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 scenesand SLASH relationships.
A/N: Comments about the HP6 Movie: OMG! Fred and George were gorgeous! Tom Riddle was so FREAKING HOT! Wahaha! (Well at least I thought so!) And I so CRIED when I saw the look of torment on Draco's face at the end of the movie! He and Snape are probably two of the most misunderstood characters in the entire HP series. :sigh: Deleted scene URL is posted on my profile page. Enjoy!
Chapter 4 – Ignorance and Ineloquence
"Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow—"
Harry cringed as Draco literally dragged her by her ear away from the ballroom entrance down the long, luxurious hallways of Malfoy Manor. He didn't say anything as they turned a corner and he shoved her into his private office, slamming the door shut noisily behind them.
Once he was sure that he had cast all the necessary silencing/locking charms on the door and that nobody was standing outside in the hallway, he turned around and glared down at her nervously smiling face. She looked up and inspected the obsessively neat surroundings of the room – the traditional office assigned to every succeeding Head of the Malfoy family – in feigned interest.
"Wow…I keep forgetting this is your office now. This used to be your father's right—"
Instead of answering her, Draco walked right up to her and shoved her backwards until she stumbled noisily against the front of his desk. He hoisted her up easily and sat her down on the edge of the table, positioning himself right in between her legs and using one hand to roughly jilt her chin up so she was staring into his furious, steely eyes.
"DRACO! Stop! What are you doing—"
Gasping in shock, she tried to snap at him in protest but it came out as another gasp when his hands had reached up and yanked her green gown right off her form – the expensive fabric easily ripping into tiny shreds and exposing the leather she was still wearing underneath.
Draco didn't look surprised when he saw her attire and instead of saying anything, he hurled the useless strips of cloth that had used to be Jaimee's gown onto the floor and glared at her in outrage – his eyes burning as they roamed up and down her boots and leather outfit.
Feeling self-conscious under his scrutinizing gaze, Harry wrapped her arms protectively around herself and tried to scoot backwards along his desk away from him. "Draco, listen… Before you explode, I can explain why I look like this. I was undercover tonight—"
"DID YOU LET ANOTHER MAN TOUCH YOU?!"
She rolled her eyes at his predictable question and sighed, wincing and hoping to Merlin that the spells he had cast were strong enough so that the rest of the guests in the ballroom down the hall couldn't hear their conversation. Draco looked absolutely livid with rage and looked like he was difficulty trying not to fly off into another one of his jealous fits.
"No, I didn't! You know I would NEVER—"
He clamped his hands on her bare shoulders and pushed her roughly back down onto his table until her back was pressed against the cold, wooden surface. She almost gasped again when he followed her down and caged her down against the table by pressing his hands down on either side of his head and leaning down until their faces were inches part.
His feet remained firmly planted on the floor as he leaned over her form on the table, their highly suggestive position causing a flush to rise up in Jaimee's cheeks – especially when she saw the way Draco's eyes were glinting in rage and the way he was leering possessively at her body.
As she gaped up at him, he voiced his question in another angry growl. "DID YOU DISPLAY MORE OF YOURSELF THAN THIS?!" He seethed again, causing Jaimee to flinch when his voice rose even more levels in heightened fury.
"No, Draco! I DIDN'T! Listen to me—"
"WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU DOING TONIGHT?! I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU FOR MORE THAN A BLOODY HOUR!"
Draco's eyes blazed as he used a single hand and angrily swiped the remaining papers, quills and ink bottles above Harry's head on the desk, his shoulders heaving with pent-up fury as he watched them all scatter noisily onto the wooden floor.
Harry winced at this again and frantically wracked her brain for something that would calm Draco's anger down. "I—I know, love…I'm sorry! Being late was my fault and I promise you that it won't happen again, I—" Draco cut her off by gripping her chin roughly and tilting her head up so she was looking into his dark nearly blackened gray eyes.
"That was what you said LAST TIME too during MY birthday celebration, Potter!" He hissed and the memory of that brought a small glimmer of guilt to her eyes. She bit her lip and tried to speak up again in a softer voice.
"I know…I'm sorry, Draco…I really am. I promise that this will be the absolute last time this ever happens. I won't accept missions like these anymore and I—"
Draco cut her off again by grabbing both her hands, intertwining his fingers through hers and trapping them down onto the table's surface. "YOU'D BETTER NOT, HARRY! I WILL ONLY SAY THIS ONE LAST TIME – YOU ARE NEVER TO DISPLAY YOUR BODY LIKE THIS TO ANY OTHER MAN EXCEPT FOR ME! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!" He raged but to his utter shock, Harry's green eyes flashed and she freed one of her hands to slap it hard right across his cheek.
His head snapped back for a minute at the impact before he glared back at her and easily met the indignant, challenging glare in her eyes. Harry looked just like she always did back in school when she and Draco would have their little spats in the hallways and he suddenly overstepped his boundaries by attacking her pride.
In spite of himself, Draco felt his eyes darken slightly in arousal at this but he held himself back and watched as she looked up at him and began to hiss out in an equally angry whisper. "I may be your wife Malfoy and by law, you may have legal rights to my body but you do NOT own ME! I will NOT let you dictate your stupid rules to me like I'm just another one of your bloody servants!" She retorted furiously, her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.
The minute she said this, Draco's anger strengthened full-force and he returned her comment with a harsh, mocking drawl. "No matter what you say or what you let yourself believe, Potter…You AND your body will always be…MINE." He sneered down at her and bent down so that their faces were even closer until his lips were practically brushing against hers.
His voice had ended in such a dangerous hiss that – as he said – it sent a shiver of desire down her spine, causing her to curse herself inwardly in frustration at her own body's involuntary submission to him. Noticing her reaction, Draco smirked in self-satisfaction and pulled himself upright away from her, allowing her to raise herself back up into a sitting position on his desk.
"See what I mean…?"
At the sight of the same Slytherin smirk that had taunted her for seven years back at Hogwarts, Harry let out an angry, frustrated sound that sounded like a half-growl, half-scream and raised a hand to slap him hard on the face again.
"Grrrarrrgh! Malfoy, you BASTARD!"
Unfortunately, Draco anticipated her actions this time and easily caught her hand in his just inches before she hit his face, sneering as he squeezed his fingers tightly around her smaller ones. They eyes met for a long silence – both sets of orbs darkened with murderous anger and both their facial expressions twisted into an angry sneer.
