A Redheaded Evans

Draco jerked awake when he heard someone knock on the door. He opened his eyes and was momentarily disoriented. He wasn't in the back room of the Green Dragon, and he wasn't in his own room at home.

And then a girl said, "Draco, it's seven. Wake up!"

The door opened slightly, and Julia poked her head into the room. "Good morning!" she said with a tentative smile. "What would you like for breakfast?"

Draco sat up. "Good morning," he said, flashing her a saucy smile. "Care to join me for five minutes of fun?"

Julia arched her eyebrows. "Only five minutes? That's as long as you can last?"

Draco's mouth fell open for a moment; she really did have mettle! Then he said, "For breakfast? Toast with jam and a scrambled egg, if you please."

Julia nodded. "All right, then. Is there anything you don't like on a sandwich?"

"Onions," Draco told her.

She nodded and ducked out, closing the door after him.

Draco picked out his uniform khakis and a random white, button-down shirt before heading over to the bathroom. It felt good to take a hot shower, but he didn't linger. He dressed and combed his hair and walked into the kitchen barefoot to find Julia laying out a plate of steaming eggs and some fresh toast. She set down a jar of jam and a butter knife.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked, smiling brightly. She was dressed in ordinary jeans and a t-shirt.

"Wonderfully." Draco slid into the seat. He feet a little awkward with Julia hovering over him, serving him while he ate. She had even remembered a glass of milk. "Although I was a little lonely." He smirked up at her.

Julia just swatted at his head. He dodged easily. While he ate he watched her walk back over to the counter and fix a sandwich. According to Julia, it was something that every mother did, fixed her family breakfast to start the day and then packed them off the school or work with a home-made lunch seasoned with love. Draco had never seen his mother cook. House elves took care of it all. And he had always eaten a hot lunch at school.

Draco glanced at his watch and saw that it was half past seven already. He finished his toast and eggs fairly quickly, then drank his milk leisurely. Julia strode over to him and handed him a plastic lunchbox decorated with cartoon figures of young boys and giant metal humanoid figures.

She blushed slightly. "It's the only lunchbox I have. Sorry."

"You cook well," Draco told her honestly. He stood up and accepted the lunch box from her.

She scooped up her keys and finished plaiting her hair while Draco pulled on his shoes.

"I'll take you to the bank after work to set you up a bank account, and then we can swing by the clerk's office and tell her about your job," she said. Draco watched, faintly awed at the quick and efficient manner in which her curly red hair vanished into a pair of neat, straight plaits. "And then we can go to the DMV and get you set up for a driver's license."

He nodded and stood up. "I'm ready to go."

Julia smiled. "Let's get to your first day at work!"

"What are you going to do all day?" Draco asked as he slid into the car.

"Well, I have the last of my furniture to move out of storage and into the house, and then I have to register for classes and buy books and whatnot." Julia revved the engine and pulled the car out into the street. "I have plenty of things to do."

Draco nodded.

"Try to have fun today, all right?" Julia smiled encouragingly.

"As much as I can with that blonde bint," Draco muttered.

"I wouldn't make fun of blonds if I were you."

"The operative word in my statement was 'bint'."

They both laughed.

Draco strode into the lobby and saw Karen and Robert standing behind the desk.

"You're married, Draco?" Robert asked.

Draco blinked but nodded. "Yes. Only for a few months. Why do you ask?"

"It's on your application and I didn't notice it the first time around," Robert said.

"Ah, well, yes, I am quite happily married."

Robert grinned and thumped him cheerfully on the shoulder. "Congratulations then. By the way, here's your uniform shirt. You can store your stuff back here." Robert led him to the back room where there was a locker. "Come out as soon as you're done and we'll start training you, all right?"

Draco nodded. He waited until Robert was gone before unbuttoning his shirt and sliding the new one on. It was made of something warm and thick. Draco wasn't sure that gray was the right color for him, but it was a uniform for a job. He stowed his lunchbox and shirt in the locker and strode out to the front desk.

"I guess I didn't read your application carefully enough," Robert commented. "I only just now noticed that you're married."

