A Redheaded Evans

"So, Hermione is a witch, you three are wizards, and Draco is married to Julia who is the new Lady Malfoy." Kenneth sat back, wearing a thoughtful frown.

"So, what does this Dark Lord want with Draco, exactly?" Fiona asked.

Hermione darted an uneasy glance at him.

Julia smiled up at him and squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"He has no corporeal form, and he bred my parents especially to have a powerful body for his use should he need it," Draco said, voice carefully neutral. "If nothing happened to the Dark Lord, I would step up as his right hand when the time came. Since Harry almost killed the Dark Lord, he has no permanent corporeal form, and he wants mine."

"He 'bred your parents'?" Andy echoed. "That's terrible."

Draco shrugged. "That's aristocracy for you."

"What makes you so powerful?" Lisa asked. "I mean, if I were a dark lord I'd want to walk around good-looking and all, but you don't seem any different from the rest of us?"

"First of all, you'll notice that Hermione, Harry and Ron all carry wands. I had a wand as well, but I can do all of my magic without one," Draco said. "A wand is just a focus for magic, but once a witch or wizard is powerful enough he or she can do wandless magic. And, as Steven can attest to, I am not fully human."

Andy, Fiona, Lisa, Kenneth and Nicola shot Steven questioning looks, and he nodded.

"What part of you is inhuman, then?" Andy asked.

"Hermione, will you please reach behind you and fetch that Sixth Level 'Care of Magical Creatures' book?" Draco gestured with one graceful hand.

Julia was still avoiding everyone else's gaze; she knew that none of them approved of the marriage even if she and Draco did love each other.

Hermione obeyed, and handed the book to him. He flipped it open, and the muggles in the room stared, entranced, at the silvery figure of a woman who danced in the air above the open page.

"This is a veela," Draco said. "A powerful magical creature similar to a succubus. Both of my parents had veela in them, hence the Malfoy pale complexion. I am precisely three-eighths veela, enough to give me their magical potency but not so much as to make me a blond sex-fiend."

Ron choked at that, and Julia poked Draco in the ribs reproachfully.

Hermione nodded. "Just as I expected. You didn't react to the veela girl much in Fourth Year, as I remember."

Draco nodded. "I am immune to veela charms and like magic, but I have the same veela blood in my veins and it makes people more willing to follow me or obey me."

"We're all immune, it seems," Kenneth said.

Draco shook his head. "That's because I do not exert my pull over you, and you're not weak-minded. Those girls on campus who follow me around have weak minds, but if I wanted I could charm you into bending to my will."

"Is that why Crabbe and Goyle followed you around?" Ron asked.

"No. They followed me because that was what is done. Their fathers served my father the same way they served me," Draco said.

Harry shook his head. "This pureblood business bothers me the more I hear about it."

"Believe it or not, the Potter line has a long, grand pureblood tradition." Draco smiled at the surprise that crossed Harry's face; he was coming to enjoy shocking the boy too much. "But it seems that a redheaded Evans is the undoing of many a pureblood line."

"What does that mean?" Lisa asked.

"Oh, did we not mention that part?" Julia sat up straighter. "Harry is my cousin - my father is his mother's brother."

"I had no clue, to be honest," Harry said. "My parents died when I was a child - Lord Voldemort killed them, but somehow I survived."

"I'm sorry about your parents," Fiona said softly.

"So am I!" Julia cried. "For years my dad tried to convince the government to let you live with us, but they said no. I know how horrible the Dursleys were to you, we all knew, but the government insisted you stay in England."

Harry blinked at her. "What? I never heard of this."

"I'm sure Uncle Vernon never said a word about it." Julia frowned. "Mean old man. But Mom found out they made you sleep in the cupboard and told Dad, and we tried, but nothing worked. I'd always wanted a brother, too."

"Dumbledore made Aunt Petunia promise to look after me, actually," Harry said finally. "I had to stay with them."

Julia smiled. "Well, when you're not off saving the world you can come visit the rest of the family, all right?"

