Disclaimer: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…
Placing: Mid of fourthyear.
Just an idea I had thanks to a guest and FawkesyLady's review. (No, it's not Snape, yet… XDD)
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sSsSsSsSs
THE SLYTHERIN WAY
PART VII: How To Woo A Girl, Malfoy Style
sSs
Draco Malfoy was sitting at the breakfast table, when the owl came.
He had been enjoying his breakfast while simultaneously trying to forget that half of the rumours around him might contain him and his relationship with a certain Gryffindor girl. He had just purred himself another glass of pumpkin juice, when the owl swooped down upon him.
Malfoy frowned when he saw that it was the regal eagle owl his father used.
"Why does Father write to me?" He asked concerned, just to stop dead when he saw the red envelope that the owl bore. It wasn't the only one, but out of the three it bore, it was the most pressing one.
He paled drastically.
"Draco?" Pansy asked him surprised. "Is that a howler?"
"It is," he replied shakily.
It wasn't often, that parents send howlers, but it happened. Normally, others ignored the howler or laughed at them – but with Malfoy's track-record in the last days, he wasn't sure if it would be the case with him this time around as well.
He decided to do the best thing possible.
To get over it as fast as he could.
He grimaced, removed the howler and ripped it open.
"Draco Lucius Malfoy," his father's voice said measuredly. Malfoy was quite happy that his father wasn't loud. The chances that only Nott on the opposite of the table and Pansy and Greengrass next to him would hear were high like that.
Still, Malfoy couldn't even figure out what he had done to enrage his father enough to send a howler…
"What do I have to hear with you asking out a mudblood to the Yule Ball?" His father's voice asked icily.
Oh, that's what he had done…
"Of course I know that you are currently in the middle of puberty, Draco, but as a Malfoy, I expected more of you! I don't fault you for having improper thoughts about a mudblood, but acting on it – and with such a disgrace! – is unbecoming of the Malfoy heir! I taught you better than this! Your mother taught you better than this! Even your godfather taught you better than this!"
Malfoy gulped.
How had his father found out about that damn rumour?
He looked around the table, wondering which Slytherin had written home about that damn rumour, then he stopped and groaned mentally.
Most likely all of them had.
It might have taken some time, but eventually the rumour seemed to have reached his father's ears.
"Merlin," he breathed. "Kill me now!"
"I told you I won't," Pansy replied, not the least bit sorry for her friend. "And I don't think that Merlin will help you in that endeavour as well. You should have asked Morgana if you truly meant it."
Malfoy just groaned while wallowing in his misery.
Meanwhile his father's message continued.
"You, my dear son, will learn how to behave properly!" His father's cool voice said in that moment. "I will now pretend that I actually don't care that your first try to ask out a girl was a mudblood – and continue on to your poor behaviour as a whole! Truly, my son! Asking out a girl like that is a disgrace to our name! I thought I taught you better than that! I know I taught you the rules of a Malfoy when it comes to wooing a girl! It seems I was wrong!"
There was a sigh at that part, and Malfoy paled.
His father never sighed – except he was building up to a lecture.
Malfoy didn't want a lecture, especially not in front of his peers at the breakfast table…
He looked around cautiously and was happy that at least his father was silent enough that except of his neighbours – Nott, Pansy and Greengrass seemed quite interested in the howler – nobody seemed to have actually noticed.
"Since I am not at Hogwarts and refuse to come to Hogwarts just because of a trivial matter like that, I decided to write you a howler. I am quite aware that I send you a letter with the information about those rules just a few weeks ago, but since you seemed to have ignored my advice, I felt it necessary to make sure that you won't ignore it this time around – and if that means to write a howler, so be it!" His father's voice droned on.
Malfoy cringed.
He remembered the letter.
He had hidden it away in the bottom of his trunk after finding out what it was about.
"I will leave of the later phases, since I am sure I will have time to lecture you about them in person when I bring you home after the Yule Ball, but I will at least spell out the rules about wooing," his father's voice continued and Malfoy relaxed a bit. At least his father wouldn't talk about the birds and the bees again…
But then, the rest of the letter Malfoy had gotten a few weeks ago hadn't been that much better…
Malfoy cringed.
"As a Malfoy," his father started to lecture in that moment. "It's your duty to make sure in advance that the girl you plan to ask out is from a standing benefitting for a Malfoy."
Malfoy could just imagine his father walking up and down his office while lecturing him.
He cringed again.
"She should not only have a good grasp about her own standing but also know how to behave in a public setting," his father's voice continued mercilessly.
"Any way of stopping the howler somehow?" Malfoy as desperately, looking at the other three who listened it.
Nott shrugged.
"I know how to make it louder," he offered.
Malfoy gulped.
