I had already doubted I would still make it today (or rather tonight since it is 00:10 here) but I really made it. And now I'm tired! ( so don't expect any real intelligent replies right now…)

Tiarwen: Yes, I think you've told me once or twice, but I won't stop you from telling me again :D And yes, this is the Angelina/Adrian Pucey story (and you spelled his name right) I hope your exams went well.

Redcandle17: Wow, it seems the English presentation I had to held that week also improved my writing :D But this one isn't an Angelina/Marcus fic. It is an Angelina/Adrian Pucey fic. But I have some ideas for more Angelina/Marcus fics, and I'm sure while writing this one I will come up with some new ones as well.

TriGemini: Oh, believe me, I'm too…

danger.angel: Thank you. I hope I'll be able to keep this interest up.

Shea LaRoc: I know the summary tells a lot but I hope I'll be able to have some surprises in it to make it not too boring.

Angelface04: Thank you. Yes, one should think that nothing worse can happen now, right?

Ella Palladino: Thank you. I hope I'll make the best out of the plot.

Chapter 1

Saturday

She felt their eyes on her, stripping her before she could do so herself. She despised these men. And she was starting to despise herself for stripping in front of them. But there was still something that kept her from just trying to run away. Julia.

She couldn't leave as long as 'Big Jim' had her sister. And there was no chance he would let her go. Big Jim, as her boss wanted to be called was the owner of a well-known club in Santa Fé, Argentina. For little money wizards had the chance to see those below them strip before their eyes. Some of the last living muggelborns and halfbloods were here and among them, a young pureblooded witch who couldn't prove her origin and had to keep her sister safe.

It had been four years ago that her parents had sent her to Argentina. She should take care of her three-year-old sister. Argentina was so far from England and Europe that the war of the wizard world would not affect the country in south America. Or so her parents had thought.

But it hadn't been safe at all. It was really a miracle that she was still alive. Or not really a miracle – but Big Jim. Big Jim was a brutal man. If one didn't do as he wanted they could soon be found lying beaten on the floor. The worst part about him though, was his grin. It was a merciless grimace rather than a grin. The golden teeth weren't helping the image of a monster at all.

She had ended up in Big Jim's club four years ago. A tiny room with nothing more than an old bed and a chair became her new home. Hers and that of her sister. Big Jim was a lot of things, but he was not stupid. He knew that having the little girl here, he had a way to force her to do as he liked.

And so she had become what she was today. A nothing. A stripper without a name. In the club she was announced as 'the black rose', standing there on stage in a black corset she had to strip in front of those hungry eyes who wanted to do more than look at her. But that was something she had so far successfully avoided.

But of course, the last bit of luck had to falter in this part of her life as well…

It was a Saturday.

She hated Saturdays! They were the worst of all days! Too many of them were there on Saturdays. They were the men she had to strip in front of. Those men who were looking at her with their hungry eyes; who tried to touch her when she came too close to the edge of the stage; who called her a mudblood and other things when she didn't come to them when they called her.

It was Saturday and she had only half an hour left before she had to go on stage. She was putting on her corset and put the make up on in front of the tiny mirror in her room. Julia was watching her sceptically. Like always.

"You look ugly like this!" She told her older sister for about the millionth time.

"I know Julia, but I have no choice."

Julia said nothing. She may have only been seven years old but she already knew that she was the reason her sister had to do this. That her sister had to take her clothes off in front of men. They never talked about it, and her sister never blamed her or said mean things to her, but she still knew it. And she wished she could change it. But she knew that as a child she couldn't do much to help her sister, so she stayed back in the tiny room and tried not to cry when her older sister was gone. It was hard, and she barely managed it. But it was the only thing she could do in order to help her sister.

"I'll be back." Angelina whispered to her sister and kissed Julia's head before she left the room. Julia watched her sister leave and once the door had closed she interlace her fingers, closed her eyes and silently started to pray.

"Tell me again why we are here." Adrian asked his cousin while they entered the building. It looked as though the house could collapse every moment.

"I told you I have a surprise for you. To thank you for not telling anyone about that little incident in Rome." Dyson Everlast grinned at the younger man when Adrian snorted. The 'little incident' Dyson was talking about involved him and four witches in one bed in Rome. This wouldn't have been half as bad if only the witches had all been single. But one could trust Dyson to not make things so easy. Two of the witches were married to members of the Italian high society and another one was the wife of an English lord. And the only witch that was single was the daughter of the current minister of Magic of France.

"This looks rather like a punishment than a thank you." Adrian mumbled while he followed his cousin into the bar. Several men were sitting at tables around the room or at the bar, drinking, talking, and obviously waiting for something. He followed Dyson to the bar and sat down next to his cousin.

