Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the fabulous world of Harry Potter
Chapter 13: Engagement Rings
Draco sat back in his chair and took off the sleek designer reading glasses that had become a necessity in the last year or so. He rubbed his hand over his tired eyes before staring back at the large pile of paper that still lay before him. He had expense reports to do, transaction forms to file and event planning still left to do today but unfortunately it was lunch time which meant he had to leave his work unattended and go and meet his constant ball and chain, his best friend Blaise Zabini.
Blaise had owled him yesterday evening and informed Draco that he had no choice but to sacrifice his lunch hour to be at Blaise's beck and call. Typical overly dramatic Blaise, only he could come up with a statement like that.
So despite his better judgment, Draco had agreed. He pushed back from his desk and stretched out his long limbs as he stood. He wasted no time in heading straight to his building's apparition point pausing only to grab his cloak. The sooner he got to Blaise the better; gods only know how long the bugger would need him.
When he arrived at the Leaky Caldron he immediately found Blaise seated at their normal booth in the back corner where the pair met at least once a week for lunch.
"Ah Draco! You're here! Look what I found while I was waiting." The darker man said gesturing to the other side of the booth.
There in the flesh sat Draco's other best friend Theodore Nott.
"Theo!" Draco said enthusiastically as the other man stood to embrace him.
"Hey mate. How you been? I heard I got drafted for a wedding I didn't even know was happening. What is all that about? Getting married and your best mate finding out from the Daily Prophet. That is bang out of line."
Draco rose up his hands in mock surrender. "I'm so sorry. You are right, I should have owled you to have lunch weeks ago. It's all kind of spur of the moment anyway as I'm sure Blaise has told you."
"Yeah you know good old Blaise give him five minutes and you can find out all of the inner most workings of the ministry defense."
Blaise gestured rudely at his friends before standing and tossing a galleon down on the table for their drinks and extravagant tip. "Alright let's go then."
"Wait, what about lunch?" the blond man said in a voice that sounded particularly like he was whining.
"You should have been here earlier."
"What do you mean? I'm ten minutes early you wanker."
"We are on a very important mission today mates. No time for eating. Plus I already had tea with the girls so I have no need." He smirked.
Theo and Draco exchanged a look. This was classic Blaise so it was not as if either of them could be surprised by the behavior. Seems as if they would both be grabbing something to take back to the office later. They followed their insane friend out of the restaurant and out back into Diagon Alley.
"So a couple things Blaise, what are we doing and what girls did you have lunch with?" Draco asked in a bored tone as the trio headed down the street.
"Don't be daft Drae, Luna, Ginny and Hallie of course."
"Oh you mean the bains of all our existences?" Theo chimed in slinging an arm around each of his friend's necks.
"Well maybe of you and Draco's but I actually love my girlfriend."
"Wait," Draco interrupted. "Assuming that we each have our own, how do you know Hallie?"
"She is my partner at work. Beautiful and lethal, that girl would intentionally let one of the curses we work so hard to break get me if I don't pay complete attention. She kind of hates me for no reason."
"I'm sure she has a reason." Blaise muttered which caused Theo to release his hold on Draco and attempted to choke his friend right there in the middle of the street.
Draco simply smirked as he watched his friends' display. It really was incredible how the three of them had become such good friends. They were so different yet were the only ones who could truly stand each other.
It was as if they were a spectrum, ranging from him at one extreme to Blaise at the other with Theo always firmly in the middle. In colouring: Blaise's dark Mediterranean features, Theo's medium brown hair and green eyes, and his own constantly pale features, personality: he stoic and relatively calm according to most and Blaise's over the top theatrics with Theo somewhere in between, and even in lifestyles, Blaise had been in a committed relationship for what seemed like forever, Theo in and out of relationships both real and simply physical and of course his intentional serial dating. They made quite the threesome when put together.
"Alright children," Draco finally intervened. "Don't we have things to do?"
"Yes!" Blaise said as he shoved Theo off and straightened his cloak. "We really do. I need your opinions on something very important."
"We're listening." Theo said.
"I want to ask Luna to marry me."
