Draco woke the next morning feeling well, but tired. In fact, he felt as if he had not slept at all. Of course, Draco smirked to himself, that might be because he had spent so much time making delicious love to his wife…maybe.
He looked down at his chest and saw the woman of his dream in the throes of waking. She was rubbing her soft cheek into his chest and mewing softly. After a few more seconds of her mewing, she slowly opened her eyes and saw Draco staring at her. She gave him a half-smile and stretched her neck and shoulders while sitting up in the bed.
"Morning" She said as she continued stretching.
"Morning" Draco returned as he too sat up in the bed.
They sat there for a few more minutes until Ginny had glanced at the muggle clock/radio/alarm device by their bed.
"Bloody Hell! Draco, we have to be at the Ministry of Magic in 20 minutes. No warm shower this morning, we will have to settle for cleaning spells and running out the door" She said as she scrambled out of bed and ran to her closet.
Draco mimicked her actions and ran to his own closet. Once there, he did a brief cleaning charm and then swiftly pulled a crisp white shirt from the hanger and through his arms through the holes. Then, he grabbed a pair of navy slacks and pulled them on. He grabbed a pair of navy socks and his tan slip-ons. He arrived back in the bedroom mere seconds before Ginny ran in as well.
Ginny had cast the same cleaning spell in her closet and pulled on a white full length slip. With that on, she grabbed the first dress she came to…a red button up sleeveless, summer dress. It was a simple, but classic look and she looked good in it. She grabbed a pair of suntan colored, sheer panty hose and tan sandals. She cheated a bit and charmed the panty hose on, rather than fighting with them on the bed. She was hopping through the closet doorway while trying to put on her sandals. She saw that Draco was already on the bed putting on his socks and shoes.
He was finishing up as she hopped into the room. He walked to her, gave her an arm to lean on and waited for her to pull on the last shoe. He lifted his wand and Accio'd for his wallet and her purse. He then called for their robes and they flew to them. Ginny and Draco threw them around their bodies without closing them.
They flew to the nursery and each gave Kaitlyn a kiss on the cheek and a few instructions for the Nanny House Elf. They ran to the twin's room and gave each of them a kiss as well. Then, they ran out of the room and down the stairs. They stopped in front of the parlor's fireplace and threw in the necessary floo powder to arrive at the Ministry of Magic.
They bounded through the Entrance Fireplace at the Ministry of Magic. They briefly dusted themselves off and stood up straight.
The room was vast. The ceiling had to be at least 40 feet high and was charmed to look like the famous wizard painting by Escher…the one with the never ending stair case. There were at least twenty fireplaces throughout the large room and each seemed to be for a different area within the United Kingdom. The predominant colors in the room were grape and grey. It was striking and soothing all at once. There were at least ten sofas done in an alternating striped fabric of grey and grape. The rugs on the floor were paisley with the coordinating colors and a touch of gold sewn within the heavily woven fabrics. Each of the corners was marked with large ceramic vases in grey that had to be at least six feet high. In each vase, there were large palm trees, probably 30 feet or more, that were interwoven with yellow, fairy lights. They twinkled gaily and added a whimsical air to the room.
In the center of the room was a circular kiosk. It was made of rose quartz that beautifully complimented the rest of the room, yet stood out to attract the attention of the visitors. Within the rose quartz was a magically created sign that flashed "Information" over and over in a blue, strobe light.
They went to the entrance desk and found a tall woman sitting behind the desk. She had dark, olive tone skin and was wearing the pinkest robes Ginny had ever seen. Her hair was cropped short to her head. It very much reminded Ginny of a muggle, military style only it was colored different colors. Her hair had been divided into four sections and then dyed. She had a purple, pink, green and blue section on her head. However, neither the robes nor the hair was what made her stand out; no, she stood out because she had neon lime green eyes that followed you around the room no matter where you stood and were piercing when she looked directly at you.
Draco approached the young, odd witch and asked where the Fining Court would be.
The witch responded in a heavy Cockney accent that it was on the 33rd floor in rooms A-H.
Draco nodded and thanked the witch for her help. He took Ginny by her upper arm and drew her over to the elevators. A few seconds later the doors opened and a small, oddly colored Elf beckoned them to enter. He was taller than a House Elf, but shorter than the Wood Elves. He was grey with extremely pointed ears. Without a word, he turned to the controls and pushed the button marked 33. The elevator lurched upwards and sped upwards to the 33rd floor. It jerked to a stop, the doors opened and the Elf beckoned them out with a great flourish of his small hand.