"I promise you, you will like this." Dyson grinned and ordered them two cocktails.

"Just wait and see." He said before the light went out and music started to play.

He had waited for almost an hour by now and had seen three young women stripping on the stage in the centre of the room.

"So you want to thank me by visiting a strip show?" Adrian asked and raised his eyebrows at his cousin who was barely able to part his eyes from the blonde woman on stage.

"No. I want to thank you by giving you a personal show when this here is finished. You just have to tell me which one of these ladies you want." Dyson told him smiling and sipped on his cocktail while he watched as the next woman came out.

Adrian looked back towards the stage as well and frowned when he saw the dark-skinned woman there. She seemed oddly familiar.

"Ah, so you go for the real exotic one." Dyson said while he looked at his cousin. Adrian didn't listen to him; his eyes were glued to the woman on stage. He knew her from somewhere.

"Not so fast mudblood."

Angelina turned her head slowly around to face Big Jim who was holding her arm.

"You have another job tonight."

Angelina frowned at this. The only emotion showing on her face. Big Jim pulled her after him to the first floor of the building. Angelina tried to yank herself free from his grasp when they were heading upstairs. She knew what went on in the rooms upstairs.

"I'm not doing it." She told Big Jim who just snorted as a reply and shoved her towards the stairs.

"You will do as you're told mudblood." When Angelina only looked at him Big Jim narrowed his eyes at her. He hated that look. She was the only one of the mudbloods he had that had such an odd look on her face. Like a mask. The others had looks of fear on their face. Every once in a while that of resistance. But this dark bitch only had this mask plastered upon her face, showing no emotions at all.

"Your sister is growing up fast. There are enough men who would be interested in her."

"You wouldn't dare! She is only a child!"

"Either you go up there and are a very nice mudblood or your sister will be a woman by tomorrow night."

Angelina went slowly upstairs; the thought of Julia kept her going.

"It's the first door." Big Jim yelled after her. Angelina closed her eyes for a moment before she opened the door and walked into the room.

Adrian couldn't believe he had Dyson let him talk into this. He was sitting on a chair in a corner of a shabby room. And the only reason he had agreed had been the fact that in the end he had recognized the woman. Underneath all that make-up and in this nothing of clothing he had recognized a woman he had used to play Quidditch against during school. A former Gryffindor. A pureblooded witch in such a place. He was more than curious to hear how she had ended up here.

When Angelina entered the room it took her eyes some time to get used to the darkness in there. The only light was that of some candles on a nightstand next to the bed. She tried to see who was in the room with her but there was no sign of any other human being in the room.

"Close the door." She almost jumped when she heard the calm voice from out of a corner. She took a step into the room and closed the door behind her.

"Please, sit down on the bed."

Angelina slowly walked towards the bed and sat down on the edge. She felt his eyes on her and heard him moving around in the corner. She heard him mumble something and felt the make-up on her face vanish.

"Why are you here?" he suddenly asked her and Angelina moved her head to look in his direction.

"What do you mean?" She heard him sigh in response before he talked again.

"You're a pureblooded witch and the daughter of a former professional Quidditch player, you can do magic, yet you are here in a shabby strip club for half- and mudbloods. Why?"

Angelina frowned at this.

"Who are you?" she asked confused.

"I asked first." Was his only reply and Angelina bit her lip. Finally she shook her head and told her story. How her parents had sent her to Argentina with her sister. How they had been caught and brought here. How Big Jim took her wand away from her.

"Now tell me who you are." She demanded and hugged herself. She found it very cold in the room. For several minutes she didn't hear anything before she heard his voice again.

"What would you do to get you and your sister back to England – safe?"

"Tell me who you are!"

"Answer me and I'll tell you."

"I would do anything!"

It seemed to get even colder when the man came out of the shadows. It only took her a second to recognize him: Adrian Pucey, former chaser on the Slytherin Quidditch team.

Her body tensed and all she wanted to do right now was run away from him as fast as possible. But she couldn't move. She just sat there on the bed, terrified, and showed the first real emotion outside of her own room since she worked there.

"Still doing anything to get out of here?" He asked her as he saw the look on her face. Angelina swallowed and the mask of indifference was soon back on her face.

"What do you want?" she asked, surprised at how calm her voice sounded.

"Marry me." Adrian told her as though he had just told her how the weather was outside.

Sorry it isn't very long, and not much is happening yet, but I wrote all week to get this far and I wanted to post it today. (I have to start learning for my final exams now. After all, it isn't long till the first week of July).