******Blaise******

"So...you were crying in your sleep last night." April said conversationally. We'd been sent into town to sell all we'd gathered this week and since I couldn't drive, we had to go really slowly.

"I put a silencing charm on my bed tonight, I didn't mean to wake you." I muttered distractedly. She watched me through her hair.

"Grandma packed us breakfast if you're hungry." She offered, going to dig in her bag.

"I'm not hungry." I assured her. I was tired, massively tired to be honest. She was still watching me, but I pretended not to notice. We rode in silence for a little while.

"You were shouting about your father-,"

"I know what I was dreaming about, April." I yawned. She nibbled her lip, still watching me.

"Why did you come here?" She asked me quietly, "you're rich. You don't need to be here. You could live anywhere and even if you couldn't you're best friends with Draco Malfoy. Why are you on a farm in Scotland selling cured pork and milk with the little cousin of a guy you barely like?"

"Please, it's like five in the morning. I barely slept at all and this past week of being a farm hand has driven me into the ground. Please just leave me alone."

"I know the way to town." She offered, "And I can drive. Let me."

"The reason he sent me with you is to protect you." I reminded her, "sleeping wouldn't help." She crossed her arms over her chest.

"I can take care of myself." She said adamantly. I shook my head at her.

"Whatever you say." I yawned, "still not going to sleep."

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"Peachy." I mumbled. We rode in silence for a little while before she started up again.

"Are you running away from your father? What's going on? Are you in danger?" I couldn't help chuckling as she looked at me with such concerned. She really did remind me of Hermione. I dug in my bag and produced a fizzy red potion, "what was that? Are you on drugs? Are you an alcoholic?" I really couldn't help laughing now.

"It's a pepperup potion. It's usually used to fight colds, but today it works pretty well against exhaustion too." She relaxed considerably.

"Are you going to talk now?" She asked me.

"No." I told her, "everything you're asking is terribly personal and I'm simply not telling you."

"Yes, but who am I going to tell? I think I have a right to know. You're laying in my room every night after all."

"I'm running away from something I can't exactly deal with." I said slowly, "I'm in love with someone -who is not my wife- who doesn't love me back. To be absolutely honest they see me as I friend."

"Did you tell her? How do you know she doesn't like you?" She was a very innocent little girl, she watched me with wide eyes completely trusting of me.

"She was a he and yes I told him, but I knew he didn't like men so...I wasn't surprised."

"If you're gay why do you have a wife?"

"The government we live under made it so that all wizards must wed and impregnate a witch. There was a war that wiped out a number of our kind and so this was their solution." She looked horrified, "I'm also not entirely gay, my wife is rather pretty and she's a wonderful person so...it's not so bad."

"It is so bad since it cost you the man of your dreams." She huffed, "so you're running away from him?"

"Essentially." I felt another yawn coming around, but I muffled it.

"Isn't that the coward's way out? Unless, of course, there's more to it? Why would someone confirming what you already know make you run away. I know there's more and I know it's linked to your night sobbing, so why not tell me? Who am I going to tell? I'm homeschooled."

"There's nothing more to it." I grumbled. She leaned against her seatbelt, staring at me.

"Dad...stop, please." She mimicked, she perfectly copied my voice and my speech pattern, "I'm sorry, I'll be good." Her voice brought back the nightmares, making it hard to focus. My fingers held the steering wheel tightly trying to block her out.

"See! There is more to it. You're here for a reason and it's more than running away. So what is it?" I groaned at her, offering no real answer.

"We've got an hour into town and that's if grandpa was driving. You're not allowed to go over fifty six kilometers an hour, meaning we've got two hours."

"Contraptions like these make me glad I'm not a muggle." I grumbled, "apparating is better." She shrugged.

"You can explain apparating later." She promised, "but right now you're going to deal with your problems."

"I don't have any problems!" I insisted.

"Not that's just a lie." She snorted, "don't you want to be better for your son or daughter? Do you want to hurt them how you were hurt?"

"Of course I don't, but it's a curse. It's not something I can ever escape. My father was a..hmmm...how do I put this to a kid?" She huffed when I said that, "he was a sexual deviant."

