Unofficial Portkey Archive

A Backwards Fairytale

Chapter 3: Knight In Shining Armor

Disclaimer: None of the names/places/situation/quotes that you may recognize are mine, but are more than likely JK Rowling's, so just assume that that's the case unless I tell you otherwise. Actually, you're smart people, you'll know.

Summary: Fairytales are supposed to be lovely stories told to children at bedtime, where handsome, valiant knights rescue their damsels in distress. For Ginny Weasley, her fairytale life ended up a twisted, even backwards version of that - so backwards that it may not end how she wants it to. And with Draco Malfoy attempting to be a knight in shining armor, who rescues her from the perfect life she'd always wanted and takes her to a life more properly found in her nightmares, how could it? But we all know that any good fairytale starts with a fiery redhead and an angry ferret.

A/N: This is one of those chapters that I was just waiting to write! I'm so excited about it because everything really comes together here - not to mention that I get to write the first Draco and Ginny scene in this chapter. Don't expect anything but an in-character Draco and Ginny, though. I hope you'll find this entertaining and sometimes funny because I laughed a lot writing it.

Chapter Three: Knight In Shining Armor

Hello there, the angel from my nightmare

-- "I Miss You" by Blink 182

Draco had paced back and forth across the solid wooden floor of one of the manor's many studies all evening long. After learning that his first two options were no longer options, he hadn't gone to retrieve Weasley right away - instead he had come home to do some further thinking.

`Surely there has to be someone else I overlooked - another Slytherin in my year, perhaps even a Ravenclaw?' Draco had gone through the list of classmates he could remember from his Hogwarts days and continually came up blank. Without his father's power, it's not as though he could bully anyone into accepting his arrangement - if they weren't willing, he was out of luck. And any of the girls he could come up with weren't going to come willingly. Cho Chang was married and had two kids already with that prat Michael Corner. Millicent Bullstrode sat clearly on the other side of the fence and therefore would surely refuse his offer and would probably be able to deck him if he tried persuasion. No one else was even coming to mind.

The blond heaved a great sigh of defeat and sat down in the overstuffed chair by the fireplace. Now, how was he going to ask her in a way that would ensure she wasn't going to completely go nutters? Sure, he didn't mind so much if he drove her nutters, but trying to travel with her via broomstick would not be a lot of fun while she was in that state.

"Well, it's not like I'm going to do it properly," Draco admitted to himself. He didn't have a ring, and even if he did, there's no way he'd want that Weasley filth wearing it about. She'd probably try to pawn it off for grocery galleons anyhow.

Picturing himself asking the copper-headed Weaselette to marry him, made him both chuckle at its ridiculousness and grow nauseated. It would be quite a show though to see what she would say. Maybe she would jump at the chance to be rich and famous for a few months - own something a little less ratty and eat something a little more suitable.

Oh how she was going to have to change!

At best she would have to lose ten pounds or so, he imagined. And of course there would have to be some sort of charms work employed to take care of the rat's nest she called hair. He could remember her from his school days, though not vividly. He spent less time examining her as marriage material and more time trying to upset her - had he known that it would come down to this, maybe he would have - no, he wouldn't have.

"Ariel!" Draco bellowed across the expanse of the manor.

Before he could count to five, he had his little house elf, Ariel at his service.

"What can Ariel do for Young Master Malfoy?" the small creature asked, holding her head high, but shaking slightly.

"I need you to simply stand there as I ask you what to marry me," Draco said, getting a very confused look from his hired help. "I'm getting engaged Ariel and I need to know how a girl would respond to such questions."

"Well, sir, Ariel is sure that whomever Master Draco chooses to ask will say yes," she said warily, unsure if this was a trick.

"Cut the flattery, elf. I need an honest opinion if I want to end up getting married," Draco said sternly, getting up and beginning his pacing again, leaving out the part that he did not want to get married even a little bit.

"Master Draco is not trying to trick Ariel?" the young house elf asked, excitedly. "Ariel congratulates you, sir!"

