A/N: Hey guys *ducks under all the thrown objects* I know I know long time no see and all that malarkey but hey I'm here now and with a brand new chapter. :D Okay so I've been M.I.A. for the last few weeks, *coughs* months *cough*. But give me some slack, just a little? A lot of family things have come up, we had my dog put to sleep, my uncle is in hospital and I've moved to University, so it's been hectic. I do hope this chapter will be at least payback for the wait- if not, okay then.
Disclaimer: I am not and therefore never will be J.K. Rowling; and as such the story I shall post consists of my own plot, and borrowed Characters from J.K.
"What happens in the end?" he asked when she didn't continue.
"Love out-wins them both." Hermione looked at Draco curiously as his smirk found its way onto his face.
Chapter 8: Juicy bit of Gossip?
--Monday Morning--
Monday morning came fairly quickly for Draco, but once he woke the day slowed, he watched as Hermione and Rose left his home much to the pleasure of his father and his mother, though he believed the latter enjoyed having another woman around the house. He had told Hermione to take the clothes from the wardrobe in the guest suite, but she had been stubborn and declined.
Currently, Draco sat in the library doing some reading- he was reading the book Hermione had been reading last night- and was awed by the fact that it was so lifelike even though it was set in the mid seventeenth century. He causally turned the page of the book enraptured by the words he could almost picture himself as this Mr Darcy fellow; a rich, good looking man, whose prejudices had held him back for far too long.
But who was his Elizabeth Bennet?
When Draco had finally put the book down due to a slight ache in his neck, he decided to find something else to do and considering he had hardly done a smidgen of work, he decided to start there.
Draco headed up the Quidditch section of the family business, the section he started on his own. While his father had started the potions section due to his love of potions; Draco had started the Quidditch section due to his love of Quidditch; they supplied everything from gloves to snitches, from beaters bats to brooms to professionals and beginners. His mother had even started designing kits along with Pansy's Robe's owner Pansy Zabini; he was hoping to supply all the major British and Irish teams along with the Great Britain National teams by the next Quidditch World Cup in 2014.
Draco took his job seriously, looking over designs for brooms even going as far as to test each one individually, even though the Broom Regulatory Control in the Department of Magical Transportation has to test each broom for safety. Draco had taken it upon himself to have his own quality control he would know if it was as fast as it could be or not, with him being a Professional himself. Not one broom that was on the shelf at the current moment didn't meet the Malfoy seal of approval or Q.U.I.D.D.I.T.C.H. Quality, usage, innovation, drift, drag, indecisive weather, teamwork, control and handling, all these areas were tested on each product.
By mid afternoon he was bored of corporate mumbo jumbo, and words that didn't mean much unless you had a real interest, Draco unlike his father preferred the manual part of his job; he even preferred to go to meetings over reading through files, at least he could ask them to be put into simple English.
Flicking through his diary for tomorrow he noticed that he had, a meeting with Head of the British and Irish Quidditch League. His mother also required him to pick something up from St. Mungo's; he never asked what it was, but the fact that she never asked his father made him believe it was something serious about her health.
'I think I'll check in on Hermione tomorrow while I'm at the ministry' he thought as he scanned back up the page. Hermione had said that she was going to have today off to get the house set up with the wards and connecting the Floo network up. Though Draco had a gut feeling she was staying away so that Ron couldn't find her, though if she was she might as well have stayed at the Manor. He also knew the Minister for Magical Marriages didn't have any available appointments for today, because she was away on holiday in the Seychelles and the earliest appointment was tomorrow at mid-morning or brunch. Draco had inherited his father's aptitude for attracting informants at the ministry and he had even managed to attract people who were just general informants.
Late Monday afternoon a large brown barn Owl flew into the Quidditch arena, Draco recognised it almost immediately: Pansy's Owl.
After detaching the letter the bird flew around the arena before settling on one of the wooden beams that outlined the pitch. When Draco turned the envelope over in his hand and began breaking the seal he realised what she had sent him: A Howler.
The message began playing;
Draco Malfoy,
Do I have to keep tabs on you everywhere you are? A juicy bit of gossip and you left me out?
What if someone else had heard that two thirds of the Golden Trio had a spat and you of all people had offered accommodation to them? How would that make me look?
I'm supposed to be the one who spreads gossip I am the Queen Gossiper; we WILL have words Mister you better be home because I'm coming around, now, there's no stopping me, cancel all your appointments.
The letters shrieking voice stopped without even saying who it was from before bursting into flames.
----------
Once Draco had packed all the equipment away and took a quick shower he wandered back to the house, not bothering to dry his hair fully. He entered to find the atmosphere tense and Pansy pacing around the lounge.
"Pans" he acknowledged walking towards the liquor cabinet, when Pansy was in this type of mood it was always good to have at least some alcohol readily available. If only to numb the slight ringing in the ears due to the shrieking she often did.
