Disclaimer: This AU idea came to me as I sat there watching Cruel Intentions and playing Clue. Anything you don't recognize is mine. And for those of you dopes who don't recognize the song, I'll give the rights away at the end.
You've got your ball,You've got your chain
Tied to me tight, tie me up again.
The few days that I remained in the Grimaldi manor, I avoided Draco like the plague.
Although now he had an undeniable part of me, which was indeed my virginity, and although he had paid great attention to me upon taking it, he had practically raped me. And he continued to harass me by just smirking at me at meals.
On Boxing Day we exchanged small but expensive tokens of our affection over breakfast. Tony had received books from everyone. Ah, such a sad world is it when professors can only receive books for Christmas.
Uncle Terrance received a few more guns from Narcissa and Draco, as he was a huge fan of hunting. I, however, gave him a gift certificate to a tofu restaurant in Hogsmeade. Tony, although he hid a small smile after I presented my gift, handed him a book on stuffing birds.
Narcissa was a woman that was hard to please, and I seemed to be the only one who knew precisely how to do that. So, everyone had consulted me weeks before about what to purchase. Tony had renewed her subscription to Witch Weekly for her, Uncle Terrance gave her a new mink hat, and Draco gave her an exquisite set of black pearl jewelry. I opted to refill some of the beauty items she treasured, including the Thestral Flaw-Hiding Powder only I could make with the scent she loved. She smiled at each of us, but gave me the largest smile I had ever seen. From her, anyway.
Draco received many gifts from Narcissa, mostly things for his room at school since I had learned the hard way and seen that these intimate details for one's space were already present in Draco's room. I had purchased him cuff links one afternoon in Hogsmeade and came back later to see they were wrapped for me. His face lit up with a malicious little smile as he opened the case.
He turned around the case so we all could see. There they were, great gigantic opal cuff links, resting in a bed of scarlet silk.
If I didn't blush myself silly, I would've seen his other presents.
It was then my turn to open my presents. Narcissa had of course decided to refresh my entire wardrobe with the warmest and latest trends of Victoria's Secret and Fredrick's, true to her fashion. Uncle Terrance had gone with her and purchased me a year's supply of everything Victoria's had to offer in my favorite scent, Strawberries and Champagne. He waggled his eyebrows up at me quite inappropriately and I turned away, only to see Draco quirk up his eyebrows, teasing me.
Tony gave me a copy of Dangerous Liaisons, of course the French version, as he knew I had mastered many, many pointless languages. Portuguese, French, Spanish, German, Norwegian, Dutch and Italian. Kind of silly, but I had been bored.
Draco had been characteristic in getting me several expensive presents. The first was a long, double-breasted cream-colored woolen coat lined with the matching fur of some horrendously soft animal. He smiled at me softly and I could almost feel his arms around me, as they had been only two nights before. He then presented me with a glittering diamond choker with practically invisible platinum setting, and matching studs. I inspected the size of the flawless pretties, and they were two carats each! I didn't want to count the amount of diamonds on the choker, but I was pretty sure there were twelve. He opened two more boxes to reveal two matching tennis bracelets.
I gasped, not believing that he had paid for approximately thirty flawless two-carat diamonds for me back when he had only been my closest friend. They smirked at me with their glitter, swimming in their sea of white silk.
I wanted to glare at him. He had most definitely been planning this encounter. He wasted no time in suavely getting up and helping me with the choker.
He brushed my hair to the side, dramatically picking it up and linking it around my neck.
It was my collar.
"Draco, why, I must say that this is…surprising." Narcissa managed after a few moments. His present had struck her speechless, and that was rare. "Imagine what you might've purchased for Hester."
"I did." He whispered in my ear and I suddenly realized I was wearing his girlfriend's jewels.
I had to use all of my self-control not to glare at him. Here he was manipulating me and in front of everyone, no less. Bastard.
"They are so pretty. When on earth did you get them?" I asked, smiling sweetly at him and 'accidentally' jabbing him in the hip as I turned to face 'my hero'.
