Written By: xxPyRaxx

Disclaimer: posted in the second chapter.

"Don't Marry Me"

Verse 3:

If you want a woman you can depend on,
I can absolutely guarantee
I will never fail to disappoint you,
Baby, Don't marry me.

Chapter Three

~.~

If You Want a Woman You can Depend On

"Cassi!" Magnolia yelled from the bottom of the stairs of their small two-bedroom town house, "Come on! Uncle Harry will be here with Teddy any minute!"

"I'm coming Momma!" Magnolia's six year old daughter, Cassiopeia (either Cass or Cassi for short), called back from her bedroom.

"What are you doing up there?"

"Packing!" Cassiopeia answered back.

"That was supposed to be done already" Magnolia called back.

"I know but I got distracted. Now Momma, let me finish please!"

And Magnolia did. With an amused shake of her head, she pushed herself away from the staircase banister that she was leaning on and left for her daughter to finish her packing.

"She left the packing for last minute, didn't she?" Draco asked from his spot just inside of the kitchen.

Magnolia nodded, "Like always".

"And like someone else I know" Draco teased with a smirk on his lips.

"That's not true".

Draco scoffed at her, "Really? How about when both Potter and I had to team up to get you to pack your trunk to go back to Hogwarts after the War?"

"That was different".

"Maggie, it took you three months for a task that should've taken not even three minutes".

"I had to find a boarding school for Cass-"

"But in the end, my parents tutored her".

Magnolia rolled her eyes in mock annoyance, "Yes, yes".

"Maggie, she got that from you" Draco chuckled.

Magnolia sighed. "I guess she did".

Suddenly, the sound of rushing air filled the small house and then shouts of "Auntie Maggie! Auntie Maggie!" soon followed.

"In the kitchen Teddy" Magnolia called back as she turned away from Draco. It wasn't long before the blurry image of Teddy rushed into the room. Maggie bent down and scooped up Teddy into her arms. Instinctively, Teddy wrapped his legs around her waist and his arms loosely around her neck.

"Hello Teddy" Maggie greeted her nephew.

"Auntie Maggie, is Cassi really staying for three days?" Teddy asked with excitement.

Maggie nodded, "Yup and she's going to play with you the whole time".

"Hi Maggie" Harry greeted from the doorway Teddy ran into.

Upon hearing her name, Magnolia turned her attention to her brother, "Hi Harry".

"Hello Malfoy" Harry next greeted Draco with a friendly nod of the head, which Draco returned.

"Hi Uncle Draco" Teddy greeted the new found man, who has been standing next to Maggie the whole time, and held out his arms to be held by him.

"Hey Teddy" Draco responded to the little boy's excited greeting and took him into his arms to hold him like Maggie did.

"Uncle Harry said that Cassi's coming over so you and Auntie Maggie can love each other" Teddy blurted out, "Is that true?"

Both Harry and Maggie couldn't help but chuckle; if not at Teddy's bluntness, than at the unexpected look on Draco's face.

"Um…well" Draco stumbled over an answer appropriate for a boy Teddy's age to understand but he failed.

"It okay Uncle Draco, Uncle Harry and Auntie Ginny does that too. Sometimes I can hear them late at night".

That comment from Teddy caused two reactions out of the two Potter twins. Harry stopped chuckling and turned red in embarrassment, while Maggie laughed harder.

"Teddy!" Harry scolded at the child in Draco's arms, which caused Teddy to look at him, "You shouldn't say things like that".

"Why?" Teddy wondered.

"Because it's rude and impolite" Harry answered.

"Oh" Teddy responded, "I'm sorry Uncle Harry".

"It's okay Teddy, you should just think before you speak".

And then from inside of the room; Harry, Maggie, Draco and Teddy heard the faint sound of a heavy trunk being dragged along the wooden floor.

"I'll help her bring her trunk down" Draco volunteered as he placed Teddy back onto his feet and then headed up the stairs.

Neither Harry nor Maggie spoke until Draco was out of the room and beginning to go up the stairs.

"Are you sure it's okay for Cassi to stay over for the weekend?" Maggie asked her twin.

"It's fine Maggie. Ginny and I haven't seen Cassi for months and Teddy loves it when she's over".

"And she's not intruding on any plans?"

"No. We've planned the whole weekend. We're going to the museum and then to the pool".

"Sounds very educational" she said with a nod, "Just try not to go into public too much. I really don't want Cassi exposed to the news reporters and paparazzi".

"That's understandable. You let me worry about those problems, you just stay nice and cozy with Malfoy".

"That is my plan Harry".

"Uncle Harry!" Cassiopeia exclaimed with excitement when she saw who stood in the room with her mother.

"Hey Cass, are you ready to go?" Harry responded with a smile.

Cassiopeia nodded her head, "Yeah. We're going to have so much fun".

"Cassi" Teddy exclaimed in the same manner Cassi had when she saw Harry, and he ran up to his older cousin (by a year).

"Hi Teddy" Cassi greeted back and the two cousins hugged as Draco came back into the room with Cassiopeia's trunk floating in the air by a levitating charm.

