Title: The Perfect Wife
Author: slytherin-nette
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognize from the HP books in this story. All I own is the plot. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling. She rocks.
Pairings: DM/femHP, RW/LrM, BZ/HG, SB/RV, BM/??, AM/?? and many others.
Warnings: This is a Post-Hogwarts story so it will be slightly more mature than TPG but equally insane. Wahaha. Also, this story contains PREGNANCY, RATED scenes and SLASH relationships.
A/N: Totally excited for the HP6 movie! I want to see some serious D/H interaction in there! Hahaha! (Well I can dream, can't I? Hehe. )
Chapter 3 –Punctuality is a Virtue
"PROFESSOR Snape?! As in my godfather?! THAT Professor Snape?!"
Draco was desperately trying to hold in his laughter at the sound of his wife's frantic voice through the cellphone he held against his ear. Harry sounded like she was having difficulty breathing and was rushing in all her words at once in shocked panic.
"I know! For Merlin's sake, Draco! He and Ashford were ALL OVER EACH OTHER! It was like watching something out of an alternate universe or something!" She exclaimed, her voice cracking slightly in agitation. Draco smirked at her description, nodding briefly to his secretary as he strode out of his office for lunch later that afternoon.
Natasha flashed him another flirtatious smile as she saw him leaving but Draco barely noticed. He checked his watch, cast a charm on his briefcase to make it smaller before shoving it into his jacket pocket and walking out towards his magical, private elevator.
"Well, love…There are probably weirder couples out there. I mean, if somebody had told you back in sixth year that you'd be married to me about a year later, you probably would have freaked out too." He drawled, smiling to himself when he heard her melodious laughter on the other line.
"I suppose that's true…But then again, I probably would have been more freaked out at the part where I become a woman and get breasts." She kidded just as Draco slipped into the elevator and pressed the button to take him down to the company lobby.
He waited until the elevator doors had closed and he was alone before pressing the phone closer against his ear. Leaning lazily against one of the elevator walls, he let his voice drop into a low, suggestive whisper.
"Mmm…Speaking of which…Can you tell me what you're wearing right now…?"
There was a long pause on the other line at which Draco was guessing Harry had paused in slight shock at his perverted question. After about five seconds, she spoke again – her voice a mixture of exasperation and reluctant amusement.
"Uhm…My Unspeakable uniform?"
Draco rolled his eyes at her response.
"That's not what I meant…" A smirk crossed his lips and again, he lowered his voice into a suggestive whisper. "…What lingerie have you got on…?"
The sound that came from the other line sounded like a choked-up, scandalized laugh.
"You are such a pervert, Malfoy…You know that? Is there ever a single moment that you do not think about sex? I'll bet you can't go five seconds with a clean mind, can you?" Jaimee challenged lightly, causing him to chuckle again just as the elevator twisted and turned for several levels.
"……."
"Well…?!"
Draco grinned against the phone piece, feeling somewhat giddy at imagining Jaimee's own teasing, beautiful smile just on the other line.
"That was five seconds, Potter."
She laughed at this and as always, the sound brought another genuine – somewhat goofy – smile to his face. "You are impossible, Draco…" She told him, pretending to sigh helplessly just as the elevator doors finally opened and Draco stepped onto the elegant main lobby of the MMC building.
"You know you love me..."
"Yes but I don't actually know why…"
Draco laughed and switched his cellphone to his other ear, using his right hand to sign off a bunch of waiting documents by the receptionist. He grabbed the small stack of folders offered by one of his waiting managers just by the private apparition area.
"So where are you off to now…?"
Jaimee chuckled softly at his question. "I'm heading to the Leaky Cauldron to have lunch with some of the Gryffindors. I'm actually with Ron and Hermione right now—"
Draco scowled at this and instantly cut her off. "Great, then tell that Weasley jerk for me that he's an arse for teaching his daughter that FOUL word!" He growled but before Harry could answer him, she was cut off again by someone in the background.
As he stopped just in front of the apparition point, he heard Harry arguing with someone for several seconds before Ron Weasley's voice suddenly blared through the line. "Right back at you, FERRET-FACE! Oh and by the way, the deadline of MMC's financial documents are up this week and I ASSURE you that if you are one SECOND late, I will list you down for a dozen violations—"
"You miserable bastard! If you think I'm going to let you threaten me or my company like that, you've got another thing coming—" Draco was cut off from his angry tirade when Harry seemed to have grabbed the phone from Ron again and hurriedly spoke up to stop him.
"Draco!" She sounded irritated and gave a helpless sigh. "Look, I've got to go. We're just about to floo out of here to Diagon Alley." She told him and at this, Draco's anger instantly faded away and he spoke up in another low, teasing drawl.
"But you still haven't told me what lingerie you're wearing yet. At least tell me what color you have on." His smile faded when he heard Ron's voice speak up in the background again.
"Ew! Malfoy, Hermione and I can actually hear you!"
Draco's left eye twitched irritably. He was just about to let out another scathing comment when Harry laughed and finally spoke up again in a dismissive tone of voice. "I'll see you later tonight, alright?" She paused briefly before adding in a slightly mischievous tone of voice.
"Black…The really tight, string ones."
The mental image this caused brought a flush to Draco's face and he felt the familiar, heated stirrings of an arousal somewhere below his belt.
"…You little tease."
His somewhat amused wife responded in another smug, teasing tone of voice. "Tell me how lunch with the Slytherins goes later, alright? I have to go now. Love you."
"Yeah, yeah…Love you too."
As soon as he had shoved his cellphone back into his pocket, he stepped right onto the apparition point and in a single 'pop', reappeared on the busy streets of London just right in front of Gringgotts Bank. Looking around, he caught sight of the small, classy café that Pansy had indicated and slowly made his way through the crowd toward it.
Before he even got there, he recognized Blaise Zabini's tall frame from about several meters away and he smirked, nodding to the other man in greeting. Like him, the Italian Head was decked out in full corporate attire and was carrying a stack of documents in his hands.
At the sight of him, Blaise looked up and offered him a friendly grin. "Hey Malfoy…You're looking pretty sharp for somebody who's worth more than 5 billion galleons a year." He kidded as the two former Slytherins exchanged their traditional friendly nods and handshakes.
Draco scoffed at this and followed the other man into the restaurant entrance. "I should say the same for you. I heard you helped skyrocket your company's investments to almost 75% more of its original value this year alone. What lies have you been feeding your managers?" He retorted easily with a chuckle of amusement.
Blaise grinned at him and gave him a conspiratorial wink. "I think it's just my natural charm and charismatic nature that blinds them." He kidded as they entered the classy café and began looking around the small area for their other friends.
They found Pansy Cunningham, Daphne and Theodore Nott, Malcolm Pellerin, Vincent Grabbe, and Gregory and Millicent Goyle seated near the end of the room on a large, rectangular table and slowly made their way toward them. Once they got there, Pansy was the first to shoot right out of her seat and throw her arms tightly around Draco in an excited, overenthusiastic hug.
"DRACO! Darling! I haven't seen you in months!"
Draco cringed and halfheartedly tried to untangle her arms from where they had latched onto his neck. Blaise watched this with a chuckle and sat down next to Daphne, whom he acknowledged by turning and allowing her to reward him with a friendly peck on the cheek.
"Blaise…How are you, darling?" She cooed, both of them chuckling as they watched Draco finally managing to wrestle Pansy off him and take the seat beside Blaise. He nodded accordingly to the other former Slytherins in friendly greeting, smirking in amusement when he saw that Millicent was, in fact, looking very pregnant.
"Millie, you look as pregnant as ever. Couldn't keep it in your pants, could you Goyle?" Draco acknowledged with a suggestive grin, causing both his friends to color in embarrassment. Blaise hid his own smirk behind his newly poured glass of wine while Pansy and Daphne both giggled.
Theodore shook his head and returned Draco's grin with a chuckle. "Don't make fun of Greg, Malfoy. At least he has a second child lined up…How about you?" He looked pointedly at the blonde after that, causing Draco to flush in embarrassment and give them all pointed glare.
"Mind your own damn business."
They all sniggered but fortunately enough, their attention didn't last long on him and soon their gazes were drawn to the blue baby carriage positioned right beside Pansy's seat. Crabbe and Malcolm both smirked at the look of surprise on Draco and Blaise's faces and followed their eyes to the squirming male toddler now seated on Pansy's lap.
