A/N: This is the 3rd chapter. Please read the first two and review…would love to hear your thoughts!
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A Bit About the Past…
"So, dad knows Amy's mum?" Devon asked and Erin nodded.
"Amy said that her mum was in Slytherin and graduated in 1998, the same year as dad. Her father isn't "a part of her life" she said, so her last name is her mother's…so dad has to have known her mum."
"What was her mum's name?" Marissa asked, searching her memory.
Erin shrugged, and Devon looked at Marissa expectantly knowing she was thinking hard.
They were all sitting outside under a tree near the lake. It was the second week of school and Erin had told them to meet her down there, having found out some information.
"It's a flower…something…that's her first name," Marissa paced around the tree, mumbling to herself.
"Rose? Violet?" Devon asked and Marissa shushed him, then suddenly stopped.
"Pansy! That's it. I heard mum a few times saying she had run into her at Diagon Alley or at Hogsmeade. They never really said anything much about her, she would just tell dad about it."
"Let's ask him. What's the worst he could do?" No one said anything. "Just not tell us, that's what," Dixon answered his own question from his spot nearby.
"Or, worse, he'll tell us it was his girlfriend and we will have the picture of him snogging someone other than mum," Derek chipped in, throwing a fanged Frisbee at Jeremy who caught it and tossed it back.
"And that's bad enough," Erin said firmly.
"Snogging is not all bad," Marissa said, an image of Brian popping into her head surprising her so much she turned away feeling herself start to blush.
"When it's your parent it is," Derek said firmly.
"Whatever. Listen, I'll go ask him," Marissa said and when no one else volunteered to help, she stood up
and walked up the hill leaving her younger siblings to play in the warm sunshine, along with the rest of the
school.
She found her way to the dungeons, knowing that her father had most of his Friday afternoon's free, until he left at four. She rounded the corner and walked in, finding her father and her mother leaning against the desk talking.
"Mum!" Marissa walked in and Ginny spun around.
"Marissa. I was wondering if you all were around. I had to have your father sign some papers before I went into Hogsmeade."
Marissa walked over and gave her mother a quick hug.
They made idle chit chat about classes and how she was doing with all her brothers and sister in Ravenclaw.
"Speaking of Erin…we were wondering why you were asking about her friend Amy?" Marissa looked squarely at her father.
"Amy who?" Ginny asked and Draco gave her a look and Marissa could see the light bulb go on over her mother's head.
"We figured her mother must have been an old girlfriend of yours."
Ginny put her hand to her mouth, trying to hide a smile and Marissa caught it.
"Tell her, Draco. Your children are smart, they'll figure it out themselves soon enough," Ginny gave a cough and turned towards the window, looking out over the grounds, hearing Draco whisper, "Ours," in response to Ginny. Then he turned his attention to Marissa.
"You could say I was surprised to see Pansy's daughter in my class, considering that neither one of us," he nodded back towards Ginny, "nor a few other people I keep in contact with from when I was here knew she even had a child," Draco said, leaning back against the desk his hands on either side of him.
"You never show an interest, or that much of one, in any of our friends. Not even Harry or his sisters or Devon's friends…why her?" Marissa asked, her eyes flicking to her mother who was now walking back towards them and perched herself next to Draco.
"Well, her family is pure blood and she was always very adamant about marrying into pureblood to keep the blood lines going. I was surprised to see her have a daughter and not be married." Draco explained, his eyes staying connected to Marissa's.
She was quiet for a moment then let her gaze wander the room, trying to think of her father at her age and having a hard time doing it.
"So, at some point you and her were together…then mum came along."
"The reason she's in Ravenclaw," Ginny said a note of pride in her voice, waving her hand towards Marissa.
"That's it," Draco said hoping the interrogation was over. He knew this was coming from the moment he saw Amy's name on his class list, and was now hoping that Ginny wouldn't tease him relentlessly over it.
"How long were you together?"
Draco glanced at Ginny and they looked at each other for a bit.
"Three years?" he asked and she nodded then chimed in.
"It was pretty much arranged."
