Rise and Die! Chapter 4
A/N: I am soo sorry for the long wait. I hope this chapter isn't too crappy but we'll see. Once again this fic is really PG-15 or something so, yeah, read at your own risk…so please all little kids don't read it!
Draco shivered in fear. As soon as his wife had departed, he was faced with a terrible prospect: informing his parents. He felt himself go pale with fear and it was becoming harder to walk towards his door. They only lived a few blocks away in a secluded area, surrounded by a forest. Although he wasn't a mama's boy or anything despicable like that, his mother did have quite a bit of control over him and she exercised it when he bought his own house. He had to live in close proximity.
Draco regretted this decision most emphatically.
He was a prominent figure in wizarding society, because his father was so important. And Hermione Granger, his new wife? He hated to admit it, but she was probably even more well-known than he was, with her extraordinary career and her stupid best friend Potter.
There was no way that this could be kept quiet, and if he didn't tell the elder Malfoys himself, he knew his parents would not hesitate to do something drastic. He only hoped it wouldn't be something too horrific, like castration.
But you never knew. There was nobody in his family that dared disobey the Pureblood laws (well except for his great-uncle, but he didn't count, it was absolute suicide if you dared mention him) and he didn't quite know the punishment.
So sighing in desperation, he Apparated himself over to the real Malfoy mansion, belonging to a certain Lucius Malfoy and his beautiful yet terrifying (and Draco was undoubtedly scared of his mother) wife Narcissa Black Malfoy. He apparated into familiar territory, namely his room, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no one about.
Perhaps, if he was lucky, they'd gone out for a bit. Diagon Alley, maybe? "Draco," he heard a cold voice behind him.
No such luck. Swinging around he came face to face with his mother. "Hello, Mother," he said warmly and trying to keep that quiver of fear out of his voice. No, he was strong, he could do this. Pretend it's Granger, he thought. Pretend you're just being civil towards her…
"I am aware that you have done something or the other which will displease me greatly," Narcissa frowned, cutting straight to the point. "Out with it!"
Draco gulped. "Er, mother…" just at that moment he heard a familiar voice echoing in the halls. "Is Sally Anne here?" he asked in confusion.
"Yes, she stopped by to make wedding arrangements with me. Your marriage is in three weeks; I should think it would be the first thing on your mind!" she chided. "Just like your father! He is most unresponsive about this wedding! Just this morning I asked him whether he wished to invite the Baddocks and he didn't even give me a clear-cut answer! Men!"
Draco listened meekly to his mother's vehement rant, but cheered up at the thought of his father also not really supporting this marriage. Then again, Lucius was clearly under Narcissa's reign; outside of the house, he was a bold and important public figure, but the boss of the Malfoy mansion was definitely Narcissa. But perhaps Lucius would understand, just a little… fat chance! Lucius hated mudbloods!
"Draco, have you heard a word I've said?" Narcissa scolded. "I want to know exactly what you've been up to and don't you leave a single detail out. Blinky, I need a scotch," she exhaled loudly and apparated into one of the dens. Draco followed miserably.
The house-elf did her bidding and Draco nervously thought of ways to make the incident with Granger seem less heinous. Nope, nothing came to mind. "Well, you see, mother," he finally just said, "I, er, got married."
His mother dropped the glass, scotch and all.
Well, that hadn't been the nicest of reactions. "Heh, well, I must go, my wife's expecting me!" he stood hurriedly and wondered if he could escape before his mother recovered from her immediate shock.
Oops, too late, she was ready to talk. "Married!" she gasped. "But I thought… you and Sally Anne wanted a proper wedding! Wherever did you two tie the knot?"
Oh no! This was going to be much, much, much worse than he expected. "Um, see, that's the thing, Mother, I didn't, er, well, I didn't quite marry Sally Anne as expected."
