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 SCHOOL IS OVER FOR THIS YEAR!!! I am so happy right now that it is not even funny! This means that I am going to have hours each day to write and believe I have plans. Some people have been asking how much longer I plan for this story to be but I really don't know. I have from here to the ending vaguely planned in my head and if I had to make an educated guess I'm going to say probably five or six more chapters. Wow, it's getting close! My review thing is still messed up, I'm not sure if it's ff.net or my computer but the only way that I can read my reviews is to go to my e-mail and get them that way. So hopefully I'm receiving all of them but I don't know.
A/N 2- Okay some people wanted to know what Virginia said in Spanish in the last chapter. Here is what she was supposed to be saying but my Spanish is not that great so I know that it probably wasn't completely right.
Truly it was eight when I perfected the language, I began to learn it at six. I also know French, German, Dutch, and Italian so do not insult my intelligence by suggesting that I was not able to learn a language as a child because I learned five.
Chapter Twenty-two
Rise and Fall
I always said that I was gonna make it,
Now it's plain for everyone to see,
But this game I'm in don't take no prisoners,
Just casualties Craig David
The next morning I left the simple life at the Weasley household and went back to the harsh reality that waited for me at Malfoy Manner. I was anxious to see Draco but I couldn't rid myself of the sinking feeling in my stomach that warned me of Velena.
I could hear Draco's voice in my head telling me that Velena and Lucius had a close alliance; there was no way that he would allow me to stay in their home in secret. I stood in the Malfoy's fireplace for several minutes contemplating the idea of simply flooing back to The Burrow and sending Draco an owl.
"Virginia, what pleasant surprise to see you in my home of all places. I was beginning to think that you had went to live with the muggles."
"Hello Lucius." I greeted him coldly as my thoughts of escape flew out the window.
"You know you aunt is quite anxious to see you, she has been rather worried about you lately."
Yeah, I was sure that she was very worried about me worried that I would spoil the Evansole name perhaps.
"Well, come out of the fireplace Virginia; you know that you are always welcome here." Our conversation would have seemed somewhat pleasant to an outsider who didn't know the hidden meanings behind every word that was said. Lucius was very much aware that I knew what he meant by "you are always welcome here." He might as well have told me that as soon as he had a moment he was going to inform Velena of my whereabouts; I was welcome to stay because while I was here they could keep tabs on me. I knew that it was a mistake coming here.
But I was trapped now so I came out of the fireplace and retreated to Draco's room where I knew that he spent most of his time. Quality family time is not something that you find at the Malfoy Manner. The three members of the family spend most of their time separated and when they are together it became a contest of sorts for them to attempt to manipulate and outsmart the others.
I slipped into his room and saw him reading in an armchair. I smiled and quietly crept across the room before sliding right into his lap. "Hey handsome," I greeted while laughing at his expression.
"Hello beautiful," he returned with a kiss. He looked me over as best he could since I was sitting on him, "well, it looks like your still in one piece so I suppose that I don't have to make any visits to any of the Weasleys."
I laughed, "Yeah, I'm sure that you could take them all." He scowled and I gave his arm a playful squeeze, "whew, look at those guns!"
He attempted to stay angry but soon returned my smile. "What happened to you over the past few weeks, I don't think that I've ever seen you like this."
"I don't know what happened. When I was there with all of these people who lead normal lives it was just like I became the carefree teenager that I should be. For once in my life I feel happy." My smile soon faltered though, "but I'm sure that I'll be getting a harsh reminder of who I am shortly, I had a run in with your father. He found me in the fireplace when I arrived, it was as if he was expecting me or something."
Draco looked concerned, "I didn't tell him that you were coming. You told me before that you thought that Velena had some sort of tracking system on you or people always watching you; maybe she told him when you arrived."
"I don't know. Draco I don't want to see her. My Christmas has been going so good and all she'll do is ruin it. I'm worried that something big is coming; she's left me alone for months, as if she doesn't care where I am or what I'm doing. I know how she is, she's planning something. I ran away and embarrassed her as well as the Evansole name and it's not likely that she is going to just forget something like that. She's luring me into a false sense of security and when she feels that I least expect it, she's going to strike."
He rubbed my back in a soothing way, "so prepare. Don't allow her to catch you off guard. You are a Slytherin, be cunning and find out what she's planning and when she goes to execute it make your counter-attack. Beat her at her own game and be rid of her."
I nodded and I knew that he was right. I had to stop living in the fantasy world that I had been in the past few weeks and get ready to go at Velena with everything that I had. She killed my parents and I would take her down by any means necessary. But I still had some reservations about my boyfriend. "And where will you be when this 'battle' between my aunt and I happens?"
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean Draco is that when it comes down to the wire where do your loyalties lie? You know that your father has an alliance with Velena and you know that if she asks him to he will fight with her. If you have to choose will you be willing to fight against your own father, will you be willing to use any means necessary to make sure that Velena gets what is coming to her?"
