AN: To make up for the shorter chapters I've been putting up lately this one is extra long

AN: To make up for the shorter chapters I've been putting up lately this one is extra long. I hope you like it. –Richard S.

Picking and Choosing (Tales of Hogwarts Romance) Chapter 31

The little girl looked down at her hands, they had little bits of blood speckling them. She gripped her fingers into a fist and reopened her hands, now evenly coated over with the red liquid. She cringed and rubbed them on her dress. Sir had gotten the house elves to force her into yet another absurd ruffled gown. This one was short and had a pale blue and white calico print over most of its surface, but white ruffles protruded from the dress' bottom, around her knees. She repeated the rubbing motion several times. No matter how long she spent here, she never felt clean, and never stopped feeling that she desperately needed to become so. She didn't have time to finish getting the blood off her hands before Sir opened the door. He was in one of his moods again, they varied so much. Some times he wanted to play roles, it was better to play along and get things over with than it was to tempt him to just go back to violence. She could tell he was in a mood because whenever he wasn't he didn't bother with putting real clothing on her.

"You got blood on your pretty new dress." He said with an appalling tone of sympathy.

"I'm sorry Sir."

"Why are you bleeding?" He asked, kneeling down beside her.

"I rubbed them on the ground…to clean them Sir." She explained, rubbing her hands along the rough ground to demonstrate.

"Stop it, you'll hurt yourself little girl." He smiled that sick smile, making her want to choke up bile on the spot. She nodded in agreement and folded her hands in her lap. Sir picked them up and examined them, licking the blood from her right palm. He dropped them again.

"Do you want to play a new game today, to go with your new dress?" He asked her softly. She didn't respond for a few seconds. She was trying to imagine what this new game could possibly be, but she shuddered at the thought of it being worse than Sir's other games.

"Yes." She said finally, in a shaky, nervous voice. Sir smiled and stood up.

"We're going to play a game with special rules. You can't break them, or you'll ruin the game ok?" He asked her, as though he were talking to a very small child of four or five rather than eight or nine.

"I understand." She did her best to smile and look excited. His blue eyes shone in the dim light allowed by the still cracked door.

"Now listen closely," He started as he pulled his long blond hair back into a pony tail, "lots of people are going to start playing with us, or you more specifically." He chuckled and left the broad smile on his face. "Some important friends of Sir's are going to come and play with you. The rules are that you have to keep quiet and be just as good for them as you are for me." He paused, waiting for the girl to say something. She was still.

"So, when they come to see you, you be good. I wouldn't want to hurt you for being bad. But for now, why don't we take a break from games before your first new friend comes?" He leaned down to her level and kissed her on the lips. She squinted and shuddered at his affectionate behavior. He pulled away again and pushed the girl onto her back.

"I love this dress." He smirked and pulled the ruffles up to reveal her pantyless form. She bit her lip and did her best to lay still.

Sir heaved in a breath and slumped down onto his knees next to the girl.

"If you can be that good for everyone else…Azkaban will be nothing to think about for a long time." He mumbled out the last part as he pulled up his pants and headed towards the door. "Someone will be down in a few minutes, so act like a good little girl." He threatened before slamming the door behind him. A few seconds later someone new was in the door, quaking with excitement.

"You've out done yourself!" He called to Sir, who was standing just outside the door.

"Get off of me!" Illy shouted at no one.

"Illy, no one's there." Matty called from two beds down.

"Sorry Matty…forgot to put a charm on." Illy explained as she pulled on a pair of sweatpants and Draco's hoodie.

"No, you didn't. Remember last night, I told you it doesn't bother me. My little brother gets night terrors, I said you didn't need to worry about it for the rest of break." Matty said, followed by a yawn and the sound of her head falling back on the pillow.

"Right…thanks Matt." Illy said before closing the door behind her and heading out for her morning run.

The red envelope bowled over students heads totally free of an owl. It seemed to be fueled by furry itself as it just barely cleared Meagan Prince's rather high pony tail, followed by nearly knocking Terrance Clark on to his ass when it flew beneath his legs, and rolled over Royce Leonard's foot with a thunderous growl. The howler finally stopped when it reached its destination, popping up between Illy's legs, and almost hitting her square in the nose as it rose. Illy struggled to hold the letter hold still long enough to see who it was from,

"Hermione! Do something quick!" She shouted, reaching across the table to where Ron was playing with her wand.