"Save it. Congratulations are the last thing I want right now, just hold still there and tell me which to use." Draco commanded, pointing to a spot in the corner of the room, ten feet or so away from him.

"Yes, sir," Ariel scampered off to the corner, where she stood, batting her eyelashes at her Master.

`Creepy,' Draco thought. The last thing he needed on top of a Weasley was a love-struck house elf. He took one final breath before turning to face the elf, envisioning her to look more like what he imagined the Weasley would. Of course, the instant he did this, he became sick and instead imagined Blaise Zabini - a lot less revolting. He'd probably have to do this during the real thing to, he imagined.

"I need a wife and you'll do. What do you say?" he asked hopefully, smiling slightly, trying to give off a friendly vibe. As he had never really smiled before, this gesture was a lot less becoming on him and a great deal disturbing.

For lack of a better description of how she had felt upon this proposal (she guessed that's what it was supposed to be?), Ariel involuntarily cringed. Realizing that this would probably not please her Master, she simply said, "Master should work on this and call Ariel back when he is ready."

"First of all, Ariel, the facial expressions are highly unnecessary and a tad offensive. Second of all, I am ready, but it's not like I've done this before! It will take some practice - that's why I called you up here," Draco said, deadly calm. Never before had anyone cringed at him - and he wasn't about to let that pattern start with a worthless house elf and end with a Weasley. "Okay, so I admit that approach was not exactly handled delicately, I'll try again."

Again, he paced a few times before going on.

"Listen, since I'm fairly certain you have nothing better to do with your life, I figured why not get engaged to me? It'll take some work - but I'm sure we can fix you up right as rain," Draco said again, not smiling this time, but settling on an expression of bored indifference.

Ariel had to fight extremely hard to stop from cringing. In the end, she managed to keep her face straight as she offered her criticism.

"Perhaps Master should say things differently."

"How so?" Draco asked, bewildered. He had thought that apart from the admittedly alarming `smile' he had attempted during the first go-round, he had been doing well. It was short, simple, honest (which was rare coming from his mouth) and it got his point across.

"There is a stronger possibility that the girl will be overjoyed to Master Draco if Master Draco would be romantic?" Ariel suggested, shrugging her shoulder.

"I really don't see that happening," Draco said flatly.

The look Ariel was giving him was not at all pleasing, but he knew she was right. Maybe he should try and be more civil. "Fine."

Ariel stood straight in her place, waiting for Draco to try once more.

"Your hair is really different (though not quite unique as your whole family has the same putrid shade) and so is mine. Let's get together and produce a different-color-haired offspring to take the Malfoy name when I die. And let's also hope that his "different-colored hair" errs more on the side of Malfoy blonde than Weasel orange," Draco said eloquently.

"That is not quite what Ariel is thinking when Ariel suggests to Master Draco to use more romance," Ariel said quietly, still astonished by her master's lack of romance. For all the girls he brought home, she had been expecting something a little more than that.

"I don't do romance," Draco stated simply, getting very irritated with his lack of skill in asking/forcing girls to marry him and eve more irritated at his house elf's obvious inability to lie through her teeth. "How's this?"

Ariel braced herself for the last time.

"You will marry me, or you will die a slow and painful death."

Draco smirked at his house elf, wondering what kind of "pointers" she would be giving him on that. One glance at Ariel told him exactly what he needed to know as she was cowering in the corner, visibly shaken up by his bluntness.

"Ariel believes the Miss will surely not say no."

* * *

After fifteen minutes of straightening up Harry's flat, Ginny figured she'd done enough for one night. As she grabbed her light cloak, she looked out the large window in the living room. It was still late evening and the sky was nearing the blackness of nighttime but still held the orange tint of the crisp afternoon. The sun had sunk just below the city visible from the window and it looked like a still night, so Ginny decided that she could walk the six blocks to her own flat instead of Apparating - it would give her time to think, at least.

