The next day was not kind to Ginny.  She hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep because of Draco's stunning spell, which, she realized with much chagrin, was a great deal stronger than hers; Draco had awoken her with Enervate this morning.  That simply wasn't fair; her spells only lasted a few hours at most.  Draco's had lasted the entire night, and there was no telling how long it would have gone on had he not chosen to wake her up.  As if that wasn't enough, Pansy spent the entirety of breakfast and dinner trying to engage her in a conversation about what robes she would be wearing for all the spring parties.  Ginny, who longed to say that she didn't give a hoot whether or not yellow looked good with Pansy's 'naturally blonde hair,' found herself discussing if purple would look good with her hair instead.  Pansy, who Ginny suspected had been looking for an opportunity to insult her for weeks, had no qualms about saying that purple looked 'simply horrible' on redheads, and that Ginny would be much better off with an avocado or siege.  Classes were a horror onto themselves.  She was so tired she fell asleep during History of Magic, and completely messed up her potion in Potions.  Finally, to top it all off, Draco's arm was very securely around her waist during every meal and between every class.  There were only two redeeming factors of the entire day: the first was that the book she had requested from Narcissa arrived with Draco's eagle owl this morning.  The second was that Hermione showed up in her room after Draco had left, announcing that she'd put temporary alarm charms around the corridor for the night so they wouldn't have a scare like last night.  The visit was uneventful at best, with Hermione studying for NEWTs and Ginny trying to catch up on the homework she hadn't been able to do last night; nevertheless, Ginny was glad for the company.

            "We're all going to take turns visiting you," Hermione said, as she was packing up to go at 9:00. "Sometimes Ron and Harry have Quidditch you know, but we thought that together we could make sure you have someone here every night."

            "Thanks!" Ginny said brightly.

            That same day was not kind to Harry Potter either.  He woke up late, wolfed down breakfast, and went to double Potions.  Now Potions was enough to make any morning bad, but Harry could have sworn something had happened to make Snape increase his grudge from his usual 'make Harry Potter's life a living hell' vow.  Rising to the challenge, Harry had done everything perfectly.  All he had to do now was add half a bottle of powdered bicorn and let it simmer for thirty minutes.

            "Mr. Potter!" Snape yelled the instant he started to add the powdered bicorn into his cauldron, causing Harry to jump in surprise and dump the whole bottle in. "Have you stirred that potion half a dozen times counterclockwise?"

            "Yes," Harry said biting back more than one nasty insult. Now his potion was ruined!  His only hope was that Snape wouldn't realize it nor resume his old habit of banishing his potion.  His potion, however, didn't seem to share his sentiments, because after only three minutes on the flame, it started to boil over with purple froth accompanied by loud "glouping" sounds.  "Stop, stop!" Harry protested and began prodding his cauldron with his wand; however, this only caused his wand to start shooting off sparks. And in the off chance that Snape had been managed to not notice the purple froth now spilling down the aisle and loud sounds, he most certainly noticed the gold and red sparks issuing in large, spontaneous, and uncontrollable burst from Harry's wand.

            Snape banished the frothing potion in the aisle and glided over to Harry.  "Why," he hissed, "did you see fit to add double the amount of powdered bicorn, Potter?"

            "Er—" Harry replied, still trying to wipe the potion from the tip of his wand to stop the sparks.

            "No reply?" Snape said, as if oblivious to the fact that Harry was having any sort of difficulties.

            Harry, who wasn't about to say what he was thinking (you startled me you ugly git), simply said nothing.

            "Fine!  As common as a mistake as it is Potter, you shall receive no marks for the day!" and Snape banished what was left of his potion in his cauldron.

            Harry seethed.

            Charms didn't prove to be any better; Professor Flitwick's voice lecturing them on absolute silencing spells lulled him into a deep sleep.

            He was standing in the midst of a battle.  It was night, but the air around him was bright with multicolored spells being fired back and forth between the two sides at war.  The smell of burning vegetation and charred flesh assaulted his nostrils.  His wand was in his hand, but his whole arm was tingling as if he'd just done very powerful, and probably dark magic.  There was another target to hit.  If he didn't hit him, he'd get hit himself—

            "Potter," a cold voice said behind him.  He whirled to face the owner of the voice; he knew who it was.  Voldemort's red eyes were narrowed at him.

            He woke with a start in the middle of charms.  No one seemed to have noticed he'd fallen asleep, except Hermione, who was glaring at him with her mouth so thin it rivaled McGonagall's when she was her most upset.  He'd tell her about the dream at lunch.

           But lunch was once again infected with the presence of Draco Malfoy, so Harry had to endure watching Ginny simper over Draco.  It was sickening!  Couldn't she just take Draco away?  Why did Ginny insist on sitting with them at lunch?  It wasn't as if they could talk about anything with Draco sitting right next to her and now that they could see her at night if they liked, he didn't really see the point in forcing them to endure Draco Malfoy's presence.

            The only thing he was looking forward to was Quidditch Practice, but that did nothing to lift his spirits because his new chasers weren't getting any better.  If anything they were getting worse.  He'd spent the day trying to run plays that looked nothing like he imagined them to.  Even his Firebolt seemed to be determined to make his day horrible; it was veering.  His precious Firebolt was veering!  Of course, it was probably because of the wind, but after a day like he'd just had, Harry was ready to believe that his prized Firebolt was now good for nothing but firewood. 

            He returned to Gryffindor Tower that night tired, annoyed and wanting nothing more than to sleep until Monday morning.  The only reason he could possibly fathom for wanting to wake up tomorrow was so he could visit Ginny and let her sooth away all his problems.  He went to bed, having a mental picture of Ginny in his head.