She tried not to cringe in pain as his hand tightened around her fingers in a bone-crushing grip and focused on trying to yank it free instead. Draco sneer hardened and he used his grip on her hand to yank her forward towards him so he could whisper something into her ear.
"Nothing you can do about it… SCAR-HEAD!"
Harry's eyes widened and her jaw dropped indignantly at the familiar taunt but as she looked up and glared right into his eyes once more, she saw something there other than anger. She was certain that she almost would have missed it had she not been staring at his eyes but she saw it clearly – the briefest, faintest spark of unmistakable lust in his glinting silver orbs.
"I hate you, Malfoy!"
She looked up and met his glinting eyes with her own, her cheeks flushing heavily with frustration and her breaths coming in shallow gasps.
That was really all it took for their taut forms to come crashing against each other in crazed, uncontrollable lust – their hands roaming wildly around the other's body and their lips smashing hard against the other's in a deep, desperately hungry kiss.
*RATED SCENE DELETED*
"You did it again, you know…"
Harry tried desperately to bite back a smile when she heard the sullen frustration in her husband's voice. She looked up at him and watched as he pulled the zipper of his pants back up and began to straighten his collar, pausing every now and then to shoot her a glare from where she was still sitting innocently along the edge of his table.
"Did what?" She asked, blinking innocently as she reached over handed Draco his belt, holding back a laugh when he snatched it from her hands and gave her a poisonous look. He didn't seem to appreciate her amusement and narrowed his eyes at her as she swung her legs idly from where they dangled off the edge of the table.
"You know exactly what, Potter." He gritted his teeth and extracted his wand from his tux pocket, flicking it over the mess of quills, parchment and ink bottles scattered all over the carpeted floor of his office. "Whenever I'm angry with you, you find some insane way to turn it around and transform it into lust and we always end up having sex! It's frustrating!" He growled, watching as Harry laughed and finally jumped off the table to help him rearrange his things.
"I don't do it on purpose, Draco! You do it yourself! You're such a horny prick. I must have been only half as randy as you when I was a man." She retorted pointedly as she plopped herself down on one of the chairs in front of his table and began to untie the laces of her boots.
Draco chose to ignore her little comment and muttered darkly to himself from where he stood in front of his office mirror. He rolled his eyes as he straightened his undershirt and began to slick back his disheveled hair once more with a hint of hair wax.
As soon as the leather boots had come off her aching feet, Harry hopped back up and walked over to him to wrap her arms around his waist from behind. He continued to ignore her and purposely kept his gaze focused on his reflection, causing the former Gryffindor to roll her eyes in fond amusement at his little dramatic display.
"Are you still mad…?"
Draco remained silent and his expression remained stony as adjusted his bow tie with deliberate slowness, causing Harry to smile again at him through their reflections in the mirror. She leaned her chin down onto his shoulder and gave him a light kiss on the side of his jaw.
"Oh come on, Malfoy…Quit being such a drama queen. Don't get all huffy with me over this. I thought 'I' was the girl in this relationship." She teased playfully, finally causing Draco's eyes to flash in horrified indignation at the word 'queen'. He whipped around, shoved her backwards a few steps away from him and leveled her with a highly irritated glare.
"DRAMA queen?! Potter, this is the THIRD time you have showed up LATE to a family occasion! The first one being my BIRTHDAY!" He snapped angrily, finally causing Harry to bite her lip and drop her eyes down sheepishly to the floor.
"I know, Draco…I'm sorry…I swear I won't let it happen again—"
"And am I STILL mad?! You show up AN HOUR LATE to my grandparents' anniversary, make me look like a complete FOOL waiting for you in front of all those guests in there AND arrive in a SKANKY LEATHER OUTFIT with BOOTS! OF COURSE I'M STILL BLOODY MAD, POTTER!" He practically exploded, causing Harry to cringe again.
"For the record, none of the guests saw the leather outfit, just the boots—"
"SHUT UP!" Draco hissed, ignoring the look of embarrassment on her face as he reached over and gripped her chin up to force her to meet his eyes. "TELL ME…Do you honestly think all this is FUNNY?! Do you think you could just…SEDUCE me every goddamn time this happens and hope that I forget everything just like that?!" He challenged, waiting until Harry bit her lip again and dared to look up at him to give him a weak, teasing smile despite the horrible guilt seen in her eyes.
"Would it help if I wear the bunny ears again?"
"WHAT?!"
Draco's eyes widened in stunned disbelief, feeling another surge of anger ripping through his chest at the outrageous nerve of her question. When she saw the look of outrage on his face, Harry dared to pierce through his anger with humor again by stepping closer to him and wrapping her arms around his neck, planting another kiss just by the corners of his lips.
"Don't try to play hardball with me, Draco Malfoy…I used to be a man. I KNOW sex helps me in earning your forgiveness…" She pointed out bluntly, looking at him and watching for several moments as Draco blinked wordlessly at her with a blank expression of speechless stupor on his face.
She held his gaze easily with a knowing grin, waiting and challenging his glare. To her immense relief, Draco finally looked away and dropped his gaze to his feet, fighting desperately to keep the ghost of a reluctant smile from breaking out onto his face.
"…Fine…Maybe the sex helps a LITTLE…"
Harry laughed knowingly at his response and pulled him closer for a warm embrace, smiling softly as she buried her face into his chest and his arms finally wrapped themselves around her waist. When he leaned down and pressed a kiss gently onto the top of her head, she sighed and finally looked back up so he could see the genuine remorse on her face.
"Look…For what it's worth, Draco…I really am sorry. I realize sex isn't going to make the problem go away—" Draco rolled his eyes at this but nodded for her to continue. "—and I know my job hasn't been making things easy for the both of us but I promise I will try to make it all work. Just…give me some time, okay? It was hard enough being Harry Potter…Now I have to be Mistress Jaimee Malfoy too. It isn't all that easy you know." She gave him a pointed look that caused Draco to sigh in reluctant agreement.
"Just…Promise me that you won't wear this dress and those boots in public ever again and we're good, Harry." Draco finally relented, his eyes flicking down to inspect her leather outfit again. Harry blushed under his scrutiny but nodded and let out a derisive scoff in agreement.
