I stood in front of my mirror in a long, body hugging black dress and silver oval pendant necklace. I reminded myself of Morticia Addams in this outfit. I smiled remembering all the times Draco and I would watch that show when we were younger. I pulled out the picture again and looked at it, letting my fingers pass over the faces of our younger selves. I missed those simple days where Draco and I would just play and weren't worried about what others thought about us. I sighed again and put the picture into my large wooden trunk, determined to keep it for myself. I smoothed out my hair, allowing the blond parts to frame my face and then turned to leave the room.
I descended the cold stair case, my arm on the bannister helped me not to slip. Each step seemed to be harder and harder not to fall. Why was I this nervous? It was just dinner with Draco, nothing more. I shook my head and paused in the middle of the staircase. I took a deep breath in and shook my head again. I hadn't done anything like this before. Was this a date? Or was it just friends having dinner together? I hoped it was the latter. I squared my shoulders and began descending the stairway again. Draco stood at the bottom wearing a black suit with a green shirt underneath, accented with a silver tie. He was gloating when I reached the bottom.
"What are you snarking at?" I asked him, nervously playing with my necklace.
"Nothing," Draco said, legitimately smiling. We walked into the dark purple dining room, candles lit the long table where two places where set next to each other, a bouquet of roses set in between the delicate china over flowing with steak, potatoes and vegetables. A steaming soup and cold salad set next to each plate with a glass of wine sat next to those.
"Draco...this is-"
"Awful!" Draco snarled. "Stupid house elves don't know how to take directions!"
"Draco, calm down, it's lovely." Draco looked at me fiercely and then slumped his shoulders.
"I suppose it is...decent."
"There we go." I smiled at him, "Now lets eat, it smells delicious."
Draco nodded and then pulled out my chair for me to sit in. I thanked him and he sat down next to me. We sat there quietly eating dinner slowly, both our minds thinking deeply about the situation. I wanted to break the silence, but Draco beat me to it.
"So Emery, did you see anything you liked in my room?" My mind immediately went to the photo. Did he see me take it?
"No Draco. In fact I didn't like anything that was in that room."
"Not even me?" I rolled my eyes at his response.
"Why are you so full of yourself?"
"I'm not full of myself! I just know that I am better than any other man you could get and I'm having a hard time understanding why you don't want me the way that I want you!" Draco slammed his fist down on the table. I sat there for a moment, I wasn't sure what to say.
"Draco..."
"No Emery! I'm not going to take your excuses! Our parents were friends for a reason!" He looked down at his barely eaten plate, I stared at him, confused.
"Wh-what do you mean?"
"I MEAN, that our parents were not friends of their own freewill. The Dark Lord instructed your father and mine to arrange a...marriage so that we can keep a Pure Blood lineage. My father made an unbreakable vow with yours."
My eyes widened.
"WHAT?" I screamed and stood. "I will NOT marry you Draco Malfoy! You are a two-faced, lying, weasel who is too self-centered to realize that I could NEVER love you!"
Draco stood and flipped over dinner, splattering food all over the table. He grabbed me by my shoulders and looked me in the eyes.
"You will do as the Dark Lord commands you Emery! It is in your blood to obey him!" Draco forced his lips onto mine, grasping my shoulders tightly. I struggled, pushing against his chest until our lips broke. Tears welled in my eyes and i stared at him for a second.
"You selfish bastard..." I whispered before i turned and ran, pulling up the bottom of my dress so i would not trip. I sprinted up the stairs and locked myself into the guest room. I ran over to the door that entered Draco's room and locked that as well. I grabbed my wand and cast a spell to make it so that no one but myself or a house elf could enter the room. I lay on the bed and cried, letting the make-up filled tears soak my pillows. I soon cried myself to sleep.
The next morning i awoke groggily, still in my dress and sore from sleeping in the same position all night. My dark green pillow was covered in blotches of black makeup and stained with my tears. I couldn't believe what Draco had said to me. Marriage? I couldn't even think of marrying anyone let alone a Malfoy. Why would my father make such an agreement? Was it still valid through my fathers death? I thought about it for a moment. Lucius would die if I did not marry his son. I had nothing against Draco's father personally, he'd never really paid much attention to me during my visits. He was gone more of the times that not, but i knew of his horrendous deeds. Even though Draco was a horrible git to me, i couldn't take his father away from him but I could not marry him. I would have to ask Professor Dumbledore when we returned to Hogwarts.
I sat up slowly and stretched out my arms. Yawning i looked around the room wishing that last night was just a horrible dream. I shook my head and slid off the bed onto the warm carpet. My toes curled onto the soft plush i stood on. My body ached as i walked slowly into the bathroom. I examine myself in the mirror. A raccoon eyed and tangled haired version of myself reflected back at me. I turned on the hot water and took a washcloth to my face. I ran a brush through my tangled hair and then went back into the room. I changed into a pair of sweatpants and a tank top and just lay there on my bed, still exhausted from the long night. I closed my eyes and drifted back to sleep.