"The moment I saw them all together, I had your coat in a long box and I just saw a vision- you with your glittering jewelry in the coat, your hair back in an elegant twist like the one you wore—the one she always wears, mother, to social events." He almost gave himself away. I almost believed his bullshit. "I knew the image was something I had to share."
"Oh, but with whom? I'm not dating anyone, you silly boy!" I exclaimed with another sweet smile. My hand flew to my chest as I faced the rest of the table. "Why, I hate to sound ungrateful but there's no ring!"
Draco reached for the earrings and he helped me put them on. "Oh but there will be." He whispered.
"I don't think so." I muttered through a bright smile.
As he put in my left one, he moved my hair back. "Isn't she just a vision?"
"A vision." They all murmured in their own tones. He delicately snapped a tennis bracelet on each wrist.
"A toast. To Virginia on her fifteenth Christmas." He took my glass and raised it. They all smiled their own smiles, Narcissa the smirk she always had whenever Draco and I spoke to one another, Uncle Terrance his quite pervy little smile, and Tony his ever-reassuring smile. They raised their glasses.
"To Virginia on her fifteenth Christmas."
He sipped my glass than lowered it to my lips. I glowered, although I tried my hardest not to.
I knew I'd have to flush his precious jewelry down the drain, I couldn't stand that he had given me shackles, markings and a collar that had belonged to his beloved Hester.
"Scarlet, darling, I'll put the jewelry away in the safe so you can use them later, perhaps at the Valentine's Day Ball? We'll owl mother for them." Draco said soothingly, patting my hair and beginning to take his pieces off, starting with the necklace.
"I won't wear it." I muttered as he put it back in its case.
"Yes, you will. You're too vain not to." He whispered back as he removed my right bracelet.
"I'm not one of your vapid whores." I retorted softly, although my heart sunk as he closed the bracelet's case. He took off another one.
"We shall see." He whispered back as he put away the left bracelet.
I bit my tongue and as he started reaching for the earrings, I jutted my cheek out, prompting him to kiss it and plainly stating aristocratically that he would not take away the earrings. He smirked and did as my body language commanded, going to sit back down.
"I'd like to begin the thanks for the presents. I'm very grateful to all of you, you really have done too much." I said graciously. "Shall we tuck in?"
We began to eat and I must have glowered because Draco looked all too satisfied with himself.
The morning we were to leave, I asked Narcissa if I could access the jewelry Draco had given me.
"I must make an entrance." I told her, and she smiled, knowing there was a reason more than that but not saying a word.
I slipped into a cream-colored silk dress and put on matching opera gloves and my new coat. It was too soft. I placed the diamond tennis bracelets on my wrists and put on the choker myself. I brushed my hair into a low bun, not a hair out of place.
I would play his game for someone else. I could not stand his self-satisfied smile.
I rubbed my red lips together, pleased with the matte finish, and smiling at my flawless reflection. The identity crisis of a few days before was over. My identity was sadly going to be based upon this one person and his silly little game.
And I was going to win.
I was a vision. Somehow, a young woman dressed in a long cream coat with matching silk opera gloves and lots of diamonds is hard to ignore. I walked with assistants, Seamus who had not brought back new trunks as I had, and was glad to push my cart for me. I walked straight past Draco, who seemed to be amused I was giving him the cold shoulder.
Heads turned and it was quite obvious King's Cross had not had such a well-dressed passenger in quite some time.
Ron let out a long whistle, and I could tell it was sarcastic. I turned to face him on our platform.
I smiled one of the sweet smiles I had gotten so accustomed to using on Draco. "Why, Ronald, darling, I didn't see you!"
"New boyfriend, I see." Ron commented, shaking my hand and inspected the diamonds.
"I suppose. Rather is annoying." I said, raising my eyebrows momentarily, turning away.
Draco was making his way across the platform and Ron noticed how my eyes were darting just a little bit towards him.
"I take it you don't want to be in this situation?" He asked, as I seemed to be inching our conversation further and further away from an advancing Draco.
"May I sit in your compartment, brother darling?" I asked in reply to his question as Draco had arrived all too closely to us.
"Of course, Scarlet." He answered, playing along quite well for such a daft prat.
