China Doll

Part 35

Draco POV:
Me and Nick both watched her go. I could practically feel her smirk. Nicholas glanced over at me, running a hand through his now pink hair. "She'll be good for you."

"I'm sorry, what?" I didn't understand.

"Dad told me. I think you can make each other happy." He glanced over again, smirking. "Provided no one else gets to her in the meantime."

I shrugged, clinging to my casual air. "She doesn't really have a choice you know." Saying it out loud hurt a bit. Our marriage was inevitable. But at some point I had come to wishing it wasn't so. That she could be free to pursue her own happiness. Even if it meant leaving me behind.

"I know." He offered me a wicked grin. "But who knows. She might just pick me over you." I snickered. Him over me? Really?

I turned towards the boys dorm intending to go up to my room. "Your lucky you only got away with pink hair. Knott got a broken nose."

"Yeah... wait. WHAT?!" I snickered again as I reached the stairs. Astoria was good. Nick's hair was probably his favorite thing about his looks.

"Don't worry. It's a decent shade."

Fred POV:
"I still don't understand. Why are we letting the slimeball take care of our best friend? Have you forgotten how terrible that ferret is?" I was still upset about how things had gone with Malfoy and I knew it was wearing on George's nerves.

"Have you listened to a thing Az has told us? Do you realize that everything we've heard about Malfoy has come from Harry and Ron? And if you aren't aware, they aren't exactly the most reliable source." We were walking down to dinner together when we stopped just shy of the Great Hall.

"Hello Fred. George." The nervous Gryffindor fidgeted with his robes. "Could I um, sit with you today? Ron and Hermione aren't exactly happy with me right now."

"Had a disagreement?"

Harry nodded. "About this morning, yeah." Me and George shared a look. It'd been a while since we'd actually eaten in the Great Hall.

"Sure. Don't exactly know where we'll be sitting though."

"The... Slytherin isn't with you then?" The question came out awkwardly, like he knew it was a sensitive subject. George sighed quietly.

"She'll probably eat in her common room today."

He nodded again. "That's... good. So, do you want to go in? Or are we headed to the kitchens?" Me and George took a peak inside. The Great Hall was a bustle of noise and movement. Looking over at the Gryffindor table, at the chatter and cheer, felt... strange. Especially when we glanced over at the Slytherins. They talked amongst themselves, but it wasn't nearly as full, and all the students seemed stiff. Like they were waiting for the next blow, but trying to cover it up. It got harder to tell the older you went, but they couldn't quite cover their suspicious gazes when someone was looking for them.

"I think we should head to the kitchens."

"We get more food there anyhow."

Harry just nodded again and we started to walk off towards the kitchens.

"Is.. is she ok?" I glanced over at Harry before making eye contact with George.

"She'll be fine."

"She's tough." But she shouldn't have to be. It remained unspoken but I could almost feel it in the air.

"Good. It's just, some of the things Hermione said.... I didn't hear all of them, but they weren't nice."

"Is that what you argued about?"

"Partially. I asked her what she said, and told them we shouldn't do it again. Ron started defending her and talking about how I'd never objected before... and soon enough we were all yelling. It was just a huge mess. And I don't want... I don't want to have to deal with it anymore. The shouting, the arguments. It was almost like the Dursley's all over again."

"Minus the starvation, horrible housing, and obvious favoritism."

"I'm not so sure about the favoritism. But yeah. I'm starting to think Ron's only my friend because of my scar. And Hermione's our friend because she has nobody else." We didn't have a lot to say to that. We stayed quiet for a bit. "So.. how's the shop going?"

"Oh we're getting a great start. They're starting construction right now. So when we graduate we can begin mass producing our products and selling them."

"We've already got a few products ready. They've undergone lots of testing. We just need to get them on the market. We've even filled out all the paperwork."

"So that's what you were doing this summer."

"That and going over construction details."

"We still get monthly updates."

"Which can be annoying sometimes. I mean, what do we know about balance beams and enchanted floorboards."

"I mean, sure we could learn, but we very much prefer..."

"..more interesting things to study."

We fell into this familiar rhythm, and continued talking the rest of the way to the kitchens. Even without Astoria there, the banter between me and George completely filled the space. It was the best feeling once we got rolling, especially when talking about something we were so passionate about. This was right. This was home.

This chapter is abut shorter than most, and apologize for this somewhat lengthy authors note. I've been thinking about starting another Harry Potter fic, with a mix of dramione and drastoria in it. Maybe even a little blinny? It would take place after the war, it'd be one of those "eight year" stories, but yet, hopefully, completely different. Please comment and let me know what you think. I'd still continue writing this, it'd probably just be updated less often. Thank you for reading, and have a great Thanksgiving! ~M.H.