Sweet Bondage

Chapter 1: Secrets

The eagle owl soared through the open window of the Burrow, landing majestically on the only bare spot of the heavily laden dining table, currently occupied by the 7 Weasleys. With great presentation, the bird extended the foot with the scroll attached to it, resuming its steady and unblinking position as soon as the head of the family, Arthur Weasley, had taken the proffered scroll.

"Blimey, that bird's creepy," Ron Weasley breathed in awe as he stared at the perfectly still bird.

Arthur skimmed the message on the scroll and sighed. "It's another one, Molly," he said, removing his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose in a decidedly weary manner.

"Whose it from this time, dad?" Charlie asked, as he flipped a page of the Daily Prophet.

Arthur looked at his wife meaningfully before handing her the parchment and answering his son.

"Lucius Malfoy."

His simple reply brought forth the expected reaction: five redheads started choking in earnest. Fred and George turned on each other and punched each other in between the shoulder blades, then promptly fell off their seats at the same time. Molly calmly patted Percy's back as Charlie was the first to gain back his composure. Ron, however, turned even brighter than his hair, if that were possible. But it wasn't because he was still choking.

"Lucius Malfoy!" he all but shrieked. The twins, despite their similar feeling of horror at the idea, snickered at hearing Ron. "How dare he offer for Ginny!" he sputtered. "That - that - reprobate! What does he plan to do with his wife? Stuff her in a closet somewhere?"

"Ron, you twat! He's not offering for himself." Charlie looked gravely at his father. "It's for his son, isn't it, Dad?"

Arthur sighed. "Quite so."

Ron turned even redder. "Well, then, tell him no! Tell him there's no way we're considering them."

"Ron, be quiet," Molly admonished, but she also looked gravely worried.

"You can't possibly think of considering them!" Ron sputtered again. "They're death eaters!"

"Ronald Bilius Weasley! What have I told you about keeping your opinions to yourself! The war is over and all has been revealed. There's no call for your prejudice." Molly fairly shrieked.

"But - but Mum - " Ron began.

"No," Molly interrupted with a glare. "I don't want to hear anymore from you, young man, until you learn to act like your age and not like a child with a tantrum."

Arthur Weasley looked from his irate wife to his furious youngest son then sighed again. This was getting ridiculous.

"Of course I wasn't considering his proposal, or any of the others as well. I want Ginny to make her own choice; it's her life. I don't want to dictate what she does with it." He stood up from the table. "It's best if she doesn't hear about this from any of you." He leveled each of his sons a fierce look. "Not one word. Am I making myself clear?" At the nods he received, Arthur straightened. "Well, now that that's settled," he turned the parchment from Lucius Malfoy over and wrote a short reply at the back before tying it back around the owl's leg. "I'm going to the office." He dropped a kiss on his wife's cheek and with one last look around, disapparated.

"So," Molly broke the silence that reigned around the kitchen at Arthur Weasley's and the owl's departure. "Who wants some pancakes?"

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

At that moment, the girl that was on everyone's minds was packing away the last of her things. In a few hours, she would be leaving her Head Girl's rooms and board the Hogwarts Express for the last time. It was funny how time seems to run away with you when you want it to slow down. Her seven years at Hogwarts was over, seven years full of highs and lows, of laughter, sadness, humiliations and heartaches. It seemed only yesterday when she was a bright-eyed girl of eleven, preparing to board the train that would take her to Hogwarts for the first time. Now, now she was a 17-year-old woman, ready to face the world.

And Ginevra Moira Weasley was a woman. To her brother's everlasting dismay, she had blossomed into every wizard's dream witch. From a mousy girl, Ginny had reached her full height of 5'10" only in her seventh year. Along with the growth spurt, she had also gained the curves that all her brothers wish for their women, but not for their only sister. In other words, Ginny Weasley had grown into one of the most beautiful witch in Britain, possibly even the whole of Europe, and they were not happy about it.

