CHAPTER 19

A/N: Hope you're all enjoying the story. Chapter 20 will be up within the week. Happy Reading. And thanks again to Sunsetkisses for the review. In the next few chapters it's going to hit George and Mackenzie really hard.

"Mackenzie dear," Samuel spoke as he and his daughter spent the morning sitting in her kitchen before Samuel had to run off to work. The two had opted to spend a bit more father daughter time together, talking, what some would construe as scheming, and of course discussing Mackenzie's upcoming bar exam.

"I was hoping to have you and George over to the Manor again tonight for dinner. " The Minister requested.

"Daddy, we couldn't. I cannot let you be caught up in this mess until after the wedding date. If George and I are caught together at the Manor, it could be disastrous."

Samuel sighed. "It's such a shame that things must be so complicated. I was so hoping that soon enough we could have a proper family dinner. I was hoping that our newest added family members would join us for a family dinner. Is that truly out of the question sweetheart?"

"Daddy please." Mackenzie looked down at her coffee cup, running the tip of her finger over the edges. "Please don't ask me to take risks like that with my family…with our family."

"Then I suppose we will wait for as long as it takes."

"No." The two heard a voice come from the open doorway of the kitchen. George stood in between the frame. He'd obviously just woken up, as he looked in need of massive amounts of coffee. He still went on speaking as Samuel greeted him with his hand.

"Minister, not only would it continue to upset your daughter not to have our families together, but I can assure you that Molly Weasley would be personally insulted and possibly fly off in a rage." He came up beside his wife, who wrapped an arm around his waist. "Molly Weasley on the war path is not something you should wish to experience."

"Thank you." Mackenzie mouthed up to her husband.

He winked at her as she stood beside him.

The two clasped hands. "There is always a way around my wife's deception Minister." George told his father-in-law. "We'll have dinner with everyone at The Burrow, or possibly Grimmauld."

"You are just as deceiving as my daughter." Samuel accused with a smile.

George chuckled, pulling Mackenzie closer. "I'll arrange it today and tonight we'll have a proper family dinner."

The three agreed as Samuel walked to the door saying goodbye for now to his daughter, whom he'd grown closer to since her confession of marrying into the Weasley family. He watched the married couple carefully when they were together, seeing how much they loved and learned with one another. It reminded him dearly of his own marriage to Mackenzie's late mother.

"George." The Minister stopped before walking out the front door completely. He faced the couple. "Please, call me Samuel when we are together."

Mackenzie promised to meet her father for lunch later in the day. The couple smiled before watching the Minister apparate to the Ministry of Magic. They closed the door and spent much of their time again wrapped up in a blanket together on their couch. They talked, focusing mostly off of the Malfoy situation. It was all too much more real now, being only days away from the wedding date.

When it was time for Mackenzie to go and meet her father, she and George kissed goodbye before he flooed off to find his parents to make arrangements for his wife and her father the Minister.

Four days later…

Mackenzie could not drain the tension and stress she felt over the past few days. A week had passed by and her mind was wild. She had to force herself to concentrate on the pages in front of her as she sat in a small room, writing as much as she could remember as she finally sat taking her bar exam. Not only did she have the worry of passing her exams, but on top of her already present anxiety, Draco's owl had the previous night, dropped off a box of confirmed invitations and rsvp's to her father's Manor, all verifying their attendance at the Chase-Malfoy wedding that was set to take place in just days now. Two days to be exact.

She had done so much work in the past to get to this point. She had received all of the proper degrees, done her clerkship and office study, done years of foreign law school study, and then more time spent tirelessly working under others. She was able to pass by doing the five year minimum of more law school as her father, Minster Chase had deemed it necessary for her to begin work sooner. He was up to something, but she didn't yet know what. So now, she'd been sworn in, paid her dues, and her fees, and was now sitting in front of a book-like test, reading through cases and motions, determining which case held higher priority, who was liable for what in which case… She wanted to scream. She literally wanted to pull her hands over her face and scream as loud as she could.

