Chapter 1
“How are you at construction?” George asked.
“Never given it a go,” Ginny answered back around the tip of the quill she was anxiously chewing on as the two of them poured over the Daily Prophet’s help wanted ads.
“So you’re saying you wouldn’t describe yourself as a ‘skilled construction wizard with 10 years of experience’?”
“I haven’t even been out of school ten years.”
“There’s just not a lot of options that don’t deal with the public,” George said.
Ginny groaned and dropped her head in her hands.
“You can always come work in the shop,” George said. “I’ve offered it before and I’ll keep offering it.”
“It’s just not safe,” Ginny said. It came out as more of a frustrated whine than the calm reasoning she had wanted it to be. “Not with Skeeter’s articles still in the papers. Hell, Val is still in St. Mungo’s.”
After all, that was the whole predicament. If it wasn’t dangerous for her to just work in a shop in Diagonal Alley, she would still be flying for the Harpies.
“That wasn’t your fault, Gin. Exmoor should have had better security,” George said.
“Like Ilkley Moor tried for the Puddlemere match a few years ago? Fans snuck wands in anyways. Besides, you don’t have any security.”
“Well fine,” George said sarcastically. “Then I guess your choices are construction witch or-“ he picked up the paper and read the next help wanted ad, “-nanny for some kid on an estate in Dorset.”
He had very clearly had not meant it as a legitimate suggestion, but Ginny perked up.
“Let me see that,” she said pulling the paper from his hands.
Help Wanted
Live in nanny for six year old boy
Chateau Studland, Dorset
35 galleons a week
Room and board included
“You can’t possibly be serious, Gin. A nanny?”
“What? I’m good with kids,” Ginny protested.
“What kids? Who has ever left you in charge of their kids?”
“Rose likes me better than the rest of you!”
“Rose is your niece. She is biologically required to like you,” George said rolling his eyes.
“She doesn’t like Percy.”
“No one likes Percy.”
The two siblings shared a grin. It was a joke, of course. It felt good to be able to joke about Percy again. He and George had been particularly close now that Fred was gone. Percy had moved into the apartment above the shop for the first few years, just helping George continue functioning. He had moved out now, gotten a flat with Penelope, but he still managed the business side of the shop for George.
“I’m applying,” Ginny said stubbornly. “I think it sounds perfect.”
She took her quill and carefully scrawled ‘Ginevra Weasley’ in the space under the ad. The ink sunk into the paper in a way that made Ginny nervous ever since her first year at Hogwarts.
“You don’t even know who it’s for,” George protested. “Are you just going to run off to some stranger’s estate? Chateau Studland is that old manor off the cliffs we saw that one summer as kids. Don’t you remember? It was all closed up. Fred and I convinced Ron it was haunted and made him cry. The family that owned it passed away years before Mum and Dad were even born.”
“Okay, so someone bought it,” Ginny said. “It’s not like it was really haunted. I need a job. I need to be far away from London. This is both.”
“Maybe if you tried talking to Harry-“ George started.
It was a conversation she had had with George before. She supposed it was fair enough. He had let her come stay at his place with no notice. He was entitled to some answers as to what had happened. She had no desire to talk to Harry though. She was still sorting through that pile of emotions on her own.
“I can handle this on my own,” she said quickly. “I’m not going to bother Harry.”
“On your own?” George asked raising an eyebrow.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Ginny said. “You’ve been so much help, but that’s part of why I need a job. I can’t just stay here in your way doing nothing.”
“You’re not in my way, Gin-“ George started, but he was cut off by a tapping at the window. Ginny flinched back instinctively. “It’s just an owl,” George said giving her a worried look.
He stood up and crossed the room to let the owl in through the window. Ginny didn’t recognize it, and was surprised when it fluttered in and landed in front of her with a soft hoot. It had a letter and a small wrapped parcel, no bigger than the palm of her hand. She untied them from it’s foot and the owl took back off and out the window. She opened the envelope.
Ginny Weasley,
Thank you for your interest in the nanny position.
Please use the included portkey to interview at your convenience.
She showed the letter to George who looked uneasy.
“That was way too quick of a response,” he said.
“Maybe they’re desperate,” Ginny said. “That would be good since as you so rudely pointed out, I have no experience.”
