Beautiful Inside

The morning light hit Draco's eyes as Emily pulled open the drapes. He rolled to face her.

She stood, watching out the window, a pale blue robe brushing her calves. She had her arms folded up across her chest. She turned in Draco's direction and was startled by his eyes.

"You scared me," she said, coming to his edge of the bed. 'Why didn't you say something?"

"You looked so peaceful," he mumbled quietly. She sighed and rubbed her stomach inadvertently. She'd begun doing that several times a day as she sat calmly all around the house.

"You've got to still be tired. You got home so late," Emily said. He shook his head.

"I've functioned on less." Draco sat up and pulled her over to him. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, why?" Emily questioned.

"You seem a bit off, that's all," he mumbled. Emily gave a small laugh.

"I believe it is you that is off." A small knock came from the door.

"Morning ma'am, sir. Brought some tea," Callie piped, setting a tray down on the table by the window. "Anything else I can do for you?" Emily looked at Draco. He shook his head. Callie took a quick curtsy, then scampered out the door.

"I think that's all," he said. Emily got up and poured herself a cup of tea. She sighed as she sat back down next to Draco. "You're sure you're alright?"

"Well," she started, "it does worry me you being out so late." Another sigh came. "I guess I'm just worrying over nothing."

"What worries you?" he asked.

"Do you still love me?" Emily asked randomly. Draco gave a mental sigh. She didn't think the late nights had anything to do with his dad or the likes, good.

"What makes you think that? Of course I love you," he assured. He could see tears brimming her eyes.

"After four kids and the fifth on the way, you still love me?"

"Yes," Draco said, taking her tea and pulling her into his chest. "I'll always love you."

"You'd better," she sniffed. Draco was glad Emily couldn't see his worried look on his face. He'd gotten rid of it by the time she looked at him. "Well, no use crying anymore. I really should get the rest of the house settled." Emily slowly got to her feet. She turned back to Draco as she got to the door.

"Go on, I'll be down in a minute," he ushered, as she smiled lightly and continued downstairs. Draco stood as he heard Emily's footsteps on the stairs. He began to pace by the foot of the bed. He tried to recall everything that had happened the night before. How was he supposed to get addresses of her family?

Then, it dawned on him. It was so simple, why hadn't he thought of it before? Draco quickly went to find Emily. She was in the kitchen, placing plates on shelves as Callie handed them to her.

"Emily, you keep an address book, don't you?" Draco asked. Emily thought for a moment.

"I might have one somewhere. Nothing in it that's too useful, why?"

"Ahh, looking up some addresses is all," he said casually. Emily shot him a strange look.

"You need to look up addresses?" she questioned. "Of whom?"

"Tracing back lineage and such. Thought I could get a hold of your mum or some of her family," he said, pulling out the first plausible lie that came to mind. He watched her nose wrinkle up.

"I don't believe I have any addresses of my mother's side Draco. I do tend to shy away from them as much as possible," she said, her face still in a disgusted manner. "I may have my mum's address, she might have moved though. Never tends to stay in one place that woman."

"Good, where would I find that?"

"In the library desk. It's a little red book." Draco took off for the library. He walked quickly over to the desk upon entry and began pulling out drawers. There was no red book in sight. He stepped back and sighed.

"What the hell, where is it?" he said rather annoyed, pushing papers about the desk. He was just about to go and drag Emily in, when he noticed the locked drawer he had yet to pull open. He quickly unlocked it, and found the red book sitting right on top. Draco flipped through the pages, hunting for the name.

"Olivia Hunt," he murmured, internally applauding himself for knowing her mother's maiden name. He couldn't find the page at all; it was just as illusive as the book had been. He threw the book onto the desktop and sat back into the chair near the desk.

Emily came into library, carrying a large box. Draco sighed and got up. He grabbed the box out of her hands. She gasped, surprised.

"What are you still doing in here? Haven't you found the book yet?" Emily said, her eyes still widened with shock.

"I did, but there wasn't an address," he said, as she waddled over and picked up the book. "What did I tell you about carrying boxes?" he scolded, as she pulled out a folded piece of paper from the middle.

"Found it," she mumbled, sliding it onto the top of his box raising her eyebrows slightly with her triumph.

He looked at her with a loathing as she wandered back towards the kitchen. Placing the box down and shaking his head, Draco headed outside with a writing utensil and a piece of parchment. His sons were playing outside. It made him worry, them being outside, alone. He sat on one of the stone benches along a small pond in the back. Niles ran up to Draco, leaving behind his two older brothers.

"Dad, what are you doing?" he questioned innocently. Niles poked at the quill Draco held.

"Just, writing to a friend of mine," he said, pushing the boy's hand away. Niles seemed satisfied with that answer and ran back to his brothers. Draco dipped the quill and began to write a quick note.

Jade and company,

Though it is not what you had really been after, I was only able to gather Emily's mother's address. Maybe from her you can get the others you desire. I've jotted the address on the back of this note. Hope it serves you well.

Draco Malfoy

He stared down at the paper in his hands. At first he had been absentminded, signing Draco. He laughed at the idea. He wasn't signing this as though she was a long time friend, he despised her more than anything. He scrawled out Malfoy quickly after slashing out his original.

"Better," he said out loud to himself.

The boys a few feet from him began getting louder. Draco looked up to see Brad and Sage attacking Niles.

"Knock it off!" Niles yelled, his limbs flailing about.

"Hey!" The boys stopped, and Draco turned to see who had yelled.

"You better stop this right now, or I'll get mum," Oliver warned, wagging his finger at them as their mother often did.

"Oliver, you're such a tattle tale," Sage snapped, getting off Niles. Brad got up after him.

"Always ruining our fun," Brad complained, standing next to his dad. "At least dad doesn't go running to mum every ten minutes."

"Don't pull me into this," Draco said, standing to find an owl. "You guys fight this out yourselves." He pushed passed his quarrelling sons and headed towards a barn of sorts near the back of their property. As he neared, he called an owl down from the rafters. It swooped and landed on the hay bundle next to him. Draco tied his brief note to the owl's leg.

"To Jade O'Donnell, alright?" The owl took off as Draco hoped his letter would suit Jade's needs. He was afraid to think what would happen if it didn't.