"You have my word; Draco…In fact…The minute this night is over, I am going to burn this and those leather boots. I am never wearing something like this again—"
Draco cut her off in the middle of her angry tirade and looked at her as though she was crazy. "Whoa, whoa…Hold on! Let's not be dramatic, Potter! Who said anything about burning the dress or throwing it away?!" He exclaimed before he could prevent himself, causing Harry to pause mid-sentence and give him a suspicious glare.
"Excuse me…What?"
He gave her an innocent grin and shrugged, pulling her slender form closer against his body. "I mean…You know. Why not just…Keep it in the back of your closet or something? I mean, for emergency purposes! You never know what's going to happen, right?" His eyes gleamed lecherously at his own words and at this, Harry's left eye twitched in irritation.
"Sure…The minute Voldemort rises back from the dead and comes to kill me in the middle of the night, my first instinct would be to dress up in the leather dress I had saved precisely for special emergency purposes." She drawled sarcastically but Draco merely gave her an infuriatingly wide, all-too-innocent grin and shrugged again in response.
"You never know, huh? In fact, while we're at it…Keep the leather boots too! I mean, why waste them right?!" He added nonchalantly, pulling away from her and walking over to straighten the last bits of parchments on his now newly arranged and obsessively neat table.
"…Draco Lucius Malfoy—"
Ignoring the warning in her voice, Draco looked back up and rewarded his seething wife with one of his perfectly handsome, charming smiles.
"You can put them right in the special 'emergency' corner I made in the back of your closet where I hung your pink, bunny dress up."
Ginny looked up at the main entrance of the grand Malfoy ballroom and rolled her eyes to herself when she was met with image of Draco and Jaimee reentering the party together hand in hand. The striking pair looked so infuriatingly perfect together and was practically glowing in the other's presence that Ginny felt like puking in disgust at the look of utter contentment on their faces.
Hmm…I never thought I'd hate my ex-'boyfriend' for looking better in a gown than me. Ginny mused to herself in mild-amusement as she swept her eyes over the other girl's form. Jaimee was absolutely glowing as she entered the ballroom that Ginny could practically hear the number of necks cracking as about a couple dozen male guests craned their heads to look at her.
The Malfoy Mistress seemed to have realized the inappropriateness of her earlier attire that evening and was now decked out in a beautiful white strapless evening gown. The elegant material ended in a graceful flowing skirt above her knees and showed off a teasing amount of her long legs. Instead of boots, a pair of heeled strappy sandals adorned her feet and made her taller by a few inches so that she was just about the same height as her husband.
Her long black hair fell down in natural waves past her shoulders and a light, endearing blush adorned her face as she greeted the approaching guests with a gracious smile and nod – cracking a few easy jokes every now and then that earned her several laughs from some of the most distinguished members of elite Wizarding society.
The smile on Draco's face was almost dreamy and he looked utterly enamored with Harry as he watched her conversing easily with their guests. The Malfoy Head looked as though he barely understood any of the occurring conversations around them as more and more guests walked up to them to ask Jaimee about her little 'embarrassing entrance' about an hours ago.
Harry, however, seemed to be able to maneuver herself out of the embarrassing questions well enough without Draco's help by cracking a few jokes at her expense – which many of the guests seemed to find absolutely charming and accepted either way. She regaled them further with several more embarrassing stories about herself until everyone practically forgot about her leather boots incident altogether and were now more focused on listening to her.
Ugh…I can't believe I'm losing my date's interest to a former male. I'll be glad when her stomach starts growing so men will stop crowding around her all the time and I can finally flirt with the male population in peace again. Ginny thought sullenly to herself and she was just about to turn away from the scene when her date spoke up from beside her and broke her thoughts.
"Blimey…So that's Malfoy's wife, huh? She's bloody gorgeous, she is!" Stephen Fielding, a handsome, pureblooded graduate from Durmstrang that Ginny had met during the course of her own hunting season, exclaimed out loud in amazement.
Ginny's eyes flashed in annoyance as she turned and glared at him, following his eyes to where Harry was now reaching over to give her Lawrence and Genevieve Malfoy another hug of congratulations. "Is it just me or do people keep forgetting that she used to be a MALE? Does that not turn you off a little bit?" She pointed out but Stephen laughed and shook his head.
"A body as hot as that now…I wouldn't care if she used to be a dragon!" He kidded but Ginny didn't take too lightly to this reaction and before she could stop herself, she ended up blurting something out loud that caused Stephen's eyes to nearly bulge out of their sockets.
"You know she's pregnant, right?! Pretty soon, she won't have that 'hot' body anymore!"
The minute the words had left her lips, her eyes widened and she clamped a hand over her mouth in shock. Unfortunately, the deed had been done and Stephen snapped his head back to look at her, his eyes wide with surprise as he gauged the expression on her face.
"Nooo..No, REALLY?" He gulped down the rest of his drink and shook his head with a grin of amusement directed at Draco. "Well, that's a shame then. But I got to hand it to Malfoy…Knocking up that little treat…He's okay in my book." He smirked to himself at this and failed to see the look of pure disgust Ginny had sent at his back.
"Ugh…You are a disgusting pig, Stephen. I don't even know why I'm here with you." She didn't bother to clarify herself any further as she turned around and walked away from him, ignoring the confused look on his face as he called after her retreating form.
As soon as she had reached the end of the ballroom, she sighed and headed over to the nearest refreshment table to get herself another drink – intent on drinking the rest of the night away until she couldn't even remember her date's name.
After a long sip of wine and another quick glance around the ballroom, she saw the rest of her family talking amongst themselves in the far corner of the room with Blaise, Hermione, Sirius and Regina. The Weasleys stood out so easily with their bright red hair and freckles amidst the other guests that Ginny couldn't help smiling to herself as she waved over to them in acknowledgement.
What am I even doing here…? There's no gossip to write about except for Harry's pregnancy and I can't scoop anything on her like that. Ginny sighed and set down her glass on the table to look at Harry again, watching almost wistfully the former Gryffindor blushed when Draco had leaned down and given her a lingering kiss on her cheek.
Now why can't I find a relationship as real and genuine as that…?
"Draco's so besotted with her, it's a little sickening…Don't you think so?"
Jumping in surprise, Ginny whirled around at the familiar chuckling voice and found herself facing Anton's handsome smile as he walked over beside her to grab a glass of champagne from the table. Fighting back a blush at his unexpected presence, she nodded and forced a laugh when he stopped and stood beside her to watch the same scene.
