Disclaimer: Not mine, J.K.Rowling's.
***
Thank you's:
My Beta Dom
Snapegirl51606: Was that a compliment? I'm not sure, but I'm encouraged all the same
KATEY B: I hope something good happens too!
***
Deep In Her Mind
***
"How did you get me here?" Ginny asked angrily.
"I called and you couldn't bear to stay away." Tom replied, smirking.
"This is my mind, you have no control here." She said through clenched teeth.
"And yet.I do." He laughed, "Don't worry my dear, I can't keep you here for very long, I just wanted to have a chat. Shall we go for a picnic?"
And suddenly they were on a hill, the sun was setting and a cloth was set out with a meal set upon it.
"We're inside my mind, we can hardly eat." Ginny scowled.
"True, but the atmosphere is ever so pleasant." Tom sat down and indicated for her to join him, and smiled charmingly when she did, "I went through a lot of trouble to organize this for you, I'll have you know. My own memories and thoughts hold no sway here, so I had to use some of yours."
"You what?"
"Well, this is the hill your mother took you to, to have the 'talk'. And this is the picnic Michael Corner made for your first date." He explained.
"You can see those memories?" Ginny asked, blushing.
"Yes, and he was such a gentle man, wasn't he? Wouldn't so much as touch you unless you initiated it." Tom picked up a grape and popped it into his mouth.
"Don't you dare look at my memories again." She growled.
"You can hardly stop me. And anyway, I came across them by complete accident. I was simply looking for a way to take control of your body, ad I stumbled across these." He leant over and brushed a strand of hair away from her face, and chuckled when she drew away.
"Bastard." She muttered.
"Well, you don't have to worry; I can't take over your body. Those. What are they called? Death Eaters, that's it. They were foolish to think that I could simply push you away and make your body mine. All possessions are temporary because the body never wants to let go of its original soul. I could easily fight you Ginny, but I can hardly fight you and your body." He shook his head, "No, the only way I could have your body is if you gave it to me willingly. So, what do you say?"
"You're mad!" She laughed, "Do you really think I'll just give you my body, because you asked?"
"Well, I was hoping you would, yes." He smiled, looking slightly shy, which she knew was all an act, "I just want to live again Ginny. Before you found me again, I was lost in a sea of your thoughts. And then you found me! Ginny, you're my whole world, and I can never repay you for what you've done for me. Don't you understand Ginny? I love you."
"You're lying." She said, "Badly. In fact, that whole speech was comical. You only love yourself, which is fine. But you don't want to be in my body Tom, believe me. I'm a girl for god's sake! Half your charm is that you're a good-looking boy. Besides, I'm not nearly powerful enough."
"Well, yes, you're right, I was lying. I just didn't realise I was quite so transparent." He frowned, "The speech was quite nice in my opinion, and the setting is lovely. And you're right, you're not powerful enough for me, but beggars can't be choosers. Once I've taken control of your body I assume power will just flow to me. It generally does."
"I'm not going to give over my body willingly, and seeing as that's the only way you can get it then I guess you're screwed." She fixed him with her eyes, "After what you put me through when you last possessed me, you were a fool to think I'd ever let you do that to me again."
"And that's all we have time for today." He said, standing up, "It's been lovely speaking to you, but I can only hold you here for short periods of time. I'll see you next time."
Her body shuddered violently, and black dots swam in front of her eyes as she fell into consciousness.
***
Draco had been able to convince the woman in the pub that Ginny was fine, and had led the unresisting girl out, and into a back room. The owner had objected at first, but Draco had thrown a few Galleons at him, which had shut him up. He had then spent the next hour pacing up and down the room, occasionally shaking Ginny in the hopes of waking her up.
"Wake up you stupid ginger freckly Weasley!" He shouted eventually, when boredom and fear had gotten the better of him.
"Ouch." She muttered, bringing a hand to her head.
"You're awake!" He sighed in relief and collapsed in the seat next to her, "God you had me scared." Ginny raised an eyebrow, "Not about your health, just about what was going to happen to me."
"I'm touched." She grumbled, and looked around, "Where are we?"
"A back room. I put silencing spells up, so we should be fine." Draco explained.
"Ok, so how do we contact Dumbledore?" Ginny asked.
"That is not our main concern at the moment." He looked at her up and down, "Can you walk properly? You got here ok, but you stumbled a couple of times, and we weren't exactly walking far."
"Well, it's not exactly a surprise, I havn't moved a muscle in over ten weeks!" She exclaimed, and looked down at her wasted wrists "Look at me. If I wasn't a witch, I doubt I'd be able to move at all. I don't have any muscles."
"Yes, but as soon as the anorexic unhealthy look comes into fashion, you'll be on the front of Teen Witch Weekly with no problem." It was meant as a joke, but something about Ginny's expression told Draco that she hadn't found it funny.