Pansy giggled at their reactions and held up the chubby, dark-haired baby in her hands. "Drakie…Blaise-pooh…I'd like you both to meet my darling little baby boy, Baxter…" She bent down and cooed over the boy in her arms. "Baxter…Meet your Uncle Blaise and Uncle Draco." She looked up and gave them both a saccharinely sweet smile.
"Would you like to hold him, Draco?"
"Uhm…No thanks, Pansy…"
Draco had winced and looked slightly uncomfortable at her suggestion, unaware of the way Blaise, Theodore and Goyle were looking all him with silent smirks on their faces. Crabbe voiced their thoughts out for them in an amused drawl and chuckle.
"Aw…You're not scared of a little harmless toddler are you, Draco?" He kidded lightly, earning himself a glare from the blonde. Draco stood up indignantly and walked over to take Baxter from Pansy's hands as though to prove them wrong.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Crabbe! Look, I can handle Baster—"
"BAXTER!" Pansy snapped irritably, to which Draco gave her a sheepish grin in apology and hastily corrected himself.
"—Baxter! I can handle BAXTER just fine! I mean, he's just a little kid and he's pretty harmless!" He rushed out, pointedly choosing to ignore the way Daphne was muffling her laughter behind her handkerchief. Shooting her a silencing glare, he slowly raised Baxter up to inspect his face.
"See? I think he likes me? Don't you little guy – WHOA!" Once glance at Baxter's upturned, pug-nose – which he obviously inherited from his mother – was all it took for Draco to cringe and hastily pull his head back in utter shock. His eyes wide were with incredulity as he turned to look at Pansy's confused, suspiciously narrowed eyes.
"WHAT?!"
Blaise, Malcolm and Theodore had practically shoved their napkins into their mouths to muffle their laughter while Crabbe and Goyle were pretty much trying not to meet the look in Draco's eyes for fear of laughing. Pansy was glaring threateningly at Draco as though daring him to say anything – to which the Malfoy Head responded to by giving her a forced, charming smile.
"He's…Uh…A… handsome… little bugger, isn't he?" He managed a light chuckle and held Baxter back out to his mother, giving the squirming boy an awkward pat to the head. "He certainly…takes after his mother." Draco sat back down before Pansy could say anything else, sighing in relief when Daphne seemed to take pity on him and spoke up again.
"Let's all order, shall we…?"
"—and for some strange reason, the actual transactions had occurred this year but were written in last year's records! I mean, the bastard was actually trying to escape taxes somehow!" Ron paused in the middle of his angry tirade and stabbed his fork through his half-eaten steak, raising the meat up and waving it pointedly at Harry and Hermione's disgusted faces.
"They're a bunch of money-sucking pureblood scums, I tell you! The minute I find more evidence against them, I am going to report them to the department and run them out of business! They actually think they can put one over on me?! Hah! They've got another thing coming…" At this point, the rest of Ron's sentence was reduced to an incoherent mumbling as he put the whole half-eaten steak into his mouth and began chewing angrily as he talked.
Harry and Hermione exchanged amused smiles and shook their heads as Ron continued to rant on in front of them, unaware of the fact that none of the other former Gryffindors – including Neville and Ginny – seemed to understand anything he was saying. In fact, they looked more interested in trying to hide the look of disinterest on their faces.
Around them, several more of the Leaky Cauldron's usual customers went on about their usual business in the restaurant – pausing every now and then to cast a look of recognition on Harry and to do the familiar flicking of their eyes to the scar on her forehead. Now, however, this was followed with another flick downward this time to the Malfoy wedding band on her finger.
Trying to ignore their curious glances – particularly the waitress who was trying to get a good look at the Malfoy family insignia on her ring – Harry looked up from her plate of pasta and forced herself to listen to the rest of Ron's story.
"…And so I told his client about his unethical business practices and unfortunately, it also leaked out to the company's board of directors and so—"
"SO! Hermione! What is up with you, lately? How have you been doing?" Ginny suddenly spoke up in the middle of Ron's tirade, earning herself a glare from her brother as all the others' attention were suddenly focused on the brunette in question.
Hermione looked surprised at having been addressed so suddenly but gave Ginny a grateful smile. "I'm fine, Ginny…I've been really tired these past couple of days from taking care of Elliot when I get home from work. Blaise has been going off on a good deal of business trips this week so we've had to schedule our time with the baby." She explained, taking a sip of her goblet of water.
Harry and Neville both gave her a sympathetic smile while Ginny merely scoffed and shook her head at the other woman's response. "Then tell Zabini that he should take care of Elliot every now and then. It's not like you have to be the one always watching the baby just because you're the woman. You've got to learn to take charge once in awhile, Hermione! Let him know that you're not to be bossed around!" She exclaimed, earning an amused snort from Ron.
The other Weasley rolled his eyes to himself and shoved a piece of bread into his mouth. "You do realize that kind of personality is probably what scared Anton off away from you in the first place, right Ginny? You tend to intimidate a lot of men with that attitude." He pointed out, instantly causing a light flush to stain his sister's cheeks.
"W—Well…T—That is—"
Hermione gasped out loud while Harry's eyes flicked over to Ginny in surprise. Neville simply looked amused and gave a slightly embarrassed Ginny a consoling pat on her hand. "What did Anton Malfoy do to you, Ginny? Did he hurt you? I'm going to break his neck if he—" Hermione's voice was cut off when Ginny spoke again, hastily waving the matter away.
"It's nothing, Hermione. It's not like Anton and I were dating or anything! We only dated a couple of times and even then it was purely unemotional. No strings attached." She reassured them all, much to Harry's snort of disbelief and Ron's disgusted scoff of derision.
He took a long swig of his juice before wolfing down another big piece of bread. "Is that why you've been asking Lorraine lately if you could accompany her to her weekly visits to Malfoy Manor during the weekends? You were hoping to get another chance to flirt with him again, weren't you?!" He accused disgustedly and once again, Ginny found herself the unwilling attention of her other friends' disapproving stares.
"I—I was not! I just wanted to spend a little time with my sister-in-law, that's all!" She defended herself weakly but unfortunately for her, Harry followed Ron's comment up with one of her own. "So that was why I've been seeing you around so much in the manor lately. Honestly, Ginny…You probably did scare Anton off. You can get a little bit intimidating sometimes." She admitted, causing Ginny to level her with a fierce glare of warning.
"What?! I am not intimidating!" She argued but this time, even Neville spoke up, drawing their attention to his slightly hesitant expression. "Actually, Ginny…You kind of are. At least I remember you being so when we were dating…" He paused thoughtfully but Ginny never gave him any other chance to continue and turned her wide, blue eyes to Harry.
"Harry?! I wasn't intimidating when we were dating right?!" She urged insistently but the other woman simply flinched and looked down, refusing to meet her eyes when she answered. "I agree with Neville, Ginny. You were all controlling and high maintenance…It kind of scared me off too." She admitted, causing both Ron and Hermione to hide a smirk behind their hands.
Ginny looked just about ready to explode and was glancing from Harry to Neville with wide, disbelieving eyes. "What?! I can not believe this! You guys never told me! You always took everything like a bunch of sissy, pansy boys – I just assumed you were okay with it!" She interjected and at the word 'sissy', Harry looked up with sharp green eyes.
"Hey! I was never OKAY with having to 'report' to you everyday the names of all the women I've talked to and having to ask your 'permission' whenever I want to play Quidditch with the guys! You drove me insane!" She retorted, causing Ginny to flush in embarrassment when Hermione gave her an admonishing glare.
"Ginny! That was a little extreme—"
"I was never okay with having to arrive STRICTLY fifteen minutes earlier for every date and waiting for you for an additional fifteen minutes because you were always late after!" Neville added with a shudder, shaking his head at the memory. "Yeah and when her datearrived around three minutes late, she'd have a cow and would ignore him the rest of the night." Harry added sarcastically, earning a snigger of agreement from Neville.
He shook his head at the memory and added in a half-hearted banter. "Yeah, I remember that. Blimey, Ginny…It's no wonder you scared that blonde veela jerk away. You're one high maintenance woman." He realized out loud, causing Ron and Hermione to laugh to themselves.
