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 Oh my god, you have no idea how mad I am right now! I had this entire chapter written but I didn't feel like posting because it was like one in the morning and I just wanted to go to sleep. So I saved it to my disk and when I tried to open it today, it wouldn't let me!!! So now I have to write it again, stupid computer. Okay, now that I've taken a few deep breaths and calmed myself down I do have some actual notes. Last chapter I may have confused some people so let me try and clear things up; Remus did not teach at Hogwarts during Virginia's second year, she did not even know of him until the last chapter. I'm so sorry for any confusion that I may have caused and thank you so much to those of you who pointed that out to me!

Chapter Nineteen

Landslide

Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love
Can the child within my heart rise above
Can I sail thru the changing ocean tides
Can I handle the seasons of my life Fleetwood Mac

"Virginia?" Draco snapped his fingers loudly in front of my face and I immediately came out of the trance that I was in. I shook my head and broke the eye connection and I had been holding with Remus. "Are you all right? You look ill."

I smiled at Draco's concern, "I'm fine, I think that I'm just tired." He looked at me skeptically but seemed to accept my answer for now. I knew that I would have to explain things to him later; it bothered Draco to be kept out of the loop of things.

When everyone was dismissed from the feast I sent Draco on ahead of me. Lord knows that was a challenge, I had to argue with him for ten minutes just to get him to leave before me. I told him that I needed to talk to Dumbledore about my current situation with Velena. Again, he didn't believe me, but he still let me off the hook.

I spotted Remus and scowled at him; how dare he surprise me like this. If there is one thing that I hate, it is to be caught off guard. I cannot stand to give other people the upper hand in situation. I have always believed that if you are not prepared for something then they have the ability to do whatever they wish.

"Hello Virginia!" He had that goofy smile of his on, but when he saw my face, that quickly disappeared, "uh, surprise?" He offered meekly.

I shook my head, "yes, I got quite the surprise indeed this evening. I, along with the rest of the students, was trying to get a glimpse of the new professor and who would that new staff member be but the very same person who I spent the last month with! Is there a particular reason that you felt the incessant need to shock me, or was it just for fun?"

He laughed, "Oh lighten up! You were the one that was so adamant on not giving out any specific details on each other's lives so I figured that you didn't really want to know."

I decided to just drop it, it's not like it was that big of a deal anyway. "So, why in the world did you decide to come back to dear old Hogwarts?"

"I'm not really sure. They offered me the job a few months ago, and I didn't really have anything else to do, so here I am."

I was about to ask another question when Dumbledore interrupted our conversation. "Ah, Miss Evansole I see that you are already acquainted with our newest professor." He looked at both of us, "but, if you don't mind my asking, how do the two of you know each other?"

I looked at Remus and allowed him to answer the question. "Pure coincidence Albus."

I attempted to excuse myself from the conversation, talking to Remus in front of the headmaster was not something that interested me. But Dumbledore stopped me, "Actually, Miss Evansole I have some business of my own that I would like to discuss with you."

I quickly scanned the possibilities through my mind and I hoped that this didn't have anything to do with Velena. Wouldn't it be karma if I lied to Draco about discussing my aunt with Dumbledore and I was really forced to? But that wasn't the case; "our school owls were unfortunately unable to reach you this past summer so I had no way to inform you of this before now. You have been chosen by Professor Snape to be one of the fifth year prefects for the Slytherin house, congratulations."

Well, that wasn't what I had expected at all. Remus voiced his praise and I gave a halfhearted thanks. The headmaster then dismissed me to go to my common room and I anxiously headed towards the door; that man made me uneasy for some reason.

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When I got to the Slytherin dungeons I found Draco waiting for me in our usual spot. I sat down in my chair and we talked casually, waiting everyone else to retire to their rooms. However, since it was the first night back most of the students were too busy getting reacquainted with their friends to care about sleep.

Technically, it was the prefect's responsibility to make everyone go to their rooms as soon as the feast was over, but we're Slytherins; what do we care about the rules? So Draco and I discussed unimportant things and we each silently tallied up a list of questions to ask the other when we were alone.

As we sat there waiting for the opportunity to hold a more private conversation someone plopped themselves down in between our two armchairs. I looked down and saw a little girl with long brown hair staring back up at me. She had to have been a first year because I didn't recognize her.

"Hello!" She greeted cheerfully.

"Did you want something?" I asked with perhaps a little more venom than necessary, but I didn't really feel like playing the role of baby-sitter.

She, however, seemed unfazed by my icy posterior. "My name's Sally, what's yours?"

