"A WHAT?!" a boy's voice angrily resounded throughout the Malfoy's mansion, causing the house elves to cower in fear behind various pieces of furniture.
"A house sitter, dear," Narcissa Malfoy calmly repeated to her son. "Your father and I are going to be gone for the entire summer, and we need someone to care for our home, especially when most of the house elves are coming along with us."
Draco crossed his arms and glared haughtily at his mother. "What about me? I'm sixteen, you know. I am perfectly capable of caring for the mansion by myself!" Normally, Draco didn't act quite like a spoiled brat. Okay, so he did, but he usually tried not to sound like he was still eleven years old. Of course, his mother could be infuriating, which is when Draco would start to whine.
Narcissa waved her hand in dismissal. "Don't be silly!" she tittered, amused. "If there's one thing a woman knows, it's that a man is incapable of keeping a house in order! Why, if I ever left Lucius here for more than two days by himself, the place would be in shambles! I remember this one time when..."
Draco silently fumed as his mother started babbling some gibberish about how his father almost blew up the kitchen when they were newlyweds. He hated hearing stories about how stupid his father was when he was younger. He hated that his mother didn't trust him enough to mind the house while they were away. And he absolutely despised that very thought that some...some...tramp...was going to invade his house - and worse yet, his privacy! He didn't need a baby sitter!
"...and it took three hours to douse the flames," Narcissa was still rambling on. "I had to replace my entire underwear collection!" Draco, who had not been paying attention to anything that she was saying and was caught off guard by the mention of panties, snapped his head up to look at his mother with fear and disdain. He feverishly hoped that there wasn't anything more to that story, because he used the nausea excuse to get away the last time she had gone off on a tirade like this, and he was sure that it would not work again.
"That's why I went to Dumbledore and asked him for some advice on the matter," she continued, oblivious to her son's discomfort. "He recommended a nice Gryffindor girl for the job, and after some thought, I believe she'll do nicely..."
Draco nearly fell over with shock. "A GRYFFINDOR?" he sputtered.
"Yes, a Gryffindor," she repeated. "What else did you expect?"
"Couldn't you have gotten anyone else?" he said angrily. "A Slytherin maybe? Stick to your roots?"
"Oh, stop that," she retorted. "You know better than anyone that we can't trust a Slytherin in the house for three months and expect everything to stay as is. There is no one that can be trusted more to do the right thing than a Gryffindor, and that is why you are going to treat Miss Virginia Weasley with respect."
"W-W-Weasley?" Draco stammered connecting the name to the gawky redheaded girl that followed Potter around like a little lost puppy. He began pacing back and forth in a rage. "I can't tolerate a Weasley in our home! What if she invites her brothers in and lets them ransack the place? What if she brings over that mudblood friend of hers and sets all the house elves free? What if --"
"That is enough!" Narcissa angrily interrupted his tirade. "This is not your decision to make! I have already contacted Molly and spoken to her about this, and she agrees that this is the perfect opportunity for her daughter to get away from her brothers and learn to make do on her own. We have made all the necessary arrangements, and you are not going to be the one to ruin them."
"What about Father?" Draco asked, trying to find a way out of spending the summer with an impoverished little snit. "He isn't going to like this..."
"Oh, I took care of Lucius last night," Draco's mother said slyly, causing her son to wince away with a grimace on his face. That was definitely too much information. "I have control of the situation, young man; you needn't worry about a thing."
With that, Narcissa turned and strode away from Draco, who was left standing flabbergasted in the den. Oh, he was worried, all right...there was no telling what sort of sneaky ideas the little weasel girl would have...
***
Author's Note: Sorry this is chapter is a bit short. Most of the chapters in this story will be short, because it's just a fun thing for me to write. It's based off a challenge that one of my friends issued to her yahoo group, but I found I couldn't do the challenge according to the rules so I'm modifying it some. Also, if you find anyone to be out of character, you're probably right. But, I don't care; it's more fun this way. Besides, it's not as out of character as some fics I've read with strange, disturbing slash pairings…like Fred and George… ::uncomfortable shiver:: Ewwwww…