Year One

Amora Malfoy and the Immortal's Dragon

Chapter One: The Mysterious Amulet

"Dad, I don't want to!"

"Amora Malfoy, you come down these stairs this instant!"

"I don't like her, Dad! She's a horrible woman, Scorpius hates her too!"

Draco Malfoy kicked angrily at the stair in front of him. "Amora, I'm not telling you again!"

"I'm not coming down! Not until you stop trying to make that woman my mother! She's not Mum!" The young girl stormed up the rest of the stairs and slammed her bedroom door behind her so hard that the pictures on the walls shivered and slipped sideways.

"Well, I say!" an older woman sniffed from her crooked frame.

"Oh, shut up," Draco snarled. He stood where he was halfway up the stairs, fuming, for several long moments before he sighed and climbed the remainder of the staircase.

"Amora?"

"Go 'way," she sniffled, her face buried in her pillow.

Draco picked his way through the books, rolls of parchment, clothes, and various other items that were scattered across the floor and settled on the edge of his daughter's bed.

"Didn't I tell you to clean up this mess? Honestly, Amora--"

"If you're just going to tell me off, then go away. I'm sick of having rows."

He glowered. "Fine. But listen to me, will you? It's been three years since your Mum died. We need to move on."

"I don't want to move on! I hate that woman. She's nothing like Mum."

"I never said that she was."

"But you want her to be our Mum! Lookit what you're doing to me and Scorpius! We don't like her, we don't want her to come here."

Draco scowled. "Isn't it enough for you two that I like her?"

At this, Amora sat up, fury blazing in her deep brown eyes, the eyes she had inherited from her mother. "Isn't it enough for you that that woman makes me and Scorpius miserable?! You're supposed to be our Dad! You're supposed to love us! If it were you and not Mum that was killed, Mum never would have dated someone we didn't like!"

Draco was taken aback by Amora's outburst. At first, anger flared red across his pale features, but it quickly faded when he saw the tears slipping down his daughter's soft cheeks and he realised the impact of her words. He looked away, unsure of how to take it. However, he soon looked back and impatiently wiped away her tears with the sleeve of his dress robes.

"I'm sorry, Amora," he said when she turned her head away from him. "I know you and your brother are missing your Mum, but you two are too much trouble for me to raise you both on my own. I need help."

"I don't need to be raised, Dad. I know how to take care of myself, and I know how to take care of Scorpius, too. I know more about him than you do."

Draco sighed inwardly. She was so much like her mother, it was scary. He reached into his pocket and felt the thick parchment paper.

"I'm sorry," he repeated, annoyed. "But I need this, Amora. I know you can understand that, at least."

She sniffed and looked out the window, but nodded.

Draco let a small smile lift the corner of his mouth. "I thought so. Now, here, I've got something for you. I was going to save it for tonight when we got home, but perhaps you should have it now."

Amora couldn't help herself; she turned toward her father, curiosity piqued. He pulled a heavy, parchment envelope out of his pocket and handed it to her. Scrawled across the front was her name and address, written in a severe script in deep emerald ink. Excitement shivered down her spine.

Her Hogwarts letter!

She tore it open hurriedly and read three times through the letter before flinging her arms around her father's neck.

"This doesn't make up for having to spend the evening with that woman, you know," she said in his ear, grinning.

"I'm quite aware. I was just aiming to make the evening bearable." He patted her head rather awkwardly, removed her arms from around his neck, and made his way out of the room. "Now get dressed." He stubbed his toe on a particularly large and heavy book on his way out the door. "And clean up this room!"

Amora rolled her eyes. She had never understood her father; with her mother, he had always been fairly warm, although he still kept a bit of chill in his manner, and he was always decent to her. With her younger brother, Scorpius, however, he was always so harsh and cold. She guessed it had something to do with her grandfather, a frigid man who had probably never treated anyone decently in his life.

"I guess Mum just brought out the better side of him," she mumbled to herself as she pulled the list of required items and books from the envelope. She read them through several times before remembering that she was supposed to be changing into her dress robes. Hurriedly, she pulled the green, silver-trimmed robes on and smoothed them out, picking off the rabbit hairs.

"Bear, you've got to stop sleeping in my robes," she reprimanded. The large black rabbit cleaned his face and floppy ears in response. "Oh, all right, I can't expect to stay angry with something so cute anyway." On her way out the door, she reached into Bear's cage and ruffled the fur on his head. He returned her affection by licking her hand quickly.

"Scorpius, come on! Quit playing with Avarus and get out here!" She pounded on the door to her brother's room, still plucking the fine black hairs from her robes.

The door opened after several seconds, revealing a boy only a year younger than Amora. He was carrying an enormously fat grey cat.

"Scorpius! What do you think you're doing? You're covered in cat hairs…c'mere, you little rat…" Amora scolded. "Put Avarus back on his bed and let's go! Dad's gonna be furious with us…."

"Ah, stop it, Mora, gerroff me!" Scorpius swatted at her, looking very annoyed. "I can get them myself, cut it out!"

"Fine!" Amora said. "You get in trouble with Dad, then. And I'll bet that woman won't be too happy with your new fur robes, either."

