The next morning Rose woke up on her couch. For a moment she wondered if she had dreamed the entire thing, but a sparkling glint caught her eye and she remembered the ring. She was supposed to be getting married today, to Malfoy, her stomach turned.
A knock came at her door. She looked through the peep hole and saw a pretty brunette witch toting a suspiciously large bag. She opened the door and the witch smiled at her.
"You must be Rose! Aren't you just so pretty!" She came into the flat without invitation.
"Erm…" Rose began but the witch cut her off. "I'm Goldie. Mr. Malfoy sent me to get you ready." She gestured to her large bag.
The next half hour was a flurry of makeup and hair spells. Goldie laid out four dresses on her bed and told her to choose one. She considered each option and settled on the light pink dress that had a fitted bodice and long flowing silk skirt. She figured the pink would clash the least with her auburn hair.
She was already feeling tired and light-headed before noon, but she knew she needed to keep it together for the day. She was surprised that Malfoy only wanted a civil wedding and not a big affair and for that she was silently thankful.
Goldie peppered her with compliments that made Rose uncomfortable. While she knew that she wasn't poorly looking, she also had never received many compliments on her appearance outside of her mum who was obligated.
Looking in the mirror she had to admit that Goldie had completely transformed her. Her hair was sleek and fell in perfect soft waves down her back and her make up accentuated her large eyes.
"Last thing," Goldie slipped her a velvet box. Rose took it and rolled her eyes. This man and his expensive jewelry she thought, shaking her head in disbelief.
She flipped it open to find a necklace with a gold chain, the center held a small round diamond and below it hung a tear drop shaped garnet. It was ridiculously beautiful and again Rose felt like she couldn't accept it. Except Malfoy wasn't there and she couldn't send it back with Goldie who probably didn't know this was a fake wedding anyway.
She clasped it around her neck and looked in the mirror again. It did seem to complete the ensemble. Guilt over how much he probably spent on it felt heavy in her stomach.
Goldie informed her Malfoy would be by soon to escort her and left the flat.
Left alone in her flat she looked around and thought she wouldn't really miss it. She only lived there a few months a year anyway. However, joining her life with Malfoy's was another matter entirely.
They could divorce in three years, but by then it might be too late for her to find a real husband and have children… that thought suddenly made her sad. Except, she wouldn't have the chance to do any of those things without him either.
It felt wrong that her mum and family weren't there with her on her wedding day too. She didn't want to back out, she wanted to live, no matter the cost. It was only fake anyway, nothing to be nervous about, she assured herself.
Malfoy apparated directly into her flat this time. She whipped around to find him in another designer suit, this time a navy blue. She momentarily couldn't breathe but quickly collected herself.
"Ready?" He asked.
"Ready." She nodded.
He walked over to her and she slunk away.
He gave tilted his head down and gave her a look.
"I won't hurt you, Weasley. We'll side-along."
"Malfoy." She stated.
"What?"
"I mean, Malfoy, will be my last name now. You can't call me Weasley anymore."
He frowned and linked his arm with hers without comment and apparated them both.
She looked around and realized they weren't in the main entrance. He had apparated them to a room that contained only one other person. She hadn't even thought about the fact that they might run into someone they know at the Ministry.
He must have seen the wheels turning in her head.
"This is a private room. No one will see us."
The officiant ran them through the process quickly and cast the marriage bonding spell that momentarily sent electric tingles through her body. The next thing she knew she was signing her name to the certificate. Malfoy did the same and just like that, unceremoniously, it was official.
"Congratulations, Mrs. Malfoy," said the officiant, which snapped her out of her daze.
She felt clammy and tired, she couldn't get out of the room fast enough. She held her head as a fit of dizziness passed her.
She felt a hand at her back.
"Are you ok?" asked Malfoy.
"I'm…I'm fine, just, a bit dizzy."
His hand pressed into her back was doing nothing to help her dizziness, she stepped away from him but as she did, dizziness overwhelmed her, and she collapsed into the chair that was luckily directly behind her.
She opened her eyes and Malfoy's face came into focus as he knelt in front of her. For a moment he actually looked concerned, as if he was capable. She laughed at the thought.
His face screwed in confusion at her laughter and he pressed a hand to her forehead this time.
He gripped the sides of her arms and apparated them again. This time she found herself in a room painted a lovely shade of dark red, but she was too dizzy to make out any other features. She was placed on a soft bed and immediately fell asleep.
She woke up to the sound of two voice speaking in low tones. Malfoy and a man in a white Healer's robes came into view.
