Chapter 10
The endless whirling of the international Portkey stopped suddenly, causing both Draco and Ginny to stumble slightly as they landed on the floor of a lavish suite. This suite, upon first examination, was furnished with darker, richer colors than the previous suite, which had been light and airy. Ginny reached the large window on the opposite side of the room in a few quick strides while Draco picked up a scroll he spied sitting on a small end table. Breaking the wax seal, he read the contents.
Hello again, my darlings!
I hope you had a good time getting to know one another better in Newport, but now it is time to move onto new adventures! This next leg of your journey will take place in Beijing, China. I have scheduled numerous tours of the local area attractions so that you may become better acquainted with your surroundings.
Love,
Mother
"I think we're some place in Asia," Ginny informed Draco excitedly, her eyes fixed on the window pane.
"Yes, we're in China," Draco confirmed. "Mother has arranged tours for us, so it doesn't sound like we're trapped in again." He rolled his eyes at this before continuing. "I'm beginning to think it was a poor decision to allow her to arrange this honeymoon for us."
"Yes, me too," Ginny sighed, peeling her eyes away from the window and reaching for the parchment in Draco's hands. "Better one day of agony with a large wedding than four weeks with this blasted honeymoon."
"Don't forget all the wedding planning we would have been forced to sit through," he reminded her, grimacing at the thought.
At that moment a knock on the door brought a porter bearing a meal and their itinerary for the week. As soon as he left Ginny raised the lid of the teapot and took a delicate sniff.
"Just tea," she sighed in relief, replacing the lid and pouring for both of them. She then carefully bit into an eggroll while Draco picked up the scroll of parchment that arrived with the meal.
Breaking the black wax seal he read aloud, "Monday…"
"That's tomorrow!" Ginny said excitedly, her face lighting up with glee, as she delicately placed the eggroll on her plate and demurely folded her hands on her lap.
"Tour of the Great Wall of China, Apparating to key points along the wall…"
"Why must we always Apparate?"
"Tuesday," he continued as if she hadn't interrupted him twice already, "tour of the Forbidden Palace, which happens to be just a few blocks away."
"That should be fascinating!"
"Wednesday, tour of the tomb of Qinshihuangdi…"
"The terracotta army! I've always wanted to see that!"
"Thursday, a tour of Beijing, Friday, a day of rest."
"Well, that all sounds exciting," Ginny said, stretching slightly. "Now I'm going to take a walk down to the lobby, I desperately need to stretch my legs."
Draco awoke the next morning feeling rather chilly. As he rolled over to grasp his wand on the nightstand, intending to cast a warming charm on the blankets, he quickly realized two things: he had rolled over into a warm body which had quickly snuggled up to him and that the nightstand was on his left instead of on his right, as it should have been. Realizing that he too was wearing yesterday's robes, he allowed a sigh of relief to escape his lips. Changing quickly, he retreated to the sitting room, counting down the minutes until he faced his wife's wrath.
"So, what is it that's on the itinerary for today?" a voice asked, causing the hairs on his neck to prickle up.
Draco looked down at the sheet of parchment. "Today we are taking a tour of the Great Wall of China, which apparently was completed by the Ming Wizard Emperor, Wudi."
"Oh, I can't wait!" Ginny said, coming into view, her eyes alight with excitement. "We studied this in fourth year history class, it's absolutely fascinating!" She rushed off to the bedroom to get properly dressed as Draco quirked an eyebrow after her.
"You do realize the tour starts after lunch?" he called out.
He was met by silence. Several minutes later she re-emerged wearing a somewhat close-fitting royal blue velvet robe highlighted with a thick black belt at her waist, causing the fabric to bunch both above and below it. Worst of all, in Draco's opinion, were the three-quarter length sleeves.
"You aren't planning on going anywhere in that get up, are you?" he asked in horror.
"What's wrong with my robe?" she asked, frowning slightly. She knew that it was very fashion forward, being considerably more close-fitting and showing off more skin than typically seen, but he hadn't objected to her considerably more scandalous wedding robe.
"You're showing… things," he said, gesturing wildly towards her chest. "And your wrists are showing!"
"My wedding robes showed more skin," she said crossly, folding her arms across her offending chest.
Draco tried to conjure up an image of her wedding robes in vain. He knew they hadn't been white, but surely they had been a billowing cream confection?
