Crawling
Chapter Two
It became my new resolve to redecorate before my future business partners arrived. I refused to allow them to judge the Malfoy family as tacky. Therefore, I required a decorator whom was not a Weasley, and fast.
I started to call for Charles, but decided against it at the last second, this was something that required my own personal attention. After all, if you want something done right…
While massaging my temples I contemplated the best person to reference on matters of decoration. A woman, obviously…one with wealth, prestige, and the time to do things such as keep up on the changing of styles. Who did I know…A near-smile came to my face, why Pansy Parkinson, of course.
I sensed that I had little time to wait, so I apparated to the Parkinson Mansion immediately. It became obvious to me that my need was extreme if I was searching out Pansy. I lifted the heavy knocker and brushed past the house elf that opened the oak door.
I was able to make my way to Pansy's quarters out of a memory that I would really rather forget, and bypassing common courtesy I barged into the room to find Pansy in…a rather indecent position.
I smirked as she made a mad grab for the bedcovers to hide her companion, as well as her own naked flesh.
"Oh, do give it up, Pansy darling, nothing that I haven't seen before. Unfortunately."
"Draco," she panted, "I didn't know that you were planning on dropping by today."
"Yes, well sometimes things tend to…pop up, don't you agree?"
She avoided my eyes as she reached down to the floor so that she could slide on a silk robe.
"So," I said as I fell back onto her sofa, "who else is in here? Zabini? McNott? Flint? Please tell me that you haven't grown desperate enough for Goyle again."
"Did you come here for a reason?" she asked icily.
"As a matter of fact, I did. I need your opinion on a topic."
She appeared to be excited. "Really? Of course, Draco, just ask me."
"Hypothetically speaking, say that you were seeking an interior decorator, whom would you call upon?"
"Who would I hire? Uh…let's see…well, the best right now is Ginny, of course, but she is very difficult to get--"
"Ginny Weasley?"
"Yes, so you've heard of her then?"
"She went to Hogwarts, Pansy. I do hope that those hair-care charms have not finally seeped into your brain…"
"Huh? No, I don't think so…Anyway, Weasley or not, she is the best. Trust me, I was shocked when I heard her occupation as well, but if you want the best, she's it."
"Out of the question, as if I would allow a Weasel to have the future appearance of my residence in their filthy hands. Is there anyone who didn't grow up on the streets begging for money that you would recommend?"
"Hmm…I suppose that Clara Hopkins is very capable as well. Yes, you should contact her if you cannot get Ginny."
"Hopkins. Very well then, Pansy. I shall allow you get back to your…guest."
I apparated before she had any opportunity to respond, and immediately called on Charles. Except, Charles appeared to not be in the area.
"Well, this is just ridiculous," I muttered.
Stalking out of the study, I went room to room searching for Charles, finally discovering him in the fifth room in which I ventured.
"Your grace," he immediately addressed me as he rose.
"Tell me, Charles, what is the point in paying you to assist me when you are never around to fulfill your job description?"
"I am truly sorry, your grace. I beg your pardon of my blunder."
"Yes, yes, I am sure that you are," I answered flippantly. "I need to speak to a Clara Hopkins, posthaste; make it happen."
"Of course, your grace."
He made no apparent effort to quit the room. "I did mean now, Charles."
"So sorry, your grace."
He left the room as I sat down in a chair. I did not like this room either. The room where--
I unconsciously began to rub my temples, repressing unwanted memories. This room would be redone as well, I decided. Yes, everything needed to change.
Charles rapped on the doorway to alert me that Miss Hopkins was waiting in the study.
I wordlessly rose and walked back to the study, where upon I met a middle-aged brunette who was lustfully gazing about the room.
I cleared my throat and she all but sprinted across to meet me.
"Oh, Mr. Malfoy, it is truly a great pleasure that you would ask me to redecorate for you! I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to be here."
She stuck out her hand, either for me to shake or kiss, which I promptly ignored. "I want three specific rooms redone, if I do hire you, you are to follow my instructions to a tee."