Ginny didn't appreciate their laughter at her expense and scowled to herself, folding her arms huffily across her chest. "I didn't scare him away! In fact, I'm willing to bet that Anton would agree with me when I say that I was the best sex he ever had—" Ron promptly choked on his glass of water at her words but she ignored him and continued.
"—and you should have seen the look on his face after!" She said triumphantly, turning and meeting the embarrassed blush on both Hermione and Neville's faces. Unlike them, Harry was smirking at Ginny in open amusement while Ron was practically seething with rage.
"Y—You slept with that veela jerk?! H—How could you—"
"You should know how good I am…right, Harry?" She added coyly, fluttering her eyelashes up at the other girl. Not wanting to do anything to ignite Ginny's legendary temper, Harry just cringed and nodded hastily – ignoring the fact that Ron's angry, bloodshot eyes had now flicked over to her.
"The best I ever had as a guy." She answered automatically with a nervous smile and slightly sheepish shrug.
"You slept with my sister, Harry?!"
Ignoring Ron's angry protest, the entire table's attention shifted to Hermione and the way the brunette's eyes suddenly flashed in feminine indignation. The former Head Girl slammed her glass of water down hard on the table and stood up, looming over Harry's cowering form.
"WHAT?! SHE was the best you ever had as a guy, Harry?! I thought I was!" She seethed and at this, Harry jumped up immediately from her seat and backed away from her angry best friend, holding her hands out in front of her in a frantic 'I surrender' pose.
"Ehehe…A—after YOU of course, 'Mione!"
"WHAT?! HARRY!"
It was Ginny who had shot up out of her seat this time and at this, Harry groaned out loud and buried her face in her hands in defeat. Neville was watching the scene with choked up laughter while even Ron seemed to have forgotten his anger for a moment and was sniggering loudly as he continued to watch the helpless exasperation on Harry's face.
The former boy-who-lived had collapsed back down onto her seat and started banging her head repeatedly against the table in dismay. She began muttering nonsensical words under her breath to drown out Hermione and Ginny's simultaneous shrieking.
"I can't believe you, Harry!"
"I thought you said I was the best!"
"Hermione could never be better in bed than me!"
"Ginny is nothing but a skank!"
Before the argument could escalate any further, Harry shot up sharply from her own seat and pushed both girls away from each other. Her voice cracked several times in defeat as she forced out the rest of her exasperated words in a hysterical tone of voice.
"You know what?! It doesn't even MATTER because I am NEVER having sex as a man again! Okay?! It doesn't matter WHO I say is best because I don't even have a CROTCH anymore to base it on! In case you've both forgotten, I'm a bloody WOMAN now!" She paused at this and gestured wildly to her respective body parts.
"SEE?! ME? Breasts! Hips! Legs! NO CROTCH?!"
Hermione and Ginny colored in embarrassment at Harry's words – especially when several heads in the restaurant turned to watch them with scandalized looks on their faces. Unfortunately, Harry never noticed all the attention on her and continued to rant on in front of them.
"And just so you both know, the best sex I have ever HAD in my LIFE is with DRACO! Hands down, no competition! OKAY?! So you two bloody women just…SHUT UP!" She exclaimed loudly, choosing to ignore the way Ron and Neville both made a face at her words.
Hermione and Ginny both sat back down in a huff, crossing their arms across their chests and glaring at each other over the table.
The Malfoy Mistress remained blissfully unaware of the fact that just about every person in the restaurant had turned and was now watching her with wide-eyed, rapt attention. Once she realized this, she hunched back into her seat and hurriedly hid her face behind one of the menus – blushing even darker when Ron and Neville began laughing to themselves.
Seeing the humiliation on Harry's face, Ginny turned and gave her a sympathetic smirk.
"Don't worry, Harry…I'll make sure Witch Weekly doesn't publish any gossip about your exciting sex life this week." She reassured her with a chuckle, earning herself a weak glare from the other Gryffindor. Ron scoffed at her words and finally pushed his empty plate to the side of the table.
"I still don't understand why you like working for that magazine, Ginny! Among all the careers you could have gotten, you had to choose to be a Gossip Columnist. It's like you didn't learn at all from watching Harry." He pointed out, causing Ginny to turn and stick her tongue out childishly at him.
Neville spoke up to support Ron's statement. "Yeah, Ginny…Aren't there any moral issues involved in that? I mean, all those stuff you publish and write about people – they aren't actually all true right?" He pointed out, finally causing Ginny to purposely drop her fork and spoon dramatically onto her plate in frustration.
"And so…? I happen to like my job, you guys! In fact, the onlyreason I'm even going to the Malfoys' party tonight is so I can scoop up some dirt on Anton for this week's issue!" She told them haughtily, causing Hermione to roll her eyes to herself in disbelief.
"What?! You don't believe me, Hermione?! I mean it—"
"Ginny, I hate to be the one to break it to you…" Harry finally spoke up again, her voice sounding uncertain as she slowly set the menu back down on the table to uncover her face. She looked around and made sure no one else was listening to their conversation before she continued.
"Anton is bringing a date tonight to the party. In fact, he's been dating a lot again these past days and it doesn't look like he'll be ready for anything serious at all anytime soon—" She would have continued had Ginny not interrupted her with a hasty sigh and forced laugh.
"I—I know that, Harry! I know he is…That's exactly why I have to be there later! This is a strictly professional situation! I'm going there to scoop him for a new story! I don't care that he's dating again – in fact! I'm GLAD he is! That way, there's more to him I can write about for a good gossip story, right?" She laughed loudly – her voice sounding somewhat ragged and heavy.
"Isn't he supposedly dating that gorgeous prima ballerina…? What was her name… Marie-Claire Francois?" Hermione asked bluntly, muffling a smirk when Ginny's face flushed red in restrained anger. The red-headed woman looked like she wanted to strangle Hermione's neck but instead, she looked up and gave them all a sugary sweet smile.
"I couldn't care less, Hermione! I will also be bringing a hot date tonight for the party and I'll be so busy with HIM that I won't even notice Anton there—"
"We never implied anything, Ginny…" Neville interrupted her bluntly with an amused grin, rolling his eyes when Ginny looked even more embarrassed upon hearing his words.
"W—Well! I—I was just—"
Harry didn't attempt to press the matter further and neither did anyone else. They all hid a smile and pretended to pick at the food on their plate. After a couple of moments of awkward silence, Hermione spoke up again and looked up from her plate towards Harry.
"Hey…Harry…? You eat liver, right? Can you take this? I can't stand it…I think it's absolutely disgusting." Hermione complained out loud, wrinkling her nose in distaste and indicating to the small piece on her plate with her fork.
Harry rolled her eyes but nodded and held her plate out to the other girl.
"Yeah, yeah…Give it to me then. You girls are always wasting food all the time. I swear, if only I had my guy body back I could probably eat twice the amount of food I could now—"
She stopped and cut herself off right in the middle of her sentence, suddenly looking down at her food with a queasy expression on her face. The smell of the liver seemed almost intoxicating and was making her stomach churn in disgust until she could barely even look at it.
"Merlin…Th—That's disgusting! Get that thing away from me!"
She pulled herself back and shoved the plate away from her as though it was the most revolting thing she had ever seen in her life. Her eyes had suddenly grown to the size of saucers and she felt a bitter, disgusting taste suddenly rising up into her throat.
"Harry…?"
At the sound of Hermione's concerned voice, Harry managed to look up for a split second and indicated frantically for her to move the plate of liver away from her. "Ugh! Get it away from me! Get it AWAY! That smells horrible and disgusting! Are you sure it's not spoiled?! Ugh…I think I'm going to be sick!" She spat out irritably, causing Ron and Neville to look at each other in confusion.
Ginny had also blinked at her in question and took the plate of liver into her hands, leaning down briefly to sniff at the offending dish. After a moment, she looked back up at Harry and raised an eyebrow at the other girl in question.
"It smells alright to me, Harry…Are you okay? You look a bit peaky." She observed, reaching forward and feeling the other girl's clammy forehead. Harry growled in annoyance and slapped her hands away, recoiling away again when the plate neared her.
"I—I'm fine—I SAID GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!"
