BEHIND LOCKED DOORS
WARNING: Rated R for profanity and homosexual relations of the incestuous kind. But this is actually a story with a plot, not smutty homosexual porn. Flames only keep me warm in winter.
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Chapter Eighteen: The Christmas Party (Part One)
Draco sat on his new four-poster bed, a Christmas present from his Mother. On the bed in front of him were the many presents he had received from his parents and other various relatives. Expensive, useful things of only the highest quality. Not like the cheap presents that poorer families such as the Weasleys were used to receiving, Draco thought to himself with a smirk. He held up a thick, velvet cape the colour of dark wine. That alone would have cost more than the Weasley house alone…
"Draco! Draco…are you in here, darling?" Narcissa Malfoy appeared at the door, a smile on her wine-coloured lips, which turned into a small frown at the sight of Draco on the bed, still dressed in his turtleneck and black slacks. "Honestly, Draco!" She sighed in irritation. "Didn't your Father tell you to start getting ready for the party nearly an hour beforehand? Our guests are due in less than thirty minutes and we are not letting them see you dressed as you are…"
Draco gave his Mother a rather sheepish smile.
"I'm sorry, Mother. I guess I became rather carried away with all my presents. I'll start getting ready right now." Narcissa smiled and folded her arms, but Draco didn't move from the bed.
"Draco!" Her voice now had a warning tone to it.
"Alright, alright, I'm getting ready!" Draco laughed and jumped off the bed, grabbing the green bathrobe off the floor and heading into the bathroom…
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"Good evening Elias, Vanessa." Narcissa and Lucius greeted the Patil couple with polite smiles. Lucius kissed Vanessa's olive-skinned hand while Narcissa extended her pale hand to Elias, who imitated Lucius' actions. Elias was dressed in classic-cut robes with dark red trim, while Vanessa wore a long A-line skirt with a corset, all deep purple in colour. Her long, silky black hair - a trademark in the Patil lines as she and Elias were believed to be third cousins as well as husband and wife - was twisted up at the back of her head with only a few solitary strands falling loose to frame her face.
Behind Elias and Vanessa stood their twin daughters, Padma and Pavarti, who, as usual, were dressed nothing alike. Padma had gone with a similar style to her Mother's apart from her outfit's dark red hue. The skirt was long and A-line, the top styled like that of an Edwardian corset with black trim. Her long, black hair was loose except for the front parts, which were held at the back with a simple, silver clip. Pavarti, on the other hand, was dressed in a more modern style of dress. Her entire outfit was dark pink and tight fitting. The pink silk skirt was ankle-length, but it contained a split extending halfway up her left thigh. The halter-neck top was almost backless, the neckline bordering on indecent save for the sheer pink tulle wrap she also wore. Her hair was styled similar to her sister's, but held back with a gold clip. They, like their Mother, had their hands kissed by Lucius.
The Malfoy Christmas parties were always considered a major event in the lives of the more aristocratic pureblood families. The house-elves were allowed to prepare only the highest quality foods, only the highest quality alcohol was served and only the most select families were allowed to attend. The parties always went on long into the night and fun was always had by all as it was seen as one of the few times during the year that all of the families could let down their inhibitions, relax and forget about life in general for awhile.
Vanessa smiled at her husband as they entered the main room. Several families had already arrived and the party was already beginning to start. Leonardo Crabbe and Christopher Goyle had, as usual, begun to ransack the snack tables for the choicest pieces of food, leaving their wives - Alicia Crabbe and Violet Goyle - to gossip with each other.
Emmeline Rosier, widow of Evan Rosier, was already slightly drunk and appeared to be flirting with Rodolphus Lestrange, much to the annoyance of his rather pregnant wife, Bellatrix. Marcus Flint - son of Oscar and Katherine Flint and Hogwarts graduate - seemed to be getting very friendly with Pansy Parkinson - daughter of Julius and Cassandra Parkinson and current Hogwarts student - who, Vanessa mentally noted, was nearly five years his junior.
Padma and Pavarti noticed the Nott twins, Lucas and Theodore, talking to Draco Malfoy animatedly. Not wanting to hang around their parents all night, they made a move towards the trio and were greeted cordially. After all, they, like the Notts and the Malfoys, came from a long line of a pureblood name. Their rivalry was almost non-existent outside of Hogwarts and had it not been for the house rivalry inside of school and the fact that both of the other families annoyed the twins with their bigoted opinions on half bloods and muggles, Padma and Pavarti may have considered them as friends.
"So, how long do you think?" Theo asked Pavarti.
"What do you mean, how long?" She asked, wrinkling her forehead in confusion. Draco smirked in his trademark manner.
"Lucas and Theo are making bets on how long before Flint over there" he paused to gesture towards Marcus with his left hand "will take our dear Pansy into another room for some 'quality time', if you catch my gist." Padma frowned at this but it got a giggle from the gossip-hungry Pavarti.
