Ginny Weasley: Maid in Malfoy Manor

Chapter Eleven:

*

Frozen

+++

"Ginny, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you," Mary started, looking very grim and stressed as she approached Ginny who was currently eating her corn flake breakfast at the servant's space in the kitchen.

Ginny looked up, as she felt a certain dread creeping up her spine. Oh no, what now?

"I'm sorry to say that you won't be able to take your leave today, as Master Draco promised," Mary announced, actually seeming genuinely sorry for the news.

"What?" Ginny's was baffled. He couldn't do this! He promised her this day. This lousy day was supposed to be her ultimate escape from all these degrading aspects of her life and he couldn't even give her that?

"Oh, no no no dear, I think you misunderstood," Mary said gently, noticing the maid's reaction to the news. "You will still be able to take your leave but just not today."

"I-I don't understand..." Ginny's heart sank.

"Well, you see, Master Draco's fiancée will be joining us for dinner and we will need all the help we can get for this evening making sure that all things are in their proper places as Lord Lucius said," Mary explained. "Don't worry, it's just a one day delay. You'll get to visit your family tomorrow."

"Uh..." Ginny was supposed to argue some more but Mary left her before she could utter another word. Now what? She sighed. Just one day more and she will get to visit her family tomorrow. She could hardly wait.

Hang on, Ginny, she thought, letting it all sink in. You'll get there.

"Oh, don't worry," Emma whispered as she finished her breakfast. She was sitting across Ginny on the table looking very sympathetic. "You're lucky, you know? You have a family to return to. Mine's... not really there anymore..."

Ginny looked at Emma's sweet and innocent face and felt a bit better. It was hard to say that Ginny was still actually lucky compared to other people but she was and she should be grateful for that. One silly day before she will get to visit her family again after almost two months of no contact. She closed her eyes and, feeling resolute, said to herself that there was nothing to worry about. Tomorrow was just more or less twenty hours away.

+++

It was Saturday morning, five minutes after Emma, Natalie and Ginny had eaten their customary breakfast, Ginny had already decided it would be easier to build a new house than to clean Malfoy Manor as fanatically as Mary seemed to want it done.

Standing like a drill sergeant, Mary had already dispatched Emma with the full length duster and Natalie with a basket of lemon oil and rags. Now she was explaining to Ginny how she was to steam iron all the napkins and tablecloths that were to be displayed for the dinner that night.

Ginny eyed the pile with resignation, thinking that originally, she wasn't even supposed to be there. If it weren't for my family, she realized reluctantly, I would take this evening's torture as an excellent opportunity to quit.

Listening to Mary chatter about how there was nothing finer than a proper formal table, Ginny had another realization. It's not because of my family that I'm enduring this day right now, Ginny thought. It's because I am also deathly curious about seeing the woman Draco wants to marry.

After Mary had set Ginny up with the old steam press and a fancy smaller iron, Ginny took the opportunity to sit on the heap of fine linens for a moment, her head aching - both at the thought of such a large amount of labor so early in the morning and at her conversation last night with Draco.

Oh, why did I let myself to get literally dragged into that huge chat session? Ginny moaned inwardly remembering the night before. It just made me think that Malfoys could actually have an amount of anything good in their system when the fact remains that they're just a bunch of two-faced monsters ready to suck everything out of you.

Yes, it was true, and no matter how much Ginny tried to convince herself that talking with Draco in the secluded gardens just outside the ball's main area was completely futile, boring and inadequate, she could not deny any longer that she actually enjoyed the little chat that they had.

Ginny sighed, rising to her feet. Regret wasn't going to help her get through the pile, and if there was anything she had learned from all the horrible things that had happened to her including the fall of Hogwarts and the death of Harry Potter, it was that hard work could sometimes be really helpful in taking your mind off things you didn't want to think about.

But the monotony of laying out heavy sections of cloth under the steam presser, then going over the edges with the iron, only encouraged Ginny's mind to wander back to their conversation yesterday. Not only had Draco seemed so interested in her life - which is kind of interesting right now, Ginny thought, if you find mopping floors interesting - he had taken the first step towards opening himself to her, saying the things that Ginny thought she would never hear from a person like him.

+++

The first few minutes were extremely awkward. But then things became easy when they started talking and things just surprisingly and beautifully expanded from there.