"Rose?" said the stranger's voice. "I'm Healer Jefferies, your husband has asked me to attend to you. It seems you had a dizzy spell earlier today; do you remember?"
She grumbled incoherently. Looking down she realized she wasn't in the dress anymore, but instead white and blue stripped pajamas. She looked at Malfoy accusingly who held his hands up in innocence.
"The house elves did it, I promise." She nodded and turned her attention to the Healer.
"I'm ok, really. It happens."
The Healer looked at her concerned.
"I've ran some diagnostic spells. The transplant really can't wait, Rose. We need to go to St. Mungo's. Then you'll be on bed rest here for a month and be monitored. We'll keep the room sterile and the air magically filtered as you regain your immune system."
She felt too weak to respond and simply just nodded again as she drifted back to sleep.
The next time she woke up she couldn't discern how much time had passed. She glanced around the dark room and her eyes fell on Malfoy, who was asleep in a large love seat near her bed. She sat up and felt stiff and sore.
Had they already done the transplant? Time was disjointed and she felt a confused panic rising in her chest.
Malfoy shifted and she looked up to see he had woken up and was looking at her.
"What happened?" She asked groggily.
He cleared his throat and came over to sit on the edge of the bed.
"You fell asleep after the Healer came to visit. We took you to St. Mungo's and you weren't regaining consciousness, your vitals weren't good. They did the procedure immediately. I was able to sign for it, as your husband…." He trailed.
"How long have I been out?"
"Three days."
Her eyes widened.
"No wonder I'm so sore," she said rubbing at her neck.
Her stomach growled loudly, and she clasped a hand over mouth in embarrassment.
He laughed lightly.
"Kiko!" He called.
A house elf appeared.
"Yes, Master and Mistress, what can I do?" she asked with bowed head.
"Please bring Mrs. Malfoy dinner."
Rose laid back on the pillows and took in the events as relayed by Malfoy.
She watched as he got up from where he was sitting on the edge of the bed and turned to face her.
"Well then, I'll leave you alone."
"Wait!" She called and grabbed his arm.
He froze at her touch and she realized she shouldn't have grabbed him. She let go and dropped her arm nervously.
"Kiko can get you anything you need, just call for her. I need to work."
She bowed her head and looked at her lap. He left the room and her sense of unease immediately hit her.
She was married now, to this cold man she didn't really know. He had also stuck to his word and went through with the procedure, for which she was grateful. Then there was the looming sense of dread surrounding telling her family she was now married and had possibly found the cure to her illness.
A pop shook her from her ruminations and Kiko appeared with a tray of food.
"Mistress, dinner." The house elf placed the tray across her lap in bed and the smell of food made her stomach growl loudly again.
"Thank you, Kiko."
"You is welcome, Miss. Master has gone to work, he must be tired, he stayed by Mistress's bed for three days! Kiko is worry."
Roses' eyes widened in surprise.
"He…he stayed here, all that time?"
Kiko shook her head in affirmation and bowed to signal she would depart.
"Wait, can you bring me parchment and a quill so that I can write to my mum?"
Kiko snapped her fingers and the writing supplies appeared on the small table next to the bed.
"When Miss wants to send please call Kiko."
Rose refocused on the food before her and devoured the steak foie gras and pea soup.
She placed the tray aside and took up the parchment and quill. What could she possibly say to her Mum that didn't sound ridiculous? She wouldn't be able to leave the room for another month, which meant she'd have to invite her mum over to…Malfoy's house…well, her house now.
Instead she first wrote a letter to Malfoy to see if it was ok that her Mum came to visit her, to explain everything. She also didn't know where the house she was in even is so she couldn't invite her mum yet regardless. Her stomach hurt from the combination of anxiety and the first solid food she had eaten in days.
When the letter was prepared, she called Kiko who retrieved it and her empty dishes. She assumed the elf would pass it to Malfoy's owl.
Now that she was alone, with nothing to do, she explored the room.
The room was painted a dark red, it wasn't small, but not overly extravagant either.
She was in a large king-sized bed with black silk sheets and heavy grey comforter. The curtains were a translucent pearl color that allowed for plenty of light to stream through the large windows that framed the bed.
Across from the bed there was a dark wood armoire with a large gold mirror to the left of it. The right side of the bed contained a plush white love seat that Malfoy had been sitting in earlier with a beautiful painting of water lilies above it. The left side of the room was lined floor to ceiling with dark wood bookshelves brimming with books. She smiled to herself that at least if she were stuck in the room to recover, she had plenty of reading material.
