As You Wish – Chapter 6
The last thing Daphne wanted to deal with that night was her sister.
Upon opening the door to her cozy, two-story flat, she saw her sister lying on the chaise lounge in the drawing room. Daphne didn't know how Astoria did it – that chaise was incredibly uncomfortable.
With one hand draped across her forehead and the other dangling next to her, brushing the carpeting with her fingertips, Astoria greeted her sister. "Oh, good. You're home."
The elder Greengrass dropped her bags in the hallway; one of her house elves could take care of them. "What do you want, Astoria?" Daphne breezed past the drawing room into her living room, knowing that her sister would follow.
"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to stop by for a chat with my darling sister."
Said sister scoffed at those words. Astoria never visited Daphne for just a "chat." There was always an angle. Whether it was to borrow a bag, a dress, or some shoes, Daphne knew that her younger sister was not the type to show up at her house if she didn't need something. Why Astoria needed anything from Daphne was a mystery to her. They both had the same immense bank account; either one could buy something without batting an eyelash. Or if either one of them were dating, they never had to worry about spending their money because they always dated men of a certain social class. Daphne secretly felt that Astoria truly did enjoy her company and that these requests were excuses to see her. The younger Greengrass had too much pride to admit to anything that didn't mesh well with her rather blasé personality.
"Is that so? What did you want to chat about?"
"Well, I was thinking —"
The eldest snorted. "That's a new one for you."
"How very nice of you to say," the youngest replied, glaring. "Either way, I was thinking, well, wondering, really, about this arrangement of yours."
"Why? Don't tell me you're actually interested in him."
"What if I am?"
"Several things: one, no. Two, I dated him back in school and even went so far as to shag him when I was young and dumb, so I don't really enjoy the idea of my younger sister sleeping with someone I've been with. Three, Mother would lock you up in your room if you even thought about it. And four, do you think it's smart to be making moves on someone that's supposed to be dating me?"
Astoria sighed heavily. "Fine," she said, drawing out the word as she sighed. "You do have a point. But what about when this little mess," she waved in front of her face with her left hand, "of yours is over?"
"You'd still look like an idiot for going after him. Imagine the headlines proclaiming how much of a 'trollop', a 'floozy', you were for going after your sister's ex. It's bad enough you already have that label at the Prophet, and Pansy knows you, for Merlin's sake."
"Look. I can't help it that I'm enjoying my youth by having fun sexual experiences. I also can't help it that men throw themselves at me. I have that effect, you know."
"And that's fine, but it's not a good thing when some of those men are married."
Astoria pouted, knowing her sister was right. It was a bad habit, one that she unintentionally picked up, and one that she was kicking herself for having. That's why she liked the idea of Draco. He was nice, they had always gotten along well, and, although his face was a little too pointy for Astoria's liking, he was good looking enough. She felt that if she dated him, she could get away from messy relationships.
"If you're really that desperate to be in a relationship," Daphne continued, "you should find out if Draco knows anyone that would be a good match for you."
Her sister scoffed at the idea. "He'd only point me in Blaise's direction and, although he's a lot of fun, been there, done that. I don't repeat myself. There's a reason why I move on."
The eldest rolled her eyes, snapping her fingers to summon a house elf to her side. "Tea, Astoria?" The youngest nodded her head and the elf disappeared. "Whatever," Daphne continued. "Either way, you're not allowed to throw yourself at Draco for, oh, a year or so if you want to keep yourself out of the papers."
The younger brunette flopped herself across one of the chairs in front of where her sister was seated. Daphne scowled at her, unconsciously smoothing down the front of the skirt of her dress; Astoria was always so unbecoming when she was annoyed.
Back in a similar position that Daphne found her in – hand draped across the eyes, the other brushing the carpet – the younger Greengrass groaned in further annoyance, knowing that her sister was, of course, right. Stupidly bright, intelligent Daphne, who always knew what was best, what was correct. And there was Astoria – not quite as bright, not quite as intelligent, who did more bad than good, and who found herself getting into trouble more the older she got. Daphne was definitely on a winning streak in the sisters' pissing contest and she knew it.
Astoria needed to get out of this rut, and fast.
Draco didn't know what to expect when he got home from his date with Daphne.
If he was lucky, Ginny'd be watching another one of her crazy Muggle shows, wrapped up in that ridiculous garment she called a "Snuggie," devouring a bowl of popcorn. If he was luckier, she wouldn't even be in his life, encamped in his living room for Merlin knows how long, and he could plop down face-first onto his sofa, possibly taking a nap before his mother or Blaise bounded through his home. But he wasn't that lucky and he settled for hoping that it was just Ginny. He allowed himself a laugh at the thought. That he'd be downright satisfied with the idea of coming home to Ginny Weasley's presence. If you told him that when he was fifteen, he'd have either laughed until he cried or sic Goyle on you, depending on who told him. But there he was, walking away from Daphne's brownstone, to his own home five blocks away, not-so-secretly wishing that Ginny would be the only person he'd have to deal with at home.
