I know it has been a long time in getting this second chapter up- uni has been a pain, and this chapter was pretty difficult to write, as you'll find out when reading it.
WARNING- guys, some not-so-nice things happen this chapter. If you are easily offended, please just give it a miss. While not a vital part in the plot of the story, one particular section that may be disturbing is important in establishing the personality of a character. So if you are slightly squeamish, give the last section a miss, and just assume that Pansy is a very disturbed little bunny.
Disclaimer:- I do not own 'Harry Potter', it's characters, plot lines, or history. It is the property of J.K. Rowling, and Warner Bros. I just borrow. And even though I didn't exactly ask personally, if you want to borrow, you will need to ask.
Special mention to Lady Rhiyana- who is every inch the Lady, allowing me to unload my woes at her feet, and not scold me when I ignored uni to get this out of my system.
To Chris, who told me about pracs I would otherwise have missed while typing this.
And finally to those who have reviewed the first chapter and told me I didn't suck (to my face) Blurred Riddle, Wolviesrouge, Sharlene, Jane Valar, August, Shyla, Linda, Seek, Netty, and intriguingly enough, Death. You guys are my inspiration. Ta for the review. They are my Manna (I'm such a review whore). Wink, wink, hint, hint ;).
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'Petrificus totalis'
Ginny was in a state of shock. How could this be happening? Here? Now?
Everyone knew that Voldemort had agents on the inside of the school, and that children –and not just Slytherin children either -were training to be Death Eaters. But to so blatantly make an attack on those supposedly protected by the school. Right under their noses.
Horrific.
And cunning.
Who would have expected it?
Who would have dreamed?
Ginny knew that what she saw that day would haunt her dreams forever. She would never be able to erase the horror from her memory.
First, after Draco have petrified her, her and the other students had floated her behind them, inches off the ground, as they entered the forest on the side of the path, just before the entrance to Hogsmead.
Because Draco was controlling her movements, when the other students faded into the forest after he had silently signalled to split up, she had remained with him.
Alone.
In the forest with Draco Malfoy.
Draco Malfoy wearing Death Eater robes.
Fan-bloody-tastic.
He weaved his way around the trees, never making a sound. Ginny had only a vague impression of their movements, not being fully cognizant of her surroundings and the movements of her companion.
Hermione had tried to explain to Ginny what it had felt like, being petrified. Being a difficult topic to adequately explain, as well as being part of a time period that Ginny had never felt entirely comfortable discussing, had hindered Hermione's explanation. And now Ginny had no need of it.
It was as if she was in a great fog, seeing everything occur around her, but through a kind of filter; like she could not interact with anything around her. It was hazy and indistinct, and time had no meaning.
She felt like mist. Formless. And cold.
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Ginny knew that his ability to move through the forest soundlessly could not be through the use of magic; she could not smell it at all. It must be a personal skill. Or maybe if was the spell; distorting her senses, confusing her. And then the thought disappeared out of her head.
Ginny was sure that he must have said something to her, but she couldn't quite remember what… she had trouble concentrating on one subject without being distracted or confused.
He stopped abruptly, in the darkening shadow of an ancient oak tree. There he set her down upon the wet, mossy ground, and released the bonds that held her- only momentarily- before quickly replacing them with a more localized freezing spell.
Ginny experienced a sudden rush of vertigo as the spell was lifted, taking a few seconds to reorientate herself before attempting to move. And discovering that she was, once again bound by magic.
"Can you hear me now, Virginia?" he asked
Ginny attempted to reply, although not with a polite 'Why, yes Draco, and Thank-you for asking', but found that she could not speak. After a few moments of struggling, she resigned herself to a perturbed nod of the head.
"Good. There's something I-" Draco became cut off when he spun around to face the bushes to his right, apparently having heard a noise.
"Draco. Ahh, there you are." Pansy whispered as she entered their small clearing. "The others are right behind me." Seconds after she stated this the other children followed behind her. Ginny could no longer tell them apart because in the time that they had been separated, everyone, bar Draco and Pansy had donned their white masks.