"Dumbledore." She said after a while.
"No." He shook his head, "No way."
"What? Why not?" The red haired girl look startled beyond belief.
"What would we tell him? 'Hey look, she's not dead, my dad just had her locked up in our house so that she could get possessed with something evil. It didn't work, but now she has a young version of You-Know-Who stuck in her head'? I can't see that going down too well." He brushed his hair out of the way and fixed her with his steely eyes, "What happened when you went strange just then?"
"Tom called me back into my mind." She explained what happened, and what Tom had said about possessing her, "We have to see Dumbledore, he's the only one who can help."
"Are you mad? If we go to Dumbledore he'll have to turn you over to the Ministry, and what do you think they're going to do about you? I'll tell you what; they'll feed you to the Dementors, so that his soul never has a chance to resurface." Draco leant back in his seat, "And even if you tell them that he can't possess you unless you let him, do you think they'll believe you? Tom Riddle told you that, we can't even believe that it's the truth, it might just be an elaborate scam to make you let your guard down"
"Then what can we do?" She asked.
"First we have to go to Gringotts. I used up the last of my money by renting this room." Draco's brow furrowed as he thought, "My father probably hasn't had time to cancel my account yet, but he soon will, so I'll have to open up a new one under a different name and put my money into that. We should go now."
With Draco supporting Ginny, the two of them walked out of the pub, and into the streets of Diagon Alley. They hurried through the crowd, and slipped into the huge building of Gringotts. He talked quietly to a Goblin, who nodded seriously. Ginny couldn't hear what was being said, but she sure that Draco was offering the Goblin quite a lot of money, because afterwards the Goblin lead them into a lovely spacious room, and offered then a large plate filled with little appetisers.
After they were sat and comfortable, an official looking Goblin walked in, and bowed to Draco before sitting down.
"Good afternoon Master Malfoy." He said, glancing at Ginny in a way that made her feel self-conscious.
"Afternoon Hurtzaz." Draco nodded.
"I understand you wish to make a few changes to your account." Hurtzaz looked curious.
"Yes, I'd like to open two new accounts, under the names of Nathaniel and Emily Bowcott." Draco explained, "I'd like it to be stated on the record that Nathaniel and Emily are cousins. One sixth of my funds are to be directed to Emily Bowcott's account, and the rest to Nathaniel Bowcott's."
"And do you have your key, Master Bowcott?" Hurtzaz asked, and Ginny was surprised at how quickly the Goblin caught on.
"Here." Draco pulled a long silver key out of his pocket, which the Goblin inspected, "One last thing, when Mr Malfoy calls up to cancel Draco Malfoy's funds, allow him to, and don't mention this."
"Of course." Said Hurtzaz, inspecting the key. He then called another Goblin over who handed Ginny and Draco similar looking silver keys, "Do you wish to take out any money now?"
"Yes, I think we should." He turned to Ginny, "What do you think Emily?"
"What? Oh, yes." Ginny mumbled, slightly taken back at the whole thing. These Goblins were just letting them break the law, just because Draco was offering them some money.
Instead of the normal cart journey Ginny had expected, they were taken into a glass elevator, which took them several floors down. Once they were outside, Hurtzaz led them to two large vaults, one with Nathaniel Bowcott written on it, and the other with Emily Bowcott.
"We'll only be taking out of my funds." Draco said. The vault door opened, and Ginny had to stifle a gasp.
It was filled with mounds and mounds of galleons, and went back too far for Ginny to reach. Draco filled his money pouch with a handful of the golden coins, and nodded at Ginny to do the same. Her hands trembled slightly as she picked up the gold, and it occurred to her that she was now in possession of more money than her parents had ever had at any one time.
They headed back into the elevator, and Hurtzaz walked them to the door of Gringotts.
"It was very nice doing business with you Master Bowcott, Miss Bowcott." He said in an oily voice.
"Yes, I hope to do so again in the future." Draco replied, and bowed slightly. The goblin returned the gesture, bowing slightly deeper than Draco had.
Afterwards the two headed for a small teahouse, Draco supporting Ginny.
"I can't believe we just did that." Ginny whispered once they were seated.
"Why not?" He asked curiously.
"Well, it was against the law for one thing. And I know he recognized me." She hissed.
"Yes, but I just gave them rather a lot of money, and goblins care more about money than they do about human affairs." Draco explained.
"And why did you open up an account for me but not let me take any money out of it?" Ginny asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" He was greeted by a blank stare, "So that if we get split up you have enough money to get by for a while."
"Oh, ok." She blushed slightly.
"And that's another point, what should we do if we do get split up?" He asked.
"Well, we should think of a place to meet." She frowned in thought, "Do you spend much time in Muggle London?"
"Not really." He admitted.