"Why? Who's it from?" Hermione asked withdrawing her wand.

"Just do it!" Illy urged. The letter was beginning to smoke from its creases as Hermione reached out her wand and stunned the letter, deflating it on the spot.

"That should hold it for ten or fifteen minutes." Hermione explained as she tried to snatch Illy's wand back from Ron. "What are you doing with that thing Ronald?" She asked in an exasperated voice.

"I'm just trying to figure out how she gets her spells to be so strong, I think maybe it's the kind of wand she has." Ron explained, tapping the wood on the table, and sending purple and black sparks flying from its tip.

"What's yours made of anyway Illy?" Harry asked distractedly looking up from his magazine.

"Oh, it's a custom make. I tried everyone in the shop, ended up setting fire to several of them on accident, and then he decided to make a special one."

"So what's it made of?"

"It's 'eleven inches long, swooshy but with a stiff snap, made of cherry blossom wood with a core of human blood and crushed bone'" She imitated Mr. Ollivander. Everyone at the table sat silent. No one spoke for at least two minutes.

"Who-whose blood?" Ron finally stuttered.

"My own of course."

"How did he…erm, extract it?" Ron asked again.

"Actually he said it was a sign, I showed up at the shop and I had just been through a sword store across the road, slit my finger tip, almost took it off. He gathered up some blood on the spot, it was still gushing into a rag after all the wands I tried, it even got worse with a few of them."

"And the bone?" Harry inquired.

"When I was younger, before the accident, I put a bad split in my leg. My parents took me down to St. Mungo's the same day and we had a bit of the bone that fragmented removed. It was just sitting there anyway."

"So…your wand has imported wood and your own blood and bone in it?" Hermione asked, clearly puzzled. "I thought only magical objects were used as core's"

"Well we're magical now aren't we?" Illy said with a wink. "Now I've got to go listen to Draco yell at me before this thing explodes and blasts my eyebrows off." Illy stood up from the table and turned to leave with the envelope tucked into her bag, but she had not turned around so fast that she missed the look of reprove mingled with disgust that Harry was giving her.

"KILLIOUS QUINTESSENCE ENQUIROUS! What was going through your head?! Is this some sort of vengeance bullocks? Date my worst enemy to get back at me for fucking Pansy or something like that?" The howler was freakishly loud, and echoed off the walls of Illy's dorm room.

"Fine then! Screw around with him just like you tossed around with your smorgasbord of multi-ethnic fuck buddies! But don't think that I can just turn a blind eye to that!" She felt guilty knowing that just hearing the sound of Draco's voice calmed her down and made her feel better, even if he was yelling at her. "Ok, that's a lie…I can, I guess I will" The howler had now turned a more pink color. "Illy why him? I don't get it! Of all the people in this school to mysteriously screw around with why on earth did you pick Harry Potter!?" He was shouting again…and then nothing…total silence…

"Illy, just…just be in the common room tonight at three." And the letter burned up in front of her, disintegrating into nothing but ash on her bed, and then even less than that. Illy curled up into a ball on the bed and fell into a light sleep for several hours, waking up sporadically with a sniffle or a hiccough.

"Illy…Illy….Illy…ILLY!" Matty Melrose's voice rang through the afternoon air.

"What?" Illy replied groggily.

"Your boyfriend is about to bang down the door. He wants to see you." She explained.

"Oh, oh yeah, I suppose he would. What time is it?"

"I don't know for sure, somewhere around three thirty or four I suppose." She said, passing Illy a less wrinkled shirt from her trunk to put on. Illy buttoned up the black oxford and slipped on a new pair of jeans that Matty also passed.

"That'll look good with your black and grey striped scarf." Matty said conversationally as she paced the article to Illy.

"Hey, I'm sorry about the other day…but…I've been meaning to ask…Did you tell Draco about Harry and I?"

"Yeah, thought he should know the good news too." Matty said with a bit of disdain in her voice.

"Oh…I'd better not keep him waiting." Illy's voice was sad as she headed out to meet Harry.

"What took you so long?" Harry demanded.

"I was just getting changed, I fell asleep, and my clothes were wrinkled." She explained. Harry just firmly grasped her hand.

"You're in trouble." He spat as he drug her down the hall.

"For what? I didn't even do anything Harry. I said I'd date you and everything what do you want from me?"

