Disclaimer: same as always.
A/N: nothing to say, really. Here is chapter two
of The Return of Salazar Slytherin.
Mysterious
Rocks
There
was a letter from Ginny waiting for Draco when he got home the next day.
Personally, he was kind of flattered that she couldn't even wait twenty-four
hours for his owl. But he took it from his butler and pretended to look
irritated. He didn't know why, but he felt the need to act uncaring about Ginny
even when she wasn't around. Even in front of his butler, Marcus, who hadn't
spoken a word since before Draco was born. He wouldn't tell anyone if Draco
gave away his feelings for Ginny. Marcus wouldn't even tell his own mother if
Draco suddenly ripped off all his clothes and did an exotic dance on the dining
room table.
He took
the letter from Ginny into his room and shut the door. Without taking off his
cloak he sat on his bed and unfolded the parchment.
I did it. I
told my parents about us. I really didn't have a choice – Ron kind of gave me
away. Anyway, they're going ballistic even as I write this. They might even
ground me, or forbid me to see you or something like that. But Harry has an
Invisibility Cloak, and I'm sure I could use it any time I wanted. Meaning I
could sneak out, unnoticed, and meet you somewhere. We managed to fool everyone
at Hogwarts. Why can't we fool my family, too?
I'll
feel bad if I deceive my parents, but really, I shouldn't. They're just being
stupid. They don't really know you – they know your father. Your father's in
Azkaban and he won't be bothering us anytime soon. Maybe if they spent time
with you they'd get to know you and realize that you're nothing like him (no
matter what you say).
Draco smirked. He wasn't so sure the
Weasleys would agree to meet him and just have a little session "getting to
know him". The family was ninety-five percent male. Ginny was the youngest and
the only young girl. Obviously everyone would be protective of her. They
wouldn't believe a Malfoy was good enough for her. If they did meet, Draco
would walk away with a disfigured face. Which is something he did not want.
I know I
just saw you this morning but I can't stop thinking about you. This is going to
be a long two weeks. Don't have too much fun without me.
Love,
Ginny
Draco
placed the parchment on his desk. No one had ever signed a letter to him "love"
before. Even when his mother sent him sweets at school, she always would put a
little dash and then Mum.
It had
been a day since he'd seen Ginny, and the truth was, he was beginning to miss
her, too. No matter what she thought, no matter how nonchalant he tried to act,
he really did want to see her soon. Not in two weeks. That would be too long.
But if
he arrived at the Weasley house then her brothers or her parents would be sure
to curse him away. It would be like having a death wish – knocking on their
front door and then asking, "Is Ginny home?"
Draco
was tired. The night before he hadn't gotten any sleep because he'd been alone
in the Slytherin dormitory, being the only student there. Since Peeves didn't
have anyone to pick on, he'd decided that it would be fun to bring pots from
the kitchen and bang them like crash cymbals in the dormitory, right next to
Draco's ear, every half hour.
He took
off his cloak and fell into bed, and without peeling back the covers, fell
asleep almost immediately.
A few
hours later, he woke up suddenly. Someone was in his room. He sat up and
twisted around and saw his mother by his desk.
His
heart dropped into his stomach when he saw she was reading Ginny's letter.
"Hey,"
he said angrily, gracefully jumping off the bed and crossing the distance
between them in two strides. He snatched the parchment out of her hands,
causing her to jump and smile at him. "What are you doing?"
"I'm
sorry, dear," Narcissa Malfoy said, not sounding sorry at all. "I came in to
tell you it was dinner time, but you looked so adorable asleep –"
"Spare
me."
" – and
I saw the letter on the desk. Ginny? I don't think I've met her before. You've
never mentioned a Slytherin by the name of Ginny."
"That's
because she's not a Slytherin," Draco snapped, stuffing the parchment in his
pocket.
"Ginny
. . ." Narcissa appeared not to have heard him. "Isn't that the name of the
girl who was Portkeyed to New York with you?"
"Yes."
Draco never had an urge to yank his mother's hair as badly as he did at that
moment.