"Do it!" they both said simultaneously causing several people in the street to give them strange looks. These three famous Slytherins all out at once made many people uncomfortable even though any threat was long gone.
Everyone in the wizarding world knew Luna Lovegood and Blaise Zabini were the perfect couple and had been for years and now unbeknownst to anyone he was finally going to make it official.
Blaise laughed out loud. "That wasn't what I wanted the opinion on you idiots. I know for sure that I am finally going to do it. I should have asked her years ago but I just finally worked up the nerve. No I want you to help me pick out the perfect ring. We have a dozen Zabini family antiques in the vault at Gringotts that I have asked to be laid out for us and if none of those work we need to go over to the jewelers but I really want to give her a family heirloom. She likes old jewelry and it will really piss my mother off."
"Of course we'll help you mate, wont we Drae?"
"Yeah Blaise." Draco assured as he clapped the man on the back. "Lead the way. Let's go find Looney the most perfect engagement ring ever."
They entered the bank and were shuffled by one of the goblins into a small, dimly lit room off to one side with dark green walls and a table stretching almost the entire length with chairs all around it. Laid out on the table directly under a brightly glowing lamp were a dozen or so gemstone rings on a black velvet cloth ready for the three men to examine.
Forty-five minutes later the trio had finally agreed on exactly which ring out of the selection would be perfect for Luna. They had chosen a gold band with a huge emerald cut diamond in the center with two yellow diamonds on either side. It was classic just like Luna and she would love it.
Once this errand was finished Draco caught his friends' attention before stood up to leave.
"Hey mates will you wait up one minute? I want to run down to our jewelry vault. This has gotten me thinking, Ginny doesn't have a ring and I think it would make the whole charade a little more believable if she did."
"Well do you just want one of these?" Blaise asked gesturing at the pile.
"Nah I actually know which one she would like I just need to go down and grab it. It will take me fifteen minutes tops." He said as he stood and removed a key ring with several tiny gold keys hanging from it from his pocket.
"Ok, well we'll wait here." Theo said.
"Thanks. Be right back. Blaise why don't you fill Theo in on what has been going on with me and beautiful, demure fiancé." He said sarcastically over his shoulder as he exited the small dark room.
Draco rode down to his family's vault section in one of the carts and stopped off at vault 582 also known as the Malfoy Family Jewels vault. He flipped to the correct key and inserted it into the door. After hearing the soft click and swung open the heave vault door to reveal a good size room with many sets of jewelry cabinets and other jewel encrusted items strewn about.
He walked over to the chest of drawers which housed all of the rings that had been collected by the Malfoy women. Opening it he quickly checked the first few drawers for the ring he sought with no luck. When he reached the fifth drawer he found the ring he sought.
It had a platinum band that was jewel encrusted half way around. The stone in the center was a one carat princess cut diamond surrounded by tiny alternating diamonds and sapphires.
It had been his great, great grandmother's twenty-fifth wedding anniversary present and was at the same time simple and gaudy. He had decided when he and Ginny were together in school that if, or as he believed at the time when, he and Ginny got around to getting engaged this would be the ring he would give her. Well now, despite the ironic twist of events, at least he would get to give the ring that he had always felt she should have had.
He carefully removed the ring and placed it in one of the ring boxes that he found lying around the room before exiting and making his way back up to his friends, the ring safely in his pocket for the next time he saw his so called fiancé.
Luna sat back in her chair once again. Her story now complete she was exhausted. How did Ginny do this all the time? Recall all these tiny details that she didn't even remember existed? Wow.
Hallie seemed to be in awe of what was yet another interesting installment into her friends' pasts and was beginning to believe that being an American she missed out on quite the adventure not going to Hogwarts. "That is all so sweet. I want a story like both of yours. I am so ready to fall in love."
"Aww Hal! It's not that fun believe me. Just a lot of sappy conversations and annoying boys around all the time." Ginny assured her.
"That's ok with me! Promise!"
"So can we talk about Ginny now?" Luna suddenly asked.
"No Looney this was more than enough story telling for one day."
