Important: Okay, all of you complained that Draco has been very OoC. Well, I agree. But if you have read my important A/N at the bottom of my first chapter, I already said that he has his reasons! Trust me please? By the way, Lucius is the real Master of OoC. Just for this story's sake.
However, I know that you all cannot wait for the reason behind the 'OoCs' to just show up. So, I have decided to post this chapter up first. Now, you can all get off my back and I can continue with my story happily. xD
(No recap for this chapter as this is quite irrelevant to Chapter 2's interview)
Chapter 3: Ew, No Way!
Draco's POV
2004-01-09 (1002 hrs)
It's supposed to be another fine morning for me. SUPPOSED TO BE!!
If not for that fucking bastard whom I have to call a father.
Now, I have to stay here in my study and listen to a talk given by my own staff! I will never live with this lying down. How can he do this to me? He's my father! A FATHER!
Earlier On (0810 hrs)
"Morning, Father." I greet my father when I see him taking his own sweet time to walk to his chair.
Lucius gives me a little nod and picks up his copy of the Daily Prophet. "Have you seen your mother?" He asks from behind the papers, while smoking on a cigar.
"No, Father." I reply obediently.
Sigh. I still have some paperwork to finish! Should not have brought that woman back yesterday, I should not have. I could have used that leisure time for OT work.
"How's your work coming along? Fine, I suppose?" Lucius asks casually.
But I know what he is really trying to do. He must have something bad up his sleeves. Since he is really not the kind to ask if you are doing well.
And when he does, it is provided that he has got something else that is more important to ask from you.
"Um, Father? I've some paperwork that should be done by today - by now actually... So… please excuse me!" I all but sputter and try to sprint away after that. I cannot just sit there and wait for my own imminent doom, can I? Just my luck that my own father is so well-versed in magic. The moment he whips out his wand, I am sucked back to my seat and all I can do then was scowl angrily at my empty plate.
"Don't you dare try." He warns, wand still in his hand. Merlin! Just what does he want? And that look of seriousness on his pale, aging face makes my skin crawl. Does a father always have to be so damn serious with his son? I have always wished for a father who is... warm. Not one with a cold, hard look plastered onto his disgusting face all the time.
Silence...
Fine, I admit defeat. I wish he would just tell me what he wants and let me go. That client insisted on getting the reports by today. That moron. No man's good… no man except for me.
"Father, just what is it that you want?" I ask, trying not to sound too impatient, but it is proving to be very difficult.
"Son, you know Giganta Bulstrode?" Lucius asks as he gently folds the Daily Prophet into half and lays it on the dining table.
Who doesn't know him? He is Millicent Bulstrode's father. And I am telling you that I will most willingly believe that he is another half-giant. I am not kidding, but sometimes, I wonder if half-giants (or pure ones) were going to rule the world, what with their population increasing at a bullet train rate. "Yes, Father. He's the owner of Bulls Hit Corporation, isn't he."
The Bulls Hit Corporation does TV things. They are the first to establish a Wizards television channel. It took him quite some time to do that, though. I mean, given his kind of brain, that is the best you can expect from him already. Oh, and by the way, he did it with great help from the Parkinson Corporation (notice how we, Slytherins stick together even after Voldemort's fall).
"Right you are. Now, you realise that we have been partners with them for some years..." That reminds me, my company has been in partnership with bullshit for years. Oh my Merlin, what's this world coming to? If people were to start relating Malfoys to Bullshits, I would be better off dead. "... and they made a request." He paused at that, to leave me in a cliff-hanger, maybe.
I wait for him to continue. I know he loves to torture me mentally, always.
Seconds fly past, just like that.
Fine, I give up (again). "What's it about then?" I try to sound as interested in the topic as possible when my mind is actually wandering off to brainstorm for the reports.
"He wanted us to make a good TV show for him before he would kindly continue our partnership. Then, I came out with an idea to use a male celebrity to court a less famous girl. And this girl has to be completely different from the guy. As in polar differences. I thought that this would attract more wizards to the show." He explains coolly.
I cannot stand this for much longer.