Harry smiled. "I'd like that."

There was a long silence, and finally Andy said, "What can we do to help?"

"At this point, mostly keep an eye on Draco and make sure that no one suspicious bothers him," Hermione said. "Make sure he doesn't use magic. And start some basic weapons training. Muggles can't do magic, but they can still help us fight."

"I recommend learning swords or something," Ron said. "Projectile weapons are much easier to defend against magically."

"Other than that, we'll have to report back to Dumbledore and tell him what Draco told us, and see what to do from there." Harry yawned.

Julia suddenly realized how tired she was, how late it was, and how tired everyone else must be.

"Fiona, do you think you could take Harry and the others back to the hotel?"

Fiona nodded. "Sure. It's on my way home."

"I'll go with them so I can bring the car back," Draco said, standing up. He squeezed Julia's hand before letting go.

"You can drive?" Ron asked.

"Yes. I wonder what I'm going to tell my boss..."

Fiona, Draco and the three wizards headed for the front door.

Kenneth rose and helped Lisa to her feet. "We should probably get going as well."

"Yes. I'll take Nicola and Andy home." Steven stretched and stood up.

"We're talking tomorrow, girl," Nicola warned before following her boyfriend.

Julia nodded tiredly.

She saw the others off, then set about tidying up the den and kitchen before getting ready for bed. She'd just shower in the morning or something.

She brushed her teeth, combed her hair and washed her face. She was exhausted.

And worried. Draco was in danger. Julia had known that, but she really hadn't realized how much danger. Now that her cousin and his friends were here he had help, but would they just lead the Death Eaters to him? And then she smiled. Draco was in love with her. She was in love with him. Julia glanced at her watch and saw that it was past three AM. She had to get to bed. She would talk to Draco first thing in the morning before school. It was the best she could do.

Julia turned and headed for her room and crashed into something solid and warm. She squeaked in fright, but gentle hands closed over her shoulders and steadied her.

"It's just me. I didn't mean to frighten you," Draco said.

Julia pulled back and gazed up at him. "I was distracted. My fault, really."

Draco stroked her hair back from her face, and Julia suddenly noticed his blazing silver eyes. "Don't blame yourself. I often move silently - a trick I learned to escape the manor. Something easier to do in muggle clothes than wizarding robes, incidentally."

Julia smiled. "I think you look good in muggle clothes, but then again I've never really seen you in your ordinary clothes, so..."

"I love you, Julia," he whispered.

"I love you too, Draco."

He leaned down and kissed her. It was a gentle, chaste kiss, but his mouth was warm and soft on hers, and Julia felt her heart speed up.

Draco pulled back. "Get some sleep. We both have to be up early tomorrow." He smiled fondly at her and turned to head to his room when Julia said,

"Well, since we're really married and all, what with the loving each other and everything, do we really have to stay in separate rooms?"

Draco paused. "I don't see why not. Although, even if we are married and love each other, we haven't exactly been much in the way of a dating couple, so we should take things...slowly."

Julia turned red at his implication. "No, that's not what I meant! I mean, we could just, you know, share a bed, not necessarily do anything - "

Draco broke in gently. "I know, and I wouldn't assume such a thing. Besides, I feel safer knowing you're close by and I can be there if anything happens."

Julia smiled, a bright, sunny smile. "So tomorrow after work, you want to move in, then?"

Draco returned the smile, and Julia seemed to realize, for the first time, how beautiful he truly was.

"I'd love to. I'll go change into my pajamas and join you, okay?"

Julia nodded and headed into her room. She crawled under the sheets and lay there, quivering with anticipation. She saw the hall light go out, and then the door eased open. Soft footsteps crossed the room, and the bed sank beneath another person's weight before Draco slid under the covers beside her.

He wound an arm around her waist and tugged her close.

Then he murmured a, "Good night," before placing a feather-light kiss on the back of her neck and falling asleep.

The next day in English, Nicola leaned over to Julia and murmured, "Congratulations on snagging a hot, rich Brit boy for a husband, but what are you going to tell your parents?"

