A Redheaded Evans

The next day at lunch, Draco found Andy, Fiona and Nicola accompanying Julia.

They bought their lunch and then joined him at his table.

"How was work?" Julia asked.

Draco opened his lunchbox and was pleased to find a Cornish pasty. Julia had been cooking something in the oven the night before, but because it wasn't dinner Draco had more or less ignored it.

Nicola raised her eyebrows. "Julia, you let Draco use your Gundam Wing lunchbox?"

Draco flipped the lunchbox closed and studied the drawing on its side. "Is that what this is? 'Gundam Wing'? What's so special about this? These blokes look a bit poncy if you ask me."

Andy snickered behind one hand. "And Draco unravels the mystery of the bishonen in one try."

"Julia found that one summer at an anime con, and she swore that she'd never let anyone use it, except for her husband or her firstborn," Nicola said, squinting at Draco. "As far as I can tell, you are neither."

Draco just smirked. "I'm special." But he was secretly nervous; would the others figure it out? Julia seemed calm.

"You know, that phrase is usually a euphemism for 'you're weird'," Fiona pointed out unhelpfully.

"He is weird," Julia said.

"Says the girl who sits around every Monday night claiming to be a vampire named Quinn," Draco replied smoothly.

"I'd watch that kind of comment if I were you," Andy said. "You do realize you're at a table full of gamers?"

"I'm not the minority, however, because I doubt that everyone else in this room games as well." Draco smiled and bit delicately into his lunch.

Fiona laughed when Andy pouted. "Draco's got you there."

"So what is Gundam Wing?" Draco asked.

Nicola reached out and pointed to one of the large humanoid robots carrying what resembled a very nasty looking rifle.

"This is a Gundam, a type of war machine," she said. "A mechanical war machine, or mecha for short. This specific Gundam is named Wing, and because its pilot, this boy, is the star of the show, the show is named after him."

Draco's eyes lit up in realization. "Oh. So this is a promotional product for an animated television show."

"To people like Julia, it's up there with a national treasure," Fiona said.

Draco cast a glance at his wife and saw that she was blushing.

"If you were a Weasley, I'd congratulate you now that your face matches your hair, but you're Julia and I like you, so I'll just tell you that you're weird," he said.

Julia blushed even more.

Andy leaned over and whispered, "I think he just insulted you twice while getting in a left-handed compliment."

Draco felt a flash of jealousy at the way Andy was so close to Julia, but she rolled her eyes and shoved him away. That was a far more appropriate reaction than her blushing.

Draco finished off the pasty and dabbed the crumbs off his mouth. "You're a fantastic cook, Julia."

Nicola, Fiona and Andy blinked.

"Say that again?" Fiona turned a curious expression at Julia.

"What?" Julia protested, but she was beginning to blush again.

"Is Julia not usually a good cook?" Draco asked. "I've been living with her for a month and she's an absolutely fabulous cook."

"This is new," Nicola declared.

"Dad has been bugging for me to be independent, so I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with mom," Julia said.

"You said that last fall, and your cooking was still abysmal the few times we had it," Fiona said.

"Then again, Julia did always say that she didn't like cooking for one, and that she'd probably put more effort into it once she had a husband." Andy waggled his eyebrows at Draco.

He raised an eyebrow at Julia, feigning his usual imperiousness to hide his panic. "Do you have designs on me, dear Julia?"

Everyone else was shocked when she reached across the table and curled her hand in his. "You've discovered the awful truth. I want to marry you because you're so good-looking, and even more wealthy."

Draco frowned. "Is that all?"

Julia sat back and tossed one plait over her shoulder haughtily. "Well, someone has to be the brains in this relationship, and since you're so beautiful you can't possibly have any brains in that pretty little head."

Andy guffawed, but Draco tossed his head with an indignant sniff.

"I'll have you know that if it weren't for that one girl Granger I would have been top of my class."

"You see, Draco, it's inevitable. You will always be intellectually defeated by a woman," Julia drawled, in a perfect imitation of him.

The other three snickered behind their hands.

Draco narrowed his eyes. "You might want to rethink that statement, or a certain redhead may find herself high and dry before her next French and History tests."

