A/N: I got a review last time saying that my grammar was a little off and
that I had other problems with expressions and such. AM SORRY about that!!!
I am just a poor French girl who learned English in the US and hasn't been
speaking this language on a daily basis for 10 months... *begs* Do forgive me
for any mistakes!!!
On with the story...!
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Day 4, December 26th
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"Knight to E4," said the boy
Draco caressed his chin, examining the situation. His Queen was almost trapped, if he moved his knight, it would be taken... His eyes becoming slits in concentration, he decided to be careful and only move a pawn.
"In a couple of moves, you're dead, you know that, right?" Jude smirked at his father widely, a look of mischief passing through his eyes.
"I haven't played in years, I have an excuse," he furrowed his brow in concentration over the game of wizard's chess, bits and pieces of marble scattered everywhere over the board.
"I used to be terrible," he moved his Queen, "Check. But when mum dated Fred, he taught me, he's really good at it."
Draco grunted at both his son beating him at chess and the reminder of Hermione having dated Fred. A Weasley, on top of it all, with whipped cream and a cherry. Not the one I thought she would date, but still one. What's with women and redheads anyways?
"How long did they date? Hermione and Fred?" he asked in a tone he hoped sounded casual enough.
"Err..." he looked up at the ceiling, thinking, "I think it was 4 years" he replied, not sure, "or maybe 5, I don't really remember, you should ask mum," he shrugged.
The blonde's gaze moved slowly from the chessboard, towards his son's figure. Realization hit him and a gray storm played itself over and over in his eyes as he looked at Jude without seeing him. Five bloody years????
iI dated Fred a while ago, but it didn't work out. We remained good friends though.../i
When she had said that, it had sounded like they had dated a week. But 5 years? That was too much. An uncontrollable force made him get up in a swift movement, and head towards the door.
"Hey! We're not done here, I know you're losing but that's a not a good reason for leaving..." he trailed on before being cut off by a "I'll be back in a sec" from his father. The door slammed loudly.
A smirk itched up on Jude's lips. How he loved this. Tranquilly, he followed his father, not making a noise.
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"Granger! We need to talk," he yelled at the woman sitting in an armchair in the library. He strolled to her astonished figure, took the book away from her and slammed it closed on the table. His face was as expressionless as ever, but his eyes were sending daggers at her brown ones.
"What have I done now to deserve the all mighty wrath of the oh-so-great Draco Malfoy?" she asked sarcastically, pulling her glasses up the ridge of her nose.
For just a second, he remembered yesterday afternoon, when they were caught in their embrace, muttering comforting words at each other. She had felt warm against his chest, and even if he wouldn't admit it to himself, he wanted to touch her again, feel her against him.
He dismissed these thoughts from his mind immediately.
"You dated Weasley for 5 years," it was a statement, not a question, and his tone was as sharp as ice.
She blinked.
"Actually, it was 4," she said simply.
He grunted.
"And you intended to tell me when?"
"Am I supposed to report to you every time I have a romantic relationship with someone else?" she shrugged, looking very much like her son at this instant, "So what I dated Fred 4 years? We were in love and after a while, we weren't anymore. I think he is with Angelina now... No, wait, Ginny told me they broke up a month ago..." her voice trailed on, trying to remember what her friend had said to her over tea a week ago.
"You were... in love?" he raised an eyebrow.
He didn't understand. From what he'd heard, wasn't love supposed to be something you couldn't stop doing? That when you fell in love with someone you could never back out?
She blinked again behind her glasses.
"Well, yes. You know, 'love'..."
His gaze fell upon her.
"No, I don't know" his voice dry and emotionless, he ran his hand threw his blond hair. "'Love' doesn't exist, it's a word invented by idealistic fools"
She got up and contoured him to get to the table he was sitting on. She took the book and placing it under her left arm, she made her way back to her chair.
"I can assure you love exists, Malfoy," she crossed her legs onto the chair and turned the pages to find the one she had been reading before being interrupted. "This feeling in the pit of your stomach telling you that things couldn't be any better?"
His already pale face blanched at her words. His eyes wide as a cat's.
"I better get back to Jude, he's waiting for me," he got out with difficulty.
From behind her glasses, she scanned his face, barely containing what he had been holding back for years. Was it pain in his stormy eyes? Or realization, maybe. She didn't know, but...
