A/N* Again, thanks to everyone who has been R/R!! Joycie ~ don't worry the
WAFF moments are coming lol. Hmm I try to update every few days but I have
a lotta stuff going on this weekend so I'd say to expect Chapter 7 to be up
around Monday or Tuesday. Anywaze I'm guessing you probably want to know
what happened to Ginny and why it happened so here it is ~ Chapter 6! (btw
I know this is a slightly shorter chapter but the next one will be longer,
I promise)
Chapter 6. The Plan, Part II (Explained)
Ginny.
Draco stared, frozen rigid in horror, as her name resounded in his head over and over again. She can't be dead, he thought frantically. But the body slumped in a pool of dark red still yet refused to move. Suddenly, guilt coursed through him, for all the times he'd insulted her, for refusing her vacation, and he felt the energy drain out of him.
Quickly, Draco strode down the steps to where Ginny was lying and turned her over tenderly. Her pale, freckled face beamed up at him, a small, almost half-smile upon her lips despite the fact that her eyes were closed. Kneeling beside her, he gathered the limp girl in his arms, and then suddenly, he drew in his breath sharply, nearly dropping her.
She was still warm.
"It's not blood." Blaise's voice cut into his thoughts from above. He whipped around, watching as she peered at the red liquid on the steps. She dipped her finger in it and sniffed cautiously, adding, "Actually, I do believe its wine."
His fingers sought out her pulse. "She's not dead," Draco realized, letting out a breath of relief he never remember holding. "She must have dropped the wine and rolled down with it or something," he deduced, his gaze traveling over the remnants of the glass bottle lying beside her.
"Oh, I'm disappointed," Blaise remarked with a sneer, earning a nasty glare from Draco.
"This is not the time for that, Zabini," he growled, and she stiffened. Draco never referred to her or the other Slytherin females by their last names; he reserved that for Weasley.
"It doesn't matter," she rolled her eyes, "the bloody weasel's not even dead."
Gritting his teeth, Draco hoisted her body up into his arms and made his way out of the wine cellar. "I think Marion worked as one of those muggle nurses, if I'm not mistaken," he said to nobody in particular, "she can look over Gin- Weasley." And then he turned towards Blaise, narrowed his steely silver gaze at her. "And as for you," he said calmly, "I wouldn't be surprised if you had something to do with why she fell down the stairs."
Blaise gawked.
~*~
Marion was a heavyset woman, in her late forties or early fifties, definitely old enough for it to be impolite to ask of her age. Her hair was once brown, now it was tinged with stray hairs of gray, and her eyes a sparkling blue, surrounded with laugh lines. She really had quite a matronly appeal about her, and she was extremely careful in the examination of Ginny.
The muggle clock beside her ticked ostentatiously, and Draco watched, almost nervously, as Marion inspected the girl. Blaise watched Draco, naturally, expressions flitting across her face interchangeably. If he had bothered to look at her, he would've been rather perplexed, but as it was, Draco was concentrated on the two maids.
Marion stood up, and Draco tensed. "What is it?" He demanded, standing up quickly. Marion bit her lip, toyed with her hair, all but looked him in the eye. "What is it?" he repeated, more harshly this time.
"She seems to be asleep," Marion finally said in bewilderment.
He frowned. "Asleep?"
She nodded meekly. "I know it sounds ridiculous, sir, but-"
"You mean to tell me that Miss Weasley fell down a flight of stairs because she fell asleep?" Draco nearly shouted, incredulous.
Marion winced, realizing how ridiculous it sounded. "Yes?" she offered.
"What do you take me for, some bloody idiot?" Draco bellowed, causing the elder woman to shrink back immediately.
Blaise was suddenly at his side, her fingers on his shoulders as she cooed in his ear, "Draco, nobody takes you for an idiot."
He shrugged off her touch. "It doesn't make sense," he said darkly, "that someone would fall asleep whilst walking up the stairs."
"It wouldn't happen," Marion agreed, "unless, that is, of course. . ." She drifted off, glancing between the two wealthy Slytherins uncertainly.
"Unless what?" Draco prompted.
"Unless something, or someone, caused her to fall asleep," Marion finished in a small voice. Draco knitted his eyes together in confused disbelief, and she rushed to add, "It's possible, you know."
"Do explain," Draco said, more calmly now and with a hint of interest in his voice.
"You see, when I worked in the muggle hospitals, there were these drugs the doctors administered - they're called sedatives, really, and they put people to sleep temporarily. The strongest of these drugs can cause sleep to come extremely suddenly, as I would guess with Miss Weasley here," Marion explained. "She should wake up tomorrow morning."
"Will she be fine, then?" he asked.