She rose from the bed to scan the shelves. There were books of all genres; poetry, philosophy, muggle contemporary, and even a large section of magical history books. She suddenly remembered that she still needed to prepare her class plan for the school year. She'd had to return to Hogwarts just two weeks after her mandatory recovery time. She pulled down five magical history texts and set them on the bed.
She noticed that next to the double doors Malfoy had exited there was another single door. She opened it to find a bathroom with a large spa style bathtub that was more like a small pool. The entire room was beautiful white marble.
There was a shelf lined with bath and hair potions. She spent the next hour relaxing in the heated bathing pool. She meticulously scrubbed her body and washed her hair to make up for the days in which she was bed ridden.
She wrapped herself with the plush grey robe that hung on the wall next to the basin sink and brushed her hair out with one of the bamboo combs she found. The drawers under the dink contained make up, brushes, perfumes and a familiar velvet box. She opened it up to find the diamond and garnet necklace that she had received the day they got married. The sight of it reminded her of She closed it and set it back.
Back in the bedroom she flipped open a book and began reading on the history of the Goblin wars, which of course she already knew well. There was something comforting in reading about history. For every terrible atrocity there were also stories of love and triumph—generally speaking, situations usually work themselves out.
Kiko arrived again with a pop and was holding a scroll she handed over to Rose.
Rose unfurled it to find Malfoy's loopy cursive script.
You can tell your mum to arrive at 88 Flower Cottage.
No salutation or signature. She frowned at the parchment and shivered.
Taking up quill and parchment again she set to write her mother a letter, until she realized that she and Malfoy didn't have a story. If it were supposed to be a believable relationship, they'd need a back story. Instead of writing a letter she began writing a list of things they needed to straighten out before they could but their fake marriage to the test.
Once she was satisfied that her list was comprehensive, she wrote a response letter to Malfoy asking him if he'd come to her room later to discuss. It was past dinner, yet Kiko had said he went to work. She wondered if he often worked late nights or if he was behind because he had been distracted by attending to her the past several says.
After sending the letter off she settled back into bed and opened up another book. She began growing nervous as she waited to see if Malfoy would reply. Not twenty minutes later he entered the room and unceremoniously plopped himself on the love seat. He didn't look at her or acknowledge her, only laid his head back and closed his eyes.
He looked exhausted, yet somehow was still immaculately dressed and put together. She examined his square jaw and the column of neck that disappeared into a crisp white dress shirt.
"Do you always wear muggle suits?" She inquired, breaking the heavy silence.
Without lifting his head, he peaked one eye open to look her at, and then settled both eyes on the ceiling.
"I work with a lot of Muggle clients, it's easier this way. Companies of our size aren't sustainable in the magical market alone."
She nodded even though he couldn't see her.
"I—I made a list, of things we should probably know about each other, and what our back story should be."
He lifted his head and nodded for her to continue.
"Well, first, we need a….love story," she said nervously, picking at the fringe of the comforter.
"I thought maybe, we met one day at Diagon Alley a year ago, you asked me to have tea and one thing led to another and we carried on a secret romance. We dated through the school term and finally we couldn't wait any longer to get married, so we eloped."
He shifted on the love seat and cleared his throat. "That sounds like something out of a Muggle drama."
She rolled her eyes at him. "Well, do you have a better idea?"
He considered the question for a moment, "No, I suppose not." His eyes went back to the ceiling.
This was going to be more difficult than she imagined, he didn't seem like he was willing to open up to her.
"Here's a list of things you should know about me, if you want it to be believable that we've been in a relationship for long enough to decide of marriage," she held out the scroll to him.
He stood up, took it from her and sat back into the love seat. He unrolled the parchment and skimmed the contents.
"I'll write one for you too then." Another heavy silence settled between them.
"Healer Jeffries will be by tomorrow morning for a check-up….. how are you….feeling, by the way?"
She looked over to find he was looking at her and not the ceiling anymore.
"Erm, fine I suppose. Not really any different yet, I'm still tired."
He nodded.
"Then, you should get some rest," he checked his wristwatch. "It's late."
He left the room in a hurry and she stuck her tongue out at the double doors he closed behind him.
The next morning Kiko delivered her breakfast tray with a scroll of parchment tied with a red ribbon. She opened it up and recognized Malfoy's handwriting from his previous note. It was his list like the one she had made him.