"Oh." I perked up, sending Draco a cool stare. I was talking more to Draco, although I directed my voice and smile at my estranged brother. "That's such a childish little nickname. I'm fairly sure I want to go by Virginia now."
Draco scowled wordlessly and walked away.
Ron, quite fortunately, did not ask me any questions, just offered his arm to me and although it pained me to rest my silken hand upon his coarse shirt, I did it happily. Because in a matter of seconds, and quite noiselessly as well, Ron and I had become friends.
And I'm pretty sure this had to do with some sort of grudge against Draco Malfoy.
It was no matter, because I had finally won over my brother Ronald.
It seemed as if this little affair had to have an inevitable reconciling conference. And Draco took it into his hands to do this.
He did happen to take his time in doing so, leering over at me whenever he could, but not actually saying anything.
The Valentine's Day Ball was at, for the first time, an establishment off-campus. It was a reward for those with only the highest marks or those who did extremely well in extra curricular activities as well (so just being on the Quidditch team didn't count. You had to be good.)
Honest to Merlin, it had been weeks since I had actually spoken to Draco, five to be precise. I was taking my time in the little dressing room Parvati had set up in her bathroom, and Hermione Granger came in and sniffed disapprovingly as she came in to put on her boring old brown lipstick to match her boring old gray dress. And not silver mind you, gray. It was terribly puffy and somewhat girlish, although it had a hint of the old lady in her. I complimented her on her hair, which had been calmed down into thick curls.
"Oh." She had said in reply, looking at my dress and curves a little enviously, I thought. "Your dress looks nice. Where'd you get it? Madam Malkin's?"
I refrained from giggling, but Parvati didn't pay Hermione the same favor. "No, not Madam Malkin's."
The strapless blood red silk dress with a full, wispy skirt completely of matching tulle was obviously not a creation of Madam Malkin's. The skirt, most definitely promising to make me feel cold, reached my ankles while red, floral lace straps from my heels wrapped their way up. I was putting on a clear, glittering lip-gloss when she had come in and now I was curling my eyelashes.
She didn't honestly have to ask where I got it.
"Where, then?" She asked as I tried not to scowl whilst doing my eyeliner.
"New York. City." I answered, making sure my lashes were silky, black, long and curled. I turned to ensure the up do of coils had been properly plastered to my head, shining as to not upstage the jewelry I was about to put on.
"Oh, why were you there?" She continued to ask, watching Parvati and me during our beauty regimen.
To get find a dress. "Leisure." I answered tactfully, not sincerely wanting to put on my jewelry in front of them, and Parvati could sense my need for a dramatic entrance.
"Come on, Hermione, let's go and get the punch before they spike it." I had to hold myself back from laughing, because that was the perfect for getting Hermione Granger out of my makeshift boudoir.
I smiled and waved, indicating that I did not give a rat's arse if I got a bit of spiked punch.
I did not use opera gloves this particular evening, just wanting the sheer excess of diamonds against a considerably plainer palette tonight. I started with the earrings.
My markings.
Then the bracelets.
My shackles.
And finally, the choker.
My collar.
I slipped into my coat and took one long look into the mirror, perfectly aware that tonight I was possibly selling my soul.
The clicking of my heels against the cobblestone avenue as I, a sole and lonely partygoer, crossed into the night against the dim lighting of the street. I entered the Hogsmeade Hotel and checked my coat, causing quite a gasp from the coat girl.
The ball was already underway, I could hear the laughter and the music and the shuffling of feet.
The foggy glass double doors magically opened and I was there.
If it hadn't been for the glitter, or merely the glittering set in the simplicity of solid dark silk and tulle, I don't think I would've been noticed at all by Draco or any of his cronies.
But the fact that I had come as suggested most likely intrigued him. And, on the other hand, everyone was looking at me.
A brunette standing near him scowled, dressed in an entirely inappropriate ensemble of a mini-dress, walked off, and looked back disappointedly to see he neither noticed or watched her curves as she had left.
Without the scowling brunette or his usual hoard of whores surrounding him, I was able to approach him and softly.
"Well, look at this head turner." He said loudly and rather brashly, continuing the tradition of our friendly banter.