As she walked out the door, she felt the cool air of October surrounding her. Ginny locked Harry's flat up with the simple spell he always used and began her walk home. She noticed that many kids were still out on the streets, most of them were young children, as Hogwarts was in session once more. Many of them were being closely watched by a parent, but one little six-year-old girl with dark brown hair and eager eyes, had obviously stolen a wand from one of her parents, and was running around trying to come up with spells that made the little boys fall in love with her. Not that any of them were successful - probably because, one - they weren't real spells, and two - the boys were literally running away from her.

This sight made Ginny giggle as she thought of having her own children one day. She wanted a little girl so badly. After spending her childhood with six older brothers, she knew what a handful that boys could be, and she wanted that sweet serenity that came with a little girl. More than anything, Ginny wanted a little girl who would tell her all her secrets, who would let her dress her up and do her hair, and who she could just sit and cuddle with. As she turned down the alley that would lead right up to her house, she wondered what Harry wanted - girls or boys. Probably a boy to pass his name on to, she decided.

Shocked, Ginny wondered how she could even think about children with Harry when he hadn't even proposed to her yet. He had all but promised a future together, though. As consoling a thought as that was, she still found it eerie to picture kids with a man she wasn't even engaged to. But, when she thought about it, they would be beautiful kids. The boys would be miniature Harrys (without the telltale scar), running wild, playing Quidditch with the flawless looks of a Potter. The girls would hopefully have the same black hair and green eyes. She had never cared for her own generic red hair and brown eyes that told the world of her Weasley heritage - it leaves no mystery, only room for assumptions.

The wind was rustling the red, orange, yellow and brown leaves and sending them into a frenzy of colorful whirlwinds. Fall was Ginny's favorite season, there was so much beautiful color, color that enhanced her natural features and kept her red hair from standing out. It was almost completely dark outside by the time that the redhead reached the end of the alley, so when she felt someone grasp her arm, she was shaken up. At first, when she whirled around, she couldn't tell who it was that wanted her attention bad enough to grip her so hard, but the moment that he backed her into the wall and leaned in, she could tell his identity right away by the aristocratic features that were outlined in the dim moonlight.

"Malfoy?" Ginny asked, more shocked than anything. After their one encounter in the forest, he had never spoken to her again unless he was taunting her. His graduation day was the last day that she'd ever seen him.

"Dangerous for such a young Weasel to be out walking so late at night, wouldn't you say?" Draco asked, the taunting edge in his voice evident in the crisp night air.

"It's not that late," Ginny stuttered, still shocked by his arrival. His motions had gone so undetected by her that it had unnerved her.

"Past your bed time, Weaslette," Draco shot back. He was being overly nasty of course; she did look much older than he remembered her being at school. Last time he had seen her, she had been a young girl of sixteen, today she looked the nineteen years she was.

"I don't have a bedtime, Malfoy. I think I'm a little old for things of that nature," Ginny retorted.

"I never would have guessed. You weren't at a boy's house were you, Weasley? Because I don't think your parents would be pleased with their baby at a boy's house without supervision - especially after dark," Malfoy taunted, carping her youthful look.

"I was at a boy's house actually. Not that it's any of your business where I've been. I am not a child anymore, Malfoy and I don't expect to be treated like one," Ginny said, her temper growing short.

"If you insist, Weasel," Draco said, sounding unconvinced.

"Why are you here?" Ginny demanded a little more forcefully than she had intended to. She only hoped that she wouldn't have to pay the price for what she'd said. Luckily, Malfoy seemed unfazed.

"You see, Weasley, something has come up that demands my full attention. I would do it on my own if I could, but as it turns out, that's not quite possible. I've gone to every other option I have, but it seems that they all have lives to live and can't be bothered by my problems. The only person my mind keeps coming back to appears to be you," Draco said, loosening the grip on her arms now that he had gained her full attention.

"I don't really understand. Why do you need me to help you?" Ginny questioned, "And how do you know that I don't have a life, as well?"