"Well, there's a place called Covent Garden. It's often quite busy, so we wouldn't be seen if we met there." She explained.
"How would someone like me find this place without using Muggle transport?" Draco's cheeks turned faintly pink, "I'm not sure I'd know how to work Muggle systems."
"I know that Malfoy." She sighed, "That's why I chose Covent Garden. Students doing Muggle Studies in seventh year have to go there on field trips, so there's a floo connection. But one would think to look for us there, as not many people even know there is a floo connection."
"How do you know?" He asked.
"My father's Arthur Weasley, Muggle expert extraordinaire." Ginny laughed lightly.
"And I never thought that fact would ever come in useful." Draco admitted dryly.
***
They spent a few hours in Diagon Alley buying items that they'd need to travel, including, to Draco's horror, muggle clothing.
"What would my father think!" He exclaimed as he looked at himself in the mirror.
"We're on the run from your father, we don't really need to know what he'd think about your clothing." Ginny scolded.
"It's alright for you, people would expect a Weasley to wear Muggle clothes, but I'm a Malfoy!" He continued, ignoring what she had just said.
"People expect me to be dead." She reminded him, "And you're not a Malfoy, you're a Bowcott. Why on earth did you choose such a horrible name?"
"It was the name of my first pet." Draco said, looking slightly sulky.
"Oh that was a good idea!" She exclaimed nastily, "That's not something your father is going to guess! Why didn't you just change it to 'Nathaniel I'm-not-Draco-Malfoy-honest'?"
"Father never knew I had a pet called Bowcott." Draco snapped, "Do you really think I'm that stupid? Bowcott was a fox that used to live on the grounds. I named it and tamed it without my father knowing."
"Oh, ok then. Sorry." Ginny blushed, and started to inspect a purple t- shirt.
"Ok, what are you going to buy?" He asked finally.
"Um, just two pairs of jeans and a few tops." She said, "You?"
"Is that all?" He looked surprised, "I'm buying four pairs of black jeans, three pairs of black trousers, four black shirts, a dark green shirt, a black t-shirt and a dark green t-shirt."
"Wow, that's a lot." Ginny's mouth hung slightly open. There was no need to ask about how he was going to fit it all in, he'd already bought them both bags that were charmed to never become full.
"What are you going to wear if we end up at a formal party?" Draco asked, while inspecting a black dinner jacket and tie.
"Do you really expect us to end up at a formal party?" She asked.
"It's possible, and we need to be prepared." He looked around, and picked out a long dark green skirt with a black long sleeved top, "How's this?"
"You really do like black and green, don't you?" She sighed, "And for someone who hates Muggle clothes, you really are buying a lot."
"I like looking nice." Draco shrugged, "Do you like the clothes or not?"
After admitting that, yes, she did like the clothes; he promptly bought them, and dragged her out to continue with their shopping. They bought some ordinary wizarding robes, and dress robes (for the formal party that Draco was sure they were going to end up at), some hiking gear, much to Ginny's surprise, and some potions ingredients.
The thing that truly confused Ginny was that Draco insisted on buying all the clothes a few sizes larger then what actually fit. When she asked why he refused to answer, insisting he'd explain later.
"I think we have everything we can buy here." Draco said, peering into his bag, "We've just got one more stop."
"You really know what you're doing, don't you?" Ginny noted, slinging her arm over his shoulder so that he could support her.
"I've dreamt about running away every day since I was about nine." He told her, "I've had a pretty clear plan of what I'd need to do since I was twelve. I've had to adjust some of the ideas because of you, but it's pretty much going to plan."
"So where are we going now?" She asked.
"Knockturn Alley."
***
Knockturn Alley was like no place Ginny had ever seen before. The people were all very scary. One man had tried to grab her, and would have succeeded if Draco had not produced a stinging curse.
"We're here." He told her, indicating to a small rundown shop.
Inside Ginny was immediately overcome with the smell of incense, which she knew immediately was to cover up the smell of something much nastier.
"Hello Master Malfoy, what a surprise to see you here!" Exclaimed an annoying voice. A tiny man with a lot of frizzy grey hair coming from all over his face had appeared at the counter and was beaming at them.
"I'm sorry, you seem to be mistaken, my name is Nathaniel." Draco said.
"Nathaniel, eh?" Said the man, "And what can I do for you, Nathaniel?"
"I'd like two charms, very specific ones." He explained, "One for me and my cousin here. We're in a bit of money trouble, and need to look a bit.different."
"Oh, I know exactly what you need. Mind you." The man paused, and looked at them slyly, "These things don't come cheap, and if you're having money problems."
"We can afford them." Draco snapped.
"Ok, ok, I was just saying. Do you have any preferences?" He smiled leeringly at Ginny, "Like would your charming cousin here like to keep her beautiful red hair. It really is quite lovely."
