Crawling
Chapter Six
Weasley sat silently atop the bed in my room. It was nice to see that she could learn her place…I wasn't about to be held responsible for my actions if she attempted to defend herself and start up with me again.
"What you said was completely unacceptable," I began. "This is an act, Ginny, and as an actress you should know better! I am paying you to fulfill this role until I can secure my business and if you keep this up then—"
"Then what?" she interrupted. "You'll fire me? Please. You need me, Draco, for this business of yours. They want you to have the stable family life and, like it or not, you've chosen to include me in your lie. You can't change that fact now, so you are stuck with me. And while I may be unable to quit because of your blasted contract—which I still say was illegal—I can express myself in whichever manner I choose. If you don't stop being such a bloody ogre to me, then I think I just might show up to dinner tonight in the skimpiest muggle clothes I can find and do a strip tease atop the table!"
Even though my entire body seethed with anger, I must admit…her little speech was unexpected. I never would have thought Weasley to come up with such a Slytherin scheme, and I have to say, I was somewhat impressed. I can appreciate a good scheme when I see one, and hers is very nice, indeed. However, this doesn't change the fact that it irritates me and I'll have to find a way to counter it and make her suffer in the process, but a good effort on her part nonetheless
"Do you truly think I can't find ways to make you suffer, Weasley?"
Her chin made its way into the air and she kept a stiff upper lip. "Physical pain is inconsequential to me. I think you forget the war, Malfoy. I suffered the Cruatcis more than once, so whatever curse you have to throw at me I can handle. You don't intimidate me; let me make that very, very clear to you."
I smirked at her. Did she honestly believe physical pain to be the worst sort? Why would I inflict temporary pain on her when the emotional kind is so much more fun…She is temperamental and expressive, her feelings would only be too easy to manipulate and then destroy.
"There are other ways," I said as I walked slowly towards her, stalking out my prey, "of making one suffer." I stopped in front of her and placed a finger underneath her stubborn chin. "Making you hurt physically would be far from the worst thing you believe can happen to you. I'm excellent at finding and exploiting weaknesses, Weasley. Test me one more inch and I'll tear you down in any manner that I can."
She narrowed her eyes and her face flushed in anger. "Do your worst."
"If you insist," I complied. I lowered my head and kissed her gently at first, then rougher. She was too surprised to react for a moment. However, she did herself in when she opened her mouth. I took entrance and knew I had her.
She finally regained her sensibility and harshly pulled away. She wiped at her mouth furiously, "You pompous arse! How dare you violate me in that manner!"
"Oh you say these things, Ginny love, but I don't think that you mean them. Not really, anyway. How long has it been since you last had a good shag, Weasley? For someone who proclaims me their enemy, you took long enough to pull away."
"You kissed me! Not the other way around. I was caught off guard, Malfoy, so don't delude yourself into thinking that I am attracted to you at all in that way."
"We shall see about that, Weasley."
"No we won't. Touch me ever again and I'll…I'll…"
"You will do nothing, because you want me to touch you."
"You are unbearably arrogant, Malfoy. I do not want you to touch or kiss me, ever. And for your information the last time I had a good shag was last week with Harry, who, I can assure you, is a far better kisser than you."
Potter. My anger flared at the very mention of Boy Wonder. So, little Ginny Weasley, my fiancé, was with Potter…how interesting. Annoying, but interesting. "Is that a fact?"
"It is."
An idea occurred to me and my smirk returned. "And I wonder what ickle Potter would think if he knew his girlfriend were prancing around posing as his enemy's fiancé."
The arrogance fled her features and she stubbornly attempted to hide her look of astonishment. "He—he would never believe it. He knows me better than that."
"Does he?" I asked condescendingly. "You realize you are magically bound to tell anyone who asks that you and I are engaged. So if I took you to a Ministry gathering where Potter just happened to be and he asked you to deny the fact and you couldn't…he would know that you didn't mean it?"
She stayed silent.
