14. Sweet Vengeance
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Disclaimer: Take a wild guess. No, it's not mine.
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(A/N: Okay, I'm telling you now, I upped the rating on this chapter to 'R' - so be warned!!! ^_^)
~***~
Ginny repositioned herself restlessly in her bed. She couldn't sleep. She guessed she was nervous about finally returning to her classes the next day.
After a few minutes, she decided her common sense must have disappeared with her hair, and she dragged herself from her bed, pulling on a pair of blue denim jeans and a red jumper. She slipped her shoes on, and picked up a worn gray cloak from where it lay draped across the chair next to her bed. She was tugging the hood over her head when she heard her stomach rumble loudly.
'Well,' she thought, leaving the dorm, and then the common room, 'the night didn't have to be a total waste.'
She hesitated in the drafty, darkened corridor outside the tower, and then made her way silently to the stairs.
~***~
Draco had been too distracted earlier that evening to bother eating - and for once it was his growling stomach and not a disturbingly recurring dream about Ginny that woke him late that night.
He made his way sleepily into the kitchens, almost too tired to bother keeping out a watch for Filch and his dusty rat of a cat, in search of something to eat, his school robes hanging open over his clothes.
What he saw as he entered made him withdraw immediately into a shadowy corner before any of the house elves could even spot him.
Ginny Weasley was standing in front of one of the massive stoves, a book open on one hand, that she was reading, and her wand in the other hand, which she was using to absently stir the contents of a large, bubbling cauldron.
The mouth - watering scent of melted chocolate drifted to him, and his stomach rumbled loudly.
He rested a strong, lean hand across his abdomen and rolled his eyes. He did not like chocolate, he reminded himself.
Draco watched with interest as Ginny put down the book, and stood on her toes to look over the edge of the pot at its contents.
He noticed she had removed her hooded cloak, and stood bare headed, apparently untroubled by the oddness of her appearance, comfortable in the large room full of busy house elves.
One, whom he recognized as being Dobby, his father's previous servant, scampered up to Ginny with a tattered muggle baseball cap in his large, bony fingers.
She looked down at the elf with a beautific smile, and knelt on one knee, placing a soft kiss on his pointy little head.
She said something soft that he couldn't hear, and Dobby bowed and skittered away.
Draco watched Ginny eye the faded blue cap with a sigh, and then she shrugged, and slapped it on, twisting the brim around backwards.
He had to hold back a smile at the unusual sight. It disturbed him though, to realize he still found himself feeling so much at the sight of her, even without her long red tresses -
He cut his thought short as he caught sight of her licking something delicately from her finger with a small pink tongue, and everything in his world skidded to a complete halt.
"Ah - Master Draco! Is Sir hungry? Dobby is being very glad to see you, Sir -"
Draco looked down distractedly and saw the little house elf practically dancing at his feet. He crouched down and clamped a hand over Dobby's mouth, shaking his head.
After he let go, Dobby blinked his huge green eyes, and then ducked his head.
"Ah, Dobby is understanding now, Sir," he continued in a low whisper. "Sir is not going to hurt Miss Ginny, though, is he? Miss has been through very much, she is so kind -"
"Of course I'm not going to hurt her, you fool," Draco snapped lowly, his blond brows furrowed over his clear, piercing silver eyes. "I only came to grab a bite - I didn't even know she was here!"
"Why is you hiding then, Master?"
"I'm not your master anymore, Dobby - don't call me that." Draco muttered this impatiently as he looked up to watch Ginny once more.
Dobby's large eyes widened even further, and his long ears perked up. "Sir is loving Miss Ginny, I think - Sir is having pain! Dobby can see this! This is surprising Dobby!"
Draco gave the elf a practiced look of disgust. "You must be joking - I don't love her! She's a Weasley!" Not to mention the fact that she'd blown him off completely.
