Work Text:
Draco drapes the necklace around my neck, turning me to look in the shop changing room mirror. I put a hand on the lovely moissanite jewels, and he sets his chin on the crook of my neck. "You look so good, N/n. D' you want this, love?" I meet his silver blue eyes in the glass. "Oh, no, I couldn't. This is too much. You've already gotten me so many things." I gesture to the bags being carried by Dobby, filled with clothes and jewels and makeup and who knows what else. I tried to take the bags from the free house elf, but he literally ran away, squeaking about how he WANTS to do this. In the end, we compromised with me casting a spell to make the bags lighter. "You can never have too much, miss Y/n!" Dobby chimes. "Thank you Dobby," Draco says, a smug look on his face at the tag team. "That's why it's called a shopping spree, N/n. So I can spoil you." He spins me around, hands on my waist, and kisses me passionately. "Let me spoil you," He says against my lips. "Should Dobby leave?" I blush. "N-no, Dobby, we're fine. We can keep it in our pants for a few hours." Draco laughs. "Speak for yourself, love." I glare at him playfully, and he kisses my wrinkled nose before he takes the necklace off my throat, setting it back in the box with pale, slender fingers. He takes my hand and walks out to check out, thanking the woman behind desk. She seems surprised at the small kindness from a member of the notoriously snobbish Malfoy family. She leans across the counter, chest first.
"Such politeness from a Malfoy. How rebellious of you. Are the rumors true? That you're a bad boy-" He sneers, the snarky, mean character sliding easily across his beautiful face. "Don't flirt with me. You aren't worth my time, especially since you know I have a partner. Try flirting with someone in your league." She blinks. I walk up to him, heels clacking on the tile, and put a hand on his arm. "Don't be too aggressive, Draco." He looks at me lovingly. "Do you want me to get her fired?" She flinches, and I give her a dismissive look. "No, not worth the trouble. No need to care about her so much. Let's just go. The day is young, we still have time before we meet Pansy and Hermione for lunch." He nods, not bothering to look at the cashier twice as we walk out the door, the bell tinkling. Draco holds it open for Dobby, and takes my hand to help me over the small step. Then puts a hand on my waist as he leads us into Diagon Alley. The streets are bustling, people chattering, shopping, and just browsing the windows. We stroll through the neighborhood, cooing over clothing and accessories in the windows, passing Fred and George Weasley's joke shop. They wave to us from the window, and we wave back. I nudge Draco, and he follows my gaze to see Lorenzo Berkshire inside, seemingly very focused on some kind of vanishing powder. Draco laughs. "Oh, no. He's got new ideas." Lorenzo sees us, and waves. We wave back, and he winks at us, grinning and holding up a powder packet. He shakes it a little, and it explodes all over him. We laugh and move on.
We pass the sunlight filled streets, and step down the steps into Knockturn Alley, Diagon's darker kin.
I move closer to him on instinct. Then I realize why. It wasn't the sinister aura of the alley, I can handle that. No, it's the man standing in the corner, offering his services to all the women, no matter the age, as they pass by. I whimper quietly, pressing myself on Draco. He notices, sees what I'm looking at, and leads me to another empty side alley. He sets me on a bucket and kneels in front of me, not caring if his clothes get muddy. I can't tear my eyes away from the creepy man, memories of lust and pain flashing before my eyes. This alley is too small. It's closing in on me, and it's getting harder to breathe. Draco grips my chin and forces me to look at him. "N/n. It's not him." I snap my E/c eyes to his silver blue ones. He repeats it, not louder, but firmly, like he's trying to convince me. "It is not him. He's dead. Molly made sure of that. He will never hurt you again. In any way, shape, or form. Say it." My lower lip trembles. "I…he…" He puts both of his hands on my cheeks. "Say it."
"It's n-not hi-him." He nods. "Good girl. Again." I let out a shaky breath and put my hands on the black fabric that covers his shoulders. "It's not him. He's gone." He stands up, taking me with him. My legs shake, and he holds me to his chest. "Shh…s' okay, love. You're okay. You're here with me, alright?" Dobby tugs on his pants. "Is miss Y/n okay, master Draco?" Draco smiles at the house elf. "Yes, Dobby, she's gonna be alright. She just had a minor panic attack. Bad memories of her father." Dobby nods, frantically using the magic wipes he keeps on him to clean the dirt off Draco's pant legs. Draco coos softly, nuzzling into my hair. "Y' feeling better, love?"