"To fear is one thing. To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another," Draco said, when they went to the topic if there was anything thing that he feared at all. "People who complain about our world today are stupid because to whine and find fault is all they want to do. They criticize every chance they get but what they really are just a bunch of cowards, too afraid to do anything about what they complain about."

"They complain not because they're too scared to do anything about the current situation of our community but they object to the unfairness of our society for the reason that they have no choice to do anything else," Ginny opposed. "Do you think they actually like having no say in what happens to our world and just be forced to do what the corrupt leaders want them to?"

Draco smirked much to Ginny's annoyance. "Calm down, I'm only stating my opinion on things," he said. "You don't need to act like this is a formal debate or anything."

"If I want your opinion, Draco," Ginny retorted quite angrily. "I'll... I'll never want your opinion."

"Oh, very mature, Virginia," Draco sneered. "I'm just saying that we control what happens to our lives and nobody could take that power from us no matter how people think other wise. You know? We are the master of our fate and the captains of our soul."

Ginny stared. "How did you know muggle literature?"

Draco stared back his intense gray eyes boring into hers. "How did you know muggle literature?"

"Me and Hermione talked about muggle writing a few years back." Ginny sadly answered, thinking about her long-gone friend. "I thought the comment was meaningful."

A pause.

"How 'bout you?"

"I have quite a few collection," Draco admitted, his eyes directed to the floor as if he was ashamed about what he was confessing. "Don't tell my father about it or else you're fired," he added suppressing as smirk.

"Really?" Ginny was surprised.

"Yes," Draco answered. "You'll be back in your smelly rundown house with your family with no money at all. Now that paints a pretty picture."

"No, I mean the muggle literature collection," Ginny clarified though she knew that Draco understood perfectly well what she was talking about in her first comment.

Draco remained quiet as Ginny stared at him once more. The moonlight peeking through the thick trees emit a quite idealistic glow on the plants and the only two in the balcony. Though Ginny could only admit it to herself, she thought that Draco looked more attractive with his melancholy face being illuminated by the soft radiance of the innocent moon.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It? There's no it, it's nothing, really."

"You sure?"

Draco remained silent and so did Ginny. There was this surprisingly comfortable silence enveloping them that minute and it was beautiful. Just simply beautiful.

+++

Ginny shivered, now ironing napkins with such a steely efficiency that the pile to her left had tripled in size.

Mary popped her head in, and Ginny started, scared that she was about to be disciplined again.

"Ah, Virginia! You're almost done. When you finish up, come help Natalie with the dusting." Mary disappeared just as quickly.

Ginny shook her head, then began to laugh at the imitation of Mary with which Natalie had regaled her and Emma a couple of nights back. "Now, guhlllllz," Natalie had said, stretching out the word as Mary did when she was doing her rendition of a high-class accent. "If you simply follow the Lady around with a broom and dustpan at all times, I'm sure we can avoid the types of accidents we witnessed last year with Lord Bulivine..."

Lord Bulivine, Ginny had divined, was a distant, five-year-old cousin who had wreaked havok in Lord Lucius's study on a visit last year.

Emma had played the dutiful maid. "Oh, yes, miss! May I be so honored as to dump the crumbs from milady's plate into the waste bin as well, miss?"

Natalie had fixed Emma with Mary's hawk-like stare. "No miss, you may not. That is an honor reserved" - here Natalie had paused to take a haughty breath - "for myself."

That night, the girls had all dissolved into giggles - glad for one moment to be free of the tyranny of their lowly positions at the Malfoy Manor. A moment later, Mary had knocked angrily on the door, then entered.

"There is entirely too much noise here!" she had declared, looking at all of them as if she'd like to eat them alive. Ginny and Emma had to struggle not to burst out laughing in Mary's face. When she had finally left, they had descended on their beds, biting their pillows to keep Mary from hearing the laughter out in the hall. It was so heartwarming to remember the good times she had here in the Manor primarily because there were hardly any. Still, it was good to know that there were at least few good memories that she could take with her when the time comes that she will be leaving the manor. That is if she could survive roughly four more months.

But now, Ginny could feel the familiar knot of tension gathering again - a tension that probably, after seeing the famous fiancée, would only increase.

Ginny tossed the last napkin on the heap and slammed the steamer shut.

It was going to be a long day.

+++

"So," Draco began after the long silence that he himself had created, "are you happy?"

Good one.

Moron.

"What?" She was obviously confused, as well as she should be. But it was too late to turn back now.

