Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Loved	By : Dazzlious Category: HP Canon Characters paired with Original Characters > Het - Male/Female Views: 5761 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from J K Rowling's fantastic books or films, I'm just borrowing and playing with them for a little while and get no monetary reward for doing so.

Chapter List
- 4
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‘I’m sorry, Mr Malfoy, but there’s absolutely nothing I can do.’ The official stared at Lucius, neither looking nor sounding sympathetic.
‘Well, then I suggest you find someone who can,’ Lucius replied, his voice as cold as steel. ‘I refuse to accept that nothing can be done. Julia and I love each other and have absolutely no intention of annulling our marriage.’
The official sighed loudly. ‘As I’ve told you, Mr—’
‘And as I’ve told you, Mr . . . whatever your name is—’ Lucius talked abruptly across the official, cutting him off — ‘I’m not interested in what you think should be happening. Julia and I will remain married and if you can’t arrange that then you need to go and find someone who can.’
Lucius glared at the balding man sitting behind the desk who stared back for a moment, then rubbed his eyes under the little round glasses he was wearing.
‘Very well,’ the official said resignedly, standing up as he spoke. ‘If you won’t listen to me I shall go and find someone else who can explain it to you. Perhaps you’ll listen to them. Excuse me.’ He came out from behind the desk and walked out the door, closing it behind him.
Julia looked worriedly at Lucius. ‘I told you they wouldn’t let us stay together,’ she said miserably.
She had been trying not to break down, not wanting to embarrass either herself or Lucius in front of the official but it was getting harder to keep control. Instead of being helpful as Lucius had predicted, the official they had talked to regarding their marriage had been forthright and unsympathetic and she was beginning to fear the worst. Lucius could shout at the man as much as he liked but it didn’t change what he was going to say.
Lucius went to Julia and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly as he whispered soothing words. He knew she was having trouble holding it together as the nightmare scenario she had been worried about for so long now actually appeared to be coming true. He couldn’t believe the Ministry were being so obstructive about this. Surely they wanted people to be together who loved each other, didn’t they?
‘I’m sure we can sort this out,’ he told her. ‘Just wait until his boss arrives. I bet he’ll be more sympathetic. We’ve obviously just got a jobsworth here.’
He could feel Julia shaking her head as he held her to him and a fresh wave of anger surged through his entire being. He wished he could do something to make her feel better but there was nothing and it made him feel impotent, which in turn made him feel even angrier.
A few minutes later the door opened and the small bald man returned, bringing with him a lanky man with a shock of straw-coloured hair and wearing an emerald green robe. The man walked towards Lucius and Julia, studying them appraisingly.
‘My name is Duggold Leach,’ the tall man said as Julia and Lucius parted and retook their seats. His voice was deep and melodious. ‘Bagnold here,’ he indicated the bald man, ‘tells me that there’s a problem to do with your bonding. So what seems to be the issue?’
Lucius stared back at the newcomer for a moment, then said in his most pleasant voice, ‘Mr . . . Bagnold told us that our marriage was to be annulled, even though neither Julia nor myself have any interest in ending our marriage. I’m sure your records show that we were . . . reluctant to marry initially, and I understand that it may have seemed as if we were only interested in making it to this two-year anniversary so we could separate, but nothing could be further from the truth. Julia and I have created a fulfilling and loving relationship and fully intend that to continue. We are a success story for you, a good advertisement for your bonding policies, so I fail to understand why you are trying to separate us. Unfortunately, your man there,’ he indicated Bagnold, ‘refused to listen to reason. We weren’t happy with his attitude and so asked for someone more senior who would be more sensible about this.’
Leach listened carefully to Lucius, nodding his head to show he understood what Lucius was saying. Once he was sure Lucius had finished speaking he looked carefully at both the blond man and Julia before responding.
‘The problem is, Mr Malfoy, that your bonding hasn’t been the success the Ministry hoped for, has it?’ he said, sounding sympathetic. ‘You were made aware before the ceremony took place that if you hadn’t produced a child within the two years your bonding would be annulled. You both agreed to this when you accepted the contract and are therefore bound by its terms. I’m afraid there is nothing that can be done. You will be given the chance to bond with new partners, ones who might be more favourable matches for you.’
