Who's ready for another chapter!
And a very long one at that!
It's been soooo long!
I missed you all!
I'll keep writing more, I promise.
I really do miss writing, too.
@acciosmilesforever is back! I'm so freaking happy I can't stand it!
And @hiroki, and @stephy-wants-adventure, and @im-a-dancer, and @kjerstin-elizabeth, and @the-banana-queen,
and everyone else that I'm so super duper happy to talk to again, too! I can't wait to hear your comments. How I've missed those too! <3
Here it is! :D Please enjoy!
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I don’t really remember going home, or getting into my pajamas (which were only Draco’s Slytherin Quidditch t-shirt that I’d taken a particular fondness to wearing), or getting into bed, but when I woke up the next morning, I looked down and saw that I was indeed in the shirt, tucked into bed, with Draco laying asleep beside me while draping his arm across my back.
I also realized I had a pounding headache and was still groggy from the night before. I tried to sleep again, but it didn’t work, so I settled for scooting really close to Draco, my face a couple inches from his on his pillow, and suddenly blowing very hard into his face. His eyes burst open, and I grinned, and he suddenly jumped and flailed, falling onto the floor.
“Oops.” I whispered. “You weren’t supposed to fall off, drama queen!”
Draco just looked at me. “What time is it?” he asked sleepily, his eyes barely open, still kneeling on the ground where he’d fallen.
“Like 9?”
“We’ve had 4 hours of sleep, Elizabeth.” he groaned, flopping back on the bed.
“Is that why I’m groggy and have a MASSIVE headache?” I questioned, scooting over closer because I was cold from the blankets being flung off the bed.
He snorted. “No, that is not why you have a massive headache and are groggy.” he chuckled. “You better be glad I’m a respectful man or I could’ve banged you last night. And you would’ve happily let me.”
“Banged me?”
He gave me a sideways glance and my eyebrows shot up. He laughed. “You were so drunk.”
“What was that you put in my drink, anyway?” I cried.
“Shh. Be quiet. My parents are probably still asleep.” he shook his head. “And just a little something to make you not remember things. You were already taking everything too hard. You could’ve blown our cover if people had noticed, or if you had objected.”
“So naturally you get me so drunk I wouldn’t have remembered it if I’d given up my virginity last night.” I muttered, scowling into his shirt.
He smirked. “You’re a virgin?”
“You didn’t know that?”
“Nope. I most certainly did not.” he laughed a little.
“Who did you think I’d given it up to?”
“Many of the guys at Hogwarts boasted that they’d slept with you, Elizabeth.” My eyes widened.
“Was I supposably very good?”
“According to them.” he chuckled. “I can’t believe you’re a virgin. Ha, miss innocent.”
“And you’re not.”
“Definitely not.” he laughed a little harder.
“It wasn’t a question.”
“Then I was agreeing.”
“What were you like 15?! That’s so not okay!”
“I was 15 and a half, thank you very much!”
“And you lost it to a girl named after either a flower or a puss-”
“Elizabeth!”
“I’m just saying!”
“What would Phil say if you said that in front of him?”
“He’d probably roll his eyes.”
“Probably.”
“This headache is not fun.”
“Is this your first hangover?” I nodded. “Ha ha. Enjoy!”
“You gave it to me!”
“That is beside the point.”
“Go back to sleep!” Lucius yelled from up stairs. Then all we could hear was mumbling of something along the lines of ‘their own house’. I chuckled.
“Your dad is not a fan of us staying here.” I smiled, my eyes shut against his shirt.
“That reminds me… I need to show you the place I think we should build our house. It’s so perfect.” he said, rubbing my back.
“I’d like that.” I agreed.
“But for now, I want to sleep more.” he yawned, pulling the blanket up to my neck again. “Go back to sleep. I don’t want to be up for another, eh, 5 hours, so I suggest you find something to do with your time other than waking me up.” he glared down at me and I laughed a bit.
After he woke up about 6 ½ hours later, I found that the rest of the Seekers had done the same, and most were nursing hangovers like I was. Draco seemed to be one of the only ones who hadn’t gotten completely drunk, along with Lillian and Thorfinn. Even Phil was nursing a nice migraine when he showed up to the Estate at about 6 that evening.
I lay on the couch with an ice pack over my face when he walked in and kissed my forehead. “Morning, love.” he whispered.
“Hi.” I mumbled.
“Where’s Draco?”
“I think he went to go find the best way to the place he wants our house to be. I’m not completely sure, though.”
“He has it picked out?”
“Apparently.”
“Is it good?”
“I dunno. I’ve never seen it.”
Phil snorted. “Oh, hey Wes.”
“Hello.” I could hear from his tone that Wes was indeed nursing a hangover worse than my own. I heard him laugh a little though. “Your first hangover, Lizzie?”