"Yes, Miss is - but Dobby is seeing this!" The little elf looked ill with excitement. "Sir is changing - Sir is no longer the selfish little boy who made Dobby punish himself -"
Draco rolled his eyes again, and grabbed Dobby's ears, pinching them roughly. "I haven't changed elf, don't you dare go about spreading lies about me - if you have one ounce of self - preservation -"
"Oh, Dobby would never, Sir - maybe Dobby is being wrong, Sir!"
Draco gave the elf a fierce glare before letting go of its ears.
Dobby moved a safe distance away, and fingered one of his throbbing ears, his shoulders drooping.
"Sir - Dobby is just wanting Sir to know, Miss is good people - her is gentle, and honest - Dobby is not wanting Miss hurt."
The undertone in the elf's high-pitched voice was a warning. Draco knew that house elves had powerful magic of their own, and he'd seen them in action before.
Draco nodded shortly, and Dobby bowed, the tip of his long nose scraping the floor, before he hurried off to bring him some food.
He took a seat on a bench along the wall behind him, and was content to watch Ginny cook from across the room until Dobby returned. He found himself staring at her perfectly shaped backside every time she bent over to look in an oven, and he ground his teeth.
He watched her withdraw a sheet of chocolate cookies from one, and saw Dobby remove a few from the cookie sheet before he came over to where he sat.
Ginny moved about, thankfully oblivious to his presence.
Draco took the proffered plate of food from Dobby and walked out of the kitchens quickly.
"Changed." He snarled the word as he walked back to the Slytherin common room, disgusted. The elf had hit its head against a wall far too many times.
He settled down to eat once he returned, and found himself staring suspiciously at the freshly baked chocolate cookies to one side of his golden plate. Dobby knew he wasn't fond of chocolate, and eating cookies had always seemed just so unforgivably adolescent to him.
Draco picked one up with a sigh, studied it, and then took a bite out of it hesitantly, and almost moaned. It was rich, dark and warm, and absolutely sinful - and he'd eaten all four of them before he even knew it.
The rest of the food looked as appetizing as sawdust compared to Ginny's cookies, and he shoved the plate aside, staring moodily into the fireplace in front of him.
She had told him she was sorry. That she did love him.
He shook his head angrily. He wasn't falling for it again.
Who the hell did she think she was that she could throw those words back at him? What did she expect him to do? Had she thought all would be forgiven, that they'd live happily ever after?
He knew better than anyone that there was no such thing.
Draco scowled and settled back against the couch cushions.
"Love her," he snarled again, in disgust. He didn't love her - he never really had. It had just been a sorry lack in judgment, all of it. And if he felt compelled to watch over her, felt protective of her, it was just because he had taken a bit of a grudging liking to Molly.
What did that stupid little house elf know about anything, anyway?
~***~
'The Prince Of Darkness Is A Gentleman.' -William Shakespeare, King Lear 3.4.147
~***~
She came to him again that night, after he'd finally fallen asleep on the low black couch in the common room.
Draco tried to wake himself, knowing it was just another dream, but still unwilling to let her exert the mysterious power she seemed to have over him. He tried to turn away from her, but it was no use. He craved the touch of her body against him more and more every time she visited him. But she was just a dream.
Something was different, though, he could sense it. Something was wrong about her.
Draco shifted and gasped harshly as he felt her soft hands skim across his bare chest, and further down, over his abdomen.
He saw glimpses of her in the dying firelight as she moved over him; saw the red tendrils of her hair brushing the tops of her breasts, and her fingertips as she slid the black straps of her satiny gown from her shoulders.
He felt her lips of the side of neck, and then her tongue, and his heart thudded painfully in his chest. He caught his breath as she slithered down his body, and her thumbs hooked in the waistband of his silk pajama bottoms, and pushed them down over his hips with a boldness he hadn't even known she possessed.
Draco heard his breathing become ragged as she kneeled between his legs, and kissed her way up the suddenly trembling insides of his thighs.
He caught her hair in his fists before her hot mouth reached its goal.
This wasn't Ginny.even in his dreams she'd remained shy and innocent, letting him instigate everything that happened between them.
Draco blinked until he was fully awake, and he found himself staring into Ginny's narrowed, velvety brown eyes.