His british accent, praising and reassuring, so soft and at odds with his usual commanding demeanor, grounds me, bringing me back to reality. I mumble a string of unintelligible thanks, and he kisses my head, stroking my back. He doesn't pull away first, waiting for me to make the first move. I cuddle into his warm chest, enjoying the feeling of his arms enveloping me. Then I step back, realizing my eyes are spilling over with tears. "Yeah, m' feeling better." He uses his thumbs to wipe the tears away. "Good girl. D'you want to continue shopping?" I nod, and he kisses me quickly before putting a hand on my hip and leads me back into the less busy streets of Knockturn. We walk into the closest shop to us, which happens to be Lady Nevermore's, one of the newer outlets. The iron bell tinkles as we walk into the shop.
The interior is large, with a dark ambiance that reminds me of the Slytherin dorm room. The walls are dark gray, and I coo as I walk along the dark pebbled floor, running my hands along the robes and dresses and suits hanging on the racks.
A bony woman with dark red hair hanging over her shoulders steps out, hands clasped in front of her dark green floor length dress.
"Velcome, velcome. And who do ve have herre?" She clacks toward us, putting her hands on my shoulders and looking up and down. "Vhat a beautiful couple. And vhat are ve looking forr?"
"Oh, we were just browsing." She tuts, and shakes her head. "No, no, ve must give you rrobes and drresses and luxorrious jewels. Forr a lovely body such as yourrs, ve must drrape in goddess like garrb." She's clearly trying to get me to spend more money. "Oh, no, I couldn't. I don't even-" Draco, the traitor, puts a hand on my shoulder. "Thank you! We don't have anything particular in mind, so you're more than welcome to style her as you wish." I glare at him, and he winks at me. "We can afford it. I'm spoiling you for the rest of your life, and I don't care if I have to drag you into luxury kicking and screaming." I sigh in exasperation, but can't help the smile that spreads across my face. He pokes me playfully, and I giggle. Lady Nevermore leads me to a stand in front of a mirror, chattering about the fabrics and "All ze fun she's going to have vith my lovely shape, dahling." Draco leans up against the mirror, arms crossed, one leg behind the other, watching as she measures and fusses. He smiles at me, and I smile back as Dobby helps Lady Nevermore by running around helping with supplies.
About a hour and a half later, Lady nevermore declares she's got the perfect dress in mind, and will have it done in a week, for she will work fast for such a masterpiece. Draco hands her a bag full of galleons as a down payment, then holds out his hand. I take it, and he helps me down, telling me we've got to get to Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlor to meet our friends. I nod, and we walk out, Lady Nevermore telling us we must come back soon.
We walk back into the light filled alley, making sure none of the wrong people see us coming out of the street notorious for dark arts. We hear someone shouting our names, and walk towards the women waving us over. We walk in, telling the waitress we're part of a party of four and getting directed to their table. Pansy Parkinson squeals and jumps up, hugging us tightly. "Oh my Merlin, I missed you two!" Hermione stands up, hugging us with much less intensity. "How've you been?" Draco pulls out a chair and sits me down. "We're alright. The business has been going well. How're you two?" Hermione grins as Pansy pecks her cheek. "We're doing well. Blaise is sorry he couldn't come. He's busy at the tattoo parlor." I nod in understanding, giving my order to the waitress. Blaise, Pansy, and Mione have been a throuple since sixth or seventh year. Blaise opened his own tattoo parlor to showcase his art and he got lots of business very quickly. Now, he's making quite a bit of money, enough to live in a small mansion.
Draco gratefully accepts his mint chocolate chip ice cream, and hands me my own F/ic/f Bowl. I take a big spoonful, and Draco laughs. "You already have ice cream on your nose."
"Oh, do I?" He keeps laughing as he uses a napkin to wipe off the cold dessert. Pansy rolls her eyes playfully at me. I kick her under the table, and Hermione giggles. Draco laughs with her, the two of them delighting in the pain their lovers are going through via the kicking match we're now having. I sigh at them, still swinging my legs at Pansy's boots. "Enemies bonded through finding our pain funny." Draco vehemently agrees as Mione asks Dobby if he wants ice cream, the house elf apparently being partial to vanilla. Hermione orders his along with her own strawberry, and Pansy requests chocolate. I take a sip of water. "You two didn't have to wait for us to order." Pansy says, "I told you, Mione." Hermione rolls her eyes at her girlfriend, then notices someone in the street. "Hi, Hagrid!" She waves to the large man lumbering down the street, his long bushy dark hair in front of his face. He sees us and waves a meaty hand, knocking into a street sign. "Oi! 'Ello, 'Ermione, Pansy. 'Ello Draco and Y/n! How're you lot doing?" We chorus back, and he chuckles before apologizing for knocking over the sign, fixing it, and walking off.