"No, we both need our hair colours changed." The boy thought for a moment, "The same colour if you can. Oh, and can you make her ugly?"
"D-Nathaniel!" Ginny burst out, almost using his real name.
"I wouldn't even dream of making such a lovely girl ugly. And it really is a shame about her hair." He caught Draco's look, "But if you're sure. Well, I have got something. A brother and sister, they lived about two hundred years ago. I just got them in, so they'll be expensive. Both have black hair, quite tallish. The girl's hair is fairly similar to your cousins, long and curly, but the boy's hair is shorter than your own. They're good looking, although I'd describe the girl as handsome rather than pretty."
"We'll take them." Draco said, reaching into his purse, "How much?"
"Two hundred Galleons for the both of 'em." The man told them, and Draco sighed unhappily.
"I guess we'll be needing to go back to Gringotts." He said, holding out his hand for Ginny to place her purse in. She did so, with a great amount of reluctance. Draco poured the coins out onto the table, and started counting them. While he was doing so the shop owner had started to inspect their baggage.
"Those look very expensive." He said, indicating to the bags, "I thought you two had money problems, but it looks to me like you're throwing a lot of money around.
"Those are presents from my Uncle, Emily's father." Draco said, his voice tight, "And this is the last bit of money we have except a few Galleons in Gringotts." Ginny was impressed with the ease with which he lied, "And here's your two hundred Galleons. Can we have the potions please?"
The man slipped behind the counter, and came out with two small flasks. They both had blue liquids in them, but one was darker than the other.
"The darker one is for you Nathaniel, and the lighter one for the charming Emily." He said, passing them the flasks. Draco placed them in his pockets, and then pulled out his wand.
"I'm sorry about this." He said softly, "Don't worry, we won't take the money back, we just can't have you remembering our faces."
"What?" The man looked panicked, "What are you going to do?"
"We'll write you a note, explaining what happened." Draco assured him, before raising his wand "Obliviate!"
The man's face relaxed, and his eyes stared blankly ahead. Draco quickly grabbed a quill and wrote something down quickly.
"Poor man." He said as they left.
"That really was horrible of you." Ginny agreed, "But at least you wrote that note explaining what you'd done."
"I felt bad. I think it's your influence." He scowled at her.
"To Gringotts?" She asked, and he nodded.
This time their visit was brief, simply collecting more money as Goblin's raised their hairless eyebrows. No one said anything strange to them, and they were referred to as Master and Miss Bowcott.
"What are these potions anyway?" Ginny asked as Draco pulled them out of his pocket.
"A variation of sorts on the basic Polyjuice Potion." He explained, "Much more complicated though. It can only be done with the help of the ghosts of dead witches and wizards. They place part of their essence in the potion, and whoever drinks it gets transformed into them until they drink the antidote. Unlike the Polyjuice Potion it doesn't wear off, but it's thought useless because you can only turn into people who are known to be dead. It's quite good for us though."
"So we're drinking essence of dead people?" She asked, looking uncertain.
"Grow up Weasley, it's not that bad." Closing his eyes he swallowed a mouthful of his potion, and grimaced. Quickly he put the stopper back on, placed it down on the floor, and fell to his knees.
The transformation was horrible. Ginny looked away, unable to look at Draco's half transformed body, and his face twisted in pain. When his groans of pain subsided she turned around, and almost gasped. The boy who stood in front of her was almost six foot, and was very handsome. His black hair was slightly ruffled, and he had light brown eyes, which were shadowed with long lashes.
"Your turn." He said, and looked quite startled at the sound of his voice, "and give me the bottle once you drunk some, I don't want you to drop it."
She nodded, and put the flask to her lips. It didn't taste very nice, but not disgusting either, just quite bitter. She handed Draco the bottle, just before the pain shot threw her. Her legs buckled, and she, just as Draco had, dropped to the floor. She felt her fingers stretch first, then her arms. The pain shot threw her whole body, and a gasp escaped her lips. Then, just as quickly as it had come, it was gone, and she was able to stand up.
"That hurt." She sighed. Her voice was much stronger than before, and slightly melodic.
"Didn't it just?" He laughed, "You're clothes are too small."
"So are yours!" She exclaimed.
"Aren't you glad I bought larger clothes then?" He asked.
"Yeah, I guess, but how'd you know we'd get tall people?"
"I wanted to be tall." He told her promptly, "I would have asked for different ones if they weren't tall."
"That's so pointless Mal-" She begun, but then stopped. Her mouth stayed hanging open, her eyes staring blindly forward. Her skin was much paler than it had been when she looked normal, and it made her look almost ghostly.
"Oh, no, not again." Draco said angrily, taking hold of her hand, "Weasley, Weasley! Wake up!"
But it was no use. She was back where he couldn't reach her. Not out of her mind, but buried deep inside it.
