Ginny Weasley: Maid in Malfoy Manor

Ginny Weasley: Maid in Malfoy Manor

Chapter Five: The Unexpected Task

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"Ginny, after you're done with the dishes, you can move on to mopping the floor clean," Mary Dale said, walking around the spacious kitchen, inspecting the maids' work as she went. "I want to see it completely spotless when I come back to examine what you have done."

Natalie, who was furiously scrubbing dirty pans clean on the other sink and was standing just behind lecturing Mary, visibly rolled her eyes. Ginny fought down the laugh that was threatening to come up.

"This morning when I went down just before dawn, I could swear I saw some filthy mouse scurrying from the pantry!" she exclaimed as if it was such a tragic factor. "We can't let those foul creatures invade our kitchen!"

Yes, we can't let foul creatures run around the house, Ginny sardonically thought, finishing up the dishes and moving onwards to get the mop, Especially when equally foul monsters live in it. They might convene and live happily ever after. Then where would we be?

It pleased Ginny to realize that her second day was clearly brighter than her disastrous first day on working as a maid in Malfoy Manor. In Ginny's opinion, it was entirely just because of one simple reason. She didn't get to meet any member of the Malfoy family that day because Lucius and Draco were out in town and didn't came back until later that night, and since Narcissa was home alone, she requested her food to be delivered into her own room.

Things were definitely looking up.

"I'm going to leave for a moment," Mary announced, taking off her apron and hanging it on the rack. "Master Draco and I just have something to talk about, I'll be back in a few minutes. I trust that you three will behave especially now that Matilda had retired earlier than usual because of her headache. I hope that you will also be finished with all your chores when I return!"

She finally left, striding through the kitchen doors with an air of strict aptitude, as if going to meet and talk to 'Master Draco' was one of the most important things that she had the honor of doing in her entire life.

Ginny once again fought down a chuckle, but then let it out once Mary was in a safe distance.

"What an uptight lady!" Ginny exclaimed, finally feeling as if she was free to do and say anything that she wanted.

"Tell me about it!" Emma replied enthusiastically, rubbing the tarnished sink in a vain attempt to restore its natural whiteness. Ginny didn't know where Emma got all her energy and eagerness to serve such conceited people, do such draining work and still be contented and joyful most of the time. Too much endorphin, she guessed.

"This is stupid!" Natalie suddenly cried out, dropping the still dirty pans that she was irately scrubbing just a few minutes ago. She went over to Emma's sink and snatched the brush that she was holding out of her grasp. She did the same with Ginny's mop.

"Natalie, what are you doing?" Ginny asked, quite surprised by her sudden outburst. "Mary might be back any second!"

"I don't care!" Natalie snapped. "These muggle...ways are ridiculous! Why can't they let us use our wands in cleaning the kitchen! If they did so, we'll be finished in a second! The room will be spotless and we wouldn't suffer like this! A simple spell could turn this run-down vicinity into a grand plush suite!"

"Well," Emma answered meekly. "What about the curses that Mary was talking about? She did have a point about the wands being used for..."

"Emma, don't tell me you're on their side!" Natalie exclaimed. "You have no idea what's really going on in here. Keep your mouth closed when you have nothing remotely intelligent to say."

Emma noticeably cringed, backing away into the shadows. Ginny could have sworn that she saw mists of tears forming in her eyes.

"Natalie, that wasn't very nice!" Ginny said, trying to stay on the neutral side as possible. It was just her second day at work and making enemies was not on her day's agenda.

"So?" Natalie retorted. "What did you expect? I'm not going to act as if things here are amenable and fair! We are also wizards, and we have every right to use magic if they're going to be for the better. Five months I had put up with these injudicious rules, but it's just too much! I did not spend four years studying in Hogwarts just to be forbidden to practice what I've learned. Why do they do this to us?"

"Because they're heartless spoiled parasites, that's what they are," Ginny remarked. "They act as if they're better than us. More powerful, more worthy, just because they're purebloods. I am too! But still they have money so they think that we're beneath them."

"Here we go again, the pure-blood, half-blood issue," Natalie sighed.

