I am so sorry for the delay in updates! I know I'm not the only one who's just started back to classes, but as I stated in my last update I've been sick. I'm finally better! This is actually only a couple of days in the making now… I actually have to laugh… my doctor proscribe to high a dosage of a new med for me and I ended up high as a kite for two days. My teachers found me most interesting, I must say.
Anyway this is several weeks in the making, but it's finally up! It is actually longer than I thought it would turn out. I was determined to post something today! But came out 10 pages long. Not bad I say. Anyway, please read, enjoy and let me know your thought!
Shout Out to: LalalaSpacingInPandaLand and Shunnedfreak for their pestering me for the next update, and understanding of the situation called life.
Domino Effect
Chapter Nine
The Father's Wish
Draco sighed as he heard the floo alert him to someone's call. Entering the room his knelt down in front of the fire. "Blasé, what a pleasant surprise, how did you know to reach me here?"
"Your mother was kind enough to inform me you were residing else where for the time being. Did you have another disagreement with your parents?" Blasé asked with a gentle tone. They both knew that the term parents, was really code for father.
"In a manner of speaking though that's not really the whole story. Never mind that at the moment. What did you wish to speak about?" Draco asked with a bright tone.
Blasé rolled his eyes good naturedly, "I've this new case and was wondering it you were just bored enough to dip your gorgeously manicured finger tips into it."
Draco smirked at the obvious use of flattery, a sign that Blasé was out of his depth, and just about ready to grovel. The man was a real study. He was a top researcher, practically a photogenic memory and could sweet talk most anyone. There were, however, situations the soft spoken, easy going and light hearted soul just couldn't handle. Draco had willingly enough stepped in to lend a hand on those occasions. After all he was not without his uses. He'd studied law and wizarding tradition all his life, and could have his own practice if he ever found the want to do so. Though, as the Malfoy heir and with aristocratic standings meant to succeed his father he never considered it possible.
"I suppose I could use a distraction, give me a half-hour to get a few things settled and then I'll be over." Draco hid a smirk as Blasé's eyes seemed to brighten.
As soon as the connection ended he tossed a handful of powder into the flame reconnecting it with his godfather's. It took a few moments before the older man appeared. "Draco, I'm glad to hear from you. I would like to speak with you if you have a moment."
Draco still feeling a tightness in his chest from the other evening was not yet ready to have a conversation with the man just yet. "Actually I don't have a moment; I wish to speak with my husband. I believe he is with you."
His Godfather looked a bit disheartened, but nodded before disappearing to be replaced by Harry. "Draco, is everything alright?"
"Yes, I only wish to inform you that I have been asked to look something over for Blasé and will be with him for the day. I will leave any possible addresses that we may be at for you incase you need to reach me on the coffee table." Draco explained briefly; well aware that Severus may still be listening.
"Oh, well okay, I had hoped to speak with Ron and Hermione today… do you mind if I still do, or would you prefer me wait till you can be there?" Harry asked brows furrowed in thought.
Draco considered it, "It will probably go smoother if I'm not there, but if you wish me to be I can postpone what ever it was Blasé needed me for. I'm sure he can wait till tomorrow."
"No, you're right; it probably will go smoother if I speak with them alone first. Will you be home for dinner?" Harry asked with a sigh.
"Yes, I'll be home by seven, and like I said if you need me the list of floo connections I can be found at is on the table." Draco added the reminder. "I'll see you tonight than."
"Tonight," Harry confirmed before the connection was ended.
Standing up Harry turned to see a disheartened man standing by the door. "Don't look so forlorn, give him time. He was hurt; he just needs some time before he can let it go."
The man scoffed, "My godson does not just let things go."
Harry sighed, "Not for just anyone no, but for those he loves and respects, yes he does. And I can assure you; he both loves and respects you." He offered a reassuring smile. "I guess I should go and speak to my friends, before they form anymore idiotic conclusions to their questions."
qp
"Blasé?" Draco called from the entry room, where the floo was connected.
"Draco! Wonderful!" Blasé bounded into the room, a Cheshire cat grin on his face. "I'm so glad you were willing to lend your expertise to this case."