Julia just giggled. "You know I'm joking. I realize that you're very intelligent, and your brains and beauty are just to die for. Of course, the fact that you're wealthy helps."

Draco rolled his eyes and went back to his lunch.

"What does she mean by wealthy?" Fiona asked.

Nicola reached out and grabbed Draco's right hand, and he just let her while he finished eating.

"See this ring? Means he's from an aristocratic family. With lots of money," she said.

Andy and Fiona leaned across the table to peer at his signet ring.

"I've heard the name Malfoy before, but it doesn't really ring a bell," Fiona said.

Draco shrugged carelessly. "Lesser nobility, but better at managing lands and funds because of it. We're still old money."

"But your parents are the wealthy ones until you inherit, right?" Andy asked.

Julia and Nicola flinched at the mention of is parents.

"Well, I can wait for them to expire," Draco said coolly.

Andy whistled. "You're one cool customer."

"He's a Malfoy," Nicola and Julia chorused dutifully.

Draco shot them an annoyed look, but the sharp edge vanished when he began to laugh. "I do say that too often, don't I?"

"You say it like it's meant to be something, but since we're not part of your usual circle of friends it doesn't quite have the desire effect," Nicola offered.

"It would if you'd met my father," Draco said, "but I am not him, so things obviously work differently for us."

"Hello Draco!"

Julia, Andy, Fiona and Nicola turned identical venomous glares at the trio of skimpily-dressed girls approaching their table.

Draco managed to keep a polite expression, but the others could see the clear disdain etched in his features. These were the three girls who had accosted him during lunch the day before. And then they had followed him to work, where it turned out that Karen was one of their friends.

"Good day," he said, frostily polite, gray eyes steely.

They giggled at him, oblivious to the animosity radiating off of him.

"Wow! You remembered us!" the first one, a brunette, cried.

Draco arched one eyebrow. "If you wish to continue to delude yourselves of that, then don't ask me if I remember your names."

"So do you remember our names?" the blonde asked.

"Unbelievable," Draco muttered under his breath. He ran a hand through his hair, his movements agitated. "Sorry. No."

None of the girls wavered in their enthusiasm. "So are you doing anything this weekend?"

"He was planning on coming with all of us down to St. George for a punk concert," Nicola said.

The raven-haired girl cast her a scornful look. "Who asked you?"

Nicola lifted one hand and curled it into a fist, and Draco remembered how fierce she had been as a bartender. The spiky studs on her leather bracelet glinted wickedly.

"No one of consequence, and by that I mean you three," she said, "because only between all of you do you have a complete brain."

"Did you just call me stupid?" the girl cried, one hand flying to her throat.

"Only if you had to ask." Nicola grinned, baring her teeth, feral.

Draco shot her a grateful look, then addressed the three girls. "You will be rather disappointed to learn that my social calendar fills up quite quickly, and that these people you see before me are among the few with whom I am willing to spend time."

One of them pouted, and the other two shot glares at Nicola.

"Well, when you come to your senses, you'll know where to find the real fun." The blonde sniffed at them. Then she and her two friends spun on their heels and flounced away.

"Thank you for rescuing me," Draco said.

Andy shrugged. "I wasn't much help."

"Neither was I," Fiona said.

Julia grasped his hand under the table and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"I wanted to ask anyway," Nicola said. "Hedwig is coming to St. George, down at the Electric Theatre, and I was planning on inviting you guys."

Andy shook his head. "Sorry, no can do. I have a D&D marathon with the boys planned, but thanks for the invite."

Fiona frowned. "I have to work. And I'm not all that big on punk, to be honest."

Nicola turned to Julia and Draco.

"What about you two? Come on, Julia, this is my chance to make up for the last concert where no one would let you into the mosh pit."

Draco saw indecision cross Julia's face.

"I'd really like to, but Draco - "

"Has never been and would like to try it out," he cut in smoothly. "Although, I always knew Hedwig as the name of someone's pet owl."

Nicola shrugged. "It's a good Celtic name. But Draco, you'll really come to a punk concert?"

He nodded. "I've never been before, and Julia deserves some fun."

