Draco and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Draco and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day - Part 2

February 8th

One week.

It'd been a very long week. The longest he could ever remember.

It'd been a week since he'd last slept in his own bed. The brocade sofa in his wife's sitting room hadn't gotten any more comfortable, either.

It'd been a week since his wife had last spoken to him out of anything other than necessity. She could barely stand to be in the same room with him.

It'd been a week since his children had played happily with the carefree joy that came from knowing that their parents were happy. His oldest child would watch him warily, afraid he'd just stop showing up at home.

It wasn't like Draco hadn't tried to make things up with Ginny, but she was having none of it.

His first attempt had consisted of six dozen red and white roses - one dozen for every year they'd been married - with a heartfelt note of apology delivered the morning after he'd been banished to the sofa. He'd spent three hours writing and rewriting the note until he thought it was perfect(,) then he went to Flora and Fauna Fanciful Flowers in Diagon Alley to pick the roses himself. He'd made Flora a happy witch with the purchase of six dozen roses two weeks before Valentine's Day when flowers were at their most expensive. He didn't care though - it was only money, he'd make more. The only thing that mattered was getting back on speaking terms with his wife.

The roses came back to him in a box, all the tops lopped off in a most vicious manner and the note he'd spent so much time carefully crafting lay on top unopened. The delivery wizard was very apologetic.

Since the flowers didn't work, Draco spent the next two days scouring London for the perfect piece of jewelry since it obviously was going to take a much more grand gesture to undo the damage. The strand of creamy, perfectly matched cultured pearls he'd brought back from Japan were simply not up to the task. He needed something bigger. Something sparkly.

He'd already lost count of jewelry stores he'd been to when he stumbled into Gemma's Glorious Gems, but he knew he'd found his 'get out of jail' gift as soon as he laid eyes on the two carat princess cut blue diamond. It was a pale, icy blue that sparkled magnificently in the light. The proprietor assured him that it was a rare to find such a large stone with such brilliant color and without any imperfections.

Draco's vault was many thousands of Gaellons shorter after he had the stone set in a delicate platinum setting and framed on each side by equally brilliant and flawless smaller white diamonds. He also purchased a pair of blue diamond earrings he'd save for Valentine's Day since he was there.

The dark gray velvet box tied up with a pale pink ribbon was tucked safely in his trouser pocket when he arrived home. The family was in the game room when he found them. Liam was busy scribbling something out of a book onto a piece of parchment and Ginny was reading Gareth a book. Everything seemed normal.

And it gave him a wee bit of hope that things were finally starting to settle down.

"Monsters!" he said, announcing his presence.

The boys immediately abandoned their tasks to attack their father. He knelt down to hug them, but ended up rolling around on the floor under their giggling attack.

"Why don't you two go wash up for supper," he said, patting each boy on the bum to send them on their way after a few minutes. "I want to speak to Mama Monster alone for a minute."

He turned to his wife after he could no longer hear their sons' laughter. She looked like she was trying very hard to hold back a smile at his silly appearance. His robes were disheveled and his hair was sticking up all over the place from rolling around on the floor.

"Mama Monster?" Ginny asked, having great difficulty keeping the amusement out of her voice.

Draco grinned - this was going way better than expected. She was ready to forgive him, he could just feel it! "Well, you are a mama to a couple of little monsters so that makes you Mama Monster."

"I see," she sniffed, trying to sound disaffected. "So that would make you Papa Monster then."

"Nope," he said as he crawled over to kneel in front of her chair. His hands itched to run themselves up her thighs. "I'm just Da."

"And why not?"

"Because Papa Monster doesn't have quite the same ring to it," he said as his fingers snaked under the hem of her skirt.

She took a deep breath. "I see."

"Look Gin, I'm sorry about forgetting our anniversary. That was poorly done by me. I should have handled the situation differently."

She opened her thighs a little to allow his exploring fingers easier access. "Keep talking," she said breathlessly.

"I didn't mean those things I said about it not being important." He leaned up to place a soft kiss on the side of her neck. "Marrying you was the best thing I've done in my life."

She nodded her agreement as she slid forward to be closer to him, her arms wrapping around his neck before huskily whispering in his ear, "Keep talking."

"I love you more than life itself," he hurriedly whispered, not wanting to break whatever spell Ginny was under. It had been longer than he cared to remember - nearly three weeks - since he'd last enjoyed his wife's generous favors. His mind was already upstairs in their chambers.

She kissed him then with all the longing of being apart for far too long. He could taste her desire on her lips before she pulled away, panting. "Maybe I should Floo Mum..."

Draco pulled her in his lap as he sat back on the floor, her legs wrapping around his hips, so she could devour her neck. His hands gripped her thighs. "Sounds like a capital idea," he managed between kisses.

"Hmm," she purred, rubbing her bum suggestively against him. "Is that a present or are you really happy to see me?"

