Beautiful Disaster

Disclaimer: The characters held within are not mine but belong to warner brothers and jk rowling. I\'m only playing with them for a few minutes and will give them back virtually unharmed. There is also no profit being made off of this, so please don\'t sue.

*~*

Draco met his parents in the dining room for breakfast the morning he was to go back to school. He gave his mother a soft smile as he sat across from her and looked over at his father who nodded at him from behind the paper, \"Head Boy? I\'m rather proud, I must say,\" she said with a slight smile.

He smiled back, \"Thank you. I worked hard for it.\"

Lucius folded his paper and set it on the table as he reached for a piece of toast, \"Are you packed?\"

\"Yes.\"

He looked over at Narcissa and sighed, \"I don\'t feel quite old enough to have a son that\'s seventeen years old.\"

Narcissa smirked, \"I know I certainly don\'t. Nor do I look it.\"

Lucius smiled at her, then turned back to Draco, \"I have the letter written for you. Give it to Dumbledore the first chance you get.\"

\"Yes, Father.\"

He took a sip of his coffee, and looked back at Draco, \"Who\'s the Head Girl? Miss Granger, I assume?\"

He shook his head, \"She turned it down for some reason,\" he said looking rather confused at his father. \"It\'s the top honor the school can give to a student and she turned it down. She\'s a rather complicated girl.\"

Lucius nodded, \"Any idea of her other interests? You\'ll needknowknow so you can get closer to her.\"

Narcissa rolled her eyes at the two, a trait Lucius noticed her son had picked up from her, \"You two are talking about her as if she\'s prey.\"

Lucius smiled, \"She is, darling. Just a different kind.\" He turned back to Draco, \"Any ideas?\"

He furrowed his brow, \"Most of the stuff she likes I detest. She\'s all for elfish rights.\"

Narcissa nearly spit out her coffee, and brought her napkin to her lips, \"What was that?\"

\"She wants to liberate all the house elves. Pay them for the work they do.\"

Lucius narrowed his eyes, \"That\'s absurd. They don\'t want to be paid.\" He was silent for a moment, \"Let\'s ask a house elf, shall we? Tinky!\"

A small house elf appeared between Draco and his father on the floor, \"Master called for Tinky.\"

\"Yes. Would you like to be paid for the work you do?\"

\"No, Master!\"

He nodded and the house elf disappeared, \"Where would that girl get such a foolish notion. Why, wizarding families have been using house elves since before she was born.\" He shook his head, \"If you\'ve managed by Christmas to get into her good graces, we\'ll keep it very hush-hush if you invite her here. Your mother and I should at least meet with the girl since we\'ll have no other option for a daughter-in-law.\"

Draco poked at the eggs on his plate as he thought about spending Christmas with ger ger in his house. She\'d probably never been in anywhere quite like it. He wondered if the floorboards would pull her beneath if she stepped foot into the house. He shook his head, knowing that he shouldn\'t get his hopes up. But as he continued to think about it, he had several images on Hermione curling up with him in a warm bed, her naked body beneath his as his lips traveled over her body, possibly wearing the only present he got for her.

He shivered at the thought and quickly shook it off as he looked over at his father who had a knowing smile on his face. It bothered him immensely that his father coreadread his thoughts so easily. He\'d become much better at not showing his emotions on his face, but his father always seemed to know exactly what was going on inside of his head.

Draco finished off his toast and stood, \"I have a few more things to pack, I won\'t be long.\"

Lucius removed his pocket watch and nodded, \"Very well.\" He looked over at Narcissa, \"Will you be joining us at King\'s Cross?\"

She nodded, \"I\'d like to get a glimpse of this girl.\"

Draco nodded as he left the room and made a quick stop off in their library. He surveyed all the books on veelas, wanting to know the exact amount of power he held over Granger. He knew a bit, but not enough to go back to school in pursuit of his mate. He thought about what Potter and Weasley would say if they saw him talking to her. He suddenly grew very angry at the thought of either of them being very close to her. A rage the likes of which he hadn\'t felt in a long while. Potter and Weasley better keep their foul hands off of her. If one of them...defiles her before he even makes a go at it, he\'d rip them limb from limb.

He shook the thought of, feeling his breathing level out as he slumped against the table. He furrowed his brow at such a reaction and reached for the top two books on the stack and walked up the stairs to his bedroom. Some would say that he had too much of a devotion to his house colors, but he didn\'t see anything wrong with showing a bit of house pride. All of his furniture was upholstered in green velvet, his bed and the curtains of his bed were of the same material. The fixtures in his bathroom were in the shape of silver snakes, and if anyone looked at the wood of the furniture in the room, they would see that it wasn\'t black, but a dark emerald green with silver inlay winding around the posts.

