The Elvin Bride
Chapter Four:
"Stupid elves!" someone screamed.
Ginny stopped in shock. Had she heard correctly? She had expected this experience to be bad, but for people to be yelling out curses because of what they were was just unbelievable. She should have been used to it with all the `Muggle-lover' insults that her family had to endure, but she wasn't.
"Go back to where you came from!"
As that last cruel shout came out a round red object flew threw the air and hit Ginny squarely in the chest with a splattering squish. She felt her mouth drop open in horror as the bruising ache in her chest throbbed and tears gathered in her eyes.
Ginny gasped as another object was thrown at her, but that time the aim was perfect and it hit her right in the face with a sound smack. The sting brought even more tears to her eyes. She cried out in anger.
___
Hermione's eyes widened in fear as she stared at their new elfin friend, it was the first time she had seen Cela angry, and she wasn't sure she wanted to see it again. From the first object that had been thrown to the last Cela had looked evil mad. Her skin had become literally milky white, her hair looked like the color of new snow, and two glowing blue slashes marked her forehead and upper arm. She turned towards Ginny to see if she had noticed and when she realized Ginny was too upset, Hermione was glad she hadn't.
___
Ginny's cry seemed to have caught Cela's attention. "Ginny," she whispered in a scratchy voice.
Another vegetable flew and Ginny ran. She ran past stores, pushing people out of her way. She didn't stop, not for the people calling to her, and not for the people in her way.
She ran and she ran until she reached the Hogwarts grounds pausing for only a moment before she went straight to her room.
~~
The moment she entered her room the intense need to hit something was so over whelming that Ginny almost screamed once again. She dashed towards her drawer and opened it, trying to find her stress ball, but what she found was the stench of raw spoiled brownish hamburger pooling out of her draw. If the stench of the meat hadn't been so raunchy she would have demanded to know who had done it. She would have much rather started a fist fight than to fall back a step gagging.
"Oh…ew!" she covered her mouth and gagged again, then waved her hand over the rotting contents, "Evanesco."
The meat disappeared along with the smell. Finally, still a bit in shock, Ginny collapsed to the floor, holding her hand to her mouth, crying.
"Knock, knock," Cela's voice came.
"I don't want to talk!" Ginny cried hysterically. "Go away!"
Cela opened the door and saw Ginny crumbled on the floor with blood-shot eyes. "Too bad."
She walked over to Ginny and sat in front of her. Cela brought Ginny into her arms as she leaned against the bed allowing Ginny's head to rest against her stomach.
"Why did they do that?" Ginny cried softly.
"I couldn't tell you. People sneer at difference, especially something as different as you and I." Cela said, simply running her hands through Ginny's hair, "I'm sorry about what happened to me. I got mad. Can't let them get to us."
"What do you mean?"
Cela frowned. "Didn't you see me?"
Ginny shook her head in confusion.
"Never mind then. They have no idea what they're missing. You are a wonderful person, you're fine the way you are. So don't linger on anything they said."
Ginny shook her head. "You barely know me. Why should I listen to anything you say?"
Cela's eyes softened as she glanced down towards Ginny and she softly ran her fingers through her hair. "I may not have been around you long, but the moment I introduced myself to you Ginny, I knew you; what was in your heart, your mind…I knew you. I knew you like you were mine."
"I'm not, you know... yours I mean."
Cela smiled. "Oh, but you are."
Ginny just shook her head and cried.
===================================================================
"I am not, Cela! I wish you would stop."
"You're in denial. Why don't we just give it a try?"
Ginny sighed heavily and gave a Cela a hopeless look. "I-I just can't. I mean I'm fine that you're bisexual, but you know whatever floats your boat; it's far from floating mine. I like guys. I'm sorry I'm being so squeamish about it too, I've just never had another girl like me like that."
"Try it," Cela coaxed.
Ginny crossed her arms over her chest and jerked her head back and forth giving a vehement `no'. "I'm not kissing you! I wish you would have some respect for me."
"Fine!" Cela said flopping on the bed.
"Good night!" Ginny ground out as she nipped the covers with the tips of her fingers, bringing it up to her chin.
"Night," Cela sighed.
___
Cela stood over Ginny as she slept. "You have no idea how beautiful you are do you? I wish you were comfortable with you."
She leaned forward and gently kissed Ginny's forehead, went back to her bed, and fell straight to sleep.
___
The hollow of her neck itched like crazy. She smacked herself in the chest, trying to get the nagging scratch to go away. Ginny jerked.