Draco smirked, "A pleasure."
Blasé snickered, "Okay you, enough inflation to your already bloated ego." He swung an arm around the blonde's shoulder as they walked down the hall to a nice sized office that was elegantly decorated.
"So what have you managed to scavenger up this time?" Draco asked with a raised brow.
"You are going to love this! I'm actually surprised I didn't have to wave it under your nose just to get you to consider helping me out." Blasé raised a brow in a questioning way.
"Well just be glad you didn't and start talking."
Blasé frowned slightly, before shrugging unconcerned. "Lady Truin's late husband Lord Antonio E. Truin's Last Will and Testament is being contested by an apparently previously unknown illegitimate son who may or may not be illegitimate. He is contesting that his mother and father were married when he was conceived but divorced before he was born." He wiggled in his seat from apparent excitement.
"Do the timelines coordinate with what he's purposing?" Draco raised a skeptical brow.
Blasé snickered, "Totally possible. That's what has Lady Truin in such a state, as well as her two daughters."
Draco frowned, "and where is Lord Antonio's over seer to his will?"
"That's the thing, his over seer can't be found. They can't even find the record. Somehow the will has been tampered with and the name burned off. The will is also confused and only tells the person demanding the over seer's name that it's not them." Blasé offers a shrug practically feeling his friend's curiosity buzzing about the room like the muggle's electricity
Draco himself could actually taste his own eagerness. Tossing his over robe onto the back of an empty chair he said, "Alright, we have our work cut out for us. Have you already pulled all records pertaining to the late Lord Truin, his wife, supposed wife, and the supposed son? Especially those at the Ministry?" he sat in another unoccupied chair and pulled it close to the table while pulling writing material toward himself.
qp
Harry sighed as he knocked on the door to the home of his adopted family. He had hoped to find the couple at their own residence, but had, had no such luck. The door was opened by a cheerful, short, chubby red headed woman. "Harry dear, it's good to see you!"
"Hello Molly, how are you?" Harry asked kissing the woman's cheek in greeting.
The woman beamed, "I'm just fine Harry. You look a sight better than how Ron described you being, I'm happy to say."
Harry chuckled, "Yes I'm sure I made quite the picture in such a state of exhaustion. Speaking of Ron, he and Mione here by any chance? I tried them at their place, but they weren't in."
"They're right upstairs dear in Ron's old room, everything alright?" Molly asked with a concerned frown.
Smiling reassuringly he nodded, "Yes, everything's fine, just needed to speak with them. Do you mind if I head on up?"
"Not at all dear, won't you stay for lunch?"
"Of course Molly, I'd love to." Harry gave another kiss to the woman's cheek before starting up the stairs he had learned to maneuver as a child. Finding the door to his best friend's childhood bedroom he knocked and waited.
Not a full minute later the door opened to reveal Ron whose expression quickly became a mixture between happy and confused. "Harry mate, what you doin' here?"
"Needed to speak with you and Mione, she here?" Harry asked questioningly.
Ron stepped back opening the door wider to reveal Mione sitting on the floor by a few opened boxes with various items in them. Making his way into the room he sat on Ron's old bed. "Hey Mione, do you mind if I talk with you two for a minute?"
Hermione put down an old dusty book that she had been holding and duster her hands off a bit. "Not at all, is this about Malfoy?"
Harry sighed at her pointed gaze and Ron's bewildered one. "For the most part yes; I need you both to be understanding and hear me out."
Mione sat up a bit straighter and Ron took a seat further down the bed giving him his full attention. "We can do that, right Mione?" Hermione nodded in agreement.
"As you've probably guessed, Draco and I have been seeing each other." He held up a hand as it looked like Hermione was about to interrupt. "Please wait till I finish speaking." He raised an eyebrow till she nodded her consent and Ron followed with a slight frown.
