After the confrontation with the Dream team and Ginny, Draco found himself ensconced in Dumbledore’s office. Dumbledore sat behind his desk and looked at the pale featured young man in front of him.
“I take it Miss Granger and her friends confronted you regarding your part in last night’s tableau?” Dumbledore asked softly.
“Yes, they did,” Draco answered flatly. “With all due respect, sir, how in the hell did they find out about my part in it?”
“Mr. Malfoy, you have to realize something. From the time you gave me your information until her parents walked in, she and her friends had nothing to do with their time but wait and think. All her mind could focus on was that someone was giving her parents a chance to live. Miss Granger and her friends stayed up all night thinking. From what she confided in me, she had noticed your expression of surprise at supper. She put two and two together. Miss Granger is the only one in your class ranked above you. Did you honestly expect her to do any less?” Dumbledore explained patiently.
“I guess not,” Draco said with a petulant pout. “They thanked me.”
“How very Gryffindor of them. They consider themselves in your debt. You have risen in their estimation. You may go back to bickering and picking on each other, but things will never be quite the same. The fact that they sought you out to thank you is a sign of how much what you did meant to them.”
“I know. The littlest weasel – um, Ginny – she asked if I would be all right. I don’t understand that. Why should they care what happens to me? Granger’s parents are safe.”
“It’s who they are; they wouldn’t want to be the cause of anyone’s death.”
“I guess not,” Draco said, sighing heavily.
“May I ask you something Draco?” Dumbledore asked quietly.
“Of course, sir.”
“With all the things you’ve said over the years and some of the behavior you’ve exhibited, why haven’t you taken the Dark Mark? Followed your father and Voldemort?”
Draco sat up and looked Dumbledore in the eye. “Professor, between you, me, and your phoenix, there is no way I’m bowing down and kissing the foot of a wizard who was destroyed by a baby. A wizard who isn’t even able to do his own dirty work; he always has to have someone else do it for him. The reason given to everyone else is that it’s my mother’s wish I not join until I’m through with school. I inherit a substantial inheritance when I leave school. Once I have inherited, I can choose to take the Dark Mark. Preferably I’ll be married with an heir on the way. As should anything every happen to me, the Malfoy line will die out.”
“Is this a choice you want to make?”
“Professor, I would like to get married and have a family someday. But I don’t want a family like mine. Honestly, I’d rather have Granger’s family situation. One where if I thought any part of my family was in danger, I’d be up all night worrying. I want my children to be like the bloody Weasleys. Not muggle lovers but a family that protects its own. I’d be kicked out of Slytherin for admitting any of this. I want them able to laugh and show affection for one another without worrying about appearances or whether or not they will create a mess. I want something warm,” Draco described longingly.
“Warm, Draco?” Dumbledore questioned.
“Sometimes my life seems cold. I’d like someone who could warm it up.” As Draco said this, he touched his fingers to his lips. He was remembering a quick kiss that had warmed him from his head down to his toes. Malfoys do not need to poach to get a girl, Draco told himself firmly. Malfoy’s also do NOT get involved with Weasley’s ESPECIALLY those involved with Harry Potter.
“Mr. Malfoy, are you still here?”
“Sorry, Professor; you were saying?”
“Actually you were saying something, and then you just stopped talking. Is your father at all suspicious of what you’ve done?”
“I don’t think so, sir.”
“Draco, I’m going to ask a favor of you. It’s a dangerous one, so you’re under no obligation to accept, but I’d like you hear me out. Think it over, and give me your decision later.”
“Okay.”
“What I’d like for you to do is this: if your father ever asks you any other questions about students, I’d like you to let me know. Understand that at no time do I want you putting yourself in any danger. Suggesting an alliance of some sort with the Weasleys might be beneficial. You could pass on whatever names your father inquires about, you in turn could warn your father of any ministry raids on himself and his associates,” Dumbledore said. “You two would then have a reason to owl each other back and forth without raising anyone’s suspicions. Be creative; make up your own code, so that if the messages were intercepted, no one could read them. Draco?”
“I need to think about this. I need to think about this a lot.”
“Of course. I do ask, if you decline, that you consider this conversation a figment of your imagination.”
