Cruel Beauty

Rating: PG-13

Summery: Alternate Universe. When Ginny was six years old her parents died and she was left in the care of her mother's beautiful yet cruel sister. She raises Ginny with misguided views on love, will Ginny be able to love or is she too late to save?

Disclaimer: Anything that you recognize is not mine

A/N Thank you guys so much for being so understanding and on my tests. God I have had the worst couple of days! Today I had a four page research paper due on modern political parties and my printer wouldn't work so I had to go through a lot of stuff and I am really stressed! But now that's done and I have no more tests or projects due this week so I can finally update! Thank you for being patient!

Chapter Thirteen

Falls Apart

Been gone away, left you there
Emptiness is nothing you can't share
All those words that hurt you
More than you would let it show
Comes apart, by yourself Sugar Ray

The fame and rumors about my new look became almost unbearable. People that I have never even talked to kept coming up to me and telling me their reasons as to why they thought I had butchered my good looks. Did they not realize that I didn't care? My god I always knew that beauty was everything to Velena, but does the rest of the world feel this way also?

If someone was ugly and they gave themselves and ugly haircut, would you really care and spend your time pondering as to what had driven them to do it? The world is a messed up place. I had already known this before, but I was just now learning to what extent.

My speculations that Velena has spies everywhere were reinforced when I received a letter from her a little over two weeks after I had decided to do some work on myself.

I was sitting alone in the Great Hall during breakfast when the mail arrived. Velena's owl came in with the same attitude that it always had, but this visit it decided to land on my shoulder and sink it's claws in. "Damn owl," I muttered as I opened the letter. I didn't even bother to take it somewhere private anymore. I didn't care who saw.

Virginia,

You cut your hair off and made it curly? What in the world were you thinking! And to add insult to injury you put repulsive freckles on your unblemished skin! I would ask you why, but I already know the answer. You are so naïve Virginia, you think that I don't know exactly how your mind works? You forget that I made you what you are today. You want to get rid of your beauty because you are tired of the baggage that comes with it. You no longer want the attention, the stares, and the jealous hatred that comes along with being beautiful. So you attempted to make yourself ugly so that you could simply fall into the background of life. You are weak Virginia and I am ashamed that you are an Evansole. You are a disgrace and your weakness is tainting our bloodline.

Do not forget that we are the survivors, the ones who triumph over the lesser beings. The Evansoles have always been evolutionary and I will not sit back and allow you to ruin thousands of years of work. Your mother attempted to do so and she nearly succeeded; you will not finish her work. Do not forget what I can do to you Virginia, do not mess with things that you do not understand.

Velena

I crumpled up the paper and threw it away. I go back to my original looks and the woman acts as if I am taking down an empire. It was interesting though, how she mentioned my mother trying to take down the Evansole family. I had always known that Velena did not approve of my mother's marriage but I wondered if there was anything else there.

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I jerked in my sleep and bit back a scream. As I woke I attempted to control my breathing while not making too much noise; I did still have roommates, and the last thing that I needed was people asking questions.

I rubbed my eyes as I walked down the stairs and took my familiar chair. As I was sitting in front of the fire I felt sadness overcome me as I looked at Draco's empty seat. I pulled my knees to my chest and rested my head against them. I really did miss him, even if I would never say that out loud. I closed my eyes tightly and wished that I could sleep like a normal person.

"Some things never change." I heard a familiar drawl behind me. I whipped my head around and saw Draco standing at the bottom of the boy's stairway.

"Why are you up?" I asked with a little more feeling than I intended to; I hadn't expected that he would even bother to come check on me anymore.

"If you don't sleep I don't sleep; I always keep my promises Virginia." I allowed a small smile.

He sat down beside me and things felt right again. I attempted to start a conversation with him several times, but each time he blew me off. So we just sat in silence for a long time. I sighed and tried on last time to get him to talk to me, "so how have your classes been going?"

"Fine." Well so much for that. However he surprised me for a second time that night by continuing. "Please stop trying to make small talk with me Virginia. I promised you a long time ago that I wouldn't leave you alone at nights and I won't break that promise, but that doesn't mean that I have to go back to being your friend. I told you no one can stand to be alone forever and I am not proving that to you by allowing you to get your needed human interaction with me."

We did not speak again for the rest of the night. We just sat and stared at the fire, each lost in our own thoughts. But I found that just his presence was a comfort to me. I didn't want to be so dependent on him, but there was not much that I could do to change it now.

