Hey kids! I know, this is so overdone it isn't even funny, but I promise that I'll make this original somehow! Please review! ::puppy-eyes. People get all huffy::
The two men, both well dressed and lordly in their refined black dress robes, sat across the small coffee table from each other, the pair completely alone in the chic and upper-class restaurant due to the late hour and the chilly weather- unusual in a desert country even in winter. They lay sprawled, stretched across the two large chairs facing a busy street below their isolated and splendid balcony, their elegant clothing belying their extremely tipsy states. The bustle of traffic that emanated from below them was reduced to mere rumblings in the background because of their height.
Ra'd took a long pull on his elaborate pipe, more for decoration than for actual smoking, and gazed down at the swarming roads below him and his friend.
"Now, my dearest friend," he said confidentially, leaning towards the slender man that was seated before him, his figure composed and aloof despite the large amounts of alcohol both had consumed. "If I have understood you correctly, you have information of the utmost importance to discuss with me. Why else would you be here, in my little Amman?"
"You did understand me," Lucius said, a smile flitting across his pale and indifferent face, "Nice to know your English hasn't deteriorated so much."
Ra'd laughed heartily at Lucius' comment, his amusement compelled more by his drunken state than by an actual mirth.
"Lucius, I have missed you greatly. Who else is there to drink with? But tell me what we need so urgently to discuss."
Lucius leaned towards the highly intoxicated Ra'd, grinning in the sly manner only he could manage.
"How old are your daughters, Ra'd, my friend?"
"My daughters?" Ra'd said, sounding politely puzzled, "Why, I have three. Fathiyya is eight, Sara is twelve, and Abla is sixteen. Why do you ask?"
"My son, Draco, is nine," said Lucius, leaning back and nodding judiciously.
"So?"
"So? This may be a prime opportunity to discuss some things that need discussing."
"Such as?"
"Marriage, my dear and tanked friend," Lucius said, raising the glass to his lips to take a sip, but changing his mind at the last moment and pushing it towards Ra'd, who looked slightly ill at the sight of more liquor.
"Marriage?!" Ra'd said, not fully understanding, his already slow mind impeded by over-priced wine. "You want to marry one of my girls? You're far too old. And besides, you're already married to that lovely Narcissa of yours. Polygamy isn't legal anymore, you know."
Lucius face showed his disgust, and he shook his head angrily. "No, no, no! My older son and daughter, Commodus and Laetitia, are already engaged. I'm afraid that Draco will marry last, and not as well as his siblings."
"I understand," said Ra'd at length, after considering his friend's implications and staring into his drink, "You want to arrange a wedding."
"That's right," said Lucius, a crooked grin twisting onto his pale face.
"Anything, for a friend," Ra'd said, grinning idly and twirling his handlebar moustache, "Anything, except Abla. She's my heir. I was hoping to marry her to the crown prince of Saudi Arabia."
"I was thinking," said Lucius coldly, raising his eyebrows, "More along the lines of Fathiyya."
"Fathiyya!" Ra'd laughed in derision, "You can't be serious!"
"Why?" Lucius demanded, leaning onto the table in alarm, "Is something wrong with her?"
"Nothing, save for the fact that she is completely out of control and spoilt. I can't restrain her Lucius. I seriously doubt you could do so."
"Nonsense," said Lucius, waving his hand through the air in a preoccupied manner, the lights from the torched above them reflecting off of his ruby ring, "I'm sure she'll calm down in a few years."
"So if I understand you," said Ra'd, after taking another puff of his pipe, a tendril of smoke weaving out of his nose and around his head, "You want a match between your oldest son and my youngest daughter."
"Yes, that's correct," said Lucius, nodding slightly.
"I... wasn't expecting this," Ra'd admitted, scratching his head and glancing at the muggles below, "I had thought that no one would ever express any attention in Fathiyya. I must ask... why aren't you interested in one of my older daughters, dear Lucius?"
"It's true," said Lucius, shrugging, "I considered the proposal. But there's a depression, and I'm in no state to ask for Sara or Abla's hands, since, quite frankly, I can't afford to take care of them the way you would require."
"Yes, there's been quite a bad depression, that's true," the baron agreed, nodding.
"Before we make any solid arrangements, I think we should agree on business terms first."
"Speaking of which," said the old man, reaching into his pocket and producing a well-loved account book, "How old do you think they should be before we extend their throats through the nooses?"
"Not too old," said Lucius taking the pipe from his friend and inhaling a small amount of smoke, "After all, you and I were married by the time we were twenty."
"They'll be in school until they're seventeen. And they'll get very little chance to meet, seeing as Fathiyya has a private tutor."
"A tutor?" Lucius said sharply, glancing away from the Hubbly-Bubbly and towards his friend, who was pulling at his moustache in nervousness, "Why?"
Ra'd ignored his question, and continued to speak, almost to himself, "So I'd say that sometime within your son's final year at school would be adequate.
"Ra'd?"
"Would I receive... premiums before or after the wedding?"
"Ra'd!" Lucius hissed, narrowing his cold gray eyes, "What exactly is wrong with your girl?"
Ra'd looked stunned and offended as he uneasily tapped his nails against the marble table "Nothing," he said too quickly for Lucius' liking.
"I've heard rumors, but I didn't think they could possibly be true-"
"Now, Lucius, let's not say anything you'd regret..."
"A friend of mine told me that your daughters carry the bleeding disease," Lucius said, not bothering to mince his words. Ra'd reddened slightly and cringed.
"Lucius, you of all people should understand!" Ra'd protested, raising his voice, "The purity of the Abuki family blood has not been compromised since our beginnings so many years ago. We do what we must."
"You marry amongst yourselves," Lucius said, not sounding overly accusatory.
"And what is wrong with that?" Ra'd demanded, pounding a large fist into the marble tabletop, ignoring the contemptuous looks his friend threw him, "Do not tell me that you Malfoys did not do the same things at one point."
"Oh, we often do," said Lucius in a mild tone, examining his nails disinterestedly, "But I won't hide it from you, Ra'd. We Malfoys are not what we once were. The strength of our blood is failing. A few of our more distant cousins do not even uphold our name anymore. They fraternize with Mudbloods and wizards of the lowest station.
"How am I to keep my son from this? Not by marrying him to his sister, of course. He's off to Hogwarts, where'll he'll be associating with the worst and most shameful of our kind. But if he's married into a wealthy, pureblood family like the Abuki, then I don't have to worry."
"And the rumors?" Ra'd asked, still red-faced and irritated.
"Enough so that I had to strongly consider my offer to you. But this is not the world we once lived in. The Bleeding Disease can be treated, and I hear that a certain teacher at Hogwarts is the heir of Rasputin the Savior himself. Why would I destroy my chances with you because of some foolish rumors?"
Ra'd looked relieved, and he smiled at Lucius. "Excellent," he said, clapping his hands together and standing from his seat. "The greatest European wizarding family will one day be joined to the greatest Arabian wizarding family. That will be a happy day, for our money clips and our heirs!"
Lucius smiled, and stood, extending a hand towards Ra'd, who took it, grasping it firmly.
"'Till me meet again, old friend," said Lucius.
"I'll return for the hand of your son," said Ra'd, before he turned to leave. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a large pressed jasmine flower, holding out to Lucius. Lucius smiled, and tucked it into his sleeve, beside his handkerchief.
"When I send this back to you," said Lucius with a sneer, "I expect to have a married son and a virgin for a daughter-in-law."
"You will," Ra'd assured, his brown eyes cold, "As long as your pocket book hasn't rotted away due to lack of use and your son is more faithful a husband than you, dear friend."
Did you like? Other chapters will be better, I promise!