"Bye Momma" Cassi bade to her mother with a hug. Once they pulled away, Maggie when onto her knees so she was slightly taller than her daughter and placed a hand on each of Cassi's shoulders.

"You've packed all of the clothes that were on your bed?"

Cassi nodded.

"All of your underwear and undershirts?"

Cassi nodded.

"Your one-piece swimming suit?"

Cassi nodded.

"Your socks?"

Cassi nodded.

"The books you want to take?"

Cassi nodded.

"The stuffy for you to sleep with at night?"

"You mean Drake the Dragon? Yeah, I would never let him sleep alone".

"How about your PJ's?"

Cassi nodded.

"How about-"

"Maggie, she's spending the weekend, not the year" Draco interrupted his girlfriend.

"Yeah, it's not like she hasn't slept over before" Harry added.

"I'll send a letter when I get there" Cassi told her mother.

"Be good and listen to Aunt Ginny and your Uncle".

"I will Momma. I always do".

"Good girl. Come here Teddy," Maggie gestured for her nephew to come to her, which he did, and he bade him good bye and then pressed her lips on both of her daughter's and nephew's foreheads before she stood up.

"You have fun with Malfoy, don't worry about her Mag. I won't let anything or anyone harm her, you know that" Harry reasoned.

"I know" Maggie sighed, "But I'm a mother, it's my job to worry".

"Not this weekend, it's not," Harry shot back, "I'll bring her back on Sunday".

"See you than" she said as she gave her brother a hug and Harry returned it.

"C'mon Cassi, Teddy, into the fireplace" Harry directed, which the children followed.

"Bye Bye Auntie Maggie, Uncle Draco".

Both Maggie and Draco bade them goodbye. Than with a cry of the destination and a minor explosion of green flames, the three brief visitors and the trunk were swept away; leaving Draco and Maggie alone in the house.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Draco and Maggie stood still as the last of the green flames licked at the emptiness inside the fireplace and the silence soon enveloped throughout the small house. Draco stood to Maggie's right with that arm slung over her waist. Maggie stood to Draco's left and she had her arms wrapped around herself.

"She'll be fine, Maggie" Draco insisted, "Potter will be able to manage them. After all, he is the best Auror in the department" and Draco learned over to press a kiss on her temple.

"I guess you're right. I mean, he didn't become Head Auror for just allowing danger to happen. I'm being ridiculous".

"Yeah, you are" Draco agreed.

"You're not supposed to say that" she responded with a smile

"What am I supposed to say then?"

"'Oh, Maggie. You're not being ridiculous at all, just motherly' that's what you are supposed to say" she teased which caused him to chuckle.

"Oh, Maggie. You're not being ridiculous at all, just motherly" he repeated.

"Oh, you're mocking me now" she said with a fake pout.

"Don't pout" Draco chuckled again and he gave her another kiss on the temple, "That mouth of yours should never pout".

Draco smiled when her fake pout slowly turned upside down and into a smile.

"That's much better," Draco voiced before he pressed his lips to hers for a brief peck.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

A few hours have passed since Harry took Cassiopeia for the weekend so Magnolia and Draco could have a date night. The house was pretty quiet. The only sound came from the kitchen where both Maggie and Draco were. Draco stood in front of the stove, stirring a large pot of cooking spaghetti pasta with a wooden spoon. Across from him stood his girlfriend who was mincing fresh vegetables and herbs for the waiting pot of beef and tomato pasta sauce that was warming up next to the pasta pot by Draco. Besides the sound of water bubbling and the slicing of food, the soft sound of music accompanied the sounds of cooking.

Draco and Maggie didn't have many date nights in the past, with Cass and all, but when they did have one; Draco tried to make that night as romantic as possible. Tonight was no exception. After all, they did have the house to themselves, Harry and taken Cass out of the house, both he and Maggie had the night off from work…meaning that tonight was going to night full of romance.

While he stirred the pasta around in the metal pot, Draco turned his body a little so he could watch his girlfriend behind her back. She used her left hand to steady the three celery sticks still on the cutting board and used the sharp chief's knife, that she held in her right hand, to mince them. She cut with such precision and grace that if he didn't know her career, he would've thought that she was a Potions Mistress much like his Godfather was before he died. He bet that she would've made even Severus Snape jealous with her Potions talent, if he had been alive to see it.

Draco hadn't noticed that she had finished cutting was bringing it over to dump it all in the sauce until he heard the faint flump as the vegetables and herbs collided with the bottom of the pan.

"Drake, are you alright?" Maggie asked when she saw him jump in surprise at the sound.

"I'm fine" he responded.

"Are you sure? You looked like you went someone where".

"Just thinking" Draco responded with a shrug of his shoulders, something he learned from her since his father never allowed him to respond with that kind of gesture.

"About what?"

"About how you should've become a Potions Mistress".

"A Potions Mistress?" she scoffed, "Draco, you must be confusing me for someone else. I was rotten at Potions. I was possibly even worse that Neville".

"Longbottom? No, he was okay after he got over his fear of Snape".

