Chapter 28
“Rumors are a nasty business,” Percy consoled. Draco hadn’t told him anything, but even Percy had heard. “You say they’re unfounded?”
Draco looked up from his poor attempt to embroider a flower. “Are you suggesting they might be well founded?” he asked, just to be a jerk about it.
Percy was immediately flustered. “Well, Charlie…” he said, referencing the older brother all the Weasleys were still upset with King Harry over. It had been long enough Draco privately thought maybe they should move on, but the Weasleys were a loyal bunch.
Draco grimaced sympathetically. “Point taken. But, no, they’re quite unfounded. Apparently I scandalized the court by making the king laugh.”
“You are very witty,” Audrey acknowledged. Draco preened at the compliment. Audrey was embroidering perfect flowers that made Draco’s look even messier by comparison, but it was fine because the Weasleys liked him enough to let him visit and practice.
“Ron makes the king laugh all the time, and I’ve never heard any rumors about that,” Percy remarked.
Draco’s lips twitched upwards. “I don’t know how to say this delicately, but no one would suspect the king and Ronald would…” he did try to find a delicate way of saying it, but his struggle was cut off by Audrey giggling and Percy huffing and rolling his eyes.
“Why not? I’m not the best judge, but I’m sure Ron would be considered attractive,” Percy continued.
Draco distinctly remembered the celery looking quite attractive running in snug green tights. “I’ll judge for you and reassure you that all the Weasleys are quite fit.” Draco wiggled his eyebrows at Percy, spurring on more giggles from Audrey and an even more flustered friend.
“Dear, Draco is saying that not only is Ron happily married, but he is straight as an arrow,” Audrey explained.
Draco nodded his agreement while struggling to keep the lines of his flower straight. “I think my garden will look particularly rustic,” he predicted.
“It’s charming,” Audrey assured him.
Draco beamed at them both, just because he was happy.
“Do you think the king will marry Prince Krum, then?” Percy inquired.
Draco shrugged. “I’m surprised you’re even following this. I thought you didn’t attend court.”
Percy pursed his lips. He was uncomfortable with gossip at the best of times and didn’t seem to have warmed up to it in this instance. “They’re talking about it at work,” Percy admitted.
Draco blinked, surprised. He didn’t understand Percy’s job, but he knew it had to do with numbers and accounts. “Would you like something salacious to share?” he asked, sure he could come up with something that would help Percy gain social standing.
Percy actually shuddered. “No, thank you,” he said definitively. “It’s just Lord Slughorn keeps making comments about it. He’s upset that Prince Krum was even invited to the king’s birthday.”
A sly smile crossed Draco’s face. “Percy, you do realize you’re sharing salacious gossip with me?”
Percy’s eyes widened. “I didn’t mean to!” he insisted.
Audrey patted Percy’s knee. She comforted her husband, “It’s only a rumor if Draco shares it with someone else.”
Draco nodded. “And who would I tell?”
“Andromeda,” said Percy.
“Luna,” said Audrey.
“Ron,” Percy actually looked upset at the idea.
“George,” Audrey exchanged a look and a shudder with her husband at that one.
Draco pouted. “Fine, I won’t tell anyone, but only because you’re such a good friend.” It was Percy’s turn to preen, and Draco couldn’t even feel bad about his promise because it made Percy so happy. “Besides, Lord Slughorn is only upset since he’s trying to marry Colton off to the king. They all probably know that, anyway.”
“Is he really? That would be a fine match,” Percy said, suddenly excited.
Draco frowned down at his flower, suddenly seeing faults in it he hadn’t noticed before. He jabbed the fabric with his needle, resentful that he wasn’t any good at this. “Why do you say that?” Draco asked glumly.
“The Slughorns are a very old family, well respected. It would show the king’s commitment to reconciliation,” Percy explained, taking a tone Draco had never heard from another Weasley.
“Haven’t we finished with all that?” Draco asked.
Percy and Audrey exchanged another look, but this time Draco didn’t follow it. “The king is a reformer,” Audrey tried to explain, only Draco didn’t know what that meant.
“I see,” Draco said, not really seeing. Then, because these were his friends and he was desperate to tell someone, “Only I’m not certain Colton would be a good fit.”
Percy was taken by surprise at that. “Whyever not?” he asked.
Draco shrugged and stabbed at his flowers some more. He was making it worse now, he could tell. Unlike anyone else Draco knew, neither Percy nor Audrey pushed him to speak. Eventually Draco threw down his embroidery project in defeat. He glanced up at his friends, wondering how honest he could be. “You’ll keep a secret?” Draco asked.