Nicola grinned. "Great. Draco, we'll probably have to get you some new clothes for the concert. What time do you get off of work on Friday?"

"Three. And what's wrong with the clothes I already have?"

Fiona and Andy began to snicker behind their hands.

While Draco gaped at himself in the mirror, Nicola and Julia took a moment to privately ogle him.

"You know, I do love Steven, but I have to admit, Draco is very pretty," Nicola said.

"I always thought he was too delicate and aristocratic for punk, but he makes a very pretty goth." Julia grinned to herself.

Draco turned to them in horror. "You actually expect me to go out in public looking like this?"

A black leather collar accentuated his slender neck, and an open black button-down shirt revealed the delicate lines of his collarbone. A sharp black jacket that stopped at his waist emphasized his lean torso, and his long legs were clad in faded black slacks with patches in very suggestive spots. His graceful hands and slender wrists were made more delicate with the black spiked bracelets they'd given him, and Julia had found a silver torque that brought out his gray eyes.

"Yes, we do," Nicola said. "Now we'll pay for it and go. Concert starts in a couple of hours and we have to drive down and get a good parking spot."

Draco opened his mouth to protest further, but Julia grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him over the counter. The prim, grandmotherly looking woman at the cashier desk actually blushed as she looked Draco over to ring them up. Nicola and Julia tossed down some bills, agreeing to split the cost between them. They told the lady to keep the change - what with it being a thrift store and all - and dragged Draco out of the shop before he could escape.

Julia pushed him into the back seat of Nicola's car and slid in beside him.

"I can't believe people willingly wear this outside of their houses!" he cried. He turned to Julia. "And you - I never thought you would do this either!"

Julia was wearing a black skirt that stopped just above her knees, a black t-shirt that read pog mo thon, black fishnet stockings and a pair of battered black sneakers. Her red hair was pulled into a pair of plaits interwoven with black lace, and she wore black eyeliner and black lipstick.

"Obviously you've never been to a punk concert," she told him coolly.

"I expect this from Nicola - she wears this gear every day!" Draco continued ranting, ignoring Nicola and Julia's unhelpful comments that this sort of behavior didn't befit a Malfoy.

"Draco, you will be quite horrified to find that many girls at this concert won't find you ugly," Nicola said. "In fact, they will find you quite attractive."

"Attractive?" Draco echoed. "This is black. It makes me look as pale as a corpse! Silver and green, now those are my colors."

Julia chuckled. "He'll find out the hard way, then. Just chill out, Draco. Enjoy the drive. You can panic more later when you find out you'll have to rescue me from the mosh pit."

Draco fumed silently for a few more moments, then gave in and said, "So, what is a mosh pit, anyway?"

Draco was horrified to learn that girls did indeed find him attractive in this funeral get-up. He was also horrified to find out that punk goth girls were more brazen than ordinary girls and felt quite free to whistle at him and grab his bottom as they passed.

Julia and Nicola did nothing to help; they simply watched and laughed. The venue was a small place down a side street in the middle of town, and Draco was surprised to see a large group of people - similarly dressed to his friends and him - gathered outside of the building. Nicola handed Julia and Draco their tickets and then they went to stand with everyone else in the group.

"You do remember what punk music is, right?" Julia asked in a low voice.

Draco nodded distractedly, concentrating on keeping his person protected from the brash girls in black.

He would regret his inattention when they entered the venue. There were no seats, just a large stage and a floor about four feet lower than the stage. Instruments were already set up on the stage. Draco immediately began to feel a slight onset of claustrophobia when the place was finally full and he discovered that there were people surrounding him on all sides leaving barely an inch radius of space. Julia and Nicola were the ones closest to him, and for that he was grateful. The band came out with little fanfare, although the lights dimmed and swirling, colored lights swept the walls and the crowd in a dizzying array.

And then the cheering started. Draco had been previously unaware that humans could make such a racket. Surrounding him was the most raucous, ear-splitting, mind-bending cacophony to have ever existed on the planet. Accompanied with curious hand gestures that involved the index and pinkie fingers in a most indistinguishable manner; Draco couldn't tell if it was rude or not. And Nicola and Julia were joining in. Draco gaped at them in unabashed horror, but they were yelling and screaming along with everyone else.

