Chapter Fourteen: Rebellion
It was mid-afternoon when Draco returned to Malfoy Manor. There was an unusual bustle about the house which struck Draco as being rather curious. Usually that house was deathly silent and still, but now there were house elves scurrying about and there was a sense of hurry in the air. Draco began looking for his mother in order to inquire if there was anything going on. He was walking down the hall and was just reaching the opened door of his parents' room when Narcissa, who was exiting the room in a hurry, bumped right into him.
"Oh, there you are, dear." Narcissa said in a slightly flustered state. "I was just coming to look for you." With that she turned and re- entered the room. "No, no, no, Tilly! I'm not going to be there for that long so I don't think that I will be needing my winter coat." Narcissa gave an exasperated sigh as the poor little house else returned the coat to the wardrobe.
Draco entered the room curiously. He immediately saw the suitcases piled upon the bed and the house elves hurrying about, packing them with clothes and other things. A sudden sense of worry crept into Draco's chest. Why was his mother suddenly packing? There had been no plans for her to go on any trip and she was never one to spontaneously pick up and leave; unless...
"Mother," he said urgently, "where are you going?"
"Hm?" Narcissa muttered distractedly. "What? Oh, sorry, dear. No, don't pack that green dress. I think I'd rather have the purple one."
"Mum?" Draco crossed the room and stood beside his mother.
"Oh, yes, sorry. Honey, about an hour ago I received an urgent message from your Aunt Claire. She says that Mother, I mean, your Grandmother is feeling really ill."
"Oh." Draco said slightly relieved. For a minute there he thought that his mother was leaving, as in leaving possibly for good. He had no idea why he had even thought that. "Will she be okay?"
"Oh, yes, of course." She's just caught some sort of bug, but I think that I should go to her anyhow. I shouldn't be gone too long, but you had better behave for your father."
A cold chill ran down Draco's back as his mother said this. It hadn't occurred to him that with his mother leaving he would be left home alone with his father.
"You're going to leave me here, alone, with him?"
Narcissa rolled her eyes as she heard the nervous and even despairing sound of Draco's voice.
"You can't, Mum."
"Now, Draco..."
"Mum, I never thought that I would ever say this but, please, may I go with you to visit Grandmother Black?"
"Draco, you can't stand going to see your Grandmother Black. You never get along well with her."
"Well, it's all her fault. If she'd stop acting like I'm her slave instead of her grandson and making all those horrible remarks about me then maybe we would get on. She treats me like of some filth that she's just scraped off her shoes."
"Well, Draco, maybe if you didn't fight back and just ignored it maybe she'd stop. You just fuel it more when you react."
"Hey, there's no way that I'm going to take crap from that horrible old bint."
"Draco!" Narcissa exclaimed. "Horrible or not she is still your Grandmother and deserves some amount of respect."
Draco just made a "yeah right" face and sank down on an empty section of the bed and leaned hia head against the mahogany post. He then sighed. "Mum, please may I come? I promise I'll try not to be mean to Gran."
"Draco, why do you want to come so badly?"
"I miss her?" Draco said questioningly, as if to see if it was the right answer or not. Narcissa knew better. In fact in only took her a second to remember the real reason why he wanted to go.
"Honey, this is really getting ridiculous."
"What is?" Draco replied in surprise.
"This whole attitude towards your father. He's not insane and he's not trying to kill us as part of some evil plan."
Draco gave his mother a slightly dirty look. "Well, how do you know? He could very well be someone else who just looks like him. Maybe my real father was murdered and has just been replaced by the culprit who looks like him because of pollyjuice potion and is here trying to get his hands on the Malfoy fortune." Draco's eyes widened and he sat up straighter upon the bed as a whole dastardly plot began to evolve within his mind. "What if Grandmother's illness is just a ruse to get you away from the manner so that it would be easier to kill me. Maybe he'll try to kill you as well and...."
"Draco!" Narcissa interrupted, "Do you have any idea how crazy you sound? What has gotten into you? You are making absolutely no sense. That man is your father and there is no murder plot. With as paranoid and crazy as you have become I have half a mind to take away all television privileges from you for good."
Draco frowned and remained silent. In retrospect of what he had just said he did in fact realize that it did sound quite ludicrous. However, it still did not get rid of the fact that he would much rather go with his mother to his evil Gran's house than stay home alone with his father.
Narcissa turned to face her son, hands on her hips, "Now, you are going to stay here with your father while I go help out with Gran and you will not do anything stupid."
"Like what?" Draco asked, somewhat offended.
"I don't know. I have no idea what's going through your head right now, but you had better forget about it."