"No," he said immediately. "Thank you, Nott."
The boy shrugged and then returned to listening to Malfoy's father's description of the perfect girl for a Malfoy.
"Your father definitely has some high expectations," Pansy said dryly in that moment.
Malfoy shuddered and nodded.
"Regretfully he does," he offered unhappily.
"After you have made sure all of that, you go on and make sure that she's actually not in a binding contract or in any other kind of relationship," his father lectured in that moment. "And just then, Draco, when you have all facts together, you make your move – do you understand? That's the total opposite to what you did, as I heard!"
Malfoy whimpered inwardly and wondered how long the lecture would be that he would receive after the Yule Ball…
"If you are finally ready to make your move, you will make sure that you either wear clothing you bought especially for that day – or the best clothing you have in your possession as long as you're in school! You will spend your morning on your appearance and then, when you're satisfied that you look your best, then you will finally be allowed to ask out the girl you are aiming for! You will ask her away from her friends, into a location you chose beforehand and prepared for this exact moment if you have to – and then you will woo her with compliments before finally asking the question you wanted to ask her from the start! Do you understand me, son?"
Malfoy nodded even if he knew that his father couldn't actually see him right now.
"Also, son," his father added. "Work on your compliments. Wooing the girl with the purity of her blood might be a good idea, but girls normally take it poorly if you don't at least add a compliment for her appearance and clothing in there as well."
Greengrass snickered at that and Malfoy shot her a dark look.
"The rest I will explain to you over Christmas," his father added. "I also added a list of possible compliments you could use for a girl and some charms that will help you with your own appearance just for that sake. I expect you to learn it all. The last letter is from your mother. Oddly enough, she insisted to send one as well. Sincerely, your Father."
The howler fizzled out and Malfoy wondered if his father would mind if his heir started to hide beneath the table.
Greengrass snickered again and reached for the envelope that obviously contained the list.
"Hey!" Malfoy protested. "What do you think you're doing?"
Pansy snickered as well and took the letter from Greengrass to hold it out for Malfoy.
He grumbled but ripped it open.
Suddenly he had a girl right and left looking over his shoulder.
"Oh," Greengrass said amused. "That's a classy one! 'Your eyes are bright like the stars at the night sky'!"
"I actually like the one about Slytherin," Pansy giggled. "Your eyes are as green as Slytherin's proud crest!"
Nott snorted.
"Any other good ones?" He asked.
"Oh, plenty," Pansy ensured. "There's that one about pink dresses…"
Malfoy flushed, closed and hid the letter.
"I think I read this one elsewhere," he decided desperately. "Let's see what mother writes."
He reached for his last letter and opened it.
He read the first sentence and gulped.
This wasn't much better at all.
"Dear Draco," it said.
"I am so proud of you, my son! I know, it is hard to find your own way, and I know that your father wants you to continue his own path – but know, that I, as your mother, will always be proud of you, no matter what! I am happy that you decided to follow your heart just this once in your life, but baby, please consider your upbringing the next time around, will you? I don't mind that you asked out that girl – you seemed to be oddly obsessed with her for years after all! – but the next time, pull her aside and at least try to use some of the Malfoy way of doing things like that, will you?
Anyway, don't listen to your father if he tells you asking her out was wrong. I am sure she is a lovely girl and someone who could keep you in line without any trouble.
The next time, just use a little bit more subtleness, cunning and Malfoy heritage – and I'm sure she will give in and say 'yes', if that's what you want to.
Just know that whatever you decide I am proud of you, my son.
All my love
Your Mother."
"I'm never going to live that down!" Malfoy moaned, crumbled up his mother's letter and decided to hide in the common room for the rest of the day.
He had absolute cero interest in even more advice from who knows who in this cursed school!
If even his parents believed that rumour – then Draco definitely didn't want to find out who else!
"Maybe," he thought darkly. "The Astronomy tower might be a good idea after all…"
Regretfully, Malfoy knew that he would never jump from the tower. He couldn't tarnish the Malfoy name like that after all!
"Yule Ball is soon," he thought desperately. "It should be over then!"
Just one and a half weeks, then he would be free! And what else could go wrong? He had gotten a letter from his father about that damn rumour already, after all!
"Hello, Draco Malfoy," a voice next to him said suddenly before his right hand was attached to another arm. "Ready for your lesson today?"
It seems that Loony Lovegood had found him before he had reached the safety of his common room, after all.
"I'm cursed," Malfoy moaned inwardly. "Cursed!"
And with that he was dragged off to more lessons on 'How To Woo A Girl, Ravenclaw's Style'…
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Just a little idea
Hope you liked it
Ebenbild
PS: I am working on my other stories (including Basilisk-born!) I promise! I'll try to update them asap... T.T