A R C H I V E
The Yellow Brolly Rebellion: Part 7
Rhi Marzano
PG-13
[A/N: thank you for your patience, I'm terribly overwhelmed. I was supposed to thank Jess profusely last chapter for her help in overcoming the writer's block. But forgot. So thank you, dear. thanksa to skye, amers, christy... sm, hoyden. and you people who reviewed- I loooove you! I would have all of your children, except most of you are female so that wouldn't work. So maybe I'll take a page from Percy's (cook)book and bake you a pie instead.]
Good?

What did that mean?

Ginny stared at Draco, who just stared back and smiled that sexy we-should-go-to-somewhere-private smile, to which she gave the panicked we're-in-my-parents'-house look. Private, coaxed his smile. Parents, protested her eyes. He closed in on her and dipped his head; by then she knew she was done for. Remember to breathe, remember to breathe...

"Afternoon, Gin."

She jerked away to see her father coming down the stairs. He waved absently and started towards the kitchen; halfway there, he stopped dead in his tracks and pointed a finger at Draco.

"What's he doing here?"

"We got married." She braced herself for impact.

"You did what?"

"We got married," Draco repeated in such a way that the statement should not be questioned. He crossed his arms, looking rather stubborn, and somehow communicating the phrase, "and that's final."

Arthur questioned anyway. One very good reason the families fought was that the Weasleys rarely did something just because someone else wanted them to. "Married?" Arthur pulled her a few feet away. " To a Malfoy? Ginny, in my department alone I've handled forty-seven charges of Dark object trade, and forty-four involved that family. Of course, none of them were ever brought to trial because everyone's frightened of them- because they're bullies. They've got power and wealth and they push everyone else around because of it."

"Dad!" she exclaimed. "He's standing not two feet from you. Have a care."

"It's nothing he hasn't heard before," her father snapped.

Ginny threw a helpless look to Draco, who shrugged. "He's right."

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Arthur demanded.

"Nothing's ever been proven," Draco replied calmly- defiant, but under control.

Arthur glared at him. "If anything happens to my daughter, the Ministry will be all over you."

"Of course nothing will happen to her." Draco took Ginny's arm and drew her towards him. "She's a Malfoy now."

Arthur glared at him some more.

"Dinner," Percy called from the kitchen.

"I hope you haven't lost your appetite," Ginny said weakly.

"Let's not discuss the obvious, shall we?" Percy said brightly, setting the food out on the table. "Let's have a nice family dinner."

So they ate, and talked about Percy's projects, Charlie's letters, the improvements on Ron and Hermione's house, and the sales at the joke shop. It was nearly normal.

The unofficial truce was over after the last plate was cleared. Ginny excused herself to go to the bathroom before anything got started.

Ron, unfortunately, followed.

"I don't want you putting yourself in danger," he declared.

Ginny thought about yelling at him for barging in the bathroom without knocking, but thought better of it. "I'm not in danger," she said, wiping her hands on the towel by the sink.

Ron wasn't listening. "I mean, it's great that you want to help us out-"

"-help you out how?"

"- but I think marriage is going a little far."

Ginny blinked. "What?"

"You know," he said. "Going undercover for the Ministry to get dirt on the Malfoys."

She blinked again.

"That's why Percy knew first," he said. "Because it has to do with his department."

"Um, Ron," she coughed, "I'm not doing anything for the Ministry."

"Ohh," he said knowingly, nodding. "Writing an exposé for the papers, then."

"Ron, it has nothing to do with that at all. We just... got married. To do the sort of things married people do."

It was often interesting to see how far Ron's eyebrows could separate from his eyes; at this particular time it was nearly four inches. His muscle control (or lack of it, really) must be amazing for such a leap. But even though it was curious, it signified a great storm approaching.

"Oh my god!" His face pale, then flared bright red. "You're having sex with Malfoy!"

"I'm not talking about my sex life with you."

"You shouldn't even have a sex life!" he shouted. "You're young, and naïve!"

"I've been sleeping with your best friend for years! How is this any different?"

Ron nearly fell over. "What?"

"I need to use the bathroom," Hermione said through the door.

"I'm done." Ginny opened the door and stormed out.

"I'm not!" Ron said, but before he could take a step, Hermione poked him in the chest.

"You leave her alone," she said.

"But-"

"Ron," she warned.

Ginny found Draco quickly. "We're leaving."

"Thank god," he replied.

The bed shifted to one side with a little creak, and she felt... cold. She rolled over to get closer to him, but couldn't manage to find him. How big could a bed be? Blearily, she opened her eyes to see Draco dressing.

