Green with Envy
"Ginny, it's almost time for you to walk down the isle!" Her mum said, opening the door to the room in the Manor they had designed for she and her three bridesmaids.
Her chest was heaving up and down as she looked in the mirror, she could just leave now, right? No one would notice she was missing. After all that time of planning, she still didn't feel ready to go out and do this. She had seen the set up before and it was all beautiful and so was this dress she had picked out, but she still couldn't go out there. The dress itself was beautiful; it was long and white, and strapless. That man that would be standing across form her, her Husband-to-be, looking up at him and saying those two words that would bind them, would probably be the hardest thing she ever had to do.
Even when they had taken a few pictures together, for their invitations and for magazines to advertise it, Draco was still uncaring. It hurt her, but she couldn't understand why. "Gin, it's time." Her mother said, walking into the room and coming to stand by her. "One last look over," she handed Ginny her bouquet of lavender flowers. "You look beautiful, however, just to assure you." She told her daughter, kissing her softly on the cheek. "Are you ready?"
"As I'll ever be," Ginny said with a soft smile, so thankful to have her mother here with her. She had give Ginny a talk before they arrived at the Malfoy house which made her feel a bit better at the time, but her jitters were starting again as the hours turned to minutes and minutes to seconds.
"Remember, we all love you."
"I know mum, thank you." She said before her mom nodded and left the room to take her place next to her own husband.
Ginny took one last deep breath, pushing her hair to the side before she too exited the room and walked to the back of the manor, where she was to walk outside and down the isle. "No turning back, now." She said to herself before pulling the veil over her face, closing her eyes as she heard the piano begin to play. Arthur came up and stepped beside her, placing her hand in the crook of his arm. She had an odd feeling in her stomach as she took her first step, flower petals on the ground that had been placed their by Bill and Fleur's second born, Amelia.
Looking through the veil, Ginny felt as if the altar was miles away and with each step that feeling in her stomach kept going stronger. She couldn't even bring herself to look at her family and friends as she walked down the isle. Not to her surprise hardly anyone was there for Draco. Just his parents and some of his past Slytherin friends. The isle looked long, but Ginny was soon at the altar, her father released her hand from his arm, lifting her veil up a bit to kiss her on the cheek before going to sit by her mother.
Ginny was sort of in a completely different zone, she said what she was supposed to and Draco did the same, his voice remaining emotionless. It was the only thing keeping her to remember that she was standing in front of a crowd, getting married, along with the bouquet of flowers she held in her hand, Draco's around hers. His hand was so soft against hers, not rough like Charlie's or Bill's or any of her brothers for that matter, the spoiled brute had probably never worked hard in his life.
Draco took her left hand in his, "With this ring, I thee wed," she heard Draco say as he slid the ring on her finger, ever so smoothly. She could see her hand shaking a little, this was her first time looking at the ring. It had a silver band with a large, clear, oval diamond in the middle and six smaller green ones, three on each side. It was beautiful. And even from where she stood it sparkled in the light.
After her ring was on she gave her bouquet of flowers to Hermione behind her and held Draco's large hand in her small one, "With this ring, I thee wed," she repeated before sliding the ring on his finger. It was just a plain silver band, but Narcissa insisted that she get their names engraved on the inside. She didn't bother telling Draco this, but she highly doubted he would wear the ring anyway.
"I now pronounce you, husband and wife, you may now kiss the bride."
Ginny's breath caught in her throat as she felt her veil being lifted from her face and placed behind her head. Looking into Draco's eyes, she saw something unusual; it seemed as if he didn't expect her to look like this. Well, granted she didn't do her make-up like this everyday and this was a special occasion. If she saw correctly, there was a faint smile on his lips but she couldn't be sure as he was leaning forward ever so slowly, to her. She moved her head forward also, licking her lips quickly before closing her eyes as his lips landed on hers.
The kiss was so soft and gentle, and she felt as if she were going to melt as he pushed his tongue past her lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing his face closer. Now she could understand a little why girls swooned at the thought of him snogging them senseless. A slight smile overcame her features at the thought; no other girl would have the chance now, right? At least not for a while. Hell, if this was what kissing Draco Malfoy was like, she didn't want it to ever stop.
