I don't own HP, and I make no money from this fic. I write simply to tell a story that won't leave my head till it's told! ^_^ Please forgive me for the rather.. Menial job I gave Ginny. I was trying to keep as realistic as possible, and Ginny becoming rich and famous while she was preggers wasn't quite..that.
Don't get me wrong - I actually toyed with her becoming a model. That is, until I imagined an 8 month preggers woman in a bikini. That just about changed my mind for me! Lol
SO.. Here we go!
Compulsion: Chapter 3
By Caliko
:::There are some things I wouldn't do to earn money. ::: I thought, watching Tom cut into the fish. :::To bad gutting fish isn't one of them.:::
Trying to keep my mouth from twisting into a disgusted grimace, I took the knife into my latex-covered hands and attempted to mimic the veteran fish fryer in such a way that it looked as if I knew what I was doing. It didn't work. Once again, he took the knife and patiently showed how to slice the fish in such so that you ended up with uniform fillets. Finally, after four or five fish, he was satisfied, and went back to his grill.
It was an ordinary day at Cap'n Hooks Seafood, and I had finally graduated from cashier to cook. To be honest, I think it was a matter of image. I worked hard, so they didn't want to fire me, but at the same time, my less than wholesome appearance contradicted with the family atmosphere they tried to project.
The best solution? Stick me in the back of the kitchen where only my fellow coworkers would see my pregnant teenage body. I wasn't that happy with it, but I enjoyed eating. In other words, I put up with the fishy smelling hands and the burns on my arms from the spitting oil.
At the end of the day, I collected my pay and walked the two blocks to the rooming house where I lived. I had the suite at the rear of the old Victorian, opening up to a small community garden that we all took turns to care for. The owner of the house was a little old lady by the name of Mrs. Fumble, who had the thickest glasses I had ever seen.
Those glasses were a plus. They couldn't see the slight difference in ink on the date of the birth certificate I had shown her as proof of age. She also didn't question the hospital of birth, not seeing anything strange at all about a healthcare facility named Lord Merlins. Mrs. Fumble didn't see a lot of things… which made her rooming house the ideal place to hide out in.
I dared not use too much magic - since I was underage, and missing at that, I knew that the ministry would have people keyed to my magical frequency. If I was extravagant, they would catch me in a second, and I would be right back where I started from.
So, I pretended to be a muggle and enjoyed it. Often, I would help my landlady out cooking breakfast for the five of us who lived there. I didn't mind, even though I paid for Mrs. Fumble to cook my meals for me. That dear woman had enough to do, simply trying to keep ends meet without being run ragged cooking and cleaning for three old bachelors and us two ladies!
Of course, she COULD stop feeding the stray cats in the neighbourhood, but I was glad she didn't. Often, one of those cats where my sole company when I sat in the garden at night, staring at what should have been a starry sky.
That was my life, these days. With less than a month before I was due, I spent the morning cooking and dusting for Mrs. Fumble, and the afternoon and early evening working at Cap'n Hooks. I had Sunday's off every week, and I would spend them rummaging through the consignment shops for baby paraphernalia of all types.
This Sunday, I had found this adorable bassinet, complete with ruffled canopy, and I was floating all the way home. Gloating, actually. I had ripped it from the hands of someone much less fortunate than I was. She lost, I won, and that was that. My baby had a place to sleep when she came home. Yes, Sundays were good.
I came to the corner café, where I usually stopped for a quick tea, and plopped my find down on the table next to me. I couldn't help but coo over it, imagining my blond (or redheaded) child laying inside, giggling, and kicking her feet into the air.
The waitress on duty didn't usually interrupt, but simply put my usual cup of decaffeinated tea and biscuit down next to me. Amelia had seen me do this too many times in the last five months to let it phase her now.
However, there was a look in her eye this time. Before she left, she tapped the table in front of me, bringing my attention to a slip of pager that peaked out from beneath my plate. I nodded to show that I had seen it, then sat down to eat.