She got up clumsily, her book falling to the ground.
"Draco..." she whispered.
When her arms clasped themselves around his waist, he reached down and rested his head in the crook of her neck, her bushy hair tickling his nose. He didn't ask himself why he was doing this, it was beyond reason, this just... felt right.
He jerked away quickly, his eyes wide. He stumbled a little backwards, while Hermione stood there, taken aback by his stubbornness. She rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation.
She made her way over to him in a few strides and, standing in front of him with all the might her petite form could provide her, she slapped him.
"I have some lessons to prepare, now, I should get going. Malfoy," she dismissed him without another glance.
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A good 10 minutes later...
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"I can see that Hermione still has a nice temper going on," Fred Weasley said as he entered the library of Malfoy Manor.
Draco had been sitting there, rather in the position of a caveman, his body looking much like it had been thrown onto the armchair more than anything. His cheek was still slightly red from where the Gryffindor had slapped him.
"Weasley? What are *you* doing here?" confusion and astonishment in his voice. That wasn't the kind of company he needed nor wanted right now. Couldn't the world just leave him alone like it has always done before?
Fred swiftly moved across the room and sat on the table, turning three- quarters of the way towards the blond man shooting death glares at him from the armchair he was sitting in.
"I didn't want to come, I was asked to. That son of yours can be really persuasive sometimes..." he said, running a hand threw is red hair.
He was taller than Draco remembered, but still thin and lean. His freckled face held the laughter of his teenage years, but something was missing, or was it someone? His clear blue eyes still showed the pain caused by his twin's death. When half of yourself dies, do you have a choice? No, you just become someone else with a scared heart.
"Oh yeah?" he said sarcastically, "And have you come to tell me I don't deserve him?"
Fred's eyebrows shot up.
"No, actually, if he is your son, I think you have every right over him. He is like you in many ways you know – unfortunately," he grinned.
Draco just grunted.
"Did Harry say that you didn't? Deserve Jude, I mean," he questioned.
Another grunt with a nod.
"Just give him time to get used to the idea. But you might wait months, or even years, Harry can be pretty stubborn at times. Ron has rubbed off on him after too many years spent together," he smiled sadly.
"How come you're so calm about it if he isn't? You're a Weasley after all... Isn't bad temper in your blood or something?" he drawled, wanting to sound mean, just like he did back in his school years. It didn't work.
"I've had way too much time to get used to this idea already, don't worry," he rolled his eyes in remembrance.
Draco straightened himself, interested. He raised an eyebrow, commending the redhead to continue.
"It was a couple of days after Hermione's miscarriage, she was emotionally fragile, and so she began to pour all of her old mistakes back at me. Gee, it was terrible... Women..." he scratched his head a little, his left eye twitching only at the thought.
Malfoy's eyes opened wide. Miscarriage?
"Miscarriage? She never told me about that," he almost pouted. Why did it matter anyways? Was he supposed to know everything about her life? No... But he just felt betrayed whenever he learned something he didn't know about her. 'What in the name of Merlin is wrong with me?' he asked himself angrily.
Fred snorted and gave him half a smirk.
"If you expect Hermione, or any woman for that matter, to give away all of her little secrets, you're in for a long time... Men are not supposed to know everything about them, or else it'd be too much information for us to handle. For example, did you know that during her pregnancies, Hermione always eats strawberry jelly with pickles?" he asked, nonchalantly.
Draco made a face.
"I didn't need to know that..."
"I told you so, didn't I?"
The blue-eyed man grinned. However, it began to fade as he looked upon the closed face of the man he was speaking to.
"Malfoy..." he sighed, "You should go talk to her, she's pretty upset"
The other man half-laughed and half-snorted.
"Of course, how utterly stupid of me not to do that earlier. Getting slapped one more time is exactly what I wanted to get on with my day..." he said, sarcasm hanging to his every word. "Why should I care if she is upset with me anyways? It's just Granger..."
Although Draco didn't see that, Fred Weasley smirked one of his most devilish ones at the moment, his eyes full of mischief, making him 10 years younger.
He faked a resigned sigh.
"If you don't go talk to her, I guess I should. Now that I'm single, maybe we could back together again..." he said, thinking.
