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Hot Gimmick
Mei Queen
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Authoress' Note: omg, I can't believe I've gotten this far. Thank you all so much for all of your support, I've had more support from my readers these past few months than I ever have, and I appreciate it more than words can say. (And if you're wondering why I'm getting all mushy, I just realised that I only have maybe one chapter left in this story. Holy crap. My thoughts, exactly.)
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Disclaimer: If you recognise it, I don't own it. Special thanks to JKR and Miki Aihara for letting me dement their creations. And for those of you that were wondering, this fic takes the basic plot and some of the ideas from 'Hot Gimmick' but it kind of distorts them or gives them different outcomes. However, the plot twist in this chapter will come as no surprise to my fellow 'HG' fans.
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Chapter 10: Hide and Seek
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"I can not believe you want me to play such a mindless game, Red," Draco Malfoy drawled with annoyance, flicking a strand of his delicate blond hair out of his eyes. It was Sunday morning, and Ginny was pleading with him to play a game she had always wanted to play in a large house like Draco's, 'Hide and Seek'. "This is ridiculous, you know. It's all so dreadfully…Muggle."
"Oh, come on," the redhead begged, gently touching his arm and easing herself in to his lap. Giving his a slow, languorous kiss on the lips, she whispered softly, "Maybe I'll give you a prize if you find me."
That seemed to catch Draco's attention quick enough. His grey eyes glinted excitedly, and he found himself wondering aloud, "A prize like what, exactly?"
"Not telling," Ginny Weasley replied stubbornly, standing up to get out of her boyfriend's lap.
"You know you want to," Draco pleaded, quickly placing his hands on Ginny's hips to prevent her from going any further. "Please…"
"I won't tell," the redhead answered simply, turning to face him. "But, I will tell you this much- it's something you'd really like."
"How do you know?"
"I'm your girlfriend now," Ginny countered evenly, a smirk spreading on her face. "I know all."
Draco chuckled in response and dropped his hands from her hips, slowly bringing them in to rest at his sides. With a grand sigh, he met Ginny's chocolate eyes with his own steely grey. "This prize of yours had better be good, Red. Alright, ground rules- we are only using the west wing."
Ginny crossed her arms over her chest in irritation. "You have a house the size of Hogwarts, and I have regularly gotten lost just trying to find a loo. How do you expect me to bloody know which one the west wing is?"
"We're in it."
"Oh," she replied, cheeks flaming slightly in embarrassment. "Right."
Draco smiled and shook his head before continuing. "The other important rule. If the seeker can't find whoever is hiding, they'll call for a house-elf to guide them. This way we don't have to shout endlessly for one another…gets tiring. Even in the west wing alone, there are an awful lot of places to hide."
Ginny nodded curtly. "Is that it? Can I go hide now?"
The grin on her face was wide and unmistakably excited.
Merlin, she's cute, Draco thought, smiling to himself. Outwardly sighing and bringing his hands to cover his eyes, he drawled in his most bored tone, "One…two…"
"Yay!" Ginny squealed happily before flinging wide the door and sprinting off down the corridor.
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"Ready or not, here I come," Draco drawled lazily after counting to one hundred. Getting up off his bed and starting towards the door, he called out to nobody in particular, "You better be getting that prize ready for me, Red!"
The young Malfoy gradually made it through three bedrooms, one bathroom, two parlours, one dining room, and one of the game rooms before growling in irritation. He had been at this for about forty minutes now, and there was no sign yet of his favourite redhead. I'll bet the ditz didn't even hide in the west wing like I specifically told her. She means the world to me, but I swear to Merlin, the woman can't even follow simple directions…
Draco was about ready to give up altogether and call for a house-elf when he noticed a door ajar at the end of the corridor. Father's study? That door is never left open…unless someone's in there…hmm…
A smile slowly spread its way across Draco's pale face as he gingerly made his way down the corridor. He was careful to be extremely quiet; he didn't want to give away the fact that he was on to her hiding spot. The smirk on his face only grew wider as he gently pushed open the door.