"You look sort of... down."

Now she was edgy. "You've been watching me?"

Her smile was genuine. Her amusement more so.

"No, why would I be watching you?" Draco tried to redeem himself but he knew that it was way too late to do that. "I was just wondering. There's a saying that there is nothing so bitter, as the bitterness of suffering alone, so maybe you could share some with me so you won't be... alone."

That was downright lame.

And Ginny was looking at him as if he had grown another head.

"What?" he smirked, struggling to keep his dignity intact. "Not as evil as you think?"

"What are you doing?" Ginny demanded, getting pretty annoyed. "Why are you playing games with me? Why don't you just show your real colors and stop pretending to be someone you're not!"

"I'm not playing games with you, Ginny," Draco replied, pushing aside the creeping thought that she looked unusually pretty when she's mad. "If I am playing games with you then you'll be in St. Mungo's right now. People are not as black and white as you think."

+++

Ginny was stumped. Never in her wildest dreams did she think that Draco of all people would lecture her about the perceptions of the human soul when Ginny was convinced that he hardly had one.

She was also well aware of the fleeting personas that Draco was giving out and she was not going to fall for his pseudo kindness mode. The glitz and the glamour of the night seemed to be fading away and Ginny was becoming more wary of this new Draco that was unusually pensive beside him. This can't be real.

"You know, that really sounds funny coming from you," Ginny retorted. "I actually might end up in St. Mungo's if you keep this up."

"Don't you ever get tired of contradicting me?"

"Not really," answered Ginny, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "It's my life goal you see, to fight for wizarding rights, keep my family alive and to hate annoying conceited sons of heartless dictators. So far, I think I'm doing a pretty good job."

Ginny waited for a retort but Draco remained uncharacteristically silent. She was beginning to get anxious.

Maybe she had gone too far.

"I think you actually hurt my feelings there Weasley," Draco said softly.

+++

"Emma? Are you alright?" Ginny called. She had seen Emma scurrying down the cellar steps a few minutes ago, and now she could hear loud crying.

"No," came a piteous wail, followed closely by a hiccup.

Ginny rushed down the worn stone stairs to the dank room below. She squinted in the dim light, searching for Emma. When she heard fresh sobs, she rounded a corner and found Emma huddled in a place by an empty fireplace.

"What is it, Emma?" she asked, wrapping her arms around the girl's shaking shoulders.

Emma looked up, her plain face glistening with tears. "I've broken a glass," she whimpered. "Mary's going to deduct this on my pay. I've got my grandmother to look after. She needs my wages to buy food. Granny's old, Ginny - she can't be missing her meals, and she's the only one I got..." She dropped her forehead to her knee and began to cry again.

"It's okay," Ginny said, stroking Emma's dull, brown hair. "I'm sure Mary won't care about one broken glass."

Emma's head snapped up. "She does, though. She's always telling me to be more careful. I didn't mean to break it."

"I'm sure you didn't" Ginny said. "Come on, let me help you up." Ginny stood up and reached out her hands. "Mary will be angrier if she thinks you're shrinking your duties."

"I would never do that, Ginny. I always work hard."

Ginny smiled. It was true. Emma did work hard - much harder than Natalie. But the funny thing was, it was always Emma's work that had to be done over. It was after Emma "cleaned" the tiled kitchen floor that it needed to be mopped. And she was a disaster when it came to food preparation too. All Emma needed to do was to breathe near the oven and the Cook will collapse.

"She might send me packing this time." Emma whimpered. "And I don't know what I will do after that..."

Ginny shook her head. "I don't think so, Emma. Not over a broken glass. Things get broken in kitchens all the time. Just give it to Mary for her to perform a basic spell and the glass will be good as new. I would've done it but we all don't have our wands with us. Look, if it'll make you feel better, I'll tell Mary I broke the glass. Okay?"

Emma wiped her nose with her sleeve. "You'd really do that for me?"

Ginny nodded. After all, what was the big deal? "Come on, I'll go tell her right now."

Emma stood up and pulled three small pieces of very worn glass from her apron pocket. "The rest of it just sort of...disintegrated."

Ginny glanced at what remained as she walked up the cellar stairs. There were some sort of initials etched in one piece, but they were practically worn smooth. This glass must have been ancient, she thought. Mary will probably get rid of it instead of wasting time doing a repair spell on it.