I glanced at Draco for help but he seemed too amused by the whole thing to care. "Virginia."

"I like your hair." And she proceeded to show me just how much by playing with it. I jerked my head away and contemplated cutting my hair off again.

"Is there a particular reason that you are here? If not then I suggest that you leave, we are having a private conversation."

She smiled at me, "you're a prefect right?" I nodded. "Well then you have to talk to me."

"And how do you figure that?"

"Because they told us that if we ever wanted to talk to anyone then all of the prefects were always available. So if you don't talk to me then I'll tell Professor Snape and then you'll get in trouble." Manipulating, no wonder she was placed in Slytherin.

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Throughout the next few weeks Sally took extreme advantage of the whole prefect thing. The girl followed me around like a lost little puppy dog. For once in my life I was thankful for my classes because she couldn't tag along.

I actually attempted to be nice to the girl; she's eleven and I didn't want to be that person that she grew up resenting. But I have a very low tolerance of things such as children and she seemed to try what little patience I had at every opportunity.

One morning I was eating breakfast and she carelessly flung her cereal into my freshly washed hair. I went to the bathroom and she tried to follow, insisting that she could help. She broke into my room and tried on few clothes that I had since I left Velena's; she made them disappear when she attempted to use her wand to shrink them to her size.

But the final straw snapped a few days after that occurrence. The rest of the Slytherin students had finally gotten tired of the thrill of staying up all night and went to bed at a reasonable hour. This gave Draco and I the time alone that we had been longing for.

I moved from my chair and slid into Draco's, which put our bodies extremely close. "So, Mr. Malfoy," I teased, "it seems that everyone else has gone to bed, now whatever will we do all by ourselves in this empty common room?"

He pulled me closer to him, "oh, I think that I can come up with something." I laughed flirtatiously as he covered my mouth with his own. I deepened the kiss and sat so I was straddling his waist.

I moaned as he caressed my back with his hands. He freed one hand and slowly slipped in under my skirt. I continued to kiss him harder and felt my need to be close to him rising. His hand continued to creep up my thigh, higher and higher and…

"Gross, you guys are disgusting!" We tried to compose ourselves as Sally entered the room.

Draco was breathing heavily and he gritted his teeth together. "Sally, was there something that you needed?" He asked attempting to control his anger.

She just stood there innocently, "well I did just want a glass of water, but I think that it's best if I keep an eye on the two of you." She then scooted herself in between us and began to talk about her first few weeks at Hogwarts. I looked desperately at Draco and he returned my stare, but what could we do force a little kid to leave the room so we could make out in private? She would probably tell Snape or one of the other teachers. It was then that I decided that I was through with trying to be nice to her, this girl was going down.

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First of all it should be made clear that I am nobody's role model. My own life is such an utter mess that it completely baffled me as to why she would even want to be like me. Try as I may though, I couldn't stop what was going on in her head. I was mean, conniving, callous, and everything else that I could think of to get the foolish girl to realize that she did not want to be like me.

Just when I thought that I might have been making some improvements on her she went and proved me wrong by magically cutting her hair to be a few inches below the shoulders like my own. Draco found it hilarious. The boy that never laughs cracked up for a week straight. He found the idea of this eleven-year-old girl trailing after me and copying my every move to be, and I quote, "a humorous twist of fate."

One day after Defense I was in no hurry to leave the classroom so I stayed behind and helped Remus put away materials.

"So Virginia, I noticed that you gained a shadow," he said while laughing.

"Well I'm glad that everyone else finds this so funny. That is my purpose in life after all, to provide humor."

"My, she must really be getting to you if she has you being sarcastic; normally you prefer to be cruel straight out."

I glared, "well you never know when the person that you are insulting might be dense. I just like to make sure that they know that I am attacking their dignity." I sighed, "I don't know what to do about her. I have tried everything and yet she refuses to leave me alone, the child is relentless."

"Virginia has it ever occurred to you that perhaps she is just looking for a little guidance. She may not have the best home life so it would only be natural for her to look up to an older student. She chose you and it is your responsibility to take care of her fragile feelings. I know that you are tough, you have to be, but it is not your job to break the girl. Do not make her childhood a living hell just because yours was."

"She is not my responsibility. I am not going to tiptoe around her feelings just because she has nothing better to do than follow me around! I am not a role model; do not force me to be one. If you are so concerned about her, then why don't you take her under your wing?"

He sighed and rubbed his eyes, "I want to show you something." He walked over to his desk and rummaged through a stack of papers before pulling out one. He handed it to me; "I asked my first years to write a paper on themselves, this is what Sally turned in.