"Yes…It's almost strange to think about them as the same pair of boys who were trying to kill each other during their first few years at Hogwarts." She commented in agreement, causing Anton to laugh again as he took a long sip of his drink.
The two of them watched as Draco led Jaimee away from the rest of his family and guests and began to usher her towards the dance floor, his arm wrapped tightly around her waist. As soon as the pair joined the other dancers, Anton finally looked back at Ginny and gave her a teasing smirk.
"So…Where's your date, Miss Ginny? A beautiful girl like you all alone by the refreshment table like this? It just doesn't seem right." He pointed out with an easy, flirtatious grin, causing Ginny to roll her eyes at his words but otherwise laugh in gratitude.
"Don't even ask, Malfoy. Ugh….Stephen was a jerk. He did nothing but stare at Harry the entire time and even made a sexist comment when I told him that she was pregnant—"
The rest of Anton's drink ended up being sprayed all over the glossy marble surface of the dance floor. At his reaction, Ginny's cheeks immediately flamed up in embarrassment and she clamped her hand over her mouth again in utter horror.
I have got to keep my mouth shut!
"What did you say?!"
Anton's eyes had widened to the size of saucers as he stared at her, his jaw hanging open in disbelief. Ginny shook her head frantically and tried to save herself by laughing and waving his question away as though unimportant.
"What? What did I say, I didn't say anything! What are you talking about?" She winced when Anton spoke up again, his voice ending up in a choked-up squeak.
"Yes you did! You said—Oh MERLIN! Jaimee's PREGNANT?!" His eyes riveted over to where Jaimee was still dancing with Draco in the middle of the dance floor. "Merlin's BEARD, that's unbelievable! I'd better go and tell the rest of the family right away—"
"DON'T!"
Ginny cut the rest of Anton's exclamations off by grabbing him by the arm and keeping him firmly in place. When he turned back to look at her in question, she shook her head frantically and leveled him with a quelling look.
"Anton…Harry herself doesn't even know she's pregnant yet and I hardly think she'll appreciate the entire Malfoy family – much less the entire ballroom – knowing about it before she does. Let her find out first before you tell everyone else." She pointed out calmly, much to Anton's disappointment as he rolled his eyes but sighed in acquiescence.
"Oh…Very well, Miss Ginny. I'll keep my mouth shut. Although I have to say it's amusing to have a gossip columnist tell me to keep mum about anything." He pointed out with a smug smile, causing Ginny to flush in embarrassment as she tore her hand away from his arm in shock.
"You know I'm a gossip columnist?" She blurted out, earning another easy laugh from Anton as he nodded and downed the rest of his drink in a single swig. "Just found out tonight. So what's the deal, Ginny? Did you date me purposely to get a good story on me?" He asked her directly and Ginny would have choked on her drink at his blunt question had there not been a wide smile on Anton's face.
"Excuse me? I—I would never have—"
The half-veela laughed and shook his head anyway at her half-hearted attempt to explain herself. "Don't worry, it's alright. I don't mind, really…I've had plenty of women try to scoop me before for my libertine ways. A lot of them succeeded mind, you…I realize I tend to be the favorite of many gossip columns these days." He admitted wryly, causing Ginny to smile in relief.
"Wow…So you're not mad at me? I didn't date you for the gossip, you know. I actually dated you because I thought you were charming and I thought I could make you see the error of your ways." She added with a flirtatious smile, causing Anton to grin back and shrug in response.
"I know."
Ginny laughed in spite of herself and shook her head at his audacity, watching as Anton winked at her and reached for another full glass of champagne.
"A lot of women think they can go out with me to 'change my ways' but I prove them wrong each time. Oh and don't worry about the whole 'gossip columnist' thing too, I think we can both say without embarrassment that our time together was one where we both gained something from the 'experience'." He smirked at that but was thoroughly surprised that instead of blushing like most other girls did, Ginny returned his smirk easily with a wicked one of her own.
"Ehh…I suppose you were okay in bed, Malfoy." She teased, earning a glare from Anton as he set his glass down and blinked at her in disbelief.
"I beg your pardon…? JUST okay?!"
Ginny laughed at the absolute indignation on his face and shook her head, reaching over to playfully pick at an imaginary piece of lint off his tuxedo. "Alright…You were great in bed, then." She amended before coyly biting her lip, lowering her eyelashes as she stepped up to him until their faces were practically inches apart.
"I'm great in bed too, you know…In case you've forgotten…Or shall I remind you?" She whispered seductively into his ear, smiling to herself when she was answered by Anton's suggestive smirk. He trailed a single hand down and placed it on the curve of her waist, using the leverage to pull their bodies closer against each other.
"Oh I remember, Ginny…You have no idea how much I remember." His voice trailed off into a chuckle as he said this and Ginny's smile widened when she saw Anton's blue eyes slowly trailing up and down her body. He quirked a single eyebrow and rewarded her with a teasing smile when she seemed to step back and pull herself away from him.
"My bedroom is on this floor of the manor, you know…Fancy another attempt to get a good gossip story out of me?" He kidded suggestively, causing Ginny to answer him by rolling her eyes and flicking her gaze pointedly over to where Marie-Claire Francois was conversing with Anton's mother a good couple of feet away.
"I don't think your date would take too kindly to you abandoning her in the middle of the party like that, Malfoy. Besides…I'm sorry. But I don't do seconds." She said this with just the right hint of arrogance and satisfaction in her voice that Anton ended up laughing in spite of himself.
"Well I must say, Miss Ginny…You are unlike any other girl I have ever gone out with." He sounded amazed as he said this, watching as Ginny merely smiled wider and answered him by deliberately flipping her long red hair over her shoulder.
"I know… I am way out of your league, Anton Malfoy." She quipped, unaware of the way Anton's blue eyes seemed to twinkle fondly at her words. A small hint of an admiring smile lingered on his face as he watched her, noting the way her face smiled up at him with genuine mirth.
"You may be right, Ginny…"
Ginny looked confused at the strange tone of his voice but Anton hastily blinked the expression away before she could notice anything. After a moment of awkward silence, she followed his gaze back to Marie-Claire's slender form several feet away from where they stood.