"What's this I hear about Granger? Amando said she was staying here, is she still here?"
Draco shook his head before motioning to the Firewhiskey "Want one?"
"No and you shouldn't either it's not even night time" she chastised.
"And? I'm my own man" he replied dropping into a chair, the bottle in one hand his tumbler in the other.
"So? What about Granger?"
"What about her?" Draco shrugged as he downed one glass, before pouring himself another.
"What was she doing here for one? Did the pair of you shag?" Pansy asked crudely.
"She had a falling out with her husband; she needed somewhere to stay… I offered, she accepted, she stayed over the weekend," he listed off, knocking at the air around him with the hand holding the bottle in a dismissing action. "And no we didn't even have sex" he added at seeing she looked about ready to interject.
"And?" she asked impatiently.
"And what Pans?" he asked, as he liberally sipped on his drink.
"What did they fall out over?"
"I'm not saying"
"Drake?" he shook his head not answering. She walked over taking his drink from his hand, but he summoned another tumbler and poured another one… this time she took both the bottle and the tumbler away from him. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing"
"You've not been like this since… Hogwarts- when you found out you were betrothed to Astoria." She paused "Is this something to do with Astoria?"
"That was never about Astoria!" he shouted in a manner as if accusing her that she knew the truth.
"Well how was I supposed to know? You never came to me to talk about it, it was always Blaise… he never said anything to me and neither did you. You just dismissed me like a house-elf saying it was men business." She paused as she crouched down on the floor so she could see his eyes, as he had dropped his head forward. "So? Are you going to tell me what was wrong then?"
"I can't believe he did it Pans… I knew he was low but not that low!" Draco stated shaking his head as if trying to work out a difficult problem.
Pansy looked around confused as to who he was talking about, "Who are we talking about?"
"Weaselbee… the ginger-" he trailed.
Her ears perked up at the name- obviously she was right Draco did have some gossip to spread.
"What did he do?" she asked, if it had promoted this much of a reaction from Draco who didn't like either of the Golden Couple to the best of her knowledge then it had to be good… better than good it had to be gold- 'oh to be the first to announce it.'
Pansy hadn't changed much from her Hogwarts years; she was still a pretentious snob, but the war had helped tame her rather rude behaviour, instead of shouting or shrieking her insults to those that she is offended by; she now writes them in her column of "Witch Weekly" a gossip column that never gets a rumour wrong, a reason not many witches or wizards tended to cross her. Her pug like features had schooled slightly though on off days they would return with vengeance, and she had grown her dark brown hair out more past her shoulders than she had it at in her late teens. Through her years at Hogwarts, she was known among the Slytherin as the fix-it-girl; she could fix the boy troubles, girl troubles, wardrobe malfunctions and had stepped up for lower students when they were in trouble with pranks, using her prefect badge to her advantage.
"Who would do it? What self respecting man would do that?" Draco rambled slightly, "It just doesn't make any sense… gorgeous, absolutely bloody beautiful!" Draco shook his head, he was becoming slightly drunk, it didn't often take much for him to become tipsy when he was angry.
"Did he have an affair?" Pansy asked when Draco didn't answer she shrieked, "He did… oh this is so much better than what I thought."
He furrowed his eyebrows seemingly coming out of his confused; drink induced state hissing "You're not to print anything."
"Why?" she asked shocked, "It's not like you care what happens to either of them." He remained silent, "You do?" she asked confused, "But how? Granger?" she felt that she was in another dimension, "When did this happen?"
He shrugged, "She did a lot for me… why would I want to ruin her?"
"This is deeper than that" she paused pulling her head back as if assessing the situation from the outside. "You care!" she accused.
"I don't" Draco insisted.
--Tuesday--
-Draco-
Draco had awoken much earlier than he usually did; he was examining the events of the last few days and especially Pansy's voice saying "you care" over and over again like a stuck record, made that a pinpointed subject in his thoughts.
Could he actually care?
Or was it a case of lust? - He couldn't have her, she was out-of-bounds, therefore he wanted her.
It was undeniable that Draco had an attraction to this witch, in particular, who wouldn't? She was smart, loving and if that wasn't enough she could rival even Draco's sharp wit. But what was the basis for this, merely that he wanted to repay her kindness or was it deeper?
--8.45--
Draco continued to think over what Pansy had said as he stood in his shower cubicle, the hot spray bouncing water in every which way as it hit his back, his muscles tensed as he recalled telling Hermione that he found her attractive, he remembered her reaction; she had blushed and he had been surprised she hadn't brushed off his confession as something silly and less than what it was.