A few minutes later, I nearly choked as the liquid went down the wrong way. I had slid the paper free of the plate, and opened it up to see what it was. There, in living color, was a muggle picture of me from when I visited Hermione the summer before, as well as this line: "Missing - 7,000 pound reward for information on the whereabouts of Virginia Weasely." Under that there was a phone number I had never heard of, and another line, telling one and all that my parents were very worried about me.
I sighed, then looked up, meeting Amelia's gaze. I nodded my thanks, then shoved the paper into my pocketbook. I would have to be more careful. Leaving payment on the table, I stood up and picked up the bassinet before starting the short walk home.
Mrs. Fumble always looked forward to my finds, and today would be no different. Just put one foot in front of the other, pretend that you hadn't just received the shock of your life, and go on as if nothing had happened.
I finally made it to the rooming house, and started up the steps. Step one, step two.. Freeze. Tacked to the door was another poster, with the same muggle photograph. I hurriedly rip it down, then shoot my eyes over the street, looking for another. There were none.
My hand gripped the bassinet hard, and I was sure that the delicate white wicker was cracked. Slowly, I pretended that nothing was wrong, and opened the door.
The hallway was empty when I called out a greeting. No feet came to meet me, so I assumed that everyone was out. Strange, really. Mrs. Fumble very rarely left the building, except to go grocery shopping. I glanced into the front sitting room, and relaxed. She was there, napping.
Still, something felt.. Off. Silently, I slipped my shoes from my feet, and padded upstairs to my rooms. The sooner I was sitting down, the sooner I could figure out what the poster on just my door meant.
Those stupid posters! Really! It was just coincidence! What else could it be? I hadn't seen anyone from the wizarding world hanging about!
:::Anyone I knew, anyway.::: The thought forced itself up from the depths of my consciousness, evil and mocking as I realized that I didn't know everyone. I closed my bedroom door behind me, and placed the bassinet down in the area I'd sectioned off as the nursery. Then, walking over to the window, I sat down in the cushioned seat and tried to calm down.
:::I would have to leave.:::
The thought was not a welcome one. I made a life for myself, here, and I was not willing to give it up and just leave, so close to my due date. Sure, it wasn't the best of lives, my job really sucked, for instance. But everything else was perfect. More than that, it was mine.
Now, it was threatened, and I didn't know what to do. If I left, it would be running away - abandoning the safe haven I worked so hard to make. If I didn't, I would have to face my family. God help me, I would have to face Draco.
The logical part of my mind wondered what they could do. Seriously, they couldn't force me to marry him. If I sat still long enough to actually think, I would have realized that before I left.
But, they could try to take my child away from me. It would be so easy, with all of their money, to do that. That would leave me with one decision left. I could either go with the baby into Draco's possession, or I could hold onto myself and visit only on weekends. If I was allowed to visit on weekends.
Wistfully, I looked around me, looking, really looking at the room. There was the bed and the dresser that came with the room, the rocker I picked up early on at a yard sale. The changing table, and the crib that I had scrimped and saved to buy. The pile of dirty clothes in the corner was at a level to prompt washing, but everything else was spotless, thanks to Mrs. Fumbles efforts.
That pile bothered me. It pointed out that I was never at home to wash them. What with work and helping out here, I didn't have much time to take care of my own chores.
What was I going to do next month, when the baby was born? How could I work, and take care of my child? How could I not work and still feed it?
A bit overwhelmed by it all, I could feel the tears gathering in the back of my eyes.
:::Was leaving a mistake? Then, wouldn't leaving here be worse? Maybe .. Maybe I should go home.:::
"No. Not yet. I don't know if they found me, after all! They may have just tacked them up randomly. Or, they could have gotten every door, but mine was the last one up."
But, wouldn't that mean that one of her neighbors might have recognized her?
:::No. I don't see them often enough for them to know me on sight.:::
Feeling slightly better, I glanced at the clock. Still an hour or two before supper, and I was starting to feel a bit sleepy, as if the trials of the last hour had finally caught up with me.
:::A nap couldn't hurt, and it… might… help:::
I lay down on my side, and was out almost before I finished that thought.
