Howdy, I just wanted to drop by to say that I'm going to stop putting those italicized bits at the beginning of the chapters. I had them there because originally this story was meant to be much shorter and in drafts each chapter neatly contained one main plot point, but now it's getting way longer than I ever thought (which is pleasing to me, since I usually can't write anything long to save my life!) and I can't keep coming up with new ones that make sense. I may go delete the old ones or I may not, but this is definitely where they'll stop.

I hope you're enjoying this! Please leave reviews!


"Ginevra?" Lucius had opened the door to her room just a crack, letting the light from the hallway send a sliver over to where she sat curled in an armchair. The room was dark except for the little lamp at the bedside, and she was facing away from him. He shut the door behind him and crept over to her side. When he drew closer he could see that the table next to her had the diary spread out on it, next to a half-drunk cup of tea and her wand. He tutted at the scene.

"Draco has gone," he said, crouching next to her and pulling her hand down to hold in his. "What do you want to do?" She still hadn't looked at him.

Lucius shifted from a squat to sit down all the way at her feet. He pointed his wand at the fireplace and a fire appeared there instantly, sending shifting shadows across their faces. Still he waited.

"I want to keep things as honest as I can with you," he said, braving the silence. "And if that will mean you want to leave, that will be for the best."

"I don't want to leave," Ginny finally said, although she didn't move. Lucius's sigh of relief was audible, and at the sound, she smiled to herself.

"How wonderful it is," she said, standing and stretching, "to have found someone to be honest with." He looked up to her from the floor, and she beamed down, face alight with fire.

"You're an angel," he said, starstruck by her beauty.

"Yes," she mused, "maybe I am."


In the morning, they woke up next to one another, and Ginny thought nothing had ever felt so nice. But then, instantly, she realized that he must be missed on the other side of the house, and she shook him awake.

"Lucius," she said, urging him to rouse, "Lucius, you must go. You fell asleep here, Narcissa will miss you…"

"No," he said, batting her hands away and rolling over. "She won't. She's convinced now that sleeping together will transfer her illness to me, and she wants to save me. This is what she wanted."

"This probably isn't what she had in mind, exactly."

"Oh, maybe not exactly, but it's in the spirit of her wishes." He was wide awake then, eyes roaming down her naked torso. "But let's not talk of her anymore."

Ginny blushed but made no protest as he shifted towards her, taking one of her breasts in his hand and placing his mouth on the swell of the other.

"Let's just talk of this," he sighed into her soft flesh. "Or maybe not talk at all."

Ginny's eyes had closed, focusing on the feeling of him worshipping her. Unconsciously, she drew her hands up to the sides of her breasts and squeezed them lightly, offering herself to him. He groaned with delight, or maybe frustration, and moved his head frantically between the two, as if afraid of missing any part of her. Then his hands went down to her hips, and he rolled to his back, pulling her with him. She straddled him instinctively, laughing at the abrupt move. His hands began to roam again.

"I want you to…" he began, but she stopped him with a kiss.

"I know," she said, taking her hand down between them, rubbing his growing erection. "I know."

"Then do it," he groaned. Her hands were so lovely and soft, and her touch was so wonderful...

"No," she replied, only slowing down her ministrations. "Be patient."

"You know I am not a patient man."

"Never too late to learn."

She slid down and took him in her mouth, just barely. Lucius hissed and tangled his hands in her hair.

"All the way, witch," he said, trying to press her down farther, but again she resisted.

"Patience," she intoned, pulling up with a maddening lap of her tongue and grinning at him. Ginny did feel a little sorry for him, lying there begging, so she shifted her body back up, and placed herself right over his cock.

"Say please," she ordered, rubbing her thumb along his lower lip.

"Please," he said back, barely audible, and as his mouth opened she let her thumb slip inside.

Ginny began to sink down onto him, eyes closed tight with concentration on the feeling. As she moved, he took her thumb farther into his mouth, sucking as he lost himself in her. She let out a sigh as she seated herself completely on him, and she pulled her hand away from him to run her hands back through her hair, which had begun to stick to her forehead with sweat.

"Very good," she said shakily. Ginny's eyes met his, and she saw with surprise that he was smiling the same cunning smile always, despite his previous air of suffering.

"Yes, very," he said, and he took her moment of distraction to grasp her hard and flip them both over, pining her to the bed. Instinctively, she wrapped her legs around him, and then her arms too, pulling his chest down to meet hers.

"You're being a tease, aren't you?" he growled in her ear.

"Yes," she panted.

"But you need me to fuck you, despite your protests, don't you?"

"Yes."

"If you say you're sorry for playing coy with me, I will."

"I'm sorry!"

"Good girl."


Ginny was surprised to find him still there when she emerged from the shower, feeling clean and peaceful. Lucius was looking out the window, leaning just next to the curtain.

"I don't want to go back to her alone," he said, eyes fixed on some point in the distance.

"Well," she said, pulling her hair out of its towel and beginning to comb through it with her fingers, "I think you must."

"Her sister is coming today, and I just can't stand the way she looks at me. As if she knows."

"Does she?"

"She is a Black girl, after all," he said, turning to her with a wry look. "And they always did cause trouble."

"Well, if she sees me she certainly won't like you any more than she does now. Besides, she thinks I'm on a tropical beach somewhere. Just go, and hurry. You've been away long enough." She was really losing patience with him, and the news that Andromeda would be there had ruined her plans to go flying in the garden that afternoon.

"My, what cruelty," he said loftily, even as he made his way to the door, looking upset. "I suppose I'll come back later then, if you still want me."

"Oh, don't play this way with me. I will see you later."

The door slammed shut, and she sat down hard in an armchair, letting her towel fall away.


When he returned, he found Ginny leaning out the window into the warm summer day, apparently trying to catch something with her bare hands.

"What on earth are you doing?" he asked, afraid to approach lest he should frighten her into falling.

"Thought I saw a nargle," she said out to the sky before drawing back into the room, smiling broadly. "I have a friend who'd like to see one."

"You can't really believe in those, can you?"

"I believe in a lot of things," she said, leaning back against the sill, hair blowing around her head. "Although some of them are mostly for Luna's sake."

Lucius felt a twinge of guilt at the Lovegood girl's name; it had been him, after all, who kept her locked away for so long. He shook his head and tried to forget her pale face in the dark of the cellar, and focus on Ginny instead.

"I couldn't hide the truth from Andromeda any longer; I've told her everything about Narcissa's real illness."

"And what did she say?"

"She was far more understanding than I could have ever hoped. All she wanted to know was if I was sure there truly wasn't a way to help her, and I assured her that I have consulted every possible book that would tell of such Dark magic."

"And you really don't think there's anyone you could ask, anyone who knows the answer?"

"I think that everyone who knows these things is dead, or halfway to mad in Azkaban."

Ginny tilted her head back and closed her eyes, considering these facts as sun warmed her face. Lucius was probably right; there wasn't much knowledge of Dark magic anymore, at least not in Britain. Ginny had always thought this turning of a blind eye to be misguided, but given the times that the wizarding world had suffered through, it was understandable.

"Also," Lucius said, voice quivering ever so slightly, "I did tell Andromeda one more thing."

Ginny's head snapped up, and she knew straight away from his embarrassed posture what exactly it was he had told.

"You didn't."

"I did. Forgive me. Once I started I found I couldn't stop, and she was strangely understanding about this, too. She's actually still downstairs, insisting we all have dinner together."

Ginny had fallen to sit cross legged, back to the wall. She was staring at the frayed hem of her jean shorts, and began to pick at it absentmindedly.

"I guess we had better go down then," she said.

"Yes, we really should."