"So he molested you?" She asked blankly, "Blaise! That's not nothing!" She smacked me in the arm and kept shrieking. It left me with no other choice but to wait it out. She was red in the face by the time she was done.

"I know that it's not nothing. I'm sure it's pretty bad, but he's in Azkaban so I'm not all that concerned about it."

"Are you worried you'll be like him?" She tried.

"Definitely not. I would never follow in his vile footsteps. I'd never ...taint my child how he tainted me."

"You're going to break the steering wheel if you keep it up." She pointed out, "if you're not afraid you'll be like him then why are you so angry." I bit my lip, stomping down the insecurities that bubbled up inside of me. She reminded me too much of Hermione. I was comfortable with her just because she reminded me of a good friend. She had the same curly brown hair and the same naive brown eyes, but she was smart. She was smart and she'd pushed me in every direction with her prodding.

"How could I not be? My family is bloody cursed, every Zabini man has done this to their sons for generations."

"It's actually proven that children do as their parents unless they know that it's wrong. Most children make a conscious effort not to repeat their parents mistakes, but that's only in non-damaging instances. With situations like these...the offspring is more likely to repeat the action if left without treatment." She was reading something off of a screen.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." I told her adamantly. She shrugged.

"Then sentence your child to the same miserable life you had. See if I care."

******xx

It shouldn't have, but her words haunted me all day. She had to teach me how muggle money worked, but she snippy about it and I was grumpy about learning. She may have only been trying to help, but I didn't want her help. She had no right to force herself into a situation that didn't involve her. The fact that she was only trying to help didn't matter. She was opening old wounds.

"Lunch time." She told me. She opened the cooler she was sitting on and handed me a can.

"What in blazes is this?" I asked her, shaking it. She took the can from me and say it aside.

"It's pop, don't shake this one." She ordered handing me another, "if you shake it like that it will spew every." I was torn between 'that's what she said' and 'you want me to drink something explosive?'

"That's what she said."

She snorted with laughter, "don't make me laugh, I'm mad at you."

"Well stop being mad at me. I wasn't trying to be mean to you pipsqueak, but you also shouldn't pry when people tell you that something is personal."

"Fine, I'm sorry too, but I could really help you if you let me. I bet talking about it with an honorary therapist would really help." She sighed, she popped her can open and took a drink from it. I copied her actions, sniffing the crackling liquid.

"If this kills me I'm haunting you." I warned her. It was like very, very sweet brown. It literally tastes like brown and I found myself missing pumpkin juice terribly. I grimaced the smallest amount and sat it down, "muggles are an extremely barmy bunch." I muttered.

"Barbecue or sour cream crisps?" She asked me. I shrugged.

"You pick."

"Fine by me, there you are." She tossed a bag of sour cream and onion crisps my way. The muggle world was convenient, but I constantly feared for my life with all of these weird contraptions.

"You're so bizarre." She giggled, "why are you looking at it like that?"

"I've never had crisps from a bag!" I said exasperated, "why is everything bagged with you people?"

"Well where do your crisps come from?" She asked, unwrapping her sandwich.

"Potatoes." I told her, taking a bite of my sandwich, "the house elves cut up the potatoes into thin slices and deep fry them and once they're deep fried they season them. There's none of this bagging nonsense."

"What's a house elf?"

"It's an ugly little creature who does all of your chores and cooks all of your meals."

"Like a servant or like a slave?"

"Depends on the wizard." I told her honestly, "I reckon Draco pays his elves simply because Hermione wouldn't allow him not to, but I know there are families that don't pay theirs. The thing is they aren't really slaves, they don't want to leave." She didn't look like she was buying it, "okay let me explain. The elves are bound to 'masters' once they're bought," her expression continued to darken, "but it's not like...they...well the way to free an elf is to give it clothes-,"

"They don't even have clothes!" She yelled. I shushed her and looked around to ensure that no one else was paying attention.

"They prefer to walk around in pillowcases if I'm being perfectly honest."

"Do you pay your elves?" She asked. I was suddenly terribly interested in the grass beneath my feet. To avoid suspicion I took a sip of my soda, grimacing at the artificial taste.

