Peace Treaties
Prince Draco Malfoy was conflicted. It had been a long time since he had gone to court, and although his situation was drastically different, he still couldn't help the excitement he felt. The Last time he had gone to court at Hogwarts, he had been barely eleven, and it had been magical.
Sure the last week or so of preparation had been hell, but he still felt a small sliver of hope that this time would be just as he remembered it. He had been forced to raid his father's closet and then he and his mother had fitted it all, hemming up the legs and sleeves. Draco was way too big for his old clothes and they didn't have the money to buy the fancy cloth necessary to keep up appearances at court.
Draco and Blaise had pulled out several of the old family carriages, which had been left to rot in an old leaking barn. They had been forced to take pieces from all of them to make two, fully up to standards carriages, they had then had to take some of the Palaces carpeting to upholster them, because the insides had been ruined.
They had gathered all of the lands horses, even some of the wild ones, and picked the most impressive. Two elder Clydesdales, who had only ever worked the fields were to drive the first carriage, they where extremely large, and when properly groomed their manes fell over to hide the white of their old unseeing eyes. Pansy would ride in the first carriage with her Lady in waiting. Two of the old Royal families Friesian Horses, whom where just barely old enough, would pull the secant carriage. Draco and Blaise would ride in the secant carriage. Theodore Nott would be riding a Thoroughbred, which was once well known for winning several races throughout all four Kingdoms, at the front of the procession. Crabbe and Goyle would be riding two Percheron horses that could hold double their weight without trouble.
Nott and Draco where the only two with any real experience with horses, and they needed someone to drive the carriages. So Adrian Pucey and Terence Higgs who were the only merchants in Southern Kingdom who refused to cheat the other Kingdoms out of their money, were asked to joined the procession as footmen. They still needed some men to 'guard' Pansy, so Lucian Bole and Peregrine Derrick who were mentors to Crabbe and Goyle, were given the roles.
Draco had Nott give everyone one-on-one lessons, where they learned the best ways for them to defend themselves and Draco taught them all the basics of how to ride a horse, so if things went bad someone could ride ahead and let the palace know.
Pansy was forced to take dresses from all of her sisters and alter them to fit, due to the press for women to never wear the same gown twice. Pansy had a few small accessories but they were not rich enough to impress, so she was force to borrow from Queen Narcissa. Draco was glad that other than his Family ring and the silver brackets of his father's he would not have to wear anything too flashy.
They raided the armory and had to wash it all to be sure the sickness had not stuck to it before they could decided what to bring and what would fit the 'servants'. It was a long process and again they had to miss and match much of the armor.
By the time they actually finished preparations and hit the road, they were all exhausted. Draco was glad was required to ride in the carriage as edict required because he was so tired that he might fall right off his horse. Blaise, who sat across from him, gave up trying to get comfortable on the seat, and sprawled out across the floor, while Draco nestled down into his Father's great fur coat, using it as a blanket and a cushion. Both boys were still slightly uncomfortable but where glad that at least the girls were riding in luxury, since they had spent extra time to be sure the first carriage was suitably comfortable for a daughter of a Duke.
Draco had at first tried to convince the others to let him ride his horse, a slightly wild black Stallion and in his opinion a prizewinning beauty, but he wasn't properly broken and only Draco could ride him. He had still thought maybe he could bring him, till Pansy had told him straight out that she would not stand for the devil coming and possibly hurting someone, because if anything went wrong it would be war.
Authors Note: Adrian Pucey was on the Slytherin team and was a chaser, Terence Higgs was on the also on the team but he only played seeker till Draco took his place, Peregrine Derrick and Lucian Bole were the Slytherin beaters before Crabbe and Goyle! I don't really know much about these characters but I needed more characters to fill in the servants roles and I didn't want to just make up characters!