Malfoy's desires

Chapter twelve: Mum and Dad.

All names and places associated to Harry Potter belong to JKRowling and associates. I'm just borrowing its world for fun… no money is to be made from this.

Katherine sat in her parent's kitchen, holding the truly horrible concoction her mother called tea. She grinded her teeth as she took another sip, whishing she had brought some of hers from home.

'Mum, I think the chickens got out again. And Fergus is having fun chasing them.' Katherine grinned as the old mixed breed loped heavily from one side of the yard to the other.

'Don't let him do that... Katherine, go outside and please stop him from doing that. You know that his hips can't take that much activity anymore.' Teresa Cardiff hollered from the upper floor. 'Get him inside before he injures himself.'

Katherine shrugged a shoulder and went to the door, stepping outside with her wand in hand. She knew that Fergus barely had fun anymore and would hardly listen to her calls.

'Fergus! You dotty dog, get inside this instant!' she aimed the chickens and stunned them until she could get them back in their pen. 'Fergus... I'm warning you, get back inside.'

The dog finally looked up when it noticed that the birds had stopped moving and one of his mistresses was calling him. Its tongue hung to one side of its open mouth, panting heavily as he wagged his tail with glee. Fergus walked slowly toward her, coming up for a free pat on his head.

'Fergus, go inside or mum will go ballistic on you.' She patted the big dog's shaggy yellow head, grabbing its collar for good measure. Her mother was now standing at the door.

'Katherine, why did you go stunning the chickens?' Teresa groaned, 'just put them back where they belong and I'll handle Fergus.' she grabbed the dog's collar and led him inside. 'And do be careful while closing the gate. You remember the last time you forgot to lock it. It took an hour for your dad to find them all.'

Katherine hissed a breath out, irritated by her mum's usual disparaging remarks. She swore as she collected the bloody fowl and placed them back within their pen. Putting back the latch on the gate, she added a large brass padlock with a swish of her wand, making sure that she locked the blasted thing.

Dragging her feet, hands firmly shoved inside her cloak pockets, she entered the house again without much enthusiasm. Another visit, another soured experience she thought to herself. Her mum could suck the very life out of a rock if she minded herself to do it.

'All done, mum. And the gate is properly locked, I can assure you.' Katherine grumbled on, taking her seat by the window.

'That's nice, dear...' her mother muttered in response. 'More tea?'

'No!' Katherine answered quickly, maybe a little too quickly as her mother's head snapped up to peer back at her.

'Don't take that tone, young lady.' she sniffed haughtily, bringing the kettle to a boil with a tap of her wand. 'I was only offering...'

Katherine cut off her mum's coming diatribe. 'I know, mum. Thank you anyway, I've had more than enough tea for today.'

'Sometimes, I do wish you were a bit more amiable with me. Am I such a bad mother?' she huffed as she added the tea leaves to the small, brightly colored teapot. The ornate orange and yellow flowers upon the bright blue base screamed loudly, making Katherine long for a pair of muggle sunglasses.

'No, mum. You know you're not a bad mother. Why do you bring that up every single time we argue?' she huffed back indignantly.

'I do not do that and you better bloody well remember that. I am your mother and you owe me some degree of courtesy when you visit. What would your father think?' Teresa said as she put her fists on her plump hips, a petulant sneer on her face.

'Merlin help me!' Katherine whispered as she looked toward the ceiling. She really didn't want to go there again. 'Where is dad anyway? Isn't he back from his errand yet?'

'He should be here soon and I will be talking to him about your attitude problem.' Teresa finally responded after she rearranged a few wisps of graying hair behind her ears.

'Fine, I'll wait for him in the sitting room.' Katherine murmured, trying to keep her irritation in check. She walked along the corridor and entered the overfilled room, taking the nearest Queen Anne style chair. Every inch of floor space was seemingly filled some kind of odd or end that her father had brought back from his missions abroad. Her mother had added the perfectly pressed doilies to put her own personal touch to the ensemble.

Her parent's had moved to this small farm outside of the Lake district, wanting to be away from the wizarding communities. Her father had endured enough strife and headaches as a liaison officer for the ministry. He had dealt with his fair share of negotiations with a myriad of peoples and creatures: Goblins, merepeople, giants, centaurs and whatever else needed to be done to smooth the relations with either camp. His retirement had been a godsend from Katherine's point of view, but her mum still griped about the lack of social events they were invited to since then.