"I understand, Mr. Malfoy, that will be no problem at all." When I said nothing, she felt compelled to continue the conversation completely alone. "If I may say, I was admiring your magnificent ceiling before you arrived. I mean, the entire thing is absolutely exquisite, not to mention brilliant, a solid gold ceiling, an inspired idea to be sure!"
My eyes drifted upwards. The horrid gold ceiling…
It took me two seconds to make my decision. "I will not be requiring your services, Charles will show you the way out."
With that said, I quickly left the room. No one who loved that ceiling was fit for this task.
"Damn," I said lowly. Now I would have to find someone else…as if I had time for this. Not to mention the fact that I knew of no other decorators besides the tasteless Clara Hopkins. There was no one…
Well, there was the Weasley girl. I immediately shook my head; it was absurd to contemplate the thought of a Weasley working underneath my roof.
"Charles!"
He had just closed the front door to allow the Hopkins girl to take leave. "Your grace, I hope I have not been too forward, but I called upon two other decorators while you were meeting with Miss Hopkins, they are presently in the Dining Hall."
"I do not keep you on staff to presume, Charles." Giving him a pointed look, I stalked into the dining hall.
The two women rose to meet me. To my disgust, they proceeded to curtsey.
"I only have one question, ladies, what do you think of the idea of a gold ceiling?"
They turned and looked at each other, as if to make certain that I was indeed serious.
"Well," the braver of the two began, "I think that it would be…classy."
"Yes," the second echoed, "a wonderful idea, Mr. Malfoy."
"Get out."
They gave me startled looks before starting to walk. "Wait," I called out in utter defeat. Both turned with hopeful expressions. "Where are Ginny Weasley's offices located?"
"Uh…Looks Unlimited." The braver one said after a moment.
The girls turned to each other with what can only be described as dreaminess. "That is like the top place to design…"
"Right. Well, be gone then."
Once they had gone I was left with a very serious problem to face, was I truly desperate enough to hire a Weasley?
I closed my eyes and was flooded with views of nothing but gold walls, ceilings, and floors. That was it, I was just going to go over there and…hire her. What was the world coming to?
I stared at the offices of Looks Unlimited apprehensively. The inside looked all right enough, had it not been for the fact that they were blaring loud music that sounded like nothing more than a consistent thumping.
ooooooooooooo
I had been standing outside Weasley's office for five minutes at least. It was not as if I was afraid to go in. Not at all, I just…
All right, so perhaps I was a tad hesitant, but this was the future of my family, I held the right to be such if I chose to be.
I finally threw open the door and walked in without warning. I watched in pleasure as she jumped out of her chair in fright.
"Weasley, what do you think of a solid gold ceiling?"
"Are you out of your blasted mind, Malfoy? What do you mean, just barging in here like you own the place?"
"Because I could own it if I so desired. Just answer the question, Weasley."
"You mean like the one that you have in your study? I think that it is a gaudy attempt to show off wealth, you know, the kind where people are trying too hard to impress. It's pathetic, really. Now kindly get the hell out and come back when you have an appointment."
"You're hired."
"Lovely, but I don't recall applying."
Ignoring her, I continued. "You will redecorate three rooms in Malfoy Manor in the style in which I want them. You have precisely two days time to complete this task, I expect you to begin in one hour."
"You're serious, aren't you? Look, Malfoy, when your lackey ordered me over I came because my curiosity had risen. However, after you so graciously dismissed me before I had begun; I doubt that you will be surprised if I refuse your request."
I merely raised an eyebrow at her threat. "I'll see you in one hour. And do keep in mind that punctuality is in your job description."
I then apparated to my gaudy study and prepared for my upcoming business arrangements.
oooooooooo
When exactly one hour, three minutes, and thirty-nine seconds had passed, Ginny Weasley burst into my study with a disgruntled expression on her face.
"You're late, Weasley."
"Bugger off, Malfoy. I just came here to tell you that you are the most bad-mannered, disrespectful, loathsome creature to ever walk the planet!"
