Planned Liars • Draco Malfoy

Chapter #13

Almost everyone's eyes turned to me and they began cheering and shouting. Hermione whirled around to see who got the bouquet and when she saw that it was me, she ran to hug me, taking me by surprise.

"Congratulations!" she shouted over the happy voices. "I think you know what's coming, huh?" she nudged me with her elbow, then jerked her head towards the back of the room as the music restarted.

I looked in the direction she had showed me and smiled, having found Draco with my eyes.

"Yeah. I know," I told her, grinning, then bid goodbye once again and made my way towards him.

"You know what this means?" I asked him, showing him the bouquet of light orange roses in my hand.

"No? What was that thing, anyways? Some Muggle bull..."

"It means I'm the next person to get married," I cut him off, still smiling.

Draco raised his eyebrow at me, intrigued. He cleared his throat.

"Oh, well. It's the first Muggle tradition I've heard of that makes sense."

"Come on," I grabbed his hand and we quickly Apparated back to the Manor.

"So," Draco said as we stepped into the bedroom, ready to go to sleep, "does it mean we can start planning our own wedding?"

I looked up at him, smiling.

"Definitely."

I saw Draco's office at the Ministry. It was big and beautifully decorated, mostly in dark colours. He was sitting by his desk, studying some papers, when suddenly someone knocked on the door.

"Come in," he said, not even looking up from the papers. The door opened, revealing a blonde boy of around thirteen. He held strong resemblance to Draco.

"Hello, father," he said quietly, closing the door behind him. Draco looked up eventually.

"Oh, it's you," he said, almost disappointed. "Sit down and don't disturb me," he added, looking back at the papers.

The boy sighed and with a heartbreaking expression on his face, plopped down onto a black chair.

"Where is mum?" he asked and this time it was Draco's turn to sigh. He massaged his temple and looked at the boy strictly.

"Your mother is working, Scorpius, I thought you had understood that finally."

The boy didn't reply as there was another knock on the door and Draco said "come in" again. It opened, revealing... Me?

I was wearing my usual navy blue Obliviator robes, but I looked a bit older than now and had a severe expression on my face.

"Draco, these are the docu..."

"Mum!" Scorpius shouted, causing Draco to slam his fist onto the table.

"Have you lost your mind, Scorpius? This is Mrs. Zabini, not your mother! Behave yourself!"

The boy opened his mouth, staring at me as though I came from another planet. I looked no less surprised.

"Seems that Arnold was right that Scorpius has been acting weird lately," I told Draco, walking up to his desk and then putting a few documents on it.

"Thank you. And I'm sorry, Aurora, I don't know what's got into him," Draco said quickly.

"But I don't understand!" Scorpius shouted suddenly, standing between us. "This is my mother! Aurora! Why are you..."

"Enough!" Draco slammed his fist on the desk again. "Scorpius, we're going home and I will tell you a thing or two about proper behaviour."

I looked from the boy to Draco, pure shock on my face.

"I guess that's why Scorpius has been kicked out of the team, then. But Arnold has been appointed captain now and says Scorpius can make a good Chaser. So..."

Draco interrupted me.

"It's not important. Scorpius has just earned himself a ban on Quidditch. For eternity."

"Father..."

"Don't even try," Draco hissed.

I sighed and walked up to the door, then put my hand on the handle.

"I have to go now, Draco. I need to go Diagon Alley with Arnold. He has been appointed a Prefect, too, and Blaise and I want to buy him new robes," I explained. "Oh, and you know what? Blaise has some really good connections at St Mungo's. He can get Scorpius an appointment in no time."

"Thank you," Draco said, clearing his throat, looking clearly uncomfortable.

"YOU LOVED EACH OTHER!" Scorpius shouted suddenly at us.

There was a moment of horrible silence. I smiled fakely at the boy, then turned to Draco one last time.

"Send my greetings to Pansy," I told him, about to leave the room and...

I woke up suddenly, breathing heavily as I looked around myself. I was on the bed in my old room in the Malfoy Manor. Draco was standing in front of the wardrobe, dressing up. He stopped when he noticed me sitting up and running a hand through my hair.

So it was only a dream.

"Aurora? What's wrong? You're pale," he asked, gaping at me.

"Yeah, it's just... Merlin, I had the weirdest dream ever. And I'm glad you are here," I told him and jumped out of the bed, then literally ran towards him to hug him. I had to be sure he was real and - thank Merlin - he was.

"Who else could be here?" he asked, shocked. He stopped buttoning his shirt as I wrapped my arms around him.

"You don't want to know," I mumbled, knowing he could have a fit if I mentioned Blaise. "But hell, I'm so glad you're here. And not anybody else."

Draco snorted.

"I don't know what's got into you all of sudden," he laughed at me, bemused. "I've known you for so long and I still don't get you at times."

"And vice versa, Malfoy," I replied, smacking him on the chest, hoping in my head that this dream would never come true.

Merlin, my brain had some issues.

An hour of teasing later, Draco and I were both at work. I was signing some papers, waiting for Mira to bring me some tea, but she was barely gone for twenty seconds when suddenly she was back.

"Miss Mullen, there is someone who wants to talk to you," she said, having opened the door just to tell me.

I looked up from the papers, intrigued.

"Let them in, then."

Mira nodded and opened the door more widely. A tall, very beautiful girl with dark blonde hair and blue eyes stepped into my office, smiling happily, clipboard in her hand. Mira had already been gone.

"Good morning," I said, standing up as she walked up to me, adjusting her emerald green robes.

"Hello, my name is Eunice Rys," she said as we shook hands. "I work for the Daily Prophet. Am I having the pleasure of talking to Mrs. Malfoy? Aurora Malfoy?"

"Technically I'm still Miss Mullen, but yes, I'm Mr. Malfoy's fiancée," I explained with a wide smile.

"Details, details," Eunice waved her hand carelessly. "The point is, as I have checked, you have a very interesting backstory, Mrs. Malfoy."

"And...?" I raised an eyebrow.

Eunice smiled in an almost unnatural way.

"And the entire wizarding world would like to hear it, of course."