"So…How's your date tonight, Malfoy? Marie-Claire seems very beautiful and talented…She seems sweet too. Things seem to be getting serious if you're letting her talk to your mother like that." She noted lightly, wincing when she heard the bitterness dripping from her own voice.
Anton seemed not to have noticed this and chuckled, shaking his head in response. "If by 'serious', you mean am I going to date her for a couple more days, then yes." He glanced back over to the petite brunette and automatically smiled back when she waved at him.
As soon as Marie-Claire had turned away, Anton turned back and met Ginny's eyes with a derisive scoff. "It shouldn't last long though. She isn't really all that different from all the other women I've dated before…I'm even thinking of giving her the whole 'I'm not ready for a relationship' speech after this week." He admitted, causing Ginny to smirk widely in response.
"Can I write about that break-up in my column then?" She asked innocently, eliciting a laugh from the Malfoy son as he shrugged and gave her an easy smile. "Sure, go ahead. Be sure to include the part about me being a BACHELOR and about being one of the two remaining unmarried Malfoy sons though." He added as an afterthought, grinning when Ginny couldn't help giggling at his quip.
"You're a jerk, Anton."
"I know. Don't you just love it?"
He sighed dramatically and finally set his empty champagne glass back onto the table, turning and bowing slightly to her to indicate his leave. "Well, Miss Ginny…I do believe it's time for me to stop flirting with extremely ravishing redheads. I need to go back and entertain my date." He paused and leaned down to place a suave kiss on the back of her hand.
"She's finally realized you were flirting and is glaring at us right now isn't she?" She guessed knowingly and one look at the sheepish grin on Anton's face gave the unspoken answer away.
"You are an oddly perceptive woman, Ginny." Chuckling, he gave her one last smile and wink before he finally turned around and walked away – completely unaware of the way Ginny's eyes lingered on him as he walked back to his pouting date across the room.
"So…What was up with Potter's little entrance awhile ago, Draco? Why was she wearing those leather boots?" Blaise asked his best friend nonchalantly much later that night as he watched the blonde help himself to another glass of brandy. He, Draco and a couple more of their friends were gathered in small circle by the bar at the end of the ballroom.
The rest of the men gathered around with them – Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Reggie Malfoy, and Oswald Cunningham looked up at Blaise's question and riveted their eyes curiously towards Draco's form. Draco didn't seem to appreciate this little stunt and gave Blaise an irritated glare before rolling his eyes and answering in a calm drawl.
"That is a private matter between me and my wife, Zabini. How would you like it if I suddenly started asking you about your sex life with Granger?" He retorted easily, causing most of the other men around them to chuckle in amusement at the slightly embarrassed look on Blaise's face.
"Th—that wasn't what I meant—"
"Speaking of sex…I don't know if I've said it before, Malfoy…But I have to say it again. Your wife has got the most…amazing body! One look at her and you could easily forget that she used to be the bloody boy-who-lived!" Oswald Cunningham snorted in amusement. He sniggered and downed the rest of his glass of whiskey in a single gulp.
When he looked back up, he was surprised to find that he was the object of both Draco and Reggie's poisonous glares at his rude, offensive comment. While Draco was glaring viciously at him and looked more than capable of slitting his throat, Reggie was obviously the more civil Malfoy son and voiced out their indignation in a calm tone of voice.
"While you may be a family friend, Oswald… As a Malfoy, I cannot permit you to speak of a member of my family in such a derogatory way like that. Now…Draco and I would both appreciate it if you apologized for the way you spoke about Jaimee and—" Reggie's polite retort was cut off by Draco slamming his empty glass right back down onto the bar table in anger.
"You bastard! How dare you talk about my wife like that?! I'm going to teach you a lesson in manners, you son of a bitch—"
"Draco!"
Reggie hastily interrupted his older cousin's angry tirade, redirecting everyone's attention to his exasperated features. The younger Malfoy glanced back at Oswald's sheepish face and noted the way the other pureblood had taken several steps backwards from Draco in fear.
Sighing, Reggie rolled his eyes at Draco and continued his much more polite admonishment of Oswald's actions. "Oswald, I think what Draco means to say—in more forceful words, that is– is that you should watch what you say about Jaimee. Otherwise we may be forced to resort to less than civilized means of—"
"Alright, alright! I apologize, Malfoy…I realize I may have overstepped my boundaries with that little comment." Oswald grunted stiffly, taking another shaky step backwards when he saw the way Draco was still glaring at him with dangerously narrowed gray eyes.
Blaise chuckled and finally spoke up to break the ice. "So Oswald…How is Pansy doing with Baxter? I spoke to her this afternoon and she seems completely taken in with your son." He commented idly, smirking at Oswald's nod of gratitude when Draco's attention finally shifted to Blaise.
Oswald shrugged and managed a half-hearted laugh, gesturing for the bartender to pour him another glass of tequila. "And why wouldn't she be? Baxter is just as handsome as his father!" He boasted loudly, failing to see the look of amused derision Blaise and Draco shared at the comment.
Reggie also seemed to be holding a smile when he heard this while Crabbe and Goyle merely rolled their eyes at each other in mild annoyance. Crabbe turned his attention to Draco and gave the former Slytherin a casually friendly smirk.
"In defense of Cunningham, Draco…Potter is looking particularly radiant tonight. How's the marriage been so far?" He asked, earning an easy grin from Draco as he flicked his gaze over to where Harry was conversing with Hermione across the dance floor from where they stood.
"She does look really beautiful tonight, doesn't she?" He mused out loud to himself with a slight smile, causing the other men around him to roll their eyes at his words. Unable to contain himself any longer, Blaise grinned widely and spoke up in a mischievous tone of voice.
"Like I said…It's almost like she's glowing…Don't you think so, Drac?" He asked with an innocent smile, earning a couple of confused glances from the other men around them. Draco looked at him and raised an eyebrow in query. "Yes…I suppose you could say that. Why?" He asked suspiciously, raising another full glass of brandy to his lips.
"Afterglow?"
Reggie choked on his glass of vodka at Goyle's rather blunt guess. Draco laughed loudly and shook his head, setting his empty glass back down onto the bar table. "That explains why I'm glowing, Goyle." Oswald and Crabbe both sniggered at the perverted remark but Blaise rolled his eyes, walking up to the Malfoy Head and lowering his voice into a whisper.
