((NB - This story is my creation, but I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters or terms affiliated with it, no matter how much I would like to. Please R&R.))
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Chapter four
"And she's taller than most
And she's looking at me
I can see her eyes looking from a page in a
magazine
Oh she makes me feel like I could be a tower
A big strong tower
She got the power to be
The power to give
The power to see..."
KT Tunstall - Suddenly I see
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After angrily reading the article in The Quibbler, Draco had left Blaise's company in a much more foul mood than he had been when they had began drinking at the pub. Blaise had taken the magazine and scan read the article, recognising certain twists on the truth within the words, he knew that someone had reported the incident to the press, he was surprised that it had been The Quibbler who ran the article, the relief, he reminded Draco, was that very few people would bother to take it seriously. Never the less, Draco had been more than a little exasperated by the whole affair.
Blaise had told Draco to go home and cool off, to relax for the night while Blaise dealt with the legal stuff, assuring him the first thing he'd do would be to have an injunction placed to stop that magazine from using the Thrushes publicity shots unless it was connected with a genuinely commissioned interview, the second thing he would do would be to make sure that there was a light hearted comment about the article in the next match programme for the Thrushes, saying in not so many words that only crazy people believed anything that The Quibbler published, thus discrediting the article, hopefully into obscurity. Draco was glad that Blaise was there to keep a level head in times like this, truth be told he didn't know he would have handled the situation if he had not been there to sort out the legalities.
Blaise had aparated with him to make sure that he had returned home and not anywhere else where he could land himself in trouble. Blaise assured him, he would handle the damage control and only resort to contacting his father about it under dire circumstances. He doubted his father would ever come across a copy of The Quibbler but he was still slightly worried when Blaise said he would be best to not inform his father about it unless the circumstances were unavoidable then if he should find out anyway to pass it off as a joke, as long as it was continued to be thought of as light hearted, no one would think to read between the lines.
When Blaise left him, Draco stormed into his home; the house elf trembled a little with fear as she observed her master charge through the hall until he reached the one room he could ever relax in. It had been the one room which had not been redecorated since the ownership had been passed to him, save for a few minor additions.
It was his Grandfather Cygnus Black's own library-come-office which Draco felt most at home in the house, possibly because of its clear antiquity the moment anyone stepped across the threshold, it reminded him slightly of his fathers office at the Malfoy manor, however, Lucius, like his father Abraxas had kept the office for strict business uses only, Draco had only ever been permitted in the room when he was going to receive a lecture on his behaviour. Cygnus had clearly been a little more lenient with his three daughters use of the his office than Lucius had been with his, telling from the slightly worn but very comfortable couch and chair set which was positioned in front of the fire, decorated with cushions which bore the handiwork of two out of the three Black daughters, (Andromeda's had obviously been removed many years beforehand), to a few items shoved on top of books which were neatly stacked on the shelves like hair ribbons and clips, a comb, very old copies of Witch Weekly… As it appeared to Draco, Cygnus had been generous with his time towards his daughters, it had always perplexed him, but he had never asked why therefore he was not named for him. Draco's full name, which thankfully very few people knew was; Draco Orion Abraxas Malfoy, his great uncle on the Black side and his Grandfather on the Malfoy side, a source of slight embarrassment despite its fine pureblood ancestry and thankfully only ever used in its entirety when his mother was really pissed off with him.
One incident he recalled in high clarity was during his family's attendance at another pureblood family's home for one of the social season parties, Narcissa had been informed of something slightly unsavoury Draco had done in school and she had dragged him by the tip of his ear, all the way to the fireplace, keeping a firm grip as she made him floo with her back to the Malfoy Manor and she had stood, hands on hips, giving him lecture even his father would have cringed at. Each time he had tried to interrupt to defend his actions and explain she had told him to hold his tongue and not take that tone with her. It was the first and only time in his life he had ever been relieved to have his father walk in and offer to discipline him in her stead. He had never seen his mother react like that to him before or after, he had been present during one or two of her famous pouting sessions, but that day had been something else entirely.
