Chapter two
Ginny awoke the next morning almost forgetting what had happened. She turned over and looked around the room. Then she remembered, she was in Draco Malfoy's house and he had saved her. She slid out of the bed and stood with a whimper. She was so sore every where and her eyes were extremely puffy. A house elf entered the room. "Good Morning Miss Ginny. I am Pablum and am at your service. The house elf said with a bow. "Master Malfoy has requested you join him on the veranda for breakfast when you are ready. I have repaired and washed your robes."
"Oh…I" Ginny didn't know what to say.
"Master Malfoy has also instructed me to serve your breakfast here if you do not wish to join him in the veranda." The house elf squeaked.
"No. Please inform Dr- uh Master Malfoy that I will be down shortly. Thank you Pablum." Ginny fumbled over Master Malfoy. She felt silly referring to him that way but respected that the house elf addressed him that way.
"Master will be very pleased Miss Ginny." The house elf bowed again and left the room quickly. Ginny walked into the bathroom to change. As she turned around, she faced the picture of Draco and his family. His mother and father looked stern and unhappy. Draco had his usual smirk and was eyeing Ginny up and down with pleasure. She began to blush and left the bathroom and headed downstairs.
The hallway she had walked down the night before was covered in portraits with silver frames that bore snakes wrapping around them. Each wizard in the portrait seemed to have some sort of resemblance to Draco. As she walked downstairs, she noticed Pablum at the bottom waiting for her in a bow. Pablum indicated silently towards the direction of the veranda. Ginny turned to her left and walked through two French doors that opened to a Grand Ball room. In the right corner sat an emerald green grand piano. The legs were carved into snakes.
Ginny walked through another set of French doors and stepped out onto the veranda. It was a beautifulsummer morning and the sun was shining. She couldn't believe how large and green the grounds were. There were several long streams of water flowing from the sprinklers watering every inch of the ground. There was a huge fountain in between two large trees that was also a snake statue. The mouth of the large snake was at the top and spraying water on top of several tiny snakes at the bottom. Surprisingly enough there were several flowers in many different colors all over the grounds.
"Good morning. I trust you slept well." Draco said startling Ginny. She had been so distracted by the beauty of the grounds that she must have been standing there for a few minutes.
"Good morning Malfoy. I did, thank you." Ginny said without making eye contact.
"Please have a seat. I hope you're hungry." Draco said as waved her over and didn't sit until she had.
"Thank you." The house elves brought out as much food as Ginny had seen in the great hall. Ginny wasn't really hungry though. She just took a piece of toast and took a few bites.
Frowning in disappointment Draco said "Aren't you hungry? You should really eat. It will help you get your strength up."
"I'm honestly not hungry. Thank you though. All the food looks wonderful." Ginny replied trying to sound as sincere as possible. She didn't want to be rude to him. He was being so nice. "I'll probably be hungry soon though. I just don't think I am fully awake yet."
"That's alright. Oh, I went back and got this for you last night." Draco handed her the book she had purchased.
"Malfoy! Where did you find it? I forgot that I had dropped it. Hang on. How and when did you get this?" Ginny asked knowing he didn't have time or the extra hand to pick it up when he rescued her.
"I went back out after you went to sleep last night. I just couldn't rest I guess." Draco said shrugging his shoulders and looking away.
"But…was he still there?" Ginny asked looking frightened.
"Yes but don't worry, he's been taken care of." Draco said as if he were talking about the weather.
"I don't understand. What did you do?" Ginny asked in a worried tone and made eye contact with Draco.
Draco leaned forward and look deeply into Ginny's green eyes. "It doesn't matter does it? He'll never bother you again. You have nothing to fear anymore. He's gone." Draco said. Ginny didn't want to push the issue any further.
"Well once again, thank you Malfoy. I will be in your debt forever." Ginny said meaning every word. Where would she be if he hadn't come along and saved her? Would she even have been alive? These thoughts made her shudder.
"You're welcome. Would you like to take a tour of the grounds?" Draco asked as he stood and took one last drink of his orange juice.