He closed his eyes as he knew that he was going to loose something no matter which way he went. He sighed deeply and looked me in the eye, "if I am forced to make a choice I will go against Lucius if necessary. We made a pact a long time ago Virginia and I do not intend of breaking it."
I smiled and remembered our promise. We looked at each other and repeated our pact together, "responsibilities and family ties may be broken but in the end, it's only me and you." We made that two years ago when we decided that a full allegiance to each other was essential to our survival.
"So, what do you think is going on?" I asked Draco. "What do you think that she's planning?"
He sighed, "I don't know. Velena is clever and she should not be underestimated but I think that she depends on her alliances to get anything done. My father has given her many favors and I know that she has a specific group of men that she manipulates and uses to her advantage whenever she feels like it."
"Her specific group of men, would I know any of them?"
He shrugged, "perhaps. If she was going to send anyone after you if would probably be a person that she thinks that you have never seen before so we can rule out Lucius and any man that she has specifically introduced you to."
"But are we sure that she is going to send someone after me? I have a feeling that her hatred for me is the same that she felt for my mother. If she went after my mother alone then what's to say that she will not do the same with me?"
"Yes, but I'm not entirely sure that Velena killed your mother. I have my suspicions but I told you that out of anger. But even if she didn't carry out the order herself that's not to say that she didn't have someone else do it for her." I nodded and we dropped the unpleasant conversation for a bit and we each simply got lost in our thoughts until there was a sharp knock at the door.
We both stood up and looked at the door suspiciously; every servant in the house had specific orders to not disturb Draco under any circumstances. As Draco walked towards the door to open it the person behind it decided to accomplish that task themselves.
Lucius causally strolled into the room and Draco positioned himself in front of me. "Did you need something father?"
Lucius looked around the room with extreme interest. "Draco, I do believe that it is high time for this room to be redecorated. Why if your mother saw it she would be simply appalled, everything in here is at least five years out of date."
Draco turned to me and shot me a confused look before returning the mask of impassiveness that all Malfoys are supposed to have. "Thank you for your advice father, good day."
Lucius chose to ignore Draco's send-off. "Draco, why on earth are you blocking Virginia from my vision, move aside." Draco did as he was told and I suddenly felt naked under the incriminating eye of Lucius Malfoy. He walked up to me and placed a finger under my chin tilting it up to be at a better angle to his own face, "after all," Lucius continued, "a delicate flower such as Virginia is far too beautiful to be hidden in the shadows."
I wanted to jerk my head away from him but I refused to show fear. I heard Draco growl in anger beside of me. Lucius dropped my chin and turned to his son with a cruel smile, "possessive are we Draco? Did I not teach you that it is only polite to share your toys?"
"Too bad for you she is not a toy. Is that all father or did you need something else?"
Lucius continued to smile as if he had gone insane, "no that is all…for now anyway." He left the room just as he had come and we were left to ponder just what the hell all of that had meant.
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Later that night I was lying awake in Draco's spare bed when I heard the door the joined his two bedrooms open. I sat up and made out Draco's figure in the darkness. I waited for him to come closer to me before I spoke, "what's wrong, is something happening?"
He sat down on the bed beside of me. "Your aunt is here."
"How do you know?"
"I've been watching my father ever since that little scene that he caused this afternoon, she is in his study now."
I nodded and we left the bedroom and headed towards Lucius's study to spy on the two to hopefully gather some information that could help us. I turned to Draco, "maybe you should go back to your room and let me do this alone." He started to protest but I cut him off, "you know that it's very likely that whoever is listening in to their conversation will be caught and it would be better if that person was me; you don't have to defy your father yet, we can use him to our advantage."
I could tell that he didn't want to, but he agreed with me. Draco went back to his room to wait for me but made me promise that I would be as safe as possible. I knew that it wasn't really a dangerous mission, Velena wouldn't do anything to me tonight, she would want me to be caught off guard.
I crept to the door that was slightly ajar and positioned myself so I could see the two figures in the room. Velena was looking angry and Lucius was standing in front of her, I strained my ears so I could make out what they were saying.
"…Honestly Velena, you have failed with the girl."
"I have not failed Lucius, she is still in my control." So they were discussing me. I shrugged as that information dawned on me, I should have suspected as much.
I turned my attention back to their conversation to hear Velena continuing with her explanation. "Perhaps you are right though, the girl is extremely difficult, maybe it is time to execute the emergency plan."
"It is already happening."
She looked appalled, "and you felt no need to tell me?"
"I took it into my own accord that you had more pressing issues to worry about."
She smirked and began to playfully run her fingers down his arm, "what's the matter Lucius, don't you trust me anymore?"
