Title: Call Me Ginevra
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I don't own any characters except those you can't research on the lexicon and aren't mentioned in the books. The plot is my own. Any resemblances to other plots are pure coincidence. Think about it this way, great minds think alike.
Full Summary: The war has the Weasley's worried about poor little Ginny. After checking her resources McGonagall claims she has the best caretaker for Ginny. Too bad it turns out to be Narcissa Malfoy. While at Malfoy Manor Ginny faces growing up, a strict regiment and Draco on a day-to-day basis. Can Ginny and Draco brave the unknowns of friendship? Will the buds of relationship form? What will Harry do when he finds out that only Ginny holds the key to defeating Voldemort?
Pairings: Draco/Ginny (I guess this sort of answers the "buds of relationship" question in the summary, huh?)
Rating: Eventually M, but pace yourself. (I will give fare warning of the chapters which that rating applies.)
Chapter Note: I couldn't find any info on Blaise's dad on the Lexicon so I'm wingin' it.
Author Notes: This is taking place over the summer but like explained in the prologue, Hogwarts was shut down. Lucius is a threat but you will later find out why it is beneficial to him to keep Ginny alive. And as always, patience is a virtue! Time will answer all your questions, I swears it! Oh, and this one is short and sweet.
Chapter Four: Moonlit Dance
Step by step Ginny's black pumps carried her down to the bottom landing and entryway. Her ankle had since decreased greatly in size and she had cast a simple charm to ease the pain. The yellow dress and black leggings had been set aside when a house elf walked into her room and laid out a second outfit for her and left a letter from Narcissa.
Ginny
Lucius has invited one of his business partners and his son to dinner this evening so your attire will be more formal for the occasion. Please follow the direction of Babsy on how to complete your appearance. Be fifteen minutes early for dinner and meet in the living room downstairs.
Narcissa
She had taken that fifteen minutes very literally and now, looking at the large clock in the entryway, waited until it turned exactly fourteen minutes and fifty five seconds until fifteen minutes before walking towards the living room.
She instantly felt embarrassed as she saw Blaise and Draco in deep conversation in a corner. Lucius was looking absolutely terrifying as always, black attire and his snakehead cane, long blonde hair tied back into a ponytail. Obviously Azkaban didn't do much to ruin his sense of self worth, his chin still pushed high into the air. Blaise's father, an intimidating man stood a few inches higher than Lucius and was dressed similarly but it suited him well. His dark skin, much darker than Blaise's, was tense and taught around his jutting facial features.
It seemed most everyone was dressed in black with the exception of Narcissa, Ginny, and Blaise. Blaise was dressed in gray, which suited his skin tone well. Narcissa was in a light blue and Ginny had been obviously instructed to wear an interesting choice of color, white. Her thick strapped, boat neck dress was belted elegantly at her waist and flowed away over her legs, stopping just shy of her knees. Her red curls had been pulled up though a few strands framed her face pleasantly.
The first to notice her was Draco who glanced over, surveyed her momentarily and resumed his conversation with Blaise, uninterested with her presence. Ginny hoped Blaise would turn around and see her, but it so happened the next person to see her was Lucius.
His cold eyes shot over to her direction after he saw Draco look at her and he watched her as she made her way further into the room. His eyes didn't leave her for what seemed like forever until Narcissa followed his gaze and held out her hand. "Come, Ginevra." Ginny went to Narcissa's side and Lucius turned back to Blaise's father. Ginny couldn't read what was in his eyes, but Lucius seemed to be measuring her.
"Antoine, this is Ginevra Weasley, she's our new resident here at the manor." Ginny could feel Narcissa press lightly on her shoulder and Ginny curtseyed slightly, dipping her head. "Ginevra this is Antoine Zambini, he's been recently appointed to the Ministry." Ginny was surprised to have him take her hand and leave a feather light kiss there. His hands were strong, she could tell, but he was unusually gentle.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Miss Weasley." He said his voice deep and a bit raspy.
"And you, Mr. Zambini." Ginny replied smiling lightly until she caught Lucius leering at her again and her smile dropped. The conversation between the adults resumed and she excused herself to take in her surroundings more than she had been able to during the tour with Narcissa.
She now noticed that on the walls hung portraits of assorted family members she assumed, but above the fireplace was a scene set in Paris. The Eiffel Tower was aglow at night, the stars barely visible with their twinkling light and in the foreground was a river where a man and woman sat in a gondola type craft, watching the sky.
"You never called." Ginny jumped at the voice and turned to find Blaise beside her, hands in his pockets casually. "I'm hurt."
Ginny smiled and felt her cheeks burn. "I'm sorry…" Before she could say anything more Ernest stepped into the room donning butler attire and announced that dinner would be served shortly. The group made their way into the dining room and before her head could explode, Narcissa instructed Ginny on where she was sitting.
