Cruel Fate

Aris

Rating: R
Genres: Romance, Suspense
Relationships: Draco & Ginny
Book: Draco & Ginny, Books 1 - 5
Published: 13/01/2005
Last Updated: 18/01/2005
Status: in_progress

Set seven years after Ginny Weasley has left Hogwarts, a mysterious killer is on the loose and he somehow he/she/it ties into the life of Draco, Ginny, Harry, Hermione and Ron. D/G with bits of H/H and R/L. - "She looked into his eyes now. “You are pure evil,” she said shaking. What she had seen were a pair of empty black eyes. Eyes whose blackness extended into oblivion. This was a creature with no soul or rather if he did have one, it had abandoned him long ago, leaving him an empty shell."

Chapters

1. Cruel World

2. Christmas Eve

3. Bells for all occassions.

4. Senseless.

5. Guilt

1. Cruel World

Chapter 1

Cruel World

Ginerva Weasley had always been a bit of a loner during her days at Hogwarts. She had never fit in with the crowd. In her first year her loneliness was quite apparent when confiding in a diary landed her in more hot water than she could have ever bargained for. By year four she had gotten a bit better at making friends and she actually got to join the trio, along with Neville and Luna, in some of their escapades. She even got over her little crush on Harry Potter and began dating that year. In her sixth year she had gained amazing popularity when she called out Draco Malfoy in front of the entire school accusing him of being a daddy’s boy. But as much as she was turning into a social butterfly, she had always relied on only herself to be her best friend.

***Seven years post Hogwarts***

Ginny was late. She was scheduled to meet with her clients an hour ago, but due to Hermione's bachelorette party the night before, she arose later than she would have liked to that morning. She walked into her office, greeting her clients apologetically as she did so, and offered to take them to brunch to make up for her tardiness. Sure, she was suffering from a hangover and yes, she was far too late to brew a sobriety potion of any kind but she thought of it as penance for keeping her clients waiting. She just had to remember not to take her shades off and not to walk with too many jerky movements and she'd be okay.

Ginny took them both to a little bistro she had found a few months aback with the most amazing pastries she had ever had. She knew that whatever remaining hostile thoughts they were having against her for being late would be erased once they tasted Juan's baking. It had never failed to work on a client yet. Once they were settled in, she proceeded to show them the layouts she had in mind. Mr. and Mrs. Beasel, however, had politely waved off her designs and placed their own on the table. She had to admit in all her years as an interior decorator, she had never seen anything like it, but in some odd way it was beautiful, even with all its mismatched colours.

The room that they had in mind looked like it was another planet all together. They wanted the ceilings enchanted so it would look like it was a pink sky. The carpets were designed to look like fluorescent blue grass. Potted plants were to be enchanted so that they looked like they were gold in colour. Porcelain toadstool mushrooms were to be painted red with white spots and strategically placed all around the room. Pink rocks were to be placed inside a neon green water fountain.

Mr. and Mrs. Beasel were self-confessed science fiction nuts and were beaming with pride as Ginny looked over at them in amazement. Mr. Beasle gently patted Mrs. Beasel's stomach and then looked up at Ginny. "Our baby deserves the best," he said. Mrs. Beasel, in reply, just looked at her husband adoringly. Ginny felt a tinge of jealousy, wondering if anyone would ever look at her in that way but brushed it away quickly and retuned to the subject at hand.

"Congratulations again," she said. "But I am confused. If you and Mrs. Beasel have this all worked out," she asked, "then why the need for me?"

Mr. Beasel nodded at her. "I see your concern Ms. Weasley," he said. "But Caroline and I are so busy these days and we did hear you were the best in your line of work, so naturally we chose you. We do hope that you prove the rumours true."

Ginny blushed a little at the compliment. It was true that she did work hard at what she did and that she was very good at it, Merlin knew that she did put in long hours, but to say that she was the best was ludicrous in her opinion. Ginny had in fact accidentally stumbled into her profession. After she left Hogwarts she found it incredibly hard to find a job that she both liked and paid well. She had initially started off working for her brothers, Fred and George, which was nice but it didn't exactly pay well and was only part time. In her spare time she helped Molly around the house and even started redecorating the house with whatever little spare money that she had, just to keep herself entertained. Molly's tea group had taken notice of the transformation of the Burrow and pretty soon they were offering Ginny small jobs to help give a facelift to their homes. Her reputation had spread by word of mouth but still she was a small fish in a big pond. It was only when she had caught her one and only serious boyfriend, Kevin De Glasglow in the arms of another woman that she truly threw herself into her work, and excelled in it. Now she had been playing with big fishes, but as much as she enjoyed it, she still had ways to go. "Thank you, Mr. Beasel," she replied politely. "And you may call me Ginny."

"You are most welcome, Ginny," he replied. "And since we are going on a first name basis I must insist that you call me, Jonathan and my wife, Caroline. Mr. Beasel makes me sound too much like my father anyway."

"Will do Mr. Be..er..Jonathan," she replied with a salute. "I shall start working on these right after the holidays."

.............

Draco Malfoy was a selfish prat. In fact, he had been a selfish prat all of his life and he wasn't about to change that now. Besides, he was clearly tired of having to correct the mistakes of the imbeciles that worked for him, so for today, despite the fact that it was Christmas eve, he had decided that enough was enough and that he was going to fire them. He gave them their last paychecks and thanked them for all the time they would no longer be employed at his company. In fact he gave them a little bonus just to show them how happy he was to have them out of his hair.

Draco, now owned and operated the equivalent of a muggle private investigating firm. He had always had an appetite for prey and this was the only legal way he could enjoy his favourite sport. He could have become and Auror but they lived by the rules too much. He had often butted heads with them on several cases and generally they annoyed him to no ends, all except one; Potter. True, his warring days with Potter were over, but he could not say that he did not gain immense pleasure from seeing him squirm. Just Draco's mere presence would annoy him and it was one of the few things in life that filled Draco with warmth. He loved getting under Potter's skin.

His two employees, or rather ex-employees, Geoffery Gibbs and Daniel Hypes, were always botching up. They were two incompetents if Draco ever saw some. In his latest case they managed to contaminate evidence when once of them accidentally stepped in a puddle of the victim's blood, leaving shoe prints everywhere. Draco had taken quite a blow from the ministry Aurors for that one. He had no choice but to fire them really.

His latest case baffled him. It seemed as though some psycho was taking pleasure in cutting up young women so that their once pretty faces became unrecognizable. What baffled Draco the most was that the assailant was using a muggle method of killing his victims. A wizard would have used a simple Avada Kedavra curse on his victims, not a carving knife. He had not ruled out that the monster might be a muggle. In fact the only thing keeping him from completely believing his theory was that all the psycho's victims were witches. He had no leads as to whom the man might be either, assuming that it was a man. For now though, he gave his assailant a gender and that gender was male. The only motive that Draco could think of at the moment was pure pleasure. It made him sick to his stomach to think what kind of monster could do that to another human being.

Draco had always been a bit of a bad ass in school. In fact, in the final war he had sided with Voldemort. When it came to killing his first victim however he found that he was incapable of doing so, no matter how evil he tried to appear on the outside. The thought of snuffing out a life was more than he could bare, and it was the one turning factor in Draco's life. Here, there were men who could so easily kill just for the sake of killing and he wondered why he would if he really wanted to be a part of that. Could he really trust anyone who could take a life so easily? In the end he decided it was not worth it and joined Potter and the others in their conquest to destroy the Dark Lord. After all, what was a world without freedom?

.............

Once Ginny had finished up with the Beasels she apparated back to her office, relieved her assistant Charlotte McGuire of her duties, and then headed to Hogsmeade Super Mall, which had recently been opened, to finish the rest of her Christmas shopping. She still had to shop for Ron, Luna and the twins. Ron and Luna were expecting their first child in April of the following year. She decided that she would get Luna this beautiful black maternity robe that she had seen just earlier that week and Fred and George both some new robes as well. As much as she loved the twins, they had no sense of style whatsoever and she tried to dress them whenever she could. Ron however was a bit more difficult. She could not seem to find a gift that would suit him. Just as she was about to give up and go home, she spotted exactly what she was looking for; a beautiful gold quill in the shape of a Sleeksweep; the latest in the line of brooms on the market. She was positive that her brother, the star Keeper of the Chudley Cannons, would love it.