"Arranged? Between your father and her family?" Marissa couldn't believe it. In Marissa's generation, arranged marriages were a lot less common, especially with Voldemort gone.
"What happened to make it…dissolve?" Marissa hopped onto the first row table and swung her long legs back and forth. She was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt having finished her classes earlier that day.
"My father died and I didn't need to bide by his wishes anymore. Why are we discussing this now?" Draco stood up and Ginny laid a hand on his arm, halting him from walking any further.
"She just wants to know a bit about you from when you were her age. What's the harm in that?"
Marissa saw them communicating silently and waited patiently. She blew her bangs out of her face, then fished around in her pocket for a hair band and stuck it in her hair, feeling the cool breeze come across her neck.
"Marissa, it's not something I can really get into here, now. I need to get to the bank. We'll talk more when you come on holiday, or if you come home on a weekend," her father turned and said in a voice that she knew to mean there was no arguing.
"Fine. But, tell me this…do you think Amy knows about you?"
"Amarylis," her mother snorted and then shut her mouth quickly.
Now Marissa could see the connection with the flower names.
"Honestly, I have no idea. I'd say no, just because of the way she acts in class and around Erin. I'm sure though, it won't take long. I'm sure Pansy will make an appearance sometime this year." Marissa saw her mother nod in agreement.
"Aunt Ginny!" a voice said from the doorway and Jeremy stood there.
"Jeremy, how are you?"
"Good. Looking for Marissa to see if she wants to play a pick up game?"
"We need another Chaser," a voice said distantly and as Marissa turned around she saw Brian appear at the doorway, broom slung over his shoulder.
"Oh, Professor Malfoy…Ginny," Brian said clearly surprised to see the three of them in the Potions class room. Ginny greeted him warmly and asked how his prefect duties were going. He responded with a shrug, saying that they were going along nicely.
"A chaser? Where's Devon?" Marissa asked hopping down as the two boys came in when Draco beckoned them in, then turning to grab a quill and began signing papers as his wife, daughter, nephew and Brian talked Quidditch.
Looking up from the desk, he was momentarily stunned to see how much Marissa reminded him of Ginny. She was tall for 14, almost 15, and her hair was as long as her mothers; they both wore it back in a ponytail and he had a moment of déjà vu seeing his red-headed nephew standing next to Harry's son and his daughter. It was like seeing his past right in his classroom. Watching Brian he could see that he and Marissa stood close together, in each other's personal space and he wondered if they knew they did that. The inwardly groaned when he realized what that could mean in the near future. As far as he knew, she hadn't had a serious boyfriend at all. She hadn't even really begun talking about them until third year, and even then she seemed to have high expectations for any boy, she might date, to meet.
He took a deep breath and quietly let it out, finishing up the paperwork…not quite sure how he would feel if Harry
Potter's son started dating his daughter. From the vibe he got, she seemed to have no idea that a more than
friendly interest was developing. He felt Ginny's eyes on him and he looked up. She raised her eyebrows at him and
he shook his head slightly.
"I'm going now…seems Devon wants to play against me as Chaser," Marissa kissed her mom's cheek quickly, gave a half hearted wave to her father and jogged out of the room behind the two boys.
Ginny stood with her hands on her hips and watched Draco go through the motions of leaving for the weekend.
"You were watching them weren't you?"
"Kind of hard not to," he quipped, snapping his bag shut and shrugging out of his robes.
"Just be calm. Nothing might come of it or something…we have no control over it," Ginny went over and quickly kissed him on the cheek, knowing he didn't like ruining his image as a tough teacher.
"That's what scares me," he admitted as they walked towards the fireplace. Turning briskly he nonverbally locked his classroom door, then immediately took down the protective ward for ten seconds, giving them enough time to floo out of Hogwarts and into Hogsmeade to begin their weekend.
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Summer faded into fall for the students and the ever diligent and curious Marissa Malfoy had kept her eyes open for Amy's mother but had yet to see or hear anything about her. From the brief times she had talked to Amy Parkinson, a small dark haired quiet girl with large brown eyes, she found that she seemed nice and Erin got along with her famously.
