Some Like It Mild
By Kukaburry
Chapter 14- Finders Keepers
Laurie fell asleep that night after writing a response to Damion. Laurie tossed and turned all night, continuously dreaming about her first encounter with Draco.
"Laurie! Come say goodbye to your father." Laurie lay on her bed covered with purple and black sheets, reading a book about the goblin wars in Indonesia, trying to ignore her parent's fighting.
"Laurie get yourself down here or you'll be the one cleaning the kitchen for the rest of the summer." Laurie sighed and headed downstairs. Both of her parents looked stony-faced and she began to tremble, fearing something was wrong. "I'll give you two some time alone." Her mum headed into the den.
"Look pumpkin, I know you hate it when your mum and I fight, so we agreed to not see each other for a while." Laurie's jaw dropped in shock and anger. "You'll still be my little girl." He reached into his pocket and withdrew a parcel. "I have a present for you."
Laurie jerked away from him and slapped the parcel out of his hand. "No! I don't believe you. If you leave mum, you'll leave me too. Why can't you just fix everything and make it work? It's your responsibility as my dad!" Face contorted with rage, Laurie began sobbing.
Her father tried to capture her in a hug, but she pulled away. "I don't care what you have to say anymore. I refuse to call you my dad. I never want to see you again." She ran back upstairs and slammed her door closed. She heard soft whispering downstairs, a shuffling of feet around the kitchen and finally the front door opened and closed. Her father was gone for good.
She quietly opened her door and padded downstairs. The discarded parcel still lay near the hallway table. She picked it up and opened it quietly. Inside she found an original copy of the Centaur Chronicles, first published three hundred years ago. 'Oh dad….' She fell asleep with the book under her pillow.
The next day she came home to find her mom sitting at the table with a man she didn't recognize. His complexion was muddy and washed out by the long black tendrils that curled around his face. His piercing blue eyes startled her the most.
"Laurie, this is my friend Michael," she shifted uncomfortably as she introduced her 'friend'. Laurie suddenly felt cold and alone. Her mother had been having an affair and kicked her father out of the house. She hadn't even given her father a chance to explain why he was leaving. Laurie gave the man a small smile and turned around to go to her room. "Oh darling," she flinched, wondering how her mother could sound so cheerful and still call her 'darling'. "Before you go, the Malfoys of London were nice enough to invite our family to a dinner at their house tomorrow."
The name sounded familiar. She recalled seeing a peaky-looking first year with a snub nose who always scowled in her Herbology class last year. She thought he was called Malfoy. "I don't want to go," she replied calmly, not looking her mother in the eye.
"I didn't ask you if you wanted to go," her mother retorted sharply. "We are going because they are a very ancient family and we have to pay our respect to them. Michael here is related to the husband's sister."
"I don't want to go to England tomorrow. I have better things to do than get rained on." She turned around and crossed her arms, glaring fully at her mom across the room.
"You will go because it is your duty as my daughter to do as I say." Laurie could tell her mother was having trouble not entering a full-on adult tantrum. It was just like her mother to be selfish and demanding. She always did as her mother said.
"Fine, I'll go." She grumbled and slumped off to her room, passing the vacant room that once belonged to her brother. He left them five years ago for a school in the alps and never looked back.
"See how obedient she is?" She heard echo up the stairs. That was Laurie, a good little dog who never crossed her mum.
Laurie found the ugliest dress she could in her closet and hung it on the door. She looked at herself in the mirror. Stringy brown pigtails, glassy blue eyes and a pale complexion. 'Why am I subjecting myself to his kind of torture? I'm not pretty enough to make a presence at a party like this.'
They arrived at the party fashionably late. Laurie had tucked the book her dad gave her in the dress folds. Three well-groomed faces greeted them at the door. The boy her age named Draco gave her an indifferent smile as she passed him. 'What a cold family. Just like mine.' She cringed when Mr. Malfoy called Michael 'Mr. Reynolds'. Was the man an idiot? Did Michael look anything like her father? She wanted to yell and scream right then that she was in no way related to the two disgusting people next to her, but she held it in.
Her downcast eyes wandered around the entrance hall, taking in the splendor. 'I wish my house was this nice.' She made her way to main gathering room and found a seat in the back corner away from the dancing couples. She withdrew the novel and began reading, completely ignorant of anything around her.
