The rose of the court

Chapter 3- Secrets revealed

Ginny was sitting in a comfortable living room, in the far side of the

castle. It was raining outside. The heavy rain drops were washing the windows, and

making the world outside seem unreal.

She just stared out the window, thinking about what had happened.

When realization dawned in Lucius face, Ginny knew there was going to be

trouble.

Voldemort was not pleased at Lucius, and he made it quite clear when he put him under the Crucios curse. Ginny shook at the memory.

Ginny didn't understand. What was so important about her blood that made her husband react like that? He had never explained to her why he took her blood, so her curiosity was teasing her. And he wasn't the only one to get angry too! When Norah told Draco that the vial was missing and that a search had to be conducted in the castle, his face was pale white. Lucius was furious with himself, and even Norah seemed affected.

Ginny didn't understand. What were they afraid of?

The castle was being searched from top to bottom, by every wizard and servant in it. Though she could bet that however who had stolen the vial, had most certainly not stayed around for long.

Ginny wondered once again. Who would want a vial filled with blood of an 25 year old woman? Then Ginny's mind snapped back to the court. Lucius was in the middle of the crowd, walking towards Bruno Lestrange, and the dark hair man crashed into him. It must have been him!

But what did she cared? The only trouble she had with the whole story, was that another vial was filled with her blood, this time by her husband.

Ginny sighed. All that noise because of a vial! Would anything normal ever happen in this place? She could hear Norah's regular breathing, in the back of the room. She had probably fallen asleep. She turned around and looked at the clock behind her. Ten past midnight. She sank a little deeper in the chair she was sitting on, and waited, hopping by some reason the she didn't know, that the man wasn't caught.

Ginny woke up suddenly! She wondered for a minute were she was. It was not her bedroom. Nor it was the living room were she fell asleep. It was probably a room nearby. She sat up in her bed and noticed that she was still in her dress.

She looked around the room. It was decorated just like the rest of the castle. In an old an heavy style. There were two doors. One probably led to the living room where she was earlier, and the other one she didn't know.

There was a single candle burning near one of the doors. Letting her eyes wonder a bit more, she spotted a clock on top of a fireplace. There was very little light in the room, so she couldn't see the hours. But she had the feeling that she wasn't out for long. She got up and walked to the clock. The she took it to the small candle so that she could see the hours. It was almost one. She was going to place the clock back in its place, when a familiar voice came from behind the door next to her.

'My Lord, all of the castle as been searched, and there isn't any sign of him.'- Draco's voice sounded calm, thought she could bet that her husband was not.'Have you checked everything? The towers? The secret passage ways? The lab?- ' there was no answer to his questions, so Ginny assumed that Draco was nodding.

'How dare he to come into my home and steal from me?!'- her husbands voice was dripping with fury. Ginny could hear him walking back and forth in the room.

'My Lord?' -started a small and very nervous voice. -'Do you think that the resistance did this?- it was Norah's voice. Ginny wondered why she was in there. And what was this about a resistance?

'Well of course it was them! Who else would have the nerves to come in to the palace, and steal from right under our noses!'- This time it was Lucius to answer. In a rather loud way!

'Keep your voice down Lucius! You will wake her up!'

'Forgive me my Lord! Shall I check if she's asleep?' for a moment Ginny's body tensed. Her first thought was to run to the bed and pretended that she was asleep. Voldemort would not be happy if she was found eavesdropping, and she didn't want to upset him. Not with the possibility of visiting her family.

'No need. We'll hear her, when she gets up.'- Ginny sighed of relief.

'What is really troubling me, is if the resistance knows anything.'-

Voldemort said in a very calm voice. "Anything about what?" she wondered.

'My Lord, what are the odds of them knowing about.'-Lucius started. But her husband cut him off.

'What were the odds of you being stolen, right in the middle of the court?'- her husbanded said with a sneer.

'Do you like your life Lucius? Do you?'- Voldemort said with a menacing voice that could scare a dragon out of his scales. Lucius didn't answer.

'Then you better hope that they don't find out about our little secret!'- Ginny's mind was screaming with curiosity. "What secret?" She was crossing her fingers mentally, that one of them would say what it was.

'And if they know about the blood, you might as well bet that they know about the rest.'- her husbands voice sounded resigned, as if he already had accepted that the resistance knew what she was dying to find out.