"Accio," he mumbled under his breath, and caught a blanket from the closet. He placed the extra coverlet over her and touched her face. "It's six o'clock- go back to bed."

She needed little encouragement. She was asleep before he had left the room.

She was just beginning to stir when a knock came at the bedroom door. "Lady Malfoy?" rang Ethel's voice.

"What?" It was muffled, but audible.

"Lord Malfoy told me to bring you some tea at nine-thirty."

Her ears perked up. "By all means."

Ethel entered and gave her a teacup- with the tea fixed just as she liked it- and a note. "This is where Lord Malfoy will be having lunch," the housekeeper said. "He'll be in a meeting most of the morning, but if you'd like to join him about two-thirty..."

"Thank you, Ethel." She savored her tea.

Bergen asked to speak with him after the meeting. Draco couldn't imagine what questions he'd have; it wasn't as if his policies were a mystery. He would do exactly as his father had done, and his father before him, because that's what they did. Perhaps his marriage to a Weasley had alarmed Bergen; but the meeting had been conducted exactly as Lucius would have done, and it wasn't as if Bergen hadn't dealt with him before.

"Lord Malfoy," he said quietly, "I have to talk to you about your father."

He froze. Had Bergen caught the stench, too? Of course he would have... all of his father's advisors were well versed in the Dark Arts. They knew how to recognize the Killing Curse.

"I know, Bergen," he said, clipped tones.

Bergen gave him a sidelong look. "I don't know what you think you know. I found the body, Draco. I swear you could see the words Avada Kedavra on his wand."

"I know. But my father had- suicide, it just wasn't..." He became increasingly inarticulate.

"It wasn't suicide, Draco," Bergen said. "He cast the Killing Curse, alright, but someone cast it right back at him."

A huge weight lifted from his chest. He knew it, he knew it-

-was too good to be true. "But where is the other body?"

"Up and hopping," his father's advisor replied grimly. "He wasn't killed."

Not killed? Not killed... how... but the only person who'd ever survived the curse was-

Harry Potter.

He closed his eyes and swore. "It was a hit by the Ministry, wasn't it?"

"He is their favorite errand-boy."

And considering how much Potter hated him, compounded with the fact that he'd just married Potter's ex, he was next.

Ginny managed to finish up her short story Monday morning, and because the house elves were creeping her out, she decided to go to London a little earlier than the lunch engagement. She went to the offices of the Literary Witch to peddle it. She wasn't concerned with the sale; it was good, they'd been very interested in any of her new scribblings when she'd sold her last story. She went to her editor's receptionist and set the scroll down on the counter.

"Could you see that Mr. Curtis gets this?" she said politely.

The receptionist glanced up. Her nametag read Sadie, and she was chewing bubblegum in a rather bovine manner. "Ginny Weasley?"

"It's, uh, Ginny Malfoy now," she said.

Sadie's eyes widened. "Really? That's so romantic- it's just like Romeo and Juliet!"

She'd taken Muggle Studies: Muggle Literature like every other Hogwarts grad. "It is nothing like Romeo and Juliet," Ginny said irritably. "Everyone died in Romeo and Juliet."

"Oh yeah," Sadie said, and took the scroll. "Mr. Curtis should owl you in about three days with either your payment or some suggestions."

Ginny thanked her and left to meet her husband for lunch. The restaurant was only a few blocks' walk from the LW headquarters; she didn't mind the exercise. She mulled over her life, treading lightly on the sidewalk.

Maybe there's some substance to this marriage, she thought. Cuddling and morning tea and lunch. It was nice to go to bed with someone, and wake up with them, day after day. Comforting and stable, despite the fact that they were the only ones happy with their union.

She paused and sniffed the air. Petrol? In this part of town? It was faint at first, but it grew stronger in small bursts. It was almost as if someone were sprinkling gasoline about and- She looked at her light jumper, which was... splotchy. Dark splotchy. What the-

Someone was pouring petrol on her, she realized- about the time she heard "Incendio."

Draco stared into his wine, which was a disturbing shade of red.

"I ordered a white wine," he said, flagging down the nearest waiter. Whether or not the waiter actually was his was irrelevant; his order was not correct, and it needed to be fixed as soon as possible.

"Er, sorry, Mister...?" the waiter trailed off.

"Lord Malfoy?" he supplied, eyes narrowing. "Just replace it."

The wineglass sat in front of him, with the liquid within looking somehow thick and dark- like blood.

Ginny?

"My lord?" said the waiter, returning with a glass of white.

"Hold the table," Draco said. "I'll be back."

Her robes were on fire.

