Chapter 5 - Breaking up with style
"Where the hell are men when you need them?" Ginny sighed bored, in her office at the Moretti clinic.
Last Monday when she had returned to work, Ginny tried to meet Carlo only to find that he had to go on a business trip and wouldn't be back until the next weekend. So, now, after a whole week feeling anxious to spill all her discomforts on him, Ginny was getting tired of having to postpone her exit from the clinic.
Just now, a 65 years old lady had left her office, after spending half an hour crying with pains on her wrist. To make sure the problem was real, and not just a stupid excuse to go to a Healer, Ginny performed a simple spell on the woman's wrist.
The spell made a blue smoke appear, meaning the wrist was perfectly fine, and Ginny was about to say this to old woman, when suddenly she hugged Ginny and cried 'Thank You! You've healed my wrist!'. Just imagine… She hadn't done anything to the damn wrist, and the woman was saying she had healed her!
"I need to leave this clinic as soon as possible…" she told herself.
"Healer Weasley, Healer Moretti sent you this note." Audrey warned her, in the middle of the afternoon.
'Virginia,
Meet me tomorrow at Leigh Drive, nr. 7 in London. There's a party we must attend, so don't be late and wear properly. Be there at 9 p.m.
Best wishes, Carlo Moretti'
"The Git! First he leaves the country without even warning me, his girlfriend, and now he wants me to go running to his side at a bloody party? He must think I'm some kind of escort you can call whenever you have the need to do so!" she exploded angrily. "I'm not going! OH, wait a minute… I am going, but it will be on my own terms…"
With an evil grin, Ginny left the clinic. This was the first time, in one year that she left the clinic in the middle of the day with an agenda full of patients to see, and it felt good to finally do something for herself.
After meeting Luna at the Quibbler, both girls took the afternoon off to do some shopping in Muggle London.
"So, tomorrow is the big day… Have you thought about what you're going to say?" Luna asked, as they both ate an ice-cream, while looking at the shop-windows.
"I don't need to think about it… I've been feeling this way for so long, that when I open my mouth, it will all come flowing naturally!" Ginny smiled wickedly at her sister-in-law. "He's going to wish he never met me…"
"Gin, please, be careful with what you're going to do… I don't want to have to visit you in Azkaban, that place is creepy!" Luna smiled at Ginny's enthusiasm, and pulled her to walk inside a Muggle clothes store.
"Don't worry, Luna, I'm not going to do anything harsh, besides ruining his image, of course…" Ginny laughed, and started to run her hands along the wonderful textures of several dresses. "What colour should I wear?"
"If you want to make him drop dead, I would have to say red suits you…" Luna said, showing her a red dress.
"No, I wore red last weekend. Maybe baby blue?"
"Nah… It isn't strong enough for what you're going to do…" Luna said, searching for more dresses.
"Hey, black is the perfect colour and it goes perfectly with my hair… Besides, it means mourning and I'm breaking up with him, so it's double perfect." Ginny smiled, picking up a black dress and placing it in front of her body. "And I think this one is a possible winner!"
"GINNY! It's not allowed to wear that kind of dress on a high-society party…" Luna gasped, when she saw the shorter than knee-length tight dress with no back. "And you can't wear black on those parties…"
"Tomorrow I will wear black, I will wear a short dress and I will do whatever I want to… I feel rebellious!" Ginny giggled, going behind a curtain to try on the dress. "So, what do you think, Luna? Do I look ready to kill?"
"Oh dear Merlin, you are definitively going to give him an heart attack… and then, you will go to Azkaban and I'll feel guilty for letting you do this!" Luna sighed sadly. "I'm such a bad sister-in-law…"
"Luna…" Ginny pouted. "Please, you have to support me!"
"Gin, you look wonderful and I can only hope that after you do this insane thing, you go back to being the happy girl I once met at Hogwarts…" Luna said, hugging her friend. "I love you, sister…"
"I love you too, Loony…" Ginny smiled, taking a last turn in front of the mirror to admire her naked back and the cleavage on her chest.
After spending the whole day talking and laughing with Hermione and Harry at the Burrow, Ginny finally went to her room, to get ready for the party, with Hermione's help. Her friend had the same reaction as Luna, but Ginny didn't care about rules, tonight…
She took a nice bath, put on the dress, black high-heeled sandals; her long red curly hair was cascading down her back and she put on white gipsy like earrings, made of beads. Hermione did her make up in earth tones and Ginny put on an invisible pocket on the side of her dress, to take her wand with her.
"Ginny, I sure hope everything works out the way you want… If you need backup, Harry and I will be here for you." Hermione smiled, hugging her friend.
"Oh, I think I can handle Carlo alone, but thank you anyway!" Ginny smiled, following Hermione down stairs.
"Will Malfoy be there?" Hermione asked with a wicked smile on her face.
"Hermione, why did you have to open your mouth? Merlin, I'm surrounded by incompetent people!" Ginny sighed jokingly. "I don't know, and I'm not interested…"
"Liar!" Hermione shouted, running to Harry's arms, as he was sitting on a couch.
"Hey, Ginny, you look great…" he smiled.
"Thank you, Harry. Now, I must get going… Don't want to disappoint my darling boyfriend, do I?" she joked, Apparating to the address Carlo had sent her on the note.