‘This is bloody ridiculous,’ Lucius shouted, his temper now completely frayed and threatening to burst loose. ‘We don’t want other partners! Julia and I are a perfect match for each other whether we’ve had a baby or not. We have no intention of ending our marriage, and nothing the bloody Ministry of Magic can say will change that.’
Leach looked unhappily at Lucius. ‘I’m sorry to hear you say that, Mr Malfoy. You see, your bonding has already been annulled as of first thing this morning. You and Miss Carlisle are no longer “married”, as you put it. Your contract with each other is at an end.’ He turned to look at Julia. ‘You may leave, Miss Carlisle. As it is likely that you are unable to bear children you are no longer required or eligible to be paired and your presence is no longer needed at the Ministry of Magic. I wish you every success for your future.’
Julia couldn’t stop the sob that escaped her lips at the official’s cruel words, her hands rising shakily to cover her mouth. She looked at Lucius, who looked as if he was about to hit Leach.
‘How dare you talk to my wife like that,’ Lucius raged furiously. ‘Apologise immediately. And if you have to address her you will refer to her as Mrs Malfoy, not Miss Carlisle.’
Leach stared at Lucius for a moment before turning to Julia and saying somewhat apologetically, ‘I apologise if I upset you, Miss Carlisle. Obviously, I didn’t mean to do that.’ He turned back to Lucius. ‘However, I’m afraid it doesn’t change the facts. Your bonding has been annulled — you are no longer married.’
‘That is unacceptable,’ Lucius stated firmly. ‘You need to reverse the annulment immediately.’
Leach sighed. ‘It isn’t as easy as that, Mr Malfoy. You have to remember . . . .’
Lucius could see that Julia wasn’t getting any less upset and he knew that part of her distress would be from breaking down in public. She didn’t even like to get upset in front of him when they were on their own, so this was a very difficult situation for her. With a potentially big fight ahead things would only get more distressing and Lucius wanted to spare her that. Ignoring what the official was saying, he took her hand comfortingly and squeezed it gently.
‘Look, Julia, darling, there’s no point in us both staying here to argue with these idiots. Why don’t you wait outside for me? Ginny should be arriving shortly. I told Draco we would meet them here. You can go and wait for her while I sort out this stupid mess.’ He smiled at her reassuringly.
‘But if I go . . .’ Julia began, her voice sounding quavery as if trying to hold back tears.
‘I can sort this out for both of us,’ Lucius promised. ‘I love you, Julia, and nothing the stupid Ministry tries to do will ever change that. You don’t need to stay in here.’ He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed it gently.
Julia was worried about leaving, especially after being rejected so abruptly by Duggold Leach, but at the same time she was having trouble retaining her dignity when she couldn’t stop the tears, which were threatening to turn into great wracking sobs, and that would be even more embarrassing. Lucius was giving her the opportunity to bow out gracefully and go and get herself under control while he tried to sort out the Ministry officials.
She had no doubt things were about to get nasty, and Lucius obviously didn’t want her to see that side of him in action. She gave Lucius a small, watery smile as she squeezed his hand in return and nodded her head. She wasn’t sure she could speak without wailing.
‘I’ll be out soon,’ Lucius promised as Julia stood up. He was still holding her hand and pulled her towards him, and she bent a little so he could kiss her. ‘I love you,’ he told her honestly once the kiss had finished.
‘I love you, too,’ Julia just about managed to say.
Now that she had been released Julia needed to get out — out of this office which held the bad news she had expected for so long, and out of the building which suddenly seemed cloying and claustrophobic. She felt the need for some fresh air. Looking one last time at Lucius, she headed for the door.
First, she needed to find a bathroom so she could stop the tears, or more likely let them out. She needed release from the pain she was feeling and had a nasty suspicion that only a long, hard cry would help her do that. She wondered whether she should attempt to find Draco but she had no idea where his office was, and although she could have asked she didn’t feel it fair to bother him.
Lucius had said Ginny would be arriving shortly, so once Julia had calmed herself down she would go and wait for her on the steps of the employee’s entrance to the Ministry of Magic. Hopefully, by the time Lucius and Draco joined them everything would be sorted and she and Lucius could enjoy the rest of their wedding anniversary.