As soon as they reached the top of the stairs, Ginny went directly to the servant's table, where Mary and Natalie were washing the newly picked vegetables that the cook, Matilda, would probably need for tonight's much fussed-over dinner. She held out the remains of the glass.

"What do we have there, Virginia?" Mary asked.

Ginny glanced knowingly at Emma. "I'm sorry. I broke this glass."

Mary took the pieces from Ginny's hands and began to study the engraved bit. Suddenly, her usually ruddy complexion turned white. Her bottom lip began to quiver, and she looked up at Ginny, her small blue eyes incredulous.

"You clumsy girl!" she gasped. "How could you? This was a gift from the Slytherin clan itself to the Malfoy family thousands of years back. This has been in the family for hundreds of generations! What were you doing anywhere near the china cabinet in the main sitting room? You know that touching the Malfoy's personal items is strictly forbidden!"

Ginny felt her jaw hovering somewhere around her knees. No wonder Emma had been cowering down in the cellar. If Ginny had been so foolish as to break one of the Malfoy treasures, she would have been doing the same.

Only you did break it, remember? Her mind shot back at her. You told Emma you would take the blame. It's your problem now!

"I-I don't understand," Ginny stammered. "I-I thought you can do a spell on it so it could be in one piece again."

"This is not a common glass that one could tamper with!" Mary shrieked, her eyes were getting wider and wider that it was almost comic. "This glass was made by an extinct race of trolls and was designed immune to any forms of magic. It does not react to any spell or incantation. The best thing we can do is to find muggle glue and put all the pieces together! What were you thinking, Virginia?!"

Ginny was dumbfounded. What was she thinking taking the blame from Emma?

"I'm sorry but I have to report this to the family," Mary said, placing the broken pieces in a white linen cloth on the servant's table.

Ginny was shaking with terror in her seat while anticipating the circumstances that the idiocy her actions had brought her. Mary was calling a member of the family to inform them about her stupidity and Ginny was almost certain that she would be severely lectured or even be sent away. This was it; she was finally getting her wish in escaping out of this hellhole.

"What's going on in here?"

Ginny whirled around to see Draco standing awkwardly in the kitchen doorway.

"Mary, you called?"

Mary bustled toward him. "I'm so sorry, Master Draco, we've had a problem here," she held out the broken pieces of glassware. "I have some very bad news. Virginia has broken the alliance cup given from the Slytherin family themselves a thousand of years back. I was just giving her the dressing-down. If you want me to dismiss her, we'll all understand."

Ginny started. She hadn't expected Mary to be that frank. Yes, she was strict but she had always been civil with Ginny because she tried her very best to do things Mary will appreciate. She turned to Draco, their eyes locking for the first time since last night. Instantly, all thoughts of everything that happened at the ball flew to her head. And from the look that Draco was giving her, it was obvious that he was thinking the same. Why, Ginny had no idea. It was supposed to be an ordinary night for Draco and there was definitely nothing special in it in his opinion, or was this really the first time that he went out with a manor maid?

Draco looked at the pieces of glass in Mary's hand, a quite peculiar expression pasted on his face. It was probably because Ginny had never seen Draco actually thinking as hard as he was at that moment. He seemed to be contemplating on the damage that a broken piece of glass had done and if it worth sacking a clumsy servant. Finally, he looked up and stared back again at Ginny.

"It's all right, Mary," Draco said in a controlled voice. He held out his hands for the shattered pieces, his eyes looking intently at them as if remorseful that an ancient object with sentimental value to the family was there lying in his hands with no hope of being put back together again.

"Master Draco, are you sure?" Mary asked, not really believing her ears. "I thought that that glass was irreplaceable to the family?"

Draco sighed. "Not to worry, it's just an old glass." The pieces slipped from his hand into the rubbish bin. "Father will be pretty upset but he doesn't have to find out just yet." He smirked like he was actually proud that he was deceiving his father in some way. He then excused himself in a surprisingly polite way then walked out the kitchen.

"You're very lucky, Virginia that the young master was so... understanding... for the first time since I started working here twelve years ago..." Mary said the last line in incredulity that she actually paused for moment to think of the matter some more. "But that's not the point, best you mind yourself in the future!"

"I will, Mary," Ginny promised. "I..."

"That's right, Ginny." Natalie smirked, returning back to her duties. "Best be off to serve your master. You wouldn't want to keep him waiting."

