TCOTP

Chapter Fourteen

No Curses Today; I'm Too Tired

Hours later Ginny, rose from the spot she was in and began to head towards the Chamber itself. She needed to do this; she needed closure on the issues. As she stepped into the Chamber she saw the remains of the Basilisk, but her mind flashed images of what took place before Harry had arrived.

Ginny had never told anyone, but when Tom revealed the truth of his intentions to her, she had been heartbroken. She did not love him, but he was her closest friend. She had been embarrassed and ashamed that she had trusted him so much, and not because he was Voldemort. It was because she did not see through what he was doing to her.

Right now, she wished that Harry had never saved her from down here; then none of this mess would be happening. She spent a long time in the Chamber before returning to the school. She had only missed one class, but it was of little concern. She always excelled at Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall had told her last year there was no need for her to take the class this year, but Ginny still needed to finish this year so she could register her Animagus form of a horse. Finally, she returned to the school and headed to the kitchens, as it was now after supper. After getting some food she headed back to her room, but ran into the Headmistress in the Great Hall.

"Mrs. Malfoy- Ginevra, I heard you missed a class today. Would you like to talk about it?"

"I'm sorry, Ma'am. I'm just a little messed up right now," Ginny explained.

"Come with me." The older woman turned and headed towards the Headmaster's office. Once inside, she turned back to Ginny. "I heard that you and Professor Potter may have had words." Ginny nodded. "Normally, having words like that with a professor would be reason for points to be taken away, but in light of things I will allow it to pass. This kind of thing, like professor/student relationships, is one of the reasons such young professors are frowned upon. Ginevra, if you have any more issues with Potter, please come to me."

"Thank you. He had kind of trapped me and I got very upset and was not thinking rationally."

"Is your recent marriage a part of the problem?" Ginny nodded again. McGonagall smiled at the young woman in front of her. "Ginevra, I know you would never have married him if you didn't have to. I understand the scars that are on you because of him. And even if he was a Death Eater, his family means the world to him. Whether your families wants to admit it or not, there is a lot in common, so try to find a way to make this work. Now, as far as Professor Potter goes, I shall remind him that he is a professor and should not be having conversations of a personal nature with students. That should help. Try not to be too upset with him; he thinks too much with his heart at times."

The next day, classes were pretty normal. Ginny only had two; Potions and Herbology. Potions had always been her favorite, however it was better when Professor Snape taught them. He challenged her to do better than average, and it was only recently that she began to question why. She wondered if it was because in some way she reminded him of Lily Potter. Well, she would never know now.

She did notice that as she walked the halls students were whispering and pointing as they talked about her, but she felt they had no place to talk. The choices she made were the right ones in the long run, even if it meant having to return to Malfoy Manor on a regular basis.

Actually, so far Lucius was being not too bad about this. He could have forced himself on her, but instead he put an effort into making sure she enjoyed her first time. He had yet to openly insult her. He bought her some very expensive underwear. It made her wonder who he really was and what he had done with the real Lucius Malfoy. Perhaps he was in some odd mental state after the loss of his wife.

On Wednesday, Ginny got past being overly upset about him having gone through her underwear and decided to wear the hot pink set he had included. As she looked at herself in the mirror, she found she quite liked the way the bra shaped her breasts. It gave them support without taking away from the natural shape they had. And the cut on the panties made her short but well shaped legs look longer. She then slipped on her school uniform. As she went about her day, she found that knowing she was wearing the pink set made her feel sexy to the point of even affecting the way she carried herself. The way it made her feel must have been clear because the male population seemed to notice her more than usual. This caused her to begin to perhaps think too much about Lucius.

Thursday morning Ginny almost overslept. She dragged herself out of bed and headed down, skipping breakfast and going straight to Transfiguration. She arrived earlier than the rest of the class and found Professor Wood already in the classroom. As she stepped into the room and looked for a seat, Wood looked up at her. "Ginny, right?" She nodded. "I'm glad you're early. I wanted a word with you."

"'Kay,"Ginny replied.

"As you were Quidditch captain last year, I assume you are aware you will be again this year?"

She looked at him. "I don't know if I can. I plan on being pregnant before the end of the school year."

"Ginny, are you aware that I'm on very good terms with your brother Charlie?"

"Honestly, not really."

He smiled at her. "Well, I am. You say you're planning on being pregnant? Well, you of all people should know life doesn't always work out as we plan. Look, you have the skills and experience, so you're perfect to be captain. And if life works out as you're hoping, then for the rest of the year you could captain from the sidelines. So many people were lost in the war. Your house needs your team leadership this year."

His words were bringing tears to her eyes, but she was fighting them off. "Thank you for saying that, but I don't know if they want me, with respect to my new name."