A snarl curled his lips as he stared down at her, and he pulled her up by her hair, forcing her to sprawl across his chest.
He brought her head down, and kissed her brutally, drawing blood.
She didn't even taste the same.
The girl moaned against him, and he thrust her away, nearly throwing her from the couch.
Draco rolled, and snatched his wand from beneath his robes which he'd pillowed his head on, coming up on his knees to face her.
"Pansy," he commented sneeringly, his chest heaving. He could smell it now, her perfume, that nauseatingly strong scent she'd always worn.
The nearly nude girl spat an epithet at him, drawing herself up from the floor in a cloud of pricey black satin and red curls.
"I always knew you weren't the sharpest quill in the bunch, Parkinson, but you've outdone yourself tonight."
"You're a fool, Draco!"
Draco slid off the couch and lazily wrapped a long silk robe around himself, tying the belt about his waist in a loose knot. He leaned against one of the massive columns supporting the mantle near the fireplace and crossed his arms, eyeing her with cool disgust.
"You're the fool, Pansy - only a slut like you would think an innocent like Ginny Weasley would wear black satin," he drawled, smirking at her. "You're an even bigger fool for thinking I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Tell me - where did you get your dirty little hands on Polyjuice potion so quickly?"
The girl held her gown to her breasts, and fairy snarled at him. "I'm not telling you anything - my God you're pathetic, Draco, letting yourself become obsessed with that little nothing! She's as bald as a garden gnome, and still you want her! I can't see what you would want with her, when you can have me instead! You saw her, earlier, she's a shadow of herself, now, cloaked in gray - a nothing color, a shade.not quite so lovely now, is she, Draco, my love?"
Draco usually eschewed any type of physical violence, preferring to rely on the strength of his magic - but in that moment he found himself wanting to bury Pansy Parkinson.
"Yet she still receives more attention than ever - far more than you, I might add, and she's also not being hunted by Aurors as we speak. Funny, isn't it?"
He meant for his tone to be light, but it came out more menacing than he'd ever heard himself speak. Draco kept his eyes on Pansy, saw her eyes darken in rage at his words.
He smirked, running his eyes up and down her body coolly.
Pansy's full red lips curled nastily, and her hand fisted at her sides.
"If you aren't careful, Draco, you're going to end up losing me for good!"
"I never had you in the first place, thank God," he muttered coldly, his silver eyes frosty as they raked her. "Besides, I don't have to fear catching anything from her."
Furious, Pansy hissed and turned away, as if to leave, but Draco was before her in an instant, blocking her path.
"Where do you think you're going, Pansy?" He asked her in a menacing voice. "Did you really think I was going to let you walk away from this free and clear?"
"W - what are you going to do, Draco? If this is because I cut her hair - "
"You just don't get it do you? This isn't about Weasley," he lied smoothly. Pansy was crazy if she thought he was going to just sit and watch her go. "It's about what you were trying to pull on me. Your trespass isn't going to go unpunished. You really are a fool, if you thought that."
Fear tinged the girls' hard, manic eyes, and Draco suppressed a smile of satisfaction as he loomed over her, pressing her back to the center of the room.
"No.God, Draco - don't you possess even a shred of mercy?" Her hand fumbled for her wand, only to realize she didn't have it near.
He removed his wand from his robe pocket, and watched as the Polyjuice potion suddenly began to wear off before his eyes, until Pansy was back to her usual waspish self.
Draco slowly reached over to an antique roll top desk pushed against one wall, and nonchalantly pulled open a drawer.
Her dark eyes followed his movements nervously, and widened in horror as he withdrew a wickedly sharp looking pair of scissors, which glinted in the firelight.
A demonic smile curved his lips as he advanced on her in an unhurried manner.
"Mercy? Sorry Pansy. I don't have any to give."
The scissors opened and closed with a shirring snap, and he paused, running his pale eyes over the luxuriant, sleek fall of her long dark brown hair consideringly.
"I believe you're in rather desperate need of a trim, Parkinson."
