**AN**
So sorry for going MIA. Here is chapter 9 enjoy!
***Draco's POV***
While Violet was sleeping, I made quick work of bringing the Christmas boxes out of the attic and into the living room. When I was finished, I began to look through my potions textbook for the potion that would help with Violet's concussion. I figured out that I had all of the ingredients in the potion kit I kept in my trunk so I set that to begin to brew. When I heard the mail truck come by, I listened quietly for a moment to see if Violet was stirring before I went outside and grabbed it. On the porch was my suit for the dance in a box and the ring I ordered was sitting idle in the mailbox. I opened the box quickly, taking the ring box out and getting rid of the mailing box. I admired the ring for a while until I heard Violet coming down the stairs, I shoved the ring in my pocket before she reached the bottom. She came straight into the living room and curled up next to me.
***Bella/Violet's POV***
I woke up by myself, an odd occurrence since we've been at Charlie's. I let myself lay in the quiet for a few minutes before I got up and began to hunt for Draco. I found him sitting on the couch surrounded by boxes of Christmas decorations, I went and curled up next to him.
"How are you feeling my love?" He asked quietly
"I'm okay, my head doesn't hurt too bad. How long was I out?" I asked
"Almost 2 hours, I pulled all the Christmas decorations, got the mail and started brewing a potion for your head." He answered
"The one Madame Pomfrey gives us when we get hit in the head during quidditch? So we don't get concussions?" I asked excitedly, I want this pain gone more than anything.
"The same one, it should be done in the morning. My suit for this weekend came as well." He said smiling at me. I smiled back looking up at him.
"You need to try it on. Make sure it fits right. Go do it Dray." I said even more excitedly, I loved seeing Draco in a suit. He laughed a bit, detangling himself from me. I watched him walk up stairs with a suit bag. I wrapped the blanket from the couch around myself waiting quietly, my head wasn't hurting at this point. I think I had finally slept enough for no more pain. Draco came back quickly dressed in the suit that fit him near perfectly.
"Why the green?" He smirked
"You're a slytherin of course" I said, giving him a grin. "Go get comfy then let's get the tree up." I said getting off the couch and beginning to pull the pieces out of the box. Draco returned and it didn't take us long to put up the tree and the lights. Draco and I took our time decorating the tree with the ornaments Charlie had and just generally had a very nice evening. My head stayed relatively calm for the rest of the night and even though I spent most of the day in bed or sleeping.
Draco gave me the potion as soon as it finished the next morning and it took away every lingering effect of my concussion. We spent a nice relaxing day together because I was still supposed to be out of school, though we did take a drive to visit Jake now that I was no longer concussed. The rest of the week at school flew by quickly without Edward there, and Alice unwilling to pull anything without him. I had a concussion follow up with Carlisle on Friday who told me as long as I felt up to it, I could go to the dance on Saturday.
December 12th
I woke up early on Saturday cuddling close into Draco who was already awake. He chuckled.
"Good morning my love, how'd you sleep?" He asked playing with my hair.
"Shhhhh too early, no talk" I mumbled nuzzling closer to him.
"Baby I think if you get any closer you'll be inside my skin." Draco laughed "What's the plan for today its almost 9"
I groaned and started to really wake up, I had thought it was earlier than this.
"Why don't we go do the shopping because we're out of most things, then we can have lunch. I think Jessica and Angela were going to come get ready with us then the parents were all going to come here at 5:30 to take pictures. I think you were invited to Mike's to get ready with the guys if you're interested." I said finally sitting up.
"Hmmm, is it an option to stay here? I can get ready in the bathroom after you and the girls are done in there." He responded smiling
"Of course it is Dray. I'm not going to force you to go to Mike's. I am going to force you to take a million photos with me in here without the girls. I wanna look like me for a few." I said the end quietly. Draco pulled me close and kissed me.
"You're beautiful no matter what Vi, I love you" Draco said, kissing me a few more times.
