The Cruelty of the Past

Chapter 16

Imperius 101...And Other Marriage Courses

Lucius smiled at his young wife, thinking she just might make it as a Malfoy after all. "Very well. After breakfast we will go to the library and begin. As a point of interest, who is the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?"

Ginny bit her lip before replying, "Harry Potter." She almost spit the name out; she was still mad at him.

There was no way Lucius could have missed Ginny's bitterness towards Potter. In recent years he had become quite used to hearing anti-Potter comments. "You're not pleased with him as a professor?"

Ginny took a moment to contemplate her response. "Since word of our betrothal came out I have see a side of Harry I never knew existed." She gave him a look that said she wanted to leave it at that.

Lucius wanted to ask for more information, but felt it would be best to leave it for now.

Later in the library, Lucius looked intently at Ginny as he spoke, "To reassure you, I won't have you do anything that would embarrass or harm you. I'm quite sure that my Imperius Curse is stronger than anything Potter could ever hope to cast." He paused, noting she was thinking something. "What is on your mind?"

"I- well," She didn't want to offend him, and he could tell.

"I believe Potter on his own is only an average wizard; his connection to the Dark Lord gave him extra power, yes, but that is now gone. I am an expert in casting this Curse and therefore it will be stronger than anything he could come up with." Her mouth fell open slightly and he sighed. "There are still things you are not aware of. As part of the added things to the marriage bond, you cannot reveal anything about me, unless I have harmed you."

"I didn't know that." She paused. "Even under the effects of Veritaserum?"

"Yes, it's very similar to the Fidelius Charm." She nodded. "Are you ready to start?" She nodded again. "Okay, this first time I don't want you to try and fight it; simply feel the strength of my Imperius Curse. Relax. The command I give you will be very simple."

"Okay." She looked very nervous.

He nodded, then raised his wand. "Imperio." Lucius waited until the look of calm overtook Ginny. "Get me the book, Deadliest Potions." She moved toward the bookshelf behind him, quickly found the book, and removed it from the shelf. He had to smile to himself; he did enjoy seeing someone under his control. "Finis Incantatem," he said to lift the curse.

After fifteen seconds of blinking, Ginny focused on Lucius. "Wow, that was really strong," she admitted.

"As I said, I'm an expert at it," he stated. "Now I will explain what you need to know to resist it. First, if you know someone is going to cast it, you will need to relax. The more relaxed you are when it is placed on you, the better you will be able to fight it. I can guarantee at first you will not be able to fight it, but this next time I want you to try as hard as you can to take the book next to the one I tell you to get. Think about the idea that your life may depend on it. Are you ready to try again?" She eagerly nodded. "Imperio." He again waited for the effect to take hold of her. "Get the book, Pure Blood Families of Great Britain." Lucius watched with amazement as she began fighting it.

She was still unable to resist it completely, but she was clearly trying. He was quite impressed. Finally she removed the book he requested from the shelf. She then stood there holding it.

"Finis Incantatem." Once she was released, he said, "Very good, Ginevra."

"Thank you," she replied.

An hour later, under her husband's expert guidance, Ginny had no problem resisting the curse. Lucius was beyond impressed with her. He decided she wouldn't be a complete disgrace to the Malfoy name after all. "Very good, Ginevra. I have no doubt that you will resist Potter's attempt next time."

She smiled at him. "Thank you, but why were you willing to help me?"

"As I said before, this marriage can only be what we make it to be. We both need to try." he replied honestly.

"Why did you ask Draco to, er, extend the olive branch to me?"

"Ginevra, I realize the effect my actions in the past have had on you. I also realize you must feel like you have married yourself off to an old man. And I can only imagine how your family and friends must be reacting to this. I simply felt that you would benefit from having someone to relate to." He paused. "Draco and you are more likely to have things in common than you and I. We will have a child together, and are bonded to each other for life. I would prefer to see you somewhat happy." Lucius rambled as he realized he wasn't sure of his own reasons.

"Thank you for-- well, I get it." She rubbed her face. "I'm sorry; I'm just not myself, and I'm not liking how I have been lately."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I'm not normally so... emotional. I don't like being this way."

He gave her a real smile. "This must be a very hard time for you."

She nodded. "I didn't want to get married until I was at least 25," she admitted. "I wanted to experience life first."

Lucius moved towards the sofa sitting near the fireplace on the far side of the room and indicated for Ginny to follow him. "What do you mean?"

"I really hoped to play Quidditch and to travel the world. I mean, I have been to Egypt and Romania,. but there are other places in the world I would love to see; Russia, Africa, Australia, China, the rain forest in Brazil, the Rocky Mountains in North America. To have lived in my own place, to have been able to go out and be gone for days on end without having to answer to someone about where I was."

"Then why were you so willing to give up those aspirations so quickly? We could have waited."