"I'm sorry?"

"Blaise!"

"The last time I tried he started banging his head on the stone floors screaming about how master was punishing him for not being good enough. They've got like a code of conduct unknown to humankind, they don't like being paid or being free, they prefer this life."

"That's slavery! Of course that's what they think! They've probably been enslaved all their lives!" She yelled.

"I'll show you." I offered, "after we're done we can pop to my house and I'll show you that they don't want to be free." She automatically looked excited.

"What if they do want to be free?" She countered.

"Then I will set them free." I promised her. They weren't exactly expensive so even if all twenty seven elves wanted to roam the busy streets of London it wouldn't really matter.

"Where do you live?" She continued.

"Italy, well that's where my manor is. I live in Scotland for roughly nine out of twelve months and in England for the other three."

"So you never go home? Why? Do you visit? Where do you live?"

"Nope, I don't go home because my dad lived there. I used to go visit my mom, but she got married to the Spanish Minister so she lives in Spain now. I live with Draco mostly, he's got enough guest bedrooms to run an orphanage so I usually stick to one of those. His parents didn't mind and neither did my mother so it was golden."

"Interesting." She hummed, "tell me about your wife."

"Her name is Ginny, she's a ginger, I don't know what you want to know. I figured her ginger hair would explain it all."

"Well does she love you?"

"No, I don't think she does. She had a crush on me once, but I ruined it by being a fanny." I admitted.

"You're a pureblood, right?" She asked. I nodded, "according to Neville, purebloods live by archaic gender roles. If this is true then doesn't that mean she can't stay alone?"

"First of all it's called tradition." I huffed, "second of all, yes that's true. She's staying with Hermione and Draco."

"What if she wants to work?" She pressed.

"Tough," I snorted, "it's improper for a woman to work. Regardless we worked it out early on, we settled on a compromise. She's got to perform all of her lady duties first, but after that's done she can teach young children Quidditch. I just feel bad for Draco. He hasn't told Hermione yet."

She whistled low, "to Draco." She held up her soda can in a toast. I laughed.

"To Draco."

**********Ginny******

This was a castle. Hermione and I stood at the gate with wide eyes, staring at the structure.

"Woah...Lucius bought this for you?" I gaped. Draco looked absolutely beside himself with smug pride as Hermione's mother nearly lost her grip on her housewarming gift.

"He designed and supervised the building all for Hermione. He actually named it after you, which will be really cool when we've got grandchildren." He explained. Lucius stood looking rather bored about it all, both hands on his cane. She hugged him around his middle, thanking him profusely.

He gave her a bit of a hug as well and told her, "you're welcome," in that disinterested Malfoy tone of his. The inside was something only spoken of in dreams. There was a grand staircase in the middle with one side leading to the western and the other to the eastern wing.

"We'll check out the eastern wing side first, then we'll break for lunch and check out the west, any objections?" Draco asked. When no one said anything he cast a spell on his wheelchair that caused the entire thing to levitate. We followed him up the stairs and onto the first elevated floor. There was a large sitting room off to the side decorated in lavender and cream. Mrs. Granger made a startled noise as a house elf scurried into view.

"Master, mistress," he bowed to Hermione and Draco, "shall I put on tea for the guests?"

"Introduce yourself," Lucius' voice was hard and caused the elf to cower in fear. Hermione glared at him.

"It's alright, there's no need to be shy." She said gently, "just tell us your name so we know how to properly address you."

"Ricky," he squeaked, "my name is Ricky, miss."

"Well, nice to meet you, Ricky." He disappeared the moment she turned her gaze from him.

"The damned elf is retarded." Lucius muttered to himself and I couldn't help snickering. Even if what he said was mean, the elf did seem off. We continued down the hall, inspecting each tea room until we reached another flight of stairs. So far they had enough sitting rooms to comfortably seat the entire British Army. The next floor was filled with Malfoys. The portraits dated back hundreds of years. I didn't recognize them until we hit Abraxas Malfoy and his wife and it stopped at Hermione. Her hair was pinned up in an elegant pony, but her curls were still just as wild. Her wide honey eyes were full of innocent joy.

