The New Mrs. Malfoy
Chapter 4
Draco Malfoy glanced at the bartender and slapped another gold galleon on the counter. "Pour me another Will."
The young man nodded and added more whiskey to the empty tumbler that was set out in front of the young aristocrat. "I think you should slow down Mr. Malfoy."
"How many times do I have to tell you Will," Draco smiled sadly at the man, "Mr. Malfoy was my father. Call me Draco."
Will smiled, "You've told me many times but as always, you'll need to tell me at least once more, Mr. Malfoy."
Draco looked down at his glass before picking it up and downing the fluid. The bar was mostly empty and that was the way Draco liked it. The Stone Sickle was an elite bar whose main clientèle were young urban professionals who went out for a few round just after work. Not many of them could be found in the wee hours of the morning on a Saturday.
"Do you have any family, Will?"
The bartender nodded, "Yeah."
"Any brothers?"
Will nodded, "Yeah, two."
Draco smiled up at him, "older or younger?"
The man smiled, "Tony's older and Andy's younger."
The blond smiled back at him. "That's nice. Are you all close?"
Will smiled and nodded, "Yeah. We get together every Sunday and toss a quaffle around in my mum's back yard. My big sis comes too."
Draco smiled and slapped another galleon on the counter. "It must be nice."
"It is. Especially when Tony brings his boys." The bartender smiled and filled Draco's glass for him. "Alister and Cullen. They're little fire crackers they are. Gonna be damn good Quidditch players one day too, especially that Cullen."
Draco nodded, "I'm sure."
They used to say that about him. That he'd be a hell of a Quidditch player one day. But he was never a match for Corvus. Draco smiled at the memories that came flooding back of the two of them racing around. Corvus could fly circles around him. He was so naturally talented. He just chose not to go out for the team. Corvus never did like the lime light. Not like him, no Draco loved the attention being the star Quidditch player brought.
Will leaned over and caught Draco's eye, "Don't you have nephew?"
Draco frowned and shook his head, "no. A niece." The mention of his niece's birth brought back the harsh reality of the tragedy that occurred the same day as her arrival.
"How old is she now?"
"Well she was born on Halloween..." Not even caring about the potential hang over Draco tipped back and finished his fresh drink at the thought of his brother's daughter. "So that would make her six weeks old."
Will didn't hesitate to refill the glass, "I bet she's gorgeous."
Draco shrugged and sipped on his glass, "I wouldn't really know. I've only seen her once."
"She must be if she looks anything like your broth..." Will stopped mid statement and began to apologize, "I'm sorry."
"It's alright." Draco paused to figure out how best to comment, "The baby doesn't look like a Malfoy. She takes after her other father."
Will didn't say anything he just stood and listened.
"Mum has been keeping them under lock and key so I haven't gotten the chance to talk to him much. I feel for him, though. I mean how could I not...he's...he's my brother's widow..."
"Excuse me can I get a Vodka Cranberry please?" A beautiful blond smiled from the other end of the bar. Draco glared at the woman as Will walked away from him to mix the drink for her. She was tall and leggy and making eyes at him. He looked around to see if she was with some group but was met with the same six people who had been there for hours.
He turned away from her and began counting the bottles behind the bar. He knew exactly what she was doing here and he didn't want any part of it. He didn't want to get laid. He didn't want to get hit on. He came here to get away from his life, not to make it more complicated. He came he so he wouldn't have to think. He didn't want to think. He didn't want to think. He didn't want to think.
Draco tipped back the glass again and tossed another galleon on the counter. He needed to get out of here. After standing and checking for his keys, wand and wallet, Draco carefully began to walk toward the over sized fire place. All he needed to do was to floo home. He'd have to come back for his car tomorrow.
With each step he took he kept reciting to himself that he just needed to floo home, but his stomach was turning on him. He could feel it as surely as he could feel the dagger concealed in his boot.
He felt himself begin to stagger and he felt his head begin to swim. This was not good he needed to get home. He needed to...sit down...he needed...needed...to throw up.
As he felt himself begin to fall, two arms wrapped around his waste. He wasn't really sure how they accomplished it but he was eternally grateful to the arms that maneuvered him into the men's room and placed his head into the toilet. And even more grateful to the hand that began to rub gentle circles on his back as he emptied the contents of his stomach over and over again.
