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Chapter five
Testimony and rebellion
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"Daria! Where were you loitering for so long?" Daria's grandmother burst out of the kitchen as soon as the door clicked.
"Sorry, Grandma, I got hold back," replied Daria calmly.
"I see that! You've been gone for over six hours! You know how dangerous it is outside in these days!"
"But Grandma, I wasn't alone..."
"I know!" snapped Mrs Merrill, slowly blushing in the face. "How comes you're hanging around with the Malfoy boy? His father killed both of your parents! Aren't you ashamed?"
"Grandma, don't yell like this. Yes, I was with Draco Malfoy. And? He's not his father after all!" Daria stood up for her love.
"Please, what are you talking about here! The Malfoys have always been corrupted to the core!"
"He's not like that! I know him! And he's friends with Angela too!"
"It doesn't matter! I forbid you to meet him again!"
"What?"
"As I said! I won't let you go anywhere with him!"
Daria's cup of patience overflowed. She refused to justify something she believed was right after a long struggle with herself. Her feelings exploded in a single angry sentence that she would never normally say.
"You're not my mother, so don´t act like one!" she screamed with tears in her eyes and ran upstairs to her room, leaving her gloomy grandmother behind.
/
Draco tried to sneak up the stairs as quietly as possible, but Narcissa was on the watch. He had barely taken five steps before she appeared in the living room doorway.
"It was about time!" she snapped. "Where have you been so long? Explain yourself!"
Draco stopped and looked innocently at his mother. "Outside," he replied with complete composure.
"Don't make fun of me!" Madam Malfoy hissed icily.
"I don't, mother. I went for a walk."
"For a walk? And you've been walking for half a day?"
Draco shrugged, dangerously ignorant to his mother´s mood. "Yeah. I couldn´t stand it here anyway."
Narcissa blushed slightly and approached him: "What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing. It's just that constant crap about my engagement is depressing me."
His mother took a breath: "Listen, Draco. That has already been decided, so do not bring it up again.''
Her son sneered cheekily: "I won't marry Angela anyway."
Narcissa's eyes widened and for a moment, she looked like she was going to have a heart attack. It was the first time when Draco had seen her so enraged. She almost never lost control. His mother seemed to realize it too, and the red colour, so unnatural to her, began to fade from her face.
"Just wait for your father to come home! He'll deal with you," she snapped coldly.
"What am I supposed to do with Draco?" said a familiar voice behind Narcissa.
By now, Draco's mother had gone completely pale.
"Oh dear, you´re home already?" she turned to her husband who was quickly heading toward them.
"So? What's going on here?"
Draco was silent. Nervously, Narcissa began to alter her hair.
"I got upset because Draco was gone for a long time, dear. Nothing more. He didn't let me know where he was, you know?"
Lucius Malfoy looked coldly at his son: "Where have you been?"
Draco felt his spine straighten and tried to avoid Lucius's direct gaze. With no success.
"Will you answer me?" his father urged him in a voice as hard as a rock.
Narcissa placed a soothing hand on his shoulder, but he ignored her and just stared down at Draco.
He could think about only one possible emergency exit from this situation.
"At Angela's place," he answered firmly, glad his voice had not failed him.
"Really?"
"Yes. We were trying to come up with some reasonable arguments to dissuade you from that intention to betroth us," Draco continued to lie.
Lucius watched him for a while longer: "All right then. I'll verify that. Narcissa, watch over him for a moment."
His wife nodded and Lucius made his way back to the secret passage leading out of the house.
Draco sat down with his mother in the living room, thinking feverishly. He would still have time to warn her if... It was a slip-up, but he had no other choice. If his father did not believe it, then he would be screwed.
Narcissa was reading a magazine and Draco inconspicuously cast a Sleeping Charm on her. At times, he was really grateful for his training as a future Death Eater. As soon as her head dropped, Draco rushed to the fireplace. He threw some Floo powder into it and stuck his head into the flames.
"Thirty-three Golden Street!"
His head appeared in the fireplace of the Rosiers' living room. He did not have much time. He had to make it before Lucius gets out of the protective field of their house and then apparate here. He could only hope that Angela's mother was not home as usual.
"Angela!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.
There was a startled yelp and the crash of breaking glass from the nearby kitchen. After that, the girl's voice cursed something muffled.
"Angela!" Draco called again.
She dashed into the room with curses on her tongue: "What are you shouting here? You know what I broke because of you…?"
"Now is not the time!" he snapped at her. "My father will come. You have to tell him I was here from about ten to half past six! Please, will you do it for me?"
"But why?" Angela asked confused.
"I´ll explain it to you later, he'll be here in a moment! And if he asks, we discussed the same what yesterday, okay?"
She did not ask anymore. She understood that Draco desperately needed her to cover him. Otherwise, his head would not be sticking out of the fireplace.
"Okay," she nodded, looking out the window at the garden. "He's already here," she said, and she quickly returned to the kitchen to clean up.
Draco snapped his head back into their house for a change. He sat down in his seat and, with the same inconspicuous gesture as before, awakened his mother. She just shook her head, looked at him confused, but then started reading her magazine again…
/
Angela concentrated and with a single wave scooped up the outrageous mess from the broken glass bowl in which she was preparing the dough for the sweet pie.