What the hell does that suppose to mean? Ginny thought, gazing back to Natalie's knowing look. Ginny didn't say anything anymore though. She was too petrified by her near expulsion that she had just let that slip

+++

Ginny was mortified.

He actually said what?

Deep inside, she knew that he was playing more games with her but that doesn't erase the fact that it was still the first time that he saw him like this. So... so...human.

She was in loss of words once again and hated the fact that he was the only one who could make her lose her voice and wit completely.

"I'm... uh...s-" Ginny backpedaled. There was no way that she was doing this. "You're a big boy, you'll get over it." She looked away and tried to act as unaffected as possible.

"I will. I'm used to it remember?" Draco actually smiled that sad smile of his and it took all of Ginny's will not to feel sorry for the boy. She tried to convince herself once more that it was just a game and she was definitely not going to fall for it.

"I may be an annoying conceited son of heartless dictator but you got to admit, there's everything else to like about me," Draco sneered. It seemed that he was back from being near human to being arrogant and spoiled. "I'm charming, witty, got lots of money, power and good clothes and am extremely handsome. I do think that that outweighs the annoying conceited son of a heartless dictator part. Not to mention that I'm a Viking in the sack if you know what I mean."

By this time, Ginny was almost convinced that Draco was in need of psychiatric therapy. She almost expected Draco to wink and smile a toothpaste smile after his extremely moving speech.

"Could you contemplate getting over yourself for a second?" Ginny exclaimed, extremely irritated by Draco's mood swings. One minute, he was as sweet and sensitive as any other guy then really annoying and insulting the second. Ginny was starting to think that she didn't need Draco to play games with her for her to be sent to St. Mungo's. "That's why people dislike you and your family. You think that you're above everything and everyone and that you can control everything that you see. That's why people hate you and your family. And with what you did to our world, people will never forgive you for that. You don't deserve it."

Ginny was fuming. Everything that had happened to her family was coming back to her in thick violent waves that it was too much to keep to herself. Everything was their fault. The Burrow was demolished and sold to the richest investor; her brothers were either dead or in prison because of them. Harry Potter died because of people like the Malfoys who drowned in their all-consuming greed and pride and supported evil instead of good. All of it was getting to be too much to bear.

"To forgive is an act of compassion. It's not done because people deserve it. It's done because they need it," Draco said, sounding not a bit insulted... just sad.

Ginny was again speechless. It was like an epiphany seeing Draco in a whole new light. Maybe things were not as black and white as they seem. It was just that she could still not admit even to herself that a person like Draco could be anything other than evil.

But maybe in time, things would change.

+++

Draco had spent the remaining day wandering around in a fit of anxiety. First he tried to practice his sword skills, then gave it up after a few minutes in a probability of cutting his own head of because he was definitely not in the frame of mind to rehearse such intricate steps involving highly sharp and lethal objects.

He then went to the library in an attempt to review his mind on the deadly curses and potions that his father wanted him to remember by heart, but found himself staring at the pages blankly not even analyzing a single word.

There was something that was undeniably bothering him, but he could not pinpoint what it was. His mind kept going back to the ball last night and even though how much he tried to lure himself out of that futile reverie, his mind was just terribly resistant. That night with Ginny was definitely one of the most calming moments of his life; he could admit that to himself but what he could not confess was that there was definitely that certain different reaction that his body just instinctively went through every stupid time that he was with her. Whether it was good or bad, he still could not decipher. And he was not going to waste anymore time thinking about it because there was obviously no point in doing so.

He looked at the time in the massive grandfather clock in the library and saw that it was already six o'clock, the appointed hour.

Draco had managed to stuff himself into a smart black elegant dress robe that Vanessa had gotten him on a recent trip to an expensive magical robe maker in Italy. His father, Lucius, had appeared - uncharacteristically - on time since he was straight from the Ministry of Magic after doing some things concerning about lifting the prohibition against one of the most lethal and cruelest curses there was. He was obviously dressed to impress as Draco saw that his father had that smug look on his face, an indication that he knew that he was on top of his game. His mother, Narcissa was looking bored in her expensive gown while sitting on one of the high-priced chairs in the manor's main reception area.

A few minutes later, the chimes rang, and Draco turned toward the door. He heard the murmur of Mary and Vanessa Thurston's voices, and then Vanessa swept in, followed by her mother and father.

