Not a Potter
Chapter 3
Draco Malfoy was bored. Insanely bored. No, wrong term- Draco Malfoy was sanely bored. See when you were insanely bored, you were bored but had lost your mind anyway. But when you were sanely bored, you were bored and you weren't crazy. And, Draco, I'm sorry to say, was a very sane man.
Draco sighed for the umpteenth time. When was this guy ever going to get the idea that inflatable underwear was not going to be the next best thing?
"And you see sir, this chord here, you pull it and poof! The underwear inflates!"
Draco was calculating how painful it would be to kill oneself with a fountain pen when the door opened and Blaise Zambini sauntered in. Draco almost burst with happiness. Almost.
"I'm sorry sir, but your time is up. Mr Malfoy will get back to you with his decision within a week." said Blaise, pushing the man through the door.
Draco sighed with relief as the door closed behind him. Blaise looked up and grinned.
"So?" he asked.
"So what?"
"How was the business deal?" he asked again, pouring himself a glass of firewhiskey.
"It was great… If you don't count the fact that he was trying to sell me inflatable underwear." replied Draco.
Blaise spat out his drink.
"What! Oh that's rich!" he said shaking with laughter.
Draco smiled, it was nice to see his best friend laugh again, especially after his mother had died and his father was sent to Azkaban. Draco was the only family he had left now. Blaise stopped laughing and looked at Draco.
"Any plans for tonight, mate?" he asked.
"How many times do I have to tell you Zambini, I'm not ready to go that far with you yet!" Draco cried.
Blaise blinked once.
Then twice.
And then started to laugh again.
"Wow… You are so dirty-minded mate!" he wheezed between laughs.
"No Zambini, your mind is just too clean." Draco replied, causing Blaise to laugh harder.
"So I saw this girl today-"said Blaise.
"Oh how wonderfully rare and exciting!" said Draco, with mock enthusiasm.
"Oh shut up, anyway so I saw her and my mind instantly goes "Damn, she is hot", so I-"
"Pffffft." said Draco.
"What was that for?" asked Blaise.
"As if you would know if a girl is hot or not."
"I do too!" cried Blaise indignantly.
"You wouldn't know if a girl is hot if she danced naked in front of you yelling "I'm hot!". Wait, let me rephrase that, You wouldn't know if a girl is hot until she dances naked in front of you yelling "I'm hot!" explained Draco.
"Has anyone ever told you that you are impossible?" Blaise asked.
"Yes."
"Really? Who?"
"My mother." replied Draco as he watched a half-drunk Blaise melt into a fit of laughter once again.
Draco sighed as he carried a drunk and sleeping Blaise into his apartment. Heaving him onto the bed, Draco brushed himself and made some Pepper-Up potion for Blaise's inevitable hangover in the morning. Smirking as Blaise muttered something about hippogriffs eating his arm, Draco placed the vial of red liquid on his bedside table before preparing himself to apparate back to his apartment.
Now, it was no secret that Draco was a rich man. So, naturally, he had to have the most expensive apartment, also known as the Penthouse apartment. In fact, it wasn't an apartment but more of a house. Draco sighed and took off his coat, he seemed to be sighing a lot lately. He sat on his elegant couch, sprawling himself across the plush cushions. Thank Merlin for comfortable sofas, he thought. Suddenly, there was a hiss and the sound of soft foot falls coming from the fireplace. Draco froze and slowly, but deftly took his wand in his hand. The footsteps got closer and closer until Draco realised that they were right behind the couch that he was currently occupying. He shot out his wand and aimed it at the intruder.
"EXPELLI- Oh." the spell died on his lips as he saw a beautiful, stern-faced woman staring at him through narrowed eyes. Mother.
Draco scratched the back of his neck, grinning sheepishly.
"Evening, mother." he tried, getting an eye-roll in return.
"Draco, your wand is still at my throat." said his mother's mesmerizing voice.
Looking at his wand arm, Draco managed to lower it, whilst going slightly pink.
"Sorry." he mumbled.
His mother sighed and Draco noticed the small wrinkles that were slowly, but surely forming around her eyes.
"It's alright Draco, it's just that, I wish you didn't have to be on your guard with everything that you did." Her blue eyes seemed to glaze up as she said this and Draco was afraid she would cry.
He wasn't one to be very reassuring towards others, especially his mother. Slowly, he looked at the woman who had tried to raise him. The woman who had defied her own husband and the Dark Lord to ensure his safety. The woman who had sung him lullabies as she healed the wounds his father had inflicted on him. The only woman who had showed him what true, unconditional love was. Now, she sat on his couch, looking at him with the same concern she had shown all those years ago, hiding the scars and horrors that she had faced behind her bright blue eyes, silken white-blond locks and pale white skin. Sitting in front of him was the bravest woman he knew. Draco could almost cry. Almost.
As abruptly as it had come, the glazed-faraway look in her eyes seemed to disappear as she looked up at Draco and smiled a magnificent smile.
"So, Draco, how was your day? Any new business deals?" she asked, with fake enthusiasm.
Draco sighed, it was the usual conversation.
"Err… Nothing that would interest you mother, or anyone else for that matter." he replied, telling her about the Inflatable-Underwear fiasco.
She laughed a silvery laugh and Draco smiled in satisfaction, now this was something he could handle.
"Oh…My! Some people are just so… Strange!" she said between laughs.
Draco grinned as she struggled to compose herself and finally succeeding after laughing for five minutes straight.
"Oh! I just remembered the reason I came here! Oh Draco, I found this simply wonderful girl who I know you would just love and-" she started.
Draco groaned loudly. Not the get-married-so-I-can-have-some-grandbabies talk. It was a classic. His mother frowned.
"Well, you are twenty-four now, you should at least think about settling down." she reasoned.
"I'm twenty-four, I should be thinking about which party I should go to next and how many friends I have!" he shot back.
His mother gave an indignant sniff and muttered something about "stubborn little rascals", before sighing.
"Fine, but remember Draco, sometimes you can find love where you least expect it so don't forget to give everyone a chance." she said cryptically.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
His mother just smiled a mischievous smile and went through the fireplace once again. Draco watched her smiling face before it got completely engulfed in green flames. He sighed. Women.
The next morning, Draco was completely engrossed in a new potion he was working on when Blaise barged into his office, without knocking as usual.
"Mate, there is this thing called a door that I usually keep closed when I'm busy and YOU'RE NOT WELCOME!" Draco yelled.
Blaise didn't answer but thrust the latest edition of the Daily Prophet towards across his desk.
"This is crazy dude, who would have thought, eh? Trouble in Paradise." he said.
"I refuse to read crazy drivel." said Draco, bluntly.
"Oh, come on mate, you need a break, this will give you one, trust me." Blaise tried.
Draco sighed and picked up the newspaper, brushing a blonde lock out of his eyes. His eyes went round as he read the headline that had somehow made the front page. He looked at Blaise who was grinning like a madman as he read the headline out loud.
"Harry Potter Divorces Wife and War Heroine Ginerva Weasley;"
"Weasley Accused of Cheating on Potter"