"What are the bets?" She asked, despite a dirty look from her twin. Lucas grinned
"I have eight galleons that they'll go in fifteen minutes. Theo here believes it will be twenty minutes and has bet twelve galleons. Our dear Draco, on the other hand, is so confident that they will be gone in five minutes that he has bet twenty galleons." Lucas paused for them to take this in. "The betting is still open, of course, so…are you in? Padma continued to frown at him, being the more cautious of the twins, but Pavarti was already opening her clutch purse.
"Ten galleons on ten minutes. My inner eye tells me it will be exactly ten minutes." Everybody snorted at this, but Lucas allowed Pavarti to put her ten gold coins into the small box they had all placed their money into…
…Much to their shock (and disappointment), Pavarti was spot-on. After exactly ten minutes of flirting between Marcus and Pansy, the older man leant forward to whisper in her ear. She smiled wickedly and nodded as he took her hand and they quickly left the room.
"The inner eye is always accurate." Pavarti smirked at the guys as she collected her prize money of fifty galleons. "Now, care to make any more bets?" Padma smacked her arm only half-playfully. "Ow!"
These betting activities were nothing unusual to them. Being teenagers, they had found it was actually rather easy to grow bored with the annual Christmas parties and, over the years, they had each come up with ways to alleviate the boredom. These sorts of bets had been an idea of the Nott twins.
"We could always bet on how long before they come out again." Draco suggested thoughtfully, digging into his pocket for more money. "I have ten galleons on ten minutes." Despite herself, Padma laughed at him.
"Honestly, Draco! You just lost your first bet of twenty galleons. Don't you ever learn?" Draco shrugged.
"This is petty change compared to the amount in my own private Gringott's vault, my dear Padma."
"How much do you have in that vault?" Asked her ever gossip-hungry twin. Draco smirked and tapped his nose.
"Oi! Less small talk, more bets!" Theo interrupted. "And for the record, I'm betting ten galleons on five minutes. Someone as egotistical as Flint just has to be a minute-man." They all burst into laughter.
"What's going on?" Three voices interrupted the laughter.
The small group turned around to face Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle and Millicent Bulstrode. Crabbe and Goyle, were, as usual, dressed in basic black robes and were stashing large amounts of cake and expensive boiled sweets and rock candy in their ample pockets.
Millicent, for once, had actually managed to look halfway decent. In fact, Goyle mentally noted, she was actually looking almost pretty tonight. Her tangle of dark brown hair had obviously met with a severe straightening charm, because it was now as smooth and sleek-looking as the Patil twins' were. Her robes were a deep royal blue and cut in a way that didn't conceal her slightly ample frame, but flattered her better features, such as her ample bust and hips. A little help from Pansy's knowledge in makeup charms had made her brown eyes seem larger and put emphasis on her 'fish lips', as other boys had called them, making them almost sensual in appearance. Yes, Goyle decided mentally, she is looking pretty.
"Goyle? Did you hear me?" Draco was waving his hand in front of the larger boy's face, sounding slightly impatient.
"Huh?"
"Are you making a bet on Pansy and Flint or not?" Draco repeated it slowly, like he was talking to a small child. Goyle glared at him.
"No, I'm not wasting money. And don't treat me like that. I know I'm a bit slow, but I'm not some retard." Draco shrugged an apology and went back to the bets being made. Pavarti, still confident from her earlier win, put in twenty galleons for twenty minutes, insisting that her inner eye was never wrong, while Lucas, deciding to play it cautious, only put in five galleons for fifteen minutes, and the bets were up. Now all they had to do was wait. Crabbe, like Goyle, was not in the mood for betting games…
…This time it was Lucas who won and sent all of the other betting participants an evil smirk as Flint and Pansy appeared after exactly fifteen minutes and he collected his winnings of forty-five galleons.
"Now…you were saying what about your Inner Eye, Pavarti?" He asked, smirking as he gave her a pointed stare. She stuck out her tongue.
"Sod off, Lucas."
"Sore Loser." Everybody started laughing again. Flint and Pansy came over to join the group. Flint's normally pale face was slightly flushed and his once-immaculate blue-black robes were definitely a lot messier than they had been when he had first arrived at the party. Pansy's long, dark hair had come unclasped from the back of her head and her purple, medieval-cut robes had a rather…crumpled look to them, Draco noted, as if they had been quickly removed and squashed underneath something, such as two bodies. Like Flint, she was also rather flushed.
"What are you all doing?" Pansy asked. "Have I missed the drinking games yet?"
"Don't you mean 'we'?" Draco asked with no tact.
"We?" Pansy tried hard to look innocent. She would have succeeded had the Patil twins not raised their eyebrows, causing her to burst into hysterical giggles and Marcus Flint to receive high-fives from all the boys in the group.
