Disclaimer: The same as the previous chapters.

Chapter 47

Lavender laid beside her sleeping husband stroking his back lazily. She slept only for a couple of hours. Blaise Zabini had outdone himself once again. She had heard of the Slytherins being calculative and scheming. But why did everyone think that those skills could only aid the evil? Professor Snape, Draco Malfoy, and several of those younger students had wanted the Dark Lord dead. They wanted Hogwarts to survive and continue being the seat of learning Magic.

The house-elf Elina was cautious of her, ever seen the couple came back into their bedroom. She couldn't remember much of what transpired down in the bowels of this Castle built in Nowhere. What else could she call this place? Glancing out of the windows she kept noticing how often the weather changed. At times so thick was the mist, she thought the windows would not be able to hold them out. Hours later when it cleared away, there was water everywhere. Shacklebolt had explained or was it, Blaise, she couldn't remember, that the Hanging Castle was built on a marooned landmass. There used to be a causeway. Well, there still was, but the spirits of the captured and tormented souls made sure none could see it. The tides would rise to such levels making the are look like a dreadful island.

Forefathers of Shacklebolt had purposefully blasted away the linking road to keep inquisitive muggles and enemies out. And the entrance was permitted only to those who revered the spirits and knew the real name of the castle. A castle. Elina had called her," Mistress of the castle," once the elf managed to gather enough courage. Her eyes bulged out of the sockets and she kept wriggling her palms as she stammered," Will the Mistress be needing a warm bath?"

Lavender's broad smile had eased the awkwardness. Since then the house-elf gushed and chattered in a hushed tone, helping her in all possible ways. "The spirits tell Elina, Mistress was most powerful down there. They have not seen such a powerful transformation for ages. Elina scoffed secretly, of course, they haven't. Apart from the honorable minister and Master Zabini and, of course, the Potion master from Hogwarts, how many living souls have those spirits seen?"

Lavender asked, genuinely interested," Why?"

"Elina will tell you why! Because of the spirits themselves! Never allowed a soul to live even half a day. Elina thinks the dark times are upon us now. Strange Magic coming back. Elina feels it in her bones. But Mistress got nothing to fear. Elina feels it is a good one." Pointing at her many white scars, the house-elf looked awestruck," They are healed and they glow. Does Mistress feel it in her bones, the spirit of Master, the magic of the old and the blessings of the Spirits of the castle fusing together in her blood?"

Feeling bashful under the old house-elf intense scrutiny, Lavender looked at her toes, the only extension of her body on the milky water, apart from her head. "Elina, you can possibly know that." Tucking her voluminous blonde hair under a soft towel, the House elf came to stand beside her and held the edge of the tub, by her knobby fingers," Mistress finds all of this new and surprising, perhaps even overwhelming. But the mistress is a powerful witch and the sleeping master is equally powerful. Both powerful shapeshifters. Mistress, Elina thinks even a curse can be turned into a boon. And that one-eyed mutt will have lots to play! Elina will go now and prepare a meal. Mistress must eat before resting."

Lavender was surprised at the house-elf's observations. Yet, what struck home was its observations about Blaise. With his sense of preparedness, the Italian was far more mature than most of his fellow classmates. He noticed the little things once again like picking those dresses for her which would attract too much attention. Selected them according to the softness of the material. The agate ring he gave her glinted, making her blush and realize she was truly married and free from the clutches of Greyback.

That evil voice no longer echoed in her mind, his tainted traces of magic were replaced by that of something warm and endearing, providing her several reasons to smile and feel wanted. Elina was right, Blaise's magic had this passionate claiming desire to fill her up to the brink. He mentioned, Granger had come out with the idea of the matching procedure. She felt she should write to her. She was married to Professor Snape. That very idea made her giggle but then she narrowed her eyebrows and thought hard. A little later, she exclaimed aloud,' Why of course, they would much, Hermione is so like Snape, snarky and bossy and absolute bookworms, I wonder if they would remain after a month. Hermione knows quite many horrible jinxes and curses and So does Snape. It would be quite a gossip!"