“Why the heII are you calling me Lizzie?” I grumbled.
“Guess so.” I could hear the smirk.
I sat up and glared at him. “Yours is worse.”
“But mine’s not my first.”
“So?”
“The first is always the worst.” Draco chimed in, walking through the back door and putting his cold hands on either side of my face- which felt amazing for my migraine, lemme tell you.
“Well it’s YOUR fault, Malfoy, so you can just shut up.” I laughed.
“Well, MARLOW, I did it for your own good-” his eyes flicked to Wes, whose own eyes darkened with understanding, and I looked down. “Anyway,” he kissed the top of my head and stood straighter. “I have to go speak to Thorfinn, then we’ll go see the house site, okay?” I nodded without looking up and he left the room, followed by Phil.
Wes sat down beside me and I leaned my head on his shoulder. “What was it like?” I asked quietly. He put his arms around me.
“Just like it was for you.”
I was about to reply when I heard a voice from behind us say, “Aren’t you engaged or something?”
“Yes I am. Do you have a problem with it?” I replied, annoyed.
“I personally don’t, but I’m sure your fiancé, and all the men in that office, would behave otherwise.”
I sighed madly and turned, glaring at Finnigan. Standing up, I walked around the couch to stand square in front of him. Although he was still much taller than I was, crossed my arms and gave him one of my famous steely glares. “Listen. Before, I was as polite as someone could be to somebody like you. But now that you’re in the organization, I don’t have to be. I am above you, whether you like it or not, because I have /earned/ it. And because of my position of seniority /above yours/, you will NOT speak to me like that. Draco knows that Weston and I are best friends, and so does the rest of the Seekers’ organization. But no matter what I do, you DO NOT question it, or stick your filthy little nose in business which is not of your concern. Am I understood?”
He snickered. “Ma’am yes ma’am.” Then he narrowed his eyes, but still had a small smile that somehow reminded me of a rat. “And by the way, ma’am, your bruises look very becoming on your frail face.” he then proceeded to push his fingers across my eye where he’d hit me only days before and turned, walking away. Blinded by pain for a moment, I staggered, then I felt fire rise up in my stomach.
That was when I kicked his feet out from under him and began punching him in the face with all the force I could muster. He flipped me over and tried to do the same, but I got him in an arm bar and held on tight. But before I could break something out of socket like I planned, Wes and Draco were in the middle of us, hauling us apart.
Finn’s nose was bleeding and he’d definitely have some nice bruises from our little brawl, whereas I wasn’t too much worse than what I’d been before. Sure, my bruises may be a little darker, but now he’d have them too. Which was all that mattered.
“Elizabeth! What the-” Draco hissed, holding me back. “And you!” he didn’t even finish his sentence before spinning on Finn. “That’s the second time.” He shoved Finn’s chest. Hard. “The SECOND TIME!” he repeated, the veins in his neck bulging as he shoved Finn again.
“Draco!” Wes put a hand on both Finn’s chest and Draco’s. They all stood about the same height, and were about the same size in general. “If you two don’t quit, it’s gonna be /really/ bad. For all of us.” He gave us all pointed looks and I pursed my lips. “What if Phil had come out and not Draco? Your ass would’ve been grass, bud.” he said to Finn. “Now I suggest that Draco, if you are finished with your business with Thorfinn, take Elizabeth to go see that site you were talking about. Walk there. Exercise would be a positive thing for you right now.” Draco’s jaw was still set and stiff as he nodded curtly and backed away, still facing Finn. He didn’t break eye contact until he walked out the door, following me protectively.
We were silent for a while, walking down a thin, slightly worn path that lead around the lake and up the hills that surrounded it. Draco paused at one place about 2 miles from the Estate, and about 2 miles from the Manor. Exactly at the top of the triangle.
“This is it.” he said, smiling a little. There were some rather large trees around us, and a little stream that had been here since as long as I could remember - the lake was a natural one, after all - was at the base of it. We could easily see both our childhood houses, and they could see ours. I imagined that wasn’t just because he liked the location, and partly because of the safety. Because Phil’s house was only about 4 miles from this spot, too. I turned and could see it, too. “What do you think?” he asked, snapping me from my thoughts.
I smiled too, looking over my shoulder to where he stood. He grinned a little bigger, encouraged by my reaction, and began explaining his plans. I realized that he’d really put some serious thought into this, and was trying to blend each of our tastes and personalities into every piece.
“-and this tree will be right outside the kitchen, cause I thought you’d enjoy a good view while and if you cooked or while we ate breakfast, with that wall full of windows, or maybe even a wall of windows, I don’t know, I haven’t gotten that far. And the entire 3rd floor will be our bedroom, and we’ll be able to see 360 degrees around the house, so we can see the sunrise and sunset and everything in between. And we’ll have covered porches and balconies and-” I laughed a little to myself, just enjoying him throw himself into something so thoroughly. He was obviously enjoying it, and besides, every man needs a project.
