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 One thing that was brought to my attention last chapter was the fact that I used the term "make out" instead of "snog." I am not British (obviously) and I know that most authors still try and use the British terms but I don't want to slaughter your language so I'm just going to just stay away from them. I will, however, make a conscious effort to not use American slang. Sorry if this annoys anyone. Thank you to those who pointed it out to me though!
Chapter Twenty
When Doves Cry
How can you just leave me standing
Alone in a world that's so cold
Maybe I'm just too demanding
Maybe I'm just like my father, too bold Prince
After I had learned of Sally's ill past I made an effort to be nice, but that didn't work out too well. First of all, I am not a nice person by nature. I worked hard to earn my ice queen reputation and I would be damned if I was going to let a first year break it.
Second of all, she did not want to be babied. She was a vicious little thing; one time I sat by her in the common room and asked her how her day went and she looked at me and said, "What the hell is your problem?" So I backed off and as soon as I did Remus scolded me for hours. After a few weeks of that I was, to say the least, extremely irritated.
I didn't understand why it was my responsibility to hold her hand through Hogwarts. I got to the point where it was just like, so what if her mother died? I could name you at least eight other people who lost both of their parents, myself included, and we do not expect others to tiptoe around our psychological problems. She's a Slytherin, and as far as I'm concerned, if she can't hack it, then she is in the wrong house.
I felt something sharp hit me in the side as I was attempting to eat my dinner. I looked over to the source of the pain and saw Sally sitting there with her elbow jammed into one of my ribs. I took several deep breaths to calm down my growing anger with the girl. Once I get in a bad mood I am not a good person to mess with; everything seems to just make me angry.
Remus caught my eye from the head table and gave me a warning glance once he saw my aggravated expression. He was beginning to get on my nerves by the way that he kept pushing me towards Sally; I didn't want to become her mother figure, couldn't he see that? I told Draco that I was no longer hungry and he left the Great Hall with me.
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My newfound joy in my classes becoming an escape soon faded as they drifted into the usual bore that they always were. Even Remus's class, wasn't a challenge for me; but that was based on my classmates sheer stupidity.
I rolled my eyes while sitting in Transfiguration; the other students in my class were having extreme difficulty with turning a flower into a bug. I yawned and quickly turned my flower into a ladybug five times in succession. McGonagall gave me a hard look, she hated that everything came to me so easily. She was one of those teachers that actually enjoyed her students being mindless because it gave her an extreme feeling of intellectual superiority. I raised my eyebrows in challenge and she quickly moved on to a Gryffindor whose flower had grown teeth and was trying to attack him.
I tapped my fingers against the desk in impatience and took pleasure in the irritated glances that I was receiving from those sitting close to me. Suddenly the door to the classroom flew open and five men stalked in dressed in all black; they looked like Snape wannabes.
Professor McGonagall gave an angry look, "What is the meaning of this?"
"We need to speak to a Miss Virginia Evansole, we're from the ministry." They flashed their credentials around and a smug look appeared on the teacher's face.
"Of course, she is right over there." She pointed to my desk and looked positively delighted that I had done something wrong. They came over to my seat and I gave them my best intimidating look before gathering up my things and leaving the room with them. I was tired of that class anyway.
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We walked in silence and ended up in an empty classroom that they had magically remolded to look more like an interrogation room.
One of them gestured to an empty chair, "Take a seat." I glared at him but did as I was told.
I am not one to be ordered around, so I had to send some sort of comment his way.
"You know, I just want to thank you for barging right into the middle of my class like that. Because, there aren't enough rumors about me going around this school, I need people to think that I'm some sort of criminal as well." They looked mildly surprised as the bitter sarcasm dripped off of my voice.
But the designated leader quickly composed himself. "I can assure you, Miss Evansole, that you are not in any sort of trouble. We just wanted to ask you a few questions."
I gave him a bored look, "can you please just get on with it then?"
"Don't get smart with me young lady, while you are not in trouble, you are still in no position to speak to me that way." He then put the fake friendly look back on his face that was supposed to put me at ease. "Can you please tell us all that you can about your aunt, Velena Evansole?"
I held back a laugh, were these people serious? They really thought that they could just pull me out of a class ask me one question and I would just spill everything on my aunt. The hiring standards at the ministry must be getting pretty low.
"I don't really know my aunt very well, we aren't close." It wasn't a lie, Velena has many secrets that I don't know of and we aren't close.