Hermione and Ginny exchanged somewhat suspicious looks while Ron and Neville were looking at Harry as though she had grown an extra head, their eyebrows raised in stunned confusion. "You okay, mate? Do you want me to ask the waitress for some more water?" Ron asked in concern, gesturing to the waitress behind them.
Harry shook her head and quickly got up from her seat when she felt another bitter, disgusting taste building up in her throat. "I—I'm fine, I just need to go to the bathroom for a minute. E—excuse me…" She bowed her head as she exited the table with slow, steady footsteps.
Hermione and Ginny watched her walking away from where they sat – both women's eyes already narrowing in growing suspicion. Unaware of their staring – about ten feet away from the bathroom door – Harry froze in the middle of walking, her eyes widening in nausea and disgust.
Both Hermione and Ginny had to bite back a squeal of surprise when their former male friend suddenly clamped one hand firmly over her mouth and another over her stomach. She broke out into a frantic run, shoving and twisting around several people along the way to the bathroom in her growing panic.
The boys also saw this and although they exchanged worried glances over Harry's possible condition, they shrugged and turned back to their plate of dessert – completely unaware of the way Hermione and Ginny were practically jumping in their seats with excitement.
"Oh Merlin!" Hermione turned equally excited, twinkling brown eyes to a beaming Ginny. "Oh my god, Ginny! Harry! She's finally— She's preg—"
"Oh thank Merlin! Hermione! Ron! You're both here!"
Hermione's squeal was cut right off as all four Gryffindors whirled around and caught sight of a somewhat haggled-looking Regina Vallehan Black rushing into the restaurant. Little baby James was cradled carefully in one of her arms while a truckload of shopping bags and groceries were haphazardly balanced in the other – justifying the look of pure exhaustion on Regina's face.
Upon seeing the former Gryffindors there, she rushed over to them and set the grocery bags down on the floor near the table. Carefully shifting a cooing James onto her other arm, she looked up through her slightly tangled red hair and managed a weak smile.
"H—Hermione…I—I'm sorry for ladling this onto you all of a sudden but could you watch James and my groceries for me for about fifteen minutes while I go and withdraw from my Gringgotts account? Please?" She practically begged, her smile looking slightly strained with exhaustion. Hermione took pity on the older woman and nodded comfortingly, giving her a reassuring smile.
"Of course, Regina…Where's Sirius? Doesn't he usually help you out with all your weekly errands?" She asked as she allowed Regina to deposit a giggling James Regulus Black into her arms, wincing when the toddler kicked her lightly in the shin.
Regina gave her a thoroughly grateful smile and used a single white handkerchief to wipe herself off. "He's been off on a short business conference for the last two nights. He should be back tonight for the Malfoys' Anniversary party." She paused to take a deep breath, turning to give her wildly squirming son an amused smile.
"Keep an eye on him, Hermione…I have to warn you. Little James certainly inherited his father's love for mischief and his godmother's knack for trouble." She said this with a slightly exasperated tone of voice, causing all four former Gryffindors to chuckle at her words.
"Where's Keira, Miss Regina…? She loves going to Diagon Alley right…?" Ron asked in surprise, glancing around for the adorable eight-year-old in question. Regina laughed gently and offered him a thankful smile at the question. "She's staying over at Isabella's this week…I swear, those two are absolutely inseparable these days." She explained, chuckling and glancing briefly at her watch.
Her eyes widened and she turned her apologetic gaze back to Hermione. "Anyway, I'd better get going if I want to be done by fifteen minutes. Thanks again for watching him, Hermione! I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise!" She rushed out, smiling gratefully at the others before nodding and hastily exiting the restaurant.
James' wide gray eyes followed his mother out the door. For a minute, he looked as though he was about to cry – his lower lip trembling and his eyes slowly filling up with unshed tears. Just as he looked about ready to burst out into loud, angry wails, Harry chose that moment to arrive back on the scene – looking slightly better than she had moments ago.
At the sight of her baby godson, she immediately exclaimed in a loud, cheerful voice and rushed over to gather little James into her arms. "Hey! There's my handsome little godson!" She took him from Hermione's arms and tossed him lightly into the air.
James instantly forgot about what he was going to cry about and burst into giggles at the sight of his godmother, squealing happily and wrapping his chubby baby hands around her neck. Hermione laughed as she watched them, noting the affectionate aura and natural charm Harry seemed to have around children.
The Malfoy Mistress ruffled James' mane of messy black hair and planted a kiss on his forehead. "What are you doing here, kiddo? Where's your mother?" She looked around the restaurant for Regina but Hermione shook her head and answered her question for her.
"Regina dropped him off about three minutes ago so she could go off to Gringgotts…" Hermione let her voice trail off uncertainly to exchange a meaningful glance with Ginny. They both nodded to each other as though in silent agreement before Hermione turned back to Harry and gave her a careful look.
"So…Harry? Are you feeling a little better now? Why did you suddenly rush off to the bathroom like that anyway?" She asked, keeping her face innocently neutral as she continued to watch Harry tossing James into the air.
By now, Ron and Neville looked absolutely confused and were alternating their gazes from Hermione to Ginny in periodic intervals. Both girls ignored them and exchanged another set of unspoken words with each other with several nods and excited winks.
Harry gave Hermione a distracted smile. "Much better, 'Mione. Thanks. Although, keep that plate of liver away from me! For some reason, the very sight of it makes me sick." She added as an afterthought, rolling her eyes when Ron shrugged and instantly pulled the plate towards him.
"Suit yourself, Harry…More for me then." He replied with a grin. Ginny rolled her eyes at him before turning back to give Harry an all-too-knowing smile.
"Harry…If you don't mind my asking, have you been feeling a bit drained and tired lately? More than usual, I mean…?" Ginny asked out loud, holding back a laugh when Neville finally caught on to what they were doing. He turned and gaped at Harry in shocked stupor.
"O—Oh Merlin—!"
"Whaargh?" Ron managed to ask through a mouth full of food, looking up and giving them all a clueless stare. All three Gryffindors ignored him and watched Harry intently with eerily wide smiles bordering along the lines of 'obsessively creepy' until Harry finally couldn't take it anymore. She removed her attention from James long enough to give them a wary look.
. "Huh…? Oh! Uhm…Yeah, I suppose so, Ginny. Although that's expected. I've been really swamped with work lately and I haven't gotten much sleep." She answered in another distracted tone of voice, shrugging and laughing when James blurted random words out loud as though in protest.
"Maaaa! Baaa? Gooooo!"
"How about fainting spells, Harry…? Have you fainted any time today or the past couple of days?" Hermione followed up persistently, gesturing firmly for Neville to keep quiet. Ginny muffled an amused giggle when Harry's eyes finally flashed in growing irritation at all the seemingly innocent and intrusive questions they were asking her.
"Now that you mention it, I have fainted twice today but…Hermione…Ginny... What is this really all about?" Harry's attention shifted from James to settle on both girls' faces. Her green eyes narrowed slowly in suspicion when she caught the unreadable glance the two girls exchanged.
Hermione bit her lip while Ginny looked across the table at Neville and gave him a conspiratorial smile. Ron, for the life of him, couldn't figure out what was going on and was glaring at them with the same amount of suspicion and utter confusion Harry felt.
"What?! What's going on? Why are you all smiling so creepily like that? Am I missing something, here?!" Ron blurted out, his blue eyes darting back and forth between his friends. When they couldn't seem to find the right words to say, Harry rolled her eyes and shifted her attention back to James just as he began to tug on her hair.
"Women…I'm surprised at you, Neville. I've been a woman for more than three years now and I still don't understand them. How is it that YOU can?" Harry kidded lightly as she began tossing James into the air again. Neville looked as though he was going to protest against her quip when Hermione finally caved into her nervousness and snapped at Harry in panic.
"Oh for Merlin's sake, Harry! Will you be careful with him?! You're handling him like a bloody QUAFFLE!" She shot up from her seat and took James into her own arms, tutting in disapproval when James merely giggled at the look of bewilderment on his godmother's face.
Harry blinked at Hermione's fuming glare and shrugged sheepishly, ducking her head behind her hand. "What are you talking about, Hermione? I was handling him just fine! He seemed to enjoy it! Look, he wants me to carry him again!" She indicated to the way James was clapping his hands gleefully and reaching his hands out toward her again.
