Thank you to TrinitYMalfoY527 for going over this chapter and fixing my negligence with the commas and mistakes! I appreciate it!
The Elvin Bride
Chapter Five:
"No way," Ginny's eyes were wide as they focused on Professor Dumbledore and Draco Malfoy. "No! NO! I-I-this is not happening!"
Draco was leaning against a smaller desk in Dumbledore's office, his hand caressing his chin as he studied Ginny's reaction.
It was obvious that the reality of the situation was finally sinking in, not only to her, but to him as well. She was meant for him. She was his soul mate and yet he hated her.
Draco just couldn't believe it. He didn't know whether to be disgusted or shocked. All he knew was he definitely wasn't happy about it.
"Isn't there anything we can do to reverse it?" Ginny asked in hysterics as she got up from her seat and started pacing. "And why aren't you upset about this?" she looked pointedly at Draco.
Draco's eyes shifted for second, showing the slightest flicker of surprise as he stared at her. He simply gave a careless shrug in response. "I knew about it a head of time."
Ginny glared at him. "Yeah, but did you know it would be me?"
"No."
"YOU HATE me, or at least my family, which I'm apart of! And I hate you back, it's a whole hating thing that has worked perfectly up until now," she crossed her arms over her chest. "I can't handle this right now. I can't be married without my knowledge!"
"Technically, it's a Celtic tradition in Mr. Malfoy's family. You aren't married in the form legally that you're familiar with, but you are bound to him," Professor Dumbledore explained.
Well, if nothing else had pissed Ginny off, then that did. She turned her eyes slowly towards Dumbledore. "I'm BOUND to him?" She asked, jerking her upper body forward expressing her distaste. "What does that mean?"
"It means you'll have a tendency to take on wifely duties as Draco will have to take on husbandly duties."
Ginny lifted her eyebrow. "And exactly what are `wifely' duties?"
Draco smirked and began talking. "Well, cleaning, cooking-"
"What? No! I don't even know what a stove looks like, let alone know how to work it. Even if I did have some cooking skills I wouldn't waste it on you, ya punk!"
Draco gritted his teeth, glaring at Ginny. "Did I not help you? Did I not show you-"
"Save it, you clod!"
"Miss Weasley, I'm very sorry for this. You do not have to act on anything, but if my reading is correct, since you both are soul mates well life mates, you won't be able to stay away from each other for very long."
Draco looked up, the color of his gray eyes intensifying. "What's that supposed mean?"
"From what I understand, Draco, you'll literally get sick and start going through withdrawal if you are away from her too long. The symptoms are similar to the ones you'd have if you had an addiction. It's a very damaging tradition if the two people don't want to be with each other. It could physically or mentally kill you. So I am taking precautions and moving you two into the same living quarters."
Draco turned sharply to look at Ginny. She looked dumbfounded, eyes glazed over. She then threw her head back and laughed.
"You're kidding right?" Ginny laughed and smacked herself in the head. "That was a good one. Really. This whole thing? Bravo! You really had me going," she giggled.
Draco formed his hands into a steeple and watched Ginny's face carefully. She really was beautiful as an elf, though he couldn't compare her to her original look; he hadn't paid much attention to her. The focus of his hatred had manly been towards her brother and her brothers' two best friend.
"I wish I was kidding, Miss Weasley."
"No! I won't! My parents will never allow it and I'm sure ferret boy's raunchy, death eating parents won't either!" Ginny screamed before understanding the full depths of what she said.
She quickly smacked a hand over her mouth, her eyes widening in fear as she glanced towards Draco to see his reaction. She was shocked. He looked blank, almost as if he hadn't heard her, but she knew she said it loud enough. He had heard it, she could tell by the cold icy look that glazed his eyes over.
"Your parents should be here, right about-now," Professor Dumbledore said. The door to the office opened and Draco watched Ginny stiffen as her eyes strayed towards his father.