"Now as I said, Draco and I have been seeing each other. No, it is not a new development. It wasn't started because of Ginny announcing her wedding; it has nothing to do with Ginny. We haven't told anyone about us because we didn't want the publicity, we didn't want to deal with everyone if for some reason we didn't work out. What would be the point of having a relationship if all we were doing was defending it all the time? We wouldn't know if we could actually have one or not if that was what all our time was spent doing." He gave a pointed gaze at the two. "Not to mention the issues of telling his father, or my telling you guys would have brought into the whole ordeal. I can already see you want to argue with me about my choice in dating him, so don't tell me you wouldn't have when we first started to."
Harry sighed, "The point is mote either way. Draco and I have been dating for seven months, and because of unforeseen circumstances a week ago we were married." He quickly cut off their responses. "Before you reply think about what you are about to say. Draco is my husband whether you like it or not. I will not allow you or anyone else to speak ill of him so choose your words wisely."
That seemed to bring a pause to the immediate onslaught of words. After a moment Hermione cautiously opened her mouth, "What was the unforeseen circumstance?"
Harry took a steadying breath, "A betrothal contract. Draco was only told about it not even a whole day before it was to be signed."
"Does… Does he… I mean… are you happy?" Ron asked still seeming confused, but determined to be the supportive best friend.
Harry laughed, much happier with this response than any other he imagined the redhead having, "Yes Ron, I'm happy."
"So, you decided to just get married instead of letting Malfoy follow his father's wishes?" Hermione asked with a raised brow.
Harry blinked, "No, I decided to marry Draco because I didn't want him marring some girl. It has nothing to do with his father except that his actions forced our hand. It's not something we weren't considering anyway."
"So it was his father that pushed you into it. I see." Hermione said with a pinched look.
Harry narrowed his eyes, "No, I don't think you do. I got married because I chose to. I married Draco because that was what I chose. Nobody forced me, demanded me, or anything else. Draco and I are happy; can't you be happy for me Mione?"
There was a small huff, "Don't you understand Harry? There has to be some other ulterior motive, behind all this. It's Malfoy, the Slytherin, stuck up, selfish, sneaky prick. He's hoodwinked you." She turned and glared at her husband. "You're just going to say if you're happy I'm happy, is that it? What kind of friend are you?"
Harry narrowed his eyes, "The best of kinds. He's standing by me despite my choices. So what if I'm being hoodwinked, as you put it, even though I'm not. Let's just say that I am, for arguments sake though. So what! If I'm being hoodwinked than that's my problem, right? You're my two closest friends. You're supposed to support my decisions and should I turn out to be wrong about everything then be there with a supportive hand and without judgment?"
"So you just want me to keep quiet and let you fall head first into his trap?" Hermione huffed.
"Yes!" Harry snapped, "That's exactly what I want you to do. Let me make my own choices, my own mistakes. Let me make my own judgments on situations and come to my own conclusions. If I turn out wrong, than I turn out wrong, but in the end I'll only have myself to blame because it was my decision." He let out a sigh, "I can't turn my back on a person just because they were a git when we were children. He's grown up; won't you at least try to see that, give him a chance to show you? If for no other reason than because I ask you to."
Harry looked between his two best friends. Hermione had a stubbornness about her that showed he still had a lot of convincing to go. Ron on the other hand was staring with an odd sort of look about him. That Harry was having trouble placing. Suddenly it came to him, he'd seen a lot of expressions on his first ever friend's face over the years. Expressions that no one should have to wear: anger, sadness, defeat, triumph, jealousy, rage, hate, love, happiness, joy, sorrow, pain, nothingness. It wasn't completely impossible, after all it's not uncommon expression, but Harry was having true difficulty recalling it on this one particular face… genuine hurt. Ron's gaze wasn't directed at Harry, this whole time it'd been directed at none other than his own wife.
"'Follow his father's wishes'…" Ron voice sounded as though he were talking through a dream. "Do you even understand what a contract can mean?" Now it was more forceful, demanding… hard.
"A legally binding document, even us Muggleborns know that much Ronald." Shooting a dirty look at the man standing closest to her, she snapped.
"It's not just a legally binding, Mione, it's also magically binding. Once signed it can't be broken…" Ron paused, "at least not by any way that anyone would chose."