It had been a little over a week since she appeared back in his life and he was finding that he didn't mind her so much. Being a genie had mellowed out a lot of her more rash tendencies – he noticed that it took quite a bit to get her riled up and it was really only the mention of her family that put a bee in her bonnet. She had always been confident and outspoken; being the youngest and only girl in her family meant that you had to be loud and proud to be heard. But while it was more of a quiet kind of confidence that she displayed at Hogwarts, she now had the kind of attitude that allowed her to not be so afraid of being that confident and outspoken. Putting up with too many personality types made her more assertive and she was even less prone to put up with his bullshit than Blaise did.
Draco had always felt very indulged in his whims growing up, even more so now that his mum thought he was a forever bachelor, and Ginny kind of shut that down faster than he could say 'Expelliarmus!' She'd tell him 'no' to many things in a plain, abrupt way and he had to accept it. Ginny, can you make me dinner? It's been such a long day at work. No. Ginny, can you Floo my mother and tell her I'm running late? No. Ginny, can you respond to Daphne's letter for me? I'm too tired. No.
No. No. No. No. No.
It was so refreshing being told "no," that Draco wondered if he'd become a glutton for punishment and would start asking Ginny to do things that he knew she'd say "no" to. He was treating her like another secretary, but he figured that she kept shutting him down out of a mixture of her really not giving a shit about his silly requests and the fact that she knew he only had two wishes left and was simply denying him out of kindness.
So when Draco did get home and found his mother, perched on his sofa next to Ginny, alternating between sipping tea and eating popcorn as daintily as one could, he almost didn't want to ruin the moment. He wasn't even mad at the scene before him, just incredibly amused and… there was something else in there. Something that he was going to repress, as per usual, because he didn't want to deal with it at the present time. Something that he knew was going to come back and bite him on the ass, real hard, at the most inopportune time because, why wouldn't it? Something that he felt someone, somewhere had predicted would happen, but, again, Draco didn't want to think about it because he was too focused on getting his life back on track with a woman who was already on the right track. So he told that feeling to go away; he didn't have time for it.
He leaned against the doorframe to the living room, crossing his arms over his chest, waiting for either woman to notice him. Narcissa, of course, was the one who did.
"Oh, darling! We were wondering when you would be back! How long have you been standing there?" His mother sprang up from her seated position and scurried over to him. She enveloped him in a tight hug, letting him go after he gave her a few pats on the back. "Come, come; sit down, darling." Narcissa pulled him over to the sofa, forcing him to sit down next to Ginny, who immediately moved as far away from him as she possibly could. His mother sat on the other side of him, placing a hand on his knee. "You simply must tell me everything."
"Well, we had lunch and then we went shopping. Daphne spent a lot of my money and Astoria showed up during the last five minutes before I walked Daphne home."
"That's it?" Narcissa asked, expectantly.
Draco peeked over to Ginny, who was trying her best to not laugh at Narcissa's crestfallen tone. His genie was biting her lower lip, hard, and when they made eye contact, she had to cover her mouth to stifle a laugh. He could feel his mouth curling at the sides and it took every ounce of whatever energy he had left to stop because he did not need to anger his mother.
"Yes, mother," he said, finally. "That's about it. Daphne spent most of our lunch planning out her social calendar for the next six months, since she thinks that we need to keep up this charade for that long in order to make it seem genuine. When we went shopping, most of my time was spent sitting on chairs in the backs of shops, giving my opinion when Daphne felt like asking. I also carried around her bags."
Narcissa looked rather perturbed by her son's answer, but she saw the bags under his eyes and knew not to press the matter further. She made a mental note to ask him later about these social plans Daphne was scheming, though. Like that girl knew how to throw a gala event?
"Narcissa," Ginny roused the blonde woman from her thoughts. "It's been lovely chatting and watching TV with you, but I think it might be time for you to head back home." The genie had said the last part of the sentence delicately and drawn out, as though she were speaking to a child.
Draco let out a sigh of relief once he saw his mother get up and prepare to leave.
"Fine," she said, huffing. "But expect to discuss this matter further, Draco." She always used his name when she wanted to be stern with him. "Now come give your mummy a kiss and a hug before she leaves."
Draco was, if anything, dutiful when it came to his mother and he did as she said, getting up to give her a peck on the cheek and a quick hug before she left his apartment. When he heard the front door shut, he turned back around to Ginny.
