"Why?" Draco asked Jade who sat on the sofa, staring at her hands. Scorpius was inspecting a wooden toy car that Algie had carved for her years ago. Cormac was in the kitchen, shining a fruit so he could have something else that he could see his reflection in. "You're marrying that tool?" Draco asked.
Jade looked up at Draco and looked back at Cormac. She looked back at Draco, flashing her eyes.
"Oh please, like he doesn't know he isn't a tool." Draco said, taking a seat.
"What's your problem? You're acting like someone's forcing you to marry him." Jade said.
"Are you being forced to marry him? Are you being spiked with a love potion?" Draco asked.
"No I'm not. Look it's really complicated-"
"Can't even imagine." Fred said, sitting next to Jade.
"-and I really don't expect you to understand any of it but he was there when I needed someone." Jade said. Draco squatted down in front of her.
"You don't need to marry someone or feel like you owe someone because they helped you grieve." Draco said softly.
"I've had a lot of time to think about this. Especially after coming back from the trip. I'm losing my mind, thinking that it's okay to snog my best friend's husband. I should have had boundaries." Jade said.
"I think this is the most that I've seen you lose your mind." Draco said.
"You won't understand. I don't expect you to." Jade started.
"Jade."
"Draco. Please don't make me do this. What do you want me to do? Leave Cormac and then what?" Jade asked.
"Well, we can go back to the beach?" Draco said, seeing her smile and shake her head.
"I'm marrying him." Jade said.
"I think you're bluffing." Draco said.
"What?" Jade asked, amused. Draco nodded, smiling.
"You're just being a tease with this whole 'I'm going to marry McLaggen' thing." Draco said.
"Really? I'm being a tease? To you? Because I was engaged to him a good few months before I bumped into you again." Jade said.
"Correction; you were considering his proposal. It was after those magical few days with me in an exotic land where you are trying to do your best to stop thinking about me." Draco said.
"You're crazy, Draco Malfoy. I'm sorry to break your heart but I'm marrying Cormac McLaggen." Jade said.
"Some things are easier said than done. We'll see." Draco said.
"I am marrying Cormac." Jade said. Draco nodded again.
"And I'll see how you manage to do that but I won't go down without a fight." Draco said.
He looked at Astoria and Fred who had been watching him and quickly looked away, trying to look uninterested and mad at him. Jade didn't say anything. She was only smiling softly, slowly looking over his face. Draco sighed and looked at Cormac who was determined to have the fruit give him a flattering image of himself.
"Looks like a fair game." Draco said. He looked at Jade and quickly leaned in, kissing her. Jade's eyes widened and she looked at Cormac who never noticed.
"Malfoy!" Jade whispered furiously.
"Goodbye." Draco said, getting up and picking Scorpius up.
When Draco left, Jade sat there with her fingers to her lips. Fred and Astoria huddled closely together, watching her stare off.
"She's thinking about him. I just wish we knew what." Astoria said.
"I'm glad he at least apologized and tried. I was beginning to think he was as bad as everyone said he was." Fred said.
"He's an arse. A mean, self-centered arse." Astoria said.
The next day, Jade was busy with rotations in the emergency ward. She had learned to fix and heal all types of injuries and wounds. Every few seconds, she would get owls from Cormac to apparate back so he could see her or if he could come to see her. She felt that the next poor owl that was going to come by, she would stab it. She tried to ignore the idea that this was going to become the rest of her life if she decided to marry Cormac.
"Longbottom, there's a man who's insisting that someone look at a lump in his prostate." Jade's supervisor said.
"Me?" Jade asked, seeing her nod.
"He insists it be a female because he doesn't want another man touching him. If he's a pervert, let me know so I can call an Auror." She said.
Jade gave a rough sigh. Being a Healer was going to be a battle for her. She spent months all over the world healing villagers, locals, city residents with so many interesting ailments and she was back home, going to look and most likely stick a finger up his bum to perform an exam. Jade opened the door to see Draco sitting on the exam table.
"What are you doing here?" Jade asked.
"Should I take my pants off for this or should you?" he asked.
"You're here for me to look at your prostate?" Jade asked.
"No, I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch with me." Draco said.
"Draco, I'm really busy." Jade said.
"I know. I really know that but you have one hour to have lunch." He said.
"I don't date my patients." Jade said.
"You haven't examined me yet and you're marrying McLaggen. I don't think you're mentally fit to be a Healer. Please just one hour." Draco said. Jade sighed.
"Fine. One hour but I have one rule." Jade said.
"Uh oh."
"No kissing." Jade said, seeing him smirk.
"What are we doing in Hogwarts?" Jade asked, switching to hiking boots that Draco gave her to switch from the shoes that she had been wearing in the hospital.
"You'll see." Draco said.
"You keep saying that an awful lot." Jade said.