Thinking of the moment he had had her under him Draco found himself aroused, not many women could promote that kind of reaction from Draco without a bit of harmless foreplay, yet he recalled a time during their final year when she did just that:
She was sitting on the plush settee in their common room a heavy volume of books stacked around her as she scribbled on some parchment. She was wearing a pair of simple tan coloured linen shorts and a vest that left nothing to the imagination- if only the book on her lap didn't hide that fact. Her knees were pulled up to her chest as far as they could go but still allowed her ample room to be able to write, she was biting lightly on her bottom lip, as her eyes scanned the book in front of her one line at a time before she scribbled on her parchment her eyebrows furrowing. Her curls were clipped haphazardly into a bun at the back of her head a few shorter strands dropping to frame her heart shaped face.
That was a simple memory that Draco had quite often relied upon to relieve tension developing in his groin; she had looked so innocent, minding her own business doing what a book-worm does best. And yet he found it dare he think sexy?
The recalling of that particular memory had Draco almost doubling over as a pain developed down below, as he became as hard as a rock and in need of relieving himself- carefully gripping himself, he began what was soon becoming a morning ritual.
Once he had finished he began the scrubbing of his body, cleaning all remnants of his solo effort before finally rinsing the soap off and stepping out of the shower. Tying a loose towel around his hips he exited the bathroom walking towards his walk-in wardrobe.
After selecting a light blue long sleeve shirt, and a beige suit; a waist coat and matching pants he dressed and left the house for his first appointment of the day with Healer Jenkins.
--St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries--
--9.10--
Draco's apparition landed him in the middle of a Muggle Park of a sizable portion, in between a coppice that had formed after years lacking maintenance; luckily for Draco he hadn't damaged his dragon hide beige shoes by landing in the nearby pond. Wrapping his cloak further around his body he found the entrance/exit to the park and began making his way down the road towards the dilapidated department store: Purge and Dowse Ltd. A funny name considering what it actually housed.
At first glance, the red bricked building looked like any store in need of renovation but it housed a secret; much like the wall between platform nine and ten at Kings' Cross station, which transported people to platform nine and three quarters. Purge and Dowse Limited was a front for St. Mungo's hospital.
Draco walked over to the shop window before looking up at the third mannequin along and stating his business for being there, the mannequin nodded once and Draco was able to step through the glass window into the reception area of the hospital. Knowing which floor he needed to visit he caught one of the service lifts to the third floor:
Potions and Plant Poisoning
Tracing his usual root through the mirage of similar looking white corridors it wasn't long before he reached the office of the person he was looking for. Healer Jenkins was a plump woman with slightly greying hair but youthful looking piercing green eyes she was the senior healer for the ward and always amazed Draco when he saw her.
She never seemed to be rushing as she glided around the wards but was always the first to react. He had once seen her hold down a strong looking man single handily when they refused to let him see his "true love" the same woman who had fed him a highly concentrated form of amortentia, Healer Jenkins had held him until two younger male healers appeared to strap the man down.
"So how are you today Mr. Malfoy?" she asked politely as she seated herself in the seat behind the desk signalling for him to take the one opposite on the other side of the table.
"I'm very good Healer Jenkins, I've just come to collect my mothers prescription," she nodded before she spun around on her chair pulling a filing cabinet door out. Skimming through the thousands of files occupying the tiny space, she stopped and pulled out a file, a tab stating N. Malfoy (Black) indicated that it was Narcissa's medical file.
The healer scanned over the numerous pieces of parchment attached to the file, nodding to herself as she did. "It's as I thought, umm Mr Malfoy can you ask your mother to make an appointment to see me as soon as possible?"
"What's wrong?" he asked suddenly very suspicious, and seeing the healer's eyebrows furrow like that would set anyone off.
The older woman shook her head, "Nothing is serious Mr Malfoy… she's just due in for her examination." Draco nodded and the woman stood, "I'll just go and get her prescription for you."
As the door clicked shut Draco jumped from his chair to move around to the other side of the desk and flicked open his mother's records, only the pages were blank, he rushed through each piece of parchment hoping to find one that was wrote on. The only one was the final piece of parchment an official looking document that was stamped with the Ministry of Magic seal- her birth certificate. Scanning it Draco saw nothing untoward and so closed the file sitting back in his chair before Healer Jenkins returned.
The plump woman returned seconds later carrying an orange potion of some form, she handed it over to Draco who pocketed it before she walked around to her side of the desk. Draco began making his way to the door, "Did you find what you were looking for Mr Malfoy?" she asked sweetly.
'Of course she knows I didn't find anything' Draco thought, 'She knows there's some kind of privacy spell on the file.' He turned around to look at the woman narrowing his eyes slightly but didn't answer her.
"If you are truly that intrigued to find out, why don't you ask your mother?" he huffed audibly before he exited the room in search of the lifts again.
As he was waiting for the lift to arrive Draco looked at the time and realised he had time to spare before he was due at the Ministry, so he decided to take a slight detour upstairs to the fifth floor and the maternity ward.
