The sunlight found a way to peer through the tiniest of slits in the drapes, drawing a perfect line across my face. I blinked from the white hot sunlight aimed at my cornea and shifted further back into the depths of the darkness, closing my eyes again against the spinning sensation that was dominating my consciousness.
I smiled to myself and felt my heart flutter at the memories of the night before. As much as the concept of the forced marriage deeply upset me, on the contrary I had truly fallen in love with Draco in a way I had never imagined possible. The elated and hysterical feeling in my chest confirmed it with every beat of my heart. It was so intense one could mistake it for a panic attack.
As my focus became clear in the dark space I recognized my bed at Hogwarts. I was still in the glittery gold dress from the night before but my arms were a dark navy blue...
It was a solid minute before I sat bolt right up and stuffed my hands into the pockets of his suit jacket greedily. The scent of pine fumed out of the heat of the fabric. My fingers closed down on a precisely folded, rectangular piece of parchment. It was perfectly blank, and I felt my heart sink at the anticlimax.
I placed it on my side table and slid out of bed feeling unusually energetic.
After taking a shower I ran back upstairs to change into a white knit sweater and blue jeans. I had plans to go to the library and do some research on the Sacred 28 families. Nothing specific, I simply wanted answers on absolutely everything about them: their histories, reputations, morals, beliefs, practices and so on. It was imperative that I understood what I was getting myself into, and the past few weeks had been so busy I'd constantly fallen behind on such a significant task. Perhaps it would inspire ideas on how to proceed going up to the wedding and of course, beyond that. It was still possible that time existed for me to annul the wedding afterwards and be free at last.
I was stashing parchments and quills into a bag when Hilda returned from lunch. She wagged her finger at me dramatically, "Well, well. Look who decided to show up at five in the morning last night." She sent me a teasing look and sat down on her bed.
I smiled sweetly as I rammed more items into my bag, deciding to summarize the evening as microscopically as possible, "We started in de greenhouses, and ended at de Astronomy Tower." She slapped the bed.
"Madeleine! You're the definition of an absolute scandal! Did you achieve your goal? Is he madly in love and all that nonsense." She pried as she fixed her hair in a hand mirror.
I swung my bag over my shoulder and hung a hand off of her bed frame. We were alone in the room and I watched her flick at her bangs. She paused and looked up at me with large, dark blue eyes, suddenly noticing my silence. I sighed, "I don' think it es just 'im who is...in love." I frowned awkwardly and focused on a ripple in her bedsheets, "I think I am in love too."
She clapped a hand to her forehead, "Oh...my...god. You can't be serious? One night of debauchery with him and you're madly in love? Madeleine, think about th-"
I cut her off, "We are getting married in three weeks."
Hilda's mouth dropped open in further protest, "Woah, woah, stop just stop. You're talking like a fucking lunatic. Did he slip you a love potion?" She was standing now, her arms slightly outstretched towards me like I was a frail old woman trying to cross the street. She looked angry and suspicious.
"No! Nothing like dat. I just 'ave realized dat getting married isn't so traumatic. I can fix et afterwards. 'e's not who you think. Really," I gave her a serious look, knowing it all sounded sudden. Everything about mine and Draco's relationship was sudden anyways.
Hilda pressed her lips together tightly, "You're freaking me out. Even if you do suddenly love him, alright, why then rush to get married? Just give it time before you throw a fucking ball and chain on it." She looked around the room with an outraged expression as though the mattresses and bedframes would defend her position.
I exhaled heavily and took her hands in mine, "Please do not worry, but I 'ave to be married by den. If not, I will not survive de unbreakable vow dat is on my neck." There was a heaviness in the air around us as Hilda processed the statement.
She groaned and hung her head backwards, "Right. There would be some sick clause in the fine print like that." After starring at the ceiling for a few moments she reached forward and pulled me into a hug, "If you love him, at least it's not the end of the world, Frenchness. You have my support."
"Bon," I whispered back into her hair with a grin on my face.
After that I ran down the steps to the common room hoping to find Draco waiting there but he was gone for the day, so I eventually resigned and left for the library.
