Disclaimer: I own nothing except my characters.

35: A Room with the Malfoys

I stared after him, did he just disinvite me from The Burrow? Did he have the right to do that? I wondered but didn't let myself think about it too much as I realized I had yet to get my stuff together. I turned back to grab one of my little bags and as I started to I caught sight of Draco. I grumbled to myself as I walked toward him. "I guess we'll have to learn how to make up quickly" I told him as he took my bag and slung it over his shoulder.

"What happened?" he asked as we fell in step behind a group of taller kids as we made our way toward the front of the train.

"Oliver kissed me, I told Melinda and George, and now I'm not allowed at The Burrow for a few days" I explained as we waited in the line.

"Why did you let Oliver kiss you? I thought all that stuff—"

"I don't want to talk about it" I said grumpily as we finally got closer to the front of the line. I tried to look out the windows to see if I could see the Weasley family but there were too many people outside to get a proper look.

"Come on, mum is here" Draco said as we stepped down the stairs. I turned my head every which way to try and see any signs of the Weasleys or Melinda but it seemed hopeless the further away I got from the bigger crowd. "Mum" Draco said as we stopped in front of an older lady, her jet black hair long and straight with two highlighted white streaks running down on either side. "This is Tammie" he said nudging me. I shifted uncomfortably as I looked at Mrs. Malfoy, her expression seemed stony and emotionless, but her rigid posture and titled up chin definitely gave her the tone of arrogance that was apparently a trait.

"Hi" I said to her feeling the urge to back up or run away.

"Ah yes, my niece Tammie, it's so nice to have you here but Draco, didn't you tell me she was going to be at The Burrow for the break?" she asked. I narrowed my eyes, her voice sounded too mocking, her eyes glinted just a bit. I could feel myself start to tense up as she looked back at me and smiled. "We haven't straightened out a room for you yet…" she said, still looking slightly excited. "Nonetheless, you can pick out one" she concluded as she guided me toward the entrance.

Outside, I looked once more for the Weasley family but saw no one as we moved toward the large fancy car. "Come on dear" Mrs. Malfoy said as she held the door open for me.

"Thanks" I said morbidly as I climbed inside.

I tried not to show any signs of disappointment during the car ride. I knew it was my fault for telling George in the first place; more so, it was my fault for letting it happen. But did I really need to be kicked out for it? What was George doing? Didn't he know what kind of problem that would cause between me and Fred? Fred would probably think I was hiding something from him—which I was—but he'd get the wrong idea and then we'd break up. I scowled at the thought; maybe that was what George wanted. At least Melinda knew I liked Fred. At least she knew not to do this. Hopefully she'd be a little upset with George pushing me away like he did. Hopefully she'd think of a good story to tell Fred and Mrs. Weasley and well, the rest of the Weasleys why I wasn't there. Didn't they know this was exactly what Burnner wanted?

Of course they didn't know because I hadn't told them. No, instead I opened my mouth to confess to what Oliver did. I sighed as I thought about it. At least Oliver admitted what he was doing; at least he did like me and wasn't simply trying to break me and Fred up. I shook my head at the thought, I wasn't about to rationalize what Oliver was doing. Because if I did I would tell Melinda and she would murder me and tell Fred it was an accident and get him to believe it.

"Draco" I said quietly, poking him in the knee as he looked over at me. "I need to tell you something" I said, still whispering.

"If it has anything to do with how bad you feel—"

"No, no, it's about Madame Burnner" I said, moving over a bit in the seat.

"Who?" Mrs. Malfoy asked suddenly.

"This new professor—well, assistant professor, her name is Burnner, but, it's nothing" Draco explained.

"That's the one from the papers, yes?" Mrs. Malfoy asked but I shrugged. I hadn't been reading the paper.

"I think so, the one with the brown hair" Draco said.

"She looks familiar" Mrs. Malfoy said, her voice still mixed. I waited for her to say something else but when she didn't I turned back to Draco. As I did I realized Mrs. Malfoy's hands were gripping the steering wheel a little tight.

