Andromeda

Andromeda

By Calypso

* * *

Ginny Weasley, seventh child, only daughter, and professional Damsel-in-Distress. With her childlike innocence and naïveté, her soul pure and untainted by iniquity, she was the perfect candidate. The virgin sacrifice for a monstrous serpent to take.

Of course, there would be no Perseus to save little Ginny. . . .

The plan had been simple to begin with. Tarnish the young girl's innocence. Give her a taste of the darker side of life, let her savour the intoxicating fruit of sin, draw her into the serpent's lair. She would be unaware of the cobra until it struck and it was too late.

But they had failed. Her Perseus had come and saved her just as the serpent had been about to devour her. That dreadful Potter boy with his hero complex was the downfall of the plan. He banished the serpent and freed the innocent princess.

But his Andromeda was not the uncorrupted little girl she had once been. And it was with this stained purity that His followers decided to make use of. They would send a new serpent. And Andromeda would willingly go with him, both eyes open to the turbulent sea she was diving in.

* * *

Draco Malfoy had been watching her for a couple weeks now. An unwavering stare of burning intensity. It seemed as though he never blinked. Like a snake.

It made Ginny distinctly uncomfortable. She shifted in her place at the Gryffindor table and deliberately kept her eyes trained on the plate in front of her. Why was Malfoy staring at her? The first thought that came to her mind was that he was waiting for her to fall for some sort of prank. But not even that blond git would make it so obvious.

Ginny flushed as a new, more thrilling thought crept into her mind. As much as she told herself otherwise, Slytherins fascinated her. Especially this particular Slytherin. Malfoy had a forbidden air about him, being the enemy of Ginny's family, friends, and House. Thus he was Ginny's enemy by default.

Precisely the reason she ever looked twice at him. Ginny felt inexplicably drawn to what she shouldn't and Malfoy definitely fell into that category. An attraction she could not exactly explain, and one she could not help. She fancied Harry Potter; she desired Draco Malfoy. And now he was looking at her. In such a way that made her frightened and excited at the same time.

She fled the hall. The thoughts she had been having. . . . She could not handle them. She was only fifteen and the prospect of Draco -- of Malfoy being as close to her as Tom had been was terrifying.

Ginny shook herself. What the hell was she thinking? She did not (could not) have a "thing" for Malfoy. She stopped short in a corridor now that she was far away enough from the Great Hall. She could be alone here without even the prying eyes of a portrait to watch her.

Ginny leaned back against a stone wall and took in her surroundings. Stone walls, stone floor, stone, stone, stone. . . A medieval dungeon recreated right in the halls of Hogwarts.

The only objects in the entire corridor were unlit torches lining the walls. Ginny became uncomfortably aware of the dark and the chill. Shadows slithered around her and she could almost hear a faint hissing, calling her name.

Ginny...

A flame flickered in a torch behind her. She spun around to bang into someone's chest. A lean chest, heaving deeply. Ginny backed up and found herself staring into Tom's face. No, no... not Tom. Tom was gone. This face was thinner, more pointed with grey eyes. The light and shadows flickering over his face had momentarily put her in mind of Tom Riddle.

"Hello, Ginny."

He smirked at her and stood unmoving. Ginny's breath became heavy with fear and lust. He was so beautiful in the torchlight, dangerously beautiful. He was the very essence of darkness and instead of turning her way, it drew her in. Ginny wanted so much to touch him, to have that powerful and mysterious creature for herself.

Ginny tentatively extended her hand towards his face, her brown eyes wide. Draco caught her wrist in an almost painful grip and leaned in towards her.

"Scared, Ginny?" His breath was hot against her skin.

"Yes."

"Excited?"

A pause.

"Yes."

"Good," he murmured, wrapping his arms around her and leaning in closer.

Ginny's first thought was to push him away and run. She found, however, that she was rooted to the spot, unable to do anything. She couldn't even think clearly.

His kiss was not soft or tender, the sort of kiss that most girls dream of. It was rough, intense-- almost as if he were establishing dominance through it. And in a way he was.

Draco paused and went still, his face still pressed close to hers. Ginny found she was breathing rather heavily and after a moment or two of thought she met his eyes. They both knew exactly what she was going to do.

She pressed her lips to his, kissing him with as much brute force as he had used.

The adulterated princess went with the serpent, willing and aware. Andromeda was forever lost to the sea, remaining in the pitch depths until the day the serpent perished and she with him.