"Hello, Draco," Vanessa said coolly, placing her hand on his arm while she kissed him dutifully on the cheek.

As usual, Draco found himself completely ineluctably overwhelmed by Vanessa's beauty. Normally, she toned her incredible gorgeousness down on a daily basis by pulling her hair back and wearing very plain, but still visibly unreasonably expensive clothing. Tonight, however, she was simply ravishing. Her hair was swept back on either side with bone clips, and the rest tumbled, golden and straight, down her back. Diamonds glittered at her ears. She was dressed in an exquisite ice blue silk gown, which pulled in tightly to her extremely small waist, then swept down to the floor. Glittering shoes peeked out from beneath the hem.

"Lord, you look lovely," Draco said, meaning it completely.

Vanessa turned toward him and gave him a warm smile. "You're very handsome yourself," she said, and a wave of her perfume hit him. And no matter how arranged their marriage was, Draco could not help but still be somewhat attracted to this stunning girl that he actually felt a bit dizzy at his proximity to this exquisite creature. Of course, Malfoys always got the best girls but still, Draco was feeling a bit detached from his usual relationship with Vanessa. As if something had changed between the two week span that they didn't meet.

Draco took a huge gulp of wine. "Drink?" he asked Vanessa.

While he was off getting a glass of the very excellent dry white wine that his father had fetched especially from the cellar for the evening, Draco could sense that Vanessa was acting a bit strangely. She kept following Draco with her gaze suspiciously as if he had done something wrong. He ignored the ridiculous idea and handed Vanessa her drink, and then installed himself at Vanessa's side.

Draco chatted with Vanessa's parents - perfectly cruel people like the Malfoy's themselves who liked him and his family very much because of their same view on the world - while Lucius took Vanessa's arm and engaged her in a deep conversation.

A few minutes later, the dinner was ready.

Draco had hardly been able to take his eyes away from Vanessa, but that changed when Ginny entered, hefting a tray of salad plates, followed by Natalie, who carried the plate of greens and silver tongs.

Since the previous night, it was Draco's first time to see Ginny again wearing the standard servant's uniform and acting submissively as a maid and serving the family obediently. Somehow, Draco saw her differently, he saw her as a person and not just a slave to the family's fortune and status and the longer that this was going on, Draco was starting to get more nervous by the minute by his newfound view on things that he should not be involved in.

"We're delighted that the wedding and reception will be held at good old Malfoy Manor," Vanessa's father boomed in Draco's general direction.

Draco took a moment to answer, distracted by his self-discovering trance and at the same time, though he would never admit also diverted by Ginny's circumnavigation of the table. As soon as he realized the comment had been directed at him, he jerked himself back into the conversation in a way not as gracious as he intended, hoping desperately that no one had noticed what had distracted him.

"Yes, yes," Draco responded, trying to smile braggingly. "That's what Vanessa wants, after all, and I defer to her in all these matters."

Vanessa fixed a cool smile on Draco. "Wise, wise!" Vanessa's father boomed, slapping his leg and raising his water glass toward Draco in agreement. His wife gave Draco a stiff smile.

But Draco was struck by the tableau of Ginny serving salad over Vanessa's shoulder. He could not help but compare the two. Ginny was dressed in a variant of their normal uniform - plain and boring as a flobberworm - and her hair was pulled back. Her face looked flushed, as if she had been working very hard for hours - which she probably had, Draco reflected. Still, it was astonishing: Ginny was every bit as beautiful as Vanessa and even though how much Draco tried to think of every logical reason why he should not think that way he could not seem to take control of his very resistant mind. Draco clutched his water glass fervently thinking that he was definitely in a fix here.

Sensing his gaze, Ginny caught his eye briefly, then looked away as if his look had burned her. Draco's eyes shifted, and he found Natalie's eyes boring, catlike, to his own.

Lucius raised his glass - oblivious as ever, Draco hoped. "A toast to the newlyweds," he said.

They all raised their glasses, Draco most firmly. He smile broadly at Vanessa, then at her parents, Narcissa then his father - to reassure them that no, no, no, there was nothing wrong with him. He was not a bit least interested on the kitchen maid, not at all.

Vanessa didn't smile back, and Natalie, who was still inside the main dining room, cocked an all-seeing eyebrow.

The dinner had begun.

+++

Vanessa had fulfilled every nightmare Ginny had ever had about "the ice", as the other maids identified her with.