When he finished and took a breath, I sat down and took his hand, tugging him down with me. “This is really great, Draco.” I smiled, looking around. He looked proud. “I do need to talk to you about something, though.”
He face darkened. “Don’t tell me I was wrong about getting into it with Finn, cause I-”
I rubbed his hand a little. “No, no. It’s not something like that. Actually it’s not bad. I was just wondering, well, what you thought of me possibly quitting my job with the dragons and being here?”
Draco frowned in concern. Now he was the one rubbing my hand. “But you love your job.” he said sadly.
“Yeah, I do. And I’ve learned a lot from it. But I feel like I need to be here. If I had to, I could work, well, I dunno, I could find a job or something-”
“No, we can definitely afford to have you quit.” he laughed. “But I don’t understand why you want to.”
“I just have this feeling like I need to be here. I feel like something will happen soon, and I need to be here for it.” I sighed. “Plus, I don’t want to be a newly wed halfway across the world from my husband.”
Draco smiled a bit and kissed my hand. “Then you do what you feel is right.” We sat there for a few more minutes then stood and walked back. We walked through the door and when we walked past Finn, Draco deliberately walked between him and I.
“Elizabeth.” Phil called, walking around a corner. He seemed to have been waiting for me.
“Hey, Phil.” I replied cheerfully, then noticed he wasn’t smiling at all. He stood with his hands behind his back, looking down almost disdainfully. “Is- is everything okay?”
“No, actually, it’s not.” he answered. “Both of you need to come with me.” he jerked his head outside. “I’ll be out in a moment.” I frowned and nodded, Draco following me out the back door to the yard behind. When Phil returned, Finn sulked behind him. I tensed, and so did Draco.
“What do you want, Phil?” I asked apprehensively, looking between him and Finn.
“Do you know anything about these bruises and cuts that are already showing on Finn’s face?” he hissed, pointing as if we hadn’t noticed them. I tried not to smirk.
But I also couldn’t lie to Phil. “Maybe a thing or two.” I crossed my arms.
Phil’s eyes narrowed. “How about, say, who engaged in a fight with him and possibly the reason?”
“Maybe…”
“Elizabeth. I’m not joking around. The only people in the house that would take this bloke on would be Thorfinn, Dad, ME-” he spat into Finn’s ear, “-and then you, of course, and Draco, and Wes would only to protect you. So. I know it’s between you, Draco, and Wes. Who spills first?”
“Draco didn’t do anything except stick up for me.” I sighed, looking down. “He walked in on the fight.”
“Alright. Draco, go.” Phil jerked his head again, this time toward the house.
“Phil-”
Draco was interrupted by the meanest glare I’d seen Phil ever give Draco. My mouth dropped. “I know we’re best friends, and I know we’re even in rank, but don’t get in the middle of this one, Draco.” Phil hissed. “I have a feeling this is a family matter that you have no business in, especially if a certain girl is the cause.” he glared again at me.
Draco stood straighter, stepping in front of me a bit. “You’re wrong, Phil. This is my business. Finn is my cousin, so he’s my family, no matter how much I hate it. So it concerns me. And your sister will be my /wife/ in a few months, so that is family too.”
“Step down, Draco.” Phil growled.
“No. I’m going to protect her. Period. That’s what you want me to do, isn’t it? No matter what, you want me to toe the line for her. I’m doing that now. You will not touch her. She’s already been smacked around enough.” I shook behind Draco. I’d never seen this happen between them before. But there was nothing I could do about it. I was the cause.
After a few agonizing moments of them glaring at each other, Phil nodded. “Elizabeth, I need a reason behind this fight. Thorfinn will notice, and I need to be able to back it up. No matter who was at fault.”
“He was talking down to me, telling me I couldn’t sit with Wes because I’m engaged, and then he said the bruises on my face from him hitting me the other night went well with my frail face so I decided to give him a few bruises of his own.” I explained.
Phil stiffened. “Is this true, Finnigan?”
Finn rolled his eyes. “No, she’s lying. She’s just pulling another one over on you, Phil. She knows she’s your favorite around, so she’s playing you. She always over exaggerates.”
“Bull!” Wes walked around the corner of the house. “Finn’s the one lying! He even purposefully pushed really hard on Elizabeth’s face to drive in his point! He’s the liar!” he repeated, obviously about as mad as Phil was.
Finn glared at Wes, but didn’t have much time to do so, because he was surprised by Phil’s fist in his gut, which gave a stomach- wrenching crunch- man my brother was strong!. “That’s for lying to my face and calling my sister a liar.” Then as Finn bent over, coughing up a lung (or two), Phil blindsided him with a punch to the face. “And that’s for hitting my sister. One more bruise could do you good.”
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