Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the Potter-verse.

Chapter Fifteen

Anne and her father appeared on the grounds of a luscious estate.

"Come along," commanded Lord Voldemort. "The Malfoy's have invited us to spend the holidays with them."

"The Malfoys?" asked Anne pausing in her tracks with a curious look upon her face.

"Yes, of course," said Voldemort. "Now quit dawdling. I won't have you making a bad impression on our future in-laws."

"But I don't wanna stay with the Malfoy's for Christmas."

"Excuse me?" Lord Voldemort said imperiously. "You have no choice in the matter."

"But Daddy—" protested Anne with a pout.

"No buts," said Voldemort. "We are staying at the Malfoy's and that's final."

Lord Voldemort escorted his only daughter to the grand entrance of the Malfoy household and knocked on the door, which was immediately opened by a house elf. The house elf squeaked and disappeared with a snap of the fingers.

"The world really has gone downhill when even the Malfoy's cannot get good help these days," Voldemort said with a long-suffering sigh as he stepped through the doorway, daughter in tow.

"Milord," greeted Malfoy Sr. from the doorway to his personal study. He glided to his guests' side post-haste, Narcissa in his wake. "I was only just informed of your arrival."

"I gathered that," said Voldemort dryly.

"Only the best rooms have been prepared for you and your daughter," said Malfoy.

"Of course."

"I will show them to you myself—"

"Yes, yes, yes," said Voldemort. "All in good time. What I'd really enjoy at the moment is a good glass of sherry."

"Of course, milord," said Malfoy.

"Perhaps Anne would like to be shown to her room?" suggested Narcissa, speaking for the first time.

"Yes, be a dear, won't you, Narcissa?" said Voldemort as he guided Malfoy Sr. by the elbow to the closest room with sherry.

"Yes, milord," said Narcissa.

The door to Malfoy's study clicked shut and Anne was left alone with Narcissa, who scrutinized her future daughter-in-law with small, gray eyes and pursed lips. Her decision, if she had come to any, was never indicated as she kept her face decidedly neutral before intoning, "Come along, milady," and turning to go up the grand staircase.

"You don't need to call me that," protested Anne as she followed on Narcissa's heels, her trunks following.

"No, I suppose not," said Narcissa in clipped tones. "I suppose I should call you 'daughter'."

"Oh no," said Anne, shaking her head desperately. "I'd much rather be called Anne. It's my name, you know."

"Yes, I know," said Narcissa.

The two were silent before stopping at a pair of double doors.

"Your rooms," said Narcissa with an elegant bow before she turned and left.

Anne opened the doors and stepped through. Immediately, before she noticed the incredible size of the room, before she noticed the rich luxury, she noticed that Draco Malfoy was sitting on her bed.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Waiting for you," he said off-handedly as he stood and brushed invisible lint off his robes. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming to spend the holidays with us?"

"I didn't know," Anne said.

"I see," said Draco, examining a cuff. "Well," he said suddenly, "I'll see you at dinner." He brushed past Anne with the grace of a samurai warrior and exited.

Anne turned on her trunks and, flicking her wand, they fell to the ground. No sooner had she done this than a house elf appeared.

"Oh, Trouble is being taking care of this, milady," she said, bowing furiously. "Trouble's is to be taking care of youse and youses things. I is bestest elf; I is being Lady Malfoy's own elf to be taking care of most important guest."

"Er, well, all right," said Anne.

While Trouble was readying Anne for dinner that evening, a most important discussion was taking place in Malfoy's study where Severus Snape, also having been invited to join the Malfoy's for Christmas, had joined Lucius Malfoy and Lord Voldemort for a friendly glass of holiday sherry.

"Severus," said Voldemort, "I'm determined to marry you off and only to the best. If you won't marry Miss Sprightly, well, I'll simply take you as my son-in-law."

"Blerg," gagged Severus.

"This is your own fault, you know," said Voldemort. "If you had gotten married sooner, I wouldn't be forced to do this. In fact, I was telling Anne just the other day that if you had had a son, I would have arranged a marriage contract between the two. Instead, Anne is betrothed to Malfoy."

"You mean, Draco Malfoy?" asked Severus with a strange look on his face.

"Yes, of course."

"But—well, Draco is my son."

"No, he isn't," said Voldemort. "Are you having delusions of grandeur again?"

"Milord, I would never lie to you. Draco Malfoy is my son."

"Really? I always thought Harry Potter was your son. You both have black hair, pale skin and bad tempers."

"Blerg," gagged Severus who had gone an inexplicable shade of white.

"Draco looks nothing like you," continued Voldemort as if nothing were amiss.

"Of course he doesn't," said Lucius. "That's because there are several spells and charms that have been placed on him to make him appear as if he were my son instead of Snape's."

"Whaaaaaaat?" said Voldemort dropping his jaw and widening his eyes so far they nearly popped out of his head.

"Lucius is impotent," said Severus.

Lucius sneered at Severus before turning to his Lord and saying, "Yes, milord, I am impotent. Severus has always been a friend of the family, so we—made arrangements."

"So," said the Dark Lord gleefully, "my daughter is betrothed to the son of Severus Snape after all. How delightful."

Lucius scowled into his glass of sherry and only looked up briefly when his wife quietly slipped into the room. She crossed the room gracefully and not a shadow of a whisper could be heard from the folds of her long flowing dress. Three pairs of male eyes watched her eagerly as she took her place beside her husband, quietly and meekly. There was a long silence as the three men took in her beauty and most women would have become uncomfortable, but Narcissa was a woman of many talents and one of those talents was to ignore things which bothered her. It came in handy quite often.

"Enjoying your drink, milord?" Narcissa asked Voldemort, effectively ending the silence.

The men were broken out of their trance and Voldemort coughed lightly before answering, "Of course, Mrs. Malfoy. We were having quite a discussion before you arrived."

"Ah. You were discussing Draco," she said.

"How did you know?" asked Voldemort narrowing his eyes at her.

"Well, I could only assume you were speaking of the changes he will be going through tonight. He comes of age at 2:07 a.m., which is when the charms and spells will wear off. Was I correct in my assumption?" she asked with large innocent eyes.

"Of course, Narcissa," said Lucius fondly, fondling his wife's pale, delicate hand before bringing it to his lips for a kiss. "You always are."

"I'll be giving his dreamless sleep tonight," interrupted Severus, scowling at the couple canoodling on the loveseat. "He'll sleep through the changes and won't feel the pain, but he'll have a headache in the morning; nothing a headache relief potion wouldn't cure."

"And what kind of changes will he be going through?" asked Voldemort, sitting at the edge of his seat, sherry in hand forgotten and curiosity alight in his eyes.

"Well, I've run some tests," began Severus, "without him realizing, of course, and by my calculations, he will grow eight inches, his shoulders will widen, his fingers will elongate, his hair will become black though the rest of his coloring will remain the same, his jaw and chin will become more square, but his forehead, eyes and shape of the nose and mouth will remain the same."

"Incredible," said Voldemort. "Draco and Anne are sure to make a lovely couple. Anne always did favor darker men, anyway."

"Is that so?" asked Lucius, looking at Voldemort askance.

"Yes, of course," said Voldemort. He tapped his forehead with a finger. "Legilimency, you know."

A/N: Yay! The semester's over and I have a long break! Hopefully, I'll be able to get a few more chapters up before I get swamped with school again. Happy Holidays everyone!