Audrey put down her embroidery, too, if far more gently. “Of course, Draco.” Percy nodded as well.
Draco gnawed on his lip nervously before speaking. “Well, it was some time ago now,” he started, trying to recall the details, “but when I was younger, I thought Colton was going to marry me.”
Audrey gasped. “Really? Did you two discuss it?” she asked.
Draco nodded. “At length. It’s silly, because we were just fourteen, which looking back is so young, but I thought myself quite in love and I thought he returned my feelings.”
“What happened?” Percy asked, likely imagining it had something to do with Draco’s falling out after the war.
Draco forced a pained smile. “Summer of our fifteenth year I found him in a compromising position with a young lady. Actually, my friend Pansy. I was surprised, since he’d never expressed any desire in women. He told me after he thought he should try it out, since one day we’d both grow up and have to marry for real.” He tried not to react to his friends’ confused and horrified faces. “Us old families are less progressive about marriage,” Draco explained.
Percy nearly looked green. Draco knew it would be hard for him to reconcile his respect for his employer’s family with his fondness for his friend. “So he broke it off with you?” Percy asked.
That led Draco to laugh bitterly. “Oddly enough, no!” Draco shared. “He was quite willing to keep things on with me, as long as I understood his priorities.”
“That’s awful!” Audrey said, always supportive. Draco smiled at her appreciatively.
Again, Percy looked positively unwell. “You didn’t keep on with him, though, did you?” he asked.
Draco shook his head. “Hardly. I broke it off immediately.” Both his friends showed an alarming amount of relief that made Draco suspicious about exactly what they expected out of him. Did Draco seem like the sort who’d put up with that sort of treatment? He considered the treatment they’d seen Draco endure and supposed it wasn’t that far fetched. He continued on to cover up his embarrassment. “I’m certain Colton has matured since then, but I still have concerns about his character.”
“Naturally,” Audrey agreed. Then, after a beat, “Does the king know? Or his friends?”
Draco shook his head. “I’ve never told anyone else,” he admitted. Both of his friends’ faces softened.
“Well, I won’t share a word,” Percy reiterated. Draco had no doubt of that. “It is the sort of thing we’d want someone to know. It would be horrible if the king made an uninformed decision,” Draco couldn’t help but smile again at Percy’s seriousness on the matter. Spontaneity was not Percy’s strong suit. “Perhaps there’s something from work I can share. Would it be too much like gossip if I shared how much Colton struggles with finance? Lord Slughorn had Colton assist with some of the accounts during the pox outbreak when I was away. I admit they were in a bit of a disarray when I returned to the office. It took me a month to sort it all out. Colton was quite embarrassed when I informed him he’d routed the funds to the wrong account and I had to request a reimbursement.”
Draco frowned. “I think that’s precisely the right amount of gossip you should share, Percy.” Draco hoped he would, because the king’s friends certainly would treat that tale with an appropriate amount of suspicion.
Their conversation quickly returned to more pleasant topics, primarily whatever delightful things Molly, Lucy and Teddy had recently done. Draco shied away from any details of Teddy’s time at court, not wanting to disturb them any further.
The little things were what made Draco happiest around the Weasleys. Like, he knew how important it was to Percy to always present himself properly, but he would ease up around Draco and not worry as much about the details. And, while Percy would be embarrassed to host most anyone since he didn’t have the proper space, he’d long since made his peace with Draco sleeping on a sofa so Draco could have an easy time finding a carriage home in the morning.
That was how Draco found himself still there, sharing breakfast with the girls before they started their studies, when Percy walked in with a stack of letters. Percy quickly flipped through them, before pausing at an envelope Draco once again recognized.
“What’s that?” Draco asked, because he couldn’t help himself.
Percy sighed, not particularly impressed by what he had. “It’s George’s idea of a joke,” Percy said, before continuing to flip through the letters. Draco didn’t dare ask anything further that might give his jealousy away.
Later that day, Draco wandered back into his house through the servant’s entrance, wondering what it would be like to just once receive his own letter. He almost didn’t notice Kreacher waving something out to him as he passed. Thoughtlessly, Draco stopped to accept the item, only realizing what it was once it was placed in his hand.
Draco stared. He was holding a heavy envelope addressed directly to him, with a double spiral in the left corner instead of a return address. The sign for the fall equinox.