"Well, you simply can't step outside looking like that," he finally said with a note of finality.
"I can and I shall," Ginny said rather sharply. "Who died and left you the boss of me?"
Draco pinched the bridge of his nose. "I was hoping I didn't have to do this but… Malfoy Code of Conduct, page 364, section 2. 'A Malfoy wife shall at all times bow to the will of her husband when disagreements risk becoming public and/or would tarnish the Malfoy name.'"
"Fine!" Ginny snarled, quickly shooting spells at her sleeves, causing them to fall past her wrists. She raised her fist as if to punch him, but he quickly caught her hand, eyes snapping.
"Malfoy Code of Conduct, page 360, section 4. 'A Malfoy wife may raise neither hand nor wand against her husband, regardless of the circumstances, without feeling the inflicted pain ten-fold.' There was a spell on the contract you signed that binds you to the Malfoy Code of Conduct so I suggest you listen to me."
At this, Ginny glowered at him. "You're lying," she said with great certainty.
He raised a single pale eyebrow. "I assure you, I'm not."
"Yes you are!" she said hotly, balling her fists. "I read every word of that contract and not once was this 'Malfoy Code of Conduct' mentioned and I tripled checked the parchment for unusual spells!"
Draco softened a bit at this. "Well, as I'm sure you've gathered by now, it's not particularly kind to wives so another portion of the Code restricts you from telling anyone outside of the Malfoy family of its existence. Additionally, my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather developed a charm that compelled the signee to obey it, but it would appear to be nothing more than a simple ink drying spell."
"I still don't believe you," Ginny growled.
"Fine then!" Draco all but shouted. "Hit me then and tell me how it feels!"
Ginny gladly took advantage of this and punched him in the shoulder as hard as she possibly could. Draco had braced himself for the impact and pain, but had not expected to hear a sickening crunch of bones and watch his wife's eyes well up with tears.
"You weren't lying, that hurt worse than a Bludger," she whispered weakly before slumping forward.
Draco quickly lunged forward, catching his broken wife in his arms. Now he was at a loss as to what to do next. He knew the incantation to repair broken bones was Episkey, but he wasn't quite sure how it worked and he didn't feel like making Ginny his first test subject. He finally left the unconscious witch on the bed after performing an analgesic charm on her before moving to the hotel lobby to use the Floo.
Sticking his head into the emerald green flames, he called out "St. Mungo's, London, England!" A peppy looking healer who had clearly just reported in answered.
"I need to speak with Healer Evans immediately!" he snarled and watched with some satisfaction as the happy smile slid off her face and her eyes went wide in alarm.
"Yes, yes, I'll fetch him for you straight away," she answered quickly before running off to find the Malfoy family Healer.
A few very long minutes later, Healer Evans appeared in Draco's vision.
"Draco! Whatever is the matter?"
"It's my wife," he said quickly, his eyes darting around to make sure no one else was listening. "Could you very kindly Floo to," Draco quickly glanced down at the stationary he had grabbed on the way out of the suite, "the Lotus Suites in Beijing, China?"
"Certainly," the old Healer said kindly.
Draco wrenched his head out of the flames and paced the length of the large lobby twice before hearing the typical whooshing noise associated with someone popping out of the Floo, followed by the thwacking noise of someone shaking soot out of their robes.
"Ah, Draco, there you are!" the elderly man in lime green robes said jovially. "Now, where is your wife?"
"She's upstairs in our suite," he said quickly. "Follow me."
Draco led the Healer quickly up the four flights of stairs, ignoring the creaking bones and huffing coming from behind him. Finally they reached his suite where Draco wasted no time in ushering him towards Ginny.
"I think she broke her shoulder," Draco said quickly, in hushed tones. "She didn't believe me when I told her about the old curse on Malfoy wives."
The Healer chuckled. "No, I remember your mother didn't either, but your wife here can certainly pack a mean punch." He frowned. "Actually, considering that she's already under one of your analgesic charms, I'm going to have to check your shoulder first."
Draco frowned but quickly slipped his robe off his shoulder, revealing an angry red mark. "Ah, yes, I expected as much, that would have left quite a bruise," the Healer chuckled. He proceeded to shoot a series of spells at the injury, causing the pain to be replaced by an icy sensation. "Now for Mrs. Malfoy."