"I'm going to get in trouble with my mother very soon and you're going to be the cause of it."
"Me?" she asked, aghast at the announcement. "How will it be my fault?"
He flopped down onto the sofa, in the corner opposite Ginny, stretching his legs down and out toward the floor. "You're over there laughing about my miserable date with Daphne as I'm trying to explain how the day went."
His genie threw popcorn at him in response, shrugging as if to say, "Your point is?"
"Your date was terrible," Ginny continued, sitting up a little bit straighter on the sofa. "At least on your end. Daphne's kind of living the dream right now, as far as I'm concerned."
"The sad thing is that I know my life is somewhat bad enough that I know you're not even referring to the fact that Daphne is theoretically dating me. There's no possible way I can perceive that as a come on."
"Would you rather she not 'theoretically' date you?"
Ginny had felt that from the beginning of this plan that Draco wasn't really 100 percent on board with everything that was being cooked up. Although she had lived with him for a very short period of time, she quickly realized that he might actually be okay with his life of solitude. He grew up an only child and if there was one thing she realized from that upbringing, thanks to Hermione, was that they valued their alone time. Not to say that he wasn't socially-inclined, but he really didn't have as many friends as he would lead one to believe. Back in their days at Hogwarts, Draco's "friends" were more like strategic acquaintances – people that were there to make him look good in comparison. His real friends he could count on one hand.
She began noticing that, with age, he became much more amiable, too. In previous years, he would've been difficult to coerce into this kind of plan, but Ginny felt that he simply went along with everything because he saw that others were happy to go along with everything. She supposed this change came about because of the war, which makes sense. War will naturally change people. And in Draco's case, he was so involved, by volition at first, and then by force.
When Draco thought about Ginny's question, he felt as though he had to provide such a concrete answer. In reality, he honestly didn't have the slightest clue as to what he really wanted out of this relationship game. He supposed the emotional side of him that was only begrudgingly listened to liked the idea of coming home to someone that thought the sun shined out of his ass, that would allow him to be the big spoon, but maybe also wore the pants in the relationship from time to time. Of course, the more indulgent side of him was not too picky when it came to a female sexual partner, but maybe that was due to the lack of sexual activity in the past few years.
In that regard, he knew that such activities wouldn't happen with Daphne as she saw this as an elaborate con. If Draco looked at everything from that perspective, it wasn't too bad. It was even something he could have a little fun with.
He realized he had dwelled on his thoughts for too long since Ginny was staring at him, her eyebrows raised.
"Obvious comment about wanting a relationship with sex aside, I honestly haven't a clue as to what I want. I suppose it would be nice to be in a solid relationship with someone, but I don't know if I want that someone to be Daphne right now. If anything, this little charade is good practice for when I find someone that wants to be with me for the right reasons."
"Do I detect a bit of a romantic in you?" Ginny teased.
"With the right person, I guess I can be," Draco replied, a wry smile tugging up a corner of his mouth.
The genie ate a couple of handfuls of popcorn, thinking about her conversation with her master. This one had by far been the most interesting master she's had, and it amused her that it was someone from her past.
"So when's your next date?"
"I know Daphne mentioned something about a Ministry event when we were at one of the stores. Something about creating my 'grand entrance' back into society."
"Sounds dreadful."
Draco laughed at the comment. "Ha, yeah. Something like that. I'm hoping there will be somewhat decent company there for moral support."
"Why don't you ask Blaise?"
"Blaise doesn't exactly do well in ball situations unless he is incredibly well supervised."
"Oh, I could be his date." What the fuck was that, Ginny?
The genie thought she hallucinated when she said that because why the hell would she even say something like that? She didn't do balls or galas or any such other events. And if Draco's comment about Blaise needing supervision was to be believed, what did that mean for her? That he was gonna try to feel her up halfway through the ball? Or worse – he would get so sloppy drunk that he would feel the incredible urge to hurl all over a dress she had worked so hard to come up with.
But no, words mean things and her words meant quite a lot because Draco suddenly perked up at her comment.
"Are you sure about that? Blaise is quite a lot to handle."
"I'm a big girl. I can handle myself." It took all of Ginny to not wink after that statement. Who winks nowadays? She suddenly felt mildly flustered and concerned for her overall mental wellbeing. Not once has she practically bent over backward to help out a master like this. Yes, it was just a little suggestion, but Ginny didn't provide her masters with little suggestions to help out their life. With wishes, yes, that was a no-brainer. But she was never one to volunteer to help with their shenanigans.
She took a deep breath to keep herself composed; pride and all.
"Really?" Draco genuinely smiled. "Honestly, having the two of you there would actually make the night somewhat more manageable."