He opened his trunk with his wand and tossed the books inside. He closed it again and looked at his bed. It would be four months before he came back to this house and the bed he would miss most of all. It was the largest that could be bought with a mattress that felt as if you were sleeping on air. And the beds at Hogwarts took some getting used to. They were much smaller and the rooms in the dungeons were dank and dark. He shook his head, irritation running through his system.

In truth, he didn\'t want to go back to school and face everything that stood before him that year. He\'d eventually have to woo and bed Granger. The bedding part he didn\'t mind but all the build up before it was going to be agonizing. He\'d have to pretend that he was interested in what she had to say when all he wanted was for her to shut up for five seconds. She was the most irritating, know-it-all, forbidden woman in the entire school, and he was destined for her? Destiny had severely fucked up in his mind.

*~*

Draco dropped his trunk onto the cargo area and walked back to his mother and father. His father, cane in hand, stood regally beside his mother. Her arm was looped through his fathers, and together they were quite the intimidating pair. He was taller than his mother now, and looked his father in the eye as he stood in front of them, facing the gateway, looking for any sign of Granger.

Narcissa furrowed her brow, \"It\'s been years since I\'ve been here. I bet they\'ve never clean it.\"

Lucius and Draco both looked over at her, but Lucius was the first to speak, \"It\'s a train station, darling.\"

\"I\'m aware of that, Lucius, but they could at least tidy it up a bit.\"

Draco smiled at his mother, \"We should take that up with them.\"

She tilted her head at Draco and smiled, \"Don\'t be smart with me, boy.\"

He chuckled, \"Sorry mother.\"

\"I swear, that woman almost hit me,\" Harry said as he walked through the passageway, alongside Ron.

Draco cleared his throat, and his father glanced over his shoulder and found Harry and Ron walking away from them. The next two to come through were Hermione and Ron\'s younger sister Ginny. Draco looked at his mother, \"There she is.\"

Narcissa did much like her husband and glanced over her shoulder at the two girls, \"Which one, dear?\"

\"The brunette.\"

Narcissa furrowed her brow, \"Her hair is out of control.\"

Draco nodded, \"I know.\"

She tilted her head as she continued to look at Hermione as they loaded their trunks onto the train, \"But she\'s not completely unfortunate looking.\"

Lucius nodded, \"I suppose there\'s something...there. With a bit of touching up, she could pass.\"

Draco raised an eyebrow as he stared at her. He didn\'t see it, really. He supposed she had nice legs, which thanks to the school uniform were on display y. y. Her bum wasn\'t bad either, he noticed as she bent over, retrieving what looked like an orange fur ball from a cage. His mother made a tutting noise, \"What is that, Lucius?\"

\"I suppose it\'s a cat.\"

She shook her head, \"The cat seems to suffer the same hair problem she does.\"

Draco continued to observe her. She had dainty hands, which surprihim him a bit, and her eyes were a deep honey color. But her lips...enticed him. He shook his head quickly, realizing that he was about to make his way across the sta and and publicly embarrass himself by snogging the stuffing out of her.

\"What are you looking at, Malfoy?\" Ron asked angrily as Draco snapped out of his thoughts.

\"Sod off, Weasel.\"

Hermione joined her friends, and looked up at Draco and his parents with a slight bit of worry. She touched Ron on the arm, a gesture that made Draco release a low growl. His father placed his cane in Draco\'s hands as he stepped forward, \"I wouldn\'t advise picking a fight with the Head Boy, Mr. Weasley. Run along.\"

Ron and Hermione both smiled, thinking the same thing Draco was; he needed his father to fight his battles for him. \"Why did you do that?\" he asked staring at their backs as they climbed aboard the train.

Lucius sighed, \"Because you haven\'t mastered the art of controlling your temper.\" He shook his head as he looked at Draco, \"You must learn how not to go charging after someone you see as a threat to you for her. They aren\'t.\"

\"You have no idea the hatred I feel for him.\"

\"I do, Draco. I feel the same about his father. But beating her friends up is not how you are going to win her affections.\"

Narcissa put a hand on his shoulder, \"Your father is right. She needs you to be above that. Show her a side of you that no one has seen.\"

He shook his head, \"She\'ll think I\'m tricking her.\"

\"Convince her that you aren\'t.\"

Draco sighed and nodded. The whistle on the train sounded and he gave his mother a kiss on the cheek before he ran and hopped aboard the train. He made his way to the prefects’ compartment and found Ron telling them all of how Draco\'s father had intervened on his son\'s behalf.