~***~ TBC
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Disclaimer: Take a wild guess. No, it's not mine.
~***~
(A/N: Okay, I'm telling you now, I upped the rating on this chapter to 'R' - so be warned!!! ^_^)
~***~
Ginny repositioned herself restlessly in her bed. She couldn't sleep. She guessed she was nervous about finally returning to her classes the next day.
After a few minutes, she decided her common sense must have disappeared with her hair, and she dragged herself from her bed, pulling on a pair of blue denim jeans and a red jumper. She slipped her shoes on, and picked up a worn gray cloak from where it lay draped across the chair next to her bed. She was tugging the hood over her head when she heard her stomach rumble loudly.
'Well,' she thought, leaving the dorm, and then the common room, 'the night didn't have to be a total waste.'
She hesitated in the drafty, darkened corridor outside the tower, and then made her way silently to the stairs.
~***~
Draco had been too distracted earlier that evening to bother eating - and for once it was his growling stomach and not a disturbingly recurring dream about Ginny that woke him late that night.
He made his way sleepily into the kitchens, almost too tired to bother keeping out a watch for Filch and his dusty rat of a cat, in search of something to eat, his school robes hanging open over his clothes.
What he saw as he entered made him withdraw immediately into a shadowy corner before any of the house elves could even spot him.
Ginny Weasley was standing in front of one of the massive stoves, a book open on one hand, that she was reading, and her wand in the other hand, which she was using to absently stir the contents of a large, bubbling cauldron.
The mouth - watering scent of melted chocolate drifted to him, and his stomach rumbled loudly.
He rested a strong, lean hand across his abdomen and rolled his eyes. He did not like chocolate, he reminded himself.
Draco watched with interest as Ginny put down the book, and stood on her toes to look over the edge of the pot at its contents.
He noticed she had removed her hooded cloak, and stood bare headed, apparently untroubled by the oddness of her appearance, comfortable in the large room full of busy house elves.
One, whom he recognized as being Dobby, his father's previous servant, scampered up to Ginny with a tattered muggle baseball cap in his large, bony fingers.
She looked down at the elf with a beautific smile, and knelt on one knee, placing a soft kiss on his pointy little head.
She said something soft that he couldn't hear, and Dobby bowed and skittered away.
Draco watched Ginny eye the faded blue cap with a sigh, and then she shrugged, and slapped it on, twisting the brim around backwards.
He had to hold back a smile at the unusual sight. It disturbed him though, to realize he still found himself feeling so much at the sight of her, even without her long red tresses -
He cut his thought short as he caught sight of her licking something delicately from her finger with a small pink tongue, and everything in his world skidded to a complete halt.
"Ah - Master Draco! Is Sir hungry? Dobby is being very glad to see you, Sir -"
Draco looked down distractedly and saw the little house elf practically dancing at his feet. He crouched down and clamped a hand over Dobby's mouth, shaking his head.
After he let go, Dobby blinked his huge green eyes, and then ducked his head.
"Ah, Dobby is understanding now, Sir," he continued in a low whisper. "Sir is not going to hurt Miss Ginny, though, is he? Miss has been through very much, she is so kind -"
"Of course I'm not going to hurt her, you fool," Draco snapped lowly, his blond brows furrowed over his clear, piercing silver eyes. "I only came to grab a bite - I didn't even know she was here!"
"Why is you hiding then, Master?"
"I'm not your master anymore, Dobby - don't call me that." Draco muttered this impatiently as he looked up to watch Ginny once more.
Dobby's large eyes widened even further, and his long ears perked up. "Sir is loving Miss Ginny, I think - Sir is having pain! Dobby can see this! This is surprising Dobby!"
Draco gave the elf a practiced look of disgust. "You must be joking - I don't love her! She's a Weasley!" Not to mention the fact that she'd blown him off completely.