Julia's pen hit the desk with a clatter. "Oh no! Mom's going to kill me!"

On the other side of Nicola, Steven snickered. "I know your mother always did encourage you to elope, but I think she wanted to know who the boy was beforehand."
Julia groaned and banged her forehead against the desk. "Mom's going to throw me to the wolves! How will I explain Draco to her? She's not going to understand where all his money comes from because his family was lost to muggle records back in thirteenth century France or something. She's going to think he's a dead-beat like Lawrence working days at a hotel..."

"What happened in the thirteenth century in France?" Nicola asked.

"Witch burnings. The Malfoy patriarch was caught casting a spell, so they killed his whole family, but his son escaped." Julia sighed. "What is Dad going to do to me? Or worse, to Draco?"

"So when you mentioned that the Malfoys only have one son so there's no argument for inheritance and I said it sounded medieval and brutal, it's still that way?" Nicola shook her head in disbelief. "If it weren't for Hermione doing that thing with her wand, I'd think we'd stayed up gaming too late last night and it was all a strange dream."

Professor Thompson stood over them suddenly.

"Hi! Class doesn't start for another five minutes, but I haven't had a chance to properly say hello since this new semester started," she said, smiling. She frowned when Julia groaned and banged her forehead against the desk again. "Is something wrong?"

Steven smirked. "She ran off and got married this summer and still hasn't told her parents."

"Julia Evans? Married at nineteen? The girl who told us to shoot her if she was married before the age of twenty?" Thompson raised her eyebrows. "What makes this guy so special for you to break your vow of age-restricted celibacy?"

"It's Julia Malfoy now, and I'm in love with him," Julia muttered. "My mom is going to murder me!"

"I disagree," Nicola said. "See, Draco's well-mannered and good-looking, he treats you well and he's filthy rich."

Thompson laughed. "Sounds like quite a catch. Do you have a picture of this guy?"

Julia sat up and frowned. "Now that I think about it, the only picture I have of him is his team picture from his Second Year."

Nicola rolled her eyes. "I used the poor kid as a subject for plenty of photography experiments." She reached into her wallet and pawed through her stack of pictures until she found one of Draco. She held it out to Professor Thompson and said, "Gentlemen aren't the only ones who prefer blonds."

Thompson sucked in a breath. "Wow! I've seen him here on campus - eating lunch with you two girls, now that I think of it. Nice job, Julia!"

Julia smiled fondly. "He's a sweet boy."

"Someone with a name like Draco Malfoy can't be sweet," Steven muttered.

"Draco Malfoy?" Thompson echoed. "What an unusual name."

Nicola snickered. "You haven't heard his full name."
Julia giggled as well. "Yes. The first time I heard it I thought I was going to die laughing."

"Really? What is it?" Steven asked.

As one, Nicola and Julia recited, "Draco Lucius Theodosius Thomas Black Malfoy de Sainte-Marie," and collapsed into giggles.

"Lucius? Why Lucius?" Steven wrinkled his nose.

"It was his father's name," Julia said. "Theodosius is his grandfather's name, Thomas was in honor of his father's illustrious employer, and Black is his mother's maiden name."

"Did you ever meet Lucius Malfoy?" Nicola asked.

Julia shuddered. "No. Thank the heavens."

Professor Thompson laughed. "I'll have to meet this husband of yours sometimes - he seems like an interesting guy. I want to know who tamed my rabid lit major."
Julia smiled. "Sure. I'll bring him round one day."

"After you take him to meet your parents," Nicola reminded her.

Professor Thompson laughed at the horrified expression that crossed Julia's face and strode to the front of the room to start the class.

Draco ended up bringing Hermione, Ron and Harry to the campus with him to meet Julia for lunch.

"So you're telling me she got you a job, gave you a place to live, cooks and does your laundry for you and you still had no clue that she was in love with you?" Hermione demanded.

"He's a guy. Honestly, what did you expect?" Fiona asked, appearing with a tray full of food.