.............

Draco made his way through the overcrowded Hogsmeade mall. It was too bad that he did not get his mother's Christmas present earlier. He hated dealing with crowds. It seemed like half of them went out of his way to bump into him. Not that he blamed them of course. Being the dashingly handsome young God that he was, he could see their motive for wanting to. It was just that it annoyed him to no end when they did. The price he paid for being beautiful. He made a beeline to the only store she ever shopped in and got her some of her favourite perfumes and a brooch. On his way out, he saw a little trinket he could get himself and reached for it at the same time another pair of hands did.

"Weasley," he drawled looking down at the face that belonged to the hand.

"Malfoy," she replied. "I got to it first and therefore it rightfully belongs to me." She watched him through narrowed eyes preparing herself for the fight that was about to take place. He continued to watch her but made no move to remove his hand from the box.

"Are you going to send Daddykins after me?" she asked with disgust when she got no response. "Nice to see that you’ve changed after all these years," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You can have it," he replied tensely. "After all, I would never wear anything that a Weasley even remotely looked at, unless of course it was because they couldn’t afford it. And for the record you insufferable git, my father is dead."

"Malfoy, I am sorry," she looked at him apologetically. "I forgot."

Draco turned away and walked off consumed with his own thoughts. Their little confrontation had not really reminded him of his father's death so much, although no matter how bad the man was, he was still his father and it still hurt to loose him, but of his confrontation with the youngest Weasley in his seventh year. He had gone up to the Gryffindor table to taunt Potter and gang as per usual, when the little red head suddenly spoke up. She had accused him of being a bully and hiding behind his father and that in fact he was nothing without Lucius. And like clockwork, without thinking, he opened his mouth to threaten her, and his father was once again used in the line of defense. The entire school had started laughing at him and he just stalked out of the Great Hall, red as a beet, not bothering to turn back, vowing revenge against her. The more he thought about it as he went back to his room though, the more he realized that she was right. He did hide behind his father for everything. He was not Draco Malfoy, but Lucius Malfoy's shadow.

In some way, as much as he hated her, he had her to thank for the change in the way he thought. He turned back to look at her now. Her back was now facing him, her long red hair cascading over her shoulders. She was at the counter. He assumed that she was paying for the pen that she was willing to fight him so valiantly for. As dirt poor and vile as they were, even he had to admit that the Weasley's were good people and he was touched that she humbled herself to apologise to him. It also made him wonder exactly how she could afford the pen, a thought that he would amuse himself with for the next ten minutes or so.

.............

He sat in the dark shadows waiting, craving for the moment when he could come out and play again. He had enjoyed cutting up his last victim. Her face looked so lovely each time he sliced. He had tasted her blood. She had tasted so sweet, like a fine wine aged to perfection. Her screams had been so intoxicating. He had closed his eyes and took them in. They had left him so high he felt as if he had used the most exotic drug in the world. Oh, how he enjoyed his little hobby.

He had to put up a fight with the owner of the place each time he wanted to leave the place he resided, in order step foot out the walls that blocked his path. But in the end he always won out and roamed the streets free, waiting for his next victim. Each time though, it weakened him a little and he was forced to go back to the confines of the wall to reenergize so that he could kill another time…

2. Christmas Eve

A/N: Thank you for R/R the first chapter. This new chapter is a bit slow, but it is leading somewhere, have no fear. The artwork was not done by me, as I cannot draw to save my life. Pansy was drawn by Hermionedolphin and I borrowed Draco and Ginny from some called Lysel.

Sailor_Girl, you are right, the killer is most certainly not a gargoyle. ;) I think that you misunderstood though. He does not live in the walls but rather he feels as if he is a prisoner where he resides, and the walls are his prison bars of sorts.

Enjoy!

Chapter 2

Christmas Eve

"Hello sweetheart!" Molly Weasley greeted her daughter as Ginny apparated into the Borrow. It was 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve and Ginny could see that everybody had their hands full doing something or the other. Molly, herself, was bustling around the kitchen and had given Ginny a very floury kiss turning the apple of one of her cheeks completely white.

"Mommy," Ginny complained, "you got flour all over my face!"

"Oh hush now," Molly scolded her youngest, "can’t your own mother kiss you in peace?" she asked as she stood trying to balance a stick of butter and a jar of pickles in one hand while beating some eggs with the other.

"Oh my gosh, have you seen the pink ribbons? Oh where are the lavender candies? Oh, Fred put that down! Where is….oh, Merlin help me!" screamed a very frantic looking Hermione, as she ran into the kitchen. Her hair looked even more frizzy than usual, Ginny had noted.

"Sweetheart, calm down or you’ll make yourself sick!" Harry exclaimed as he came running up behind her. He placed a kiss on her cheek as he hugged her from behind. "The most important thing is that I have you there."

At this, Hermione seemed to calm down a bit and was actually able to smile. And, as if for the first time noticing Ginny there, Hermione turned around and greeted the younger woman. "Hey Gin," she said, "got all your shopping done?"

"Hi," Ginny smiled back at both Harry and Hermione. "Yes I did. And I got some good ones too!"

In addition to Christmas, final preparations were being made for Harry and Hermione's upcoming wedding, which was due to take place on Sunday, only two days away. Hermione had been nothing but frantic for the last couple of days. Ginny was Hermione's maid of honour. She had originally thought that Hermione would have absolutely no taste in clothes and had been afraid to see what her bride's maid dress would look like but when Hermione showed it to her she was pleasantly surprised. A knee length baby pink number, it was strapless and fit beautifully in all the right places. She had gotten some matching strappy shoes and accessories to go with them. All in all her outfit looked marvelous.

One by one the Weasley clan greeted Ginny and soon she found herself, like the others, absorbed in chores. In fact she was so absorbed in them that she didn’t notice that she had started peeling a garden gnome instead of a potato, until Fred and George burst out in laughter and the little gnome jumped out of her hands, waved a fist furiously at her and then ran off.

“I’ll get you two for this!” she screamed at the twins.

“First you’ll have to catch us,” George replied.

“How about I catch you one of these?” Ginny asked flailing her fist in the air as she chased the twins around a sofa.

In the background, Molly smiled at the familiar sight and sighed in contentment.

……………….

Draco Malfoy stepped out from the cold snow and into the warm Malfoy manor. Stepping inside he was greeted by Deety, one of his house elves, who was already standing there to take his coat.

"Begging your pardon, Mr. Malfoy, Sir," she began, "dinner is being served and Missus Malfoy is waiting for Mr. Malfoy in the dining room."

Upon his arrival into the dining room, Draco noted that both he and his mother had a guest, Pansy Parkinson. He silently berated his mother for inviting her and made a mental note to speak to her once their guest had left.

"Mother. Pansy," he said as he nodded at them both in greeting. “How are you doing this evening mother?" he turned to face Narcissa.

"I am splendid, my dear and how was your day?" she asked as she patted her lips daintily with a napkin.

Not wanting to discuss his case in front of Pansy, he said a simple, "fine." Then he turned to the Parkinson woman. "And to what do I owe the pleasure this afternoon?" he asked in a smooth as silk voice.

Pansy swooned a bit under his stare. "Narcissa invited me," she answered a bit breathless.

On a first name basis with my mother eh, Parkinson, or are you just being a rude git?

"I thought you could use some company," his mother finished for her. "You are always alone, I am worried about you, Draco."

Company for me and every other man she comes into contact with.

"Oh don’t be, mother," he reassured her. "I am perfectly fine on my own."

The rest of dinner went by with small chitchat, after which Narcissa excused herself while Draco was left to entertain Pansy in the living room. The Parkinson woman of course, once Narcissa had left the room, had made no bones of why she was there. She made a beeline for Draco and sat on the arm of the chair he was sitting on.

If she thinks desperation is a turn on she is sadly mistaken.

"What do you want, Parkinson?" he asked.

"Isn’t in obvious, big boy?" she asked as she her hand along his arm. "I want you."

"I am not available," Draco said as a matter-of-factly as he peeled her hand off his own.