"Oh you are just saying that because you have enjoyed the conversation not focusing on you for once. Don't think you fooled me, I see what you did there."
"See what who did where?" a deep silky voice invaded the conversation.
Ginny spun around to see Blaise, Draco and another man enter the café. She inadvertently sucked in a deep breath at seeing Malfoy all dressed up in one of his sleek business suits. He looked fabulous. Damn him.
Despite her finance's presence the other man drew her attention. He was several inches shorter than Draco which wasn't surprising and just taller than Blaise. His build was more muscular than either of the other two men, more of a beater than a chaser or seeker. His chestnut brown hair was spiked up into a perfectly sculpted mess that suited him well and his eyes, which were a deep green, were focused entirely on Hallie.
"Hello." He said quietly to her as if almost transfixed.
"Nott." Her roommate replied in a voice that was almost cold.
So this was the infamous Theodore Nott that she had heard so much about as of late, Hallie's description did not even begin to do the man justice. They would have to speak about that later.
"Hello ladies." Blaise greeted them bring her attention back to the collective group as he stole a table from another table and set it down between Hallie and Luna.
"Oh you are back." Luna said in a falsely upbeat voice.
"That's because I know how much you missed me love." He gave her a cheeky grin before leaning over and kissing her squarely on the mouth.
Luna began to protest but was quickly distracted.
"I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Theo, your flat mate's partner and your other groomsman." He said giving Ginny a dazzling smile that normally would have made her weak at the knees if not for the blond presence looming over her.
"Well I'm assuming that you already know that I am Ginny Weasley then. It's so nice to finally meet you!" Ginny said sincerely. "Neither of these buggers have told me all that much about you so we will have to get to know each other soon."
"I agree whole heartedly."
Finally the waiter brought over extra chairs which both Draco and Theo gracefully sat down in, Draco between Luna and Ginny opposite Hallie and Theo occupying the remaining spot. "Hello." He said to Hallie, awarding her with a genuine smile.
"Draco!" the overly enthusiastic American enthused pointedly avoiding the man beside her. "How lovely to see you again! How are you holding up against the wrath for favorite little Weasley?" her question was punctuated by a sharp thud under the table and a pained expression flitting across Hallie's face from what Draco assumed was Ginny kicking her roommate. This promptly caused Theo to snicker awarding him a death glare.
Draco smirked at the lovely blond woman. "I'm still alive so that's a plus." He too received a murderous look this time from the feisty redhead.
Luna could see this situation having the potential to escalate tried to diffuse it by asking, "What have you boys been up to all afternoon?"
"None of your business my dear." Blaise said with a cheeky grin.
Luna raised an eyebrow at him.
"Oh don't worry love you will find out soon enough." He said laughing before continuing on the conversation in a completely different direction.
As the conversation continued Draco leaned towards Ginny and asked in a low voice. "So have you picked out your dress yet?"
His normal conversational tone confused Ginny. The last time she had seen this man they had been in an incredibly heated argument and now he was trying to have a normal conversation with her. Was this his method of offering an olive branch? She supposed it must be. "No," she answered cautiously. "We are meeting with your mother on Friday to get the dresses."
"Oh alright." He looked as if he was about to say something else but just then the waitress walked up.
"Can I get you gentleman anything?" she asked flashing all three of the attractive men a brilliant smile.
"No we're fine." Blaise said.
"Oy! Speak for yourself mate!" Theo interrupted. "If you ladies don't mind, Drae and I didn't get a chance to eat because of this slave driver."
"Well then by all means," Luna said gesturing to the table. "I'm so sorry about him. I know I am preaching to the choir in tell you two this but Blaise only thinks about himself 95% of the time and the other 5% he thinks about me so you two are shit out of luck."
"You are correct as usually Looney." Draco commented before ordering himself food.
Ten minutes later the two men were both enjoying sandwiches and all six were happily engaged a fairly civil conversation led by Blaise and Luna.
"So Hallie," Blaise inquired casually. "Why exactly do you hate Theo here?"
"Because his existence is a pain in my ass." Hallie responded immediately without a second thought.
"Hey!" Theo interrupted. "I don't think that is very fair, I never did anything to you."