"Are you quite finished? The room that you see here is one of the three that you will be working on. Follow me, I will show you the other two."
I passed her and saw her mouth drop open. She nevertheless huffed and walked behind me. I led her into the Room of Obscurity, gave her a moment to observe it, and then took her to the Room of Youth.
"As previously stated, Weasley, you have two days to completely redecorate these three rooms. You may sleep in bedroom located next to the study--"
"I have to stay here? You cannot be serious…"
"I am. This is a task of great consequence; you will not leave here until it is complete. Of course, once you have fulfilled your obligations to my satisfaction, I will reimburse you for your efforts in a substantial way."
"You're talking money…how much?"
"You want an actual figure? Tasteless, Weasley…" Nevertheless, I walked over to a table and wrote a sum on a piece of parchment. I handed it to her, and watched her eyes widen upon reading.
"Uh, so where did you say that I'm supposed to sleep?"
oooooooooo
The following morning I awoke to the sensation of a distinct pounding noise. At first, I thought that perhaps I had once more taken in too much alcohol, but then recalled that I had drunk none.
This noise was obviously not of my own making, which meant one thing: someone was going to pay for waking the master of the house.
I scowled and walked to the direction of the noise, it was coming from my study. Who in the bloody hell had the nerve to cause such a disturbance from my study?
Upon opening the door, I was enlightened...the perpetrator was Weasley.
"Weasley!" I yelled over the thunderous sounds.
She turned around to reveal herself in some sort of crude outfit made completely of jean. "Morning, Malfoy," she yelled back.
I exhaled slowly, restraining myself from performing an Unforgivable. I grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her out into the hallway, where it was significantly quieter.
"Would you care to explain the sounds coming from my study, Weasley?"
She pulled her arm away. "I don't believe that I need to. You hired me to redecorate, and that is what I am doing."
"There are reasons why there are redecoration charms, Weasley--"
"I am using charms, Malfoy. Do you think the hammers just hammer by themselves? I am aware that it is conventional for rooms to be magically changed, but I find it more effective to do it in a more…manual sort of way. By stripping the walls and ceiling bare, it completely rids the room of them, instead of simply covering them up. Makes for a better aura, you see."
"A better what?"
"Aura, Malfoy, it means--"
"I do not care what it means! Just make sure that, for the love of God, you put up some silencing charms. Understood?"
"Sure, whatever, Malfoy." She took on a mocking tone, "Just make sure that, for the love of God, you leave me alone to do my work."
I gave her a look that showed my obvious displeasure at her audacity to deride me, before going to the Dining Hall to take my breakfast.
However, it was not until I sat down at the table did I notice that she had followed me, and had proceeded to seat herself across from me.
"What do you think you are doing?"
She flashed me an incredulous expression, "Getting breakfast."
"You do not breakfast with me."
"Then who do I eat with?"
"The help."
"You are positively boorish, do you know that? I've been up for hours working on your blasted study, the least you can do is feed me."
I'm paying her, am I not? It is not as though she was doing it out of the goodness of her heart. "Fine. You may dine with me this morning, but that is all."
She rolled her eyes, "Damn decent of you, Malfoy." When I made no response, she pursued the bothersome habit of humming out-of-tune. She began to add words to her imaginary beat, but then suddenly stopped as her face lit up with recognition. "Oh! I nearly forgot that I had something that I wanted to ask you about."
She did not attempt to add to her comment, which only served to irritate me. "And that would be?"
"That ghastly portrait of your father, you know the one where he looks as though he has just gotten through with slaying someone? May I dispose of it or at least place it somewhere else?"
"If you discover a way to take it down, by all means dispose of the thing."
"Okay. So…what do you eat around here for breakfast?"
"Whatever I please."
"May I have some pancakes?"
"You will have what I have."
"That's discourteous of you. Whatever though, I'm starving, I'll eat anything…" She looked contemplative for a moment, and then added, "I don't like eggs, however, so I do not think I would eat them."
"Charles," I summoned. Upon seeing the man, I ordered, "We shall both have eggs for breakfast."