She knew that her mother had already given both Malfoys permission to enter the house; otherwise, they would not have gotten in. She rushed to the kitchen counter and quickly started making a sandwich as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
The back door opened and quick footsteps sounded in the hall. Angela raised her head and stared at the door with a startled expression as the tall figure of Lucius Malfoy appeared.
"Good afternoon, Angela," he greeted extremely coldly.
"Mr Malfoy! This is an unexpected and nice visit," she welcomed him. "But if you're going to see mother, she's not here at the moment."
"No, I'm not here because of Mary, I came to see you," Lucius snapped, piercing the slim brunette with his gaze.
"Really?" Angela furrowed her eyebrows.
"Draco isn't here anymore?" he suddenly fired a question at her.
"Draco? No, he has already left… Hasn't he come home yet?" Angela firmly believed that she was pretending convincingly.
Lucius' icy grimace loosened a little. He came closer to Angela and stared into her eyes: "Oh no, he returned… Just when did he leave exactly?"
Angela was glad to have an excuse to get away from that cold look. She turned to the clock on the wall behind her. They showed almost six.
"Hmm, half an hour ago, I think," she replied calmly.
"All right. Thank you, Angela."
"You're welcome, Mr Malfoy."
"I've asked you to call me Lucius several times," Malfoy Sr. said with an intrusive smile.
"Somehow, I can't get used to it, sorry," she smiled innocently.
"I hope you'll get used to it soon, since you´re going to be a part of the family," Lucius continued to smile and placed a hand on her bare shoulder.
Angela's expression turned cold. She scolded herself for wearing a sleeveless top. The touch made her blood run cold.
"You know, not that I have anything against your family, not at all, but…"
"I've heard you don't rush into marriage," Malfoy interrupted. "But you'll both be grateful."
Well, she was not so sure about that.
"That expression does not suit you, Angela. Smile a little. Let it go through your head in peace and you will surely change your mind."
"Perhaps," Angela shrugged, still burdened with the weight of Lucius' palm, and she had to strive to keep herself from backing away.
"You are a very beautiful and smart girl. It would be a shame if you were married to some common family wizard," Malfoy continued, bringing his face even closer to hers.
"Thank you for the compliment," she replied quietly.
"You're welcome."
Lucius continued to squeeze her shoulder and Angela was praying he would get out already, even though his behaviour did not match it when a startled voice came from the kitchen door.
"Lucius! What are you doing here?"
Malfoy finally let go of her and turned to face the newcomer, while a look of disgust crossed Angela's face.
"Mary, good to see you! I just needed to ask Angela something. I'll see you tomorrow," he added and disappeared into the hall with his cloak fluttering.
Angela leaned against the kitchen counter, wondering what that strange behaviour could mean.
"What did he want?" Mary asked sharply.
"Nothing important, Mum," she replied, realizing what she had heard a moment ago.
It seemed that mother would finally visit the Malfoy Manor again…
/
He and Angela had agreed that as soon as Mary Rosier shows up at the Malfoys' house, which was quite often, Draco would let her know. So right after that happened again, he had already darted into his room, as their meeting took place in the living room, to inform Angela of her mother's presence through his own fireplace.
Before long, they were coming down the main staircase, determined but with a bad feeling. They both had worries written on their faces. They reached the closed door of the living room, behind which muffled voices could be heard. They exchanged one last encouraging look and Draco knocked determinedly.
They did not even wait for the invitation, since it would not probably have come anyway, and they went inside. They stood in front of the Malfoys and Mary Rosier, who were staring blankly at them from their seats, and Angela was trying to calm her breath to begin.
"What do you want?" her mother finally asked.
"We want to talk to you about something," she replied, carefully controlling the tremor in her voice.
"Yes? About what?" Narcissa asked coldly.
"More like we have something to announce," Draco corrected her original statement.
The three adults just watched them questioningly. Angela and Draco looked at each other and then both said firmly at the same time: "We are not getting married."
A deafening silence fell over the room after this statement. Angela tried not to look away and waited tensely with her nails clenched into her palms, as did Draco.
After a moment, Lucius Malfoy put the glass of wine on the table and stood up. "So, you won't stop with this foolish resistance."
"No," they both answered again at the same time.
"You can't force us to do this if neither of us wants to," Angela said boldly.
Malfoy Sr. immediately gave her a cold look: "But you're wrong about that. Both of you," he snapped icily.
They were silent and waited. Mary got up too.
"We wanted to spare you of that, but as you wish," she looked at Lucius and he nodded.
Narcissa remained in her seat, intently watching the level of wine in her glass.
"Just so you know," Mary Rosier began slowly. "It wasn't our idea for you to get engaged. Not mine, not Lucius's, not Narcissa's."
Draco froze and Angela tossed her head defiantly: "So, whose idea was that?"
"Our Lord," Lucius answered her quietly.
Angela and Draco turned deadly pale and exchanged glances.
We're screwed, they both thought at once.
"Any other objections?" Mary said tartly.
They just shook their heads dumbly.
"Great. Then take your leave, so we can finish our conversation," Lucius dismissed them coldly.
They obediently walked back into the hall and closed the door behind them. Together, they headed to the kitchen where they asked Jory for a fire whiskey. They had to drink down the shock of the inevitability of their engagement. How could they defy the will of the Dark Lord?