He grabbed her hand and forced her to stop, "we have never trusted one another Velena, why would I start now? I only did what our lord instructed me to years ago. I carried out my orders, it had nothing to do with you."
She smiled, "I do hope that it works, I so look forward to having our lord back." I began to get confused, their lord? Were they death eaters? I paled as it all began to come together, they were death eaters. Why didn't I see this before? And Velena said that she looked forward to the dark lord coming back into power, did that mean that he was coming back? Ever since Harry Potter had destroyed him as a child he had never been heard of again, but if what they were saying was true…
Lucius still held on to Velena's hand as they continued with their conversation. "Yes, well I must say that he will be quite pleased that we have accomplished his goals." Lucius smirked at her, "although, some of us took more drastic measures than needed."
Velena scowled, "I think that it was needed and don't even pretend that you got no pleasure out of your 'task'."
"That is besides that point, I was ordered to while you killed for the sheer gratification of destroying the one thing that you were ever jealous of."
"Oh please, if I'm going down on the jealousy ship then I'm taking you with me. You were so jealous of Arthur even that blind fool could see it."
"Me, jealous of a Weasley? Hardly. But come now Velena, tell me that you didn't loathe your sister. Tell me that you weren't so envious of her that the hatred that you felt carries on today. Tell me that you don't look back on her murder with an almost fondness of sorts. You enjoyed killing her didn't you? You enjoyed it so much that you wish that she were still alive simply so that you could do it again."
"Fine," Velena hissed. "You're right, I did get pleasure from it. Happy? Now on to more important matters, I need to speak with Virginia."
"I don't think that I can permit that."
"And why not?"
Lucius looked lazily at his fingers, "the girl still has somewhat of a trust for me, why would I betray that by turning her in to you?"
"All right, be that way. But at least find a way to take that ridiculous spell off of her, I cannot lose all contact with her; she might start to think that I have let her go." He nodded and agreed to take off the untraceable spell that Remus had administered during the summer.
Velena got out her wand and prepared to apparate but she turned back to Lucius. "She suspects nothing?"
He shook his head no, "she is completely naïve about the whole situation."
Velena smiled, "good, make sure that it stays that way." She then lowered her voice and I leaned in closer to the door to try and make out what she was saying. Closer, and closer, I could almost hear her when I suddenly lost my footing and fell into the door causing it come wide open.
They both looked in surprise towards the door. Velena smiled viciously while Lucius looked furious. Velena walked over and grabbed my arm, forcing me to stand up. "Eavesdropping are we Virginia?"
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A/N Okay, so that was a lot shorter than the last chapter but this was originally all supposed to be a combined chapter with the Weasley Christmas. But I got so caught up in writing all of those scenes last chapter that I had to make this a separate one so it's kind of short. But you did get a quick update, so don't complain. From here on out there is a lot of long complicated stuff that I have to find a way to string together, but don't worry; I'll try to get it all out soon. Please continue to review, like I said before my reviews are getting messed up but I think that I'm still receiving most of them! Sorry for the cliffhanger but since I'm out of school I'll give you guys another update in the next couple of days!
Darcel- I know, this story has gotten long! When I started it I actually only planned to have four characters that I was going to go in depth with and those would really be the only people that you noticed in the story but I kind of just keep adding more characters and it's really evolved. Thanks for reviewing!
Kryptonite- I'm glad that you didn't mind the Ron and Hermione scene, I wasn't originally going to put it in but I'm a fan of that ship and after her talk with Hermione I just felt like I needed to so that could be resolved. And I've kind of missed Remus as well, but don't worry, he has a big scene coming up! Thanks for reviewing!
Ace of Spades- I'm glad that your prom went better than you expected, and sorry that the last update took me a little while. I just got bogged down with school work and it was either get an F or write. Actually writing won out towards the end, but that's besides the point, lol! And I am also very happy that I reached a conclusion on the Tom/Voldemort thing as well. Remus does have something to do with it but probably not in the way that you expect. Or maybe so, I don't know how your thinking, lol! Thanks for reviewing!
Lily of the Shadow- Thank you so much, I'm so glad that you love the story! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reviewing!
RonandHerm4eva- Ha, I had a feeling that you would enjoy the end of the last chapter. I was actually kind of mixed about doing it because I know that some of the people that read this fic are fans of that ship and some aren't but in the end I was just like screw it, I love R/Hr and that's all that matters, lol! I agree with you on the Weasleys being a good influence on her and thanks for reviewing!
Eclipse- You have no idea how happy your review made me! I was actually really anxious about how people would react to Virginia last chapter so when I read your review and you said that you loved the gradual change, I'm not kidding you, I squealed in delight, lol! Thank you so much for your review, I really appreciated it!
Nirvana- Wow, two thumbs up on the last chapter, thanks! Sorry that you didn't get your D/G action this chapter but I'll try to write some in soon! Thanks for reviewing and also thanks for wishing me luck on my finals, I think that they went well! Oh, and I got both of your reviews, they don't show up on the site, but they got e-mailed to me!!