~

            Ginny's Saturday was spent thinking longingly of her baby.  Her new book held a plethora of information.  She was quite pleased to see that the new child would be taking up a majority of her time; it would be lovely to just sit and tend to a baby once it came.  The better part of her morning was spent debating whether or not to ask Draco for help on a spell that would tell her the sex of her baby.  She would just do it herself, but for some reason, the spell didn't work when the mother carrying the child cast it.  She could wait until evening when Harry, Ron or Hermione would hopefully show up, but there were no guarantees that they were coming until Monday.  After all, they didn't really know if Draco was certain to be gone after dinner.  Then she'd have to wait until Monday, which sounded slightly less appealing than asking Draco for help.  After all was said and done, Ginny decided she should ask Draco.

            "I need your help," she announced grudgingly to Draco when he turned up before lunch after spending the morning in the library. 

            "What is it?" he asked curiously.  Since when had Ginny asked for help?

            "There's a spell that can tell if it's a girl or a boy.  For some reason, it doesn't work when the mother cast it on herself, not to mention that I haven't got my wand.  Could you cast it on me?"

            "I'm sure I can manage," Draco said with a smirk and drew his own wand, "now let me see this charm." The tiny part of Draco that still believed Ginny was his pet from August began to grow.  Here she was, asking him for help.  Maybe what he'd been doing was working.  She hadn't been alone with Potter for ages.  Was his little wife learning that she was his again?  He hoped so!

            Ginny watched Draco as he studied the charm for a moment, looking like he thought he was king of the world again.

            "Lie down and pull up your shirt," Draco commanded once he was certain he could do the spell.

            Ginny did, looking daggers at him the entire time.  She never thought she'd willing obey a command like, 'lie down and pull up your shirt,' from Draco Malfoy ever again.

            "Assimulo Genus," a white light started to grow from the tip of Draco's wand.  Ginny felt it wiggle its way through her stomach and caress the tiny child inside before emanating a pale blue colored light to indicate the sex of the child.  Ginny stared down at her stomach with relief, hardly daring to believe it.  A boy, this would be her one and only child!  She'd gotten it out of the way!  Draco, on the other hand, looked at it with his face a jumble of emotions.   

            "Get ready for lunch!" Draco barked, yanking his wand away so that the glow died.

~

            Harry sat at the Gryffindor table, wishing Draco Malfoy would vanish so he could have his Ginny alone with him again.  Interestingly enough, Ginny seemed to be deep in thought about something, and Draco did too.  Malfoy, as usual, had his arm around Ginny and was saying things that were making her giggle, then blush and look down.  Harry stared at the two of them, wishing he could curse Malfoy, then grab Ginny and take her someplace far, far, far away from Draco Malfoy.  He hated watching them together!  Why did Ginny insist on torturing him by sitting here with Malfoy?

            Draco sat next to Ginny thinking of that spell.  Why did it have to be a boy?  He'd so wanted a girl child, that way Ginny had to have more babies with him.  He watched her as she chatted happily with her brother and picked lightly at her meal.  Despite the fact that she was a whore, she really was beautiful.  Her hair never ceased to tempt him.  Every strand of coppery color seemed to beckon him to run his hands through it.  Whenever he saw her chatting happily like this he wanted to believe that she was still his happy little pet from ages ago and that if he led her upstairs, she'd let him kiss her lightly and hold her in his arms.  But she wouldn't, and if she did, she'd be thinking of Potter the whole time.  Strange, when he thought Ginny was thinking of Potter she suddenly seemed less appealing.  Her curves abruptly changed from those of an innocent blushing bride, to those of a conniving seductive.  And her hair, once warm and inviting was unexpectedly a deadly fire.

            The only way to change a seductress into a blushing bride was to turn them into mothers many times over.  Somehow he knew it; once that girl had her fifth or sixth child, she would be his again.  It was true!  I had to be true.  'Otherwise, what other hope do you have?' he asked himself dejectedly.

~

            "We're having more children after that," Draco announced as soon as the door to their room shut after lunch.  He knew Ginny was going to fight him, but he was ready.  They were having more children and he wanted her to know that now.

            "Excuse me?" Ginny asked, sitting on the bed.

            "I don't care if that child's a boy; we are having more children after that."

            "Oh no we aren't!" Ginny protested.  She'd spent the last hour being completely relieved that she would never have to have sex with Draco again.  The contract couldn't force her into it now!

            "Yes we are.  I say we are and therefore we ARE!" Draco yelled.

            "No we are NOT!  The contract only says I have to have ONE male child and this is my one male child.  I'm not having any more babies after this one," Ginny yelled, her heartbeat quickening in preparation of a definite yelling match and a possible physical fight.

            "It's not like you have anything better to do except have my children!" Draco yelled. "Why on earth wouldn't you want to have more?"  Although he knew she was going to fight back, it still irked him.  Weren't girls supposed to get all giggly when babies were involved?  Wasn't Ginny normal?  Pansy knew her place; she knew that she had one spot in life: to have as many children as her husband saw fit.

            "I'm watching my figure," Ginny said acidly, her voice dripping with sarcasm.  Wasn't it obvious why she didn't want more children?  Didn't he know what was involved in making babies?

            Draco grabbed her waist and pulled her up to him causing her to yelp in surprise.

            "I'm the only one your figure matters to now," he growled into her ear.

            "You're hateful," Ginny said.  Draco didn't say anything but dropped her waist, causing her to fall onto the bed.

            As the door slammed behind him, Ginny curled up into a ball thinking longingly of her time tonight with whoever her visitor would be.  She had so many things to tell all of them and only hoped Harry would be the one to quell her worries with a nice hug and a listening ear.

~

            Harry rushed to Ginny's room under his invisibility cloak; it was only one o'clock, and he had every right to be out, but he needed it in case Draco came back early.  It was simply easier to wear it than to carry it.  He had the map with him, if only to check around corners and make sure Draco was still running drills with his team down at the Quidditch pitch.  For hours he'd been waiting to see Ginny alone.  That dream had really gotten to him; he'd tried to have a Quidditch practice again this morning but his new chasers were still giving him a headache and Hermione's constant insistence that NEWTs would spring up on him if he didn't watch out, was starting to wear on him.