Two arms had encircled her from behind. She would have yelled and screamed in a panic if she was not certain those would only belong to her dear husband. She didn't ask him anything. He didn't give her a chance to say much. He was gentle and tender and acutely aware of her every response as he boldly made love to her there on the bathroom floor over fresh towels.

She had woken up an hour later when Elina had brought in her lunch, which she couldn't wait to have. Blaise had left a note with the house-elf saying, 'eat when hungry. Perfume girl. I will be back soon. Don't work yourself to worry.' Indeed, she thought to herself allowing a small smile to dance over her lips at the sight of roasted chicken and meat, how her life changed in a day's time.

Ginerva Malfoy was quick to apologize for snapping at Astoria Weasley. Rubbing his forehead with his fingers, he looked at the wrapped boxes and grimaced," I really don't know what to think and say anymore. I feel like I am about to burst almost all the time." She expected the young woman across her look at her smugly. But when she actually looked at her, she found her concerned. Heaving a long sigh, Astoria politely said, " None of it your fault. It is the bond. Though I am curious, why are you reacting in such a way…"

Interested Ginny leaned forward," You know about how this bond works?"

Waving her hand, the Slytherin huffed," I have no idea how Hermione Granger's mechanics played a role. I could never wrap my head around that mud...I am sorry, old habits, pardon me, the muggle-born's mind worked. But the ceremony conducted later on and followed by the sealing of the bond in place within a stipulated time, every long-standing pureblood family is aware of it. It was quite a shrewd move of the ministry, they publicized the 'process' more than they mentioned about the ceremony later on. I wonder, how come you don't know about it?"

Ginny made a face and grumbled," well, Mum and Dad, never confined us to the old ways. We grew up accepting every magical and non-magical entity, irrespective of who there were and where they came from. Earned our lot, the 'blood-traitor' name."

"Personally, several of my housemates never found anything wrong about it. We were rather quite fond of the twins, though we thought not to show it, our parents…"

I get that. So this bond…?"

Leaning back, Astoria looked out of the window, night had finally settled in and the fireflies were dancing over the long grasses at a distance. She sounded sad and distant when she spoke again.

"You won't believe it if I tell you Pansy is a super-fast reader. She pretends to be a darling princess stupid and gloating about whatnot, but she is a sharp witch. She was first to complete the homework and the first one to finish the assignments. We shared the dorm, so we were closer. She would study just three weeks before the exams and be done with it. It was she who studied the 'est vinculum animarum'. I was quick to take a note of it when the officiator said the spells during Daph and Finnigan's ceremony. Initially, I was quite afraid of it, but then there were subtle variations in the incantation which made me accept the proposal to marry your brother wholeheartedly."

"Why? What was so frightening about the initial bonding spell?"

"When the est vinculum animarum spell was first invented, I think it was a couple of decades after the School was founded, it was made to bind the wife to her husband. Pansy pointed out someone in Bloody Baron's family had invented the spell. Women back then were considered equivalent to property. Yes, we were allowed to study but the main interest was to get us married young and make as bear as many babies as possible."

"That's horrible."

"Many back then thought the same. Young witches rebelled and so the headers of the Pureblood families started supporting the spell. That spell would enslave our magic and our soul to the man we are marrying. The husband could make us do his bidding without our consent. It sounds like being imperioed. But the feeling was constant and along with it came the urge to mate and procreate. It gave rise to inbreeding. When the muggles started killing witches and wizards afraid they might overpower them, the supporters of this spell smudging told the general population, we had nothing to worry about. We would rebuild our society, thanks to this spell. It was until Dilys Dervent, who was both the Headmistress of Hogwarts and a renowned Healer, campaigned against it, citing several eye-opening proofs that the spell caused several miscarriages and infant deaths and she tied it to the practice of intra-marriages."

Ginny added thoughtfully, " But right before this Marriage law, people were still getting married in the family."

Astoria curled her lips and mused," Because the lawmakers are the first lawbreakers. They accepted the flaw and abolished the use of the spell, but they kept silent about the intra marriages. Pansy had pointed out the same thing. But her reasons for reading it were all too different."