Narcissa Malfoy always was a beautiful woman, even though she was nearly
fifty years old. She was a bit shorter than Draco, with long legs and skin
almost as pale as his. She had yellower hair than he did (his was more white).
But she had his grayish-silverish eyes that always seemed like they were
smirking or amused about something. And when she smiled, it never quite reached
her eyes.
"If I
remember correctly that would mean she's a Weasley," Narcissa said carefully,
picking a piece of hair off Draco's black shirt. He brushed her hand away
irritably.
"Is it
dinner time or what?" he demanded, pushing by her and leaving the room.
Great.
He hadn't wanted his mother to know. She'd probably tell Lucius Malfoy on her
next visit to see him in Azkaban. Of course, it wasn't like Lucius didn't
already know that Draco liked a Weasley. Still, it would be annoying to get a
Howler from him reminding Draco about how having feelings for someone made him
weak. If he heard that one more time he'd rip his hair out.
No,
not my hair, he thought, walking down a flight of stairs. I like my
hair. I'll rip out my mother's. And shove it down my father's throat.
Actually, Draco didn't hate his mother. She just bothered him.
Sometimes, she attempted to act like she cared about him, when honestly she
would sell him easily for twenty Knuts.
The
morning after Ginny sent the letter, both Ginny's mother and her father came up
separately and asked if they could speak with her. Ginny agreed, but didn't
really listen to them going on and on about how Draco wasn't right for her.
"He's a
Malfoy, dear, and he doesn't care about himself, much less another person . .
."
"You
deserve so much better, Ginny. Besides, I thought you fancied Harry. . . ."
"If you
want to date a blond, Mr. Jager's nephew is visiting for the week. Would you
like to meet him . . .?"
"You
really are a beautiful girl – uh, young woman – Gin, and I can't blame the boy.
But a Malfoy . . . ?"
Ginny
stayed in her room most of the time that day. It was boring, but it was better
than facing her family. If her parents weren't lecturing her, then Fred and
George were poking fun at her. Ron and Hermione seemed relieved since the
spotlight was off of them. And Harry seemed to sulk around. Ginny knew why – he
didn't like hearing anything about how she was with Draco.
Ginny
felt guilty about what she was doing to her family and to Harry. But she
couldn't help it. Even if she wanted she couldn't break up with Draco. She
would be miserable and she knew it.
She was
miserable just being away from him. And the way everyone around her was acting
didn't help her mood.
On the
third day of vacation, Ginny was lying on her bed reading when someone knocked
on her door.
She
sighed and rolled her eyes. Probably her mother trying to convince her how
Draco would end up breaking her heart.
"Come
in," she said, trying not to sound exasperated.
Instead, Ron came in. "Hi," he said. "Haven't been seeing too much of
you. Are you going to start demanding that food be pushed to you under the
door?"
Ginny
placed the open book face down across her stomach. "That's a good idea," she
said smoothly. "I just might do that."
To her
surprise, Ron grinned. "Well, you can arrange that later. We were just about to
go swimming. Wanna come?"
Ginny
knew where they were going swimming – there was a large pond about five minutes
from their house. They had a pond in their backyard, but it was full of algae
and it was only about five feet around and two feet deep. The swimming pond was
larger and got as deep as ten feet in the middle. And it had a large rock
overhang about six feet above the surface that was great for jumping off of.
"Who's
we?" she asked.
"Hermione, Fred, George, Harry, and me."
Ginny
thought a moment. She was dying to get out of the house. And who knew – maybe
Fred and George would lay off the Draco subject.
"All
right. Give me a minute to put my suit on," she said.
Ginny
knew she had about a million bathing suits in her closet, but could only find three.
Two were way too small. The only one that fit her was a two-piece. She had been
hoping on a regular one piece because she'd feel more comfortable around Harry.
Frowning, Ginny got into the dark blue two-piece. Then she fished out
her biggest T-shirt and pulled it over her head. A second later, she was
downstairs and beginning to wish she'd declined Ron's invitation.
The
walk to the pond was brief, and Fred and George joked among each other and
actually left Ginny alone. For that she was grateful and enjoyed being outside,
some of her earlier worries melting away.
