9«The End

The next morning, Justine awoke to hear a knocking at the door and a small voice saying, “Master Draco, Master Draco!” She could tell it was one of the house elves. However, she wondered why it’d be trying to wake Draco up.

Then the door opened slowly. Justine wasn’t facing the door, but she could just imagine the little creature coming in very carefully. Luckily, Draco’s arm was around her with a blanket. “Master Draco, please wake up!” It said.

Draco moved as he was coming out of his sleep. He heard the voice and knew it wasn’t Justine’s. He moved enough to look over his shoulder and when he saw the small creature’s large eyes staring back at him, he quickly sat up. “What do you think you’re doing in here!?” He yelled. “Get out!”

“Draco, don’t yell, please,” Justine said quietly rolling over.

“Forgive me sir, but your father requests your presence downstairs at once. He told me to come get you.” The elf backed away nervously, obviously afraid that Draco would cast a spell on him.

“My father’s here already?” Young Malfoy asked.

“Yes sir. It’s already noon, sir. He’s been home for an hour.”

“Damn,” Draco said. “Fine, go now.” The elf left and Draco quickly got up and started getting dressed. “Better hurry,” he told Justine. “And I’d suggest wearing the best you brought.”

Justine’s legs trembled from nerves as she dressed herself and fixed her hair into a high ponytail. This was it. The only thing that she had to worry about was if Draco’s father could tell that she was a muggle born.

Draco quickly walked down the stairs with Justine following close behind. He was told by another elf that his father was in the dining room having tea. Draco walked through the entrance of the room with his head held slightly higher than usual.

Lucius Malfoy looked up from his copy of the Daily Prophet. His features resembled Draco quite a bit. His bleached blonde hair hung down to his shoulders, his eyes were gray, and his nose seemed to have a slight hook in it. He eyed his son and said, “Ah, Draco. Sleeping later than usual I see.” His attention quickly turned to Justine. “And she is?” He asked quickly.

“Justine Tidewater,” Draco responded moving to the side a little so Justine could step up.

Justine’s heart pounded in her chest as she watched Mr. Malfoy looking her up and down deciding if he liked her appearance. She almost jumped when he spoke to her. “I take it you’re my son’s new girlfriend.”

“Yes sir,” she responded.

He looked at Draco. “Pureblood?” He asked quickly, as if trying to hide his words from Justine. Draco nodded yes. “Excellent. A nice catch Draco. However,” he paused looking at her. Justine quickly froze. “I had planned on taking you to the shop, if you will. But obviously, you’ve made other plans.”

“We’re going to her place later in the afternoon,” Draco informed him.

“Oh. So a day of meeting the parents, I see.” He smirked. Now Justine knew where Draco’s trademark smirk came from. “Well, go do as you wish.” He sipped his tea and continued with his reading.

«««

The rest of the day at Malfoy Manor seemed a lot easier now that Justine had met Draco’s father. “He doesn’t seem that bad,” she said as they were packing their things.

“That was only five minutes,” Draco told her as he zipped his bag closed. “Ready?”

“Yup.”

One of the servants carried their things downstairs where Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy waited in the main entrance hall. Draco let his mother give him a hug, and to Justine’s surprise, his mother gave her a small hug as well.

“Have fun, dear. See you when school gets out,” she said.

Mr. Malfoy didn’t say anything that Justine heard as she walked out the front door. Draco was a second behind her, so she was sure that he told something to his son.

They arrived at Justine’s house, which was on the opposite side of London, around five o’clock that night. The sky was orange and red in the sunset, and a cool breeze blew at their hair as the walked up the front steps.

Before Justine even had time to open the door, her father appeared with a wide smile. “Welcome home, dear!” He said. He was a hefty man with a beard, not being short and fat, but also not tall and thin. “And this must be Draco. We’ve heard so much about you, lad.”

They walked inside the small farmhouse and put their bags on the floor. Draco looked around curiously with a raised eyebrow. The house was nothing he’d ever seen before. It was bright with electric lights, simple furniture all around, and most things seemed to resemble muggle-type items.

Mrs. Tidewater’s voice snapped him back to reality. “Justine! I’m so glad you’re home,” she said happily giving her daughter a hug.

“Thanks,” the daughter replied. “Mom, Dad, this is Draco Malfoy.”

Mr. Tidewater outstretched his hand, which Draco hesitated at first in shaking. “Come into the living room and we can talk.”

They all walked into a small sitting room with a couch and two cushy chairs. On his way into the room, Draco couldn’t help but notice that all the pictures were motionless. He took a seat next to Justine as he was still examining the room.

“Well, what have you guys been up to?” Mrs. Tidewater asked.