There is not really much interest in my life. I have a father and we live together, but I rarely see him. He works at the ministry and he is there most of the time. He says that he works so that I can have a good life, but I know the real reason. He works because he cannot stand the sight of me. Ever since my mother died two years ago he has seemed to hate me. I don't really blame him though, she died because of me.

My mother was the most beautiful woman in the world. She had the prettiest red hair and chocolate colored eyes. I wish that I had her hair color, but I'm stuck with brown. I miss her a lot. I miss everything about her, but most of all I miss how she would always sing to me before I went to sleep, I would give anything to hear her voice again.

I handed the paper back to him. Damn. How could I be so cruel to the girl now? She was going through the exact same thing that I went through all those years ago.

Remus cleared his throat. "A red head with brown eyes, sounds familiar." I looked at him with a sad expression that didn't seem to belong on my normally impassive face. "Perhaps now you know why Sally, as you put it, refuses to leave you alone."

I nodded dumbly and prepared to leave for the Slytherin rooms; but there was still one thing that was plaguing me. "Remus, what is Sally's last name?"

"Never bothered to learn Virginia?"

"Can you please stop with the guilt trip and just tell me."

"Fudge. Her name is Sally Fudge." She was the Minister of Magic's daughter, and with the way that man was it wasn't hard for me to believe that she was ignored at home.

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A/N So what does everybody think of Sally? I know that I am introducing a lot of new characters at once but each serves an important purpose. Thank you so much to all of you who answered my opinion question at the end of the last chapter, I was astonished at how many of you told me what you thought! I am not going to make my decision until at least the next chapter so if any of you are really want your choice to be picked there is still time to make your arguments known! Thank you for reading and remember, a review a day will keep Voldemort away! (I have too much time on my hands, lol!)

Dassa Mudruffin- I'm glad that you like Remus! I completely agree with you that Remus and Sirius are two of the best people in the books. Whenever I read them I find myself wishing for more interaction with those two characters! Thank you for your review!

Nirvana- I hope that you know that I wrote the Draco/Ginny scene specifically for you, so feel special! Lol! I agree with you on Tom having the much better looks, but Voldemort is just all around evil. I don't know, I enjoy them both as characters so I'm having a tough time deciding which to choose. Thanks for reviewing!

Crystal- I agree, Remus is much better for her than Maria. I'm trying extremely hard to have subtle differences between the two characters. And if you are really bored go back and read the Maria chapter (I think that it's chapter nine or ten) and you can make an author very happy by letting me know if you spot similarities and differences between Maria and Remus. Because I have another Maria bomb coming sometime soon and it would help me out to know what a reader notices about the two people. Thanks for reviewing and I would love you forever if you did that for me!

RonandHerm4eva- Wow, thank you so much! I'm honored that I am the only Draco/Ginny person on your favorites list. I am a H/G shipper also but I can't help but write about the sheer darkness that is Draco. You should come over to the dark side, lol! There are a lot of excellent D/G stories out there, don't be afraid to try some out. Thank you again for all of the wonderful compliments that you gave me and I agree that Lucius and Velena should be together, they are both pretty ruthless. I'll try to get some interaction with Harry and her brothers in soon and thank you for reviewing!

AnGeL*Of*MiNe- I'm glad that you like Remus! I was nervous about putting him in the story out of the blue because I figured that people would be like what is she trying to do! But it went over well! Thank you for reviewing!

Nalia- Happy belated birthday!! I'm really sorry for the confusion that I created with Remus. Sometimes I do things in my writing that I make sense in my mind but I forget that I leave out important things for the readers, such as that. And don't worry, if I do use Tom it will be nothing like the original Chamber of Secrets. And of course Harry can't save her, as if Virginia would even allow him to do so, lol! Thanks for reviewing and I didn't even know that you wrote, I'll try and read your story as soon as I have time, I'm sure that it's good! Thanks for reviewing.

Rogue- Thank you! I'm glad that you found it touching, I tried to put some heart into that chapter! Thank you so much for the review and I'm glad that you like the story!

bookwormHP- Ha, I have to agree with you that Remus is one of the best characters! Thank you for all of your wonderful compliments as well as your review! And I'm glad that you could find comfort in Remus while waiting for an update, lol!

Aims80- I really enjoy AU stories also and I'm glad that you like mine! I agree with you on Tom being really cute! That is one of the main reasons that I am so tempted to put him in the story, lol! Thanks for reviewing!

