Betrothed

Chapter 4. Meeting Ms. Mystery

The Malfoy family is ushered to the dining room and seated at a large table, already set for a simple dinner. There are two unoccupied chairs, one chair obviously awaiting the master of the house, and another sat across from Draco, to Hermione's left. The family waits in patiently.

The door that lead them into dining room is once again opened not 30 minutes later, a muggle servant dressed in a simple pair of black slacks, shiny black dress shoes, and a white button down shirt, a napkin lay folded on his right arm which is politely bent at the elbow. One would picture him working as a host at a muggle restaurant. He bows as he enters and the family stands in preparation.

"My master will join you shortly" he says in a east Indian accent, then proceeds to the swinging door on the right side of the room leading to the kitchen.

Five minutes later the door opens once again, the family is still standing when the dark lord himself walks through, wearing neat black dress robes with dark green trimming. His face is young yet cold, he has a hint of a smile on his face as the two men come forward to bow and kiss the hem of his long robes in turn. As they move back to their proper places the dark lord sits at the high seat at the end of the table.

"I see I am in luck with my choice of a bride…" he acknowledges, nodding toward the blushing bride that is Hermione. There is a ghost of a smile on her lips as she inclines her head regally toward her husband to be.

"and I see she is well trained…" he says smirking arrogantly, as he is about to speak once again, another muggle servant enters the room from the main door wearing the same uniform as the first, he rushes to the side of the Dark Lords chair, bows and the whispers something into his masters ear, he then hurries back to which he came and silently closes the door behind him.

"I have someone to see me it seems, please excuse me…" Voldemort says darkly, nodding to his guests as though they have a choice in the matter.

The family can hear low voices in the room upstairs, a few minutes passed when a familiar Gryffindor face walked into the dining room; Finnegan.

Hermione and Draco exchange looks, thinking the same thing 'what is he doing here?' but no expression is dealt nor a word said. Following Finnegan is a woman, her head is bowed, her hands at her side, she shyly sits down in the seat next to Hermione, Draco peers at her in interest, Hermione slyly looks as well from the corner of her eyes. The woman is about 5'5", around Draco's weight, her dress is long and, to Draco, resembles the color of an angel's wing, a true white, she's looks up after a few minutes of fiddling with her dress, her long dark hair cascades in waves down her shoulders and back. She looks into Draco's eyes, his breath is caught as he takes in the blue-green orbs as though any minute the spell will end and all will be lost, he had to take it all in, a glowing beauty that had to be his betrothed, he could die in this moment and nothing would matter. Her plump pink lips twitched and a blush spread across her freckled cheeks warming her pale complexion. Although Finnegan had long ago left, no one seemed to notice. Draco of course had no care for anything other then this mysterious woman.

After what seemed an eternity, the dark lord was once again announced and his entrance as grand as ever.

Dinner was served. After a while Voldemort cleared his throat. His guests turned their heads toward him.

"as you can see, I have a guest." he said to no one in particular, looking fondly at the woman.

"this is my daughter, as you know, I have never spoken about her, she was in America, with her mother…who recently passed away." the woman nodded at his words and stared blankly at her barely touched plate.

"Draco," Voldemort addressed still looking at his daughter "her name is Melissa. You will take her to be your bride, you will not speak of her…relation…to me, do you understand?" he shifts his intense gaze towards Draco, a shiver runs down Draco's spine but a feeling of happiness takes its place instantly as he looks at Melissa.

"yes my Lord, I Understand" Draco reply's bowing his head toward Voldemort.

Hermione felt so dull compared to the radiance of this woman next to her, she however did not know of Voldemort's feeling towards her, she did not know that whenever he saw her, a twinge of lust and warmth came to him, nor did she realize that whenever she looked away or made small conversation to her brother a dimple appeared on one side, not deep enough to be noticed by the common eye, but just deep enough for him to see and love. He would not tell her how nicely her dress robes fit her beautiful shape and how much he would rather see her voluptuous breasts resting against his chest while they made love, she couldn't even begin to fathom how much he looked forward to her wild hair spread all over the pillow as they slept in each others arms.

She did not know that, but he would make sure that she knew, when they married. He wanted too badly to shed his monstrous ways to please her, as he knew she was opposed to his ways of obtaining power. But she was going to have to understand, there was no other way about it. Dumbledore was convinced that Voldemort did not know the ways of love. That was because he did not appear to love, and whenever anyone from the Order preached to him all he could feel was intense hatred. He did not love her, she was merely apart of his court, but he was sure that he could grow to love her, and she the same.

End

A/N: and so, you meet Melissa, the long lost and now found daughter of Voldemort, but shhh! don't tell anyone! Lol, hope you enjoyed it, I'll give you a hint about the next chapter: in many ways love and lust is confused, but love is forever, lust is only temporary. Mwa ha ha! ya gotta' love the vagueness! -Melendrop