"And you didn't want to be my girlfriend?"

"I didn't say that Harry. I'm just not sure what I'm in trouble for." She explained. Harry gripped her hand tighter. "You're hurting me Harry."

"Why is Draco sending you letters that you don't want to open in front of me?" His grip didn't loosen.

"He's just upset, I didn't think it was breakfast conversation."

"And what is it he's upset about?" Harry pulled Illy behind him up the stairs.

"What do you think? I'm dating you."

"And why does that matter to him?"

"Because he's my best friend and I'm now dating his worst enemy."

"And why does he hate me so much?"

"Gee, I don't know Harry, maybe because you beat the shit out of him last year?"

"Don't act like he didn't have it coming Illy."

"He just tried to have a relationship with you Harry, does that mean that you're going to hurt me too?" Harry turned left.

"I just might if you can't talk to me with some respect."

"Harry, this is ridiculous! You're my boyfriend you're not supposed to threaten me!"

"I'm not threatening. I'm just promising that now that you're my girlfriend you're going to need to obey my rules."

"And what would those be Harry?"

"Number one, is that you stop embarrassing me in public. Two, you're going to need to respect me even when no one else is around. Three, stop being so obvious with your stupid food problem, I think you look great so be a bit more subtle so everyone else will leave you alone. For that matter, enough of this vomiting in class and having blackout's business, its enough that one of us has problems, we don't need yours in the relationship as well. Four, you don't spend time with men alone…not any men, not Dolan, or Christian and Jackquinn, not Ron, not Fred or George and above all, never Draco Malfoy."

"But they're some of your best friends Harry and I live with the rest of them!" Killious interjected. Harry stopped and looked into her eyes before lightly slapping her cheek.

"Remember number two, that means you don't interrupt me. And number five, you do what I say, when I say, with no questions asked. I plan on taking good care of you and making sure that no one and nothing hurts you, that means that you're going to have to trust me about everything." Harry looked intently into Illy's eyes, searching for any hint of defiance. She nodded and looked ahead.

"Ok Harry…whatever you say." Harry released her wrist and she moved her hand to her cheek straightaway.

"We're going to the library to read through some things that might help with Buckbeak's trial. When we walk in we're going to be holding hands, lean over and give me a kiss on the lips. Then I want you to take a seat next to me, don't bother reading anything, just sit there and be supportive." Illy just nodded again and laced her fingers through his on the way to the library.

"Over here." Ron waved at the couple brightly. Illy walked to where Hermione and Ron had procured a large pile of books. She had to inwardly fight herself to keep from bursting into conversation with Hermione and burying herself in books; instead she leaned her face towards Harry's. His thin lips seemed to melt into his jaw too quickly. It felt bony on her own full lips, like their faces didn't match correctly. When they broke Harry took a seat next to Ron. Illy silently pulled a chair from across the table where Hermione was sitting to Harry's side.

"Illy, will you take this and look through it for anything it has on illegal goading of exotic magical creatures?" Hermione pushed the book down the long coffee table towards Illy. She looked to Harry but he and Ron were already talking about something unrelated, so she began to browse the book for anything relevant.

"Here's something…but it only applies to muggles." Illy sighed and returned to her search.

"D'you think that we could claim Buckbeak was pregnant at the time of the accident and the hormones made him crazy?" Ron suggested blandly.

"Yeah that might work…except that Buckbeak is a he." Illy replied sarcastically.

"Don't be rude Illy." Harry said, patting her affectionately on the knee.

"What?" Ron and Hermione both gaped at the same time.

"He-He's right, I sh-shouldn't be so rude." Killious stuttered as Harry's pat on the knee became a death grip on her thigh.

"Harry what are you doing?" Hermione asked shooting a glance at Illy's leg.

"I'm aloud to touch my girlfriend aren't I?" Harry asked in an uncomfortably affectionate voice.

"Oh, of course." Said Hermione, blushing as Harry placed small kisses across Illy's cheek and jaw bone. Illy shuffled through the book's pages uncomfortably as Harry continued to nuzzle her neck and kiss her lightly.

"Aw get a room." Ron complained, throwing a small pamphlet at Harry.

"Have you thought about trying to just sneak Buckbeak out of the country of something?" Illy asked in exasperation.