He'd totally forgotten about his gift of penance since she'd so warmly received his advances. The ring would definitely seal the deal, and if he were lucky, she'd thank him more than once. "A present for you, my sweet."

She looked delighted as he struggled to fish the little box from his trouser pocket.

"For me," she squeaked, plucking the gray and pink wrapped token of his affection from the palm of his hand.

He kissed her soundly. "Just a little something to say I'm truly sorry. I should have done this first. The flowers simply weren't enough to express how sorry I am."

Ginny leaned back to blink at him, confusion was plainly written on her face. "You thought the flowers weren't enough?"

"Obviously. You made it very clear I had to spend more money to get back into your good graces. Do you any idea how much roses cost this time of year?"

"More money?"

"Yes," he explained slowly, "I fucked up badly so you were going to require a much more expensive gift before you'd forgive me."

"You thought you could buy me a present in exchange for my forgiveness?" she asked incredulously.

The pained look on her face caused his stomach to drop. "Don't all witches require something insanely expensive when their husbands have done something stupid?"

Ginny scrambled off his lap as tears started to course down her cheeks. "You thought you could buy my forgiveness?"

Clearly, he had once again miscalculated his wife and it was a habit he could truly live without. "Not buy, per se, but help it along maybe? I'm tired of sleeping alone."

"So let me get this straight, you bought me this to get back into my bed?" She shook the box at him.

"Yes!" he exclaimed; his gut feelings overrode his better judgment. "I mean no. NO! I just want to sleep in my own bed again and I want to be with my wife."

"I see," she said indignantly. "So you thought you'd accomplish that by treating me like a whore then?"

"Believe me it'd been much cheaper if you were one!"

He didn't think those words had actually come out of his mouth until the pretty little gray jeweler's box tied up with a pink ribbon came sailing across the room, hitting him squarely on the bridge of his nose, causing his vision to blur. He cursed her aim under his breath as he tried to shake free of the sharp pain.

"Ginny," he shouted after her once he was no longer seeing stars, "It came out all wrong! I didn't mean it that way!"

His only answer was a door slamming in the upstairs hallway.

After he'd taken a few minutes to calm himself, Draco found his sons half way through their supper in the dining room. Addison, the long time Malfoy family butler, was standing guard over them.

"Ice for your nose, sir?" he asked stiffly.

Liam looked up at him expectantly. "Where's Mama Monster?"

Draco shook his head at the butler before sinking down in the chair next to Liam. "She wasn't feeling well so she went to lie down."

"You made her cry, didn't you?" he asked as his bottom lip started to quiver.

"I think you need to finish your supper," Draco stated in his most stern fatherly tone. He wanted to cut off the tears if at all possible because he didn't know how much more he could take before he lost his tenuous grasp on his own emotions.

"You promised, Da!" his eldest son cried desperately, throwing his fork down on the floor with a loud clatter. "You promised!"

Draco gathered his oldest child into a crushing embrace, mumbling "I'm not leaving," over and over as Gareth joined in his brother's loud wails. Addison released the youngest Malfoy from the confines of his highchair so he could join his father and brother before discretely leaving the three male members of the family to sort things out.

After getting both of the boys settled down in Liam's bed for the night, he stood outside his chambers door listening for any sounds to signify that Ginny was awake. It was still early after all. He wanted to get ready for bed, but it wasn't worth risking another confrontation with his wife. That afternoon had been bad enough and it left him wondering if just maybe this couldn't be fixed between them.

She was lying in a heap in the middle of their big bed when he finally decided to brave the quiet room. It nearly killed him to know that he couldn't crawl in bed, take her in his arms and make everything better. He quickly dressed in his favorite pair of green flannel pyjama trousers and a well worn gray Slytherin Quidditch t-shirt before standing at the foot of the bed for the longest time to watch her sleep.

Cold feet finally forced him from his ruminations over what-ifs. Before he returned to Liam's crowded, but warm bed, he carefully removed Ginny's shoes from her feet, pulled the deep blue cashmere throw from her favorite reading spot over her and cast a light warming charm. He brushed a gentle kiss against her temple.

"I love you, Gin," he whispered softly. "I'm going to fix this, I promise."

Draco knew then what he had to do then. He dashed off a quick note, taking a piece of parchment from his wife's writing desk in the upstairs sitting room, and called his eagle owl, Oberon, to carry the missive.

He knew it was bold, risky even to ask for this kind of help, but he was fresh out of options. He had no idea how this would go over, but since everything in his repertoire had failed in spectacular fashion he was left with little choice. This was uncharted territory and he needed guidance from someone who was much more skilled in matters like these. So he swallowed a healthy dose of his Malfoy pride and sent the note asking for help.

Now all he could do was wait and hope that help was just an owl away.

To be continued...