"I'm offended!" Andy cried. "I always know when a girl is interested in me."

"Ignore him," Fiona said. "He's just a little egotistical."

Draco sat down and opened his lunchbox.

"So is she a good cook?" Harry asked.

"She's a fantastic cook," Draco said, smiling when he found a meat pie. It had been wonderful to wake up in the morning with her in his arms. While he'd known somewhere in the back of his mind that she was his wife, now it seemed as if they were truly married, and the little things she did for him as part of her housewife duties seemed that much more attentive and loving.

"It's creepy," Ron muttered. "I never thought I'd see this - Draco Malfoy in love."

"You didn't think I was in love with Pansy Parkinson, did you?" Draco began cutting into his meat pie with startling neatness and precision. Andy and Fiona hurriedly bit into their hamburgers, glad that Draco hadn't begun speaking to them in French.

"You did go to the Yule Ball with her," Harry pointed out.

Draco cringed. "Worst mistake ever. I only went because Julia told me to."

"Oh really? What did she say?" Fiona asked.

"She wrote me in a letter and was all excited. 'It's just like prom!' she wrote. 'You'll regret it if you don't go!'" Draco rolled his eyes and began eating.

Hermione smiled. "You've changed from when I last saw you at school. You're not as arrogant and cold as you used to be."

"Lucius Malfoy is no longer breathing down the back of my neck about being a perfect Malfoy and a faithful servant to the Dark Lord. Anyone would be infinitely happier." Draco smiled grimly.

"So what did your boss person say?" Andy asked.

"I thought it best to wait for the others to arrive before I told everyone," Hermione said, "The less I have to repeat it the less likely someone unpleasant will overhear."

Draco nodded. He reckoned that little Cedar City was safe, but if the Death Eaters were here then they could be anywhere.

Julia, Nicola, and Steven arrived, carrying lunch trays and chatting amiably.

"Hey Draco, can you give me one poetic quote about war?" Steven asked.

" 'Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die,'" Draco said. "Why?"

"I told you that he was well-read." Julia grinned triumphantly and sat down next to him.

"But you're a pureblood," Ron protested.

"I'm a Malfoy. We wielded major political power back when the wizarding world still mixed with the muggle world, and I learnt muggle history and culture all my life so that I could work the upper echelons of muggle society as well as pureblood aristocracy." Draco shrugged carelessly.

Nicola grinned. "So can you dance?"

"Only ballroom dancing," Draco confessed. "My mother insisted I learn as I got older so she could take me to those awful society balls."

"Pansy said that you kept stepping on her toes," Hermione said.

Draco sniffed. "That's because she had no rhythm."
Julia laughed. "Never at fault. That's my Draco."

"Where are the other two?" Ron asked. "You know, the other blond bloke and his skinny fiancée."

"We're here!" Lisa waved one hand above the lunch crowd and began plowing toward them, dragging Kenneth by the elbow. "Sorry we're late," she said. "It takes major effort to drag my honey away from his computer."

"This operating system is my final project!" Kenneth protested.

Hermione's face lit up. "You're good with computers?"

Lisa said, "He's a CS major, and really good at what he does. Aren't you, Kenny?"

Kenneth cringed at the nickname, but nodded. "Quite good. Why?"

"We could call people to our cause via the Internet," Hermione said.

Harry grinned. "That's a brilliant idea."

"What's the Internet?" Ron asked.

"I'll explain later," Hermione said, patting his hand distractedly. "All right, now that we're all here..." She slid the tip of the wand out of the end of her sleeve and murmured a quick spell that would prevent anyone from eavesdropping. Passers-by would hear their previous conversations replayed. "I contacted Professor Dumbledore last night, and he told me that we have to return to England and round up the rest of the Aurors and anyone else who can help us, but Draco is meant to stay here and lay low. We'll start bringing our wizarding comrades over here to receive more training as well as to instruct any muggles who join the cause. Now we just need a way to recruit. I was thinking the Internet, but I'm not sure how."