"Breaking a magical contract has very dire consequences. You could pay with your life, a loved one's life; you could condemn someone you care for to have to take your place. A marriage contract is ten thousand times worse. If you don't commit willingly, the contract can literally force you to. If you fight, your mind pays for it." All three turned to face the new figure that now stood in the door way. "Why do you think Hermione there are so many loop wholes, especially where the word love comes in?" Percy raised a brow. "Love can not be forced, even by magic, to exist. The contracts that had such terms in them left the victims insane, suicidal, or empty shells. Very few survived and those were the lucky ones that were already or very close to being in love."
Hermione had grown pale as Percy spoke, after all if anyone was to know and speak only the true facts of something it was going to be Percy Weasley.
"So one could be married through contract and chose to love someone else?" Hermione asked in a breathy way as if she were struggling to breath.
"Aren't arranged marriages just that?" Harry asked her in a confused voice.
"They could love someone else, but to be allowed to act upon it depends on the kindness of the contract writers… most aren't that thoughtful." Percy said with a shrug.
"Still think he should have followed his father's wish?" Ron asked with a pointed gaze.
Hermione took a step back wide eyed, "this is Malfoy we're talking about remember."
"It could have easily been me." Percy spoke up from where he now stood by Ron's old desk, "or Ron."
"Great Grandmother Prewett, who was a widow by the time her children and our Grandfather Prewett was old enough to marry, decided that none of her children would be married by contract. Her elder sister, our great, great aunt I believe was married by contract on Great Grandmother Prewett's father's wishes as he had been. She never had children, widowed early and lived a long life; story goes she was in love with her gardener who played with her when they were children. Her late husband was a selfish man and even after death the contract held her to be faithful." Percy shrugged, "Us Prewett decedents have a genuine loath-ness against contract marriages. If history had played differently though, it could have been you fighting for Ron instead of Harry fighting for Draco Malfoy."
"Would you have fought for me? Follow his father's wishes? If your father had arranged your marriage, would you have married the chosen suitor?" Ron asked still decidedly hurt.
"Ron…" Hermione looked beyond bewildered and overwhelmed. "Of course I wouldn't have, I mean I would have fought for you. I wouldn't have married anyone else." Ron was walking away and Mione looked lost.
Harry sighed and put a hand on her shoulder, "I think you're missing the point."
Percy sighed, sitting down at the desk the old chair creaking from the weight. "It's exactly as you said Mione, you could have said no. After all in an arranged marriage, saying no, what's the worse that can happen? Disownment, disinherited, loss of stature in society, maybe disappointing your family? Saying no isn't an option with a contract in our world. Draco's lucky, he's an only child. If he had married Harry and left a younger brother or sister the contract would have still have been valid only they would have had to fulfill it. It would seem Draco doesn't even have any close enough related cousins to fulfill the legal requirements. Which is funny… the Weasley's aren't that far removed. I guess our family feud saved us… I wonder if Charlie, one of the twins, or Ginny would have been selected as the most eligible to fulfill the requirements of the Malfoy part of the contract."
"Now your starting to understand, aren't you Hermione? Ron is trying to be supportive of Harry but he's also understanding of the situation. Who'd wish that upon anyone?"
Hermione gulped, "I should go after him…"
Harry sighed, "Yeah you should, but first you should decide if you're still against Draco and my marriage. Because if you are, I don't think you're going to be helping your self any."
"I don't like it that it's Draco and that you kept this from us… but, no one could ever claim me to be stupid. I'll keep my mouth shut, and my eyes open. I'll give him a chance, a real chance." She smiled one of those smiles from their school days when everything was fine and things were going to be okay again. "I'm glad you're happy." With that she left the room to find and sooth her husband leaving behind an older redhead and the only black haired Weasley, non-Weasley.
"Good to see you Percy, doing well?" Harry asked with a smile.
"Well enough Harry, you should come around more often. Mom would love it I know and the twins are planning a kidnapping last I heard." Percy gave a secret smile.
Harry shuddered; the twins had employed that tactic before. Ron had to call off the Auror search group and beg them not to press charges. After all I'd been held captive for three days with no word. "That's all I need. Thanks for the warning."
"Any time," Percy gave him a look that clearly said he was waiting for some kind of answer to some unspoken question.