I smile, taking a smaller bite of ice cream, the cold stuff melting and filling my mouth with flavor very quickly. I hum happily, and lean back in my seat, rich bad girl appearances be damned. Draco follows suit, and now it's my turn to wipe ice cream off his slightly pointed nose. He giggles, and I see a flash of something in Pansy's eyes. Something akin to jealousy, perhaps? Or attraction? I can't tell. Either way, it gives me chills. I know she and Draco had a brief fling in fourth or fifth year, and I'm not sure she ever fully got over it. Pansy sees me looking at her, and smiles innocently. Maybe I just imagined it. She's way too sweet a girl to go after someone else's man. And besides, she had Blaise and Hermione. She's happy.
Hermione and I leave to get some drinks, and we end up talking about the rest of the gang. "So, Fred and George are doing well?"
"Yeah, they've been trying to get Blaise to buy moving ink, but he's pretty sure it attacks people, so he won't buy it."
"I wouldn't be surprised."
"And Tom and Mattheo? How are they doing?"
"Well! Tom's book shop is getting a lot of business. Apparently he's refused getting any more employees, but he might have to soon if he keeps expanding. And Mattheo's really happy with Theodore. They've even been bringing a third person into their relationship sometimes. I think they asked Charlie Weasley, did he tell you?"
"Yes! He was very happy with the results, I think." We laugh, and then I pause and sigh, the milkshakes burning my hands with cold. "And, um, Ronald? Has he…given any more thought to our proposal?" Hermione lets out a long breath. "He's…very stubborn."
"It's been nearly five years." She winces. "He knows. He…hasn't been doing so well lately."
"What happened?" She stares up at the sky. "He said something over Christmas dinner about…" She closes her eyes tight in pain at her once lover being so bitter and cruel, and refusing to even consider mending bridges. I can still recall with crystal clarity the Halloween night when she fought with him.
///"They were fucking CHILDREN, Ronald! How could you say something so vile!? We were all kids-"
"Yeah, but we didn't murder-"
"To SURVIVE-"
"We didn't murder, and we didn't betray our friends!"
"They killed to protect their friends! They killed to protect US!"
"Who the bloody hell cares?"
"THEN WHY ARE YOU BRINGING IT UP?" Lorenzo had stepped in, gently pulling Hermione away. "Calm down, Mione. Both of you stop before you say something you'll regret-" Ron had grabbed Enzo and punched him in the face. Enzo had stumbled back into Harry, who'd yelled, "What the bloody hell, Ron! I listened to them, tried to understand, and forgive them, why can't you do the same? You're my best friend, but you're acting like a git!"
"Who cares if they're traumatized? Slytherin's are evil death eater whores, all of them!" Hermione was crying. Harry was crying. Lorenzo, bloody hell, we were all crying. Except Ronald. He looked like he had just won an easy argument. And then Tom stepped forward. The look on his face had been murderous. "And there it is," He hissed. "The thing you'll regret saying. How dare you talk about them, about US, like that?" Ron had kept shouting, saying how we were all faking, how we were prostitutes for Voldemort, how probably none of us were raped, contradicting and tying himself up in knots just for a reason to hate us. And then-it all happened so damned quickly. Then, Ronald had lunged at Mattheo. Theodore had swept Mattheo up in his arm to protect him, his back turned to Ron. Ron had pulled out his wand, aiming to hurt, or possibly even curse, Theodore. Hemione had tried to grab him away, Ron had slapped her across the face. Tom had roared in anger at the assault on his brother and his partner and tried to curse him. Blaise held Tom back, but barely. No one held me back as I lunged and began punching Ron, breaking his nose. Lorenzeo was crying and trying to get us to stop fighting please. Ron had screamed at Hermione and Harry that they were traitorous Slytherin whores who were probably fucking all of us in our depraved orgys and apparated away.///
Hermione opens her eyes and says, "He said over Christmas dinner at the burrow that his Christmas wish was for all Slytherin's to get raped for real so they'd stop faking." I close my own E/c eyes in anger. "Molly threw him out."