          "Hello Ginny," Harry said as he opened the door to the room.

            "Harry!" Ginny yelled, jumping up from the Herbology diagram she'd been paying only half of her attention to; the other half was devoted to Harry's upcoming visit.

            The teens started talking at once.

            "—I'm so glad I could come—"

          "—I'm so glad you came—"

            "—I've had the worst week what with—"

            "—Oh today's been horrible—"

            "—NEWTs and Quidditch practice, and then I—"

            "—I found out the baby's a boy—"

            "—Had this horrible dream where—"

            "—But Draco's saying he's still going to force me—"

            "—I was on the school's lawn when I saw—"

            "—To have more kids; and—"

            "—Voldemort calling my name and now—"

            "—Harry well—"

            "—Ginny—"                                                                                            

            "—I really just needed to see you!" they both finished in unison.  They stopped; the notion that the other wasn't going to be able to sooth away all their worries immediately apparent to both of them, yet both thought enough of the other and themselves to assume that their problems were bigger and that they deserved immediate attention over their partner.

            "Draco's a bastard—"

            "I'm just stretched so far—" they both started at once and stopped again.

            "Look Ginny—"

            "Look Harry—" Ginny finally let out a frustrated scream and plopped down on the bed.  "Fine, you go first," she bit out.

            Harry told Ginny about his woes, describing the chasers problems in detail to her, and then moving on to how his broom was acting up.  Leaving the subject of Quidditch, he ventured into NEWT preps and how he wasn't sure he could pull off getting any, let alone enough to be accepted into the Auror program at the Ministry.  He stressed that Hermione, though he knew she meant well, was driving him batty, and how Ron and Hermione had been at one another's throats for days.  Their bickering never ceased.  Finally he told her about the dream, and how the pain in his forehead had been more acute then it had been in ages.

            Ginny sat, listening to him drone on feeling that these things weren't out of the ordinary for Harry.  Quidditch was his own problem.  If he didn't want the stress, why had he decided to be captain of it?  NEWTs were something all seventh years were going through.  If that was what was bugging him, he could join the queue for calming potions at Madame Pomfrey's office door. As for Voldemort, he'd been dealing with those nightmares for ages now.  The pain?  Well he'd proved he had a high threshold for pain numerous times.  What was the problem with a little headache?  That could also be dealt with by joining the queue outside Madame Pomfrey's door.  She told him as much when she finished and immediately launched into her problem with Draco.

             "Is that all?" Harry asked her bewildered.  He was already put off enough about Ginny brushing off everything like he was a child crying over spilled pumpkin juice, and that was all of her problem?  Draco was telling her that in years down the road she was going to have to have more children?  Was she mad?  Of course he was going to make her have more children!          "Yes that's all," Ginny answered curtly.  How dare he just brush away her problems?

            "Well I mean…you knew you were going to have to sleep with him again Ginny.  It's not as if after one shag he's going to be happy.  We've covered this; he's a sick bastard," Harry responded dully.

            "You know you're not the only one with problems!" Ginny said, her temper flaring.  She rose from the bed.

            "Me?" Harry said indignantly, temper also mounting, "YOU!" he suddenly yelled.  "You're the one who acted like I had nothing to worry about"

            "I did?  You just acted like I shouldn't worry about Draco!"

            "You acted like I shouldn't care about Voldemort!  In case you haven't noticed," Harry yelled and pulled back his hair to show his scar, "I don't have a bloody choice!"

            "Well you did about the Quidditch thing!  Why are you still doing that?"

            "Because Quidditch is the only thing that keeps me sane!"

            "You're the only thing that's keeping me sane!  So when you come in here acting like you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders and telling me I'm being stupid by expecting to be able to chose whether or not I want to sleep with my own husband, what am I supposed to do?" she yelled, her temper rising more and more with each heartbeat.

            "Maybe finally face up to the fact that you're stuck, and all your petty little tricks aren't going to change that for the world!  Guess what Gin, you're married, and you're going to be Draco's little wife until death do you part!"  Ginny gasped her features crumbling into an array of disbelief and betrayal.

            "Out," she hissed quietly in stark contrast to Harry's yelling.  "Get out. Right. Now." she breathed.

            Harry, whose temper was also flaring into unbelievably high altitudes turned on his heals and left her there.  On his way out, he hit the table and a vial of potion came crashing to the ground.  She slammed the door, only narrowly missing hitting him.

            Ginny paced her room seething.  Breathing deeply, she tried to calm herself down, but with each new intake of breath, her lungs seemed to be filled with burning hate for him.  She cleaned up the spilled potion with a wave of her wand.  Good, she was glad Harry had smashed the bruise potion.  The useless git was good for something after all.  Finally, she couldn't take it, Grabbing her cloak, scarf, mittens, and boots, Ginny fled her room in favor of the grounds, safely hiding her long hair in the bulk of her scarf.  Harry, no doubt, was going back up to Gryffindor tower to ease his "woes" onto Ron and Hermione.  Draco was probably hunkered town in the library, doing who knows what, so that left the grounds to wander around and clear her head.

            It had snowed last night.  And although the paths to the lake and the Quidditch pitch had been trodden with footsteps from students, the vast majority of the lawn lay untouched.  The serene and pure blanket of untouched white snow beckoned Ginny to come and relax in its vast openness, far from Draco, Harry, marriage contracts and locked doors.  Once alone Ginny inhaled deeply, this time enjoying the way the cool air filled her lungs.  It had been so long since she'd been outside!  The only time Draco let her out of the castle was to attend Herbology, and then she was locked inside the stuffy greenhouse for three hours. Honestly, she hadn't realized she'd missed it until now. How had she been able to stand it?  Locked away from this pristine beauty where the towering trees and the unmarked stretch of white land seemed to proclaim freedom.  Mmmm, what would happen if she just wandered off into the promising beauty of the trees and never came back?  She sighed, mad at herself for clouding this beautiful moment with thoughts of the contract.  But really, it was inevitable wasn't it?  The contract controlled everything she said and did.  There was no escaping it, no matter how perfect and memorizing the snow was.

