Ron, Ginny, and Harry walked down the crowded streets of London, where once Muggles covered the area, and Wizards hid in the shadows. But that was not to last. Now, there were Wizards and Witches wherever they looked, and not a Muggle to be seen. Of course, they were all dead.

Ginny led the way, Ron and Harry behind her, carrying several bags. Ginny was shopping for new dress robes, something she had forgotten on her last trip to town mere days ago. But just because she had a specific item to search for did not mean she couldn't pick up several others along the way, much to Ron's dismay. "Couldn't you use some new boots?" she called over her shoulder to him.

Ron shook his head. "I'm fine. Just hurry."

"I could use some new boots," said Harry, who was repositioning three full bags to hang them over his shoulder.

Ginny stopped and turned around. "That's right! You need lots of things, don't you? We could get you some new robes, a decent cloak, some boots… Hey! How about a wand?"

Ron looked frantically from Ginny to Harry, who was nodding with every item she named. "Hold on a minute! He hasn't earned enough to afford all that yet! Maybe some boots but…"

"I'll loan him the money," Ginny said.

"But a wand? He doesn't even know magic! He's past school age anyway. And then there's the fact that it's against the law for Half-bloods to do magic. Do you want him to end up in Azkaban?"

Ginny bypassed Ron and continued talking to Harry. "You can just pay me back in weekly payments, all right?"

Harry nodded, ignoring Ron's further protests. "Sounds great. Let's get some boots first. My feet are killing me in these shitty shoes."

Ron looked down, realizing that he'd never noticed Harry's shoes before. They were indeed very poor shoes. There were holes all through them, and the soles were extremely thin. Harry had been wearing some of the former servant's robes, though they were rather large on him. He supposed it wouldn't hurt to buy him a few things like that. But a wand?

Their first stop was a shoe shop. Harry walked around, not looking half as impressed as Ron expected. He finally picked out an expensive pair made of dragon skin. Ron opened his mouth to say something, but Ginny elbowed him and told Harry to try them on. They were a perfect fit, and Harry bought them. They next went to a robes shop, where Harry picked out two high-quality robes. One had red trim, the other was solid black. They looked beautiful hanging over those dragon skin boots. He also bought a traveling cloak.

"It's going to take you forever to pay Ginny back for all this stuff, you know," Ron told Harry as they left the store. Ginny gave him a dirty look and Harry ignored him.

Ginny was still leading the way, but she stopped suddenly, and Ron ran into her back. "What is it?" he said, looking past her. "Oh…"

A tall man in a silk, green-trimmed cloak was standing a few feet away. He had long white-blonde hair and a very proud expression. He was talking to a few more prominent looking men. Lingering behind him was a boy with shorter white-blonde hair and icy eyes. There was a large bandage on the left side of his face, and beneath the long, billowing sleeves of his cloak they could see bandages along his fingers. He was looking at the ground with narrowed eyes.

"Oh my gosh…." Ginny whispered.

Harry leaned around and looked at the boy. He looked back up at Ron, who was frowning. "Who's that?" he asked, with only a small hint of detached curiosity in his voice and he stepped around, closer to Ginny.

"Just some rich snotty git I went to school with," Ron answered him, "Name's Malfoy. We graduated from Hogwarts together, but he was in a different school house than me. He was always bragging about how rich his family was, always surrounded by a gang of admirers. Always mouthing off too. We didn't get along, needless to say."

Harry shrugged, turning his attention to Ginny, who was staring at the boy with amazement. "The rumors were true then!" she said breathlessly.

"What rumors?" Ron asked.

"I was in a shop the other day before I got kidnapped, and I ran into some friends. They told me there was a rumor that Malfoy had a Muggle-born slave over the summer."

Ron snorted. "Sounds like the Malfoys all right."

"No, no, here's the interesting part. Rumor has it that Malfoy let the slave go, that she was a really pretty girl around his age, and he wanted to marry her! The problem was that his father didn't approve, and planned to kill the slave, so that's why Malfoy had to set her free! His father was so angry that Malfoy was punished severely! They said he was hurt real bad, and look at all those bandages! It must have been true!"

Ron looked back at Malfoy. "You've gotta be kidding! Malfoy hated Muggle-borns worse than anyone else in the school!"

Harry looked slightly more interested. "Well, you know, those of us with Muggle-blood are always more tempting to those who hate us."

Ron and Ginny looked at him. "What do you mean?" Ron asked.

"Think about it. They hate us, but at the same time they're fascinated by us. And then there's the fact that they know they can't have us, sexually at least. It'd be a scandal they'd never be able to escape. You know how it is, everyone wants what they can't have. Your pal Malfoy probably fell into the same trap."

Ron and Ginny both looked enlightened. Ginny's face lit up. "Let's go talk to him!"

"Why?" Ron asked with a groan.

"Just to see if he mentions anything about it."

"Why would he? It's not like we're on friendly terms with him. He barely spoke to us all through school, and when he did it was a snide remark."

Ginny blinked. "Who cares? I just want to see, okay? You never know when he might let something slip." And she hurried over to him. She approached him quietly, then waved when he looked up. He looked faintly surprised, then looked back down. "Hey, Malfoy! How've you been?" she asked.

Malfoy looked at her suspiciously. "What do you want?" he asked.

"Can't old school mates have a chat every now and then? I was just wondering how you've been doing."

Malfoy glared at her. "Like it's any of your business."