"You live with her, surely you know some things."
"I don't live with her." The agent turned and glared at the man behind him, obviously the person that was supposed to gather background information on me.
"Then where do you live?" I shrugged and answered nowhere. "All right then Virginia, may I call you Virginia?" I nodded. "You used to live with Velena, correct?" I nodded again. "So you must know some things. Just tell me anything about your aunt; even if you think that it's useless information."
I pretended to ponder the question for a few minutes, "well, let me see. She has long red hair, about the same color as mine…she has blue eyes, not so much like mine because mine are brown…she's kind of tall, I guess."
He held up a hand to signal me to stop. "Not that kind of information. We need to know what she does during the day, where does she go, what does she do, who does she talk to?"
I giggled, "I don't know those things." The agent let out a growl, as he knew that I was playing with him.
He walked away from the table and grabbed a manila folder. He yanked out a photograph and slammed it down in front of me, "recognize her?"
I stared down at Maria's hard expression for a minute before turning the picture on it's back so I wouldn't have to look at it. "She was our neighbor."
"And do you know what happened to her?"
I shrugged my shoulders, "I don't know, maybe she moved away."
His face was flushed with anger and his voice rose to a shouting level, "your aunt killed her!"
I kept my cool composure as he fumed beside me, "what proof do you have of that? We didn't even know that woman."
He grabbed the chair beside him and roughly sat down beside me, "listen to me child, you do not know whom you are messing with. We know all about your relationship to Maria and if you don't testify against Velena I'll send you to Azkaban as her murderer."
He waited for the intimidated look to cross my face but it never came, he didn't faze me. "If you even attempt to frame me for her death I'll blow your entire department out of the water." I rose to my feet so I could look down on the man, he was insignificant to me and I wanted to make sure the he knew it. "I'm sure that it is highly illegal to use a child as an informant against her will and knowledge. I know about your little plan that you set into play all those years ago and if you try anything I'll run to the first newspaper that I can find and tell them how I was the helpless victim in an evil ministry scheme; they'll eat it up."
He started to retaliate but the door slammed open and an extremely angry Draco Malfoy stood on the other side of it. Draco marched into the room and placed himself right in front of the man who had been questioning me. "What the hell is the meaning of this? I demand that you release her at once or I will make sure that you are never able to find work again."
The agent was visibly frightened of Draco's wrath but tried desperately to hide it. "Mr. Malfoy I do not believe that you are any position to threaten me and I am free to question Miss Evansole if I please."
"My father is on the Board of Governors and if I tell him how you have been harassing Virginia he will have your job as well as the jobs of every man in here."
The agent gave one final glare and slipped a card into my hand that had contact information on it. "You may leave Miss Evansole but if you remember anything at all be sure to find me."
Once we were well past the room and heading towards the dungeons Draco pulled me beside him and began his own line of questioning. "Why did they want to talk to you?"
"It was nothing, just some questions about Velena and the Evansole family; I told them nothing."
His eyes narrowed, "did they threaten you at all?"
I shrugged nonchalantly, "only with Azkaban." He wasn't sure if I was kidding or not so Draco just let it go. He asked a few more things and once he was satisfied we continued to the Slytherin room and parted ways; I had a lot to think about.
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The weeks progressed and things in my life only became weirder. Sally was now avoiding me and whenever I would seek her out she would act as though it pained her to talk to me. I was going to tell Remus about it but he seemed to having his own problems. For about a week he was so tired that most of the time that he looked like the living dead and on more than one occasion I caught him down in the dungeons; someplace that he normally avoids at all costs.
Professor McGonagall seemed to have the idea in her mind that I was some sort of fugitive and forced me to go to the headmaster's office when I attempted to enter her classroom the day after my questioning. Dumbledore gave me the usual pep talk and reminded me that I could come to him with any of my problems; he said that his door was always open. I sat there for a while and pretended that his speech was really affecting me but when the man offered me a lemon drop I couldn't take it anymore.
I was beginning to believe that everyone in Hogwarts had gone completely mad and found myself longing for the upcoming Christmas break. That was until I realized that I had nowhere to go. Remus would be here, and like I said, he didn't seem like very enticing company at the moment. I supposed that I could have gone to Draco's but I didn't like the idea of being around Lucius, he would be sure to let Velena know where I was. So it looked as though I would be stuck at Hogwarts, what a depressing holiday.