            The contract.  Now there was something to think about.  Was Harry right? Should she just accept her fate as Draco's wife?  The idea was appalling at best.  All these thoughts buzzing unhappily around in her head, Ginny allowed her feet to go where they pleased, not paying any particular attention to where they were leading her.  She was just reluctantly admitting that she should be getting back to her room before Draco came to collect her for dinner when a voice interrupted her thoughts,

            "Look at that scarf, it's a Gryffindor spy!"

            Her head immediately snapped in the direction of the voice, only to see the Slytherin Quidditch team barreling towards her, Draco amongst them.  Oh no!  She must have wandered near the Quidditch pitch!

            'Shit,' her mind simply swore.

            "It's Weasley!" the voice called again. "Would you just look at that hair?"

            "What are you doing, Weasley?  Trying to steal some moves for your precious Potter?" another mocking voice called.  Ginny swallowed.  She could run; with her hair tied back, they obviously thought she was Ron.  In a flash she turned and ran, but the action brought her hair out from under her scarf and it flowed out behind her as she sped away.

            "Wait a second!" someone called out, "Malfoy, isn't that your wife?"

            Ginny stopped, knowing the cause was lost but wondering why the contract had let her run in the first place.

            "Surprise darling!" she found herself calling instead.

            "Surprise?" Draco said as he landed, clearly bewildered.

            "Yes surprise, I just wanted to see you practice, but I know that you like Quidditch to be your time, still I couldn't resist seeing you play!"

            Behind Draco, his team was standing solemn faced but almost all of them had smiles pulling at the corner of their lips.  Ginny had a feeling that they'd all be laughing at Malfoy for his wife showing up, if it weren't for the fact that they were scared of what they do to him if they did.

            "Then don't give us such a scare," Draco said, his voice lively.  "Come and sit in the stands."

            "How do you know that she won't tell her brother?"  Edward Avery asked coolly.  Ginny recognized his voice as the one who first called her out.

            "Oh, she won't," Draco said, but the comment was directed to her, not Avery.

            Draco did his best to resume practice again, calling out orders to the beaters and running plays.  What on earth was she doing here?  How did she get out of the room? What's more, why on earth was the contract letting her come here and embarrass him like this?  It must be because his father didn't find it embarrassing for Ginny to come and watch his Quidditch practices.  Obviously, his father hadn't been seventeen for a very long time.

            The stands were cold and Draco's shouts of Quidditch plays immediately squashed the euphoric freedom she had felt when she first exited the castle.  But she was still outside, and being stuck in the stands was a lot better than being stuck inside her horrid little room with Harry.  She sniffed indignantly at the thought of his name. 

           Her thoughts drifted from one thing to the next. Like, why hadn't she heard Draco's yells on the Quidditch pitch before?  Was it soundproofed during practices so that other teams couldn't spy as easily?

           She watched Draco attempt a surprisingly steep dive wondering if he was showing off for her again and snorted picturing what she'd do if he fell.  Much to her dismay, he didn't; instead, he rolled gracefully out of the dive but dove again when he saw the snitch gleaming just inches from the ground.  Going at a breakneck speed he shot towards a spot five feet from it at an eighty degree angle until she was almost certain he'd break his neck if he didn't pull up.  But he didn't; in the last second before he met the ground he pulled out and continued parallel to the ground.  Lying flat on his broomstick so he wouldn't hit his feet on the ground, he reached out and grabbed the snitch. It was a marvelous catch, and had any other person on the face of the planet made it, Ginny would have stood and cheered.  As it was, it was Draco Malfoy who caught it, and she was forced her to smile broadly at him.

            Catches like that were the most exhilarating thing in the entire world.  It was better than any feeling he could ever remember.  Not even Potter could have pulled off that catch!  In celebration, he guided the broom into a perfect loop and shot straight upward again.  The rest of the team was calling out their congratulations behind him.  He turned towards them to bask in the glow of their praise when his eyes caught site of her.

            Ginny.

            She was sitting in the stands smiling that fake-contract-forced-smile at him.  He'd forgotten about her being there.  Had she seen that catch?  Wasn't she impressed?  Perhaps the contract knew he was already embarrassed enough that she'd showed up at his practice, and now it was making her stay in her seat.

            "Practice is over!" he called wanting to end it on a good note.  "But there's a game against Gryffindor in just three weeks so practices on Thursdays, Tuesdays and every other Saturday!"  The team grumbled that they'd heard and landed, making their way to the Quidditch changing rooms while Draco landed in the stands next to Ginny, whose smile had dropped from her face.

            "What exactly are you doing here, and how did you get out of that room?"  Draco asked her as he landed.

            Ginny looked up at him.  Despite his harsh tone and words, he seemed to be in a good mood from that catch.  His usually perfect hair was now an unruly mess, while his cheeks were rosy from the cold January wind.  She really hadn't thought it possible, but he was holding himself even more arrogantly then he usually did, as if he'd just won the world cup with that catch, rather then having nearly killed himself trying to show off for his unwilling bride. He also hadn't caught her with Harry; so he wasn't going to be completely livid with her.   She remained silent for a second to think before finally deciding that an altered version of the truth was her best bet.

            "I thought it'd be quite obvious," Ginny said slowly. "I got my wand and took the spell off the door a few days ago.  I thought you were in the library so I took a walk out on the grounds, but I wandered too close to the Quidditch pitch by accident and got spotted. Now, my lovely little tryst with freedom is over."

            Draco stared at her as she spoke; her words were so matter-of-fact and truthful that he doubted them immediately.

            "You're lying," Draco immediately said and sat down next to her on the stands.  "Why don't you try telling the truth," he snorted, "for once," he added.