The halls were bubbling with life and positivity. It was a perfect sunny day, a Saturday at that, and I couldn't stop glancing around for the one person I wanted to see more than anyone. I found myself pitying the fact that the parchment had not turned out to be the special map that showed everyone's locations within the castle. It would likely be impossible to resist brashly using it to stalk him.
By the time I'd reached the library I had gotten a grasp on managing my desires to see Draco. It was no good simpering around in anticipation for an interaction I had no way of foreseeing. I set my bag down at a lone table, and got to work looking for relevant historical texts while chewing on a golden apple. The dust in the air could be seen floating almost at a standstill in the tendrils of light piercing in through the windows. It was cozy in the archaic room and I felt no urgency as I drifted between the familiar musty stacks.
It didn't take me more than ten minutes to find over twenty books in a single row on the topics I wanted to read up on, so I chose the five strongest and threw them at my table. To my surprise, I was no longer the only inhabitant at the table.
Ron, Hermione and Harry sat where I'd left my bag and eagerly eyed my return. I lamented, crossing my arms after dropping the books and flickered my gaze between the intruders, "What can I 'elp you wit'?" I got straight to the point.
Harry matched my blunt attitude, "We'd like to check and see if there are any updates on you know...everything we talked about last time." His face was businesslike in comparison to a time when we'd actually considered ourselves friends.
Ron looked away towards the table and fumbled with the pages of one of my books, bending them in at the corners as if to dog ear every section. Hermione slapped the book shut on his fingers in protest and he yelped, giving her a venomous eye.
I gave Harry a curt smile in return, "Unfortunately, I tried to get your precious map. I thought I 'ad it, but it just turned out to be blank parchment." I shrugged, and noticed that Hermione had started checking the books I was looking at with great concern.
Harry's eyes opened wider, "Wait, where did you put that blank parchment Madeleine?" He was leaning forward, and Ron's complaisant eyes had also wondered to my face now. His expression was similar to that of a large dog sat on a porch all day in boredom.
I pursed my lips and pointed at my bag in between them, "Dere. Et es dere. For note taking since et is blank."
Harry practically tore my bag apart like a piñata, tossing out all of the parchment and then spreading it around the table in a ruckus searching for what he wanted. Students at neighboring tables shot irked glances at the commotion. He located the perfectly folded piece that had come out of Malfoy's pocket and in that instance, I felt my heart lurch at the betrayal I had just allowed to take place.
"This is it, I'm sure of it," Harry held up the parchment and Hermione stood next to him leaning over his shoulder. Harry pointed his wand at the folded lip and muttered something under his breath. Based on the way his face changed to one of relief and glee moments later, he had found what he needed. They turned back towards me while he stashed the map in his back pocket, "Thanks, Madeleine. This means a lot. Please let us know if you can help us with anything else."
Before they could leave my sight I weakly called out, "Harry! Wait."
He spun and moved back closer to hear me whisper, "Saturday. Three weeks from today, dere will be a wedding at de Malfoy Manor." I heard my voice speaking the words and in my inner conscience wanted to kick my body for saying it. Why was I telling him this?
I swallowed hard as the words finally clicked in his brain and he looked at me shocked, "Yours?" I nodded.
"My life depends on dis wedding finalizing so et cannot be stopped," I clarified sternly, "But, I just...wanted you to know." I knew I looked vulnerable and guilty.
He squinted at something behind me to avoid eye contact, seeming to consider how to respond, "Right. Well, we'll keep it in mind. Don't worry. Thanks." He gave me an odd, sad look then turned and left with his friends, Hermione taking extra long to turn around as she shot me a look of acute worry.
I read for half of the day, acquainting myself thoroughly with the Malfoy family and various other families of interest. The more I read the less shocking the entire situation seemed. They were consistently described as wealthy, influential and powerful. That they allowed others to do their dirty work and rarely took any blame. Their morals and values were deeply rooted in ancient practices and rituals that were not so far from sadistic. They'd even mingled amongst the highest classes of muggles hundreds of years ago, before becoming increasingly reproachful regarding the concept of magical supremacy, where they had eventually disbanded from muggle society altogether. I had a headache by the time I left the library. Had my ancient bloodline ever known his ancient bloodline?
