Chapter 2 Behind This Smile
"Behind every smile, every laugh, ever grinis something I'll always & forever keep in."
"I suppose your mother told you, right Gin?" Stephan asked with a smile. A smile that made her blood run cold. She hated that smile; she wanted to tear it off his face.
"Yes, sir," was all she replied. If she showed respect, maturity, and kept her head low maybe, just maybe she wouldn't have to be beaten that night.
"Look at me, Gin," He said with a stern voice. She hated it when he called her that. He had no right to call her that. But too scared to defy him, she raised her head and looked him straight in the eye. "Don't you worry," He said with another smile that made her sick, "Today will be fun. Won't it Ginny?"
"Of course it will, sir," she said quietly hoping he couldn't see straight into her soul. As they both grabbed hold of the portkey, Ginny prayed that everything would be fine.
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They had been in Diagon Alley for nearly an hour. Stephan had treated her nicely, she supposed. He had taken her to Gringotts first to get some money. Then took her to get an ice cream. And that was where he had left her, to finish her ice cream all alone, while he flirted with a young, pretty blonde.
Ginny sat there thinking about him with disgust, he was all she ever thought about. At the moment she was pondering why she had began to always call him sir. She couldn't call him by his name, Stephan, although her mothers and brothers did. It felt too casual and she thought it might make him feel like he had no longer any control over her. She couldn't call him daddy either. Most of all because he wasn't her father but also because "daddy" felt like you had to love him to say it, and she definitely did not love him. She couldn't call him stepfather either. It was formal, but still felt like you had to have a likeness or some sort of bond with a person to call him that. So she would just stick with "sir." It was very formal and at the same time still made him feel like he had power. Power was a good thing for him. When he had power the beatings wouldn't be as bad, but if he felt like he lost the power they would become completely unbearable. "Not that they weren't unbearable to begin with." Ginny thought to herself.
At that moment Stephan walked over to her and said, "Follow me."
She got obediently, still eating her ice cream, and followed him. They had walked for a good ten minutes through Diagon Alley before stopping in front of a small, dark shop very close to Knockturn Alley. Stephan stepped inside and told Ginny to follow. She was somewhat frightened but at the same time curious at what was so important that he had to show her. He led her to the very back of the shop. There was a little light and she could see the light glittering off something silvery and shiny. She followed him, curious to find out what the objects were. And when he stepped aside, Ginny widened her eyes in shock. There were hundreds of knives.
She looked at the knives in surprise. There was practically every knife ever made, even muggle kitchen knives.
"Ginny, by the expression on your face I can see you're confused at why you're here," Stephan said with a slight laugh.
"Y-yes, sir," she could barely say it. And she didn't find the situation quite funny either. So why was he laughing? Was he going to kill her?
But as her shock turned to horror Stephan kneeled on one knee and lightly held her by the arms. She turned to face him and saw the seriousness written all over his face.
"Ginny you're a beautiful young lady of sixteen now. And young ladies need to protect themselves from hormonal, evil boys who will do anything to get what they want. Ginny, do you understand what I'm trying to say?" He asked. But before she could say yes he interrupted again. "Of course, you don't. What am I thinking? You're still a little girl. What I'm trying to say, Gin, is young ladies are obligated to protect what is rightfully theirs and make sure no boy steals it from them. And since you are a young lady, I have brought you here to let you chose what you will protect yourself with."
This surprised Ginny. She actually had a choice in something? Slowly she turned back towards the knives and carefully picked one. It had a silver handle with a small fairy engraved on it. The fairy had one red ruby on its wing. She pressed the side and the blade shot out. She stared at it for the longest time. The knife gleamed in the light and she could see how sharp it was. Stephan saw her fascination with the knife and smirked.
"So you want this one?" he asked. She looked at him again and quickly nodded her head. He brought it up to the counter and paid for the knife. When he handed it back to her as they left the shop she looked at it again. Right under the fairy the initials VMW were also engraved into the handle. "Virginia Molly Weasley" she thought to herself. But why would he go to the trouble of doing that for her? She wondered.
When they finally returned home Ginny said, "hank you for all the fun today, sir." And waited for his response.
"You're quite welcome, my dear," He said and flicked his hand to gesture her away. "My dear?" the very sound of it made her want to puke. But she pushed the urge down and climbed the stairs towards her bedroom.
She had been in bedroom for three hours and still hadn't done a thing. She sat on her bed and stared fixedly at the knife. She had never seen anything so dangerous and so beautiful at the same time. She rubbed the knife gently over her arm. "One little slip could-" but before she could complete her thought she felt a slight tingling and burning sensation on her arm. She looked at her arm. Forgetting how sharp the knife was, she must have rubbed a little too hard. Although she had drawn no blood Ginny felt different. A small bit of the ache on her heart had gone. It was like getting a breath of fresh air. She could actually breath again. She wanted more. She wanted to be able to breathe. She found another patch of fresh skin on her arm and sliced. It stung as she saw the blood trickle down her arm. But the ache lessened and she got more breath. So she sliced again and again. She sliced until there were five cuts on her pale arm. The blood was flowing freely now. She hadn't noticed that two drops had fallen and landed on her pillow. She heard a knock on the door and panicked. Ginny grabbed the nearest towel and wiped her arm as fast as she could. She stuffed the towel on the side of her bed just as Stephan walked in.
"Dinner is ready and your mother said you better hurry if you want any food," He said.
"Yes, sir," she replied and quickly walked out of the room tugging her sleeve down even farther.
Stephan walked over to her bed and saw the open knife on her nightstand. He also saw the two drops of blood on her pillow. He smirked to himself. His plan had gone perfectly.
Ginny hurried down the stairs still tugging at her sleeve. Before she reached the kitchen she put on a smile. If everyone saw her smile they wouldn't suspect anything. And that was what she would do. Ginny Weasley would hide behind her smile.
A/N: I got the second chapter up! So please enjoy cuz I probably won't post again until next week.
HPfreakout: thanks for the support. I hope you liked the new chapter!
Dark-Angels-Tears: yeah this story is gunna be a sad one but there might be a few happy moments too.
Missing Fairy: It is kind of hard to believe someone close to Ginny would do that to her. I originally thought of using her actual father but I thought that would be too harsh and a little unbelievable. So I went with the step father idea.
In the next few chapters you'll get to learn more about Stephan and what makes him so cruel to Ginny at times but nice to her at others. Thanks for all the comments and keep up the reviews !