"So, so uptight," she said as she waved an index finger at him. "I can fix that," she said with a sly grin. She slid off the chair and slipped off the white shirt and green skirt that she was wearing to reveal an extremely short petticoat that she had on underneath. Then, moving like the snake she was, Pansy slid onto the floor, propped her face onto her hands and motioned with her eyes for Draco to come join her.

……………….

After dinner, Ginny sat in the living room playing with her one year old nephew, Kyle. "Hi baby," she said while making soft cooing noises at him. The baby giggled and made some gurgling sounds as his auntie kissed his cheeks. Kyle was Bill and Fleur’s son, their only, after years of trying to conceive. He was the apple of his parents’ eyes, especially now that Fleur found out that she could not have any more children. Kyle was the first Weasley not to have red hair. He was blonde like his mother but his face was every bit a Weasley. He was his father's son. Fleur couldn't be happier since she thought that her husband was the best looking man on the planet.

Ron came over and sat down next to his sister putting an arm around her. "You know, we have to find you a man," he said.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Why is it that all you married people think that us single people need setting up?" she stuck out her tongue at him.

"Now, now, Gin," Harry teased as he sat on the other side of her, "Ron’s right. I mean you’re not getting any younger."

"Harry James Potter!" she exclaimed. She grabbed a throw pillow and swatted him with it.

"Yes," Ron agreed, "I can see some wrinkles forming too."

"Ron!" she complained as she aimed the pillow at his head. He ducked and it flew past him hitting Hermione, who was engrossed in her wedding list at the time. Hermione looked over at them, furious, when she was hit by another pillow. This time the culprit was Harry. She ran over intending to swat him when he grabbed her, pulled her into his lap and kissed her on the lips. Ever the trendsetter, Harry's move caused a chain reaction and Ron grabbed Luna and placed a kiss on her as well. Fleur came over, got Kyle from Ginny and went over to her husband. Pretty soon the entire house was snogging each other, all except for one. Ginny decided that she had had enough of the sickeningly sweet goodness all around her and slipped out, unnoticed, from the Borrow.

She breathed in the cold night air as she stepped outside and immediately wished that she had taken a jacket with her. She was however willing to risk the cold rather than face the hormone crazy occupants in the house again. She folded her arms and concentrated on looking up at the sky instead. It was laden with beautiful stars and she smiled when she found Polaris, the North Star. As much as she knew Ron and Harry were joking earlier she really did crave finding someone. Everyone in there seemed so happy and while Ginny was content on her own, she just wanted that special someone to share her life with. She closed her eyes tight and made a wish on Polaris, and as if in recognition of Ginny's wish, the North Star gave a little twinkle.

……………….

"Control yourself, Parkinson," Draco said as he looked down at Pansy in disgust. He stepped over her in an effort to leave the room but she grabbed his leg, stopping him mid stride. Draco arched an eyebrow at her audacity.

"Oh come on, baby," she teased, "you know you want me."

"What I want," Draco replied, "is to get rid of you. Now please, put on some clothes. Just the sight of you half naked is making me want to throw up."

Pansy frowned, but gathered up her clothes and stalked out of the house. Draco smiled to himself. She really was a poor excuse for a human being. Maybe he should have been nicer to her, but it probably would have encouraged her and he did not want her and the hundred and one diseases she probably had from sleeping with an equal number of men, contaminating his house. He also made a mental note to throw away the dishes she had eaten in that evening should they too be contaminated by her filth.

He stepped outside to clear his head a bit. Draco knew that Narcissa had meant well but she evidentially she had not checked her crème de la crème list in a long time as Pansy Parkinson was long gone from it. He looked up at the stars. They had looked so perfect tonight. If only he could find someone like them in his own life, someone flawless who shone with pure light. But even as he thought about this, he knew that his wishes were in vain, for even the stars were not without fault.

……………….

He was beginning to grow weary. He needed to kill again, and soon, at that. He missed the smell of blood, especially when it was blood that he was responsible for drawing. Some would call him sick, some would call him twisted, and yes he was all of that and more but he made no excuses for it. In fact he enjoyed it. What started off as a revenge scheme turned out to be the thing that would make him feel the most alive. But he was not stupid. He still kept his eyes on the prize and he knew when he was done the satisfaction would be greater than the sweet intoxication of blood. But his scheme was not yet ripe and in the meantime he would have to let the blood and the pain be his relief. As for now, he allowed himself to be confined to this prison where his very existence rotted away, since the walls were a combination of everything he stood against. But he was a prisoner there of his own free will, and despite the guards posted at the walls, he came and left as he

pleased.

3. Bells for all occassions.

A/N: Thank you to those of you who R/R the last two chapters. Feedback is always appreciated. Once again, the fanarts are not by me. I just borrowed them to illustrate the picture that I have in my mind, of the characters. I borrowed Charlotte from someone called Jose and Alexa from Jen Chan. As usual, enjoy!

Chapter 3

Bells for all occasions.

***Christmas Day***

Draco Malfoy had arisen early that morning so that he could go over the details of his case. It was now 10 p.m. and he was still stumped. The killer left no clue behind to indicate who he was. This was a rare case in the wizarding world and he had absolutely no leads whatsoever. The motive was far beyond him too.

Was it revenge? Was the killer some nerd who got rejected by all the girls at school and was making the entire female population pay for rejecting him? Was it for pure pleasure? Why a knife? Why not the Avada Kedavra curse? How were the victims chosen? Why were they chosen? What gender was the killer? Was the killer a muggle? Did a muggle infiltrate the wizarding world? Would he expose them?

Those were just a few of the questions that Draco kept asking himself all day long. In all his years of private investigating, this was the first time he found himself getting nowhere on a case. The bodies themselves were clean. There was no skin or dirt under the fingernails of any of the victims. The bodies bore only wounds. He had carved up each of their faces, and when he was done watching them suffer, he impaled them with a single knife wound to the heart, the final blow before their lights were turned out forever.

Could it be that his victims trusted him? But how could that be? Surely they would have tried to claw him once he had begun cutting up their faces, regardless of whether they trusted him or not. But not if they were drugged or a spell had been placed over them. There was no evidence that a spell or a drug had been used though.

The case baffled Draco more and more each time he tried to think about it. He went over a million theories in his head, but none of them made any sense. Or maybe logic was not what was needed to solve the case. Either way he had a headache and promptly made his way to bed.

………………

Ginny lay tired from all the day’s events on the old grey couch in the Weasley living room. As much as she loved her family, she could not wait to get home to her own flat. The Weasley clan was always quite a handful on their own but now with all her nephews and niece they were quite a force to be reckoned with. Kyle, the baby in the family, was Bill’s son. Then there were Eric and Jason, Percy’s sons, and Aiden and Alexa, Charlie’s son and daughter. And it seemed as though they all wanted their aunt Ginny. And all day long at that. She had made a mental note not to get them so many toys the following year, as she always seemed to be the one to get stuck playing with them and they had always somehow managed to invent the most tiresome games. Just one more day though and she would be back in the luxury of her own apartment. How she had longed for a bubble bath and a glass of wine.

But Ginny was not alone in her weariness. On the couch next to her, Charlotte McGuire, Ginny’s assistant and friend of four years, flopped down weary from dealing with one too many Weasleys. Charlotte was petite. She had long blonde hair, which she always pulled back in a braid. She also wore glasses, which, according to Ginny, were held up by the neatest of noses. She was one of those people who always had a serious expression on her face. Ginny constantly teased her that she could pass for McGonagall when she got older. She bore no physical resemblance to the woman but her demeanour always reminded Ginny of that of her old professor’s. Charlotte’s personality, however, was anything but like that of McGonagall’s. She was fun and bubbly and loud. Each time Ginny compared Charlotte to her former teacher, Charlotte, would simply roll her eyes. Charlotte, who had been born and raised in America, had no clue who McGonagall was. Her famous line every time Ginny compared her to the woman was, “yeah, but can McGonagall do this?” and she come up with the craziest scheme that she could think up at the moment.

“I am sorry for putting you through this every year, Charl,” Ginny said to her friend.

“And I am tired of telling you every year,” Charlotte replied, “that I would not have it any other way.”

“I know but…” Ginny began, but Charlotte waved her off before she could finish.

“Look Gin, honestly I am grateful. Beside I enjoy all the us time I can get. You never know when one day some bloke is going to sweep you off your feet and you’re going to forget about good old Charlotte.”

