TCOTP

CHAPTER 9

The Morning After

Ginny ran down the hall towards the rose bedroom, failing in her hope to get there before crying. By the time she reached the door, her whole face was wet. Finally the door was in reach, and once inside she slammed it shut. She barely made it to the bed before her legs gave out on her. She sobbed into the pillow for a long time as the events of earlier played in her mind.

She remembered hoping Lucius would be kind about this, and he had surprised her. He was not only kind about the event; she could tell he was making an attempt to get her to enjoy it. And she did enjoy it, but now she was filled with shame. She should have hated him touching her. Now she wished he had been cruel about it. Then she wouldn't have liked his lips touching her flesh, and touch her flesh they did. She didn't think there was a spot on her body he did not touch.

When Lucius returned from the bathroom, he was disappointed to find his bed empty. She must have left, he thought to himself. He had been planning on having her at least one more time. Just the idea of how young she was thrilled him. True, she hadn't reached orgasm, but he believed she would have had she relaxed a little more. The fact that she left made little difference now; they were bonded to each other. She would be returning to his bed more often than she thought. Sometimes the ancient ones were wise. Bonding a wife to her husband to the point of their lives depending on it did have its merits. As Lucius climbed into bed he had to smirk at the idea of having her again. She was a clean slate, sexually, so he could mold her into his ideal sex kitten if he wanted. He hadn't been wise enough to do that with Narcissa. As his sleepy thoughts continued, he figured it really was a shame that she was the only true female Weasley. A blood traitor she may be, and a Weasley she may be, but she was one beautiful young woman. Lucius fell asleep with a smile on his face as he thought about informing her family tomorrow.

The next morning when Ginny woke up, she first made her way to the bathroom. When she looked in the mirror she saw that her eyes were quite red and puffy from crying. She could fix that with a simple charm. She went back into the bedroom to find her wand, only to realize she left it in Lucius' room. She really didn't want to face him just yet. She was not sure if she would kill him for making her enjoy their encounter the night before, or if she would die of embarrassment. She pondered what to do, then she remembered; the house elves! But would they listen to her? Well, she was now Mrs. Lucius Malfoy (she cringed at the idea), so what could it hurt to try? What was the worst that could happen? They wouldn't answer her? She would be no worse off than she was now. "Winny?" she called out. A second later the house elf she met the day before appeared.

The elf smiled at her; she had the most beautiful shade of violet eyes Ginny had ever seen. "Mrs Malfoy, how may Winny be of service to you?"

"I was hoping you could go to Mr. Malfoy's room and get me my wand."

The elf looked fearful. "I's sorry, Mrs. Malfoy, but we house elves are not allowed to touch a wizard wand!"

How could she have forgotten? "What about a hover charm so you don't have to touch it?"

"No Madam," the elf sadly shook it's head.

"Don't call me that!" She shuddered at how the word made her feel old.

"I's very sorry, Mrs. Malfoy."

"Please, don't remind me," Ginny said as she flopped down on the bed.

"You's not happy about marrying Master Malfoy?"

For some reason, Ginny felt safe with this elf. "No, I really had no choice in the matter. I had to marry him for my family's happiness." She began to tear up again.

The elf looked very uncomfortable, but then realized that Ginny needed someone to understand. It came closer. "Why is it you did not want to marry him?"

"Why?" Ginny looked at Winny. "Our families don't get along, he's old enough to be my father, I don't even like him, and he tried to kill me as a child."

"Winny knows what people say about Master and yes, he is a lot of bad things, but he is other good things too. Winny knows you was crying last night. Did he hurt you?"

Ginny blinked back more tears, not wanting to cry anymore. However her efforts were in vain "No. I'm just so embarrassed about last night." Now the tears were freely falling. The elf reached out and gently squeezed her hand. Ginny let out a sob.

"There are very clear rules about touching a Human in this house!" Lucius barked. Neither Ginny or Winny heard him open the door. Winny jumped back and Ginny's tears stopped that second.

"Winny is very sorry. Winny was not thinking, just Mistress was upset. Winny only wanted to make Mistress feel better," the elf explained fearfully.

"Get out of my sight and go punish yourself!" he ordered the elf. After it popped out of the room Lucius looked at Ginny; clearly she had cried herself to sleep last night. He had seen that look before. "There are things you will have to learn about this house. Now, I found this in my room this morning." He held up her wand. He was once more in his business robes, looking perfect and ready to head out for the day. She watched as he placed it on the bedside table.

"Thanks," Ginny muttered.

He detested people muttering. "What was that? I didn't quite hear you."

Ginny sighed deeply. "I said thanks," she said forcefully.

"I also wanted to inform you that the wards will allow you to Apparate out, but I still need to change them to allow you back in alone."

"Oh. Well, I was going to head home today."

"This is now your home," he pointed out.

"I know. I mean, I have to tell my family, and finish getting ready for school. Mum has planned this late lunch for today to send me off to school. I figured I would tell them then."

"Should I join you?"

"Sure! They will kill you and then I will be free!"