The Chamber of Secrets event was his father's doing, so he understood her reaction as she flinched and backed away with a disgusted glare plastered onto her face. He however looked at Ginny's parents just as distastefully. He watched as his mother and father sat down in front of Dumbledore's desk.
"So you're Draco's other half," Lucius' cold gray eyes pierced Ginny's.
Her insides turned ice as those none feeling evil eyes assessed her. Shivers swept up her back and her mouth went cottony dry as slowly turned towards her mother. "Mom, tell them they can't make me move in with him!"
"It's definitely unsanitary," Draco added.
Lucius looked at his son and smirked. "Draco, be nice." Draco's startled glance turned towards his father's. Then he saw Lucius smile towards Dumbledore.
"Surely there's something that we can do to avoid having them live together, isn't there?" Molly asked.
"They're soul mates, but I also fear it may be more than that. To find the one person in the entire world that you are supposed to be with isn't accomplished very often. It's an extraordinary occurrence," Dumbledore said.
Ginny snorted, plopped down unceremoniously into the nearest chair, and then yelled out the first thing that came to her mind. "Ex-extraordinary? Are you nuts? This is horrendous, beyond horrendous…th-this is crap!"
"Ginny," Arthur warned.
Ginny pulled out a hair tie and lifted her hair up, pulling it into a ponytail. "Extraordinary would be lifting this elf curse, extraordinary would be passing my Potions exams…this is-well I'm running at a loss for words, but I'll let you know when a suitable one comes up. It's something very, very bad."
Everyone in the room was looking at Ginny, but what caught her attention first was Draco's amused stare. If Ginny would ever admit he was gorgeous, she would have said he looked absolutely breath-taking, almost angelic. She would say that she literally had trouble dragging in air. She would confirm that his hair was slightly rumpled, with a boyish, good-looking flare from that incident in the hall, and that [his bruised knuckles on hands that she felt like kissing for there savings of her time in dire need], were folded underneath his arms. That his eyes actually twinkled with hilarity! All of that would be true if she would admit it openly, but Ginny knew she never would.
"As I said before, if they stay apart they could mentally or physically damage themselves," Dumbledore said, seemingly ignoring Ginny, "and I fear that this could interfere with their studies."
"I don't understand-" Molly started.
"Since when did finding your mate become physically damaging?" Lucius interrupted.
"That's where my concern enters. They aren't only soul mates," Dumbledore informed the rightfully surprised if somewhat upset parents.
Lucius raised an eyebrow and eyed Dumbledore. He opened his mouth as if he were about to say something but Draco quickly intervened.
"What good would it do if we lived together?" Draco asked ignoring what Dumbledore said and wanting to stay on topic.
If he hadn't felt the impact of reality nipping at the edges of his mind he probably would have heard what Dumbledore had said, but at that moment he felt ill. He was nauseous with disgust and something else…something he couldn't quite pinpoint. His palms were sweaty as he brushed them against the legs of his black trousers and the urge to break something was almost overwhelming.
"Since you both are in a different year you would never see each other during the day, and if you went to opposite dorms it would slowly start to take its toll."
"I-I'm sorry to say this, Molly, but I'd rather Ginny be okay, then ill," Arthur replied turning to his wife and reaching for her hand.
"Dad!" Ginny cried out.
"Ginny, I think it's for the best. I don't want that to happen to you."
Ginny stared at her parents in horror. Could they seriously be weighing this-this wretched, vile thought? She glanced up at Professor Dumbledore, who seemed to be interested in Lucius and his wife's reaction.
"As much as I dislike this situation, I'm afraid I agree," Lucius replied.
Ginny felt anger rising inside of her throat like bile threatening to erupt as she spoke, "When exactly did my life become a democracy? This is not a `majority rules' situation. We are talking about MY life and I am not going to-to just, not only associate, but also survive in an extremely hostile environment with a man that I hate?!"
Silence.
Ginny frowned, turning her head to the side. "Oh I'm sorry, did I say `man'? Oops, my mistake!"