“Like I could ever forget you!” Ginny replied. “Besides the shoe could be on the other foot and you could be the one leaving me in the dust.”

“You know what, that sounds like a plan to me, Weasley. I could do with seeing someone other than your sorry face everyday,” Charlotte laughed as she ducked a pillow the older girl threw at her.

Charlotte was Ginny’s closest female friend. Sure, she had Hermione and Luna, but they were always tied up in the lives of their significant others and no matter what they said, single friends always came last on the priority list. As much as she knew it was selfish of her, Ginny was glad that she had a single friend to share her life with and she hoped that Charlotte would not find anyone anytime soon. She hated loosing a good friend to yet another member of the opposite sex, especially since she herself could not seem to find a member of the opposite sex to loose herself to. Lost in her thoughts, Ginny soon fell asleep on the couch.

***Wedding Day***

“Charlotte, Ginny, wake up,” came Molly’s voice from above them. “It’s show time.”

“Mom, I am still sleepy!” Ginny whined.

“Come on, sleepyhead,” Molly prompted her, “today is the big day.”

“But I don’t wanna go to school!” came Ginny’s response from under her pillow, a response that was met by a lot of snickering.

“I think auntie Gin has gone mad,” she heard her five year old nephew, Aiden, say.

“Uh huh,” her three year old niece, Alexa, replied.

“Is that so?” Ginny peaked out from her pillow and grabbed Alexa. “And what exactly do you know about crazy people, Missy?” she asked as she hugged and kissed her niece who was now squirming to get away.

“Gammy, Gin-gin kiss Alexa and Gin-gin not brush her teeth,” Alexa complained to grandmother.

“Ginny, leave Alexa alone and go brush your teeth please!” Molly shooed her youngest daughter off the couch and into the bathroom, but not before Ginny made a last lap to kiss a complaining Alexa once more. The cute three year old who always wore her hair in two pigtails looked like a miniature version of Ginny. She was Ginny’s only niece and the most spoilt grandchild of Arthur and Molly. Ginny, herself spoilt the girl enormously.

…………….

Ginny checked her appearance once more in the mirror to make sure she was seeing correctly. She gaped openly at the ravishing looking creature that stared back at her. Is that, me? She had gotten so used to settling for what she was naturally given that on the rare occasion that she did play dress up, she usually ended up gaping like a fish at the results. In fact, she usually never made a fuss about her appearance at all, aside from the fact that she tried to look her neatest and most professional at all times. Not that she was ugly in any way. In fact she had turned out to be pretty decent looking, it was just that she usually preferred to be natural. But today the reflection that stared back at her was just, beautiful. The baby pink gave her skin an extra glow and the colour also went well with her bright shock of red hair in contrast. She had dusted on a bit of light makeup on her face to match her dress and she used some fairy glitter on her long hair. In fact she looked a bit like a fairy now that she had thought about it.

“Trying to catch some flies are we?” teased a voice at her door.

“Ron!” she scolded, “ever heard about a thing called knocking?”

“Can’t say that I have,” he replied. Then he added, “you look amazing, Gin.”

“Thank you, Ronald,” she curtsied. “And you don’t look too bad yourself.” Ron beamed at his sister’s compliment. “Oh, can you believe it, Ron? They’re finally getting married!” she hugged her older sibling.

“Ginny,” Ron replied with a mock stifling sound, “can’t breathe. Let go.”

“Oh you!” she shoved him playfully out of the way.

“Seriously though,” he said, “ I think that Hermione needs you.”

……………….

“Hermione?” Ginny stopped dead in her tracks and gasped audibly as she saw the older woman.

“Do I look okay?” Hermione asked nervously.

“You look more than okay,” Ginny replied still wide eyed. “You look amazing!”

“Oh thank you, Gin!” Hermione exclaimed as she hugged Ginny tightly. “I am so nervous. What if he doesn’t want to marry me anymore, Gin?” she asked with a terrified look on her face.

“Of course he wants to marry you,” Ginny soothed her friend. “Harry loves you with all of his being.”

Hermione let go of Ginny and nodded. “Shall we?” she asked as she linked her hand with Ginny’s.

Ginny smiled at her. “If you’re ready, I am!”

……………….

Ginny walked ahead of Hermione, refusing to look left or right at the gaping eyes on either side of the aisle, in fear that she would somehow loose her balance and fall if she got distracted by the crowd. Crowds had always made her nervous and today bore no exception. Her hands were as cold as ice and she gripped her bouquet for dear life as she focused on a spot right in the middle of the flower-adorned arch that Harry was now standing under, waiting for his bride to be.

The wedding was taking place at the Ligano Hotel, an international five star hotel that Harry, Hermione and Ron had vacationed at once, when they had taken a getaway trip to the Caribbean. The hotel had also been a way to quell the feuding between the Grangers and the Weasleys, both of whom had insisted that the wedding take place at their houses. Harry had told the Weasleys that the Borrow was a bit too small for the size of his guest list, and had fed the Grangers the excuse that there were too many magical folks at the wedding, and the risk of them being exposed was just too great. Of course, now both clans were mad at him, but he was grateful that they had at least stopped fighting with each other.

Ginny breathed a sigh of relief as she reached her target without tripping once. Harry gave her a small smile and then looked past her as the wedding march began to play. Ginny saw him gasp in awe at Hermione. Hermione, too, who had only been focused on Harry as she walked down the aisle, smiled as she saw this. She looked radiant walking down the aisle. Her white, off the shoulder, ballroom gown style dress flowed around her making her look like the princess that she was for the day. Her long frizzy hair was now tamed and left open, held in place by a bandeau veil.

Hermione was given away by her father, Dr. Granger, and her hand was most gratefully accepted by Harry. Ginny cried throughout the entire ceremony, especially when the duo repeated their vows to each other. She had never seen witnessed anything more romantic in all of her twenty-four years.

……………….

“And this, Charlotte, is my old Tranfiguration teacher, Minerva McGonagall,” Ginny introduced the two women.

“Pleased to meet you. I have heard so much about you,” Charlotte replied. “Oh but all good things,” she added with a smile when she noticed a small look of concern on the older woman’s face. “Ginny is always telling me that I remind her of you.”

“Is that so?” McGonagall asked politely. “So, Ginny dear …”

“Attention, attention everyone,” Ron’s voice floated across the room interrupting any conversation that was about to materialize among the trio. “Our bride and groom will now have the cutting of the cake, after which they will proceed to have their first dance.”

The cake was four tiers tall. The top one boasted of not only the bride and groom figurines, but of figurines of Crookshanks and a Quidditch broom as well. They were the things that the couple was most passionate about in their lives, besides each other. Ginny had thought it a bit tacky, especially given the profession she was in but the bride and groom were anything but ordinary and so it suited them in some odd way. In contract to the actual wedding, which was held outdoors, the reception took place in the posh ballroom of the Ligano. It was lavishly decorated in baby pink and lavender, Hermione’s favourite colours.

Hermione and Harry cut the cake and fed it to each other, never for one moment taking their eyes off each other.

“Ah, young love,” Ginny sighed dreamily.

“And I supposed you’re old and worn out?” McGonagall questioned her in an amused tone, bringing Ginny out of her little reverie at the same time.

Ginny blushed at her outburst. “I uh,” she began, but thankfully the music cued at that exact moment releasing her from her misery. She watched in awe as the newlyweds floated effortlessly on the dance floor. They moved in perfect unison, so much so that they looked as if they were one body. Then one by one, other couples started joining them on the dance floor. Ginny sighed as once again she began feeling left out for the umpteenth time in her life, when someone extended a hand to her in invitation.

“Care to dance, Ms. Weasley?” came the voice attached to the hand.

“Neville!” Ginny almost screamed as she looked up from where she was sitting. “It’s been ages! And I’d love to,” she said feeling grateful. She and Neville caught up on old times as they danced, and pretty soon the music had changed to more upbeat tunes and the friends had the time of their lives tearing up the dance floor.

………………

Alexa Weasley was tugging at her father’s coat, demanding that he produce a dragon for her. Of course she meant a holographic type image of one and not a real one. At any rate, Charlie was paying no attention to his daughter. Instead, he was preoccupied chatting with a friend whom he had not seen in years.

“But dada, you pwomised!” Alexa sulked.