***
Please review!
***
Thank you's:
My Beta Dom
Snapegirl51606: Was that a compliment? I'm not sure, but I'm encouraged all the same
KATEY B: I hope something good happens too!
***
Deep In Her Mind
***
"How did you get me here?" Ginny asked angrily.
"I called and you couldn't bear to stay away." Tom replied, smirking.
"This is my mind, you have no control here." She said through clenched teeth.
"And yet.I do." He laughed, "Don't worry my dear, I can't keep you here for very long, I just wanted to have a chat. Shall we go for a picnic?"
And suddenly they were on a hill, the sun was setting and a cloth was set out with a meal set upon it.
"We're inside my mind, we can hardly eat." Ginny scowled.
"True, but the atmosphere is ever so pleasant." Tom sat down and indicated for her to join him, and smiled charmingly when she did, "I went through a lot of trouble to organize this for you, I'll have you know. My own memories and thoughts hold no sway here, so I had to use some of yours."
"You what?"
"Well, this is the hill your mother took you to, to have the 'talk'. And this is the picnic Michael Corner made for your first date." He explained.
"You can see those memories?" Ginny asked, blushing.
"Yes, and he was such a gentle man, wasn't he? Wouldn't so much as touch you unless you initiated it." Tom picked up a grape and popped it into his mouth.
"Don't you dare look at my memories again." She growled.
"You can hardly stop me. And anyway, I came across them by complete accident. I was simply looking for a way to take control of your body, ad I stumbled across these." He leant over and brushed a strand of hair away from her face, and chuckled when she drew away.
"Bastard." She muttered.
"Well, you don't have to worry; I can't take over your body. Those. What are they called? Death Eaters, that's it. They were foolish to think that I could simply push you away and make your body mine. All possessions are temporary because the body never wants to let go of its original soul. I could easily fight you Ginny, but I can hardly fight you and your body." He shook his head, "No, the only way I could have your body is if you gave it to me willingly. So, what do you say?"
"You're mad!" She laughed, "Do you really think I'll just give you my body, because you asked?"
"Well, I was hoping you would, yes." He smiled, looking slightly shy, which she knew was all an act, "I just want to live again Ginny. Before you found me again, I was lost in a sea of your thoughts. And then you found me! Ginny, you're my whole world, and I can never repay you for what you've done for me. Don't you understand Ginny? I love you."
"You're lying." She said, "Badly. In fact, that whole speech was comical. You only love yourself, which is fine. But you don't want to be in my body Tom, believe me. I'm a girl for god's sake! Half your charm is that you're a good-looking boy. Besides, I'm not nearly powerful enough."
"Well, yes, you're right, I was lying. I just didn't realise I was quite so transparent." He frowned, "The speech was quite nice in my opinion, and the setting is lovely. And you're right, you're not powerful enough for me, but beggars can't be choosers. Once I've taken control of your body I assume power will just flow to me. It generally does."
"I'm not going to give over my body willingly, and seeing as that's the only way you can get it then I guess you're screwed." She fixed him with her eyes, "After what you put me through when you last possessed me, you were a fool to think I'd ever let you do that to me again."
"And that's all we have time for today." He said, standing up, "It's been lovely speaking to you, but I can only hold you here for short periods of time. I'll see you next time."
Her body shuddered violently, and black dots swam in front of her eyes as she fell into consciousness.
***
Draco had been able to convince the woman in the pub that Ginny was fine, and had led the unresisting girl out, and into a back room. The owner had objected at first, but Draco had thrown a few Galleons at him, which had shut him up. He had then spent the next hour pacing up and down the room, occasionally shaking Ginny in the hopes of waking her up.
"Wake up you stupid ginger freckly Weasley!" He shouted eventually, when boredom and fear had gotten the better of him.
"Ouch." She muttered, bringing a hand to her head.
"You're awake!" He sighed in relief and collapsed in the seat next to her, "God you had me scared." Ginny raised an eyebrow, "Not about your health, just about what was going to happen to me."
"I'm touched." She grumbled, and looked around, "Where are we?"
"A back room. I put silencing spells up, so we should be fine." Draco explained.
"Ok, so how do we contact Dumbledore?" Ginny asked.
"That is not our main concern at the moment." He looked at her up and down, "Can you walk properly? You got here ok, but you stumbled a couple of times, and we weren't exactly walking far."
"Well, it's not exactly a surprise, I havn't moved a muscle in over ten weeks!" She exclaimed, and looked down at her wasted wrists "Look at me. If I wasn't a witch, I doubt I'd be able to move at all. I don't have any muscles."
"Yes, but as soon as the anorexic unhealthy look comes into fashion, you'll be on the front of Teen Witch Weekly with no problem." It was meant as a joke, but something about Ginny's expression told Draco that she hadn't found it funny.