"Well wasn't that speech lovely? The fact that it came from a poor, rag clad, ratty, mal-nourished, impoverished Weasley was all too hysterical," Draco sneered, his eyes darkening with animosity.
Ginny scowled and childishly stuck her tongue out. "I hate you!"
Draco flipped a hand up in the air to wave her off. "The feeling is entirely mutual!"
She stomped her foot nosily and advanced towards the door with her arms wrapped around her chest and her breathing irregular.
"Ginny, quit being melodramatic, this is not the time and it's definitely not the end of the world. Don't you want to talk about this?" Molly asked quietly.
Ginny stopped, and with a malicious glance back, she spoke, "Don't you think I know that? Perhaps it isn't the end of the world to you, but do you understand what topic is being raised?"
"We understand perfectly, and until we can find a way to reverse the situation, young lady, you will do as we say!" Molly declared ferociously, her plump face turning red with fury.
"I don't want to talk about it." Ginny sighed in defeat and walked out.
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"Harry, guess how many different languages I can say `elf' in?" Hermione chanted excitedly.
Harry glanced up from his reading material and adjusted his glasses. "All of them?" he offered.
Hermione chuckled and waved her hand. "Hardly. Do you know how many there are? I've only learned about seven, but these are in Old English, Middle Low and Old High German, French, Old French, Late Latin, Arabic, and Persian. For the Old English it's Aelf, elf, ylf and for the plural form ylfe. For Middle Low German it's Alf, for Old High German it's Alp, Elb, with the plural form of Albe-"
Harry exhaled heavily and ran his fingers through his already rumpled hair. "Hermione, as much as I'd love to hear this-"
The disturbing sound of The Fat Lady's picture opening interrupted Harry. Relief filled him as he saw Ron enter, his ragged and faded brown sweater torn at the neck, hung on him a little too largely and his off brown corduroys ripped at the bottom.
Ron grinned as he saw Harry's look of solace and glanced at Hermione. "Are you at it again?"
Hermione shot him a disapproving look, but changed the topic. "I've been doing some research on an Elvin race called the Valkyries, the female servants of Odin-"
Once again the picture creaked open, pausing any form of a complete thought. Ginny came through the opening with her fingers tucked into the loops of her well-worn blue jeans and her baggy black t-shirt coming off her right shoulder. "You are not going to believe this," she said in a ghastly and almost eerily calm manner.
When she didn't continue Ron shifted his feet and widened his eyes. "Well? What is it now?"
"I, me, I-"
Hermione snorted and rolled her eyes in amusement. "You want to throw in a `she, they, her, them'?"
Ginny grunted and stared at her. "Huh?"
She bit her lip, her cheeks flushing. "Um, never mind."
"Like I was saying I have to move in with Draco Malfoy."
"That's not funny," Ron stated smoothly. "Are you trying to be funny? Because if you are you're failing miserably."
"Is there any sign on my face that says I'm trying to be funny?" she asked then with sarcasm added, "No, Ron, I really am joshing with, jesting with, playing around with, because that's a topic I would play around with! Come on!"
Ron looked at her. "You're serious."
Ginny scoffed and rested her hands on her hips. "Gee, you aren't the brightest male in your year are you? Why would I lie about something like this? And guess what, this mark, the one that gave me the worst pain I have ever felt in my entire life, means that I'm now, in a `traditional, however not exactly legal by our laws now' terms, his wife. Professor Dumbledore says I'm bound to him and that if I'm away from him for too long I could become physically or mentally sick."
If a needle were to drop at that point in time, it would have made a deafening sound.
Hermione was the first to speak. "Um…" she nervously rubbed her thighs, "what did your parents say?"
Ginny's eyes widened. "That's the first thing you say? Ever the level minded…and my parents actually had a lot to say. I mean, you'd think in this type of situation they'd be speechless for days. How often does this sort of thing happen?"
"So what'd they say?" Hermione asked again, ignoring her last comment.
