MALFOY MANOR
Summary: J.K. Rowling's 7 books revolve around Harry Potter, thus not revealing the true side of Draco Malfoy. Now let's return to the start, beginning at Malfoy Manor. This fanfic will end where the Deathly Hallows did, and reveal who Draco's wife is- a girl whom J.K. Rowling had forgotten to include. DracoxOC.
A/N: Hi all, thanks for giving Malfoy Manor a chance. I hope I will not disappoint any of you; this is my first Harry Potter fanfic, and I'll do my best to keep it as in character, and not stray from the background info that J.K. Rowling included. I know OCs aren't popular, but I want to give it a shot- hopefully, I'll do a good job of it. Whether you like it or hate it, a personal appeal for your review, please. Only with your review can I do better. Thank you.
A/N: (14June2011) I have decided to revamp the structure of my story. Apparently my story has been quite bad in securing readers, so I am determined to redo it. In this new structure, Jade and Draco may appear to move along very fast- but the alternative method turned out very boring. Hopefully this is better done.
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter.
Prologue
A sharp stroke landed on her, and her skin tore. Jade felt a scream rise in her throat but forced it down sharply. Little droplets of blood were beginning to form where the whip had come into contact with her skin.
Jade looked up emotionlessly to see the matron glare down at her, whip in hand. Jade tried to shake away the apprehension growing in her chest. The whip held bad memories… It was always hung in Miss Taylor's office, reserved for disciplining unruly children. But more recently, it had been used to extort confessions from her.
"What did you do to the oatmeal, Bloomwood?" she demanded harshly.
Jade kept her head down, staring at Miss Taylor's shoes in silence. The shoes don't match her dress, Jade observed dully.
Since a long time ago, she had learnt that there was no use explaining that she hadn't done it. Miss Taylor hadn't believed her when the window smashed, not when the distasteful toast sprouted mould in a blink of an eye, nor when the iodine turned into water. No one believed her, nor could she explain it.
Miss Taylor loomed closer and waved the whip in her face. Jade suppressed a tremble. If she kept her heart mute, the pain wouldn't be as strong…
"I know you were the reason it changed into porridge,"Miss Taylor seethed. "'Fess up!"
Another stroke landed on her, and Jade flinched. Some sort of adrenaline rose up to her chest- next thing she knew, Miss Taylor's shoes turned from blue to yellow.
Miss Taylor screamed and dragged her out of the room, shouting "Freak! Freak!" Her claw like nails dug into Jade's wounds; Jade winced. A glass photo frame shattered, its contents flying in all directions.
Miss Taylor's eyes bulged even bigger. From the other side of the room, a young child began to cry. Her peers edged away from her, fear colouring their eyes.
"Did you do that?" Miss Taylor asked in a deadly whisper.
Jade shook her head quickly.
The matron stared into her eyes.
"Liar," she hissed, as she dragged Jade to the isolation room. All eyes stared as they passed, and no one tried to help Jade as she insisted she was innocent.
Jade was thrown roughly into the room.
"You'll stay here for two days!" Miss Taylor commanded, as the heavy door closed upon her. Jade got up and pounded at the door, but it did not yield. Eventually, the footsteps died away, and silence reigned.
Jade slunk into a corner and fell to her knees. Alone in the dark, Jade sighed. Tears didn't come anymore, because she had ceased to feel.
She was an outcast in the orphanage- and there was probably no point fighting back.
There wasn't a flame kindled in her. It was all emptiness, just like this confinement room.
They said that this orphanage was an abandoned hospital once- this very room held the mental patients.
Jade sighed. She could feel that there was more to her life than this. She could feel it in her bones- she was born for something else.
Her heart wasn't here; her mind was confined beyond this room… Though one day she'd probably be free. Change was coming…
Jade looked down to see her wounds fully healed.
But as of now… Jade Bloomwood was condemned as a freak, locked in a room for mad patients and whose heart slept.
The young Draco Malfoy tugged on his mother's hand to hurry her along. Narcissa Malfoy asked where he was going, but he couldn't answer her. His nine year old self had no idea either, yet he felt that he had to. He needed to go.
A sudden wave of urgency and expectation overcame him; Draco let go of his mother and broke into a sprint. He was close to his goal, he could feel it.
So close yet so far. His time was ticking, counting down. He felt like he was trapped in an hourglass, racing to keep out of the falling sand and reaching for the top.
There wasn't much time left.