He had plonked himself in front of the fireplace and almost straight away had pointed his wand at the logs already set up, casting Incendio and lighting them with a fine spark; he knew it would only take a few minutes for the fire to really start blazing. He picked up the magazine again, opening it again he flicked straight to the article, scanning over some of the details he murmured to himself, trying to figure out just who it was who had sold the article to the rag he barely counted as a periodical. It was no good, he could barely recall the events of the night, let alone remember the faces of the party guests. Shaking his head he started flicking through the pages, how anyone could read The Quibbler was beyond him, just the titles of the articles seemed so stupid; How to protect your home from the Thagarian Snare Beast, THAT was surely made up! My son had to dress me!, a 'real life' article about a woman whom apparently had lost the use of her limbs after being bitten by a heliopath. (Something he had never heard of, even though he had taken care of magical creatures in school.)
Then there appeared to be a whole collection of regular features; Topaz speaks the runes, horoscope rubbish, Ask Aunty Agatha, some fruity advice column, Flowers and Poetry, some poetry column which seemed incredibly out of place alongside the article on how to identify someone who had been brainwashed by the ministry, although he had to admit, the blonde in the picture he thought was pretty hot. Then there was Have your say, the page where reader's letters, containing fanatical opinions were published…. He tutted and threw the magazine onto the coffee table in front of him, it sprawling open on a random page.
He raised his eyebrow, it had opened on the picture of the hot blonde, shrugging slightly he picked up the magazine again; there was something fairly familiar about her. He looked closer, she had incredible chocolate brown eyes, just like Pansy's, maybe that's why he thought she was hot, she kind of looked like Pansy, same eyes, same cheekbones, same…
Draco dropped the magazine, his fingers started to shake and he looked down in his lap at the glossy colour photo, it was Pansy, he hadn't seen his wife's face in six months and now she was staring up at him as if the only thing she did was write, now he glanced over it, fairly angsty poetry for The Quibbler of all things!.
He examined the photograph more closely, was this, the reason Nott had tossed him the glossy tabloid trash? Was Nott giving him the biggest clue he had ever got in the past one hundred and seventy three days as to the whereabouts of his absent spouse? His eyes widened, Pansy was sat inside a room with a window at her back, but he recognised the view that the camera showed through the window panes. He knew where Pansy was! He stood up quickly, forgoing everything save for his wand which he shoved inside his pocket and moved swiftly to the front door of his property so he could aparated out of there.
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Draco had never allowed any feelings like the ones he was currently experiencing come anywhere near as close to the surface as they were now, but he didn't have time to consider them right now, he had a different mission, he knew where Pansy was. That was all that seemed important right at that moment. His fist banged loudly on the wooden door, his impatience becoming increasing. "Blaise! Blaise it's Draco! Open the sodding door! I know where she is!" A few more loud knocks and the door swung open, Draco's fist falling where the wood was to find nothing in its place. He looked up, seeing Blaise looking slightly angry, cradling his youngest, rocking it back and forth as it cried and Blaise spoke to him in a harsh whisper.
"What?" Blaise was practically hissing at him. "We only just got the baby off to sleep, I already sorted out the press stuff, this better be important!"
Draco frowned a little but spoke in a much quieter voice. "Blaise what the hell is going on?"
"Well, I appear to have a very loud, raving, madman on my doorstep for one…."
Scowling a little more at Blaise, he stepped over the doorstep into the hallway of the Zabini Mansion. "I mean, what the hell is going on….?"
"Yes you already…."
Draco cut him off abruptly. "Why is Pansy living in your guest house?"
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Authors notes:
Thank you for taking the time to read chapter four, please send me a review I love to hear thoughts, good and bad, I don't appreciate flaming, just constructive criticism please, I want to know what I can do to make it better.
Now I would like to say…. MUH ha ha ha ha ha!
You guys are probably going to hate me when the next chapter comes out….
I know this chapter was quite a bit shorter than the others were but I didn't want to go into a lot of detail that didn't need saying and would interrupt the flow. Anyway, as usual, let me know what you think. Thanks for reading.