"This wall is dedicated to future and past Malfoys." Draco informed us, "meaning all of the rooms are on this side." There were only three rooms. The first room was painted a light grey, the room was moon themed and everything seemed to be bathed in a silvery glow.

"This is Celeste's room." There was an oak crib painted white in the center of the room and a matching changing table and dresser. This baby was absolutely set.

The next room was painted a sunny yellow that managed to keep from being gaudy. This room seemed to be bathed in sunlight. The furniture was mahogany and high end.

The final room was baby blue, but it was clearly still under construction.

"Are you trying to tell us something?" Mrs. Granger asked. He went a little red in the face.

"No, that's not-,"

"He's only been awake a week and a half!" Hermione protested. No one said anything, instead we stood there eyebrows raised. They both began grumbling about perverted relatives and kept moving.

"This is the last level before we head back down and check out the lower levels." He warned us. It was one big bedroom, there was a bay window with a padded seat beside it and a built in bookcase stood beside it. It was already filled with books of all shapes and sizes. Hermione was so giddy she was nearly foaming at the mouth.

"This is the coolest part." Draco chuckled, he flipped a switch and the entire room was illuminated in a pure white glow.

"Electricity..." Hermione breathed, "does that mean..."

He shushed her, "you'll have to wait and see." She started bouncing as her excitement boiled over. The bottom level was complete with two dining rooms, one big enough for everyone we know and the other small enough for just the seven of us, a theatre (apparently you could watch filmed plays. Who knew?), and an Olympic, indoor swimming pool. Who needed an indoor pool? These two did. Hermione also thought the pool was excessive, but she was quickly told that Malfoys had nothing but the best.

We sat down for lunch and there we met the rest of the elves. There were thirty of them in all, most of them brand new. I ate my soup as Hermione assured them all that any time there was a problem they could come to her. No one had the heart to tell her that as the lady of the castle they'd come to her anyways. I actually doubted that Draco told her anything at all about married life outside of school. He and Lucius were talking last night about an heir and Draco promised his father he'd try to conceive an heir as soon as he could use his lower half. His father then reminded him that he didn't need to be able to use his legs to procreate and that was when I walked away, no longer interested.

"When would be a good time to start with your lady training?" Narcissa asked. Hermione looked confused and I bit my lip to hide the smirk, we all knew Draco was in for it. Lucius gave his son the 'you're the wizard' look, but Draco only shrunk further into his seat.

"Oops, it seems I've jumped the gun." She said coyly, "I'll let you work it out amongst yourselves." She sipped her water.

"Lucius, how is Sybil coming along?"

"She lost the baby." I wasn't lost to the evil little smirk on his face. I was instantly glad that these people were smitten with Hermione, Merlin knows what they'd do if they weren't.

"Tragic, how is she holding up?" She asked. Maybe it was just me, but I could imagine her body vibrating with barely contained elation.

"Wouldn't know, she came running into my chambers shouting nonsense. She ran away after that, I heard from my right hand elf that she lost the baby."

"Pity," Narcissa sighed around her glass.

"Pity," he agreed around his.

"You two scare me." Hermione admitted.

"My parents are awful people." Draco muttered.

********/

The rest of the tour went smoothly, there was a library in the west wing that we had to drag Hermione away from. I feared she'd sit on his lap and give him the heir he wanted so desperately. There were guest bedrooms occupying the two lower floors and the top floor held both of their studies. He invited everyone to stay the night and since no one really wanted to leave they all said yes. Narcissa left for a few minutes to pick up Rigel and rub it in her husband's face that she wouldn't be rolling in poverty with him for the night.

Hermione set me up with the best room on the west wing, even going so far as to assign me a house elf. When she left with Draco she was giggling up a storm. Oh lord. Despite my commentary I was happy for her. I hoped her happiness would last an eternity, but I knew it was only a matter of time before Draco told her the truth.

********And here we are. Reviews are welcome. I'm still kind of lost, but I'm working way through it. Reviews also keep me from giving up when I get writer's block. Thanks for the ones I got. They brought me great joy******