"Dumbledore." She said after a while.
"No." He shook his head, "No way."
"What? Why not?" The red haired girl look startled beyond belief.
"What would we tell him? 'Hey look, she's not dead, my dad just had her locked up in our house so that she could get possessed with something evil. It didn't work, but now she has a young version of You-Know-Who stuck in her head'? I can't see that going down too well." He brushed his hair out of the way and fixed her with his steely eyes, "What happened when you went strange just then?"
"Tom called me back into my mind." She explained what happened, and what Tom had said about possessing her, "We have to see Dumbledore, he's the only one who can help."
"Are you mad? If we go to Dumbledore he'll have to turn you over to the Ministry, and what do you think they're going to do about you? I'll tell you what; they'll feed you to the Dementors, so that his soul never has a chance to resurface." Draco leant back in his seat, "And even if you tell them that he can't possess you unless you let him, do you think they'll believe you? Tom Riddle told you that, we can't even believe that it's the truth, it might just be an elaborate scam to make you let your guard down"
"Then what can we do?" She asked.
"First we have to go to Gringotts. I used up the last of my money by renting this room." Draco's brow furrowed as he thought, "My father probably hasn't had time to cancel my account yet, but he soon will, so I'll have to open up a new one under a different name and put my money into that. We should go now."
With Draco supporting Ginny, the two of them walked out of the pub, and into the streets of Diagon Alley. They hurried through the crowd, and slipped into the huge building of Gringotts. He talked quietly to a Goblin, who nodded seriously. Ginny couldn't hear what was being said, but she sure that Draco was offering the Goblin quite a lot of money, because afterwards the Goblin lead them into a lovely spacious room, and offered then a large plate filled with little appetisers.
After they were sat and comfortable, an official looking Goblin walked in, and bowed to Draco before sitting down.
"Good afternoon Master Malfoy." He said, glancing at Ginny in a way that made her feel self-conscious.
"Afternoon Hurtzaz." Draco nodded.
"I understand you wish to make a few changes to your account." Hurtzaz looked curious.
"Yes, I'd like to open two new accounts, under the names of Nathaniel and Emily Bowcott." Draco explained, "I'd like it to be stated on the record that Nathaniel and Emily are cousins. One sixth of my funds are to be directed to Emily Bowcott's account, and the rest to Nathaniel Bowcott's."
"And do you have your key, Master Bowcott?" Hurtzaz asked, and Ginny was surprised at how quickly the Goblin caught on.
"Here." Draco pulled a long silver key out of his pocket, which the Goblin inspected, "One last thing, when Mr Malfoy calls up to cancel Draco Malfoy's funds, allow him to, and don't mention this."
"Of course." Said Hurtzaz, inspecting the key. He then called another Goblin over who handed Ginny and Draco similar looking silver keys, "Do you wish to take out any money now?"
"Yes, I think we should." He turned to Ginny, "What do you think Emily?"
"What? Oh, yes." Ginny mumbled, slightly taken back at the whole thing. These Goblins were just letting them break the law, just because Draco was offering them some money.
Instead of the normal cart journey Ginny had expected, they were taken into a glass elevator, which took them several floors down. Once they were outside, Hurtzaz led them to two large vaults, one with Nathaniel Bowcott written on it, and the other with Emily Bowcott.
"We'll only be taking out of my funds." Draco said. The vault door opened, and Ginny had to stifle a gasp.
It was filled with mounds and mounds of galleons, and went back too far for Ginny to reach. Draco filled his money pouch with a handful of the golden coins, and nodded at Ginny to do the same. Her hands trembled slightly as she picked up the gold, and it occurred to her that she was now in possession of more money than her parents had ever had at any one time.
They headed back into the elevator, and Hurtzaz walked them to the door of Gringotts.
"It was very nice doing business with you Master Bowcott, Miss Bowcott." He said in an oily voice.
"Yes, I hope to do so again in the future." Draco replied, and bowed slightly. The goblin returned the gesture, bowing slightly deeper than Draco had.
Afterwards the two headed for a small teahouse, Draco supporting Ginny.
"I can't believe we just did that." Ginny whispered once they were seated.
"Why not?" He asked curiously.
"Well, it was against the law for one thing. And I know he recognized me." She hissed.
"Yes, but I just gave them rather a lot of money, and goblins care more about money than they do about human affairs." Draco explained.
"And why did you open up an account for me but not let me take any money out of it?" Ginny asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" He was greeted by a blank stare, "So that if we get split up you have enough money to get by for a while."
"Oh, ok." She blushed slightly.
"And that's another point, what should we do if we do get split up?" He asked.
"Well, we should think of a place to meet." She frowned in thought, "Do you spend much time in Muggle London?"
"Not really." He admitted.