But it had to. Draco pulled back from the kiss, the sound of everyone clapping finally reaching their ears. She wasn't sure what he was feeling, but if the smile on his face indicated anything, he was feeling sort of the same as her.
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It seemed like hours before Ginny was away from the wedding, sitting in a soft chair at one of the Malfoy's cabins. She nervously bit her bottom lip, wondering just when Draco was going to apparate over. She played with her dress which she was growing more and more uncomfortable in by the second. She leaned her head back over the arm of the couch and closed her eyes for a few minutes, only opening them when she heard the sound of someone apparating in.
She sat up straight on the couch, swinging her legs onto the floor and looking up into the eyes of her husband. It was an odd thing to be saying, but there was no turning back now. Well, legally anyway. His silver tie was hanging loosely from his neck, his jacket lying on the back of a chair. They sat in silence, looking at one another. She had no clue what he was thinking, but felt as if he were reading her very thoughts.
She blinked a few times and broke the eye contact, standing up, "Where are the rooms at?" It was a dull question, but she didn't know what else to ask or even say to the man.
"Down that hall and to the left," he replied, nodding his head in the direction towards the he hall near the kitchen. "Clothes for the weekend have already been brought here."
Ginny nodded her head and started to walk towards the hall, pausing half way there to turn around and speak again, "Look…let's not make this anymore weird than it already is. We don't even have to act like we're married besides in public."
Draco arched an eyebrow at the way she was speaking to him. It was nearly humorous, "That, I know. Dinner is at six, some fancy restaurant near by that my mum wants us to try out."
And that's how it went. Their honeymoon weekend seemed to pass by so slowly. They barely spoke, even if he was there most of the time. His father made sure that he wasn't at work to make him look like a careless husband who would leave his honeymoon with the one he loved, for work. Ginny didn't think he actually would, but he did. Which let her know early on you can never expect anything from Draco. If you don't think he'll do something sometimes he might actually shock you and do it. Other times, however if she asked something of him he might possibly completely ignore the fact that she was talking.
The following Monday morning they were apparating to the manor, her new home. Ginny and Draco would have the entire West Wing to themselves. Not that it mattered really, they had two separate rooms and nothing about them showed that they were married aside from the bands on their fingers.
Most of the days of her first week there were filled with exploring the manner. So many rooms, half of them locked and other just guest rooms and a rather large library of books which was where she could nearly always be found. It was on a boring Thursday afternoon that Ginny sat in the library, looking for a new book to begin when she heard the sound of someone clearing their throat.
Turning around she saw that it was Ron and a large grin spread over her face. She immediately jumped down the last four steps of the ladder that she had been on and ran to hug him. It had only been a week and a half since she saw him, but it still felt like forever to her. "What are you doing here?" She asked, pulling away from the hug.
"Hmm, right then I'll just be on my way," he said, turning to leave.
Ginny frowned and punched her brother in the shoulder, "Don't leave me, Ron, I'm dreadfully bored in here. I've read so many books that I believe I could go against Hermione in a game or something."
Ron chuckled softly, smiling down at his younger sister. "That boring here?"
She just nodded her head, "I never expected you to actually step foot inside the Malfoy Manor after the wedding, this Is really nice of you. Merlin knows I need someone to talk to."
"I came on behalf of the entire family. We were sure Narcissa and Lucius," the words coming from his mouth sounded so foreign, and as if he had to strain hard to even say them. "Wouldn't be overjoyed at the entire clan showing up at their doorstep."
"No, but I would be. How is everyone?"
"The same as we were two weeks ago. Besides that Charlie has some new bird that he can't seem to stop talking about and Fred and George are being more weird than usual," he shrugged his shoulders, with his twin brothers you couldn't really get any more strange than that.
"Tell them I miss them."
"I will, but they already know it." He brushed a few strands of hair out of her face, walking around the Library with his hands in his pockets. "How is he?"
"Who, Malfoy?" Ron shook his head, yes. "I don't know, I don't see him much. He's always at work and we don't even sleep in the same room, which I'm sure the others will be ecstatic about when you tell them. I don't even feel married, Ron." She said, feeling a few tears coming up to her eyes.