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It went on like this; during the day he would ignore me and during the night he would sit with me. Even on the nights that I didn't have nightmares I would be sure to get up and go down to the common room; I needed that time with him.

I went to the library a lot. I would read anything and everything to keep my mind off of other things. Reading was my escape from everything that I couldn't stand about my life. It was an addiction to me; it gave me the happy blissful life that I knew that I could never have.

As I sat down at my usual table preparing for a nightly escapade I saw Draco enter the library. He had my full attention as I watched his eyes scan the room looking for something. I felt my heart give an unwanted flutter; maybe he was looking for someone. And who else would that be but me?

I smugly sat back in my chair as I waited for him to see me. I ran visions through my head of him apologizing to me and accepting our previous relationship once again. He began to walk towards my table. He walked, and walked, and walked right on past.

It took me a moment to fully comprehend what had happened. But when I did I made sure to turn around and see where he did go. He had walked to the back of the room and sat at a table with a pretty brunette. I watched as he whispered into her ear and played with the loose school tie around her neck. As his lips traced her jaw line I forced myself to look away. I didn't care, really I didn't. I rejected him so I should take it as a good sign that he was moving on to someone else. Maybe now we could get back to that previous relationship that I yearned for so much.

My eyes didn't follow my mind as they wandered back over to the couple. They were now completely engrossed in a kiss; so much for that whole not tainting his body thing. God, they were going at it. But I still don't care; I don't feel that for him. He can taint his body as much as he wants, it doesn't bother me. So why do I feel like I want to cry?

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His new girlfriend was a Hufflepuff. Honestly, did he have to take me literally when I told him to go date a nice Hufflepuff? He started sitting with her at all the meals. The whole school was talking about what a cute couple they made, the Slytherin bad boy and the angelic Hufflepuff.

I watched them as they ate dinner; she nibbled on a strawberry while he nibbled on her ear. I unconsciously tugged on one of my short curls as I thought about how much he must really like this girl to be acting this way in front of the entire school.

He still came down every night to the common room and I couldn't bring myself to stay away. I had to see him. One night as we sat in our usual silence I looked over and saw that he was writing her a letter. This was our only time together and he spent it thinking about her? He was probably wishing that she were sitting beside him now instead of a red haired freckled freak.

I was barely eating anymore; I would spend all of my time at meals trying to act as though seeing them together didn't bother me. I would figure out ways to watch him that weren't noticeable. I came to the conclusion that he no longer cared about our relationship and me. The only problem was, that I did.

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The school year ended and everyone was running around the Hogwarts Express with the expected summertime fever. I sat in a compartment by myself and thought about how this summer would go. It would probably be bad since the only letters that I had received from Velena were all about how I had been a disgrace to myself as well as the family.

I quickly grew tired of watching the scenery go by so I left the solitude of my compartment to briefly stretch out my legs. As I walked around the train I saw many people that I didn't want to talk to so I walked a little quicker. I saw the trolley cart lady and a lone customer. My breath caught in my throat as I recognized Draco, this could be my last chance to see him for months.

I walked up behind him and got in line, trying to play it cool and act as though I didn't even notice him. He turned around to leave but stopped when he saw me.

"Did you need something?"

"You know, everything is not about you. I was simply in line to buy a snack." He looked at me skeptically and then turned to leave.

The words last chance, last chance, last chance kept going through my head as he got farther away. I took a breath and called out, "Draco?" He turned and I took my opportunity, "I'm sorry."

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A/N I am in a much better mood now than I was at the beginning of this chapter! Writing is good. Well that was a little bit longer even though not by much! I am trying to make longer chapters though! Well you know the drill, this is the spot where I beg for reviews and you feel sorry for me because I sound so pitiful and you leave a review! Lol! Thank you to those who have reviewed, I can't believe that I have 129!!! That is crazy!

Okay it's question and answer time!!

Ace of Spades- I am planning on revealing who killed Maria, but it will be a few chapters. (And the killer may surprise you!) Oh, and don't worry about missing chapters!

S.e.a- I'm not totally sure what a mary-sue is but I think that it's an original character that the author makes out to be perfect. But again, I'm not really sure, so if anyone knows leave it in a review because I would like to know too!

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Okay now that's done here is my thank you list!!!!!!!!

Zainab, AnGeL*Of*MiNe, Darcel, Lyss, Ace of Spades, Katherine K, k00lgirl1808, Fallen Angel of Darkness, Ginny bug, Veritas Scriptor, ToykoGal89, icefaery, nirvana, firefly of hell, and S.e.a THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!