Chapter 10

The Following Morning

Draco woke up the next morning with a righteously pounding headache. After work he had asked Blaise to meet him at the Hog's Head for a drink. The last thing he remembered was Blaise trying to hit on a gorgeous black haired bird with the ass of a goddess. She'd said that she heard that Draco kept his mother under house arrest and controlled her visitors like a prison ward. He groaned and shut his eyes to the too bright morning light. Narcissa stood at the open window holding two cups of hot tea.

" Good morning, Draco," She said with a wide smile, " How was your night?"

" Replete with revelry, Mother," He said into his pillow, " What time is it?"

" Seven," She replied cheerfully, opening and closing the drawers of his bureau while he tried to bury his aching head as deep as possible in the pillow while simultaneously not moving at all.

" Mother why are you doing this," He intoned, " I don't have to wake for work for a half hour."

" Because last night my oh so charming son came home in the odd hours of the morning and decided to wake his poor beleaguered mother from her desperately needed rest in order to raid the liquor cabinet in my room and deliver a monologue on Hermione Granger of all people," She picked up a decorative metal sculpture and tested its weight on his mantlepiece.

" Mother!"

Narcissa continued unabated, " A young lady who my son had until just that moment neglected to mention to me was his soulmate."

" You know mother, I'm starting to understand where I get my talent for dramatics and hyperbole from," He said into his pillow.

" What I don't understand, that I am really, really trying to understand, Draco, is why you were unable to tell me," Narcissa wrung her hands together, " There was no reason not to, and yet you did not."

" I'm not going to marry her, Mother," He blurted out, " It's a mistake that will shortly be remedied."

" The Maritare charm doesn't make mistakes."

" Well this time it did, because there's no way in hell Hermione Granger and I are soulmates."

" Yes, I believe you said something to that effect last night," Narcissa said ruefully.

" What else did I say?" He rolled his head to the side of the room with less sunlight.

" Well you started with saying if you came to protest you'd only scare people off and lose your job and something about how that's just what a gryffindor would expect you to do," Narcissa sat on the edge of his bed, " You also said something about me being under house arrest, and some people named Beatrice and Benedick, but those parts made less and less sense."

" Oh, Gilderoy Lockhart on a Gurney my head hurts," He exclaimed.

" I'm not surprised, you drank nearly all of my muggle wine. Oh, you also kept laughing at my muggle wine and slurring 'would a racist do this,' while you drank," Narcissa said frankly.

" Mother, please, my ego is big enough already," Draco droned.

" That sounds more like you. Drink your tea," Narcissa said sweetly " Now you are going to sit down and properly explain this situation to me, starting at the very beginning. Or, I will happily instruct the house elves to shatter all of your grandmothers worst china set. It has place settings for a full service a la russe for twenty."

" Can I lie down and tell you?"

" Have it your way, Draco," Narcissa sighed loftily, " Drink your tea."

Draco took a long sip and began, closing his eyes against the morning light. He explained what he knew of Granger's experiment with the Maritare charm, how they'd run into each other at the ministry, and the basics of what he'd written and their argument in the library. When he'd finished, his mother picked up a decorative figurine from his side table and smashed it on the floor.

His head throbbed, " Mother please."

" Draco, the girl is right, you are not taking the marriage law seriously at all. If you plan to fight for your rights, fight for them. At least the protesters are taking this into their hands," She chastised him.

" May I remind everyone that it has been about two days since I learned of the marriage law," He defended himself.

" And what do you plan to do about it?" Narcissa countered.

" I logged a formal complaint with the Office of Marriage and Family, and I fully intend to follow up with the head of the Office at the meeting on the sixteenth," He replied, " I am trying to do things through the proper channels."

" But the protest could be much more powerful, Draco, you know that," She replied quickly.

" Mother, what am I supposed to do? You know how hard this job was for me to get, if I take a day off work to protest, what sort of message would that send? I have to keep my head down," He reasoned, " And lets say I do go to the protest. Do you think I'd be welcomed with open arms? Two weeks ago I was walking down the street at Diagon Alley and someone spit in my face. Said it was for Dumbledore. If I went to that protest I'd do more harm than good, just riling people up."

" But you'd be doing something more than just keep your head down-"

" Mother, I can't."

" We're not under anyone's thumb anymore, Draco. If you want to control your life you have to do it."

" I've been bringing home too many quibblers," He shook his head.

" But Draco, remember what you said to me just before your father was taken in for his trial? You said that we'd never be trapped, ever again."
" Well, I lied, Mother," His anger boiled over. He was tired, so tired, and his head hurt, and he had a sneaking suspicion that work today was going to be more incessant labels, and he couldn't keep calm.

He took a deep breath, " The whole world is a series of traps. This law, their bloody charm, my job… I'm sorry I've disappointed you, Mother, and I'm sorry if I'm being a coward. But…" He shrugged his shoulders emptily.

Narcissa bit her lip, but her eyes softened, " You're going to worry yourself to death, my brave boy."

" Oh I don't know, mother," He closed his eyes, " I'm less worried about the marriage law when I've got the hangover to end all hangovers."

She rolled her eyes, " Come down to breakfast."