So that's how he wanted to play it.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Virginia Rockford!" He announced playfully, starting the applause. I found myself giggling and beaming and taking a curtsy with my huge skirt.
And I don't know what pleased me more, that Hermione and Ron were sincerely applauding, or that Draco was.
"A dance, milady?" He suddenly asked huskily, and I noticed how close he was to me. I was pleased we weren't starting the night with a slow song. But my relief was short-lived, as the jazz singer, although infamous for being into the cool jazz scene, began singing a seductively slow and tantric, tango-like song of which only experts could dance to.
The lights changed to be almost black, the spotlight glowing with red edges on the two that happened to manage.
Of course, only those of the highest aristocracy at school. The shuffling of our shoes and the smooth, clean lines of my leg work, and the fact that we were making slow, lingering love by dancing did not take the spotlight off of the issue at hand.
"There is most definitely something going on between them."
And the dance was over. The night continued something like it usually had, us being friendly and then us burning up the dance floor.
It was this game of push and shove. After another revival of our seductive game, he led me off the floor and into a private alcove near the punch table.
He ran a soft finger up and down one arm affectionately as I, with my crystal goblet in one hand, stared at him in wonderment.
We were silent for an entire dance. And after it was over, he prompted me to finish my drink. I did so and we danced our way to the exit.
"I take it you rebelled and used a cloak instead?" He asked as he patiently waited for my coat, putting on his own.
"Maybe." My coat arrived, ratting me out in my game of mystery and intrigue.
He laughed and helped me into it. He brought his arms around me and took a sniff of my perfume.
"God, I can't believe you're mine." He gasped.
I turned away, not truly displeased. "Because I'm not."
He smirked at me and offered me his arm. "Carriage back to the castle?"
"Whose room, yours or mine?" I whispered knowledgably.
"Mmm. You shall see."
All we did during the carriage ride was stare at each other, almost smirking at one another.
He led me up to his room, pulling off my coat and helping me out of my dress and shoes. He too undressed, changing into his pajama pants. He threw back his silken sheets and placed me in there. He got in on his side and threw his arm over me, pulling the sheets and covers over me.
"Night, Virginia."
What the fuck? I was expecting sex! I was expecting hard-core, body icing, him making my libido explode sex!
I turned, noticing I was still in his jewelry. Typical. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
His eyes opened, and he stared at me blankly. "What do you mean?"
I threw off the covers, stood up and pointed at my coat and dress. "They're folded, for fuck's sake!"
"Well?" He sat up, staring at me in confusion.
"I was expecting some vile, dirty, kinky, hard-core, me screaming my lungs out sex! Instead I'm sleeping naked to a half-dressed puff!" I nearly shouted. He reached across the bed and pulled me in. This was more like it.
"Do you really want my dorm mates to come in and see you standing there naked and screaming? They'll think we've had a lover's spat." Draco whispered loudly, as if there was anybody else in the room.
"That's what we're doing, you dimwit! You tease me all night and publicly, no less. And then you bring me up here, undress me and expect me to simply sleep?" I whispered unhappily, jutting out my lip and lying down.
"I just didn't think you wanted my dorm mates to see…the aftermath." He answered truthfully, and I looked at him. It was a mixture of childish jealousy and concern for my well-being.
To answer, I sat up and straddled his clothed hips, dipping in for a kiss.
Of course, his mates absolutely had to return at that moment.
"Not tonight." He whispered.
I rolled my eyes and hopped up, surprised at my own audacity about my nudity. I crawled into the place I previously occupied and wordlessly, Draco threw his arm over my naked figure and, although he cuddled me closer to him and rubbed my stomach affectionately, that was the whole of the night.
It was the most talked about relationship on campus; so naturally, no one breathed a word around me.
To be honest with you, it was not very interesting. He paid for some of my meals, and if he happened to be there when I was window-shopping, he'd purchase the items that seemed hardest for me to put back.
There was nothing more.
It was late March and I thought about how vapid this whole thing was. He purchased things for me. I didn't even sleep in his bed. And I can't tell you what was more frustrating, his silence or my needs which weren't being fulfilled, or the fact that I had never had such needs before. And all it seemed to be was a marking of his property, and I was no one's property. I would not be toyed with as if I owed him something.