"Forget what?"
"Whatever it is you're thinking about."
"I'm not thinking about anything."
"Well, good. Now keep it that way."
Draco looked at his mother with a confused expression.
"Now go on and get out of here. I've got to finish packing because I want to get there as soon as possible." She then shooed a reluctant Draco out the door.
* * *
An hour later Narcissa was saying goodbye to her sour-faced son.
"It will do him good." she thought to herself as she kissed him goodbye. She then turned to Lucius who had appeared a moment before so as to say goodbye to his wife. An awkward moment arrived as they looked at one another, neither one really knowing what to do right then. Lucius then gave Narcissa a quick peck on the cheek and she turned and made her way down the steps and into the waiting carriage. She waved a final goodbye and couldn't help but feel sorry for Draco as she saw the despairing look upon his face.
* * *
Draco looked longingly after his mother as the carriage pulled down the lane. He would rather be anywhere else in the world at the moment, even at his Gran's house, than where he was. Out of the corner of his eye Draco could see his father turning towards him and he braced himself for whatever was in store for him.
"Well, being that the weather is perfect at the moment why don't you get your broom and we'll practice a few more quidditch moves?"
Draco groaned inwardly. He didn't say a word, but just slowly turned around and began to walk into the house and up the stairs.
Lucius watched as his son made his way up the stairs looking very much like a prisoner being led to his own execution.
"Master Malfoy, sir?" came a squeak from behind him. Lucius turned to see one of the house elves trembling and wringing its hands.
"Well?" Lucius asked coldly.
"Begging pardon, sir, but the Minister of Magic wishes to speak with you. He's in the fireplace in your study at the moment."
"Tell him that I am busy and that I will get back to him later."
The house elf began to tremble and wring its hands even more. "A thousand pardons, sir, but the Minister said that it is very important and that he must speak with you."
Lucius glared angrily down at the house elf. "Very well." he hissed and as he walked past the elf and towards his study he said, "Now go punish yourself." Even though the elf had not really done anything wrong, Lucius still hated being contradicted and told that he must do something when he had intended on doing something else.
* * *
Draco had changed his clothes, grabbed his broom, and was now heading across the lawn to the pitch. When he reached it he did not see his father standing anywhere. He looked around, but there was no sign of him. Draco just shrugged and mounted his broom. He soared into the air and did a few warm up laps and dives around the pitch. Fifteen minutes passed and there was still no sign of his father. After waiting another ten minutes, a very bored and annoyed Draco flew back down to the ground, dismounted, and made his way back to the mansion. He wandered about, half-heartedly trying to find where his father was and why he hadn't come out to the pitch. Upon approaching Lucius' study Draco could hear the familiar voice of the Minister of Magic within. He couldn't understand what was being said as the Minister's voice was muffled, so Draco decided to quietly push the door open a bit so that he could peak in and see what was going on. He knew that whatever it was it couldn't be extremely important and hush hush as his father would then have locked the door to keep everyone out.
As Draco pushed the door open it squeaked on its old hinges. Lucius looked up from where he was sitting before the fire and saw his son standing within the doorway, holding his broom. Lucius suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be giving his son another lesson in Quidditch skills. He had been so caught up in the discussion with Cornelius Fudge that he had completely forgotten.
"Oh! Draco, I'm sorry, I forgot about you."
"Typical." Draco thought to himself.
Lucius could see the look on his face and he suddenly felt guilty. He then looked up at the clock on the mantle and saw that it was getting late. By the time he would be able to finish with the Minister it would be supper time and then it would be too late to do any quidditch as the sun would have gone. "Ah, Draco, I have to talk with the Minister, so how about we practice tomorrow?"
Draco just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Whatever." He then turned around and left, shutting the door behind him. Lucius was now feeling really guilty and a bit angry towards Fudge as he was the one who had caused him to forget about his son.
"Lucius?" Fudge asked tentatively.
"What?" Lucius said bringing himself back to reality and refocusing his attention on the Minister's head which was floating within the flames of the fire.
"Are you all right? You didn't hear what I said a moment ago."
"I'm fine. What was it that you said?"
* * *
Draco slowly walked to his room to deposit his Nimbus 2001 and to change his clothes yet again. He couldn't understand it, but at that moment he was feeling strange. In fact, he thought he was feeling a bit disappointed. Why would that be? After all, he wound up not having to endure another practice session with his father. That was good, wasn't it? He had dreaded the session, but for some reason the fact that his father had forgotten about him had really bothered him.
