As You Wish – Chapter 5
By the time Draco was scheduled to go on his lunch "date" with Daphne next week, speculation had already started as to whether or not the pair were, in fact, dating.
According to a "source" from The Daily Prophet's society pages (a.k.a. Daphne giving Pansy Parkinson an exclusive), Draco had asked Daphne out to dinner because he realized the "grave mistake" he had made when he broke up with her all those years ago at Hogwarts. And how "elated" he was to read that she was single and ready to mingle! Draco knew it was all bullshit, but if it meant that he'd be able to go out for groceries without people whispering obscenities about him, then he'd let Daphne have her fun.
And as schedule dictated, he was on time, standing outside of some restaurant Daphne had picked, waiting for said pretend girlfriend. Daphne warned him that she would more than likely be fashionably late, claiming that it would look better for him that he was the one waiting for her. ("It's all about the angles, darling," she explained in an owl sent to Draco earlier that week.) So it didn't surprise or faze the blond man when Daphne showed up five minutes later, with a gaggle of photographers in tow. What did surprise him, though, was how well he acted during the whole farce.
Concern strewn across his face, Draco ran over to Daphne, draping an arm around her before pulling her in close in an attempt to protect her from the cameras. With his free arm out in front, he pushed his way toward the restaurant, ignoring all the questions shouted his way. Once inside the establishment, he made a grand show of asking the hostess for a table far from the window, as secluded as possible. The poor girl took one look outside and began nodding her head so vigorously, Draco thought it was gonna pop right off.
"I'm impressed," Daphne stated as soon as they were seated. "I didn't think you had it in you."
Her date heaved a sigh of relief. "Trust me; even I didn't know I had it in me."
"Well, whatever you thought of to play along so well, keep it up because I loved it and it was just the kind of reaction from you that we need to get those pictures in the paper."
The next few minutes were filled with silence; the pair glancing down at their menus, trying to figure out what to order.
It was then that Daphne realized that she hadn't entirely thought her plan through. She knew that Draco's fantastic display outside the restaurant was guaranteed a highlight in the next day's paper, but she never really thought about what would happen during their dates. Sure, they could play up the sickly sweet in love nonsense that couples do, like she had mentioned last week, but that can get awfully boring after a while. If they were at some large social event, though, that'd be easy – she'd spend the entire time talking to other people, networking, while he was off doing whatever it is that men do at gala events. Wasn't there some room on the premises at these places where men could go and bask in each other's masculinity? Whatever it was, all she knew was that after the initial go around the room with Draco, answering questions about their relationship, and, 'oh! That's so thoughtful of you to say,' she didn't give a damn what he did once she disentangled her arm from his.
She supposed she could use this time to plan out her social calendar for the next few months. It was already the middle of summer and there was simply too much to think about with the impending gala season during the fall and winter months. Daphne knew that she simply had to have a soiree at Malfoy Manor to really capitalize on this whole Draco thing. And maybe she could convince Narcissa to contribute funding for some of it? Merlin knows that woman has nothing better to do with her life. And then maybe she could convince Pansy to host a small dinner party at her place. Nothing ostentatious, really; just something that the other woman could report about in the Prophet. Pansy would positively die at the idea of such a thing.
"Daphne."
The elder Greengrass sister knew that there was also a huge Ministry function coming up in the next few weeks. If memory served, it was some charity function of some kind. She would have to remember to get her mother to send in a check for whatever it was that the Ministry was crusading for or against this year.
"Daphne?"
She then couldn't help but think about the possibility of getting Draco to go on carefully planned vacations with her. Paris Fashion Week, but the couture shows. Ready to Wear is so pedestrian, and wouldn't it be marvelous to be seen sharing a croissant with her paramour underneath the fairy lights at some chic little French café? Daphne then remembered that Draco said something about a genie during their last meeting. Immediately, her mind raced back to the gala she could plan at Malfoy Manor: an end of the year, New Year's masquerade, entirely decorated by Draco's genie. The thought nearly left her breathless.
"Daphne!"
"What?" the brunette asked. Her tone was harsher than she would have liked, but Draco should know better than to interrupt her when she was deep in thought. His social life was dependent on her every waking movement.
"What's the point of me even being here if all you're going to do is sit there, thinking?"
Daphne had the presence of mind to not roll her eyes, but she realized that Draco was right. It wouldn't do for them to sit here, blinking at each other in absolute silence, when they were supposed to be on a date. "If you must know, I was simply thinking about our upcoming social calendar. The season for galas is right around the corner and it would be wise for us to be prepared."