"You don't think I'm capable of defending myself?"

"Against ten all at one time? Hell, they love me and I wonder if I will make it out alive." Secretly she was relieved to have to return to the Manor tonight.

"Well, you still can't get back into the Manor. Perhaps I should pick you up at five at the boundary to your childhood home."

"Sure. If I head anywhere else I'll Floo you," she offered.

"That's acceptable. We will then go over the things you must be aware of tonight. However, be warned that the kitchen staff will be looking for your orders as to the meals for the day. The same will apply any day you are here. It's the Mistress of the Manor's place to see to the meal arrangements."

"Wonderful," Ginny replied sarcastically.

"Ginevra, this only has to be as bad as we make it."

"Oh. I'm sorry, I did not know that. In that case, can you tell me where I can get a matching tattoo to yours?" she asked will mock enthusiasm.

"Don't play with things you know nothing about," he hissed.

"Now that's rich. What's there to know? That you knelt before a half blood who supported your pure blood supremacist beliefs?"

He was on top of her in a second and held her upper arms in his iron fists. "You don't have a clue of what you speak of!"

Instead of being scared, she met his gaze. "That's where you're wrong, Lucius. You see, because you gave me his diary and he possessed me, I know more about him than anyone could ever guess. Everyone thinks that when Harry destroyed the diary that everything went back to the way it was. Well, they're wrong. I was left with an imprint of him. I know everything he did at the time the Horcruxes were made," she explained.

His gaze didn't move from her eyes; steel blue met green. "You lie; if that were true, then Potter would have known where each of those Horcruxes were." His grip on her tightened.

She would not show him he was hurting her. "I don't understand it, but I believe it had something to do with the fact he was using my life force to bring himself back. I didn't carry a piece of him around my whole life. It was as if..." She looked for the right words, "Our souls intermingled."

The look on Lucius' face changed, as though he was trying to figure out what this would mean. After a second or two he let go of her. "Have you told anyone about this?"

"No, everyone was happy believing everything was like before. I saw no reason to disappoint them." She wished she could rub some feeling back into her arms.

There was nothing either one could say at that moment. Lucius finally repeated, "As I said, this only needs to be as bad as we make it. We both would do well to remember that."

"Fine; you keep you thoughts about me and my family to yourself, and I will try to keep my thoughts about your past to myself. Fair enough?"

"That's a good place to start. I'll collect you at five." He then turned on his heel and left.

Ginny decided to take her time before heading to the Burrow. She went back to the bathroom and filled the large, deep tub with very warm water. She undressed and slipped in; the warm water felt good on her sore muscles. After sitting in the tub that seemed to have a charm on it because the water didn't cool off, Ginny got out after an hour. She felt a little better as she got dressed again and and charmed the wrinkles out of her sun dress. She then headed for the Burrow.

She Apparated to the back door and then walked in. Molly was already cooking up a storm, but she stopped to greet her daughter. "There you are! I was starting to get worried. I think I have to fine tune my clock." She glanced at the family clock, hanging in the kitchen, that now showed Ginny as visiting. "You see, I think one of the boys tried to tamper with it so I wouldn't know where they were. All last night it said you were home."

"Oh?" Ginny looked around the kitchen; her mother had gone all out for this afternoon. "Mum, you really have outdone yourself."

"Well, this is the last time I will be sending a child off to school." She paused as she looked intently at Ginny. "Dear, what's wrong?"

"I just spent last night trying to figure out a lot of things. I didn't sleep much either."

"Ginny, you must do what's right for you. None of us will hold it against you for following your heart."

Ginny nodded in reply, then said, "I still have some packing to do. I think I'll head up and finish it." She excused herself, and once she got to her room she closed the door and cried. She knew in a matter of hours her family would all be very upset with her and it might take years for them to understand her reasons. After shedding a few tears, she wiped her face and then looked around the room. She spent most of her life in this room. This was always her own space; no one ever came in without her permission. When you looked around the room, there were mementos from her whole life. Above the head of her bed was her christening gown, there was a movie poster from a Muggle movie her father had taken her to the first weekend after Ron went to Hogwarts, and a large teddy bear that sat in the far corner wore her first Weasley jumper. She knew that in a box in her closet was the dried rose that Michael Corner had given her. She did not keep it as a reminder of him, but as a symbol of the passage from being a girl to being a young woman. To the unknowing eye, most of the stuff had no meaning.

On her bedside table was the ring Harry had given her two weeks ago. She had taken it off yesterday before leaving. It seemed wrong to wear what was supposed to be her engagement ring to marry another man. She walked over to her bed, sat down on it, and picked up the ring. "Harry, please forgive me," she said quietly to the empty room. A single tear slid down her face. She knew that of everyone there tonight, Harry was the only one who wouldn't see a benefit to her marriage. But he was a handsome guy who already had girls throwing themselves at him. After all, he was the boy who defeated Voldemort. She was sure he could find happiness, too.

A/N- What do you think; is Ginny being honest with Lucius about her time with Tom? Or is she bluffing? Leave me a review and let me know what you think.