--Fifth Floor Maternity Ward--
Draco once again navigated the corridors with ease locating the ward he was looking for; the anti-natal ward, he walked over to the reception desk and politely asked where the person he was looking for was and a starry eyed mid-wife healer pointed him down the ward.
He casually walked down the ward noticing he seemed to be getting stared at almost constantly by the women in each bed-cot. Draco suddenly stopped when he heard the voice of the person he came to see.
"-Well congratulations Ms Brown, I am happy to say the baby is healthy" Draco furrowed his eye brows before hitting his thoughts away reminding himself 'Brown is an extremely common name.' though the slight nagging feeling in his stomach begged to differ.
Continuing to listen to the cubicles occupants he was surprised to not hear a male voice. He had accompanied Astoria to every single appointment at the hospital when she was pregnant with Scorpius.
"So who's the lucky father? Do I know him?" he heard a slightly mumbled reply that sounded a cross between a reluctant yes and an adamant no.
"Is this your first child?"
He clearly heard the affirmative reply and his mind was swimming with questions; who was this woman? Why did this particular healer seem to know her well, yet not know they had never had a child before?
Draco's immediate answer to both counts was that the woman had gone to Hogwarts.
He didn't recognise the unknown woman's voice but she was talking extremely low, so he couldn't conclude whether he knew her or not- so he was left to speculate until he saw her.
"I remember when I was pregnant with my Olivia" the healer continued, "It was one of the best and the worst times of my life." She paused, "And she was a kicker though admittedly not as much as my son, I wouldn't change any of it for the world, and you'll probably be the same."
Draco heard another mumbled reply before the healer spoke again; "Well that's all for today… and I'll see you in a few weeks."
Draco hurried so he was on the other side of the cubicle as the patient stepped out, unfortunately he couldn't see her face only the back of her hair as she sauntered away her hips swinging as she went, her long blonde hair swishing from side to side leaving a trail of heavily laden perfume in her wake.
Stepping into the cubicle Draco noticed the healer was muttering to herself as she cleaned the bedding of the towel clothes the patient had been sat on.
"That woman drives me insane, argh," Draco chuckled causing the healer to snap her attention to him.
"That's not very nice to talk about a patient like that Daph, what would your superiors think?"
Daphne Greengrass was a very good friend of Draco's and unlike Pansy had never had a sexual relationship with him, it was purely platonic. Overshadowed by her family's status and her upbringing, Daphne was never able to fully develop into her uniqueness, she just like her sister was highly intelligent and focused a lot on education and succeeding. Though, a contributing fact may have been the fact that their mother was a Pureblood Ravenclaw who had a strong work ethic.
Daphne had remained in close contact with Draco because he was betrothed to her sister, but also because she saw him as her big brother when her father was arrested. She had been the one originally lined up to be married to Draco, but she had told her mother she had designs on the marginally older Terence Higgs, who she had come to see more of during the summer after the War and who she was dating during the Malfoy-Greengrass nuptial plans.
"Have you tried staying in the same room as a Gryffindor on your own?" she looked back at him, "Damn you have and you've spent longer than I ever will, though she is a lot nicer than this one" she huffed as she straightened the bed.
During her seventh year Daphne came out of her shell more, with her father in Azkaban she no longer had the pressure of pro-blood-ism, and found comfort in her education and making friends in other houses, though that was mainly Ravenclaw with no Hufflepuff friends and only two Gryffindor students- Hermione and Ginny. With Hermione's help especially she managed to get the necessary Exceeds Expectation in N.E.W.T. Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Transfiguration, and even managed an Outstanding in Herbology and Charms in order to become a healer like she had always wanted to do.
"Who was that?"
"Lavender Brown of course!"
"She's pregnant?"
A/N: So that's the end of Chapter 8; as always your comments are greatly appreciated.
My special thanks goes out to- Rose Eleanor Schultz my wonderful beta, who corrects all my bad grammar.
And thanks to these guys;jennygryffindor, undiscovered nightingale,Luida,mgmve2008 (I would have replied to your review but your PM Service is disabled so I couldn't, so thank you for the review and I'm glad your loving it so far and continue to read) jessirose85,HarryPGinnyW4eva, xxcaityxx, amorreal, rhs002 (I'm glad you are loving it to and continue to read), avalena,soccercrazyfreak, and last but not least ayoAOx.
My final point is this, because as aforementioned I am now at University my time will be dedicated to getting my degree and as such writing will be a sanity saviour when I need it. Updates will probably be really slow- but don't let that put you off.
As always let me hear your views on this chapter and if you add the story to your alerts or favourites I ask that you please leave a review- this was my first ever fan-fiction and I'd like to know why people like it/dislike it, and if my style is appropriate to you all.
Scorpio219 x.x.