“Uh huh,” he replied to her absentmindedly, not even realizing that she had spoken to him.

Alexa frowned but then lit up just as suddenly when she came up with a brilliant idea. She quietly slipped a hand into Charlie’s pocket and pulled out his wand. Then she ran into a quiet corner, giggling and swishing her wand while chanting, “dragon, dragon.” As with every other time she did this, her attempts were unsuccessful but at least she had something to keep her busy.

Ginny who had witnessed her niece’s entire escapade, made her way to Alexa, who promptly hid the wand behind her back. “What have you got there you little brute?” Ginny teased her niece.

“Nothing,” she replied.

“I see,” Ginny replied, “so why does nothing look like your daddy’s wand?” she tickled the little girl until she produced the object from behind her back.

“Do not tell dada, pwease, Gin-Gin,” her niece pleaded, frowning.

“Don’t worry, shrimp, my lips are sealed,” Ginny reassured her with a wink. “But you’re hanging out with me the rest of the evening to keep your little butt out of trouble. And our first stop is the bathroom because Aunt Gin-gin has to pee so badly.”

Alexa giggled at her silly aunt.

……………

“Now do not move from this spot and that’s an order!” Ginny instructed Alexa as she put her niece to sit down in the love seat of the ladies room. Alexa nodded in agreement and Ginny stepped into a stall.

“Dragon, dragon, argh!” Alexa stomped her feet as she failed to perform the spell she had seen her father do so many times before. What words did dada use again? “Draco accio?” she said, dubiously, waving the wand. No that wasn’t it, the word was longer, Dragonis, Draconis, Draconi… Alexa’s thoughts ceased mid-sentence as smoke began to spew out of her father’s wand. “Oh, oh,” she muttered as it dropped onto the floor.

………….

Draco had awoken from a nap with an enormous thirst and was about to call on one of his house elves for a glass of water, when his world started spinning and he ended up on what looked like the floor of a ladies room. A little girl with red hair stood over him watching him intently.

“And who might you be?” he asked her.

“Alexa Weezey,” Alexa replied to the blonde man. “And my aunt Gin-gin has to pee pee and she is in the toilet.”

Draco laughed at the little girl’s bold revelation. “I see,” he said, “and do you know how I got here?”

………….

Ginny, was halfway through using the lavatory when she heard a strange voice outside the stall. A male voice. A male voice, where Alexa waited for her. Panicked, she finished up as fast as she could and darted out the stall, only to come face to face with Draco Malfoy.

“What are you doing here?” she asked him.

“I should ask you the same thing,” was his reply.

“Are you trying to imply that I brought you here, Malfoy? Because if you think for one moment…” she started to argue with Draco, when Alexa cut her off.

“Dragon, dragon!” Alexa said, pointing a chubby index finger at Draco and giggling.

Ginny’s eyes widened in recognition. “You did this?” she looked at Alexa, amazed.

“Yep,” Alexa answered proudly.

“Malfoy, I am so sorry,” Ginny began, “she was playing with her father’s wand and I think something must have gone wrong. Please do not report this.” Then she turned to Alexa, “and you young lady have a lot of explaining to do to your father.” But Alexa was paying no attention to Ginny. Instead she was staring all doe-eyed at Draco.

“Dragon man pretty,” Alexa said looking at Draco.

Draco grinned. “Why thank you,” he replied, looking a bit too smug for his own good.

Ginny scooped her niece up in her arms, amused by her actions. “You madam, are too much,” she said laughing.

Alexa, however, opened her arms signaling for Draco to take her. Ginny laughed and gave Draco a sorry, bud, but you have to take her, look.

Draco took the baby, holding her an arms length away from his body. Alexa giggled. “Silly dragon,” she said. “Hold Alexa properly!”

“Bossy little one, aren’t you?” he gave in as he held Alexa closer to him. The little girl then kissed him on the nose.

“Will Dragon be Alexa’s boyfriend?” she asked an amused Draco.

“Well,” he answered, “I never thought that I would ever be saying this to a Weasley but I would be honoured to have a girlfriend like you. I like a girl good taste, and you are the first Weasley I ever came across who has had some.”

Alexa stuck out her tongue at Ginny. “See, Alexa got a boyfriend. Now Gin-gin should be more like Alexa so she could get herself a boyfriend too and then she would stop saying silly things.”

“Traitor,” Ginny gave the girl a mock frown.

“Awww, Gin-gin, don’t be sad. Gin-gin can borrow Alexa’s boyfriend sometimes.”

At this, Ginny, burst out laughing. “You best be going now,” she told Draco, still laughing. “Wouldn’t want the rest of the Weasley clan finding you here now would you?”

Draco nodded and apparated back to his home.

4. Senseless.

A/N: This picture of Mallora was drawn by Mikael and once again, was borrowed to illustrate the character I had in mind.

Thank you for all the reviews thus far and I hope you enjoy this one. It was a bit disturbing to write but I did not go into too many gory details so hopefully by the end of it you'll still have your lunch in tact. As usual, have fun reading.

Chapter 4

Senseless.

He stood outside and watched her as she went up to the front door, fumbled for her keys, and accidentally dropped them onto the cold ground. He read the sign above her; G. Weasely’s Home Designs, and then looked back down at her. She had picked up her bunch of keys again, and this time she found the correct one. She inserted it in the slot, pushed the door open and went in. He followed.

She jumped as he came up behind her. “You,” she said as she turned to face. “What do you want?”

“That depends,” he replied.

“On what?” she asked, getting annoyed.

“On what you can give me,” he said, toying with her, tempting her to get angry with him.

“I don’t have time for this,” she replied and started walking past him so that she could show him the door, when he grabbed her by shoulder. “Let go of me,” she threatened, but his grip was firm.

He could see panic in her eyes now and he smiled, breathing it in.

“What do you want with me?” her voice was riddled with fear.

He smiled. “You’ll see.”

“What do you want with me?” she screamed this time.

Tears were starting to run down her face. He liked that. He took out his wand and with a couple of swishes and a few muttered words, he cleared all the contents of her desk and had her lying where they had been.

She looked into his eyes now. “You are pure evil,” she said shaking. What she had seen were a pair of empty black eyes. Eyes whose blackness extended into oblivion. This was a creature with no soul or rather if he did have one, it had abandoned him long ago, leaving him an empty shell. She knew that she could expect no mercy from him.

“That I am,” he answered. He muttered an incantation and her arms were bound by a magical a spell that he had created himself. He was truly from hell and his wisdom knew no bounds. It was a spell that would leave no marks, no lacerations.

“What are you going to do with me?” she demanded this time.

He had to hand it to her; she was a fighter. “Tsk, tsk, always in a hurry. You should enjoy this time while you can. You never know where your path may lead,” he said as he pulled out his dagger.

Tears streamed down her face now as she had begun to realise what was about to happen to her. She had read about many of his victims in the newspaper, but as much as she felt for them, it had never happened to her or anyone she knew, so she had been invincible at the time. Until now. Now, the ugly truth was staring her in the face. She was going to die and there was no one there to save her. Her best friend would be late that day, and in a way she was thankful because she didn’t want to other girl to share her fate. But had she been there would her life been spared? Or would he risk taking them both? Her life flashed before her eyes then. There was so much she had yet to do. There was so much she had yet to make up for. There was so much she had yet to give. She had never believed in God, but now she prayed. If it was to God, she didn’t know but she hoped with all her might that there was some entity out there that would take her from her misery.

He made the first incision on her face and her body jerked upward, as the cold steel embedded itself into her warm skin. He laughed, taking immense pleasure in her pain, as he sliced further. She screamed a blood-curling scream. “It hurts doesn’t it?” he grinned.

“Fuck you, asshole,” she said, breathing hard.

“Oh but I enjoy fucking with your face so much more,” he said as sliced once more, this time rapidly.

“Oh, Merlin,” she screamed as salty tears ran down her face, burning her newly formed lacerations.

He sliced again and again, groaning with pleasure after each of her screams.

“Help me,” she said in a barely audible whisper and then she closed her eyes and the screams ceased.