"I would love to." Ginny smiled as he extended his arm to escort her down the veranda steps. Draco began to point out different plants and trees and Ginny just smiled and listened to every word he said.
"The fountain has been here for over a hundred years. The trees seem to be standing guard over it don't they? I planted the flowers last summer. The grounds just needed a bit of color and my parents hated flowers so it just made sense to plant them. My mum will be furious with me when she returns from her holiday." Draco said very mishieviously.
"Your mum's been on holiday all this time?" Ginny asked.
"She's still upset over my father and hasn't been able to stay at the manor without him." Draco replied with no feeling and continued. "That there is the koi fish pond. They're rather amazing aren't they? They'll let you hand feed them, you want to try?" Draco asked as guided her to kneel on the ground next to him at the edge of the pond. He grabbed her hand and filled it with fish food he had takenout of a container sitting next to him. Still holding her hand which made her feel warm in the pit of her stomach, he pushed it down softly just above the water. One by one different colored koi fish were softly sucking the food out of her hand. "It tickles a bit doesn't it?" Draco said with a smile.
"Yes it does. They're so gentle. Like you." Ginny said and then looked away. Why did she say that? Gentle? He is Draco Malfoy for goodness sakes. Until last night, he didn't have one gentle bone in his body. "I mean like you have been. But, it's okay Malfoy, you don't have to pretend to be nice to me anymore. I'll be okay. You've been more than hospitable which is more than I thought a Malfoy could ever be. Thank you. I'll be going now." Ginny snapped and stood brushing the remaining food into the water.
Draco stood with a look a fury. "What was that? Pretending am I? Well if that's what you think Weasley by all means leave. I guess I did give you permission to return to hating me today." He turned and headed to back into the manor. What came over Ginny? Why did she have to insult him? Maybe he wasn't pretending?
"Malfoy wait!" Ginny yelled and tried to run but her sore muscles reduced it to a slow jog. She caught up to him and grabbed his arm. He turned around but wouldn't look at her. He was furious. "I'm sorry Malfoy. I didn't mean it. You have been so kind and the last thing I want to do is seem ungrateful. You saved me Malfoy, without even knowing who I was. I just thought that once you discovered I was a Weasley that you would have kicked me out of your house. I guess I'm confused."
"Look Weasley, I'll admit I was shocked to discover it was you but why does that matter? You were attacked and and.… you were attacked." Draco seemed disgusted with his thoughts and couldn't come to terms with how far the attack went. "You didn't deserve what happened to you no matter what your last name is. Once I found out it was you I became even more angry with your attacker and had to confront him. Don't ask me why. I just couldn't bear to replay the vision of him on top of you….Hurting you like that." Draco appeared to have discovered a bad taste in his mouth as he was thinking of what happened to her. His face began to turn red and he clenched his fists.
"Malfoy look at me." Ginny said reaching up to his face and pulling his head down to look at her. "I'm going to be fine. I can't get back what he took but it could have turned out so much worse if you hadn't saved me. He could have killed me when he was finished." These thoughts made her stomach turn. He had taken what she had been saving for the perfect man.
"He would have killed you." Draco said relaxing a bit due to her touch and looking softly into her green eyes.
"What do you mean?" Ginny said curiously.
"You were attacked by Sandoval Foxley. The Knock turn rapist. He always kills his victims when they've served their purpose. Well he won't anymore." Draco said with a look of bitter sweet victory.
Ginny couldn't believe what she was hearing. She would have died if Draco hadn't saved her? But, what had Draco done that was so final? He seemed convinced that he had taken care of him. "Malfoy please, what did you do?" Ginny said with tears in her eyes.
"He's dead. I killed him. You don't have to worry about him anymore. You're safe." Draco said and walked away.
Draco had killed him. He saved her, carried her to his home, provided her a bed to sleep in and slipped out and killed him in a rage of anger. Ginny didn't know what this meant. Surely the Draco Malfoy she knew would have either left her for dead or high fived Sandoval Foxley and joined in on the attack. But, all those years of deceit and cruelness were swept away with his recent actions. He had changed. He had become a caring and respectful gentleman.