Twenty-Six
January 3rd 1999:
Draco stood in front of his mirror in his childhood bedroom fixing his suit one last time before he’d have to march downstairs and accept his fate of marrying Daphne.
“If I'm forced to marry someone, at least it’s someone I know I like.” Draco mumbled to himself. He’d been friends with Daphne most of their lives now. He only ever saw her as a sister, especially after she came out to him in fourth year.
“Master Draco?” Whimsy appeared in his bedroom.
“Hello Whimsy”
“Mistress wanted me to tell you that the Greengrasses have arrived.”
“Thank you Whimsy.” Draco fixed his hair one last time before slipping his wand in his pocket and marching down the stairs.
“You look very handsome, my son.” Narcissa was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs.
“Thank you, Mother. You look quite beautiful yourself.” His mother smiled as he extended his arm to her. The two of them walked to greet the Greengrasses who had entered through the floo.
“Gareth, Aquila, Daphne, Welcome to our home.” Narcissa welcomed them. “You of course know my son, Draco.” Draco stepped forward.
“It’s a pleasure.” He spoke. He reached to shake hands with the Patriarch of the Greengrass family and then kissed the hand of his wife. “Daph,” They shared a quick hug. In a traditional setting, it would have been improper for them to hug. However, since they have known each other for years, it was appropriate.
“While Gareth, Aquila, and I talk, why don’t you take Ms. Daphne here on a stroll through the gardens. We have some wonderful warming charms out there. The cold will never stop me from enjoying my garden.” The group smiled.
“Daphne,” Draco offered her his arm.
“I’ll send Whimsy out to fetch the two of you when we are ready.” Narcissa told her son before leading the other couple to the sitting room.
Draco and Daphne did as instructed and started to walk in the garden.
“How was your Christmas?” Draco asked Daphne as they walked.
“Boring as ever. My parents would not shut up about this meeting.” Draco laughed.
“My mother was the same.”
“Have you told Hermione yet?”
“No.”
“Draco,”
“Have you told Lavender?”
“Lavender isn’t my girlfriend. I haven’t asked her yet.”
“Do you want her to be?”
“Yes.”
“Then do it.”
“It’s no use. I’m going to have to end it all with her once the announcement of our marriage comes out. Men are allowed to have mistresses but women are not. First, being a lesbian is strictly forbidden, secondly women have to follow the rules even though men don’t and third, I don’t think Lavender would be open to being a mistress anyways.”
“I don’t think Hermione would be open to the idea either.” Draco laughed at the thought. “It’s their Gryffindorness.”
“I don’t think that is a word.”
“Doesn’t stop me from using it.” Daphne laughed.
“How are the two of you doing?”
“I’m falling in love with her Daph.” Draco spoke quietly. Half in fear of the words themself and half in fear that his mother’s house elf was listening.
“I never thought the great Draco Malfoy would ever fall in love with anyone. To hear you admit to loving Hermione Granger, famous muggleborn, it’s a bit of a shock.” Draco let out a dry laugh.
“Tell me about it. I wasn’t expecting this either. I never once imagined myself falling in love. I knew I'd end up in this situation. I had hoped that with my father gone, that maybe I'd have a chance to be happy.”
“We’ll find a way, Draco. We both deserve to have love and to find true happiness.”
“Daphne, we have to be realistic. There aren’t many ways out of this.”
“I can think of a few ways but they all involve me being burned off the family tapestry.”
“The moment I reveal I’m in love with a muggleborn, I’ll be right there with you.”
“Do you really think that your mother would burn you for that?”
“She burned her own sister for the same reason.”
“Times have changed Draco. You may be able to get out of this with your family and Hermione.”
“And what about you?” Daphne looked away from Draco, trying to find the frown on her face. “There’s not one scenario where you get both.”
“The Wizarding world is changing everyday. Hermione, she’ll rule the world one day. If our society can accept muggleborns, I’m sure there will be a day that they can accept pureblood lesbians.”
“And until then?”
“Until then, I don’t know, Draco.”
“I won’t leave this arrangement until I know you are happy. I’m following your lead here. If you want to get married and have an affair with Lavender, I’ll get down on my knee right now. If you want to break away from your family, I’ll hand you the matches. I’m here to be whatever you need me to be.”
“Draco, I will not allow you to sacrifice your happiness to protect me.”
“Daphne, you’re my best friend.”
“Don’t let Theo hear you say that.” Draco laughed, but only for a moment.
“You were there for me when I took the mark, even Theo was scared to be around me. I survived because of you. You’re my family, Daph.”
“I don’t want to marry you Draco. Marrying you means a lifetime of society balls and galas. It means giving up all my hopes and dreams to become a trophy wife. Not to mention, I’d rather not be forced to produce an heir with you. Having sex with you one time was enough to confirm that I like women.” Draco scoffed.
“You cannot tell people that I am the reason you like women. We were also drunk and fourteen.” Daphne started to laugh, and soon enough Draco joined her.
The two walked the gardens and continued to talk about their lives. Before Narcissa sent her elf out to get them, Daphne stopped and turned to Draco.
“I am going to come out to my parents as soon as Lavender says yes to being my girlfriend. When I tell them, our contract will be broken. That’s when you should tell your mother about Hermione. But before you do that, you need to tell Hermione about this. In the off chance that Lavender says no, we’ll re-evaluate our plan. But she needs to know about everything.”
“I’ll tell her. I promise.” Daphne did not believe him but any arguments she had disappeared as Whimsy appeared to summon them back to their parents.