Draco lifted his left hand to reveal the plain golden band. "Married, but no children yet."

Karen frowned for a moment, but then she reached out and tapped Draco on the shoulder. "Here, let me show you how to make a reservation and check someone in or out."

Draco politely excused himself from his employer and stood next to Karen at the desk while she showed him around the computer. He listened intently, watching the screen and the way she clicked in and out of different applications. She showed him the employee number Robert had assigned to him and how to tell which employee had checked someone in or out.

"Always check the number here in the corner if you want to see who did the procedure," she explained calmly. "Make sure that your number appears in the corner when you're done so that one of us can see who did the check and can come talk to you if there's a problem."

She moved past the computer and pointed to the list of numbers on the desk next to the phone. "Here are all the necessary numbers - housekeeping, room service, maintenance, the security and the bellboys. If anyone needs anything that requires these people, give them a quick call and they ought to report up here within five minutes."

Draco nodded. "Right."

Karen turned to him and flashed him a bright smile. "Basically, you have to be as polite and helpful as possible. Unless something is really wrong, the customer is always right."

Robert poked his head out of the back office and said, "For today, Draco, just follow Karen and watch how she does things, and she'll occasionally let you run a check-in while she supervises."

"Yes, sir," Draco said.

"If you wan to call outside the hotel," Karen said, "you have to dial nine first."

"Thanks. So, now what?"

Karen scanned the front desk. "Well, the night audit guy got everything set up pretty well, so we pretty much wait until someone comes in."

Draco frowned to himself. He didn't really relish the thought of having to have any social contact with this girl.

"So what brought you to America?" she asked, leaning against the counter and tilting her head to expose the long line of her neck, reaching up with one hand to play with her hair.

"My wife, actually," Draco said. He remained standing upright.

Karen giggled. "I just love your accent. Where did you say you were from again?"

"Northern England, up on the moors." He kept his tone politely neutral. "Most northerners do no speak as I do, but my father insisted that I spoke as befitted the quality of my education."

Karen straightened up suddenly, expression bright and a little too pleased. She handed him a pad of paper and a pen and said, "If you write down your phone number for me I'll add it to the employee phone directory."

"We've just barely moved in and I don't really know the number off the top of my head," Draco said honestly, handing the pen and paper back to her. "I can check with my wife, though. She probably knows." Draco had been sorely tempted to give her Julia's cell phone number and then wait to see what happened when she decided to call.

Karen's face fell slightly at the unsubtle reminder of his marital status, but then determination renewed itself in her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak to him, but suddenly the sounds of traffic invaded the quiet of the lobby as the glass doors slid open.

A harried-looking businessman toting a suitcase strode into the lobby and up to the desk.

"Are there any rooms available?" he demanded in rapid, heavily-accented English. Karen turned to him and turned on a friendly, helpful smile, but her expression faltered when the mangled words assaulted her.

Draco pushed past her and said smoothly, "Est-ce que je vous sers, monsieur?" And then in English for Karen, "Can I help you, sir?"

The man smiled tiredly and said in French, "I thought that no one in this country spoke my language. Are there any rooms available?"

"Let me check for you, sir," Draco replied in the same language. Then he caught Karen's sleeve and tugged her over to the computer. "Are there any open rooms?" he whispered.

She opened a different menu with a swift keystroke and studied it for a moment.

"Plenty."

Draco turned his most winning smile on the man and said, "We do have vacancies, sir. What sort of room would you like?"

"A single room, non-smoking. It need not be expensive," the businessman said.

"Do we have in non-smoking singles left?" Draco prodded Karen in the ribs, and she began clicking rapidly again. She nodded.

"We can meet your needs, sir," Draco said. "Would you like to check in now?"

"Yes, please," the man said.

Draco scanned the blank data fields on the screen and began asking the man for his name and how long he would be staying and how he would be paying. The man told him everything in rapid-fire French that Draco translated into English for Karen. She ran a key-card through the computer and Draco reminded himself to ask her to show him how to do that. She slid the key across the counter to the man and said,

"Enjoy your stay."

The man thanked both of them, and Draco pointed him in the direction of his room.