"I love you too Dray, I just miss my hair and looking like me, looking like Mom." I responded not wanting to talk about it anymore. "I'm going to go take a shower so I don't have to later."
Draco let me up without question. I moved and grabbed a pair of leggings and a hoodie before heading to the bathroom. I let the shower clear my head and I was back and ready to go about a half hour later. Draco was sitting in the kitchen waiting for me.
"Ready lovely?" He said, pulling me into a kiss. I nodded grabbing my bag and my car keys. "Do you want to go out to breakfast?" He asked as we left the house and headed towards town.
"If you want to baby, we can go to the diner." I responded
"That sounds good, we haven't gone out to eat in a while." Draco responded. I smiled and headed to the diner. It wasn't too busy for a late Saturday morning so we got seated pretty quick luckily in the back corner of the diner. We ordered and got served and I was thankful to not have to interact with anyone but Draco for a bit.
"When do you think we'll go home?" He asked quietly
"Soon I hope, but if I'm being realistic, June, July? Right before I turn 17." I responded quietly. "I want to tell Harry when we get home. I want us to be us all the time, not have to hide it anymore."
"Love," Draco started
"I'm not expecting you to be friends with him or get along or anything. You don't have to like my friends, I'm not asking you to change. I just don't want to keep any more secrets from them. I love you Draco, I want to be with you no more secrets."
"Love, I'm totally fine with that. I don't want you to have to keep anything from them so if you want to tell Harry, we can tell him Princess." Draco said and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.
"I want to marry you one day Dray, you're it for me. You put up with things that even Harry doesn't put up with anymore and there is a part of me that thinks one day you're going to get fed up and want nothing to do with me. I want us to stop hiding our relationship from the world. I don't care what Harry thinks, you make me happy and that's all that matters. Fred may not like you, but he knows how happy you make me. That's why he didn't go running to Harry to snitch on us that day he found us in 6th year." I said quickly. Draco grabbed my hand and began rubbing his thumb across the back of it.
"Baby I want to marry you as soon as you're ready to marry me. I'm not going anywhere I can promise you that. I will work on getting along with your brother and getting him to see that we are good for eachother. I hate that you're brother is letting Weasel get into his head and letting that goddamn saviour complex get to his head. I didn't have the best family, you know that, that's why family is the most important thing. Out of anyone I'd think he knew that. You're it for me to,I want to have a family one day with you. I love you." Draco said
I smiled at him and finished eating quietly. We finished quickly and paid the bill. Once we got to the car Draco pulled me into a passionate kiss. I smiled at him once we were done. We headed toward the supermarket, christmas carols playing on the radio. I loved grocery shopping with Draco because he constantly finds new things that he finds incredibly interesting every time we go to the grocery store. Before being at Charlie's all Draco ever knew was food appeared in the house because of the house elves. He was like a kid in HoneyDukes. We did our shopping fairly fast, leaving with Draco's latest interesting finds, sour cream and onion chips, some sort of cupcakes in a box and some mountain dew. I think he picked most of that because the packaging was green. We got home around 1, Jess called me on the drive home and told me she and Angela would be here at 2 to get ready.
"Babe why don't you go take a shower before the girls get here?" I asked him.
"Don't you need help putting the groceries away lovely?" He responded
"I can do it babe, I'd rather you take a shower now before they get here. Less questions about why your clothes are in my room. I'm going to get everything out of the closet that I need before they get here." I explained starting to empty the grocery bags. He relented and headed up stairs. I headed upstairs as soon as I was finished, it was almost half past 1 and I was mildly dreading this dance. I had only gone to the yule ball with Freddie and only because I couldn't go with Dray. I grabbed my gown out of the closet and hung it on the mirror. It was absolutely beautiful deep emerald green with black lace overlays where the bodice meets the skirt. It has beautiful black beading down the front of the bodice. It was off the shoulder with a sweetheart neckline and a corset back. Angela had found me hair pins that had emerald and black gems on them to match my gown. I bought black sparkly heels to complete the outfit, something Draco had once again put on the shelf he designated for shoes, the one I can't reach. I tried anyway though, just as Draco came into the room with nothing but a towel. He came up behind me and put one hand on my hip reaching up with the other to grab the shoe box. He held it above my head as I turned around reaching it.