"Ow!" she cried out softly.
She must have smacked herself too hard. The burning itch slowly developed into a sting that went into a pounding ache. Ginny's eyes widened as the pain coursed through her body.
"Ow, ow, OW," she started screaming louder.
She lifted open her shirt to see steam coming from her chest and black lines crisscrossing just below the hollow of her neck. It looked like someone was digging a pen into her while drawing something.
"Ow!" she screamed.
It was burning like crazy she lifted her shirt up, ran out of her room, and down the hall towards the bathroom. She splashed freezing cold water on to it, which only made it burn worse. She jumped up and down frantically as the burning became more severe. It felt like a needle puncturing into her, harder and faster as time went on. Tears of pain were streaming down her face.
"Ron!" she cried.
She dashed down the stairs and ran straight up towards her brothers' and Harrys' room. She burst through the door and as the pain became full force she felt faint. She glanced down one more time and saw that the design had formed a Celtic Knot. One last hard puncture stabbed into her, causing her to scream at the top of her lungs. She screamed so loud and for so long she felt her throat beginning to go raw. She collapsed to the floor clutching her chest.
Ron jerked awake to see his sister crumbled on the floor in front of his bed screaming and crying her eyes out. He leapt up and ran to her.
"Ginny? Ginny, what's wrong?"
"Is she okay?" Harry asked coming towards them.
"I don't know she won't stop screaming."
"Look! She's clutching her chest. Lets get her hands off-"
"Don't you touch her! I'll do it!"
Harry shook his head, understanding and watched as Ginny allowed Ron to pull her hands away and push down her shirt a bit. Ron sucked in a breath.
"Oh my god."
"What is it?"
"Look at this, Harry!" Ron whispered.
"What the hell?"
Ron lifted his eyebrows at his sister and gave her a suspicious look. "When did you get a tattoo?"
Ginny, surprised, stop crying for a second and glared. "I didn't get a tattoo you idiot! It was being invisibly stabbed into me!"
"Really?" Harry gave a worried glance towards Ginny.
Ron offered her his hand. "Come on! Let's go put some burn ointment on it."
"Lucky you burned yourself last summer, or else mum wouldn't be making you carry that stuff around all the time," Ginny whispered.
Ron cast a worried glance in his sisters' direction and pushed out some of the white cream onto his index finger. Ginny lifted her neck and pushed her shirt aside.
"Be careful," she jerked slightly as he went to apply it.
He traced the tattoo with the cream. Instantly Ginny felt it soothing the burning sensation and she sighed in relief.
"How does that feel?" Ron asked worriedly.
"A lot better."
"You're bleeding a bit. Here," Ron said as he plastered a band-aid onto her neck. "Okay.
"We'll talk to Hermione about this tomorrow in class, figure out what it is, see what kind of curse it is. Sit by us at lunch!"
Ginny nodded then lifted her eyes up, pleading. "Ron? C-can I stay in here with you tonight?"
Ron sighed and pursed his lips then shook his head. "A-yeah, um, you can have the bed. I'll sleep on the floor."
She hugged him. "Thank you."
"Yeah! You better buy me some chocolate covered frogs next time we go to Hogsmeade. Puh! Making me sleep on the floor," he shook his head in disgust.
She chuckled as she lifted herself into his bed and closed her eyes. "G'night."
"Night, Ginny," they said in unison.
___
"There has to be a logical explanation," Hermione said folding her arms across her chest.
"Keep it down Granger!" Draco yelled as he grabbed some rosemary oil.
Hermione turned her head and glared. "Anyhow-what did it look like?"
Draco snorted.
Ron turned around, started forward, but then stopped himself. "You know you stupid little ferret, if I wasn't so worried about my sister at the moment, I'd beat you to a pulp!"
"Oh right, because you did so well last time!"
"Ron," Hermione warned. "Draw it!"
Ron gritted his teeth then bent down and started drawing the picture. Hermione lifted the picture up once she was done, giving it a thorough examination.
"Well actually, it looked a lot more precise than that. Like it was a professional tattoo artist putting it on her," Harry interjected.
"Shove it, Harry."
Harry grinned obnoxiously. "Well at least we know Ron won't make it as an artist."
Hermione gave them a disapproving look. "It looks like a Celtic knot. You say it was tattooed on her by an invisible -err pen?"
"That's what she said it felt like. Like pens going straight through her skin. I never heard such an awful scream in my life!" Ron sighed and dug his hands into his pocket.
Draco slowly lifted his eyes up from his potion. "What?"