When I realized this information I was sitting with Draco in the library. I didn't have any homework to do but he was rapidly writing a research paper for Potions. It made me angry that people assumed that he got off easy just because Snape liked him. If anything he had to work twice as hard because Snape had spotted his potential early on.
I sighed with boredom and looked around the library. My gaze stopped when I saw Ron enter alone. There was another strange occurrence to add to the ever-growing tally; the dream team separated.
He walked over to our table and Draco's head snapped up, his Potions paper was forgotten. "What do you want Weasley, begging for scraps?"
Ron's ears turned red, "I'm not here to talk to you Malfoy so why don't you just shut your mouth."
Draco was ready to come back with another poverty joke but I cut him off. "So if you are not here to speak with Draco I assume that you wanted to talk to me." He nodded and I gestured for him to take seat. Draco gave a growl but resumed with his essay.
Ron looked amused, "whipped much Malfoy?"
Draco glared and I saw his hand heading for his wand. I quickly covered the roaming hand with my own and gave Ron a hard look, "you said that you wanted to talk to me and not Draco so I suggest that you state your business or I'll let him go at you."
Ron paled slightly under Draco's menacing gaze and turned his attention back to me. "Here's the thing, Charlie and Bill have been trying to write you for months but for some reason the owls keep returning to them instead of delivering the letters to you. So they asked me to bring you the message in person." I nodded for him to continue and made sure that I was squeezing Draco's hand to keep him from doing anything rash. "They want you to come to The Burrow for the holidays. We're all going to be there along with Harry, Hermione, and Percy's girlfriend."
Draco bit back a laugh and I kicked him under the table before smiling at Ron, "I'd love to come."
He seemed surprised by my acceptance, "uh, all right then. Meet up with us on the Hogwarts Express sometime before it gets to the station then." Ron then left the library and Draco pulled his hand from my firms grasp while rubbing his shin with the other one.
"What was that all about?"
"What was what all about dear?" I smiled sweetly as I knew that he hated being answered with a return question.
"What on earth possessed you to accept an invitation to a Weasley family Christmas?"
"It's not like I had anywhere else to go."
"I thought that you were coming to the Manor."
"Well you never really invited me to go so I assumed that you didn't really want me there." He began to pout and I rolled my eyes. "Fine, I'll come to your house the day after Christmas and spend the last two weeks with you." A triumphant look came across his face and I had to laugh; he was always so smug when he got his way. I leaned back in my chair and saw the upcoming holidays in a new light; perhaps this break wouldn't be as boring as I had thought.
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A/N For all of you that have been craving some Weasley action you are going to get a lot of it next chapter. I realized that I've been neglecting some of the members of that family so I feel obligated to give them some story time. Also for all of you that have been wanting more *ahem* action between Draco and Virginia you'll be receiving that next chapter as well. And the return of Velena!!! Come on, you know that you missed her…or maybe not; either way you're going to get her! Please review and make an author happy!
Spunx182- Sorry that I never e-mailed the chapters to you but I am the most absent-minded person in the world! I forget things two seconds after I hear them! Thank you for reviewing and I hope that ff.net is working better for you!
Icefaery- I'm glad that you like Sally! And don't worry, she serves a purpose, I just haven't gotten to it yet! Thank you for reviewing!
Nirvana- How about I give you a hatchet or something and you can protect Ginny and Draco when they are trying to have a moment? Lol, glad that you enjoyed the section that I wrote for you last chapter and I'll try to get some next chapter! And I agree with your statement about Sally, she'll learn her lesson one day! Thanks for reviewing!
Darcel- Thank you for reviewing! So, you want Tom? I have a lot of Tom requests and I have two separate story lines set out in my mind; one for Tom and one for Voldemort. But you'll find out soon who won the miniature battle for story time! Also I'm flattered that you posted my story on your site! I went to it and checked out some of the other AU fics and they were really good; I always have a hard time finding those type of stories so I really like your website!
Lyss- I'm really glad that you like Sally! I'm always nervous when I add original characters because I feel like I'm going out of my safety net. Also thank you so much for your Tom suggestion! I have had a lot of people ask for a different storyline than the Chamber of Secrets, but no one has offered any ideas for it! And being that I have been at a blank for that idea for a while I really appreciate having people toss up stuff for me. I'll think about what you said and thanks for reviewing!