"Arsehole," I mutter. "He deserved it. He's a grown man, and he need to learn the consequences of his actions." She sighs, but agrees, and we go back to the table.
Draco and Pansy are locked in what appears to be a heated debate. They stop when they see us. Draco looks upset, but plasters a smile on his face and kisses my cheek when I sit down. Pansy glares at me for some reason, but gladly takes her vanilla shake from Hermione. Okay. Weird. I'll ask Dray about it later. Dobby has ice cream in his ears.
The doors to Malfoy manor creak as we open them, stepping inside our home a few hours later. The scent of old leather and fresh mint blend well, and complement the dark ambiance. My heels clack loudly on the stone floor, echoing through the large halls. Draco smiles as Dobby runs straight up the stairs to put our new things away. "So…" He looks at me, kissing me softly before asking, "What's up?" I look away. "I dunno what you mean." He sighs and pick me up bridal style. I yelp, and he grins down at me before carrying me up the staircase to our room. He orders Dobby out and tosses me on the king sized bed we share, the soft blanket and pillows enveloping me. I sit up, and he crawls towards me, coming up between my open legs. He puts one hand on the sheets behind me, bracing himself, and the the caresses the back of my head, bringing me closer to him. "Tell me," He murmurs, leaning closer, staring at my lips. "What's wrong, N/n. You've been acting off since we left the ice cream parlor." I sigh as he brushes his nose to my neck. "I was just wondering…" He nuzzles higher, just under my ear lobe. "Mmm?"
"...What you and Pansy were talking about. Before me and Mione came back?" He pauses, then leans back, studying me. "Ah."
"Pansy gave me an odd look," I explain. "And you two stopped talking so suddenly. I was just curious." He hesitates, as if picking his next words carefully. "…We were…she was offering…" He clears his throat. "She was asking if I might like to…join her in the bedroom. She said she has a…hall pass. I told her no." My mouth drops open. "Wha-she didn't ask me! And a hall pass? What? Oh-oh-I-oh-" He puts a hand on my knee. "Calm down, love. It's okay. You know I would never, right?" I nod, still pouting. "Good. Then there's nothing to worry about. I set my boundary. If she disregards that, well…" He sighs, stroking my cheek with soft, pale hands. "…We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Okay?"
I nod, and he whispers, "Good girl," Before kissing me deeply and passionately. He slides his tongue into my mouth, exploring and claiming. "You're mine," He whispers, hands tightening on my knees and traveling up my body, to the pool of warmth waiting for him. "All mine." I kiss him back, threading my hands through his silky blonde hair and matching his energy. I claim and kiss and taste him, mint and leather and apples. "You're MINE," I growl, and he grins before pinning me down on the mattress, smiling at me. "I'm yours," He promises, and in his next kiss, he swears he'll be with me forever, a lifelong bond nobody can break, not even an ex flower who offers.
Pansy kissed Hermione before walking to her closet. They each had their own, on opposite sides of their shared bedroom. Hermione went downstairs, and Blaise was still at the parlor. Pansy walked into her closet, turned on the light, and locked the door behind her. She parted her clothes on their hangers to see a small hidden door etched in the wall. She opened it to reveal a little compartment, the walls of which were covered in pictures of Draco. Inside was a necktie she'd stolen in their fifth year, a ring he hadn't cared about, a small bag with a few strands of blonde hair. She kissed each and every thing, setting it down like she would a newborn. The hall pass excuse had been a lie, but Draco still didn't accept. He'd wanted to, she knew that, even if he didn't say it out loud. It was only Y/n that stopped him. She was so controlling. Pansy kissed the necktie again, inhaling the faint scent of Draco. She does love Mione and Blaise, but her Draco is like no other. She knows her loves her, but is afraid to show it because of that damned Y/n. The next time she saw them, they were having dinner at her house-the perfect opportunity to set her plan into motion. And that would be just the beginning. Once Y/n was out of the way for good, Draco would be all hers. Blaise and Hermione would be sad, of course, but she'd explain, and they'd understand, and Draco would love her so much, and they'd have kids together. Pansy pressed two fingers to her lips, then pressed hose fingers to the nearest picture, a magazine cut out. The digits left a mark of red lipstick on the paper. She did the same for all the others, whispering, "Soon, my Draco. Soon."