"Yeah we have Illy…Look, if you're going to be so condescending and sarcastic why don't you just go do something else until dinner." Harry suggested. Illy stood,

"I think I will. I'll see you guys in a few hours." She said before walking away, casting a fierce look at Harry.

She had only made it a few feet from the library, intent upon rushing up to the owlery to scratch a quick note Draco, but Fred and George greeted her jovially when she rounded the corner towards the stairs.

"Hello there Illy." George said, giving her a small hug.

"No Harry?" Fred asked as he moved to wrap his arms around her.

"I'm actually not really supposed to hang out with just the two of you…" She muttered in a pointedly quiet voice.

"What?" Fred asked, not releasing her from his grasp.

"Nothing, just a bunch of bullocks." She said disdainfully.

"Good, we need you." Fred said, smiling as he threw Illy over his shoulder and began to march towards a hidden passage behind a bust of a particularly ornate troll. George pushed down the troll's bejeweled tusk and walked through the passageway it revealed.

"I think you can put her down now, she seems to be protest free." George told Fred, who in turn put Illy back on the ground.

"Sorry about the violent kidnapping, we were worried that Harry might not want you to spend time with anyone else, and this is important."

"He'll be okay with the violent kidnapping, I'm more worried about the Stockholm syndrome that resulted in rape." She said sarcastically following them down the hall.

"See we've just decided to pop down to Magda's again today and thought you should come." Fred smiled.

"You've got a dress or something I assume." Fred said as he guided Illy down another corridor.

"I need a dress to go see Magda?"

"No, she's catering and we're going to crash. But you need a dress." George explained.

"Fine, what kind of dress do I need?" Illy asked.

"Just a cocktail dress I suppose, I'm not totally certain, she just told us what to wear." Fred said in a puzzled voice.

"What did she tell you to wear?"

"Jus' slacks and a collared dress shirt." George answered.

"Yeah a dark toned cocktail dress will work." Illy pushed open the door ahead, letting her out of the storage closet she was in. "Oh…that's how you two got there that day…" She mumbled as the two pointed her towards the Slytherin common room entrance.

"The day with Draco…yeah…we'll meet you back here in half an hour." George spoke in a calm, but clearly suppressive voice. Fred said nothing.

"He'll never do it again. I promise…one day he'll prove it to you." Illy smiled and gave them each a kiss on the cheek before going to get changed.

Forty-five minutes later Illy, Fred, and George were all climbing out of the basement of Honeydukes, looking less than pleased at the cold winter chill that awaited them.

"How far is it?" Illy asked, stopping at the door in the front of the shop to watch the snow fall.

"Not too far, we're actually sneaking in with Magda, so we're using floo from her house." Fred explained as he took off his grey suit jacket and handed it to Illy. She pulled it on over her sleeveless green cocktail dress.

"Guess I could've worn more huh? But you two look nice." She said, nodding to the boys who wore matching grey suits and black shirts with no tie.

"I'm going to see if I can get a carriage to take us down there." George suggested stepping outside. Fred turned to Illy and cupped her face in his hands.

"You look gorgeous…you're just going to freeze your ass off." He smiled and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Thanks Fred."

The two waited in silence for three or four minutes, all the while Illy fidgeted with her dark green dress, pulling up on its strapless tube top, adjusting the little black bow around the waste, then adjusting the small buckle on her black heels, and finally checking for the umpteenth time that her hair was still smooth beneath the bobby pins that pulled it half back. George burst in the door with a red nosed smile.

"I got us a ride." He said leading his friends out the door.

"Thank Merlin, I was sure she was going to start re-hemming that damn thing if we left her to play with it much more." Fred said sarcastically as he acted out Illy's little routine for his brother. They all laughed and climbed into the carriage.

They pulled up outside Magda's moments later, still chuckling and joking with one another jovially. Magda was waiting at her door in a black mini skirt, red heels, a red vest, and a white oxford shirt. George and Fred started clutching their sides and breaking down into hysterics the second they looked at her.

"Yeh, well this s'before the bowtie I 'ave tah pu' on, so shut th'fuck up." She snapped as she handed Illy a black piece of thick ribbon. "Can you tie on' of 'ese fings?" She asked.

"Hold still." Illy quickly tied and adjusted the bowtie.

"Al'igh, if you two's done gigglin' li' school girls, we 'an leave." Magda said in a cross tone.

"She hates doing events with dress codes." Fred explained.