"That was really amazing," Karen said, stepping closer to him. "When you speak French it sounds really..."

Draco was glad when Robert stepped out of the back office. "Come with me, Draco, and I'll explain how the priority club works."

As soon as they closed the door, Robert said, "I don't know what's wrong with Karen. She's a little flirtatious because it works well with the single male customers, but she's never been so overt, and she knows you're married. If it bothers you, let me know?"

"What do you mean by 'bother'?" Draco arched an eyebrow. "Because if you mean annoying and distracting from the task at hand, then yes, she's bothering me. But if you mean are her advances making me uncomfortable, no she's not a bother at all."

"I'll give her a little talking-to, then," Robert said. "But I've gotta say, most guys couldn't hold out for a tenth of how long you have."

Draco smirked.

"While we're here, I might as well show you how the priority club works. And you handled that French guy really well." Robert held up a pamphlet. "Here's pretty much how the priority club works. It's all in here, and you ought to offer it to anyone who's not a member. Karen will show you where member status is listed on the customer stat screen."

Draco nodded and accepted the pamphlet.

"So read it tonight when you have the chance." Robert opened the office door. He said, "Karen, have you taught Draco how to code keys yet?"

She shook her head and looked eager to be close to Draco again. He stepped out of the office and moved to stand beside her.

"So, you grab a card off the pile here, and you type in the room number and the number of days here. You click on the 'code', and then swipe the card through this machine." She held up a small plastic card. "Make sure that the magnetic strip faces this way." She showed him how to swipe the card. "The card will stop working after a certain number of days. If someone hands you a lost card, this is how you check what room it goes to."

Draco nodded and watched intently as she navigated through a series of key screens.

"If someone brings you a lost key, you check who it belongs to and then call their room to see if they've lost their key, and the hold onto it until they come to get it. If no one comes to get it, or if they've checked out early, this is how you remove the code from the key." She clicked on a button that read 'remove code' and swiped the key down the same machine again. "It's that simple. Now you try."

Draco accepted the plastic key and coded it.

"That's great," Karen said, smiling brightly. "Now take the code off."

Draco obeyed.

Karen patted him on the shoulder, subtly moving closer. "You catch on really quick."

"Thank you," Draco said politely.

"Now, there is only one key issued for a single room, two keys for a double room," Karen said. "Any more than that and something suspicious is going on. The computer will bring up an error if you try to code in too many keys for a room."

"Okay. And do I report it to someone if there are too many keys coded for a room?" Draco studied the screen.

"Yes - you report it to Robert right away." Karen smiled brightly. "So...Draco. That's an interesting name."

"It's an ancestral name," he said.

"I've never heard it used as a name before." Karen moved a little closer, almost close enough to whisper in his ear.

"Draco is actually the name of a constellation that is supposedly shaped like a dragon," Draco said.

"So you're named after stars?"

"For my stellar looks," Draco drawled.

"I agree." Karen actually purred.

Draco stepped away from her and turned to face her squarely. "Listen, Karen, you are a very pretty girl, but I am quite committed to my marriage. Your unsubtle flirtations are distracting me, and I really need to know how to do my job so that I can support my wife. We can be friends, but I'd appreciate it if you stopped this nonsense now."

Karen put a hand to her throat. "Do you think I'm flirting with you?"

"Well if you're not, you're not staying very focused on the task at hand, and you're meant to be training me," Draco said. He knew where she had been going with the faked shock at his accusation; he'd dealt with enough of the Slytherin girls to know what sorts of tricks they could pull.

Karen sighed in defeat when she saw that her game was up. "Well, you're a really hot guy, and I wouldn't be me if I didn't try. But you held up. I'm impressed. Your wife is lucky."

"Thank you," Draco said. "I wouldn't be me if I couldn't dispense of people quickly and efficiently. As for my wife...I'm the lucky one to have her."

Karen just looked at him for a moment. Finally she said, "Okay, here's what you do when a priority club member comes in."

She moved to stand in front of the computer and let Draco watch over her shoulder.

