Chapter 15

"You're married?!" Alex said loudly in the foyer.

Azalea shushed him, grabbed his hand, and pulled him farther away from the Malfoy ballroom. The Malfoy Fall Ball was in full swing and classical music permeated the air. Draco had shown Azalea around proudly, announcing her as his wife for all to hear and see. It was an intensely awkward situation that Lucius and Narcissa tried half heartedly to remedy. Azalea was starting to think that perhaps they were quite enjoying the entire ordeal far too much than was necessary.

Azalea was mortified when Draco approached Alex and told him Azalea was his wife. Azalea had watched Alex's eyes widen and then rigidly excused himself from them. Azalea left Draco with his friends and went to intercept Alex to provide him with an explanation.

"You're married!" Alex said again, wrenching his arm out of her grasp. "Did you not think this would be of any interest to me?"

"You don't fully understand the situation, Alex."

"Why don't you explain it to me then?"

Azalea stared at his obviously unhappy face and sighed.

"I wonder where Azalea went," Draco said, looking around him.

Blaise chuckled and shook his head. This level of delusion had gone past funny and went into the field of ridiculous. Draco cannot honestly think that he's married, can he? Azalea is wonderful and bloody hot but to delude yourself to think that she's his wife is just so bloody loony.

"I'm sure she's fine, mate," Blaise told him blithely.

"I'm going to look for her," Draco said, moving away.

"Draco, relax," Blaise commanded him. "Azalea can take care of herself."

"Stay here," Draco said, as if not hearing him at all and walked off.

He wove through the crowds, greeting his family's guests as briefly as possible. He searched the crowds for the scarlet evening gown his wife was wearing. He couldn't find her anywhere. Then again, it was a pretty large ballroom. He spotted Dahlia in the corner but Azalea wasn't with her and she was chatting up some bloke so Draco decided to leave her be.

He found himself in the foyer, thinking that perhaps she went back up to their room for a bit to get away from all the people. Draco found the foyer to be a ghost town and turned to go back to the ballroom. That's when he heard her voice.

Draco followed her voice. She seemed to be very anxiously explaining something to someone. He followed the voice nearer to the library. At the doorway of the library, Draco found Azalea, looking very agitated and apprehensively explaining something to someone. She was gesticulating madly and apparently very upset. Draco couldn't see who she was talking to.

He was just about to approach her and ask what the matter was when Azalea pitched forward, wrapped her arms around someone in a tight embrace. Instantly curious and an edge of foreboding creeping up on him, he moved closer to her. Draco's stomach dropped when he saw that she had her arms tightly wrapped around another man. What's worse was that Draco recognized the man. Alex Garrison. He and Azalea had previous romantic relations. But Draco wasn't ready to condemn his wife just yet. It wasn't wrong for his wife to have male friends. It was normal and rational. Azalea wouldn't be sexist about the kinds of company she keeps.

Then she kissed him and Draco's world spun out of control. He felt as he was viciously slapped in the face and violently punched in the gut at the same time. Draco felt the wind knocked out of him and he stumbled into a vase. The vase crashed to the floor, the shatter of porcelain breaking Alex and Azalea apart. Azalea's eyes widened when she saw Draco.

"Draco?" she asked slowly.

Draco looked at her, his eyes telling her all that he refused to say. He turned and walked speedily away from them.

"Shit," Azalea whispered to herself and went after him. "Draco, wait!"

Draco melted into the crowd of in the ballroom, the happy classical music and the chipper faces slapping him and taunting him. Memories and realities rushed back into him like a tornado. It made him dizzy and nauseous. He didn't know how to sort everything it out. Azalea wasn't his wife. There wasn't even anything remotely romantic about their relationship. She was his parents' godchild and that was it. What he felt for her was just an illusion formed by his own mind. It was crazy and idiotic. He cannot believe what he felt. It felt so real and so true. He was an idiot. He remembered humiliating himself on several occasions in front of Azalea and in front of great deal of people. Draco was sickened by himself.

The noise and the music, the chatter and raucous filled his head. He felt as if his head was going to explode.

"Oh, are you alright, Draco?"

He looked down at the small figure he had bumped into. Astoria. She looked up into his face worriedly. Draco tried to feel what he felt for her before: the passion, the pining, the obvious attraction. It was gone. He no longer had feelings for the blonde in front of him. Draco couldn't think of anything else but Azalea and it made him want to scream.

"Have you seen Draco?" Azalea asked Blaise as she walked up to him out of breath.

"He went looking for you," Blaise answered. "Why can't you people just be in the same place at the same time?"

"Enough, alright?" Azalea said frantically. "I have no time for your inane jokes. I need to know where he is."

"He went out to the gardens. He seemed upset," Astoria said, walking up to them. "Is something wrong?"

Azalea didn't answer her and walked away from them. She headed into the garden quietly. The lake in the middle of the Malfoy garden was charmed to be an emerald green color. A jet of water sprouted from the middle, creating an illustrious fountain. On one side of the lake was mid size stone waterfall. Its gurgling echoed through the entire garden. A quaint little wooden bridge was erected over the waterfall. Tiny twinkling orbs of light floated all over the garden. It was a desperately romantic setting. It only made Azalea feel worse.

Draco stood on the bridge, looking down over the water. Azalea walked quietly over to him. He was quite still. She got the feeling that he knew she was there but he refused to acknowledge it. Azalea didn't know whether she had hurt the man who thought she was his wife or whether the shock propelled him back to the real world. She didn't know what to say to him. She didn't know if she could if she did.

"It wasn't real, was it?" Draco asked quietly.