“Fuck!” he cursed as he slapped her across the face. How dare she do this when he was just about to achieve a height of pure ecstasy? He felt her for a pulse. She still had one, which meant that she as not dead yet, she had just fainted. But now that his high had evaporated, he no longer had need for her. He plunged the dagger deep into her chest, and her body went limp as her life left it. Just then, he heard some footsteps coming his way, and he apparated out of the crime scene as quickly as possible. He did not want to be caught. Not yet anyway…

………………..

Ginny had just apparated into her office, and was checking her mail when she felt it. A cold breeze had engulfed her and Charlotte’s unmistakable perfume had filled her nostrils. She hugged herself, wondering where the sudden cold draft had come from, given the fact that it was extremely warm outside.

“Charlotte,” she called to her assistant and friend, as she opened the big wooden doors that led to the reception area, where Charlotte was stationed. Ginny didn’t have to call again. She saw her friend’s mangled body laying on top her desk. “Merlin,” she said as she stood over the body, holding a pair of trembling hands to her mouth. Ginny’s world suddenly went black.

……………

“Okay, give her some room, she’s coming to,” a voice said above Ginny, as she slowly opened her eyes.

“Where am I?” she asked the dark haired woman who was standing over her, looking at her intently.

“Currently? You’re lying on the top of your desk,” the woman answered.

Ginny looked panicked as she recalled seeing Charlotte’s body on top of her on desk. Am I now to suffer her fate?

“Relax,” said the woman, as if reading Ginny’s mind. “I am not here to hurt you. I am agent Gabriel Mallora, a Ministry Auror.”

Ginny nodded.

“Do you feel okay? Would you like a glass of water?” Agent Mallora asked her.

Ginny shook her head and attempted to get off the desk. “Where is Harry?” she asked, noticing the swarm of Aurors buzzing about in the reception area. “Why isn’t he handling this case himself?”

“He’s on his honeymoon, remember?” Mallora answered.

“Oh, I forgot about that,” Ginny said. “Is she…” but she could not finish.

“I am afraid so,” Mallora answered as Ginny’s tears began flowing freely. “I am so sorry for your loss and I promise you, we will catch the bastard.”

“Did you question her yet?” a male voice drawled from the doorway that separated Ginny’s office and the reception area.

Both Ginny and Mallora looked up to see that it belonged to Draco Malfoy.

“I am sorry, but you are?” Mallora asked him.

“Sorry that I never met you before. The name’s Draco Malfoy and who might you be?”

Ginny noted that Mallora took an instant dislike to Malfoy, and she liked the woman instantly.

“I believe, Mr. Malfoy, that if you’re looking for a single’s bar, you past it a couple of blocks down. Otherwise, if you have no business being here, please leave.”

Draco gave her a once over. “Well you’re certainly easier on the eyes than Potter, that’s for sure. Less git-like too, but not by much. I think we’ll get along just fine.”

“What do you want, Malfoy?” Ginny asked harshly, unable to take his obnoxious behaviour any longer.

Draco turned to the redhead, as if noticing for the first time that she was in the room with them. “Glad you asked,” he said in tone of voice that Ginny found most annoying. “You’re what I want.”

Ginny arched an eyebrow. “What did you say?” she asked.

“Oh don’t flatter yourself, Weasley, “I meant I want to ask you a few questions.”

“And you expect me to answer you because?” Ginny answered with a question of her own.

“Because I may very well be the one to crack this case. Everyone knows that all Aurors do all day is sit on their asses and twiddle their thumbs.” Then he turned to Mallora and added, “no offense. I am sure your ass is pretty fine.” Then he turned back to Ginny. “I forgot. In addition to being Draco Malfoy, The Great, I am also Private Agent Malfoy,” he said, and tossed her his card.

“You can question her after we’re done,” Mallora told Draco.

“Uh, uh, uh,” Draco replied to Mallora. “Sorry babe, but I don’t work under your rules, so therefore I get to sit in, should she so request,” he said nodding his head in Ginny’s direction.

Ginny looked over at Mallora apologetically. “I am afraid I need all the help I can get. And maybe, who knows, the git may actually be able to help.”

“I resent that,” Draco replied.

Mallora ignored him and began with her line of questioning. “Where were you at the time the victim was murdered?”

Ginny sighed heavily. “I came into work late this morning. I had to get some supplies for the Beasley’s house. They’re my new clients. Merlin,” she started to cry. “I think he killed her just as I apparated into the office.”

“What makes you say that?” Draco asked, watching her intently.

She looked at him. His grey eyes were compassionate yet composed at the same time. “Because I felt her soul when it passed me,” she replied, sobbing.

Mallora arched an eyebrow inquisitively while Draco just continued to hold her under his microscopic gaze. “What do you mean felt her soul?” Mallora asked, finally.

“I don’t know…” Ginny replied. “I just felt this presence in the room and I knew it was her but I thought that it was alive her sitting in the other room…”

“Did you hear anything outside your office? Any sounds, any movements? Did you notice any odd smells?” Draco cut her off.

Ginny shook her head. “No,” she replied softly.

“Nothing odd at all?” Draco asked in a condescending tone. “Are you daft, Weasley?”

“Well excuse me, Malfoy, if the last thing I had on my mind was looking out for a killer when I walked into my office first thing fucking Monday morning, where it has been safe for the past fucking four years!” Ginny yelled, upset at his accusation that she was some sort of idiot.

“How long did you know the victim?” Mallora asked cutting of either of them before they could speak again.

“Charlotte,” Ginny replied, edgily. “Her name is Charlotte. Please don’t call her that.”

Mallora nodded. “I am sorry, how long did you know Charlotte?”

“Four years,” Ginny replied. “She wasn’t from here, she was from America.”

“Why did she come here?” Mallora questioned.

“She wanted a better life,” Ginny answered. “She grew up in an orphanage. She said she had always read about England in books and she had dreamt of living here someday.”

“Did she have any enemies?” Draco asked, his tone softened.

“None that I know of,” Ginny replied.

“How old was she?” Mallora asked.

“Twenty-four,” she answered.

“Did she have a boyfriend?” Draco asked.

“No, she was single,” Ginny answered.

“Did you two share any relationship aside from a professional one?” Mallora asked.

“Yes, she was my best friend.” Ginny replied quietly.

What felt like a hundred questions later would still reveal nothing, and Ginny had a pounding headache. She could not believe that Charlotte was gone. They had not allowed Ginny to see her body and she while she thought it unfair, she was also grateful at the same time because seeing Charlotte without her spark meant that part of Ginny would die as well. A fresh batch of tears began to burn her eyes. Unable to hold them back any longer, Ginny let herself go and soon, her whole body racked with sobs and her knees buckled under her. Before she could fall to the ground however, a strong pair of hands had gotten a hold of her and held her up. She looked up and found that they belonged to Draco. As more tears spilled down her cheeks, she slipped her arms around him and buried her wet face in his chest. Never in a million years had she ever thought that she would have sought solace in the arms of this unlikely comforter, but at the moment she was most grateful for the strong pair of arms.

………..

Draco saw Ginny about to fall and upon instinct, he grabbed her before she could. He hadn’t anticipated on her looking at up at him with the saddest pair of eyes he ever seen. He had never known affection for another human being like she was showing for her deceased friend at the moment. Neither of his parents had shown him much affection in his lifetime aside from the occasional pat on the back when he did well or the cold glares when Lucius had been disappointed or upset with him. With Lucius gone, his mother had gotten a little bit better about showing her emotions, but it was still an awkward thing to do in the Malfoy household.

But her sadness would not be the only thing that would surprise him. The youngest Weasley had done the even more impossible, it seemed, by hugging him. Unsure of how to respond to this, Draco patted her on the back awkwardly with one hand. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Mallora shaking her head at him. She walked over, took Ginny into her arms, and whispered words of comfort to her.

“There you are,” came Molly Weasley’s voice as she apparated in with a pop. “Oh, sweetheart I’ve been waiting ages to see you but they wouldn’t let me in. I am so sorry”

Ginny ran into her mother’s arms. “Mommy,” she sobbed, “she’s gone.”

“I know, baby,” Molly said to her daughter.

“It’s so unfair. She never did anything to anyone and now she’s gone. I hate the bastard who did this to her,” Ginny said, angry now.

“They’ll get him, sweetie,” Molly said. “But in the meantime we want you to stay at the Borrow with us.”

Ginny nodded. “Thank you mom.”

………..