"Is everyone here?" Draco asked after everyone had settled themselves into a disordered pack.
"All accounted for, Malfoy." Blaise Zambini's disdainful voice floated out anonymously.
"Everything is quiet in the town. No sounds that they have been warned." Crabbe inserted. Ginny recognised him out of the group purely because of his bulk.
"Fantastic," Blaise quipped, "but what are we supposed to do with her?" he said, nodding towards Ginny's still form.
In the time that the other students had entered the clearing, Ginny had not made any overt movements, not wanting to draw attention to herself. While no longer immediately in fear of her life, she wasn't willing to risk angering any of the young Death Eaters unnecessarily.
"We can't leave her here alone." Draco said. "Does anyone want to volunteer to …baby-sit her?"
There was an uncomfortable silence: no one wanted to volunteer to miss out of the festivities. Pansy made an unattractive sound of frustration.
"Oh, I'll do it." she replied. There was a hushed murmur among the students. This was unheard of. Pansy had never sat out on the fun- especially surprising on this occasion, as this was the first unsupervised 'Event' to have been approved for the hopefuls.
"I'm not saying that I'm not going in; I'll just stay here for the first bit. Then someone comes to relieve me.
"Besides," she said turning to Draco, "You know I hate getting blood on my robes. You guys can have the pleasure of doing the dirty work.
"Just remember to not finish without me." She added as the group moved into their positions; hidden amongst the shrubbery flanking the northern-most house in the village.
Draco approached her, never once making a sound on the moss-covered ground.
"Pansy?" he said quietly. She practically jumped in surprise, her rueful smirk acknowledging the fact that, unless you constantly had your eye on him, Draco would undoubtedly sneak up on you. "What is it, oh 'Fearless Leader'?"
"Nothing vitally important. Just a friendly little warning. Thank-you for looking after this little one here," he said, stroking Ginny's cheek. She flinched, and shot dagger-eyes at him, and he just sneered in reply.
Because he was looking into her eyes he did not see the look Pansy directed at him, having noticed the change in binding spell upon Ginny. Her eyes narrowed speculatively.
His High-clan upbringing obviously having been ingrained into him to a point where he would never- under any circumstances- forget his manners, he sincerely thanked Pansy. "One of us needs to be there to …supervise the festivities, so that they do not get out of hand.
"But, if I find while I was away, that you hurt or damaged her, I would be upset. Very upset. I've seen the way that you treat your toys. I would like her kept intact. Please."
"What importance does she have for you, Draco?" she directed towards his back as he turned to leave.
"Don't be stupid, Pansy. She is a Minister's daughter. She could be very useful later."
He turned to join the group. "Oh, and Pansy? I do mean that; about being upset. You would not enjoy the experience, and I would not like that to paint any further…events that involve the two of us." He lowered the volume of his voice. "Especially those events that involved only the two of us."
Pansy laughed a tinkling, musical laugh, that was crafted to draw attention, and utilized as such; in the High Clan, every advantage was a weapon when used against someone unaware of its significance.
"You know what, Draco?" she said, sauntering over to Ginny, and circling her, as if inspecting something unusual and unexpected.
"I think I know why you don't want to kill her" She waved an impatient hand, "on top of the whole 'not drawing attention to ourselves' thing."
Draco lifted an eyebrow; and obvious sign of his casual disinterest in the subject. But he did not comment.
"You want to try her out, don't you? You want to see what the great 'Boy-who-lived' is screwing in his in between Quidditch Matches?"
"Don't be crude, Pansy," Draco admonished, "it does not become you. Besides… anyone can see that she is untouched. Unbroken. She is too innocent." He smiled. It was not a friendly smile, and one Ginny would not have been at all comfortable seeing. "Something I hope to soon cure her of."
Draco could hear Pansy's inelegant snort and muttered "like she would know the first thing about pleasing you, unless she has a natural affinity for leather and barnyard animals" remark as he walked away, but chose to ignore it.
