Draco-
I sat shivering, alone in my room, save for the moon light pouring through the high window. I'd done as was required of me as Head boy, and sent out the school supplies list- Professor Snape, the new Hogwarts Head master, had said he was too busy to be bothered with such trivialities, and had delegated the monotonous task to me and my eagle owl. Upon my own initiative, I'd sent the Weasley girl an extra note with her school list, something I hoped would break any tensions. Of course, I knew this was a ridiculous notion- had I not given her and her many blood traitor brothers' more grief than could be accounted for over the years? Not that I regretted even a second of it. But perhaps if I had known that one day this would be my delegated task, I might have refrained slightly, not caused her to hate me so much. Still, who could ever have anticipated that the Dark Lord would have returned, and I would have been pressganged into service?
A bang sounded downstairs, causing me to jump. I glanced around my empty room quickly, my heart racing, then stood a though the bed had electrocuted me as I heard footsteps sounding up the stairs and heading for my room.
I held my breath as they grew closer, hoping against hope I might have been left alone- but no. The door swung open, illuminating in the candle light the outline of my father. I blinked once, looking at him as he strode into the middle of my room, setting the candle he had been levitating in front of him on my bedside cabinet.
"Father," I greeted him, inclining my head.
"Draco," he replied, his voice strained. "I have just received word that the Dark Lord has given you a new mission. I do not like it."
"No more do I Father," I replied, sitting back down on the very edge of my bed. "But what can we say against it?" I looked up at him questioningly, hoping that he might have an answer, that I might be spared the humiliation of having to make that girl fall in love with me. His head snapped up in shock.
"We can do nothing, say nothing!" he exclaimed. "Indeed, we shall not! Such an outburst would be… would be intolerable. We remain silent."
"Then why have you come here?" I snapped, my stomach remaining clenched in fear, the cold feeling of dread that never left seeming to penetrate further into my body.
"I-"
"Lucius!" came the cold voice of my mother, sounding anxious. We ignored her; I continued to watch my father as he began to pace back and forth across the worn carpeting.
"I cannot stand the humiliation," he hissed finally, eyes burning as he stared at me. I looked down.
"I understand," I replied. And I did understand- there was no higher humiliation for one such as myself to have a blood traitor such as the Weasley girl fall in love with you. It made my skin crawl, my blood boil. It was repulsive, wrong.
"And yet we can do nothing!" Father groaned quietly, putting a hand to his forehead in distress.
"Yes. We can do nothing," I agreed. I was distinctly uninterested in this topic of conversation- it was the same one I had had with Mother when she had learnt of my previous task the year before. She had gone so far as to make the Unbreakable Vow with Snape, meaning he was poking his hooked nose into my business at every turn, trying to find out my plans. It didn't matter in the end though- he still took all of what should have been my glory for himself. I could not fail again.
"You intend to go through with this mission?" question Father, his cold eyes boring into mine, so similar to his own, as I stared straight back.
"Of course," I said, voice hoarse. "I failed last time. I cannot fail again. I must succeed, or it shall mean the death of us all." My father sighed, shook his head once, and departed, taking the candle with him. As the door slammed shut behind him, I heard my mother call to him again, heard him answer. I was left alone again, the moonlight the only source of light streaming into my otherwise pitch dark bedroom.
"Eugh!" I exclaimed throwing myself back down onto my bed, bringing my hands up to my head as I did so, pulling slightly at my hair. If I could have chosen between killing Dumbledore and making Weasley fall in love with me, I'd have taken Dumbledore any day. It would have been much simpler.
Ginny-
"Ginny, have you done the cutlery?" demanded Mum, poking her head round the kitchen door, her hair looking for flyaway than usual.
"Only 50 times," I replied, sighing. I threw another knife down, my hand aching. "I've done all this, can't I just go back upstairs?"
"Ginny! Your brother's wedding is tomorrow! Everything must be done, everything must be perfect!" snapped Mum, moving into full view, hands on her hips as she looked at me disbelievingly.
"Everything already is, Mum!" I replied, exasperated. "Everything has been done, re-done, and then done again! If I have to clean this cutlery one more time I'll-"
"You'll what, exactly? Honestly, you're less help than any of your brothers! To think, I'd been so overjoyed when I had a daughter- someone who'll help around the house, someone who won't want to play Quidditch non-stop, or make explosive toys in her room!"
"Calm down, Mum," I sighed, trying not to smile.
"Oh!" she huffed, puffing herself up alarmingly.
"Why don't I go and help Harry out in the garden with the de-gnoming?" I suggested quickly, not wanted to trigger a tirade. Mum looked at me for a moment as she let herself deflate before agreeing.
"Fine, but be quick about it! I don't want them ruining the marquee!"
It took a good hour or so before we'd managed to get all the gnomes out of the garden. One had crept into a tight corner of the marquee, and had to be lured out with a particularly fat worm before Harry could grab him quickly by the ankles.
After the garden, Mum had me help Hermione sort the out the chairs in the marquee, which Hermione sorted with a quick flick of her wand, much to my relief. It was not long after this that company began arriving- it was Harry's birthday after all, so we were hosting a small garden party.
Half way through the proceedings, when I was chatting to Bill about a particularly angry goblin he had encountered in Egypt, I glanced up and saw Tonks and Remus disappearing out of the gate, and then vanishing from sight as they hit the protective barrier around the house. I watched with growing curiosity as Rufus Scrimgeour arrived, taking Harry, Ron and Hermione into the house, demanding to speak to them somewhere private. It wasn't long after this that the party broke up, and I made my way back up to my room.
I closed the door quietly, resting my forehead upon it as I reflected on the day. It had been one hell of a long day. Sighing, I turned to collapse on my bed, stopping when I saw the school list still sitting on it, staring up at me with Malfoy's signature decorating the bottom of it. I snorted in distaste, picking it up and discarding it. I yawned- only to stop mid-yawn as I saw another note I hadn't noticed before slip out from between the school list and the formal letter. It was written in Malfoy's hand.
Weasley,
I hope you are having a good summer holiday. It'll be good to go back to Hogwarts, don't you think?
Sincerely,
Malfoy.
I remained staring at the piece of parchment in my hand for another 10 minutes at least, before giving a slight yelp of realisation and letting it fall to the floor in disgust. Who did he think he was? What, so suddenly because he's Head boy he's going to start being nice to me? Disgusting. As if I would ever fall for that rubbish- especially in these times, and especially when everyone knew that Draco Malfoy was a Death Eater and had tried numerous times to murder Dumbledore last year.
A tear welled up in my eye as I remembered the murdered Headmaster, and resented being forced back to Hogwarts this year to be under the command of the Death Eater and previous Headmaster's murderer, Snape. I wiped the tear away with the back of my hand impatiently. You'd have thought being raised around six brothers would have toughened me up a bit.
Shaking my head to clear it, I stepped over the fallen sheet of parchment on the floor, and threw myself on my bed, never having been more grateful for bed time to have arrived.