"Follow me." Draco said, walking into the Forbidden Forest.
"Where are they going?" Astoria asked, running to the spot where Draco and Jade left.
"He took her into the Forbidden Forest. Should we follow?" Fred asked.
"I want to but I don't want to be around him." Astoria said.
"We can just spy on them?" Fred suggested.
"Ough." Astoria said, crossing her arms.
Jade followed Draco's lead through the forest. She couldn't help but smile and feel flattered that he was trying to reenact a trail through the jungle.
"I hope you alerted the Headmaster and the centaurs about us visiting because it would be a shame to spend my last moments on earth by watching a centaur beat me to death with his hoof." Jade said. Draco gave her a troubled look.
"You're a little paranoid." He said. They walked towards a small clearing and a stream running beside it. It was set with a large white blanket with an arrangement of food and a pot of tea.
"How did you do this?" Jade asked.
"I put a charm around the blanket-"
"No, I meant how did you do this?" Jade asked, looking around. Draco kicked his shoes off and sat down, resting against a tree.
"I asked the house elves if they could give me a few things for a picnic and they went beserk. Fantastic, isn't it?" Draco asked.
"I think you're fantastic." Jade said, taking her shoes off to sit with him.
"Are you flirting with me?" he asked.
"I'm just complimenting you. This is one of those most considerate things anyone has ever done for me." Jade said, in a small voice. She touched a small meat pie and nibbled on it. "You brought me to a forest to remind me of the jungle. It's pretty close. I love that there's barely any humidity or people living in trees trying to kill me." Jade said, seeing Draco laugh.
Jade moved closer to him and he put an arm around her, hugging her closer. Jade turned and pressed her back against him, laying her head against his chest.
"What made you go back to McLaggen?" Draco asked.
"He just started to pop up a few months after Fred and Astoria died. I actually bumped into him working at my father's garden shop which Neville is running now and he begged me for forgiveness." Jade said.
"Couldn't shake him off?" Draco asked and Jade shook her head.
"He became so annoying that I was tired of fighting him. I forgave him but he took it as an invitation. I don't know what happened but we're engaged now." Jade said.
"Are you sure he didn't slip you a love potion?" Draco asked.
"I don't think so. You don't see me hanging off his face exactly or I wouldn't be on a picnic and in the arms of another man." Jade said.
"Why are you on a picnic, in the arms of another man?" Draco asked.
"He's just as annoying as Cormac is so I don't have any energy to fight him." Jade grinned, feeling him muss her hair.
"They look like they're falling into each other real well." Astoria said.
Fred nodded and looked at Astoria who looked bitter.
"What?" Fred asked.
"What?" Astoria asked.
"Why are you being so weird for?" Fred asked.
"I'm not being weird... is it bad that I'm having second thoughts about the two of them?" Astoria asked.
Fred's expression changed radically.
"Are you joking? Are you joking?" Fred asked, waving his arms around and swinging his head back and forth.
"Calm down. It's just making me feel like I want to take it all back. How do we even know they'll be a good match for each other?" Astoria asked.
"I er…I mean anything is better than McLaggen!" Fred said.
"What if Draco really doesn't like her? I mean he does but for how long? We both know that he's just doing this because it's his way of apologizing." Astoria said. Fred scratched his head, unsure.
"I don't know. I really do think he likes her." Fred said.
"We don't know that. Wouldn't you feel bad if you tried to make something work but it fell apart? Shouldn't things like this be left alone?" Astoria asked.
"You have the worst ideas I've ever heard of. I used to make terrible ideas for a living but yours are just the worst. Shut up, Ass. We put this together, let them figure it out." Fred said.
"So you're on their team now? Since when did you become so warm to the fact that Draco Malfoy can shag your fiancée and you can't?" Astoria asked.
"Because an idiot not too long ago tried to convince me that it was a good idea. I'm telling you Ass, let them be." Fred said.
Astoria paused for a second before breaking into a sprint.
"GET OFF OF HER! YOU CAN'T LIKE HER ANYMORE! I FORBID IT!" Astoria hollered, making Draco jump.
"MUMMY!" Draco yelped.
"Draco?" Jade asked, breaking out of his arms and turning around to see him staring at someone behind her. Jade immediately turned around to see no one there.
"Draco, what is it?" Jade asked.
"I don't want you to like her. It's okay. You're forgiven. Stop leading her on." Astoria said. Draco looked at Jade who gently touched his face.
"Sorry, I thought I saw something." Draco said.
"You scared the living shit out of me. What did you see?" Jade asked, looking behind her. She couldn't help but snort, hearing him call for his mother and started giggling.
"Just break it off with her. I think it's a bad idea that you and her…you know." She said, seeing him turn red in anger.