When she had entered the dining room with the first course, she had actually almost drawn back, as if she had been dealt a physical blow. I mean, I heard Vanessa was pretty, Ginny thought, but this is too much.

Ginny had all sorts of ideas about how Draco's fiancée might look - ideas that she had pretended not to entertain - because it was obviously not her business - until she was forced to face the truth. One fantasy had Vanessa pegged as a true Slytherin-ish, even though she was certain that she did not attend Hogwarts, barbed rose: a kind of spindly blond with a turned-up nose and saucer-like blue eyes. Or, Ginny thought, she might have been the gawky younger sister of a Slytherin-ish barbed rose: tall, gooselike, and awkward, like some of the women that she had seen about, whose resemblance to the quacking breeds of the avian nation was more than passing. Ginny's favorite fantasy, however, involved a Vanessa that strongly resembled a female version of Neville Longbottom in her youth -- self-conscious, broad and entirely unenviable.

But Vanessa was none of those things. She was, in fact, their complete opposite.

Dressed in a silvery gown, her neck banded with what must be a real diamond choker, Vanessa could have been a model. No, she's too pretty to be a model! Ginny amended. What she looks like - what she actually is - is a real-life dark princess, a downright perfect partner for the main heir of the Malfoy wealth and power.

They belong together, Ginny thought grimly, desperately ignoring the second voice deep in her mind that said that they didn't because Draco was a far different person that what she had expected and he should not be with an ice queen like Vanessa for all the reasons that he actually had a heart.

Suddenly, finding herself feeling very self-conscious about her sweaty face and straggly ponytail, Ginny had assiduously avoided the eyes of anyone around the table while she served the salad. Once she'd glanced up briefly, she had been shocked to find Draco looking back at her. She had cast her eyes down in shame. She had to stop seeming like a stalker - she was only the maid after all.

"From the left. From the left," Natalie hissed as Ginny hesitated over Vanessa's glossly shoulder.

Ginny prayed that she wouldn't send an artichoke heart tumbling down Vanessa's expensive and impressive décolletage.

She doesn't even know you're here, Ginny thought unhappily. She's been served by people exactly like you for her entire life, and you don't register any more in her consciousness than the doorknob or the tablecloth.

Ginny dropped three olives on Vanessa's plate and commented silently at Vanessa's perfectly trim figure, trying to cut off her bizarre train of thought before it reached epic proportions.

"Are you alright?" Natalie asked as they reached the kitchen, having doled out the salad without incident, Ginny was glad to realize.

Ginny tried to snap out of her stupor. "Of course! Why?" she chirped, putting on an exaggerated smile that she hoped would look normal.

Natalie pointed to her hand, and then gently disentangled her fingers from around the salad tongs. "You were holding that like you wanted to disembowel somebody with it," she said, more gently than she usually spoke, especially to Ginny.

Ginny smiled bitterly. No one but myself, she thought.

Natalie began to load a platter with sliced beef, popping a small piece in her mouth after looking around quickly for Mary. "Don't let the bastards get you down," she said, hoisting the tray over her shoulder and disappearing through the swinging kitchen door.

Ginny immediately felt a little better. Why does Vanessa affect me like this? She thought. I mean, that thing out there is superhuman and it's not like I'm competing with her. And there's no reason I should think that I have to. I'm not even attracted to Draco in the first place! It was just one night, and nothing much really happened. So I'm going to go out there and serve them their entrée, and I'm not going to give it another thought.

Ginny picked up the soup tureen and moved toward the swinging door.

Except she knew she would.

+++

Draco was incredibly relieved when dinner finally ended and the leftovers from dessert were pooled on sticky plates.

Aside from thinking too much about things that he should not be thinking about, Draco was deathlike bored that dinner. First, the assembled party had discussed the wedding far longer than Draco would have preferred - all through hors d'oeuvres and into the salad course. What kind of music Draco and Vanessa would have, how her father and mother had had Scottish bagpipes at their wedding, how Vanessa's aunt and uncle had had a quartet play classic wizard's opera all through their ceremony. Then the adults moved on to a discussion of flowers, and Draco thought that he would never hear the end of zinnias, dahlias, gladiolas, roses and an assortment of magical plants that they were contemplating into using.