\"Ten points from Gryffindor for idle gossip.\"

Ron furrowed his brow, \"You can\'t do that!\"

\"I just did. Now, anything else you\'d like to add?\"

Padma Patil, Draco\'s fellow Head student sighed from her seat across from Hermione, \"You\'re late.\"

\"Can\'t you take points off him for that?\" Ron asked.

\"No,\" she said softly as she looked over her checklist. Draco tried to squeeze in beside her, making one of the younger Ravenclaws change sides he was sitting on, which put Draco in front of Hermione. \"Let\'s get down to business.\"

Draco had fallen asleep half way through the meeting, everyone else taking notice of this fact. Padma elbowed him and he awoke with a start. He frowned over at her, \"What? I was listening.\"

\"Well, what were we discussing?\"

\"That everyone go do their rounds on the train to make sure that everyone is where they\'re supposed to be,\" he looked over at Padma who had her mouth open. She closed it quickly and he nodded, \"Fine then, everyone go.
\"
\"Two people have to stay behind incase someone has a problem and the others of us can\'t be found.\"

He groaned, \"Why is this such a big deal?\" He sat up and looked around the compartment. \"You two,\" he pointed down to the far end of the compartment, \"You check the last car. Weasley and Pansy, you get the next one, Padma you and one of the Hufflepuffs the next, and Slytherins, the next...this isn\'t as difficult as you\'re making it out to be,\" he said looking over at Padma.

Ron stood, \"What about you?\"

\"What about me?\"

\"You\'re just going to sit in here and do nothing?\"

\"I plan to finish my nap. So run along, Weasley.\"

\"Fine. Come on, Hermione.\"

She shook her head, \"I\'m...I\'m staying.\"

\"Why?\"

\"Because everyone else has been assigned.\"

Ron turned on Draco, \"You did that on purpose.\"

Draco opened his eyes, \"Did what?\"

\"Assigned her to stay with you.\"

He shook his head, \"You\'re just full of conspiracy theories. Get lost Weasley, or it will be another ten for not following the instructions of a superior.\"

He opened his mouth to say something and Hermione grabbed his arm, \"We\'ve been on the train for less than an hour and you\'ve lost us ten points already. Don\'t give him a reason. Just go, I\'ll be fine.\"

Ron gave her hand a slight squeeze as he left the compartment, Pansy on his heels. Draco moved closer to the window and leaned his head against it. He heard rummaging around and found that Hermione had removed the cat from its cage. He watched her as she ran her hands over its orange fur, staring at the other side of the compartment, \"What\'s its name?\"

His voice startled her, and she looked over at him, \"What?\"

\"Your cat. What\'s its name?\"

She looked down at the orange ball of fur in her lap, \"Crookshanks.\"

He nodded, \"Unusual name for a very unusual looking cat.\"

She looked down at him, \"I think he\'s cute.\"

He shrugged, \"I didn\'t say he wasn\'t. Just said that he was unusual looking.\"

She sighed, \"Harry and Ron hate him.\"

\"Sounds like a cat I\'d like to get to know,\" he mumbled as he stared out the window.

She was silent as she stared at him, \"Why do you always goad Ron?\"

\"I don\'t,\" he said looking at her again.

She moved down the seat so she was sitting in front of him, \"Yes, you do. Like on the platform...\"

\"I didn\'t say a word to him. He started that.\"

\"And your father finished it.\"

He turned his grey eyes on her, a fierce look on his face, \"My father was a bit worried that I might rip him limb from limb if I really did what I felt.\"

\"Because he made a little comment to you.\"

\"Other reasons. Just don\'t worry your pretty little head about it.\"

She bit her lip, noticing that he\'d called her head pretty. It was odd, but it was sort of a compliment. She knew his reputation. Girls were always talking about how it was so easy to be seduced by the Slytherin, as if the only thing he had to do was walk up to them and the girls were practically putty in his hands. She\'d never felt that with him.