"Yes, Miss is - but Dobby is seeing this!" The little elf looked ill with excitement. "Sir is changing - Sir is no longer the selfish little boy who made Dobby punish himself -"
Draco rolled his eyes again, and grabbed Dobby's ears, pinching them roughly. "I haven't changed elf, don't you dare go about spreading lies about me - if you have one ounce of self - preservation -"
"Oh, Dobby would never, Sir - maybe Dobby is being wrong, Sir!"
Draco gave the elf a fierce glare before letting go of its ears.
Dobby moved a safe distance away, and fingered one of his throbbing ears, his shoulders drooping.
"Sir - Dobby is just wanting Sir to know, Miss is good people - her is gentle, and honest - Dobby is not wanting Miss hurt."
The undertone in the elf's high-pitched voice was a warning. Draco knew that house elves had powerful magic of their own, and he'd seen them in action before.
Draco nodded shortly, and Dobby bowed, the tip of his long nose scraping the floor, before he hurried off to bring him some food.
He took a seat on a bench along the wall behind him, and was content to watch Ginny cook from across the room until Dobby returned. He found himself staring at her perfectly shaped backside every time she bent over to look in an oven, and he ground his teeth.
He watched her withdraw a sheet of chocolate cookies from one, and saw Dobby remove a few from the cookie sheet before he came over to where he sat.
Ginny moved about, thankfully oblivious to his presence.
Draco took the proffered plate of food from Dobby and walked out of the kitchens quickly.
"Changed." He snarled the word as he walked back to the Slytherin common room, disgusted. The elf had hit its head against a wall far too many times.
He settled down to eat once he returned, and found himself staring suspiciously at the freshly baked chocolate cookies to one side of his golden plate. Dobby knew he wasn't fond of chocolate, and eating cookies had always seemed just so unforgivably adolescent to him.
Draco picked one up with a sigh, studied it, and then took a bite out of it hesitantly, and almost moaned. It was rich, dark and warm, and absolutely sinful - and he'd eaten all four of them before he even knew it.
The rest of the food looked as appetizing as sawdust compared to Ginny's cookies, and he shoved the plate aside, staring moodily into the fireplace in front of him.
She had told him she was sorry. That she did love him.
He shook his head angrily. He wasn't falling for it again.
Who the hell did she think she was that she could throw those words back at him? What did she expect him to do? Had she thought all would be forgiven, that they'd live happily ever after?
He knew better than anyone that there was no such thing.
Draco scowled and settled back against the couch cushions.
"Love her," he snarled again, in disgust. He didn't love her - he never really had. It had just been a sorry lack in judgment, all of it. And if he felt compelled to watch over her, felt protective of her, it was just because he had taken a bit of a grudging liking to Molly.
What did that stupid little house elf know about anything, anyway?
~***~
'The Prince Of Darkness Is A Gentleman.' -William Shakespeare, King Lear 3.4.147
~***~
She came to him again that night, after he'd finally fallen asleep on the low black couch in the common room.
Draco tried to wake himself, knowing it was just another dream, but still unwilling to let her exert the mysterious power she seemed to have over him. He tried to turn away from her, but it was no use. He craved the touch of her body against him more and more every time she visited him. But she was just a dream.
Something was different, though, he could sense it. Something was wrong about her.
Draco shifted and gasped harshly as he felt her soft hands skim across his bare chest, and further down, over his abdomen.
He saw glimpses of her in the dying firelight as she moved over him; saw the red tendrils of her hair brushing the tops of her breasts, and her fingertips as she slid the black straps of her satiny gown from her shoulders.
He felt her lips of the side of neck, and then her tongue, and his heart thudded painfully in his chest. He caught his breath as she slithered down his body, and her thumbs hooked in the waistband of his silk pajama bottoms, and pushed them down over his hips with a boldness he hadn't even known she possessed.
Draco heard his breathing become ragged as she kneeled between his legs, and kissed her way up the suddenly trembling insides of his thighs.
He caught her hair in his fists before her hot mouth reached its goal.
This wasn't Ginny.even in his dreams she'd remained shy and innocent, letting him instigate everything that happened between them.
Draco blinked until he was fully awake, and he found himself staring into Ginny's narrowed, velvety brown eyes.