"Oh she should be perfectly fine," Marion assured, "Unless she hit or head when she fell. And I have this potion here just to make sure she hasn't suffered from head trauma or anything, but-" she hesitated.
"But?"
"It needs to be administered every two hours," Marion finished. Her eyes darted furtively around the room, from Draco's contemplative expression to Blaise's impatient tapping.
"Nobody has time for that," Blaise snarled, "Imagine! Staying up to make sure that the Weasel is okay."
"Have you no compassion?" Marion asked in a surge of courage.
Blaise's eyes narrowed. "Why you-"
From the couch, Ginny stirred. "Hold me," she murmured, voice thick with sleep. "Don't go, don't go."
"Dreaming about Potter again," Blaise commented wickedly. Draco shot her a pointed look, and she dropped her gaze.
"Well somebody needs to be there to make sure that-"
"I'll do it," Draco interrupted smoothly.
"Draco!" Blaise protested in shock.
He ignored her, once again. "Have her cleaned," he instructed, "and bring her up to my room. I'll perform a cleaning spell on my sheets, and she can stay there for tonight."
"I'll be on it right away, sir," Marion promised, a smile lighting up her face.
Blaise, indignant, opened her mouth to speak, but was quickly cut off as Adrienne rushed through the door, flinging herself at Ginny's side. "Ginny!" she cried. "Oh, this is all my fault!"
Surprise flashed through Draco's eyes, but he shielded all emotion immediately. "All your fault?"
Adrienne turned her watery gaze upon him, sniffling as she nodded. "I should have told her," she murmured, more to herself than him. "Then this wouldn't have happened, she would have been watching out for herself, and she wouldn't be," Adrienne paused, choking on the last word, "dead."
"My dear," Marion interjected, "Miss Weasley is not dead. She's actually asleep. The red - that's wine."
A thick silence hung in the room as Adrienne processed her words, a stunned look overcoming her face, followed by a quick flash of relief. "Asleep?"
"Muggle drugs," Marion said simply.
"It's not my fault then," Adrienne whispered to Ginny.
Blaise snorted.
It seemed to trigger a sudden bout of anger in Adrienne, and the girl flew into a rage, launching herself on top of Blaise. "You could have killed her!" Adrienne shrieked, clawing wildly at the Slytherin.
"Get. Her. Off. Of. Me!" Blaise screamed as Adrienne's weight knocked both of them to the ground. Marion rushed forward, grasped Adrienne's waist with two sturdy hands, and pried the enraged servant away from Blaise, who sputtered, gingerly touching a hand to her quickly swelling cheek. "Who the hell do you think you are?" Blaise yelled.
"You could have killed her!" Adrienne kept shrieking, desperately trying to free herself of Marion's grip.
Draco stepped in between them, narrowed his eyes. "You say that Blaise could have killed Weasley," he stated.
"Yes!" Adrienne screamed loudly, still thrashing.
He glowered at Blaise. "Would you care to explain this?" He asked, his voice calm but tinged with menace.
"I will," Adrienne interrupted, green eyes flashing indignantly. "I'm not afraid of you anymore, Blaise, not after what happened here." Ceasing her futile punches to the air, Adrienne shot her a venomous stare. "Basically, I walk in on this little whore slipping muggle drugs into the water in the kitchen," she declared, "and the simple ending is that Ginny drank that water. I don't know what's wrong with Ginny right now, but I know that she was drugged, she was poisoned, and she wouldn't be lying here like this if it wasn't for Miss Zabini."
Blaise turned to leave, but Draco grabbed her forearm tightly and spun her around in front of him, his glare demanding an explanation. She breathed deeply, wrenching away from Draco and eyeing Adrienne, who had by now been released from Marion's tight grasp and was watching her demise with great amusement. "Um, well, I wanted some time for us to be alone," she started uncomfortably, "I just thought it would be better if the servants weren't in the way, and the water that one maid left out was just sitting in the kitchen, for anyone to take. I suppose Ginny was the only one who actually drank the water."
Her eyes filling with tears that even Draco suspected weren't real, Blaise moved closer to him. "You don't understand," she said huskily, "All I've ever wanted was you and I just wanted this night to be perfect for you, for us."
"I see. And what exactly did you expect to happen tonight?" Draco said, almost curiously.
"Well," Blaise faked a blush, "you know." She paused, trying to adopt a more serious attitude. "I didn't expect anything to happen to the weasel, surely you know that," she continued softly, fingers traveling across his chest. "I just wanted her to fall asleep, and stay out of our way. Her falling down the stairs, it just happened, I guess."