Draco watched the Weasley mother and daughter as they embraced each other. Draco, being unfamiliar with this sort of behaviour in his own life, usually found himself engrossed as he looked on at others from the outside. It was not that he longed for the feelings, but merely that he was curious about them, like one would be curious to try a new cuisine that was placed in front of oneself at the dinner table. His father’s death, while it saddened him, also made him question whether his sadness itself had any dept to it, when he compared it to that of others.

He watched them apparate out of the office, and then turned to Mallora. Draco was drawn to Harry’s temporary replacement for some unknown reason. She was not a perfect beauty. Her features were wide and mismatched, but somehow they made her attractive. Draco found her to be exotic looking. She had lovely shiny, dark hair. She seemed lonely somehow, and Draco believed that was what drew him to her. She was a mystery yet to be discovered and Draco loved a challenge. “Mallora,” he said, “have lunch with me?”

The woman smiled at him. “Sure.” She said. “Seeing as I need to eat, and that I don’t know anyone here, and that you probably would stalk me anyway if I said no,” she laughed as they apparated to a restaurant.

………..

He sat in the dark surrounded by the prison walls once again, but his craving was over. For now. He had watched the Weasley girl as she found her friend’s body, and the terror and the pain etched on her face from seeing her dead friend was enough to help him achieve the climax that he had not been able to when the other woman, Charlotte, had fainted. He was so tempted to go after her blood but she was not yet ripe for the picking. The young Weasley girl was special. He would kill her, but in due time. He knew that she would be his greatest conquest ever. He had special plans for her. He would tear her apart limb by limb. Just the thought of this made him hard. She had turned him on like no one ever had before.

5. Guilt

A/N: Thank you again for all your reviews. They are greatly appreciated. =) Keep on reading and I’ll keep on writing.

Chapter 5

Guilt

Ginny ran through the woods as fast as her feet would move her. She was severely scratched across the face and body by branches that had stood in her path. Her feet were blistered now, and she did not know how much longer she could keep this up. The beast was still behind her. She could hear it snarl. She knew that its fangs were poison and that if she were to be pierced just once by them, it would be fatal. She was crying now, her, body read to give up, but she knew she could not stop. She had to run until she died. She reached a large clearing, circular in shape, and in the middle of it stood a rock. She knew that she had to get to it as fast as she could. Getting closer to the rock, she noticed that it there was something sticking out of the middle of it. A sword. The rock was no ordinarily shaped rock either. It was in the shape of a human heart. She reached the rock now and pulled and tugged at the sword. Nothing happened. She started to panic, realizing that she had lost precious moments by stopping. The growling was growing closer now and she moved to run again, only she could not move her feet. She stared wildly around, first in the direction of the sound, and then at the rock. She realized that she was going to die.

The animal had finally reached the clearing, and had just stopped mere five feet away from Ginny. She breathing was hard and she knew that it smelt her fear. It looked like a hyena, only it was about 3 times larger and hundred times more hideous. She looked on in fear as the creature slowly began to morph into a human being. A dark ugly human with foul eyes.

“What do you want with me?” she asked him. He merely smiled with his rotting teeth, and licked his lips with his black tongue in answer. She looked over at the sword once more. The heart-shaped stone was now bleeding. She tugged on the blade again and this time she was able to remove it. She wielded the sword and pointed it and him.

“Why thank you,” he finally spoke.

“For what?” Ginny asked despite herself, confused as to why he would be thanking her for pointing a sword at him.

“For giving me my knife back,” he said as he effortlessly plucked it from her hands. “It’s been stuck in there for so long and now thanks to you, I have it again.”

She watched him with loathe as he licked the blade while staring at her with lustful eyes as he did so. “You are despicable,” she said to him.

He grinned a grin that bore only malice, with those ugly teeth of his. “Maybe so,” he replied to her. Then, he pulled her close to him and planted a kiss on her lips. “Sweet wasn’t it?” She wretched in answer and he laughed. Still holding onto her, he spun her around so that her back was now facing him, and he pulled her close. Placing his free hands on one of her breasts, he moved his hips in a circular motion against the back of her, rendering his swollen groin close to explosion.

Ginny winced in pain as he held on to her. His grip was hard, and her already tender breast was now sore and bruised as he gripped it to keep her in place. She could feel him, hard on the back of her as he moved in circles against her backside. She was grateful that at least her back was facing him, so that she would not have to see his horrible face or breathe his foul breath. He mumbled something in her ear about wanting to reciprocate what she did for him, and as she feared, he ripped off her panties. He wrapped his arm that held the sword around her to keep her in place and brought her down to the ground, so that she was now in a sitting position with her back to him, in between his spread legs. With his now free hand, he shoved an extremely large finger inside of Ginny so hard, that she cried out in pain. She winced as he moved his finger around her dry insides.

“Awww not happy are we?” he mocked her. “Well how about if I try this?”

He maneuvered his fingers so skillfully that Ginny had to curse her body for involuntarily succumbing to him. How could she even be turned on by this monster? Her mind was dead set against him that was for sure. Her body felt so disconnect from her brain at the moment that she wondered if it would betray her by taking the knife from the creature, and placing it into her own heart. Her thoughts were stopped short at the moment as she was hit by the most powerful orgasm that she had ever had in her life. She involuntarily screamed out and he smiled behind her.

He withdrew his hand from the Weasley woman at the peak of her orgasm, and he heard her groan she replaced her own hand so that she could continue where he had so untimely left off. He licked his fingers, tasting her. She tasted like nothing she had ever had before. He watched her as she moved her hand furiously inside of her, and then she went limp. He held her head back against his chest, and brought the knife against her neck, slicing her horizontally across the neckline. He let out a scream as his swollen penis exploded into the heights of passion.

………

Ginny woke up with a start. Her entire body was wet with sweat and she was trembling like a leaf. “It was just a dream,” she said as hugged herself, rocking her body back and forth. Or was it? She knew she could no longer stay at the Borrow, as for some unexplainable reason she felt as if her life was in danger. She knew that so far the victims were chosen at random, since none of them had any connection to each other, aside from the fact that they were all young and female. It was probably silly of her to think this way, but somehow she could not help it. Maybe it was the stress from Charlotte’s death earlier in the day or maybe it wasn’t, but just in case, she could not place the lives of her family in danger. A very pregnant Luna was staying at the Borrow as she was so close to having her baby, that Ginny knew that she could never forgive herself if anything had ever happened to any one of them. She remembered with clarity the monster in her dream; his foul breath, the way he made her skin crawl when he touched her. But the worst part was that her body had actually gone along with this vile creature. She kept on consoling herself that with the fact that it was only a dream but she felt the need to get clean anyway. She got off her bed, grabbed a towel and headed for the shower.

………

He stood in his quiet corner smiling to himself. He had managed to worm his way into her dreams and his biggest conquest yet, had been getting her body to surrender to him while her mind had been against it. This had been another carefully laid piece in the intricate puzzle he was designing, and he thirsted for the day it would all be put together and revenge would be his. For now though he would have to be patient.

………

“I’ll be okay mom, I can’t stay here forever you know,” Ginny told a worried Molly.

“One night is hardly forever, Gin and I am worried about you.” Molly replied.

“I know you are, and I would be too if I were you, but I think he’ll know better than to come back when he could so easily be caught this time. Life must go on and I can’t live my life in fear. Let me do this. Let me go home.” Ginny said, masking the doubt in her voice.

“Okay,” Molly said reluctantly, “but if you want to come back at any time, we’re always here for you.”

“I know mom, I know.” Ginny said as she hugged her. “Anyway I have to go finish making preparations for Charlotte’s funeral tomorrow. See you and love you.”

………

“She is finally with her family again, and I know that wherever she is, she is happy and she is loved.” Ginny finished her eulogy. She went over to Charlotte’s coffin. She had chosen to leave it closed, instead placing a picture of Charlotte smiling and waving on the top of it. The morticians had done a good job of casting a spell that made Charlotte’s face look human again, but Ginny wanted everyone’s last memory of her to be a happy, full of life one, hence the reason that she had chosen to leave it closed. She looked at the teary crowd, most of whom had known Charlotte. Some were close to her and some just mourned her because she had lost her life so young. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the head of silver-blonde hair, belonging to Draco Malfoy leaving the funeral. Excusing herself from the crowd that had gathered to hug her, she ran after him.