Harry and Ron had approached. Malfoy looked over to Harry, who was looking back at him with an odd sort of smile. "Don't tell me the Weasleys actually bought a slave," he said, gesturing toward Harry.

"He's not a slave," Ginny said simply, "He's a servant. He's a Half-blood."

Malfoy looked mildly amused. "And you let him walk about freely on the streets in fancy clothes? Typical of your lot, I suppose."

Harry grinned. "So what happened to you?" he asked, "Looks like you've been put through a meat grinder."

Ron and Ginny glanced back at Harry in surprise. They didn't think even he would be that blunt. But it was true. Upon closer inspection they could see many fading gashes and lines along his face and even along what was visible of his neck.

Malfoy's eyes became increasingly narrow. "Weasley, your servant is speaking to me. Haven't you taught him any manners?"

Harry crossed his arms. "Oh, come on. It's a simple question. You've obviously been torn to hell by something. What happened?"

Malfoy was glaring dangerously. "Explain to me, Half-blood, why my affairs are any of your business."

Harry was still grinning. "We're curious, that's all. Why? Is it something to be ashamed of? Something… scandalous?"

Ron and Ginny were both looking between the two boys. Ginny certainly hadn't intended for this to happen. A confrontation between the two most sarcastic people she had ever met was actually turning out to be entertaining. She couldn't deny that she was enjoying watching Malfoy's eyes glitter with anger. After all, she couldn't forget that time in the hallway at Hogwarts…

Something interrupted her thoughts. Malfoy had stepped closer to Harry and had one hand inside his robes, as if ready to draw his wand. Harry hadn't budged, and was still smiling. "Touchy about that, are we?" Harry asked, his voice getting louder as people began to stop and watch, "Well, maybe the next time you start fucking a Mudblood you'll be a little more discreet."

Malfoy looked positively murderous. He had his wand drawn and pointed at Harry in a second. "I'll fuck whoever the hell I want. You have three seconds to get out of my sight."

Harry still didn't move, and it took Ginny and Ron both to drag him away from Malfoy, who kept his wand pointed squarely at Harry's chest until the three of them rounded a corner.

Harry dusted off his new robes calmly. "Charming fellow," he said.

"You really should be careful, Harry. It's not illegal to use most curses on Half-bloods. He could've hexed you bad and we couldn't have done anything about it," Ginny told him.

Harry laughed, a very hollow, empty sound that sounded anything but amused. "Don't worry. I'm not concerned about being cursed. Do you have any idea how many times someone's cursed me, just for being in their line of vision? I think I've developed an immunity to curses by now."

"Is that possible?" Ron asked, blinking.

Ginny shrugged at him then turned to Harry. "For my sake, okay? Don't get yourself hurt. I'd be really upset if you did."

Ron rolled his eyes. Ginny was getting far too attached to Harry, he could tell. But what could he do to stop it? Perhaps he could pay Harry off, give him all the money he could get his hands on and demand that he never show his face around them again. It seemed like a good idea, but would Harry go for it? Somehow Ron sensed that he was after more than money.

Oddly, Harry turned and looked at Ron over his shoulder. He smirked, throwing an arm around Ginny. "For your sake, I'll be careful." His face was close to Ginny's, dangerously close. "You know," he said glancing back at Ron briefly, then returning his gaze to Ginny, "I think I'm starting to figure out why redheads are in such demand in the skin trade. You're really beautiful, you know that?."

Ginny blushed visibly and smiled. "Oh, you're such a flirt, Harry!"

Ron's brows knitted together. "You two are far too friendly. You're practically fucking each other with your eyes."

Ginny frowned at him. "Watch your language, Ron! What sort of brother talks like that in front of his young, virginal sister?" There was a hint of a smile tugging at Ginny's lips as she spoke.

Harry looked sharply at Ginny. "You're a virgin?" he asked, as if he'd never even considered it before, "Now I'm really interested!"

Ron looked at Harry the way Malfoy had, eyes reduced to slits of anger. "What did I tell you about touching Ginny?" he yelled.

Harry scratched his head. "Something about gouging out my eyes if I lay one fucking finger on her, I believe."

Ginny said "Ron!" and slapped him on the shoulder only hard enough to let him know she was angry.

Ron swatted her hand away. "He's a dirty little pervert, Ginny! D'you know what he said to me in the hall yesterday? He asked me to take a bath with him! A bath!"

Harry shrugged. "Hey, I was just asking. What's wrong with that?"

Ginny laughed loudly, a soft girlish laugh that sounded more like a giggle. "Oh Ron, he was obviously joking! Lighten up, okay?"

Ron forced himself to nod as Ginny smiled and turned back around. She began leading the way again, toward the wand shop. Harry followed closely behind her, pausing only once to look back at Ron with a triumphant grin, as if to say "Haha! I won her over!" Ron glared at his back through strands of soft scarlet hair, hoping and praying that the other boy would simply burst into flames if he stared long enough. This wish was not granted, however, and all Ron could do was follow and keep an eye on him, and hope to catch him up in something that even Ginny would have to believe.

Author's Notes: Thanks very much for the reviews. I'm going to give it my best shot to get the chapters out faster. I'm also going to take a suggestion from a reviewer and *attempt* to make the chapters longer. I try to make all the chapters at least three pages. But I'm going to try and change that to four or more. Thanks for the support, and please feel free to e-mail me anytime if you have questions about the story or future stories in this series. I also CONSIDER requests (though I do not promise to write them) of one-shots. Particularly odd pairings. Thanks for reading!