Jade could see that he was upset and she stopped laughing. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"
Draco kissed her immediately, catching her by surprise. Astoria placed her hands over her hips and tapped, waiting for them to stop kissing. Jade indulged in the kiss, wrapping her arms around him, feeling him move her on to her back.
"Are you two done yet?" Astoria asked, crouching down and yelling. Fred walked over and grabbed the nook of Astoria's elbow, trying to drag her away from them.
"This is too private for you to witness. Out!" Fred said. Astoria pushed him away and moved closer to them.
"STOP SNOGGING, YOU TROLL!" Astoria screamed in Draco's ear.
"Fuck!" Draco swore, tearing his lips away from Jade. "What is wrong with you? Why are you doing this?" Draco yelled at Astoria.
"I would explain if you stopped snogging another woman for one second!" Astoria said.
"She is not another woman! She's your best friend. Why are you making an issue out of this? What is your problem?" Draco asked.
"I just feel like it's a big mistake." Astoria said weakly.
"You just feel like what you want to do, don't you Ass? You just feel and you make others feel the same way. I apologized to you and you chose out of all moments to interrupt like this. Weasley, what do you make of this?" Draco asked, looking at Fred who shrugged.
"I said the same thing to her." Fred said.
"Why are you two ganging up on me? Like I did something wrong? I made a mistake and now I'm trying to fix it before it creates more damage." Astoria said.
"What damage?" Draco asked.
"Uh mate. You may want to explain to the love of my life why you're just talking to thin air." Fred said, motioning his head towards Jade who was watching Draco talk to himself, wide eyed, sitting up.
"Oh shit. She's going to think I'm mental, talking to myself and when I tell her the truth, she's going to leave to another country and make me lie about telling her the truth." Draco said, running a hand through his hair.
"What?" Jade asked.
"Ass, you're on your own. Things don't just stop because you have a bad feeling about it. You used to have faith about everything and now…what happened to you?" Draco asked.
Astoria sobbed, pacing back and forth.
"Jade, I'm going to tell you the truth because I can't take it anymore. If you don't want to believe me, you are more than welcome to leave." Draco said.
"Why are you acting like you're speaking to Ass? And Weasley?" Jade asked, softly. Draco sat down in front of her and took her hand.
"I am not lying when I tell you that I can speak to Astoria and Fred. They are standing right in front of me and Astoria has been a pain in my arse since the very beginning." Draco said. He could see her eyes flashing in fear of her own life and the alarms going off in her head. She probably thought he was a psychopath serial killer that dragged her out into the forest so he can hide her body where no one can find.
"I know what you're thinking and I tried to keep myself calm and act like I couldn't hear them but they have been driving me crazy for a year. Please, please do not think I'm crazy." Draco said.
"I shouldn't believe you but there's a feeling in my stomach…I can't believe I'm even saying this." Jade said with a half laugh. "I had a feeling back in the beach that you were telling me the truth." Jade said.
"I am. I really am. I can ask Fred to prove it so you would believe me." Draco said, seeing Jade reluctantly agree.
"Okay…what happened when Umbridge went to expose Dumbledore's Army?" Jade asked.
"Er…what happened?" Draco asked Fred who looked puzzled.
"We fought? Hid? What does she want me to say?" Fred asked.
"Okay, even I know that but I think she's looking for something specific." Draco said.
"What did he say?" Jade asked.
"He has no idea what you're talking about." Draco said.
"Okay well she came back to the common room and told me that she needed to find Ginny and she looked so cute with her face all flushed because that's exactly how she would look when we'd have sex and it was inappropriate at that time because it was a serious issue and I-"
"Stop. I am not repeating all of that." Draco said.
"Well you would have to if she wants to believe you because then it would explain why I wanted to take her into the tunnel to screw her brains out." Fred said. Draco sighed, shaking his head.
"I hope this works." He said. Fred continued and Draco caught up, telling Jade exactly word for word what Fred was telling him.
"So then she tells me that Marrietta the stupid sneak and all thanks to you, Malfoy ratted the entire Army out and I called Dobby who ran for his little life, bless his tiny elf heart to warn the Army. Then we took the tunnel to the fifth floor and I seriously was considering on getting us lost because I had complete faith in Harry and the others and they wouldn't have minded if we just ended up having sex right then and there." Fred explained. He waited for a few seconds for Draco to finish and concluded.
"Whether or not we get expelled, I'd like for you to know that I wouldn't find a better person to stand here with than you. Okay maybe Tracey Davis but that's only because I love the feeling of her stubby beard- gross! Fred, you're horrible!" Fred mimicked Jade in a high pitched voice. Jade burst into tears, hearing the last part.
"Did I say something wrong? Should I detail everything when we used to have sex? How she growls in bed? " Fred asked, in a panic.
"No, I think you got her to belie-you growl in bed?" Draco asked, seeing Jade snap her head up, immediately stop crying.
"FRED!" Jade barked.