Disclaimer: Everything belongs to JK Rowling…except the plot.

A/N:This is sort of hard to understand, but bear with me. I hope you like it.

Malfoy Family Secrets

Lucius Malfoy had ruled Slytherin. He had been their king, with his submissive band of followers that obeyed every command he sent their way, his overly large fortune, and his power to manipulate whomever he pleased. His whole life had been set out before him. He had had it all.

And then he'd let his heart run away with him.

She was perhaps the one woman he knew he could never have. The one woman who his money could not buy. And he hated her for it, but at the same time, the cold indifference stirred something within him that he had never felt before.

He observed her for years, strolling along in the hallways with her friends, her hair shining spectacularly in the crowd. He'd listen to her laugh, the musical sound travelling from her mouth and filling his head like an intoxicating gas, and watch her as she talked, learning her views on the world, and, more importantly, good and evil.

Now he was determined to have her.

So he put the idea to his father. After all, she was a pureblood, and he was sure if she would just spend some time with him, then she would learn to love him. And what better way to spend time together, than as husband and wife.

His father agreed to think about it, so long as she was willing, which Lucius knew she would be once he had propositioned her. He had money, connections, good looks-everything a woman wanted in a man. But he had to be careful that none of his Slytherin fellows suspected anything. After all, she was still a Gryffindor, pureblood or no, and it wouldn't be wise to go around flaunting his desire for her.

But none of them noticed anything, or if they did, they were wise enough to keep their mouth's shut.

Near the end of their seventh year, disaster struck. She started dating that turd Weasley. Lucius had seen him around the school, in his tattered robes and broken glasses-he had even taunted him occasionally along with the rest of his house. But now he was seized with an uncontrollable hatred for the young man, who so casually strolled along the corridors with his arm around her shoulders, like Lucius himself had wanted to do for so long.

And he had been planning on proposing to her at graduation.

Lucius took initiative from his loathing of Weasley, and bullied him every opportunity he got. And he did more than bullied-he threatened, beat, and did everything in his power to make the unfortunate Gryffindor's last year at Hogwarts a living hell. He even went as far as to curse his exams, so that Weasley only just scraped through, ensuring him a low job for the rest of his life.

For some reason, which Lucius just could not grasp, she didn't lose the weasel. In fact, his constant taunting of her boyfriend only seemed to strengthen her hate for him. She now glared at him whenever she saw him, often snapping nasty things at him when he hexed the weasel in the corridor. But Lucius didn't give up. He was sure she would succumb to him once she discovered his true feelings. All he had to do was bide his time.

Finally, graduation night rolled around. He was now seeing her and the weasel together less frequently, which was a good sign. His hope renewed, he managed to corner her out in the corridor just before the big event started.

"What do you want Malfoy," she spat, squirming against his firm grasp which had her pinned to the wall. She looked genuinely scared, so Lucius loosened his grip somewhat.

He decided to cut straight to the chase. "Your hand in marriage."

"What?" she stopped struggling, slumped against the wall in shock. "What did you say?"

"I want you to marry me. I can arrange it with your permission," Lucius drew out a small box from his cloak pocket. He opened it, revealing the largest diamond ring he had been able to find. "You are a pureblood aren't you?"

She began struggling again, catching him by surprise. "How dare you!" she hissed, wrenching herself from his grasp and backing away from him, her face a mixture of shock and outrage. "How dare you!"

"What's wrong?" exclaimed Lucius angrily, stepping forward again. "I have money, connections, everything. We'd be wealthy beyond our wildest dreams. You'd have everything-"

"You don't have a heart," she interrupted scornfully. "You're a monster. I love Arthur."

"What?"

"And even if I didn't," she continued wrathfully. "I would never, ever, ever marry you. You heartless bastard."

And with those last parting words, she spun on her heel and ran up the corridor, vanishing around the bend. Lucius was sure he heard her sob once before disappearing from his sight.

He was at a complete loss for words. No one had ever said no to him before. No one. He didn't know what to do next. Go after her? Go to his father and force the marriage upon her?

One burning thought erupted in his mind as he went over the conversation. I love Arthur. I love Arthur. I love Arthur.

"Weasley," he growled. He forced himself to calm down, to relax, to think, but the words were burning themselves in his brain. "Weasley," he repeated, beginning to stride down the corridor. He had barely gone a few steps, however, when he was interrupted.

"Lucius!" he turned to see his father walking purposefully towards him, leading a pretty blonde girl whom he recognized as a girl in his year by the hand. She looked resentful, and on closer inspection Lucius noticed she had tears running down her face.

"Lucius," Mr Malfoy repeated, drawing up next to him and pushing the girl forward. "I want you to meet Narcissa Black."

Lucius flinched, his mind still on the woman who had just run away from him. He forced a charming smile onto his face and tilted his head in Narcissa's direction, offering her his hand. She wasn't bad looking, but he was much too preoccupied to notice her beauty at this moment in time.

"Father I must go," he said hurriedly. "I have to be somewhere," he waited for his father's consent, but it didn't come.

"Stay a while Lucius," his father boomed, obviously not sensing his son's need, or else ignoring it. "I've got something important to tell you. Narcissa's parents and I have come to a very special agreement."

His stomach dropping, Lucius forced his face to remain calm. "And what agreement would this be?"

"We're to be married," Narcissa told him, putting on a sour face. "It's been arranged by our parents."

For the second time that evening, Lucius found himself not knowing what to say. "Wh-what?" he sputtered. "B-but father?"

"Lucius don't make this hard for me," sighed Mr Malfoy, running his hand through his greying hair. "It's all been arranged. You don't have a say in it."

Lucius looked past his father, down the corridor where she had vanished. For a moment he considered running. Finding her and kidnapping her and taking her away to be his forever. But at the same time he knew it was stupid. He was nothing without his name, and he would lose that for sure if he refused to marry Narcissa. He glanced at the girl again. She was pretty, and he was sure she would make a good wife.

But she wasn't her.

He forced himself not to feel disappointed. In reality he had no choice. Lucius felt his heart close over, while Arthur Weasley's name swam through his brain. Smiling at his future wife, he drew the ring out of his pocket that he had tried to present to her just moments before, a single thought fixed in his brain.

He would satisfy himself with Narcissa, but he knew she would always be second best to her. And as for her and the weasel. Well, if he couldn't have Molly Prewett, he would do everything in his power to make sure her life was never easy again.

End

End of story note: So what did you all think? It's kind of strange isn't it?