There were simple facts like his birthday, middle name, and favorite color. There was nothing of substance that would give him further insight into anything about his personal life. She briefly wondered if he had ever been in any relationships before their fake one and made a mental note to ask him the next time he came.
Healer Jefferies came soon after to check her vitals and draw blood for testing. By the time lunch arrived she was too exhausted to eat. She left it on the side table and settled under the covers for a nap.
When she woke up, she was shocked to find Malfoy lounging in the love seat reading a book. He hadn't noticed she was awake yet, so she spent time studying him.
He was certainly handsome with his blond hair and regal face. He had a fit body and his designer suits fit him well. His long fingers grasped the book and she watched his grey eyes move back and forth across the page.
She wondered why he couldn't find a real wife. He was obviously rich, and fit, though there was also the matter of his cold disposition.
"Are you going to keep staring?" Came his deep voice. She startled and sat upright.
"I wasn't!" She said defensively.
He smirked at her and sat up as well.
Kiko popped in and relieved them of the awkwardness. She carried two dinner trays this time and laid the trays before them respectively.
"Mistress must eat dinner; she did not touch lunch tray."
Malfoy frowned at her.
"And why didn't Mistress eat lunch?" He asked accusingly.
"I was tired…"
"Well, try to eat it from now on, you need it for recovery."
"As if you care," she mumbled under her breath.
"What was that?" He asked.
"Nothing, dear." She smiled sweetly and he flashed that smirk again.
"I thought so." He began eating the beef wellington before him and when he noticed she hadn't touched hers he put his fork down.
"Do I need to feed it to you, then?"
She snapped out of her daze and picked her own fork up.
"No! No, I was just thinking."
"About?"
"Well, I'm nervous for my mum to visit. How can I be convincing if all I know is that your middle name is Hypernion, your favorite color is red, that you work and in your free time you do more work?"
He focused back on his dish with no reply.
Merlin, he was frustrating. If he wasn't going to talk then she would talk him to death. For the following fifteen minutes she launched into a diatribe about the Goblin Wars she had been reading about.
Finally, Malfoy interrupted her.
"Alright! That's enough. What do you want to know then?"
She shrugged.
"I—I don't know, what was your childhood like? Have you ever had a girlfriend? Do you have any pets?"
"One at a time!" He nearly shouted. He was clearly uncomfortable by her questions, but he patted his mouth with his cloth and cleared his throat.
"My childhood was…. Well it was…."
"Yes? Go on."
He sighed.
"Let's start with a different question, no, I don't have any pets and yes, I've had a girlfriend."
She wanted to say something snarky, but she didn't want him to close off again.
"Ok….tell me about the girlfriend."
"I'd rather not."
She glared at him and got out of bed and marched over to the love seat and settled herself beside him. He inched away from her as far as he could.
"Look, Malfoy. Any wife would know these things about her husband."
He continued pushing food around his plate, not looking at her.
"Her name was Mary, and she…. cheated on me."
Rose's head snapped to look at him with wide eyes.
"Ohh… I'm s—sorry, Scorpius."
He looked at her with a funny expression.
"You've never called me Scorpius."
She glanced away from his face.
"Would you prefer a pet name, how about, honey muffin?" She batted her eyes at him in false sweetness.
He grimaced.
"Please, no." She fell into a fit of giggles beside him and his expression softened.
When she had collected herself, he continued.
"So, she cheated on me, and since then I haven't dated."
"Aww, Malfoy got his cold heart broken."
His facial expression when back to stony anger. For a moment she was overtaken with regret for goading him.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that, it's just…."
He cut her off, "Save it. Do you want to know more or not?" She nodded in affirmation vigorously.
"My childhood was….. lonely. My parents are strict. I spent a lot of time alone in the mansion. Which is why I choose to live here in the cottage after I came back from school in America."
"What did you go to school for?"
"I went to Muggle business school, at Harvard, maybe you've heard of it."
She gasped.
"Wow, Malfoy, I didn't know you were so smart."
He narrowed his eyes at her and leaned toward her to flick the middle of her forehead.
"Oy!" she jabbed her pointer finger into his side, and he caught her wrist. They breathed heavily for a moment and Rose started laughing again.
He let go of her wrist. "This is how you treat your husband on his birthday?"
She gasped.
"I forgot! It's hard to tell what day it is without a calendar. Happy Birthday!"
He shrugged.
"It's fine, I don't really…. celebrate it anyway."
No, of course he wouldn't. She leaned back against the love seat.
"So, was Mary someone from University then?" He nodded.