            "Well I'm caught aren't I?  If there were something to hide, I'd hide it. Oh, and I owled everyone to come visit me, but Ron and Harry were at Quidditch practice so just Hermione came by."  She knew it was in her best interest to make it seem like she hadn't seen Harry.

            "Get up," Draco commanded, offering her his hand out of habit.  Ginny, predictably, ignored it and the two of them made their way towards the castle.  "We're skipping dinner tonight," Draco announced when Ginny tried to make her way towards the Great Hall.

            "I'm hungry," Ginny said grumpily once they were out of earshot of the rest of the students.

            "Well you should have thought of that before you went against my wishes," Draco replied acidly.  He'd had about enough of her complaining.  Didn't she ever stop and just accept that she was his wife?  He knew she was lying about only seeing Hermione.  That was completely bull.  Only in his dream world would Ginny not have seen Potter.  Who did she think she was trying to pull that admit-to-a-lesser-crime trick over him?  He was a Slytherin; he knew that trick.  Hell, Salazar Slytherin invented that trick.  Deep down, he wanted to believe her.  He ached to believe that Ginny had remained loyal to him even after she had gained a little bit of freedom, but he knew that wasn't the case.  She'd probably been shagging Potter just hours before.  At the thought, his arm involuntarily tightened around her waist, but Ginny either didn't notice or didn't care because she continued to walk straight forward to their room.

            "Tell me the truth," Draco said as they entered.  He guided the surprisingly placid Ginny to the bed and sat her down like a disobedient child.

            "I got my wand—"

            "How?"

            "Well Fred and George had put one of their fake wands in my trunk, so I gave you that one and kept mine.  Anyways, then I took the charm off the door one night.  The next evening I sent a message to everyone to come and visit me, which I'm assuming they got that morning, but only Hermione could come because the boys had Quidditch practice.  Then today, I took a walk outside and wandered too close to your Quidditch practice.  That's pretty much the whole of it."

            Draco was silent for a long time while he contemplated her words.  Should he believe her?  Again, he studied her.  The way her hair was haloed in the torchlight and her nearly translucent skin was dotted with freckles.  Why did she have to be so damn beautiful, and why did she have to have that insane obsession with Potter?  If she was indeed lying, she looked unusually calm about it, considering she knew what he could and would do to her if he found out she was.  Yes, he decided suddenly, he'd believe her.  Ginny wasn't lying.  What a relief.  He was so sick of her little games. It was refreshing to see her admit that she'd done something wrong and face the consequences.

            "Give me your wand," Draco commanded.

            "No!" she said.  Ah, yes, there was the old Ginny again, snotty, unbearable and simply annoying.

            "Virginia Elizabeth Malfoy, I said give me your wand, now give it to me before you regret it," he commanded, trying to keep the weariness out of his voice.  She was so insufferable!

            "Do not scold me like a child!  I will keep my wand because I'm—" but she didn't finish.  Draco took aim and hit her with a full body bind.  He could have stunned her just as easily, but while she was in a full body bind she could still hear and see him, and he figured seeing him take her wand was proper punishment for giving him lip.  Slowly, he untucked her shirt from her waistline of her skirt and undid the buttons all way to the top so he could part her blouse and see if her wand was hidden underneath.  Of course, she could have just pulled the shirt up, but that was nearly as much fun.  It wouldn't have caused Ginny to scream like this.  She couldn't really scream but she was desperately trying to voice her protest through her sealed mouth.  When her opened blouse revealed that her wand wasn't hidden there, he started on her skirt, slowly inching it up, to make sure that she hadn't strapped it to her thigh.  It was there, but the buckle was on the underside of her leg.  He slowly turned her over, so her screams were now muffled into the pillow, and unbuckled the clasp of the strap holding her wand in place.  He turned her back over, but left her skirt up and her shirt open, before putting her wand securely in his trunk.

            "I'm going to dinner, Luv," he said, and kissed her right on the cheek.  The volume of her protest increased slightly but Draco acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

            Dinner was a surprisingly enjoyable affair without having to worry about Ginny being besides him.  It was a relief to just sit and bask in the glow of his wonderful catch without knowing that Ginny was sitting there thinking he was pathetic, and that Potter could have done better.

            "Where's you wife?" Pansy asked acidly.  Draco looked at her.  Pansy had been surprisingly quiet since the train ride up to school.  Either that, or she was smart enough to gossip where Draco couldn't hear her.  And if Draco knew Pansy, it was that latter.

            "Oh, she was feeling rather tired after her walk," Draco said with a smirk curling at the corners of his lips, hoping his lewd meaning was coming across loud and clear.  Let the other boys argue with that!  His wife may have shown up at Quidditch practice, but they weren't getting regular shagging.  Not that he was either actually, but they didn't know that.

            Pansy made an indignant noise meaning that proper people didn't talk about such things; he knew it well because his mother often made the same sound, but Draco didn't care if it was proper.  At seventeen, it was okay to break certain rules of conduct, and that was one of them. 

            After most of the other tables had cleared out, Draco finally stood, announcing that Dinner was finally over for their end of the Slytherin table.

            He reluctantly returned to his room to find Ginny still under the spell.  Her eyes darted to him when he entered the room.

            "Did you enjoy your rest, darling?" Draco asked, taking the opportunity to run his hands through her fiery tresses.  Ginny screamed loudly through her sealed mouth, but Draco only chuckled.  He was sick of her attitude.  Ginny was going to be under either a silencing charm or a sleeping charm for the rest of the night.

            He took the spell off her, only to be on the receiving end of an outraged tirade.