‘I’m glad you finally saw sense and got Miss Carlisle to leave,’ Leach said once Julia had closed the door behind her. He took a seat behind the desk that now separated him from Lucius. ‘Now we can get on with—’
‘The only reason I let Julia go, Leach, was because I didn’t want to give you a chance to upset her further with any more of your disgusting comments,’ Lucius told him coldly. He could feel his wand in his pocket and his fingers itched to grab it and hex the man in front of him, but he knew that wouldn’t help to get his marriage reinstated. He tapped his right foot on the floor impatiently. ‘Now, I’m asking you one more time to revoke the annulment.’
Leach looked sympathetic once more, which Lucius found infuriating. ‘I’m sorry that you became so attached to Miss Carlisle — although she is an attractive woman, so I can understand why you did. But it’s clear she’s not a suitable match for you, not when the whole intention of the bonding is so that strong magical children can be produced.’
‘Hadn’t it occurred to you that we might not want to have children?’ Lucius asked belligerently. ‘I already have a son old enough to bear children of his own and Julia has never wanted to have a child. There’s no reason we should be forced into producing a family we don’t want just to please the Ministry of Magic.’
‘But that is the whole point of the bonding law, Mr Malfoy,’ Leach said patiently, sounding as if he was explaining something to a five-year-old. ‘And once again I would like to remind you that you both agreed to the terms at the time of the ceremony.’
Lucius sighed. ‘Of course we did; we didn’t have any choice, did we? But things have changed since we were first married. We’ve grown to love each other and don’t want to be separated just because we don’t want children. If you can’t revoke the annulment you could just take us off your list or whatever and let us go and get married again elsewhere. I’m sure you could do that, couldn’t you?’
Leach stared at Lucius for several long seconds, seemingly debating what to say.
‘You cannot be removed from the list whilst you remain eligible to be paired, Mr Malfoy. We can’t have a special law for you and one for everyone else. And as you are still eligible we will be conducting your bonding ceremony as soon as Mr Bagnold returns with your new partner.’
Lucius looked incredulously at Leach. ‘After everything I’ve just told you, you’re not willing to listen to reason? Well, I’m not getting bonded to anyone else — I refuse. Especially not today. It’s my wedding anniversary.’
Leach’s look of sympathy had gone, to be replaced by a much harder look. ‘That is, of course, entirely your choice, Mr Malfoy. However, should you reject the bonding you will be subject to the same condition as everyone else — your wand will be taken from you and destroyed and you will be exiled from the wizarding world for the rest of your life.’
At the mention of his wand, Lucius’ fingers closed around it; he was now even more desperate to use it on the man who was in the process of destroying his and Julia’s lives. But ending up in Azkaban wasn’t going to make things any better, even if it might give him a sense of satisfaction for a moment or so. He had no choice. He had to do the one thing that, after Voldemort, he had sworn to himself he would never do to any man again.
‘Please,’ he begged, his voice humble now. ‘Please reconsider this decision, Mr Leach. I know you think you’re trying to do what’s best for the wizarding world. But separating me and Julia really isn’t it. You’re going to make three people very unhappy if you insist on continuing.’
There was a knock on the door. Leach looked towards it and said ‘Enter,’ then looked back at Lucius, the sympathy once again on his face. ‘I really am sorry about this, Mr Malfoy,’ he said, sounding as if he was. ‘But I’m afraid there’s absolutely nothing I can do.’
‘But you could give us another two years,’ Lucius said desperately, trying to ignore the people who had just entered the room. ‘Give us another chance to produce a child.’
Duggold Leach looked appraisingly at Lucius for a moment, then shook his head. ‘I think we both know that you won’t produce a child even if we were to give you the extra time, Mr Malfoy. The Ministry believes that Miss Carlisle is unable to bear children and she has therefore been removed from the list of potential partners and is no longer eligible to be paired with you or, indeed, with anyone. This being the case, a new partner has been selected for you who is more likely to be fertile.’ He indicated the woman who had just entered the room with Mr Bagnold. ‘I know this is disappointing news for you, but we all have to stick to the letter of the law, I’m afraid.’
At first, Lucius refused to look. His heart was breaking, slowly being ripped apart, and it hurt like hell. He had never felt this way before. Previous relationships — and there had been plenty over the years — had always been on his terms; and when they ended, as they all had eventually, it had generally been at his instigation and he had felt nothing but relief.
Even his separation and divorce from Narcissa had engendered little personal feeling. He hadn’t cared enough about her to worry when she filed for divorce. The ensuing case, during which she had accused him of all manner of things, most of which were true, had done nothing but annoy him, although the notoriety had gained him a whole new cadre of women to choose from, which had been useful.
