Title: Call Me Ginevra
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I don't own any characters except those you can't research on the lexicon and aren't mentioned in the books. The plot is my own. Any resemblances to other plots are pure coincidence. Think about it this way, great minds think alike.
Full Summary: The war has the Weasley's worried about poor little Ginny. After checking her resources McGonagall claims she has the best caretaker for Ginny. Too bad it turns out to be Narcissa Malfoy. While at Malfoy Manor Ginny faces growing up, a strict regiment and Draco on a day-to-day basis. Can Ginny and Draco brave the unknowns of friendship? Will the buds of relationship form? What will Harry do when he finds out that only Ginny holds the key to defeating Voldemort?
Pairings: Draco/Ginny (I guess this sort of answers the "buds of relationship" question in the summary, huh?)
Rating: Eventually M, but pace yourself. (I will give fare warning of the chapters which that rating applies.)
Chapter Note: Okay, so here it is, the beginnings of a beautifully awkward friendship… you asked for it.
Author Notes: Plot back online I promise! Again I reinstate what I've previously said: if out of character-ness ensues it is purely to further my ever changing plot. Be happy it happened so well and no one died. Yet… MUAH HAHA…
Chapter Six: Broken
Glass shattering woke Ginny from her dark reverie. Not enough time to think straight, Blaise was ripped away from her and a scuffle started. Looking to the door she saw it closed just as tightly as it had been before, the lock down. Turning her attentions back under the moonlight she couldn't make out who else was in the room but by the sounds of the grunts and shapes of the bodies this man (at least she assumed it was a man) was of similar age and size to Blaise.
Grabbing at the ground she held her dress to her body with one hand and pulled herself behind the bed to avoid the fight. As she sat there, heart beating a thousand times a minute, she heard the feet of Blaise and what she hoped would be her savior scrape against the floor, breathes being held and exhaled, hits taken and made. In a whirlwind of physical dispute, her bedroom door flew open and one of the aggressors was thrown into the hallway. Fearing that Blaise had been the winner, she pushed herself back against her bed.
Breathing rapidly, the victor approached and as a hand came to rest on her shoulder she screamed. "Ginny! Ginny! It's me! It's Draco!" She stopped fighting. Looking through the shadows and darkness she began to recognize the familiar outlines of his body and immediately fell apart. Body wracking with sobs she attempted to muffle she pushed herself up with aid of the bed and distanced her self from her savior.
"I didn't need your help! I could've taken care of it on my own!" She hollered, embarrassed that all along Draco seemed to have had some foresight into Blaise's true intentions. Face draining of all color, stomach flopping with now both disgust of what Blaise had previously attempted and humiliation that Draco had found her this way, she could barely stand. Dropping to her knees she shakily held herself above the floor with one hand as the other grasped white-knuckled the tatters of her dress to her chest.
"I-I" she started, gasping for air as she felt the room spin around her. "I didn't…"
Before she could continue she felt Draco's hands on her cheeks lifting her eyes to his. "My god Weasley, you can't be serious." His eyebrows were furrowed with a deep concern that Ginny found foreign but so comforting. Feeling ridiculous for refusing his obviously genuine attempt to help she fell against him and let the tears fall.
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Draco watched his ceiling do nothing. It was a shame; he was certain that after a time it would begin to move. Nothing always went as expected though and he decided to give up on his pursuit. Turning over onto his side he began to get hot and groaned. Things just couldn't go his way. Rolling over, he landed with feet flat on the floor and walked to his window, opening it and letting the wind blow on his face.
He laid his chin on his hands, kneeling before his window sill. He was still beside himself about Blaise and Ginny. Not that it affected him or anything, but that it deeply confused him. Blaise had always been the type to mess around and to use women to well…for lack of better terms, amuse himself. But he generally did his best to aim high. In conclusion, the choice of the redheaded Weasley baffled him beyond belief. What was it that drew Blaise to her? Clearly she was a Weasley, there wasn't any doubting the origins of her red locks. Because of her Weasley nature she was also dirt poor, Blaise knew that.
Alright so she wasn't terrible to look at.