"Well, there's a place called Covent Garden. It's often quite busy, so we wouldn't be seen if we met there." She explained.
"How would someone like me find this place without using Muggle transport?" Draco's cheeks turned faintly pink, "I'm not sure I'd know how to work Muggle systems."
"I know that Malfoy." She sighed, "That's why I chose Covent Garden. Students doing Muggle Studies in seventh year have to go there on field trips, so there's a floo connection. But one would think to look for us there, as not many people even know there is a floo connection."
"How do you know?" He asked.
"My father's Arthur Weasley, Muggle expert extraordinaire." Ginny laughed lightly.
"And I never thought that fact would ever come in useful." Draco admitted dryly.
***
They spent a few hours in Diagon Alley buying items that they'd need to travel, including, to Draco's horror, muggle clothing.
"What would my father think!" He exclaimed as he looked at himself in the mirror.
"We're on the run from your father, we don't really need to know what he'd think about your clothing." Ginny scolded.
"It's alright for you, people would expect a Weasley to wear Muggle clothes, but I'm a Malfoy!" He continued, ignoring what she had just said.
"People expect me to be dead." She reminded him, "And you're not a Malfoy, you're a Bowcott. Why on earth did you choose such a horrible name?"
"It was the name of my first pet." Draco said, looking slightly sulky.
"Oh that was a good idea!" She exclaimed nastily, "That's not something your father is going to guess! Why didn't you just change it to 'Nathaniel I'm-not-Draco-Malfoy-honest'?"
"Father never knew I had a pet called Bowcott." Draco snapped, "Do you really think I'm that stupid? Bowcott was a fox that used to live on the grounds. I named it and tamed it without my father knowing."
"Oh, ok then. Sorry." Ginny blushed, and started to inspect a purple t- shirt.
"Ok, what are you going to buy?" He asked finally.
"Um, just two pairs of jeans and a few tops." She said, "You?"
"Is that all?" He looked surprised, "I'm buying four pairs of black jeans, three pairs of black trousers, four black shirts, a dark green shirt, a black t-shirt and a dark green t-shirt."
"Wow, that's a lot." Ginny's mouth hung slightly open. There was no need to ask about how he was going to fit it all in, he'd already bought them both bags that were charmed to never become full.
"What are you going to wear if we end up at a formal party?" Draco asked, while inspecting a black dinner jacket and tie.
"Do you really expect us to end up at a formal party?" She asked.
"It's possible, and we need to be prepared." He looked around, and picked out a long dark green skirt with a black long sleeved top, "How's this?"
"You really do like black and green, don't you?" She sighed, "And for someone who hates Muggle clothes, you really are buying a lot."
"I like looking nice." Draco shrugged, "Do you like the clothes or not?"
After admitting that, yes, she did like the clothes; he promptly bought them, and dragged her out to continue with their shopping. They bought some ordinary wizarding robes, and dress robes (for the formal party that Draco was sure they were going to end up at), some hiking gear, much to Ginny's surprise, and some potions ingredients.
The thing that truly confused Ginny was that Draco insisted on buying all the clothes a few sizes larger then what actually fit. When she asked why he refused to answer, insisting he'd explain later.
"I think we have everything we can buy here." Draco said, peering into his bag, "We've just got one more stop."
"You really know what you're doing, don't you?" Ginny noted, slinging her arm over his shoulder so that he could support her.
"I've dreamt about running away every day since I was about nine." He told her, "I've had a pretty clear plan of what I'd need to do since I was twelve. I've had to adjust some of the ideas because of you, but it's pretty much going to plan."
"So where are we going now?" She asked.
"Knockturn Alley."
***
Knockturn Alley was like no place Ginny had ever seen before. The people were all very scary. One man had tried to grab her, and would have succeeded if Draco had not produced a stinging curse.
"We're here." He told her, indicating to a small rundown shop.
Inside Ginny was immediately overcome with the smell of incense, which she knew immediately was to cover up the smell of something much nastier.
"Hello Master Malfoy, what a surprise to see you here!" Exclaimed an annoying voice. A tiny man with a lot of frizzy grey hair coming from all over his face had appeared at the counter and was beaming at them.
"I'm sorry, you seem to be mistaken, my name is Nathaniel." Draco said.
"Nathaniel, eh?" Said the man, "And what can I do for you, Nathaniel?"
"I'd like two charms, very specific ones." He explained, "One for me and my cousin here. We're in a bit of money trouble, and need to look a bit.different."
"Oh, I know exactly what you need. Mind you." The man paused, and looked at them slyly, "These things don't come cheap, and if you're having money problems."
"We can afford them." Draco snapped.
"Ok, ok, I was just saying. Do you have any preferences?" He smiled leeringly at Ginny, "Like would your charming cousin here like to keep her beautiful red hair. It really is quite lovely."