"I know you're in here," he said in a singsong voice, shutting the door softly behind him.
Silence.
Well, obviously she wouldn't be naff enough to give away her hiding spot, the blond reasoned. She's waiting for you to find her.
Sighing, he began to check on the other sides of bookcases, by the mantel, under the table, by the armchairs, until there was only one hiding spot left conceivably large enough to house a human being- underneath his father's desk. Smiling broadly, Draco began to walk slowly over to the desk, his feet sinking deliciously in to the Persian rug with every step. As he rounded the desk and was about to crouch down to (more than likely) scare Ginny senseless, he felt his pants catch on something. Looking down, he saw that the loop of his jeans had caught on the top drawer of his father's desk, pulling the drawer almost completely out of its frame.
Bugger, Draco thought to himself in annoyance, leaning down to right the drawer. While doing so, he caught a disappointing glimpse of underneath the desk- no Ginny. Sighing and picking the drawer up from the bottom, he felt something unusual tucked in to the bottom-lining. His curiosity piqued, he crouched down to examine. What was lying there was, in Draco's humble opinion, one of the most bizarre things he'd seen in all his life.
It was a picture, and in it, his father was passionately kissing Alice Longbottom.
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Ginny Weasley sighed in frustration. She had been hiding in the stacks of the Malfoy Library for nearly an hour and a bloody half. I'm bored out of my mind…I would have expected him to give up by now. What happens when the hider wants to give up? Should I get a house-elf? We never really went over that detail…though, in retrospect, it might not have been a terrible idea… Crossing her arms over her chest in irritation, she allowed her body to rest against the wall while her eyes closed slightly in exhaustion.
Soon Ginny Weasley was fast asleep, head supported by a stack of Dark Arts text, and feet curled up tightly against her chest.
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Draco stared in shock at the picture. Taking the picture out of the lining, something else was loosened along with it. Picking it up gingerly from the luxurious rug, the blond sat down to read the succinct letter that had decided so much about so many lives only a few decades earlier.
Arthur Weasley-
Enclosed you will find the sum I promised, along with a tidy bonus for your silence.
Thank you for your willingness to help, Alice and I are eternally in your debt.
Sincerely-
Lucius Malfoy
No way, Draco thought in amazement, his eyes wide with shock. No fucking way. There was actually a time in the conceivable past when Ginny's family and mine communicated? Voluntarily?
"What the hell do you think you're doing with my things?" an icy voice demanded from the doorway. Lucius Malfoy was leaning against the doorframe, cane securely in his right hand, and look of disdain decidedly affixed to his features. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy had, quite clearly, returned home early.
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"What is this?" Draco managed furiously, holding up the picture with a shaking hand. "What about Mum? Did you ever think about her?"
Eyes blazing with scarcely concealed anger, Lucius stepped further in to the room, shutting the door softly behind him. "I'll have you know," he spat in annoyance, "that Alice and I were together long before your mother and I were married."
"Oh, so she's Alice now?"
It seemed that the violent older Malfoy apparently had a soft spot after all, because though Lucius' eyes were glowing with fury, the rest of him just seemed exhausted at the mention of Alice Longbottom and their past. Collapsing in a leather armchair by the fireplace, he murmured quietly, "I never meant to hurt your mother, so I never told her about Alice."
Draco began to feel the itching of curiosity spark, and he cautiously walked over to the chair across from his father. Sinking in to the comfortable cushioning, he asked desperately, "How long?"
"Draco, honestly, it doesn't matter," his father countered weakly, holding up a hand in protest.
"Yes, it does, so don't avoid the question. How long?"
Lucius groaned, his brow furrowing and wrinkles creasing in intense concentration. Resolutely coming to an answer, he determinedly avoided his son's probing eyes as he responded. "Alice and I were a couple from Hogwarts on."
