Romance and Revelations
Chapter 2: A Strange Letter
Ginny awakened from an oddly pleasant dream. She'd fallen from her broom while playing Quidditch, not that she ever fell in real life, and been rescued by a familiar, yet handsome blonde Slytherin. He'd helped her out of her muddy clothing, and into a nice, warm bath, holding her gently, caressing her smooth skin beneath the water, and kissing her gently on the neck.
She got out of bed, still feeling on top of the world after her glorious dream and cursing her alarm clock. It was defence against the dark arts. Snape would be taking it, so Malfoy was sure to be there. She crossed to her trunk and took out some nice clothes, then went to take a shower. She could almost feel his hands on her, as the water cascaded down her body.
She got out of the shower and started to get dressed, she was wearing her favourite outfit; she wanted Draco to notice her today. Her favourite boots, a nice blue shirt that showed her figure beautifully and a knee length skirt. She noticed a small spot of dirt on it.
"Scourgify" she whispered. The skirt became clean instantly. She smiled, that never used to work. She put on her necklace, it was something she had always had, although she'd never mentioned it to her parents in case they accused of her of stealing it. It matched her eyes perfectly. She took the towel off her hair, and with a wave of her wand her hair was beautifully straight. Her hair was not quite the same shade of her families, instead of being that awful carroty ginger that screamed "Weasley"; it was a beautiful wine red.
She hurried down to breakfast in the Great Hall. Ron shot her a look, that should have shown disapproval of her outfit, had he not have stuffed his mouth so full his cheeks were bulging. At that moment the post owls arrived, one dropped a letter addressed to Ginny. It was written with a long looping handwriting she didn't recognise. After checking the letter, and remembering Hermione's bubotuber incident, she carefully opened it. Inside was a letter, written in the same looped writing as the envelope.
Dear Ginevra,
As the executor of your late Father's will, I am charged with giving you his instructions...
She looked around nervously, checking her left and right in case someone was looking over her shoulder.
Your father wished for me to pass this to you sometime after your seventeenth birthday. I can only offer my sincere apologies for its lateness. Your father was Mister Avani desc. who was married to your mother, Mistress Zabini. You may have heard of your mother's multiple marriages and the tragic demise of her husbands. It was under her instructions that you were hidden with another pure blood family in the expectation of a vengeance against your mother after Mr. Avani's death.
In order that you should not question the authenticity of this document, or your true heritage, a Zabini heirloom was given to you. A small jewel on a chain, with a sapphire blue stone set in it. The jewel has a small engraving of the letters GZ on the reverse of it.
She looked at her necklace, she was sure this was some horrible joke. No-one else had ever held the necklace as far as she knew. She quietly left the Great Hall, with the letter clutched tightly in her hand. Disappearing in a dark corner, she flipped the stone over. A look of shock went over her face, and she went white. Clearly visible were the letters GZ, very neatly engraved, so small she could hardly see them.
Quickly taking the letter out, and making sure she was truly alone, she read on:
I am sure that this news is quite a surprise. That was an understatement. You may have noticed some changes regarding your power. The spell placed on you as a small child to protect you from realising your true nature was only to protect you until you were old enough to protect yourself.
The spell will have had some consequences to your magical ability, which hopefully will begin to improve dramatically. Blaise Zabini is your half brother. He has been instructed to talk to you.
Suddenly the conversation with Blaise made more sense. The letter continued, detailing how to contact her mother, and arrangements regarding the Weasleys. It was good as she couldn't bring herself to tell them.
xRubyRedx
She went to defence against the dark arts. She saw Malfoy's partner still hadn't returned, perhaps it was more than the firewhiskies. Then she saw Crabbe had a fresh black eye. Perhaps the welcome back drinks were to blame. She was paired once again with Malfoy. He was definitely looking at her differently. She sat down next to him, he continued looking at her.
"Blaise told me last night that you're one of us," Hissed Malfoy
"One of who?" she replied
"Oh, I dunno, a guy, a muggle, who do you think I mean?" He replied, voice dripping with sarcasm, "What do you think – a friggin' pure blood. Or are you just some blood traitor Weaslette?"
"Could he be any ruder?" She thought to herself.
"What's Blaise told you then?" She asked in a very innocent, playful voice.
"That you're his sister, or is that too good an idea for a filthy mud-blood-lover like you?" he retorted.
"You're less than half right," she said in a singsong voice. "Could it be that the great Malfoy doesn't know something?"
"Spit it out, you might be a hot-." he stopped suddenly. He regained his composure; "you might be a girl, but I'll still hit you."
She looked at him, startled. She was sure he had just said that she was hot, but then again, he'd threatened to hit her.
"I'm his half sister, if the letter I received this morning is to be believed." She replied at last. He might be an ass, but he was still a good looking one.
He seemed a lot happier all of a sudden. Snape walked in. He glowered at the rest of the class. Malfoy kept talking to her through the whole class.
"You know, if you err, need any help with that work, I-I can work with y-you on it," he said at the end of the class.
She smiled at him. Like she needed help with her work, then she thought again. Was he interested in her, other than the fact she was a Zabini?
xRubyRedx
She was on her way back from Quidditch practice that evening. She'd put her wand and robes down to help wrestle the bludgers away. It hadn't been the best practice, so she had volunteered to put the balls back. She had been distracted, there seemed to be someone in the stands watching her, but every time she looked they had gone.
She came back to the changing room and found her wand and robes missing. She stormed out of the changing room.
"Alright guys, who's got my wand?" She yelled; this wasn't funny. Fair enough she hadn't played brilliantly, but this was beyond a joke. A wand was a wand.
She rounded the corner to find some Slytherins she from the fifth year. They were all very large, and there were a good five of them.
"We've heard that you've been looking at Malfoy, Weaslette," said the largest of them, although he seemed to be having difficulty getting his mouth round the "Weaslette".
"We don't like blood traitors looking at pure blood's like Malfoy," said another.
"Crabbe said we should teach you a lesson about staying in your class," shouted one,
"And Goyle said you should be taught to respect your betters," another chimed in.
"Yeah, right," Ginny thought, "as if Goyle could ever think of a sentence that complex".
She turned to run, but one of them used a binding curse. She fell face first onto the ground. If she had her wand she could have done something. She was hit by a paralysing curse. She shouted out, but the largest of them put his boot on her and silenced her;
"Silencio," he spoke, with a satisfied smile, putting weight on her chest. Ginny could do nothing as the rest of them gathered around her. They all froze, almost perfectly still. The leader dropped her Ginny's wand. One of the smaller members of the group fell over, doing nothing to stop himself.
The paralysing curse seemed to be weakening, she looked around. A tall blonde boy was standing a few feet behind the group. He walked over to her. The leader of the group's eyes moved frantically as he saw Malfoy help Ginny to her feet. He put one arm around her and helped her to her feet. She blinked as tears of pain welled up in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, I would never have that happen to a pure blood like you," he said softly. "Sometimes my friends don't know their place."
He rounded on the group of attackers, "and sometimes, the younger years don't know when to keep their nose out of my business". Addressing them, he turned, "you only follow my orders, not half-wits like Crabbe and Goyle."
He left the group paralysed; the curse would take a few hours to wear off. He handed Ginny her wand back.
"You know, I could have taken them," Ginny said faintly.
"If you had your wand," Malfoy replied.
"I'm fine, I can get back on my own," she continued. She lifted his arm off her, stumbled and fainted. His strong arms caught her and grasped her. He picked her up in his arms, and carefully carried her up the lawn to the entrance. He paused to wipe a single tear falling down her cheek.
TBC
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this one. I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible. Please R&R. Sorry about the cliff-hanger ending!