The color drained out of her already pale cheeks. "Please call your father," she raggedly whispered. "Can't handle this crisis without him…"
As if on cue, a house-elf appeared out of the woodwork and immediately carried out her request. A few minutes later the regal looking Lucius Malfoy strolled into the den. "Whatever is the matter?" he asked concernedly when he saw his wife's state.
Draco closed his eyes, wishing the situation away.
No luck. "Well, erm, father… mother's had a bit of a shock, you see," he started lamely.
"Lucius!" Narcissa wailed, pointing a finger at her son. "Your son's gone and married some other wench! He got married!"
Lucius gasped. "Draco!" he muttered in shock, looking most perturbed. "Whoever did you wed?!"
Oh, dear, and he thought all of the above had been difficult! This was going to be absolutely excruciating… "An… old schoolmate," he replied ambiguously.
"Oh, it doesn't matter who he's gone and married!" Narcissa cried. "You know he can't get a divorce! And he's bound to this woman for life! What will I tell the Perks? What will I tell your poor fiancée Sally Anne who is at this moment downstairs poring over wedding dress catalogues? See what you've done!"
Lucius, however, still persisted. "Who have you married?" he asked.
Was that just his imagination, or was that danger in his father's voice? Draco didn't want to know, but he knew he couldn't postpone it any longer. Taking a deep breath, he spat out the name quickly as if it were acid on his tongue. "hermionegranger."
"I didn't quite catch that," his mother scowled. "Slowly now! I can't believe it. All these years we spent money on lessons and you can't even enunciate your words properly! Draco, I don't want to be disappointed in my only chi—"
"Her-my-own-knee Gran-ger," Draco said slowly, emphasizing the syllables.
His parents froze. "That girl who you always complained about during the holidays?" his mother asked, at the same time his father incredulously asked, "The mudblood?"
Draco inspected his fingernails. It was best not to say anything right now.
"But why?" his mother finally moaned.
Draco took a deep breath. "Believe me, mother, father, I absolutely cannot stand the witch. It just so happened that we were both heavily under the influence of alcohol, and, er, I don't really recall much of the night but I think one of us had the wild idea to get married, and, um, it happened?" He hadn't meant for it to sound like a question, but it just did. He couldn't help that squeak of fear in his voice, of denial, and of utmost horror.
"Bloody hell," his father sighed. "Oh, bloody hell. How many times have I told you that you have a low alcohol tolerance, just like your uncle! Silly boy!"
"I cannot believe this," his mother cried, dabbing at her eyes with a napkin. "I simply cannot believe this. Draco, this is absolutely ridiculous! Absolutely! Blinky, another scotch!"
"You've disappointed us, son," Lucius said coldly, sitting down with his wife and doing his best to console her. "It's best you simply leave your mother for a while, see how you've upset her? Now go, go to your little mudblood wife and give us a little time to cool off." Every word that Lucius spoke shook mercilessly with a cool, imperturbable anger.
Draco stepped out of the room in shock. No curses sent his way? No Death Eaters (although they only met for bridge on Saturdays since Voldemort had been killed by Potter) sent after him? No torture rack in the dungeons?
Oh dear. This was so much worse.
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Hermione waited impatiently outside of Malfoy's house. Stupid man. How could he not be home, when she needed to kill him? Goodness! Where would he have to go anyway? He wasn't going to be working, it was a Saturday and for that matter she doubted he worked anyway. With parents as rich as Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy…
She tapped her foot in annoyance. Where in Merlin was he? And why was he taking so long? She'd already waited half-an-hour!
Finally after what seemed ages a very sullen looking Malfoy walked up to his door. He looked really surprised to see her. "What are you doing here?" he asked in amazement, and Hermione noticed no malice in his voice. He looked too tired to be ridiculously mean as always.
"I'm here to kill you!" she shouted melodramatically, and then sighed. "You are in so much trouble," she continued angrily. "How dare you lie! How dare you, you foul little maggot!"