“Certainly, sir. I’ll let you know my decision soon.”
“On your way, Mr. Malfoy.”
As Draco left Dumbledore’s office, he thought about what he should or shouldn’t do. I don’t really want to be the bad guy . . . but I really don’t want to be a goody two shoes like Potter either, Malfoy thought in disgust. The thought that Potter would have to admit Draco helped him . . . now that he liked. Draco made his decision he would be a “good” guy. He would spy on his father and Voldemort. Now all Draco needed was to make his father think it was his idea to be a double agent, so to speak. There had to be a way of making the king think it was all his idea.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
“He’s gonna do it He’s gonna do it ” Marissa sang out as she bounced on her father’s lap.
“Marissa, stop jumping so hard on your dad here,” Draco said, giving her a bit of a scowl.
“I sowwy, Daddy. Did I hurt you?” Marissa asked, concerned that she might have actually hurt her beloved daddy.
“No, sweet-pea. You didn’t hurt me.” Draco leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. He then leaned over to give Shannon one as well. He noticed how heavy Shannon’s eyes were and how Marissa and her brothers, Jason and David, were rubbing their eyes in valiant attempts to stay awake. “If you guys are getting sleepy, we can always continue this tomorrow night.”
All four children vehemently denied any tiredness on their part.
“Finish the story, Daddy ” Marissa demanded imperiously.
Draco quirked an eyebrow at her and then looked over at his wife, who was trying her best not to laugh out loud.
“Don’t look at me,” Ginny said, wagging her finger at him. “She gets that from you.”
“C’mon, Daddy, finish the story?” Shannon asked quietly.
Draco gave a long-suffering sigh. “Okay, little bit. I’ll finish the story. Now, where was I . . .?”
“The prince was about to trick the king,” six-year-old Jason piped up.
“Oh, yes. Prince Draco decided to write his father a note. So he went to the library to compose it.”
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Draco sat at a table watching the sun slowly fade from the room, parchment waiting in front of him. The letter to his father was almost composed to his satisfaction. As his mind wasn’t completely on his work, he overheard a conversation from a nearby table.
“Ginny Come on. We’ve barely even tried.”
“Harry, are you telling me you’re happy in this so-called relationship of ours? I do love you, Harry, and I like spending time with you, but this just feels wrong. I’m not as comfortable around you anymore, and if you are really honest, you’d admit you aren’t comfortable, either.”
“I’m not comfortable, but we’re still new at this. I have to admit when I kiss you, I feel like I’m kissing my sister.”
“So you agree we’re better off as friends.”
“I don’t know, Gin. Maybe we’re giving up to easily. How about we agree to see other people, but we can still date each other if we find it’s what we both want?”
“Okay, but I do plan to go out with other boys, Harry. I’ll tell you what I’m going to tell my family. I want for us to see each other, but right now we work better as friends. If our feelings change, we’ll try going out again. Does that sound fair to you?”
“Okay. I’m gonna go practice on the pitch; tell Ron I’ll talk to him later. Bye, Ginny.”
Talk to you later, Harry.”
Draco heard the footsteps fading away as they came and went. He bent his head and took up his quill as he kept up with the letter.
Draco looked up at the sound of someone clearing their throat to get his attention. He saw Ginny looking at him with a wobbly smile and moist, slightly red rimmed, brown eyes.
“Here,” Draco said gruffly as he passed her the handkerchief his mother told him a gentleman always carried. “I wouldn’t want you to leak all over the place.” When she hesitated to take it, he tossed it to her impatiently. ”I haven’t cursed it. Take it ”
“Thank you Ma—Draco.” Ginny took the proffered cloth and blotted her eyes. When she tried to return it, he waved it away.
“Keep it. So, Weasel, you and the Potter decided to see other people,” Draco drawled, waiting for a reaction of some sort. He wasn’t disappointed.
“Why you. . . ” Ginny’s head shot up as her brown eyes flashed with emotion.
“Hold it. Before you go telling me where I can stuff my opinion, I only said it to get a rise out of you, which I got, by the way,” Draco said as he held up a hand and smirked.
