Disclaimer: Anything you don't recognize is, most likely, not mine.
Author Notes: Again, a rather speedy update on my part. It's only been, what, a week? In this chapter there is much talk about paganism and if such information offends you in any way, shape, or form, email me and I will send you a summary of what occurred in the chapter. Though, I must warn, that such ideas will be quite heavy in this story. I am Wicca after all, so it sort of makes sense to me that these fictional witches and wizards would believe in the Craft as well. Anyway, review responses to the last few chapters are below. Enjoy.
Death…Or Something Like It
Blessed – Chapter Nine
A gentle hand smoothing unruly curls from her forehead became the first thing registered as she slowly returned to consciousness, not bothering to halt a brief moan of discomfort from slipping between her lips. The tender touch abruptly jerked away and she let her eyes slide open, deep violet hues clouded with groggy confusion.
A concerned blonde stared nervously down at her, fingers halfway to the safety of his lap and the flesh of her face. An absent smile pulled at her mouth, her brain still far too asleep to hide her inner being behind impassible walls of frigid ice and stone.
"Why'dja stop?" She muttered, a slight grimace on her features at the unpleasant taste lingering on her tongue.
"I-I didn't think you would approve of someone touching you, especially after you being sent into jail for attacking Weasel and the sordid presence of your ex-fiancé."
"Ah fuck."
"An apt description of the situation had I not come and posted bail for you. Somehow I don't think you would have enjoyed your once betrothed to have his dastardly way with your…Oh shit, I'm sorry."
Her expression had become decidedly closed, his words shaking her mind from its hazy, languid state and into full consciousness. The nasty voice that had kept her alive in the three years since she had been kicked quite rudely into the title of "The Revolting Officially Lazy Loathsome Ongoing Pariah" or TROLLOP of the Wizarding World, began to whisper its poisonous words into her soul.
To trust had become synonymous with being betrayed and she could not go through something like that again, she would be broken beyond all repair if such a thing occurred for a second time. A slight shudder gripped her form and she began to harden herself against all forms of affection and dependency, but a brief glance up into the man's warm silver eyes rapidly unraveled all progress she had made.
"Please don't leave." He whispered near pathetically. "We need you…If you withdraw into yourself, you let them win. I know you don't want that, but why do you do it? I know that you are hurting, I would be concerned if you weren't, but don't let them come out of all of this victoriously. Please…"
The conversation of the last time she had been in her room rose unbidden to her and a delicate sense of worth began to blossom in the darkness that veiled her frayed, torn soul. The very corners of her mouth tugged upwards into a fragile smile and she leaned forward, slipping her slender hands into his far larger ones.
"I'll try, Draco. I cannot promise anything at this point in my life, but I will try. I do not want to end up like the pitiful women huddled on street corners, lamenting about their fates as they try to survive. I don't want to merely survive, I want to live. I want to live the life He stole from me because of his own selfish, foul desires."
The blonde leaned closer to her, eyes filled with a solemn promise. "I swear to you, Raven, you will have that life back."
Her facial features grew dark at something he said, neck bending slightly so her heavy hair could fall and mask her face. He gently slipped a finger beneath her chin, momentarily untangling their hands, angling her head so he could look down upon her countenance.
"What is it?" He asked simply. "Do you not believe me?"
"My name is Ginevra Jasmine Weasley. Neither Raven-Alexa Fiona Grey nor Esther Malaise are me. They are crude skeletons that either my aching spirit has spun or tyrannous rulers have flung at me, they are not me. I am Ginny Weasley, Lady of the Vampyres and Pariah of the Wizarding World."
Without pausing to spare a thought to his rash move, he closed the distance between them and lightly pressed his mouth against the smooth flesh of her forehead. To her greatest surprise, no emotion of oily sickness enshrouded her. Only the sensation of warm lips momentarily touching her skin met her and a brief flash of lost joy shone in quiet brilliance in her hues.
She did not jerk away and leaned into the contact before freeing her other hand and cupping the side of his gently in her palm. Touch without illness had once been taken for granted, but now it was a marvel she did not wish to loose. Shock flared across his visage and it kept him rooted still, watching her with a simpleton's open mouthed gaze.