Draco's eyes blazed with defiance at the thought of what his mother would say if she found out about this…this…Alice before another thought occurred to him. "I thought you and Mum got together in seventh year!"
Lucius sighed wearily, his head sinking in to his hands. "We only told you that, son…your mother's younger than me, remember? She was about a third year when I was a seventh."
"Why the hell would you two lie about something like that?"
"Well," the older Malfoy began, obviously weighing his response carefully. "We didn't want to hurt you by telling you the truth of the matter, Draco."
"Which is?" Draco asked with thinly disguised annoyance.
Lucius rolled his eyes at his son's defiance. "The truth of it is that your mother and I had an arranged marriage."
Draco raised an eyebrow in bewilderment. "Do you mind explaining how an arranged marriage is more hurtful than discovering that your father had a mistress?"
"Are you going to be obnoxious the entire time, or do you actually want the whole story?" his father asked in frustration, leaning back in his chair to survey his pouting child. When Draco grudgingly answered that he wanted to know what had really happened, Lucius slowly continued. "Alice and I were together since Hogwarts, like I told you. Her family was pureblooded, so it wasn't such a big deal then. Our Dark Lord had not gained enough power to yet divide the wizarding world. Alice was a Gryffindor, I a Slytherin. That's where the real snags started. We really couldn't tell our families about our relationship, so we kept it secret. We were true to one another, we loved one another."
Lucius' eyes seemed dangerously misty. Draco couldn't believe what he was hearing- his father, the same father that was physically incapable of a bloody hug, had loved someone enough to be true to her and her alone- even if they had to be secret about it? His father and Alice…were like him and Ginny.
His father took a steady breath in and slowly exhaled before continuing. "But then the Dark Lord became powerful. Alice's family went to the light side, as did all the bloody Gryffindors. I tried to persuade her about the good cause of blood cleansing, but she wouldn't hear anything of it."
Draco felt distinctly uncomfortable. His father looked dangerously closer to tears than Draco had ever seen him, and Draco simply had no idea what he would do around a sobbing Lucius. "So she went. Joined the Order, ended up marrying some bumbling idiot, having a kid. Standard shit."
Draco cocked his head to the side curiously. "But that can't be it, after all, Ginny found some picture of her father kissing Alice…it was after you and Mum were married, you know. I found the letter, too…the one to Mr Weasley."
Lucius' eyes trailed down to the floor, cheeks reddening slightly. "We tried to break it off…clean. It didn't work…we missed one another."
Draco's voice was steely when he responded. "So, basically, you both strayed from your marriages and paid Weasley to take the heat."
"Draco, you have to understand," Lucius pleaded, "Alice and I never meant to hurt anyone. We just wanted to be together. And as for Weasley, Alice's husband started to catch on to the affair. Somebody had to take the heat, after all, in those times, if her husband found out she'd been associating with a Death Eater…"
The young Malfoy quickly got up from the chair, his face contorted with disgust. "If you were a real man, you would have been with Alice regardless of everyone else. Fuck everyone else. The only thing that should matter is you, her, and your relationship together."
Lucius kept his gaze fixed on the ground. "I know. That's why I asked your mother not to interfere with the relationship between you and the Weasley girl."
Draco had been walking towards the door, but that statement made him freeze in his tracks. "Mum came to the school and ordered me to break it off, anyway."
"For your sake," the older man muttered sagely, "I hope you did not. Bizarrely enough, the Muggle-lover seems to have had a good effect on you. You actually seem more mature, unbelievably enough."
"She has, hasn't she?" Draco asked, his lips curving up in to a small smile. "What about Mum, though? Did you ever love her?"
Lucius slowly rose from the chair, clutching his cane for support. Applying a smile that ended up more like a grimace, Lucius replied, "Your mother and I are very fond of one another, Draco. Some relationships are about mutual benefit…not sappy notions."
Draco's eyes clouded with sadness for his mother, after all, he loved her, regardless of the interfering manner that she had. Swinging the door wide, a thought occurred to him that made him turn around for one last question. "Whatever happened with Alice?"