“Malfoy!” she yelled as soon as she was in hearing proximity of him. “Malfoy, wait up.” He stopped abruptly and she almost crashed into him.

“What do you want, Weasley?” he asked as he turned to face her.

“Well, currently, for you to stop looking at me as if I am some sort of insect would be nice,” she said sarcastically.

“I don’t have time for this,” he turned to walk away again.

“Wait,” she said stopping him in his tracks once again. “I want to help you.”

He looked amused. “Help me?” he asked. “How the bloody hell can you help me?”

“I want to help you find the killer,” she answered.

Draco laughed at her ludicrous suggestion. “And what do you propose,” he asked, “that we design our way to him?”

She huffed. “No you arrogant ass. What I propose is using me as bait. I mean he is after young women right and…”

“Yes,” he cut her off “and I really need Weasley and Potter on my tail when you’re dead right? Plus there is the small matter of you being a Weasley, and as much as I like doing charity work, I do not like it that much to ever entertain a Weasley, and one who talks too much at that.”

She sneered at him now. “Look,” she said, “I hate you just as much as you hate me, maybe even more so, but I need to catch this creep and nothing, and I mean nothing is going to stop me.”

“Then why not go bother Potter and his freaks? Why come to me?” he asked.

“Because they play by the rules too much. They would never let me in on anything.”

“And you think I would?” Draco asked in amusement. “Weasel, you have a better chance at getting information from a corpse.”

“Think about it,” she said completely ignoring his words, “you have the one thing that he’ll be looking for. Beside, two heads are better than one.”

“And the entire Auror division doesn’t have one young woman that they could use as bait right?” he asked sarcastically.

She bit her lip, “I hadn’t thought about that.”

“Clearly,” he replied.

“But don’t you want that vantage point too?” she recovered quickly.

“Look Weasley,” he began, “I know what you want and you don’t have to be embarrassed to admit it. I mean, when I saw you eyeing me the other day I though it was out of pure hatred, but now that I think back upon it, I may have been wrong. But, whatever you may feel, I just want to let you know up front that I can never date a Weasley. It’s bad for my image and all you see. So you might as well give up right now.”

“Why you obnoxious bastard,” Ginny began “I do not want you, nor have I ever wanted you. Just the thought of you makes my blood crawl, far less for wanting to touch you.”

“You should be so lucky,” he replied.

“To touch you?” she asked, changing her voice to a more seductive one as she inched closer to him, swaying her hips as she walked.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked.

“Chicken, Malfoy?” she asked.

“Do you see me moving?” he countered. “But as I told you, I am not interested. Now, please do not come any closer as I don’t want to risk getting any diseases you may have.”

“Then why don’t you move?” she asked.

“And let you win? Never,” he replied. She was dangerously close now and he could not help but notice just how pretty she was. Her long, red hair reached past her tiny waist. Her face was pale and glowing, a few remaining freckles from childhood spread across it. Her almond shaped eyes were a beautiful hazel colour and were surrounded by long, thick lashes. Her lips were pink and rosy. She may have been a Weasley but she was still a woman.

“Good,” she said, as her face was merely inches away from his now. He had always been beautiful as a child, and now he had grown into a beautiful man. His piercing grey eyes had been his most beautiful feature. As horrible as he was, even she had to admit that he could sweep almost any woman off her feet with his dashing good looks. What a waste of a good man, she thought to herself as she pulled her right hand into a fist and brought it straight up to his jaw, causing him to stagger backward. “Grow up,” she said to him as she turned to walk away.

………

Ginny cursed herself as she got to her flat. What was she thinking? She needed him to help her and now she had blown her chances. Or maybe all she needed to do was lower herself and apologise to the git. He was such an asshole that just the thought wanted to make her steer clear of him, but she needed him if only to catch the bastard so that she could feel safe again. She still had the card that he had given to her with his address on it, in her purse. She would go over there and grovel and hopefully he would give her another chance.

Ha, a Weasley groveling to a Malfoy. And one who is such a baby at that too. Who in the hell says things like, “do not come any closer as I don’t want to risk getting any diseases you may have,” in this day and age anyway? But if you want to get on his good side, you have to get a hold of yourself and suck it up, Weasley. You’re tough, you can do this. It can’t be worse than that time you had to sit in stinkweed for a whole hour just to get rid of those rare fleas that you had gotten from Dino. Though the stinkweed may have been a more pleasant experience. Okay, stand tall, chest out, you’re going to take him, and you’re going to make him realise that he needs you on the case. A Weasley never gives up. Ginny finished giving herself a pep talk, got some floo powder, threw it into the fireplace and said, “154 Crone Avenue.”

…………

Draco sat in his office with a bag of ice held against his left cheek. Weasley had packed a good punch and his jaw was killing him. Damn her, she was good. He could not believe that she had called him a baby. It was not as if she was acting any older, using her body as bait and then punching him in the face. And what a body it was too. She had great curves. Her upper body was a bit on the smaller side, B-cups he had guessed, but it made her all the more sexy. They looked like two perfect lawn tennis balls. He could just imagine…

*Roar*

Draco looked up, interrupted by the noise in his fireplace, when he found that the very body that he was having not so P.G. thoughts about, flooed into his fireplace.

“Lucky for you or should I say unlucky for me that I did not have a fire going in there,” he said. She immediately looked angered and he felt satisfied. He liked having that effect on her.

Control yourself Ginny, remember you want to get on his good side. “Hullo, Malfoy,” she said sweetly.

Draco arched an eyebrow. “Is that all I get? Hullo, Malfoy? Don’t tell me you plan on boring me to death?”

Ginny traced the tip of her shoe along his tiled floor while carefully thinking up her next line. “Umm, I just came to apologise for the way I acted earlier,” she said reluctantly.

“You came all the way over here just to apologise to me. Yeah right, Weasley, what do you really want?”

“Why would you assume I want something, Malfoy?” she asked nonchalantly.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you are suddenly being nice to me?” Draco replied.

“Fine,” she said. “I will tell you but you have to hear me out before you say no.”

Draco smirked, he loved being right. “Shoot,” he said. “Finish telling me why you so desperately want to work with me.”

“Because, Malfoy, Charlotte was my best friend and I loved her dearly. Because I am scared for my own life and I will never feel safe again until he is in Azkaban where he belongs. And most of all, because I deserve to be punished for my guilt and this is the best way I can think to make it up to her,” she finished.

Draco’s curiosity was peaked now. “Your guilt?” he asked.

“Yes,” she sighed wearily. “I deserve to be punished because I was glad that it was not me who died. I mean I hate that Charlotte died, but at the same time I was so relieved that I was not there at the time. And it kills me that I am so selfish.” She bowed her in shame.

“Hmm,” Draco said thoughtfully. “Can’t say that I’ve ever that feeling myself.”

Ginny looked at Draco, shocked at how uncaring he could be. But then she remembered who his family was and this brought her back to her senses. Why would he even care about helping me? I am wasting my time here.

“Fine,” Draco said. “You can help me but make sure that you stay out of my way of all times.”

Ginny blinked, unable to believed what she heard. “Did you just agree to my help?” she asked, just to make sure she had heard correctly.

“Yes, Weasley,” he said as if he was speaking to a five year old, “I said yes. And if you would get that idiotic look off your face, allow me to explain. You see, one of my greatest aims in life is to piss off Potter, and now I can kill two birds with one stone by pissing off both Potter and that ugly brother of yours.”

“Nice to know that your life ambitions are so great,” Ginny replied sarcastically.

“Plus,” he said ignoring her, “there are the added benefits of what you can give me.”

Ginny looked disgusted. “I thought Weasleys weren’t good enough for you,” she stated.

“But you are a woman first and foremost and I have needs that need to be fulfilled. Never let it be said that a Malfoy never gave to charity,” he replied as he moved closer.

Ginny backed away. “Sorry to bust your bubble, Malfoy but there will be no fulfilling of your needs. Not now, not ever. See, maybe the sluts you sleep with are into one night stands, but I prefer being in a relationship where love is actually involved before I hop into bed with someone. Something that you obviously know nothing about.” To Ginny’s immense surprise, he nodded and backed away, going behind his desk, quietly to work.