The Marriage Decree

Chapter 69: Am I Boring You?

After thirty years of waking up for work at six o'clock, David finds it impossible to sleep in past seven o'clock on the weekend or during the holidays, no matter what time he goes to bed. Instead of wasting his morning lying in bed until he hears Sophie or Hermione and Draco getting up, he decides to finish marking another pile of marking without distraction.

With a cup of coffee to waken his brain, David sits at his office desk marking for two hours before he hears the floorboards in the spare bedroom squeaks under the weight of one of its occupant. He finishes the essay he's on, writing a B at the top of the front page before tidying them up into semi-organised piles and joining whoever had made their way downstairs into the kitchen a few minutes ago.

"Morning." Draco yawns stood at the kettle in the same clothes he had been wearing yesterday. "Do you want a cup?" He offers.

David raises the empty cup in his hand. "I've just finished one but thanks." He says, placing the cup in the sink to be washed.

A flick of Draco's wrist and the cup starts washing itself, making David jump. He curiously watches as the cup rubs itself against the sponge, rinses itself then places itself on the drying rack. Hesitantly, he reaches forward and pokes the cup. It doesn't move, all the magic was seemingly gone. He turns around to find Draco watching him amusingly.

"I apologise, David. I forgot where I was for a moment." He says, hiding his smile. "I better get this to Hermione." He adds, walking back over to the stairs.

He casts a cautious glance back at the cup before heading into the living room to catch up on the news, however, with nothing of interest on he turns the television back off but remains on the couch.

He doesn't feel any better about letting Sophie spend the day with Gwen, even after the apparent success of the first meeting, which he completely puts down to the number of presents she bought her. When Sophie had shown him the books, cloak and handbag, he had been furious. How dare she try to buy Sophie's love with magic? Gwen knows how much Sophie wants to learn about the magical world and she's using that to manipulate her.

The clock in the hallway strikes nine so David pulls himself off the couch, with a groan as his back cracks, and makes his way up to Sophie's bedroom to wake her up. He knocks on her door, not expecting an answer but a few seconds later, her door flies open to reveal an already dressed Sophie wearing her blue cloak.

"Morning, Dad." She brightly greets him with a hug.

"I'm surprised you're up." He admits, entering the bedroom and perching on the edge of the bed.

Sophie opens the top drawer of her bedside table and rummages around.

"Where's you're alarm clock?" He asks, noticing that it's missing.

"It flew out the window." She states as she pulls out an old jam jar painted black.

"What's that?" He frowns, wondering why his daughter is hiding it in her drawer.

"It's where I keep my money. I washed it out and painted it black." She explains, unscrewing the lid and tipping it upside down on her desk.

David's surprised at how much money falls out. "Where did you get all that from?" He stands up to count the notes.

"You give me ten pounds a month for pocket money. Aunt Louise used to give me five pounds every time she saw me and told me to buy a magazine or some lip gloss." Sophie rolls her eyes. "Most of the coins are from Grandma and Grandad. They give me a pound each whenever we go around." She tells him as though he should already know this.

He watches as Sophie counts out forty pounds in five-pound notes and places them inside the handbag Gwen bought for her. She puts the rest of her money back in the jam jar. She turns around to replace it in her drawer but stops and looks at him.