Looking directly into the youngest Weasley's eyes, she spoke and allowed the words to sink," Pansy was smitten by Draco. She wanted to marry him. She wanted to know if that spell could make Draco comply with her wishes, like if she was to secretly enact it, would it enslave him...Strange, she was not against our engagement. Even asked me if I would mind in case she thought of stealing my future husband, till we got officially married. She was sickeningly obsessed. Though Theodore strongly maintained it, it was because her mother had eyes for the Malfoy vaults. He thought the girl was slowly poisoned in some way. But I don't think you will need to worry about her anymore. Now that this bond is sealed and in place. Though I might be slightly worried about her new husband." She allowed her lips to curl a bit remembering Pansy's scowling flat face.

Ginny observed shuddering visibly at the thought," Geez, who would not! Her shrieks are a phenomenon, I always wanted to shove my dirty broom into her mouth each and every time she would act crazy."

Shrugging her shoulders, running her finger through her hair he confessed," We didn't grow up in the best environment. We come from broken houses, unloved and uncared. Snape was thoroughly aware of our predicament. Thus he always said the Slytherin housemates should look out for each other. Our history and the ways of our parents never allowed the other houses to welcome us with open arms."

Finding nothing substantial to say, Ginny mumbled," I am sorry, I, I mean we were so quick to judge you all."

Dismissing the offered apology by rolling her eyes at the freckles sister in law, the oldest Greengrass supplied, "Ginny, I think Destiny relies on Magic to make things happen irrespective of how hard we try otherwise. Draco's father wanted both of us to get married as soon as we passed out of Hogwarts, or as soon as the Dark Lord won. But Narcissa Malfoy was against this alliance. Our marriage was indeed a business alliance, Mr. Malfoy wanted to force Daddy to pour in more money for the Dark Lord's cause. He was the happiest man when he learned about you becoming Harry's girlfriend. That dairy he planted among your school supplies in your first year…"

"I always thought he did that to kill Harry through me. Draco was such a sneaky parrot," Ginny fumed.

"Our actions back then cannot be excused. Having said that, Ginny don't you think we acted that way because that was what we were taught to do all along," Astoria closed her eyes and counted till ten. She politely continued," Mr. Malfoy never did anything because he would get a short term gain out of it. I don't know much about it. But our mothers were close friends. Narcissa had explained to my mother the reason why she was against the marriage."

"What did she say?"

"She said she truly loved Daph and me, she always wanted Darco to have more siblings. But the marriage simply couldn't happen because a prophecy loomed over him."

Sounding alarmed, Ginny felt her throat grow dry," A prophecy?"

"Yes, Draco is aware of it. Never think that he adores you because of it. He loves you because his heart wants nothing else. I don't know anything more about the prophecy other than the fact that it somehow involves you, which is why Mr. Malfoy targeted you. He didn't wish his only son to marry a blood traitor and a muggle sympathizer."

Picking up the first present Astoria sounded hopeful, "And look where we are today. I think I have the Destiny to thank for that. And Ginny?"

"Yes?"

"I think you should start writing down those feelings that are making you jump down our throats, somewhere. Once things sizzle down a bit, we can ask either Snape or Shacklebolt about it." Astoria patted her hand and pushed over one of her gifts.

Ginny asked after a while, watching Dorsie bringing the hot Shortbreads out of the oven," Did anyone of you liked Mr. Lucius Malfoy?" Astoria's eyes had snapped back, they were cold and merciless. Ginny could see her gritting her teeth as the woman hissed," The girls tried hard to stay away from him. But we were children and he was the lurking beast."

Ripping the paper off the flat box, Ginny asked," How did you know about the Red Villa? I am asking because nobody else was supposed to know." Astoria smiled and assured," I knew of it because Draco gave us a little tour, just Blaise and me. I know you won't believe it if I say, he didn't trust Crabbe, Goyle, Bulstrode, and the Parkinsons. He thinks Theo is softy, he would be able to keep things to him. But he trusts Blaise and me. Or else, he would have screamed and exploded the whole place if he found out you had called a healer. He can be a little nasty pouting trot at times. Blaise would say, 'add a couple of white peacock feathers to that.' He considers me as a sibling and Daph as a dotting sister."

Ginny was laughing halfway through the speech. Now, she whipped her cheek and smirked," I think everyone would love to have you as a sister."