A/N: Believe me, this will be resolved into a happy ending. How, you ask? Well you'll have to figure that out for yourself.

The slimy potion stung as it went to her stomach and then into her veins, "What are you doing to me?" she asked as she began to feel drowsy again but it was overpowering. Her eyelids began to droop and it was seconds later that she couldn't stay awake any longer. She felt no pain or fear…

Draco walked back into his room after having a long conversation with his father. He was horrified to see Ginny's small body strewn limply across the bed and blood marred the green comforter. He gasped as he saw the eerie light that was being emitted by her Dark Mark. He kneeled over her and saw her eyelids were blackened by what he assumed was some sort of draught that someone had given her.

Ginny awoke to see Draco standing over her and she jumped up with a little yelp. A searing pain ripped through her body as she collapsed to her knees. "What did you do to me?" she whispered as she tried to dull the pain.

Draco walked to her side and helped her back onto the bed, "I didn't touch you. I came in here and you'd bled all over my comforter and you were out cold. My guess is that someone took your virginity."

Ginny felt her heart constrict as her mind flitted back to before she fell asleep, "Voldemort… h—he made me drink some sort of potion and it stung my whole body and then I—I don't remember!" she cried frenetically. "He raped me. That bastard raped me!"

Draco nodded, "Wouldn't be a first…I'll get my mom."

Ginny gripped his arm, "No! No one can know about this…" she said in a hysterical tone of voice.

"Bloody hell! Alright, I won't say anything but I'd recommend you take a bath and get ready for dinner. Mother put a dress in the bathroom for you." He said aggravated before his tone softened, "Do you need help getting to the bathroom?"

Ginny shook her head, "I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself." She spat caustically as she walked into the adjoining bathroom and found a warm bath already drawn for her. She stripped off her bloody clothes and sunk into the soothing bath. She sighed contentedly as she washed her body but some filth seemed to linger and no matter how hard she scrubbed, it wouldn't leave. When she was done, she found a fluffy white towel to dry herself and a lavish, green ball gown that had a low v-neck and no sleeves. Its shiny material matched the color of her eyes and her reddish gold curls swept over the shoulders perfectly.

Draco watched as house elves gathered up the soiled bedclothes. He wasn't surprised that Voldemort would result to rape, but at the same time it was a shock. He wasn't prepared for the fact that Tom Riddle would go after Ginny Weasley in his own bed. He nearly did a double take as she walked out of the bathroom; she was gorgeous. He mentally shook himself: 'Never think of a Weasley as gorgeous!' he scolded himself and put on a lazy smirk.

Ginny nervously walked out of the bathroom to find Draco staring at her. She turned away and saw the house elves carrying away the bloody sheets without a word edgewise. She looked to the door where Narcissa Malfoy stood silently watching her.

Narcissa knew what had happened; it was fairly obvious. She looked at Ginny empathetically, "You look beautiful Ginny; it's time for dinner and we have a surprise for you."

Ginny shuddered; she had enough surprises for one lifetime but she didn't say a word as she followed Draco down to the huge dining room that had to be at least a kilometer or 2 long. She thanked Draco quietly as he pushed her chair in for her. She was nauseous from that potion she had been given and was unable to eat more than a bite of each course.
Lucius Malfoy watched Ginny in interest as she ate. He liked his dinner table to be silent but in this case, he spoke. "So, Miss Weasley, I hope you find Malfoy Manor to your satisfaction."

"Yes sir, I do." She answered politely and ignored the echoes in the huge hall.

Lucius smiled wickedly, "Good. You're part of this family now and you may address me as Lucius or Father if you wish. Narcissa as well, you may call us by our names."

Ginny smiled, "Thank you Lucius." She said graciously. The last thing she wanted was to get on Lucius Malfoy's bad side.

Narcissa got a nod from her husband which granted her permission to speak, "We have a bit of a surprise for you. We want you to be a true member of this family so we thought we'd get you a proper engagement ring. This one was from Lucius's mother's." She pulled out a small velvet box and revealed a huge diamond that was accented by 2 rubies.

Ginny nearly gasped, "I can't accept that. It's a family heirloom."

"You're family now." Lucius snapped, "Put it on and never take it off…"

Narcissa gave the ring to Draco who quickly (and apathetically) slipped it on her finger. He was disgusted by the whole thing but kept a straight face. "You know we have to catch the Knight Bus tonight in order to make it to Platform 9 ¾ tomorrow." Draco reminded his parents.

Lucius nodded, "I've arranged it already and I spoke to Dumbledore who has merged your dorms so you can stay together."

Ginny was about to protest but Draco grabbed her hand to shush her. She was beyond relieved to be excused from the torture of dinner. She was burning with rage and pain as she went back up to the room to find a new green comforter and green silk sheets on the bed. She found her case packed and a brand new velvet cloak on the suitcase.

Draco slammed the door behind them which caused Ginny to jump. He muttered an apology and set about to packing up the last of his things. "I'm sorry about them."

Ginny was shocked at how easy the apology rolled off his tongue, "It's not your fault. We cannot control our parents." She said as she looked down at the obscene ring on her finger, "I guess we can't hide this secret forever… or for 2 minutes."

Draco burst out laughing, "I can't believe you're joking about this." His outburst turned to a meager chuckle as he shook his head, "This is ludicrous. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Besides feeling sick and wronged, I'm in a bit of pain but I'm alive." she sighed and went to change into her Hogwarts robes before he could answer him. She carefully laid the dress out and smoothed out the wrinkles with her petite hand.
"Alright then," He answered monosyllabically and called a house elf to carry their things downstairs, "We leave at 8 o'clock sharp. We have a good 5 minutes to get downstairs and bid my parents goodbye."

