A young girl lie face down on her duvet, breathing in the scent of her pillow. The room she lay in had the feel of a motel room (albeit, a very fancy motel room) - unlived. Too formal. There were no posters on the wall, only paintings framed in gold. The duvet was not brightly patterned as most teenaged girls owned, but rather a plain emerald green. The walls were painted beige, and the room had far too little clutter to have been lived in.
And yet, she had lived there for all of her short life.
The girl coughed, loudly and violently, drawing her face out of her pillow. She was pale and sweaty, no doubt clammy to the touch. Her eyes were a dull grey, and had bags underneath them. Her pale blonde hair hung limply around her face. She might have been beautiful, once, but it was impossible to tell now. She grabbed a tissue box from the nightstand beside her, and covered her mouth.
The door to her room burst open, and a boy charged in, skidding to a halt by her side. He helped her to sit up, waiting patiently as her coughing subsided. She drew the tissue away from her mouth, and they both stared sullenly at the crimson blood that stained it.
"Mother said you were doing better." The boy spoke, and the girl smiled, exhausted, and leaned on him.
"It comes and goes." She replied. "I'm better than I used to be." The boy nodded, fully in agreement. He remembers how she used to be.
"I don't think Mother and Father should be allowing you to go to Hogwarts." The boy declared firmly, taking away the bloody cloth. "You're not well."
"I can't live my whole life locked up in this room, Draco." The girl sighed. "I'm the best I've been in ages and you know it."
"Hogwarts is very different from home. There are so many people. You could contract a disease much easier there."
"I am already ill." The girl replied patiently, and one had the sense that the two had fought this battle before, several times. Which, in fact, they had. "And you know it would be safer for me at Hogwarts."
"I fail to see how." Draco declared, shaking his head. "You are weak. Students could easily take advantage of you."
"Exactly, Draco. I am weak. You know that Father's friends consider me an invalid. Just the other day, Mother overheard Yaxley trying to convince Father to kill me because the Dark Lord could have no weak followers. I think that is what finally convinced Mother to send me away. And perhaps Madame Pomfrey could cure me."
"Saint Mungo's best healers couldn't heal you." Draco replied stubbornly, but his argument had lost its lustre. He hadn't known that about Yaxley. "How could Pomfrey?" The girl, sensing her victory, merely smiled.
"I start Hogwarts this year whether you want it or not. I, for one, am looking forward to it. I haven't been out of this blasted Manor since the day I was born!"
"Don't let Mother catch you talking like that." Draco frowned, and the girl stood up slowly, walking around the room.
"I know it is not Mother's fault." She replied. "She's only been trying to protect me. But just imagine, Draco, being trapped up in your own house, watching everyone else live their lives while you lie alone on your sickbed."
"You have had friends over." Draco offered, and the girl laughed, a harsh and weak sound, almost akin to coughing. It might have sounded pretty, once.
"I have had your friends over. Crabbe and Goyle avoid me as if I carry the plague, when we know for a fact that I am not contagious. That's alright; they don't have very intellectually stimulating conversation anyway. Pansy and Theo treat me as if I would break on them any second, and I believe Blaise is simply waiting for me to die." She rolled her eyes.
"You're not going to die." Draco cried quickly, and the girl shoved him lightly.
"That's a lie. I'll die someday, and so will you. So will everyone. That day is merely not today."
"I suppose a change of scenery should do you some good." Draco finally consented. "I've alerted the others already. They'll look out for you."
"You needn't do that." She shook her head. "I don't need their pity."
"Pansy genuinely likes you." Draco pointed out. "I think Theo does too."
"Pansy just wants to get into your trousers." The girl rolled her eyes. "If you want her to like me, she'll like me."
"That's not true. She thinks you're very sweet."
"Sweet." The girl sighed, biting her lip. She looked up at the boy, worry in her eyes. "Draco, what if I don't get sorted into Slytherin?"
To tell the truth, Draco had wondered the same thing on multiple accounts. The girl was very soft-spoken, to the point where her regular speaking voice was akin to a breathy whisper, and she was kind-hearted. She was frail and weak, lacking ambition. There was no denying that she was clever and cunning, but she was very reserved, and not at all manipulative. He worried that she would be a Hufflepuff.
"Mother and Father would probably switch schools then. Have you go off to Beauxbatons, where no one would know. They'd probably like that, having their daughter attend a posh French school as opposed to Hogwarts." He finally stated, wanting to reassure her without giving her false hope.
"I don't want to go away without you though." The girl replied, taking his hand. "I don't think I could even go to Hogwarts if you weren't there. I… I couldn't do that Draco, you know I couldn't."
"You are strong." He declared, squeezing her hand affectionately. "You could if you had to. Let's hope it doesn't come to that."
"Yeah." The girl nodded, frowning slightly. "I'm hungry."
"Really?" Draco asked, raising his eyebrows. She was never hungry, which was why she had wasted away so much.
"Really." She confirmed, and so he led the way to the kitchen.