Ron turned and gave him an evil quizzical look. "What?" he repeated back obnoxiously.
"Shut your wagging jaw Weasel. Let me see that!" Draco demanded as he walked up and yanked it out of Hermione's hand.
He took a deep breath as he stared at the poorly drawn duplicate of the necklace he had underneath his uniform. He gritted his teeth and lifted his eyes back up to them.
"Who has this?"
"It's none of your business Mal-"
Hermione lifted her hand up to stop Ron from speaking. "Do you know something about it, Malfoy?"
Draco sneered then his face went blank, "Maybe."
Ron's face turned red. "You're the one that did this to my sister? You son-of-a-"
Draco's face drained of what little color he had. "You're sister?" he said through gritted teeth. "Oh, fuck me."
He vigorously rubbed the back of his neck before he turned sharply and stomped out of the room.
"Mr. Malfoy, where do you think you're going?" Snape hollered out.
Draco ignored him and slammed the door as he went out.
Hermione watched as he left. Ron glared and bit down on his lip so hard that a bead of blood formed, staining his front teeth.
"Stupid ferret!" Ron's voice was filled with pure disgust. "I wanted to punch him so bad."
"Ronald Weasley, you must learn to control your temper," Hermione scolded.
"Hermione, do you have any idea what kind of curse it is?"
"I don't think it's a curse Harry," she said still watching where Draco had retreated. "I think it's a tradition. After all, pure-blooded families always have ancient traditions."
Ron and Harry gave each other a puzzled look. "What?"
___
Ginevra Weasley? Ginny Weasley?
"No way it's her!" Draco ground out as he punched his fist into the wall.
The cemented wall split his skin causing blood to ooze out. He lifted his other, none injured fist and repeated the motion. Pain shot through both of his arms as blood slipped down his wrists.
"You stupid elf," a scream came from down the hall. "You're disgusting! Why don't you go back to where you came from?"
Draco lifted his head to see some Ravenclaws and Slytherins pushing a blonde haired girl to the ground. The girl cried out in pain as her bottom smashed into the ground. He felt anger rising up in him as he watched a Slytherin boy kick her in the face.
Ginny!
"You stupid bastard!" Ginny screamed lifting herself up. "I didn't mean to run into you. Stop it!"
Wind gushed through the halls pushing her hair back. The boys that had been harassing her looked at her in shock.
"Crazy freak!" they yelled and then gave her a kick in the stomach causing her to double over.
Draco glided towards them and he soon was standing over Ginny. The Ravenclaw boy had drawn back his fist to hit her again, but Draco, like lightening, grasped his fist and threw it back. He then took the boys head and rammed it into the wall. The boy fell to the ground with a trickle of blood sliding down his forehead. He went around the crumbled girl and stood in front of the Slytherin boy, who gasped and fell out of Draco's reach. He dashed down the hall leaving his fellow abusers behind.
"I suggest you get your arse up and leave before I get medieval on you!" Draco threatened.
The boy shook all over as he lifted himself up and ran. Draco turned and kneeled down. Ginny sniffled and Draco watched as one of her tears splashed to the floor.
"Tha-" she started to say as she lifted her head up.
Her eyes widened in shock as they registered who had saved her.
"D-Draco Malfoy?"
Draco rolled his eyes and took her hand in his. "Let's get you cleaned up, Myrtles bathrooms' the closest."
He lifted her up onto her feet. She stumbled and held her head as everything started spinning. Draco scowled at her and then put his arm beneath her legs and pulled her up with ease.
Ginny couldn't believe it! Draco Malfoy was carrying her!
"Why didn't you call me just Malfoy?" he asked suddenly.
Ginny stared at the side of his face and shrugged. "I don't know."
They walked into Moaning Myrtles bathroom. Draco lifted her up to a sitting position setting her on the side of the sink. He went for a paper towel, turned on the faucet, dipped the towel under it, and then lifted it up to the blood that had gathered at the corner of her lips.
"How's your stomach feel?" Draco asked softly.
Ginny snorted. "Like it's been kicked."
He smirked as he brought the damp towel up to her bruising eye and grimaced as he saw the slice underneath the bruise. First thing was first however, before he started getting somewhat more civil he needed to make sure she had the mark. He brought his free hand to her uniform and gently pulled it down.
"Hey! Just because you saved me doesn't mean I'm going to-"
"Get your mind out of the gutter," Draco mumbled, barely containing the grin that was forming.
