Secrets

ONE~

The Gift

Draco Malfoy stared down at the girl lying on the ground in front of him.

Her red hair was mussed and there were various scratches and bruises marking her skin.

"They found her walking in a residential street near London," the Dark Lord muttered vaguely. "Naturally I have them all searching the area at the moment for more of them. I don't think they will find anything though. Do you, Draco?"

"It is remotely possible, My Lord," answered Draco, barely taking his eyes of the girl, "though we must give the enemy more credit than that, or we shall underestimate them... and that is dangerous."

"Yes," quipped Voldemort, "good answer."

He paused before adding, "Do you know why I asked you here, Draco?"

Draco finally tore his eyes away from her, giving his lord a blank look. "I am afraid I do not, My Lord."

Voldemort smirked as best as was possible in that snakelike face. "On reflection, I found a perfectly good use for her. She is your reward. A gift from me in recognition of all the things you have done for me."

Draco's eyes grew wide. "Thank you, My Lord."

Inwardly he gave a huge sigh of relief. It appeared that Voldemort had finally forgiven him for his... blunder at the end of his sixth and final year at Hogwarts. That was over four years ago, in the summer of 1996. Since then, he had done everything in his power to redeem himself, though he had scarcely allowed himself to believe it would work.

"Draco," Voldemort continued, "she will serve you well, I think. You can take out your frustrations on her and that way, you can get back to work sooner. It might take a while for her to lose her fight. But then again, it took your father only three months and your mother was as pure and good as they came."

"Excuse me, My Lord?" Draco had never heard his mother described as pure and good. In fact, Draco didn't think she had a caring bone in her body.

"Oh." Voldemort seemed surprised. "Didn't your father ever tell you that story?"

Draco shook his head.

"Your mother was once an outcast of the Black family, you know. She ran away not three years before her cousin Sirius did. They even blacked out her name on the family tree. Of course, that changed. A year before your parents were married... five years before you were born, we happened upon her in the Hog's Head. No idea why she was there. In any case, we took her and I gave her to your father in much the same way I am giving Miss Weasley to you now. She fought at first of course. But he eventually brought her down to earth. He convinced her to join us and they later married and had you. Interesting how things work out."

Draco gulped. He had never known. He had never dreamed.

"Oh, I would be most pleased if you were able to change Miss Weasley's ideas about us. She could be a valuable addition to our ranks."

"Of course, My Lord," Draco replied.

"Good," Voldemort said.

Draco knew this was his dismissal. With an uneasy feeling, he scooped up the Weasley girl and left one of the many dark parlors of Malfoy Manor, heading in the direction of his own quarters.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Her bones ached. She didn't want to move. She didn't want to ever open her eyes. Ginny snuggled down into the pillow. This bed was so soft. Not as lumpy as her bed at home. Then her eyes popped open and she did not see her familiarly pink bedroom at The Burrow. Ah, but then she wasn't at the burrow. She was at Number 12 Grimmauld Place... but this wasn't her room there either. Maybe she was in one of the other rooms, though she was sure none of those rooms had stone walls like the ones she was staring at now.

Starting to get a little worried, Ginny raised herself on one elbow.

Moving her eyes to the rest of the room, she found that she was in a large chamber with luxurious furnishings. There was a dressing table and a desk by a large window that was decoratively draped with dark green velvet curtains. A mid-afternoon sun shone through the glass from outside. A soft looking fur rug lay on the cold stone floor and a little table in a corner held a chess board. A few luxurious couches sat by a roaring fireplace and there were three doors, one by itself on one wall, the other two next to each other opposite. The bed she lay on was large with green and silver coverlets. The colour scheme unsettled her a bit. She knew what those colours were.

And the memories came back. She had been walking back to Number 12 Grimmauld Place. They were all staying there... all accept Harry, Ron and Hermione. They were gone again, looking for the Horcruxes. She had wanted to go with them but they had left sometime early that morning. Thinking she was too young (even though she had graduated from Hogwarts more than two years ago and was now a member of the order) they had left her behind. That was why she was out walking. She was so livid at their lack of confidence in her that she just had to leave.

They had found her barely two blocks from the Order headquarters. She had been so consumed in her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed them until it was too late.

Just as she scrambled off the bed to run, the left of the two doors opened.

When she saw who was on the other side, she screamed.

Secrets