You know what I'm gonna say.
Once again, silence permeated the room. The Redferns were all in predator's crouches, ready to fight if there was a need. Everyone was staring at each other, the Malfoys each sporting a look of pure malevolence on their pale faces.
Lucius was the first to move. He glided over to Marie, the train of his robes flowing behind him.
"So, deceit and treachery is what we have here, do we?" he asked coldly, gray eyes narrowed at Marie.
"Non, Monsieur. We were simply planning the, um-
"The wedding," Doe broke in suddenly. "We were planning Ash and Marie's wedding."
Ash's jaw was in his lap. Marie gasped. Thankfully, they regained their composure before any of the Malfoys noticed.
Then Draco stomped over to Marie. "A wedding?" he spat incredulously. "You tricked me into thinking that we had something and you were already engaged?"
Marie threw herself on him, openly weeping all over his robes. "Oui," she sobbed, forgetting that she'd only been introduced to Ash that afternoon. "We were engaged to each other as children. I only saw him a few times in childhood, and once last summer. It wasn't a few summers ago. Of course he wouldn't care, seeing as he got me pregnant then left me high and dry!
"Please help me Draco, for I don't want to do this at all. He's a monster! All my life I've been afraid-"
But she wouldn't have needed to go any farther. None of the Malfoys showed any antagonism towards her. Luckily, it seemed like they'd forgotten introductions earlier that evening too. Draco was cradling her, his arms around her waist holding her tight, and Narcissa was rubbing her back. Lucius, not being the affectionate type, had retreated to a corner, but a little bit of sympathy was showing in his eyes.
"What happened to the baby?" Narcissa asked in a hushed voice.
"I miscarried." This caused Marie to sob even harder.
Meanwhile, the Redferns watched the scene, amazed, especially Ash.
My God, he thought, Thierry was right. She can manipulate people as well as I can. Then he cleared his throat and stalked over to where Marie and Draco were standing.
"Oh, shut up!" he growled. He grabbed Marie by the shoulder. She screamed in surprise as she and Draco were wretched apart.
"I told you that if you told anyone about that that there would be a price to pay."
Then, he slapped her. It was a good slap. It reverberated through her skull and left a big red patch on her cheek. Her eyes watered from the pain, and she began to cry. Draco swept her up, so that Ash was no longer in her vision. Then he and Narcissa walked her hurriedly away from the dining room.
Later that night, after she had bathed, and had time to recover from the day's events, and it was late enough that all the Malfoys were abed, Marie managed to sneak out of her room. Locating a house elf, she asked it the location of Ash's room. It was glad to show her the way. It left her in front of heavy oak door with a snake carved in the middle. It took a while, but eventually, she managed to get the door open.
When she went in, Ash's lights were still on, and he was up in bed reading a copy of Moby Dick.
"Where'd you get that?" She asked him.
"Home, actually. Did you ever get the feeling that this book is way longer then it needs to be?"
"Oh yeah." Marie nodded in agreement. "Last year, my Honors English teacher told us that you could take out half of it and the book would still make sense."
"Yeah. Listen Mare, I know I was kind of hard on you today, and I'm sorry if the slap hurt."
"Oh, no. you're doing just fine. Keep it up."
Ash suddenly put the book down. He looked Mare deeply in the eyes. He wasn't thinking about the book anymore, she could tell. His eyes were rapidly changing color. He took her hand and led her outside. The balcony outside his room allowed for a perfect view of the night sky. He began to speak very fast. Just then, a shooting star streaked through the sky.
"Listen sweetheart. There's something I've been wanting to ask you, and if you say no, it's all right and everything, but when my mother said that we were planning our wedding today, it got me thinking that maybe we should make lies into truths." He got down on one knee and took her hand. Then he took out a fairly sizeable diamond ring.
"Mary-Lynnette Carter, will you marry me?"
a pisces- Malfoy can't know that A/ML are soulmates, but I tried to give you the nex best thing. Whaddaya think? Oh, and Hogwarts will be next chapter.
kunegunda- Thank you very much! It's nice to be praised in capital letters!
Angel- Thank you too! Aren't you glad that Malfoy didn't break up A/ML?