"Give me it please babe." I asked nicely.
"Gotta pay the price first." He smirked and I glared at him, we didn't have time for his crap.
"Dray we don't have time for games" I whined
"Gotta pay the price." He repeated still smirking
"What price?" I said getting irritated
"Kiss tax" He smirked, tightening the hand on my waist and leaning down to kiss me.I gave him a kiss and pulled away quickly.
"Shoes please" I said again, this time he handed me them. I put them on the floor by the mirror with my gown. Draco followed me still in just his towel. He pulled me into another kiss, wrapping both his arms tightly around my waist. I kissed him back this time allowing him to deepen the kiss. I pulled back and looked at him.
"Don't start something you cannot finish Mr. Malfoy" I smirked
"Who said I can't finish it Miss. Potter?" He taunted back
"Me. We have about 15 minutes til the girls get here and you need to get dressed and I'm not letting them see me with sex hair." I laughed. Draco pouted jokingly before letting go of my waist. He made his way over to the dresser and started getting dressed. I quickly put Draco's suit in Charlie's room. Charlie had left early this morning, heading back to Port Angeles, to help with the investigation they pulled him on this week. I walked back into our room and watched him for a moment.
"Where are you holstering your wand love?" Draco asked
"I think I'm going to holster it on my ankle, it's the only place I can realistically reach it." I was mildly frustrated, hip and arm are ideal for wand holstering, neither would be accessible and covered with this gown. "What are you gonna do while we get ready?"
"I was going to sit in the living room and work on my care of magical creatures and defense against the dark arts essays, maybe work on my history of magic essay." He responded. I groaned I hated this self teaching Dumbledore has us doing. We write papers, put them on the kitchen table on the 16th of the month and they disappear while we're at school. "I am going to have science books on the couch incase one of the girls comes down" He finished
"Sounds thrilling." I laughed. " I despise these self paced essays."
"I know love, you complain about it every month." Draco laughed and kissed me. I smiled at him.
"Wanna know what we should do tomorrow?" I asked
"What?" He responded
"I want a tattoo." I said quietly. I had been thinking about this for a while and done some research on shops. I didn't know what Draco would think
"Oh? What do you want to get?" He asked sitting on the bed and pulling me into his lap. We only had about 10 minutes til the girls got here and I don't know why I brought it up.
"I want the constellation Canis Major, on my hip with a crescent moon above it and hoof prints below it and I solemnly swear I'm up to no good going down the side. And I want a Lily on my shoulder with mischief managed in the stem." I said quietly. Draco smiled at me.
"If it's what you want baby, it's your body not my choice what you put on it." He responded. I smiled
"You won't be mad?" I asked surprised "I thought you'd hate the idea of tattoos."
"I'm not opposed, I don't know if I would get one but if you want one I say go for it my love." Draco answered as the doorbell rang. "Now time for a load of bullshit"
"They're not that bad." I laughed "They remind me of Lavender and Pavarti"
"Exactly, the biggest school gossip" Draco said making his way downstairs with me, after grabbing his school bag. I let the girls in and Draco came out of the living room to say hello.
"Hey Draco." Angela said kindly
"Oh, Hey Draco. I thought you'd go to Mike's. Did Bella not have time to drop you off? I can have Mike come get you. It's going to be 3 hours of hair and make up so you'll be super bored. Mike, Tyler and Ben are getting ready at Mike's they're going to spend the next 3 hours playing video games and like 20 minutes getting ready before heading back here." Jess said. I rolled my eyes, I did not understand her obsession with not having Draco around.
