Chapter 7 Money matters

Harry Potter has been sleeping a lot lately. He barely even came out of his room at the Malfoy Manor, except to eat and spend an occasional moment with Draco. He felt as if he was chronically tired. His stomach constantly rumbled, his back hurt whenever he wasn't laying down and his eyelids refused to stay open even when he was. Whenever he sat down, even for a second, his body immediately went into shutdown mode and sleep overwhelmed him.

He thought that he was coming down with something, something that he perhaps had caught during the trip to his aunt's. Consequently he spent the entire week in bed, without giving the mysterious illness much thought. Draco was slightly worried about his friends' recently acquired bed-ridden state, but had a lot on his own plate lately to pay too much attention.

He has seen Harry twice since he returned, and he hasn't seen his father at all.

Lucius had all but disappeared, popping in occasionally to check on his wife, but somehow always managing to avoid Draco. After thinking about it some more, Draco decided not to talk to his mother after all, but wait until he could see both of his parents at the same time.
With everything that was going on in his life, Draco has completely forgotten about his so called girlfriend and was almost sure that he no longer needed to worry about it. She was bright and should have gotten the point by now – he wasn't going to see her again. He considered perhaps sending her an owl to make sure that she knew, but in the end decided not to bother. He was a Malfoy after all and she knew that when she made the decision to get involved with him. It was her own fault.
All in all it was a very slow and quiet week at the Malfoy Manor.

"Sweetheart? In here. We have a guest." Lucius Malfoy had just apparated home, and was surprised to find out that his wife was not alone. He peeked around the corner of the hallway and got an even bigger surprise. With an eyebrow raised in a peculiar fashion, he stopped dead in the doorway and carefully remarked:

"Bellatrix. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"There is my favorite brother-in-law, I'm thrilled to see you!" she exclaimed and jumped up to give him a hug as soon as he took a step across the threshold.

"I was under the impression that I was your only brother-in-law." He replied coolly, not returning her forced attempt at a smile.

"Well, you know what I mean." She answered simply and sat back down, without taking her eyes off of his face. It was an unspoken understanding that the Black family no longer talked about their other sister, who has married not just a muggle born, but a full out muggle.

He smirked and took several more steps into the room, ending up in front the fireplace. Putting an elbow on top of the mantel he looked down into the fire.

"What are you doing here Bella? And don't beat around the bush. I would rather we get to the point, I was hoping to have an early night."

His wife's sister's face grew dark and lost all of its fake happiness as she retorted-"Ill have you know that I just happened to run into Cissy completely by accident while doing a little bit of shopping this morning in Paris."

"Shopping?" He barked out. "Shopping? Where the hell do you get off lying to me, Bella! You forget yourself; you forget where you are and who I am. I am Lucius Malfoy! You are in the Malfoy Manor!" He was nearly yelling now, spit flying from his thin lips at the end of every word. "Do not kid yourself, my dear. You didn't really think that your husband's financial troubles would remain a secret for long? Especially a secret from me? Please."

Bella's eyes seemed to have turned to ice and her expression, although no longer jubilant, did not show any sign of apprehension.

But inside, she was panicking.

She was determined not to let her appearance betray her, and show just how much he intimidated her.

"You want money. You should just say so. You know I appreciate honesty." He paused for a second, then went on,-"In fact that is probably why you were lurking around in the most expensive shopping district in Europe that, as you know, my wife frequents. You were hoping to run into her "by accident," get her to have tea with you and consequently run into me and feed me some cock-and-bull pitiful story that was meant to get us to feel bad for you and shell out."

Bellatrix's face was drained of all color by now and it didn't seem very likely that she would be able to speak, so her brother in law went on-

"How much?" He said. After getting no reply he repeated- "How much, Bella? I warn you right now that I will not give you more than five thousand, so you should not even bother asking for more than that." At this he took out his wand and conjured up a check and a pen. He then proceeded to sign it and hand it to his silent sister in law.

"There, this is the last time. Don't bother pretending that you plan on paying me back" Lucius thrust the expensive slip of paper at her.

"And I suggest you get a job."

