Shopping and Headaches

There was a big party. Hundreds of people were there but he only recognized one or two of them. He and Hermione were dancing to a nice slow song. Over Hermione's shoulder he saw someone walking over to them and it suddenly felt as if the entire room was getting darker. The person was shrouded in an ominous mist. They shouted but Draco couldn't understand what they were saying. Just then the Dark Lord appeared and the figure seemed to sharpen around the edges. It was his father.

"My Master, take the girl." Lucius shouted pointing at Hermione.

"No!" Draco screamed pulling Hermione behind him; the music that was playing in the background came to a screeching halt. None of the other people dancing seemed to notice.

"My Master." Lucius exclaimed again, while trying to move Draco away from Hermione, "Master! Master! MASTER!"

Draco awoke and sat up sharply. A small house elf jumped back as he did so.

"Master Draco!" the elf squealed, twisting its ears, "I is trying to wake Master Draco, but you is not waking. Master must hurry. Master Lucius is angry with Mistress Hermione."

As soon as the words left the elf's mouth Draco jumped up out of the bed and quickly grabbed a shirt from a chair as he shouted, "Where?" at the elf.

"They is in the kitchens, sir." the elf replied as Draco slid on his shoes and ran out of the door.

Years of living in the manor had made it easy for Draco to find his way. What he found when he reached the kitchen made him furious. His father had his wife pinned against the wall.

"What's going on in here!" Draco demanded.

Lucius turned his head to look at his son, lifted a blond eyebrow, and moved smoothly away from Hermione, "Nothing of importance Son. We were just discussing the plans for today. I was hoping that she would let me take Scorpius shopping for some toys."

Draco turned to his wife. The look on her face said quite clearly to him that this had not been the topic of discussion at all.

"I'm sure Scorpius would love that." Draco said, "Hermione and I need to pick up a few things as well. Will Mother be coming with us?"

Lucius wrinkled his nose disdainfully, "I highly doubt it. She said she wasn't feeling well this morning. Severus generously offered to take care of her so that I would be able to spend time with my son and grandchild, so I doubt we'll be seeing him either."

"Yes, well Draco and I should probably go get Scorpius and ourselves ready for the day."

"You're right Hermione. We'll be back down in about an hour Father." Draco said, grabbing his wife's arm and leading her back to their room.

Lucius frowned at their backs. Ms. Granger was turning out to be more of a bother than he had thought. He just might have to make good on his threat.

Narcissa really did not feel well. She had an intense headache and felt slightly nauseous. She had told her husband this but he seemed to either not care or not believe her. The good news was that Severus was there and when she had told him, he went off to get a potion to help with her symptoms. It was taking him longer than she had thought though. A house elf had come and told her that the others had left on their shopping trip.

Her husband had not really left it as a option for her to go along. She considered this just as well because she didn't particularly want to go. She loved her husband really, but she couldn't stand to be with him. When they were in a room together it was only a matter of time before they got into an argument. Sometimes it was verbal, other times physical.

Narcissa groaned as another throb went through her head. At least she had cleaned the room the night before. She usually cleaned it in the morning. Yes, they had house elves, but It was a long time ago that Narcissa realized something. It was of no use to her if she worried about the big things; Lucius being a death eater, Lucius being an alcoholic, Draco becoming like his father, her husband being inexplicably angry. She could do nothing about these things. She could however clean. She could make sure everything was in order. She could make herself and the house look nice. It was her bit of control.

She rolled over on the bed in an attempt to get more comfortable. Perhaps if she fell asleep she would feel better when she woke up. Five minutes later Severus walked in to find her out cold.

He placed the potion down gently on the bedside table and looked down at Narcissa's sleeping form. Many would say that she was a cold individual and he wouldn't contradict them. She frequently did act selfish and uncaring, but he understood. It wasn't that she was a saint or anything deep down, but she did put up barriers to protect herself. He couldn't blame her for that. No sane individual could live with Lucius and come out completely unscathed.

Severus picked up the Daily Prophet from the table and sat down in a chair by the bed. He had been stopped by the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor when he went to retrieve the potion for Narcissa and it had taken him forever to convince the idiot that he really had to be going. Severus just hoped that Narcissa felt better when she woke up.

It was only a few days until Christmas and Diagonally was crowded. It seemed as though every wizarding family in Britain was there doing last minute shopping. Scorpius was excited and wanted to skip ahead and run about but Hermione held firmly onto his hand. She didn't want him getting lost in the crowd.

Festive decorations lined the street and the shops had signs stating sales and offers to entice people in. Lucius led them immediately to the nicest toy shop on the street. Scorpius' jaw dropped open as his eyes took in all the magical toys. After a couple seconds of staring his eyes focused on a toy broomstick.

"Do you see something you like?" Lucius asked with a chuckle.

Scorpius nodded, his eyes wide, "Yes, can I get it?"

"Of course you can." Lucius replied, "You can get whatever you want. Grandfather's paying."

At this news Scorpius looked to his parents unbelievingly.

Draco nodded slowly, "You can get a couple things Scorpius."

Hermione looked disapprovingly at her father-in-law, " He already has a toy broom. I don't want him getting a bunch of expensive things that he won't play with for more than a few minutes."

Lucius waved his hand dismissively, "He's a Malfoy and he can get whatever he wants when he's with me. I imagine that you mostly buy him books for something fun to do. That's hardly what a five year old wants."

Just then the little boy walked over with some candy in his hands. His parents only got him candy on rare occasions. Something about it being bad for his teeth and making him hyper.

"Can I have candy?" He asked holding it out.

"Sure you can." Lucius replied.

Hermione looked at Draco for some help but he merely shrugged and took the candy from his son so they could buy it. It wasn't easy to say no to Lucius Malfoy.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far. I really appreciate it.