They say a newly devirginized person is very bonded to the person who has taken her virginity, in some way, shape or form.
I was not going to be like them.
I was window-shopping, trying on a black dress I was busting out of, when I felt hands on my hips. And I knew they weren't Draco's.
I turned around; my opera gloved hands flying up should I need to defend myself.
My assaulter stepped back and I saw that it was my charming 'cousin' so to speak, Maxwell's nephew Blaise. Blaise had always been handsome and he had always been cocky about it, too. He leaned on one of the many mirrors as the elevator music drifted in gently, crossing his arms. He was dressed in a nice three-piece suit that, mind the pun, suited him perfectly, being made of sleek dark blue and silver pieces.
"Now, now, now, dear cousin, please do not tell me that your masquerade as Draco's toy has squashed your creativity. You always were one for color." He drawled and I raised my eyebrows, turning back around to inspect my ensemble.
"Toy, Blaise? You insult me."
"Then all is right in the world." Blaise had made it clear to me at a dinner party long ago that although he wanted entirely to ravish me, and although it was clear I was adopted by his uncle, he still found it entirely disgusting. His smirk softened. "Come on, pohpet." He whispered, using a pet name he hadn't in ages. "You could get yourself someone so much more worth than this. Or at least, if he deserves you, something far more interesting than him doting on you and not so much as allowing you to admire the curves of other men."
I turned around, stripping my arms of the gloves. "Am I really that pathetic, Blaise?"
He looked apologetic, but he nodded.
"Who, then?"
Blaise's selection was all too bad, a seventh year Slytherin he was close to but not to the point of being able to write off a bet by the name of Andrew Avery. Andrew, although he did happen to appreciate my curves, face and sarcastic sense of humor, could not shake that I was a Gryffindor and wanted to be discreet. Hell, I wanted to be discreet. The name Rockford was the only thing that insured he show up.
Blaise decided to take me shopping as to please Andrew as much as humanly possible. Although Andrew was indeed a hardcore Slytherin, he happened to love pure white lace on a woman. So Blaise helped me purchase the most tantalizing pure white lace lingerie to put under a vivid silken halter green dress that hugged my curves, but the flowy skirt reaching my ankles made me seem very, very classy, as I was. Black stilettos that wrapped all the way up my calves and to my knees were alluring, and Blaise insisted I wear my hair down like a sheet of blood red. No jewelry tonight- Blaise was kind enough to ensure I had no reminders of this night that I was tempted to use again.
We had a nice supper at the Hotel's famous restaurant, and it turned out that Andrew's mum was quite the cook herself. What I learned about Andrew was that he was in Slytherin for several reasons: he was clever and ambitious. He prowled looking for rich gamblers such as my cousins to score what he wanted. The last reason was that his father was a Death Eater, and although that part of his legacy had not been passed down, unlike his love of food and his Quidditch talents, he was still something of a snob.
As he waited for the bill to arrive, Andrew insisted on staring at me intently.
"You're a child." He told me as the bill was set on the table, signing it expertly.
"Thank you?" I retorted inquisitively and he touched me for the first time that evening.
"I think I shall enjoy this evening with Malfoy's toy."
I yanked my arm out from his reach. "I'm nobody's possession."
He laughed and sat back as the waiter collected the bill happily. "Originally, it was just that you were Malfoy's, so to speak, that intrigued me. But you are going to be fun, I can tell."
He led me upstairs to a room that I could scarcely see, but I didn't care. He told me about tomorrow's Quidditch match, Slytherin versus Ravenclaw, as he undressed and helped me out of my own ensemble.
Andrew's face lit up with possibly the only smile he had, a self-satisfied smirk that said he was about to enjoy a present he was about to unwrap.
"God, some women forget what pure white lace makes men think of." He muttered as he began untying my thong. I must have looked confused. He let his hand just barely glide over my belly and up towards my breasts, cupping them for just a second too long. "Virgins. It makes them think of virgins, Virginia. Now most men have a fetish for virgins, or at least the men Blaise will have you dealing with." He reached behind me and popped my bra off, lying me down on the bed with only my shoes on. "This is sound advice, Virginia, so you better listen."