"Do you know her?" I asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"No, of course not, she's too young to actually know," she started but shook her head. "Don't worry yourself about who I know or don't know" she said as we finally pulled up to the house. "Go find a room you like" she said as we got out of the car and started toward the giant house. I stood in place for a long minute, just gawking at the house. It was like a mansion from the outside.

"Tammie" Draco called from the doorway. I carefully and slowly went to join him, my mouth falling open at just the sight of the hallway.

"This is your house?" I hissed to him as we started toward the living room, Draco throwing his jacket aside as we walked.

"Yeah" he said in a bored voice as his mum disappeared into one of the rooms off toward the right. "My room is this way" he said as we passed through the large living room and up the stairs. "The last one, on the left" he said as we started down toward his room. It took him a minute to unlock the door but he managed and pushed the door back.

"Whoa" I said, noticing how the size was practically half the size of the living room which was itself big enough for twenty beds. "And they said I was spoiled back home…" I whispered to myself as I looked around Draco's room. He had almost every item I could think any boy would want, and then some. All his brooms were lined against the wall; though to me they looked more like decorations than something he'd actually use. Most of his furniture was either black or white, not that I was surprised, but he did have a touch of green here and there. On the far wall, above his bed was a Slytherin poster, the giant serpent moving around in an S-like motion. "How do you sleep with that hanging there?" I asked, already wondering if I could my hands on a Gryffindor one.

"You can sit if you like" he said flopping down on the smaller couch pushed up against the wall closers to his bed which had a bookshelf next to it.

"Do you actually read any of these?" I asked walking over to the bookshelf to scan the books. Most of them looked like school books or books from his parents or other relatives.

"Not really, I've read a few" he commented as he shrugged at the shelf. I silently cursed him, he had this whole giant shelf of books and he hadn't read probably more than three or four. I pulled my eyes away from the book and looked around the room again, his curtains were green, the emerald green like the stones in the Slytherin house point jar. I noticed few posters, I never would've guessed he was a fan of Quidditch had it not been for the large poster of a team I didn't recognize. "If you ever need anything out of here" he said looking around.

"I think I'm gonna go for something more cheerful in my room" I told him still looking around.

"I keep meaning to redecorate" he said with a little laugh.

"You know, if I were you, I'd buy a little snitch and pin it to the wall, but only one for every game you've caught it" I told him. I turned back to face him when he didn't immediately answer. "Please tell me you've at least caught one" I asked but he remained silent. "You haven't caught a single snitch the whole time you've played?" I asked, feeling the smile creep up. "Huh, I guess you really did lose the game because you have no talent" I teased with a shrug.

"I lost because…" he trailed off as he turned red.

"Relax, I know why. Are you gonna tell me what you got her? Since, you know, it 'wasn't expensive'?" I asked.

"It wasn't, I just got a real-life sized Snitch with a little picture inside, it was nothing" he said, still blushing.

"Oh, that's, er, thoughtful…" I said, suddenly realizing how the thoughtful the gift actually did sound.

"See, you don't even like it" he shouted waving a hand at me.

"No, no, it sounds lovely, it does, I just, I didn't know you could actually do nice things" I said with a shrug as he glared at me.

"I meant what I said before Tammie; I do like her, and I was trying, but every time I do I feel like I'm getting rejected. No one wants me to even talk to her, I'm not even supposed to talk to her, look what it does to my image" he said waving his hand again.

"Who cares what everyone else thinks?" I reminded him. "And if she did feel like rejecting you she wouldn't have talked to you today, she wouldn't have thanked you" I told him but he shook his head.

"She hasn't even opened it, why would she thank me for a present she doesn't want to?" he asked but I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, I was there so I know what I'm saying when I say this: she never said she didn't want it, she merely she didn't open it, there's a different" I said.

"Which is?" he asked turning around to face me, but shook his head as if to forget the question. "You said she likes me?" he asked.