“How did they know your name?”
“I wrote it on the ad to apply.”
“You wrote Ginerva,” George argued.
“Okay, so maybe they’ve heard of me,” Ginny said brushing it off. Even though the idea of that made her nervous. Most people who had heard of her hated her these days.
“Exactly. Maybe they’ve heard of you,” George said. “Aren’t you the one worrying about Harry’s crazy fans trying to curse you?”
He had a point, but Ginny didn’t want to admit it. This was the first job she had applied for that had even responded.
“I’ve got my wand. I’ll be okay,” she said. “I’ll go now. Percy is running the shop today, so you can sit here like a worried mother and when I come back you will see that it’s fine.”
“Ginny, I don’t think-“ George started, but Ginny had always been too stubborn for her own good. She ripped the parcel open and grabbed the silver emblem inside without inspecting it, vanishing before George could finish his sentence.
Traveling by portkey had never been Ginny’s favorite way. She felt as though she were tumbling through nothing, then suddenly, her feet slammed into solid ground. She tumbled to a heap on the ground, unable to catch herself. She was in what looked like the entryway of the nicest house she had ever seen. The entryway itself was probably bigger than the entire first floor of the Burrow.
A giggle came from her right.
“Why are you on the ground?” A little boy’s voice asked.
She spun to see a little boy with curly blonde hair and silver eyes giggling in a doorway. She blinked twice. There was no way. This had to be a joke. The boy was the spitting image of –
“Weasley, is this how you arrive at all interviews?” None other than Draco Malfoy asked appearing in the door way behind the boy who could only be his son.
Ginny quickly scrambled to her feet, straightening her clothes.
“Malfoy. I didn’t – you weren’t who – you have a kid?” Ginny stuttered out unable to focus her mind on the situation she had ended up in. Her eyes were darting around the entry room she had landed in to find the nearest exit.
“It would have been an odd job ad if I didn’t,” Malfoy said. “This is my son, Scorpius.”
“Are you going to be my nanny?” Scorpius asked walking over to Ginny and looking up at her with wide eyes.
“Scorpius, why don’t you go play in your room?” Malfoy asked.
Scorpius sighed, but turned and disappeared up the stairs on the other side of the entry way.
“This way,” Malfoy said, gesturing through the doorway he stood in.
Ginny had roughly a million questions, and the feeling that she should not be here. She’d known Malfoy hadn’t been put in prison like his father after the war – the wizengamot has ruled that they couldn’t hold children liable for actions forced upon them – but she hadn’t seen Malfoy since that day in the Great Hall huddled with his family. She’d heard about him though. Harry complained all the time the Malfoy was buying the influence of the ministry the same way his father had. Ginny had no reason to doubt that it was true. After all, even before Malfoy had been a death eater he had been a bully.
Still, it didn’t stop her from mutely following him through the halls of his house and into what appeared to be his office. It wasn’t like she had any other choices. He gestured for her to sit in one of the armchairs facing the large oak desk that he moved to sit behind. Ginny sank numbly into the seat.
“You certainly didn’t waste any time coming,” he said.
“Well, it’s not like you wasted time sending the portkey either,” Ginny cut back.
“I was curious. You were the last person I excepted to reply to the ad.”
“Yes, well, I need a job.”
“Right. I did read that you were no longer flying for the Harpies,” Malfoy said and pulled a copy of the Daily Prophet from a drawer in his desk.
Several Players Injured, One Hospitalized After Scene at Quidditch Match
Under the headline was a photograph. Ginny had seen it before. She hadn’t been able to look away when the issue first released a month ago. Hell, she had lived it in person. The photo showed the chaos in the pitch when one of the fans had loosed fiend fyre on the players to try and hit Ginny. Ginny had made it out with only a small burn on her ribs. Valmai hadn’t been as lucky. She hadn’t yet woken up and was being kept in St. Mungo’s.
“Did you just bring me here to taunt me?” Ginny snapped at Malfoy.
He tucked the paper back away with an unreadable expression.
“I brought you here because I need someone to watch my son. My in laws are moving to France and there is no one else to watch him while I’m at work. It’s too far to safely apparate.”
“What about his mother?” Ginny asked.
“Astoria passed away,” Malfoy answered rather stiffly. Surprisingly, after all that he had put her friends through in school, Ginny felt bad for him.