But over the two years he and Julia had been together she had unleashed in him something he had never felt before. Without even trying she had managed to calm him, turning him from a self-serving, hedonistic playboy into someone better. Thanks to her he had become a nicer, far less selfish person. He adored her . . . no, he loved her with all his heart, and now they were to be parted that heart was breaking, possibly irreparably.
Lucius had done everything he could think of to try to keep them together except give up his wand and his life in the wizarding world — that he could never do. While it was true that he had improved, he still harboured some very deep-seated prejudices against Muggles, and he really couldn’t face having to live amongst them for the rest of what would be a very long life, not even for Julia.
Part of him felt guilty about this, which was a very weird feeling as he hardly ever felt guilt — yet another thing Julia had brought out in him. But at the end of the day he was a Pure-blood, and regardless of his feelings for the beautiful woman who was and as far as he was concerned would always be his wife, he would not willingly give up his wand, however bad the alternative may be.
He turned his head to look at the newcomer and felt his painful heart sink even further.

As Julia had anticipated, the tears had begun in earnest the minute she walked through the door of the bathroom, unable to hold them inside any longer. She was just glad she was the only one in there otherwise she would have died of shame as she was completely unable to stop the loud wails that emitted from her. It had taken five minutes of this loud keening and another five of normal sobs, locked away in one of the cubicles so no one could see her if they came in, before she calmed down enough to look at herself in the mirror.
She was a mess of panda-eyes and streaky makeup. Julia ran the tap and washed her face as best she could, then dug into her handbag to retrieve her makeup bag. She spent another ten minutes redoing her face, then, once she felt slightly more assured that she looked okay, she left, heading for the lift.
Julia wondered how Lucius was getting on. Had he managed to convince Leach that the annulment should be revoked? She still wasn’t confident, but if anyone could persuade him it would be Lucius. She got into the lift, glancing briefly at the other occupants then at the numbers over the door. She really wanted to leave the building now. She was getting a stress headache and could definitely do with some fresh air. She looked at her watch. It was ten past twelve. She had no idea what time Ginny was supposed to arrive but she didn’t want to stay in the building any longer.
Her heart gave a small leap of relief as the lift finally reached its destination and the doors opened. She walked rapidly across the atrium and out the main door, making an effort to smile pleasantly at the guards as she left. Once outside, she took a deep breath of the fresh September air then walked down the stairs, looking left and right down the small road as she did in case she could see Ginny coming. Fortunately, the weather was still quite warm and there wasn’t much of a breeze so she could wait here without getting cold.
After several minutes of loitering, Julia sat down on one of the steps. She tried not to think about Lucius and what was happening back in the office, as every time she did she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes and she was desperate not to cry again. She wished he was here with her, telling her that everything had been sorted and that they were still married.
Julia breathed deeply. She had no idea what she was going to do if the Ministry refused to revoke the annulment. That was just unthinkable, and surely they wouldn’t ruin her and Lucius’ lives like that, would they? The Ministry of Magic weren’t monsters, they were just trying to provide a better future for the wizarding world and the officials they had encountered were just trying to stick to the rules that had been laid down. But that didn’t mean the rules couldn’t be broken or circumvented.
She had completely retreated into her thoughts when Ginny arrived at just gone twelve fifteen. Ginny was a little confused as to why Julia was sitting on the steps on her own, but she assumed Lucius must have gone to see Draco and Julia had decided to stay behind in the pleasant autumn sunshine. She walked over to the daydreaming woman and tapped her on her shoulder.
‘Sickle for ‘em?’
Julia looked up at Ginny in surprise, then quickly tried to smooth her face in case it showed the misery she was currently feeling. She gave a small smile.
‘Oh, hi, Ginny. I’d drifted miles away while I was waiting for you . . . just daydreaming.’
Ginny looked at Julia carefully as the woman stood up, straightening and dusting down the back of her skirt. There was definitely something wrong, but she couldn’t work out what. Had Julia and Lucius had an argument? It wouldn’t be the first time, but it would be a shame if they let it spoil their wedding anniversary. She and Draco would have to try and jolly them out of whatever had caused the argument and make them remember they were supposed to be celebrating their love for each other.
‘Is Lucius in there with Draco?’ Ginny asked. She looked at her watch. ‘They should be down in a minute, surely? Lucius said quarter past and it’s almost twenty-five past now.’