But he did not do that for long, as a couple of seconds after he had finished saying these words, Draco was up and almost on him, looking rather pissed, his wand out. Fred was still sitting on the table, except he was leaning backwards on it now that the Slytherin was threatening him with his wand pointed at his forehead...
"Did I say something wrong?" he asked innocently. If that is even possible, for a Weasley twin.
The door flung open at that moment, an angry looking Hermione entering the library.
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A/N: I know I am really evil to leave it here, but I wanted to do a cliffy...! I know I am going to get a lot of question on this chappie so let me say this:
-Yes, I made Hermione and Fred in love. I rather like this pairing so sue me. Also, I need her to be with someone, she wasn't going to make a vow of chastity at 17... Come on guys, be real. And anyhow, I hate these stories where girls only fall in love once in their lifetimes with the ideal man, it is NOT probable at ALL. And yes, Fred does not settle down with one girl, he is too cool and cute in my world to do that, sorry.
-If Draco might seem OOC, that's because he is slowly changing. Am doing the best I can, as it is really hard to make him evolve only from what we know of him as a child, so do forgive me if you think it doesn't fit. Any suggestions are welcomed! Now, if Fred seems OOC, that's because he lost his twin and he is grew up and blah blah blah... Okay?
-Also, I know NOTHING about chess, sorry for any mistakes... *sob*
-Thirdly and lastly, know one thing: I completely hate Harry. Which is why there won't be a lot of him in the last chappies, and I am making his character annoying and conceited and stubborn and such... *cough*
Also, sorry for the wait, but SOMEONE hid my Muse in the closet under the stairs. Plus I went to Paris to visit my dad who has the shitiest computer alive, so could not write anyways.
Anyhow... Hope you liked the chapter!!!! If you didn't tell me why anyways...!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!R&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
************************************************************************
Could you be so kind and check out my friend's stories? She is a great writer and makes Lord of the Rings stories (Eowyn/Grima pairing, she's weird, I know) and a HP one about Petunia and Lily when they were kids. They are really good so please read them!!!!
Her screen name is: erisedfororrim
Her stories are: -For the Sake of Appearance (HP story) -The Little Horses (LotR songfic) -Golden Temptress (LotR one-shot)
THANKS!
HAPPY EASTER!!! AN EASTER EGG TO EVERY REVIEWER!!! (I know am late to celebrate Easter but hey...)
On with the story...!
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Day 4, December 26th
************************************************************************
"Knight to E4," said the boy
Draco caressed his chin, examining the situation. His Queen was almost trapped, if he moved his knight, it would be taken... His eyes becoming slits in concentration, he decided to be careful and only move a pawn.
"In a couple of moves, you're dead, you know that, right?" Jude smirked at his father widely, a look of mischief passing through his eyes.
"I haven't played in years, I have an excuse," he furrowed his brow in concentration over the game of wizard's chess, bits and pieces of marble scattered everywhere over the board.
"I used to be terrible," he moved his Queen, "Check. But when mum dated Fred, he taught me, he's really good at it."
Draco grunted at both his son beating him at chess and the reminder of Hermione having dated Fred. A Weasley, on top of it all, with whipped cream and a cherry. Not the one I thought she would date, but still one. What's with women and redheads anyways?
"How long did they date? Hermione and Fred?" he asked in a tone he hoped sounded casual enough.
"Err..." he looked up at the ceiling, thinking, "I think it was 4 years" he replied, not sure, "or maybe 5, I don't really remember, you should ask mum," he shrugged.
The blonde's gaze moved slowly from the chessboard, towards his son's figure. Realization hit him and a gray storm played itself over and over in his eyes as he looked at Jude without seeing him. Five bloody years????
iI dated Fred a while ago, but it didn't work out. We remained good friends though.../i
When she had said that, it had sounded like they had dated a week. But 5 years? That was too much. An uncontrollable force made him get up in a swift movement, and head towards the door.
"Hey! We're not done here, I know you're losing but that's a not a good reason for leaving..." he trailed on before being cut off by a "I'll be back in a sec" from his father. The door slammed loudly.
A smirk itched up on Jude's lips. How he loved this. Tranquilly, he followed his father, not making a noise.
************************************************************************
"Granger! We need to talk," he yelled at the woman sitting in an armchair in the library. He strolled to her astonished figure, took the book away from her and slammed it closed on the table. His face was as expressionless as ever, but his eyes were sending daggers at her brown ones.
