My Father's Only Rule

Chapter One: The Beginning Of The End

August 1997 - Malfoy Manor

I never thought I'd memorize the keys on the typewriter. I'd never thought I'd spend enough time sitting in front of one to have the keys memorized. But nevertheless, by the end of the summer, I had spent enough hours sitting in the east wing study that my daily writing sessions went by 10 times as fast as they used to because my fingers knew their way around that typewriter. And the words just kept flowing out of me.

After a strenuous summer with little to do while trapped in the east wing, I finally finished my masterpiece. My 77 thousand-word masterpiece. Crafted from the way the first-hand story was described to me and glazed in the magic I felt when I walked into Hogwarts for the first time. I held the 200 pages in my hand and bound them together, creating a book. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone.

"What's that?" I heard a smooth voice say behind me. I turned around to see Draco in the doorframe, softly smiling at me. I knew he wouldn't like my story, so I quickly hid it under a book and pulled out another story I had been working on.

"Just a short story," I said, handing it to him. "It's nothing much." Draco took it and fell into the chair, happy to have something simple to enjoy. He spent a couple of minutes looking over it before chuckling and handing it back to me.

"It's cute," he said. "I like it."

"I thought I might send it in," I said. "To the daily prophet. Or maybe the quibbler. I don't know. Maybe something could come out of it. Could make some money."

"You don't worry about money," he said. "I'm taking care of you."

"What, you're going to keep me locked up in this mansion for the rest of my life?" I said jokingly.

"Where else could you possibly want to go? You've got everything you need right here."

"Like what?"

"Me." I scoffed.

"I want to go to Spain."

"The hell is in Spain?" he said.

"Lots of things," I said.

"What's wrong with England?"

"Nothing," I said. "I love England. But I want to go other places."

"And you expect me to pay for it all?"

"Yes. I do."

"My father would never take my mother to Spain. Not just for fun."

"Too much dignity?"

Dignity used to be a fun joke between us. He pretended like he had too much dignity to be kind to me. For appearances. But I knew the real Draco was a cycle breaker. I just didn't know how long it would be before he would show it.

"Fine. I'll take you to Spain," he said, rolling his eyes. I smiled.

"We can go on our honeymoon," I said, standing up to leave for bed.

"What honeymoon?" he said with a smirk, standing to follow me.

"Oh, you're not going to marry me?" I asked jokingly.

"Marriage is a very particular process for Malfoys," he said. "There's formal courtship and such. It has to be a sensible choice."

"Oh, so who do you have in mind?" I asked.

"There's this girl I go to school with," he said. "Her name is Pansy."

"That's not funny."

"It wasn't a joke."

"Shut up," I said, trying to walk away.

"Calm down," he said. "I actually always imagined that I'd propose to someone in this room."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Right after she showed me a short story she's been working on and expressed interest in going to Spain."

"Right, because you've been planning for this moment and you have a ring in your pocket right now," I scoffed. But when I looked, he had, in fact, pulled a ring out of his pocket and was holding it in front of me. It screamed old money. Four karats at least. "Oh, my god."

"Grace Odette Snape," he said, getting down on one knee.

"Draco, stop."

"Will you do me the honor-"

"Draco, I'm serious," I said. "No. I'm not joking. Get up." Yes. I was stopping my own proposal. It wasn't because I didn't love him. I loved him more than anything. And I did want to marry him...one day. It was just, well, terrible timing. "We don't have a plan. We're in the heart of a war. We don't know what our life is going to look like a year from now."

"But I know that I'll be with you," he said. "Married or engaged. Or dating. Or just friends, God forbid. I'm gonna be with you and that's all I want."

I couldn't form words. Married? I don't even know- where are my words? What do I say?

"Come on. Don't cost me my dignity." I laughed.

"Give me that ring."

He put the ring on my finger and spun me around before pulling me in for a kiss.

"It's beautiful," I said. "But I can't wear it. People will ask." He pulled out his wand and cast a spell on my ring.

"Occultare," he said. My ring went from extravagant to simple in the blink of an eye. The diamond reduced to a fourth of its size and the band went from bold to dainty. Still beautiful, though. "Cast Revelio to change it back," he said.

"I love you."

And then I had a fiance.

A deeply dangerous and forbidden engagement had worked its way into the most complicated year of my life.