"Now, we're head'n to 'Oftear Pla' go' it?" She asked, shooting a glance to Illy.

"Ofteer Place." George reaffirmed. Magda nodded and put her pinch of floo powder into the fireplace. She was gone seconds later.

"I'll go next." George offered. "Ofteer Place." He said with authority.

"Alright, you're up." Fred told Illy.

"Ofteer Place." She said before stepping into the fire. Its cool flames sent goose-bumps all across her skin. But soon George was steadying her slightly swaying frame.

"Let's go mingle." Fred offered from behind. Illy let out a little yelp of laughter when she saw him. "What?" He asked, oblivious to the bit of soot that had gotten on his nose.

"I'll get it." Illy said, taking a napkin from a nearby countertop, spitting on it and wiping his nose.

"Did you just spit on that and wipe his nose?" George asked in a disgusted tone.

"Yes I did." Illy said triumphantly as the trio headed for the exit door to the kitchen.

"Disgusting!" Fred said, clearly repulsed.

"Ugghh, she's as bad a mum." George chided.

"Shut up and one of you dance with me." She demanded as they walked into the large ballroom on the other side of the kitchens.

The building looked like it could have been a museum. The walls had hand carved, gold leafed wood paneling and the floors were tiled in gold and cream colored stones. The ceiling was vaulted, and sported five chandeliers, the largest being in the middle, and each of the others to the north, south, east, or west. The chandeliers appeared pointless however, as thousands of tiny, crystalline looking balls sported small flames that made the room positively glow with holiday jubilance. Windows and doorways were tactfully trimmed in festive icicles to match the many ice sculptures around the edges of the room that those who were not dancing had gathered to observe.

"What even is this?" Illy asked as both boys led her to the dance floor.

"Annual viewing of magical ice art." George explained knowledgably. Illy looked back at one of the sculptures, a woman with a sweeping gown and her dance partner, both of which she now noticed were actually dancing.

"I see. So which one of you am I dancing with?" she asked when they found a good place on the floor.

"We'll fight over you, it usually attracts another girl, and from there we'll decide who gets her." Fred answered with a wink.

"I take it I'm in Magda's usual position?"

"Precisely." George said as he pulled Illy close and began to dance. "And this excellent tactic has yet to fail us." He finished while he spun her once and extended his arm, putting distance between them, but before he could pull her back Fred had taken her free hand and started waltzing with Illy.

"So what if two girls show up? Do you just abandon me?"

"Naturally." Fred answered as he dipped Illy. She put a hand on his shoulder and did her best to not look awkward as she craned her neck upward to face him.

"Thank you for taking me." Her voice was honest, she really didn't want to sit around the castle with Harry for one more second. She was so uninterested in seeing him at the moment that she was considering sneaking off to Snape's office for several hours, just so she could skip eating dinner with Harry.

"No problem, George is stealing you now." Fred informed as George stepped in.

The little dance went on for ten minutes before a pretty blond came and asked George to dance. He winked at Fred and Illy as she took his hand and headed off for a better spot to dance. After another ten minutes Illy decided she had to have a look at the ice sculptures, and she and Fred began a route around the room.

"Look at that one." Fred pointed at a pair of dueling swordsman.

"Maybe we can lower the temperature around them just a bit and get a piece of those swords to chip off and hit an innocent bystander." Illy suggested. Fred chuckled and they kept moving.

"I think this one is my favorite." Illy said as they stopped to stare at a belly-dancer.

"You would pick the most provocative one in the room." Fred rolled his eyes and watched as the dancer gyrated her hips and moved in a slow circle, glistening and shaking her small tambourine. The two laughed and made fun of the several public figures that had been sculpted as they barked out orders or sang odd little Christmas songs. Fred was ecstatic to spend a full four minutes watching a dragon spit fire that turned to ice and then melted away in seconds. Illy on the other hand almost fainted when she saw that someone had sculpted Lucious Malfoy, who according to a young lady in front of them, had donated a large sum of money to the orphanage that the event was raising money for. When they had circled the entire room a man stepped in from a door to their right and announced quite loudly that,

"Dinner is served, please follow me." After which Illy and Fred spent some minutes trying to find where George and his new friend were sitting. They had saved seats and Illy engaged herself in conversation with the girl about the event.

"An orphanage for all magical children, what a brilliant service." Illy said brightly.