            "You disgusting, vial, ill-mannered pig!" she said immediately, as she buttoned up her blouse and put her skirt down "because I won't respond to you, you've got to manhandle me when I can't defend myself, you—you—ugh, I can't think of anything bad enough to call you!  I hate—"

            "Silencio," Draco said almost lazily.  Ginny continued to try and talk before she realized she couldn't make a sound.  Frustrated beyond belief she got up and started beating her fist on his chest.  Draco easily caught her wrist in his hands and held them above her head, but she kicked him in the shins.  In response, Draco backed her up until she was sitting on the bed, and he was standing over her; then squashed her legs between his own, so she couldn't move at all.

            Ginny felt her pulse start to quicken.  This was the most helpless she have ever felt.  Draco's hands physically restrained her, and she couldn't mutter so much as a syllable.  She hated him.  She hated him for merely existing.  Didn't he know that if he'd stop being so horrible to her, she might actually stop being so horrible to him? 

            "Do you have any homework, just shake your head yes or no," he commanded.  Ginny completely ignore him, so he asked again.  "Answer me Virginia.  Do you have any schoolwork to do?" he repeated slowly, stressing each individual word.

            Reluctantly, she shook her head.  She'd done all of her schoolwork due tomorrow and wasn't really in the mood to do any more.

            "Then goodnight Virginia," Draco said and hit her with a sleeping spell.  She fell slack against him immediately, and he changed her into her pajamas, if only to watch her freak out when she realized he'd seen her naked again.  Since she was already asleep, Draco let her sleep in the bed, hoping that she'd shut up about having to sleep on the floor all the time.  Didn't she know that all she had to do was stop fighting him and he'd spoil her rotten?  If she'd only become his pet again she could have anything her heat desired: clothes, jewels—hell she could have a whole bloody manor.  All he wanted was to not have to fight her when he wanted to sleep besides his wife.  Was it so hard for her to ruddy smile at him once and awhile?  He sighed, tucking her into bed and running his hand through her hair again.  She looked so innocent and angelic while she slept like that.  He wondered what she was dreaming about.  The thought rose unbidden to his head before he could stop it.

            'Probably Potter,'

            His hand fell from her hair immediately, and he went to the library to do some half-hearted NEWT revising.

~

            In the morning, Ginny awoke from the best eleven hours of sleep she'd ever had, but she had more pressing matters to consider.  She was in a bed!  For the first time in weeks she was waking up in a warm, comfortable, soft bed, with a feather pillow under her head and a huge feather comforter covering her body.  It felt marvelous!  But the feeling of overwhelming joy only lasted so long.  

           Once she saw Draco Malfoy sleeping next to her, the feeling faded.  Not because he was sharing this wonderful, soft and warm bed with her, that she could forgive, but his presence brought more than one unwanted question to her head.  Why had he let her sleep next to him, and why didn't she remember going to sleep there?  Slowly, the memories of last night resurfaced and she remembered the sleeping spell.  Oh no!  What had he done to her while she was asleep?  That sick bastard!  First it was the body bind, and now he had her under sleeping spells?  It was then that she noticed she was wearing a nightgown, which she was sure she hadn't been wearing when the spell hit.  Had he just changed her?  Or had he taken other liberties when he was undressing her?  Finally, she couldn't stand it anymore.  In a jiffy she was out of bed, dressed, and working on getting all her homework done in advance.  She still had another two hours before breakfast would start, and she didn't much fancy sitting around contemplating exactly what the bastard had done to her.

            Draco Malfoy awoke already happy.  The instant his mind slipped into consciousness, he remembered that Ginny had fallen asleep next to him.  With a smile he turned to where she was sleeping, ready to hear her thank him for letting her sleep in the bed.  Yes, if only for a few minutes, Ginny was going to have something nice to say, and he was quite looking forward to having her behave for once.  When he faced the spot where his Ginny was supposed to be, he found instead that he was facing an empty bed.  Instantly, he sat up and looked around the room, only to find Ginny dressed and sitting at the table doing homework.

            "You're welcome," he said acidly.

            She whipped around; obviously startled that he'd spoken.

            "Excuse me?" she said, her eyes narrowed.

            "You're welcome for letting you sleep in the bed.  I gave you something you've been asking for, I expect to be thanked."

            "Thanked," she said quietly, her eyes growing wide in disbelief.  "You put a sleeping spell on me, and I wake up to find myself in different clothes than I went to sleep in, and you expect me to thank you?  For what?  For doing who knows what while I'm asleep?  For all I know you got desperate enough to rape me again!"

            Unbelievable, he'd been so nice to her last night, and all she could do now was accuse him of being a cowardly pig who had to reduce himself to putting girls under spells to get any.  Granted, he'd wanted to get her riled up with the whole nightgown affair, but really, his goal was to get her thinking that he'd seen her body again, not that he'd done that to her while she wasn't even in a state to remember it.

            He was towering above Ginny in two seconds flat, enraged.  How dare that little whore be so disrespectful?  Ginny, at least, had the good grace to look appropriately terrified of him.

             "Does my little wife request another silencing spell with her tirade?" he asked in a deadly whisper.  "Or perhaps she enjoys sleeping on the floor, hmm?"  He bent down so his face was only inches from hers, putting his hands on the arms of the chairs to prohibit her from leaving.  Trapped, her eyes darted around, looking for a way out, but he would not allow her any escape.  For once, he had the physical and the emotional advantage and he had no intentions of letting it fall to her.  "Or maybe," he said, quieter still, "she wishes to spend the day locked in her room under a full body bind again?" 

            "Classes," she choked out, "I've got to go to classes."

            Draco shrugged, "can't one of your brother's candies take care of that?"

            Ginny didn't reply, perhaps because she knew he was right.

            "I've had enough of you lip Virginia.  You are my wife, and it's time you started acting like it.  Now, are we going to be nice and quiet like a good little wife should?" he was still only inches from her, and trying his very best to unnerve her, to force her to become placid and predictable again instead of this wild hellcat he couldn't handle.

            "N-no," she stuttered.

            "What?" he asked.