"And Father, pray tell what this has got to do with me - directly." I inquire pointedly, trying to resist the temptation to roll my eyes desperately. I can't sit here paying attention to him telling me about his business deals whileI leave mine in a lurch. Well, everyone thinks me as a workaholic and I sort of agree to that. Life can be boring without work, I was forced to not work for a single day and the result was me nearly flinging myself off the clock tower in the manor.
"Draco, he wanted you to be that male celebrity." Lucius finally broke the news to me slowly, but it still came as a deadly shocking blow.
It leaves me dumbfounded. I cannot think up anything to retort for a moment. I think I am simply flabbergasted.
"How could you!" I roar and slam the table hard with my palms while pushing myself to stand up, towering over the sitting figure of my father. The plates and dishes on the table threatened to topple over the edge of the table while the vase with nice white lilies fell to its side and went rolling down onto the floor with a crash.
True, he is my father, but he does not have the right to decide on my appearance on whichever show! I studied law before Business and Finance and I know that all wizarding communities recognize an eighteen-year-old as an independent wizard already. Furthermore, I am NINETEEN going on TWENTY for crying out loud!
"Draco, apologize to your father at once!" Mother reprimands when she arrives at the dining room with a tray full of food. She's wearing a look of disgust, like she is disgusted with the wrong way she brought me up with. Well, what can I say?
"No, Narcissa, it's my fault." My father admits. No trace of guilt could be found in his tone though. What a damnable father I have! This is the reason why I hate Aurors to the core. They failed to bring Lucius to his only rightful place – the Azkaban Prison, when everyone knows that he is the world's vilest Death Eater!
"Of course it's his fault." I mumble insolently under my breath, but my father still caught me in the act. I know as he shot me a death glare.
"Son, however angry you are, cool down and listen to me." How can he be so calm! He is getting me into this bloody mess and I expect him to get me out of it. I am not, never, no way, going to do this show! Who knows how different that girl might be? I'm so perfect! Doesn't that make the girl the most imperfect one? Merlin!
Still boring holes with my eyes into his, I sit down and huff, "I'm not doing it." Finality strong in my tone. He cannot make me do what I do not like, come what may. "I am engaged, remember? You made me propose to Pansy! And now what? You want me to go get another girl? I'm sick of this!" For this once in my life, I am thoroughly glad that Pansy agreed to my proposal. Whoa!
"Okay, son. I respect your decision." Lucius drawls and stands up. He still sounds confident, though. But I do not care. Then, he comes over to me, gives me a pat on my back and is all ready to leave.
Everything was like a bad dream, a nightmare.
But, when things seem this easy, they can never be easy. Quote by Draco L. Malfoy.
"Then, half of your prospective inheritance will be gone. I suppose some charity might need some donations... " He announces grandly, as though it is supposed to be like that all the time.
But it isn't.
"But father, that is... that is..." I stuttered incoherently, trying to find the right, harsh word to use, "preposterous! I can't have just half of your bloody properties! I mean, HALF is like none..." Of course half is still a big, big amount of money and many, many properties, but still. I complain noisily as I block Lucius from his exit.
Always trust your father to mess things up for you (this applies especially to me). Things have always been like this, I wanted to start a day fresh with an easy, good mood and he would come along and ruin it for me. I hate my parents. Lucius and Narcissa are made in heaven for each other, they are unbelievably unreasonable. So not like me.
"Ah, calm down. You see, this deal with the Bulls Hit will have a great impact on our Enterprise. But you could help steady this partnership." He pauses to make sure that I had taken in everything that he said and glances over to my mother for some support. But she could afford none as she knows she has not much control over people like me. "Do you understand me so far?" Lucius asks.
"Unfortunately," I mumble, "yes."
"Great." Lucius claps his hands together and booms so happily that I instantly thought that he is the polar difference they are looking for. He is just the complete opposite of me (as in our emotions)! And courting him won't be difficult, really, but he just has to turn into a female, somehow…
Then he regains his cool-headedness and continues with the details for the new show that is going to destroy my once peaceful life. "As for the girl who is completely different from you, Bulstrode already has someone in mind, but he won't tell me who first. So, you have to be able to accept about anything now, son. Do me proud." And he flashes me a sort-of-like-a-grin thing. This signifies the end of his explanations and I think I am going nuts.