Draco paled. Just how badly was she hurt? After a few minutes of poking about and muttered spells, Healer Evans finally turned to him, his face grim.
"I'm afraid it's not good," he said wearily. "The bone was completely shattered: I had to remove it entirely and now we'll have to re-grow it. She should be able to get up by tomorrow morning, but in the meantime she should remain in bed."
Draco cleared his throat nervously. "There's a chance she might be pregnant," he said carefully. "At least, that's what we're hoping."
The elderly Healer eyed him critically. "Really? And just how far along do you suspect her to be?"
"A week at most," Draco admitted sheepishly. "She said that we'd find out in another week or so."
"Ah, that is the earliest we could find out," he said, smiling up at the young man kindly. "No worries though, this early on there's not even a chance that your babe would be even an inch taller than expected! Now, typically I'd prescribe a sleeping potion to be taken with Skele-Gro, but I know your analgesic charms will be more than sufficient. However, I am going to wake her to see how she's faring."
He muttered another spell at Ginny, who's eyes fluttered open with a groan. "Dammit, Draco, why must your family be so weird?"
Healer Evans smiled at her indulgently before asking kindly, "Now, Mrs. Malfoy, how are you feeling?"
"Groggy," she groaned. "And don't call me that. Can I get a strong cup of tea, please?"
"ELF!" Draco hollered out as Ginny threw a tired glare at him.
"It's not like Mother told us who to call this time," he told her irritably as numerous pops filled the room.
"How may Blinky help Master?" one house-elf squeaked, groveling at Draco's feet.
"My wife requires a strong cup of tea." As the elf began to nod its head, he tacked on, "best bring the whole pot."
"As Master wishes," the elf answered and left the room. The remaining house-elves similarly scraped their noses across the immaculately clean floor before popping out of the room.
At this point Ginny tried to sit up and failed miserably. "I – I can't move my arm," she said worriedly, casting glances between Draco and the Healer.
"Relax, my dear," the Healer told her kindly. "I am Healer Evans and I'm going to fix you up, right as rain."
"What happened?"
"You punched my shoulder so hard that you shattered your own in the process," Draco drawled. "Thank you for that, by the way."
"Now, now, don't listen to him, Mrs. Malfoy. He was quite distraught earlier when he first realized you were injured."
"Argh, don't call me that," Ginny said again, wincing.
"Don't call you what?" the elderly Healer asked, frowning.
"Mrs. Malfoy. Call me Ginny or Miss Weasley, if you must."
"No," Draco said sharply before turning to the Healer. "You may call her Ginevra." He turned back to Ginny. "Clearly your etiquette lessons at school didn't expect you to marry because you ought to know that in our society you should never ask someone you are not close to to refer to you by a nickname or your maiden name."
"It was always expected that when we married we would not be forced to give up our names," Ginny informed him, rolling her eyes. "Besides, he's already seen my entire arm, which according to you is quite scandalous, so I assumed he knew me well enough to go with a nickname."
Draco opened his mouth to speak again but Healer Evans beat him to it. "Well, Ginevra," he said, choosing to ignore the fight the young couple was having, "thanks to the curse on the Malfoy wives, you feel pain ten-fold of that which you inflict on your husband. Unfortunately, in addition to pain, you are also cursed to receive injury. You must have been quite angry at Draco here because you managed to shatter your shoulder. I've removed the many bits of bone and in a moment I'll ask you to drink a vial of Skele-Gro potion. Are you in any pain?"
Ginny frowned. "No, actually," she said slowly. "I suppose that that's because the bone is missing now?"
He laughed. "Partially. Your husband also cast one of his infamous analgesic charms on you. After his dealings with the Dark Lord, his analgesic charms are considerably more powerful than any I could cast." He rummaged about in a bag he had brought with him, finally extracting a large vial full of a sludgy green potion. "Here, you must drink all of this."
She tentatively reached out for the vial with her good arm. The vial was comically oversized: about half the length of her forearm and half as wide as her wrist. The top of the vial glimmered, obviously covered with a simple charm that kept the contents from spilling accidentally. She sniffed the contents, recoiling back in horror.
"I have to drink all of it?" she asked in dismay.
"Yes, it's best done all in one go," Healer Evans told her kindly. "Would you like an anti-nausea potion first?"