"Except ask to get paired with me." She fired back.
"Yeah sure I asked, I didn't insist or pull any strings. So sue me if since we had to have partners anyway and I asked for the prettiest and most talented one."
Hallie narrowed her eyes at him in an untrusting way but Ginny could tell that she was genuinely shocked by what he had said.
This time it was Draco who surprisingly diffused the situation. "Well I think we have all greatly exaggerated out lunch breaks." He rose from the table and pulled Ginny's chair back for her. "Might I walk you back to the hospital Ms. Weasley?"
Ginny was genuinely surprised by his request. She wasn't sure that she should accept seeing as the last time he had taken her on a helpful walk they had ended up screaming at each other but the last thing she wanted to do was to destroy this tentative peace. "Umm... Yes, thank you."
The two bid their friends good bye and broke away from the group. The slowly walked in the direction of St. Mungo's
"So," Draco began tentatively. He felt very awkward trying to address her after this past weekend. "How was your morning?"
"Busy as always." She smiled at him. "Such is the life of a healer though."
"Especially of St. Mungo's most famous and well known healer." He placed his hand on the small of her back as they navigated their way through a particularly crowded section of alley.
"Well I don't know about all that." she replied sheepishly.
"But the rest of the wizarding world does." He assured her smiling down at her.
They passed through the Leaky Cauldron in relative silence receiving many knowing and curious stares from the patrons and a little wink from Tom on their way by.
When they exited onto the muggle side of the street Ginny expected Draco's demeanor to change and become defensive as he always had before but after a quick glance at him he seemed completely at ease on the muggle street. "You seem more comfortable in muggle London then you used to be." She commented.
He smirked down at her and said, "Yes, that tends to happen when you live in muggle London for a year."
Ginny raised one eyebrow at him. "Really? When was that pray tell?"
"The year after I graduated I didn't want to live in the same house as my father, so I left. I got a flat right… there." He explained pointing to a nice looking building a hundred metres or so down the street.
"Wow Draco, that was unexpected." She was impressed but doing her best to hide it.
"Yeah well it is nothing special."
As they reached the hospital Ginny expected her strangely accommodating fiancé to break off from her and return to… well whatever he does during the day but instead he followed her right up to the window front and through the barrier into the hospital.
The lobby was bustling as it always was, full of patients waiting to be seen or told where to go. Ginny was becoming a bit uncomfortable with her shadow prancing through this high traffic area filled with all sorts of witches and wizards who would be all too happy to tell everyone they knew that they had seen the future Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy wandering about.
Ginny hurriedly ushered Draco over to the elevator and punched the button that would take them to her floor.
She tried in vain to get him into her office without anyone noticing but the gorgeous blond man who was looking around interestedly did not escape the notice of Ginny's assistant.
Mrs. Coe made a beeline for the couple, eager to introduce herself to her boss's beau. "You must be Mr. Malfoy." She said in a voice that was much kinder than the one she normally spoke to Ginny with.
Draco for once lowered his self righteous airs and smiled at the woman. "That I am. And you must be Mrs. Coe, Ginny's amazing assistant. She speaks of you all the time."
Mrs. Coe beamed at him before exchanging a few more pleasantries and allowing the couple to escape to the office.
Ginny practically pushed Draco into the room and slammed the door shut. She leaned back against it and took a deep breath. "Alright Malfoy, what are you trying to pull? How did you know her name?"
Draco looked at her confused. He had already begun to poke around Ginny's office and play with all the various personal knick knacks that she had strewn about. "I'm not trying to pull anything Red. I remembered her name from when you mentioned it that first morning you met my mother. I simply came up here with you because it looks good, I need to meet the people you work with eventually for this ruse to work don't I? Oh and I have a present for you."
"Present?" she asked warily as she crossed the room to sit behind her desk.
"Yes ma'am. I went by the Malfoy vault this afternoon and picked this up for you. I thought you would like it and it works with the whole engagement concept." He pulled the ring box out of his pocket and placed it on the desk in front of her before casually sitting down in one of the chairs opposite her.