"What do you mean 'our'? How long do you expect this to last, Daphne?"
"Well, it would only make sense for it to last until the end of the year. Social rehabilitation takes quite a bit of time. We can't rush these things if we want to make it look natural."
At that moment, their lunch arrived and the table fell to silence once again.
If Draco remembered correctly, Daphne mentioned something about the two of them going out shopping together at some point. She had also mentioned making it seem as though she was spending his money, a thought that was incredibly disconcerting. Did she not realize that her family was now the richest family in wizarding England? Sure, he was still well off, but after the Ministry froze half of his family's accounts, he wasn't too keen on the idea of Daphne indiscriminately spending his money on whatever the hell tickled her fancy that week.
As Draco was finishing up his lunch, Daphne pulled out a small, leather-bound notebook from her handbag. She began flipping through the pages, stopping every so often to quickly jot down notes and ideas, and it was then that Draco realized that it was her personal calendar. The fact that the woman in front of him was so confident in her plans, even those months in advance, amused the hell out of Draco. He allowed himself a small chuckle at the thought.
"What's so funny?" the brunette asked, absentmindedly. She was in December, which required her utmost attention. If every hour wasn't planned out properly? Daphne shuddered at the thought of having to owl her caterer to explain why she was an hour late to her tasting session, which would then push back her meeting with the party planner at the Ministry to set up which ballroom they would use for their Christmas event.
"Oh, it's nothing. It's just amusing seeing you plan out all these things. The holidays are so far away and you're already concerned with things like floral arrangements and what you'd wear to all these different events."
Daphne took a deep breath, calmly placing down her pen and turning her notebook upside down so she would not lose her page. "I understand that all of this seems rather frivolous to you, but I am not kidding when I say that if you want to be able to attend my family's New Year's gala at the end of the year, with every woman under the age of 50 eying you like they haven't been fed in weeks and you're a delicious chunk of fresh meat waltzing through the door, then you better listen to every single fucking word I say." She flushed at the end of her statement; that was a lot to say in one breath.
And again, somewhere, deep down, in the very depths of his being, Draco knew that Daphne was right. Literally the only way that he knew he'd have any chance at finding someone crazy enough to date him, let alone fuck him, was if he let Daphne have full control over her plan. He really was just along for the ride and whatever Daphne wanted, she was (unfortunately) going to get.
Back at Draco's apartment, Ginny could feel the boredom oozing out of her pores.
She was in the middle of marathoning some crime drama on the TV she had set up in Draco's living room, a pint of Florean Fortescue's earl grey ice cream sitting in her lap, when she heard some sort of commotion in the foyer.
"Draco? Draco, sweetie, it's me; your mother!"
Narcissa began peeking her head through various rooms, trying to find the source of those weird sounds she heard reverberating throughout Draco's brownstone. She immediately went upstairs. Nothing in his office at the very front of the house, nor was there any sign of life in the bedroom next to it. After returning downstairs, it was at the back of the house that she found Ginny propped up on her son's sofa, enraptured by something directly on the wall in front of her.
"And what, exactly, do you think you're doing?" Narcissa placed her hands on her hips in hopes of intimidating her son's genie. Good lord, the thought of it still unsettled the older woman. How very barbaric, in this day and age, for a young woman to be coerced into this kind of situation. If it wasn't for the fact that she loved Blaise like her own son, she probably would have killed him by now for gifting Draco with such a thing.
Ginny held up a hand in front of her, pausing whatever was on the screen. "Oh, I was just watching something. Draco's not home, by the way."
The blonde woman sighed, petulantly asking, "Well, where is he?"
"He didn't tell you? He's on a lunch date with Daphne Greengrass right now."
"With who?" Narcissa rushed to sit down next to Ginny. "Tell me everything."
The redheaded genie spent the next half hour regaling Draco's mother with everything she knew about Daphne's plan to get Draco back into high society, making sure to emphasize that Narcissa had nothing to worry about. Daphne had no designs on the sanctity of Draco's purity and innocence.
Narcissa rolled her eyes at that last bit, but she was relieved knowing that her son was out with a woman who would be able to get him back into the general public's good graces and not traipsing about with the genie in front of her.
Speaking of said genie, Narcissa was awfully curious about how a woman like Ginny was able to get herself into such a predicament. She may be a Weasley, but the blonde knew that Ginny wasn't stupid or gullible. It was a question that had been bothering Narcissa for the past week, since it was one that the genie did not answer upon their first meeting. Whether she declined to answer it out of shame or pride, the Malfoy matriarch could not say.