"Do you really not see where I'm going with this, Draco…?" He asked carefully, peering right into his best friend's silver eyes. When Draco continued to blink up at him as though he was insane, Blaise slapped a hand on his forehead and let out a frustrated growl.
"Ugh…You graduated valedictorian of our batch, Malfoy! Can you not guess what I am trying to tell you?! Your wife is bloody preg—"
"Malfoy! There you are, you lucky dog! I've been looking all over for you!"
Blaise sighed as Draco's attention shifted from him to the young, dark-haired man who had approached them from behind. The new arrival nodded to all of them in greeting and slung an arm around Draco's shoulders. Unfortunately, the blonde didn't take too kindly to being touched and shrugged the man's arm right off, raising an eyebrow snobbishly at him in annoyance.
"You're Stephen Fielding, right? Durmstrang graduate? We're not all that close for you to talk to me so casually like this. What do you want?" He answered rudely, looking the other pureblood up and down with a disdainful sneer marring his features.
Fielding looked mildly offended at Draco's words but shrugged either way and walked drunkenly over to stand with them by the end of the bar.
"I just came here to congratulate you….You are now officially my role model, Malfoy." He chuckled and paused to order a glass of vodka from the bartender, oblivious to the glare of frustrated confusion that Draco suddenly sent at Blaise's sheepish face.
"Congratulations?!"
Reggie, Crabbe, Goyle and Oswald looked just about as confused as Draco was as Stephen turned back to face them and lifted his glass up to Draco in a half-hearted toast. "Cheers to you, Draco…" He gulped down his drink in a single gulp and slammed the empty glass back onto the bar, turning around one last time and giving an utterly bewildered Draco a wink.
"Marrying and knocking up a woman like that! You're bloody wicked, you are! You rock!" He gave the rest of the stunned, astonished men around them a drunken salute of farewell before slinking away and leaving a white-faced, sputtering Draco staring wide-eyed after his retreating back.
"Wh—what did he say…?"
Blaise tried not to laugh at the high-pitched squeaking in his best friend's voice and rushed forward to hand him a full glass of bourbon to calm his nerves. Draco snatched it instantly and emptied the entire glass within seconds, dropping the empty container clumsily onto the floor.
He winced when he heard the crystalline glass shattering into tiny shards at his feet but he seemed unable to do anything else except blink and stare blankly at Blaise's smirking face with a look of stunned dismay on his normally stoic face. His eyes began to blink rapidly but his face remained motionless and his jaw continued to hang stupidly in speechless shock.
Unfortunately, the rest of the men around them seemed to have trouble containing their own reactions at this piece of information and immediately all burst out into simultaneous laughter and grins – all of them rushing forward and circling around Draco's pale and clammy form in astonishment.
"That's great news, Draco! Uncle Lucius and the rest of the family are going to be thrilled when they find out!" This particular exclamation had come from Reggie as he had rushed forward and clapped his older cousin hard on the back with a laugh.
Draco had been drinking directly from an entire bottle of bourbon when Reggie had said this and the minute the younger Malfoy had clapped his back, the Malfoy Head promptly began coughing and choking loudly as the liquor lodged itself into his throat.
Reggie immediately winced and muttered a quick apology as he rushed to grab his older cousin a glass of water. Draco was oblivious to this and continued to choke and cough for breath, the bottle of bourbon slipping from his hand again and shattering noisily onto the floor.
Crabbe, Goyle and Oswald began to laugh at the hysterical scene and stepped aside as more and more of their pureblooded friends began to approach them from different parts of the ballroom to offer their own congratulations. Draco barely registered any of the words they were saying and was more concentrated on wheezing and trying not to choke to death.
"Malfoy, congratulations! I hear your wife's pregnant!"
"Draco, you're finally going to be a father!"
"Congratulations, Malfoy! You finally knocked her up, eh?"
At this point, Blaise was trying desperately to stop laughing and continued to slap Draco repeatedly on his back as his best friend coughed and tried to clear his throat. The Malfoy Head's eyes widened as they flicked frantically from one approaching pureblood to another in growing panic.
"I—I kept trying to tell you, Drac! Hermione told me this afternoon when she found out! Potter's been showing all the signs for awhile now…She's pregnant!" He told him loudly above the voices of the other men around them, laughing again when Draco looked stupidly up at him and gaped unwittingly like a fish out of water.
"Wh—wha—wha…H—How? Wh—when? Sh—she….B—baby…F—father…M—me?!"
FLASH!
"Now THAT is one picture that is definitely going in the Malfoy family album!" Byron quipped loudly with a wide, ecstatic grin. He had approached them from the middle of the growing crowd, a magical camera held tightly in his raised hands.
Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle began to laugh harder when Draco took one look at Byron's beaming face and watched as the younger Malfoy son walked right up to him, slung an arm around his trembling shoulders and gave him another hard slap on the back.
"No wonder Harry's been acting all weird and tired lately…. I can't believe I never figured it out! Congratulations! Smile for the camera, DADDY DRACO!"
Byron held his camera up to Draco's white face one more time but just as it flashed for another stolen picture, Draco finally turned to look at him and managed one last high-pitched squeak when he realized the full implication of Byron's words.
"D—d—daddy….Draco?!"
His eyes rolled back up to the back of his head and before either Blaise, Byron or any of his other friends could react, Hogwarts' former prince of Slytherin promptly fell backwards in a dead, uncharacteristically clumsy faint onto the ground.
"Why is everyone staring at me?"
Harry turned her irritated expression to Hermione beside her but her best friend merely sighed and massaged her temples in growing frustration. For some reason, about half of the entire ballroom of guests had begun to crowd around the bar at the end of the room while the other half began to whisper excitedly amongst themselves and gave Harry occasional smiles and glances.
One look at the sheepish and highly apologetic look on Ginny's face across the dance floor was all it took for Hermione to figure out what had happened. The minute she did, she had rushed over to tell Harry herself what was going on before the news sent her into a state of shock.
Unfortunately, her former male best friend seemed to be having a rather difficult time picking up on anything she had been saying for the past couple of minutes and was more intent on trying to hide from the dozens of stares people were throwing at her from all over the room.
"What are they all staring and whispering about now, Hermione?! Do I have something on my face? Did I forget to wear a bra again?" She looked down and checked her breasts in answer to her own question, causing Hermione to bite back a surprised laugh in spite of herself.