'Oh! But I will get him for this!'- "Who?" Ginny was wondering. "What about the blood? And the rest? Why wont one of them just spit it out?" her mind was screaming. She wanted to know. It was her blood after all, and it seemed very important.

She waited for them to continue the conversation, but there was only silence in the next room.

Ginny was so nervous, that she forgot the clock in her hands. She gave a little gasp when it started dinging one in the morning.

'She's awake.'-she heard a voice say.

Ginny ran silently for the bed, and place the clock in the nightstand. Getting caught at listening to a conversation like that was not a good idea. Particularly because she was not suppose to know about the resistance. Why else would Voldemort not tell her about it?

Someone entered the room. Ginny thought that there was no point in pretending that she was asleep, since they already knew that she was awake. She lifted her head to see who it was. She was expecting Norah, but was surprised to see Voldemort looking back at her.

'Ginny? Are you awake?'- he asked in a soft voice.

She sat up in the bed and pretended to be sleepy.

'Yes.'-she said rubbing an eye.

'Well, you better change in to a nightgown. We're spending the night here.'- he said as he lighted a few candles with his wand.

'Why?'-Ginny asked as she got out of the bed.

'Because I say so.'- he said with a tone that left no room for discussion. Ginny felt anger rising as she looked at him.

'When will you stop treating me like a child? Why can't you just say that the man wasn't caught, that he's probably not in the palace but you feel like the palace security as been compromised, and you feel safer sleeping here!'- she had said that all in one blow, and the second she finished, she regretted. If he got angry chances were that she would never see her family.

He looked at her in mild surprise, raised an eyebrow, and laughed.

'You're right; I do treat you like a child. And you're also right about why we are sleeping here.'-his tone was amused, and Ginny couldn't help feeling a sense of relief.

There was a nock on the door, and her husband went to open it. He let Norah in and closed the door. Norah helped Ginny out of her dress, and in to the nightgown she had brought in with her. After that, she gave a small bow and left them alone.

Ginny got in to the bed as her husband took of his clothes. Soon he got in to bed with her. She was staring at the ceiling, thinking about how lucky she was that he didn't got angry at her. He pulled her to him, grabbed her hand, and looked in to her deep brown eyes.

'How did you know that we didn't catch the man?'-he asked with suspicion.

Ginny thought quickly of an answer.

'Well, I just assumed since were sleeping here. I think that if you had caught him, we would be in our room.'- she said as innocently as she could. He kept staring in to her eyes, as if there was something he wanted to say, but couldn't came around to say it.

'I haven't been paying you much attention lately, have I?'-he said while he played with her hand. Ginny could see that something was disturbing him.

'I'll have to do something about that.''- Ginny didn't know what to say. This was very unusual of him. She thought about it for a moment. He spent almost every night with her, and they would always dine together. Maybe he felt that that wasn't enough.

Ginny's thoughts were disturbed by a hand travelling between her legs.

It seemed like he was himself again.

Somewhere in a dark dungeon, a man with greasy black hair and a woman with spectacles were leaning over a cauldron, with an anxious look on their faces.

'Well, let's pray that this doesn't work!'-the man said while a young man with dark hair handed him a small vial.

Everyone in the small room held their breath, as the man opened the vial and pored a droop of the blood inside it, in to the cauldron. The liquid inside the cauldron began to boil, and turned purple. Everyone in the room looked at the older man.

'Well? What does it mean?'-asked a young women with bushy hair.

'It means that what we thought is correct.'-the man said with a sad voice.

'Are you sure? Could you have made a mistake in the potion?'-she insisted.

'Quite sure.'-he said with an even sadder voice.

'Well, I guess that the question now is what are we gona do about it?'-the young man said.

Everyone in the room looked back at the older man, but he didn't seem to know what to do.

'Well, our spy said that he takes her blood once a month, so I'm guessing that he needs the potion once a month.'-said a voice in the back of the room.

'We'll have to get her out of there!'-said the young man. The older man let out a sad laugh.

'Taking a vial from that idiot Lucius is one thing. Taking the Empress from right under Voldemorts nose is another!'-he said with a more serious expression.

'I can do it! Either way we have no choice. We take her from there, or we lose this fight.'-said the young man with a determined voice.

There was a minute of silence were everyone in the small room looked at him.

'Well, if we are going to do this we have to make careful plans. Our spy said that there is going to be a ball in a few weeks. I think that that is the best time to strike. We need to start planning right now.'-the older woman's voice said nothing but authority. Everyone in the room, but the young man, nodded and left.