Okay, she was downright bloody gorgeous but that didn't change who she was! So what if her red hair was actually a plus? He couldn't deny that the monotonous brunette and blonde had been erased by the appearance of this fiery ruby gem.
During their dancing together he had had the pleasure of roaming his hands about her slender waist, resting them on the curve where her bum started. Of course he would blow it off as stance but he was taking privileges with the fact that she was unaware of proper dancing etiquette. His time living with her had also allowed him to gaze on her as she poised herself in different positions while reading, the way her body moved as she walked, the tilts of her face and the way the angles of her face glowed under the light.
He was being ridiculous. Grunting, he stood and discarded his partially unbuttoned shirt. It was far too warm in his room. Feeling unnerved by the filthy thoughts that invaded his mind, he paced. Draco couldn't deny his physical attraction to Ginny. But he also knew that she annoyed the devil out of him. Her whole "I'm the damsel in distress" bit was unappealing and made him want to vomit. Her lack of confidence merely showed the social deference she had allowed herself to become victim to. Even though Draco partially believed in the inferiority of the poor, it was even worse when they bowed down to it instead of at least attempting to better themselves.
Sighing, he coughed and put his palms on his sides. Why all of a sudden was he plagued with thoughts of defiling her body? Why all of a sudden was he picturing Ginny between a wall and a hard…body part?
Punching his fist into the nearby armoire he jumped at the scream that echoed from across the house. Blinking he crossed the room to the window and looked out at the grounds. There was nothing amiss outdoors. Pursing his lips and frowning, he waited and sure enough he heard another. One that he could place perfectly. He had heard that scream before over the years at Hogwarts and knew its origination. A feeling of panic gripping his stomach, he reached for his broom and dove out of his window.
Taking flight on the familiar tool, he swirled about, making a beeline around the trees for Ginny's window. Seeing it shut tightly he pulled back on the broom and stuck both feet out to bear the brunt of the impact. Sadly enough, he knew what scene he would happen upon before he saw the shadows through the glass. He knew who it was that elicited the scream of utter terror from the rambunctious girl. He knew Blaise was once more attempting to force himself onto another girl, play his charms so that he wound up with another conquest and this time he had met someone that wouldn't reply to his wiles.
The shattering of glass stunned him momentarily into a lapse of action until the equally shocked expression on Blaise's face melted into a grimace. Tossing his broom aside, Draco lunged forward at his fellow Slytherin brother and would later discover that he didn't think twice about pulling the boy off of Ginny and breaking the distance between them with a swift punch in the face. A tussle ensued but finally Draco arose victorious. Casting Blaise into the hallway with a final look that instructed him very clearly to get the hell off of Malfoy property, he slammed the door shut and turned back to the figure balled up by the bed. Crossing the room to where she was curled up, he set his hand on her shoulder. As she screamed he panicked, hoping that should they be happened upon that he wouldn't be blamed for Blaise being a dick.
"Ginny! Ginny! It's me! It's Draco!" He shook her lightly. As she stopped her screaming he watched as she broke down in front of him.
"I didn't need your help! I could've taken care of it on my own!" He watched her stumble across the room in an utter display of insanity. Standing he tried to comprehend why she was behaving this way. He watched as she did her best to play off that she was fine only to drop to her knees in front of him. Could it be that she was embarrassed by this? Well how stupid! It's not like it was her fault after all, Blaise was just getting violent, it's not as if she had done anything wrong. Blaise was known for being a bit rough with girls.
"I-I… I didn't…"
He couldn't let her continue acting this way and dropped down in front of her, bring his hands to her cheeks so she looked at him. "My god Weasley, you can't be serious." It appeared he had been correct in his deduction and she finally succumbed to his not being a total ass and cried.
It was then that he realized that her beautiful dress was nearly ripped to shreds from shoulders to waist. His stomach knotted as realization dawned on him. It had been only a few times but he had happened upon his poor bloodied up mother after his father had gone on tirades. You wouldn't think beatings and rape were commonplace in a marriage but Narcissa and Lucius' union was far from the love-centric fairytales portrayed at any altar. Draco would be wandering about the palace late at night to stumble across his parents bedroom door cracked open. Curious he would peak in to find his mother sprawled on the ground barely conscious.
