A Malfoys MistakeBy Jinni
At Your Expense
It goes against everything I believe in to worry about Draco Malfoy.
Every.
Little.
Thing.
So that's why I'm sitting here, on the edge of my hotel room bed, staring at the bed he never slept in last night, and trying very hard not to panic or anything that may closely resemble panicking.
You see, I cannot worry about him.
It would go against the laws of nature.
Seriously.
Still - it *is* nearly Noon and he hasn't been back to the room yet. Ron and 'Mione haven't seen him either, not that I really think either of them looked for him. I'd ask the others, but I'm sure their response would be the same. If Draco's lost then good riddance.
Except - not.
His mum, first of all, will kill us. Oh, not personally - she has the money to get a professional do it. Comforting to know that, with a professional, at least it will be quick.
Or it could be horribly painful.
You see - Draco's godfather is none other than my old Potions Professor, Severus Snape. And good ole Sev would like nothing more than to poison me for the slightest transgression - whether it is really my fault or not. Somehow he will come to the conclusion that Draco being missing is entirely my fault and then - death.
This could be very, very bad.
Well, it was settled, Draco Malfoy was now officially missing. It was time for me to do whatever it was that people did when Junior Aurors went missing.
Right - tell the Ministry. That's what I need to do. Just get up, find a local owl post, and owl the Ministry that Draco Malfoy is missing. That we let him drink too much last night and he never quite found his way 'home'.
The Minster of Magic may kill me himself.
"Potter - open the bloody door!"
Thank Merlin!
"Draco - where in the hell have you . . . been."
I stop speaking, mouth hanging open. There's a girl standing there with Draco, suitcase in hand and a bemused expression on her face. She has beautiful Weasley-red hair.
And her arm is hooked through Draco's.
"Um - Malfoy?"
"Just get out of my way." He snarls, pushing past me and leading her into our room without a word as to who she is or what she is doing with him. She really is a cute little thing, even if she does seem rather attached to.
"She's my wife, Potter. Get your eyes off of her before I tear them out of your skull."
His. . .
"Did you just say 'wife'?"
"Your hearing finally going? Yes - wife. We ran off and got married last night. No thanks to you lot. I bet it was all your idea, too, wasn't it - let Draco get pissed enough that he doesn't know what he's doing and then just set him loose in Las-Bloody-Vegas!"
He's worked himself up into quite a fury, and his 'wife' is just smirking, arms crossed.
"Again," Draco hisses, coming to stand in front of me. I jerk my attention from the girl to Draco, feeling just a little guilty. "She is my wife, Potter. Stop. Staring."
"Or what?"
The words just pop right out of my mouth before I even stop to think that they could be the wrong thing to say. Hermione would be mad if she was here - I'm instigating a fight between myself and Malfoy. Par for the course, on one hand; and an eternal annoyance to my bushy haired best friend on the other.
"Or *I* will sew your eyelids shut." The girl murmurs softly. But her voice, though soft, is just as deadly as I've ever heard Malfoy's. It makes me look a little harder at her; at the innocent look she's giving me. Hard to believe those words just came out of her mouth when she's standing there looking all naïve.
"You'll -what-?" I stammer, unsure of what to do from here.
"I'll sew your eyelids shut." She repeats, quite calmly, arms crossed over her chest and a devilish smirk on her face. Malfoy just looks proud, not disturbed in the slightest. "I don't like people staring at me, Mister Potter."
Just like that I'm snapped out of it and I jerk my eyes away from her to look at the wall. The only people that ever call or called me Mister Potter are the staff at Hogwarts - usually Professor Snape or Professor McGonagall if I'd done something wrong. Neither of them were pleasant, and I can now add this petite woman to that list. She may look innocent - but looks can obviously be deceiving.
Draco chuckles at my discomfort. I don't blame him - in his position, I would probably do the same thing.
And that's when I come to the decision that I am never going to let him live this down. Starting right now. All of my good times in the near future, and possibly the distant future, are going to come at Malfoy's expense.
"So - you got married, huh?"
He shoots me a look and goes back to stuffing his clothing and personal items into his overnight bag.
"Right, Potter. As if you didn't hear me the first time. We got drunk and got married. Now I need to take her home to meet mother, if that's okay with you?"
The Malfoy sneer is firmly in place when he glances up at me, his mocking question hanging in the air.
"By all means," I wave my hand as if to say 'carry on'. "I'll just go fetch Ron and 'Mione. I'm sure they'll want to meet - what was your name again?"
Draco's wife is just as much of a peach as Draco himself. Her own sneer, however, is no where near as intimidating as his own, though she puts heart into it.
"Willow."
"Fine, then. I'm going to go tell Ron and 'Mione to get their arses over here so they can meet Willow before you run off."
Before he can say a word, or a hex, to stop me, I'm off and running to Ron's room. Hermione is in there, I can hear her laughter from the hallway. "Open up!" I call, banging on the door. There is an 'eek' of surprise and then some scrambling. I can only imagine what they were doing before I interrupted - not that I want to imagine them doing . . .*that* - they're my best friends for Merlin's sake!
"Wha's wrong?" Ron mutters, glaring at me as soon as he has the door open wide enough to do so.
"You two are not going to believe this." I am laughing already as I try to get out what happened, and as soon as I've explained it all, Ron is joining in, with Hermione sputtering in the background.
"You have got to be kidding, mate. Malfoy? Married?"
"It is much more believable once you've met her - she's just as unpleasant as he is." I toss in, leading them down the hall to the room I had been unfortunate enough to share with Malfoy.
The door is still half-open when we get there, and I know right off that I've missed my chance. She's gone. He's gone. The room is empty except for my things.
"They left." I sigh, shrugging.
"Right," Hermione smirks. "You're just making it up, Harry. No one in their right mind would marry Malfoy."
My 'friends' don't bother giving me a chance to defend their accusations before leaving to do Lord knows what in their own room. That's when I notice the note on the bed, in Malfoy's perfect script.
'Couldn't let you have all the fun, Potter. See you around.'
I laugh and ball the paper into a crumpled mass before tossing it at the trashcan across the room. It bounces off the rim, falling to the floor. He thinks he's won, but never fear -
He will never be allowed to forget this.
Never.