Ron snorted at this behind his glass of water and gave Harry a meaningful smirk. "I guess maternal instincts don't come with the new female body huh, Harry?" He asked pointedly, earning a laugh from Neville when both boys saw the irritated expression on Harry's face.
Ginny chose that exact moment to speak up again, her blue eyes twinkling mischievously as she shot up from her seat and walked slowly towards Harry's unsuspecting form. "Speaking of maternal instincts…Don't you think it's about time you brushed up on yours, Harry?" She hinted slowly, looking up and meeting Hermione's eyes over Harry's shoulder.
"What are you talking about, Ginny? I have no maternal instincts—" Her voice broke off when she glanced at her wristwatch. "—BLOODY HELL! It's a quarter past 1! Why didn't anyone tell me?! Ashford is going to KILL me! I was supposed to have been back five minutes ago!" She began gathering her things back into her bag, pausing briefly to lean down and plant a kiss of goodbye on Hermione and Ginny's cheeks.
Hermione looked frustrated and tried to push Ginny's unanswered question further. "B—But, WAIT! Harry, Ginny was trying to tell you something important! Don't you think you should listen—" Harry shook her head frantically and slung her backpack over her shoulder, leaning down to give baby James an affectionate pinch on the cheek.
"Tell me about it later at the party, alright? I really have to go now!" She glanced back up and gave Ron and Neville a friendly wave and nod. "I'll see you guys later, then?" She stopped and turned to James one last time, reaching down to ruffle the thin mane of black hair on his head.
"I'll see you later kiddo. And don't listen to what your Aunt Hermione says! I do not handle you like a Quaffle and you like it when your godmother tosses you into the air right? It gets you used to the feeling of falling off your broom in Quidditch!" She kidded, failing to see the look of matching frustration on Hermione and Ginny's faces.
"HARRY—"
James answered Harry with a squeal and baby giggle, reaching his tiny hands up and rewarding her with a rather sloppy kiss on the cheek. Unfortunately, the smile on his face suddenly transformed into a nauseated wince for the briefest second and before Harry could notice this or pull away, James had leaned down and vomited what used to be baby milk all over his godmother's robes.
Ron, Ginny and Neville all burst out laughing at the look of utter revulsion on Harry's face, watching as she took a step away from the toddler in disgust. The newest Marauder seemed to enjoy his godmother's reaction and was giggling harder, clapping his hands gleefully to himself.
Harry took out a handkerchief and began to wipe at the mess on her robes with a slight cringe on her face. "Brilliant…Thank you, James. Showing up with baby vomit all over my uniform will certainly make Ashford less mad at me." She mumbled under her breath.
"Gooooo!"
At the sight of Hermione's smirk and the look of plain 'I-told-you-so' written all over her smug features, Harry cut her off just as she was going to open her mouth.
"DON'T even say it!"
Where the bloody hell is that little minx?! I'm going to strangle her the moment she gets here! Stupid Gryffindor! Draco thought furiously to himself as his silver eyes scanned the entire ballroom of guests and aristocrats for any sign of his wife.
It was half past nine that night and Jaimee was STILL nowhere in sight, something that Draco nor the rest of the Malfoys certainly did not fail to notice. The whole of elite Wizarding society barely saw the young Malfoy Head without the company of his beautiful wife these days so Draco was more than certain the guests were aware of Jaimee's absence as well.
Glancing up over his glass of champagne, Draco caught a glimpse of his father and his grandparents over by the front of the ballroom conversing with some of their family friends. His mother was off to the far side of the room chatting with the wives of other aristocratic families.
Seeing him looking at her, Narcissa hurriedly beckoned him over, causing Draco to wince and shake his head hastily in refusal. When she gave him an angry glare, he sighed, grabbed another glass of champagne and reluctantly walked over to them.
Narcissa wrapped her arm proudly around his shoulders when he reached them and gestured him over to some of her friends. "Ladies, you all know my son – Draco? He's recently just taken over my husband's former position in MMC." She told them proudly, causing the other women to give the new Malfoy head a look-over and a well-practiced smile.
Draco returned their smiles with a fake, charming one of his own. "A pleasure to see you all again, ladies." He acknowledged, reaching over and planting an obligatory kiss on each of their white gloved hands. Rowena Parkinson, Pansy's mother and one of his mother's old friends, raised an eyebrow and gave Draco an inquisitive glance.
"So…Draco…? I was just telling Cissy here about my new beloved grandson, Baxter. Pansy's completely besotted with him these days…" She stopped and smirked as all the other women around the circle now peered closely at Draco's stiff smile in anticipation of her next words.
"…When are you thinking of providing another possible Malfoy heir?"
It took all of Draco's self-control and 17 years of his aristocratic upbringing for him not to wipe the sneer off Rowena Parkinson's face by making a snide, scathing comment about her supposed 'beloved grandson'. Instead, he met his mother's apologetic glance with an assuring smirk.
"…Soon, Auntie Rowena. It shouldn't take that long. After all… Shagging my wife for about seven to eight times a day would most probably increase her chances of conception. Don't you all think so?" He answered bluntly, his charming smile betraying the snide amusement in his eyes when he heard the sharp gasps of scandalized horror on the other women's faces.
Narcissa also looked shocked at his outburst but was trying to hide a smile behind her handkerchief at the way her devious son had handled the situation. As though nothing had happened, Draco turned back to give his mother an affectionate kiss on her cheek.
"Mother, if you'll excuse me….I must speak with Father for a few moments about something. Ladies…?" The former Slytherin turned back and graced the now blushing and embarrassed women around him with another one of his handsome smiles. "If you'll excuse me…"
Just as he turned to walk away, he and his mother shared a brief hint of a smirk that went unnoticed by the rest of the women around them. Downing the rest of his drink in a single gulp, he headed over to where his father and grandparents now stood conversing with each other at the end of the ballroom.
As soon as he got there, Genevieve looked up and rewarded her eldest grandson with a beaming smile and affectionate hug. "Draco, sweetheart! You are looking very handsome tonight! You remind of me of your grandfather when he was your age!" She gushed happily, earning a laugh from both Lucius and Draco when they saw the look of irritation on Lawrence's face.
"You said the same thing about Lucius ten minutes ago, Genevieve. Make up your mind, why don't you?" He drawled, causing his wife to give him an admonishing glare. "Well I can't help it! He's an exact carbon copy of you AND Lucius!" She ignored Lawrence's answering smirk and gave Draco a confused look when she noticed that he was alone.
"B—But…? Where's Jaimee?! Where's my beautiful granddaughter-in-law?! Draco Lucius Malfoy! Don't tell me you had another argument with her tonight! What did you do this time?! I'm going to be cross with you! This is our anniversary and I expected her to be here—"
"We didn't fight. She'll be here soon, grandmother." Draco interrupted her angry tirade with a fond chuckle, smiling when his grandmother seemed to calm after his answer and nodded firmly as though to warn him. "That's right! You'd better not have fought with her again, Draco. You know how stubborn you are sometimes, you're just like your father! Why, I remember the time when he—"
"Mother, lets not get into that shall we?" Lucius pointed out in mild irritation, much to his son's amusement as Draco turned and saw the look of rare embarrassment on his father's normally regal face. Lawrence heard their exchange and raised an eyebrow at Draco in query.
"Where is Jaimee, Draco…? She should know better than to arrive late at parties like this. It is the responsibility of the current Master and Mistress of the Malfoy family to always be on time on family occasions in order not to—"
"—upstage the family name. Yes I'm well aware of that unspoken rule of punctuality, Grandfather." Draco finished for the other man in a deadpan voice, rolling his eyes to himself. He ignored the glare his father sent him and looked up to meet Lawrence's smirk with one of his own.
"I'll be sure to tell her that when she arrives. Besides, it's not like she was brought up with that mindset like the rest of the family was. It would actually be more unacceptable if it had been me or any other of the Malfoy sons who had been late—"
"Sorry I'm late! Sorry I'm late! What did I miss?!"
As much as he wanted to, Draco could no longer finish the rest of his sentence. His left eye twitched in irritation as they all looked up at the sight of one very frantic Byron Malfoy rushing into the ballroom toward them, his tuxedo collar unbuttoned and his hair slightly tossled in some areas.