It was no surprise that Malfoy was the way he was having come from almost a millennium of cruel and aristocratic control freaks, who were obsessed with marrying extremely selectively and maintaining a filthy rich status. There had been mention of the bequeathment marks and how some Malfoy's had gone to less than civil means to mark women they desired or deemed fitting; apparently there had even been an effort to try and mark a muggle queen. Most of it been exceptionally hard to read through, and I had to fight against the urge to doubt my natural feelings for Draco after reading those unbecoming sections.
When I arrived back to the common room still clutching many of the timeworn texts I was pleasantly surprised to catch him sitting at the fire place alone in a thin sleeved white shirt and black joggers. I threw my books onto the floor at his feet and dropped down beside him on the couch, curling my legs up to the side to smile at him. He looked up at me from a stack of cards and envelopes he had been sorting.
He analyzed my face, "I thought you were still sleeping. You could've caught a cold last night." I ran my fingers softly over his neckline as he leaned forward away from my touch and shuffled the cards again, opening and closing them with an exhausted look on his face. It looked like he hadn't slept at all.
I tried to peer at the next one that he opened to read the wording but he quickly shut it when he noticed the shift in my posture and sat back with me, placing a hand on my knee sounding slightly annoyed, "Have you decided?" His eyes shifted into a serious, strained expression then.
"Decided..." I said, trailing off in confusion to look at my socks before it occurred to me. The wedding date. That's what the cards were for. "Oh mon dieu, oui. Three weeks on Saturday, I suppose..." I felt weak saying it out loud and at seeing the cards piled up, their expensive weight and beautiful white, silver and green colors shining up at my face in mockery.
He looked anxious at the response, "Madeleine, that's the last possible day. Cutting it too close. Choose something sooner."
"Non!" I crossed my arms, "Dat is de only choice you 'ave given me so far." I gave him the crossest face I could form and saw him wince from the reality of what I was suggesting. I wanted to have at least one choice in the matter of my life and marriage, and that meant soaking up every minute of my remaining freedom left.
He seemed to sense this and shook his head in disappointment with raised eyebrows, "Very well. I'll send them now that it's decided. Then my father will get off my back." He waved his hand over the stack which shivered as the words updated, then started sorting themselves into their envelopes. I gaped at the impressive use of wandless magic. He reached out a hand and grabbed one that had floated up to seal itself away, "Look at this; our initials mirror each other's. I never noticed it before."
He held it out to me pressed nonchalantly between two fingers and I grabbed the squirming invitation. I fought to open it as it tried desperately to close and reach its envelope, which Draco was pinning down to the table. At the top of the invitation the Malfoy crest shimmered and on either side was DM | MD.
"Hmmm," I mused handing it back to him, "Strange indeed." I ignored the rest of the invitation's dialogue, as I couldn't bear what it would say.
His lip twitched but he didn't say anything else, just sorted all of the completed invitations and sighed heavily. He was burnt out, I could see it very clearly. He rubbed his face with his hands and leaned his head back over the top of the couch, ignoring me at his side. I'd wanted to ask about inviting Hilda and my family, but now seemed to be an inappropriate time given how tired he was.
I leaned over and put my head innocently in his lap, hoping he wouldn't shove me off, and wrapped my arm around his bent knee. I was still very tired as well from being up so late and all I wanted was his touch. There was a remaining fear deep inside my heart that he would flip on me again as he had several times before; once acting like he cared, and then next as though I was an annoying toy he was forced to drag around with him. I had completely surrendered to my feelings now and the fallout would be quite difficult to recover from if it reoccurred.
The smell of his clothing and the warmth of his body instantly soothed me. I watched the fire licking lazily in front of us. In a few hours the Slytherins would be back out in the common room up to no good, and I didn't want anything to do with the rambunctious scene. All I wanted was to ask him questions about who he was and what he wanted to do with his life. All I wanted was to spend time with him somewhere warm and quiet.
His hand was on my hair, petting it softly and pulling it away from my face. I felt his finger tips dragging against my cheek as he slid my hair back towards him slowly and ran his hands down the length of it. "Madeleine..." I heard him say in a drained tone from where his head was bent back, "Please don't miss this wedding. You won't survive the night." He kept sliding his fingers against my hair and face, tracing my jaw line, down my neck.
I swallowed and frowned, "I was not going to. Stop worrying."