Julia cast an apprehensive look over her shoulder before driving away, but Draco was already heading into the hotel. She put her car into gear and drove away - she knew what she had to do.

Steven still lived in town over the summer - he hadn't gone home to stay with his parents over the summer in years - so Julia drove over to his place.

She parked the car and climbed out, surveying the vaguely decrepit apartment complex. Did Steven still even live here? Julia descended the stairs to the basement apartment and knocked on the door.

"Can I help you?"

The door opened and Steven stood in the doorway, dressed in shabby dark clothes. He reached up to push the red-brown hair out of his eyes. "Oh. Hey Julia. Is Nicola back in town already?"

"No, she's still in England for a week or two." Julia reached out and scratched behind his ear; he leaned into the touch for a moment before straightening up. "I was just wondering if you could help me move some furniture out of storage."

Steven blinked at her. "The same furniture I moved into storage at the end of last semester? I thought you and Julia were moving back into the old dorms so you could each have private rooms and focus on your upper division classes."

Julia shrugged. "Well, my dad insisted that I become financially independent, so I moved out of the dorms and into a house down the street from them a ways. I scored me a roommate, and I figured I'd help furnish the place up while said roommate is at work."

Steven shook his head, disappointed. "Nicola's still under the impression that you two would terrorize the underclassmen together. Does she know about this yet?"

Julia reached up and nervously tucked a lock of hair behind one ear. "She doesn't exactly know about this yet. I wanted it to be a surprise. See, I won't be living in the dorms anymore, but I have a house now, and it has no curfew so we can stay up all night RP-ing if we want." She smiled weakly.

Steven raised an eyebrow. "And your roommate is cool with this?"

Julia smiled brightly this time. "Yes! My roommate is! My roommate is also a surprise for Nicola?"

"Surprise? Good or bad?"

"I'm not really sure."

"Do I know this roommate of yours?"

"I don't think so," Julia said.

"Describe her to me. I know more people than people know me." Steven pinned her with his dark eyes.

"Well, you see, my roommate..."

Steven's eyes narrowed, and Julia shifted from foot to foot. "You keep saying 'my roommate', which a ridiculous and redundant term when a pronoun would be best. Of course, you probably thought that avoiding the pronoun would mean that you didn't have to lie to me about your roommate's gender."

"Okay. So my roommate is a guy." Julia stared down at her feet.

Steven shrugged. "I don't care if you room with a guy. But how does Nicola know him?"

"From her summer job," Julia said.

Steven thought for a moment, then shrugged it off. "Whatever. Will I get to meet this roommate whilst I help you with this task?" He grabbed his keys off the hook near the door and stepped outside. He locked his apartment and followed Julia up the stairs.

"No, he's at work," Julia said. She tossed a smirk over one shoulder, a smirk she had learnt from Draco. "You don't get to meet him until Nicola does."

"Fine by me." Steven slid into the passenger seat of the car.

Julia climbed into her car and started the engine. Steven winced at the music that came over the speakers. Julia just grinned and began to sing along as she headed for the storage lockers.

"So what furniture are we getting?" Steven asked when they arrived at the rusty door that housed Julia and Nicola's furniture from their apartment the year before.

"Just the entertainment stuff, mostly. I don't think we'll need the book case." Julia sorted through the keys on her key ring until she found the right one. She crouched down to unlock the padlock and then rose, heaving the door open with her.

Steven peered over her shoulder and promptly sneezed.

Julia shouted and jumped away.

Steven shrugged, unrepentant. "Hey, everything's dusty."

Julia rolled her eyes. "Come on. Let's load everything into the car."

They loaded the television, VCR and DVD player into the trunk of Julia's car, then she drove him back to her new home.

"So this is your new place." Steven studied the modest home. "Not bad."

"No, not at all. The rent is really reasonable, and so far the people downstairs aren't obnoxious," Julia said. She popped open the trunk and scooped up the VCR. Steven hoisted the TV onto one shoulder and followed her into the house.

He noted that it was already decorated, pictures on the walls and a few knick-knacks resting here and there.

"How long have you been living here?"