He didn't know what broke him but the wall that he had built so carefully over the past six weeks came tumbling down and as his stomach began to settle the heaves were replaced by body wracking sobs.
Harry sighed and looked over at the clock on the far wall. Four AM. Groaning, Harry detached himself from his cocoon of warmth and walked tiredly into his daughter's room. It had been two weeks since his arrival and he had fallen into routine that sadly didn't include much sleep.
As Harry walked in the dim candles flickered to life providing him with just enough light to see where he was going. Not that he really needed it. He could literally find his daughter's bed in a sleep deprived state of semiconsciousness.
"Baby girl, what is the matter?"
Harry looked down at his pink faced screaming daughter and sniffed lightly to try and clear his nasal cavity. It took him only a second to realize what the problem was. Not wasting a second he scooped her up he wandered over to the changing table and corrected the problem with practiced ease.
He had been at the manor for two weeks now and in that time changed more nappies than he had ever thought possible but no matter how disgusted he was by what his little daughter produced he couldn't help but marvel at how perfect she was and how quickly she was changing. Cassie was now six weeks old and getting cuter by the second.
"Is that better Cass?"
The girl continued to whimper as he buttoned her yellow duck footed pajamas back up. He smiled at her when he picked her back up and tucked her close to his chest the cries died almost instantly. "Oh my sweet little girl."
He looked down at her with a huge smile and was rewarded with a tiny hand reaching jerkily up toward his nose and a goofy half smile. "So we're awake now, are we?"
Cassie then placed the perfect tiny fingers into her mouth and began to naw and suck on them lightly. "And hungry too?"
Smiling Harry grabbed a pink fluffy blanket and started to walk toward the door. "Well why don't we go on down to the kitchens and get you a bottle?"
Over the past two weeks Harry had finally convinced the wretched meddling house elf, Mitzy to stop spying on him and Cassie and allow him to take care of his daughter on his own. It was a constant battle every day for the first week but with a few well placed comments about how he was going to complain to Narcissa he found the problem resolved itself rather nicely. The only interaction Harry now had with the elf was when he would enter the kitchens to retrieve a bottle and Mitzy would hastily shoot him a glare before disappearing with a loud pop.
This morning was no different. The elf glared at him when he entered, but much to his surprise before disappearing she snapped her fingers and a premeasured bottle of distilled water and formula appeared on the counter ready for him to mix.
Harry muttered a quiet thank you to the small creature and mixed the bottle up quickly. Maybe he should reconsider his position on the poor creature. Bottle in hand Harry walked to the yellow room, (the front formal living room) and curled up in his favorite chair that overlooked the front lawn.
This was his favorite place to curl up in the large ornate manor. Hardly anyone ever came here and he was left in relative peace. Tonight was beautiful, snow was gently falling on to the grounds surrounding the large home and Harry felt his heart sink again as his thoughts wandered.
Harry smiled sadly when the clock chimed quietly marking the half hour and he continued to watch the snow fall as his daughter continued to drink from her bottle. Cassie was thriving while Harry was tortured. Every day he would sneak off while she was sleeping and he would test his magic with a simple spell and everyday the results were either unimpressive bits of harmless sparks or stunning displays of torrential disaster.
In short he had little choice but to continue on in this charade and hope that he would be able to disappear without too much trouble when spring came.
Harry continued to look out at the snow and was very surprised to see the unfamiliar sight of headlights coming down the driveway.
"What in the world?"
Not really thinking Harry tucked the corners of his daughter's blanket in more tightly around her, discarded the bottle she had almost finished, and headed for the front door. It took some effort to push the heavy oak doors open but his curiosity was rewarded by the sight of a woman he had never seen before walking around to the passenger seat where a tall familiar blond was passed out.
"Is that Draco?"
The woman looked up to where Harry was standing on the front step holding his baby, "Oh good. You can help me."
Harry looked at her like she was nuts but walked down the steps to the car anyway. "Is he okay?"
"He will be." The woman smiled and began to pull the intoxicated wizard from the car. "Urgh, Drake. You weigh a ton."
Harry looked on with a frown. "He's drunk."