Justine smiled. “We went to Draco’s house for two days and then came here. He took me horseback riding and we went on a trip with two of his brooms.”

“Sounds like fun. Oh, Jeff, could you start a fire?” Justine’s mother asked her husband.

“Um, yes, I’ll just get my wand…” he said in a fake tone, which Draco picked up on.

“Oh don’t worry about it, Dad. I’ll handle it.” Justine took her wand out of her cloak pocket and said, “Inflamaray.” A large fire started in the brick fireplace.

“Thank you, Justine.” Mr. Tidewater turned to Draco. “So, tell me about yourself, Draco.”

Draco shrugged. “There’s nothing much to tell. I’m a pureblood wizard, my father is one of the governors of Hogwarts, and I live with my parents on their manor, where I grew up.”

Mrs. Tidewater looked rather embarrassed with her own house now. She looked at her husband as she asked Draco a question. “How did you and Justine happen to come across each other?”

“School,” Draco replied simply.

Justine giggled. “We’re in a few classes together. I told you how we won the dance contest and all, remember?” Both her parents nodded.

Draco turned his head for a moment and noticed a peculiar object sitting on a table next to him. “What’s this?” He asked.

Justine looked at her father quickly. He thought for a moment on how to explain it. “It’s called a telephone. The, em, muggles use them to contact each other, like we do with birds.”

Draco nodded suspiciously. “I like to collect some of the fascinating muggle things,” he quickly added to support the fact that it was in the house.”

Mrs. Tidewater stood up when there was an uncomfortable silence. “Justine, why don’t you show Draco to the guest room. Dinner will be ready soon.”

Justine agreed and Draco followed her up the small staircase to the second floor. “In here,” she said walking into an open door. “Sorry that you can’t stay in my room with me, but my parents would never approve.” She turned with a smile. However, that smile quickly faded when she saw the serious frown on Draco’s face.

“What’s the matter?” She asked with a small laugh. “I know its small, but…”

“So how long were you planning on playing this little game?” He asked cutting off the rest of her sentence.

“What?” She asked innocently.

He walked in past her and then turned around. “How stupid do you take me for? Did you not think that I’d figure it out?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…” Justine lied.

“You know damn well what I’m talking about. You’re one of them!” His voice rose as he accused her. Her face turned into a terrified look. “You lied to me! You’re a blasted mudblood, aren’t you?”

Justine looked away at the wall. “Yes.”

Draco’s jaw shifted and he turned his head. “You spent the entire year lying to me? Telling me that you’re a pureblood, saying that you’re parents came into a fortune, telling me that they were educated wizards, and then you caused me to actually fall in love with you, and I find this out?!”

“Draco, let me explain…”

“You’re father isn’t even wealthy, is he? There never was an aunt.”

“My aunt had died and we moved into her house. Only she didn’t have a small fortune,” she admitted. She waited for a moment studying his angry face. “Draco, please…”

“Shut up.” He turned his back on her. “I’m leaving first thing tomorrow morning. Don’t bother coming back with me. And I don’t ever want to see you’re disgusting face again!” He snapped.

“You can’t honestly mean…” Justine started, tears filling her eyes.

“Get out!” He shouted as he turned quickly at her.

Justine immediately ran out of the room, down the stairs, and out the front door. Her parents heard the yelling and quickly got up from their seats when they saw their daughter leave the house.

Mr. Tidewater looked up the stairs. “Don’t let him leave,” he told his wife. He then went outside to find Justine.

Sitting on the porch steps, Justine’s head rested on her knees, and tears streaking quickly down her face. She knew her father had taken a seat down next to her, but she didn’t feel like talking much.

“So, what happened?” He asked calmly looking straight ahead.

Justine didn’t speak for a moment. “He figured it out.”

Mr. Tidewater looked at her. “But wasn’t it wrong to lead him on like this? True, he shouldn’t have yelled at you, but it’s not right for you to lie to him, Justine.”

“Are you trying to take his side?”

“No, I’m just telling you that you’re both wrong. Now I don’t know this Draco guy very well, but he comes from a wealthy background. And obviously he was taught to hate people like us.”

“I loved him Dad,” she said looking at her father with tear filled eyes.

“I know sweetie, I know,” he said holding her in his arms as she cried onto his shoulder.

Meanwhile, upstairs in the guest bedroom, Draco sat on the edge of the bed holding his head in his hands. He struggled as much as possible to hold back the tears that wanted to weld up and fall down his face. His temper got the best of him, though, when he stood up and took the nearest thing to him and threw it to the floor. He looked at the shattered vase and suddenly the tears were freed. Never in his life had he cried over something like this. In fact, it was very rare that he cried at all.