Ginny raised an eyebrow in questioning before carefully reaching out and grasping the small black velvet box. "I don't know about this."
"Oh just open it. You can reject it then."
She opened the box and inside laid the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. It appeared to be platinum with a band that was jewel encrusted almost all the way around her finger. The stone in the center was a princess cut diamond of which she assumed was about one carat and it was surrounded tiny diamonds and sapphires in an alternating pattern. She knew she should immediately close the box and reject the ring but she couldn't resist trying it on.
She slowly removed the ring and slid it onto her left ring finger. It was a perfect fit, no magical resizing needed. "Wow. Draco it is beautiful."
He smiled at her, a genuine smile. Watching her face light up as she stared at the ring had been fun. She truly looked beautiful. It seemed he had been right about Ginny's taste in jewelry "I thought you might like it." He ventured, still a bit worried that she might reject it. "It was my great, great grandmother's. Her husband gave it to her for their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary."
"I really do. Are you sure your family would be ok with me wearing it? I mean it is a family antique after all."
He smirked. Well at least she wasn't going to fight him. "Of course they won't care. They'll probably actually be proud of me for once for taking the initiative to progress our little scheme. With a rock like that people with definitely question us less. Plus they like you better than me."
"well alright." Ginny said with a smile. "I guess I could lower myself to wear it for the good of the ruse and I very much doubt that they like me better than you. I am the hired help remember."
"Oh how magnanimous of you." Draco joked right along with her. "And you are the successful, beautiful, famous hired help whom they all adore, so yes, they like you better than me."
Ginny rolled her eyes at him but smiled. "Thank you Draco."
He just smirked at her in an effort to brush off the gesture. "Alright well I best be off. I'm sure we both have a lot to do before we get to retire for the evening, especially with our overly long lunch."
"Oh bloody hell." Ginny said massaging her temples. "I don't even want to think about it. I'll probably be here till at least 8 o'clock and then I still have to finish packing."
"That's right. You're moving in this weekend aren't you?"
"Yes, Saturday is when your mother is sending over a few houseelves to currier my things."
"Well let me know if you need any extra help. I'll be around all day." He said as he crossed over to the door.
"Thanks." She said as he opened the door and left, closing it behind him.
Wow that had been surreal. This was probably the longest period of time where they had been civil to each other without anyone else around forcing them to. Plus he had given her an engagement ring. What an interesting afternoon this had turned out to be.
On Friday Hallie and Ginny, along with Luna met Narcissa and Salvia for lunch in order to pick out the dresses that all three women would be wearing.
The Malfoy women passed right by Madame Malkins and escorted the others to an exclusive dress shop at the far end of Diagon Alley of which Ginny did not even catch the name.
Inside measurements of all three were quickly taken and the desired color palette given to the designer. Within an hour and two cups of tea each the bridesmaid dresses were designed and approved.
Ginny had already decided that the eggplant purple that was one of the main accent colors among her color scheme was the best choice for her two blond attendants before coming to the shop. Once there though the designer, a short balding man with a fabulous spring in his step, ran with the color and the shapes of the women in order to create a dress that flattered both perfectly.
The end result was a strapless cut in shiny eggplant satin that molded to the body down to about the mid-thigh where it then flowed out in soft waves to just past the knee. The waist was cinched by a ribbon tied into an elegant bow whose ends hung down far enough to meet the hem line. They were just what Ginny had wanted. The man was a genius.
Once the bridesmaids were all taken care of the little man scurried back into his work room and came out with three of the most beautiful gowns for Ginny to try on. She quickly slipped into the first two which were promptly vetoed by the waiting crowd but when she tried on the third she knew, despite what the rest might say, she had found her wedding gown.
After another hour or so of the five women diligently working on the wedding details, Hallie and Ginny both apparated back to their flat building. Once they arrived Ginny decided that her next order of business would be to pack for her great move to Malfoy Manor.
More than anything she had to sort through the pig sty and decide what she should drag to the Manor and what she should just leave here for when she came back.
