The Malfoy Manor. Halloween 2001.
The large mansion was deathly quite. By the looks of the place, a visitor might have thought that no one lived there. There were cobwebs strewn all over the house; branching across the doorways, hanging in the corners, creeping up the banisters. Dust lined the floors of every room, not to mention the many bat colonies that had seemed to invade the house. However, a tiny light could be seen at the top of the stairs and if one listened carefully, you'd be able to hear voices. Although, at the moment, those voices didn't seem to happy with each other…
"Draco! I told you I didn't want it up! Why don't you just let me do it?" A tall red-haired woman around the age of 21 was sitting in front of a large oak mirror looking very irritated. Both her arms and her legs were crossed and she had a sour expression on her face. A man only a year older than her was running his fingers through the knotted mess that was her hair.
"Hold on, woman. I'll be done soon…"
"That's what you said an hour ago, and it looked better then than it does now."
For the past hour and a half, the married couple had sat in front of this very mirror, desperately trying to find the perfect 'do' to complete her costume. She was clothed in a long, blood-red dress with flared sleeves and had two inch long fangs in the place of two of her teeth. She seemed to have gotten them straight from an actual vampress.
Draco had the same thing done to his mouth but had on a dark suit and had his naturally silver-blond hair dyed jet-black (much to his protest). In order for payback, he decided to give his wife a look of his own (much to her protest).
"Cor, blimey gov, Ginny! Your hair is just too long. Wait – I can take care of that…" he said, magically whipping a pair of scissors out of the air. He started hacking off the ends of her long tresses. She didn't seem to mind, she had been in need of a hair cut anyway. But, her mood still didn't sway. Cutting took up time… and it also made a mess. And who was going to be expected to pick up that mess? She was. Which would make her even more late for a party she was hosting.
"For God's sake, Draco! This isn't a blinking beauty salon! The guests are going to be here any minute. And no, I don't care if the elf answers the door but I have to be down there…"
Draco sighed as Ginny continued on about being a proper host. He rolled his eyes before interrupting her. "I swear on my gayness you will be ready in time," he said evenly. Ginny sighed and seemed to relax a bit.
"Alright…" Pause. "Wait a minute! What 'gayness'? You'd better not have any 'gayness' about you or I'm calling for a divorce!"
"I was kidding, Mrs. PMS…" he said, starting to make a large braid out of her hair. Not that Draco wanted to admit that he knew how to make a braid.
Ginny turned red. "Well, if I'm Mrs. PMS than that would make you Mr. PMS," she shot, glaring at his amused reflection in the mirror. He chose to ignore her comment.
"Alright, you're done!" he said instead, waving his arms about as someone might do with a finished piece of artwork. Ginny however, didn't seem to view it the same. She merely stood up and headed for the door.
"Fine. This will have to do; I don't have time to fix it. Not even with magic."
Draco stared after her; just before she was about to walk out of the room he spoke up. "Eh Gin…."
She turned around swiftly. "What?"
"You're welcome…" Which translated into: "Where's my sodding 'thank you'?"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Alright!" she quickly walked over to him and kissed him on the lips. "There. Thank you." Instinctively, Draco wrapped his arm around her so she couldn't get away.
"That's more like it," he said, putting his face closer to hers. Just then there was a shrill, high-pitched scream come from down the stairs. Draco swore, they should never have installed that Halloween doorbell.
Ginny pushed off of him. "I have to go," she said, and without hesitation, Disapperated.
Ginny made sure that her dress and hair were straight. She took a deep breath and reached her hand toward the doorknob. It felt soft and warm and… moving. Ginny looked closer. What an odd place for a bat to sleep… she thought to her self.
"Oh, move it, you…" she said, picking it up and tossing it into the air. It spread its wings and took off to the nearest crystal chandelier. That was the last time she was letting Draco have bats stay for Halloween.
She opened the door to see Hermione and Ron dressed in the appropriate apparel. Hermione had made herself transparent and was wearing a very old fashioned dressed which looked like something you'd see in a Shakespeare play. Ron was dressed up as a Chuddly Canon player and was equipped with a broom and a real quaffle.
"Hey Gin!" Ron exclaimed, stepping forward to hug his sister. Hermione did the same and unlike a real ghost, didn't go through her when she made contact with her sister in law. They both smiled and looked around the large manor. Hermione's eyes lit up.