"Only about a week or so," Julia said. She set the VCR down in the den and helped Steven maneuver the television monitor onto the low table. As soon as it was on securely Julia knelt and began fiddling with the wires. Steven prowled the den, curious.

"All of the pictures on the wall are yours," he said after a few minutes' inspection.

"Well, my roommate only moved in yesterday." Julia's voice went slightly muffled when she stuck her head behind the TV and set about connecting it to the VCR.

Steven turned his attention to the bookshelves. "You weren't kidding when you said you kept almost all of your textbooks. But these aren't yours, are they?" He spotted the thick, leather-bound tomes and tilted his head to read the titles on the spines. "Arithmancy. Runes. Herbology. Hogwarts: A History. The Muggles' Guide to Wizards and Witches. Healing and Medicine. Care of Magical Creatures. The Unforgivables?" Steven glanced over his shoulder at Julia, who was still buried behind the TV. "What kind of guy is your roommate, anyway?"

Julia poked her head up and looked slightly alarmed when she saw Steven flipping through the Herbology book.

"Erm, he's sort of into fantasy and a lot of new age stuff," she said.

"This is pretty useful, actually." Steven made an interested humming noise, then finally closed the book and set it back on the shelf. "Well, I'll go out and get the rest."

He headed for the front door and didn't hear Julia heave a massive sigh of relief.

Julia was waiting in the car when Draco stepped out of the lobby, a few uniform shirts over one arm and clutching an empty lunch box.

"You're punctual," he said.

"How was your first day?" Julia asked, smiling hopefully.

Draco ran a hand through his hair. "Not as bad as it could have been, once I straightened out my lack of interest in the blonde. But from now on you probably ought to wait for me to call in case I don't get off work exactly on time."

Julia nodded. "You're probably right. But it was a good day?"

Draco smiled at her. "Yes. I had a good day at work."

A wicked glint lit her eyes, and Draco frowned. "What?"

"We have to do some menial chores first, but after that, you want to learn how to drive?"

"Already?" Draco arched one eyebrow.

Julia nodded. "Come on. It's fun."

"There's a reason we can Disapparate and fly," Draco muttered.

"Yes, well, driving is a fun muggle pastime," Julia assured him.

They went to the bank to set up a joint savings and checking account, Julia closing her old account to provide the first principle. They went to the clerk's office to inform the clerk of Draco's new job, and then Julia took him to the DMV to see about getting him a driver's license. Draco managed to look regal and longsuffering as he accepted the driver's manual and listened to the instructions on obtaining his driving hours.

"That wasn't so bad, now was it?" Julia asked when they climbed back into the car.

Draco said nothing, maintaining his bored, superior expression.

"There's an elementary school near here," Julia said. "You can practice in their empty parking lot."

Julia pulled into the parking lot and turned off the engine.

"Come on. Let's switch seats."

They climbed out of the car, and then Draco slid into the driver's side, Julia next to him. It felt a little odd to reverse positions.

Julia reached out and turned the key, cutting off the engine. "This is the ignition key. If you read over here, it shows you off, on, and start. You put the key in the ignition and turn it past on to start until the engine turns over, and then you let the key fall back to 'on' on its own."

Draco nodded and peered down at the ignition to read the tiny words.

"You only use your right foot to drive; this car is an automatic so you have no need to press a clutch to shift gears," Julia went on. "The pedal on the right is the accelerator, and the pedal on the left is the break. There's nothing wrong with removing your foot from one and placing it on the other." She tapped her foot from side to side for him to see.

Draco pushed down on the pedals hesitantly.

Julia smiled. "That's right. You'll learn to get the feel of them so you can switch pedals without looking. All right, now turn on the engine."

Draco reached out and placed his hand on the key. He hesitated, then turned the key. The familiar sound of the engine starting rose up, but when he let go of the key the sound stopped. He frowned.

"Try again," Julia said gently.

Draco obeyed, and this time it worked.

"Now, press down on the brake," Julia instructed, "and use your right hand to release the parking brake. Press in this button and push the brake down until it doesn't go any further."

Draco had a hard time holding the button down at the same time as pushing the brake down, but Julia helped him.

He smiled.

