Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

A Matter of Time	By : AdaraB Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > Het - Male/Female Views: 7796 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything in the Harry Potter universe. I own nothing and I make no profit off of this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter 21 – Christmas at Malfoy Manor

Draco and Ashleigh reappeared outside on a cobble stone drive way. Looking around she took in the vast snow covered grounds. Draco waited patiently until her eyes fell on Malfoy Manor. He then chuckled lightly at the look that resembled a guppy that resided on her face.

“You live here?” She asked unbelievingly.

“Yes, along with my parents.”

“I knew you were well off from your level of sophistication, but this? I thought you used the word ‘manor’ because it sounded better than the word ‘house’. I never thought it would be anything like this.” She gestured toward everything around her. She surely hadn’t been expecting a mansion.

Draco pulled her back into his arms and kissed her firmly on the lips. They stayed that way, exploring each other’s mouths until it was necessary to come up for air.

“What was that for? Not that I’m complaining.”

“That was for being you and not just liking me for my money. I think just about every girl in school knows about it and my father’s title.”

“His title?” She asked a look of confusion on her face.

“Yes, my father is Lord Malfoy which makes my mother Lady Malfoy. Once I marry I will inherit the title.” He said softly, not wanting to scare her about the Lord thing.

“Do I need to address them as such? I was just going to address them as Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy.” Ashleigh was nervous that she would have made this mistake and that his parents would be offended.

“No you don’t have to address them as Lord and Lady. They only like their titles to be used in public or political settings. They would prefer if you used Mr. and Mrs.” Smiling at the relieved look on her face he grabbed her hand and started toward the front door.

As Draco opened the very tall front door, she got her first glimpse of the magnificent home. When they stepped inside a house elf appeared to take their coats. After the creature called Tibby popped away, Ashleigh looked down at her black heeled knee high boots, dark wash jeans and her red portrait cable sweater. She suddenly felt very uncomfortable with what she was wearing.

“Um, Draco should I perhaps change into something else?” She asked tenderly.

“No, why? You look great.” He took in her appearance and almost whistled at what he saw. He decided to keep his playful side in check since she would at the moment, probably think she looked too sexy to be introduced to his parents and demand that she be allowed to change before doing so.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive. Look, mum and dad don’t walk around every day in evening attire. My father dresses similarly to me. My mum would never wear jeans, but she does wear nice slacks and skirts with jumpers and blouses. You look absolutely fine, good enough to eat in fact. If we weren’t about to go in to meet my patents I’d be devouring you right now.” He whispered in a low husky tone.

“Well, maybe later.” She replied coyly, giving him a sly smile. Slowly she leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips and pulled away just as slowly.

“We do have to meet your parents and I don’t want to be late.” She said with a smile on her face.

“My, aren’t we chipper all of a sudden. Why the change of attitude?”

“You told me that I am attired appropriately and I trust you. There is no sense worrying about something when there is no cause for it.”

“Well I’m glad you’ve come to see things my way. Come on, my parents should be in the drawing room by now.” He grabbed her hand and led her down the right hallway to a large room at the end on the right. The room was painted a soft cream with pristine white boarders. Windows filled the two outer walls while portraits of landscapes filled the others. The oak furniture complemented the room very well, as did the light peach and cream floral design that covered the chairs and pillows that were placed on cream sofas. The light wooden floors also went nicely in the room. It was a very bright and airy. The exact kind of room Ashleigh would have thought of for meeting a new acquaintance.

They walked into the room hand in hand. As soon as they stepped through the thresh hold, a man that could only be Draco’s father stood and waited for them to arrive in front of him. Ashleigh took in his white blonde hair that fell a few inched below his shoulders, down to his perfectly tailored black dress robes.

Draco inwardly cringed. Why did his father have to wear his dress robes? That would only serve to make Ashleigh more uncomfortable. He only hoped that his mother wasn’t also dressed to impress.

“Ah Draco, you’re here and right on time. I like this young lady already; she is obviously able to keep you on schedule.” Lucius said in what seemed to Ashleigh a superior tone to what she was used to hearing from people on a regular basis. “Unfortunately, my wife seems to have neglected the time.”

“Father, this is my girlfriend Ashleigh Grey. Ashleigh, this is my father Lucius Malfoy.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Malfoy.” She said with a smile and held out her hand.

“The pleasure is all mine Miss Grey. Draco has told us much about you.” Lucius took her hand and shook it gently, silently approving of her firm grip.

“All good things I hope, and please, call me Ashleigh.”

“Very well, Ashleigh. Please have a seat; tea will be served as soon as Narcissa arrives.” Lucius said taking a seat across from them in a high backed floral chair. Ashleigh and Draco sat on the cream sofa.

As soon as they made themselves comfortable, Narcissa walked in the room looking a tad frazzled.

“I do apologize for being late, Lucius. Are they here yet?”

“Yes my dear.” He said, gesturing to the sofa where the couple sat. “It seems that the young lady has had a good effect on our son as he never could manage to be on time before.” He wore an almost impish grin on his face when he said this.

“Oh dear, I feel dreadful that I wasn’t here to welcome you to our home. Do forgive me.” Narcissa pleaded as she turned to Ashleigh and Draco. “I’m Narcissa Malfoy; it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

As Narcissa spoke, Ashleigh stood up to introduce herself. She felt by far, less superior to this woman who was her height, yet seemed so much taller. Narcissa’s white blonde hair, the same as Draco’s and Lucius’s, was coifed into an elegant knot at the nape of her neck. She wore a white silk blouse that had a frill down the middle and black wide leg trousers with a pair of chunky heeled pumps. She was the epitome of elegance. “Yours as well. We’ve only just arrived a moment ago so there is no forgiveness necessary. I can completely understand getting caught up in work and momentarily forgetting about another matter.” She replied in a friendly way, hoping the woman would take it as such. She held out her hand in the same manner she had Lucius.