Fallen Angel of Darkness- Don't worry, I didn't take any offense to you correcting my Spanish, I actually appreciate it. I'm pretty bad when it comes to other languages, mostly because I'm too lazy about them. You should hear my German, it sounds like a cat coughing up a hairball or something, lol! Thanks for telling me what was up with ff.net, I hope that they get everything fixed on their site soon! Thanks for reviewing and I'm glad that you are getting reviews on your fic, you deserve them!
edge head- I'm glad that you got your computer fixed and that you enjoyed the Weasley interaction. I'm going to try and get some more in soon, I always miss the Weasleys when they go away, lol! Thanks for reviewing!
Champagne- Hmm, I'm not really sure what you mean. Did you want Draco/Ginny like action or just the two of them spending time together? Well they had a lot of alone time in this chapter, but they didn't put it to very good use, lol! Thanks for reviewing!
fantasy angel- I'm glad that you are enjoying the story and I hope that you liked this chapter! Thanks for reviewing!
Frananddragon- Happy belated Birthday! We're the same age now! Sorry that this chapter wasn't as long, but I promise that I'll make the next one a long one just for you! I'm glad that you enjoyed the Ron/Hermione scene and I get what you mean about Harry. I've written Harry/Ginny stories before so it's kind of hard for me to write them as just friends or whatever. Thanks for reviewing! Also, thank you for wishing me luck on my exam, hopefully it worked! (Thank you for leaving another review when yours didn't post but don't worry, I received it in my e-mail!)
Caffeine- I love you so much for reminding me about Blaise! I'm serious I'm dedicating the chapter to you that he is going to be in because I was actually stuck on one part of my plot and I needed someone for one specific role but I didn't know who and I didn't know how to make the connection and then you gave it to me!! Thanks for reviewing and I owe you!
Cactuskitty- Thank you so much for saying that! I know what you mean about trying to read something and the site just gives you that page experiencing overload thing, it always makes me so mad because I'll be in the middle of something and then I can't continue it. Thanks for reviewing and I hope that ff.net doesn't give you any more trouble! Also, I really appreciate all that you said about my characterization and plot, I've worked really hard on both of those so I love that you said something about them!
Lindsay- Thank you so much, that really means a lot to me. I am always so flattered and shocked when I read reviews like your because I never honestly even expected people to like this story. Thank you for reviewing and I really appreciate what you said.
swt-angel-babi3- I know, nobody wants Lucius and Velena to find her, but come on, how interesting would the plot be if she had no problems and could just live at The Burrow with Draco, lol! I hope that you liked this chapter even though your least favorite characters returned. Thanks for reviewing!
Writing*-*Wonder- I'm glad that you enjoyed the Weasley family Christmas and it also made my day to know that you found it funny. I'm always a little apprehensive about putting humor in because apart from sarcasm I'm not a very funny person, lol! Thanks for reviewing and I'm nervous about uploading this, I hope that it works!
AnGeL*Of*MiNe- Ha, little ray of sunshine, that'll be the day, lol! Thanks for reviewing and I'm glad that you liked the last chapter!
K00lgirl1808- Really? That means a lot to me when people tell me that this is one of their favorite stories! Thank you so much, I really appreciate it and thank you for reviewing!
S.e.a and Nalia- You really used one of my plot ideas!!! Okay even if it was just a little bit of my idea I'm still really excited and proud! Okay now I'm being dorky, but for real that is so cool! And you are actually not that far off with the guy in the first chapter, he is returning and when he does I'll give you brownie points for remembering him! Thanks for reviewing and I'm glad that you enjoyed the R/Hr action!
Daeva- Thank you so much, I'm glad that you are enjoying the story! Thank you for reviewing and I hope that you liked this chapter!
Emily22- Thank you, I'm glad that you find this original! Thanks for reviewing!
FemmeDraconis- You know I've had a couple of people compare this to Great Expectations. I haven't read it though, is it good? Probably a dumb question, it was written by Dickens right? So of course it's good. If I was going to compare this to anything it would be White Oleander, my idea for Virginia was actually inspired by the main character of that book. Thanks for reviewing and I'm glad that you find it original!
Cheeryfizz- Thank you, I'm so glad that you are enjoying this even though you don't normally like AU fics. It always makes me feel so good when people say that. Also thanks for the compliment on my writing style, I really appreciate it. Thanks for reviewing!
KeeperOfTheMoon- I'm so glad that you like this! I love all of your stories so I was really excited to receive your review! Thank you for reviewing and I hope that you update Black Fire as well as your other stories soon!
Again, I'm sorry if I missed anybody and if I did then thank you so much for reviewing! The next chapter will be out in a couple of days probably, depending on how fast I can write it!