"I bet if Harry Potter's still here, he could kick Draco's arse out the window," Emma said.

"Emma, would you stop that?" Natalie cringed. "We do not speak of the dead! He may be The Boy Who Lived, but not anymore."

But then, Emma was right. If Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived was still there, these things wouldn't have happened.

The Boy Who Lived...

Ginny felt as if she was transported back to that tragic moment.

Was it still sensible to call the legendary Harry Potter that infamous title?

Because it was quite the precise contrary of what had happened, and the exact opposite of what all the wizards thought will. Harry Potter died, and even though Voldemort's status was still unknown, that did not erase the fact that he was still laying ten feet under the ground at that very moment.

"Ginny, are you alright?" Emma asked, his eyes portraying genuine concern. "You kinda spaced out."

"Sorry, I'm just thinking about... I was just thinking," she answered.

"Oh, please!" Natalie exclaimed. "Cut the sentimental crap before I puke all over the newly mopped floor. Get to work before Virgin Mary comes back."

"Gee, Natalie," Emma innocently said. "I wonder who distracted us from our work in the first place."

"Who asked you?" Natalie snapped, pushing past Ginny on her way to the stairs, leading on to the maid's quarters. A second later, she disappeared from sight.

"What's with her?" Ginny inquired, looking over to Emma--who was finishing her chores--with a bewildered expression.

"Oh, she's always like that," she answered. "In my opinion, she needs some man in her life, if you know what I mean."

***

"Ginny, may I speak with you for a minute?"

It was a few minutes after Natalie stormed out of the kitchen, into the maid's quarters, and just as Emma was finishing with her insufferable task, she heard Mary enter the kitchen with an unusual grim expression and approached Ginny inviting her to talk.

She heard a slight chatter, but just as Emma was starting to get bored with her unintentional eavesdropping, Ginny let out this rather blaring holler, and she too thundered up to their room, leaving her and Mary to just look at each other, Emma with confusion and curiosity and Mary with gloom and disbelief.

Emma looked away, out of fear that Mary would notice that she was prying around. She did so, but not before she had this curious impression that things were going to be pretty...tense around here.

Because whatever Mary told Ginny, it was obviously not such pleasant news.

***

"Look, I know that the news yesterday evening surprised you, but--"

"You don't understand, Mary," Ginny exclaimed, trying to sound as calm as possible even though she was already fuming inside. "I don't want, and I will not be his personal servant!"

It had been almost exactly twelve hours after Mary, the head housekeeper of Malfoy Manor, told Ginny about that dreadful, but quite amusing news. That Draco Malfoy wanted Ginny Weasley, the new maid, to be his personal servant. And he was also willing to pay an obscenely large amount of money for it.

Until now, Ginny still couldn't grasp that idea in her mind. She thought Draco hated her, and she even made that cheap comment about him not going to hell. He should be angry with her even without the background of the long history of their families being mortal enemies. So what was this? Punishment?

She first had been taken aback by this rather astonishing news, but then laughed at Mary's bewildered face, still not daring to believe what she had just heard from the stern head housekeeper herself. She had sputtered out something saying that Mary must've been joking, but by the appalled and irate expression that had erupted out of Mary's features, she should've known better to realize that the firm and unsympathetic woman did not tell jokes.

So, hence, there they were, in the kitchen again having that dreaded conversation, Mary still persuading Ginny to accept the policies since she would be getting an exceptionally huge amount of money added to her usual salary, but then she would have to agree about being Malfoy Junior's personal servant, following him wherever he will go and obeying his every foolish whims.

"No, Ginny," Mary Dale said in a soft strained voice. "I fear that you're the one who don't understand. You will be fired if you don't agree to this proposition. He made that factor quite clear."

Ginny, who was supposed to be heading for one of the kitchen's multiple sinks stopped dead on her tracks, at the mention of that feared word.

Fired?

She can't be fired! What about her family? What about her dad who was now lying on his deathbed? What about her dear brother Ron, who was at present, blinded by that wicked curse that some Death Eater hurled at him? As much as she wanted to spew at Mary's face that she'd rather die a thousand times than serve that selfish cow, she couldn't, just because...this job was her family's life. Without her advance pay, they would be on the gutter now, begging for food and mercy.