Ginny took one last sweeping look around her rooms. As she did so, her eyes fell on the frame by her nightstand. The wizard in the photo had an air of aloofness around him, as though saying 'look, but don't come any closer'. She picked up the frame and lovingly touched the photo, her fingers meeting cold glass. Much like the person behind the glass, cold as ice. The wizard gave her a haughty look before pointedly ignoring her.

Ginny sighed. "The story of my life," she said out loud, knowing there was nobody there to hear her.

Ginny didn't know when it happened, or why, but when she was in her sixth year, she found herself falling in love with the unlikeliest of all people. She herself had hated him prior to that year, finding his high-handedness and feelings of superiority boorish. She had even hexed him her fourth year, and as the twins can attest, her bat-bogey hex was not an experience they'd particularly enjoyed nor wanted to experience again.

Then she saw him with Pansy Parkinson on the Hogwarts Express going to Hogwarts for her sixth year and she felt the first stirrings of jealousy. She didn't know what it was she was feeling at first, mistaking it for disgust as she beheld their writhing forms, Pansy with her thighs and legs around Draco's waist and Draco calmly thrusting into Pansy. She might be an innocent, but she was no ignorant to the goings on around her. Being around six older brothers was enough guarantee that she knew more about the birds and the bees than even the birds and the bees themselves. She had lit out of there, laughter trailing after her. She had thought then that she couldn't hate Draco Malfoy even more than she already does, but that little scene convinced her she could. How wrong she was.

She couldn't seem to get him out of her head. She kept seeing him as he pounded into Pansy. She would occasionally imagine it was herself in Pansy's place before she'd turn green at the picture she'd conjured in her mind and resolutely refused to look at him the entire day, a fact that was near impossible to do considering he was her potions partner in her Advanced Potions class. It was torture being near him and feeling her skin crawl with revulsion. Or so she thought. She had finally accepted that her feelings for him were not hatred at all, and then she got royally pissed off. Her brother, Ron, couldn't understand why she had such a short fuse with them, but short of telling him the reason behind it (she had no wish to die a virgin, thank you very much), there was nothing she could do but vent her frustration. Even Draco felt her bad mood.

Ginny took one last loving look at the photo before putting it away at the bottom of her trunk. Her feelings for Draco Malfoy was even more impossible than the ones she used to harbor for Harry Potter. At least with Harry, her family would have no objections. They had practically adopted the boy the moment they saw him. No, there was no basis for comparison at all. Her family would probably lock her away and throw away the key if she so much as suggest she might fancy ferret-boy. They'd ask questions later, much, much later. It was better if they never found out about her feelings for the 'enemy'.

Gathering her bags together, she levitated them outside for her journey home.

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

Ginny stared at the passing scenery, deep in her thoughts. She was loathed to admit it, but she wasn't sure what it was she wanted to do with the rest of her life. She had graduated at the top of her class, but after the experience of war, that wasn't something that she put particular stock in. She had no wish to be an auror, having had enough of fighting off dark wizards; she didn't have a knack for journalism, having had a horrific history involving an enchanted diary and near death experience. She didn't have enough business acumen to start a business of her own, not the least of which her lack of monetary funds to back a business. She was exceptional in charms and potions, but she had no wish to be a curse breaker, or a potions professor should a position be open for her. She might consider being a healer, but then again, she didn't have much motivation towards the profession.

Ginny sighed and leaned her head back against the cushioned backrest. Life was so much simpler as a student. She closed her eyes and her hand automatically took hold of the locket hanging by a silver chain around her neck. It was given to her by Harry when she had turned 17. Silver in color, it was heart-shaped and charmed so that only Ginny can open it. Unbeknownst to her family, she had replicated the picture by her nightstand, shrank it to fit the locket, then added her own charms to ensure that only her touch can open it. She never took the locket off, needing it around her constantly to help her relax and concentrate. She even took it with her in the shower. It had become a source of comfort for her. She had received quite a lot of ribbing from her friends about her attachment to the jewelry, mistakenly assuming that she took such great care of it because she still held a torch for Harry. She had ceased trying to correct them. None of them would understand anyway.