He stopped his memories and tended to the shaking figure before him. He curled his arms under her legs and around her back and lifted her off the ground.
"Let's get you into some proper clothing." He muttered lightly. "Then you can get some sleep."
Jerking, Ginny held him tighter to her, something that shocked him more than anything else that had happened that night. First she wanted him to leave her alone and now she wanted him to stay by her side. "Please don't leave me! Don't leave me alone where he can get me!" She sobbed, burying her eyes in his neck. Feeling his insides squirm, he knew he couldn't.
Nodding, he went to her dresser and set her down a moment. He was expecting her to cross her arms protectively around her chest and lean against the dresser like he had secretly watched his mother do after frequent arguments with his father but Ginny fell to the floor in a mess. Quickly grabbing some of her things, he helped her back up and conceded to holding her the rest of the way. Positioning them on his broom, they floated out through the window carefully so neither would be caught by the remaining shards of glass, and they made their way to Draco's room.
Setting her down on his bed, he went into his bathroom and drew water into the tub, pouring soap into the mixture to create thick, lathery foam. The smell alluded to better times, a scent of vanilla and chamomile that relaxed him and tortured his thoughts with guilty temptations to jump in himself and forget what hadn't happened entirely to him. He returned to the room to find Ginny staring into the distance of his room. He approached her slowly, not wanting to alarm her with sharp movements or have her relive any moment from the previous minutes.
"Ginny, can you stand?" Draco looked her over with a genuine concern.
Ginny said nothing in reply to him but meekly attempted to lift herself off of the mattress only to fall knees first onto the hardwood floor. Wincing for her, Draco drew her close to him and did his best to quiet the new sobs erupting from her trembling form and carried her into the bathroom.
She was still clinging to her dress as Draco set her into the water. He could see her visibly relax once her shoulders were submerged beneath the warm water. Around her the suds popped and fizzed with a gentility that she had not most recently been treated with.
Slowly he took his hands to her hair and let down the auburn tendrils so that they made a pool around her of fire. Slowly she seemed to regain her senses and she watched as Draco methodically wetted a wash rag, doused it with soap and rubbed her arms lightly. His ministrations slowly created a calm in Ginny that allowed her to begin to digest what all was presently occurring to her. Feeling somewhat silly for sitting in a bathtub with clothes on, she pondered asking Draco to leave so she could properly bathe, but found that this moment was far to fragile to shatter.
"Thank you." Ginny ventured, looking up through her soaked hair at Draco.
He paused in scrubbing her back free of the dust and bits of blood from scrapes she had gotten somehow. From the angle he was at Ginny looked so, so innocent and frail. It was a side of her had never let himself see before, a side that pulled at his heartstrings. He set the rag on the side of the tub and sighed, elbows poised on the rim. "Ginny there's no reason in the world you should be thanking me right now."
She frowned in confusion. "But, you saved me from what he was going to do. I wasn't being the least bit grateful back in the room, I was being ridiculous. I have every reason to thank you." She played with the edge of her dress. She had so many thoughts and dreams for this night. Dancing with Blaise until the music stopped than retreating to their place in the gardens and dancing just the two of them in the moonlight before giving sweet goodnight kisses and parting ways until they could be together again. Now she could care less if he was killed and they would never cross paths again.
Draco smiled at her admitting to lack of grateful attitudes towards him but his smile was sad. "Any human being in their right mind with a heart would have done what I did. That deserves no thanks." He slowly let his fingers traces circles in the water, ripples moving out from each fingertip until they hit Ginny's body and dispersed.
Ginny watched him as he did this, fascinated by this side of him that she had never seen before, a Draco with a heart? It couldn't be! But again, she thought back to times in school when it seemed he went out of his way to be "too busy" to bully her or her friends in the hallway or "too good" to push her around when it was just the two of them. She may have been hallucinating but there were times when she could've sworn that he nodded to her cordially in passing. Of course, Draco was alone and there was never anyone around to confirm but she knew she had seen it at least once.