Of course, he had to select that moment to place his hands in crevices that might cause me not to concentrate.
"You have to sound and look like everything they're doing is something completely new, even if it is the worst sex you have ever had. Men like to think they're discovering something new, and regardless of how your body responds, if you make it appear like you're Princess fucking Jasmine and you're on Aladdin's magic carpet ride, they'll think it's the best they've ever had."
And that's when he found it with his hand; the spot that Draco had teased his dick over so many times, laughing softly at my jerking hips. And already I was seeping with lubrication.
Andrew wordlessly said a sterilizing contraceptive spell and started pounding away into me. To be honest, I had had longer in my one experience, but Andrew was very thick. And that, in all truthfulness, was a whole new world. I was breathing stagnantly, and my legs wrapped around Andrew's slim form, my heels digging into his lower back. He laughed, knowing that this was my genuine reaction.
Andrew's smirking face disappeared into my hair, and for some strange reason, his lapping on my neck was improving my chances of actually having an orgasm.
He pulled up but not out to stare at me, on my frenzied way to releasing the anguish and lack of attention I had gone through for the past few weeks.
"Now where might I leave my mark on Draco's toy? I can only be so subtle about the ones you've left on me." He smirked, jerking further into me teasingly.
I let out an almost relieved sigh.
"He obviously doesn't see you naked enough, else he'd ravish you like I plan to do for the rest of the night." He pulled out completely now and stood up. "Water?"
I nodded in my state of—well, afterglow, I suppose. I hadn't really read up on the subject.
He got himself a glass and took a drink, offering it to me. I sat up and drank quite a bit and after a few gulps, he grabbed his wand and moved the glass to the table, pouncing on me.
Again, my heels dug into his back as I wrapped my legs around him and I was sick of being beneath this Slytherin. Without budging the action downstairs too much, I pushed up as much as I could, and he got the picture, letting up just a little so that we could topple onto the carpet.
And you couldn't have placed a hair between our hips. And if I hadn't left any marks on his back, there certainly must have been some now.
I sat up and rode him, and he let his hands slowly shimmy to my waist, helping me out a bit. And there it was. I screamed. I screamed his name as loudly as I possibly could.
When I stopped, I was so tired I flopped over next to him on the floor.
Andrew looked over at me with raised eyebrows. "You haven't kissed me."
"Maybe next time."
"There won't be another date, Weasley." He told me, crossing his arms over his chest and I rolled my eyes, standing up.
"I mean next time we fuck. I'm good for another go before this 'date' is officially over." I took a nice long drink of water. "I need a nap first, though."
And with that, I jumped over our pool of clothing and threw back the covers, snaking in to sleep.
I was awoken by the best sensation between my legs and I looked down to see that Andrew had gone to work prepping me for the last go.
"Morning."
"What time is it?" I asked, trying not to budge as to enjoy myself properly.
"Three. One last go so I can sleep suitably." By now, he bored me. Two gos and an orgasm were enough. He pummeled away into me, and without much enthusiasm, I wrapped my legs around him to allow better access. He had reached his peak and we were done. Afterwards, he was still horny, but I insisted upon at least getting my underwear back on before we did anything else, and he his, because I was not prepared to do him any favors but to spite my would-be boyfriend.
My fourth time around, my second partner, and already I found I'd have to use Andrew's advice, no matter what became of me. He ravished my neck, and finally bit, hard, before going back to sleep, his head between my breasts.
"How classic." I muttered before trying to get back to sleep myself.
Of course, Blaise had his connections and made his way into my room.
"Clothes still on? My, my, my Andrew, I'm disappointed." He muttered to me. I rolled my eyes. "Malfoy'll be sending a wake-up call."
"What?" I almost screamed in a whisper, almost jerking upwards and sending Andrew sleepily across the bed.
"Not personal, of course. Word has gotten around and he's sending his regards." Blaise laughed almost heartily, if he had one.
"Not a Howler?"