Ginny nodded and followed the house elf down to the foyer where Narcissa stood alone. Ginny got a swift kiss on the cheek followed by a chilly goodbye. Narcissa kissed Draco's cheek, "I love you, Draco." She said habitually, "Stay safe… both of you." She warned, "Lucius is unable to say goodbye this evening but he sends his best wishes."

Draco nodded as he heard the knight bus pull up, "I love you Mother. Goodbye." He unthinkingly put his hand on the small of Ginny's back as they made it onto the bus.

The rowdy conductor led them over to a bed, "Here's your bed, we'll be there is about 18 hours. Your brooms are being stored in the overhead compartment in case of emergency!" the bus lurched and Draco caught Ginny before she flew onto the back on the speeding bus.
"Thanks," she muttered and sat down on the bed. She felt extremely nauseous as the bus made its stops and more people got onto the bus. Other students filed on but none of them dared talk to Ginny or Draco until 2 familiar gargoyles got onto the bus.

Crabbe and Goyle walked onto the bus and walked right over to Malfoy. Crabbe sneered, "What're you doing with her?" he asked as he sized her up. "I dunno Crabbe; I think she's kind of pretty." He laughed and looked at Malfoy who was clearly not amused.

Malfoy folded his arms and glared, "This is my fiancé, Ms. Weasley. Our fathers are following old traditions."

Goyle burst into giggles, "Oh man, your father must be crazy to marry you off to a Weasley." He sniggered.

Malfoy stood and pushed Goyle back against the wall, "Don't insult her in front of me ever again. She is the next Mrs. Malfoy and I—" He felt a hand on his shoulder and spun around intending to strike to find Ginny behind him.

Ginny didn't know what possessed her to calm him, "Sit down." She ordered, "You don't need to defend me to these idiots."

"Who're you calling an idiot?" Crabbe asked angrily, "Maybe you're an idiot!"

Ginny and Draco both rolled their eyes and sat back down. Ginny was feeling sicker and sicker as time went on but she held back the urge to vomit as she ate a cracker that an attendant had given to her when she asked. She had ignored Crabbe and Goyle who were telling fun stories about their winter break.

For hours they sat, sometimes talking to each other and sometimes not. Crabbe and Goyle fell asleep at about 2 am when Ginny excused herself to throw up. She could no longer hold in the queasiness as she retched violently into the clean metal bowl. Draco didn't know what to do; he couldn't decide whether or not to help her or stay put, so he stood halfway between the bed and the bathroom.

Ginny washed her face and tied her hair back into a ponytail before walking out. Her skin was flushed from getting sick and having chills. She looked at Draco as she walked out, giving him a slight nod, "You don't need to pretend to care. I'm fine. I'm just a little bus sick."

Draco sneered and sat back down, "You know you have to at least pretend to like me for this to work."

"Who said I want this to work?" she fired back. "I don't want to marry you or produce an heir before you'll leave me alone."

"You've been talking to my mother, haven't you?" he asked with a snort, "That old bat is crazier than my father. She and my father didn't have an arranged marriage; he got obsessed with it from his father who tried it but my parents married at 16. My father's father wanted him to marry Bellatrix Lestrange who is much older than her sister Narcissa… that obviously didn't work out. My father banged my mum and that went down the tubes."

"Your mother is not old nor is she crazy!" Ginny snapped, "I shouldn't have to defend your own mother to you!"

"You're right, she's not old… because she got pregnant when she was your age and she had to marry my father." He retorted, "Okay? He's lying when he told your father that the marriage was arranged… he just wanted me to get married to you."

"Why? It doesn't make sense…" Ginny sighed heavily and sat down, shivering.

Draco took off his warm cloak and put it around her, "It does make sense… you see that mark on your arm? That is the reason you're married into my family."

Ginny's flushed face paled so much that Draco thought she would pass out. "Tom… it's his doing. He's using your family name to get to me; oh God, it makes sense now. This was the plan all along, right? Probably from the second I was born… and he wanted to kill me but instead he's going to—" she couldn't even say it.

"Right…but you'll be my wife before the week is out and that's what he's counting on." He looked into her eyes that were bright with fear.

"Married to a man who hates me and slave to one who claims to love me." Ginny buried her face in her hands and let the tears flow.

Draco could deal with anger, rage and even violence but not tears. "I don't hate you Ginny," he said gently, "Please don't cry; it's going to be okay."

Ginny looked up at him as tears dripped down her nose and cheeks, "I want to believe you but I can't after everything that's transpired. Do you know what your father has done to me? He helped me open the Chamber of Secrets and helped put the Dark Mark on my arm."

"Shh!" he scolded, "Don't announce it to the world. I'm not my father, Ginny. I hate my father."

Ginny sat still for a moment and pulled his cloak tighter around her, "Why don't you refuse then? Refuse to marry me, to live in that house and his Dark Mark."

"He'd kill me… he wouldn't care either way." He said coldly and turned away. "You get some rest."

Ginny shut her eyes tightly, "I can't. I see his face and feel him on me…"

Draco sighed heavily, "Fine, stay up and wither away." He lay back on the bed and closed her eyes.
Ginny noted how childish and innocent he looked when he slept; it was very much unlike his usual demeanor. She admitted only to herself that she had seen a kinder gentler Draco Malfoy in the time she spent at his home. She was sure it'd disappear as soon as they got through Hogwarts' large doors.