With a furrowed brow, she let her fingers skim over the curve of his cheekbones, the arch of his nose, and lingered on the sweeping swell of his lips. A noise from outside her room startled her, and she wrenched away, a soft raspberry colour blooming across the apples of her cheeks.
"Sorry." She stumbled hurriedly, quickly falling backwards onto her rump on the bed, pulling the discarded blankets around her form.
He too leapt to his feet and nervously smoothing down invisible wrinkles, they both acting like young suitors caught in an amorous embrace by an elder. A matching blush lit his own face as he cleared his throat, shifting weight from foot to foot.
"I'll leave you to sleep then…" He said quickly before flinging himself from her room, the door shutting loudly behind him as if the handle had seared at the tender flesh of his palm.
She let out a shaky breath and dragged her fingers through her sleep tousled hair, staring unseeingly at the door. The sudden ability to be able to touch and be touched without feeling the need to scrub several layers of skin off was a recent, very recent, addition. It was definitely something to be considered, perhaps when she was not about to pass out from sudden exhaustion.
Just as her eyelids began to descend, a certain presence standing calmly at the foot of her bed shook all traces of sleepiness from her. Without pausing to think, she tumbled forward onto her knees, hands placed carefully on the bed before her as she tilted her head down so it just touched the rumpled blanket before her fingers. Her back arched delicately as she bowed reverently to the deity watching her with a certain degree of warmth.
"Rise, my child." That ethereal voice from the night she had almost been sacrificed sounded and a shiver gripped her spine, cool tingles causing her muscles to seize up briefly.
Her breath caught in her throat as she slowly rose back into a kneeling position, rump resting against the insides of her feet, and her eyes slowly took in the goddess before her. There had been a period time during the first year of her estrangement that she had lost every ounce of her faith, the space within her that believed whole heartedly in the teachings of her youth dried up, its once thought eternal fountain of comforting presence evaporated into the hatred in her soul.
Somehow, since then, slowly a steady trickle of belief had begun to fill the soothing fountain that had become the basis of her very existence. Seeing the divine being standing so easily in front of the bed, the barely filled puddle suddenly became swept away in a great tidal wave, the pitiful pond growing into a glistening pool in which she could store her broken hopes and shattered dreams for another day.
"Holy Mother." She breathed in awe.
The deity leaned forward and gently brushed Her lips against her forehead, a brief chuckled coming from Her as she shivered at the touch. All sound in the room seemed to fade away as her eyes began to gleam with the joy of the blessed. Her hands clasped in her lap as she stared in an unattached way, basking in the profound warmth engulfing her. The Goddess waited a brief moment before letting Her voice fill the empty noiseless space they resided in.
"Your faith has dwindled, but hold close the knowledge that I will never leave you. You are my Blessed, my Chosen amongst the sea of mortals from which you came. The path before you is twisted and treacherous, many hardships lie before you until you can, finally, come to a peaceful resting place. Do not despair however, you will not walk alone. There will be some who will try to decimate your fragile soul, but others will be there to act as buoys and help lift you out of the mire you may sink into. The harsh boulders and perilous drops of your path can be softened with love, allow it into your heart and be glad."
"How will I know to differentiate those that wish to hurt me from them that desire to aid me?"
"The knowledge will come to you when the time arrives."
"But why me, Mother? There are so many others who would be far more worthy that a hated outcast such as myself. One who might be able to re-instill faith in You and Your Consort once more."
"Have the Vampyres you now reside with not told you anything, child, about who you are?"
The fiery headed maiden bit her lower lip as her violet eyes grew dark in earnest. "They have told me that I am You incarnate, but nothing more."
The immortal shook her dark head briefly. "Perhaps they have not thought you ready of such knowledge, but I do not believe that to be so. The first and only time before you that the world needed my physical presence, the maid whose soul bonded with me was strung up on the gallows by terrified muggles, as your kind calls them. Her last words were a promise that she, I, would return in the form of a pariah, betrayed by all she cared for and loved by those she hated. It was a very broad spectrum that many could fit into, but only one would truly be named Mother Earth Incarnate." The goddess saw the look of strain upon her face and smiled softly, gently brushing Her fingers against the her cheek. "It is much to right yourself with, I know. Sleep on it, Daughter. It will be clearer with rest."