"It was to you."

Draco scoffed. "I was a fool," he sighed. "I made such an idiot of myself. Over what? A delusion. I bet you blamed me for all the embarrassment you experienced."

"No, you're wrong," Azalea insisted. "I didn't."

"It felt so real, you know?" Draco said, looking over at her. Azalea was struck with how much feeling were in his eyes. "I actually felt like I… like I…"

"Loved me?" she guessed.

"You must have thought I was pathetic," Draco chuckled sadly to himself.

"No," Azalea said and stood next to him on the bridge. "You were very sweet on me. I could hardly believe it was you sometimes."

Draco turned to her. She looked beautiful. Her hair was neatly curled. Her dress hugged her just right. The butterfly necklace he gave her glittered around her neck. "Sorry I strained your relationship with the stiff," he said.

Azalea gave him a look. "Don't call Alex a stiff," she said, "and don't worry about it."

"I should go in and tell my parents you can move out of my room now," he said with a sigh. "You should appreciate the how you can now sleep at night without having to worry about any awkwardness." Draco then grinned mischievously at her. "Although I know you will miss our nightly cuddling."

"Draco-ˮ

He interrupted her by reaching up and touching her cheek. Azalea looked into his eyes. It was glittering with the same affection that she's been seeing from the deluded Draco. It slightly unnerved her. The real and normal Draco couldn't possibly retain any feelings for her, could he? Yet, he looked at her now as though she was some kind of angel instead of some girl that he was being forced to live with because of his parents.

"You look beautiful, Azalea," Draco whispered.

"Draco…"

"I'll go find my parents."

Draco walked up to Alex who was watching the crowds, bored, holding a glass of champagne in his hand. He watched Draco stand next to him and regarded him for a second.

"You seem unnaturally calm," Alex commented.

"Be at ease, Garrison," Draco said with feign respect. "I'm no longer under the impression that Azalea's my wife."

"I see you've returned to the real world," Alex scoffed. "Welcome back."

"I would thank you but seeing as though I really don't like you, I'll refrain," Draco said, glaring briefly at Alex. Alex noted it.

"I take it that this witty repartee has something to do with Azalea," Alex guessed.

"I'm not giving her up to you, Garrison," Draco told him. Not now, not ever. Do we understand each other?"

"You mistake yourself, Malfoy," Alex said calmly. "It's me Azalea wants, not you."

"I can love her far more than you ever could," Draco said bluntly.

"You can't know that."

"And yet, I do," Draco answered swiftly.

"You want my advice?"

"I'm sure you'll give it to me nonetheless."

"Give up," Alex suggested abrasively. "Save yourself any more humiliation. Go after someone within your reach not someone out of your league."

"I'm not giving her up to you."

The two men stared each other down for a long while. Draco seemed adamant. Alex felt his temper rising but voiced none of it. It would do no good to start a brawl. It would only make him look barbaric. That might have been Malfoy's way of handling things: unleashing brute force, but it wasn't Alex's. He wouldn't sink to that level.

Draco disliked Alex. He didn't know when he realized it. He was a slimy bloke who was looking for an easy shag and covered it up with charm and wit. He was repugnant.

"And so it begins," Alex chuckled, raising his glass to his lips. "To the victor go the spoils."

"Azalea's not some prize to be won," Draco hissed at him and walked away.

Azalea ran her fingers over the diamond butterfly in her hand. She shouldn't keep it. Draco bought it for the woman he loved. He should give it to Astoria. Azalea guessed that Astoria would be excited to get something so adorable. It was adorable, she mused. The tiny diamonds and the fine silver chain. It was quite sweet.

Azalea sighed and knocked on his door. She shouldn't keep it.

"Who is it?" Draco asked from inside the room.

"It's Azalea."

Silence. Azalea sighed and turned to leave.

"Come in."

Azalea stopped and turned the knob. Draco was looking out the window when she came in. He turned around and looked at her curiously. He still hadn't changed out of his button down white formal shirt. He had merely jerked his tie loose and pushed up his sleeves to his elbows. He looked quite fetching. Azalea pushed the thoughts out of her head.

"Um, I thought I should return this to you," Azalea held out the butterfly necklace out to him.

Draco walked over and took up the necklace, peering at it as if it held some long forgotten memory. "Keep it," he said, handing the necklace back to her.

"Well, I thought you should give it someone else," Azalea answered, holding it out to him again.

"I bought it especially for you," Draco told her, taking the necklace and once again draping it around her neck. "It would be wrong, unnatural for me to give it to someone else."

Draco caught her eye and held her gaze for a long while. Azalea's heart started beating faster and she didn't understand it. Draco was back to his senses. She shouldn't feel this way. They shouldn't be staring longingly at each other. It was wrong.

"I should go," Azalea said, moving toward the door. "It's late."

"You could stay if you want," Draco grinned at her.

"Nice try," Azalea chuckled.

"It was worth a shot," Draco laughed.

"We were so close, Lucius!" Narcissa said for the thousandth time.

"Narcissa, they will hear you," Lucius said blankly.

"Perhaps one more week, two more weeks and Azalea would have fallen for our Draco," Narcissa continued to harp. "Not that I wanted our Draco to remain a delusional buffoon forever but I could feel her growing to fancy him. We were so close!"

"Narcissa, I beg of you, lower your voice," Lucius sighed. "You're giving me a headache."

Narcissa sighed and sank down in a chair. She was right. Lucius felt it as well. He knew that with just a bit more prodding, Azalea would have fallen for Draco. It was a minor setback, Lucius decided, a kink in the plans.