The next two days were uneventful at the Malfoy house. I stayed in the guest room all day, summoning the house elves for food. At night i would stare at the door connecting Draco's room to mine, wondering why he hadn't tried to contact me in anyway. You would think that my 'fiance' would send a note with a house elf or something, apologizing or even just a simple hello. I thought about it and came to the conclusion that a Malfoy would never do such a thing. Draco was much too egotistical and self centered to ever care about how I was feeling.
The last morning I was there i woke up early, hoping to get to London as soon as I could. I packed up everything that i had take out of my trunk and had a house elf whisk it downstairs and into another ministry car that was waiting for Draco and I. I zipped up my black hoodie and threw on my black Keds. My want rested inside my jean pocket and I slung my bag holding my robes over my shoulder. I descended the stairs for the last time, meeting Draco at the bottom.
"Emery," He said curtly and quickly.
"Draco." I replied. We didn't talk for the rest of the ride to London. We sat next to each other in the car in silence. I glanced at him several times to see him looking dazedly out the window. The sun shone bleakly through the gray over cast clouds and bounced off of his pale skin. I looked down at my shoes for the rest of the trip.
We pulled up to King's Cross station and got out solemnly, pulling our trunks out onto nearby trollys and stolling along till we came to platforms nine and ten. I paused infront of the platform with Draco, waiting for muggles to get on their trains so they wouldn't notice us getting onto Platform 9 3/4s.
"Emery..." Draco mumbled.
"Yes?"
"I...am sorry...for the way i acted the other night...I was out of line to think you would accept our parent's agreement easily."
"Thank you Draco." I smiled at him, "It means alot to me that you did apologize."
"I hope you know that you're still going to be my wife someday." Draco smirked at me, winked and then ran through the brick wall into the platform.
"Over my dead body," I scoffed as I chased him through the wall.
Draco was nowhere to be seen when i reached the other side of the platform. Young witches and wizards filled the area with their parents giving sad and joyeous farewells, promises to write, and knowledge if they were coming home for the holidays. I envyed them. The last time my mother had come to see me onto the train, it was my first year at Hogwarts. She had me stay at the school for holidays whilst she was on her vacation trips. The only time I ever really saw my mother was during the summer break when I wasn't out in my secret place in the woods.
I loaded my trunk onto the train and then quickly found myself an empty compartment, hoping that it would stay empty and secluded. I rested my head againts the glass window as i watched other students searching for compartments with their friends. I always wondered what it would really be like to have a friend at Hogwarts. The closest person that I ever really had to a friend was Draco, and he wasn't really much of a friend. No one in Slytherin wanted to be my friend because I wasn't like them, and no one outside of Slytherin seemed to want to be my friend because i was in Slytherin. I rested my eyes and let in a deep sigh. I heard the compartment door open and shut and heard people sit down. Damn. I wanted to be alone.
"Well, well, well," Said a framiliar voice.
"If it isn't our favorite Slytherin girl,"
I opened my eyes to see two framiliar red head twins sitting next to me. They wore red and black striped sweaters and older roughed up jeans. They were smiling at me like they had found their favorite toy.
"Fred, George," I smiled at both of them.
"I'm not Fred," Said the closer one.
"I am." The other one said, raising his hand. I looked at them both closely, not being able to tell which one was which. I smiled at them.
"No games today please," I gave them another smile, "My head is too full of Malfoy's dramatics to be messed with at the moment."
"Alright, alright. I'm really Fred." Said the one closest.
"But do tell us more about this Malfoy thing-" said George
"We do love a good laugh."
"Well..." I paused, "You have to swear that you won't tell anyone."
"We solemnly swear," They both said, raising their right hands and placing their lefts over their hearts.
"Alright, well I found out last night that Malfoy's father and my father made an unbreakable vow."
"Unbreakable Vow?" They both said.
"What was it about?" said Fred
"Money?" guessed George.
"Dark Arts?"
"Death Eaters?"
"Voldemort?"
"Jewls?"
"Gold?"
"Marriage." I stopped their guessing.
"Marriage?" They both said, astonished.
"Ickle Drakey's gett'in hitched?" Fred laughed
"I feel sorry for the broad who has to marry him," George joined his brother in laughing.
I looked down at my feet.
"NO WAY!" Fred shouted.
"You're WAY to cool for that puss ball." George finished.
I turned towards them, "Thank you. I'm going to Dumbledore as soon as I can to talk to him and see if he knows any way to break it without killing Draco's father."
"Who cares if his dad dies" said George
"He's a right git anyhow." finished Fred.
"Besides, you're way to pretty to become a Malfoy."
I blushed at Georges compliment.
"Thank you,"
"Anytime." He winked at me and Fred punched him in the arm.
"Oy, do you have to hit on every girl who i think's pretty?"
"Ey, ey, ey, I saw her first!"
"Yeah, yeah yeah, we saw her at the same time nitwit!" Fred and Georges little fight made me giggle like crazy and they smiled over at me when they eventually had me laughint in tears. George, Fred and I had the compartment all to ourselves for the entire trip. We talked about families, our tastes in music, Quidditch, sweets, and the pranks that they were planning for this school year. I lost track of time, getting lost in the magical and complex plans of their previous and future pranks. It wasn't until a Hufflepuff prefect knocked on our compartment and allerted us that our robes needed to be on that I realized how close to my second home we already were.