A Chance Meeting
It was the Hogsmeade visit in mid December and the weekend all the students did most of their Christmas shopping for family. Being that Voldemort was gone, the school had changed it's policy on allowing first and second years into Hogsmeade. If they had written permission from their parent that they could visit Hogsmeade, then they were allowed to go. So, the town was more crowded now days then when Harry or Ginny went.
And this particular day was when Marissa finally met Pansy Parkinson.
It didn't happen the way she thought. She expected to see herself walking in the halls of Hogwarts and seeing Amy walking with someone that was obviously her mother, or seeing a strange woman talking to her father in his Potions class room. She had gone through some of the alumni books in the library and seen a picture of her…short dark hair, plain face, brown eyes…nothing special that Marissa could see. She noticed Amy looked a lot like her mother. Marissa also thought that Amy didn't know much more than her mother and her Potions professor graduated at the same time from Hogwarts.
Marissa was walking with her closest friend, Janet who was in Ravenclaw and the same year as her. Each of them had to get a present for the other so upon entering the town, they split up and made plans to meet back at Honeydukes in about an hour.
Walking quickly towards the bookstore, Marissa pulled her hat down and pulled the collar of her wool cloak up over her
face. It was bitter cold and flurrying out and she just wanted to get inside the warm store, peruse the books and find
the one she wanted to get for Janet. Finally reaching the store, she ducked inside and was immediately warmed. Taking
off her hat and shaking out her hair she said hello to some girls she knew and made her way back to the plant section,
where Janet's interest lay.
She removed her heavy cloak, flipped it over her arm and adjusted her blue sweater as she walked slowly down the aisle intent on finding Plants of the Mediterranean and their Magical Uses for Janet. She had talked about this new book for the past week and finally Marissa told her she would get it as a Christmas present if she would just stop saying the title.
Smiling to herself as she remembered how Janet jumped up and down and then hugged her in response Marissa. Not paying
attention to her surroundings, she ran right into another patron. Marissa took a step back and started apologizing.
"It's fine," the reply came quietly and Marissa looked up from where she had dropped her cloak. She threw it over her arm and looked at this shorter woman in front of her, picking up the book she dropped.
"I'm sorry," Marissa said again and this time the woman met her eyes, opened her mouth to say something then froze.
Marissa got the feeling she was being gawked at and began to feel uncomfortable…this woman with the long brown hair was just staring at her.
"Ummm…I need to go," Marissa turned and was halfway down the aisle before the other woman spoke.
"Wait."
Marissa paused and turned around and saw the dark haired lady walking towards her and then Marissa saw this woman's face in brighter light. It was Amy's mother.
`Oh, Merlin…this is not what I wanted to do today!' she thought to herself as she pretended to not know who this woman was. She didn't want her to think her father was talking about her or that Marissa had looked her up out of some curiosity.
"Can I help you?" Marissa Malfoy asked in what she hoped was a steady voice.
"Are you….you're Draco Malfoy's daughter aren't you?" it was more of a statement than a question. Marissa knew it was her eyes and nose that gave it away. Everyone who had met her for the first time, or when she was little and was with her father in public, would remark on how similar they looked. But, she got the same remarks when she was with her mother, so she figured she looked quite a bit like both of her parents so there was no doubting her heritage.
"Yes…why?" Marissa cocked her head a bit and gripped her cloak to her, thankful that she had Janet's book in her hand so she could use the excuse that she needed to pay if she needed to leave quickly.
"I was just…well, I went to Hogwarts with him and knew he had a daughter but haven't seen him since. You have his eyes, so you are kind of hard to miss," Pansy said in what sounded like a more confident voice.
"I've been told that numerous times. Can I help you with something?" Marissa asked, hoping this woman wouldn't ask too many questions about her father.
"No. Well, I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Pansy Parkinson," she said and her brown eyes watched Marissa carefully for any reaction. Luckily, she was just like her father in the sense she could keep her face neutral in just about any situation so no one, but her parents, probably could tell what she was thinking.
