Disclaimer: I do not own ANY of these Harry Potter characters, settings, etc. - all of that is property of JK Rowling, Warner Bros., and other affiliates, except for Tony Leoni and any other original characters you notice… Bitsy is strictly property of the Book 5 Chapter 1 thread on the Warner Bros. Harry Potter Dialogue Boards. The general plot is owned by…well, I don't know WHO My Fair Lady should be owned by, since it's based on Pygmalion, so… it's not mine!
Author's Note: This is my first Ginny/Draco attempt… but I love these two together and what could be better than a My Fair Lady twist? (Note- this is NOT exactly like My Fair Lady… I only based the story line on it.) Rated PG-13 for mild language and later chapters.
Draco knew that his mother would go all out for his twentieth birthday party- she'd always longed to throw big, ritzy parties, but his father disliked that many people wandering about their darkly furnished home. Narcissa couldn't care less about the Dark Arts- she really had no idea of the extent to which her husband practiced them- which was one of the reasons that he married her. All she wanted was to satisfy her thirst for good social standing and a lavish lifestyle. Draco had to admit to himself that she wasn't the brightest thing to grace Britain with her presence.
His father, once Draco was born, really couldn't be bothered with Narcissa anymore; the entire point of their marriage was to produce an heir, after all. Of course, he couldn't ignore her completely- he took her out to social events and such, but mostly left her to herself, with a few rules, of course.
No parties were to be thrown without his knowledge, or approval of the guest list. Lucius especially disliked this one passion of his wife's, but if he couldn't stop it, at least he could regulate it. Since she had virtually no knowledge of his dark dealings, it wasn't safe to trust her choice of guests. She was also allowed minimal time with Draco- Lucius couldn't risk her daftness seeping into the boy's mind, and couldn't trust the youngster with keeping secrets from his mother.
Because of this, Draco grew up under the care of varied servants, and saw mostly his father. To tell the truth, he had never really been interested in any of the Dark Arts that his father had impressed upon him at such an early age. He had fully intended to drop any association with the sneaky, conniving friends of his father's as soon as he was on his own. Dumbledore, however, and that prat Potter had taken care of that for him already.
Voldemort had been defeated over two years ago, and Draco was finally free to live his life to HIS standards. Granted, he wasn't your average boy-scout figure like Potter, but he wasn't plotting against the Ministry of Magic or anything either. He supposed that he owed some of his freedom to Potter and his friends, but he didn't want to. He'd never cared for them, and not because of Potter's victory over Voldemort. Draco sincerely disliked those who weren't up to his level of intelligence, (which he felt was everyone) and tended to hold grudges. Those who bothered themselves with trivial matters instead of studying psychology, theology, and all of those intriguing subjects irritated him. True, many of the topics were Muggle, but Draco simply didn't care for most Muggles because of their extreme ignorance. He knew that he was being harsh, and that his Malfoy temper was prone to set him off, even if the person in question merely disagreed with him on the subject of Freud or Socrates, but he couldn't help himself. He disliked being labeled as a Dark Lord supporter so much that it turned him against those who weren't on Voldemort's side. If they were too stupid to see past the façade, let them find out in due time.
Draco had to drag his bitter thoughts back to the present. He had never had many friends, but that was about to change; his mother was hosting her first extravagant salon since his father's imprisonment, in honor of Draco's birthday.
"No, Mother, we don't need to release doves when the cake is cut…" Honestly, it was beginning to sound more like a wedding than a birthday.
"Oh, but Draco, darling-"
"Why don't we go over the guest list again?" Draco hurriedly suggested, as his mother started to pout, wrinkling her brow complainingly. She brightened at once.
"Oh! Alright then! Here you are darling- all senior Ministry official invited of course, and most of their families as well- Ernest Dunkle's two children, well, they're a tad destructive, and Eliza Fink's husband is rather mad. Many of my own friends are on here, and of course you may invite whomever you wish. The school board and Albus Dumbledore will be invited, naturally- this will be such a splendid party, and people as prominent as they should not be forgotten…" She handed the long roll of parchment to Draco, pointing to names on the list as she spoke.
"Thank you Mother, I'll look over it now. Why don't you go back to planning the decorations? Just- no doves, for Merlin's sake!" Draco rose, kissed his mother on the cheek, and strode briskly through the gardens back to the Manor.
Once in his study, he called Bitsy and ordered her to bring him something to eat.
"And something to drink, while you're at it- but don't make it too strong, I have to be able to attend to business tonight." He dismissed the house-elf, and examined the list. The Ministry officials were at the top, written in his mother's elegant script. He scanned the names:
Cornelius Fudge and guest (the minister had never remarried after the death of his wife)
Ludovic Bagman and guest
Percival Weasley and guest
'Weasley? That stuffed shirt? What did he do now?' Draco thought to himself, before recalling that he was the Associate Junior Assistant Minister of Magic- slaving his way up, no doubt, Draco snickered, and read through dozens of Ministry names before another caught his eye.
Arthur Weasley and family
Draco was not happy. He had never liked the Weasleys- not because they were poor Muggle-lovers, as everyone thought, but because they'd let his father win. (Not to mention the fact that their children annoyed the hell out of him…) Arthur Weasley was a decent enough fellow, but Draco couldn't stand the fact that he'd allowed Lucius Malfoy to ruin his life the way that he had. He'd have to speak to his mother about that "and family" part… those Weasley children were just so irritating- so…good and honorable, to the point of being sickening, just like Potter. (Who, Draco had noticed, had also been invited= no one could ignore the hero of the free world…) The twins, (what were their names?) Frank and Gerald-no, Fred and George, that was it-they were all right, but Draco couldn't stand the whole lot of them together- one big mass of red hair and freckles. He'd have to have his mother change their invitation.
"Absolutely not!" Narcissa Malfoy exclaimed, horrified. "Arthur Weasley is a VERY prominent member of the Ministry, and a close friend of Albus Dumbledore! We simply cannot insult him by not inviting his family!" Draco scowled. "And I expect you to be CIVIL to them, Draco…"
"Yes, Mother…" he muttered, and in his bad temper, went to harass Bitsy for some food.
Author's Note: While this story is published under the name of CakeTwins, my partner Carrie, who is co-writing Puddlemere (go read!) with me, is not in any way involved in the production of this story…