"What have I done now to deserve the all mighty wrath of the oh-so-great Draco Malfoy?" she asked sarcastically, pulling her glasses up the ridge of her nose.
For just a second, he remembered yesterday afternoon, when they were caught in their embrace, muttering comforting words at each other. She had felt warm against his chest, and even if he wouldn't admit it to himself, he wanted to touch her again, feel her against him.
He dismissed these thoughts from his mind immediately.
"You dated Weasley for 5 years," it was a statement, not a question, and his tone was as sharp as ice.
She blinked.
"Actually, it was 4," she said simply.
He grunted.
"And you intended to tell me when?"
"Am I supposed to report to you every time I have a romantic relationship with someone else?" she shrugged, looking very much like her son at this instant, "So what I dated Fred 4 years? We were in love and after a while, we weren't anymore. I think he is with Angelina now... No, wait, Ginny told me they broke up a month ago..." her voice trailed on, trying to remember what her friend had said to her over tea a week ago.
"You were... in love?" he raised an eyebrow.
He didn't understand. From what he'd heard, wasn't love supposed to be something you couldn't stop doing? That when you fell in love with someone you could never back out?
She blinked again behind her glasses.
"Well, yes. You know, 'love'..."
His gaze fell upon her.
"No, I don't know" his voice dry and emotionless, he ran his hand threw his blond hair. "'Love' doesn't exist, it's a word invented by idealistic fools"
She got up and contoured him to get to the table he was sitting on. She took the book and placing it under her left arm, she made her way back to her chair.
"I can assure you love exists, Malfoy," she crossed her legs onto the chair and turned the pages to find the one she had been reading before being interrupted. "This feeling in the pit of your stomach telling you that things couldn't be any better?"
His already pale face blanched at her words. His eyes wide as a cat's.
"I better get back to Jude, he's waiting for me," he got out with difficulty.
From behind her glasses, she scanned his face, barely containing what he had been holding back for years. Was it pain in his stormy eyes? Or realization, maybe. She didn't know, but...
She got up clumsily, her book falling to the ground.
"Draco..." she whispered.
When her arms clasped themselves around his waist, he reached down and rested his head in the crook of her neck, her bushy hair tickling his nose. He didn't ask himself why he was doing this, it was beyond reason, this just... felt right.
He jerked away quickly, his eyes wide. He stumbled a little backwards, while Hermione stood there, taken aback by his stubbornness. She rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation.
She made her way over to him in a few strides and, standing in front of him with all the might her petite form could provide her, she slapped him.
"I have some lessons to prepare, now, I should get going. Malfoy," she dismissed him without another glance.
************************************************************************
A good 10 minutes later...
************************************************************************
"I can see that Hermione still has a nice temper going on," Fred Weasley said as he entered the library of Malfoy Manor.
Draco had been sitting there, rather in the position of a caveman, his body looking much like it had been thrown onto the armchair more than anything. His cheek was still slightly red from where the Gryffindor had slapped him.
"Weasley? What are *you* doing here?" confusion and astonishment in his voice. That wasn't the kind of company he needed nor wanted right now. Couldn't the world just leave him alone like it has always done before?
Fred swiftly moved across the room and sat on the table, turning three- quarters of the way towards the blond man shooting death glares at him from the armchair he was sitting in.
"I didn't want to come, I was asked to. That son of yours can be really persuasive sometimes..." he said, running a hand threw is red hair.
He was taller than Draco remembered, but still thin and lean. His freckled face held the laughter of his teenage years, but something was missing, or was it someone? His clear blue eyes still showed the pain caused by his twin's death. When half of yourself dies, do you have a choice? No, you just become someone else with a scared heart.
"Oh yeah?" he said sarcastically, "And have you come to tell me I don't deserve him?"
Fred's eyebrows shot up.
"No, actually, if he is your son, I think you have every right over him. He is like you in many ways you know – unfortunately," he grinned.
Draco just grunted.
"Did Harry say that you didn't? Deserve Jude, I mean," he questioned.
Another grunt with a nod.
"Just give him time to get used to the idea. But you might wait months, or even years, Harry can be pretty stubborn at times. Ron has rubbed off on him after too many years spent together," he smiled sadly.
"How come you're so calm about it if he isn't? You're a Weasley after all... Isn't bad temper in your blood or something?" he drawled, wanting to sound mean, just like he did back in his school years. It didn't work.
