"How could you have been so stupid?" he spat, and he was right. I felt my face flush with shame, my eyes drop to the floor.
"I didn't think it…" I began, my voice small.
"Exactly!" he snapped, "You didn't think! You didn't think how this could ruin everything! You didn't think how this could turn your life upside down, could turn his life upside down!" But really what his anger spoke was fear, fear that cried, "Turn my life upside down."
He began pacing back and forth in front of the ornate marble fireplace, his stride casting long, flickering shadows on the walls.
"Where is it?" he asked suddenly, stopping dead in his tracks.
I bit the inside of my lip, shaking my head, my eyes wide more from fear than innocence.
"Where?" he screamed, his voice echoing off the far corners of the room. I felt my knees begin to shake, but forced my eyes to remain locked on his.
"Accio," he whispered, his voice deadly, and I felt it glide past me from the depths of the room, from the dark, dusty crevice in which I had hid in, into his outstretched hand.
His face softened some as he looked down into its sparkling depths, rubbing the platinum band between his thumb and fore finger. Only a ring, but it easily cost more than I was worth.
"My mother's," he whispered, a small smile playing on his lips, but behind it I could almost see the enraged glint still flashing in his eyes.
He strode over to me, shrouding me in complete darkness as he stood before me, the tips of his ice white hair falling forward onto my cheeks.
"Put it on," he whispered, the small smile still masking the rage that was bound to strike at a moments notice.
I hesitated, my eyes dropping from the madness in his to the ring in his hand.
"I paid dearly for this. Your father gave me sanctuary, kept me from Azkaban, all under the promise that I would have his darling daughter married to the richest boy in the country, my son, so that she may live a life of luxury and leisure, and instead I find you've been canoodling with some low life, some scum servant, barely fit to wipe your boots! But he did more than that, didn't he, my dear!" he screamed, his voice rising with the anger I knew had only been looming just beneath the surface.
"Now," he took a deep breath as if to steady himself, "Put it on."
Without waiting for my reluctance, he grabbed my hand and thrust the ring into its new home, whether I wanted it there or not.
"Good," he smiled, his voice hardly above a whisper, "That wasn't so hard, now was it?"
I swallowed hard, "N-no." My eyes fell away from his, I couldn't see myself imprisoned in them any longer if I knew it was something I could no longer escape.
"Now, let's rejoin the party, shall we?" he asked, the ever charming host, leading me by the elbow to the door.
We ascended the cold, stone steps, filtering into the festivities as if we hadn't even been gone. No one appeared to notice our arrival, except...
"Darling," he smiled, a glass of champagne in his slender hand, "I've been looking everywhere for you, where've you been? Not getting cold feet, are you?"
He laughed as if what he had said was completely ridiculous, as if his fiancée wouldn't be caught dead trying to run away with the help in the middle of the night, only to find the fierce grey eyes of her soon to be father-in-law looming over their every move, just as he was no...
"No, no," he smiled from behind her, "We just having a chat, weren't we, darling?"
"Yes," I started, unable to meet his eyes, "Yes, of course."
"Now, he smiled, grabbing to champagne glasses from the over laden tray of a passing waiter, and shoving one into my hands, "A toast."
He tapped his wand against the bubble filled flute calling for silence. I stood stock still as every eye in the place turned expectantly toward us. My unsuspecting husband-to-be smiled brightly, slipping an arm around my waist. I held my glass aloft, what I hoped to be a look of sophisticated jubilance on my features that would explain my reserve more politely than my want to run.
"Ladies and gentlemen, friends and family, I'd like to thank you all for joining us this evening in celebrating the engagement of my son and his lovely fiancée. I know they'll have a long, happy marriage together." He lifted his glass high, triumph etched onto his face as he turned to me and said, "To Draco and Asteria, til death do they part."