The young man grabbed the small vial that laid forgotten next to the caldron, and looked at it.

'Ginny!'-he said in whisper.

Then is face turned in to pure anger and he throw it against the wall, breaking the vial in to a thousand small pieces.

The days went by to fast to Ginny's liking. Her birthday came closer and closer, and still she had no answer from her husband. She was anxious to see her family. It was the only thing that kept her going. She was in the large privet garden, strolling around, and not really paying attention to the beautiful flowers, or listening to Norah's endless conversation. She wanted an answer. She just had to know.

She turned around and looked at Sarah and Norah, who were talking about some young witch that had made a fool of herself in a party. It was the new gossip theme in the palace.

'Were is my husband?'-she asked with an authority that she really didn't feel.

'In the small office Milady, but.'-the young maid started, but Ginny cut off her word and made her way back to the palace. Ginny's maids had to run to catch up with her. She made her way to the small office with a determined step. More determination then she felt, because inside her head was screaming.

"What are you going to do? You're going to get him angry at you, that's what you're going to do!". But she ignored her own thoughts, and as soon as she got to the office door she turned around to her maids and told them to wait there for her. The two young maids looked at each other with apprehensive looks as Ginny let herself in to the office.

The small office wasn't small at all. It was small compared with the other office, were Voldemort would receive people from outside the palace. Usually people from the other provinces or noble people with request that were to privet for court. Ginny close the door behind her, without making a sound. Still her husband sensed her presence, and looked up from the papers he was reading. He looked surprised, has Ginny had expected. Now she hoped that he wouldn't see this as an invasion of his privacy. 'Ginny! This is a surprise!'-he said as he sat back on the chair.

She looked at him and saw with relief that he didn't look angry. In fact he looked. Glad! She walked slowly up to the desk, and stop just a few steps away from him.

'I was wondering if I could talk to you?'-she wasn't sure, but was that a smile? He got up from his chair, took Ginny's hand and took her to the next room. There, instead of sitting down on the couch, he sat down in front of the fireplace, and with a wave of his wand, lit the fire. Ginny sat beside him on the floor, but he pulled her to him, and placed her between his legs, so that she was with her back leaning on his chest. She didn't like the way she was sitting, because she couldn't see his face.

'So, what do you want to talk about?'-he asked as he placed small kisses on the back of her neck.

'I wanted to ask you if you thought about my request.'-she said in one breath.

Voldemort tensed behind her.

'I see.'-he said in a low voice. Ginny thought that he was going to say no. She turned her head so that she could see him. If he was going to deny the only thing that she wanted, them she would want a reason. Voldemort looked like he was thinking. He looked at her with his deep scarlet eyes in an unwary way. Then his face light up, as if he had just had an idea.

'Yes. You may see your family.'-he said as if he was still considering the answer. She immediately turned around and hugged him.

'Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!'-she was so ecstatic with the prospect of seeing her family, that she was kissing him at every "thank you". And he didn't seem to mind.

'When can I see them'-she asked, thinking that maybe he would let her see them still this week.

'After your birthday.'-he simply said. Ginny mood was went down a little, at the thought of still having to wait till her birthday. But anyway, she was so delighted at seeing her family, that she didn't even notice his evil grin.

The days that seemed to be going to fast for Ginny, suddenly become to slow. Ginny was doing everything she could to help Narcissa with the upcoming ball. That way, time seemed to go faster. But still not fast enough.

It took her a reasonable amount of days to realize that some thing was not right. First her husband didn't get angry at her, for interrupting his work. Second, the ball was to be held outside the palace, somewhere she hadn't been since after Hogwarts. And third, Draco was constantly following her. If she would go in to the garden, there he was. If she was in the library, he would be outside. When she went to the court, he would stand beside her throne, like a body guard. She had the suspicion that Voldemort had ordered him to keep an eye on her. But in fact she didn't care. All she could think about, all that graced her mind was her family. She would be seeing them. For the first time in two years, she would see her mother, her father and her brothers. So, she was anxious for her birthday.

In fact, she was so distracted with that thought that she didn't even notice that Voldemort himself was taking care of the ball security.

First I would like to thank everyone who reviewed. Thank you very much.

Second I would like to thank my new Beta reader, Rachel Gilmore.

I would also like to note that there was a mistake with the chapters. Were it said chapter 3, was actually chapter 2. Funny no one noticed.

Please keep reviewing. Reviews give me the motivation to keep writing.