Shines A Light

Chapter Four: Confrontations

"Draco! You are supposed to be getting ready to accept a betrothal with Miss Parkinson!" Lucius snarled at his son, who was standing still, but straight backed and tall, in front of Lucius's desk. "And you have now turned your back on her in favour of this 'Blaise Zabini', whose parents would not answer our Lord's call!"

"But father, Blaise is not her parents," Draco said coolly, remaining collected. Despite the fact that his father was scary when he got angry, Draco knew that it was time he stood his ground and let his father know that he wouldn't just do exactly what Lucius told him any more. "Blaise is ready to turn to our most glorious lord, I will be more of an asset to him that Pansy ever would have been."

"Pansy does have an influence in Slytherin, does she not? You will want to make sure that they do not try to harm you, or Miss Zabini," Lucius continued, almost absently.

"Pansy has no influence in Slytherin bar that which she got through being with me. The moment I made it clear that we were over, she had no one. She has been trying, unsuccessfully, to get support, but everyone has gone over to Blaise now," Draco replied.

"Still," Lucius said, "The Parkinson's have a considerable about of influence in our Lords circle, and you may find you have more enemies than you can deal with, if you proceed with your current course. Should the Dark Lord chose Pansy's parents side, you will cast off Miss Zabini in favour of the Dark Lord's chosen bride."

"Yes Father, I know," Draco said. His father was letting him know that if the Dark Lord seemed to be favouring the Parkinson's, Draco would be on his own when facing the families wrath and the Dark Lords anger as well.

"As long as you are aware," Lucius said. "I hope this girl is all you say she is – for your sake. The Malfoy family needs an Heir, but it needs the Dark Lord's favour more. Remember that, in all of your future dealings. You may go."

Draco nodded and left the study quickly, resolving to go and write a letter to Blaise – it would sooth his temper. He had always known that his father would choose the Dark over him, if it ever came to it. He hoped that it hadn't, not on this occasion. Hopefully he would be able to find a way to get out of this without being hurt, and without having Pansy saddled on him.

The moment he walked into the hall way, Narcissa met him. "Walk with me, son," she told him softly, and he had no choice but to obey, though all he wanted to do was write a letter to Blaise and forget his family were who they were.

Once they were a significant distance from Lucius's study, Narcissa finally spoke, though she did not look at her son. "You have finally a girl who can match you then, Draco?" she asked him.

"I have," Draco replied, surprised by the direction that their conversation had taken. His mother rarely spoke to him about personal matters, at least, nothing beyond how he was going at school.

"And your father does not approve," Narcissa continued. "Because she is not the girl that he had chosen for you."

Draco nodded slowly.

"I will do my best to make the match work, if that is what you desire," Narcissa told him. "I have some influence with my husband, I am sure I can convince him that having a wife you've turned to the Dark Side would hold you in more esteem than simply going with who is chosen for you."

Draco was quietly amazed. Lucius could get quite a temper going when someone denied him something that he wanted, Narcissa did her best to stand up for her son, but she had been doing so less and less as Draco got older and could take care of himself. "Thank you, Mother," he said, softly.

Narcissa merely smiled at him, but the smile turned sad. "You might want to avoid going against your fathers commands again in the near future, Draco," she told him. "If you seem to be branching away from what he wants you to be, you will find yourself forcibly dragged back to his image of the perfect son. He may even come to doubt your loyalty the Dark, which, in a Malfoy's home, is unthinkable."

Before Draco could reply to this odd warning, his mother had turned and disappeared. Did his mother believe that he was turning from the Dark? Was she approving, if he had? He shook his head – a Slytherin saw plans and plots everywhere, it was the only to survive in their house, and they had to be able to find out what plans were before anything could come of them, just in case. But this was getting into rocky ground even for him. But he'd better figure out what was going on fast – this could be the plot of a lifetime, and he needed to find out exactly what was going on. His entire future could depend on it.

---

Blaise was staying with her mother's cousins, since her parents were dead, and, suffice it to say that she was not having a good time. Her relatives were Purebloods of the old code, and, while they did not openly support Voldemort, they thought he had the right idea. Blaise hated them, and the feeling was mutual. They thought her parents had been stupid, defying the Dark Lord like that, at the expense of their lives.

It was as different as it could be from Blaise's normal summer holidays, and she found herself spending most of her time alone, something her cousins were only too happy to allow. She thought of the past a lot, of her parents and the fun times they'd had together, of Hogwarts …

…And of Draco.

At odd moments she found herself remembering his smile, or his laugh, or simply the way he was there, a friend in need. She worried about him, also. He had not sent her any word yet this summer, and she wondered if she meant nothing to him, even after all the time they'd spent together last year. She could not help it, though she berated herself about it time and again.