"We could set up a website and work from there," Kenneth said. "Make ads pop up on pages that link to the site. And we can have the website on a time-lock so that we can operate it during certain hours, say, when all of us have free time, and people who link to the site have to go through a screening that each of us can help conduct before we let them get into physical contact with us."

"That's fantastic!" Hermione beamed at Lisa. "Your fiancé is wonderful. If all of you give me your class and work schedules I can coordinate a timetable. How soon can you get this website up and running?"

"Well, I actually already have some web space bought, and it's been sitting unused for a while," Kenneth said. "If perhaps Julia could get the base html coded up, and have Steven coordinate the ads and linking systems, and have Nicola help with design, I could take care of the trickier aspects. We could have it up in the next two days."

Draco raised his eyebrows. "Julia, you can handle computers?"
She nodded. "I'm a certified C++ programmer, and I can do basic html."

Draco reached out and squeezed her hand. "You surprise me every day."

"That's really great," Harry said. "When shall we go back to England?"

"Not until the website is up and we're sure it's working," Hermione said.

"I don't know how the Internet works," Ron said. "What should I do?"

"You could brew us loads of Hex-off and Polyjuice potions," Draco offered. "If we got a load of random hair samples we could have a stash of ready-to-go disguises on the off chance that some of the Dark Lord's little cronies catch up with us."

Ron nodded, but then said, "I didn't bring any potions supplies."

"I used one of Julia's cooking pots as a cauldron," Draco said. "Steven, do you think you could help us gather herbs, or will Julia need you for the computer bit?"

"She can do the basics on her own. Sure, I can help you out. I want to watch you brew this stuff anyway." Steven smiled.

"Draco, you probably ought to get back to work," Julia said, touching his arm gently.

Draco glanced at his watch. "You're right. I'll see you at the end of the day, all right?"

Hermione took down the obfuscate spell. "I'm going to head over to the campus library and look at a few things, all right? Harry, Ron, will you come with me?"

"I have a free period, so we could get some gathering done," Steven offered.

Both boys looked relieved at not having to accompany Hermione to another library.

"Do you know how to get to our house?" Julia asked.

Harry nodded. "Tracking charm." He and Ron stood up. "All right then, Steven, show us the way."

Draco leaned over and kissed Julia softly on the mouth. "Love you. I'll see you soon, okay?"

Julia nodded. "Love you too. And...there's something I need to talk to you about." When Draco's eyes darkened, she said, "Don't worry. It's nothing bad."

"Okay." He rose up and started for the doors, Hermione following so she could find the library.

"You two look really sweet together," Lisa said.

Julia blushed.

"What the hell was that all about?"

Everyone jumped when Tony slammed both hands down on the table.

"What was what about?" Andy asked coolly.

"I just saw Draco kiss you," Tony said to Julia, voice low and scathing.

"Have you not been paying your cronies enough to keep tabs on me?" Julia raised an eyebrow at Christie and shook her head, clicking her tongue. "You're slipping, girl."

"I'm sure you flirted with the bimbos over at the registrar's office," Julia went on, inwardly pleased at the angry flush that began creeping up Tony's neck. "But they probably couldn't find my schedule for you, am I right?"

"I would never do such a thing," he said tightly.

Julia rolled her eyes. "Spare me the lies. But, if you know so much about European history and aristocracy, you'd know that the heir to a family fortune always wears the signet ring on his left hand until he's married, at which point he shifts the ring to his right hand to wear his wedding ring on his left hand."

"And?" Christie asked, arching an eyebrow in an air of bored superiority."

"Surely you noticed upon which hand Draco wears his family ring." Julia smirked, a perfect imitation of Draco's smile, and curled her left hand under her chin, displaying the plain gold wedding band.

Tony blanched, and Julia's smirk widened.

"That's right. Your little bimbos at the office couldn't find anything on me because I am no longer Julia Evans. If you want to know about me, my name is Julia Malfoy."

"That's impossible," Tony breathed.