"How could I be happy and enjoy myself knowing how the Curse would affect my brothers' lives?"

"Ginevra, you can't live your life for others," he cautioned.

"It doesn't matter now, it's done." Her voice sounded sad.

Some part of Lucius wanted to make this better for her. "We could go to Russia for New Year's," he offered. "St. Petersburg is a beautiful city."

She nodded. "Can I ask you something?" He nodded. "If the bond affects us so much, how is it you didn't die in Azkaban?"

His face stayed expressionless as he replied, "There are things that you still don't know. When one party of a married couple is there, it is believed that it would be wrong to allow the innocent member to be punished as well, so they allow conjugal visits."

"Oh. But what about people like a married couple who are both there, like Bellatrix Lestrange and her husband. They didn't die."

"No, but they were far from sane. You see, if both parties in a marriage are there, then they are forced to wait until one of the two is at the point of no longer being conscious so that there is little enjoyment from it. Repeated joining like that over a period of years will lead to insanity even in the strongest mind," he explained.

"Oh, I didn't know that," she admitted.

He gazed at her for a long moment before continuing to speak. "Ginevra, I know you would have never chosen to marry me, but I think the past few hours have shown that with a little effort from both of us, we can at the very least be civil to each other."

"I do appreciate the effort you're putting in. I don't think that this has been easy for you either, what with Narcissa having just passed. I am sorry for your loss."

Lucius wondered if he should tell her that he had fallen out of love with Narcissa years before and that now knowing the reason why was in some way related to Ginny. However, he didn't feel she needed that guilt on top of everything else. "I guess we should head out to get your new wardrobe," he suggested, changing the subject.

After about four or five minutes of shopping in one of Diagon Alley's fancier shops, Ginny looked at Lucius. She really didn't like shopping with him; she felt like a child asking her father's permission on each item. So she decided to be honest with him. She waited until the saleswoman stepped out of the room. "Lucius?"

"Yes?"

"Do you- Would you mind if I finished doing this myself?"

He looked surprised. "Why?"

She pondered the best way to say it. "Well, I just – With you paying for everything, I feel like I'm twelve again."

"And like you're shopping with your father?" he finished for her.

"Yes," she conceded.

He smirked and came over to her, placing his hands on her upper arms as he turned her towards the full-length mirror. "Do you know what I see when I look at you?"

She made eye contact with his reflection. "A little girl, I guess."

"That's far from the truth. I see a beautiful diamond that just needs a little polishing. You are a very attractive, young – but clearly full grown, woman. I promise I'm not looking at you in the way a father would look at his daughter; quite the opposite actually. Any man will tell you, if he's being honest, that we all fantasize about having a woman much younger than ourselves." He could tell she didn't know how to reply to what he just said. "You are a Malfoy now, and you need to realize that you don't look for anyone's approval but your own."

She could feel his hot breath on her neck and it sent a sensation down her back."Then why the lessons?" she asked calmly.

"Only so that everyone who meets you wished they could be more like you." She nodded. "There is one other thing; I don't want to offend you, but the style of your hair does say, 'schoolgirl.' Do you think you would be willing to update it to something a little older?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Most schoolgirls wear their hair similar to yours. Why don't you go to a stylist and see what they suggest," he explained carefully.

"I guess it couldn't hurt." He smiled, knowing he won this one.

On Sunday evening, Lucius looked across the dinner table at Ginny. "When do you have your next Defense Against the Dark Arts class?"

"It's my first class tomorrow morning," she replied.

"Do you really want to – You will have no problem resisting his Curse. However, if you really want to shock him you will need your magic levels to be at their highest."

"I know we need to – be together tonight," she spat.

"Well, I wouldn't object to that. Your magic will be at it's height for about three hours after we are together. Personally, I would advise that we be together tomorrow morning before you go back."

"I guess that would make more sense, and it would last that much longer too, right? I mean, I might even make it till the end of the school week."

The next morning, after they finished having sex, an idea occurred to Ginny. "Would I be even stronger after being intimate more than once in a short period of time?" she inquired of her husband.

"Only marginally," he informed her. They were sitting at the breakfast table. "I will send an owl with information about the etiquette tutor."

Ginny still didn't feel the need, but she decided this would be her way of trying. "Alright, but I should be heading out now."

"Ginevra, there is one other thing." She looked back at him. "Have you spoken to your family?"

"No. Mum sent a letter with Hermione, but that's all."

"Perhaps you should write her," he suggested.

A/N Okay I know it has been forever, and well there was a small amount of writes block involved. the really issues are, they have been a number of new plott bunnies running around in my head that demanded attention, theres was Christmas, and I'm eight month pregnant and most night fall a sleep before I could bug my husband/ beta to beta. So please help me and feed my addiction to reviews, and hopefully that will make me push Hubby more to beta, so I can get more highs from reviews!!!! And have a great New Year!!!