"She was American, a Muggle, we met in a lecture. It was never very serious, but still, it was surprising when I came across her snogging another man in the library."
Rose looked at him with a serious expression.
"That's shite, I'm sorry that happened to you."
"No need to be sorry, it's in the past now."
"Right, ok so tell me about University."
He began a long winded but dry retelling of his college years. He was dedicated to his studies and didn't party. It was the most she had ever heard him talk at one time and the sound of his voice lulled her into sleep.
It was only a few minutes after she fell asleep that he realized it. He sighed, summoned a throw blanket, and dragged it across her up to her shoulders. He stood to leave but studied her face for a brief moment before turning out the lights with a flick of his wand. He left her to sleep and went to his office to finish working.
The next two weeks passed in the same manner. She would have breakfast, Mr. Jefferies would check her vitals and take her blood, she would read or take naps most of the day, and Malfoy would have dinner with her most nights where they would talk about their lives—well mostly, she would talk about her life and squeeze bits of information out of him. Sometimes he didn't want to talk and would simply pull out a book and read while ignoring her. On the nights he didn't come at all she would take long baths and feel somewhat forlorn.
She knew it was finally time to have her mother come visit her. They had exchanged a few letters, just enough that her mum wouldn't become worried about her whereabouts. In a moment of bravery, she sent a letter with the address and requested she come visit.
That night when Malfoy came for dinner, she informed him of her mum's impending visit for the following day.
Malfoy choked on his bit of salad when she told him.
"Erm… I suppose it's about time for that." She nodded in agreement.
"When will I….I mean, well, when do you think I'll meet your parents?" She asked.
"Once you're recovered, we'll pay them a visit at the Manor." Her stomach twisted.
"They think I'm out of the country on business right now. I'm sure my mother has already planned my wedding to Tulip by now."
"Right, I had forgotten about that…. Why…why didn't you want to marry her?"
He sighed and dragged a hand across his face.
"We grew up together. She's everything I hate about pureblooded society. She thought she owned me, because she knew our parents were trying to arrange a match. She figured I'd play along with it and she'd happily live the rest of her life on my dime." He frowned at the idea.
Rose didn't dare speak as he finally opened up more than he had yet.
"Anyway, I just didn't want to marry her, never did. I guess I always imagined I'd marry someone as my equal. Someone unmaterialistic, with ideas and dreams of their own."
"So instead of that you used my illness to trick me into being a proxy wife?" She bit her tongue and mentally scolded herself for being harsh.
He narrowed his eyes at her.
"No, I…I guess I saw how badly you wanted to live and…. you had all of those qualities I wanted but couldn't find. Admittedly, I made a bit of a rash decision in my offer. I've always been taught that business comes before everything. Having a wife for the image of the business and to satisfy my parents is important, even if it isn't real….and even better if it isn't real, really, because love only gets in the way of other priorities…." He trailed off and she was paralyzed by his admissions.
He thought she had those qualities. His words rang in her head.
She cleared her throat.
"I think I understand it. Our ideas of love and marriage come from what we grew up with. For me, my parents fought a lot. I don't think they were truly ever happy. They divorced when I was younger, I'm sure you know that already it was all over the papers. Despite that, I did want to marry for love and even…. have a family of my own eventually. I never could trust anyone I met though, which is why I never dated. My dad…. he cheated on mum. That stuck with me. Never trust anyone."
He met her eyes with the softest expression she had seen from him since she had chased after his car that day. Everything that had transpired since that day felt unreal, as if she had been floating outside of her body the entire time.
She kept talking.
"So, when you made your offer I didn't really have to hesitate to answer. I needed something from you, and you needed something from me. It wasn't like I would have a marriage prospect any time soon anyway. To keep on living was more important than anything else. The thought of eventually being unable to go back to teach at Hogwarts or of never writing the book I want to write; it tore me up inside each time I fell ill."
She shrugged in dismissal, though the act was incongruous with the weight of her words.
"You want to write a book?" He asked.
"Well, don't all historians? What else are we to do if not teach or write a book. Why not both."
He laughed, genuinely, and before she knew it, she was grinning from ear to ear at him, happy that she was the one that made him laugh.
"I hope you get to write that book and that you'll let me read it." He stood from the love seat and all she could do was look up at him. He'd given her life, in that moment, she vowed to herself that she would make her best attempt at being a good wife, despite its fabricated origins.
"Good night, Rose," he said, and left the room leaving her alone to unpack their discussion and mentally prepare for seeing her mum the next day.