The woman laughed and pulled on the blond with more force, "Understatement of the century. Can you help?"
"I kind of have my arms full."
The woman stopped and looked over at Harry, noticing the baby for the first time. "Oh...wow...I didn't know. Uh... do you think you could go in and call one of the servants to come and help?"
Harry rolled his eyes and walked over to her. "Here. Take her and please be careful."
The woman was startled when the small baby was thrust into her arms but she recovered quickly and stepped out of the way. Harry looked at the blond and with a sad smile he threw one of the man's arms over his shoulders and pulled him out of the the car. "Come on now."
The man's head lolled back and he looked squinted up at Harry in confusion. "Sev?"
Harry frowned, "Uh... not quite. Come on."
Slowly Harry maneuvered the drunk man into the house with the woman following close on his heal.
"I'm so sorry for waking you I just didn't want him to be alone."
Harry smiled back at her, "You didn't wake me. Cassie did. I don't know where his room is. Do you?"
The woman looked confused, "Uh...well. I haven't been here since I was a kid. I really don't know."
Unsure of what to do Harry drug the man into the closest room (which happened to be the yellow room) and dumped him on the largest sofa he could find.
In the calm of the house Harry was able to smell and see the vomit that was coating the front of his heavy black winter cloak. "Dear god. How much did he drink?"
"I don't know. I got a call from the bartender and came as soon as I could. Ouch!"
Harry looked back at the woman and smiled as she tried to get Cassie to let go of her long dark brown hair. "It's no use you'll have to pry her little fingers apart."
"Oh," The woman frowned and gently began to pull the fingers apart freeing the lock from the infants grasp. "She has one heck of a grip."
Harry smiled and nodded, "yeah she does." The woman appeared to be fine holding Cassie so he turned his attention back to the man passed out on the sofa in front of him. If he wanted to save the sofa he needed to get him out of his soiled robes.
Taking a deep breath Harry set to work. He had a lot experience undressing drunk men. Seamus' favorite past time was getting hammered and passing out in the living room in a puddle of his own vomit. So with practiced ease Harry pulled the man into a seated position and began to unbutton the seemingly never ending seam of silver buttons.
"Thanks for bringing him home. I'm sure his mother will really appreciate it." Harry thanked the woman kindly as he began to work Draco's arms out of the sleeves.
"Well he's drug my ass back home on several occasions. I consider it pay back. I'm Pansy by the way. Pansy Goyle. You must be the new Mrs. Malfoy."
Harry looked back at her and gave her a tight smiled neither confirming nor denying the statement.
"Draco mentioned you several times."
"Did he now?"
Pansy nodded, "He feels so terrible about what happened."
Harry tensed.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned anything."
He was amazed at how overly sensitive everyone was being, but considering he supposedly just lost his husband he could almost understand.
"You know he and Cory weren't always so distant."
Harry nodded and tossed the soiled garment next to the door and set to taking off Draco's boots.
"They just parted poorly."
Harry nodded again. What was he supposed to say.
"He so wanted to patch things up. It was all he talked about since Cory wrote about coming home."
She looked so lost. Harry didn't know what to say to her. "Are you and Draco...close?"
Pansy looked shocked for a moment before laughing, "No, no we are just friends. No I'm married. I guess some would call me his fag hag. I used to be his beard. You know, with him pretending to be the perfect straight son. I don't know. I think he feels that because Cory was so open about his preferences that his parents would flip out if both of their sons turned out out to be...well you get the idea."
Harry was confused, "But Narcissa has been so accepting of me. Why would she 'flip out' because of something like that?"
Pansy laughed, "You have a lot to learn, Mrs. Malfoy."
"Why do you keep calling me that?"
The woman smiled wider, "Well that's what you are."
Before Harry had the opportunity to question it farther, Pansy handed the baby back to him and walked over to the fire place.
"Tell the princeling when he wakes up if he wants his keys back that he'll have to come by for a visit."
Harry watched with envy as she lit a fire with a well placed incendio. "Oh and she's darling. Congratulations."
With a flash of green fire the brunette witch disappeared and left Harry alone with his unconscious supposed brother-in-law. Looking around Harry spotted a throw blanket and with some difficulty caused by Cassie he tossed the white throw over the man and left him to sleep off his hang over.
