five hours with draco malfoy;

Part fifteen

DRACO was walking through the long corridors of the castle still unable to get Annelisse out of his head.  He hoped to get this over with quickly and try to get back to her.  He was totally frustrated and even somewhat angry with what had recently happened.

When what he wished for was about to happen, Professor McGonagall appeared and made everything vanish in less than an instant, as if he had been hit hard.

What he also kept thinking about was what his parents were doing at school, taking into account that he was coming home tomorrow, so he did not find it any sense that they had come a day earlier.

As he made his way to Dumbledore's office as Minerva had instructed, he was thinking of some way that he could see Annelisse alone afterward.  He turned the corner, discovering the hallway that led to his office as he kept walking and took a deep breath.  He never knew what mood his parents would be in, so he always prepared for it just in case.

As he approached, he could see Dumbledore, along with his parents, leaving the office, going down the stairs.  When they saw him, they walked decisively towards him.

"Draco Lucius Malfoy, where the hell have you been?"  Narcissa scolded him as she finished approaching.

"Busy."  He lied, to which none of them responded and he sighed "What are you doing here?"

"We have personally come to deliver the invitations to the Ball to Dumbledore and Snape, and since we were here, we came to pick you up and go home. Dumbledore has agreed to let you leave the day before."

"I don't want to leave, mother."

"What, why not?"  She was confused.

"Because I don't want to."  He looked at his parents with a slight frown "You've come for nothing. Tomorrow I'll come with the Hogwarts Express."  Draco, under other circumstances, would have left without question, but since what happened with Annelisse, he wanted to stay and hopefully be with her once more.

Dumbledore, faced with the situation, felt somewhat uncomfortable and cleared his throat "I'd better leave you alone. If you'll excuse me..." he said and smiled at all of them before going back to his office.

Narcissa, after watching Dumbledore leave, snorted looking back at Draco. "Couldn't you have warned us?"

"Couldn't you have done it?"  He replied.

"It's up to you. Don't expect me to pick you up at the station tomorrow. You'll come through the Floo network." Lucius blurted out making a disapproving face at that reply.

"I don't care."  He made a nonchalant face, although he did not feel like that at all.  As much as he wanted to try to get along with his father, he had a hard time with it and Lucius made it really difficult at times.

"Draco, we'd been thinking about, since it's your last year at Hogwarts, inviting the Parkinson's, Zabbini's, Goyle's and Crabbe's."  Narcissa explained somewhat unsure, since she did not know how he would react.

"Sounds good to me."  Draco smiled slightly at her, which caused both, Narcissa and Lucius, to raise an eyebrow in surprise.  It is been a long time since they saw Draco smile, even if it was just a little "And I want you to add someone to the list." Added.

"Who?"  She asked.

"Annelisse. I've already invited her."

Narcissa watched Draco curiously, thinking. The fact he invited someone and specifically a girl, was not usual at all. He had never wanted to make an appearance at the Ball for many years and that surprised her.