"They agreed solely amongst themselves and the Malfoys that I should stay with him. I give up. This type of stuff does not happen to me. I mean, I had bad luck before this elf curse, but now this? Could my life get any worse?" Ginny growled as she collapsed to the floor.
Ron sneered and mocked her. "Oh no, poor pitiful you! Quit acting like a baby and start pretending that you're actually the sixteen year old you really are."
Ginny twisted around to stare at him. "You obviously haven't grasped the details of the situation. I have to be in the same environment with Malfoy, I have to live with him, literally. Ugh, I have to breathe in his sickened air; deal with his ugly sneers…"
"No I get it, and he is so dead for that," Ron growled.
Hermione bent down, rested her elbows upon her knees, and cupped her chin in her hands as she stared up at Ron. "Well, it's not like it's his fault. I'm sure he's just as unhappy about the situation as anyone else."
Ginny glanced towards Harry who had resumed doing his work. "Harry, what do you have to say about this?"
Harry leafed through his book before lifting his eyes to look at Ginny. "Look, I really, really need to finish this research for my DADA class…"
Ginny glared at him menacingly. "Harry, does it look like I care? If you want to study go to your room, but I could really use some friends right now."
Harry heaved a sigh and flipped his book shut. "Alright, I'm all ears."
"I hope that wasn't a joke at my expense…What do you think about me living in Malfoy's dorm?"
He sputtered and shook his head. "Pardon?" Harry asked as he went to clean out his ear with the tip of his finger.
"What do you think-"
"This is about that soul mate tattoo thing right? It's horrible! What did your parents say?"
Ginny growled. "We've been through that already. Anyhow, do you know what that little bugger said to me? That I'm a poor, rag clad, ratty, mal-nourished, impoverished Weasley!"
"That confirms it," Ron started.
Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Oh, that's the thing that gets you riled up out of everything I just said? Thanks big brother," she muttered sarcastically before she realized that he had actually started walking out.
"Ron, don't do anything rash," Hermione called.
Ron opened the door. "I won't, I'm only going to kill him."
It took a full second before what he said registered. Harry leapt up and ran out the door.
Ginny jolted up and quickly followed. "I hope he bashes Draco's head in," she yelled out to Harry.
Hermione shook her head and ran to catch up all the while yelling at Harry. "Harry! Stop him!" She then muttered grudgingly under her breath, "He really needs to learn how to control his anger."
"Where did they go?" Ginny gasped as she turned the corner and found an empty hall.
Hermione came up behind her and rested her hands against her knees, breathing heavily. "I think I need to work out."
"GINNY!" Cela called to them from behind, "I believe your brother is on a rampage. You might want to go stop him. He's outside shouting insults at Mr. Malfoy."
Ginny and Hermione turned quickly, running towards the outside fountain. What they saw was Draco and Ron circling each other like a pack of angry wolves, looking for the perfect moment to strike.
"Ron, stop it!" Hermione yelled, "Ginny, instead of just standing there why don't you do something?"
"Oh stop, please, stop," Ginny said weakly.
Hermione turned and rolled her eyes. "You're not trying very hard."
Ron screamed in outrage at something Draco commented on and lunged. His fist connected with Draco's jaw with a force that made Ginny cringe. She hadn't expected him to be this angry about it considering the way he had handled it. He was furious. She had never seen him this mad before.
Maybe he's trying a new method now…"stay calm until everyone's gone so you can beat the object of your fury to a pulp."
In Ginny's opinion, the method was great.
"Harry! Do something," Hermione hollered.
"I'm trying to figure out how to get in there without getting knocked in the face," Harry said as he examined them.
Ginny snorted and tossed her hair. "Stop worrying about your precious face and go help your best friend!"
Harry glared. "For you information, I don't care about my face. If Malfoy was to hit me, I wouldn't have said, `okay that's fine now let me get Ron' and not do anything about it. I would just add to the problem," Harry barked out. "I know this elf thing has you speaking your mind, but don't do it to me! You don't know me that well Gin! If you aren't even going to try to keep it under control, then you and me are going to be having some problems!"