When
they reached the pond, Hermione and Ron went off into the nearby woods by
themselves. Fred and George jumped right in off the rock into the water, while
Ginny decided she would try to get a tan first. Of course, whenever she did lay
out in the sun she either got burned or more freckles.
As she
arranged her towel on the rock, Harry sat down beside her. Ginny tried to
ignore the fact that his shirt was off.
"You're
not going swimming?" she asked without looking at him.
"Eventually," he replied.
A
thought occurred to her and she forced herself to look at his face, not his
chest. "You know how to swim, don't you?"
He
smiled. "Yes, I do. Remember fourth year, second task? If I hadn't known how to
swim I would've been out of luck."
Ginny
then felt stupid and mumbled, "Oh." She tried to think of something else to say
as she leaned back on her elbows. "What do you reckon Ron and Hermione are
doing in the woods?"
Harry's
expression darkened and he frowned, looking towards the trees. "I don't really
want to know."
Ginny
studied him. "Are you mad at them?" Does he like Hermione? she wondered.
She'd never really thought of that before.
"No,"
he said to her question. "Well – yes. I mean, I think it's great that they're
together and all. But they aren't the only two human beings on this earth. It's
like all they need is each other and not me anymore."
"That's
not true," Ginny contradicted warmly. "I'm sure they don't even realize what
they're doing."
Harry
didn't reply.
Ginny
rolled onto her stomach and looked over the rock at the pond. Fred and George
were splashing each other and dunking each other under, making a lot of noise
for only two people. She rested her head on her folded arms and closed her
eyes.
She was
just drifting off when she heard Fred and George coming back up on the rock.
Since the rock was so high from the pond, they had to walk around and up a
slope to get there.
Ginny
sat up when they reached the rock.
"Aren't
you two going in?" Fred asked, grinning.
"I'm
not yet," Harry answered.
"How
about you, Gin?" George asked.
She
smiled tightly. "No thanks."
"The
water's fun," Fred said, stepping up beside her and grabbing her arm. "Come in
with us."
"No
thanks," she repeated.
But she
knew what they were going to do. They were going to throw her in. If she hadn't
wanted them to, she would've fought them and they would've left her alone. But
it was sort of fun to be thrown in, so she didn't struggle too much as her
older twin brothers grabbed each of her arms and yanked her to her feet.
"Ready?" Fred asked, grabbing her by the waist.
"No,"
she said, trying not to laugh.
And
then he heaved her over the side of the rock.
What
happened next happened quickly and yet slowly at the same time. Fred had tossed
her in with her back to the pond, facing everyone on the rock. She sailed down
towards the water bottom first.
Since
she wasn't totally stiff, the surface didn't sting much when she hit it like it
would've if she'd done a belly flop. But there was something else that hurt a
lot more.
Just a
few inches below the surface, the back of Ginny's head struck something sharp.
And it struck it hard.
It hurt
so much the pain spread through her body. It felt as if whatever she hit
(obviously the top of a sharp rock) had sliced right to the skull.
How
can there be rocks? she thought, dazed, as she surfaced slowly. The
bottom is too far down.
Ginny
somehow managed to keep her head above water. Everything seemed far away and
her vision was blurred. Her head throbbed while her whole body was searing with
white-hot pain.
Someone
was calling her name.
"What,"
she said thickly. Or at least she thought she did. Her lips didn't seem to be
working.
She
reached a hand up to the back of her head and felt something warm and sticky in
her hair. Pulling her fingers away and glancing down at them, she found they
were covered red blood.
My
hair is leaking, she thought deliriously. She was losing consciousness. She
tried to blink repeatedly, hoping she'd be able to see clearly, but it didn't
work. Everything got darker and darker.
She let
herself slid into unconscious. It hurt too much to stay awake and be aware of
everything. The last thing she felt was someone pulling her from the water, and
then everything went black.
A/N: Terrible place to leave off, I know. But hey
. . . this is the stuff that keeps you interested! Keep reviewing cuz if you
don't chapter three won't come out for a long while! Oh, and I have a new email
address if anyone wants to email me: mochabutterfly22@hotmail.com.