"What's the big deal?" he asked himself, annoyed that he was allowing this little thing to bother him so much. "It's not like this is the first time he's forgotten about me. Come on, you're sixteen, you don't need to do things with Daddy anymore." Draco flopped onto his bed and let out an exasperated sigh.
* * *
Draco felt very small as he sat at the massive dining room table alone. His father had not entered the dining hall yet for supper, so Draco sat, waiting. He hoped that his father would hurry up so that he could start eating because he was starving.
"He's probably forgotten that I'd like to eat like he forgets about everything else." Draco thought angrily to himself.
He waited a couple more minutes and was about to order the house elves to start serving his supper when his father finally entered the room. Lucius quickly approached his chair and sat down. He looked over at his son who had not begun eating yet. Lucius gave an apologetic smile and said,
"Thank you for waiting."
Draco said nothing but merely turned his face away and looked down at his place setting. In a moment a bowl of soup appeared. Draco picked up a peice of brown bread, tore off a chunk, and dipped it in the soup. Lucius continued to look at him.
"I apologize again for this afternoon, Draco."
Draco didn't even look up, but just shrugged his shoulders and kept eating. Lucius did not really like the seeming indifference that Draco showed towards his apology. After all, It wasn't every day that Lucius apologized. He wasn't used to it and really hated saying it. Didn't Draco realize just how difficult it was for him to say that he was sorry for anything?
"I brought you back something from Munich." Lucius said. He was pleased when Draco's face perked up as he looked over at him.
"What is it?"
"It's a new chess set."
"Oh." Draco said unenthusiastically. Once, years ago, Draco had made the mistake of saying in front of his father that he liked chess and unusul chess sets. From then on it seemed that that was what his father always bought him. It wasn't because he really cared that Draco liked chess and so spent his time trying to find the most unusual sets for him, but was more that Lucius had no idea what else Draco was interested in and so chess sets were always the best bet when he was stuck getting Draco a gift.
"I thought that we could play a few matches of chess tonight after supper."
"Oh, I can't tonight." Draco replied as he took another bite of soup- soaked bread.
"Why is that?" Lucius asked.
"I'm going with my friends to a party." Draco said matter-of-factly.
"Excuse me? And who is throwing this party?"
"Marcus Flint and the rest of the Quidditch team."
"Well, then you're not going." Lucius said as he took a sip of his wine.
Draco looked up at his father and was silent for a moment as he processed what his father had just said. "What?"
"I said that you're not going."
"Father.." Draco began in a bit of disbelief.
Lucius held up his hand for silence. "Draco, I don't want to hear any arguments. I know what those kinds of parties are like; especially since it's being thrown by a bunch of older people. There's going to be plenty of drinking and I'm sure drugs, so you're not going."
"Why not?"
Lucius was surprised to hear Draco arguing further.
"It's not like I haven't been around the stuff before."
Lucius put the spoonful of soup that he was about to eat down as he looked hard at Draco. "You've what?"
"Father, I don't do drugs and I don't drink. I just go and hang out with my friends."
"Well, you're not going to "hang out" with them tonight."
"Why not?" Draco's temper was beginning to rise. "What is it? You don't trust me?"
"That's not the point, Draco. Marcus and the other members of the team are much older than you are and will most likely try to pressure you into drinking or taking some drugs."
"Oh my god!" Draco said as he rolled his eyes and let his spoon fall with a loud clank upon the side of his bowl.
"Draco Malfoy!" Lucius shouted angrily at his son's blatant show of disrespect.
Draco jumped at the sound of his father's angry voice.
"I will not have you disrespecting me like this." Lucius said in a chillingly controlled voice.
Draco glared at his father which only served to make Lucius feel angrier. Lucius was surprised at how fast he was beginning to revert back to his short and hot temper. The feeling was unsettling, but for now he couldn't keep it down.
"I don't want you anywhere near parties like that. Do you understand?"
"I'm sixteen years old. I'm not a little child anymore. And, unlike what you may think, I am not so weak-willed as to give in to the slightest bit of peer pressure."
"You are not going and I don't want to hear another word about it." Lucius hissed.
"Mum would let me go." Draco muttered to himself, but not quietly enough.
Lucius let out an angry sigh of breath. He was not used to Draco contradicting him like this. "Well, she isn't here is she? And even if she was you still wouldn't be going. As a matter of fact, you won't be going to these parties again. And you will no longer be friends with Flint or any other of the team members."
"What!?"
"Obviously they haven't been a good influenc on you. From now on you will restrict yourself to the friends that are your own age."
"You can't do that! I haven't done anything wrong! Why are you being so unreasonable?!"
"I'm your father; I'm allowed to."
