"Father, I um need to talk to you. Can I come in?"
"Mm..."
"Er... About someone. "
He looked up suddenly. His son rarely talked about someone else. Cautiously, he asked "Yes?"
Taking it as a cue to sit down, his on pulled out one of the chairs unceremoniously and dropped onto it, ignoring his father's grimace.
"I don't get it!"
"What, son?"
"Why on earth aren't we supposed to show our feelings, father?"
"Because of that slit nosed freak..."
"Language, sweetheart", his wife scolded him as she walked in gracefully.
He would never get used to her grace even after almost 20 years of marriage.
He was looking at her with a loving look in his eyes that he didn't notice the shocked look in his son's eyes.
Still staring at how his wife looked so beautiful, he said sighing as he spoke," We Malfoys show our real self only to the people we love, the people who mean the most to us, and the people we would give our life for."
With an encouraging look from his wife and a look at his flabbergasted on, he continued," You might be wondering why I referred to the Dark Lord as a pig faced fool." His wife snorted as though what her husband said was an understatement."We appear as though we have no love. But, son, we love each other and we," he said gesturing," are a perfectly happy family."
"Father, so you only care about me and mother?"
"Son," he sighed "Yes but I will also protect whoever you will love .Malfoys protect their own. But make the right choice. Love someone who will love you for who you are and not ask you to be a different person. And look out for gold diggers..."
"Father, about my task..."His son said, with a faraway look in his eyes, trying to change the topic.
Sharing a look with his wife that she sent which clearly said" Don't press him. He'll tell", he shook his head to tell her he understood.
His wife stood up and took a deep breath. "I think he deserves to know the truth."
"Yes, love."
"You see son, I and your father have been helping the Order since he became a death eater."
"What?"
"Yes and your task to kill him is not as hard..."
"What? Why?"
"Because he is already dying and I'm telling you this because you can shield your head. Thank goodness I broke it or the world would have been doomed. I didn't tell you this before. Correct?"
"Yes, but..."
"Let me finish. When you go back, ask uncle for help. He'll know what to do. I'm not the right person to tell you, OK?"
"Ok... so I just need to find a way for Death Eaters..."
"Yes son, so we may pass information. It's increasingly hard to send information now. You came in to talk to me about something? "He couldn't hold the suspense in any longer.
"About, um, a girl?" his son said questioningly.
Jumping up from his chair and showing behaviour unlike him, he said "Now, love. I won it fair and square."
"What did mother lose?"
"I and your father had a bet about who you would go to first with girl problems..."
"What?"
"Our son seems to have reduced his vocabulary today to only 'what', love"
Sending a stern look at him, she said," Go on son."
"I like her," said his son.
"Obvious" he muttered under his breath.
Ignoring his father,"HowDoIAskHerOut?
"Aw, kitty, our son is finally nervous..."
"Moooom"
"Okay, who is she?
"Youmightnotlikeherbecauseshe 'smugglebornandaGryffindor..."
"Doesn't matter, son" he and his wife said ignoring the 'what' that came from their son again."Does she like you?"
"You're okay with it?"
"You like her."They said as though it was the most obvious thing in the whole world.
"Oh"
"Did you expect a different reaction?"
"Yeah. I guess so. I prepared a long speech and all that..."his son said fidgeting nervously as they chuckled.
"Do you remember, Father, You told me to act angry towards Potty for getting you arrested?"
As he nodded, his son continued,"Well, before that it was I who told ...um... her to take Umbridge to the centaurs through my head. She um trusted me and made up a story and I missed a chance to curse Umbridge since she didn't allow me to go with her but I let the others go easily after she left though I didn't make it obvious."
"We started going out last year. She thought I was nice the way I am even though she calls me an arrogant butthead. We study well and she I the only one with whom I can have a, for lack of a better word, an intellectual conversation with. We used to meet in the library everyday and I asked her. We usually meet in the room of Requirement since she's friends with potty and they don't approve. She said she likes me. And... Sorry father, I told her I am a Death Eater."
"Oh what did she say?"His wife asked.
Apprehensively, he asked"Was she angry? Did she tell you..?"
"No, even I was shocked by what she said in her letter. I wasn't even expecting one. She told me she would help me in any task that I had to do as long as it was not about unforgivables."
"What?"He and his wife shouted.
"Looks like your vocabulary is down too" his son said as he nervously chuckled.
"Who is she?"His wife asked still in awe of their son's amazing girlfriend.
"Hermione Granger".