"What's wrong with me now?! What did I do? Do I have something stuck in my teeth?!" Harry continued to ask in growing impatience, her hands clenched tightly into fists as she fought to keep her face from blushing at all the unwanted attention she was receiving.
Hermione winced and pulled her best friend aside to the corner of the room, ignoring the whispers that followed them as more and more people began to peer at Harry in avid interest. "Harry…Remember that important thing I was supposed to tell you this afternoon?" She fought back a growl when Harry shook her head dumbly at her in response to her question.
"You said I would have to wait until during the party to tell you…Remember?!" Hermione sighed heavily at the utterly dumbfounded expression on the other girl's face and lowered her voice into a softer whisper.
"Harry…You remember when you and I had this little…discussion…about the female anatomy back at Hogwarts? About how women have a certain…visitor…every month?" She asked carefully, watching as a myriad of emotions crossed Harry's face.
"Uhm…I think so…But I don't understand, Hermione. What does that have to do with anything—Was that Draco?! Did he just faint?! Is he okay—" She looked as though she was going to rush over to her husband when Hermione growled and snatched at her wrist to keep her in place.
"Harry, you're not LISTENING to me—"
Harry shot her an incredulous glare. "Hermione, I'm just going to go over there and check if Draco's alright! Look, I don't know what is going on here but—" She stopped again when Hermione let out a strangled scream of frustration and clamped her hands down on Harry's shoulders.
"Harry, LISTEN to me." The brunette took a deep breath of air to calm herself, looking back up and meeting Harry's panicked expression with a calm smile.
"Do you remember when I told you how it was important for you to keep tabs on when your 'monthly visitor' arrives? And to make sure you don't skip any months without it?" She asked sweetly, her smile tightening when Harry merely looked at her with one eye smaller than the other.
"Huh?"
Hermione's left eye twitched. She glanced briefly around the ballroom, biting her lip in increasing panic when she realized that by now, most of the Malfoys were practically beaming with elation and were headed in their direction from different parts of the ballroom.
Turning back to Harry, she ignored the fact that her formerly male best friend was now scratching her head and gave her one last grim smile. "Think carefully, Harry…When was the last time you had your monthly visitor? Do you remember if it arrived this month?" She asked in an almost pleading whisper that Harry had to laugh at the desperation in her voice.
"If you're talking about that stupid once-a-month bleeding thing women go through, would you believe I was lucky enough not to have it these last two months?" Harry laughed again and shrugged, reaching over at a passing house-elf to grab herself a glass of champagne.
Hermione smacked her forehead with her hand again and reached over to take the glass of champagne from her pregnant friend's hands.
"And it was a such a welcome relief too! I mean, I don't know how you women manage to handle that stupid bleeding every month, it's such a hassle really and it impedes my movement! I can't believe it actually – Hey! That's mine!" Harry scowled as Hermione snatched the champagne from her hand and drank it herself before Harry could reach for it again.
"Hermione! You're being very rude! I would have given you the drink had you asked for it." Harry grumbled in complaint. Hermione simply gave a tut in irritation and set the empty glass of champagne back down onto the table beside them.
Taking another deep breath to ready herself, Hermione tried not to let the frantic desperation in her voice seep through when she realized that most of the Malfoys were very slowly closing in on them with wide, almost creepily happy smiles on their faces.
She turned to Harry and growled loudly as she snatched the second glass of champagne the other girl had just managed to grab from another house-elf that had passed them. Harry finally looked extremely irritated at this and gave Hermione an exasperated glare.
"Damn it, Hermione! If you want a drink so badly, get one yourself and stop stealing mine—"
She stopped midsentence and blinked in surprise when Hermione placed her hands firmly on her shoulders again and squeezed her firmly to get her attention. Harry's eyes when she finally saw the serious look on her best friend's face. She sighed in defeat and finally bent down to listen closely as the brunette began to enunciate carefully in a slow, loud voice.
"That is what I have been trying to tell you, Harry! There is NO SUCH THING as 'skipping your period' for two months! Women – ALL WOMEN – bleed every month, Harry! UNLESS…" She took a deep breath and looked right into Harry's green eyes as she finished the rest of her sentence.
"UNLESS… She's PREGNANT."
Hermione breathed a sigh of exhausted relief and watched as Harry seemed to lag for a couple of moments. After about five minutes of her smiling calmly at Hermione in confusion, the brunette finally stepped away and watched as the confused smile on Harry's face slowly began to transform into a grimace that was a mixture of shock, disbelief and horror all at once.
As Hermione expected, the Malfoy Mistress was capable of only a single, ineloquent response.
"…What…?"
Allowing a wide, uncertain smile of congratulations to grace her face, Hermione finally leaned forward and dared to pull her ghost-white best friend into a tight, affectionate embrace.
"You're pregnant, Harry."
"……………………"
"Harry…?"
Harry was unable to hug her back and continued to blink and stare off into non-existence over Hermione's shoulder, her face frozen in a perfect expression of hilarious incredulity and horror that Hermione was unable to prevent an amused laugh from escaping her lips.
"…What…?"
Hermione would have smirked at Harry's persisting lack of eloquence but it was at that precise moment that Lorraine finally ran up to them with a loud, girlish squeal and pulled a completely frozen Harry into a tight, sisterly hug.
"I just heard the news! Oh Merlin, I'm so happy! Congratulations, Jaimee!" The blonde half-veela was practically bouncing with joy that Hermione forgot all about Harry's condition and giggled, joining in on Lorraine's laughter to squeal and bounce right along with her.
Amidst all their excited chattering, Harry continued to stare off into empty space and barely registered any of what was happening around her. Her green eyes were completely dazed and disoriented and she looked as though she had fallen into an absolute state of shock.
"…What…?"
Hermione and Lorraine never heard her as more of Draco's cousins – Alexandra and Nadine – rushed over to them and pulled Harry into another tight embrace.
"Byron just told us the news! Congratulations, Jaimee! I can't believe you're finally going to have a baby!" Alexandra smiled widely as she pulled Jaimee into another tight hug. "And about time too! Auntie Narcissa was getting so impatient; she was just about ready to have you checked into St. Mungo's for a fertility check-up." Nadine added bluntly as she gave Harry an amused smirk.
"…What…?"
The pitch of her shaky, one-word response had been steadily increasing each time but neither of the women around her noticed. At this point, Harry had broken out into a cold sweat and was now very close to hyperventilating as she watched them with unblinking – watering – green eyes.