"Yeah, but—"

"So how come she never did anything about, why didn't she act on it?" he asked but again I could only roll my eyes.

"Listen Draco, I don't know what goes on in your mind, but you don't act like you like her, you sorta just pass by. I mean, the whole birthday thing, part of the reason why she didn't open the present was because she didn't expect it. No one—okay, everyone, expected you to give her something but we also thought you'd maybe show her a little, acknowledgment" I suggested.

"It's not like I just ignore her all the time" he said but I only stared at him.

"Um, that's exactly what you do" I told him.

"But you just said everyone knows, how would everyone know if I ignore her?" he asked as I rubbed my temples and let out an annoyed sigh.

"Because we see how you look at her, there's obviously something in your heart that feels something for her" I said. At these words he seemed to look a little queasy as the color drained from his face. "I didn't say anything serious" I exclaimed but his expression remained.

"It's that obvious?" he asked, now looking horrified as I nodded.

"Yeah" I said as he closed his eyes and shook his head.

"I know you don't care about appearances or trying to please you're parents all the time" he started as I glared at him. "But, this is the one thing I can't do. I can't look like I like her, because word will get back to my parents and they'll…" he shook his head. "I wrote home, about you and her, at first they seemed really impressed, you know, you being alive and her being a Felton, but then something changed, they didn't want me to around her, they didn't even want her here" he explained. I gave him a questionable look; he hadn't told me that part. "I didn't want to tell you, I was going to have her come anyway, you know, as your friend, which obviously she is but I thought, maybe I could get to know her. And then she started dating Weasley and my opinion changed. You kissing Oliver just made it so I wouldn't have to tell her she wasn't welcomed" he concluded.

"He kissed me, on the cheek" I said defensively.

"I think the details will matter very little if Fred found out Tammie" he commented as he got up. "Come on, you need to pick a room he said as we started back down the hall but I instantly stopped noticing there was a closed room across from Draco's.

"This one" I said quickly. Even if I was mad at Draco, I'd pick being next to him rather than his parents or any random room in between. "I want this room" I said pushing the door open as Draco followed me inside. For the most part it was fairly bare, but it had a nice view, the light snow falling against the drowning sun looked beautiful. "This is my room" I told him as he joined me at the window.

"You sure?" he asked as he looked around. I nodded and looked around too, there was a bed, but clearly I had a lot of shopping to do. Which meant I'd have to write Melinda, pray she wasn't mad at me and convince her to go shopping to help decorate my bedroom in the Malfoys house. I smiled at the thought, it shouldn't be so hard. "You'll need to fix it up" he said looking at the white walls. "I'm sure mum won't mind if you take down some of these pictures" he added.

"Yeah, I plan to put my own up" I told him as I heard a door close in the distance. "So, Draco, you said your parents were happy about you knowing a Felton, what changed their mind?" I asked.

"When they found out her parents were squibs" he said with a shrug as I shot him a look. "I didn't tell them, they read it somewhere. And anyway there was other stuff, something about her grandfather, mum said grandpa knew them" he said with a shrug as we heard excited voices downstairs.

"Anything else?" I asked but Draco shook his head.

"She just said there was a falling out or something, I don't know, I haven't see my grandparents in ages, but they're not ones to talk about the bad sides of a Malfoy. But it doesn't really matter does it?" he asked.

"Actually it does, Burnner has this grudge against me, and Melinda, I can't figure out why, but I'm starting to think it has something to do with our grandparents, just a hunch and I need to figure out what happened" I told him. He started to say something else but the door slammed open.

"Oh Draco, you're home! Look at you, all grown up" said a tall skinny woman dressed in a dramatic but yet revealing robe. Draco gave her more of a grimace than smile as she pulled him for a hug. I couldn't help but notice how her hair matched her voice, big and exaggerated. She smiled as she pulled away, still looking at him, but then her eyes caught me, and her smile grew even bigger as her eyes nearly budged out of her head. "Ah, yes, the lost Malfoy!" she said excitedly.