"Now keep your foot on the brake shift from park to drive," Julia said.

She showed him how to change gears, and she showed him the indicator lights on the panel that told him what gear he was in.

"Okay. You can let go of the brake and put your foot gently on the accelerator." Julia smiled.

Draco slid his foot over to the other pedal without missing. He hesitated, then pressed down. The car lurched forward, and he automatically slammed on the brake.

Julia caught herself against the dashboard. "Well, you at least know where the pedals are."

Draco smirked triumphantly.

"The pedal pressure for acceleration is different in every car, but the pressure in my car is pretty sensitive, so step lightly and you can get up to twenty easily," Julia said. "Go on, take us around the parking lot."

Draco eased his foot down, keeping an eye on the speedometer, and guided the car around the empty parking lot. Julia helped him with his steering and turn signals, and soon he was driving steady, if not slow, laps around the parking lot.

"See, it's not so difficult, is it?" Julia smiled at him.

"It seems like I'm going so fast but the meter says I'm only doing fifteen," Draco confessed.

"It's always like that at first," Julia said. "But you're doing well."

"Thanks."

"Would you like to do some more, or just go home?"

Draco yawned. "Home sounds fine."

"Okay, then. I'll take us home."

Draco hovered in the kitchen feeling useless while Julia cooked supper. She would occasionally solicit him for help and have him fetch her something or hand her something, but most of the time he stood near the door and just watched.

"Don't worry," Julia said, "I'll make a decent cook of you yet."

Draco lifted his chin. "I'm a Malfoy. If I'm going to become a cook, I'll be better than decent."

Julia laughed. "At least you didn't give me the house elf spiel. Now come over here and make sure that the potatoes are boiling."

Draco stepped into the kitchen and stood at the stove warily, staring at the bubbling water. Julia prodded him in the shoulder.

"It can't be that bad," she said. "You had to brew potions in school, right? Cooking is essentially the same thing, but the results tend to be less drastic if you screw up - the food just tastes bad."

"Most potions taste horrid," Draco said, poking at one of the potatoes with wooden spoon. "Taste is hardly an indicator of success in potions."

"Well, then cooking ought to be easier for you, right?" Julia eyed the potatoes and said, "Okay, turn off the burner and drain the potatoes. Then put them in that blue bowl over there and start mashing."

"You mash the potatoes by hand?" Draco obeyed cautiously. He managed to get the potatoes safely to their destination. He stood back and watched her search through drawers for a mashing implement.

"Just this once, since it's our first night as husband and wife, and a good wife makes her husband good food." She handed him an electronic gadget, plugged it in and showed him how to use it. "After this, it's instant mashed potatoes for you."

"If that's the case, then can I accuse you of being a bad wife?" he asked. He was beginning to dislike most household appliances because they were so noisy. Muggle technology was oftentimes almost as efficient as magic, but the noise of electronics was a major disadvantage. He wondered how muggles could stand it, but Julia seemed to accept that the gadget would make noise and continued cooking. She showed him how to stir in the butter and milk, and then supper was ready. It was quite simple - bangers and mash and peas.

Julia and Draco sat at the small two-person table in the kitchen and ate.

Draco was impressed; Julia's food was good.

"Is it all right?" She watched him anxiously.

He swallowed so he could answer. "It's wonderful."

She beamed. "My dad loves this recipe, what with him being a Brit and all."

"I knew there was something redeeming about you." Draco sliced his sausages quickly and efficiently.

Julia flicked a pea at him. "Nice, Malfoy."

"You do realize that's not an insult as you're a Malfoy as well."

"Yes, well, I wasn't raised a Malfoy. I'm just along for the ride." And she ducked when he flicked the pea back at her. "I thought Malfoys didn't do that."

"It appears that Evans do, however, and since you've become a Malfoy in this arrangement I suppose that I am an Evans as well and can therefore take some of the liberties associated with that name." He smirked.

Julia just laughed at his logic. "So, what would you like to do after supper?"

"I noticed the new electronic muggle contraption you put up in the den," he said. "If you show me how it works then I suppose we could watch a film."

"Sounds like a plan."