"Yes, please," Ginny answered quickly as a vial the size of her pinky finger and filled with a thin, clear, yellow potion, which Draco thought was rather reminiscent of urine, was produced. The elderly healer held the Skele-Gro vial while she quickly downed the potion in one gulp. "Alright now for the big one," she mumbled, reaching for the larger vial.
She downed the entire potion in just a few gulps. After finishing it, she tossed the vial aside, where it shattered on the floor, and lunged for her tea, which Healer Evans had charmed into a very rich, frothy cocoa moments before.
"Alright, my work here is done," the Healer pronounced as she drained the teacup. "Now, Ginevra, I must ask you to remain in bed for the rest of today. I'd also recommend against hitting your husband in the future." He gathered up his bag, straightened his bright lime green robes and left the room, the door gently clicking shut behind him.
"So, do you believe me now?" Draco asked irritably.
"Yes, yes, alright, I'm bound by this damned 'Malfoy Code of Conduct'," she said irritably, raking her good hand through her hair. "Now is it possible for me to get a copy of it so I know what else I can and cannot do?"
After several Floo calls home, the first to his father, who cackled madly upon hearing of his daughter-in-law's injury, the second to his considerably more sympathetic mother, Draco finally managed to obtain the thick, dusty tome that was the official, unabridged Malfoy Code of Conduct. He brought it back up to his suite, a smirk firmly planted on his face, and handed it to his wife.
"That thing is massive!" she said in disbelief, looking at the ancient book and not taking it from his hand. "There's no way I'll manage to finish that today."
"It took me two years to memorize it," Draco informed her smugly, his wrist starting to grow sore from holding it up.
After several minutes of arguing and ranting from Ginny on how stupid and evil her new in-laws were, she finally convinced Draco to levitate the book in front of her since she couldn't very well hold it and her spell work with her non-wand arm was laughable on a good day, which today certainly wasn't. After a few more minutes of arguing and Draco deliberately goading her by levitating the book either too close or too far away, she was finally settled in with her very boring material.
As she quickly found out, it was not only boring but difficult to read. The Malfoys were originally from France and insisted on writing out the entire thing in French. This didn't bother her as she had been fluent in French for nearly a decade. They also insisted in writing out the whole thing in very flowery legal jargon. This too was doable, if a touch annoying, but she had been required to take several courses on magical contracts to make sure she understood what was expected of her when she signed Quidditch contracts and later for when she needed to contend with other designers. What was by far the most annoying and headache-inducing was that some Malfoy ancestor had decided that printing presses and final drafts were evil, Muggle inventions. The entire tome was written in a very ornate script with many cross outs and revisions.
Ginny quickly discovered just how true everything was that Draco had told her. If she had tried to step outside their suite that morning, dressed in a manner that he had verbally disproved of, she would suddenly find that she lacked the strength to open the door. She would only have been able to leave if she had changed to more suitable attire or if Draco had opened the door for her, signifying that he approved of her choice and she was free to go.
There were other stipulations that she had been surprised weren't in the pre-nuptial agreement she had signed, but she discovered they were all stated quite clearly in here. Divorce, even without the ever-looming law that had forced them to marry, was next to impossible. There was only one reason that allowed for divorce and that was if the Malfoy bride had not produced an heir within five years of marriage. In addition to the fidelity charm that had been cast on her at the Ministry of Magic, there was another whole chapter explaining in great detail the many horrible things that would happen to her if she had the audacity to think of inappropriate liaisons with an individual other than her husband. She noted very sourly that there was no such mention of anything happening to her husband if he took such actions, never mind thoughts, and for the first time became immensely glad that the Ministry had placed a fidelity charm on both of them. She made a mental note to check what charms the Ministry had placed on them the following day when she regained use of her wand arm, mentally cursing herself for not doing that sooner.
The next dawned bright and cheerful while the newlyweds slumbered on. Draco finally woke around 9:00, praising the recent invention of jet-lag potions that allowed his body to adjust to a drastically different time zone in no time at all. Ginny still lay quietly beside him and he dreaded having to wake her up in a few short hours. He wasn't sure what time she had gone to sleep, but she had been so engrossed in the Malfoy Code of Conduct that she hadn't objected to him sleeping next to her that evening and had rudely poked him awake when her candle guttered out at three in the morning. After a bit of grumbling he had obligingly replaced her candle and rearranged her pillows before falling fast asleep.