"Yes, my father's put a lot of work into Pallomer's Orphanage and Grade School for Magical Children. He's the event planner, actually he organizes this event every year." The blond said, gushing with pride.

"Shouldn't you be sitting with him? He must want you around for pictures and such." Illy said conversationally, though really she was sure that her father could care less about having his busty blond daughter in the papers with him seeing as with reporters like Rita Skeeter he would probably be accused of having an affair.

"No, he doesn't like to bring work too close to the family, except for me of course, being adopted and all. But he sits at the head table and makes speeches and gives out awards." She said pointing a finger at the long table that had been placed on a stage at the front of the room.

"Who else sits at the head table?"

"A bunch of the big donators, Mr. Fudge and Ludo Bagman sit at the far right end, my dad sits right after them, and then in the middle is the president of the orphanage, Darius Aldarploy, and on his left is the head of adoptions, Miss Pendular, and the last three over on the left are a few other people from the ministry, usually they're just representing foreign supporters though."

"Wow, quite a panel of important people." Illy commented.

"Actually, now that I think about it, the last seat on the left belongs to Mr. Malfoy."

"He-he's going to b-be here?" Illy asked, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach.

"Yeah, and that gorgeous son of his too! By the way, you didn't tell me your name."

"Oh…I'm Killious Enquirious, Illy for short, George probably already told you but his brother's name is Fred. Do you go to Hogwarts?"

"No, my mother lives in the States so I go to Salem, my names Christina Charlotte."

"Nice to meet you." Killious said extending a hand. Fred followed her example with a smile and immediately began to scour the room for any signs of Lucious.

"What is it that you have against him?" He whispered into Illy's ear as she continued to make small talk with Christina.

"I don't really want to talk about it." She whispered back.

"We can leave if you want." He offered.

"No, I'll be okay, just as long as I don't get drug off to the dance floor with him or anything like that." Illy whispered back once again, with sarcasm. Fred stifled a laugh and waved at Magda, who was now directing plates of food across the room like an orchestra conductor with her wand. Christina jumped a little in shock as a salad gently landed on the table in front of her and gave a quick spin before becoming stationary. Illy picked up a fork to begin her salad when suddenly Christina reached over and grabbed her fork hand.

"There he is!" She spoke in a strenuously hushed voice. Illy looked up from her plate to see, much to Christina's delight, a dashing Draco Malfoy entering the room from the left in what looked to be a ludicrously expensive silk black suit featuring grey dotted pinstripes with a matching grey shirt. "Oh my goodness, he's even more dreamy in person!" She squealed. George and Fred stifled their sniggers.

"You're kidding right?" George asked.

"No, he's so hot! The girls back at Salem will not believe we went to the same benefit." She spoke eagerly. Illy shot a mischievous look at Fred and stood.

"No…Don't do it Illy." He implored. She ignored his pleading and started across the room towards Draco.

Draco seemed oblivious and more than anything bored with and to his surroundings as he perused the options of whom he should sit with, his still long hair flipped softly from side to side as he debated which direction he should head for. He turned on his heel and headed towards the direction of the head table where a few tables still had vacant space when he heard a whispering voice in his ear.

"I have a seat at my table." He turned around catching Illy off guard, as she was still extremely close to where Draco's ear would have been had he not turned around.

"Killy." He breathed.

"Come sit with me." She laced her fingers through his hand and walked him to where everyone was sitting. Christina had already managed to get George to move down a seat so that Draco would end up between herself and Illy.

"Thanks for saving me." Draco whispered as he took his seat.

"No problem, Draco this is Christina Charlotte, her father is the even planner at the orphanage."

"I know, he's good friends with my own father." Draco said, casting a seductive glance at Christina and kissing her lightly on the hand.

"Ahem." George interrupted by snaking a hand around Christina's waste. She giggled and turned to George.

"I'm sorry sweetie, he's just…well look at him." She giggled again and turned back to George.

"Wow, George has her wrapped around his finger…" Illy whispered to Fred, who just shrugged.

"That's George, he can get almost anybody, he just looses interest after a few days." Fred explained.

"Did you get the howler?" Draco asked aside to Illy.

"Yes I did." She said, suddenly remembering how upset he had been.

"We'll talk about it tonight; you look too good to yell at." He whispered, a little too close to her ear. Chills ran up and down her spine.