"No thank you Jess, Bella did offer to take me to Mike's, but I have some homework to do, college essays and all that. I'm going to hang out in the living room and work on that. I promise I won't bother you girls unless there is something I desperately need Bella's help on." He said smiling. He gave me a quick kiss before saying. "You guys go up stairs and have some fun okay?"
"Love you babe" I said, giving him a kiss and heading up the stairs.
"I Love you too Darling" He responded heading into the living room. The girls had followed me. " So you guys can hang your dresses on the mirror with mine. Who's the best at doing hair and who's best at doing makeup?" I asked
"It depends on what we're doing, I'm pretty handy with a straightener and curling iron." Angela said.
"I'm best with make-up I think." Jess responded.
"I can do some braiding and updos." I told them I had done Hermione's hair for the yule ball and some of the other Gryffindor girls. "I just want to do a nice bun in my hair with some curls around my face.I was thinking a smokey eye and some red lipstick for makeup"
"I can do that for make up, Bella, it's similar to what I was going to do. I'm guessing Angela is going to have me do a more natural look for her." Jess responded. Angela nodded at her make up suggestion.
"What are you guys thinking for hair?" I asked
"I was just going to curl it." Jess said looking at Angela.
"I can do that Jess, I was thinking some sort of curl updo thing." Angela answered.
"I can do a half french twist with curls Ang." I told her.
"That would be great Bella." Angela said.
"Want to go first? Because Jess and I can work on you at the same time?" I asked, she nodded
We got to work, spending the next 45 minutes doing Angela's hair and make up, once we were done she looked absolutely beautiful. We moved on to Jessica next, She was going to do her own eye makeup but I did her foundation, concealer and primer. It only took Angela about 30 minutes to curl her hair. I convinced her to let me pull a few pieces back to frame her face. Draco came up after Jess' hair was finished, with a tray of drinks.
"I didn't know what you guys would want so I took a guess, I brought soda up for Jess and Angela and a cup of tea for Bella." He said awkwardly. Awkward was never something I saw Draco be often. Quite opposite, Draco was nearly always confident. I walked over and gave him a kiss taking the tray.
"That's fine thank you babe." I responded. " Why don't you start getting ready around 4:45, we'll be all set with the bathroom by then." He nodded and went back down stairs.
Angela hung out while I pulled my hair into a bun before insisting to curl the pieces I left out and put the hair pins in. I allowed her to do it while Jess started my make up. It was 4:45 by the time we were completely finished with hair and make up. We started getting dressed within five minutes. Angela's and Jess' were easy, just zippers but mine was a bit more complicated with the corset. I heard the doorbell ring while we were messing with the dress. I groaned but heard the bathroom door open.
"I got it" Draco yelled.
"Lets take a minute before we try again. Bella why'd you have to get such a complicated dress?" Jess joked. I shrugged
"It was pretty." I laughed as there was a knock on the door.
"Bella's not dressed" Jess called.
"Draco it's fine come in" I yelled. He opened the door and poked his head in.
"Rose and Emmett are here, do you want me to send Rose up?" He asked
"Yea thats fine, she might be able to help with my dress." I answered. I had honestly forgotten I invited them.
"You invited Rosalie Hale and Emmett Cullen?" Jess asked quietly as Draco went to get Rose.
"Yea sorry I forgot to tell you." I answered
"Well I think it's nice, no one ever invites them anywhere" Angela said as there was another knock on the door.
"Come in Rosalie!" I called, she came in wearing a stunning form fitting red gown. "Thank god, maybe you can help us. My dress has a corset and Jess and Angela can't get it done up."
"I think I can do that. We had freshman prom at our last school and Alice's dress had a corset." Rosalie said coming over and looking at the ties. "This has no closure but the corset so I'm going to have to do it up tightly to keep it on, Bella. I want you to stand up straight." She instructed.
"I'm going to start doing it now." She said, pulling tightly on the cord. I wasn't prepared and almost went backwards. I stayed as still as I could while she pulled it extremely tight, but I could still breathe fine. "Angela why don't you put your finger there while I tie it."