‘He might be now,’ Julia said quietly. ‘But he was in the bonding office. We received a letter for an appointment with them this morning.’
Ginny grinned. ‘They wanted to congratulate you on managing to get through two whole years without killing each other, eh?’ she asked, but her smile fell away when she saw the look on Julia’s face.
‘No, they wanted to tell us our marriage had been annulled,’ Julia replied, trying to keep her voice from shaking and stop the tears that were instantly back in her eyes.
‘They did what?’ Ginny asked. She gaped in astonishment at Julia. ‘Why the hell—’
‘Hullo, ladies, not been waiting too long, I hope? Where’s Father?’ Draco cut Ginny off as he walked down the steps towards them, smiling brightly. He reached their side and gave Ginny a brief but affectionate kiss, then turned to Julia, pulling her into a hug as he kissed her cheek. Before Ginny could signal to him, he continued, ‘Happy anniversary, Julia. Can you believe it’s been two years already?’
He felt the woman stiffen in his grasp and released her, pulling back to see what he had said wrong. Julia was desperately trying to calm herself although her heart was racing and her stomach was doing back-flips. Behind her, Draco could see Ginny desperately shaking her head.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, suddenly much more serious as a shiver of worry ran down his spine. ‘Has something happened?’
Julia looked directly at Draco. ‘Did Lucius tell you why we had to come here this morning?’
Draco shrugged. ‘He said you had an appointment to discuss how the bonding was going. It’s a standard thing, I think. They ask you how it’s all going then remind you not to kill each other, because you can now, as the charm has been removed. It’s nothing serious, though, just a legal requirement.’
‘Probably not, if you’ve done as the Ministry expected and had children,’ Julia replied more bitterly than she meant to. ‘But as your father and I haven’t . . . .’ She let the words drop.
‘They annulled the marriage,’ Ginny added quietly. She was stroking Julia’s arm comfortingly.
‘What do you mean, they annulled it?’ Draco asked, looking confused. ‘They can’t just do that arbitrarily, surely?’
Julia gave a despondent shrug. ‘Under the terms of the contract which were read out to us at the bonding ceremony, we agreed to have a child within two years or our marriage would be annulled and we would be re-partnered with other, “more suitable” people.’ She could feel a tear running down her cheek and used her finger to brush it away, but there was already another falling. ‘Of course, at the time that seemed brilliant as neither of us wanted to be with the other and we really did think we would want to part after two years. We never knew we would fall in love.’
‘But surely they must be sensitive to that,’ Draco said. ‘They must have loads of people who don’t want to be bonded but then fall in love during the two years.’
‘Yes, but they have children,’ Julia pointed out miserably.
‘I bet not all of them do,’ Draco retorted. ‘It’s not possible under the law of averages.’
‘In which case they receive the same treatment we have,’ Julia told him. ‘They told us the marriage had already been annulled. It was done automatically and there was nothing we could do about it.’
‘So where’s my father now?’ Draco asked, the cold feeling now spreading throughout his entire body. He knew what his father could be like when annoyed, and he would surely be absolutely furious at what the Ministry had done.
‘They told me I could leave, that I was no longer required as I was obviously barren.’ Julia’s voice broke as she spoke. Ginny rushed to hug her, wanting to comfort Julia for the callous and unthinking treatment she had received at the hands of the Ministry. ‘I think they intend to re-bond Lucius.’ She gazed balefully at Draco. ‘I have to admit I was getting quite upset, so Lucius told me to come and wait for you out here while he tried to talk some sense into them. I’ve never seen him so angry . . . but I don’t think it will do any good.’
Draco blew on his steepled fingers, trying to decide what to do. There hadn’t been an alarm set off, so his father hadn’t done anything too bad . . . yet. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t. And Julia definitely didn’t need her husband ending up in Azkaban for injuring — or worse — a Ministry official. At least Ginny was comforting Julia and calming her down, something Ginny was very good at. She took after her mother like that.
‘You two wait here,’ Draco said gently. ‘I’ll go and see what’s going on and try to get Father to leave without causing mayhem. Hopefully, this can be sorted without anyone being seriously injured.’
He turned to walk up the steps when Lucius came running through the doors and down the steps towards them. He looked extremely harassed. Ginny let go of Julia as Lucius pulled his wife into his arms, hugging her to his chest as tightly as he had ever done.
