like he's going to burst again."
"You called him very good looking!" he burst out. "It's obvious you're attracted to him! You like him!!"
Ginny blushed again. "That's ridiculous! I can notice if someone is good looking and still not like him!"
Everyone just stared at her looking suspicious.
"You know what," she said angrily, "I'm not having this conversation with you!"
With that, she stormed up to her room. She decided the next day she would sneak out and go to a restaurant for breakfast. She couldn't avoid her family forever, but they'd hopefully calm down and forget this whole nonsense when they saw that she never went out with Dra...Malfoy ever again.
***
Draco sat at his desk glowering down at the new issue of Wit and Wiz that was going out the next day. It had been only a month since Virginia Weasley had started at the magazine and already her picture was on th efront conver.
Not only was she on the front cover, she was wearing the dress he had pickdo ut for her, the most hideous one sent to him by their featured designer. It was fuzzy and puke green with random spikes sticking out of it. The worst part of all was that she actually looked good in it.
To make matters worse, she had refused to change her name to a modeling alias. The Weasley name would be printed in his magazine.
"Something wrong, Drake?" Alexis asked wryly.
Draco looked up at her. "Are you out of your mind Lexie to put Weasley on the front cover?"
Alexis smirked. "No, you're out of yours if you don't think that picture belongs on the cover. It's incredible!"
"Psht! How can it be incredible with her in it?" he asked, annoyed.
"Well, I don't care about your stupid prejudice," she said, "so I'm not changing the picture!"
Draco sighed bitterly. "It's too late now, anyways."
"Draco, stop it!" she said, her blue eyes flashing. "If you're going to pay her two million galleons a year, you should at least use her pictures. Besides, she is very nice and...beautiful..." she added. He was surprised when he noticed a slight tone of jealousy in her voice.
Draco laughed in great amusement. "Lex, you shouldn't be jealous of her. You are beautiful too...I mean...y–you're beautiful and she's not."
Alexis' eyes widened and she gasped slightly. "Why Draco Malfoy! You think she's beautiful...so Jack's not the only one in the magazine that seems to have fallen for her."
"I...it was just a slip of the tongue," Draco said, trying to brush her off. Merlin! He had said Virginia Weasley was beautiful!
"It wasn..." Draco shot her a death glare and she cut off, her wry smile disappearing. "Um...yea...well I guess I better go make sure all of the issues are sorted correctly for distribution..." she said, backing out the door. When Draco continued glaring at her, she turned around and walked quickly away, not bothering to close the door.
Draco grunted. His glare had always unnerved Lexie.
He couldn't believe he had just admitted out loud that he thought Virgi...Weasley was beautiful. Matters were getting out of hand. To make it all worse, he had the Wizard Magazines Award Show to go to in a few days. It was black tie and he needed a date. He hadn't even talked to Pansy since the day after her birthday, so she wasn't an option.
Just then, Jack came waltzing into his office, pausing briefly to knock on the side of the open door.
"Come in," Draco said glumly.
Jack came in and gave a small laugh. "I met Lex on the way out. She said you were glaring at her and talking about how pretty Ginny was..."
"Shh!" Draco said quickly, glaring at him. "Close the door at least if you're going to be stupid..."
"Is it stupid, Draco? Lexie really thinks you're falling for her," Jack said grinning, but he closed the door anyway.
Draco rolled his eyes. "I said that Lexie shouldn't be jealous of her because she is beautiful too...that's it! Besides, beauty certainly isn't everything."
"True, but Ginny's got a lot more than looks, Draco and you know it..." Jack said smiling.
"Can we please talk about something else?" Draco said despairingly.
Jack shrugged. "Sure, like who's going to the awards ceremony? Lexie and I have decided to go together as friends, but you still need a date. I thought you could maybe take...Jenny."
Draco jolted in surprise. "Oh good, I thought you were going to suggest me taking the Weasel. It's good to know you have some common sense..."
"It's not common sense to pass up taking Ginny out, Drake. I mean I'd take her out myself if I wasn't..." he cut off abruptly.
"If you weren't what?" Draco said, trying to sound nonchalant, but terror was rising in his voice.
Jack sighed. "Now, you have to promise not to freak out."
"I won't freak out," Draco answered, his voice even more tense.
"You're already freaking out! And you gotta promise not to tell anyone...I haven't told anyone. It could really screw up my whole life, Drake," he said sounding very serious.