With a little sigh, her eyes slid closed and she collapsed on the ruffled mess of pillows and blankets behind her, lashes spread delicately against the pale flesh of her cheeks. The deity's face took on a look of kindness as She gently, with a few deft movements, settled her into the bed properly like her blood mother would have done.
"Sleep sweetly, Ginevra. Your trials have just begun." And with a last, tender glance at her sleeping form, the Holy Mother lifted her arms to the ceiling, disappearing without a trace.
Well, what more can I say? This is indeed a rather short chapter compared to most of the others, but what is to come does not fit well with what is above. Next update should be soon, finals are almost over. I would also appreciate that you tell those you think would enjoy this fic about it, though, then again, its darkness might put some people off…
Review Responses:
Kaladelia Undomiel – A talent of mine, luv. It makes the story more interesting if some horrible event has occurred in the heroine's life, makes her finally accepting her feelings for the hero all the more profound and delicious. Hermione is a sweetheart, though cannon Hermione lacks the ambition that I find most human in fictional characters. Though, that might just be my Slytherin side talking there…Yep, Hermione believes Ginny and feels utterly horrible for being a bitch to her!
Tigoamy – Mmh, that would have been rather bizarre, but amusing none the less. Oh I have Ron's punishment all planned out. That little bugger will get his due, I promise you that. Ah, but it is no trap, just Hermione trying to be a good friend…Although she did betray Ginny, she's trying to right her wrong doings. That would be delightfully creepy and rather hot if you think about it. I personally have a thing for redheads, and the topic of my bisexuality probably helps in the matter… will come. I get the same sorta vibe offa Dean. He just strikes me as a bad person. Wouldn't it be amusing and delightfully horrible if he betrayed someone at one point or another? Ronnykins dies in one of the very last chapters, which I admit to already pretty much completing.
Toxic-Seoul-Fire - Thank you.
Dranius – Oh you lucky bastard, my school locks me in the library if I miss school….Something about the law saying I have to make up missed school. Absolutely stupid if you ask me, but there ya go. That would be interesting…Yeah, Ron is a psychopath.
Blood Rust – Erk, that's a horrid habit of mine. I am working on that, though it doesn't work very well most of the time. Yes, you are remarkably on track, our minds must work in very similar ways, though there is another reason that is sort of revealed in this chapter. Ah, that might have been what some people would have done but somehow I think she would have found the courage to stand up and spoken out against it. I'm not quite sure if I have mentioned this or not in the story, such smaller details are often lost in the flood of information I attempt to get out, but it happened more than once. After a while it became to much and she cracked, she had to get it out. See, I've never liked Molly Weasley. There has always been something about her that grates on my nerves and screams of infidelity. Ack, there are so many things I want to tell you, but can't because it would ruin a large part of the story. Just remember that I do dislike the woman and I suspect you can figure out what. Well, don't forget that Ginny has been betrayed by everyone she trusts. She doesn't really believe Hermione, I mean, would you if you were in her shoes? Hermione's and Ron's marriage is not happy at all. I alluded in one of the previous chapters that he abuses her, at least, I think I did…
FunnyCatGirl - You'll get them as soon as my muse hits me upside the head with a haddock, which happens rather often come to think of it. Actually, it's mostly me getting my lazy arse into gear and actually putting thought into reality. With the Vampyres and the smartest witch out of Hogwarts in years, Ginny will be nigh unstoppable in her plot for world domination! Not really, that would totally ruin everything…Though would be quite fun to write.
Helldarkangel1 – Why thank you, I try not to start or update stories that are prosaic…There are far too many of them online. Yeah, there is a sad lacking in women's rights in the Wizarding World, but I always figured they were several hundred years in the past compared to the muggle world in most ways.
IxIpEngUIn89 – Thank you, I do try.
Thank you all for the reviews, they were lovely.
Your Lord and Master;
Foamy the Squirrel