            "No," she spoke up gaining confidence.  "I will not be quiet so you can feel like you're always right. I hate you.  You horrible little—"

            But Ginny's sentence was finished with a gasp as Draco yanked her up from the chair, kicked it across the room with such a clatter that Ginny was sure it was broken, then dropped her onto the ground again.

            "Then I suppose you'll continue to sleep on the floor, and I'll have to put a silencing spell on you every night won't I?  That will teach you to be nice and quiet!" he said, still standing over her.

Ginny considered this.  She hated that silencing spell, but even more she hated being on the floor.  She couldn't do it anymore.  It was worth a little bit of her pride to plead with Draco if it meant never having to sleep on that horrid stone floor again.

            He raised his wand, ready to fire off another silencing spell, actually amazed that he hadn't thought of them before.

            "Draco no!" Ginny suddenly pleaded, turning her face up to him.

            "Please let me sleep in the bed.  I promise I'm not thinking about Harry!  Harry and I are in a fight," she blurted out without thinking, "I just want to sleep in the bed.  I hate the floor; I actually dread sleeping at night because it's so cold and all.  I actually only sleep while you're gone in the evenings.  Please," she pleaded, "don't make me sleep on the floor anymore.  Please."

            "Potter and you are in a fight?" he asked.  Ginny snapped her mouth shut, not believing her own stupidity.  How on earth was she going to get out of this one?  She couldn't even tell him what the fight was about with him freaking out on her.  She tried to think of an excuse but the silence while Draco waited for an answer was becoming deafening.  And in the absence of any better idea, she said the first thing that came to mind.

            "No!  No we didn't; I lied.  I'm just so sick of the floor and—"

            "You saw him when you took the charm off the door didn't you."

            "No!"  Ginny's mind was reeling.  She needed to find a way out of this one before Draco ran completely off his rocker.  "I—that is he—I mean—"

            "Spit it out!" he bellowed, jabbing his wand at her, "before I make you!"  Ginny had seen Draco mad more times then she cared to count, but she'd never seen him this mad.  Usually, when he got mad, he became much more swift, calm and collected; that was terrifying, but now he was in a violent furry.  She'd never seen him so mad.  The hand that was holding his wand was visibly shaking; this mad rage was worse.  The thing about Draco was, that he was a fairly predictable person.  Ginny almost instinctively knew what he would say and do in a given situation, but this boiling anger was new to her.  What would he do?  How would he act?

            "He's been writing me notes!" she finally blurted after the silencing had become deafening.

            "Notes?"

            "Yes notes, but they…self-destruct, so I don't have any anymore," Ginny said, a plan now spinning in her head.

            Draco was a silent, eyes narrowed in furious contemplation.

            "I haven't been seeing him, but I have been slipping him notes at lunch. He's not happy about our relationship you know, and I can't find time to get away from you to spend with him.  His notes keep telling me to meet him places, but I can't because I can't get out of this room.  Once I was able to I didn't want to spend the time alone with him getting yelled at for something I can't help."  Ginny finally slowed her breathing down when she realized her story was a good one.

            "And what do your notes say?"

            Ginny swallowed and allowed herself a brief second to form a suitable answer.

            "Not-not much.  At first they were just the "Don't worry I'm fine.  He's only really making me sleep on the floor," type, but lately we've just been arguing.  I couldn't put self-destructing spells on mine, but I'm sure he's gotten rid of them."  She attempted a vague little laugh before continuing, "he probably set them up in flames; he's been so mad lately."

            Inhaling deeply, Draco considered Ginny's statements.  Her breathing was normal, and she didn't really seem to be lying to him.  But then again, she was normal before and she'd been lying.  No, he corrected himself; she hadn't been lying before.  Making his decision, he bent down and grabbed Ginny's robes, hauling her up so her face was only an inch from his.

            "If I ever find out that one word of what you said today isn't true," he growled, "I will pull you out of school and you'll spend your days locked in a cell with only a tutor to see.  Don't think I won't.  I've about had enough of you, and a nice long break while you spend your seventh year rotting away in the dungeons sounds marvelous about now. So I wouldn't push me if I were you, Virginia.  It's not in your best interest."  Saying so, Draco summoned his toiletries to him and left for the shower.

            Alone, Ginny tried not to think about what Draco had just said, but she found that battle rather pointless, and in the end, she gave in to worry.  She tired to reassure herself that Draco would never find out that she was lying.  He'd never find out that she and Harry had actually seen one another twice. Never!  Thoughts like this continued through all of breakfast, morning classes, lunch (which was eaten at the Slytherin table on account that Ginny was to scared to try and promise Ron that she'd sit with him), through afternoon classes, and again through dinner.

            "Wand!" Draco demanded as soon as they were out of earshot of the rest of the school, "now!"

            Ginny reluctantly handed over her wand.  All she wanted to do was sleep right now, and forget that Draco Malfoy even existed.  She didn't care that her mind hadn't been in any of her classes today.  All she wanted to do was sleep and wake up once the horror had passed.  Somewhere, deep down inside, she knew that the horror would never pass, and that thought only made her want to sleep more.           

           Lying in bed after Draco had left, she stared up at the ceiling, unable to sleep, and thought longingly of being free.   She sighed, but life wouldn't allow her freedom.  For as long as she lived, she belonged to Draco Malfoy.  For the rest of her life she would be subjected to threats, beatings, and occasional rapes.  Really though, there was an escape.  It was only for the rest of her life that she was subjected to Draco Malfoy's hands and demands.  What if she were to end it?

            She'd tried it before, just after the contract was signed, but all those attempts had been half thought out, and all of them would have been messy. But what if she were to plan it so that it looked like an accident?  Certain potions, when stirred the wrong way, or when the ingredients were added in the wrong order, become the most deadly of poisons.  It would only take one brewing, and she could hide it in here if she could only get the ingredients.  Unfortunately, Draco had made a big show out of putting the charm back on the door, so they'd have to be brought to her…

            "Ginny?" a voice interrupted her brooding.  Her head snapped up to see Harry walking in the door.