With a soft pop, Ginny was now in front of a huge dark mansion. The walls were made of black stone and there were hundreds of windows from where the candles' light was shone through.
"Who the hell lives in here? This looks like a house taken out of one of those Horror movies, that Hermione made me watch a few years ago…" Ginny mumbled to her self.
Taking a deep breath, she climbed the stairs that led to the entrance, and when she placed her feet on the landing, the door opened quickly, scaring her to death.
'Oh, Merlin, this is creepy!' she thought, her heart beating wildly on her chest, as she entered the house, and finally saw a small house-elf holding the door open.
"Good evening, Miss… The Ball is through that hallway, on the last double doors." The house-elf said in a trembling voice, as if he was scared.
'If I worked in this house, I would be trembling as well…' she thought, as she walked down the dark hallway. There were some candles here and there, illuminating the passage, and there were dozens of probably family portraits, mostly of blond people with serious faces.
Ginny walked a little faster when one of the wizards on one painting moved his hand across his throat, as if menacing to kill her. This was a house of mad people, for sure…
When she reached the ballroom's double doors, she took a deep breath and entered the room with a smile on her face and her head held high. Immediately there were whispers and gasps of surprise, as she walked around the room with a glass of Champaign in her hand, looking for Carlo.
Two glasses of Champaign later, Ginny finally found him and walked towards him. When he saw her, his face became furious.
"Virginia, what do you think you're doing, dressed like that?" he hissed furiously. "You know women are not allowed to wear like that on high-society parties! Are you out of your mind?"
"I've been out of my mind for the last year, Carlo…" she said in her usual voice, smiling sweetly. "How could I stay with you for so long?"
"What are you talking about?" he hissed, grabbing her arm with extreme strength, leaving red marks on her pale skin.
"Carlo, I don't need you by my side to be known or noticed by others… I never wanted to be in the spotlight, and since we've started this relationship, I've found myself going to high-society parties, where I don't know anyone, wishing I all night I could be at my house!" she complained, attracting people's attention. "And what is the problem with my image? If you truly loved me, you would never be mad at me if I wore jeans… Do you have an idea of how much I miss wearing jeans, just because you told me it would ruin your image?"
"Don't do this here… Let's talk somewhere in private!" he said, pulling her behind him, but she removed her arm from his grasp and faced him furiously.
"NO! I will not be your little toy, anymore, Carlo! I hate that clinic where you made me work for the last year… You always knew about my dream of helping children, and still you only thought about yourself and your image!" she sneered, folding her arms over her chest. "Oh no… A powerful and rich Moretti dating a charity worker Weasley! What a shame!"
Now that everyone was listening to the fight, Carlo gave up on trying to cover the discussion and started to fume in rage.
"I knew it! I always knew you would end up doing this to me, after all that I've done for you!" he yelled, unable to control his anger. "I gave you a job in the best English Clinic of Medical Care, I gave you clothes, jewels, shoes, high-society classes, everything, and this is what you do to me?"
"You gave me what men give to their hookers… I'm not a hooker and I don't need your damn presents! None of them… All I ever wished was for you to love me, but you never did. All you could think about was showing up on the Daily Prophet with the Minister of Magic's daughter hung on your arm!" she replied, equally furious. "I'm quitting from the Clinic and from our so called relationship…"
"You can't do that!" Carlo yelled, advancing on her, but someone came between the fighting duo.
That someone had their back to Ginny, but she could see the masculine figure under the black robes and the long blond hair, caught in a ponytail with a silk black ribbon. Her heart quickened its pace, with recognition.
"Carlo, I believe Miss Weasley was very clear about her feelings…" Draco said in a cold voice, before he turned around to meet Ginny's surprised eyes. "Miss Weasley, you are welcome to stay for the party. If you want to calm yourself, there are several rooms in this house, where you can do that."
"Thank you…" she replied with a gentle smile, before she walked past Draco and Carlo, towards the house entrance. She was ready to leave the house, but her heart was beating so fast that she was feeling sick and dizzy.
Deciding that maybe she should get herself a little calmer before Apparating home, Ginny went down a different hallway, opening doors as she went, searching for a bathroom, where she could calm down and place some cold water on her forehead.
How could someone live in such place, was beyond her understanding… The walls were dark and made of stone, making the house very cold and creepy.
As she opened another door, she heard a soft noise… It sounded like a sigh… Slowly, she entered the room and lit her wand to see where she was.
In the weak light Ginny saw that the walls were painted in baby blue and there were a few toys on top of a small table. The bed was so big that it seemed to be empty, but it wasn't…
On the middle of the bed was a small lump under the blankets.
'That's it, I've gone insane! Since when do I walk into other people's bedrooms while they're sleeping?' she thought, preparing to leave, but that's when the lump moved under the bed and two small arms removed the blanket from its head, revealing a young boyish face with blond hair. Hair as blond as Draco's…
'What the hell is going on, in here?' she screamed inwardly.
Ginny was so concentrated in trying to explain the boy's similarity with Draco Malfoy, that she didn't see the small house-elf walking in the room and exiting again with a scared face.
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Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews, they make me so so so happy!
Well, here is another chapter, and from now on, starts the REAL story, or at least that's what everyone calls it.
The stories are boring until the couples start getting together! I totally agree!
Love ya all,
Carina