"Why are you being so anti-social?" A voice from her left asked. A body sat down in the chair across from her. She looked up from her book and saw the Malfoy boy. Ignoring his question she turned her face to the dance floor and saw her mother wrapped in Michael's arms; her heart began to throb painfully.
He read her mind. "That's not your dad over there dancing with your mum is it?"
She glanced sharply at the boy. "No, it's not." She replied bluntly, hoping the conversation would end.
"I know how that goes." The boy said casually, glancing over at his father who was flirting with a petite blonde woman. "Where's your real dad at?" Laurie didn't like these questions he was asking her.
"I don't know," her chest tightened again and she held back a hiccupping cry.
"Laurie, come dance with me." The boy grabbed her hand and pulled her onto the dance floor.
"I.. don't know how to dance, Draco." She said his name shyly.
"That doesn't matter, as long as you enjoy yourself," his easy grin made her envious. He was so confident in himself- she wished she knew how to be like that. She tried to loosen up and enjoy herself, but it seemed impossible. She just wanted to be with her dad right at that moment and tell him she was sorry for yelling.
"Laurie," Draco breathed into her ear, one hand lying gently on her hip. She looked up questioningly. "You're not alone."
Laurie awoke with a start. The sun was already halfway up. 'Damnit, I'm late for Herbology.' She sprinted across the lawn to greenhouse seven and snuck inside the damp and dark room. She spotted an open seat and jumped into it like a jack-rabbit.
"Were you having erotic dreams that kept you asleep longer?" A suave voice asked from her left.
Laurie let out a loud sigh. "You caught me." She turned to face Draco and smiled. "I was having a very graphic dream," she put her chin on her hand. "I wasn't wearing any clothes and the room was very steamy." Draco's face became incredibly warm. "Do you want to know who was in there with me?" She purred. Draco nodded dumbly. "Harry Potter."
Draco growled, frustrated while Laurie grinned innocently and turned back to the lesson. She felt him slip a piece of paper under her elbow. Curious, she took the slip and read it quickly. Meet me after class. I found something you might want. – Draco
Her heart hammered slightly giving her a light-headed feeling. 'What could he possibly have?' She tapped her leg nervously and shot fervent glances at Draco –which he smugly ignored- for the rest of the class.
As soon as the class ended, Laurie shot out of the room, dragging Draco along with her. She rounded the corner of the castle which was thankfully free of spying eyes, and dropped her grip on Draco's robes. "Alright," she panted, "what do you have?"
Draco reached into his bag and pulled out a slightly worn book with large silver lettering. Laurie screamed and grabbed for the book, which he held out of reach. "You found the book my dad gave me! I thought I lost that years ago." She glared at him hard. "Give it to me, now."
"Of course I'll give it to you." Laurie offered him a 100 watt smile. "But," Laurie's smile faltered, "you have to go out on a date with me." She gave him her Im-going-to-hex-you-until-youre-sterile look, but he continued to look calm.
Quick as a Firebolt, Laurie had her wand out and began spewing hexes and curses at lightening speed. She was pretty sure she just invented a couple of new ones as well that turned orange and purple when they collided. Laurie dropped to her knees, sweaty and exhausted, but sure of the fact that she had blown Draco into a million pieces. The dust cleared and there stood Draco, smirking like a schoolgirl, with the book still safely in his grasp.
"Nice try Laurie." He commented appreciatively. It really took all he had to block her spells. "Now will you go on a date with me?" Laurie was now lying flat on the ground, face covered in wet dew.
"No." She growled, swallowing several blades of grass and gagged.
Draco shrugged nonchalantly, removing the book to his other hand. "Alright, come find me when you change your mind." He sauntered off cockily without looking back. 'I guess I have to step up the game a little. Get prepared, Laurie Reynolds.'
I did study-abroad at Oxford for a semester and it definitely rained every day I was there, but I was strangely attracted to that… Anywho, 'nother chapter done. I think we're about finished my dear readers. I know, I know. I have another story rolling around in my brain and the next chapters of Simply Irresistible brewing.
Has anyone ever wondered why none of the Hogwarts Professors are married/dating anyone? ~Kukaburry