Draco groaned as the light burned his eyes. He felt sick and he knew that the only remedy was several meters away in his medicine cabinet. He groaned again and turned to the left to climb out of his warm bed.
Thump!
"Fucking A!"
Draco snapped his eyes open as he fell off of the sofa on to the ground and was greeted with the overly cheery sight of the yellow room at the family manor. Confused as hell he had absolutely no idea how he got here.
"Master Malfoy? Is you be needing anything?"
Draco looked up at the small house elf that had appeared. "The time. What time is it?"
"It is being 4:17. Master Octavian has been asking after you. Shall Dobby be informing him of your awakeness, sir?"
Octavian, asking after him? Oh sweet Merlin what happened last night? "Umm, no Dobby I think I will talk to him myself. Where can I find him?"
The small elf bounced on his feet, "Master Octavian is in his rooms sir. Little miss Cassie is be having a nap."
Draco nodded, "and my mother, does she know I'm here?"
"Master Octavian did give orders not to inform Mistress Malfoy of your presence."
"So that is a no then?"
"Yes sir. Mistress is not being awares of master's presence."
Draco silently thanked his brother in law, "fantastic. Where is she?"
"Mistress be spending most of the day in her quarters wrapping Christmas gifts."
"Great." Draco looked around the room and noticed his soiled robe lying in a heap on the floor and the the sofa he had been sleeping on was in shambles. "Dobby, clean this mess up, will you?"
The elf nodded and bowed deeply. "Dobby be making it his first priority, sir."
"Oh and can you tell the servants to set a place for me at dinner?"
The elf smiled and nodded, "Yes sir."
Not wasting a second Draco bolted up the stairs to the third floor. After he made a quick detour by his own rooms to clean up and to change, Draco made his way over to his brother's old rooms. He remembered his mother telling him that she had the nursery attached to them so he assumed that was where his brother-in-law was. He wasn't disappointed.
After a quick knock on the door he heard the sound of the young man's quiet voice call for him to come in.
Draco opened the door and was greeted by the the sight of his brother-in-law sitting in the middle of his bed wearing nothing more than a pair of pajama bottoms. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'll come back another time."
The brunette looked at him with a smile and stood up from the bed leaving the book he was reading open on it. "No. no. It's my fault. Cassie decided that it would be a great idea to puke on me just after lunch and I was lazy and decided to go mostly commando. How are you feeling?"
Draco watched his brother in law walk over to his dresser and much to his relief pull on a white undershirt. Now that the other man's chest was covered Draco tried to regain his composure. "Um... fine...mostly...I took a hangover potion and waiting for it to kick in. Do you know how I got here last night?"
Octavian looked at him skeptically and with a slight smile on his face. "Why don't you tell me what you remember and I'll tell you what I know."
Draco frowned, "How about you just tell me what happened?"
With a smile the young wizard nodded, "Well I was up feeding Cassie her four AM bottle when some woman showed up in a hot little car with you passed out in the front seat."
At the mention of a woman Draco felt himself start to panic. "What woman?"
Octavian walked over to his dresser and pulled out a pair of pants, "Pansy something or another. She said that she used to be your beard."
Draco felt himself begin to blush. He was going to have to have a few words with pansy about talking about his personal preferances.
His blush turned itself up to maximum when his brohter in law began pulling down his pajama bottoms. In a desperate attmept to hide it he spun on his heel and faced the nearest wall. The last thing he wasnted was to watch his brother-in-law changing in front of him. "I'll have you know that she was not my beard. We have been good friend since primary school. And the term Beard imply that either I conduct affairs with attached women or that I am homosexual."
"And you're not?"
Draco fumed and felt the muscels around his face tighten in frustration, "I have not nor will I ever attempt to conduct an adulterous affair with a married woman and I can assure you that I am only interested in the female sex."
"Whatever you say."
Draco felt his face flush further in anger as he glared the wall imagining it was the infernal boy's face, "Pansy dropped me off, so my car is where?"
"Well I had Sev get it out of the front drive before your mum noticed."
"And that would mean it is where exactly?"
"How should I know? Sev told me he would take care of it."
Draco rolled his eyes. This boy was incorrigible.
"Oh and Pansy said that if you wanted your keys back you would have to come for a visit and get them from her."