Marchione- Thank you for pointing out the Remus confusion to me! I'm sorry that I forgot to clear that up, but hopefully it's not so puzzling now. So, you want Voldemort? I like him a lot too, he is just so evil *gets a chill*! And, god I know!! I confuse myself when I'm writing this AU, so do not even feel alone if you're confused. I didn't even write those years in, but I'm just going to say that…yes he came back, but remember that in the book no one believed Harry so that's why it's not a big deal. Thank you so much for your review and pointing that stuff out to me!

Ace Of Spades- I'm glad that you like Remus! I agree with all of your opinions on him, I really enjoy him as a character. And if I picked Tom I am either going to write the Chamber of Secrets in but have it be very different than the book; or think of another way to write him in. But I'm not feeling very creative on that, any suggestions? Hope you get better soon and to answer your other questions, I'm seventeen now and I didn't really get anything significant for my birthday, just lots of clothes (which is all that I wanted anyway!) Thanks for reviewing!

BlackMage- I'm glad that you enjoy the new edition to the story! Thank you so much for reviewing and I hope that you liked the latest chapter!

Kryptonite- Ha, that is the whole reason that I wanted to write an AU story so much; so I could put the characters in whatever situation that I wanted! I think that Rowling would have a heart attack is she saw what I was doing to her poor little characters, lol! Thank you for reviewing!

ER- Thank you so much for your suggestion! So, you think that Riddle should kidnap Virginia and force her to be his bride? Hasn't the poor girl been through enough (and to answer my own question, NO!), lol! Pay no attention to me I have mental problems, jk! Thanks for reviewing and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter!

S.e.a- I'm in the Eastern time zone in the United States so I don't know if that's what you thought or not. Thank you for all of your reviews and you're little "fight" with Nalia had me cracking up! Tell your mad mate that I said hi and I agree with you, Evanescence does rock!

k00lgirl1808- Yeah, I agree with you, putting the diary in the story would give me a lot of options with the story. Thank you for your review and suggestion, I really appreciate it!

swt-angel-babi3- I know, I have the worst habit of writing in things that do not even fit in with the way that the story is going. Oh well, I love twists and turns in stories, so hopefully you do too! Thank you for reviewing and I'm glad that you liked the chapter!

Katherine K- Well, it is hard to say no to the puppy dog eyes, and believe me you have no idea how tempted I am to make the story into a G/R, but I'm afraid that I would be burned at the stake by the Draco fans, lol! I enjoy Ginny and Remus pairings and I would love to see them together, but unfortunately it doesn't fit with the story flow. But I think that I might write a G/L when this story is done, is that good enough? Thank you for reviewing!

fantasy angel- Thank you so much for your review and I'm glad that you like the story!

Frananddragon- Thank you!! I am really happy that my Remus thing went over well! I tried really hard to write him in as someone who gave Virginia exactly what she needed without her even noticing. Thanks for reviewing!

Writing*-*Wonder- I'm really glad that you are enjoying the story and thanks so much for taking the time to review!

Spunx182- Crap, I completely forgot to e-mail that story to you. *slaps self on across the forehead* I'll e-mail you as soon as I can to see if you still want it. Sorry again and I'm glad that you like the story!

Zainab- I'm glad that BlackSparkles has left you alone! I don't remember if I reviewed your new chapter or not…hmm, well if I haven't then I'll get to it, asap. Thanks for reviewing and thanks for leaving your suggestion!

Scarlett- Thank you so much! I'm really glad that you like that story and I appreciate that you said that the characters are well-evolved, that is something that I try really hard for! Thank you for reviewing!

Nicki- I'm really glad that you are enjoying this story even though it isn't about the paring of your choice. It makes me feel really good when people like my story that aren't into the main characters so thank you so much! Also, thank your friend for me for recommending the story! Hope that you liked the latest chapter!

Fallen Angel of Darkness- When I said that he could hold his own in a conversation I just meant that he is has good speaking skills. Because you know how some people talk to you but they just kind of nod their head and don't really have anything to say. Thank you for your review and I'm sooo sorry, I've been a bad beta lately!! But I did read your new chapter and I loved it! Thanks for reviewing!

Lyss- Thank you so much for the compliment on the chapter! I'm glad that you liked Remus and I hope that the teaching thing wasn't confusing. And I agree with you on Tom being handsome and Voldemort being…not, lol! Thanks for reviewing!

Dang, my fingers hurt from typing so much, lol! Oh and I am going to do some shameless promoting for a friend of mine! All of you who wanted the Tom and Ginny interaction, you should go check out The Snake and the Unicorn, it is an awesome story!! Go read it and leave a review!