I wanted to say this absolutely IS rape. I don't think there's anything wrong with writing a fic that includes a rape if that's part of the story you're trying to tell, but please don't pretend what happened in this chapter isn't rape; that diminishes the experience of real rape survivors. Ginny clearly does NOT consent to sex at any point, and just because she has an orgasm doesn't make it okay. I think it's dangerous to deny that this is rape, because it would make it so easy to dismiss a similar situation in real life.

Author's Response: I don't particularly want to leave this here at the top of the review list unresponded. I can see how you perceive this chapter as a rape-fic but that wasn't the angle I was going for, I was trying, in a slightly inept sort of way to channel the reluctance of girls in an arranged marriage. There is a lot of backstory which I was aiming to put in later about conversations between Ginny and Narcissa in which is IS offered the choice to NOT marry him, however this choice does rather lead in the torture/death at the hands of the Death eaters sort of direction. Ginny was given a CHOICE and she KNEW what that choice would entail - she signed paperwork to that effect (very much the same as a girl in an arranged marriage is given the choice of marriage or honour-killing/exile from her family, and says her vows and signs the marriage certificate - not because she wants to, but because she is EXPECTED to and the alternative is worse). So I was actually trying to go with an 'arranged marriage' sort of approach, although I agree that I have not filled in enough backstory and the reluctance elements are a lot more prevalent than the resignation - I think she was just trying her luck to be honest in the hopes that if she was snotty enough he might leave it for another time, but there are other things going on which were supposed to appear later in the story which explained why he didnt (and there will be some Draco-perspective in later chapters when I get around to writing them) - things such as other Death eaters questionning his loyalty (which you already know from published chapters is a frightening position for him to be in considering the insurrection) - they thought he was marrying her and then she'd 'disappear' so he had to PROVE that he had married her in the 'proper' way. The Orgasm has always sat uncomfortably with me, but if I left it out it read like a brutal rape!fic and I REALLY didn't want to go in that direction because as you say, this cheapens the experience of real Rape victims and the psychological damage they suffer and I would NEVER want to make light of something like that and I certainly wouldn't want to write about it because so far in my life thank christ I've never experienced this and wouldn't want to make it seem cheap. I put it in because I was trying to again channel the arranged marriage aspect andI was trying to show Draco as a husband that is trying to do his best with unfavourable circumstances. He didn't want her to hate him and he didn't want her experience to be nothing but pain and humiliation - he didn't want to be a rapist. I have also toyed with the idea that her pleasure was the result of a potion in her wine - a fertility potion that is customary among the arranged marriages of the 'upper class' to ensure that the wife won't go crying to her family saying her husband is a brute, and ensuring that the minimum amount of sex is required to conceive and heir. Cheating, yes, but it makes sense in the broader context. I'm sorry that you feel this reads like a rape scene, that was not what I was aiming for, perhaps I should have made the situation a lot clearer (although I do seem to recall a part of the chpter in which she remembers that she agreed to this and that she had signed contracts and paperwork to this effect - therefore if she agreed to it, it was consensual, however much she might not LIKE IT, agreement and enjoyment are not connected. If you agree, its consensual, regardless of how much you hate it or hate the person you are having sex with. She was emotional and frightened as I imagine a lot of girls in arranged marriages are on their wedding night - I know that when I spoke to a friend a mine just before her arranged wedding, she was ambivalent about the 'sex part' and her view was 'I'll let him get on with it and hope he doesn't take long'. She didn't expect to enjoy it and her mum had actively discouraged her to think that. As far as she was concerned, sex was about getting pregnant and giving birth to sons - a necessary discomfort. THIS was what I was trying to channel, and I thought about her when I wrote this chapter. I wanted it to show what no-one sees or hears - how unpleasant and uncomfortable 'duty' is in an arranged marriage. Of course that is not to say that ALL arranged marriages are ghastly and I am sure there are a lot of caring husbands out there that have done the right thing by their new wives, but equally there are those that are not. I'll never know how it was for my friend because her husbands' family lived in Birmingham and she moved there after the wedding. For all I know she's on her 5th child by now. I would STRONGLY recommend reading 'Daughters of Shame' by Jasvinder Sanghera for a more detailed insight in the arranged/forced marriage experience as her charity works with women that have run away from forced marriages due to abuse or just because they did not want to be intimate with a stranger.

LOVE this story. You write this very dark fic extremely well. (I am actually really enjoying Tom as a character, so don't feel you have to rush through to the D/G. I know we'll get there and this story is awesome.)

Author's Response: Thank you so much! You're review was such a confidence booster to keep writing this.

I LOVE this story! It's basically the reason I keep coming back to DG.com still. I'm really hoping you'll finish it. Love Ginny's feminist rage, love Draco's subtle interest in her, love Theodore. Love love love! Please continue.

Author's Response: I'm unbelievably flattered that you think this fic is so great (no pressure!). I'm still working on it, albeit slowly, I promise; I feel way too invested in the premise to let this one slip away.

Thank you for reviewing!