Her father came in a half hour later, a small brown bag under his arm. He removed his traveling cloak and placed it neatly on the coat rack near the door. 'Teresa... I'm back!' he called loudly, walking across the foyer and entering the sitting room without further ado.

"Katherine!' he said with surprise, 'didn't know you were coming today. What brings you out here?' He bent down to kiss his daughter on the cheek, ruffling the top of her head as if she were a five year old again.

"Dad! Stop doing that!' she reached up with both hands to calmly to put back her hair in its proper place.

Gerard Cardiff smiled gently at his eldest child, knowing how much she indeed hated his little marks of affection. But he couldn't help himself. He loved his children and had to show it somehow.

She caught his smile and grinned back at him, he could be such a lovely pain sometimes. "I came over because mum asked... demanded that I make a required visit. Said it had been too long since my last visit and that you were sick with worry about me...'

Gerard shook his head at her words. 'You know your mother and her gift for over-embellishing situations.' He chuckled as he took a seat near the end table, putting the brown bag on its top.

Katherine grunted in response, nodding her head as she rolled her eyes. 'To say the very least, Dad.'

'Now, tell me what's new and exciting at the ministry. Any good gossip going around?' he asked with a wink in her direction.

Katherine made a short dissertation of the newest things that she'd heard about and whatever juicy bits she had overheard. Her father smiled, remembering the faces of the different people she was naming. He did have some great memories from the place, though they were overshadowed by the resurgence of the Dark Lord.

That in itself had been the scourge that had tinted the last few years of his employment. He had lost too many friends and colleagues during those years. So he had resolutely given his resignation and had physically distanced himself form the wizarding world.

He nodded to her when she had finished and asked, 'what about you, Kitty? Any new people in your life?' He used the pet name he had so often called her since she was a child. She had been profoundly in love with every cat she had ever set her eyes on and the name had come from her penchant for the felines she had known.

Katherine laughed at the name, 'Not much on that front, Dad.'

'What about that Bill Weasley? Doesn't he figure prominently in your life? I was under the impression that you fancied the young man.' Her father said while looking over his eyeglasses.

'Bill is a good friend, nothing more.' she answered with a smile.

'Ah! No one else has managed to tickle your fancy? You being such a pretty witch and all...' her father chided her.

Katherine said nothing, letting her gaze focus on a small bronze statuette on the table next to her.

'Hmm!' her father muttered, 'no one you want to mention to your mother, I'm willing to bet.'

She looked at her father, reading his greenish-brown eyes. 'Something like that, Dad.'

'Do bring him along if he ever takes on any importance in your life, will you?' he added, his hand going inside the brown bag to fish out another smaller bag. He tapped his wand on its side, making it grow back to its original volume.

Katherine read the writing on the side, 'you went to Honeydukes? Oh... gimme a look at what's inside.' she tried to take the bag away from him, giggling as she missed her target. 'Come on, you know I can't resist anything from that place.'

'Ah, ah, ahhh... patience, Kitty! If you're nice with your Mum over dinner, I might give you some...' he plunged his hand inside and took the family box of chocolate frogs. 'Nice and tasty frogs for you?' he taunted her.

Katherine almost drooled at the thought. 'You are so cruel with me.' she half-whined at him, pouting theatrically at him.

He laughed at her mimic, 'You look like your cousin Dorothea.'

'I do not! Now, give me a frog... please!' she smiled broadly, 'and I'll behave with Mum.'

He eyed her, disbelief painted over his face. 'I don't know about that.' He took a frog wrapper and swung it between his fingers. 'Seems you like going for your mother these days.'

Katherine smirked at her father, 'Yea, well... she does her best to get me going at times. You must admit that.'

He nodded to her, but a moment later, the frog flew out of his hand and landed on Katherine's lap. She picked it up, tore the wrapper apart and chucked the piece of chocolate in her mouth. 'Mmm...'

'You are hopeless!' he threw his hands up and got off his chair. He put the box next to his daughter, grinning as her face reflected the sheer pleasure the confection produced.

A little family history for now... a bit more in the next chapter. Then we can get to the juicy parts with Mr. Malfoy and his exhuberant imagination. Thanks to everyone who have so far reviewed the story... every little bit helps me to define certain parts as opposed to others. And yes, I did visit the LJ page where my story was critiqued... It was a fun visit and did get a few ideas for the progress of this story. And this story is definitely AU! So, Malfoy is as easy to play with (if not distort a wee bit) as any other canon character, so if you can only read canon Malfoy, you won't like my story at all. Enough said, back to the story. ;)