Disclaimer: Not mine. Not yours. Only JK Rowling's!

A/N: Wow, it's been a while since I've last posted a story not part of "Only a Pretense". Due to boredom and a looooooong weekend, this short one-shot formulated in my mind. It's unusually short as opposed to my other stories, but whatever. I'm busy and all so just read and review, okay? Enjoy!

Title: Stopping Time
Author: WickedlyAwesomeMe
Language: Spanish… KIDDING, English :D
Form: One-Shot
Genre: Family/Romance
Rating: T, just to be safe
Warning/s: Dunno. Should the fact that Lucius Malfoy will be present in this story be considered as a warning? *wink* *wink*
Summary: On the day Draco Malfoy asked his father's approval to marry Hermione Granger, Lucius Malfoy gave him a condition. "Stop time for me, then." DRAMIONE! Read and review, please :D

Stopping Time by WickedlyAwesomeMe

His rage was pure. His nostrils flared. His cheeks turned into a fiery shade of red.

Lucius Malfoy was beyond angry.

But no, he must not show his emotions, especially to his son ('Insolent, despicable boy). He is, after all, Lucius Malfoy. A Malfoy and Malfoys do not show their emotions.

Draco Malfoy, his son of twenty-five years, was doing the contrary. His plea was obvious in his mercurial eyes, eyes Lucius had passed on to him, and Malfoy Senior could not believe that his son, of all people in the world, was grovelling. To his father, no less.

"Father," the younger wizard beseeched. "Please."

Lucius involuntarily flinched. He clearly remembered that he never taught Draco how to beg, much less use the word 'please' to anyone. Thus, it greatly surprised him that his son was using that word to him, countless times, as if it was the most Malfoy-like word in the whole world.

Snarling, he allowed himself to glare down at his son. "What did that lowly Mudblood did to you, Draco?" he spat, and instantly, Draco stood up from his kneeling position. His actions were quick and now, Lucius was able to see a glimpse of the old Draco – scowling and frightening.

"Use that word to describe Hermione again, and I swear, Father - "

"And swear what, boy?" Lucius snapped, irritation flashing in his eyes. "I did not teach you to disrespect me, Draco. That is why I order you to break whatever foolish relationship you are having with Miss Granger and attend to the blind dates prepared by your mother!"

"FATHER, I LOVE HER!" Draco exclaimed and Lucius scowled.

His son loved the filth. Lucius had heard it from his heir countless times already, but it still gauged the same reaction from him – disgust and indignation. He vividly remembered that on the day Draco had first proclaimed his blasted, undying love for Harry Potter's best friend, Lucius was rushed to St. Mungo's due to high blood pressure. It had almost cost his life, but Draco seemed unfazed; he kept on drilling those words inside Lucius head for his father to get his point.

"I want to marry her," his son continued, breaking him off his musings. A scowl appeared on Draco's face and he fisted his hands. "And she would not agree to marry me unless we have your blessings."

Lucius' right eyebrow rose. "Pardon me?" he asked in disbelief.

Draco expelled a defeated sigh. "She insists that she would only accept my marriage proposal if I give her evidence that you approve of our marriage," he elaborated. "So please, Father, please, approve of our marriage. I love Hermione Granger, and you cannot do anything about it."

"Unless I promise you to another witch," Lucius offered.

The blond smirked at him and shook his head. "Order me to do impossible and dangerous tasks. Disown me, for all I care, Father. Because, I do not intend to marry, unless it is Hermione Granger."

Lucius averted his furious eyes away from Draco and silently cursed the witch that had enchanted his son. "What does she have, Draco?" he asked, frustrated with his confusion. "Tell me. What does she have that's making you do things that are unlike you?" He whipped his head back at him. Great disappointment was seen on his face and slight pain. Despite what the world believed, Lucius Malfoy loved Draco Malfoy. Everything he did, follow Voldemort and the like, was for a great future for his son. Isn't that what fathers wanted for their child?

"Are you even my son?" he whispered, eyes hardening due to anger. "You've changed, Draco."

"Hermione changed me," the younger Malfoy said, his eyes softening, as opposed to his father's. "Father, the war is done. Voldemort is defeated. Didn't you promise to change for the better? To be a better person?"

Lucius looked away from him. "That doesn't mean that I should thwart away all of our family's customs and traditions," he reasoned. "Just because the war had ended doesn't mean I accept those filths."

"FATHER!"

"You're asking me to do an impossible task, Draco!" Lucius thundered, eyes dangerously flashing at Draco. "I cannot allow you."

'I'm sorry,' Lucius added in his mind. He could not voice it aloud. Now, that would be very so much unlike him, wouldn't it?