They had reached the bottom of the stairs by this time, where they found their father waiting for them. He scowled when he saw the state of Scorpius's robes.

"Get over here, Scorpius," he spat, pulling out his wand. With a wave of the wand, the cat hairs swept themselves off Scorpius's robes and deposited themselves in the dust bin. "Comb your hair, would you? Do you want to look like Potter?"

"Got it, Dad," Amora piped up, running her hands through Scorpius's hair to smooth it out; their father only ever mentioned Harry Potter when he was especially angry.

No more than a minute after Amora and her brother had come down the stairs, there was a knock on the door, and the house elf admitted the visitor.

The woman was exceptionally tall, with dark hair and icy-blue eyes. Her eyes lifted at the corners, making her seem cat-like, and her demeanour clearly stated that she was not the warm, cuddly type. Amora and Scorpius met each other's gaze, sharing a moment of silent agreement.

"Good evening, Draco, darling," the woman said, leaning in to kiss him on either cheek.

"Good evening, Miss Brigitte!" Amora said loudly, grinning when the woman looked at her with deepest disdain. She wiped her face clear of emotion, however, when her father shot her a sharp look.

"Must we really take the children along, Draco?" the woman hissed in Draco's ear.

"It was agreed to be a family night, Brigitte," Amora's father muttered back.

"We can hear the both of you, y'know, Dad," Amora stated impassively, pretending to inspect her fingernails. "And I quite agree with the woman. There's no need for Scorpius and me to come along."

Scorpius looked hopeful, but Draco was irritated. "Be quiet, Amora. We're going."

Amora scowled, but fell silent.

It was going to be a long night.

"How much trouble d'you think you're in?"

Amora shrugged. "What's he gonna do? His yelling gets old after a while. I'm just in for a few days of iciness, that's all."

Scorpius stroked Avarus's back absently as he sat on his sister's bed. "It was funny, though, Mora. She might not come back again after that, y'know."

Amora smiled and adjusted Bear's positioning in her arms. "It was funny, wasn't it, Scor?"

During supper, she had filched her father's wand from his pocket to play with and had somehow ended up turning Brigitte's hair a violent pink, as well as causing the woman to sprout large, fluffy flowers from her ears. Amora had gotten a thorough dressing-down from her father already, but she suspected that there was far more to come.

A rap on the door startled both siblings, and they looked up sharply when the door opened.

"Scorpius, out. I need to have a talk with your sister."

Scorpius cast Amora a sympathetic look and scurried from the room. Amora watched him go, avoiding her father's cool grey stare, then stared out the window when she could no longer be distracted by her brother.

"Amora, I don't know what to do with you. Honestly, I can't wait for you to go off Hogwarts so you'll be out of my hair for a while."

"I'm sorry I'm such a burden on you. I didn't realise you disliked having me around so much."

"That's not what I said, Amora." Draco slumped into the chair that was at her desk and ran his fingers through his pale hair. "I just don't know how you expect me to handle you. I can't figure out how your mother did it."

"Mum understood me." She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and blinked back the wetness in her eyes.

"Another place where she was much better at this than I am." He sighed. "I can't possibly understand you, Amora, but can you try to understand me? Could you at least try to behave yourself?"

It wasn't often that he was so vulnerable, but his rare mood couldn't erase her annoyance at him for a bringing such a horrible woman as Brigitte into their lives.

"I can't understand you, Dad," she answered. "We're nothing alike, you know that."

There was silence for a long while. After a painfully long time, Draco got to his feet, looking weary, and made his way to the door.

"We're going into Diagon Alley tomorrow, so be ready by lunch."

"Sure," she answered as he closed the door behind him. "No problem…."

Bear nibbled gently on the sleeve of her robes. Amora petted him absently as she sank onto her bed. "Eight weeks, Bear. And then we don't have to see that woman for nine months."

The next day proved to be the best day Amora had had in a long while. They stepped from the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron at half-past one and spent the rest of the day in Diagon Alley. Amora and Scorpius were left to roam on their own, each with a purse-full of jangling coins.

Amora's first stop was Madam Malkin's robe shop. She hated being fitted for robes, so she figured she'd get it out of the way. After twenty minutes of mental agony, she left the shop and headed for Flourish & Blotts, one of her favourite stops in Diagon Alley.

A stack of school books, a cauldron, potion supplies, and a few items that hadn't been on the list later and Amora was standing in front of Ollivander's wand shop. She readjusted her bags and boxes, took a deep breath, and pushed her way into the shop.

"Ah, hello, there, lass. You can put your items on the floor there, they won't help in the choosing of your wand." A very elderly man with misty, silver eyes emerged from the many rows of small, rectangular boxes. "Mm, Miss Malfoy, it is. Do you take after your mother or father more?"

"My mum," Amora replied immediately.

"Ah, yes." He approached her with a measuring tape and began measuring various strange things, such as the circumference of her skull and the length of her nose. He then walked away, searching the aisles, as the tape continued to measure on its own.

"That's it, thank you," Mr Ollivander muttered as he returned with a wand box. "Here, try this, lass. Willow, eight inches, unicorn hair."