Julia shook her head. "No, it's entirely too possible. So run along with Christie. I never want to see your face again."

Tony's face turned red with fury, but he spun on his heel and stomped away. Christie threw a glare over her shoulder before she ran to follow him.

"I've waited forever for that jerk to get his comeuppance," Lisa said.

"Well, it's been done," Steven said, gathering up his lunch tray.

Nicola cringed. "That seriously had to hurt."

"Life hurts." Julia stood up. "Come on. Let's go, Nicola."

When Draco arrived home he found Steven, Nicola, Kenneth and their laptops huddled in the den with Julia's laptop, entangled in a mass of wires and muttering to each other as they typed.

Harry, Hermione and Ron were in the kitchen brewing potions, Hermione giving directions as the two boys scrambled to follow her orders. An assortment of jars and vials lined the kitchen counters, labeled in Hermione's neat hand.

Draco peered out the back window and saw Lisa and Fiona facing off against Andy with some practice swords.

"Seems as though my house has become some bizarre headquarters," he muttered.

"Draco! You're home!"

He spun around and Julia flung herself into his arms, planting a warm kiss on his cheek.

"Come on," she said, tugging him toward the bedrooms. "I already started moving your stuff into my room, if you don't mind."

"I don't mind at all." He smiled down at her, warmth spreading through him when he saw the excited expression on her face. "Let me change out of my uniform, and I'll help you, okay? And we can have that talk you mentioned at lunch."
Julia nodded. "All right. All of your clothes are in my - our room now, on the left half of the closet. Let me go make sure the others are all right."

Draco nodded. While he was generally unselfconscious about his own physical appearance, something as simple as changing a shirt in front of the woman who was somehow his wife was a little nerve-wracking. Julia bounded down the hall, asking if anyone needed anything to eat or drink. Draco slipped into their new room and surveyed it. It looked far more homey and lived in with both of their things. He saw that Julia had a framed picture of him, one that Nicola had taken, sitting on the nightstand. He smiled and wondered if Nicola wouldn't mind taking some pictures of them as a couple, then set about changing out of his work clothes.

He explored the room for a bit and discovered that Julia had only moved his clothes - she must not have found his swords or other fighting tools.

Draco sighed when he realized just how little he owned. He stepped out into the hallway and searched for Julia's familiar red hair. She stepped out of the kitchen bearing a tray of drinks and headed down to the den, calling out to her friends.

Draco leaned in the doorway and smiled fondly; she was generally terrible at playing hostess, but she enjoyed it so much.

"Hey Draco." She flashed him a smile. "I'll be there in a moment."

"I'm in no hurry," he said.

She handed a glass of water to Kenneth and returned the tray to the kitchen.

"I couldn't find much else in your room," she confessed, poking her head into his old room.

Draco reached under the bed and drew out his case of swords and knives. "I didn't bring much with me when I left," he confessed, following her into their room.

"That's all right." Julia beamed at him.

He slid them under the bed. "I can get to them easily in an emergency," he said. He sat down on the edge of the bed. "Now, what was it you wanted to talk about?"

"We never really discussed this," Julia began, staring down at her hands as she fidgeted with the hem of her t-shirt.

Draco reached out placed cool fingers under her chin, lifting her head. "It's all right. You can tell me."

"Well, we told the gang that we're married. I think we ought to tell my parents," Julia said.

Draco nodded. "I think we should as well, but I thought I'd wait until you were ready. I'll be there for you, I promise."

"I don't know how it'll go. I was thinking maybe this weekend. We could drive down and visit - the sooner the better, you know?" Julia smiled weakly. "And I thought maybe we could bring Harry as a sort of buffer or...something."

"Are we going to tell them about the war?" Draco asked.

"I think we ought to let them get used to the idea of me being married," Julia said.

Draco thought for a moment. He had heard lots about Julia's parents in her letters.