Narcissa had mentioned somewhere along the way that Malfoy women did quite a lot of shopping so the only clothes that Ginny needed to bring were the ones that she herself felt that she wanted and not to worry about anything to formal.
Supposedly Malfoy women never wore the same dress to an event twice so Ginny knew that her wardrobe would definitely be upgraded very soon and with the amount of cast offs she would have so would Hallie's.
After an hour or so she collapsed onto her bed in exhaustion. She had accomplished almost finding the floor in the room and was quite proud of herself. Her reward was to lay there for a bit and do nothing. Even that proved to be quite taxing though because as soon as her body stopped moving her mind began to wander right back to her most dreaded subject.
She knew exactly where she was in the story and this part was very sappy and belonged not in the real world but in what Hermione had called the classically dime store romance novels the girls would read to each other in the dorms.
Ginny slid off her bed onto the floor. She knew exactly what she was looking for as she began to rummage around underneath her bed. She was searching for her memory box. Everything truly important to her she kept safe in one place.
Her acceptance letter to the healer's program, her diplomas from both her training and Hogwarts, all her O.W.L and N.E.W.T.s results and of course all the letters Draco sent her over that summer they were together.
She finally grasped the box and slid it out. Ginny carefully lifted the lid off the box and thumbed through all the various pieces of paper that it held until she found the bundle of letters each in their own individual cream colored envelope tied together with a dark green ribbon. She carefully pulled on the ribbon to release the letters from their satin confines.
She flipped through the letters one by one before deciding which one to read.
Dear Ginny,
You know what I've decided? You are the most annoying creature I have ever met! You have inserted yourself into my every action and thought. I'm not sure how much longer I can stand having to be apart from you. Thank gods there are only two weeks left in this annoying season otherwise I would probably have to come and kidnap you. Wait, that was creepy. See you've made me go completely mad. I can't believe that Potter and Thomas get to see you everyday but I have to abide with just seeing you adorable little handwriting every couple of days. Waiting for you letters is absolute torture I'll have you know.
I miss you Gin. I can't wait to see you on the train and take you in my arms and kiss you like you have never been kissed before just to ensure that all thoughts and memories of any other men are completely erased from you mind forever. No one but me.
Bloody hell woman, do you see what you have done. You have turned a Malfoy in to a blathering idiot. If you weren't so cute the mere cheesiness of this letter would be enough for me to hate you for forcing me to express my feelings. That never was my strong suit you know. Alright, I'm done.
Love Always,
Your Draco
She sighed and dropped her head into her hands. What was she doing? She hated him but she could never really hate him. Draco Malfoy had become too much a part of her when she was younger and she would never entirely be able to let him go.
She should never have agreed to this arrangement and now rather than running and hiding she was preparing to head to Malfoy Manor and marry the great git. It was just another part of her masochistic insanity.
Ginny carefully tucked the letter back into its envelope and placed it back in the box and tucked the box back under the bed. This was definitely not something that she needed to bring to the Manor for her little sabbatical.
After a bit Ginny pulled herself up off the floor and crawled back into her bed fully dressed. She felt emotionally drained. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she wrapped her arms securely around them which brought her face to face with the ring. It was so perfect, exactly what she always wanted from the man that, if she were being honest with herself, she truly wanted it from but now the symbol was perverted into a sign of fraud. Tomorrow she would move into the Manor and one week from tomorrow she would attempt to make that fraud at least legally official.
Despite her best efforts tears started to trail down her cheeks. She was tired of pretending so she stopped. Tomorrow she would smile and play the part she was asked to play perfectly but for now all the stress she was under and all of the strange reminiscent feeling she had been trying to push to the back of her mind since this whole mess had begun she allowed to now flood her consciousness as she happily cried out her pain.
As promised here is the rest of what was the longest chapter ever but is now chapter 13. Fun fact is this one was done before the other part haha. Enjoy and review again haha.
Oh and I know I lied. Sorry. I thought they would get married in what would be chapter 12 but I decided that this all fit better plus I really wanted to bring in modern Blaise and Luna and also introduce Theo before they just randomly showed up at the wedding. No more promises but I will do my best to get them married in the next chapter.
Much love,
Care