If she kept prodding Ginny about it, Narcissa had a feeling that the younger woman would clam up and refuse to answer. No, the best solution in this situation would be to charm her way into the Weasley girl's good graces until she felt comfortable enough to spill her secret to her.
"So," Narcissa began, eyes scanning about the room for a topic of conversation. They landed on the television mounted on the wall across from them. She had never seen such a contraption before and knew it had to be some kind of Muggle invention since the Weasleys loved anything to do with Muggles and their toys. "What, exactly, is this thing in front of us?" she asked, motioning to the TV.
"Oh!" Ginny's eyes lit up. "It's this great Muggle invention called a 'television.' It's actually quite ingenious, if I do say so myself."
"Oh, really. How so?" The older woman remained unconvinced that any kind of Muggle device could be superior to literal wizardry.
And as she did last night with Draco, Ginny explained to his mother how the mystical world of the television operated, complete with a demonstration of how her magical one worked. The genie was rather pleased that the Bottle had allowed her to figure out a way to merge all of the best parts of the television into one streamlined magical TV that she could control with her hands.
Still unconvinced at how this preoccupied so much time in Ginny's current life, Narcissa soon found herself watching a – what was it that the girl had called it? – a show about rich Muggle housewives. Apparently, the genie felt that it was something that Narcissa could relate to; a snide remark, if the blonde had ever heard one. These women were terrible! Constantly bickering and fighting amongst themselves, and then allowing such decorum to be shown to others? Why, Narcissa was simply aghast at the entire thing. She had the presence of mind to insist that Ginny show her a different show… now, hold on. Narcissa suddenly had a moment of introspection during the third "episode", as Ginny had called it, of this "show." If herself and the other wealthy matriarchs of wizarding England were put in this same situation, they would probably act the same way.
Narcissa knew, though, that of course she, out of all of them, would come off looking the best.
Draco stared at the clock for what had to have been the millionth time in the past two hours.
Daphne had been dragging him all around Diagon Alley for a shopping spree. He couldn't remember how many couturiers they had been to at that point, only that it was a lot, and his arms were getting tired from carrying her bags. He knew he wasn't putting up a good front in this charade, but anytime he'd try to tell Daphne that he wanted to call it quits for the day, she'd pretend to not hear him.
"Draco? Darling?" Daphne's voice was sickeningly sweet. There was a shop girl behind her and, by Merlin, she was going to put on a damn good show.
The blond's head popped up, forcing a smile as he looked at the two women in front of him. "Oh, darling, you look absolutely lovely in that ensemble. I think it's the perfect thing for vacationing in Paris."
In response, Daphne merely kissed him on the cheek and scampered off to change clothes. Once he was out of view of anyone in the shop, his shoulders slumped as he sighed. He knew he looked like a man in defeat, and if anyone called him on it, he would still undeniably agree. Dating Daphne at Hogwarts was nowhere near as stressful. Then again, they were eighteen when they dated. The most stressful thing he could remember about their previous relationship was where they could hide to snog and whether or not they were going to "do it." (They did and it was just terrible.)
"You look like shit."
Draco heard the statement from somewhere to his right, before feeling the weight of its speaker sit next to him.
"I'm surprised Daphne allowed you to even step foot inside the store right now, Astoria."
"Well, you know me."
Astoria didn't even need to finish the phrase because, yes, Draco did know. He knew that Astoria was going to enter the shop, thus disrupting Daphne's spotlight. He also knew that Daphne would whine about it to someone once they left the shop, and Astoria would let her, knowing that her older sister just needed to get it out of her system.
If he had to choose, Draco much preferred Astoria between the two Greengrass sisters. That isn't to say that he would date Astoria (he still found Daphne the more attractive), but that he liked the younger Greengrass' company more. Astoria did things to get a reaction out of people. Hers and Daphne's perpetual game of one-upping the other was Astoria's twisted way of getting attention as a child. Her greeting to Draco moments ago was to get a reaction out of him, forgetting that he knows her tricks and her ploys, so such comments no longer faze him.
Still, Draco found Astoria mildly amusing, if not downright funny in the right situations and she was a welcome distraction from his date with Daphne.
"What stars have aligned that have allowed you to grace me with your presence?"