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Ginny did not feel particularly comfortable in the dubious care of Pansy Parkinson. For some reason, however bizarre, she did not think that Pansy had her welfare at heart.
"So, Weasley" Pansy drawled, "what is a girl like you doing in a place like this?" she let loose a bark of laughter, obviously highly amused at her own sense of humour.
She stood up and walked to where Ginny was standing rigidly propped against a large tree.
"You know, I always wondered about you. The others I can kind-of understand; Harry is what he is. He has no choice but to follow the path laid out for him. Ron, he needed someone like Potter to stand behind, to be a sidekick to- because, lets face it; your brother is not great genius or hero, nothing special at all really. And Hermione, well she is the- and I use the term loosely- 'Brains' of the troop.
"But you intrigue me. There had to be something about you, something special for Him to have noticed you. To have used you." She laughed at Ginny's surprised look. "You think that everyone didn't know. Ha. Little fool. We knew before they did. We just chose to … observe proceedings before we stepped in hastily. And then it was unnecessary."
Pansy stepped back. "I'm bored. I think that they have had enough time to have their fun. And to have left some for me." She lifted her wand and softly recited and incantation that lifted Ginny off the ground. "Come. There is entertainment to be had."
She walked towards the town, trailing Ginny behind her.
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Pansy knelt over the frightened boy, straddling his lap, her once pretty face twisted and cruel, resembling something not quite human. "Now, aren't you a pretty one. I like you."
She bent down over his face and whispered into his ear, "Do you like me?"
The child, who could not have been more than ten or eleven years old- possibly the latter as he had been in town, and not confined to the school, as he would have been if he was a Hogwarts student- was visibly terrified. He shook in terror, and yet must have somehow known that he had to answer Pansy, or suffer her wrath, because he vigorously nodded his head.
"Oh, isn't that wonderful. We shall have so much more fun if you like me as much as I like you."
She sat back up; yet at the same time ground herself down further onto his lap. "But…somehow, I think you're fibbing."
Ginny could not believe it. Pansy lifted her forefinger into her mouth, letting it sit just inside of that wet cavern, playing with her bottom lip, almost looking…shy. Like some nervous little schoolgirl with a crush. If her hair had been out, Ginny was sure she would have twirled it around her finger.
"That's ok. We can still have fun. I promise." She whispered to him as she once again leaned over his body.
The placing of her hands on his wrists must have been apart of her twisted fantasy, because with the curse that bound him, he was paralysed from the neck down, unable to move.
She licked him up the side of his face, tasting the tears that had run down it, before forcing her tongue into his mouth. He whimpered. "See," she said, "I told you that you would like it."
Ginny thought that she would be sick, watching Pansy terrify the child, but she could not look away.
His eyes, so blue; eyes that would never view the world with childlike innocence anymore.
Eyes, so filled with terror, but retaining that last spark of…hope.
Hope, forged in the belief that this silent watcher would somehow save him.
Hope, that slowly faded, as Ginny did not move forward to help him as Pansy slowly made her way down his body, cutting and removing his clothes as she went.
Hope that finally died a painful death as Pansy proceeded to rape his soul, before moving onto his delicate, innocent body.
And yet his eyes did not leave Ginny's.
Although ripped from his comfortable world, and set adrift in a place terror and pain, he …remained.
His mind, though damaged after seeing his home burned, his parents killed before his eyes, and his younger sister carted off to meet her undoubtedly more physically brutal fate in the guise of a very eager and enthusiastic Gregory Goyle, still retained some shred of sanity, with Ginny as his anchor.
And no matter how much Ginny wanted to look away, she knew that she couldn't.
She owed him this- this bearing witness. And so they remained. He, under the terrifying control of a sadist, and she frozen, unable to move, to help.
Only to be his sentinel against the darkness rising in his soul, and his witness against a monster. Despair saturating her, Ginny stood, for what was surely eons, her only sign of life the uncontrollable tears running down her face.
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