She couldn't risk it. She knew that and she also knew what she had to do. Even if the mere image of it that was burning through her mind was enough to send her insane.

"Why?" she first asked. She may not have any choice, but she was not going to surrender without a reason.

"I have no idea," Mary honestly answered.

Ginny unconsciously sighed in exasperation.

"But if you're really willing to find out why," Mary added, "then why don't you ask him yourself?"

***

Bang!

"What the hell do you want from me, Malfoy?!" Ginny shouted, her voice blaring through the spacious room, the sound of hard wood connecting with cement was echoing almost infinitely throughout the vast luxurious bedroom.

A bedroom that seemed to be unoccupied at the moment.

Ginny cursed under her breath. Her master plan that mainly consisted of barging into Malfoy Junior's bedroom and demanding an answer with a preposterous feather duster under his throat was not working as she had planned. It was not working at all.

Looking around and standing foolishly in the middle of her opponent's room, thinking of what she should do next, she involuntarily noticed how intricate and stunning Draco's room really was. Despite its astonishingly enormous space, there was still some sort of normality considering its ruthless and cold-blooded owner.

A thick, dark Persian rug covered the hardwood floor, and a fire blazed in the marble fireplace, cackling gently and giving the large place a soothing quality even with its distant and unfeeling ambiance. The walls were wallpapered in dark green and silver, very much alike the ones that they had back then at Hogwarts. A huge crystal chandelier hung from the middle of the ceiling, but even with the lit crystals high above the air, the room was still quite dark. All the light needed that was supposed to come in through the ceiling high windows on the room's East wall was obstructed by the thick curtains that blocked the admission of the warm light from the outside.

There was a large table with silver cushioned chairs in the middle of the room, and up against the wall was a desk laden with personalized quill and parchment. From where she was standing, she suddenly noticed the closed double doors beside the monstrous mahogany wardrobe. It was after a few moments of looking around that she became aware of the uneasy trickling sound of water coming from that certain access.

A second later, before she could even think of anything else, Draco, clothed only in an uncomfortably short towel wrapped around his waist... came out, visibly wet, with water dripping from his hair, obviously unaware of Ginny's unwelcome presence.

Before Ginny could even register what was happening, Draco expectedly looked up and saw her horrified face.

"What the f--" Draco yelped trying desperately to grab the towel that was hastily falling off his waist. Ginny on the other hand, let out a scream and quickly covered her eyes with both of her hands, trying hard not to run from horror right then and there out of the room.

Ginny struggled real hard to not turn beet red from seeing Draco practically naked in front of her, trying to fight his way with the currently loosening and falling towel to save his dignity. For some reason, she was the one who was feeling uncomfortable and self-conscious from the mortifying incident, even though she wasn't the one who was on the verge of exposing her whole being.

What was wrong with her?!

"What the hell are you doing here?" Draco snapped, firmly tightening the white cloth that was currently concealing all his magnificence.

"I--"

Ginny's eyes unconsciously traveled from his slender, almost angelic face to his lean muscular torso and lower extremities. He was no doubt handsome and could be very charming if he tried. She was pretty sure that--even though she did struggle so very hard to not accept that certain fact--if he was not that 'man' that he was now, with his infamous reputation of being the only son of a ruthless Death Eater, being a merciless and unfeeling wizard and if not for his repulsive attitude and impudent manners, Ginny could've actually fallen for him.

"You barge in here, in my own room, without permission and practically saw me naked, and now you're telling me that you have no reason for this insolent offense?" Draco drawled. "I'm surprised Virginia. This is so unlike the firm and demanding girl that I once knew. At least I 'thought' I knew. You and I both know that we were really not that chummy at Hogwarts."

"Why?" she answered firmly--at least she hoped it sounded firm--not really caring that it was a lousy comeback.

"'Why' what?"

"What is this all about?" Ginny asked gesturing incredulously.

"What was 'what' all about?"

"This!"

"Eh...?" Draco goggled at her stupidly. "One of us is very confused," he said, "and I honestly don't know which."