“I’m sorry,” she said. Malfoy just waved her off, but she could tell the topic had upset him. She quickly changed it. “And you would hire me? Even after seeing that article?” She asked.
“I’m not certain what the article has to do with hiring you.”
“People around me get hurt, Malfoy.”
“Suni,” Malfoy called out ignoring her. With a crack, a house elf dressed in a brightly colored and patterned business suit appeared in the room. Ginny’s jaw dropped a little in shock. “Miss Weasley will be taking the open nanny position, but has some concerns about safety. Please coordinate with Dunaid to increase security.”
The house elf nodded and then disappeared with another crack.
Ginny had a million questions, but the first thing that came out of her mouth was, “She’s free.”
Malfoy looked confused for a moment, and then seemed to realize what she meant.
“Suni? Of course she’s free. I hired her to manage my household and staff. You’ll report to her with any issues or concerns. I assume that won’t be an issue for you.”
“I haven’t said I’ll take the job,” Ginny said.
“Do you have a backup plan that I am unaware of?” Malfoy asked in a bored tone. Ginny wanted to argue with him solely because she hated that arrogant tone, but he was right. She was out of options. “Excellent. Here is the employment contract.” He waved his wand and a scroll of parchment appeared in his hand that he passed over to her. “You can read it over. Bring it with you Monday with any requested revisions. You’ll have the tour then and officially start on Tuesday.”
It was currently Thursday, that left her less than a week. She wanted to be annoyed at his arrogance during the entire encounter, but all she felt was relief at the prospect of being out of London in a matter of days. He reached into his desk drawer and hand her an envelope with another small silver emblem just like the portkey that had brought her here as well as a green one.
“The green one will take you just outside the wards, and the silver one will bring you back here,” Malfoy said. “After that, Dunaid will rework the wards so that you are able to apparate in and out without having to leave the grounds.”
She wanted to ask more questions. Why was he employing a free elf? Why was he willing to hire her after everything – the animosity between their families, his father trying to kill her when she was just a girl, everything between him and Harry? Why had he bought an old estate out in Dorset when he had a family home? She didn’t ask any of them though, afraid the questions would make him change his mind. Instead she just nodded, slipping the rolled up contract into her pocket and taking the green portkey from the envelope. Once again, she felt the ground disappear from under her and she was twisting through space. Then, her feet landed in grass. She could smell the salt air of the ocean and turned to see that she was a few hundred feet from a steep cliff edge looking out over the ocean. In every other direction there was just rolling hills of grass. Chateau Studland – which she only vaguely remembered from their family trip over the summer when she was just a girl – was no where to be seen. Malfoy must have protection charms on the house. She pulled her wand out and apparated back into George’s flat.
“That’d better be you and not some ransom note for your return,” George called appearing the room. Despite his teasing words, Ginny could see that he was worried.
“And how much would you be willing to pay a blackmailer to get me back?” Ginny asked.
“At least two sickles.”
“Ha ha,” she said dryly.
“Well, how did it go? Were they a crazy murderer or a creepy old pervert who is going to collect your socks or something?”
“Neither,” she answered evasively. George’s eyes narrowed.
“You say that like the real answer is worse,” he said.
“It’s not worse. I will have a job, and probably all of my socks,” she said. He just raised an eyebrow waiting for her to say what it was she was avoiding. “I’ll tell you who it was, but you have to promise not to say a word.”
“I will do no such thing,” he said. Ginny sighed.
“It was Malfoy.”
“I thought he was in pris– wait, do you mean Draco Malfoy? As in the asshole I got banned from Quidditch for rightly punching his arrogant face?” George asked. “The one whose father nearly got you killed?”
“That’s the one,” Ginny said.
“Well, don’t worry about it. You will just come work in the shop. If you are worried about safety you can work in the back room.”
“I took the job,” Ginny said.
“You have to be joking.”
“I am not. So long as there is nothing horrible in this employment contract, I’ll start Monday.”
“And tell me exactly how working for a former Death Eater is less dangerous than staying here?” George demanded.
“He was a kid, George. And it’s basically perfect,” Ginny said.
“How?”
“Because the last place on earth I will run into one of Harry’s fans is at Draco Malfoy’s house.”