Love and Hate: A Dramione

Chapter 31

Knock. Knock.

"Come in," a low voice hissed.

"Good evening, my lord," a tall, thin man entered, bowing deeply. He turned to the other occupant in the room. "Lucius."

"Ahh, Avery," Voldemort greeted. "What news do you have? Good things, I hope."

"I'm sorry my lord but I'm afraid my news is less than satisfactory," Avery replied, his voice trembling. "The giants are refusing to cooperate."

"Did they say why?" Voldemort asked, anger simmering underneath his voice.

"They...they want more money, my lord."

"Outrageous!" Voldemort exclaimed, slamming his fist on the table, making the other two jump. "We're already giving them more than they deserve." In a calmer voice, he turned to the Malfoy patriarch. "Lucius?"

"I'm afraid we don't have much more to give my lord," Lucius replied carefully. "Most of our funds have been spent on the cause."

"Well, we shall just have to find more money then, won't we?"

oOoOoOoOoOo

Draco,

I was happy to hear that despite breaking things off with Pansy, you have managed to find a more superior match in Genevieve Harrington. The Harringtons are an influential family and ties with them are most welcome. We would like to be better acquainted with Miss Harrington and so we cordially invite both of you to dinner this Friday night at the Manor. Do not be late.

Father

oOoOoOoOoOo

"How about here? We can try to get in this way and – "

"No, that won't work – "

"I haven't even finished – "

"And I'm telling you it won't work – "

"Let me at him! Let me at him!" Fred said in a loud voice as he entered the room, interrupting the beginning of another disagreement between Harry and Draco.

"Alright, let's get this party started!" George added with a whoop as he followed his brother in.

"Fred, George, really," Molly admonished.

"Mum, really," the twins chorused, their tone matching their mother's. They looked around the room. "Dad, really...Tonks, really...Kingsley, really..." and on and on they continued, greeting everyone in the room in the same manner. "Neville, really...Luna, really – "

"Hang on," George said, pausing. "Where's Ron?"

At this everyone looked at each other. Harry and Draco both clenched their fists, the only time they were synchronized with anything.

"He's a bit preoccupied with drowning his sorrows in Firewhisky at the moment," Ginny said, laying a hand on Harry's arm in an effort to calm him. "Besides, sober or not, Draco here would never let him within a hundred feet of Hermione. After how Ron treated her, I don't blame him."

If anyone was shocked at Ginny's use of Draco's first name, no one showed it.

"Blimey, we leave for a few days to promote our products on the continent and everything falls apart," observed George. "Can't you lot look after yourselves?"

"What happened?" asked Fred.

"It's a long story." Ginny sighed. "Basically, he's getting sloshed because Genevieve dumped him."

"The Harrington girl?" George asked disgustedly. "Really Mum, are you sure you didn't find Ron abandoned in Knockturn Alley? He's so un-Weasley like, he's worse than Percy."