Harry sighed, dropping down onto the bed, "We haven't told anyone. Ron and Mione kind of left us no choice. The only other people who know is Draco's parents who found out when the contract failed to be signed and Snape, Draco's godfather, had to tell him because of the whole hospital fiasco. Draco nearly had my head when it took me a week to get home. How is it going at the Ministry upper levels with all that, just wondering?"
"Oh, fairly well, though don't be surprised if they ask you to address the councils and give a speech of some sort to the global gathering they are putting together in thanks for their swift response to help." The exaggeration on the word swift was not lost on Harry by a long shot.
He had given more then a few of these addresses since the war. Anytime anything major happened and he was involved it usually fell to him to address the upper levels. The Aurors and those behind the situations preferred it and were usually the ones who demanded it. Funnily enough the upper levels detested these situations. Harry laughed inside, he knew exactly why. The people called for him to speak, because he was the Boy Who Lived, World Savior, Protector of the People and he couldn't be ignored, shut away or dismissed. He wouldn't ignore their pleas, and he would speak the truth. He had and would call upon the faults of others as well as praise those who had earned it. The people asked for him to represent them, and the upper levels allowed it because the other options were much more distasteful. Harry had no wish to become one of the upper levels and the upper levels much agreed… or the majority anyway. However, upset the people, and that was just where the people would demand he be placed. The lesser of two evils suited them all in the end.
"When do you intend to inform the others?" Percy asked in a politely unconcerned tone.
Harry rolled his eyes, "I do intend to tell them Percy; you know I haven't had much time. I've only been home a day and much of that I was sleeping. I can't help that I was called away merely a day after we were married not much more then 24 hours after. We're still trying to deal with the little explosions from it all. Right now Draco's mother is on the outs with his Father. Draco won't speak with Severus, because Sev alluded to him being my mistress, and I believe you just witnessed what I'm dealing with, with Mione though Ron is taking it scarily well."
Percy started laughing and just kept going. "You should have your own drama section in the Prophet." He finally said when it had died down to a light shake of the shoulders.
"Don't say that to loud, they may hear you and just do it." Harry smiled as Percy started laughing again.
The sight of the most proper and stuffy Weasley in generations in such a state caused the odd look on Charlie's face as he came into the room wooden spoon in hand with something smoky-clear-red on it. "What have you done to him Harry?" At this Percy looked over and saw the apron with lace and heart shaped beaked goods dancing around on it tied around Charlie's neck and waist, as will as the red stuff in the shape of lips on either side of his face, (the twins doing no doubt) and actually starting roaring with laughter, "I think you broke him."
Harry couldn't help it; he joined Percy in his laughing decent. "I take that back, you've both lost it!" this only caused more laughter. Harry wished he had a camera on him, maybe Mione has one on her…
*To all who acknowledge it: Sept. 11th may none be forgotten!*
HELP: I'm considering where this is going… and I'm curious what my readers may be looking for… I've talked with a co-writer about something, though with life as it is it may not happen so I'm coming up with new idea as we speak. (The story must go on!) I'm just wondering if y'all are looking for just a fluff story, a thriller, a drama (what kind?) or something else… I'm going to do my own thing but right now I need new Idea to put a new picture together in my mind. So help pretty please!
I'm not sure if I got Blasé name right… but I like it that way so unless there is just something horrifically wrong with it, it will stay.
Thank you to all my readers, and for being so patient!
I am Posting this at the bottom of Every chapter from now on (if I don't forget) For those who just started reading the story and don't read old A/N's. Sorry to all my dedicated readers, I don't mean to be repetitive.
Pease Read!
This is here for YOUR benefit as much as mine.
I have a note posted on my profile, but have come to the conclusion that very few read it. I was born with a learning disability known as Dyslexia. For more information there is a detailed explanation on my profile, feel free to read, I highly recommend if you don't know what Dyslexia is. If you have any concerns or questions, feel free to ask me. I don't mind answering questions, but you can also look up more information online.
I have a beta working on this story it is just taking them some time to get me the corrected chapters. Please be patient with them.