A snarl curled his lips as he stared down at her, and he pulled her up by her hair, forcing her to sprawl across his chest.
He brought her head down, and kissed her brutally, drawing blood.
She didn't even taste the same.
The girl moaned against him, and he thrust her away, nearly throwing her from the couch.
Draco rolled, and snatched his wand from beneath his robes which he'd pillowed his head on, coming up on his knees to face her.
"Pansy," he commented sneeringly, his chest heaving. He could smell it now, her perfume, that nauseatingly strong scent she'd always worn.
The nearly nude girl spat an epithet at him, drawing herself up from the floor in a cloud of pricey black satin and red curls.
"I always knew you weren't the sharpest quill in the bunch, Parkinson, but you've outdone yourself tonight."
"You're a fool, Draco!"
Draco slid off the couch and lazily wrapped a long silk robe around himself, tying the belt about his waist in a loose knot. He leaned against one of the massive columns supporting the mantle near the fireplace and crossed his arms, eyeing her with cool disgust.
"You're the fool, Pansy - only a slut like you would think an innocent like Ginny Weasley would wear black satin," he drawled, smirking at her. "You're an even bigger fool for thinking I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Tell me - where did you get your dirty little hands on Polyjuice potion so quickly?"
The girl held her gown to her breasts, and fairy snarled at him. "I'm not telling you anything - my God you're pathetic, Draco, letting yourself become obsessed with that little nothing! She's as bald as a garden gnome, and still you want her! I can't see what you would want with her, when you can have me instead! You saw her, earlier, she's a shadow of herself, now, cloaked in gray - a nothing color, a shade.not quite so lovely now, is she, Draco, my love?"
Draco usually eschewed any type of physical violence, preferring to rely on the strength of his magic - but in that moment he found himself wanting to bury Pansy Parkinson.
"Yet she still receives more attention than ever - far more than you, I might add, and she's also not being hunted by Aurors as we speak. Funny, isn't it?"
He meant for his tone to be light, but it came out more menacing than he'd ever heard himself speak. Draco kept his eyes on Pansy, saw her eyes darken in rage at his words.
He smirked, running his eyes up and down her body coolly.
Pansy's full red lips curled nastily, and her hand fisted at her sides.
"If you aren't careful, Draco, you're going to end up losing me for good!"
"I never had you in the first place, thank God," he muttered coldly, his silver eyes frosty as they raked her. "Besides, I don't have to fear catching anything from her."
Furious, Pansy hissed and turned away, as if to leave, but Draco was before her in an instant, blocking her path.
"Where do you think you're going, Pansy?" He asked her in a menacing voice. "Did you really think I was going to let you walk away from this free and clear?"
"W - what are you going to do, Draco? If this is because I cut her hair - "
"You just don't get it do you? This isn't about Weasley," he lied smoothly. Pansy was crazy if she thought he was going to just sit and watch her go. "It's about what you were trying to pull on me. Your trespass isn't going to go unpunished. You really are a fool, if you thought that."
Fear tinged the girls' hard, manic eyes, and Draco suppressed a smile of satisfaction as he loomed over her, pressing her back to the center of the room.
"No.God, Draco - don't you possess even a shred of mercy?" Her hand fumbled for her wand, only to realize she didn't have it near.
He removed his wand from his robe pocket, and watched as the Polyjuice potion suddenly began to wear off before his eyes, until Pansy was back to her usual waspish self.
Draco slowly reached over to an antique roll top desk pushed against one wall, and nonchalantly pulled open a drawer.
Her dark eyes followed his movements nervously, and widened in horror as he withdrew a wickedly sharp looking pair of scissors, which glinted in the firelight.
A demonic smile curved his lips as he advanced on her in an unhurried manner.
"Mercy? Sorry Pansy. I don't have any to give."
The scissors opened and closed with a shirring snap, and he paused, running his pale eyes over the luxuriant, sleek fall of her long dark brown hair consideringly.
"I believe you're in rather desperate need of a trim, Parkinson."
~***~ TBC