Draco was absolutely seething. He was so angry that he couldn't think of anything to say. He just sat, staring at the soup bowl, clenching and unclenching his jaw. What right did his father have to suddenly make up these new rules. He gone to several parties before with his friends and his mother had never minded. She trusted him not to do anything stupid. But now his father had arbitrarily decided that he was not to be trusted and that he was no longer allowed to go to the parties that he had been going to since he was fourteen. He was suddenly not hungry at all.
"May I be excused?" he said icily.
"No." Lucius replied . "You eat your supper."
Draco became even angrier. He was furious over the fact that his father was treating him like he was a little child. With one last deathly glare at his father Draco stood up from his chair and stormed out of the room.
Lucius said nothing but just watched as his fuming son left. He then leaned back against his chair and gave a frustrated sigh. He then lifted the glass of wine from the table and downed its entire contents. He could tell that he was definitely not very good at the whole parenting thing. How was he going to fix that?
* * *
"So my oh-so-wonderful-father has had his "nice" spell broken. He's band me from ever going to another party and we're apparently not supposed to be friends anymore." Draco said to the head of Marcus Flint which was in his fireplace.
"It sounds like your father has really lost it."
"Ya think?" Draco replied sarcastically. He then flopped down on his couch. "Well, I suppose you had better go. Try not to have too much fun without me."
"What are you talking about?"
"I told you, I can't go."
"Of course you can. Just sneak out. Wait until you feel that it's safe and then sneak out. It's easy."
"I don't know, Marcus. If my father catches me he'll skin me alive."
"Then don't get caught."
Draco remained silent as he pondered over Marcus' suggestion. If he snuck out he could have the time of his life and either get away with it or get caught and then who knows what would happen. Either way, at least he would have had some fun. The only other option was to sit in his room all night and stew in his own misery. Draco came to a decision.
"I'll be there, Marcus."
"Cool I'll set up a portkey for you because it's quite a bit of distance from where you are."
"Thanks."
"See ya then. And hey, good luck."
* * *
It was nearly half ten when Draco finally decided that it was safe enough for him to sneak out of the house. He figured that his father was going to come in and punish him or, heaven forbid, have a little heart- heart chat, he would have done it by now. Draco moved the pillows and blankets on his bed to make it look like he was buried under the covers, asleep. He then crossed the dark room and opened the window which was fairly close to a large tree. He climbed through the window and perched himself upon its edge. He looked down to see the distant ground underneath him. He was only two stories up, but it seemed much higher. He then judged the distance from window ledge to the tree and jumped. He landed steadily on a thick branch and was able to grab hold of the trunk. He then proceeded to scurry down to the ground and made his way across the grounds in the direction of the portkey that was to transport him to the place where the party was to be at.
* * *
The fight with Draco had bothered Lucius all evening. He had sat for several hours in his study, sipping scotch and brooding. He knew that he hadn't been a good father. He never had been and he figured that there wasn't a chance that he would be winning the Father-of-the-year award any time soon. He wanted very much to go talk to Draco and make everything right, but he knew that Draco wasn't going to want to see him now. So, he just remained in his study until around half ten when he decided to retire to his bed chamber. In order to reach hs room he had to pass Draco's on the way. Lucius paused at the door. He pondered as to whether or not he should go in. There was no way that he was going to apologize to Draco as he felt that he was in the right, but he did want to make some sort of reconciliation.
He slowly opened the door and peered in. The lights were out and he could see that Draco was in bed. Either asleep or pretending to be. Lucius walked slowly over to the figure and remained standing over it for several moments. He suddenly shivered slightly as a cold breeze flowed through the open window. Lucius walked over to shut it. As he reached it his eye caught the sight of a small figure running from the tree that sat just outside the window and arond the house. Lucius rushed over to the figure that was in the bed and pulled the blankets down. As he expected, pillows. Lucius was about to apparate in order ti cut off his son, but then something inside him told him not to. He would wait and catch Draco in the act of sneaking back inside the house. He calmly walked to his bed chambers, poured a glass of wine, and picked up a book. And thus he waited patiently for his disobedient son to drag himself home.
* * *
Thanks guys for being so patient with me. School has been really busy and I've been travelling a bit. But, here it finally is. I hope you enjoyed it. I know that I promised you a drunk Draco in this chapter, but it didn't work out because I completely changed it. Drunk Draco is coming in the next chapter. It definitely should not take me so long in getting the next chapter posted. At least I hope it doesn't. Please be patient as things are going to become very busy for me for the next couple of weeks. I have two essay tests, a take-home essay, and a 1500 word book review to write. Things will calm down by the 7th of November and I will be able to focus more on the story. Thanks again for being so patient with me.