"She was picked as a target," Lucius murmured quietly, one hand tracing the intricate design of his cane. "I didn't go on the mission, I couldn't watch…but I hear that she was tortured in to insanity."
"And you didn't do anything to stop it?!" Draco asked incredulously, rounding on his father with obvious indignation. He didn't know why he cared what had happened to this Alice woman, but he just did. For some reason, the cause of his father and Alice reminded him so strongly of himself and Ginny…
"I couldn't, Draco, don't you see? We would have risked both of our lives!"
"So instead you just risked hers. Very brave, you are," Draco muttered, sneering.
"All of us can't have the happy ending, Draco. I regret my actions, but there's nothing that can be done now. The only thing that can be done is for you to learn from our mistakes all those years ago."
As Lucius Malfoy turned to look back in to the fireplace flames, Draco saw something he had never before noticed on his father's face- age. The small wrinkles there made him look so much older than he had just a day ago. Draco noticed something else hidden in that wizened face, too- sadness. Lucius obviously regretted the way things had turned out with Alice Longbottom, Draco realised with a start. His father knew how to love, and he had once long before, but now, it just hurt too much to try to love anyone else…even his own son.
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Ginny Weasley slowly sat up, trying to stretch out the crick in her neck from the hard texts she had used as makeshift pillows. He still hasn't bloody found me yet? He's right; 'Hide and Seek' is a ridiculous Muggle game. I don't ever want to play this again…it's frightfully dull. That's it. I've had enough. I'm just going to go find him.
Heaving a sigh, the redhead grudgingly made her way down from her hiding spot. Ginny was about to call for a house-elf to guide her back to Draco when she heard a voice that chilled her bones.
"What are you doing in my home?" Narcissa Malfoy asked icily, arms crossed over her lithe frame.
Ginny spun to face her boyfriend's mother, face contorted in obvious annoyance. "I was invited."
"Well, consider yourself, uninvited, Weasley," the woman retorted snidely, sizing Ginny up with disdain. "While you're leaving, you'd do well to steal a few robes from the hall closet…you look like you haven't had new ones in over a decade."
"Thanks for noticing," Ginny spat, biting back a few curse words she'd like to try out on the blonde witch.
"Weasley, the door is right there," Narcissa pointed out in an obvious tone. "I think you know what to do."
Regarding the woman in obvious disgust, Ginny shook her head, stomping quickly to the door. Just as she was about to exit, Narcissa called snidely, "Oh, and if I ever catch you in my house again- well…let's just say that Avada Kedavra works wonders on poorly-clothed rodents."
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Ginny tried not to. Really.
She hadn't wanted to cry.
Ginny Weasley had been taught by her many brothers that crying was a sign of weakness, so she rarely did it. But Narcissa was just too damn much. What gave her the right to treat Ginny like that? How did women like Narcissa Malfoy manage to survive in the world without the polite masses killing them off? By all rights, people as cruel and antagonistic as Narcissa should not exist.
But she did. Narcissa Malfoy was alive and kicking…and Ginny's boyfriend's mother, a fact that only made Ginny's tears flow faster and more frequently. If she were anyone else's mother, I'd tell that woman where to stick it, Ginny thought defiantly, flicking a strand of her scarlet hair out of her blurry vision.
Wrapping arms protectively around her ribcage, she suddenly felt short of air. What…what if Draco and I get married someday? That…that…witch will be my mother-in-law! I'll have to deal with her! Oh, dear Merlin…
Head suddenly feeling very faint, Ginny sank down in exhaustion against the wall, not the slightest idea where in the Manor she was.
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Draco Malfoy yawned exhaustedly, stepping out in to the corridor outside his father's study. The conversation with his father had taken a lot out of him. I never thought I would see this day, but I can't wait to get back to Hogwarts to hang out with my favourite Weasley, talking for a few hours before going to bed early. Merlin, the sad bloke I have become…
He smiled to himself wryly. I can't believe that after the way Ginny and I got together…we would have ended up serious about one another. It just doesn't even seem possible for us to be that lucky. Things just worked out for us, I guess. I mean…except for the minor blips of her family and Mum…
Draco's eyes immediately widened. Oh shite. Where's Mum? What if she's already found Red?