She had fallen in love with the worst possible person at the worst possible time. Even if Draco did like her like that – though sometimes she thought it was impossible, and at others inevitable – what could ever happen to make his family, his father in particular, agree to let them be together?

She might be a Pureblood, and she might be a Slytherin, but her parents had defied the Dark Lord. Besides, Draco had been all but betrothed to Pansy for years now, and Lucius Malfoy was obviously in favour of the match. The Parkinson's had always supported the Dark Lord.

And if, on the slightest chance, Lucius would let them be together, Blaise would have to feign allegiance to the Dark Lord, possibly even join his forces as a Death Eater… Blaise didn't know if she could do that, even for love. To join the people who had murdered her family was below her sense of pride.

One morning, she was woken early by a soft, insistent tapping at the door. She knew it was not the House Elves, because she had already requested of them that they not bother her before eight in the morning, and it was long before that now, and also, had it been the House Elves, they would have tapped once or twice, then waiting before tapping again a short time later.

That meant that it must be her family, though why they wished to talk to her, especially so early in the morning, was a complete mystery to Blaise. Groggily, she rolled to her feet and threw a robe on over her night clothes, pulling the door open angrily, hair falling dishevelled around her face, eyes puffy from lack of sleep.

"Good morning, Blaise," her mother's cousin smiled falsely at her.

"Good morning cousin," Blaise mumbled.

"Blaise, dear, you really must work on your speech," her cousin told her sternly, "You cannot hope to get far in the world if you cannot be diplomatic at any point, whether you are tired or not. I do not know how you survived in Slytherin."

Blaise refrained from remarking that she could be diplomatic if she chose. Diplomacy came naturally to her, one of the reasons that she was a good Slytherin, but with the cousins that she hated; she really could not be bothered. Once her cousin realised that Blaise was not about to reply, she continued with a shake of her head. "You have received an owl, from the young Malfoy Heir," she informed Blaise coolly.

Blaise woke up immediately. Draco had contacted her, finally? "Draco?" she asked, "Draco sent me a letter?"

"Master Malfoy, yes," her cousin said, sounding a little surprised, and put out, that Blaise was speaking of Draco in first name terms. In the Pureblood world, few got away with that – the Malfoy's were treated with the upmost respect. "He requests that you meet him at the Leaky Cauldron on Diagon Alley in two days time."

For a moment, Blaise was too dizzy with delight to realise the full implications of what her cousin had said. "You read my letter?" she demanded, eyes flashing with fury.

"It was necessary," her cousin said pompously. "After all, when the Malfoy's are involved, even privacy must be disregarded. We would not have wanted you walking in to some sort of trap, after all." Blaise knew that the older woman meant the exact opposite of what she said. "A reply as already been sent with your acceptance, of course. It would not do to insult the Malfoy's."

"Well, thank you for asking my opinion on all of this," Blaise said tartly. "In future, kindly remember that my life and my mail are my own, to deal with as I see fit."

Her cousin narrowed her eyes, then left, flouncing down the hallway.

Blaise shut her door and leaned against it. In just two days she would see Draco again!

---

Draco paced around the Leaky Cauldron anxiously, glancing at the fire every few seconds, hoping that it would turn green to show that Blaise was arriving. He had received an owl with news of her acceptance of his invitation, but the note had not been in Blaise's writing, and he could not deny that he did not feel a little nervous about that. He knew that Blaise was staying with cousins she disliked, his father had hinted that they were far closer to proper purebloods than Blaise's parents had been.

Suddenly the fire went green and Blaise walked gracefully from the flames, looking around and immediately seeing Draco, walking over to smile and greet him happily, smiling radiantly.

He stepped forward and, to her surprise and his, embraced her tightly. "I've missed you," he told her.

Blaise, having frozen when he first embraced her, relaxed against his chest. "I've missed you to," she assured him. "I'm sorry I didn't reply to your letter, my cousins didn't even tell me it had arrived until after they'd sent the reply."

"You mean you didn't want to come?" Draco asked, knowing that only a lifetime of being taught to disguise his emotions stopped the disappointment he felt from showing. He had been so sure that she had felt the same way about him as he had about her. But maybe not.

"Of course I did," Blaise reassured him, hugging him back gently, then stepping out of his arms, "I just meant that I was sorry I didn't get to write my acceptance myself. I was so happy when they told me that I could come – I really hate my cousins, and I'd much rather hang out with you. I've gotten used to being around you, it was an unpleasant shock to find myself missing someone when I got home. Usually I spend the whole year missing my parents."