It was mid-afternoon when Draco returned to Malfoy Manor. There was an unusual bustle about the house which struck Draco as being rather curious. Usually that house was deathly silent and still, but now there were house elves scurrying about and there was a sense of hurry in the air. Draco began looking for his mother in order to inquire if there was anything going on. He was walking down the hall and was just reaching the opened door of his parents' room when Narcissa, who was exiting the room in a hurry, bumped right into him.
"Oh, there you are, dear." Narcissa said in a slightly flustered state. "I was just coming to look for you." With that she turned and re- entered the room. "No, no, no, Tilly! I'm not going to be there for that long so I don't think that I will be needing my winter coat." Narcissa gave an exasperated sigh as the poor little house else returned the coat to the wardrobe.
Draco entered the room curiously. He immediately saw the suitcases piled upon the bed and the house elves hurrying about, packing them with clothes and other things. A sudden sense of worry crept into Draco's chest. Why was his mother suddenly packing? There had been no plans for her to go on any trip and she was never one to spontaneously pick up and leave; unless...
"Mother," he said urgently, "where are you going?"
"Hm?" Narcissa muttered distractedly. "What? Oh, sorry, dear. No, don't pack that green dress. I think I'd rather have the purple one."
"Mum?" Draco crossed the room and stood beside his mother.
"Oh, yes, sorry. Honey, about an hour ago I received an urgent message from your Aunt Claire. She says that Mother, I mean, your Grandmother is feeling really ill."
"Oh." Draco said slightly relieved. For a minute there he thought that his mother was leaving, as in leaving possibly for good. He had no idea why he had even thought that. "Will she be okay?"
"Oh, yes, of course." She's just caught some sort of bug, but I think that I should go to her anyhow. I shouldn't be gone too long, but you had better behave for your father."
A cold chill ran down Draco's back as his mother said this. It hadn't occurred to him that with his mother leaving he would be left home alone with his father.
"You're going to leave me here, alone, with him?"
Narcissa rolled her eyes as she heard the nervous and even despairing sound of Draco's voice.
"You can't, Mum."
"Now, Draco..."
"Mum, I never thought that I would ever say this but, please, may I go with you to visit Grandmother Black?"
"Draco, you can't stand going to see your Grandmother Black. You never get along well with her."
"Well, it's all her fault. If she'd stop acting like I'm her slave instead of her grandson and making all those horrible remarks about me then maybe we would get on. She treats me like of some filth that she's just scraped off her shoes."
"Well, Draco, maybe if you didn't fight back and just ignored it maybe she'd stop. You just fuel it more when you react."
"Hey, there's no way that I'm going to take crap from that horrible old bint."
"Draco!" Narcissa exclaimed. "Horrible or not she is still your Grandmother and deserves some amount of respect."
Draco just made a "yeah right" face and sank down on an empty section of the bed and leaned hia head against the mahogany post. He then sighed. "Mum, please may I come? I promise I'll try not to be mean to Gran."
"Draco, why do you want to come so badly?"
"I miss her?" Draco said questioningly, as if to see if it was the right answer or not. Narcissa knew better. In fact in only took her a second to remember the real reason why he wanted to go.
"Honey, this is really getting ridiculous."
"What is?" Draco replied in surprise.
"This whole attitude towards your father. He's not insane and he's not trying to kill us as part of some evil plan."
Draco gave his mother a slightly dirty look. "Well, how do you know? He could very well be someone else who just looks like him. Maybe my real father was murdered and has just been replaced by the culprit who looks like him because of pollyjuice potion and is here trying to get his hands on the Malfoy fortune." Draco's eyes widened and he sat up straighter upon the bed as a whole dastardly plot began to evolve within his mind. "What if Grandmother's illness is just a ruse to get you away from the manner so that it would be easier to kill me. Maybe he'll try to kill you as well and...."
"Draco!" Narcissa interrupted, "Do you have any idea how crazy you sound? What has gotten into you? You are making absolutely no sense. That man is your father and there is no murder plot. With as paranoid and crazy as you have become I have half a mind to take away all television privileges from you for good."
Draco frowned and remained silent. In retrospect of what he had just said he did in fact realize that it did sound quite ludicrous. However, it still did not get rid of the fact that he would much rather go with his mother to his evil Gran's house than stay home alone with his father.
Narcissa turned to face her son, hands on her hips, "Now, you are going to stay here with your father while I go help out with Gran and you will not do anything stupid."
"Like what?" Draco asked, somewhat offended.
"I don't know. I have no idea what's going through your head right now, but you had better forget about it."
"Forget what?"