"I don't blame Neville for his fear of him, Snape could be scary when he wanted to".

"Not when you got to know him".

After that statement, the two of them stopped talking. The only sounds that filled the kitchen was the soft music and the sound of dinner cooking.

"I'm sorry Draco. It still must hurt to talk about him" she apologized gently as she stirred sauce.

"I-it does but it's getting better".

Quiet filled the kitchen once more for a while before Draco decided to lighten up the mood, "I know what would make it better…"

"How?"

With a smirk on his lips, which Maggie didn't see since she was still stirring the sauce, he turned the knob on the Muggle radio up so the sound of cooking was overpowered, "By dancing" he answered.

He surprised Maggie when he quickly but gently pulled her away from her pot and began waltzing around the kitchen.

At first, Maggie was surprised then Draco pulled her away from the pot to waltz but that surprise quickly turned into joy. Draco had his left hand gently resting on her hip as her right lend her right. Since her right was in Draco's, her left one was resting on his shoulder. They laughed and had fun as they danced. Draco spun her with a hand and dipped her close to the floor. They danced for a few songs, until the faint smell of something burning filled the air.

"What's that smell?" he asked with his nose crinkled as they stopped dancing. It took a minute before Maggie realized what it was.

"The noodles!" she exclaimed with a laugh as she hurried over. She switched off the burner and took the pot off the still hot burner. With the spoon that Draco was using to stir before, she turned the noodles around to see if any were burnt. Fortunately, no noodles were harmed in the making of their playful moment.

"It's okay, we caught them in time" she reassured before she turned her attention on the sauce and stirred that too.

Unfortunately, she didn't hear Draco walk up behind her so when she turned around after she was finished stirring, the spoon full of sauce collided with his nicely pressed dress shirt. When she pulled the spoon away, a small oval shaped sauce stain stayed in a spot just about his right upper chest.

"Oh God" Maggie said and she couldn't help but giggle, "I don't think that will come out, even with magic".

Maggie then turned around to put down the dirty spoon on the counter and to shut off the last burner.

"It doesn't matter" he said, "That just means that we get to skip a step".

When Maggie turned back around, she found that Draco was unbuttoning the shirt to take it off.

Like a little girl, Maggie giggled once again as she placed a hand on his chest to stop him, which it did.

"Drake, there'll be lots of time for that".

"I know" he responds as he pulls off the shirt and then drops hit behind him. Draco ignored her hand on his chest and learned forward so their lips collided in a kiss. With his arms free of the shirt, he wrapped them around her waist and then in one quick movement, he lifted her up and sat her on the counter. Draco's tongue slipped pasted her lips and began to dance with her own tongue. As much as she loved his kisses, she tried to pulled way to try to remind him that the spaghetti was going to get cold but every time she was able to pull her lips away, she was only able to say one word before his lips her on hers again.

"Draco" she tried to get his attention but her lips was pressed against his again. She gently pushed him away, "the spaghetti," lips pressed against each other again, "will get," again, his lips her on hers, "cold".

Draco pulled his lips away from her and leaned their foreheads together, "Let it get cold 'cause I'm getting hot".

Draco learned forward again to keep kissing her delicious lips but stopped when not only he, but Maggie as well, heard a fire call from the fireplace.

"Miss Potter" the stern but hurried voice from the fireplace.

Maggie held her two pointer fingers out in front of Draco's sight, "Hold that thought" she told him before she jumped off the counter and squeezed herself around Draco to get to her fireplace, than she went on her knees in front of it.

"Miss Potter, we are in dire need of your assistance" the nurse told her.

"But I'm not supposed to be in today, I have the day off" Maggie argued.

"I know that Miss Potter", the Healer snapped, "But we are understaff here and there has been an accident".

Magnolia went to open her mouth but Draco beat her to it.

"Accident?"

The Healer's eyes went to Draco and made a not approving face when she saw that he hadn't put his stained shirt back on and looked back at Magnolia, "I see that you have…company".

Both Maggie and Draco spoke at the same time.

"I do" Maggie told her as Draco said, "She does".

"As I have stated before, we need your assistance here. You can spend time with your…guest, at another time".

With a sigh, Magnolia nodded to the head in the flames, "I'll just go get changed".

"See that you do" she said with a nod than her head vanished from the flames.

"Maggie…" Draco began to say as Magnolia stood up from the crouch position she was in to speak to the Healer who fire called but she cut him off as she turned towards him.

"I'm sorry Drake but I have to take a rain check on the diner tonight".

"But we just finished making our dinner" Draco tried to argue.

"I know, I'll make it up to you. I promise" she swore before she pulled out her want and magically changed her clothes to the lime green uniform and hat and then put her wand away again. With her Healer uniform on, she turned to the disappointed looking man, "I'm sorry Draco. I love you but if you want a women you can depend on then I can absolutely guarantee, that I'll never fail to disappoint you" she raised her right hand cupped his left cheek, "Baby, don't marry me".

Once she told him that, she stepped into her fireplace, called out her destination and then left Draco alone in the house.

To Be Continued…