To her surprise, as many things were so far that night, the table had shortened drastically in length to comfortably seat the six diners. Narcissa and Lucius each sat on the ends of the table; Antoine sat to Lucius' right and Blaise next to him. Ginny sat across from Blaise, and much to her chagrin, to the left of Draco. Her hands remained in her lap as the drinks were poured, an expensive white wine for the adults and some other sort of colored drink that Ginny didn't recognize for the "children."
Dinner was passing smoothly, Ginny was relieved to find that most of the conversation was between Lucius, Narcissa and Antoine, and that, although she spoke very little unless spoken to, neither did Blaise or Draco. That was, until Blaise looked up from his beef Wellington and spoke to Ginny directly. "I hope you're no longer in pain."
Ginny nearly blanched. "Um, no."
"Pain, dear?" Narcissa's eyebrow rose in a truly terrifying fashion. Of course Ginny didn't register at the moment that twisting her ankle was of no consequence and she shouldn't fear any conversation about it, but she couldn't quench her sudden adrenaline rush.
"Yes," she said slowly, color returning to her cheeks in the form of a bright red blush. "I twisted my ankle earlier."
"And how on earth did you manage that?" If it weren't for the chair Ginny would have melted into the floor. Lucius' voice made her skin crawl and the mockery in his voice was almost dripping on its way to her ears.
She swallowed, hoping that when she opened her mouth her voice would produce the words needed to form a reasonable sentence. Her heart raced as she turned to answer him. "I was carrying some texts up to my room and I got my foot caught on the hall rug." Lucius raised an eyebrow of his own and Ginny was aware of every noise in that silent room.
To her right Narcissa's breathing changed just slightly and to her left Draco silenced a chuckle. She had to keep herself from kicking him beneath the table.
"And you fell?" Lucius pressed. He was enjoying this, she knew, as his thin lips pressed into a smile.
"No, I just twisted my ankle."
Before she could think Lucius laid his napkin on the table beside his plate. "And why were you taking the books up to your room?"
Ginny was fretting now, her hands in fists in her lap. "Because I wanted to get reading in ahead of time for my studies."
"No, child," His voice dripped with disdain. "I meant why were you carrying the books? We have house elves that take care of that." He paused. "Oh, I am sorry. I'd forgotten you're not used to this type of lifestyle." Ginny's mouth went dry.
A soft cough from Narcissa and the conversation ended with a change in subject. Ginny began moving pieces of her food around on her plate. She couldn't manage to look at anyone for some time. Beneath the table she felt Blaise nudge her leg. Looking up from her mountain of potatoes, she saw him frowning and looking at her intently. He mouthed that he was sorry and nodding in return, she looked back down at her food.
Lucius went on to talk about the uselessness of house elves, the meaninglessness of the Ministry and how filthy Muggle-borns were. With how Narcissa and Draco responded, Ginny assumed this was normal conversation for Lucius at the dinner table. Finally, the children were excused to do what they wanted until curfew and Ginny found herself immediately retreating to her bedroom, still hungry and feeling utterly exhausted.
Her first dinner with Lucius hadn't faired well.
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The night had drawn on and it was dark and cold outside. Ginny's head was still buried against her pillow in solitude as she waited for sleep to come to her but it never did. Lucius' words had stung her not because he insinuated something about her poor upbringings, but that he had done them in front of other people, namely Blaise.
She was sure beyond doubt that Blaise was well aware of her lack of money, but having it thrown out there as obvious as the sun, well it didn't sit well with her. Which is probably why her stomach was so upset.
With a sigh she rolled herself over, her bottom lip pouting out. It wasn't as if it mattered, she would never see Blaise again and if she did it wasn't as if she had a chance.
A knock sounded at her bedroom door and for a moment she thought it was on another door. Again and knocking and this time she realized it was at her door and she rose out of bed and opened it to find Blaise Zambini in the flesh before her. "Blaise!" She exclaimed, surprise written on her every feature. "What… Why… Is everything okay?"
Blaise smirked and stepped away from the door, bowing deeply, hand out. "Miss Ginevra Weasley I formally request you to take a walk with me through the gardens here at the lovely manor." Looking up from his doubled over position he was the most adorable thing Ginny had ever seen. Blushing to her toes, something she seemed to be perfecting lately with him around, she grabbed her flats (not chancing another trip in heels until necessary), stole a glance at the clock and was on her way.
She knew curfew was at ten thirty but it was only fifteen after nine. Following Blaise down the hallway they walked in silence for a moment before he spoke up. "I'm sorry about dinner."
She picked up her head and blinked. "For what?"
Blaise hopped down the last few steps and stretched out his hand for her to take. "I didn't mean to bring up your ankle if Lucius was going to react like that."
Ginny felt her stomach fill with butterflies. Blaise shouldn't feel responsible for what happened, but it was nice that he was aware of how hurtful it was for Lucius to say that. To Ginny, it meant that Blaise didn't think the same way Draco and his father did, which meant… he might not be totally opposed to a Weasley. Taking his hand, she walked down the last three steps and they made their way into the garden.
"Don't worry about it, Lucius is as Lucius does." She tossed the topic aside, searching for a more pleasant one. "Your dad seems nice."