They stepped out and were immediately surprised at the lavishly expensive surroundings. The large airy room looked more like a Harem chamber than a floor of courtrooms. At first glance, the room was nothing but flowing silk fabrics in the brightest of colors hanging all over the walls. There was a robin egg colored blue, a sweet pea green and a rich, purplish magenta color that mimicked the color found on the finest of wild primroses. There were more colors gently flapping around the perimeter of the room, but it was simply too much for one to take in a simple, quick glance. By the time they noticed the remaining colors, their minds were processing the fact that the floor in the rooms were made of black and white marble covered with large satin pillows. Each pillow must have been at least a meter by a meter and were just as brightly colored as the fabrics enhancing the four walls of the room.
They took another step into the room and were immediately greeted by an obviously modified House Elf. He introduced himself as Tartaren. He informed them that he was a Clerk Elf for the Ministry of Magic and that he would be recording the events of the court proceedings and would be their point of reference for any fine payment and/or any other penalty that must completed.
Draco nodded to the Elf and stated a heart felt thanks for the information.
Tartaren bowed at the waist to Draco's kind words and beckoned with his extraordinarily thin arms for them to come further into the room.
Draco pulled Ginny closer by wrapping his large, strong right arm around her waist and pulling her snuggly to his side. The Clerk Elf ran his little feet off to catch up and then pass Draco and Ginny so that he could show them exactly where they needed to go.
Apparently, although it was not apparent upon entering the room because of the charms used, the room was filled with courtrooms that were divided by invisible (and thus transparent) walls and camouflage charms much like the Agent had used the night before at the muggle restaurant.
Tartaren ushered then in to far corner area that was heavily dressed in teal and purple tinted silks billowing out from the hidden walls. Draco sat on a blood red satin pillow with gold cotton fringes. Ironically enough, Ginny found herself being led to a bright, kelly green pillow made of satin and velvet. It looked very soft and Ginny found herself absently running her hands over the material, partly because of nerves and partly because it was so soft and tactile.
The Clerk Elf, after they were seated, walked past them to an area of multiple pillows thrown on top of each other. The Elf twisted his left hand at the wrist in a circular motion and almost instantaneously a wizard in chartreuse velvet robes was sitting there in front of them on the mountain of pillows. He was very short and reminded both Ginny and Draco a bit of Professor Flitwick. He had ebony black hair with a goatee on the end of his chin. Ginny thought it made him look rather debonair.
"You are in the court of Wizard Judge Rockhurt. I am already abreast of the charges surrounding the events of last night." The man said while pilfering through an immense stack of parchments that he had brought with him. After what seemed to be a ridiculous amount of paper shuffling, he laid the parchments to the side and looked at Ginny and Draco over the top of his black horn-rimmed glasses.
Draco went to speak, but the Judge held up his right hand and motioned for him to stop talking before he even began.
"Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, I have a set of rambunctious, precocious twins myself. I remember all the headaches they cost me. Ahhh, to have a knut for every time I got a headache, I'd be wealthier than the Queen. However, I didn't get my knut; but I do like to think of myself as a fair an understanding wizard. While I cannot change the fact that this was a muggle infraction, I can use my head and realize that it was NOT intentional. With that said, I fine you 2000 gold galleons. Once this is paid, your punishment is complete." He said this with an air of finality, gathered his papers and disappeared with a pop.
Tataren nodded to Ginny and Draco and held out his right hand. Draco pulled out his parchment with all of his Gringott's accounts listed. He pointed to the one at the top of the page. Tartaren gave a brief nod, took the paper and also disappeared with a pop.
Within a split second, the Elf returned with Draco's parchment and a receipt for 2000 gold galleons. Draco took the papers and nodded.
Tartaren gave a small smile and pointed his bony index finger at them. They felt something that could best be compared to port key movement grabbing their bodies and dropping them in front of an "out" fireplace.
A small witch in ruby robes handed them a handful of floo powder and motioned for them to leave the premises. Minutes later, they arrived back at the Manor.
Draco headed to his study to do some catching up on a few business issues after giving Ginny a thorough kiss on the mouth.
Ginny walked up the stairs to Katie's nursery to find the kids, but neither the baby nor the Nanny Elf was in the room. Ginny tried the twin's room next, but once again no kids were present. Ginny ran quickly down the stairs listening all the while for signs of where the kids were. She ran into the kitchen and saw the kids with the Nanny Elf through the kitchen window.
She exhaled in relief and headed for the large pair of French Doors to meet the kids outside.
Katie was in her infant swing being lightly pushed by the Nanny Elf. Ben and Bill were lying stomach down in the grass with their legs bending capriciously back and forth while their heads rested on their folded arms watching a colony of ants pick up the remains of their picnic lunch.
Life was good.