"You see, Ginny dear, I told you I am excellent at finding weaknesses. Try me, Weasley, and I will parade you around in front of the entire world, flaunting our 'engagement' in your precious boyfriend's face. By the time I'm done he will never want to so much as hear your name again, let alone shag you. And just think, whatever will your family say?"
Her eyes narrowed and she marched up to me, closing the space between us. "You do not know the first thing about me, Malfoy. You're right, this little deal you and I have is not something I really want Harry to find out about until I can tell him the truth. But it wouldn't end our relationship because Harry loves me and you have no clue what that is like. He trusts me and you can't understand that because you don't trust anyone. And one day soon, Malfoy, I am going to expose your weakness and when I do I have every intention of tearing your world apart and I will smile as I do it. So don't threaten me, because I promise you that you will only live to regret it."
And after a speech like that I did really the only logical thing there was to do. I slapped her. Well, fine, so I didn't slap the self-righteous bint…but I really wanted to.
I did, however, take slow steps toward her. I leaned down precariously and placed my lips within inches of her ear. "I have no weaknesses, love. Better than you have searched for a weakness to exploit—don't waste your time."
She raised an eyebrow, "We'll see about that, Malfoy."
Suddenly, I was tired of talking with her. "I'll be in my study," I said as I walked toward the door.
"Wait," she called. "May I join you?"
"In my study?"
She nodded. "I would like a book to read."
I jerked my head in indication for her to follow and walked down the hall to my study. "You realize the majority of our fiction novels are in the library?" I said as we entered the study.
"I know…I want something nonfiction." I turned and looked at her in suspicion—I wouldn't put it past her to attempt to brush up on hexing spells. "I wanted to take a nap," she explains quickly, "and I want to read something that will help me sleep."
"Would you like a sleeping draught?" I offered graciously.
"I prefer natural sleep and the easiest way to achieve that is from a boring book."
I shrugged and led her over to the far end of awall shelved with books. My eyes scanned the titles quickly before choosing one that was both safe and eternally boring. "Here," I shoved it towards her chest, "that should help you."
"The Complete History of Magical Communications," she read, "sounds…dull. Thank you."
I nodded in acknowledgement and walked over to my desk where some papers had been waiting for my attention.
I soon took notice, however, that Weasley was still in the room. I looked in disbelief as she dragged an armchair over by the fireplace and placed it directly in front of her hideous "scream" painting.
"May I ask what you are doing?" I said finally.
"Getting a chair to read in," she said as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Would you not prefer to take your book back with you to my bedroom? I thought you wished to take a nap."
"Oh, I do. But I would really like to read in here—the overall atmosphere just begs for sleep. I truly think it shall help my cause."
I attempted to stare her down but soon grew bored with that process. Fine, if she wanted to sit in my study then I would be gracious and allow her. I am certainly not the ogre Weasley makes me out to be, I reassured myself; after all, would an ogre lend her a book as well as a chair?
"Would you really tell Harry about this fake engagement we have going?" she voiced loudly.
I glared at her, "Please mind to lower your tone, dear, you never know who may be listening."
"Indeed," she responded with a small smile. "But did you mean what you said, that you would try to hurt Harry and I by forcing me to tell him that we are engaged even though we are truly not."
Had she lost her mind? "Of course I meant it," I snarled, "I rarely bluff, Weasley."
"I just wanted to clear that up," she said in an even louder tone. "Well, I think this book about did it for me—either that or the pleasure of your company. I'll be taking a nap if you require my services, Malfoy."
I shook my head as she left the room. Would it be too much to ask that the woman I am paying to play the rule of my fiancé be at least semi-normal?
A/N—I know this is short. But I'm just starting back up with fanfiction writing so it's going kind of slow…but at least I updated something, right?
Oh and as a way of inspiration to myself I'm having a sort of "contest" going on in my bio. Basically, you get to tell me what story to update it and I swear that I will. So if you're interested then check that out. But before you do, please leave a review—it would be much appreciated. And, hey, I have to spend the next three days with my family…I could use some nice words, lol.