"Merlin's beard, prongslet! This is wonderful news! You're bloody pregnant! Sometimes, I still can't believe it's with Malfoy but still!" Sirius' ecstatic laugh had broken right through the girls' loud giggling as he rushed over to them and pulled his sputtering goddaughter into a tight hug, grinning and ruffling her hair in affection.
"…What…?"
Sirius didn't hear her high-pitched squeak as he grinned and took a step back when both Genevieve and Narcissa finally flanked around them, the former of the two women rushing forward and enveloping Harry's shaky form in a tight, warm embrace.
"Oh congratulations, darling! What a wonderful surprise for us on our anniversary! Lawrence is absolutely thrilled! He and I were just discussing amongst ourselves who would soon give birth to the newest Malfoy! About time too, sweetheart… Reggie and his wife are just about ready to try for another baby too!" Genevieve exclaimed with a fond laugh.
The minute she pulled back and saw the sickened, green expression on Harry's frozen face, she frowned in concern. She was just about to ask the other women about her condition when Narcissa interrupted her and swooped down on Harry's sweaty form like a predator to its prey.
"Well! I must say it was about time, Jaimee. I was getting rather impatient asking you when you would give me a grandchild. Now…To more important matters!" She ignored the way Harry's cheeks seemed to be losing more and more blood and gave the younger woman a wide smile.
"Have you prepared a list of possible names yet or would you like to ask for my opinion? I have already thought of possible names depending on whether it's a boy or a girl. I talked with Lucius about the matter and he agrees with me that it would probably be more fitting to follow tradition and to give the child a second name as well—"
"…What…?"
The single word had finally regressed into such a breathless gasping wheeze that Narcissa stopped and turned to look at the other woman in mild concern. She raised an eyebrow when she noticed the way Harry was visibly sweating amidst all their happy faces and looked as though she was ready to pass out – or throw up – any minute.
"Prongslet? Are you alright?" Sirius finally asked in concern as he walked up to her and waved his hand in front of her face, cringing to himself when his goddaughter didn't so much as manage a blink. Instead, she continued to stare off right past all of them as though she had gone into a momentary, psychological lapse.
Hermione hid a smirk behind their hands while Lorraine walked forward cautiously, raised a single finger and poked Harry lightly on the shoulder to get her attention. The other girl neither moved nor blinked and stared right ahead in a blank, zombie-like trance.
Turning to Narcissa, Genevieve bit her lip in concern and voiced out everyone's question. "Oh dear, Cissy…Do you think she's gone into shock? The poor dear, shall we take her upstairs to rest?" She asked uncertainly but Narcissa merely crossed her arms over her chest and smirked, shaking her head in response to her mother-in-law's question.
"Not just yet, mother…"
At the other end of the room, Draco finally seemed to have regained his consciousness and jumped to his feet, frantically looking around the ballroom for a sign of his apparently pregnant wife. When he spotted her and the rest of his relatives near the other end of the room, his face lit up and he spoke to himself in an amazed whisper of realization.
"I'm going to be a father…?"
"U—uhm…Draco, I wouldn't go near Potter right now—" Blaise tried to warn him with a wary grimace on his face but Draco purposely ignored him and rushed over to his wife with the excitement of a five-year-old boy on Christmas morning, pushing past several guests and friends along the way.
As soon as he had reached her, he failed to notice the smirks that lingered on both his father and grandfather's face and pulled his frozen, shaking wife into a tight, loving embrace. The guests watched the scene with amazement, noting the genuine smile and the look of pure blissful happiness on Draco's handsome face.
It took the Malfoy Head several minutes to realize that his wife was not hugging him back and the moment he did, he pulled back and peered closely at her. His smile instantly disappeared into a worried frown and he waved his hand several times in front of her face like Sirius had awhile ago.
"Harry…? Are you alright? Harry, look at me…" He titled her chin up gently to meet his eyes and leaned over to whisper something gently into her ear. "You're pregnant, love…We're going to have a baby…You're carrying my child. My child is growing inside you…" He grinned widely at his own words and caressed her soft cheek, laughing at the stunned expression on her face.
A couple of meters behind them, Lucius nudged a smirking Lawrence and leaned over to whisper something into his ear. "How do you think Potter is going to take the news, Father...?" Lawrence merely smirked to himself and took a long casual sip of his drink.
"I reckon a bit like Narcissa."
After a long moment of Draco tapping her gently on the cheek to snap her out of her daze, Harry finally blinked once and seemed to snap into consciousness, her eyes darting hastily around her surroundings as though she was trying to comprehend what had happened in the past few minutes.
Blood slowly began to rush back into her pale cheeks when she noticed the dozens of concerned friends and family members that had crowded around them – all of which were now smiling at her and were giving her nods of acknowledgment.
Letting her eyes travel further around the ballroom, it was when she caught a glimpse of Hermione's encouraging smile that everything suddenly came flooding back into her like a tidal wave – forcing her eyes to widen in belated realization and to flick back to Draco's self-satisfied smirk.
"YOU…GOT…ME…PREGNANT…MALFOY…"
Draco smirked wider at her reaction and leaned over to give her a kiss on her cheek. "I'm glad you finally came around, Potter…I was starting to get worried. I can't believe you never told me—"
He never got to finish the rest of his sentence because in a quick span of about five seconds, Harry's green eyes had darkened into maniacal green, her flushed face twisted into a menacing, angry growl and she had raised a single hand up, reared herself back and slammed her tightly clenched fist right into her unsuspecting husband's left eye.
SMACK!
For the second time that night, Draco Malfoy lost consciousness and fell into another undignified and rather uncomfortable dead heap onto the cold, marble floor.
A/N: Hahahaha. I felt so bad for Draco in this chapter. Oh well…All the more entertainment for us readers, huh? *smirk* I realize Harry and Draco were both a bit naïve about the whole pregnancy thing at first but honestly…They're both guys. I highly doubt they would pick up on that right away without a little intervention from their friends. *giggles*
Next Chapter: More reactions, Harry FREAKS out, A cute fluffy H/D scene :D
PLEASE LEAVE ME A REVIEW, ALRIGHT? Tell me if you liked the deleted scene or not, mmkay? Or give me any suggestions!*wink* CHEERS!