A/n: I have a winter cold. :'( But the Goblet of Fire… pretty good. Barely any Tom, but I survived. There were a bunch of other hot guys to look at. Sorry about the long wait.

Thanks: phabandphat, Kurama'sfoxykitsune, T. Riddle

Hate's Just a Word

Chapter TWENTY: The Gathering at the Malfoys

It was Saturday morning with Lucius told Lindsay some terrible news. It was breakfast.

"Tonight, we're having a nice little party… gathering here," Lucius announced. Draco and Lindsay stopped eating and looked at him. Draco looked unhappy. He's experienced 'gatherings' before.

"Oh, what for? Did you guys finally kill Potter?" She asked, knowing for a fact that they hadn't. She was mocking them, but of course, it went past Lucius.

"No. It's a gathering between the families of fellow Death Eaters," Lucius explained. Lindsay pretended to be interested. "You'll be attending."

She stared. 'No, anything but this. I don't want to associated with Death Eaters and their wives and kids.' "Oh, okay…"

'Oh, I'm ruined! I'll be killed. Snape's going to be there, no doubt. I can't fool Snape. He's a legilimens or something. I don't know Occlumency. Oh, and kids. A few of them will recognize me from school and reveal who I really am and I'll be killed…'

"Who's coming?" Draco asked. Lucius started to list off names. Snape was not included. There was hope yet. "No Severus?"

"He is quite busy with his mission for the Dark Lord. He can not attend such occasions like this…" He explained. Lindsay had the urge to ask if Voldemort was coming, but decided against it. He would probably not appreciate such comments about the Dark Lord. He looked back at Lindsay. "Anyway, you must wear appropriate dress. Narcissa will help you later with that. You'll enjoy it."

"I'm sure," she said, trying not to put too much emphasize on the sarcasm. Draco noticed it though, and suppressed a laugh. Lindsay wasn't looking forward to it at all. She left breakfast early, but was followed by Draco.

"Well, Snape's not coming, so we're lucky there," Draco said, as he walked alongside her. "I can take care of Crabbe and Goyle, if they even come. I can probably convince Theodore Nott that you're evil or something."

"Nah, I cursed him once."

"Okay, then I'll handle him also. There's not many others, I don't think. Those are the only ones in our year. The other's won't know you, right?"

"If they aren't in my year, then probably not," She replied. For once, she was glad to be unnoticed by all. No one outside their year would know who she was. She never did anything exciting, and when she did, the only people who noticed were fellow six years. She stopped and looked at Draco. "How exactly do you plan on handling them?"

Draco didn't reply immediately. "I'll figure out something…"

She figured that 'something' wouldn't be very good, but Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott were not very good people. She let it slide and did not protest. The two separated and she retreated back to the guest room of doom. She had spent two weeks in this house and she had found nothing out. Well, nothing of use anyway. Lucius probably didn't trust her enough to say anything in front of her, yet. She would make sure that would change.

The other problem with staying in this house was Draco. She saw him everyday and talked to him everyday. Lindsay found herself getting attached to Draco, once more. She didn't want to. She was supposed to hate him. He was going to kill Dumbledore. But he didn't. Still, he was the son of a Death Eater. And you're the daughter of a Death Eater. They shouldn't be together. It was just wrong. And when does love ever make sense? She should have hated him, but she never did. In fact, she was growing more fond of him. Everything she felt for him was coming back faster than she could ever believe. Sometimes, she would find herself staring at him, wanting to touch him, wanting to be with him. She wasn't able to, though, not in this house. Lucius wouldn't want his son to be with the daughter of the Richmonds… Not yet, anyway. She doubted that she could have a relationship with Draco at this point in time.

She skipped out on lunch, and instead 'took a nap.' It was just her excuse. She kept herself in the guest room, and thought to herself. She started to make up stories in advance to fool all of the Death Eaters and their families. Mostly about gallivanting around Hogwarts, bothering 'mudbloods', and when and if Lucius told them that she was a Richmond. 'Oh, I hate my family. I'm glad those blood traitors are dead. I've even changed my name…' Draco was going to take care of the potential problems. For the most part, the Death Eaters she had met so far liked her. She didn't like the fact that Death Eaters found her acceptable. It's mostly because she sounds exactly like Lucius. Sounding like him was the last thing she wanted to do.

The 'party' thing started at nine o' clock. Around quarter to eight, Narcissa came around.

"Lucius requests that I help to get you ready," Narcissa explained. "You've got to bathe first."