"Are you a idiot?"
Draco didn't have to see him to know that Octavian was blushing in embarrassment.
"You had Severus move my car without my keys?" Draco could feel his anger getting the better of him. What kind moron would request someone to move a M-Hybrid with magic? It could seriously damage the enchantments.
"I don't know how he moved it. You'd have to ask him. You know you can turn around now. I am dressed."
Draco turned and felt his jaw drop slightly, "You can't be serious. You are going to wear that to dinner?"
Octavian looked down at his outfit unsure of what his mistake could have been. "What's wrong with it?"
Aside from the poor cut, the terrible fit it was fine. The robe by itself was wonderful but on the boy... well it was far less than flattering. Draco was about to tell the boy what his honest opinion was when just over Octavian's shoulder he saw a picture of his brother smiling out from the pages of a thick book.
Feeling slightly guilty Draco smiled and tried to shrug off the comment, "Well if it is the best you have then it'll have to do."
Octavian sneered, straightened our the front of his robe and tucked a rogue curl behind his ear. revealing a silver ring that pierced his rook.
"Exactly how many piercings do you have?"
The boy looked shocked but answered anyway, "Three."
Draco smirked at him, "Only three?"
Octavian scoffed, "yes. Only three, and I'll have you know where I'm from that's not really that many. A boy I went to school with had eighteen."
"A boy from your school in New Zealand?"
Octavian hesitated and then nodded, "yeah."
"I thought there weren't any institutions of magic there?" Draco didn't really know why he was grilling him like this. But he was surprised when the boy hesitated again except this time more severely.
"Well, there aren't. But my parents did send me to primary school and later to a music school. I met Thomas in my music class."
Draco was skeptical but before he was able to ask Octavian about what type of music he studied the cry of a baby ran through from the other room.
Octavian turned and hurried into the nursery. Draco followed him not really knowing what compelled him. Stepping into the nursery made Draco come to a full realization the truth of the situation. He had already come to terms with the fact that his brother was in deed no longer part of the world of the living, but it was at this moment when he entered into what used to be his brother's private office did the existence of his brother's husband and infant daughter finally ring true.
He felt his heart clinch as he watched his brother-in-law lovingly comfort the screaming child and felt the sting of loss at the thought that it should be Corvus who was in this place in the door. Cory should be watching his new family with affection, not the disdain that Draco felt toward them.
"Oh my sweet darling. Shhhh. It's okay, Daddy's here." Octavian hugged the quickly quieting baby gently to his chest and then looked over at Draco. "Look who is here for a visit girlie, It's your uncle Draco."
Smiling the brunette boy stepped forward to show Draco the now calm infant. Draco smiled lightly at her. The tiny girl blinked at him and smiled.
"See she likes you." Octavian chirped happily before adding a side note, "can't really imagine why."
Draco glared at his brother's widow and turned to walked out of the room.
"Would you like to hold her?"
Draco shook his head and held his hands up indicating the expensive robe he was wearing "The last thing I need is for it to vomit on me. This is a Mark Cohen"
Octavian glared and stormed off in the direction of the changing table, "It is a girl and she has a name. Just like your fancy name brand robe."
Draco realized his folly but wasn't about to apologize. "Fine. The last thing I need is for Cassiopeia to vomit on me and mess up my robe. Dinner will be starting in fifteen minutes."
Octavian grabbed a pink and white cloth diaper (barf rags as he like to call them) and flung it over his shoulder and walked over to the closet to pick out an outfit for his daughter to wear, "Thank you for the reminder Mr. Malfoy, but I don't need to be reminded of my daily schedule."
Annoyed with the boy's attitude Draco stormed out of the room and headed toward the dining room. There was really no point in arguing with the brat anymore. He had bigger things to worry about. Things like his mother.
Author's Note: Thank you so much to all of my reviews. I hope no one was confused by the limited POV shifts. Draco doesn't know Harry is Harry he knows him as Octavian and so in his third person limited narrative i thought it would be better to refer to Harry as Draco knows him...as Octavian. Tell me what you think. Are there mistakes? Do you have any questions? Do you like it? Hate it? Love it? should I quite while I'm ahead? Let me know.
Thanks for reading!
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