Maybe there was something more to Malfoys, at least she knew there was something more to Narcissa. But now Draco had another side too. If she stayed in this mansion too long she might found out that Lucius actually had some terrible childhood that would account for what an asshole he was. Actually she couldn't think of anything that would explain any of Lucius' actions and let that thought die quickly. "But you didn't have to do it yourself, you could've gone and gotten Narcissa or a butler or maid or something, you didn't have to fight off your own friend for… well…"
"What? For you?" Draco pressed. Ginny blushed under the implication that she could possibly think that Draco would do anything for her. "Ginny regardless of who you were I would've come to your aid. Despite what you may think I don't hate you." And there it was, that side of Draco Malfoy that she had almost prayed she would never see, prayed that it would never complicate the easy hateful relationship the two of them shared. But now Draco was human and had a heart and morals to boot.
This would complicate things a great deal from now on. She could see it now, Draco denying that this conversation ever took place and he was really doing it all for the good of the Malfoy name, not to help her out. But as she looked up into his gray-blue eyes and the way his facial features were tense in seriousness she knew in her heart that none of that was true, that Draco was being honest.
"Draco I, I've never hated you. Either, I mean. It's just that it was easy to not like you and all at school. When I was with the others." She watched him relax a bit. Why her words would have that effect she had no idea, possibly to quell any thought that his feelings of non-hatred wouldn't be returned and therefore he would be embarrassed forever for not hating a Weasley who hated him.
"Well you were an easy target around them, sorry. Especially with Potter fawning over you like you were stupid and your brother treating you like a two year old." He smirked to himself in memory of the dream team that so many times proved to him that despite whose favorite you were, you could still be as dumb as a box of rocks.
Feeling more comfortable now, she cleared her throat slightly. "Do you think I could…" She looked at the water. "Finish up real quick? On my own?" She added for clarification.
Draco blanched with his own onslaught of embarrassment, righting his posture and standing abruptly, almost slipping on the water puddles that dotted the floor. "Of course! Of Course! I've got your clothes right here. I'll just…" He motioned with a pointed finger to his adjoining room. "Be in here." He added and speedily made his exit.
Smiling to herself, she though of how the past few moments had transpired in the odd manner that they had. Slowly she remember the beginning of the night and a fresh batch of tears were heated behind her eyelids ready to take form and join the massive reservoir of water surrounding her. Gently disrobing and taking toll of her minor bruises and cuts she cleaned herself up.
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Narcissa watched with hesitancy as Ginny left the dance with Blaise. Her own son had taken his exit earlier in the night finding the company much to his distaste. She assumed he was going to go be moody in his room about how he wasn't the center of attention, oh how she wished he wasn't.
Her slender fingers gripped her champagne flute as she followed Lucius around dutifully to each of his personal guests. They were of course all Death Eaters, presently occupied with their wives in deep conversation surely of the news that had developed in the Ministry. She had kept Draco and Ginny fairly unaware of the deaths and the manner of them that had occurred after she and Ginny had left the building but soon enough the gossip had gathered. She feared Ginny or Draco may have heard but those thoughts faded as Lucius brought her to the side of the Rookwood and Mulciber.
"Lucius, wonderful party." Augustus cackled. Narcissa was always disturbed by the pock-marked man. He had been one of the spies in the Ministry with Lucius and for some reason they decided that with that in common they should become fast friends. Lucius never spoke of him but he addressed him in public which was enough.
August now turned to Narcissa and took her hand, leaving a kiss against her soft skin. She thought she was going to start to deteriorate beneath his lips. Forcing a cordial smile she let out a charming laugh. "Now Augustus, behave yourself!" She nodded to Mulciber who sneered in return as usual but nodded anyways. She kept her smile pasted to her lips, knowing what would happen should she put on rude airs around Lucius' fellow Death Eater friends.
Only once before had she shown displeasure with his invited company. He had invited Nott, Crabbe, and Goyle to dinner one night and upon hearing their vicious stories about torturing Muggles she excused herself with feeling sick. She of course had meant to play it off as she had not felt well all day but Lucius saw right through her guise. After the three men had left he barged into their room and had beat her to near unconsciousness. Draco had heard the noise, knocked on the door and ended the match but she never forgot that lesson.