Draco smiled slightly, relieved that she did want to be here, but still in doubt as to what her emotions were toward him. Obviously friendship, but hopefully there was more. "Would you like to go and get an ice cream?" he asked, leading Blaise toward the back of the Leaky Cauldron.

"May as well," Blaise replied, smiling back at him, most likely not aware of the way her smile made his heart flutter suddenly.

Draco led the way to the ice cream parlour and they spend almost an hour talking about everything while they ate their ice cream cones.

Once the ice creams were finished, they wandered all over Diagon Alley, for the most part window shopping. Blaise had the impression that if she should have asked for any of the things they saw, Draco would have bought it for her. As it was, when she sighed over a beautiful snow white kitten in the Magical Menagerie, Draco smiled suddenly about something. She couldn't remember if she'd told him that her birthday was in a weeks time, but she found herself hoping that she had.

Finally, however, Draco took her back to the Leaky Cauldron, and led her straight up to the guest rooms at the back of the shop. He'd obviously organised for this before she'd arrived. Blaise's heart was pounding loudly in her chest, and she wondered if Draco could hear it.

Draco opened one of the doors and bowed her inside. The room was small, and empty but for two lounge chairs in front of a crackling fire. Blaise took one of them, and Draco sat down facing her, looking, if she was reading his emotions, which were well hidden, correctly, rather nervous.

"My father found out that I dumped Pansy," Draco said, voice soft, cutting straight to the heart of the matter. "He wasn't happy, but I convinced him that Pansy would have made a very bad match for me."

"Why are you telling me this, Draco?" Blaise asked.

Draco suddenly stood, walked over to her, caught her hands and lifted her to feet. Tilting her head up so he could look into her eyes, he stared at her for a moment, and she stared back at him. Before she realised exactly what was going on, Draco covered the gap between them and kissed her. Just as suddenly, he let her go and stepped back. "Because it opens the way for us," he told her softly.

Blaise felt dizzy – she had just been kissed by Draco Malfoy! She sat down hard, staring up at Draco, hardly able to believe it. "You mean … you like me?" she asked after a moment, when she'd started breathing again and had gathered her thoughts enough to form a question.

"Um … yeah, I guess," the sight of Draco Malfoy looking nervous and unsure of himself was so odd that Blaise smiled again, then suddenly froze when she realised what he'd just said. He's said that he did like her.

"Are you alright?" Draco asked her. Blaise just went on staring at him, then shook herself slightly.

"I like you too," she said softly.

Draco smiled happily at her. "Good," he said, and kissed her again.

"So … your father approves?" Blaise asked, pulling back, still completely unsure of how she was supposed to act. She'd never been a situation remotely like this one, as she had rejected friends at school until last year.

"To an extent," Draco replied. "Until he is sure that you are as loyal to the Dark Lord as I am, he will not approve … but if you don't want to go there, I don't really care what my father thinks."

"I can do it," Blaise told him firmly, "I could do anything for you. Besides, I've dealt with Slytherin's for six years now, with some help from you and Professor Snape, I'm sure I can deal with the Death Eaters and You-Know-Who."

Draco nodded, relief showing on his face, "You will have all the help you need from me," he told her, then kissed her again.

Wow! Look at me go! This has to be the first really 'fluffy' scene in ANY of my stories! I actually wrote about it happening, rather than just remarking in passing about it! Yay! Next chapter will be back with Harry, by the way :) Here are thanks for last chapter as well as this one!

JeanieBeanie33, Kraeg001, athenakitty, athenakitty, Ms Alex James, AuroraEvanstar, jbfritz, fcuking cathy, amarilis, uNoeWho, tish tosh, Dumbeldave, NateP, Kordolin, cantfindagoodname, moonypadfoot, Medicated Drama Queen, pheonixrising, washu, HermioneGreen, GothicBlackRose, lyss33, torifire126, -never-, FreedomStar, KapOfDaPipers, W0lf QuEEn, Riannya, TuxedoMac, AnimeChicX83, QueenWeasel, hpfanchrissy, TekNthzpn, Weirdcraz24, sumli, key, , elvishchic13, goDDark, QueenWeasel, Wytil, HermioneGreen, SiriusSeven, Khadon, Emma Barrows, Dumbeldave, amarilis, Arye, Ms Alex James, katepotter, Kordolin, hpfanchrissy1502, lyss33, shadowmonk, Kaye, goDDark, torifire126, potterunlished, TuxedoMac, uNoeWho, jbtfriz.

Now everyone who has reviewed this story so far has been thanked! Thank you all for reading and reviewing my story, and continuing to support my writing!

WolfMoon