He nodded. "Malfoy...,I can understand why you say that, but Ginny, you need to show them that you're still the same Ginny they all know. Besides, think about how your family will enjoy the fact that a Malfoy helped return the Quidditch Cup to Gryffindor house!" She smiled. "I'll book the pitch for Saturday for tryouts."

"No, that won't work. I'm expected at the Manor on the weekend."

"Right. What day then?"

"Monday should work."

This time he nodded. "If you need a hand just come and talk to me. And Ginny, if you have anything you want to talk about but don't feel comfortable talking to your family, feel free to come to me." Some Hufflepuffs then entered the room.

"Thanks, Professor Wood."

As the day continued, Ginny found herself becoming more emotional and tired. By the time dinner was over she headed straight for her room and went to bed at seven in the evening.

When she got to her last class of the day on Friday, she felt she was going to fall asleep standing up. She couldn't believe how tired she was. She took her seat next to Elizabeth, another Gryffindor, and waited for class to start; not that she really wanted it to for it was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Once class was to end she was to head to the Manor.

Harry walked into class and smiled at the room. "Good afternoon class. You can all put your books away, today will be a practical lesson. If you could all get out of your desks and move to the back of the class, I can clear the room." Everyone did as they were told, and once the desks were moved by magic Harry continued, "Before we go any further, I want you all to know I have the Ministry's permission for what's about to take place." He paused. "Who here doesn't know the three Unforgivables?"

No one raised a hand. "Okay. Miss West, name me one of the three."

The Slytherin girl smiled. "Avada Kedavra, the killing curse."

"Right. Mr. Raymond, another."

The chubby Hufflepuff boy muttered, "The Cruciatus curse."

"And the effect of that, Hermione?"

She glanced around the room before answering, "Like hot knives stabbing you all over at one time."

Harry nodded. "Mrs. Malfoy, the last?"

She looked up at him and bore into him with her eyes. "The Imperius Curse."

"Thank you, Mrs Malfoy. Now we all know I'm the only person to live after having an Avada Kedavra cast on them. I honestly still don't fully understand how, so let's just say your best bet is to avoid it. The Cruciatus Curse causes you too much pain to do anything about it, but the Imperius Curse is possible to resist, if your will is strong enough. As I said before, I have permission to do this and I will not do anything that will be embarrassing to you. I'm going to cast it on each of you and I want you to try to fight it off."

Harry made his way through the class, doing things like having them dance, act like an animal, or do jumping jacks, sit ups, or other things. Ginny was the last he cast it on; he made her do the Muggle dance The Twist. Try as she might, she couldn't fight it off in the least; not that anyone else could either. As class came to an end, Harry gave them their homework. "I want twelve inches of parchment on the Imperius Curse and the effects of it. We will be trying again next Friday to see how well we can resist it. Mrs. Malfoy, please stay behind. Class dismissed."

Ginny watched as her classmates filed out. She stood at the back of the classroom. "Ginny, I expected you to at least try to resist it," Harry stated after the last student exited.

"I did," she said.

Harry stepped closer. "No, you didn't. You're married to a man who is an expert at casting it. You need to be able to fight it."

"I tried!" She could hear how tired she was.

"Don't lie to me!" he snapped.

"I'm not!"

He moved away from her. "Mrs. Malfoy, I don't have the time to attempt to teach someone who has no interest in learning. If you can't resist it next time, I plan on recommending to the school governors that you be removed from Hogwarts, as it will be clear you believe you don't need to learn anything."

Ginny was confused. "Harry, why are you being like this?" she asked.

"I don't need you wasting my time and the time of those who want to be here," Harry explained; his eyes were cold as he spoke.

"I want to be here!"

"Then why aren't you trying?"

"I am! I'm just very tired today."

"I don't have time for this! Get out of my class and don't return until you can resist the Imperius curse!"

Ginny stood there in shock. She didn't understand why Harry was being such a jerk. She could feel the tears stinging her eyes. "Why-"

"Mrs. Malfoy, if you don't leave this classroom now I will take off every point Gryffindor has to date!" he yelled with his back towards her.

Ginny turned, grabbed her bag, and almost ran from the classroom. She headed to her room and gathered together the things she would need for the weekend and then stepped over to her Floo. This was one of the things that was added to the Head Girl's room in light of her marriage. She could only use it to Floo to and from the Manor, but at least it saved her from having to walk through half the school with her overnight bag and backpack full of school work. "Malfoy Manor," she said and disappeared into the green flames, glad to be leaving here for a couple of days anyway.

A/N Sorry it has been so long! Life just has taken over and got in the way! I had to lay a guilt trip on my husband to get him to beta this. However life now has to slow down for us now because we are expecting are third child. So hopefully with me being so tried all the time he will have more time on his own and will beta more.