My Mom and Dad sound way different from yours. My Dad's an Englishman, and I get my red hair from him. He's really well educated, and works as a chemist for the local hospital. He's sort of old-fashioned, and quite conservative, and his sense of humor is a little off, but he's a great guy. Mom is an American, and I get my sense of humor from her, I think. She's more street-smart than book smart, but she's the most awesome mom in the world. She loves everyone and will welcome anyone into her home and will trust anyone - until they prove that they should be treated otherwise. She's a little scary that way - she never forgets it if you wrong her, you know? But I really think they'd like you. Maybe when we meet our parents could eventually meet. I love my parents, and it's sort of sad the way it sounds like you don't love yours - or that they don't love you. But I guess I don't really understand, since in the end we come from two different worlds.

"You're probably right," he said. "This weekend, then. We probably ought to tell Harry."

Julia nodded. "Good idea."

"I don't think your parents will do to you what mine did to me, but no matter what, I'm here for you now." Draco reached out and pulled her into his arms. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Julia wrapped her arms around his waist and held him.

They stayed like that for a moment, in each other's arms, when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Julia said. She and Draco had agreed that she ought to answer the door just to be safe. She headed to the front door and pulled it open - and found Tony and Christie on the front porch.

"What do you want, Antonio?" she demanded coldly.

"I want to talk to you - alone," Tony said in a low voice.

"Alone?" Julia arched an eyebrow. "You just brought your hound dog along because she can't do anything without her master?"

"Shut up!" Christie yelled.

Draco heard their names and immediately headed over to the kitchen.

"Hermione," he hissed. "The two muggles we obliviated are here - hide, quick!"

Hermione threw up some disguise charms and suddenly the kitchen appeared as if she were canning apples. Then Draco turned and strolled down the hallway, coming to a stop behind his wife. He eyed Tony.

"What are you two doing here? I thought my wife said quite clearly that she never wished to see you again." Draco slid a protective arm around her waist.

"I have a right to talk to her if I want to," Tony spat.

"Au contraire." Draco smirked. "You have a right to talk, but no right to make her listen."

Julia moved to close the door, but Tony stuck one foot in the doorway.

"I'm not leaving until I get to talk to her alone," he said, jaw set determinedly.

"I'm not afraid to call the police and have you removed from my property," Draco said, and his voice became icy. "Neither of us appreciates this harassment. If necessary, we will file a restraining order."
Tony raised one eyebrow. "Why don't you let Julia speak for herself?"

"I'd rather not speak to you any more than I have to," she said.

Steven came up behind them.

"Tony, just get out of here, all right? No one wants you around here, and no one wants to hear your stupid ideas, so just leave."

"Well if that's how you feel - " Christie began.

"It is how we feel - about both of you," Steven said calmly. "Now get lost."

"We're not finished, Malfoy," Tony hissed. He turned and headed back to Christie's car.

Christie glared and followed.

"Is that all she does?" Draco asked. "Follows him around and believes everything he says?"

"Just about." Julia shut the door.

"That was a close call," Harry noted.

Julia smiled weakly. "Yeah. We're going to have to keep an eye on those two - they could cause us trouble."

"I agree," Ron said.

"Oh, and, um, Harry, I have a favor to ask of you."

Draco couldn't hide his grin at the look of horror that crossed Harry's face.

The next day they met at lunch again. Fiona was asking Ron and Hermione about magic and their world, and they were trying to explain as best as they could without attracting undue attention to themselves.

"So you want us all to take a bit of this blue juice every day on the off chance that your mother's flunkies are out to get us?" Andy eyed the vial of hex-off potion skeptically.

"Don't go flashing it around!" Lisa hissed.

Andy obediently put the vial back into his pocket.

Draco nodded. "Yes. You never know when they'll show up. And they're not my mother's 'flunkies', they're powerful dark wizards."

"Enough of this serious talk," Kenneth said. He grinned at Julia, a mischievous grin. "How are you going to explain this to your parents?"

"Well, I've decided that the best I can do is be blunt about it," Julia said, although she sounded far more confident than she felt. "I hate to do this to you, Harry, but if my parents get to see you and talk to you a bit it ought to...soften the blow."