This was obviously going nowhere.

"Look, I'm going to suggest that you get on with the point before Christmas because frankly, I'm beginning to get awfully cold here," Draco tactlessly inferred.

"Fine," she retorted. "Let me spell it out to you since all your working brain cells are probably trapped in that pathetic excuse for a head you have."

"Okay," Draco answered, catching Ginny off guard by the sudden uncharacteristic acceptance of that insult she just threw at the Lord of the Egos.

"Why did you assigned me to be your personal servant?" she finally asked, after she had collected herself. "Are you really trying to make my life here a living hell? Because I'm telling you right now, it already is."

"Now that was touchy!" Draco sneered, still unaffected by Ginny's outburst. "May I suggest that you didn't take all of these too personally? The world doesn't revolve around you, you know?"

"Look who's talking," Ginny replied hotly. "What the hell does these all mean?"

"It means what Mary said it means," Draco replied unperturbed, a contrary to what Ginny was suffering from. "You are going to be my own little puppy dog and obey my every little quirk and command...or else you will be fired."

"I. Get. That." She scowled, trying real hard not to smack his aggravating face into a bloody pulp. "But you still haven't answered my question. Why?"

"You'll find out soon enough," he vaguely answered.

"I will not take that as an answer," Ginny reprehensibly exclaimed, finally making Draco show some emotion other than amusement and mockery. "I want to know now!"

"I said you'll find out soon enough," Draco stubbornly retorted. "Now, I'm done with this 'barging-into-Draco's-bedroom-and-asking-the-crap-out-of-him-even-if-he-just-finished-taking-a-shower-and-is-half-naked-and-dripping-wet' nonsense. I am ordering you to go out of my room right now! You have no permission to be here in the first place."

Ginny undoubtedly shouted another insult, and it was obvious that Draco also didn't back down. But what they didn't realized or even noticed was that the fine fabric fastened on Draco's waist--that was making all of these quite 'civilized'--was ever so slowly loosening...

"Out!" Draco shouted, now enraged.

"Not until you answer me!"

And loosening...

"I think you're confused," Draco looked like he finally lost his temper. "You are a servant and I am your Master, now I am ordering you to get out! I need to get dressed."

"It wouldn't make a difference anyhow," Ginny snapped. "You would still look like the arrogant and egotistical pig that you are."

"And now with the name-calling..."

"Can't handle the truth, can you?"

"No, I just think that I'm beyond the mindless derision that you keep hurling at me!"

"Oh, yeah? What about--"

The almost silent sound of a falling towel finally caught their attention.

"OH. MY--"

"TURN AROUND!" Draco shrieked.

And Ginny obediently did, consciously feeling her cheeks flush in mutual humiliation. But not before the stupid and untimely thought that she had never heard Draco, or any boy shriek, entered her mind. Ginny would've laughed if not for the absolute humiliation that she was feeling.

A few seconds later, Draco spoke up, involuntarily panting.

"Okay," he said, breathing quite heavily. "Well, that was no doubt unexpected..."

Ginny squeaked in response, slowly turning around.

"Well, as long as we are on the topic, what did you think?" Draco asked, as if nothing deeply humiliating happened thirty seconds ago.

"What do I think about what?"

"What you saw, stupid," he sneered. "Or do you want to see it again?"

Ginny felt herself again blushing furiously.

And for the first time since she had arrived as a maid here in Malfoy Manor, she hadn't got anything witty or even remotely intelligent to say.

"I didn't see anything," she replied timidly, suddenly unable to look directly in his eyes.

Draco gallingly laughed.

"It's your loss then."

"I should go now," Ginny squeaked, further reddening.

"Good idea."

***

Author's Notes:

I'm supposed to upload this before the release of OotP, but I never had the chance. Just for the record, I'm continuing my original plan for this fic because I don't think any of it contradicts on what happened in OotP. About the Natalie thing, I read about the kid JKR read GoF to, but I never knew that she added her name in the HP books. Truth be told, Natalie's character in this fic is not 'perfect'. I feel bad about using her name, but changing it now will just be too confusing, so I'll simply leave it be.

Anyway, leave a review, please.