Ginny could hear sirens going off in her head. They reminded her of a Muggle movie she watched once. The sirens went off any time the female protagonist saw someone she was trying to kill. What was the movie again? Kill Draco is obviously not right, as tempting as it was. Wasn't it one of her brothers' names? RIGHT. Kill Bill.
Yes, the Kill Bill sirens were going off in Ginny's head at that moment and she found that, unlike The Bride, it became increasingly hard to focus on the task at hand.
Why was she tempted to go above and beyond for this man? She thought it was to just get the whole thing over with so she could move on to the next master, but a part of her seemed to be realizing that maybe there was a little bit more to it than she was allowing herself to acknowledge. So, just like Draco did earlier in the evening, she was going to repress the feeling. Ginny would let those sirens blare, but that's all she was going to let them do. Because analyzing them further would mean actually breaking down her thoughts and feelings on six years of her childhood and teenage years and she really didn't think Draco Malfoy had the credentials and licensing to handle such a discussion.
Instead, it was easier to go along with all of this and tell herself that she was doing this to get out of his life faster.
"Oh, yeah," Ginny finally replied. "I mean, it'll definitely be different from sitting around all day and I may actually enjoy myself."
"Then it's settled. I'll let Daphne know the next time I see her."
Draco awoke the next morning in his own bed, inside his own apartment.
Something that hadn't happened in a long time, but he realized was happening more often thanks to a certain genie who was already bustling about his home.
His genie. It still felt so gauche to even consider the thought. The concept was so antiquated at this point that it was a wonder Blaise had actually found one. He had a couple of choice questions for not only his friend, but his genie, however, neither one of them seemed up to the task of answering them.
Blaise would avoid the subject like he was avoiding a Bludger and Ginny was just as tight-lipped about how she wound up in her predicament. In fact, Blaise was getting so adverse to the discussion of Draco's genie that he even avoided stopping by the blond's place, lest he run into said genie.
So it was also a surprise when Draco dragged himself downstairs to his living room, now fully accustomed to the strange noises echoing through the hallway from — what was it that Ginny had called it again? — a TV? To see Blaise Zabini seated on the sofa, feet propped up on an ottoman in front of him, absent-mindedly grabbing the mug of coffee Ginny was passing off to him as she walked by.
The redhead paused as she walked past the side of the sofa. "Oh, you're awake."
Blaise waved behind him with a muffled, "Good morning," eyes still glued to the tv. Ginny had also provided him with a couple of cinnamon scones.
"May I ask when you two decided to play happy home without me?" Draco asked, standing behind the sofa.
The seated man looked up, "Jealous?" Which earned him a kick in the hip from Ginny, in her now usual position of legs spread out, taking up most of the seating space as she rested her back against the side.
She swiveled her body around and tucked her legs up under her so Draco could take his seat in between them. "We're not playing happy home, you idiot," the genie began. "I just told Blaise to stop being such a wanker about this whole thing. It's not like he didn't see me when you first opened the bottle."
Blaise, to his credit, had the decency to look embarrassed by stuffing another scone into his mouth. "She also told me how the whole Daphne thing is just a wish," he stated after swallowing a large mouthful.
Draco sighed and resigned himself to his standard sofa state of slinking down with his legs outstretched before him. "Six months, Blaise. She wants me to do this for six months."
The dark-skinned man sucked the air in through his teeth. "I mean, do you think all of that would be worth it? You've dated Daphne before, so this should be a walk in the park. Right?"
The blond took a bite of the scone Ginny handed him. "If I don't get hospitalized from exhaustion, I think I can."
"Oh, yeah," Blaise nodded in understanding. "I also heard all about the parties she wants you to go to."
"So you're coming to this first one I'm supposed to go to, right?" Draco began nodding his head back at his friend. "With Ginny? To keep me company?" Still nodding, willing the other man to agree.
The other man narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. "You know how much I hate going to those events —"
"But," Draco dragged out, eyes wide and, was that hopeful?
Blaise sighed. "But, I know that this is the one thing I've been nagging you about and now that I've gotten over my bullshit with Weasley, I suppose I could tolerate this for you."
In response, Draco clapped Blaise's shoulder so hard, it caused the other man to nearly choke on his own saliva. The blond man had the grace to look sheepish and Ginny conjured up a glass of water to give to Blaise. "Sorry, mate. Got a little too excited there."
"Yeah, clearly," Blaise scoffed. "So, Ginny, have you thought about what you're going to do now that you're attending a public event?"
"You both have nothing to worry about. I'm a genie. I think I can handle making myself look good for a little Ministry function." It was said with confidence, but Ginny's mind was already racing in panic as she tried to figure out how she was going to be seen in public without rousing suspicion.