"You guess? You bloody guess?" Adrienne shouted, rushing at Blaise before Marion could hold her back. This time, however, Marion didn't react, either because she too was fed up with Blaise, or maybe because she saw no use in protecting against Adrienne.
"Stop! Stop!" Blaise screamed, shoving Adrienne off of her and scrambling to her feet, one of the dress straps falling off her shoulder as she glowered at the servant. "Draco, aren't you going to do something about this?" She demanded angrily. He raised an eyebrow at her, not even bothering to help her up, and she added with a roll of her eyes, "Fire her! Get rid of her!"
"You want me to get rid of her."
"No shit, Sherlock," Blaise said sarcastically. "Look at what she did to me!"
"Maybe you should poison her water," he said in a tone that doubled hers in sarcasm. He stepped around the fallen girl and moved to stride out the door.
"Draco!" Blaise cried, reaching out for his leg to stop him from leaving.
"And by the way, Zabini," he said evenly, twisting away and spinning around so she could very well see the seriousness in his face, "I will be expecting you out of the house by this time tomorrow, are we clear?"
Her face paled visibly. "What?"
"Tomorrow, this time," he repeated, "I want you to out of my house."
"You're kicking me out?" Blaise said in disbelief.
"If that's how you want to look at it."
"But Draco," Blaise sputtered, "I don't understand."
"Oh," he smirked, "you know we Malfoys don't appreciate bad publicity. I know you're not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I'm sure you, of all people, can see where I'm coming from."
She gasped, but before she could answer, Draco had disappeared. "Damn you!" She screamed after his retreating figure.
Adrienne laughed.
~*~
Ginny stirred, not quite wanting to wake up. It felt like she had been asleep for decades now, dreams flitting through her head. Nestled among the smooth sheets and thick pillows, Ginny felt more comfortable than she'd ever before. It must be another dream, she told herself thickly, glancing down at the exquisite white silk nightgown through heavily lidded eyes. The last one had been quite pleasant, actually. She dimly recalled a pair of strong arms holding her close, warmth radiating from whoever it was.
A few years ago, Ginny would have imagined that it was Harry, but now, realizing once again that she was indeed, completely over him, a satisfied smile spread across her face. Dreamily, she trailed a finger along the silky silver embroidery of the emerald green comforter. Green? A small alarm went off in her head. But the blankets in her small servant quarters were a stark white. Startled, she sat up. Eyes wide, she stared in awe at the enormous windows, the velvet curtains, the portrait that sat in the corner of the magnificent room, and it dawned on her.
She was in Draco Malfoy's room. Worse, she was in his bed.
~ End of Chapter 6
Chapter 6. The Plan, Part II (Explained)
Ginny.
Draco stared, frozen rigid in horror, as her name resounded in his head over and over again. She can't be dead, he thought frantically. But the body slumped in a pool of dark red still yet refused to move. Suddenly, guilt coursed through him, for all the times he'd insulted her, for refusing her vacation, and he felt the energy drain out of him.
Quickly, Draco strode down the steps to where Ginny was lying and turned her over tenderly. Her pale, freckled face beamed up at him, a small, almost half-smile upon her lips despite the fact that her eyes were closed. Kneeling beside her, he gathered the limp girl in his arms, and then suddenly, he drew in his breath sharply, nearly dropping her.
She was still warm.
"It's not blood." Blaise's voice cut into his thoughts from above. He whipped around, watching as she peered at the red liquid on the steps. She dipped her finger in it and sniffed cautiously, adding, "Actually, I do believe its wine."
His fingers sought out her pulse. "She's not dead," Draco realized, letting out a breath of relief he never remember holding. "She must have dropped the wine and rolled down with it or something," he deduced, his gaze traveling over the remnants of the glass bottle lying beside her.
"Oh, I'm disappointed," Blaise remarked with a sneer, earning a nasty glare from Draco.
"This is not the time for that, Zabini," he growled, and she stiffened. Draco never referred to her or the other Slytherin females by their last names; he reserved that for Weasley.
"It doesn't matter," she rolled her eyes, "the bloody weasel's not even dead."
Gritting his teeth, Draco hoisted her body up into his arms and made his way out of the wine cellar. "I think Marion worked as one of those muggle nurses, if I'm not mistaken," he said to nobody in particular, "she can look over Gin- Weasley." And then he turned towards Blaise, narrowed his steely silver gaze at her. "And as for you," he said calmly, "I wouldn't be surprised if you had something to do with why she fell down the stairs."
Blaise gawked.
~*~
Marion was a heavyset woman, in her late forties or early fifties, definitely old enough for it to be impolite to ask of her age. Her hair was once brown, now it was tinged with stray hairs of gray, and her eyes a sparkling blue, surrounded with laugh lines. She really had quite a matronly appeal about her, and she was extremely careful in the examination of Ginny.