"Isn't that a good thing though?" He asked, trying to hide the smile trying to creep up to his face, knowing that the evil Ferret wasn't bedding his only sister.
She shrugged her shoulders lightly, blinking back the tears. "I suppose but…is all marriage like this? Work and loneliness? The only thing keeping me alive is this library and my job but I barely go into the office anymore. They have given me an entire study with a beautiful desk that I can write at and everything is so…great besides my husband." She sighed, leaning on a table and crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"Don't worry about it Gin," he said, walking towards her and placing a brotherly kiss on her forehead. It was something she wasn't very used to from Ron, but she liked it. It was comforting; it made her miss home even more. "You know all you have to do is floo us and we'll be over here to beat him into a pulp if he mistreats you in anyway."
"Thank you, Ron. You really don't know how much it means to me. You stopping by here," she told him with a smile on her face, reaching out to hug him.
"No problem, someone else will be around in a few weeks, I'm sure. I've got to leave now, though and Narcissa asked if you'd meet her out on the terrace for tea after we finished talking." Ron said before laughing, "Never thought I'd be saying that in my life. Well, owl if you need anything," he said as his final goodbye, she gave him a kiss on the cheek before he was on his way out of the library.
Ginny wondered just what Narcissa could want with her, they had only talked occasionally when Ginny would ask about the rooms or why she really couldn't cook dinner. They were so used to having House Elves cook that if Ginny were to cook anything her mum taught her how they'd probably die. Thinking it wasn't sanitary or something of the like. Walking out onto the terrace Ginny saw Narcissa sitting at a table that now had a large umbrella up and shading them from the sun.
"Good afternoon," Ginny said, taking a seat across from her. Ginny noted that she was looking a bit pale but said nothing of it, perhaps it was the weather and hell, all the Malfoy's were extremely pale.
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, Narcissa looking off into her gardens and Ginny tapped her finger lightly on the table, wondering if her mother-in-law was ever going to talk.
"You're not happy here, are you?"
The question was a little absurd, but rightfully asked. Ginny lifted her gaze up to Narcissa from the table, "No I can honestly say that I'm not…"
Narcissa nodded her head, as if she fully understood what Ginny was feeling, which she might have. Lucius didn't come off as the most loving man in the entire world. "What would make you happier, Ginevera? What would make you enjoy your life as a Malfoy?"
Ginny softly bit her bottom lip, really contemplating the idea; well she had always wanted to do something good for the Wizarding community. "I've had an idea for something for quite a bit, that could also help the Malfoy name get in good with the Ministry," she said, smiling softly.
"What is it?" Narcissa asked, sounding quite interested.
"An orphanage," Ginny replied, "for children that lost the parents in the wars or anything. I really enjoy working with kids, it's something I always wanted."
Narcissa had a look on her face which clearly said that she was thinking over it. "You shouldn't keep a thought like this from Lucius and I, perhaps you could even talk to Draco about these things, it could help the two of you."
Ginny only shrugged her shoulders; did she want to help herself and Draco? Perhaps, but he wasn't bothering her, nor she him…she didn't want to muck that all up and have them back at each others throats like they were in school.
When she said nothing Narcissa sighed and slowly stood up from the table, "Well I will give the idea to Lucius and I'm sure he will comply, so be ready to look for a building or some land within a few days time."
Ginny nodded her head as she too stood up from her chair, "Alright, thank you Narcissa."
"It's no problem, dear." She smiled and nodded her head before turning around and walking out towards her gardens.
Ginny herself turned and started to walk back into the Manor, a slight smile on her face. At least she was getting something accomplished that she had wanted to, her only next mission was to work on her marriage. Who knew the trouble that could bring?
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Sorry for the delay, loves! School sucks, you all probably know this though. Honors classes are getting to me and laziness too. Anyhoo, I hope you all like this chapter, the next one will have more to do with the Challenge piece that I took up. Please don't forget to review and tell me what you think! I think I get sad that I don't get many reviews and I'm not motivated to right, however pathetic that may sound, tis true. A big thank you to those that did review last time! And I do try and write back to all of them, if I can.