Narcissa smiled at Ashleigh and shook her hand, noting that the girl had a firm grip which she well approved of. Knowing Lucius, he did as well she thought.

“Well Draco has told us all about you of course.” She said, taking her seat in a chair next to Lucius. Ashleigh followed suit.

“He told us all about how you came to be at Hogwarts so we’ll just skip that part shall we? I understand that you’ve just taken your O.W.L.s. How did you do?” She asked seeming very interested.

“Oh, I managed very well thank you. I passed them all.”

“Don’t keep us in suspense! How many did you receive? Draco got ten.” She boasted proudly.

Ashleigh really didn’t want to seem better than Draco in any way, especially in front of his parents but she couldn’t see a way of avoiding answering her question.

“I got twelve.”

“That’s marvelous. I don’t think the Head Girl got twelve, did she?”

“Hermione? No she got eleven. She was quite put out by it too. She didn’t think about taking the Muggle Studies exam since she grew up in the Muggle world.” She smiled at the memory.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Ashleigh exclaimed as she dug around in her pocket for something. Finding it, she brought it out of her pocket with her left hand and pulled her wand out with the right. She performed a quick engorgement charm so that she now held a bottle shaped package. She had wrapped the bottle of wine nicely in sparkly white wrapping paper that was held together by flourishing bow of blue iridescent ribbon that held sparkly snowflakes that were sporadically placed at the neck of the bottle.

“Merry Christmas, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy.” She offered them the bottle.

“Oh dear, you didn’t have to give us anything. I must say you did a beautiful job of wrapping it.” Narcissa commented admiringly.

“That is most kind of you Ashleigh.”

“Well, it’s more of a thank you really, for letting me stay with you over the holiday. I must be an inconvenience.”

“Not at all.” Narcissa insisted, carefully unwrapping the bottle.

“Oh Lucius, it’s our favorite Elf made wine. And your favorite year too, 1789.”

Lucius took the bottle out of his wife’s hands and took a look at the bottle. Raising an eyebrow at the very hard to come by year.

“Thank you.” His voice was full of shock. “How ever did you come by such a rare year?”

“I asked the shop keeper if he had any old red wines. He had two bottles of this in stock and sold them to me at what I think was an unfair price, on his end. I wasn’t about to tell him that though. He really should do his research if he is going to be in the wine business. I gave the other bottle to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.”

Lucius was impressed. This girl was a true Slytherin. Lucius was willing to bet that this girl didn’t even realize when she was using her ability to be cunning which was the best way to use it. Natural ability, that was.

“Well it’s getting late; we should all retire to our rooms to ready ourselves for the party tonight. Draco will show you to your room Ashleigh; it is a pleasure to have you with us. We shall see you tonight.” With those last words, Lucius and Narcissa departed the room leaving Draco and Ashleigh to themselves.

“Well that went well!” Draco said as he leaned back against the sofa. “And you were worried!”

“Yes, it went well, Mr. No Help At All!” She replied, smacking him on the shoulder.

“Hey.” He said, attempting to fend her off. “I know my parents and they wouldn’t have appreciated me commenting on how great you are every five seconds. They prefer to find those kinds of things out for themselves.”

Settling down, she questioned him. “Do you really think they liked me?”

“Were you paying attention? Of course they liked you! If they didn’t before, the Elf made wine made sure they changed their minds. You have good taste sweetheart. I rather think my father was impressed with you, which is no small accomplishment, might I add.”

Leaning over, Ashleigh captured his lips in a searing kiss that didn’t last as long as Draco had hoped it to.

“What was that for?” He asked once he had regained his breath.

“For calling me sweetheart. Now I need one for you. What do you think about Drakiepoo?” She asked him with a very serious expression on her face, tapping her lip with her finger .

The look of utter horror on his face was enough to make her burst out laughing. Huffing, he stood up and held out his hands to her.

“Come on giggles, we have to get ready.”

Sobering, she grabbed his hands and he pulled her up. With her hands in his, she leaned forward and kissed him again.

“I was just joking with you as you well know, there’s no need to get all huffy. You know I would never call you by such a name, especially in public.”

“I know, but if you insist on calling me by something other than my given name, please pick something better than Drakiepoo.” He said that last word as if it was hard to do so.

“Deal.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lucius and Narcissa continued to linger outside of the doorway they had just vacated, intent on learning as much as possible about how far their son’s relationship has progressed thus far. Hearing their conversation end, they quickly went into the adjacent room and flooed to their bedroom.

“That went well don’t you think?” Narcissa asked.

“Very well, indeed. She is a most pleasing young lady although I am surprised. Draco had always seemed more partial to blondes than any other hair color.”

“Yes he did. He told me once in a letter when they first met that he couldn’t see anything other than friendship between them, I guess things changed.”

“It would seem so.”

“And what pleasing manners. I never would have thought it of an American. She has clearly been brought up in an upstanding family even though she was adopted. It is a shame she will never know who her paternal parents are. The only thing she does know is that she is related to Harry Potter on his father’s side which means she is at least a half-blood.” She said with a bit of a frown.

“Yes, well there is nothing for it, dear. Let us continue to get ready for our guests.”
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A Matter of Time