"Whatever it is you're thinking about."
"I'm not thinking about anything."
"Well, good. Now keep it that way."
Draco looked at his mother with a confused expression.
"Now go on and get out of here. I've got to finish packing because I want to get there as soon as possible." She then shooed a reluctant Draco out the door.
* * *
An hour later Narcissa was saying goodbye to her sour-faced son.
"It will do him good." she thought to herself as she kissed him goodbye. She then turned to Lucius who had appeared a moment before so as to say goodbye to his wife. An awkward moment arrived as they looked at one another, neither one really knowing what to do right then. Lucius then gave Narcissa a quick peck on the cheek and she turned and made her way down the steps and into the waiting carriage. She waved a final goodbye and couldn't help but feel sorry for Draco as she saw the despairing look upon his face.
* * *
Draco looked longingly after his mother as the carriage pulled down the lane. He would rather be anywhere else in the world at the moment, even at his Gran's house, than where he was. Out of the corner of his eye Draco could see his father turning towards him and he braced himself for whatever was in store for him.
"Well, being that the weather is perfect at the moment why don't you get your broom and we'll practice a few more quidditch moves?"
Draco groaned inwardly. He didn't say a word, but just slowly turned around and began to walk into the house and up the stairs.
Lucius watched as his son made his way up the stairs looking very much like a prisoner being led to his own execution.
"Master Malfoy, sir?" came a squeak from behind him. Lucius turned to see one of the house elves trembling and wringing its hands.
"Well?" Lucius asked coldly.
"Begging pardon, sir, but the Minister of Magic wishes to speak with you. He's in the fireplace in your study at the moment."
"Tell him that I am busy and that I will get back to him later."
The house elf began to tremble and wring its hands even more. "A thousand pardons, sir, but the Minister said that it is very important and that he must speak with you."
Lucius glared angrily down at the house elf. "Very well." he hissed and as he walked past the elf and towards his study he said, "Now go punish yourself." Even though the elf had not really done anything wrong, Lucius still hated being contradicted and told that he must do something when he had intended on doing something else.
* * *
Draco had changed his clothes, grabbed his broom, and was now heading across the lawn to the pitch. When he reached it he did not see his father standing anywhere. He looked around, but there was no sign of him. Draco just shrugged and mounted his broom. He soared into the air and did a few warm up laps and dives around the pitch. Fifteen minutes passed and there was still no sign of his father. After waiting another ten minutes, a very bored and annoyed Draco flew back down to the ground, dismounted, and made his way back to the mansion. He wandered about, half-heartedly trying to find where his father was and why he hadn't come out to the pitch. Upon approaching Lucius' study Draco could hear the familiar voice of the Minister of Magic within. He couldn't understand what was being said as the Minister's voice was muffled, so Draco decided to quietly push the door open a bit so that he could peak in and see what was going on. He knew that whatever it was it couldn't be extremely important and hush hush as his father would then have locked the door to keep everyone out.
As Draco pushed the door open it squeaked on its old hinges. Lucius looked up from where he was sitting before the fire and saw his son standing within the doorway, holding his broom. Lucius suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be giving his son another lesson in Quidditch skills. He had been so caught up in the discussion with Cornelius Fudge that he had completely forgotten.
"Oh! Draco, I'm sorry, I forgot about you."
"Typical." Draco thought to himself.
Lucius could see the look on his face and he suddenly felt guilty. He then looked up at the clock on the mantle and saw that it was getting late. By the time he would be able to finish with the Minister it would be supper time and then it would be too late to do any quidditch as the sun would have gone. "Ah, Draco, I have to talk with the Minister, so how about we practice tomorrow?"
Draco just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Whatever." He then turned around and left, shutting the door behind him. Lucius was now feeling really guilty and a bit angry towards Fudge as he was the one who had caused him to forget about his son.
"Lucius?" Fudge asked tentatively.
"What?" Lucius said bringing himself back to reality and refocusing his attention on the Minister's head which was floating within the flames of the fire.
"Are you all right? You didn't hear what I said a moment ago."
"I'm fine. What was it that you said?"
* * *
Draco slowly walked to his room to deposit his Nimbus 2001 and to change his clothes yet again. He couldn't understand it, but at that moment he was feeling strange. In fact, he thought he was feeling a bit disappointed. Why would that be? After all, he wound up not having to endure another practice session with his father. That was good, wasn't it? He had dreaded the session, but for some reason the fact that his father had forgotten about him had really bothered him.
"What's the big deal?" he asked himself, annoyed that he was allowing this little thing to bother him so much. "It's not like this is the first time he's forgotten about me. Come on, you're sixteen, you don't need to do things with Daddy anymore." Draco flopped onto his bed and let out an exasperated sigh.