"I've had way too much time to get used to this idea already, don't worry," he rolled his eyes in remembrance.
Draco straightened himself, interested. He raised an eyebrow, commending the redhead to continue.
"It was a couple of days after Hermione's miscarriage, she was emotionally fragile, and so she began to pour all of her old mistakes back at me. Gee, it was terrible... Women..." he scratched his head a little, his left eye twitching only at the thought.
Malfoy's eyes opened wide. Miscarriage?
"Miscarriage? She never told me about that," he almost pouted. Why did it matter anyways? Was he supposed to know everything about her life? No... But he just felt betrayed whenever he learned something he didn't know about her. 'What in the name of Merlin is wrong with me?' he asked himself angrily.
Fred snorted and gave him half a smirk.
"If you expect Hermione, or any woman for that matter, to give away all of her little secrets, you're in for a long time... Men are not supposed to know everything about them, or else it'd be too much information for us to handle. For example, did you know that during her pregnancies, Hermione always eats strawberry jelly with pickles?" he asked, nonchalantly.
Draco made a face.
"I didn't need to know that..."
"I told you so, didn't I?"
The blue-eyed man grinned. However, it began to fade as he looked upon the closed face of the man he was speaking to.
"Malfoy..." he sighed, "You should go talk to her, she's pretty upset"
The other man half-laughed and half-snorted.
"Of course, how utterly stupid of me not to do that earlier. Getting slapped one more time is exactly what I wanted to get on with my day..." he said, sarcasm hanging to his every word. "Why should I care if she is upset with me anyways? It's just Granger..."
Although Draco didn't see that, Fred Weasley smirked one of his most devilish ones at the moment, his eyes full of mischief, making him 10 years younger.
He faked a resigned sigh.
"If you don't go talk to her, I guess I should. Now that I'm single, maybe we could back together again..." he said, thinking.
But he did not do that for long, as a couple of seconds after he had finished saying these words, Draco was up and almost on him, looking rather pissed, his wand out. Fred was still sitting on the table, except he was leaning backwards on it now that the Slytherin was threatening him with his wand pointed at his forehead...
"Did I say something wrong?" he asked innocently. If that is even possible, for a Weasley twin.
The door flung open at that moment, an angry looking Hermione entering the library.
************************************************************************
A/N: I know I am really evil to leave it here, but I wanted to do a cliffy...! I know I am going to get a lot of question on this chappie so let me say this:
-Yes, I made Hermione and Fred in love. I rather like this pairing so sue me. Also, I need her to be with someone, she wasn't going to make a vow of chastity at 17... Come on guys, be real. And anyhow, I hate these stories where girls only fall in love once in their lifetimes with the ideal man, it is NOT probable at ALL. And yes, Fred does not settle down with one girl, he is too cool and cute in my world to do that, sorry.
-If Draco might seem OOC, that's because he is slowly changing. Am doing the best I can, as it is really hard to make him evolve only from what we know of him as a child, so do forgive me if you think it doesn't fit. Any suggestions are welcomed! Now, if Fred seems OOC, that's because he lost his twin and he is grew up and blah blah blah... Okay?
-Also, I know NOTHING about chess, sorry for any mistakes... *sob*
-Thirdly and lastly, know one thing: I completely hate Harry. Which is why there won't be a lot of him in the last chappies, and I am making his character annoying and conceited and stubborn and such... *cough*
Also, sorry for the wait, but SOMEONE hid my Muse in the closet under the stairs. Plus I went to Paris to visit my dad who has the shitiest computer alive, so could not write anyways.
Anyhow... Hope you liked the chapter!!!! If you didn't tell me why anyways...!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!R&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
************************************************************************
Could you be so kind and check out my friend's stories? She is a great writer and makes Lord of the Rings stories (Eowyn/Grima pairing, she's weird, I know) and a HP one about Petunia and Lily when they were kids. They are really good so please read them!!!!
Her screen name is: erisedfororrim
Her stories are: -For the Sake of Appearance (HP story) -The Little Horses (LotR songfic) -Golden Temptress (LotR one-shot)
THANKS!
HAPPY EASTER!!! AN EASTER EGG TO EVERY REVIEWER!!! (I know am late to celebrate Easter but hey...)