In Good Time And In Bad Times
Disclaimer: The HP characters are all of J. K. Rowling’s mind. Everyone knows that. And we all worship her because of that.
Chapter 3 - Endearing Places
"Wow," Ginny murmured, fascinated. Malfoy Manor was enchanting, yet scary. It amazed her, yet at the same time frightened her. Ginny was a hopeless romantic. She had her own collection of Muggle romance novels, and this was the house she always imagined the events happening in. She was snapped out of her daydreams by Draco’s hand waving in her face. "Hello?"
She blushed and glared at him. "What?"
"Nothing. Glad you like the house. Considering you’re going to be spending quite a bit of time here. But then again you Weasleys aren’t used to a life of luxury, are you? I bet you’ll be quite at home in the dungeons."
"If I wasn’t tied up like this and had my wand I’d hex you so bad you’d remember it for the rest of your life. But it wouldn’t be a very long time as oh, wait, you’d be dead." He merely smirked.
"Do you have to say something nasty in every sentence you speak?" Ginny asked, exasperated.
"Not quite, but I try." He laughed as she glared at him again. "Not a good look for you, Gin."
She felt like yelling at the way he used her name but refused to let him affect her like that.
He swung open a door, revealing a charming room. "This is your room." He opened the wardrobe. "These are your robes. That door leads to your bathroom."
He paused. "Zingy!"
A house-elf scuttered up at his call.
"Sir? Zingy is wanting to help Sir, she is."
"Look after Miss Ginny for me, will you? Make sure she gets everything she wants. Forget about the kitchens all the while she’s here."
He turned to Ginny, "Zingy’s your house-elf for now." He saw that her mouth was rapidly falling.
"I get a house-elf? Who just looks after me? Just me?"
"Yes," he said, highly amused. She was so shocked by the minor details of his everyday life. He felt his heart give a certain twist it hadn’t given him in a long while. He pushed those unusual feelings aside, annoyed. That wasn’t the time and she certainly wasn’t the girl.
"The Dark Lord wants you to treated as a guest, so you will be."
Draco had no idea what the Master had planned for this girl but he certainly hoped it didn’t concern him too much. Unlike most other Death Eaters, he was revolted at some of the ways the Dark Lord tormented his victims. But this was a new approach to it. Maybe He really wanted the redhead to join His ranks. Or maybe... horrible scenes of torture and pain filled his mind and he felt slightly sick. He sincerely hoped she knew what was good for her and listened to the Master. She was too pretty to be hurt. What the hell were her brothers doing letting her become an Auror? And what the hell was he doing worrying about her like that? If the Dark Lord ever found out... He shuddered.
"Pain," he muttered, absentmindedly. "A lot of pain..."
"What?" Ginny asked vaguely, turning her head just slightly, her hair flying out behind her. She was only bonded by her hands and so had been wandering around her new surroundings.
"Nothing," Draco muttered, annoyed at all the new things he was suddenly thinking about. "You’ve had your tour of your area. Don’t leave this place, Zingy will bring your meals to you." He turned to the door, intending to leave when her soft voice stopped him in his tracks.
"Wait... would you... stay with me?"
***
This place screamed of tales that happened to people long ago. Some perhaps not as nice to find out about as others. But as endearing as the Malfoy manor was, and however much of a "guest" she was supposed to be, she simply couldn’t shake off the feeling of dread and fear she got every time she looked at Draco Malfoy. There was something else that was part of her jumble of feelings too, but she really didn’t want to go there. It was much too dangerous, what she was thinking. It was fool of her anyway; she should have been spending her time finding a way to escape. She heard him mutter something.
"A lot of pain..."
Was he talking to her? No, she didn’t think so, but what did he just say? The look on his face was slightly melancholy, something that Draco Malfoy did not appear like very often. But maybe he did say something, just to check...
"What?"
"Nothing," he muttered grumpily. Why the hell should he be grumpy? She was the one who was captured, got the bloody Crucio put on her and was stuck in a Manor that was rather weird. Part of her liked it no doubt, the mysteriousness of it all; and she was meant to be a "guest" or so he said, but that made no difference. If not for him she’d be at home with her family. But no, he had to go try to get in his "Master’s" good books.
He continued and she vaguely heard him say, "You’ve had your tour of your area. Don’t leave this place, Zingy will bring your meals to you." He turned to go.
No! she wanted to say. Untie me, dammit! You git! She wanted to scream, to yell.
But she heard a voice softly say, "Wait... would you... stay with me?" What? She felt her face redden and braced herself for what was coming. But he came back and sat on the bed. He sat there, she stood nearby, neither saying anything. The silence got all too much for Ginny, all too over-whelming, and she asked a question she had been wondering about.
"Are we alone? What about... you know, your parents?"
He had been expecting that. She was too smart not to wonder about that.
"They don’t live here anymore. Mother... she was killed. The Ministry captured her and Father. He killed them both."
"The Ministry? You-Know-Who?"
"No," he said roughly, "my Father."
"Why... and why don’t I know anything about this? Harry should have told me..."
"He doesn’t know. After all, suicide wouldn’t look very good on the newspapers. No one knows, anyhow, besides those who captured them. The Master only found out after his spies discovered it and reported back to him. He was bloody mad too. Not a nice guy to be around then. Not ever a nice guy. Why?" He laughed hoarsely.
"My father knew the Ministry could and would get information out of Mother and quite possibly him too. So he killed her then killed himself."
"How?"
"The self-killing curse. All of His workers know it. You don’t need a wand to perform. The only reason it’s not an Unforgivable Curse is because you can only kill yourself, no one else, and who in their bloody right mind would want to out their own life? And it hurts like bloody hell."
"And you know it too." Not a question, but Draco nodded nevertheless. "What about your mother?"
"His body was showing all the reactions of the curse. Hers wasn’t, rather it was beaten up badly. The spies said that the Ministry thought he beat her to death, possibly strangled." His was a nonchalant exterior, but his eyes were the most tortured he had ever seen.
Ginny was so overcome with emotion, she felt so choked up. She sat down on the edge off the bed — beside him — and putting aside any previous bad feelings she had for him she gave a hug.
Draco was shocked and surprised. What was she doing? But he soon relaxed into her hug. She was strangely soothing, comfort practically radiated off her.
He realized she was crying. "You’re crying?" She looked up, eyes watery. "For me?"
She merely took him tighter into her hold. She was crying for him. No one had ever cared enough for him to do so before. And after all he had done to her.
Draco had to go, get out. He couldn’t let himself get dragged into whatever spell she was casting on him.
"I have to go," he muttered. "I’ll be back later to check on you." Her hands fell and he got up. "I’ll... uh... see you at dinner."
"Won’t I be eating here?"
"Do you want to?"
"Not really. I don’t like being in the same space for too long."
"I’ll come to bring you to the Dining Room later then." He took a step forward, then came back to her side, wand out. He muttered something and her bonds disappeared.
"Here."
He walked out quickly. Ginny smiled. Draco Malfoy wasn’t too bad.
~*~*~*~*~
A/N: Does a little review dance singing out of tune... "Review, review, review!"
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Draco and Ginny belong to JK Rowling, Bloomsbury, Scholastic, Warner Bros and various other corporations. They are being used here without permission and/or affiliation with the above. None of the authors listed here make any profit from these stories.