* * *
Draco felt very small as he sat at the massive dining room table alone. His father had not entered the dining hall yet for supper, so Draco sat, waiting. He hoped that his father would hurry up so that he could start eating because he was starving.
"He's probably forgotten that I'd like to eat like he forgets about everything else." Draco thought angrily to himself.
He waited a couple more minutes and was about to order the house elves to start serving his supper when his father finally entered the room. Lucius quickly approached his chair and sat down. He looked over at his son who had not begun eating yet. Lucius gave an apologetic smile and said,
"Thank you for waiting."
Draco said nothing but merely turned his face away and looked down at his place setting. In a moment a bowl of soup appeared. Draco picked up a peice of brown bread, tore off a chunk, and dipped it in the soup. Lucius continued to look at him.
"I apologize again for this afternoon, Draco."
Draco didn't even look up, but just shrugged his shoulders and kept eating. Lucius did not really like the seeming indifference that Draco showed towards his apology. After all, It wasn't every day that Lucius apologized. He wasn't used to it and really hated saying it. Didn't Draco realize just how difficult it was for him to say that he was sorry for anything?
"I brought you back something from Munich." Lucius said. He was pleased when Draco's face perked up as he looked over at him.
"What is it?"
"It's a new chess set."
"Oh." Draco said unenthusiastically. Once, years ago, Draco had made the mistake of saying in front of his father that he liked chess and unusul chess sets. From then on it seemed that that was what his father always bought him. It wasn't because he really cared that Draco liked chess and so spent his time trying to find the most unusual sets for him, but was more that Lucius had no idea what else Draco was interested in and so chess sets were always the best bet when he was stuck getting Draco a gift.
"I thought that we could play a few matches of chess tonight after supper."
"Oh, I can't tonight." Draco replied as he took another bite of soup- soaked bread.
"Why is that?" Lucius asked.
"I'm going with my friends to a party." Draco said matter-of-factly.
"Excuse me? And who is throwing this party?"
"Marcus Flint and the rest of the Quidditch team."
"Well, then you're not going." Lucius said as he took a sip of his wine.
Draco looked up at his father and was silent for a moment as he processed what his father had just said. "What?"
"I said that you're not going."
"Father.." Draco began in a bit of disbelief.
Lucius held up his hand for silence. "Draco, I don't want to hear any arguments. I know what those kinds of parties are like; especially since it's being thrown by a bunch of older people. There's going to be plenty of drinking and I'm sure drugs, so you're not going."
"Why not?"
Lucius was surprised to hear Draco arguing further.
"It's not like I haven't been around the stuff before."
Lucius put the spoonful of soup that he was about to eat down as he looked hard at Draco. "You've what?"
"Father, I don't do drugs and I don't drink. I just go and hang out with my friends."
"Well, you're not going to "hang out" with them tonight."
"Why not?" Draco's temper was beginning to rise. "What is it? You don't trust me?"
"That's not the point, Draco. Marcus and the other members of the team are much older than you are and will most likely try to pressure you into drinking or taking some drugs."
"Oh my god!" Draco said as he rolled his eyes and let his spoon fall with a loud clank upon the side of his bowl.
"Draco Malfoy!" Lucius shouted angrily at his son's blatant show of disrespect.
Draco jumped at the sound of his father's angry voice.
"I will not have you disrespecting me like this." Lucius said in a chillingly controlled voice.
Draco glared at his father which only served to make Lucius feel angrier. Lucius was surprised at how fast he was beginning to revert back to his short and hot temper. The feeling was unsettling, but for now he couldn't keep it down.
"I don't want you anywhere near parties like that. Do you understand?"
"I'm sixteen years old. I'm not a little child anymore. And, unlike what you may think, I am not so weak-willed as to give in to the slightest bit of peer pressure."
"You are not going and I don't want to hear another word about it." Lucius hissed.
"Mum would let me go." Draco muttered to himself, but not quietly enough.
Lucius let out an angry sigh of breath. He was not used to Draco contradicting him like this. "Well, she isn't here is she? And even if she was you still wouldn't be going. As a matter of fact, you won't be going to these parties again. And you will no longer be friends with Flint or any other of the team members."
"What!?"
"Obviously they haven't been a good influenc on you. From now on you will restrict yourself to the friends that are your own age."
"You can't do that! I haven't done anything wrong! Why are you being so unreasonable?!"
"I'm your father; I'm allowed to."