Hermione sucked in her breath of surprise. "Harry!"
"I'm only saying the truth Hermione. It's what everyone's been feeling lately."
Ginny bowed her head. "I'm sorry."
Harry simply nodded his head. "Maybe we should just let them go at it, release some steam."
Hermione sighed. "I could pull them apart with my diduco, but I suppose you're right. Anyhow, none of us could really physically stop it."
"What? You can't-" Ginny started to say, but stopped as she realized the truth of the events.
She watched as her brother and Draco fought each other viciously, like a two-man pack of rabid animals.
Draco Malfoy is technically your husband now.
What does that mean though?
Well for one thing I have to live with him.
Does he expect me to have sex with him?
No. He finds me disgusting.
What if he wants to anyway?
Just tell him no-
But would I want to say no?
Ginny gnawed on her lip as she let her eyes follow the left hooks, the snap kicks, and the occasional head butt. "I think this stupid wifely role Dumbledore mentioned is starting to kick in."
"This could go on forever," Cela commented, wincing as drops of blood fell to the ground. "I think they've let off enough steam. If you don't pull them apart now they will very nearly kill each other. Every time they hit each other the fight gets angrier and the punches get harder."
"You're right," Hermione sighed. "Diduco."
They flew across the room, each on opposing sides. Harry and Hermione ran to Ron. Ginny looked at Draco to see him wiping away blood from his lip and grinning. He shook his head in disgust afterwards, and then looked up at Ginny, who couldn't decide if she should go to Ron or Draco.
"Thanks for the souvenir, you damn elf!" Draco yelled.
Ginny's eyes flashed red. "It wasn't my fault!" she hollered back. "If your stupid family and their medieval ways weren't still followed, this wouldn't have happened!
Draco sluggishly got up. "Well if you hadn't run off to your damn brother-"
"Bitch! Do you want to go another round with me?" Ginny glared. "Let me fill you in on something…women always win!"
Draco grinned with so much maliciousness that Ginny swore she felt her heart freeze in fear. "You obviously don't know the Malfoy's very well."
"Like-wise," Ginny said, then stopped, "Well, the Weasleys, you don't know well…well, is that right?" she looked to Cela who was smiling at her.
"You are so cute," she grinned.
"Merlin's beard! Spare me the bisexual flirting," Draco grunted.
"You shouldn't hide the fact that it turns you on," Cela said as she sauntered over to him.
"Get away from me!" he growled.
To Ginny's surprise Cela backed up, but not before saying something…something Ginny could barely make out.
"Hmm, you're more powerful than you look." Is that what it was?
Ginny looked towards Ron and saw him glaring at her. It was obvious he didn't want her and Draco talking. She fell to her knees, giving up for one minute, but in that one minute everything fell and she rolled into a ball, clutching her knees as she began to cry.
Draco stood awkwardly away from her, sighed and then started to walk over, but Cela beat him to it. He lifted his brow glared.
Had he actually almost gone to her? As if they were-
"Ginny?"
"I can't do this. This is not me; I'm not strong enough for this. I'm the girl that everyone just simply looks over. Not the one that starts fights!"
Cela brushed Ginny's hair out of her eyes. "I'm afraid you'll be starting more than fights."
Ginny gave her a puzzled look. "W-what?"
Cela bit her lip, her eyes warming and staring down at Ginny gently. She leaned down, and placed a soft tender kiss against Ginny's lips.
Draco felt his eyes widen as he stopped and stared. …And it was there and then that he felt something he used to pride himself on never feeling, that nagging feeling that came when poor people saw a rich person.
Dear gods, he felt it.
Jealousy.
To Be Continued…
Thanks for reading!
I'm not sure if I used anything else that wasn't mine, but I know two for sure!
"Could my life get any worse?" ~ Roswell - Isabel Evans.
"Gee, you weren't the brightest…." ~ Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Buffy
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