Ginny relaxed back into the chair. “Wanted to see what would piss me off, huh, Ferret-boy? Wonder what it would take to get a rise out of me? To answer your question or statement, Harry and I have decided to see other people. I have to wonder why you’re curious. Thinking about asking me to Hogsmeade?” Ginny asked sarcastically.
“Maybe,” Draco said with a quirked eyebrow.
“What ” Ginny sputtered. “Are you insane?”
“I’ve got an idea. It just happens to be, what does your brother always say, bloody brilliant, if I do say so myself,” Draco said, preening.
“What kind of idea?” Ginny asked suspiciously.
Draco looked around them to make sure they couldn’t be overheard. “What I’m about to tell you can’t be repeated, not even to your brothers, or Potter, or Granger.”
“Oh-kay.”
“Dumbledore asked me to join his side. My role would be passing on any names of people my father and his friends show an interest in. He suggested I propose to my father to become friends with your brother and pass on Ministry information to my father. I actually would be giving him false information and passing on to Dumbledore – through your brother – the names of people they might be attacking. It just hit me, though; my father wouldn’t go for that scene. However, I could propose the idea of seeing you, to seduce the information out of you. That would be a Malfoy enough thing for my father to believe. Do you want play along?”
“Let me get this straight. We would be ‘pretending’ to go out. We would know it was fake, but everyone else would think it was the real thing.”
“For now. Are you saying if I asked you on a real date, you’d say yes?” Draco asked.
“I don’t know. I might. It would depend on you.” Ginny got out of her chair, walked over and sat on Draco’s lap.
“What would it depend on?” Draco asked as he whispered in her ear. He put down the quill as his arms automatically held her close to him.
“How well you kiss,” Ginny whispered in his ear. I can’t believe I’m actually throwing down this challenge to him, Ginny thought as her heart pounded in her ears. She was positive he could hear it.
Draco took her face in both his hands and brought her lips so close to his a whisper couldn’t have fit through. “If I understand you correctly, I kiss you well, and you’ll go through with my plan. But it would be for real, not just a ruse.”
“Yes,” Ginny whispered.
“Well, never let it be said that a Malfoy walks away from a challenge,” Draco drawled, right before he brought her lips down to meet his.
“I take it Miss Granger and her friends confronted you regarding your part in last night’s tableau?” Dumbledore asked softly.
“Yes, they did,” Draco answered flatly. “With all due respect, sir, how in the hell did they find out about my part in it?”
“Mr. Malfoy, you have to realize something. From the time you gave me your information until her parents walked in, she and her friends had nothing to do with their time but wait and think. All her mind could focus on was that someone was giving her parents a chance to live. Miss Granger and her friends stayed up all night thinking. From what she confided in me, she had noticed your expression of surprise at supper. She put two and two together. Miss Granger is the only one in your class ranked above you. Did you honestly expect her to do any less?” Dumbledore explained patiently.
“I guess not,” Draco said with a petulant pout. “They thanked me.”
“How very Gryffindor of them. They consider themselves in your debt. You have risen in their estimation. You may go back to bickering and picking on each other, but things will never be quite the same. The fact that they sought you out to thank you is a sign of how much what you did meant to them.”
“I know. The littlest weasel – um, Ginny – she asked if I would be all right. I don’t understand that. Why should they care what happens to me? Granger’s parents are safe.”
“It’s who they are; they wouldn’t want to be the cause of anyone’s death.”
“I guess not,” Draco said, sighing heavily.
“May I ask you something Draco?” Dumbledore asked quietly.
“Of course, sir.”
“With all the things you’ve said over the years and some of the behavior you’ve exhibited, why haven’t you taken the Dark Mark? Followed your father and Voldemort?”
Draco sat up and looked Dumbledore in the eye. “Professor, between you, me, and your phoenix, there is no way I’m bowing down and kissing the foot of a wizard who was destroyed by a baby. A wizard who isn’t even able to do his own dirty work; he always has to have someone else do it for him. The reason given to everyone else is that it’s my mother’s wish I not join until I’m through with school. I inherit a substantial inheritance when I leave school. Once I have inherited, I can choose to take the Dark Mark. Preferably I’ll be married with an heir on the way. As should anything every happen to me, the Malfoy line will die out.”