With that he exited the room, leaving the two women alone.

Several hours later, when it was well after midnight, Narcissa made her way up to the master bedroom. She had finally managed to kick Bellatrix out without any hard feelings. On her part, anyway. She was more than sure that after such an embarrassing scene with her husband, her dear sister would not be coming back for a visit anytime soon. She took the money of course, for that was what she came for, (she confessed right after Lucius had left the room) but she did not leave with an easy heart. She resented Narcissa and her brother in law for everything that they had, and she could never even dream of having. She hated playing the part of the unfortunate relative and her pride suffered an enormous blow anytime she had to ask for money. Which wasn't often, but has happened once or twice before.

Her husband, Rodolphus Lestrange used to have it all. When she met him, back at school, his family was relatively wealthy. And it was all entailed to him when she decided to accept his proposal. However, not long after tying the knot, they started having problems, mostly due to his love for gambling and a tendency to drink a lot and often. He started getting into deals out of which he knew he could not get out. Bluffing only worked for so long, since his business partners began to catch on fairly fast. Soon he found himself so deep in debt that nothing could really save him.

So his fortune went down the drain, when one fine day he was forced to pay it all off. Bellatrix remembered that day well, for it happened a mere three months ago. She could not believe her eyes when she woke up that morning and found movers in her house, slowly relocating all of the most expensive furniture that was to be auctioned off in the next few days. Her wreck of a man has finally done it, he has gotten them into such a money rut, that it made her feel beyond embarrassed and worthless.

She shared all of this with Narcissa, and begged her not to let anyone know the entire story.

She needn't have worried, her sister had no intention of letting the world know just how pathetic her closest relative's life was.

Aunt Bella? Draco could have sworn that he has just heard his aunties voice. What could she be doing here. He knew that his mother was not overly fond of her sister and could not imagine them all of a sudden being on speaking terms with each other, let alone on "having tea together" terms. He was so thrown aback by this strange occurrence that he forgot all about confronting his father, and opening the door to his room, simply stared down the hallway, waiting to hear more.

By the sound of it, his aunt was leaving and his mother was saying goodbye to her at the door. He could just make out a hearty "Love you Cissy, see you soon okay?" before the door slammed loudly and his mother's light footsteps began ascending the stairs. He hastened to close his own door and walked over to the window. Now was the time to go talk to his parents. He assumed that his father was home too, since Narcissa never went to bed so early unless her husband was in it with her. She usually stayed up late into the night, reading at the bar in the kitchen for convenience's sake, since that is where she kept her "cheaper" wine selection. The one she liked to drink alone. The actual, unbelievably expensive, several-centuries-old collection, was kept down in the ancient wine cellar, but Narcissa was not overly fond of the idea of venturing into the dungeons of her mansion every time she fancied a drink. Which was quite often...

Draco inhaled and crossed his room for the hundredth time that night. He stepped out into the hallway and started walking toward his parents' bedroom, located on the other end of the "family" wing. When he got there, he stopped and stood in front of the heavy wooden door for several minutes, gathering courage. Finally he knocked, and without waiting an obligatory ten seconds for an answer, did what he was well accustomed to doing in his own home – walked right in.

Narcissa walked in to find her husband reading a paper in bed. She was surprised that he was still awake, for he was normally out by ten, snoring like crazy by the time she got there. He looked up and at seeing her puzzled expression, quickly anticipated what she was about to ask and replied-"I was hoping we could have sex tonight. It has been a while since we had time to devote a couple of unrushed hours to it."

He said this as if it was the most mundane and normal thing to say. There was no passion in his voice, no romance. He knew he didn't need to bother with an act like that - his wife was not expecting it.

"Oh" was all she said in return, and began to take her clothes off. Lucius threw his paper haphazardly to the floor and crawled over to the opposite side of their enormous mattress. He was about to stand up and put his hands around her when he heard a quiet knock. Before he could tell whomever it was to go away, they turned the knob and swung the door wide open.

When the two of them looked up, they saw Draco standing in the doorway.

A/N K, here's chapter 7. Hope you like it ! Let me know what you guys think )