"I-I-" Ginny was shocked. She had never seen him smile, well grin. He was so beautiful when he did.
"Do you stutter a lot?" he asked as he pulled her shirt down and exposed the mark.
He ground his teeth together. The black coloring of the symbol was surrounded by red, burned skin that glistened slightly from what he would assume to be an ointment.
"No. Um-why are you looking…"
"That mark," Draco replied putting the shirt back in place.
"What about it?"
He pulled out his necklace from underneath his shirt and let it dangle around his chest. He watched Ginny's eyes drop.
"So? A lot of people have those."
Draco shook his head. "This is an ancient one, an original."
Still feeling slightly puzzled Ginny frowned. "O-oh."
"After I'm done fixing you up we'll have to go talk to that dreadful excuse of a Headmaster."
Ginny glared and pushed Draco. "He is a wonderful Headmaster!"
Draco lifted his hand up and grabbed her wrist, his eyes darkening in anger. "Don't you ever, ever, push me."
Ginny gulped, then turned her head and sighed. "I'm sorry."
Draco went back to cleaning the blood up. "Whatever. Here, lift your shirt."
"Why?" Ginny asked starting to panic.
"I'm not a pervert Wea-Ginny! I may like sex, but I'm not going to take advantage of you while you're in pain, not that I'd want to, you disgusting Weasel!"
Ginny chuckled. "I see how it is," she said as she lay back against the wall of the sink and lifted her shirt up to expose her midriff.
Draco gave a slight shudder as he saw her stomach. "How what is?"
"You start losing that evil, I hate everybody demeanor, and actually start being some what nice, then you realize it and put up another front."
Draco didn't say anything as he pushed against Ginny's stomach lightly. "Does that hurt?"
Ginny shook her head.
"How `bout that?"
She shook her head again as he moved up a bit higher. Ginny felt her heart flutter with surprise as his fingers brushed the under curve of her breast.
"How about this?"
"Ow! Ow! Stop it! Yes that hurts!"
"Okay. I think it's just a bruising of the ribs, but just in case you should hop over to Pomfrey after we talk to Dumbledore."
Ginny snorted as he pulled down her shirt. "Are you going to look at my arse too?" she teased.
Draco felt his eyes widen and cringed at the familiar heat rising in the back of his neck. "What?"
"My tail-bone! I landed pretty hard on it."
"Turn around," Draco said, nothing showing in his voice about how he felt about the situation.
Ginny had just been somewhat playing, but she very well couldn't back out as he helped off the sink counter. She turned and bent over the sink, pulling her pants down a bit. Heat flooded into Draco's stomach. He shook his head trying to clear its sudden cloudiness.
"Naughty, naughty, naughty, Draco! Who is it this time? You really like it that way don't you?" Myrtles annoying whine came from one of the stalls.
"Ugh, this is not happening," Draco spoke with humiliation as he watched the ghost fly through the wall and out of the bathroom. "This is going to be all over the school."
Ginny gave a shout of laughter. "No one is very fond of her, don't worry, man whore!"
"Shut-up! Looks like its just bruised too," he added quickly as he pulled her pants up and turned her around.
"What happened to you?" Ginny asked as she noticed his hands for the first time.
"Nothing."
"Not nothing, don't start being mean again!" Ginny demanded as she slowly lifted herself back up to the sink, grimacing from the pain it caused her to do it by herself.
She pulled his hand into her lap and dampened another cloth. "You doctored me up, so it's only fair that I do it back."
"Thank you," he whispered.
Ginny smiled gently. "Don't worry about it; after all it's only human to be thankful."
He watched her face intently, refusing to say anything.
Ginny shifted her feet uncomfortably at the awkward moment that passed between them. "I wish I had a Wizcam! Tape this moment so that everyone could know that the mighty Draco Malfoy can actually be considered human."
The comment had the effect she had hoped for, breaking the awkward moment as he glared.
"Draco, you wouldn't happen to know how to get rid of elf curses would you?" she lifted her head up and looked at the curve of his cheek, watching him watch something in the corner.
Draco's eyes fell to hers. "No."
Before she could stop it, the reality of her situation came crashing into her. A sob caught in Ginny's throat. She started hiccupping as tears streamed down her face. She bent down over Draco's hand, clutching it, as she cried hard. Draco felt extremely uneasy as he felt wetness fall onto his hand. He gently detached himself from the hard grip Ginny held on him.
"Come on, let's go talk to Dumbledore."
"Sorry, I'm such a cry baby lately," she mumbled.
To Be Continued…
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