‘I’m so sorry, my darling,’ he whispered into her hair. ‘I really did try to stop it.’ His voice was louder now and sounded to Julia as if his heart was breaking. ‘I love you so much, Julia, but there was nothing I could do.’
‘At least you tried,’ Julia said, pulling away from him a little so she could look at him. ‘I knew it was too good to be true that we could actually be in love and live happily together.’ She stroked his face gently. ‘I love you, too . . . so much.’
And then they were kissing, possibly a little too passionately for the steps of the Ministry of Magic, in full view of everyone including Lucius’ son, but at that moment neither of them cared. Each needed to show the other how much they were loved, and nothing else mattered.
‘Okay, so they’ve annulled the marriage,’ Draco said loudly, trying not to look at the kissing couple. ‘But surely you can just go and get married again somewhere else, can’t you? You don’t have to be bonded by the Ministry, not if you’re that much in love.’ He looked slightly distastefully at the still kissing pair. ‘Which you obviously are.’
Lucius ended the kiss, although he didn’t release Julia as he looked at Draco, shaking his head. ‘We can’t,’ he said morosely.
Julia let go of Lucius, realising what he was saying at exactly the same moment as a voice reached them, high and shrill, followed swiftly by the body of the person speaking.
‘There you are, Lucius. Why did you run off?’ The woman looked at Lucius where he was still trying to hold on to Julia and added, ‘Who the hell’s that?’
‘We could ask the same of you,’ Ginny said angrily.
‘I’m his wife,’ the woman said smugly. She gave Ginny a disdainful look and added, ‘And you are?’
Julia couldn’t help but gasp as the woman spoke. She shook her head and moved away from Lucius, even as he tried desperately to hold onto her.
‘Julia . . . please,’ Lucius moaned unhappily.
Julia gazed at him, her eyes showing the betrayal he had inflicted. She blinked to stop the tears, but couldn’t do anything to halt the flow.
‘You re-bonded,’ she whispered.
‘I’m Draco Malfoy . . . Lucius’ son,’ Draco told the woman coldly. ‘And this is my fiancée, Ginny,’ he said as he indicated her. ‘What’s this about you being my father’s wife? Julia is my father’s wife.’ He pointed at Julia who hadn’t stopped gazing at Lucius.
‘Not anymore, love,’ the woman said. ‘Me and your father have just got bonded, haven’t we, Lucius?’ She looked slyly at the shocked group and winked. ‘Didn’t you tell your ex-wife you were getting re-married, you naughty boy?’ She grinned then added, ‘my name’s Crystal . . . Crystal Lufkin . . . well, Crystal Malfoy now.’
Julia still hadn’t looked at Crystal; her focus was completely on Lucius.
‘You re-bonded,’ she repeated, her voice louder and colder.
Lucius stared back at her, his face a mask of misery. ‘I didn’t have any choice, Julia.’
Julia gave a bitter laugh. ‘Didn’t have any choice . . . right.’
‘What did you expect me to do?’ Lucius asked, his own voice stiffer now. ‘I wasn’t willing to give up my place in the wizarding world. I have no desire to live in the Muggle world for the rest of my life — surely you couldn’t really expect me to do that.’
‘I understand,’ Julia said. Her voice sounded calmer now she had managed to rein in her emotions, although she was aware she was still crying. ‘I wouldn’t expect you to—’ She broke off, unable to say anything more.
‘This doesn’t change how I feel about you,’ Lucius told her. ‘I still love you. Come home with me. Nothing has to change.’
Julia gave another laugh, this one slightly less bitter. ‘Where am I going to stay, Lucius?’
‘You know where,’ Lucius replied gently, catching hold of her hand. ‘I’m not sleeping with her . . . you’re my wife, whatever the Ministry says.’
‘And where’s she going to sleep, in my old rooms?’ Julia asked, shaking her head. ‘She’s your wife now, Lucius. I can’t continue to live with you. Not now.’
‘Of course you can,’ Lucius pleaded. ‘If you feel uncomfortable about sharing my bed then you can stay in your old rooms . . . you like them. There are plenty of rooms in Malfoy Manor where I can put her up out of our way; then you can stay there quite happily, too.’
Julia laughed again at the words ‘quite happily’. She didn’t think she was ever going to be happy again. And there was no way she was staying at Malfoy Manor, not now.