She shook her head, drifting back to the words on the pages in front of her. Her father had insisted on having her exam results almost immediately. He wanted her to begin working at the Ministry as soon as possible. She was the last to finish her exam with only a few minutes before the scheduled time was over. She breathed in an anxious breath, exhaling a sigh of relief when she finished. She still had other plans for her day. So much had happened over the past week. The rundown of it all still swam through Mackenzie's overworked brain.

Although Fred and Lilah were not seen publicly together either yet, both had managed to sneak off and see each other every day since Fred had informed Lilah of Mackenzie and George's knowledge of their rendevous'. Mackenzie wasn't one-hundred percent certain, but her instincts also told her that Bailey had managed to snag Draco off to the side in secret a few times. What she was sure of was that the two would spend more time together in the near future. She would make sure of it.

She didn't have time to stop home to see George before going to the Ministry to see her father, and update him on how she "felt" she did on her exam. She knew that George was off having his own "talk" with Angelina today anyway. She managed to get through the hordes of people moving through the Ministry without incident or much notice. She was grateful for the current lack of flashing cameras. Lately all anyone she came across, her family excluded, could talk about was the upcoming Malfoy-Chase wedding, and how the preparations and seen set-ups all looked so spectacular, especially with such short notice. All she wanted to do was get to her father's office. But then she saw it. There it was in no less than tactless form. Her picture was all over the face of every magazine and newspaper in the Ministry. Not just hers , but also her father's picture, and …oh she couldn't breathe. Her hand reached out for the nearest wall. She held herself up, breathing in slowly.

She picked up a paper, her hands shaking as she held it. "This is bad. This is very bad." She stared in disbelief of what she was seeing. Her eyes had to be deceiving her. How could someone get a picture like this? The picture showed Mackenzie and her father, along with Weasley's, having dinner together, around the same table. Everyone was there, but the only two Mackenzie focused on were her and George. The couple looked happy. They sat beside each other, talking, laughing, and in the second picture, they were both touching. George's hand tucked a strand of Mackenzie's hair behind her ear before running his fingers down the side of her cheek. All the while, Mackenzie did nothing to reject the affection showed.

Without any more thought to the matter, Mackenzie sprinted through the corridors, impatiently waiting for the lift to take her to the Minister's office. The picture, the speculation, it was everywhere. She could feel people's eyes on her as she stayed in view. She hadn't planned on knocking on the door, but stopped her hand from pushing open the door when she arrived at the Minister's office doors. She listened to the loud and rather disrespectful one-sided tirade going on inside of the room.

"These pictures are all over the Ministry! Why didn't you stop him?" She heard Draco yelling. "He has his hands on my fiancée! He should be…"

"She is only your fiancée because you are forcing her hand." Samuel Chase angrily defended his daughter.

"With all due respect Minister, that is not the point." Draco stated back. "The point is that knowing she is marrying me in just two days, you should have put a stop to this behavior. If you think that I will just sit by and…"

Mackenzie threw open the door, unwilling to listen to Draco threaten her father. She hadn't realized what she had walked in to.

"Mackenzie!" Samuel said, his eyes now wide.

Draco turned his body to the woman in the doorway, his wand that had a moment ago been pointed at the Minister, was now pointed at his fiancée.

The look on Mackenzie's face did not show her fear. She was currently in too much shock to be aware of the real danger she was in.

"SECURITY!" Samuel shouted, using his magic to get his personal hordes of security to his office. His own wand was also pointed at Draco. "Lower your wand Mr. Malfoy!" He demanded.

Draco's eyes fell to the Minister for only seconds before moving straight back to Mackenzie.

"You have a lot of explaining to do Mackenzie." He told her "I want the truth and I want it now!"

"Lower your wand Draco." She calmly insisted of the man, keeping her cool, knowing what may happen if her temper showed. "I can explain all of this with complete truth."

"Mackenzie, No!" Samuel stopped her.

She shook her head at him, placing a hand to Draco's wand, forcing him to lower it.

"We've got no other choice daddy. He has to know now."

Samuel refused to leave her alone.

"Please." His daughter asked, walking beside him to the doors.