Hurriedly summoning a house-elf and instructing it to guide him to Ginny, Draco fell into step behind the creature with trepidation. What state is Ginny going to be in when I find her? I swear, if Mum's done something to her…my father may have let his relationship with Alice fall apart because of others, but I refuse to do that. If Ginny and I don't work out, it will be because we didn't want it to, damn it.
His face contorted with fury when he saw the sobbing redhead slumped on the floor in the third corridor. "Ginny! What's wrong?"
She looked up in disbelief, tears streaming down her face. "Where the hell have you been? You were supposed to find me two hours ago."
Draco's cheeks reddened. "I'm sorry, Red. I got…distracted."
"Distracted? With what? Never mind, I probably don't want to know," Ginny trailed off with annoyance, throwing her hands up in the air hopelessly. "I had a lovely chat with your mother, by the way."
The blonde's features were guarded as he asked, "You talked to my mum?"
"She talked to me, more like," the redhead spat. "Oh yes, that Narcissa Malfoy taught me a thing or two."
"I'm sorry about whatever she said, Red," Malfoy murmured, pulling Ginny close against his chest and wrapping his arms around her protectively. "Don't listen to her…she doesn't know what she's talking about."
"Oh, I don't, do I?" Narcissa asked, rounding the corner with the usual permanent scowl affixed to her features. "Intriguing."
"No, you don't, mother. You don't know anything about real love, about people…you don't know anything," Draco spat, pulling the sobbing Ginny into his lap and stroking her hair in as calming a manner as he could manage.
When Narcissa chose to reply, her voice was dangerously low. "I tolerated it, Draco. I went and gave you a mild warning, like all concerned parents would. I'm doing what's best for you, damn it! Don't you see that, Draco? This doesn't have anything to do with her, this has to do with the war that's going on right in our bloody backyards!"
Her voice had hit a hysterical screeching by this point, and Draco was regarding her with noticeable alarm.
Narcissa didn't notice the change in Draco's facial expression, however, and kept on as if nothing had happened. "I just want to see my only son safe from harm. If you go after her, then you won't be protected by anyone, Draco. You won't be safe here, with the Dark Lord, or around your father, and you most definitely will not be safe with that bloody Order of theirs…this is a war, Draco. I'm afraid there are casualties, and this little puppy love of yours is just going to have to be one of them."
"Leave them alone, Cissy," Lucius growled from the other side of the corridor.
Ginny looked at him, shocked and choking on a few of her tears. Did he just stand up for Draco and me? That's not possible. He hates me…doesn't he?
Narcissa seemed just as stunned as Ginny. She rested her hand on a bony hip as she demanded coolly, "Why the hell should I, Lucius? When did you suddenly start giving a shit about our son, might I ask?"
Draco flinched slightly at being brought in to the conversation, and Ginny noticed his eyes begin to glaze over in fury. She squeezed his hand softly, hoping to reassure him the best she could.
Lucius Malfoy looked weary as he shook his head cynically. Holding up a hand in surrender, he murmured, "Leave it, Cissy. Just bloody leave it, alright?"
Narcissa arched a perfectly plucked eyebrow in incredulity. "Fine, if you're going to get our son killed the one time you step in to make a decision in his upbringing, that's your lifelong guilt, Lucius. You have an hour to get them the hell out of my home."
"It's my home, too," Lucius growled irritably, his eyes narrowing in rage.
"I assure you, I'm aware of the fact. That's the reason they actually have an hour, Lucius," Narcissa retorted frostily before spinning and quickly striding back down the corridor, slamming doors in her wake.
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Authoress' Note: Come on, we don't have much time left together on this story…the least you can do is review!