At the sight of the other Malfoy son's unacceptably disheveled state, Lucius and Lawrence looked slightly less than pleased while Genevieve's lips twitched in amusement. She watched as Byron smiled and greeted his way through the crowd of bewildered guests along the dance floor.
When he saw them from across the room, the metamorphagus looked up and met their shocked faces with a handsome, sheepish grin. He hurriedly made his way through the crowd toward them while trying to button his sleeves and collar at the same time.
Byron winked at Draco's fuming glare at him before leaning over and giving Genevieve a kiss on the cheek. "Happy 35th anniversary, Grandmother! Grandfather!" He beamed, enveloping her in a warm, affectionate hug and nodding to his grandfather in greeting.
Genevieve hugged him back tightly with a warm smile, looking over his shoulder and shooting the other three men a quelling glare when they looked as though they were going to reprimand him. Byron noticed this and looked back up at them, giving the three blonde Malfoys a nervous smile.
"I'm sorry I'm late. I meant to arrive here sooner but I got caught up at work and—"
"Byron, are you wearing eyeliner?!"
Byron's eyes widened at Draco's hissed question, laughing nervously and stepping back when the blonde peered closer towards his face to inspect his eyes. Fortunately, the three older Malfoys seemed not to have heard Draco's question and began to converse amongst themselves.
Byron backed away a couple more steps from his glaring cousin and hastily turned around so he could wipe at the black outlines around his eyes. "I—I don't know what you're talking about, Draco! Don't be silly! I'm a guy! I wouldn't be wearing eyeliner or—"
"Lipstick?!"
The rest of Byron's sentence ended in a choked-up squeak when Draco's silver orbs suddenly widened in shocked realization. He pointed a shaky finger at Byron's cringing face in horror, causing the metamorphagus to turn around hastily again so he could wipe at the remaining traces of purple left on his lips.
"Th—that wasn't lipstick! Th—that was….icing! I was eating cake awhile ago!"
"PURPLE cake?!"
Draco growled in frustration when Byron merely grinned at him again and pretended not to have heard him. The Malfoy Head turned around briefly to make sure his father or grandparents didn't hear his next words before voicing out the rest of his suspicions in a mortified whisper.
"BYRON! You're wearing EYELINER and LIPSTICK! What have you been doing?! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Draco looked as though he was trying very hard not to shout, causing Byron to laugh at his panicked expression and shrug at him in response.
"Alright, alright! I was undercover! I was in this bar in Japan posing as a cosplayer." He suddenly grinned at this and slung an arm over the older Malfoy's shoulder so he could whisper into his ear. "Did you know that the men in Japan are REALLY pretty? I was this—" He indicated a tiny length with his thumb and forefinger. "—close to making out with one of them. He was REALLY beautiful for a man and—"
Draco sputtered incoherently and shrugged his arm off, his eyes flashing when he heard the lighthearted humor in his cousin's voice. "I couldn't care less if the men in Japan were half-women, Byron! If YOU were undercover in Japan tonight, where is my WIFE?!" He demanded angrily, reaching up and grabbing the other Malfoy by the front of his collar.
Byron cringed as Draco began dragging him away against his will to the far corner of the room. Once they were out of anyone's range of hearing, he turned around and leveled his younger cousin with a fierce, intimidating glare that would have sent anyone else running.
"Byron…Where…Is…Harry?!"
Instead of answering him, Byron's golden brown eyes flicked past Draco's shoulder in obvious avoidance of his question. Draco was seething with anger and opened his mouth to ask him again but Byron cut him off by waving madly to someone behind him and exclaiming in a loud, cheerful voice.
"HEY! Isn't that Anton over there? I have to talk to him! HEY! ANTON, OVER HERE!"
Byron waved almost maniacally to a slightly confused Anton standing all the way on the other side of the ballroom. Anton took one look at Draco's furious face before raising an eyebrow in suspicion, shaking his head in blatant refusal at Byron's enthusiastic beckoning for him to join them.
It was at this point that Draco finally exploded.
"BYRON, WHERE IS MY WIFE?!!!! IF YOU DON'T TELL ME RIGHT NOW, I'M GOING TO HAVE YOU MAIMED—"
The younger Malfoy son whirled around, grabbed another glass of vodka from a passing house-elf and began running away from his older cousin towards the other side of the ballroom as fast as humanely possible.
"Have you been a bad boy, Mr. Hastings…?"
Jaimee quirked the corners of her lips into a seductive smirk as she walked slowly towards the dark-haired, leering man seated on the large bed in front of her. His dark, bloodshot eyes roamed hungrily over her body, lingering on the curves exposed by her tight leather dress.
He sneered as she approached him, sitting up straighter and allowing her a glimpse of his dark hairy chest as exposed by his opened, long-sleeved shirt. Jaimee tried very hard not to wince in disgust at this, hiding her revulsion behind a forced, coy chuckle.
She stopped in front of him and hoisted a single, heeled black boot up onto the foot of the bed. The gesture got the response she was aiming for as a generous portion of her long, slim leg was exposed to his lustful eyes. She trailed a hand seductively up her thigh, the other one reaching for the leather whip hung over one of the tall posts of the large bed.
He watched her movements with perverted smirk and trailed his eyes up and down her body.
"And so perhaps I have been bad, darling…Are you going to punish me for it?" He asked in a husky voice, emitting a low chuckle when she answered him with a seemingly innocent fluttering of her long eyelashes.
"Do you want me to…?" She responded easily, cringing inwardly when she heard her own disgusting words in her ears. Noting silently to herself that his wand and weapons were all in the pockets of his pants, she smiled at him and slowly began to unroll the whip in her hands.
The action seemed to distract him perfectly as his eyes followed her fingers carefully, unaware of the way her eyes flicked over him in search of other possible weapons or dangerous enchantments. When she confirmed all this, she finally chuckled and walked over to the lamp beside the bed – bending down and adjusting the light so that a seductive yellow glow was cast upon the room.
Hastings seemed to enjoy this action and took that opportunity to check out her arse just before she straightened up and shook her finger coyly at him as though in admonishment. "Naughty, naughty…" Again, Jaimee had to restrain herself from cringing in absolute self-disgust.
I've really hit an all-time low with this undercover mission. Ugh…If anybody ever finds out what I'm doing right now, I'll never be able live with myself. She thought miserably, walking back towards the entrance of the bedchambers.
She was easily aware of Hastings' beady eyes on her arse and legs as she walked – the heels of her leather boots clicking noisily in a seductive rhythm along the floor's wooden surface. As soon as she was in front of the door, she whipped out her wand from underneath her skirt and discreetly began casting several silencing and locking charms on the entire room.
Once she had done this, she turned back around and rewarded Hastings with another gorgeous smile. "We wouldn't want any of your bodyguards hearing any screams now, would we Mr. Hastings…?" She asked suggestively, giggling when he leered back at her in agreement.
"Call me Alex, darling…"
Jaimee felt an irresistible urge to punch him in the gut at the word 'darling' but held herself back and slowly made her way towards him again. She noticed that his lecherous gaze seemed to be taking in the way the leather of her short, strapless dress was pushing her breasts up and was clinging tightly onto every single feminine curve of her body.
When he looked as though he was going to stand up from where he sat on the large bed towards her, Jaimee sneered, raised a foot and forced him back down by pressing the heel of her boot against his chest. "Down…Boy…" She drawled teasingly, chuckling when the man smirked at her words and nodded, leaning back down on his elbows on the bed in lazy anticipation.
She used that same position to lean closer towards him, reaching a single hand to unclasp the clip holding her hair up in place. Long, soft tresses of black hair fell down in sexy waves to frame her face – illuminating the bright glow of her magically altered and heavily eye-lined blue eyes. Hastings whistled wolfishly at this, the smile on his face widening slowly as he watched her.
"You are gorgeous, baby…Punish me."
You sick, perverted bastard.
Quirking an eyebrow at him, she used one hand to idly twist the long leather whip she was holding around her fingers. She looked down at him through narrowed eyes, raising the whip and bringing it down noisily onto the wooden floor with a resounding 'snap!'.
"Get up! I want you on your knees on the floor NOW!" She ordered in a brisk, commanding tone of voice – hiding a disgusted shudder when her outburst seemed to excite Hastings immensely. He jumped off the bed and knelt down hastily onto the floor with a wide, suggestive grin.