BlackMage- I hope that you know that I have been yelling at myself for the last three days to get this done so that my reviewer could have it before Wednesday. I'm so jealous that you get to go to France; it's really beautiful! (Although it is a long plane ride from dear old America!) Have fun and be sure to tell me all about your trip when you get back! Thanks for reviewing!
fantasy angel- I'm glad that you think that this story is interesting! Thank you so much for reviewing and I hope that you liked this chapter!
Kryptonite- Oh, but what fun would it be if I had boundaries set? *pouts* I'm an evil author, if I don't torture my characters I go through withdrawal! Lol! There wasn't too much Sally annoyance in this chapter so hopefully she didn't get on your nerves! Thanks for reviewing!
Eclipse- Really good question, but come on, do you really think that I'm going to answer? Hmm, I suppose that Sally is going to soften Virginia in some ways, but she is also going to make her harder. Guess, you'll just have to wait and see! Thanks for reviewing!
k00lgirl1808- Thank you very much for your review! I'm glad that you think that Sally reflects Ginny, that was a good observation! I try to get my characters to bring out points in each other so I'm glad that you saw that demonstration!
Marchione- I'm glad that you like Sally and I agree about Virginia needing someone to kind of bring her down to earth a little bit! And of course we aren't done with Velena! I've actually missed her and I'm excited about the upcoming Velena parts, and oh yes there will be big ones! Thanks for reviewing!
Frananddragon- I'm glad that you like Sally and I agree with you, she would get on my nerves after a while too! And I completely agree with you on the Fudge thing, I always thought that he seemed like an ignorant fool so when I needed a bad parent; he was the first to come to mind! Thank you for your review as well as your reasoning for having Riddle, you have some really good arguments!
Ace of Spades- So how was your prom? Mine was like a month ago and I actually didn't even have that much fun. I was on Prom Committee so I was up until almost three in the morning the night before finishing up decorations and by the time that Prom came I was sick of it already, lol. I've been thinking a lot about the Tom/Voldemort thing and I've made my choice and I think that it's pretty original, but maybe not. Anyway, thanks for reviewing and I hope that you had more fun at your Prom then I did at mine!
Fallen Angel of Darkness- Thank you so much for all of the tips and opinions that you left it really means a lot to me that you took your time to do all of that! I think that I answered most of your questions in the review that I left back to you. The opinion question was would you rather have Tom or Voldemort in the story and I had that at the end of chapter eighteen, I think. Thanks again for your review and no problem about promoting your story!
Crystal- Take your time on reading those chapters, I really appreciate it! Thank you so much for your review and I hope that you liked this chapter!
Caffeine- Thank you so much for your review as well as all the wonderful compliments! You know what, I actually forgot about Blaise; you're the first person to catch that! Hmm, since you pointed it out to me what do you think, should I bring him back into the story or leave him alone? Rambling is one of my favorite pastimes so feel free to do so! Thanks again for the review!
Lily of the Shadow- Thank you for reviewing my story! I'm glad that you enjoy twists and turns because I seem to have a lot of them!
Auri- Wow, thank you so much for all of your reviews! I really appreciate that you told me what you thought of each chapter! And of course Velena is stirring something, she wouldn't be herself if she wasn't, lol! Thank you again for all of your reviews and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!
Writing*-*Wonder- I'm glad that you like this story and thank you so much for adding it to your favorites list! Thanks for reviewing!
ToykoGal89- I'm glad that you've warmed up to Sally! So, you don't want her to die? I do have a sort of habit of killing off new characters, don't I, lol! I'll try to keep her around and thanks for reviewing!
Tabbycat2000- Thank you so much for reviewing and I'm glad that you like the story!
Angel Black- I'm glad that you like Sally! I agree with you, she could be a good tool to bring Virginia back to humanity. Now whether or not I'm going to use her as that tool is the question, lol! Thank you for reviewing!
AnGeL*Of*MiNe- So, Sally is really annoying but in a good way? Glad that you think that! Thanks for reviewing and I hope that you liked this chapter!
S.e.a- No problem about reviewing and I'll be sure to check out your new chapter as soon as I can! Thanks for explaining what November the fifth is and if you do want to know anything about Thanksgiving or July 4th, then I'm your girl to ask! I'm glad that you liked the chapters and be sure to tell Nalia hi for me! Thanks for reviewing!
Thank you guys all so much, I have over three hundred reviews now and I appreciate each and every one of them!!!