Then the music started.

Draco had forgotten what punk was like. Electric guitars and banging drums and unintelligible lyrics. Everyone around him began jumping to the beat. In the middle of the floor Draco saw two boys circling each other and occasionally ramming into each other. A third man jumped in, and they kept circling, kept bumping into each other. If one fell, he was pulled back up straight away, and then they continued bouncing off each other and everyone else, and half of the people they bounced off of ended up in the human whirlpool too. Draco watched in unabashed horror, and then someone beside his ear yelled,

"Go!"

And Julia was in there as well, knocked around with the flow of the bodies, falling down as many times as she felled someone else. It was as if her entrance was the cue, and the middle half of the room became the whirlpool. Nicola let loose an exultant yell and dove in. Draco watched the bodies spin round and round, running in a circle to the too-fast pace of the music, people falling down and picking each other up and slamming into each other viciously. Draco saw Nicola go round the circle, feral pleasure marring her face in an inhuman grin. And he saw Julia, eyes closed in something like bliss, her body just moving to the flow of those around her. The song changed and the rhythm of the circle changed, but it kept going around and around. Draco watched for Julia's red head, his heart lurching each time it vanished below the crush of bodies, relief flooding through him each time it reappeared. The music was lost on him, a chaotic background to the danger Julia was in. He tried to push through the crowd. It surged backward when the whirlpool of humans expanded.

Draco hovered behind everyone else. He searched the sea of bodies frantically. Julia careened into a mountain of a man and went down.

She didn't come back up.

Draco's breath caught in his throat.

She didn't come back up.

He strained forward, and the couple in front of him broke apart to let him through. He dove into the whirlpool, fighting for a glimpse of that familiar red hair. Elbows and knees, fists and feet and rough shoulders assaulted him from all sides. He screamed her name and plowed through the crowd. And there she was, sitting on the edge of the mass in a little space a pair of large men had cleared for her, sheltered from the chaos of the human whirlpool.

Draco dropped to his knees beside her. She looked fine, although a bruise was beginning to form on one cheekbone.

She blinked when she saw him.

He dragged her into his arms and held her tightly.

"Are you all right?" he breathed in her ear. He was sure she would be able to feel his heart slamming against his ribcage in a panicked cadence.

"Just fine. Lost my balance is all," she replied. Her breath was hot against his ear. "Isn't the mosh pit fun?"

"That's the mosh pit? It's a bloody death trap!" Draco hissed.

"I was fine," she said, reaching up to pat his back awkwardly. "We all look out for each other in there, even if we do hurt each other."

Draco pulled back and smoothed a thumb over her bruised cheekbone. She winced, but looked pleased at her wound. The two men said something and walked away. Draco thanked them absently and helped Julia to her feet. They skirted around the mosh pit, and Draco led her to his safe corner on the other side.

"You don't have to worry about me, really," Julia breathed into his ear.

Draco tightened his grip around her waist stubbornly. "Bloody muggle weirdness," he muttered.

The music slowed for a moment then, became a low thrumming of guitars, and Draco remembered that they were at a concert, not in a war zone.

"Get out your lighters, kids, here comes a ballad!" the lead singer yelled.

Draco stared as the mosh pit broke apart, and everyone around him was holding a cigarette lighter and flicking it on, waving the small flame above their heads. Gentle guitar strains floated over the room, and suddenly the pit was a sea of twinkling golden lights.

Draco gazed in awe. It was beautiful and peaceful and gentle. He felt Julia sigh and settle against him, and he saw other couples holding each other as well, swaying to the music. Draco held her tightly. She was warm and soft and so alive. He leaned down and buried his face in her soft hair, letting the lyrics of the song wash over him.

The origin of love...

The gentleness faded, the drums becoming louder and bolder, cymbals crashing up a storm. The acoustic became electric, and Draco was faintly aware of a female voice twining around the man's in the background.