"What kind of eggs, your grace?"
I raised an eyebrow at Weasley. "Which kind of eggs would you say you dislike the most?"
"Scrambled," she scowls.
"Very well then, we shall take scrambled eggs."
She scoffed at me and leaned back in her chair. "You know, I was making an attempt to be nice to you--"
"Well don't. I do not need anyone, least of all someone clad in such a peasant material as jean, to be pleasant to me."
She looked down at her outfit in confusion. "You mean my overalls? I think that they're cute."
"They are not 'cute' they belong on a muggle farm, not Malfoy Manor. Do make efforts to appear somewhat professional as you stay here, Weasley. I understand that fashion is difficult for someone such as yourself to comprehend, but your outfit is giving me a headache."
She pushed her chair away and called out, "Oh, bugger off," before leaving the room.
I shrugged and awaited my breakfast in the blissful silence that I had longed for all along.
oooooooooooo
A/N- I wanted to thank Siren Duveil for pointing out the whole 'Manner, Manor' thing in the first chapter, that problem is now fixed, and my various English teachers would have been ashamed of me, lol. And sorry about the gay little 'ooooo' things, wouldn't allow anything else to show up as a dividor.
In addition, I'm bored, so I'm going to do review shout-outs…did I mention that I'm bored? Lol.
Gpotter (Aww, the first reviewer of the story…Lol. I'm a sucker for the whole 'flash-forward thing, as well as for angst-ridden Draco, so glad that you enjoyed that part. First person p.o.v.'s are turning into my specialty, lol, I now have quite a few of them, but this is the first Draco one I've tried.), Criminy (Oh…my…God, you agree with my on Bush and Kerry!!!! Wow, no one ever agrees with me on Kerry=moron. And are you as sick of the whole "he's a war hero, so therefore you love him and vote for him." Personally, I don't care about military experience, how does that determine if you'd make a decent president? Oh, no, I've gone off on a rant…lol. Glad that you're enjoying the story!), BrownPyrde (Well any G/D stuff isn't till much later on in the story…so perhaps by that time you'll become a fan of the genre, lol.), CaretoDream (You think Malfoy's a complete jerk? I find him endearing, lol. Uh, well I'm an angst fan, lol, but hopefully you won't find it unbearable amounts.), RussellGrl15 (Wow, thanks! It's awesome that you love the story, but to hold your attention through Hollywood Squares…well, damn, now that's impressive. Lol!! Right now I'm watching--if you care--Texas Chainsaw Massacre…which is kind of gross actually, this dude just had his leg sawed off. Lol, I found the portrait thing funny after you mentioned it, I can picture that too! And I'll try my best not to go downhill, lol.), Mia Sedai (Oh, I'm glad that you dislike the 'ick' factor to D/G because I hate fluffiness. Especially Draco and Ginny fluffiness, it just seems…weird, lol. Thanks for your compliment, and I hope that you continue to enjoy the story!), Siren Duveil (Thanks again for pointing out the Manner thing, I really do appreciate it, and nice to see that someone else is a fan of mythology! Lol, Cronus always amused me…which only goes to prove that I have a twisted sense of humor.), Terin Kail (Thanks, glad that you liked the first chapter! I have yet to complete give up on a story, lol, so hopefully I won't start now.), LeowynEvangolen (Glad that you like it! Lol, you'll find out the 'money plan' soon enough, trust me, it's pretty interesting…and illegal. The best kind of plan! Lol.), RonandHerm4eva (LOL! I never thought about the indigestion factor with eating newborns…perhaps he took some Tums?), Charmed-Goddess-07 (Wow, glad that you are enjoying the story so much! This plot has been keeping my interest, and I've already started work on the next chapter, so I don't think that I'll be stopping anytime soon, lol.), Echo256 (Thanks! I'm glad that you're into the story, and thank you for reviewing.), Beauty Eclipsed (Lol, hopefully it'll stay interesting. Thanks for the review!)
Hmm…I'm still bored. Pity.