Marissa had played her first Quidditch match against Slytherin and they had won in a decent amount of time. She was looking forward to playing Gryffindor since most of it was her family and that would fall at the end of November, which was four weeks away.
It was a rare occurrence that Marissa, or any of her brothers or sister would have trouble sleeping. But, for some reason the first Saturday night of November was not one conducive to sleep.
Halloween had come and gone and she had attended the dance in just her dress robes, but spent most of her time chatting with her friends.
She tossed and turned then decided to get up and go get something to eat before she woke up her dorm mates.
Climbing out of bed, she shoved her feet into her slippers and took a quick look at her plain blue pajama pants and
oversize t-shirt that she slept in and decided it was fine to sneak down to the kitchens in. Her mother had told her
stories of going down there and having Dobby make her a hot chocolate, so for the first time Marissa decided that she
was going to follow in her mother's footsteps.
Quietly, so no one would hear her footsteps she found the secret passage two flights down, ducked into it and walked a short while until she came to the doorway that opened to the kitchen.
"Hot chocolate? Tea? Pumpkin juice?" a voice squeaked nearby and Marissa saw a house elf by her elbow, not having any idea if this was Dobby or not.
"Hot chocolate…please?" she said not quite sure how to respond.
"Fancy seeing you here," a voice said from under the window and Marissa let out a shriek then saw it was Brian, sitting at a table drinking something. It was very dim in the kitchens and she could only tell it was him from his voice.
Marissa walked over and saw him sitting there, elbows on the table, dressed in plaid pajama pants and a short sleeved shirt.
"You aren't going to get me in trouble are you? Mr. Prefect?"
He shook his head at her.
"As long as you don't tell anyone I'm down here," he responded and Marissa smiled in agreement.
"What're you doing here?" she slid down across from him and nodded to the house elf as he disappeared back into the shadows.
"Couldn't sleep…obviously," he said smiling then took a swallow of his drink. "You too?"
Marissa nodded blowing on her hot chocolate.
"No idea why. I usually fall asleep quickly," she sipped carefully and they sat quietly. Actually, it was the quietest she had ever seen Brian as he usually had something to say. She waited a few moments to see if he would say something…anything.
"Are you always this quiet at night?" Marissa asked suddenly and she saw Brian look up from his mug and study her.
"Usually I am sleeping so I guess I am. Just…thinking now…," he let his voice trail off and his gaze slipped to the window.
Marissa took another sip.
"What are you thinking about?" she held her breath waiting for his answer. Once in a blue moon they had "deep" conversations but usually at school it dealt with sports, classes or teachers.
"I accidentally fell into my father's pensieve," he said suddenly and Marissa almost dropped her mug.
"Whaaat? You never do anything accidentally!"
"Know how I went home to see my grandparents last weekend?"
Marissa nodded. Hermione's parents were in town, having just returned from holiday in Canada, and were staying for the weekend, so they took all the kids out of school for the weekend to visit with them.
"Well," Brian shifted in his seat and she recognized the pause indicating he was about to begin a long story. "I saw it out, not usually in the cupboard locked up and I went over to look at it. I haven't ever really been that close to it, because he was always adamant about not touching it…mum gave it to him on and on…but I just wanted to see. I guess I just leaned in a bit too far and felt myself falling into it."
He studied her and saw that she was waiting patiently for him to continue so he went on.
"The memory I fell into was his first year because they were on the Express and your uncle was explaining Quidditch to my father, who didn't know anything about the magical world before this point. In walks your father with two other students and he knows who my dad is, asking if it's true that he's "The Harry Potter" and dad nods; your dad introduces himself, makes some smart comment about the Weasley's and their red hair…then tells my dad that some wizarding families are better than others and that he can help my dad meet the right people. Your dad holds out his hand and my dad didn't take it. He said something about how he can chose his own friends and then your dad warned him to not hang out with the wrong people, or he'll end up dead like my grandparents did. I managed to pull myself out of that memory before dad found me…but I think it was one of the first times they had met and already they didn't seem to like each other," he finished with a touch of surprise in his voice.