"The decorations are gorgeous, Ginny. Did Draco do them? I heard that he was an excellent…"
Ron cut her off. "Speaking of pillocks… ("Ron!") how has he been treating you?" he asked, taking on his brotherly tone. He tapped his foot making a soft sound when the polished wood came in contact with his Quidditch boots.
"Ron," Ginny answered somewhat angrily. "We've been married for almost a year. I think I would have told you if something was wrong. Just lay off of him, alright?" Ron rolled his eyes at this.
"She's right you know…" came Draco's voice from behind her. He wrapped his arms around her once again and rested his hands on her stomach. Ron thought that they both looked particularly evil; fangs glistening in the candlelight, drenched in fake (at least he hoped it was…) blood.
"I wouldn't dream of laying a finger on your sister…" he smirked. "Well, a harmful finger, that is."
Just then the doorbell screeched again. (That seems to be happening to me a lot more lately. Draco thought) Ron nearly jumped out of his Quidditch uniform.
"I'll get it!" Hermione piped up, being as she was the closest one to the door. It seemed that all of the guests had decided to show up at the same time. About thirty people were crowded by the doorway. Draco was extremely irritated by the noise that followed them into the house. He found him self particularly annoyed with Seamus and Lavender ("What did you bring kids for?! That takes all the fun out of everything!")
Harry was the last one to get into the house. He looked around and did a double take when he saw Draco.
"Nice hair Malfoy." Harry said uneasily. "You look very… well, I would say charming but Voldemort's here… I'll settle with Gothic,"
"Oh stuff it, Potter," he hissed. "Wait… where is that evil bastard of a man that you call your boyfriend?"
Harry shrugged. "He's still outside. He's not very happy with his costume…" Harry, who was in large dress seemed unusually happy with his costume. Hermione shuttered as she remembered the Quidditch World Cup in their forth year. "I like a nice breeze around my privets, thank you."
"Why don't you go get him then?" Hermione asked, trying to push the voice out of her head; it still gave her nightmares. Harry nodded and went back outside. He reemerged dragging a very angry looking Tom Riddle. Tom had every right to not be happy with his costume. Large pink bunny ears protruded from his head and flopped down in front of his eyes. He had a black nose that looked like it had been drawn on with eyeliner and a huge cottony tail was fastened to the back of his robes. Draco tried to hide his laugh but all that he manage to do was give out a snort that sounded light a duck choking on a piece of plastic.
"Where's your bathroom?" Voldemort asked, blushing all the way to his bunny ears. Draco frowned and pointed up the staircase.
"It's up at the top to the left…" but Voldemort had already vanished at the word 'up'.
They didn't see him for the rest of the night.
Draco sat against the wall staring at all of his guests. The party was getting pretty boring. He needed something to liven it up. But what?
Draco scanned the room for any ideas and his eyes fell on the table where all the food was. He smiled evilly and headed over to it, trying to remember a certain spell that he had learned when he took a drinking class which was called H.T.P.Y.N.D.B.M (How to pretend you're not drinking by magic)
Draco put his wand up to the punch bowl and alcohol started to flow from it into the red liquid. Ginny came up behind him.
"What are you doing?"
"Spiking the punch… obviously."
"But there are children here…" she hissed.
"And…?" he asked.
"Draco, there's more alcohol in there than punch…"
"And…?" he grabbed the ladle and scooped up a large amount of punch; spilling the contents down his throat.
"Mmm, mmm good," he said, patting his stomach with satisfaction. Suddenly, he started laughing uncontrollably and the ladle dropped from his hands on to the floor.
"Oh, Draco…" she exclaimed bending to pick it up. She grabbed a napkin. "Look, you spilt it everywhere…"
Draco looked down at her. As she was bending down part of her dress fell open a bit. He snickered, it seemed to make a perfect canal for punch to go down. Before he weighed out the consequences, Draco grabbed a cup off the table, scooped up some punch and aimed. He within seconds all of the alcohol had been thrown down the front of her dress. Ginny's mouth opened with shock as she stood up to look at him. He smiled at her.
"She shoots, she scores!" he shouted, doing some pelvic thrusts. Apparently, it didn't take much for Draco Malfoy to get drunk. "Well… he shoots…God I'm a pillock..."
As Draco was doing a small dance and the guest had started to crowd around them, something that felt horribly like whipped cream smash into the side of his face. He stopped abruptly as a strawberry streaked down his nose. He turned to Ginny, she had a very wicked grin on her face as she grabbed another pie. But, as she hurled it at Draco, he ducked. Pumpkin hit Harry smack dab in the middle of his forehead.