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Interlude: Through the eyes of Draco Malfoy
Finally, I found her. She lived there, inside this ramshackle rooming house, oblivious to the fact that her life was in danger. I have watched her all month, learning her habits as one might some exotic animal in the wild, and I had made up my mind to grab her today.
There would be no more sneaking around about this… well, not much anyway. Just enough sneakiness to get Ginny. I had already put her landlady under the Nocturnus spell, and she would sleep well until eight o'clock. Her fellow renters were all still at work, and if I'm not mistaken, Ginny herself had just turned the corner, and was approaching the house carrying a large white wicker basket.
Quickly, I pulled the hood up on the invisibility cloak and watched as she ascended the stairs.
There, she had spotted the notice. I don't know why I did that. Maybe it was some left over evilness from my school days, maybe a part of me wanted her to know that we hadn't given up yet. It didn't matter, it was done.
She tore it from the door, her face white as she looked about. Then, opening the door, she slipped inside. Quickly, I apparated into her room, still wearing the cloak. I heard the heavy tread of her footsteps on the stairs, then waited as the door opened and she pushed inside. Soon, she sat on the window seat, and began to cry.
I had to admit that at that point, I felt like shit. I knew damn well that I was invading her life, taking over with the heaviest of hands. But I had no choice if I was going to keep her safe.
Ginny was right about my father, after all. As soon as I admitted to having a serious relationship with her, he was threatening everything he could think of. He started with disowning me, and ended up with slitting her thin, freckled throat.
I wanted to kill him at that point, but I knew better than to show strong emotion near him. He was a shark, and he went for your weak points. Mine were most definitely Ginny and the baby, leaving me with no choice but to do what I must to protect her. If it included kidnapping her, then so be it.
I waited quietly in the corner, then uttered another, milder form of the nocturnes spell. Soon, she was yawning, and glancing at the clock. Five more minutes, I thought, as she climbed over to her bed. Five more minutes, and she would be sleeping deeply enough for me to grab her.
She was heavier than I remember, which wasn't surprising, considering that she resembled an extremely large pumpkin. Adjusting her weight, I carried her downstairs, past her sleeping landlady, and to the waiting black limo. Harold, my driver, opened the rear passenger door, and waited while I buckled Gin into her seat. Then, with a quick nod of accomplishment, we got into our seats, and started down the street.
End Interlude
Ginny woke up, stretching, feeling more relaxed than she had in a long time. A slight twinge flared in her belly, and she smiled, rubbing the little foot that poked out from her side. Then, she sat up, realizing that she had slept much later than she had intended.
She threw back the covers, and froze.
:::Covers? I didn't use any…:::
She let her feet fall to the floor, noticing the slight chill that radiated from under the rug.
:::I have wood floors.:::
Finally, she opened her eyes, only to be met by the extreme dark of night.
:::I couldn't have slept that long!:::
Yet, it seemed that she had. Stumbling to her feet, she moved in the general direction of where her wall should be, and fumbled along the smooth paneling in search of the light switch.
::Ok, that's it! I HAVE PAINTED WALLS! Where the hell am I?:::
"Lumos" The word was muttered almost in her ear, bringing a sparkle of pure white light from a wand tip in front of her. Startled, she jumped, pressing back into something large and firm. Spinning around, she swallowed, hardly daring to believe who stood illuminated by the weak wizards light.
"Dr.. Draco! How?"
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Hehehehehehehe… ok.. How was that? ^_^ I hope no one thought it was rushed, cause trust me.. I'm still just setting the story up! LOL…
If you liked this story, do a poor, insecure fan fiction author a break, and read some of my other fics! Currently, I'm writing a Rurouni Kenshin fic, centered around Sano and Megumi, (The Trouble with Chickens.. Er..Roosters), as well as a Gundam Wing fic, centered around my all time favorite, Duo and Hilde! (Love is a battlefield). Anyway, both are romantic humor, so feel free to giggle madly throughout the whole thing! ^_^
Caliko