‘I’m sure it’s all very nice catching up and all that, but can we go now, Lucius? I’m bored standing here and I can’t wait to see my new home. I’m sure it will be very grand. I mean, you are rich, aren’t you?’ Crystal’s shrill voice cut through the look Lucius and Julia were giving each other.
Needing to be away from him, Julia finally turned to look at Lucius’ new wife. She was young, extremely young, and very beautiful, her lean body and long legs accentuated by the tight mini-dress she wore teamed with lace tights and long, high-heeled boots. She instantly made Julia feel fat, frumpy, and decidedly middle-aged.
She was everything Lucius definitely didn’t need, but she exuded an air of sexuality that Julia was sure he would find impossible to resist. Tall, thin and almost as blond as Lucius and Draco, she could already have been a Malfoy. She could hear Draco talking to the girl, asking her how old she was. She couldn’t stop the small bitter sound that escaped her lips as she thought of Lucius and the beautiful girl together.
‘You are my wife,’ Lucius said once again, drawing her attention back to him.
Julia shook her head sadly. ‘Not for the next two years, and that’s assuming you don’t have children.’
Lucius looked horrified. ‘I’m not having children with her,’ he assured Julia. ‘I want this over now. Two years can’t come soon enough.’
‘But it won’t matter,’ Julia pointed out quietly. ‘If they annul your current marriage they’ll just bond you with someone else, again and again until you finally breed with one of them. You and I are finished.’
‘Don’t say that,’ Lucius said angrily. ‘You will always be my wife, Julia.’ He still had hold of her hand and he lifted it to show her the wedding ring he had given her that morning. ‘You — not her or anyone else the bloody Ministry deems suitable — only you.’
Julia pulled her hand away. ‘Thank you for reminding me,’ she said as she pulled the ring from her finger. ‘Give me an hour. I’ll be gone in an hour.’
Lucius looked devastated as she threw the ring at him.
‘There’s no point in me keeping it,’ she said unhappily, trying to ignore the tearing in her heart as she did it. Then before Lucius could react she turned and ran down the rest of the steps and off down the road.
Lucius moved just a few seconds too late. Draco grabbed his arm, holding him back.
‘Let her go,’ Draco said quietly. He glanced rapidly at Ginny, who nodded and took off after Julia.
‘I don’t want to lose her,’ Lucius said his voice breaking. ‘I love her so much, Draco. I just don’t want to let her go.’
‘I know you do, Father,’ Draco replied soothingly. He pulled Lucius into a hug. ‘But you can’t keep her at Malfoy Manor, you know. You’re not being fair to Julia, expecting that of her. Not when you’ve got—’ he broke off for a moment to look disgustedly at the girl who was even younger than himself— ‘Crystal. You chose to bond with her; now you’ll have to accept the consequences.’
‘You think I should have given up my wand?’ Lucius asked bitterly.
Draco sighed. ‘No. I don’t think you had any choice. But it’s not fair of you to expect Julia to stay with you when you’ve re-married. You can’t just ignore Crystal. You know that. There are consequences.’
‘But I want to see Julia,’ Lucius whined miserably.
‘But she doesn’t want to see you at the moment and you can hardly blame her for that,’ Draco replied bluntly. ‘Ginny has gone to help her. Give her the hour she asked for. It’s the best thing you can do for her now.’
Lucius laughed bitterly. ‘I gave her an hour when she married me,’ he said, remembering that first day. ‘I remember what her ex was like when I turned up to take her away. I couldn’t understand it at the time. I mean, she was attractive enough, but nothing special, and she was Muggle-born — not what I wanted at all.’ He looked at his son. ‘Do you know what? I now know exactly how the other bloke felt. I really don’t want her to go.’
‘But she has to, you know that really,’ Draco told him.
Lucius nodded his head sadly. He let go of Draco and pulled his wand from his pocket, using it to retrieve the ring which had fallen to the floor. He gazed at it unhappily for a moment, then placed it safely in the inside pocket of his jacket. Once that was done he looked over at Crystal, his heart sinking at the sight of the young woman. She was too young to be his wife, too young to be anyone’s wife really, yet he was going to be stuck with her for the next two years. And unless he could get Julia to talk to him those two years were going to be the longest and most miserable he had ever spent.
‘Well, I suppose we should go and eat or something to pass the time until we can go back to the manor,’ he said unenthusiastically.
Crystal looked as if she was about to protest, but Lucius stifled the incipient comment with a glare.
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