Draco was absolutely seething. He was so angry that he couldn't think of anything to say. He just sat, staring at the soup bowl, clenching and unclenching his jaw. What right did his father have to suddenly make up these new rules. He gone to several parties before with his friends and his mother had never minded. She trusted him not to do anything stupid. But now his father had arbitrarily decided that he was not to be trusted and that he was no longer allowed to go to the parties that he had been going to since he was fourteen. He was suddenly not hungry at all.
"May I be excused?" he said icily.
"No." Lucius replied . "You eat your supper."
Draco became even angrier. He was furious over the fact that his father was treating him like he was a little child. With one last deathly glare at his father Draco stood up from his chair and stormed out of the room.
Lucius said nothing but just watched as his fuming son left. He then leaned back against his chair and gave a frustrated sigh. He then lifted the glass of wine from the table and downed its entire contents. He could tell that he was definitely not very good at the whole parenting thing. How was he going to fix that?
* * *
"So my oh-so-wonderful-father has had his "nice" spell broken. He's band me from ever going to another party and we're apparently not supposed to be friends anymore." Draco said to the head of Marcus Flint which was in his fireplace.
"It sounds like your father has really lost it."
"Ya think?" Draco replied sarcastically. He then flopped down on his couch. "Well, I suppose you had better go. Try not to have too much fun without me."
"What are you talking about?"
"I told you, I can't go."
"Of course you can. Just sneak out. Wait until you feel that it's safe and then sneak out. It's easy."
"I don't know, Marcus. If my father catches me he'll skin me alive."
"Then don't get caught."
Draco remained silent as he pondered over Marcus' suggestion. If he snuck out he could have the time of his life and either get away with it or get caught and then who knows what would happen. Either way, at least he would have had some fun. The only other option was to sit in his room all night and stew in his own misery. Draco came to a decision.
"I'll be there, Marcus."
"Cool I'll set up a portkey for you because it's quite a bit of distance from where you are."
"Thanks."
"See ya then. And hey, good luck."
* * *
It was nearly half ten when Draco finally decided that it was safe enough for him to sneak out of the house. He figured that his father was going to come in and punish him or, heaven forbid, have a little heart- heart chat, he would have done it by now. Draco moved the pillows and blankets on his bed to make it look like he was buried under the covers, asleep. He then crossed the dark room and opened the window which was fairly close to a large tree. He climbed through the window and perched himself upon its edge. He looked down to see the distant ground underneath him. He was only two stories up, but it seemed much higher. He then judged the distance from window ledge to the tree and jumped. He landed steadily on a thick branch and was able to grab hold of the trunk. He then proceeded to scurry down to the ground and made his way across the grounds in the direction of the portkey that was to transport him to the place where the party was to be at.
* * *
The fight with Draco had bothered Lucius all evening. He had sat for several hours in his study, sipping scotch and brooding. He knew that he hadn't been a good father. He never had been and he figured that there wasn't a chance that he would be winning the Father-of-the-year award any time soon. He wanted very much to go talk to Draco and make everything right, but he knew that Draco wasn't going to want to see him now. So, he just remained in his study until around half ten when he decided to retire to his bed chamber. In order to reach hs room he had to pass Draco's on the way. Lucius paused at the door. He pondered as to whether or not he should go in. There was no way that he was going to apologize to Draco as he felt that he was in the right, but he did want to make some sort of reconciliation.
He slowly opened the door and peered in. The lights were out and he could see that Draco was in bed. Either asleep or pretending to be. Lucius walked slowly over to the figure and remained standing over it for several moments. He suddenly shivered slightly as a cold breeze flowed through the open window. Lucius walked over to shut it. As he reached it his eye caught the sight of a small figure running from the tree that sat just outside the window and arond the house. Lucius rushed over to the figure that was in the bed and pulled the blankets down. As he expected, pillows. Lucius was about to apparate in order ti cut off his son, but then something inside him told him not to. He would wait and catch Draco in the act of sneaking back inside the house. He calmly walked to his bed chambers, poured a glass of wine, and picked up a book. And thus he waited patiently for his disobedient son to drag himself home.
* * *
Thanks guys for being so patient with me. School has been really busy and I've been travelling a bit. But, here it finally is. I hope you enjoyed it. I know that I promised you a drunk Draco in this chapter, but it didn't work out because I completely changed it. Drunk Draco is coming in the next chapter. It definitely should not take me so long in getting the next chapter posted. At least I hope it doesn't. Please be patient as things are going to become very busy for me for the next couple of weeks. I have two essay tests, a take-home essay, and a 1500 word book review to write. Things will calm down by the 7th of November and I will be able to focus more on the story. Thanks again for being so patient with me.