Now she took great comfort as she stroked the smooth surface of the jewelry. There was only one career she wanted to have if she were to be truthful to herself: she wanted to be the wife of one Draco Malfoy. But since that was comparable to reaching for the moon, she would have to settle for something else.

She opened her eyes as the compartment door opened. Colin Creevey grinned at her before flopping opposite her seat. Colin had been her bestest friend ever since her second year. He was the only one who stood by her after her horrific first year. She had other friends too, but none she trusted more than Colin.

"Do you ever get the feeling that this is somehow surreal? I mean, we're out of school. How'd that happen?" Colin absently picked at a lint on his oxford shirt.

Ginny smiled at her friend's meticulousness. Colin had shocked the Gryffindor House their fifth year when he came out of the proverbial closet. Ginny had sensed he was gay back in second year and confirmed her suspicions by their third year; why it came as such a shock to their house was beyond her. Surely they had noticed how fixated he had been with Harry from the beginning; he was even more obsessed with Harry than she had been her first three years in Hogwartss. No guy, no matter how fanatic, could possibly be straight after that. She didn't mind his sexual preference though; she appreciated his candidness more after he came out and they had had many a night spent talking about boys and their assets. They had exhausted the topic so much her mother would be horrified if she knew how well-versed she was with the male anatomy and its functions. Having Colin as gay best friend was the best thing that ever happened to her.

"I know what you mean," she answered. "I was just thinking that I don't have anything mapped out as yet. How about you? What d'you plan to do once you settled in?"

Colin brightened and straightened in his seat. "I just have the perfect job lined up. You know I love photography. Anyway, I called in a few favors and guess what? I got an interview lined up at Witch Weekly!"

Colin and Ginny started bouncing in their seats and shrieking like little girls.

"That's great, Colin! That's your dream job, and you're almost there." She grinned excitedly at her friend. "I'm so jealous of you. I don't even have one job interview lined up."

"Oh, please! With your brains, you could get into any university you want just like that!" He snapped his finger for emphasis. Then he grinned mischievously. "And if that doesn't work, you could always model. You could give Tamara Flynn a run for her money, you know."

Ginny blushed. Tamara Flynn had been ajudged the most beautiful witch in the wizarding world. To be compared to her was flattering and embarrassing. "Shut up, Colin, that's not true." She looked away from Colin's laughing eyes.

"It so is true!" He shifted from his seat so that he sat cross legged in front of her. "I hadn't planned on telling you since I don't know how you'll react, but - " he trailed off at the alarmed look that flashed across Ginny's face.

"What - what did you do, Colin?"

Colin started mumbling about stills, nudes, and black and whites.

"What? What did you say?" asked Ginny, confused.

Again, Colin mumbled about portfolios and whatnots. That was when Ginny understood and paled in horror. Shaking her head in denial, she searched his face for the dreaded truth.

"Tell me you didn't, Colin, tell me you didn't do what I think you did."

Colin looked at her sheepishly. "I - didn't?" Then looked away guiltily.

Ginny shrieked. For a full minute. The compartment reverberated with her horror, seeming to magnify her voice a thousand times over. Colin visibly shrunked in size. He knew he was in for it. Just then, the compartment opened again as several heads peeked in to see what the commotion was all about. Ginny stopped shrieking only long enough to order everybody out, not caring if she were being rude. There was hell to pay and Colin was going to pay it. Big time.

Slamming the compartment door shut behind her, she then locked it and cast a silencing charm so powerful, it made Colin nervous. When she began advancing on him, he knew he was in for it.

"You - you - "

"Now, Gin," Colin placated nervously. "You know I'd never knowingly abuse your trust. I love you." The murderous glint in Ginny's eyes didn't abate. Colin gulped. "Look. You know that picture I took of you was the best one I had. I just had to show it as part of my portfolio. I just had to."

"Had to!? Had to! You didn't have to do anything!" Ginny shrieked; Colin cringed. "How could you, Colin, that picture was supposed to be only between you and me. How could you show it to another human being! I was naked in that picture for crying out loud."