            "DON'T CLOSE THE DOOR!" she yelled.  "The charms back up, Draco caught me outside yesterday!"

            "Are you okay?" he asked, coming inside but leaving the door open the slightest fraction of an inch. "What did he do to you?" his tone was worried.

            Ginny was silent for a minute while she thought about a way to get rid of Harry.  She was enjoying her brooding, and she wasn't in the mood for Harry to come and try to apologize when he really wasn't sorry; he really just wanted to do the 'right thing.'

            "I'm fine.  Just the usual, you know.  I got yelled at.  He yanked me around a bit, and in the end I got threatened with a fate worse than death," she said flatly. 

            "Are you okay?" he asked again, obviously worried by her unchanging tone.

            "I said I'm fine."

            "Ginny I'm sorry."

~

            Draco Malfoy stormed back from the library, annoyed that he'd forgotten his textbook, again.  He rounded the corner into the hallway where his room was and froze.  He'd left the door open an inch or so.  No doubt Ginny had noticed this, too, and was now off in some abandoned classroom with Potter saying something like, 'and he actually believed me!' while she let Scarface run his hands all over her body.  The body that belonged to HIM!  As her husband, he owned that body.  It wasn't even her own anymore.  It was his.  As he got closer to the room he heard voices.  Ginny's voice, sounding more flat and dead then he'd ever head her sound.  He was about to yank the door open and kill whoever had dared to enter their room, when Ginny's words drifted to his ears from the open door.

            "Look Harry, I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now okay?  I'm tired, I've just spent the day trying to find ways to avoid getting killed by my husband, and I want to sleep in the bed before said husband banishes me to the floor for the night.  So please leave!" she said, and turned her back on him.

            "Ginny I—" 

            "Harry go!  Leave me in peace, that's all I want from you right now."

            "Gin—"

            "GO AWAY HARRY!" she yelled and buried her face in her pillow.  Harry sighed and turned to leave.

            Draco couldn't believe his ears.  Ginny had just turned Harry away.  Of course, she had been complaining about him earlier, but he was making her sleep on the floor, and he was doing it because he knew she hated it.  Ginny would be his tonight.  If she'd just turned Potter away like that she wouldn't dare think of Potter whilst she was under him this time.  When Harry turned to leave, Draco ducked into an old broom closet across the hall.  Seducing her tonight would go much smoother if she didn't know that he knew about her turning Potter away.

            He waited five minutes after Harry's footsteps had faded away before entering the room to find Ginny still face down in the pillow.

            "I thought I told you to—" but she stopped mid sentence when she pulled her head up from the pillow to look at him.  For the briefest instant, her eyes got huge, before she recovered and said, "—er—go to hell Malfoy."

            "You most certainly said no such thing," Draco said, catching her mistake almost as soon as she did, and deciding to gloss over it.  "You don't look happy," he said.

            She scoffed, "'cause I've so much to be happy about," she rolled her eyes, but Draco wasn't listening, instead, he was looking at her school shirt and picturing what she looked like underneath.  Without wasting another second, Draco undid the first button and let his lips follow his fingertips.  He was already excited at the very idea of being inside of Ginny again, but her little sigh sent a thrill straight through him.

            Ginny lay under Draco and couldn't quite suppress a resigned sigh.  'Well here we go again,' she thought, 'I suppose I'll just wait until he's all worked up before pulling the 'oh Harry,' thing again.'  Ginny wasn't in the mood at all.  It took awhile before Draco roaming hands and deft tongue could warm her up.  This time though, she didn't even attempt to not enjoy it.  He undressed her slowly, his hands touching her on the stomach and caressing her inner thigh, but never moving to where she really wanted them.  He paid attention to all the little things on her body, like the back of her knee, or that one spot on her neck.  She thought she was going to simply faint with pleasure when his tongue slowly circled her chest before he finally took her into his mouth.  She gasped, then sighed with delirious pleasure, letting all her worries by forgotten as Draco felt out all of her most sensitive spots.  He was torturing her, kissing his way down her abdomen, then letting only the very tip top of his fingertips brush for the briefest of seconds where she craved him the most, before running his tongue down her leg and slowly kissing his way back up.

            "Please," she finally breathed out after he had done this for the third time.  Immediately, she realized her mistake.  She'd just made Draco Malfoy feel wanted, "Please Harry," she breathed out again, and prepared her body for a slap of some sort, but much to her surprise, it never came.  Instead, Draco chuckled and trailed his hot breath up her body before whispering in her ear.

            "Mmm, I heard you turn him away earlier," he whispered huskily, "I know you're rather upset with him at the moment."

            "Came on his own," Ginny immediately tried to reason, "didn't invite him," she tried forming whole sentences but Draco's hands were still roaming her body.  "Hermione…helped find me… I suppose—"

            "Shhh," Draco said and kissed her open mouth with a surprising amount of force, "I know you didn't invite him," and his mouth returned to pleasing her body.

            Much too delirious with pleasure, Ginny let Draco have his way.

            "Please," she said again, arching up her back.  Draco smiled and ignored her, enjoying her struggle.

He took his time, torturing her by making her wait.  It was a silent lesson, teaching her who controlled everything. 

'Please," she said more desperately than before once he lay almost atop her, ready to give her what she wanted most.

            "Please what?" he breathed in her ear.

            "P-please Draco," she whispered back, hating herself for it.

            Draco obliged, and committed to memory each little animal noise that Ginny made.  Here was his pet, all his.  She was under him, begging him to give her the pleasure that only he knew how to give and only he had given her.  Once finished, he collapsed next to her and brushed a few red tresses away from her face.

            "You can sleep in the bed tonight," he whispered, planting a kiss on her forehead.  Obviously exhausted, Ginny nodded and pulled the covers up around her, nestling into them and trying to get comfortable.         

            Both the lovers were asleep in minutes.

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