"Nicer than my mum." He countered, opening the door to the garden. The cool breeze hit her in the face and blew back strands of her hair around. "You have beautiful hair." Blaise brought his hand up to run a finger through one of her tendrils.
Ginny watched him intently, frozen and not sure of how to respond. "Thank you." Her shyness was conveyed too well with the seemingly ever-present blush across her cheeks.
"And eyes." He added, looking into them, his hand never leaving her hair. They stood there for a few moments and when it seemed as if they could stand there no longer, Blaise lowered his hand, took hers into it, and led them to the fountain.
They walked with a slow pace, arms swingy slightly as they took each step. His skin was soft and gentle against hers and the nearness made her wish they could be closer still, possibly holding each other or… dare she imagine it, snogging? She quickly wiped these thoughts from her mind for fear they may show on her sleeve as her thoughts sometimes did, and instead looked up at the moon.
"What are you thinking about?" He asked, watching her.
She stepped up onto the rim of the fountain and walked in step with Blaise. "Nothing. You?"
"Your hair in the moonlight." Ginny refused to look at him. How insufferable! How could someone such good of friends with Draco be so charming, and so cute, and so divinely handsome, and so… so… amazing? She smiled and turned away coyly.
She felt his hand take hers and he pulled gently so that she faced him. Placing his hands on her waist, hers instinctively going to his shoulders, he lowered her to the cobblestone. As their faces met, Ginny mid-air as Blaise lowered her; there was electricity between their lips that betrayed them both without their skins even brushing. Eyes wide and feelings completely open, they looked at each other for a moment before taking hands and walking about the garden.
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Narcissa was talking but sadly, Ginny wasn't listening. It wasn't lessons anyways, Narcissa was talking to Draco anyhow, but Ginny was a thousand miles away. That morning Blaise and his father had left and Lucius had gone as well. The bittersweet departure of company left only Narcissa, Draco, and Ginny to have breakfast.
Draco looked more moody than usual, pushing his eggs into stacks with his fork and Narcissa was ignoring it. She continued on with talk about the ball in Ginny's honor, introducing her to society and such. Poor Ginny might have arranged the food on her plate to form Blaise's face had she not eaten half of it already. At last she looked up and found Draco's jaw open. Ginny looked to Narcissa who was looking back.
"What?"
Narcissa carefully raised one of her well manicured blonde eyebrows and Ginny knew she had been caught in her reverie. Draco snickered but Ginny did a good job in mirroring Narcissa at ignoring. "You have to find a date for the ball dear, and if you can't Draco will have to take you."
Ginny blanched. Feeling sick, she excused herself from the table for a moment and stepped into the hallway. She pushed her back up against the wall and let her head fall back with a slight thud. Her stomach was grumbling, despite having eaten part of her food she was still starving. Draco? He'd make her absolutely miserable! She couldn't let herself be forced with him. Thinking fast, she fumbled for something in her boot until finally the brush of metal she was expecting occurred.
Bringing the gold coin to her lips she whispered lightly, feeling silly for talking to a coin in the first place, "Blaise?"
Moments passed and there was no reply. "Blaise?" Again no reply.
Frustrated, Ginny threw the coin across the hallway and slid down to the floor. Before she could think about what had just happened a voice trailed over to her ears. Lunging for the coin, she brought it to her ear. "Blaise?!"
"Ginny? Is everything alright?"
Her heart fluttered. He was concerned! How dare he be so cute. Sighing she shook her head, though it occurred to her that he couldn't see. "Well you see, there's this ball…" Her throat got dry as she trailed off.
"The generic Malfoy 'welcome-to-society' ball?"
Ginny blushed, she didn't want him to think of it all as generic… she wasn't generic... "Er, yes. And I need a favor…" She had to muster up the courage to continue her sentence but the pit of her stomach was pulling her into the floor. "I need you to go with me. I mean, that is, if you haven't already asked someone. You see, if I don't find someone I'll have to go with Draco and he hates me and I hate him and we hate each other and that relationship works out best at vast distances, not crammed together dancing all night at some ball."
Silence.
Oh god, she thought, how embarrassing! He's probably laughing about it to himself! She felt like she was going to be sick.
"Ginny, of course!"
Ginny about died right then and there. Her heart rushed then calmed, her body cooled off and she felt her lungs open, allowing her to breathe once again. "Thank you! I've got to go, just thank you!" Throwing the coin back into her boot, tugging her skinny jeans back down and straightening her sweater, she hoisted herself off the floor and returned to the dining room where Draco was glaring into his food.
Sitting down at the table, she looked over at Narcissa, her red curls bouncing across her back. The smile on her face could not be stopped so she didn't try as she spoke the next sentence. "I'd forgotten that Blaise and I were going to the ball together."
Narcissa smiled approvingly, and if Ginny didn't know better there was something in the eyes of that woman that showed she knew what had happened. "Really? Well then, after lunch today we'll continue with your dancing lessons."
Breakfast continued peacefully.