Draco's eyes were so wide he felt like his eyes would pop out. "JACK for Merlin's sake...TELL ME NOW!" he yelled.
"Fine," Jack said, sighing. "I'm madly in love with Lexie."
Draco let out a huge breath and collapsed on his desk with relief. "Oh, well..." he said, panting slightly, "That's fine...I mean interesting...well...ok..." he broke off. "Wait, in love with Lexie? That's random...and...and...w-why would it screw up your life"
Jack shook his head. "Because I don't think she feels the same way and I don't want to mess up our friendship. We've been friends for forever. Um, by the way, Draco, what did you think I was going to say?"
"Never mind," Draco said, quickly recovering. "Now anyways about my date...yes Jenny is beautiful, but I don't think she really likes me."
"It's your own fault. It always is when girls don't like you. Fine, I know you want to take Ginny, but I'm afraid you're going to have to do a lot of apologizing. You're not her favorite person at the moment," he said with a smirk.
Draco laughed. "If I asked her to go, she would. I mean who would turn down going to the awards ceremony? Besides, I wouldn't be caught dead with her at an event like that. She's far too low class."
"Draco, I swear, if you don't get over that attitude, I'm going to stick Lexie on you after she's been working all day on a spread that didn't work and the Arrows lost their match. Believe me, it's not pleasant. Besides, I thought you wanted to be a man of the future and get away from some of your old family traditions," he said.
"I've gotten rid of the worst family traditions, believe me," Draco said sighing.
Jack laughed. "You've got a strange family then, Draco," he said, shaking his head.
"You have no idea. Now, I'll find myself a date, don't worry. I'm a little out of practice because Pansy would insist on going with me to everything before, but I still got the charm," he finished off, flashing a smile.
Jack burst out laughing. "Good luck. But, I'm sure no one could resist that smile...not even the beautiful Ginny Weasley..." he said in mock assurance.
"Shut up and get out of my office before I hex you," Draco said calmly.
"Fine, fine," Jack said, walking to the door. "But Lexie was right...you are moody today."
Draco smirked. "You two are just stupid enough to get on my nerves all the time. You're perfect for each other."
"Don't say a word about that," Jack said pointing at him.
"Course not," Draco said, starting to fill out some paper work on his desk.
Jack was in love with Lexie and Draco realized that he actually did think the Weasel was beautiful, smart, and fun. In fact, he couldn't think of anyone he'd rather go to the awards show with. He had had the time of his life at the Quidditch game, not that he could tell anyone.
The world was turning upside down.
Random Comment: be nice to customer service people on the phone, because
they are just trying their hardest to help you, and yelling at them because
of the corporate policy isn't going to change the policy, it's just going
to ruin the poor customer service person's day...yea ok so it's my new job...but
please...a lady who called me and who i was helping totally made fun of me
for an hour and i couldn't hang up on her and it was awful--but I'm sure
my readers would never do that -- lol
*venting* ok i'm better now O:-)
Thank yous:
(sorry for lack of punctuation and caps on some of these--trying to do them fast)
RosyCheeks: Wow thanks! Sorry I missed you on the last chapter's reviews, but I didn't have your review yet.
TokyoGal90: Yea they were very weird...I had fun writing them. Thanks so much for reviewing.
cashew: Ok I suppose I"ll forgive you for not reviewing ch. 2.... maybe ;). Thanks for reviewing. Glad you liked 1-3 :).
Aly: I know I know, but he can't start out nice can he? Thanks for reviewing as always. (her stories are good y'all...)
Serepidia: Yes I know, so everyone should keep that in mind, savvy? hehehe Her stories are also excellent btw.
Erased Innocence: Thanks! Glad you think it's funny--I mean
I think it's funny but I'm a little biased... hehe
Hplova4eva: Thanks thanks thanks!!! Great alias btw.
Emily22: Yea totally--but guys really do have mood swings--so why do they complain about girls? it's a mystery
sweetstar3: Lol thanks! Do I need to change the summary or something if you didn't expect it to be good? hehe suggestions for that are welcome.
kneh13: Yes he is, silly Draco...well wait a minute...i'm the one writing that he does all these things...oh well :) thanks so much! Here's more :)
SlytherinsGothGoddess: Thanks :) Here's more...and great alias btw--go slytherin...
TokyoGal90: Thanks--I actually thought my chapters might be kind of short compared to some peoples...so I'm glad they're long enough.
Wicked Witch of Slytherin: Wow awesome alias--thanks for reading and reviewing -- :)
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