"Okay, Ms. Parkinson, nice to meet you. I need to go pay for my book; I'm sorry I ran into you back there," Marissa nodded at her then turned and walked quickly to the desk up front. She was sure that Pansy would follow her but she didn't and Marissa quickly shrugged on her cloak and hat as the book was wrapped in red wrapping paper. She paid and walked out the door and into the Three Broomsticks, needing something to drink and calm her.
Walking up to the bar she ordered a butterbeer and as she waited she turned around and thankfully? she saw her father in the corner, reading the paper. More than likely he was shopping for her mother since it was a weekend and she didn't see her mother anywhere. Thanking the bartender and laying down some money she made her way to the back where her father was engrossed in the Daily Prophet.
"What did you buy me?" Marissa asked and Draco peered over his paper.
"Who said I bought you anything?" he said with a smile in his voice and pushed out the chair next to him with his foot, inviting her to sit down. He folded his paper and stuck it in his bag.
"You come shopping once a year for Christmas, so I know you have something in that bag," she nodded next to him, "for us."
He just gave her a small smile and didn't say anything, then took a drink and finished off a biscuit he had in front of him.
Marissa took a sip of her drink and tried to will herself to relax.
"Where are your friends? And Devon?"
"I'm shopping for Janet and Devon was at the candy store when I left," Marissa answered. She was wondering if she should tell her father about Pansy and when she looked up at him she saw his gaze resting on her face, quietly waiting for her to talk. He seemed to know whenever she, or any of his children, were unsure of something. She had no idea how he knew but he just did.
"I saw Pansy Parkinson…no…wait…I met her actually," she said evenly and watched his face.
"Really?" was all he said and she nodded. He was quiet for a moment, then turned to his drink. Marissa took a sip with him and they set their bottles down at the same time.
"She probably knew who you were right off, didn't she?" he said and Marissa nodded, looking down at her hands.
"Then she introduced herself. I could tell she wanted to ask about you, but I didn't give her the chance," Marissa said quietly, feeling very odd sitting there talking to her father about one of his old girlfriends.
"She probably did," his eyes went towards the door as they heard a familiar laugh. Devon came in with James, Jeremy, Brian and another boy Brian's age that Marissa couldn't remember. Devon was looking around and caught sight of them and waved. She waved back and a minute later saw them weaving their way back to the table.
Draco pushed another chair out with his foot and Devon sat down on the opposite side of him, while the others settled
across from Draco.
"Hey dad…shopping already?" Devon took a drink of his butterbeer and received a nod in reply.
Backtracking, Devon introduced Brian's friend as Mark from Hufflepuff and Draco nodded at him, knowing him from Potions already. Marissa could tell that Mark was feeling strange in the presence of a professor, on a weekend, drinking butterbeer. But it was Brian who solved that problem, nudging him when a group of Hufflepuff girls walked in. Mark excused himself and headed towards the door.
"He likes some girl over there," Jeremy said and Marissa's eyes followed Mark's back and sure enough he was talking to someone that Marissa recognized from their Quidditch team.
"Did you come here a lot when you were at Hogwarts?" Jeremy asked Draco in his usually blunt fashion.
Draco nodded and told them he would meet his friends here, just like they did. Sometimes, they would just sit here all
day if they didn't feel like going into any of the other stores, but didn't want to be at school.
Brian was quiet as he sat next to Marissa and it was at the same time they looked up as they both noticed someone walking over.
`Crap,' Marissa gripped her knee under the table seeing Pansy Parkinson walking over. Immediately she sensed a change in her father; his relaxed conversation stopped and everyone looked up at the woman standing there.
"We should probably go," Marissa jumped up and Brian looked at her for a second and following her lead stood up with her.
"Don't let me interrupt. I was just coming to say hello," Pansy said in the same quiet voice she used with Marissa.
"Hello Pansy," Draco said in a tight voice and Devon looked up sharply.
"You're Amy's mother then?" he asked and her eyes flicked to him, not really sure who he was.
"I heard you already met my daughter. This is my oldest son, Devon. My nephews James and Jeremy Weasley," Draco said neutrally, emphasizing "Weasley" (Marissa saw Pansy's eyes flick towards them), "and standing next to my daughter is Brian Potter."
Pansy swung towards him and looked at him. For a second, Marissa saw a shadow fall across her features then she gave a smile.