Sighing, Lindsay went to the bathroom, and took a shower. Just to be annoying, she took an extra long shower. Afterwards, Narcissa had fun fixing up her long, brown hair. She never really put it up or did anything fancy to it. Narcissa put it up in a nice bun, with curls. She didn't admit that she liked it, but it wasn't so bad. Narcissa applied make-up, and then took her into the room full of clothes. She started to pick out a million dresses and made Lindsay try on all of them. Narcissa finally settled on a red one. It was a long, gown like, ruby-red dress that was very flattering in the chest area. Lindsay stared at the mirror.

"Er, I'm not sure this is the right dress. I think it's a little too…er…revealing," Lindsay said, trying to force the dress to cover up the chest area a little better.

"Oh, nonsense. You should show your legs more often," Narcissa said. Lindsay sighed. Why did Narcissa have to be pretty dumb?

"Er, that's not what I meant…" Lindsay said, but Narcissa annoyed her. She went to go get herself ready. Lindsay went and hid out in her room until the stupid thing started. She would wait until Narcissa retrieved her again and forced her to go down. She felt so awkward. There was no way she was going to be around people looking the way that she did. It was a little past nine when she heard the knock on her door. Narcissa appeared behind it.

"My husband requests your presence at the party. He wants to introduce you to some people."

She looked at herself in the mirror, feeling very uncomfortable, and followed Narcissa out of the room. She walked down the stairs with some difficulty. She wasn't used to heels, but got used to them fast. The living room, dining room area was filled with people. All the Death Eaters and the Death Eaters' wives and kids. Everyone was talking and drinking. There was wizarding classical music playing in the background. She hated it so far. Narcissa led her to Lucius Malfoy who was talking with a random Death Eater.

"Ah, Rodolphus," Lucius said. He was talking to a tall man, and next to him was Bellatrix Lestrange. She figured that it was her husband. "This is Lindsay Caldwell."

She forced a fake smile and shook his outstretched hand.

"Ah, Bella and Lucius have mentioned you're a refreshing pureblood. There's not much left out us… you know, the ones who wouldn't dare associated with muggles or muggle-borns."

"Of course, Mr. Lestrange," Lindsay said. "It's simply a disgrace that so many purebloods these days are traitors and will lower themselves and actually… think of muggles and muggle-borns as equals."

Rodolphus Lestrange looked pleased, as did Lucius. Bellatrix smiled.

"What did I tell you?" Bellatrix said to her husband. Rodolphus nodded.

"You found a pure one, Lucius," He said. Lucius nodded. She was just some project of his. He would show her off as if he made her that way. She thought up all these lies by herself. Lucius had no part in that. She was introduced into many more Death Eaters. She ran into the Nott family, and her heart rate began to rise. Theodore Nott would surely expose her. He didn't. Instead, he stared at her, in a very uncomfortable way. Everyone offered her drinks, and she accepted all the drinks from everyone. Everyone let her drink wine and no one seemed to care that she was young. Lucius led her to Macnair, who she already had met before.

"Oh, Mr. Macnair, it's good to see you again," She greeted with fake enthusiasm.

"Ah, yes, Miss Caldwell," He said. A smirk appeared on his face. "Oh, shall I say Miss Richmond?"

She held back from glaring at Lucius. 'Just let the whole horde of Death Eaters know, why don't you…?' If only she could say that aloud, but she didn't want to risk it.

"It's quite amazing, Lucius," Macnair went on. "Wouldn't she want revenge? That's what I would have thought."

Lindsay shook her head. "Well, you know, Mr. Macnair, an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind."

Macnair commented on how clever she was and Lucius accepted it as if he they were for him. 'I have Ghandi to thank for that one, not you, Lucius…'

After meeting all the Death Eaters, she was able to escape from Lucius. She was swaying now and stumbling, much like a drunk person. In fact, she did drink a lot of wine. It was Lucius's stupid wine.

She stumbled into another room to get away from everyone and to be alone. Upon entering, she found that she was not alone. Draco Malfoy was sitting on a table, doing nothing. He looked over at her and stared. After a few moments of staring, he recognized her.

"Lindsay?" He asked, his jaw dropped. "Is that you?"

"Seems so," She said, quietly.

"You look…great."

She looked at Draco. He wasn't staring down at Nott was. He was actually looking at her face, and making eye contact. Draco did not look so bad himself. He had to clean himself up for the occasion, and looked very nice. She was constantly reminded of how attractive he was, but even more so now.

"You, too," She said, honestly. She went over, and sat down on the table with him. "I'm not too sure I like this look. It's quite uncomfortable, and Theodore Nott keeps finding excuses to get me a drink and stare down my dress. But he hasn't said anything about me. You really did a number on him and the other two. What did you do?"

"I've got my ways," Draco said, looking much more lively. "So, you having fun?"

"Oh, about as much fun as I would have with blast-ended skrewt things," Lindsay said.

"Yeah, same here," Draco said. They were silent once more. Lindsay inched closer to Draco.