He wrapped his arms around Julia tighter and pulled her closer, squeezing his eyes shut tightly. He could smell her, something gentle and spicy and Julia. And the music became softer again, and Draco felt something in him surge and break, and suddenly he wanted to kiss her, needed to kiss her...

It's the pain that cuts a straight line down through the heart...

Draco felt something wrench in his chest, and he gasped.

We call it love.

He expelled a shaky breath, leaned down and placed a whisper-light kiss on the back of her neck.

Julia was lost in the music. This was one of her favorite love songs. She leaned back against Draco's warm body and swayed to the music. She felt so peaceful and protected and relaxed. The panic that had shaken Draco's frame with fine tremors when he'd found her on the other side of the mosh pit was gone, and he swayed with her. She gazed out at the sea of tiny flames and grinned when she saw Nicola's familiar silver Zippo lighter.

Then she closed her eyes and let herself free.

Last time I saw you, we'd just split in two.

You were looking at me, I was looking at you.

She remembered the first time she had seen Draco, met his silver gaze from across a sea of people and seen his sadness and his pride and his beauty. Draco was a beautiful boy.

You had a face so familiar - I could not recognize

'Cause you had blood on your face, I had blood in my eyes.

She knew that face, had gazed at it for hours upon end and memorized its features, its every nuance, but even though that picture could move, it did not have the life that the real boy had.

And I could swear by your expression

That the pain down in your soul

Was the same as the one down in mine.

She sank against him fully.

And felt the ghost of a kiss on the back of her neck.

Her eyes flew open, and Nicola was pushing through the crowd toward her.

"The song's almost over. Come on - we can get back into the mosh pit."

At the words 'mosh pit', Draco's arms around her tightened, but Julia gently pulled herself free.

She turned to him and said, "I'll be fine. Don't worry."

His face was devoid of all expression, devoid of even the bored arrogance he wore whenever he expressed no other emotion. Something raw shone out of his silver eyes as he watched her go, and she let herself be dragged away.

"So what did you think?" Nicola asked as they headed for her car.

Draco shook his head, avoiding Julia's gaze. "That mosh pit is barbaric."

Julia grinned. "No wonder you love the pit, Nicola, it was awesome!"

Nicola reached out and lifted Julia's face. "Ehh, it'll bruise for a while, but it's not too bad."

"It's been a while since I've earned a bruise fair and square," Julia said.

Draco cast a glance at her; she actually looked pleased. "You enjoy getting beaten up?"

"Not getting beat up - I'll fight back." Julia lifted her chin defiantly, green eyes glittering. "But if I get a bruise you can bet the other guy got hit pretty badly too."

Nicola frowned and reached out to Draco. "Hey, what happened to your face? I didn't think you'd get into the pit too."

Draco firmly averted his gaze when Julia looked at him.

"I went down pretty hard right before the ballad, and he came storming through the mosh pit to save me," she said.

Draco thought there was an annoyed edge to her voice. He cursed himself internally. A Malfoy was not weak, and even if he wasn't his father he was willing to live up to the true standards of the Malfoy name, and giving into desires like a weakling was not part of the Malfoy code of behavior! Why had he kissed her like that? Even worse, why had he agreed to marry her when he'd known she didn't love him back? He kept his gaze away from her marred face. Maybe when they got home she'd let him heal it. Although the way she sounded so proud of the injury, maybe she wouldn't.

"I probably should have reminded you what the mosh pit was like," Nicola said, apologetic. "What are you going to do at work? That bruise probably isn't going to go away soon. And you have such pale skin - it'll probably be horribly vivid tomorrow."

Draco met her gaze and grinned. "We Malfoys are tough."

"You always whined that you bruise like a peach!" Nicola cried.

Julia gave her a condescending pat on the shoulder and said, "No, that's you, dear."

"We do bruise, but we heal quickly," Draco said.

He caught Julia looking at him curiously, and he looked away.

Nicola unlocked the car. "Well, did you at least like the music?"

"No." Draco slid into the back seat and closed his door firmly.

Julia just laughed and climbed into the front passenger seat. "Nicola, I don't think we'll ever convert him to the punk rock."

"What a pity. And you make such a pretty goth boy." Nicola smirked into the rearview mirror, and Draco scowled.