She was shaken from her nightmarish memories when Mulciber spoke, his voice making the hairs on the back of her neck rise. "Well I suppose you heard the news then, meeting tonight at midnight." No, she had not heard the news. Mulciber was speaking to the other two men, having the general disposition to dismissing her existence once formalities had occurred, but all the same the news meant something to her. Lucius had a rude ritual of coming back in harsh moods after meetings and taking it out on her poor head. Thank goodness the house elves would come along after him and tend to her, forcing her body to heal when all it wanted to do was die.
"I see," Lucius trailed off and Narcissa listened for the number of gongs as the grandfather clock went off. Twelve. Just as the number had occurred to her, Lucius wrapped his hand around his forearm and turned to Narcissa. "I will return, show the guests out." And with that half of the guests apparated leaving the others only to assume where they had gone (and in most cases they were correct).
Narcissa showed the guests out, assuring them that the Ministry must have urgent business but that all was well. Just as the last guest left she felt a pang in her stomach.
Brows furrowed in confusion she held her weight up on the banister of the staircase, waiting for clue of what had caused the pain. Another and her head was light. Dawning on her that Ginny must be in some kind of trouble, she pulled herself up the stairs, heart racing with urgency to rescue her charge. She had found herself devoted to the girl, adopting her inside her heart as one of her own. What caused this pain in Narcissa must be stopped as it caused much more in Ginny. Making her way to the top of the flight she turned down the hallway to the guest wing but a familiar 'pop' sounded behind her.
Lucius' voice echoed in the darkness. "Narcissa…"
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Ginny looked at herself in the mirror, inspecting every inch of her reflection. Her hair had been dried with a simple spell and was twisted into a bun on the top of her head. Short fuzzy curls fell around her ears bringing her eye evenly to look at the redness in her corneas from the crying, the circles beneath her eyes, and the pronounced swelling on her cheek. Touching a finger to it, the pressure beneath the skin responding to the pressure of her touch accordingly, she hissed at the pain. Turning her head slightly she looked at her neck at the places that had reddened from Blaise grabbing at her.
The lines dragged her sight down to her collarbone which vanished behind the sweater Draco had grabbed for her. It was a dark forest green and was loose around her arms and waist, which right now was exactly what she wanted. She smiled as she thought of how 'coincidental' it had been that he had grabbed a green sweater when as she remembered she had packed one of her red ones on top. Her hands ran along the soft cotton of her pajama pants, navy and Capri style.
With one last look at her face, she turned and opened the door to the bedroom, her breath caught in her throat.
She saw Draco sitting on the floor lounging against the bed frame, flipping through a magazine. She watched him silently for a moment, vexed at what had come between them. Should she address the elephant in the room? That they had been destined to be enemies and now, after what had happened, she was going to be- what- spending the night in his room? No, she would abuse the reality that for now she and Draco had a pact and it was a nonverbal agreement that both would honor that at least until the following morning.
Stepping into the room she felt herself exhale as Draco looked up, eyebrows quirked and a smile on his face. "Feeling better?" He asked, setting the magazine to his side.
Ginny nodded and crossed her arms across her chest, looking around the room, the elephant stampeding her into the ground. Alright so where was she expected to sleep? She saw Draco tilt as if to get her attention and looked back to him. He patted the ground beside him and she crossed the space between them and sat cross-legged beside him.
"So I was thinking," Draco started, picking at the hems of his pants. "You should probably take the bed, its only right I mean, I'd be an ass if I had you sleeping on the floor." Ginny half snorted at the thought.
"Where would you sleep then, I mean, one of us would have to be in the bed… it wouldn't make sense if we both slept on the floor…" Ginny trailed off.
"You answered your own question haven't you?"
"Yes." Ginny giggled and looked away, half embarrassed, half delighted that Draco was able to joke. "But I feel bad for making you sleep on the floor in your bedroom." She looked back to find him studying her which made her draw back slightly.
"Don't worry about me."
There was a moment of silence before Draco stood and fetched something from a sitting area in the corner opposite them by the window. Frowning in curiosity and confusion, Ginny watched as he hid whatever it was behind his back until he got to her and sat down in front of her, mimicking her sitting position. He brandished before her a chess set. Smiling, he set it up and smiling, she watched.
Sometime between then and the next morning she and Draco had shared minor details of each other and agreed to do this more often and gone to bed.