Then the assorted company had spent precious time again talking about hunting. It seemed that Vanessa's uncle had ridden over every rock and stone in the wizarding world, and he was perfectly contented to wax on about every magical creature he'd ever flushed out from behind a bush since he was eight years old. Draco wanted to curse the life out of the livery old windbag's face so that he would shut up.

Now, they were all supposed to go to the main living room and chat about tedious things once more. Draco decided to take a time out and he politely excused himself as he went up to his room to freshen up.

One more talk about the invitations or the flowers or the music for the wedding and he was sure that he was definitely going to blow.

+++

Ginny had left off stacking endless plates in the enormous dishwasher to bring cognac and coffee to the guests since Natalie was, in Mary's words, "nowhere to be found." "And soon to be unemployed," Mary had snapped with great irritation as Ginny wished fervently that she possessed Natalie's knack for ducking out during the most wearisome portions of anything.

"May I refill your glass?" Ginny asked Vanessa's mother politely, sneaking a glance at the still beautiful Vanessa, who was seated on a small love seat with Lucius. The mother smiled widely, holding up her cognac glass, and Ginny dutifully took it.

"See here, girl," Vanessa's father commanded. Ginny jumped - it had been a while since anyone had called her "girl," if they ever had. "Bring me a scotch and soda, will you? And make it damn quick," he added, turning to clip his cigar.

Ginny headed over to the bar to mix drinks and decided to stop at the love seat on the way out, and pause until she was noticed, as Mary had rigorously drilled into her that she must. It's part of my job after all, Ginny thought, trying not to smirk.

"Yes, Virginia?" Lord Lucius finally asked, looking very displeased that a creature like Ginny was in close proximity from him.

"May I offer his lordship or her ladyship anything?" Ginny asked the two, trying her best not to make eye contact with either of them.

Vanessa yawned. "No, she said, as if Ginny had offered her an old beaten-up shoe.

"No, Virginia," said Lord Lucius. "You can go now."

Ginny walked from the room, her face burning. As she stood over the bar mixing the scotch and soda, she heard Lord Lucius's booming laugh, followed by a series of genteel whinnies that could only have come from Vanessa. As silly as Ginny knew she was being, she couldn't help feeling that they must be laughing at her.

No. They don't even see you, Ginny, she thought, feeling that she'd like to bury her head in the ice bucket. For people to laugh at you, they have to notice you first.

Suddenly, a geyser of rage rose up in Ginny. In the other room, Lord Lucius was chatting affectionately with Vanessa, a well-educated, beautiful, charming girl. Well, I'm well-educated, beautiful, charming girl too, Ginny thought indignantly, her irritation providing one of the few instances in which she felt justified in acknowledging her good looks. The only difference between us is that her family chose to side with Voldemort and gave themselves a lot of silly titles as to tell the whole world how a traitor they all are to the wizarding community. Is that something to be proud of?

Slightly amused at how her envy of Vanessa had prompted a sudden attack of patriotism, Ginny uncorked a new bottle of cognac. Her rage cooled as she smiled a prepared to head back into the parlor when she heard someone speaking to her.

"He'd only use you, you know," a voice hissed behind her.

Ginny turned; scarcely believing her eyes and ears. There stood Vanessa, looking at Ginny like she was a specimen under a microscope. And seeing her too, to be sure, Ginny thought, suddenly regretting her wish to be noticed.

"Oh, you're pretty enough, I'll grant you that," Vanessa continued, her perfect reflection looking as smooth and cold as marble to Ginny in the lamplight. "But you must not take Draco's playful attitude and illusory manner for anything more than they are - nothing. He enjoys looking at pretty girls, that's all. So whatever you're planning - whatever you're hoping for," Vanessa sneered, "just put it out of your mind right now."

Vanessa's high-toned inflection cut into Ginny's self-possession like a razor. However, the fact that Vanessa was talking to her also gave her a boost of confidence. See - she was very visible indeed!

Ginny wouldn't have predicted that she would have faced a showdown like this so calmly but her amazement at Vanessa's bold confrontation, she decided later - plus having dealt with six brothers for so many years - gave her the strength to give back as good as she got.

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about," Ginny said, lifting a cognac glass in one hand and the scotch and soda in the other. She moved toward the door, then turned around toward the line of gleaming bottles. Vanessa's eyes had narrowed to positive slits, but Ginny faced them with little fear.

"There's fresh ice in the bucket," Ginny said. "I'm sure you know what you can do with it."

+++