He reached a hand up to grab at her arse but she snapped her whip down hard on the floor again in warning, causing him to wince at the sound and pull his hand back. Glaring down authoritatively at him, she stretched the whip out with her two hands in a loud snap.
When he looked as though he was about to reach up and touch her again, she shook her head in warning and walked very slowly behind his kneeled form, making sure the heels of her boots echoed in another seductive rhythm within the silence of the bedroom.
"I'm the boss, Hastings! First… Your wand! I want you to throw it onto the floor!"
He looked suspicious at her strange command and looked as though he was about to refuse had Jaimee not followed her statement up by walking in front of him and purposely giving him a good view of her arse by bending down and scooping a pair of handcuffs off the floor.
"I want you to relinquish yourself to me entirely tonight, Alex…" She drawled slowly as she stood back up and gestured to the handcuffs with a playful smile. He still looked slightly hesitant at her request but only until she quirked an eyebrow at him and gave him a sexy smirk.
That seemed to do the trick as Hastings feigned a helpless sigh and chuckled to himself, reaching into the pocket of his pants to pull out his wand. "Very well…Then I'm at your complete mercy, darling…Do whatever you want with me tonight." He murmured as he tossed both his wand and the rest of his weapons onto the wooden floor in front of him.
He looked up and watched as Jaimee bit her lip teasingly and walked back over to stand in front of him, leaning down to hang her whip around his neck.
"Oh believe me, Hastings…I will…"
She chuckled again and walked behind his kneeling form, bending down and using the muggle handcuffs to chain his hands together behind his back. Once she had done this and bound his wrists firmly together, she finally knelt down behind him, placed her hands lingeringly onto his bare shoulders and leaned down to murmur something into his ear.
"…Mr. Alexander Hastings…" She paused when she felt him shudder in arousal at the sound of her breathless whisper.
"Yes, darling…?"
Carefully gathering his wand and the rest of his weapons off the floor, Harry allowed a triumphant smirk to cross her face.
"You're…Under…Arrest."
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THE MEANING OF THIS?! I'LL KILL YOU, YOU BITCH! MY ASSOCIATES AND BODYGUARDS ARE ABOUT TO RUSH IN ANY MINUTE NOW—"
Harry cut off Hastings' angry screaming with a derisive scoff as she walked back calmly to her bag near the door and began to retie her hair into a neat ponytail. She ignored the rather creative names he shouted at her and walked over to the window, pointing her wand right out at the sky.
A single beam of silver light shot out from the tip of her wand into the dark night as a signal to the waiting Aurors just outside the building. Once she had done this, she turned back and returned Hastings' hideous snarl at her with a taunting wink.
"I don't think so, Hastings…You see, I cast all the necessary silencing, locking and sealing charms when I came in here. Unless they think you're not enjoying your disgusting little perverted fantasies in here with me, I think nobody is going to come rushing in here for about another hour or so." She followed this up with a conspiratorial smile.
"The Aurors should be arriving here in about five minutes to take you to Azkaban."
"This is RIDICULOUS! I haven't been doing anything illegal!"
"Manufacturing and smuggling 10 types of Ministry restricted red-label potions…Use of the Imperius and Cruciatus Curse. Blackmail. Fraud and bribery." Harry paused to slip her large trench coat back over her scantily clad form and tied the sash securely around her waist. She turned around one last time and gave him a smirk.
"Take it from me, Hastings…Sometimes, playing around with women can be even more dangerous than facing a basilisk. It took me THREE years of being a woman for me to learn that."
Hastings' face clouded over in confusion and he looked at her as though she was insane.
"WHAT?! A woman for THREE YEARS?! What does THAT mean—MOTHER OF MERLIN! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING—"
Harry never heard the rest of his horrified scream as she turned around, pulled her wand of her pocket and jumped right out the top window of a thirty story building. A few meters above the building's sidewalk, she raised her wand and cast a spell over herself to slow down her descent, lowering herself easily down onto the flow with effortless ease.
As soon the heels of her leather boots had clicked once against the sidewalk's cemented surface in a neat, agile landing, she looked up and met the completely stunned look of one of the waiting valet personnel in front of her with a calm smile.
"…Taxi?"
"Grandfather…Grandmother, I'd like to introduce you to my lovely date for the evening. I believe you may recognize her to be this ballet season's prima ballerina… Marie-Claire Francois."
IT'S TEN, DAMN IT! POTTER, WHERE THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU?!
Draco barely paid any attention to Anton's smug voice as his cousin continued to introduce the beautiful, petite brunette on his arm to the older Malfoys gathered around them in a small, tight circle. Right in the middle of the crowd, Draco tried to listen to the rest of his family's lively responses towards this but his attention kept flicking back to the entrance of the ballroom every five minutes.
"Draco! Long time no see! I had hoped you'd have gotten killed or eaten by a hippogriff by now." A familiar voice suddenly spoke up from behind him, causing Draco's eyes to flash in annoyance as he whirled around and found himself facing Sirius Black's obviously plastered smile.
"Black…What a…pleasant…surprise to see you back from your trip. Couldn't you have stayed away longer?" Draco answered in an equally sarcastic drawl, nodding in acknowledgment to Regina as she walked up behind Sirius to join their conversation.
She silenced the ex-marauder with a glare before giving Draco a warm smile. "Please excuse my husband, Draco. You know how he can get sometimes. Where's Jaimee? Shouldn't she be here by now?" She asked in concern, unknowingly causing Draco's jaw to clench in mild irritation.
Sirius' eyes darkened angrily and he gave Draco a venomous scowl. "You'd better be taking good care of my goddaughter, Malfoy. The minute I find out she's unhappy with you or that you're hurting her in any way, I'm going to slice your crotch right off—"
"Sirius, why don't we go over there and talk to some of my old friends from school?" Regina quickly cut the rest of Sirius' threat off and gave Draco an overly bright smile. "We'll talk to you later, Draco." She added hastily as she tugged on her husband's arm and dragged him hurriedly away before he could initiate other argument with the young Malfoy Head.
The minute they had left, Draco walked back over to where Byron was conversing with some of his old friends from school, pulled him aside and hissed angrily under his breath again.
"Byron, it's been an entire HOUR and I am starting to get really worried! Where is Harry and why isn't she here yet?!" Draco demanded in a scathing whisper, clenching his hands into fists when Byron finally bit his lip and forced himself to respond to his question.
The younger Malfoy shifted nervously under Draco's accusatory glare but managed to answer him in a steady whisper. "Alright…Don't get mad alright? I'm starting to get a little worried myself." He added, flinching away when Draco practically blew up at his words.
"MAD ABOUT WHAT?! BYRON, WHAT THE HELL HAS SHE BEEN DOING NOW—"
Byron shushed him hastily by waving his hand at his face, looking around and flashing a nervous, charming smile at the guests that had suddenly turned at the sound of Draco's frantic voice. When they looked away, he sighed and turned back to level Draco with a calming gaze.
"Ashford sent us all out on individual missions tonight. She probably just got held up or something, I'm sure she's fine. She fainted this morning but she looked okay when she left—"
The fire in Draco's eyes suddenly melted away into fear when he heard this and he raised a hand up to silence the rest of Byron's sentence. Realizing his mistake, Byron winced again and was about to correct himself when Draco beat him to it and asked another question.
"Wait, wait…Harry fainted this morning? When? How? Why?! Is she okay? What happened? Why didn't you tell me this sooner?!" The questions seemed to fly out of his mouth all at once before Draco could stop himself, causing Byron to smirk at him in amusement when he saw the unmistakable concern on his cousin's normally nonchalant face.
He chuckled and raised a hand to pat his cousin comfortingly on his shoulder. "Relax, stud…She's fine. You know it was probably your fault she fainted – you shouldn't exhaust her too much in bed all the time, Draco. She hardly gets any sleep! I mean, there's probably some rule out there about shagging your wife too much as being illegal – you should go check up on it—"
"BYRON…"
Byron laughed when he heard the dangerous threat in Draco's voice.
"She said she was just tired, Draco. Look, stop worrying. I'm sure she's fine and on her way to the party right now as we speak."
Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit…
Harry fidgeted impatiently as she glanced at her watch and cringed when she noted that she was now officially an hour late. Looking back up at the muggle taxi driver seated in front of her, she groaned and slapped a hand over her forehead when she saw the car jammed street through the taxi's front window.
Oh Merlin's bloody beard…Where's the nearest apparition point from here? She began digging anxiously through her bag for her apparition map, pulling it out and nearly ripping it open in her agitation. The muggle driver in front of her noticed her panic and gave her an apologetic smile.
"I—I'm sorry miss but it looks like we won't be going anywhere for awhile. The traffic is really bad in this street at this time of night." He told her, causing her to groan out loud in frustration. "Ugh…Is that so? U—uhm…listen—" Harry paused briefly and glanced back at the map spread out on her lap to pinpoint the nearest apparition point – an old phone booth in the back alley of a muggle street in London.
"Sir…H—How far are we from Aberfeldy Street?" She looked up at him through the car mirror and shoved her map back hastily into her bag. The muggle driver gave her another apologetic grimace and shook his head in dismay.
"About another four blocks from here."
"DAMN IT!"
Harry cursed out loud and buried her face into her hands in dismay. A couple of seconds and one quick decision later, she finally took a deep, shaky breath and frantically began to gather her things back into her hands. The muggle driver looked slightly surprised at this and blinked several times when she reached up and offered him the payment for her ride.
"Th—thanks for your help, Sir. I think I'll get off here and run the rest of the way." She told him, causing the driver to look at her as though she was insane. "Are you barking mad, lady? That's FOUR blocks you're planning on running! No creature on this earth could get me to run that distance!" He exclaimed but Harry was already climbing out the door and slinging her bag over her shoulder.
Slamming the door of the taxi shut, she winced and loosened the zipper on her boots for a minute before turning back around and giving the confused driver a grim smile.
"Yeah well…Try a fire breathing DRAGON."
"Draco, have you noticed anything strange about Harry lately? You know..Anything unusual about her eating patterns? Mood swings? Sleeping behavior?" Hermione asked nonchalantly as she watched Draco craning his neck every three minutes towards the ballroom entrance from where he and Blaise were standing near the refreshment table.
Draco gave her a distracted glare and seemed not to have fully understood her question. "Huh?! Did you say something? What the bloody hell are you talking about, Granger?" He snapped, turning around briefly to level her with an irritated look.
Hermione rolled her eyes at his reaction and spoke up in a louder voice. "I was asking you about HARRY. Have you noticed anything different about her lately? Eating patterns…? Frequent bouts of exhaustion, perhaps…?" She shared a knowing smirk with Blaise beside her and watched as her husband followed her question up with one of his own.
"…Hey Draco…You haven't been exhausting Potter these days, have you? She looked really tired the last time I saw her…But strangely enough she was also glowing wasn't she?" His voice was tinged with a hint of amusement but sadly, Draco failed to notice it altogether. The former Slytherin was too busy glaring fierce daggers at any poor soul who happened to pass through the ballroom entrance that wasn't Harry.
Draco regarded both their questions with another distracted glare and slammed his fourth empty glass of vodka onto the table in front of them.
"Not you too, Zabini! Look, I don't CARE if there's some bloody law that makes shagging too much illegal! I'm not doing anything wrong just because I like to have sex with my wife!" He snapped at them, causing Blaise to spit out the whole mouthful of vodka he had just taken in onto the floor.
"EXCUSE ME?!"
Hermione looked as though she was having difficulty breathing from holding in her laughter at Draco's misunderstanding of their questions. Stifling her giggles behind her hand, she patted her sputtering husband consolingly on the arm and looked back up at Draco to try again.
"That's not what Blaise meant, Draco. We were just wondering if you noticed lately that…Well…Her appetite has been really irregular. She's also been having a lot of unexplainable mood swings…Is she…Is she late?"
Draco rolled his eyes again, obviously failing to understand a single word she was saying.
"Are you DAFT?! OF COURSE SHE'S LATE! Otherwise I wouldn't be straining my bloody neck by flicking my head between the damn entrance and my watch every five minutes!" He snarled this out at her as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
That seemed to do it for Blaise as the Zabini Head finally turned away from his wife and best friend and burst into loud, heavily amused laughter. Hermione didn't appreciate this and nudged him sharply, looking up and shooting Draco a thoroughly exasperated glare.
"That was NOT what I meant, you IDIOT! I'm asking if she's—"
"Granger, NOT NOW—"
The rest of Draco's irate retort was cut short when all three former Hogwartians finally heard a familiar feminine voice speaking up sheepishly from the direction of the ballroom entrance.
"SORRY! I'm so sorry I'm late!"
Harry stumbled clumsily through the ballroom entrance with an easily plastered smile on her face, looking up and meeting the hundreds of eyes around the ballroom that had fallen on her upon her entrance. Flashing them all a charming smile, she hastily adjusted the green strapless evening gown she had thrown over her leather dress and walked slowly into the ballroom.
She spotted Byron, Anton and the rest of the Malfoy family near the far end of the room and waved casually at them in greeting. However, her eyebrows fused together in question when at the sight of her, Byron instantly burst out into poorly muffled laughter and began choking on his drink.
What the hell…?
Beside him, Anton's jaw was hanging open in shock as he stared at her – raising a hand blindly to slap Byron hard on his back when the metamorphagus began coughing and wheezing for breath. Byron coughed out a strangled 'thank you' at this but the minute he looked back up at her; he began laughing and choking again.
Pointedly choosing to ignore him, Harry tore her eyes away from them and allowed her gaze to travel very slowly around the sea of pale, shocked faces in the room – finally noticing for the first time that the entire ballroom seemed to have fallen into an eerie silence and all the guests were now staring at her in open, unblinking shock and scandalized horror.
Glancing further around the room, she noted that the musicians had all suddenly stopped playing at her arrival and that even the couples on the dance floor had stopped in the middle of their dancing and were also staring at her with stunned, gaping expressions – Ron and Lorraine included.
Feeling the blood in her own cheeks rushing out of her face in absolute horror, Harry's green eyes slowly widened to the size of saucers when she belatedly realized her mistake.
Gulping loudly and managing a nervous laugh, she allowed her gaze to drop down almost coyly to the…black, knee-high leather boots she had unwittingly forgotten to take off and were now contrasting horribly against the elegant silk material of her green gown.
OH…SHIT…
Swallowing the painful lump forming in her throat, Harry forced out a nervous giggle as she trailed her eyes back up and found herself the terrified recipient of a very horrifying death glare from one very angry and very seething Draco Lucius Malfoy across the room.
OH…FUCK…
Trembling slightly in fear, she tore her gaze away from him and looked over his shoulder to where Lawrence and Genevieve Malfoy were staring at her with a mixture of shock and amusement – the shock coming from Genevieve and the amusement reluctantly coming from Lawrence.
Taking Lawrence's reaction as a positive sign, she waved at them in an exaggeratedly cheerful manner and blurted out helplessly in a high-pitched, cracking voice.
"H—HAPPY 35th ANNIVERSARY!"
Ignoring the distant sounds of Byron's – and this time Blaise's – muffled snorts of laughter, Harry hastily made her way over to where Lawrence and Genevieve stood with the rest of the older Malfoys and pulled her stunned grandmother-in-law into a tight hug – using the same gesture to hide her red face into the older woman's shoulder.
Lawrence peered down towards the two hugging women and gave Jaimee a reluctant smirk unseen by anyone else around them. "Jillian Aimee Malfoy…Do I WANT to know…?"
Seeing the terrifying form of her furious husband looming dangerously closer towards her, Harry looked up from Genevieve's shoulder and gave Lawrence a rather amusing facial expression that made her look as though she wanted to laugh, run, and cry all at the same time.
"I don't think so…"
A/N: YES, I borrowed the scene with Jaimee in the leather dress from the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith – specifically the really cool scene where Angelina Jolie jumps out the window of a tall building after an assignment. I also got the whole 'boots with dress' idea from the movie as well. Ehehe. I just thought the scene would be hilarious to write.
Next Chapter: Draco 'punishes' Harry (Can you all see the smirk on my face?), A little Anton/Ginny interaction, Draco finally picks up on Hermione and Blaise's little 'hints'
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