The muggle clock beside her ticked ostentatiously, and Draco watched, almost nervously, as Marion inspected the girl. Blaise watched Draco, naturally, expressions flitting across her face interchangeably. If he had bothered to look at her, he would've been rather perplexed, but as it was, Draco was concentrated on the two maids.
Marion stood up, and Draco tensed. "What is it?" He demanded, standing up quickly. Marion bit her lip, toyed with her hair, all but looked him in the eye. "What is it?" he repeated, more harshly this time.
"She seems to be asleep," Marion finally said in bewilderment.
He frowned. "Asleep?"
She nodded meekly. "I know it sounds ridiculous, sir, but-"
"You mean to tell me that Miss Weasley fell down a flight of stairs because she fell asleep?" Draco nearly shouted, incredulous.
Marion winced, realizing how ridiculous it sounded. "Yes?" she offered.
"What do you take me for, some bloody idiot?" Draco bellowed, causing the elder woman to shrink back immediately.
Blaise was suddenly at his side, her fingers on his shoulders as she cooed in his ear, "Draco, nobody takes you for an idiot."
He shrugged off her touch. "It doesn't make sense," he said darkly, "that someone would fall asleep whilst walking up the stairs."
"It wouldn't happen," Marion agreed, "unless, that is, of course. . ." She drifted off, glancing between the two wealthy Slytherins uncertainly.
"Unless what?" Draco prompted.
"Unless something, or someone, caused her to fall asleep," Marion finished in a small voice. Draco knitted his eyes together in confused disbelief, and she rushed to add, "It's possible, you know."
"Do explain," Draco said, more calmly now and with a hint of interest in his voice.
"You see, when I worked in the muggle hospitals, there were these drugs the doctors administered - they're called sedatives, really, and they put people to sleep temporarily. The strongest of these drugs can cause sleep to come extremely suddenly, as I would guess with Miss Weasley here," Marion explained. "She should wake up tomorrow morning."
"Will she be fine, then?" he asked.
"Oh she should be perfectly fine," Marion assured, "Unless she hit or head when she fell. And I have this potion here just to make sure she hasn't suffered from head trauma or anything, but-" she hesitated.
"But?"
"It needs to be administered every two hours," Marion finished. Her eyes darted furtively around the room, from Draco's contemplative expression to Blaise's impatient tapping.
"Nobody has time for that," Blaise snarled, "Imagine! Staying up to make sure that the Weasel is okay."
"Have you no compassion?" Marion asked in a surge of courage.
Blaise's eyes narrowed. "Why you-"
From the couch, Ginny stirred. "Hold me," she murmured, voice thick with sleep. "Don't go, don't go."
"Dreaming about Potter again," Blaise commented wickedly. Draco shot her a pointed look, and she dropped her gaze.
"Well somebody needs to be there to make sure that-"
"I'll do it," Draco interrupted smoothly.
"Draco!" Blaise protested in shock.
He ignored her, once again. "Have her cleaned," he instructed, "and bring her up to my room. I'll perform a cleaning spell on my sheets, and she can stay there for tonight."
"I'll be on it right away, sir," Marion promised, a smile lighting up her face.
Blaise, indignant, opened her mouth to speak, but was quickly cut off as Adrienne rushed through the door, flinging herself at Ginny's side. "Ginny!" she cried. "Oh, this is all my fault!"
Surprise flashed through Draco's eyes, but he shielded all emotion immediately. "All your fault?"
Adrienne turned her watery gaze upon him, sniffling as she nodded. "I should have told her," she murmured, more to herself than him. "Then this wouldn't have happened, she would have been watching out for herself, and she wouldn't be," Adrienne paused, choking on the last word, "dead."
"My dear," Marion interjected, "Miss Weasley is not dead. She's actually asleep. The red - that's wine."
A thick silence hung in the room as Adrienne processed her words, a stunned look overcoming her face, followed by a quick flash of relief. "Asleep?"
"Muggle drugs," Marion said simply.
"It's not my fault then," Adrienne whispered to Ginny.
Blaise snorted.
It seemed to trigger a sudden bout of anger in Adrienne, and the girl flew into a rage, launching herself on top of Blaise. "You could have killed her!" Adrienne shrieked, clawing wildly at the Slytherin.
"Get. Her. Off. Of. Me!" Blaise screamed as Adrienne's weight knocked both of them to the ground. Marion rushed forward, grasped Adrienne's waist with two sturdy hands, and pried the enraged servant away from Blaise, who sputtered, gingerly touching a hand to her quickly swelling cheek. "Who the hell do you think you are?" Blaise yelled.