2004-01-09 (1003 hrs)
Sigh, this seems like it will never end. But I can only face the music now that what is done (by my father) is done. So, I am looking at that irritating face of my staff as he talks and talks and talks pointlessly while I am busying myself with picturing the worst girl of complete difference from me.
It is then that realization dawns on me. I am a Pureblood. People, don't get me wrong. I do not mean to say that I only know about my Pureblood identity now, it is just that if I'm a Pureblood, the girl might just be a... a... Mudblood! She can't be a Muggle (they can't get Muggles onto a Wizards TV, can they?)... Merlin, I am cursing my father, I shall research on voodoo and I am going to try and harm him in all the ways possible - and he will not know it is me. He should know that Mudbloods (and even Muggles) were things that I despise more than any thing else.
I would never get near Mudbloods. They nauseate me. And you mark my words.
Even Later On (1200 hrs)
After about THREE hours of my precious lifetime, the staff was done with his talk (by the way, the talk was on 'How to Court a Girl More Effectively and Efficiently in 10 days") and excused himself. I suddenly had the ridiculous thought that I would be free. Free from the Idiots' Mega Draco Torturing Plan.
But the bursting in of Giganta Bulstrode shatters my enchantingly beautiful dream. Right now, the imagination of me ripping off that oversized head of his with claws that I had conjured as he opens his mouth to speak looks beautifully bloody.
"Ah, Mr Draco Malfoy. Saw you on the TV news many times before," He has the decency to promote his media to me? Only he has got wizards on the shows! Bullshits are bullshits. They talk only bullshits. To think that my father would follow his words and drag me into this mess... Gah!
Bulstrode struts over to my table and leans against it. For a crazy moment, I was wishing for the table to break under his terrifying weight.
"Hello Mr Bulstrode." I greet out of inborn courtesy.
"I'm here today to tell you the rules of the game," Ha! A game. We are not playing Tic-Tac-Toe, are we? "There are, in fact, no rules at all. None except for one. And that is Love Potions are strictly restricted."
Ha-ha, like I would want to use it on a Mudblood.
"Ah, and the time limit is three months." He adds.
Would he discontinue the show if I were to drag it for years? Uh, but it would look bad of me. People will say that the grand Draco Malfoy cannot even handle a Mudblood girl. Yucks.
Then there is a pause as he tries to recall what he is supposed to be saying. Of course, his brain can never react as fast as a cheetah. That speed of cheetah is already a terribly slow speed for a human brain already, mind you.
Finally, his deep, grunting voice sounds in the room again, "The girl who fits the description of being the 'complete opposite of you' would be Hermione Granger. I'm so sure that you..."
My immediate reaction was 'Ew, NO BLOODY WAY!'
Whatever bullshit he is telling me next, I did not hear. I am dizzy from the load of information he had given me.
Hermione Granger. Why do you even exist?
02-01 (1445 hrs)
I am getting ready as I heard, from reliable sources, that Granger is coming here.
Then, I have to be all nice to her when she comes. If I know her at all, she will most definitely be touched and accept this book I had people to prepare for her. This is the way to treat a bookworm.
Damn, I still can't believe I am going to do this.
Oh wait. I have got to take some pills before I get near that Mudblood. Now, now, I cannot just throw up on her, can I? Truth be told, I would love to see my product of puke on her, but you know, some millions of Galleons are at stake…
A/N: That's it, folks! Um, if this is bad, I'm sorry. By the way, I'd made small amendments to the last chapter.
First, before you all go flaming me or start ignoring my story, I want to say something. Maybe you might think that Hermione's not really that different from Draco, but I think they were quite so. I mean, people will definitely be similar in some ways, won't they (like you have nose and I have nose, you have eyes and I have…)? But so far, Draco thinks that the worst difference between them is their blood. So, there will be no use screaming at me to change the plot.
replies to my dearest reviewers deleted.
Oh, yeah, I'm done with my exams!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!
I'm sorry for the late late late update! For a full report of my late update, go to my bio, I don't feel like repeating.
Smile,
LD.