"No, we both need our hair colours changed." The boy thought for a moment, "The same colour if you can. Oh, and can you make her ugly?"
"D-Nathaniel!" Ginny burst out, almost using his real name.
"I wouldn't even dream of making such a lovely girl ugly. And it really is a shame about her hair." He caught Draco's look, "But if you're sure. Well, I have got something. A brother and sister, they lived about two hundred years ago. I just got them in, so they'll be expensive. Both have black hair, quite tallish. The girl's hair is fairly similar to your cousins, long and curly, but the boy's hair is shorter than your own. They're good looking, although I'd describe the girl as handsome rather than pretty."
"We'll take them." Draco said, reaching into his purse, "How much?"
"Two hundred Galleons for the both of 'em." The man told them, and Draco sighed unhappily.
"I guess we'll be needing to go back to Gringotts." He said, holding out his hand for Ginny to place her purse in. She did so, with a great amount of reluctance. Draco poured the coins out onto the table, and started counting them. While he was doing so the shop owner had started to inspect their baggage.
"Those look very expensive." He said, indicating to the bags, "I thought you two had money problems, but it looks to me like you're throwing a lot of money around.
"Those are presents from my Uncle, Emily's father." Draco said, his voice tight, "And this is the last bit of money we have except a few Galleons in Gringotts." Ginny was impressed with the ease with which he lied, "And here's your two hundred Galleons. Can we have the potions please?"
The man slipped behind the counter, and came out with two small flasks. They both had blue liquids in them, but one was darker than the other.
"The darker one is for you Nathaniel, and the lighter one for the charming Emily." He said, passing them the flasks. Draco placed them in his pockets, and then pulled out his wand.
"I'm sorry about this." He said softly, "Don't worry, we won't take the money back, we just can't have you remembering our faces."
"What?" The man looked panicked, "What are you going to do?"
"We'll write you a note, explaining what happened." Draco assured him, before raising his wand "Obliviate!"
The man's face relaxed, and his eyes stared blankly ahead. Draco quickly grabbed a quill and wrote something down quickly.
"Poor man." He said as they left.
"That really was horrible of you." Ginny agreed, "But at least you wrote that note explaining what you'd done."
"I felt bad. I think it's your influence." He scowled at her.
"To Gringotts?" She asked, and he nodded.
This time their visit was brief, simply collecting more money as Goblin's raised their hairless eyebrows. No one said anything strange to them, and they were referred to as Master and Miss Bowcott.
"What are these potions anyway?" Ginny asked as Draco pulled them out of his pocket.
"A variation of sorts on the basic Polyjuice Potion." He explained, "Much more complicated though. It can only be done with the help of the ghosts of dead witches and wizards. They place part of their essence in the potion, and whoever drinks it gets transformed into them until they drink the antidote. Unlike the Polyjuice Potion it doesn't wear off, but it's thought useless because you can only turn into people who are known to be dead. It's quite good for us though."
"So we're drinking essence of dead people?" She asked, looking uncertain.
"Grow up Weasley, it's not that bad." Closing his eyes he swallowed a mouthful of his potion, and grimaced. Quickly he put the stopper back on, placed it down on the floor, and fell to his knees.
The transformation was horrible. Ginny looked away, unable to look at Draco's half transformed body, and his face twisted in pain. When his groans of pain subsided she turned around, and almost gasped. The boy who stood in front of her was almost six foot, and was very handsome. His black hair was slightly ruffled, and he had light brown eyes, which were shadowed with long lashes.
"Your turn." He said, and looked quite startled at the sound of his voice, "and give me the bottle once you drunk some, I don't want you to drop it."
She nodded, and put the flask to her lips. It didn't taste very nice, but not disgusting either, just quite bitter. She handed Draco the bottle, just before the pain shot threw her. Her legs buckled, and she, just as Draco had, dropped to the floor. She felt her fingers stretch first, then her arms. The pain shot threw her whole body, and a gasp escaped her lips. Then, just as quickly as it had come, it was gone, and she was able to stand up.
"That hurt." She sighed. Her voice was much stronger than before, and slightly melodic.
"Didn't it just?" He laughed, "You're clothes are too small."
"So are yours!" She exclaimed.
"Aren't you glad I bought larger clothes then?" He asked.
"Yeah, I guess, but how'd you know we'd get tall people?"
"I wanted to be tall." He told her promptly, "I would have asked for different ones if they weren't tall."
"That's so pointless Mal-" She begun, but then stopped. Her mouth stayed hanging open, her eyes staring blindly forward. Her skin was much paler than it had been when she looked normal, and it made her look almost ghostly.
"Oh, no, not again." Draco said angrily, taking hold of her hand, "Weasley, Weasley! Wake up!"
But it was no use. She was back where he couldn't reach her. Not out of her mind, but buried deep inside it.
***
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