"Nice to meet you all and yes, I am Amy's mother," she cocked her head at Devon and looked at him for a minute. "You look older than her…how do you know her?"
"My sister does," Devon said evenly and Pansy's eyes flicked towards Marissa. Draco put all the confusion to rest, clearly irrated (at least to Marissa) that he was having to explain.
"My younger daughter seems to have befriended yours."
"All of them have classes together," Devon said standing up next to Draco, getting the same feeling that Marissa did that Pansy had no clue about the triplets.
"My sister Erin, my brothers Dixon and Derek all have a few classes with Amy, so we know her," Devon then took one final sip of his butterbeer.
Marissa saw many different emotions flick over Pansy's face and suddenly she wanted to get out of there.
"I need to go meet Janet. I'll talk to you later," she said quietly shrugging on her cloak, vaguely aware of Brian holding one side out for her.
"Thanks for stopping over," Draco turned towards her, placing a hand on her shoulder, nodded to his nephews and handed Devon his cloak. Marissa was the first one away from the table and she led the boys out of The Three Broomsticks, not looking behind her to see if Pansy stayed to talk to her father.
"I have to meet Janet…see you guys later," Marissa said, nodding to her brother and headed off down the street, shoulders hunched against he wind and her package under her arm.
"Marissa…wait!"
She stopped and moved to the side to see Brian walking quickly after her.
"Who was that?" he asked and Marissa realized she never told Brian anything about her father's old girlfriend. Standing against the wall, feeling the warmth radiating from the brick she quickly told Brian everything she knew about Pansy.
"That still doesn't explain why you left so fast," he said astutely, and his brown eyes narrowed at her.
Marissa shrugged. "I just get the feeling that she is trying to cross a bridge that she burned a long time ago and now that she knows Erin is friends with Amy, then she'll use her to fix whatever that bridge was."
"Probably her and your father breaking up."
"Yeah, that's what I thought too," Marissa turned to her name being called and saw Janet running down towards her.
"Hey Brian," Janet said breathlessly and Brian smiled at her.
"Janet…I gotta go catch up with everyone. See you both later," he turned and jogged back down the sidewalk as the girls turned in the opposite direction, heading for the candy store.
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Christmas.
Marissa and her mother's favorite time of year.
And this year Marissa was going to find out more about her father's time at school. That was her plan. She knew about her mother's pastand how they didn't have a lot of money for anything except the basic necessities of life.
Christmas Day was a flurry of activity. Visting the Burrow, Malfoy Manor, organizing the gifts they received and finding spots for them all in her room. It was the day after Christmas and her grandma Malfoy had promised to take Erin clothes shopping with Ginny…Marissa didn't feel like being around her 11 year old sister so she opted to stay home, hoping that her father wouldn't be surrounded by her brothers at some point during the day so she could talk to him.
She relaxed in the living room, reading a Muggle novel that her Aunt Samantha had given her, and that her mother said was very good to called "Chronicles of Narnia"; she was so engrossed in it she didn't notice how quiet it had gotten until she heard her father walk in and sit on the sofa next to her.
She had her legs curled under her and a blanket over her lap, relishing in the fact that she didn't have to do any school work at the moment.
"Where are the boys?"
"Out on their new broomsticks," he replied looking at her then her book.
"So, you can tell me all about your time at Hogwarts now," Marissa said with a small smile. Draco rolled his eyes. Marissa had already asked him the moment she got home what Pansy wanted. He had said she just came over to the table to say "Hello", to see how Amy was doing in Potions…nothing more than friendly talk. Though, he knew she would probably have loved to sat down and asked him a bunch of questions about the past…but he wasn't going to tell his children that.
"It's not all that exciting. I was an arse, then my father died and I got some sense knocked into me, I met your mother and the rest is history."
"You knew mum from her first day there."
"Well, I suppose so, yes I did. Didn't pay much attention to her though."
Back and forth they chatted and it was a point in the middle of the conversation that Marissa got up enough nerve to ask about Harry Potter. He went quiet for a moment and looked into the fire.
"What about him? You know what he did."