Draco surveyed his sister with a bit of a frown. She was dressed quite comfortably in jeans and an emerald green jumper, muggle clothes. They didn't dress as muggles often, and he only ever wore suits. Cassiopeia, on the other hand, kept up with the latest muggle fashions, claiming that a good pair of trousers was more comfortable than the stiff, fitted dresses Mother was always trying to get her to wear. After spending her entire life locked up in her house, she had decided she was entitled to comfort.
"You are going to change before the cotillion, right?" He asked, watching as she picked at her lunch. Despite her assurances that she was hungry, she wasn't eating very much.
"Of course." Cassiopeia replied, catching his look and taking a bite. "I wish Mother wouldn't have one though. Crowds make me nervous."
"You're going to have to get used to it." Draco stated bluntly. "There are thousands of students at Hogwarts." Cassiopeia shuddered, and Draco grinned at her.
"There are less fifth years than that, right?" She asked, nervous. "They'll divide us up?"
"Of course." Draco replied, taking pity on his sister. "Altogether I'd say there's only about a hundred or so students in our year."
"That's not much better." She frowned, and Draco rolled his eyes.
"Relax, Cassie, you don't have to talk to them all. Do you want to take my old broom? I suppose you'll have a flying class." Cassie shook her head, and her brother raised an eyebrow.
"Mother doesn't want me going outside. She says it will be bad for my health, seeing as I've never been before. She's spoken to Professor Dumbledore, and he's agreed to waive all outdoor classes due to extenuating circumstances." She explained, and Draco held his tongue. He'd always said that all his sister needed was a good breath of fresh air, and that keeping her cooped up inside her whole life would never help, but their mother refused to listen, always mollycoddling Cassie.
"Cassiopeia, darling, what are you doing out of your room?" Narsissa Malfoy asked as she glided into the kitchen. Both children looked up, and Cassie got a guilty look on her face, as if she'd committed a crime by leaving the sanctity of her room.
"I got hungry." She explained, nodding at her plate. "Draco fixed me some lunch."
"Always such a good boy, taking care of his sister." Narsissa cooed, petting Draco's head, and the boy frowned, ducking away.
"Mother!" He cried indignantly.
"Oh, that's right. I forgot you're too grown up to love your mother now." Narsissa teased with a fake pout, moving on to her daughter. "At least Cassiopeia still loves me." She hugged Cassie gingerly, as if the girl might shatter into a million pieces with too much pressure.
"Mother, Cassie and I are the same age." Draco rolled his eyes. "If I am too old than so is she."
"Cassiopeia is more delicate than you and returns her mother's love." Narsissa replied, looking at Cassie's untouched plate. "Would you like some soup, dear? Would that settle your stomach?"
"Yes, please, Mother." Cassie replied, and Narssisa immediately whisked the plate away.
"Dippy!" She cried, and with a crack, a house elf appeared before her. "Make my daughter a bowl of soup. Draco, I don't know what you were thinking, giving Cassiopeia solid food, you know she can't handle it."
"I was thinking it was time we treat her as a human being instead of an invalid, Mother. She cannot only eat soup at Hogwarts." Draco defended, and Narsissa sighed.
"I suppose you are right. We'll have to introduce you to solid foods sooner or later, dear." She bent down, gingerly kissing her daughter's cheek. "But slowly, alright? Only a little at a time. And you are going to change out of those horrid clothes before the cotillion tonight, aren't you? How are you ever going to find an eligible pure blooded young man if you go around dressed like that?"
"Mother!" Cassie sighed. "I am only fifteen, I don't need to worry about marriage yet. And besides, every 'eligible' pure blooded man knows me as Draco's invalid twin, and who'd want a sickly wife anyway? Face it, Mother, your only daughter is going to end up a spinster. And dead."
"Oh!" Narssisa cried, leaving the room with a sob. Draco raised an eyebrow at his sister, and she grinned.
"You upset Mother too much."
"I like riling her up. It's fun. And not too difficult either. At any rate, I cannot see myself ever getting married. Who would want me as a wife? I doubt I could give them healthy children…"
"Let's not talk about that." Draco grimaced. "But you are a Malfoy. Any boy would be lucky to have you."
"Whatever." Cassie laughed, accepting the soup Dippy placed in front of her and blowing on it gently. "Thank you, Dippy." Dippy let out a squeak of astonishment, unused to being thanked, and disappeared with a loud crack.
"Pansy and them are coming over this evening as well. You can hang out with us as much as Mother allows." Draco offered. "It'd keep you away from the large crowds."
"Do you think… do you think He'll show up?" Cassie asked, and Draco shook his head.
"No, He has better things to do than attend a ball for the daughter of one of His followers. Don't worry; you're probably not even on his radar." He reassured, and Cassie's shoulders slumped, visibly relieved. "Eat your soup, Cass. You said you were hungry."
"I am." Cassie insisted, but did not eat her soup. She stared at it, until Draco sighed.
"Am I going to have to force feed you?" He asked, and Cassie shook her head, scooping up a spoonful of the broth and bringing it to her mouth. "That's what I thought."