They stood close to each other in a comfortable silence for minutes before Draco spoke; not wanting to break the haze.
"Love, I need to go." I'm afraid your coworkers may start to get suspicious about your long interview with Draco Malfoy behind closed doors. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, his lips ghosting across her.
"You're right." She flattened out her clothes straightening her hair. She picked up his shirt and handed it to him.
He pulled the white shirt back over his arms, buttoning it up. "I would expect me to leave your office shirtless would raise some questions." He chuckled.
Draco headed for the door when Cora stopped him. "Wait! There's still blood on your shirt." She waved her wand removing the blood spots. "I will walk you out."
Together they made their way towards her office door. As Draco opened the door Cora chose to be brazen with him.
She spoke just above normal volumes to sell it for others to hear. "I appreciate you taking the time to come in and speak with me today, Mr. Malfoy. I will remind you of that regardless of what you think. You must continue to submit," she made sure to speak louder and emphasize the word submit, "your wand and home to my inspection as I see fit."
The tension in his shoulders was visible. His hands formed fists at his side. He cast a disapproving look at her as he descended the hallway with another word. A hiss escaped her. Draco did not seem thrilled with her role-play.
Jessie ran up to Cora by her office once Draco left. It was evident she had been watching the entire interaction waiting to leap into action.
"You guys were in there for over an hour. What do you have on him? First you scream at Gawain about how he's being too harsh on Draco Malfoy. Then Malfoy storms out of your office as you scold him about submitting to you! What is going on with that man? Professionally, I need to know since I must babysit mom and dad." Jessie plowed ahead with her barrage of questions.
Cora's tried to remember all her questions. But didn't really think of it like that. Did she scold Draco and tell him to submit to her......in public? A wave of panic grew inside her, there is no way he just lets that go.
"Earth to Cora DuPont, hello anyone home??" Jessie waved her hands in front of Cora trying to get her attention. "Are you just going to ignore all my 8 million questions."
Cora laughed. "That's your problem right there Jessie, 8 million. You said it yourself, 8 million questions. I can't even remember what you asked. Try one at a time and I might give you an answer."
Jessie rolled her eyes before she sighed. "Why did you have over an hour-long interview with Draco Malfoy if you were just telling Gawain we should back off?"
She pushed her tongue to the roof of her mouth, trying to think of an answer for that one. She regretted giving Jessie an opportunity for a pointed question.
She racked her brain to come up with a plausible answer.
"I received an anonymous report that said Draco Malfoy was in Knockturn Alley purchasing a dark magic infused item at Borgin and Burkes. I wanted to follow up with him personally. As expected, it was nothing. He was in Diagon Alley, but not Knockturn."
Jessie gave her a suspicious look, pushing the envelope. "That took you an hour to figure out?"
"You work with the Malfoy's you know how self-important they are. I had to listen to him drone on for about 40 minutes about family history, money, power blah blah blah. It took me almost the whole hour to get a word in edgewise." Cora looked at Jessie to see if she bought it.
"Oh man! Tell me about it! Every time I drag my ass all the way to Northern Ireland, I have to deal with Lucius' bullshit stories. Like father, like son I guess."
Cora was happy that Jessie seemed satisfied with her answer. But there was a pang of disappointment at her comparing Lucius to Draco, they were such different people. She wished people knew Draco for who he was without the stain of his family name.
The day wrapped up and luckily Gawain was in meetings the rest of the afternoon, so Cora didn't have to deal with him again.
She arrived home, drained from the day's activities. She walked through the door to see a familiar tawny owl waiting for her on her kitchen table. She grabbed the note from its leg and read it out loud:
Cheeky, disobedient witch......
I will show you what it means to submit.
Meet me in my study at 8pm. Do. Not. Be. Late.
YOU ARE READING
The Emerald Manor
Romance*TRIGGER WARNINGS - abuse* * I have one more round of edits to complete. She be done in the next week. I apologize for typos etc until its completed. Story takes place in 2006. 8 years after the death of Voldemort. Cora DuPont is a 25-year-old w...