"And for the record, Pansy, you haven't missed the drinking games. We were about to go upstairs and start them." Draco said, turning on his heel and beginning to walk towards the staircase. Everybody followed suit without protest. The drinking games were a particular favourite of everyone…
…"So…" They were all sitting on the floor of Draco's large bedroom, a large bottle of straight FireWhiskey and a large bottle of DragonsBlood Vodka sitting in the space between Goyle and Flint.
"So what?" Padma asked, staring at her nails.
"So…what game shall we play?" Theo asked, giving everybody a small shot glass. "Personally, I think we should play 'ButterBeer Race' but it looks like we only have shot glasses and the game's better with large glasses or bottles…"
"We could always play 'Fuzzy Duck'" Padma suggested. She was quickly booed down on the insistance that it was a 'Mudblood game.'
"How about 'Buzz'?" Millicent suggested, talking for one of the first times tonight. Everybody turned to look at her and she shrugged. "It's easy to play. We all sit in a circle and we start from one person, say Flint is the starting person. He says 'one', then we go onto Pansy who would say 'two', and for every number that has a seven in it, or is a multiple of seven, the person says 'buzz', and downs their shot. If a mistake is made, the person who did it has to down two shots and we start again, but we go in the opposite direction from the person who made the mistake."
"I think it's a good idea." Pansy piped up after a moment's silence as she motioned for everyone to form a circle. "We'll start with you, Milli, because it was your idea, then we'll go from your right onwards."
Once the circle was formed, everybody poured himself or herself a shot of FireWhiskey and prepared to start the game.
"One." Millicent started the game.
"Two." Goyle was next to her.
"Three." That was Flint.
"Four". Pavarti said, fiddling with her hair.
"Five." Padma was sitting next to her twin, as always.
"Six." Said Pansy.
"Buzz!" Yelled a confident Draco as he downed his first shot. Everybody laughed.
"Eight." Crabbe said monotonously.
"Nine." That was Lucas.
"Ten!" Yelled Theo, the final person in the circle before they were back to Lucas who quickly said "Eleven." And was followed by Crabbe saying "Twelve."
"Thirteen." Draco said, staring into his shot glass.
"Fourt- ah, I mean BUZZ!" Yelled Pansy. The laughter started up again and Pansy downed her first shot of FireWhiskey, then quickly downed the second shot that Padma poured for her.
"Making mistakes already, Pansy?" Draco smirked. She stuck out her tongue in reply and everybody prepared to go anti-clockwise.
"Fifteen." Padma said.
"Sixteen." Pavarti said.
"Buzz!" Flint said, downing his shot.
"Eighteen." Goyle muttered.
"Nineteen." Millicent, and now they were back at the beginning.
"Twenty." Theo, of course.
"Buzz!" That was Millicent, who, like Draco, grinned as she downed her shot.
"Twenty two." Goyle said, moving closer to Millicent.
"Three." Flint muttered, not fully paying attention.
He snapped back to reality when he realised everybody was laughing at him and flashed them a momentary scowl, which, due to the mood of the company, quickly faded to an amused smirk as he downed two straight shots of FireWhiskey and deliberately let loose a loud burp. All the boys laughed and hooted, while the girls made noises and expressions of disgust before picking up the game again…
…Just over an hour went by and already, people had started to become - in Draco's words - somewhat intoxicated in a very obvious way. Flint had gone back to putting his moves on Pansy, whose face held a glassy, dopey expression that was only seen when she was drunk.
"Y'know baby…you were fan-tast-eeek tonigh'…how 'bout you an' me…" Flint leant forward in an attempt to plant a kiss on Pansy's mouth, but in his state, he aimed wrong and kissed her chin, causing her to squeal out loud and the Patil twins to break into hysterical giggles…
"Oi! Back off, Flint …i'sss my turn!!!" Draco slurred, trying to jump into Pansy's lap and instead tripping over his own feet and landing face-first into Flint's lap, causing Pansy, Padma and Pavarti to break into hysterical laughter.
Lucas and Theo were sitting there, each with an arm looped around each other's shoulders, heads inclined towards each other.
"I love ya mate." Theo slurred with a drunken grin as he gave his twin a squeeze. Lucas grinned back.
"Na…I love YOU mate." He answered, squeezing Theo back.
"Na…I love YOU mate."
"Naaaa…I love YOU mate."
"Naaaa…I love YOU mate…"
Crabbe raised an eyebrow at the drunken twins who, it looked like, would be continuing their pointless little argument for quite awhile. Drunk or sober, he had always been a person of few words, preferring to observe the idiotic things others did when drunk and only speak when he knew that what he said wouldn't be ridiculed…
…Such as Goyle and Millicent, who were smiling drunken smiles at each other, unblinkingly. It was no secret that Goyle had had a crush on Millicent for quite awhile, but he had never had the guts to make a move on her. A small smile appeared on Crabbe's face…This gave him an idea…
"Everybody!" His voice wasn't too loud, just loud enough to get the attention of all the people in the room. They all turned to look at him.
"Truth or Dare anybody?"