Brian looked up at Marissa and saw the surprise on her face too.
"Did you ever get the feeling that they hated each other?"
Marissa thought and as she did, realized that her father never really talked about Harry much. Her mother and Hermione would talk, go out and do things, the Malfoy and Weasley children used to play together before the triplets were born and each built their own houses outside London, a few miles from each other.
"You know, the way my father is and keeps most of his feelings hidden it wouldn't surprise me if he didn't get along with your dad; though I wonder what led to that…you know?" Marissa twirled her cup around.
"You know, growing up as Harry Potter's son was exciting first, but now some fifteen years later all that excitement has died down, well it came back when my sisters were born, but things are quiet now…except every once in awhile I get some younger student asking if my dad talked about Voldemort or anything that had to do with the Dark Lord. Truth is, he never really did. I don't know much more than what Hogwarts: A History says and what all the older papers say. Even mum doesn't talk about it much. Someday, I want to sit down and ask him all the questions that the kids ask me."
"Why don't you?" Marissa asked softly, wondering why this was bothering Brian all of a sudden.
"I can just tell it's not his favorite topic to talk about. Once in awhile he'll say something out of the blue like "Defeating Voldemort was much easier"…he said that a lot when the triplets were really little and he had to deal with something they did. Or, he would make a comment about all the times he fought him while at Hogwarts, usually in a conversation to mum when they didn't think I was listening. But, I just get the idea he wants to keep it all behind him….," he let his low voice trail off and Marissa was quiet for a moment.
"Well, why don't you talk to him during the holiday? You'll be in France with Hermione's parents and all her relatives and not around here. Maybe he'll be more receptive?"
Brian shrugged. "They're starting up the dueling club again, Scott Wood's idea…and I think they are going to ask dad to be the sponsoring Professor. Maybe I'll get some information out of him doing that. I don't even feel comfortable asking my own father questions about his childhood…how stupid is that?" he snorted, then took a drink.
Marissa looked down at the table and saw him drumming is fingers on the scarred tabletop. Reaching over she placed her hand on his and he looked at her in surprise.
"I rarely ever ask my father about his childhood…I know it wasn't the greatest and I'm not ready to hear how bad, or how good it may have been. So, we can be stupid together," Marissa said, squeezed his hand and pulled back a bit.
"Just accidentally fall into your father's pensieve, I'm sure he has one…you can find out many things from that," Brian ran a hand through his dark hair, making is stand up on end, then as if having second thoughts, smoothed it down again.
"He'd catch me…no way. I've seen the wrath of my father when he gets really mad and there's no way I am going there!" Marissa looked out the window and saw the moon reflecting off the lake. "But, one day I'll probably ask mum to tell me about him. I know how they met and how they never liked each other until her sixth year, and that Grandfather Malfoy's death had a lot to do with it, other than that…," this time Marissa trailed off. She turned back to Brian suddenly and he was looking at her expectantly.
"It's amazing how little we know of our parent's past. Maybe we should do some research…or just get up the courage to ask them. Aren't Gryffindor's supposed to have more courage than Ravenclaws?"
Brian let out a small laugh. "Yeah, if your dad wasn't the one who saved the wizarding world maybe it's be easier to ask." Then he abruptly changed the subject…his way of saying that they were done talking about their parents.
"Are you going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?"
"Of course," Marissa finished her second cup of hot chocolate and stood up, immediately followed by Brian.
"I'll probably see you there then," he walked behind her out of the kitchens and through the secret passageway. Before they opened the door, Brian paused with his hand on the handle that would lead them out into the main hallway of Hogwarts.
"Thanks for letting me rant…I didn't mean to-," he began and Marissa laid a hand on his arm stopping his apology.
"Not a problem…that's what friends are for." She gave his arm a light squeeze and was taken back when he swooped down and brushed his lips across her cheek.
"Thanks," he said softly, opened the door and they each went their separate ways to their respective towers.
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