"So, we're quite alone," Lindsay said to him, her voice different than usual.

"Yeah, we are," He said. He looked over at her. "So wha--!"

He didn't get to finish his sentence. He was forced upon the table by Lindsay, and she forced herself upon him, forcing a kiss on him. He was taken by surprise. He leaned back and pushed her off. She hovered over him and stared down at him. He felt the familiar taste of wine in his mouth, although he didn't drink any. He looked at Lindsay.

"Oh, not again. Drunk? How many glasses?" Draco asked, feeling a tad bit uncomfortable with Lindsay positioned over him.

"The same amount of Death Eaters here, I suppose," She said, slurring her words.

"Oh, god. That's a lot. Did you accept a drink from everyone? You're not supposed to do that. Even you would be smart enough to realize that," Draco said, looking up at her. She didn't seem to be paying attention. A moment later, Draco heard sounds of someone entering the room. He carefully pushed Lindsay aside to see clearly, and standing at the doorway was his father. Of course, Lindsay seemed to be oblivious of everything.

"Oh, it's quite alright, Draco," Lucius said, before Draco could explain. "I understand. It's quite natural for a boy such as yourself to be feeling that way. You may want to take her up to your room though."

"Then you don't care?" Draco asked, carefully. He obviously meant the whole thing about her past.

"No. I think we can trust her. She's been loyal and she's proven that she's a true pureblood," Lucius said. He then walked out of the room. A second after he left, Lindsay removed herself from Draco, and let out a sigh of relief.

"That was uncomfortable," She said, her voice normal again. She was poised once more and no longer was slurring her words. Draco stared in disbelief.

"You're not drunk?" He asked. She stood up, and straightened up her dress.

"No, I'm not. Like you said, even I would be smart enough to not drink all those drinks… I only had one," She said. Draco stared.

"Why were you pretending to be drunk?"

"I wanted to know something. Something he wouldn't really say if I were sober. I've heard it," She explained. "So, I guess we better go up to your room then, to keep up the charade."

Draco nodded, still staring in disbelief. The two were excused from the party, and headed to his room.

"So, coming on to me…" He said, quietly as he opened the door to his room. "That was an act?"

She paused before answering. "Yeah."

The two entered his large bedroom. Everything in it was huge. The bed was enormous, and everything looked as if it cost a million galleons. She went and sat down in one of the large, leather seat chairs he had in the room. Draco went and sat down on the edge of his bed. They sat in silence, and looked at each other.

"So…" Draco said. The silence was kind of awkward, and there really wasn't anything to talk about. "This is awkward."

"Considering everything, that's a big yes."

"I'm sorry about my father. He practically told me to take advantage of you. He's…well…you know him well enough by now," Draco said.

"Yeah. I really can't stand him, but you already know that. I can't imagine what it's like for you, but we won't talk about it. I'm not in the mood to argue," She said. "I know that you're different than him, and you wouldn't have taken advantage of me."

Draco smiled, a little. Lindsay stood up, and went to sit next to Draco.

"You've been too good to me, Draco," She said. "I really do owe a lot to you. You could have said one word against me, but you went along with the lies. Even when we were fighting, you still never sold me out."

"Of course not," He said. "The last thing I want you to do is die."

She smiled, and put her hand on his shoulder, lightly. He looked at her. The two stared at each other for a few moments. Before Lindsay could stop herself, she was suddenly kissing Draco Malfoy. And to her surprise, he didn't pull away, but started to kiss her back. She put her arms around him and moved him onto the bed. They kissed passionately and full of emotion. It seemed that both of them had been wanting to do this for the longest time. Lindsay's hair fell out, and the curls bounced from her head. The passion became more fierce. It was much like the first time the two had ever snogged. They were waiting for a moment like this for a long time. It had finally come. They kissed for what seemed like forever. The only sounds heard was not the party downstairs, but the sounds of their heavy breathing.

After a long time, Draco pulled away, not only for air, but because his lip hurt. She started to breathe again.

"Oh, your lip is bleeding," She said, turning red. Draco didn't care.

"Wow," He said, in between pants. "I didn't know you had that in you."

He put his hand to his lips and wiped off the blood. He reached into his pocket, and healed the cut with his wand. He put his wand away.

"Well, that was making up for three and a half months, Draco," She said, a smile appearing on her face. Draco smiled back.

"I've missed it. I've missed you. I—" He didn't even bother to finish his sentence. He went in for another a kiss. They started with their snogging all over again. It took a lot of energy out of both of them, and after a while, they both became tired out. Lindsay moved from over him, and laid beside him.

"I wonder if Lucius expects this…" Lindsay said.

"This and more, and he won't expect you to remember it in the morning, of course," Draco said. Lindsay smiled. For the first time in three and a half months, she was actually happy.