"Well, actually, I don't know that - but that makes no difference to me because time is running short and you owe me. A wizard's debt is unbreakable, is it not?" Draco smirked.

Ginny looked absolutely horrified at the thought of actually having to repay that debt to him. She had never thought he would actually want her to pay him back, seeing as he was always so stubborn about not needing any Weasleys helping him out. But now, he had come for her and Ginny was terrified as to what this could mean. All she could do was nod her head.

"I know that this will sound rash and extremely uncharacteristic for me as a Malfoy, but as I've already told you, time is running out," Draco explained.

"What is it?" Ginny asked, holding her chin up, hoping desperately that it wasn't that bad, even though she knew that he could ask her to do anything in the world and she would have to do it.

"I need a fiancé," Draco said bluntly, searching her face for only a brief moment before seeing the revolted look on her face. He poked her forcefully on her left arm, causing her to wince. "I believe there's a Muggle game called tag, in which one person runs around like a chicken with their head cut off until they can catch someone slower than themselves. It seems that everyone else I've asked is much faster than I am - but you are slow and unprepared… therefore I am forced to say it, but - you're it."

"I can't possibly," Ginny said, disgusted at him. What kind of man was so desperate for a woman to marry that he would have to force her to marry him? You'd think that at least one person would be shallow enough to go for his money - but no, now she was stuck with him.

"Do you have a husband? A fiancé? A life-partner, perhaps? A chronic illness?" Draco asked, knowing the answer to all of these questions already, having surveyed her hands and knowing that he could easily find out if she had any sort of illnesses that couldn't be cured.

"Well, n-no, not exactly," Ginny stuttered, becoming more and more fearful of her obligations.

"Then I believe that you must do what I ask of you, Weasley," Draco sneered, looking down on her. "I, more than anyone, am aware of how rash and uncultured this request is and just thinking of being married to you sends shivers up my spine. But luckily for both of us, we only have to be engaged for the time being, not married. So in a few months you can go back to your pitiful life with your over-populated family and we will no longer have any reason to be together."

"I- I can't," was Ginny's only reply. She began looking at her shoes, not able to look this hideous man in the eye. If only she had stayed at Harry's, or allowed him to walk her home… But then, it probably would have happened another time.

"You can and you will. I'm giving you twenty four hours to be back here in this very alleyway with one small bag - you shouldn't need much. I will be here to meet you and we will make the journey to Malfoy Manor where you will live for a short time. Tell your family what you like but there is to be a constricted flow of communication so don't expect too much," Draco said snottily as he released her entirely and backed away as if to say that he would leave her for now, "And Weasley? If that mouth of yours goes off spouting this information to anyone, you won't be seeing your family again. Got it?"

He didn't stick around for the answer.

Stunned, Ginny stared at the brick wall across from her in the alley, determined not to cry. What was going to happen now? She couldn't possibly leave Harry without an explanation after the talk they had just had about getting married and starting a family. This was all too sudden. But then, there was nothing she could do about now, was there? If only she had not followed Harry, Ron and Hermione into the Forest three years ago…then she would never have had to deal with Malfoy.

Defenseless, Ginny slid down the wall to her knees and began to sob.

* * *

As Draco Apparated back to his small cottage on the edge of the Malfoy property, he thought about the terrible decision he had just been forced to make… disownment and likely death vs. being engaged to a Weasley. It was a close call but in the end he had to go with Weasley - even if it almost killed him. It helped the situation immensely that they would be engaged only in theory and a wedding would not actually have to happen for the deal to be sealed.

Hopefully, Lucius would fall for the plan; if not - both him and Weasley were inevitably doomed to death. Any major offense on Draco's part could evoke terrible or even fatal consequences at this crucial point in Lucius' life.

He would just have to be sure that their plan stayed a secret. And he knew just how to do it.

* * *

So that's the end of the third chapter! Soon these updates are going to slow down so take your take reading it - it'll probably be a week at least before I update again! Reviews anyone?

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