Planned Liars • Draco Malfoy

Chapter #9

"Bother to tell me what on Earth happened?" he asked me eventually when I have already shed a fair amount of tears, then wiped them from my face.

"My Mother decided to - you know - pay me a visit," I replied, breathing heavily.

"What?" Draco looked bewildered. "Your mother was there? What did she want?"

"She wanted to give me her blessings, believe it or not!" I shouted pathetically. "She said she understood I really loved you! Now! After years! Because we got engaged!"

Draco was gaping at me with huge eyes, probably processing everything I had said.

"Soon enough," he said sarcastically, shaking his head. "How did she find out, anyways?"

I gulped. I knew what Draco would say if I told him about Shane spying for my parents all the time - a well-deserved I told you so. I sighed, then bit my lip, hesitating.

"I... I will tell you, Draco, but please, don't get mad. And don't say I told you so."

His eyes widened even more.

"Well, it's not every day you admit I was right... What's the matter?"

I took a deep breath and eventually told him about my parents' deal with Shane. He looked as though about to burst out all the time I was talking.

"Just don't go doing anything stupid now..." I finished my explanations with this sentence, looking at him worriedly.

Draco seemed to be fighting with himself and eventually sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"As much as I want to say I told you so and do something," he stopped here and sighed again and I bit my lip, "we're not some stupid Gryffindors to put up a fight. I'll take care of Shane in my way. And you can't disagree."

I smiled weakly at him. This was the kind of cheering up I needed.

"Shane's a Ravenclaw," I laughed quietly, already feeling better. I didn't expect him to take it this well and it seemed like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

"I couldn't care less," Draco said, then moved closer to me on the sofa.

"I guess it doesn't change anything, does it? My parents are still not much welcome to our future wedding," I said, summarising everything.

"I leave that decision to you, because I don't care about it, to be honest," he replied.

"I don't know... I would like them to be there, but on the other hand I don't want to see them and... Uh, I just want to forget about it all for now."

"Oh, I can help you with that," he said and then, without any warning, leaned in. He put his forehead against mine, his eyes wandering to my neck, where he noticed the necklace. He got it out from behind my robes and placed it at his palm. The snake's head was pointing at him, naturally. He looked at it fondly.

"You know what," he chuckled to himself shortly, "at the time when I gave it to you, I would have never believed you would be still wearing it today."

I smiled as I looked at the snake. I was about to reply when we heard two knocks on the main door.

"It's your turn to open the door," he whispered, causing me to groan impatiently and lean back, so our foreheads weren't touching anymore.

"Seriously, how old are you? Twelve?"

"Rules are rules," he laughed as I shook my head and stood up to walk to the door.

"I hate you so much," I said as I reached the entrance, still listening to his laughter somewhere behind me.

I walked up to the door and opened it without much thinking. This was a bad idea, because I froze when I took in the sight in front of me.

Shane was standing there, looking quite nervous, unconsciously rubbing his hand. I was speechless.

There was an awkward silence, cut off by Draco's shout from the inside:

"Who is it, Aurora?"

I didn't reply, still stunned. Shane seemed to have become a bit tense after hearing Draco's voice. He coughed and awkwardly crossed his arms.

"I figured we should talk."

Right after that, Draco appeared at my side and he froze when he looked at the entrance, too.

"What an unpleasant surprise," Draco grumped at the sight of Shane.

"Aurora, we need to talk."

"I don't think there's anything for you two to talk about," Draco said quickly before I could even open my mouth.

"Draco, let me handle that, will you?" I snapped, finding my voice. "I want to hear an explanation and it'd better be good, Shane."

"What are you doing, Aurora?" asked Draco, bewildered, grabbing my wrist.

"I said I wanted to hear an explanation," I replied, freeing himself from his grip. "Shane, let's talk somewhere else."

"Ok, so... Should we Disapparate?"

Draco glared at me and I put my head on his shoulder to whisper directly to his ear.

"I'll be back at once if something's off, okay?" I told him. He murmured something like an approval and I turned to Shane.

We Apparated to Muggle London, right next to Thames, nearby a Muggle cathedral. I smiled to myself - it was exactly the same place where five years ago I met a woman whose help was probably one of the reasons why Draco and I were still together.

"Well, I'm all ears," I told Shane as I leaned myself against the barrier next to the river. He stood beside me and sighed.

"Alright, from the beginning, then," he said. "Back at Hogwarts, I was friends with Belby, you remember him?"

I frowned, focusing on the name.

"The guy Slughorn put in his club, yeah," I said as I remembered him, sitting with me, Blaise and the rest of the Slug Club in the Hogwarts Express.

"Well, he didn't want to go alone to that Slughorn's party during Christmas. So he forced me and two of our girl friends to go with him. And this was, well, fhe first time I actually took notice of you. You were there with Zabini, weren't you?"

I didn't understand how all those things would explain what he had done, but I replied anyways.

"I was, but... How could you remember such things?"

"Well, this is where the story starts," Shane shifted uncomfortably and I put my hand under my chin, getting ready to listen.