Colin backed up against the window of their compartment as Ginny again started advancing on him. "I know, but it wasn't a lewd picture, Gin, it was art at its finest." He flattened against the wall as Ginny pressed on him angrily. "And I was right; they loved it, Gin," he said hurriedly. "It's why I got the interview with the owner of the magazine in the first place, because of that picture. The editor-in-chief was bowled over by it. Wanted to know who my model was. I didn't tell him," he added hastily, as Ginny sucked in a breath, ready to start yelling again.

Ginny then seemed to deflate like an out of water puffer fish. She dropped down beside the seat previously occupied by the cowering Colin. She was so tired.

Colin hesitatingly sat down beside her. "Gin? I'm sorry for being such a presumptuous git, but I really thought I could nail the job down with your photo." He took both her hands in his own. "I knew they'd see that photo and think like I do."

"Like what?" she asked quietly, eyes tightly closed.

"Like a goddess has come down on earth. You were beautiful, Gin - no, you are beautiful," he amended fiercely, squeezing her hands almost painfully. "Mr. Johnson all but offered me the job right then and there, he was so taken with you."

"It was just a picture, Colin," she said quietly. "Just a picture."

"That's bull and you know it. A picture's just a tool to represent the real thing." He let go of her hands and grabbed her face in earnest. "You are the real thing. You are beauty, grace, and elegance. You're it, baby," he finished, smiling at her tenderly.

Ginny snorted. "Grace? Elegance? I'm about as graceful as an elephant with a tusk up her ass. Elegant? Have you forgotten I'm a Weasley, Colin? We don't do elegance."

Colin laughed. "Honey, I wasn't talking about your family name, I was talking about you. You. You are so convinced that you're so undesirable that you believe others think so too. Hon, if I were to use my hands to count the number of guys who've wanted you, I'd have more arms than a Buddhist fertility symbol. And that's a fact."

Ginny unconsciously grabbed hold of her locket. "If I was so wonderful, then how come - " She trailed off, hanging her head in shame.

"How come Harry hasn't fallen for you?" Colin finished. "Because you don't want him to, Hon. He's like your seventh brother, and I don't think incest appeals all that much to you."

Ginny remained quiet, still stroking her locket. Colin cleared his throat and tipped her head up to meet his eyes. "Or were you wondering how come Draco has never once shown you any interest?"

Ginny paled in shocked surprise. "How - what - "

"I'm your best friend, Ginny," Colin stated quietly, firmly. "I know you like I know myself." He pried loose the locket from her hand. "I may have never seen what's in here, but I don't have to to know. I've known from the moment your feelings changed. When you started to think of him as more than a target to practice for your hexes." He let go of the locket and crossed his arms in front of him. "Why you've never told me will always be a mystery to me since I've told you all my secrets."

"I wasn't sure - at first, and when I was certain, I refused to acknowledge it. It's just so hopeless." Ginny slumped further on her seat.

"It's only impossible because you chose to fall in love with a stupid git who doesn't know what's good for him even if it came up to him and bit his balls off," Colin declared spitefully, his voice becoming so disdainful that Ginny had to stifle a laugh that burst from her lips. Trust Colin to call it as he sees it.

"Thanks for the visual, Colin, trust you to go right away for the jugular."

"I meant it, Gin. That guy's so full of hot air it's a wonder he hasn't floated away by now. So he's a gorgeous example of the male species, so what? He is so concerned about that whole blood traitor thing I swear he's off his rocker sometimes. But that's just my opinion, of course."

Ginny laughed, she couldn't help it. Even if she tried to defend Draco's behavior, which she was unlikely to do, she knew Colin was right. All of it.

"Oh, Colin, you do know how to lighten up a dreary day."

Colin gave her a wink. "That's what I'm here for, baby, and I'm here to stay. Get used to it."

And they spent the remainder of the trip in light banter, carefully skirting the issue of the photo, Draco, and what the future had in store for them.