"Mackenzie don't do this. It is not the time. He's far too unstable."

Draco scoffed from where he still stood, shaking with anger.

"I have this under control. Perhaps now is the best time. He's seen us together." Mackenzie whispered. "This has to be done." She led her father out through the doors, closing them shut before running off on her own outburst.

"HOW DARE YOU POINT YOUR WAND AT ME…OR MY FATHER!" She yelled at the blond.

Draco's head whipped around to hers, his entire body facing hers. "Turnabout is fair play."

"Do not get me started on what is and isn't fair between us Draco Malfoy. What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Tell me about this picture Mackenzie!"

The tension between them overwhelmed Mackenzie, giving her a massive head rush. She sat down in a nearby chair

Her voice lowered only slightly. "Daddy and I had dinner with the Weasley family. He and Arthur had business to discuss and Molly invited us around for dinner."

"You could've refused, made an excuse of some sort like you do with me." Draco accused.

"Don't turn this around on me Draco!" Mackenzie shot right back. "I didn't want to be rude. I didn't want to refuse."

"So you went and spent the evening cuddled up to your ex boyfriend?"

She desperately wanted to shout out the word yes to him, relieving the huge burden on her shoulders.

"Draco, I need to tell you something."

"Have you gone back to him?" The man accused again, more than questioned. "Because it doesn't change things between us."

"This is not the place for this conversation." She told him, taking his hand in hers as she stood. "Come with me."

*****************************************************

"George." She spoke his name. She sounded almost as surprised to see him standing in her doorway as he felt being in it. "Come in." She offered, moving aside.

George walked into her small foyer, more apprehensive of their meeting when his ex closed the door behind them.

"What do you want Angelina?"

The woman looked baffled by his question. "You showed up on my doorstop unannounced. Not the other way around."

He repeated his question.

"A chance." She finally answered.

"A chance for what? What do you want? There is no possible way that I have anything you could want anymore. There is nothing for me to give to you."

"George please." She walked up behind him, placing a hand to his shoulder, undetered when he spun around, throwing her hand from him. "I don't want anything from you that you cannot and will not willingly give." She closed the space between them, walking up to him. "Your wife trusts you very much. She loves you much more than I had once assumed."

"Jealous?" He pushed her away again.

"Extremely." Angelina admitted to him. "But that is not what I want. I can't have your physical presence in my life anymore."

"There is nothing more that I can give to you." George said.

"Your forgiveness." She told him. "You can forgive me."

"How? How do you expect me to… How can you ask me that?"

"It's all I want George. I want the peace of mind to be able to walk into a room where you and Mackenzie are, and not have to feel the deep rooted need to throw my self from a tower. "

"What if I can't give you that Angelina? What if right now, it's not yet the right time? What if I can't give you what you want? Will you give up the secrets you know? Will you try to destroy my marriage?"

Angelina chuckled. "I won't have to do anything." She told him. "Have you seen the papers today George?" She picked up her delivered copy of the Daily Prophet, showing off the front page.

George's mind did ten flips all at once. He tried to say something. Nothing came out but, "I have to go."

Angelina stood in her home, watching him apparate away, knowing that what she'd done would cause this oncoming trouble, but unaware of the trouble still held ahead.

**********************************************

Mackenzie and Draco both apparated off to Chase Manor, hiding away from the public as Mackenzie prepared to expel her guilt. She had to tell Draco the truth. It was two days until hteir supposed wedding date, and this could not go on. She needed to be happy with George, and Draco, he needed to be happy with whomever he chose to be with. She invited him into the house, placing her wand on a table as a good faith gesture. Hesitantly, Draco did the same as he entered.

She turned to face him, pulling out the paper, handing it to Draco. Disbelief, betrayal, and a knowledge of an oncoming storm all showed on his face. Momentarily after, there was a look of pain, oif guilt.

"Draco, there is something I need to tell you."

"Something happened between you and Weasley I assume. I think I can forgive that." He told her, moving into the small sitting room with her, sitting down beside her on a couch, facing her."