Blaise shook his head. "Breakfast."
"Probably poisoned."
"Probably Avery's. He likes you too much. You must be a scream in bed." He looked for my shoes. "I take it something I'll be hearing about on the field." He looked up from the pool of clothes on the floor. "So, what have you done?"
I scowled. "Three times."
Blaise almost chocked on a laugh. "Three? Wow, you must be a scream in bed."
"Can you leave please?" I hissed.
"Aw, no thank you? Oh, do know that your family is not pleased either."
My eyes widened and I really, really, really wanted to leave.
Blaise sensed this, and I must have pulled at his heartstrings that I had in the dressing room only days before.
He slowly helped me into my dress and located my personal belongings. "Let's go, pohpet."
Blaise began explaining to me that the sting of Draco's rejection and coinciding possession of me might fade and that our relationship wouldn't be nearly as abusive.
"Remember, pohpet, anything I ask of you will be a suggestion to cheer you up. I can get myself out of my own messes, pohpet."
I looked at him with the largest eyes filled with tears of grime, not embarrassment or shame. I was not embarrassed about what I had done, nor was I ashamed about what I had done. Who I had done it with, and how clumsy I had been about keeping it a secret, that was what filled me with the dirtiest feeling I had ever felt.
"Blaise, there will be times when I will help you, but please, please, let me play the innocent darling to my house, to all houses, to everyone, perhaps, except Draco, because I want him to know how much I wanted to rip his heart out for leaving me void."
"He does, pohpet, he does." Blaise replied as he slowly led me to my tower as the tears began to stream down my face silently.
"You shall know. Andrew shall know. Draco shall know. That is it." I answered as we reached my portrait hole. I turned to him, smiling insincerely through my tears. "Showtime."
I was silent upon my entrance into the Gryffindor Common Room. I knew that although it was probably four thirty in the morning that my brother would be waiting for me.
I had lied to him many times before, I was used to not feeling guilty about it. Perhaps it was that I didn't want him owling my other brothers about it, perhaps I wanted him to love me, and perhaps it was just to liquidate my lie, but I looked up, my skirts gathered, and I just started crying.
He led me to the sofa and let me cry into his arms. Through my choking sobs, I explained that I had wanted to do it wholeheartedly until the aftermath, when guilt began overriding everything good about it, spiting my neglectful boyfriend and proving everybody wrong about how confident I really was, and of course, the sex.
My brother, surprisingly, did not grimace. I knew he wasn't a virgin, nor was he shacking up quite as often as he'd like either, but I suppose what he had done made him understand. He patted me affectionately and silently, promising that he would not go ballistic on Andrew Avery, but warning me that Malfoy would not be quite as understanding.
I smiled up at him after another sob, mascara streaming down my face.
"My dear, you should know some Charms to handle that." He muttered, shaking his head and standing up, wiping it away for me. Of course I knew them, they were simply more melodramatic.
"Then you…you…you forgive me?" I asked meekly and he almost scowled.
"Of course, you silly cow." He muttered and I almost tackled him into the fire.
"Thank you, Ron, thank you so much!"
And with that, he went upstairs.
The next day I wore the flimsiest turtleneck I had, a sexy pale blue ribbed item that covered up my hickey in style. Ron was insistent about being with me the next day, and he brought along Harry and Hermione, while I brought Parvati and we sat, supporting Ravenclaw. Ron and his friends were screaming Draco's name enthusiastically, and to be honest with you, I think it was just in retaliation to what they knew about the 'Slytherin Set-up' as they had come to call it in their whispers.
Blaise was my spy on the pitch, having acquired his Animagus after six years of persistent work to be one and buying his license with influence. He, an owl, flew right behind Madam Hooch as the captains, Draco and Andrew, shook hands.
Andrew reached to touch his back with his free hand. "Aw, jeez, Madam Hooch, I've got the most unexplained pains on my lower back."
He turned and flipped up his jumper and huge, heel-shaped welts made Madam Hooch and Draco's jaws drop. Blaise later confided in me that he now knew I was a scream in bed.
Later, Blaise also confided in me that Andrew suffered from food poisoning for the next week.
To be continued…