Amora gave it a wave, but Mr Ollivander snatched it back and went to find another. It wasn't until the eighth wand that Amora found her match.

"Here, let's try this. Ash, ten and a half inches, phoenix feather."

Amora took the wand wearily, not really expecting it to work out. However, when she took the wand from Mr Ollivander, a warmth spread through her fingers and she felt the magik flood her veins.

"I think that'll do," she said breathlessly, awed by the power of the wand.

"Lemme see, Mora, c'mon!"

"No, go away, Scorpius!" Amora slapped her brother's hand as he reached for her wand, which was setting on her desk. "Leave it alone, you'll blow something up."

"I won't," he argued, reaching for the wand again.

At this, Amora grabbed him by the wrists and steered him from her room. "There, now stay out 'til you learn how to keep your hands to yourself." She slammed the door behind him.

It was less than a week until September first. Amora already had her trunk packed and several spells memorised. Thanks to the incident the day she had received her letter, her father had not asked them to spend time with Brigitte, something that Amora and Scorpius were both very thankful for.

With a weary sigh, she threw herself onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling. Each day seemed longer than the last as her departure to Hogwarts castle grew closer, and she was beginning to grow very bored. If only something interesting would happen….

On cue, a large eagle owl slammed into the window, righted himself dizzily, and then tapped the glass angrily with his beak. Amora, her heart still thumping madly from the start she had gotten, hurriedly opened the window.

"Sorry 'bout that, Jupiter," she apologised when he landed on her headboard and held out his leg, looking annoyed. "For me? Who's writing to me, Jupe?" She untied the letter from his leg, fed him a treat from the box on her desk, and then gestured him out of the room. Free of his burden, Jupiter hopped from the windowsill and soared out of sight into the deep blue of the evening sky.

Curious, Amora split the wax on the scroll and unrolled the parchment. The words were written in a gently loping hand that she didn't recognise.

To Amora:

Congratulations on your acceptance into Hogwarts. I realise that I do not spend much time with you, and I would like to do something to help you. In your attic in a small wooden chest bearing the Malfoy crest is a necklace that brings great luck and wisdom. I hope you will use it well.

With Love.

P.S. Do not tell your father. He would be upset if he found I was giving away his things without his knowledge. This will be a secret between us.

There was no name. Amora flipped it over, searching for some clue as to who had sent the strange letter, but found nothing. Her curiosity bubbling, she reread the letter and then glanced up at her door. Listening, she could hear her father and Scorpius arguing downstairs; she would be safe for another few minutes at least.

The attic was forbidden to Amora and Scorpius. Their father had told them that there were both dangerous and valuable artefacts stored on the dusty shelves and within the heavy chests, and they were therefore to touch nothing. As Amora stepped into the gloomy old space, she could feel the magik in the air, pressing against her like a soft blanket. She thought she could hear faint whispering as she picked her way through the objects scattered over the floor. A shiver rolled down her back and made her whole body quake; the attic was creepy.

"A box, a box, a small wooden box…how'm I supposed to find that box up here? There's nothing but boxes," she muttered to herself, mostly to drown out the whispering. She glanced around, hoping to pick out the Malfoy crest on one of the many small chests standing upon shelves, but the dust was so thick that she could make out nothing distinctive. Scowling in a way that was frighteningly similar to her father, she made her way to a shelf and gently blew the dust from the first tiny chest. The dust billowed up around her, making her sneeze.

"Bloody…ah…ATCHOO!" She sneezed again as she inhaled a second mote of dust. Annoyed, she peered at the other boxes, hoping to catch some hint of the Malfoy crest under the layers of dust.

Not far along the shelf, she passed a box that was mostly free of dust and had to backtrack to look at it again. A silver crest was shining in the dim light, the strange, serpentine dragon looking alive in the gloom. Cautiously, her hand trembling, Amora reached out and flipped open the lid, surprised that it was not locked.

"Wow," she breathed.

Settled on the emerald green cushion within the chest was a shimmering silver pendant, shaped into the intricate figure of a dragon eating its own tail. It was bent backwards, so that its wings extended across the interior of the circle the body made and touched the crested spines on its tail.

Carefully, as gently as if she were handling a delicate infant, Amora lifted the amulet upon its fine silver chain and tilted it so it caught the dying light from the tiny window. It blazed golden in the last bit of sunlight, and the opal in its eye became a dazzling array of a thousand rainbows. Amora stood, transfixed, staring at the dragon for a very long time.

A noise in the hall below startled her, and she quickly threw the long necklace over her head and tucked it beneath her shirt, snapped the lid of the chest shut, and scurried from the attic, nearly tripping over several items before she made it to the door. Trying to calm her breathing and frantic heart, she skipped through the first door, down the narrow staircase, and then opened the hall door the tiniest crack and peered out into the corridor. Avarus stared back at her, his golden eyes aloof, before continuing on his way to Scorpius's room. She let out a relieved breath and slipped silently out the door, pulling it closed behind her with a soft snap.

If you could be so kind, I would love reviews! Also, can someone tell me how to pronounce Brigitte? It's French, so I'm not sure if it's pronounced the way it looks or not. I never was any good at French....