"Hey!" he yelled. Ginny barely had time to mutter 'sorry' before he chucked a baked apple at her. It hit her square in the left breast.
"Ow, Harry!"
Draco turned around, another cup of punch already loaded. "Nothing comes in contact with my wife's chest other than me and my body parts…" ("Ew… horrifying, gruesome, unspeakable mental picture…" groaned Ron) The punch missed Harry and hit Hermione who soon joined the fight. Within minutes everyone in the room was throwing food at the other guests. It became a war zone and many of them were over dramatizing it. Ron was it with a particularly large squash that knocked him over. Hermione hurried to his side to help him up. He clutched his chest and groaned.
"No… go on without me. Save yourself. Tell the kids… tell them I love them…" he whispered in a raspy voice. All Hermione did was roll her eyes.
After everything was cleaned up Ginny sat back in a large armchair by the fire, not caring what the guest thought at this point. She still had flakes of chocolate pudding in her hair but she didn't bother taking. Harry sat across from her in an equally large chair, he looked a little concerned. Voldemort was still in the bathroom.
Just then, Draco appeared at Ginny's side. It looked like he could barely stand up. He looked down at her.
"Ginny looks cute…" he said, dabbing up some chocolate off her head and licking it off his finger. "Draco likes that."
Ginny looked up at him surprised. His breath smelt strongly of alcohol.
"Have you been drinking?"
"Draco was having a drinking contest with your brother…Fron."
"Ron?"
"Yes! That's 'im! Passed out, he did. No one can take alcohol like a Malfoy," he said, jabbing his finger into his chest. "We drink it like it's ice tea."
"Draco, how many drinks have you had?"
He blinked. "Hand Draco the Biro."
She stared. "What?"
"Hand Draco the Biro. He'll write it down for you." She grabbed the ballpoint pen off the table in front of her and handed it to him. He scribbled something on his hand and wiggled his fingers in front of her face when he was done. It took her a while for her eyes to focus before she was able to read it. All there was, was a large question mark.
"Draco, how many did you have?" she asked more firmly. He shrugged.
"I don't know…" he started ticking off his fingers, muttering to himself. That didn't seem to be enough for him so he bent down and started jabbing the tips of his leather shoes where his toes were. His black hair fell in front of his face. He stood up quickly, swaying a bit.
"About twenty…" he said calmly. Ginny's eyes widened.
"Twenty???"
He nodded vigorously. Harry took this as an opportunity to take advantage of Draco. He hopped out of his chair.
"How 'bout a game of bar billiards then, Malfoy?" he said, pointing over to a large oak pool-like table. "Winner gets 100 galleons."
Draco shook his head back and forth. "You don't want to play…"
"Why wouldn't I?" Harry asked, his eyebrows rising passed his glasses. If Draco couldn't even control himself… he'd never be able to play billiards. Harry would have 100 more galleons within the next twenty minutes.
"Because you won't have any fun."
"And why not?"
"Because you won't win."
"Who says?"
"Because Draco Malfoy always wins at bar billiards." Draco put in confidently.
"Oh, does he now?
"Yes, he does. He can ask him if you'd like."
Harry chocked back a laugh. Apparently, Draco was very drunk.
"No, I really want to play Draco… could you tell him that?" Harry said, snickering. Draco bit his lip.
"Draco says yes… on one condition… you have to drink first."
Harry frowned, "Alright…" he said, thinking that Draco couldn't possibly get more drunk. He grabbed a bottle of champagne off the table.
"I'll open it then?" Harry offered, seeing as Draco was in no position to do anything that involved using two hands.
Harry pressed hard on the neck of the bottle, the cork shot out of the bottle, hitting a bat that was flying overhead and sending it tumbling through the air. Drunk!Draco looked up at it forlornly.
"Poor woobie," Several guest shot glances at him but decided not to comment on this. Harry put his lips up to the bottle and took a long swig.
"Now can we play?"
Draco nodded and they both went over to the billiard table. Draco stared at the table for a minute before aiming his shot. He hit his red ball sending it bouncing off the other seven white balls and sides of the table. Each ball rolled around the table, narrowly missing the three wooden mushrooms, before coming to a rest in any of the nine pockets around the side of the table.
Harry stared open mouth as Draco held out his hand to collect his money.
"Believe you me…" Draco said, he was swaying a bit and his speech was slurred. "No one beats Draco Malfoy at a game of bar billiards."