He shrugged and walked into his house. Hermione followed, close behind, still yelling. "I cannot believe you would be so crude and horrible towards a lady such as myself! You are the most vile creature on this planet! I am absolutely appalled at your behav—"
"Just drop it, Granger," he sighed and sat down forlornly on his sofa.
Hermione shut her mouth abruptly. Well, this was no fun at all! Where was that response she was looking forward to? That heated verbal sparring? She couldn't believe that the wanker had no response whatsoever!
"That's rich!" she yelled. "Just drop it? Drop it? Excuse me! You purposely lied about our…activities…last night, and now you tell me to just drop it! You horrible little… ooh," she clenched her fists in rage.
He still didn't say anything, only looked at his feet in despair.
"Malfoy," she finally asked. "What's wrong with you?"
He exhaled loudly. "I just told my parents."
"And they didn't take it well?" she probed. Well, obviously they hadn't, judging by his expression. He looked like he'd barely escaped a Dementor or something. Then again, he probably had uncles that were Dementors, she thought darkly… no, there was no time for old school judgments. Right now there were more things to hate him about.
"Not at all, not at all. I know they were—are—incredibly upset, but I'm shocked they… didn't do anything worse. The only thing… my father just told me to get out."
She gasped. "Are they disowning you?"
He started in shock. "Disown me!" he cried. "Oh, I didn't even think of that! Shit? What if they do?!"
Hermione panicked. She hadn't meant to upset him—okay, well, the whole reason she was here was to upset him—but now that she had, she somehow felt rather guilty about it. It wasn't really that fun in his very fragile state. "Calm down; I'm sure if the idea didn't occur to you, it didn't occur to them," she soothed in the best mean way she had.
Well, she didn't want to be too nice. She was still disturbingly angry with him.
"Oh, they might! There's a Malfoy family rumor that a cousin of mine a few times remove was disowned just forty-five years ago! What if I'm the next family secret?" he moaned. "Damn it! I won't get any inheritance either!"
Hermione pursed her lips. "There's more to family than inheritance," she scolded.
"Just stop," he howled. "You are so similar to my mother… and she's the last person I need to think about right now! Oh God! Get me a screwdriver, please," he cried.
"A screwdriver? I didn't even know wizards had such tools," Hermione replied, puzzled. "Well… where can I find one?"
He looked blank for a moment. "In the kitchen? Spritzy will make it for you… hell, she'll give it to me, can't you just go tell her?"
Hermione in a sudden burst of inspiration understood what he was talking about. "Oh, you mean the drink! Honestly, Draco, I don't think it's a good idea to consume alcohol right now," she warned.
"I. Don't. Bloody. Care." He replied coldly. "Now."
She scuttled off, furious because she was actually listening to him. But he looked just so distressed and it went absolutely against her nature to ignore someone in his current state, even if it was Malfoy. She'd help him through the crisis and when she made sure he escaped unscathed, she'd hurt him herself. There. That sounded good.
Anyway, she didn't want anyone else to torture him. That was her job!
Quickly she returned with the orange juice and vodka drink and handed it to him. He took it, his hands slightly shaking, and gulped it down. "Much better," he finally remarked, although she knew he was still very much disconcerted.
"Have you talked to Sally Anne yet?" she finally asked.
"No," he shook his head, "my mother will tell her, I know. It doesn't matter anyway. I don't love her."
Hermione was taken aback, and so was Draco. "I can't believe I just said that!" he cried. "Stupid tension getting to my head. Fuck, Granger, if you tell anyone, I'll… you just watch out, because you'll be in for a nasty surprise."
"I won't tell anyone," she promised half-heartedly, although it was a juicy bit of news. Too bad it didn't really matter whether he loved her or not… because the way things were looking, with these silly Pureblood laws and stuff… she was going to be stuck with him for a while.
A/N: Yay! I finished another chapter. Well, a lot of stuff happened in it, tell me what you think, as usual. Thanks a million for the brilliant reviews. Speaking of, review, review, review like the wind!