The meal drug on, plagued with speeches and George and Draco's friendly but shameless flirting with Christina, who seemed too flattered to know how to respond. Fred was still irritated by Draco's presence, but was less aggressive the more Draco and his brother got along. When the last of the speeches had ended the same man inviting everyone to eat walked to the front of the stage.

"I would like to invite everyone one to join us in the ballroom again to see the rest of the ice exhibit, and donate to the orphanage before you leave." Draco took Illy's hand and led her to the next room. His hands found their way to her hips with the same ease that her head found its way to his shoulder.

"How did you get invited to this event anyway?" He asked softly into her hair.

"I know the caterer, or Fred and George do, so we all crashed."

"You know Magda?"

"You know Magda?"

"Of course, I know everyone Killious, you should have realized that by now."

"Your father is rubbing off on you."

"I still have my hair, so he's not doing too much."

"I do love your hair…but I'm still surprised that you would be friends with Magda."

"Her aunt is employed by my father, crazy old loon. But I don't think Magda gets along with her all that well, she doesn't even notice when my Dad has the woman off working for months at a time."

"She's pretty caught up in her own life."

"I don't want to talk about Magda."

"Fine, what do you want to talk about?" Illy asked. Draco only pulled her closer to him and sighed.

"My dad wants to talk to you." He said softly. Illy stiffened, forcing Draco to practically lift Illy and pull her across the dance floor.

"I'm not going to do that."

"Please Illy, you can't expect yourself to just show up this summer and be okay with him. You're going to have to do this slowly."

"Draco…I-" He pressed a finger to her lips.

"I'll be right there." He leaned in to kiss her but she turned her face, leaving him with no option but a small peck on the cheek.

"I'm dating someone." She said harshly.

"I'll go get him." Draco let Illy go and went in search of his father.

The two returned moments later and Draco went to join Fred and George who were impatiently watching from the side.

"You just handed her off to him?" Fred questioned.

"No, I did what my father asked me to and am now maintaining a safe distance from him without abandoning her." Draco explained forcibly.

"You actually thought about disobeying him didn't you man?" George asked with sudden realization.

"Yes. And I'm starting to wish I had." Draco managed through clenched teeth as he watched his father pull Illy unnecessarily close with his unnecessarily low hands. Draco let out a growl like grunt of irritation, to which his father only smiled placidly.

"So, Killious is it? What is your relationship with my son?" Lucious asked Illy. She bit her lip but kept her gaze locked on Lucious' eyes.

"We're very good friends." She said shortly.

"I've heard rumors that you're more than that, which obviously concerns me."

"Well we're not, I have a boyfriend. And even so, why would that concern you?" Lucious tightened his grip on her waste and led a bit more forcefully.

"It would concern me because I'm not going to have my pureblooded son dating a filthy orphaned child that doesn't even know if she's a mudblood or a muggle born."

"I don't think that has anything to do with whether or not we should be dating." She said through gritted teeth.

Fred reeled on Draco,

"Aren't you going to do something?" He demanded.

"They have to talk some time before this summer. If things get out of hand I'll do something."

"She's not yours to pass around you filthy curd!" Fred snapped.

"Calm yourself Weasley, just because she isn't interested in you or any of the other fire crotches in your miserable family doesn't mean I have any less influence in her life."

"You know Malfoy, up until this point in time I was thinking that you really weren't that bad." George said.

"I'm…I'm sor…I apologize for my antagonistic behavior. He makes me nervous…and she makes me protective." Draco explained. Fred let out a sarcastic "yeah sure" but George nodded,

"He understands, you makes him nervous too, and Illy is like our little sister…I don't know what your relationship with your father is, but…and I do mean this in the worst way possible, your father is scum."

"He's worse than that, he's ex-death eater scum whose been accused of alleged…inappropriate sexual activities more than once, and now he has his foul hands on our friend." Fred snapped at Draco for the second time. Draco looked toward his feet as he spoke…

"So…is that common knowledge?"

"Your fathers standing as a sentient being or his sexual fancies?" Fred asked, still in a cruel tone.

"The latter."

"No, it's not common knowledge…We found out last summer, George and Lee and I. With everything that happened to Ginny, we got to digging in his files, illegally of course, but we were worried that he might have had a more active hand in things than it appeared. Of course we found out then that-"

"She's too old and he doesn't like red heads." Draco interrupted.