"You could have killed her!" Adrienne kept shrieking, desperately trying to free herself of Marion's grip.
Draco stepped in between them, narrowed his eyes. "You say that Blaise could have killed Weasley," he stated.
"Yes!" Adrienne screamed loudly, still thrashing.
He glowered at Blaise. "Would you care to explain this?" He asked, his voice calm but tinged with menace.
"I will," Adrienne interrupted, green eyes flashing indignantly. "I'm not afraid of you anymore, Blaise, not after what happened here." Ceasing her futile punches to the air, Adrienne shot her a venomous stare. "Basically, I walk in on this little whore slipping muggle drugs into the water in the kitchen," she declared, "and the simple ending is that Ginny drank that water. I don't know what's wrong with Ginny right now, but I know that she was drugged, she was poisoned, and she wouldn't be lying here like this if it wasn't for Miss Zabini."
Blaise turned to leave, but Draco grabbed her forearm tightly and spun her around in front of him, his glare demanding an explanation. She breathed deeply, wrenching away from Draco and eyeing Adrienne, who had by now been released from Marion's tight grasp and was watching her demise with great amusement. "Um, well, I wanted some time for us to be alone," she started uncomfortably, "I just thought it would be better if the servants weren't in the way, and the water that one maid left out was just sitting in the kitchen, for anyone to take. I suppose Ginny was the only one who actually drank the water."
Her eyes filling with tears that even Draco suspected weren't real, Blaise moved closer to him. "You don't understand," she said huskily, "All I've ever wanted was you and I just wanted this night to be perfect for you, for us."
"I see. And what exactly did you expect to happen tonight?" Draco said, almost curiously.
"Well," Blaise faked a blush, "you know." She paused, trying to adopt a more serious attitude. "I didn't expect anything to happen to the weasel, surely you know that," she continued softly, fingers traveling across his chest. "I just wanted her to fall asleep, and stay out of our way. Her falling down the stairs, it just happened, I guess."
"You guess? You bloody guess?" Adrienne shouted, rushing at Blaise before Marion could hold her back. This time, however, Marion didn't react, either because she too was fed up with Blaise, or maybe because she saw no use in protecting against Adrienne.
"Stop! Stop!" Blaise screamed, shoving Adrienne off of her and scrambling to her feet, one of the dress straps falling off her shoulder as she glowered at the servant. "Draco, aren't you going to do something about this?" She demanded angrily. He raised an eyebrow at her, not even bothering to help her up, and she added with a roll of her eyes, "Fire her! Get rid of her!"
"You want me to get rid of her."
"No shit, Sherlock," Blaise said sarcastically. "Look at what she did to me!"
"Maybe you should poison her water," he said in a tone that doubled hers in sarcasm. He stepped around the fallen girl and moved to stride out the door.
"Draco!" Blaise cried, reaching out for his leg to stop him from leaving.
"And by the way, Zabini," he said evenly, twisting away and spinning around so she could very well see the seriousness in his face, "I will be expecting you out of the house by this time tomorrow, are we clear?"
Her face paled visibly. "What?"
"Tomorrow, this time," he repeated, "I want you to out of my house."
"You're kicking me out?" Blaise said in disbelief.
"If that's how you want to look at it."
"But Draco," Blaise sputtered, "I don't understand."
"Oh," he smirked, "you know we Malfoys don't appreciate bad publicity. I know you're not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I'm sure you, of all people, can see where I'm coming from."
She gasped, but before she could answer, Draco had disappeared. "Damn you!" She screamed after his retreating figure.
Adrienne laughed.
~*~
Ginny stirred, not quite wanting to wake up. It felt like she had been asleep for decades now, dreams flitting through her head. Nestled among the smooth sheets and thick pillows, Ginny felt more comfortable than she'd ever before. It must be another dream, she told herself thickly, glancing down at the exquisite white silk nightgown through heavily lidded eyes. The last one had been quite pleasant, actually. She dimly recalled a pair of strong arms holding her close, warmth radiating from whoever it was.
A few years ago, Ginny would have imagined that it was Harry, but now, realizing once again that she was indeed, completely over him, a satisfied smile spread across her face. Dreamily, she trailed a finger along the silky silver embroidery of the emerald green comforter. Green? A small alarm went off in her head. But the blankets in her small servant quarters were a stark white. Startled, she sat up. Eyes wide, she stared in awe at the enormous windows, the velvet curtains, the portrait that sat in the corner of the magnificent room, and it dawned on her.
She was in Draco Malfoy's room. Worse, she was in his bed.
~ End of Chapter 6
