Planned Liars • Draco Malfoy

Chapter #16

On the next day Shane and I were sent to St Mungo's to Obliviate some Muggles who were apparently hit by a spell that backfired, and half of them had fangs, while the other half had tails. We were told by a nurse to wait for the Healer to lead us, so we sat in the waiting room. It was white and sterile, unlike the numerous patients with weirdest things attached to them passing by from time to time. Suddenly, after seeing someone dragged out of the ward, I remembered about Pansy.

"Shane, I never really got to ask... How are things with Pansy? I recall you telling me about your crush on her and all that..."

Shane sighed, running a hand through his dark hair and closing his blue eyes.

"It's water under the bridge, honestly. We didn't... We didn't really connect, you know."

"Really?" I asked in disbelief, then added, "You know, I'm kind of relieved."

He raised his eyebrows.

"Why?"

"Because Pansy is crazy," I replied as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Sorry, she didn't drag you out of the Great Hall in our fourth year, but she did that to me. And she gave Draco the Love Potion. She had some weird ideas, if you ask me."

Shane laughed, shaking his head.

"We were kids, Aurora. She's changed now. She isn't obssesed with Malfoy anymore and all that stuff."

I shrugged, then crossed my arms.

"Maybe, but I still remember the murder in her eyes when I danced with Draco at the Yule Ball. She looked more dang..."

"Shane?"

I was cut off by a female voice coming from the room in front of us and both Shane and I looked up. I saw a beautiful woman in a Healer's uniform and had an awful feeling that I have already seen her somewhere. She had brown hair tied in a ponytail and was beaming at Shane.

So this is the girl he ditched Pansy for? 

"Oh, Chris!" he called, then stood up and walked up to her to hug her. "Fancy running into you here."

"You are the Obliviator they sent? Come on then, you have many patients to attend to," she explained as I left my seat to stand next to Shane and coughed.

"No, actually I'm here with Aurora... Oh, Aurora, this is my cousin, Christina Wood. Chris, my co-worker, Aurora Mullen... Or should I say Malfoy already?" he laughed and I rolled my eyes.

Wood! Bingo! I knew I had to know her. She was Wood's wife, her face was all over the news when they got married, since Oliver Wood, who was captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team until my third year, was a pretty popular player right now.

"Very funny, Shane. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too. Follow me now, there are patients waiting," she said, then led us into another white room with ten beds, all occupied.

"So all of them need to have their memory erased. Hit by a backfired spell. We had an awful time removing their fangs and tails," she said briskly. "But now you do your magic and we can let them out eventually."

"Sure thing," said Shane, walking up to the first Muggle, who was a red-haired girl. "And how are things, Chris?"

"Pretty well, actually... You'd be the first from the family to know, but since you're here... I found out a few days ago that I'm pregnant!" she said, grinning.

"Oh, Chris, that's wonderful! Congratulations!" Shane said, then walked up to her to hug her again.

I smiled at them from above the bed of a blonde-haired Muggle boy who was no older than seven. It dawned on me then that I was going to get married really soon - and in some time it might be me announcing such news to Shane. Draco has been talking about a kid since we were seventeen, basically. He told me once or twice that he didn't care if the Malfoy line died with him and he didn't want to put any pressure on me, but I knew that deep down he really wanted to be a father some day - it was all about the excitement in his eyes.

Who would have thought Draco Malfoy had such a marshmallow heart? Certainly not me.

It took us twenty minutes to take care of all of the patients, then we said our goodbyes to Christina and came back to our offices.

"Mira, you'll do the papers for me?" I asked as I handed her the notes from the hospital.

"Of course," she nodded eagerly, accepting the notes.

"Thanks, you're a lifesaver. How did I manage before I had you?"

She laughed, dipping her quill in the ink and beginning her work.

I crossed my arms, leaning myself against her desk.

"Actually, Mira... I'm going to Paris in a few days."

She looked up at me with a smile.

"No problem, I'll take care of everything."

"No, no, that's not what I meant," I shook my head. "I want to invite you to come with me."

"Really?" she asked with excitement. "What would we be doing?"

"Wedding dress hunt," I replied simply. "I'm getting married in summer," I added as an explanation.

"Congratulations!" she said happily. "Thank you, it would be lovely to go with you, Miss Mullen!"

"Oh, enough with that miss thing. Call me Aurora," I extended a hand to her and she took it after a moment, positively paralysed. "You can use miss only in presence of strangers, okay? Now, I'm going to the café, Draco didn't let me sleep properly again," I yawned. "You want something?"

"No, thank you," she said quickly, then came back to work.

I shrugged and left my office to go the Ministry café for employees, where I ran into Hermione.

"Hey, Hermione," I greeted her, standing behind her in line to get a coffee and she turned to me.

"Oh, hello, Aurora. I heard there was some chaos with some Muggles at St Mungo's, you were taking care of it?" she said, taking her coffee from the magical dispenser.

"Yeah, Shane and I have sorted it out already," I told her, then took out my wand to make the dispenser create the coffee I wanted. "You have a minute? I actually wanted to talk to you."

"Sure," she said and after a moment we were sitting by one of the café's tables with our coffees in hand.

"First off, you fancy a trip to Paris in a few days? Wedding dress hunt."

"Wedding dress? You've set the date for the wedding?"

I nodded, smiling, then whispered, "But don't tell Draco I've told you, he's been super touchy about it."

"I'm in, then."

"Great. One thing of the wedding list will be done quickly."

"You have a guest list already?" she asked, taking a sip of her drink.

"Not yet, but speaking of which..." I sighed. "Tell me, how am I supposed to convince Draco to invite his cousin to our wedding?"

"His cousin? Which cousin?" Hermione frowned.

"Callie, you know her?" and here I hit my forehead with my palm. "Oh, wait, of course you do... Better than me, probably... You're practically family, aren't you? I mean, in a way..."

"Yes, but... Why do you want to invite her so badly?"

I bit my lip, staring into my cup.

"Callie may be the only remaining member of Draco's family who isn't obsessed with that pure-blood thing and who isn't like... You know. His father."

"I understand..."

"And the more..."normal" family Draco has on his side, the better. I'm speaking from experience."

Hermione looked at me sadly and asked:

"You still don't talk with your parents?"

I absent-mindedly shook my coffee a bit.

"Not really. It's awful, considering we're getting married now... I'm not sure about trying to talk to them again."

When Hermione was about to speak again, I heard a loud, cold voice from behind me. The voice I would recognise anywhere.

"There you are."