Crookshanks jumped from her arms and onto the other seat. He took a few seconds, sniffing Draco before he crawled into his lap. Draco ran his hand over his back and looked up at him, \"Friendly.\"

She stared in amazement, \"Uh...he\'s never done that before.\" Draco smirked as Crookshanks lay in his lap, and he merely rubbed down the fur. \"I\'ve never seen him take to a person like that.\"

\"Because he\'s been around dolts like Potter and Weasley.\"

\"Don\'t call them dolts.\"

He shrugged, \"Alright, morons. Is that better than dolts?\"

\"Why can\'t you just be nice?\"

\"Nice? What good does nice do?\"

\"It might make people in this school less hostile towards you.\"

He shook his head, \"I don\'t care what anyone in this school thinks of me,\" he said staring out the window again. \"What does it matter to you anyway?\"

She frowned, \"Because I\'m one of the people you seem to take your frustration out on.\"

He looked over at her, his grey eyes roaming over her body, \"I haven\'t taken my frustrations out on you. But anytime you\'d like to see how it\'s done I\'ll be around.\"

She scowled at him, \"In your dreams.\"

He only smirked at her and shrugged, \"Things change.\" He folded his arms over his chest as he stared at her, \"Why did you turn it down?\"

\"What?\" she snapped.

\"Head Girl.\"

She tilted her head at him, \"How do you know I turned it down?\"

He rolled his eyes, \"I\'m not stupid. You\'re the smartest witch in our year and you easily have the best grades, so I\'m just wondering what it was that made you turn it down?\"

She sighed, \"Why do you care?\"

\"A sub-standard Head Girl isn\'t what I had in mind when I signed up for Head Boy.\"

\"Sorry to ruin your plans.\"

\"You haven\'t ruined anything. Just curious.\"

\"Curiosity killed the cat.\"

Crookshanks lifted his head to look at her as he still rested in Draco\'s lap, \"Don\'t think your cat liked that very much.\"

She reached over and took the cat from his lap and held him against her chest as she petted him. \"He knows I didn\'t mean him.\"

Draco smirked as he stared out of the window. Her attachment to her cat was somewhat endearing. He didn\'t have a pet of his own, and the obvious shock on her face of her cat being friendly with him caused another smile. At least the cat wouldn\'t be hard to win over when the time came. He could feel her eyes on him, and remembered the words of his father. He\'d know she was in the room. He could feel her presence with every breath he took and when she\'d been close enough for him to smell, he\'d taken a breath just to know her scent.

He turned his eyes back to her and caught her eyes with his, the grey orbs seemingly searching for something deep within her. It wasn\'t long before she turned away, his eyes continuing to roam over her face. She bit her lip. A lot, he noticed. She\'d tuck it between her teeth, and would release it soon afterwards. He wondered if she ran her tongue over it. He could imagine nibbling the tender skin as he teased her with a kiss.

He dug his nails into the palm of his hand to keep from reaching for her. He could just see it now, Weasley would walk in and complete ruin any chance he had of shagging her when he blasted him through the windoHe sHe shook his head, realizing that he shouldn\'t tease himself with such things until she was his. And she would be his eventually. She was his mate, the only one he would ever long for.

But he needed a plan. He needed some sort of way to get close to her. He needed someone to intervene on his behalf. Maybe a teacher to be malicious towards her, he thought with a slightly raised eyebrow. He could get at her that way. Potter and Weasley were refused from Potions, thanks to his favorite professor and potions master, Severus Snape. Maybe he could steer Snape into doing his dirty work for him.

It wasn\'t long before the Prefects each made their way back in, the Slytherins first, all giving Hermione a sneer and Draco glaring at them in return. Both fifth years backed down, having learned that you don\'t mess with Draco when he was in one of his moods, which he clearly was. It wasn\'t long before everyone was back, and any chance of him having a conversation with Hermione was cut off by the other girls trying to get as close to him as possible, and Pansy was the worst. He only rolled his eyes, choosing to keep his mouth closed as they drew nearer to him.

His eyes caught Hermione\'s again and he gave her a lazy wink as they pulled into the station. He was the first to leave the compartment, knocking several of the others who went to stand out of his way. He watched as Weasley and Potter assisted Hermione into their carriage, the thought of both of them with their hands on her causing him to growl.

*~*

After the sorting ceremony, he found Professor Dumbledore walking towards his office, and did his best to follow behind the man without anyone, including the professor seeing him. He quickly hid behind a pillar as Dumbledore stopped and turned.