"Yeah…something I guess the two of you share." Fred chided. Draco turned on him, pushing up on his toes just slightly to stare eyelevel with Fred.

"Enough!" He roared, "You listen to me, if you can't keep your mouth shut about my father's unproven sexual preferences you can at least not speak about me. I won't deny that he's a twisted and morally corrupt man with far too much power and money on his hands, but don't drag me down with him Weasley." Draco threatened coolly before turning back to watch Lucious pull Illy ever closer.

"So who are you dating?" Lucious asked in a lewd voice.

"Harry Potter, a big fan of yours as I've heard." Illy said in a sarcastically sweet voice.

"One more reason you'll need to stay away from my boy." He threatened back as he lowered his hand still further.

"If you don't get your hands back from my arse I will tell you all sorts of things that you might not approve of, just so you can dwell on them this summer when I come visit." Illy was half hoping that she just might loose the invitation to spend her holiday with the Malfoy's all together.

"Get used to it; my hands go wherever I want in my house." Lucious replied, narrowing his eyes.

"If you so much as think about touching me over holiday your son's hands will go wherever I he wants them to."

"You're quite confident in your threats little girl. You forget that I control my son and he shares my views on those who should clearly be removed from our world."

"Well you haven't done a very good job at controlling him so far; his hands have done quite a bit more than cop a feel." Illy spat back. Lucious just laughed and dipped her so low that her hair swept over the floor.

"Little girl, I don't care if he fucks you or not, just as long as you aren't seen in public." Illy stood on her tiptoes and leaned in close to Lucious' ear.

"I'll fuck him on the front steps of the department of magic if you don't stop threatening me." She lowered herself back down and forcibly pulled his hands up from their position.

"Are you black mailing me little girl?" He asked in a sly but intrigued voice.

"Should I have reservations about such things? I assumed that we'd be playing by your rules."

"Oh, we'll be playing by my rules, you just might have harder time keeping up when you're alone in my home and you don't have your lovely twins to keep an eye on you." The song ended but Illy didn't move her hand from Lucious' shoulder.

"Don't fuck with me Lucious, I have more friends than that keeping an eye on me." She spat before dropping her hands and walking to where Fred, George, and Draco waited. The twins both hugged her at the same time, she was trembling all over.

"What did he say?" They both asked at the same time. She just pointed to a bench by the wall. The twins started towards it, but Draco turned to Illy, burying his face in her hair and resting his head on her shoulder,

"Killy, I almost came to get you…but you…if I was wrong I'm sorry, but…you were giving him a good fight."

"Just let me sit down and I'll tell you about it." She said in a feeble voice. Draco softly guided her through the crowd to where Fred and George were sitting.

"Ok…so what happened?" George said after taking in a deep breath.

"He asked me what my relationship with Draco was. I told him we were good friends, and he proceeded to tell me that he didn't want his son dating any mudbloods or muggle born's."

"Is that all?" Fred asked, looking relieved.

"No, I told him I was dating Harry…and…and when he put his hands…lower…"

"Don't lie to yourself we all watched him feel you up." Draco offered, squeezing into a place between George and Illy and taking her hand in his while she spoke.

"Anyway, I told him to move his hands and he just said that in his house his hands go where they want. He was standing there playing mind games with me, like it was some joke. I'm not an idiot, I know when someone's toying with me, so I played back. I told him that if he didn't get his hands off my ass I would let his son put his hands where he felt in his house. Not that I would mind you," Illy said, mostly to Draco, which put Fred at ease. "He said that I was confident in my threats and told me that you," She pointed at Draco, "were basically under his thumb, when I told him he was wrong he laughed at me and said he didn't care if I snogged you or not, just as long as no one saw us." Her voice lowered as she finished.

"And you told him." Draco pushed. Illy shot him an irritated glare, but it was too late to not continue now,

"And then I told him that if he couldn't control himself I'd snog you on the front steps of the ministry…He said I wouldn't have the twins to look after me this summer." She finished again before leaning into Fred's shoulder. He put his arms around her and rubbed his hands up and down her back.

"I want to go to bed." She whispered.

"Ok, anything you want, we'll take the floo back to three broomsticks and get home from there." He explained as he rose and gave her his coat. Draco looked aghast.

"Don't forget." He urged. She just gave him a nod and headed towards the kitchens with Fred and George.