"I doubt it," Steven said sagely. "We all know your parents very well. Your mother's going to demand why you didn't tell her that you were writing Draco, then she's going to get mad that Draco's not going to college, and then she's going to yell that he's a dead-beat like Lawrence working the day shift at a Holiday Inn, and then she's going to demand to see his teeth and yell some more."

Draco raised his eyebrows and turned to his wife. "Why is your mother going to demand to see my teeth?"

"She was a dentist's nurse," Julia explained weakly. "She judges my friends and boyfriends on their hygiene by the state of their teeth."

Draco flashed them all a brilliant smile, revealing two rows of neat white teeth. "We Malfoys are fastidious in our cleanliness."

"Julia's mother isn't wrong to use that as a judging criteria," Hermione said. "Both of my parents are dentists, and it's true - you can tell how clean someone is by their teeth."

"Your parents are dentists? Really?" Lisa asked. "So...your parents are muggles then?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes. I'm the first witch in the family for many generations, apparently."

"But Draco and Ron come from families of all witches and wizards." Kenneth hummed thoughtfully.

Draco nodded. "The Malfoys - and the Weasleys - are old and powerful wizarding families. We Malfoys have just had better luck with our money."

"The Malfoys are also prejudiced gits," Ron added.

"Well, I'm not going to deny that." Draco ran a hand through his hair. "Of course, we do raise our children differently."

"What did your parents do, have a house elf to serve your every whim twenty-four hours of the day?" Ron demanded.

"The enslavement of house elves is wrong!" Hermione declared.

Harry buried his face in his hands with a groan.

"I take it they get into this a lot?" Julia asked.

Harry nodded.

"No, my father insisted that I learn how to do many things for myself. I've been fencing since I was five, and I've been able to hold off the Imperius Curse and the Cruciatus Curse since I was seven," Draco said. "Of course, it took me about two years to really be able to handle them."

"Your father started casting Unforgivables on you when you were five?" Ron looked horrified.

Draco nodded. "I told you before."

"Your father was a beast," Harry declared hotly.

"I won't disagree with you there." Draco glanced at his watch. "At any rate, I ought to be getting back to work and some of us should be getting to our next classes." He stood up. "Would you like me to walk you to history, Julia?"

She smiled and stood up. "That would be nice."

She threw away her lunch, stowed her tray and followed Draco down to the Centrum.

"Are you worried about this weekend?" Draco asked in a low voice.

Julia nodded. "Very. Steven was right about what he said. My mother will yell a lot, and my dad will go silent with fury..."

"Hey." Draco curled a hand around her arm, tugging her in for a gentle embrace. "I'll be here for you. We're married now, remember? Whatever happens to one of us happens to both of us."

Julia sighed and leaned into his embrace. "Thanks, Draco. I really appreciate all you're doing for me."
He pressed a kiss to her temple. "You're doing so much more for me."

"Julia, this must be your new husband!"

They jumped apart like a pair of guilty lovers caught by their respective spouses, but it was Professor Thompson who stood at the foot of the steps.

Julia smiled brightly. "Hello, Professor. Yes, this is Draco. Draco, this is Professor Thompson, one of my favorite English teachers."

Draco extended one hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Professor. Julia speaks very highly of you."

Thompson shook his hand, smiling. "A pleasure to meet you as well." She tilted her head to the side curiously. "You have a lovely accent. Where are you from?"

"My family is originally from France, but they settled in the north of England during the raid of 1066 and the ancestral manor still stands in the cold moors," Draco said.

"Wow. That's quite impressive. Yes, your surname does sound sort of...French. Malfoy, is it?"

Draco nodded. "Indeed."

"I always wondered what sort of man it would take to tame my savagely intellectual lit major," Thompson said. "You seem like you can handle her."

Draco smiled. "I try."

Thompson laughed. "Well, it was good meeting you, but I'll let you go so you're not late for class."

"It was good meeting you, Professor." Draco shook her hand one last time, and then he and Julia hurried to her history class.