“Is this a choice you want to make?”
“Professor, I would like to get married and have a family someday. But I don’t want a family like mine. Honestly, I’d rather have Granger’s family situation. One where if I thought any part of my family was in danger, I’d be up all night worrying. I want my children to be like the bloody Weasleys. Not muggle lovers but a family that protects its own. I’d be kicked out of Slytherin for admitting any of this. I want them able to laugh and show affection for one another without worrying about appearances or whether or not they will create a mess. I want something warm,” Draco described longingly.
“Warm, Draco?” Dumbledore questioned.
“Sometimes my life seems cold. I’d like someone who could warm it up.” As Draco said this, he touched his fingers to his lips. He was remembering a quick kiss that had warmed him from his head down to his toes. Malfoys do not need to poach to get a girl, Draco told himself firmly. Malfoy’s also do NOT get involved with Weasley’s ESPECIALLY those involved with Harry Potter.
“Mr. Malfoy, are you still here?”
“Sorry, Professor; you were saying?”
“Actually you were saying something, and then you just stopped talking. Is your father at all suspicious of what you’ve done?”
“I don’t think so, sir.”
“Draco, I’m going to ask a favor of you. It’s a dangerous one, so you’re under no obligation to accept, but I’d like you hear me out. Think it over, and give me your decision later.”
“Okay.”
“What I’d like for you to do is this: if your father ever asks you any other questions about students, I’d like you to let me know. Understand that at no time do I want you putting yourself in any danger. Suggesting an alliance of some sort with the Weasleys might be beneficial. You could pass on whatever names your father inquires about, you in turn could warn your father of any ministry raids on himself and his associates,” Dumbledore said. “You two would then have a reason to owl each other back and forth without raising anyone’s suspicions. Be creative; make up your own code, so that if the messages were intercepted, no one could read them. Draco?”
“I need to think about this. I need to think about this a lot.”
“Of course. I do ask, if you decline, that you consider this conversation a figment of your imagination.”
“Certainly, sir. I’ll let you know my decision soon.”
“On your way, Mr. Malfoy.”
As Draco left Dumbledore’s office, he thought about what he should or shouldn’t do. I don’t really want to be the bad guy . . . but I really don’t want to be a goody two shoes like Potter either, Malfoy thought in disgust. The thought that Potter would have to admit Draco helped him . . . now that he liked. Draco made his decision he would be a “good” guy. He would spy on his father and Voldemort. Now all Draco needed was to make his father think it was his idea to be a double agent, so to speak. There had to be a way of making the king think it was all his idea.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
“He’s gonna do it He’s gonna do it ” Marissa sang out as she bounced on her father’s lap.
“Marissa, stop jumping so hard on your dad here,” Draco said, giving her a bit of a scowl.
“I sowwy, Daddy. Did I hurt you?” Marissa asked, concerned that she might have actually hurt her beloved daddy.
“No, sweet-pea. You didn’t hurt me.” Draco leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. He then leaned over to give Shannon one as well. He noticed how heavy Shannon’s eyes were and how Marissa and her brothers, Jason and David, were rubbing their eyes in valiant attempts to stay awake. “If you guys are getting sleepy, we can always continue this tomorrow night.”
All four children vehemently denied any tiredness on their part.
“Finish the story, Daddy ” Marissa demanded imperiously.
Draco quirked an eyebrow at her and then looked over at his wife, who was trying her best not to laugh out loud.
“Don’t look at me,” Ginny said, wagging her finger at him. “She gets that from you.”
“C’mon, Daddy, finish the story?” Shannon asked quietly.
Draco gave a long-suffering sigh. “Okay, little bit. I’ll finish the story. Now, where was I . . .?”
“The prince was about to trick the king,” six-year-old Jason piped up.
“Oh, yes. Prince Draco decided to write his father a note. So he went to the library to compose it.”
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Draco sat at a table watching the sun slowly fade from the room, parchment waiting in front of him. The letter to his father was almost composed to his satisfaction. As his mind wasn’t completely on his work, he overheard a conversation from a nearby table.
“Ginny Come on. We’ve barely even tried.”