"You can forgive it? Why? Something on your mind too?"

He nodded. "I know that you pulled me here to tell me something important about you and Weasley, but there's something you need to know."

Mackenzie looked worried. She looked almost afraid of what he might say, but then smiled, knowing that whatever he told her, could not hurt her at this point.

"Kenny, there is a woman that I… " Draco lowered his head, trying to articulate properly the right way around his confession. He sighed in a low groan. "I met her days ago. She wanted to see me. I went to her apartment to see her, to tell her that I intend on marrying you without question. I wanted to tell her that she could not compare to you. " He paused again. "The truth is…"

"The truth is, you went to see her, and something happened." Mackenzie guessed.

Draco nodded.

"What exactly happened?"

Draco took her hand in his and squeezed, looking at her, guilt showing in his silver streaked eyes.

"We had sex." He confessed. "I've seen her or talked to her nearly every day since then, and…"

Mackenzie pulled her hands from his, nodding her head. "You had sex with another girl. Who is she?" She breathed, keeping her hands folding in her lap.

Draco didn't answer until her eyes moved to meet his.

"Her name is Bailey." Draco admitted.

"Bailey Simon? My friend?" Mackenzie nearly jumped for joy off of the couch. She managed to keep her responses cool and collected. "Draco, that's… that's really…it proves so much of what I have already tried to tell you."

"It proves nothing Mackenzie, except that I'm a schmuck who is creating so many double standards between us, and…"

"Do you enjoy spending time with her Draco?"

He turned his head away. "When I'm not feeling guilty over it, yes I suppose, but that still proves nothing."

"It proves something very important Draco." Mackenzie explained.

He thought she was taking this all too well. He had expected at least some sort of screaming match. Although he was sort of thankful for the lack of screaming. Mackenzie could be more cruel than Draco when provoked enough.

"And just what could it possibly prove?" He questioned her.

"That you don't love me. That we could not ever learn to love each other."

"But I don't love her either." Draco countered.

"I realize that. But you could."

"Why are you so insistent on who I could or should love?" He questioned her. "Sure, she is someone that I could potentially love under the right circumstances, but you are the one I should love. We're getting married." He made clear again. "Shockingly enough, I do believe in monogamy, despite my past escapades."

"You're a coward." She challenged him. "And we are to get married by contractual obligation, not for love or any reason resembling."

"I am not a coward." He denied her accusation.

"If you could love her Draco, really love her, wholeheartedly, then love her."

He wondered about the distinct sound of ulterior motives he heard in her words. He couldn't escape wanting to know why she would push loving, seeing, or liking Bailey so hard. Why should it matter to her? He'd come to hate the expression 'If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with.' It sounded so clichéd, and immoral. Perhaps Mackenzie had a point though. If he could wholly love someone, even if it weren't her, why shouldn't he try? Because he was married. Nearly anyway.

"Thank you Mackenzie." Draco said. "I know what I've done is unforgivable, but you are taking it so well. I really like that we are better friends and that we can talk like this."

"Me too." She half smiled.

"You wanted to talk to me about something." He mentioned, seeing her half-smile disappear instantly. Her expression went serious.

She shifted nervously beside him, still facing him. She took his hands back in hers.

"Draco." She said his name apprehensively. This was going to be a very large, very loud blow-up. She hadn't been angry at him for cheating because she had George, but Draco was going to flip his top when she came clean.

"I want to know that we truly are friends now." She said to him.

"You know we are Kenny. And I'm glad we are. I didn't realize how necessary it was for us to be friends, but it's the best thing that could've happened between us."

His response was genuine, making Mackenzie feel even worse and more worried to tell him everything.

"And we'll be friends no matter what happens."

"Yes Kenny. What's this about? Is it Weasley?"

"Yes." She nodded. "I'm going to tell you about everything that happened , starting from the point where you showed up with your contract, up to right now."

"I don't think I'm going to like hearing this." Draco commented, shifting nervously this time.

"If I tell you everything, I need you to listen to it all until the end." She said. "Promise me."

"I promise." He sincerely answered her.