"She's important to me," Draco reasoned, voice once again beseeching.

"Why is she that important to you, my son?" Lucius asked. "Tell me. Enlighten me."

Draco closed his eyes and sighed in exhaustion. When he opened his eyes, they showed conviction. "Before, I used to think that the world revolves around us, Purebloods, Father; that we are superior beyond everything in this world. But when I met her, she destroyed what I believed in. She contradicted everything with her knowledge and how she surpassed even some of the best Purebloods." A small smile, an expression that had flabbergasted his father, appeared on Draco's face. "Hermione taught me a lot of things, Father, and one of them is that I am human, just like everybody else."

Silence rang inside Lucius' study room, except for the loud ticking of the wall clock hanging on top of his door. He closed his eyes, a throbbing headache now forming in his head. Truly, Hermione Granger had changed his son.

Lucius opened his eyes and then stared directly at Draco. "You're asking me to do an impossible task, Draco," he repeated, this time making his fatigue obvious.

"Then ask me to do something impossible in return, Father," his son reasoned out, desperation in his voice. "Compromise. Didn't you use to teach me that if worse comes to worst and I did not get what I want, I must compromise?"

"Do something impossible in return, huh?" Lucius asked, eyes trained intently on the wall clock. "Stop time for me, then. And you will get what you want."

Draco's eyebrows knitted in confusion. "Stop… time?" he echoed, frowning.

Lucius raised an eyebrow. "Yes, an impossible task, indeed," his father answered and then, clasped his hands behind his back. Do this task, Draco, then I will grant your request of approving your marriage with Miss Hermione Granger." The older Malfoy then turned his back on Draco, making it obvious that he did not want to talk to his impossible son anymore.

He distinctively heard Draco releasing a tired sigh. Lucius heard his son's footsteps, counted them as exactly twenty steps, before opening the door and closing it none-too-gently.

Smirking, Lucius turned around and sat on his chair. He made a mental note for Narcissa to start preparing blind dates for his son again.

His son asked to meet with him exactly one week after their last conversation and Lucius Malfoy was apprehensive. He did not receive any word from his son for the whole week; thus, he had no idea how Draco would respond to Lucius' challenge.

Lucius knew that his son was intelligent, having been the salutatorian during his Hogwarts days, but what he was asking for him to do was impossible to accomplish. Even he, who prided himself to be intellectual himself, did not have any idea how to stop time. Time, itself, is very powerful. Even magic could not pause its running.

Just then, the door of his room had burst open and in came his son, void of any emotions. Lucius keenly observed Draco, trying to gauge some reactions from him, but in the end failed. Pride swelled in his heart. One thing that he firmly taught Draco was to mask his feelings and to be always on guard. He was glad that despite his change of heart due to one Hermione Granger, he was still practicing this Malfoy tradition instilled in him.

"Well?" Lucius asked. "Pray tell, why are you here?"

A small smile appeared on Draco's face, a smile that had frozen Lucius' old heart. "I am here to ask for your approval for my marriage with Hermione Granger, Father. It would not matter if you make a letter or a fire-call, as long as you address it to Hermione and she would finally believe me that my father approved of our marriage." The blond took a few steps towards his father's desk and stopped, intently looking at his father. "I believe that you will keep your word, Father."

And then, he placed something on his desk. Lucius was too stunned to even move.

"I think you need some time alone," his son whispered, before turning around and leaving his room without glancing back.

As soon as his door had shut with a soft 'thud', Lucius shot up from his seat and leaned forward.

His son had placed an expensive magical watch, which Lucius had given to him on his thirteenth birthday. Lucius had no idea how this simple contraption had solved Draco's predicament, but upon keener observation, he knew. Despite his defeat, Lucius smiled and gently grasped the watch on his hand.

"You will do anything for the girl, huh, Draco?" he asked no one, before grabbing a parchment, a quill, and an ink bottle to pen his approval for the marriage of his son to a Muggle-born.

The watch, which now Lucius kept in his personal box to symbolize his son outsmarting him, was broken and beyond repair, forever reading one o'clock.

Time did stop.

A/N: So, how was it? Sly!Draco's so enticing, eh? Wish my future husband would be smart like that *wink* *wink* Do ignore my grammatical errors. I'm actually rushing this so that I could do my homework already XD

Anyway, so, let me take this opportunity to continually thank all those who favourite-d, alerted, and reviewed my past stories. I've been reading some of my one-shots, and despite my discovery that some of them are RIDICULOUSLY written, I'm still thankful XD Also, I would like to thank all those who favorited and alerted me, WickedlyAwesomeMe! :D

So, that's it. Once again, review please!

With love,
WickedlyAwesomeMe