Astoria flipped her hair, a darker chocolate brown in the shop's dim lighting, off of her shoulder. "I was curious to see how Daphne's little project is going. You're holding out a lot longer than I thought you would."
"Desperate times call for desperate measures."
"I wouldn't say you're that desperate. You're with my sister, after all."
Draco knew Astoria was teasing, but the implication of her statement bothered him. Even if he wasn't in some sort of weird symbiotic relationship with Daphne, he still thought highly of the eldest Greengrass, grateful that even during the War, she remained one of his few allies. It was only after the War that time and public opinion caused the pair to drift apart.
Astoria grew uncomfortable in the silence. She placed a hand on his knee. "You know I'm only joking. Besides, I heard that you have something else in your corner. Or should I say, someone else." She smiled.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh, please, Draco. Quit playing dumb. It's not a good look and it's never suited you." Astoria waved him off with a hand. "Daphne's told me about your new friend, I should say, and I'm rather intrigued by the whole thing." She held up the same hand to prevent him from trying to interrupt her. "And don't worry; Daphne hasn't mentioned a thing to our parents."
He raised an eyebrow. Astoria had to stop herself from smiling – it felt like years since she'd seen that look from Draco. A part of her felt like this was her sister's doing. But, really, deep in the pit of her stomach, she knew that it was the elusive them that had entered Draco's life. "Do you honestly think that a clothing shop is the best place to talk about this?"
"Talk about what?" Daphne had approached the pair, more shopping bags in her hands.
"Draco was just about to tell me about the new special someone in his life," Astoria replied, giving her sister a pointed look.
"I simply have no clue who else you would be talking about," Daphne shot back, glaring. She raised her arms up, already heavy from having to carry around her bags from the check out stand to where Draco and her sister were seated at the back of the store. "Draco, darling," she whined, adding a pout for effect. "My arms are just too tired from carrying around these bags. Be a doll and carry them for me? This is the last store, I promise."
Astoria snorted, earning herself another glare from her sister. "Good luck." She rose from her seat and began to move away from the couple. "Draco," she paused. "It was good to see you. Honestly." He gave her a tired smile before she left for good.
"Don't let my sister fool you into some sort of fling," Daphne admonished.
Her date heaved a sigh as he stood. "I know I haven't been seen out and about much in a while, but at least give me some credit." He grabbed the bags by his side as well as the ones Daphne held out for him.
"Excuse me for looking out for you."
Draco stopped, not 3 feet ahead of Daphne, his back still turned to her. She was gonna hold this shit over his head until the very end. He wanted to say something: something scathing, something brutal, something that an absolute asshole would say. But he knew that it would never end well and he knew that whatever pissing contest Daphne and Astoria had was not worth getting involved in. Daphne would continue to make all the power plays for as long as he decided to enlist her help.
He had to remind himself that this was who Daphne was. Even when they were stupid, hormonal teenagers back at Hogwarts, Daphne's default setting was pettiness. She knew it, Astoria knew it, and their family knew it. It was something she was not incredibly fond of, but time and age helped her out and she found herself realizing that it was nothing more than a defense mechanism. Astoria, of course, tended to bring out both the best and the worst in her older sister, so Daphne knew she had said something stupid when she saw Draco freeze up at her last remark.
"I'm sorry. That was very… childish of me to say."
Her date relaxed. He reminded himself that Daphne would always be Daphne. When she was at her worst, Merlin help you, for everything that one could hate about pureblood in-breeding and growing up not needing anything was on full display. It was a side of her personality that, as grating as it was, Draco could relate to. However, when Daphne was at her best? Man, she was incredibly loyal and unfailingly sharp, with a sense of insight and perspective that Draco envied. Although it had been quite a while since they had spent long periods of time together, through all the bullshit, she was still his friend.
The brunette approached him, wrapping an arm around his, and then using the other to grab a couple of bags from him. She couldn't look at him just yet, but she could feel how tired he was without seeing the expression on his face. "Would you be adverse to walking me home?" She looked up at him through her lashes, a small smile tugging at the right side of her mouth.
"I suppose I could turn in one last performance this evening." Solidarity.
A/N - Thank you to everyone who's been reading so far! I know there's some formatting issues for any kind of scene breaks, which I've never experienced before. I'm trying to figure out a solution, so apologies if things look a little wonky. Also, I know that their ages don't make sense for when they were actually born, but it's my story and I'm having fun lol. And, if any of y'all are feeling generous, please review. :) I have up to ch 20 written, so I'm just trying to gauge interest here. :)