He dressed for the day before heading out to the sitting room to eat breakfast. On the steaming breakfast tray, he noticed two things with great satisfaction. Firstly, the kitchens seemed to have accommodated his request for traditional English fare in the mornings, as his sensitive stomach was not up to the challenge of strange dishes after a long nights sleep. Secondly, there was a scroll bearing what appeared to be his mother's neat script. Sitting at the table, he poured himself a cup of tea and read the missive.
Darling Draco,
Because Ginevra fell ill yesterday, I have taken the liberty of rearranging your itinerary for this week. Everything has merely been pushed back one day, so you shan't miss any outings that you were looking forward to.
How is Ginevra faring today? I do hope that she made it a good bit of the way through that book and I will have your head served on my tea tray if I discover that you were using your powers over her in an ungentlemanly fashion. I'm not too old to produce another (better mannered!) heir, I'll have you know!
Love,
Mother
Draco sighed before reaching over to the platter of eggs. He had just picked up the serving spoon and was about ready to dish some eggs onto his plate when his hand froze in surprise.
There was a continual beeping coming from the next room that was gradually increasing in volume. He heard some muffled groaning and movement before the noise finally stopped. A few moments later a very rumpled Ginny appeared in the room and made a beeline for the teapot.
"I wasn't expecting you to be up for another few hours," he said calmly, finally spooning the eggs onto his plate.
"I finally regained the ability to move my arm about around six-o'clock," Ginny admitted, placing her teacup on a saucer while smothering a yawn. "Since we missed the activities yesterday, I wanted to make sure I was up in time for them today and I set my alarm."
"Well, Mother has very kindly pushed all our outings back, so we shall be going to the Great Wall of China this afternoon," he informed her, pushing the parchment over to her teacup.
She quickly read the short note, adopting a smirk very similar to her husband's at the end. "Oh, she would, would she?" she mused before thinking for a moment and frowning. "That reminds me…"
She quickly shot a spell at herself, causing a number of smoky images to appear in front of her. She used her wand to flick through them, nodding at each until she came towards one which caused her to frown. "Figures," she sighed before clearing away the images and shooting the same spell at Draco.
"What the-" he started, but Ginny shot a Silencio in his direction causing his outburst to cease, although it did nothing for the glare that now graced his features.
She similarly flicked her way through a considerably smaller set of images before an angry frown appeared on her face. "I knew it," she said through clenched teeth, flicking the images away again. "Those bastards!"
Draco, still glaring at her, pointed clearly at his throat. Ginny shot another spell at him, allowing him to speak.
"What was that spell and why are you cursing?" he demanded.
"That spell was to check what spells have recently been cast upon your person," Ginny clarified, still looking murderous. "I have confirmed that the Ministry did indeed cast fertility and fidelity charms on me but they only cast a fertility charm on you. The patriarchal, self-serving – "
"Fine, fine, I get the picture," Draco said impatiently, waving his hand in front of Ginny's face, causing her eyes to snap up angrily towards his. "I can promise you that I won't stray, will that make things better?"
"Well, I'd expect as much," she muttered darkly. She suddenly looked up, an evil smirk gracing her features. "Well, I can't cast a fidelity spell on you, but your mother is more than capable of doing so. Yes, yes, I think I'll write her…"
Draco looked up from his eggs, positively horrified. "You wouldn't."
"Oh, I very much so will," she said, pulling a sheaf of parchment out from under the breakfast tray.
After returning from the tour of the Great Wall, which Draco found delightful and Ginny nerve-wracking, the concierge came running towards them, informing them that they had a guest waiting for them in the lobby. They had just caught sight of platinum blonde hair and lavender robes when Draco found himself being hit by an orange bolt of light.
"Mother!" he yelped. "What was that for!"
Author's Note:
My very first (sorta) cliffhanger! I'm sure you've all figured out what happened, but eh. I tried.
I would like to point out that I came up with the idea of the Malfoy Code of Conduct quite some time ago. It was purely of my own sick imagination and actually wasn't influenced by any other stories. Blinky, however, I cannot claim. I have no idea who first came up with the idea of naming house elves "Blinky" but I'm pretty sure I've seen the name all over the place.
Many thanks to all the reviews, story alerts, and story favs. I'm kinda flabbergasted to still be getting favs at all, to be honest.