I laughed when they were done. It took less than 5 minutes after Rose got here to get me all set in my dress. I looked at the clock, It was almost 5:30. The doorbell rang again.
"That's gotta be the guys, Jess, Ang, do you want to go let them in? I still need to get my shoes on." I asked and they both nodded, grabbing their things and heading down stairs. Rosalie stuck back with me.
"Need help with the shoes? Your dress has a huge skirt." She asked.
"I probably do, I was going to have Draco help me because I need to put my holster on. It holds my wand." I responded.
"If you're okay with it I can help you, I don't mind. Esme told us what you said and Emmett and I are ready to help you guys, no kids should have to go through a war." I nodded and grabbed my holster and wand out of the draw. I handed her the holster and told her how it tied. She did it quickly and in less than 2 minutes my heels were on and my wand holstered.
"You look beautiful." Rose said
"Thank you, now we should head down stairs, I bet Draco is itching to see me. He doesn't know what my dress looks like and green is his favorite color on me." I smiled heading to the door, grabbing my camera on the way out. Rosalie walked down before me, taking the camera. I followed, Draco was waiting at the bottom of the stairs and when he saw me his face lit up.
"Bella you look absolutely breathtaking." He said taking my hand and kissing me gently.
"We have to go outside, the parents have started arriving." Jess said abruptly. I looked out the window and sure enough, Carlisle and Esme were outside chatting with Jess and Mike's parents. Charlie was pulling into the driveway with Angela's parents behind him. Ben and Tyler said their parents couldn't make it. We all made our way outside and the parents started going crazy about how great we all looked. After allowing them to take about a million photos, they began to depart. Jess and Angela had given their prep stuff to their parents to bring home, before piling into Mike's car with the guys. We planned for them to drive with the boys rather than Draco and I. Soon it was just us with Charlie,Rose and Emmett.
"I'm heading back to the station. You kids have fun tonight okay?" He said as he departed.
"I need to go get my purse." I said quietly as we walked into the house, heading up stairs before we left. When I came down Draco looked at me and held out my old polaroid camera.
"If you want to look like you before we go, Rose said she'd take some photos." He said I looked at the camera and nodded. I let myself change back into my looks, at this point morphing was as easy as breathing for me, it was just natural.
"Thats so fucking cool!" Emmett said watching us. Rosalie quickly directed us how to stand and took about 10 pictures of us in different poses, including one of us kissing.
"You look absolutely stunning Violet, I love you in green." Draco said kissing me again before I morphed myself back into Bella. I smiled and kissed him again. Rose offered for us to take one car to the dance and Draco and I agreed, letting Rose drive us in her BMW. We had an amazing night at the dance. Alice had come but kept a safe distance from us. Edward was not allowed due to his suspension which did not bother me in the slightest. Draco complained about the horrible american teen music but danced with me nonetheless. Dancing had never been something I enjoyed but Draco loved to dance with me, spinning me around the floor and just having a great night. I wouldn't have even went to the dance if it wasn't for him.
As the night drew to a close I looked forward to leaving, getting my gown off and maybe getting lucky with Draco. Rosalie and Emmett drove us home, where the lights were all off, and Charlie's car was not there. I guessed he was either still working or had gone to the reservation after work. Not that we minded, we quite enjoyed having the house to ourselves. We thanked Rose and Emmett for the ride and went inside. I was prepared for the rest of the night being spent enjoyably with Draco. What I was not prepared for was who was sitting at the kitchen table.
****AN****
I am so sorry for going MIA for almost 3 weeks. What was supposed to be 1 week turned into three because finals absolutely kicked my ass, I started a new job and then massive writers block hit. I'm hoping to get back in to posting regularly and thank you to all those who have shown love and support for The Missing Link. Please know your comments mean the world to me. Keep them coming. I would love to see comments guessing who is sitting at the kitchen table when Violet and Draco get home from the dance.
Much love and Merry Christmas
~R