“Harry, are you telling me you’re happy in this so-called relationship of ours? I do love you, Harry, and I like spending time with you, but this just feels wrong. I’m not as comfortable around you anymore, and if you are really honest, you’d admit you aren’t comfortable, either.”
“I’m not comfortable, but we’re still new at this. I have to admit when I kiss you, I feel like I’m kissing my sister.”
“So you agree we’re better off as friends.”
“I don’t know, Gin. Maybe we’re giving up to easily. How about we agree to see other people, but we can still date each other if we find it’s what we both want?”
“Okay, but I do plan to go out with other boys, Harry. I’ll tell you what I’m going to tell my family. I want for us to see each other, but right now we work better as friends. If our feelings change, we’ll try going out again. Does that sound fair to you?”
“Okay. I’m gonna go practice on the pitch; tell Ron I’ll talk to him later. Bye, Ginny.”
Talk to you later, Harry.”
Draco heard the footsteps fading away as they came and went. He bent his head and took up his quill as he kept up with the letter.
Draco looked up at the sound of someone clearing their throat to get his attention. He saw Ginny looking at him with a wobbly smile and moist, slightly red rimmed, brown eyes.
“Here,” Draco said gruffly as he passed her the handkerchief his mother told him a gentleman always carried. “I wouldn’t want you to leak all over the place.” When she hesitated to take it, he tossed it to her impatiently. ”I haven’t cursed it. Take it ”
“Thank you Ma—Draco.” Ginny took the proffered cloth and blotted her eyes. When she tried to return it, he waved it away.
“Keep it. So, Weasel, you and the Potter decided to see other people,” Draco drawled, waiting for a reaction of some sort. He wasn’t disappointed.
“Why you. . . ” Ginny’s head shot up as her brown eyes flashed with emotion.
“Hold it. Before you go telling me where I can stuff my opinion, I only said it to get a rise out of you, which I got, by the way,” Draco said as he held up a hand and smirked.
Ginny relaxed back into the chair. “Wanted to see what would piss me off, huh, Ferret-boy? Wonder what it would take to get a rise out of me? To answer your question or statement, Harry and I have decided to see other people. I have to wonder why you’re curious. Thinking about asking me to Hogsmeade?” Ginny asked sarcastically.
“Maybe,” Draco said with a quirked eyebrow.
“What ” Ginny sputtered. “Are you insane?”
“I’ve got an idea. It just happens to be, what does your brother always say, bloody brilliant, if I do say so myself,” Draco said, preening.
“What kind of idea?” Ginny asked suspiciously.
Draco looked around them to make sure they couldn’t be overheard. “What I’m about to tell you can’t be repeated, not even to your brothers, or Potter, or Granger.”
“Oh-kay.”
“Dumbledore asked me to join his side. My role would be passing on any names of people my father and his friends show an interest in. He suggested I propose to my father to become friends with your brother and pass on Ministry information to my father. I actually would be giving him false information and passing on to Dumbledore – through your brother – the names of people they might be attacking. It just hit me, though; my father wouldn’t go for that scene. However, I could propose the idea of seeing you, to seduce the information out of you. That would be a Malfoy enough thing for my father to believe. Do you want play along?”
“Let me get this straight. We would be ‘pretending’ to go out. We would know it was fake, but everyone else would think it was the real thing.”
“For now. Are you saying if I asked you on a real date, you’d say yes?” Draco asked.
“I don’t know. I might. It would depend on you.” Ginny got out of her chair, walked over and sat on Draco’s lap.
“What would it depend on?” Draco asked as he whispered in her ear. He put down the quill as his arms automatically held her close to him.
“How well you kiss,” Ginny whispered in his ear. I can’t believe I’m actually throwing down this challenge to him, Ginny thought as her heart pounded in her ears. She was positive he could hear it.
Draco took her face in both his hands and brought her lips so close to his a whisper couldn’t have fit through. “If I understand you correctly, I kiss you well, and you’ll go through with my plan. But it would be for real, not just a ruse.”
“Yes,” Ginny whispered.
“Well, never let it be said that a Malfoy walks away from a challenge,” Draco drawled, right before he brought her lips down to meet his.
Leave a Review