Not just tiny sparks, but huge, searing flames. She fumbled for her wand, managing to locate it in a pocket that hadn't been scorched yet, and tried performing the anti-flame charm.

It took a couple tries, as she kept on inserting "fucking hot" in the middle of it and choking on smoke. But the fire was put out, and her robes only made her look slightly like a hobo.

She caught her reflection in a store window- which revealed the hobo quotient to be at least twelve units higher.

"Okay," she said to herself, "let's go find new robes."

Standing there, pondering just where she was going to locate a set of robes, she saw a familiar figure heading down the street.

Looking familiarly angry. "What the hell just happened?"

"Er, hi," she said brightly. "Fancy meeting you here."

Draco folded his arms and glared. "What's wrong with your robes?"

"Someone just tried to set me on fire. No big deal," she said in a casual manner such that it really wasn't casual at all.

"What?"

There was no way she was going to let him overreact. "I remembered the anti-flame charm, so it hardly signifies."

He turned his nose up, then wrinkled it. "Is that gasoline?"

"Er, yeah. It got on my clothing. But honestly," she said hurriedly, "I'm sure it was a mistake."

"It's not like they dropped a match." He flailed his wand around, punctuating his words with sharp jabs in the air. "They poured petrol on you and said Incendio!"

A flame spurted from his wand then, landing on a small rodent. She tried to ignore the roasting rat and concentrated on producing a calm, placating tone. "I doubt it was intentional. Why would anyone want to kill me?"

He cursed and grabbed her by the shoulders. His nose was touching her nose, and his eyes were boring into her own. "You're a Malfoy now- and Malfoys protect Malfoys. But you've got to know- we have enemies. You've got to be careful."

"I was just walking to the restaurant!"

"From now on, you apparate or you take a guard. Understand?"

"We've been married less than a week," she said, exasperated. "Who could I have pissed off in that short of a time?"

He yanked his hands from her shoulders and dug them in his pockets, walking ahead of her. "I don't know, try your ex."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," he bit back. "Just that he's the Ministry's forbidden curse whore, and I wouldn't put it past him."

"If Harry were trying to kill me, I don't think he'd set me on fire."

"Fine, protect him," he snapped.

"I'm not protecting him!" she protested. "I'm just-"

"Covering his ass?"

"No!" She ran a hand through her hair. "Jesus, Draco, you're acting like a six-year-old. Honestly, what has Harry ever done to you?"

His jaw clicked backwards. "Trust me, Gin," he said bitterly, "you don't want to know."

"Which means you don't really have anything, does it?" She tipped her head, but his eyes acknowledged nothing. "We've got enough irrational hatred to deal with- don't foist more on me."

Dear Mr. Potter,
Your expertise comes highly recommended...

Harry sighed and didn't bother to read on. Gently, he dipped his quill in some ink and penned: Dear sir- thank you for your interest, but I am on assignment starting next week, and will not be available for several months; yours, h. potter

He attached the response to Hedwig's leg and sighed. "They always find me, don't they, Hed?"

He might as well go say goodbye to Molly and Arthur. He'd skip a goodbye to Ron, as Hermione had warned him that he was out for blood. "He found out about you and Ginny," she'd said, but how Ron was going to punish him for something that was over was beyond him.

Not too long after, he stepped into the Burrow. "Mrs. Weasley?" he called.

"They're out," said a voice in the kitchen.

Harry knew full well whom the voice belonged to; but thirty seconds passed, and no there was no accompanying remark.

He walked into the kitchen, and Ginny sat at the table. Her hands were folded and her eyes were red. She didn't appear bruised, thank god...

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said unconvincingly. She blew her nose.

"Where's Malfoy?"

"We had a fight."

"Over...?"

"You, oddly enough," she said, "though not for the reason you might think. He's convinced you tried to kill me today- and won't tell me why."

He knows, he thought. Oh, shit, he knows.

Something must have reflected on his face, because her eyes widened.

"That night you came back- you'd just finished with an assignment- you told me that."

"Ginny, let it be, okay?"

She pushed on. "That was the night Lucius Malfoy was killed."

"Gin, it's not-"

"You killed him, didn't you?"

Her deep brown eyes, trimmed in red, cut straight through him.

He hung his head and sighed. "Yeah. I did."

[A/N: Will Ginny go back to Draco? Will Draco confront Harry, Inigo Montoya style? And who was behind the bonfire incident? Answers to these questions plus another murder attempt, an interesting discovery for Ginny, not to mention an advice conference with Tim and Percy- all in part 8 of TYBR! (which should come out in less than two weeks, or you may hound me to my grave!) if you'd like to get an email when the next chapter is out, join my nf list- http://theburrow.net/nf.html ]

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