\"Mr. Malfoy, did you wish to speak with me?\"

Draco sighed and came out from behind the pillar, \"Yes, Professor, but can we take it somewhere a bit more...private?\"

He nodded, \"Of course. Follow me.\"

Draco followed him into the large spacious office and sat in one of the chairs before Dumbledore\'s desk. He pushed a bowl of what seemed to be chocolate in front of him, \"M&M?\"

\"What?\"

\"It\'s a Muggle sweet. They truly are gifted in this area.\"

\"No thank you,\" he said shaking his head.

\"Well, down to business then. What can I do for you, Mr. Malfoy? I don\'t think that in the six years you\'ve been here that you\'ve ever been to see me about anything.\"

He reached into his pocket and removed the envelope his father had given to him, he handed it across the desk and he watched as the Headmaster read over it. His eyes darted up to Draco as he tilted his head, \"How many people know about your palm reading?\"

\"Four. You, my father, my mother, and myself.\"

Dumbledore folded up the letter and it quickly lit on fire in his hands. He sighed, \"I am honestly quite surprised at this turn, Draco. Your father, as you well know, has been in the service of Lord Voldemort since before you were born. His sudden turn will help more than you could ever fathom, but I must ask what you feel about all of this given that you are in my care for the next nine months.\"

Draco furrowed his brow, \"I don\'t understand, sir.\"

\"You realize that what he does concerns you. If Voldemort should find out that Lucius has turned against him...there\'s a very good chance that he could take it out on you. I\'m not saying that he will find out, I believe Lucius is very capable of handling his own affairs, but I am worried what effect this could have on you.\"

He frowned, \"Honestly, Headmaster, I think the point of this war is ridiculous. I understand wanting Pureblood superiority, but it honestly shouldn\'t be led by someone who isn\'t a pureblood themselves.\"

\"So you know of Tom Riddle\'s past?\"

He nodded, \"Potter screamed it at me one day. I didn\'t want to believe it, but I\'ve done a bit of research and I know the truth.\"

\"So you\'re against the war if it\'s not led by someone who deserves the role of leadership.\"

He shook his head, \"I\'ve been rethinking my views on my beliefs about such things.\"

\"May I ask why?\"

He sighed, \"There was one reason I went to that seer, and that was for her to reveal who my mate was. I\'m not sure if you\'re aware, but Malfoy men have Veela blood in them. It\'s worked to my advantage thus far, but this new...problem arose.\" Dumbledore tilted his head at him, \"My mate was revealed to be Hermione Granger...\"

\"Ah. Say no more. She\'s hardly one of your biggest fans.\"

He scoffed, \"Tell me about it.\"

Dumbledore smiled, \"Well, let us see what we can come up with the next few days. No one would suspect your father sending you letters or such. They\'d never have any reason for suspecting him given that he is Voldemort\'s most trusted associate. Send a letter to your father telling him that whatever help he\'s offering, I would gladly take from him. And when it\'s all over...I will do everything in my power to keep him from the fate he so fears.\"

\"And myself?\"

He folded his hands onto his desk, \"I think your Potions professor would be...delighted in making a pairing in his class that a Gryffindor would find troublesome.\" He smiled, \"Take this note,\" he said scribbling onto a sheet of parchment, \"to your head of house on your first day of class. And should he have any questions that he should take them up with me. As far as anyone should know, this is purely Head Boy business.\"

\"Yes sir.\"

Draco stood and walked towards the door, \"And Mr. Malfoy.\" He turned back to look at the headmaster, who had a playful smile, \"Good luck with Miss Granger. I have a feeling you\'ll need it.\"

\"No kidding,\" he mumbled as he left the office of the headmaster.

*~*

A/N: I ize ize there might be a complaint about Lucius accepting things so readily, and I swear to you that all will be explained in good time. I also realize that it might be a hard pill to swallow that Lucius would so easily turn against all he knows, but let me explain a bit on that. To me, in my head, Lucius Malfoy is out for himself, and no one else. It\'s easy to just cast him off as being truly evil, but I honestly believe that he\'s only thinking of what he can gain from every situation. I\'m not writing in that Lucius was sent to Azkaban, because really, how is he going to get out of that without breaking out of the prison, so imagine that he was never in the Department of Mysteries that night. *use your imagination if you would*

As for his relationship with Narcissa, we don\'t actually know what that\'s like. Because he\'s a Veela in this fic as well, he adores Narcissa. And as for my Narcissa, well, I quite love her. She\'s funny to me, especially when I hear her talking in my head.

Anyway, I hope that explains things.

And as always, Read and Review.