"I do, and I'm not asking about that. Why did you hate him so much?" Marissa held her breath hoping she wasn't too far off the mark.
"Hate?" her father echoed and glanced up at her. "I don't "hate" him."
"I get the feeling you did back in school."
"Where did you get that from?"
Marissa shrugged and didn't answer. She made sure she closed off her mind the best she could so he couldn't see she was thinking about pensieves.
"Marissa, why the sudden interest in my years at Hogwarts?"
Marissa fiddled with the edge of the blanket then stretched out her legs a bit.
"I just was thinking lately about how I'm friends with Brian…and the younger ones are too, but I never see you and Harry talk or do anything. Mum and Hermione go do stuff and talk but you two don't say much to each other. I was just wondering why…does it have something to do with Voldemort?" Marissa didn't have a problem saying his name and would always smirk when she saw her Uncle Ron's reaction when he heard it. The shiver that would pass through him and most of the Weasley family was amusing to her.
Marissa heard her father sigh and shift at the end of the couch.
"Well…we were in different houses to start…rivaling ones and everyone knew who he was before he even came to school. We just were on different sides from everything to houses in Hogwarts to who we supported in the war at that time," he watched Marissa watching the fire.
"So…why did you support Voldemort then?" she wouldn't look over at him and kept her eyes straight ahead. Draco let his eyes slide to her hands and saw them nervously fiddling with the blanket. He recognized she was nervous asking him this and didn't want her to be, but didn't want to tell her a story about his past that he didn't even support anymore.
"I think because my father did and I wanted to be like him. It was all I knew from the moment I was born; I was taught many things that I don't agree with anymore, which is why I don't know if I need to spell them all out for you," he said frankly, not really thinking she needed to know about the Riddle Diary that was planted, his insults to just about everyone NOT in Slytherin along with his goal to become a Death Eater that thankfully didn't happen.
"I just thought as adults you two could move on…I mean...," Marissa sighed, looked at him apprehensively for a moment then back at the flickering fire. "How could you fall in love with mum, after everything you used to say about the Weasley side but yet still not move on with the Potter side."
Draco thought about that and besides the fact that Ginny was a girl and he found himself at first attracted to her physically, which became more as his 7th year went on he didn't really have an answer, at least one that his daughter wanted.
"I can't explain it to you…we now can tolerate each other and happen to teach together, which forced us at the beginning to be civil. Now, years later, we are still that way…mainly out of habit. When I was younger I was jealous of the attention he received, as were lots of people. Now with hindsight being 20/20, I wouldn't have wanted to be him…not at all," Draco said the end almost quietly, to himself but Marissa picked up on it.
"Well, you aren't him and I'm glad I didn't have to grow up under his name. Brian said it was exciting when he was younger, but now it's the same questions over and over. I guess it gets old," she could tell she had pretty much gotten all she was going to get out of her dad and stood up, carefully folding the blanket and placing it on the back of the sofa.
"Dad," Marissa stood there and he looked up at her. "Was Voldemort really as bad as the books and people say? People always embellish stories and tales."
"He was…worse than the books say and his followers…well, they weren't much better either," he said softly, stood up and put his hands in his jeans pockets. "I'm glad he isn't around now and hope your generation or any future ones, won't have to know anything like him."
"But…what about your father…he supported him."
Draco shrugged one shoulder. "He did, because he always did and he always thought that side would win. He just wanted to be on the winning side, the side with the most power. But, in the end it wasn't the dark side."
"It was Harry's side," Marissa said trying to imagine her friend's father fighting this evil dark lord and she just couldn't bring up the memory.
"It was, but no one believed it until he defeated him. Maybe one day, Harry will let his kids see that memory and you'll hear first hand just how…difficult and dark it was," Draco's stomach growled and Marissa smiled.
"Enough dark talk, let's go get something to eat. There's enough leftovers from your Grandma Weasley to feed the whole Ravenclaw house," Draco joked and together they walked towards the kitchen, Marissa's curiosity quelled for now. But she still wasn't to sure about WHY and HOW her father didn't like Harry. She was happy, however, with what her dad had said…it was probably the most open he had ever been about his time as a student, and that would have to do for now.
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