His heart raced as he sped up. But how much was from the physical exertion, how much from the anticipation clawing out of his chest? Behind him, his parents followed, at a loss of what was going on. He found that he didn't care about that, however. He just knew that he didn't go, he would regret for life. Some part deep in his chest, something yearned for him to hurry.
He found himself in front of a large grey building. Cold. Unwelcoming. Out of the way. It looked foreign- Draco had certainly never set foot near it before. This was Muggle London, and he had no business there, pureblood wizard-to-be that he was.
Draco threw open the large double doors before him without excessive contemplation. He knew that it was in this building… It was in this building he would find her. At the back of his mind, he asked himself why 'her'? Who did he hope to find? Why did he feel a certainty from the bottom of his heart that it was 'her'? Who was 'she'?
He couldn't find an answer.
Draco pushed past people and went through a labyrinth of corridors. There were protests and exclamations around him, but he could not be more bothered. In a trance-like but purposeful manner, Draco's legs led him to a heavyset door. He gulped as he placed his hand on the intimidating metal door. He caressed the metal- the final physical barrier. From behind, he heard a mix of voices- his parents, mixed with other coarse voices. Draco drew a deep breath, and heard a click. The door creaked open.
The darkness of the room blinded him for a moment. As Draco's eyes adjusted, he saw a clear figure of a girl leaning against the wall directly opposite him.
A spasm shot through his arm, and his face twitched. Draco took tentative steps towards the girl, deaf to the protestations from behind him.
There was something intangible in the air, drawing him and only him to the girl before him. Every step he took, he felt it was… right.
Draco knelt down a metre away from her, staring intently at the figure in front of him. She was small, and her face was curtained behind her brown wavy hair.
Draco knew that she was aware of his presence.
He stayed, unmoving, there for some time. It was as if Draco was appraising her, or that they were having a communication without words. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy stood silently behind their son, not understanding but not questioningly.
Draco looked around and saw a pot of wilting white roses. Probably left there in memory of someone passed.
He shuffled his feet and picked up one of them before going on his knees before her again. Holding it in his palm where she could see it, Draco offered it to her- the same white rose, now in full bloom.
The girl looked up at the rose, and took it incredulously from him. Draco found himself staring inexplicably at her. Almost as if he couldn't take his eyes of her…
The girl spun the rose in her smooth fingers, watching the white rose go round and round. As a smile lifted her features, the rose turned a deep red. She looked up at Draco straight in the eye for the first time, the smile staying beautifully on her face. Draco felt his face break into a smile, and there was a jolt in his chest. As Draco looked into his face, he felt a sense of belonging, a sense of peace at the core of his being. His heart pounded even fiercer than before, and Draco felt some kind of force drawing him closer to her.
He felt as though he was getting to know her without words- both their souls meeting, recognizing each other… He didn't notice how his heart felt before. But now, it felt whole.
Back near the door, he heard Lucius Malfoy's cool voice ask how long the girl had been confined in this room.
"A… week," a woman's voice replied meekly. Draco's eyes flashed, and he focused exclusively on the girl's face.
With a little start of alarm, he realized how pale she was, how hard each breath she took sounded.
"I'll be adopting her," Narcissa Malfoy said crisply, shooting her son and the little girl a glance. "What's her name?"
Draco saw the colour of the girl's eyes and knew it almost even before the reply came.
"Jade… Jade Bloomwood."
The Malfoy family was seen in two very different lights. They were recognized by half of the wizarding community as a respectable family, purebloods who used their wealth to contribute to various causes. The other half saw the Malfoys as Death Eaters who'd gotten away scot-free; a family belonging to the Dark side, and hated them.
In the eye of the hurricane, there was peace. Malfoy Manor stood still, encased within itself. The tall gates held within themselves a different world from the outside. People who entered could occasionally see their hosts slip out of their lofty masks and watch, beneath that all, a love as any other household. Meagerly extended to those who were not immediate family, for no one could enter the inner fold; the bulk of it congregated around the Malfoys' son- Draco.
There was just one outsider- just one- who got to watch that. The Malfoy family did not revolve around her, but she was already where others could not reach- the heart of it all.
In the gigantic garden, two children ran about in the snow, laughing.
The blond haired boy aimed a huge snowball at the little girl's head.
"Hey Jade!"
The head of brown hair turned around, receiving a snowball right in her face.
"Draco!"
Draco Malfoy let out a yelp as Jade began chasing after him again, pelting him with snowballs. Genuine smiles grew on their faces, as the two children ran alongside one another in blissful care-freeness.
At long last, the pair slumped against the wall of the manor, their faces pink with exhaustion and the biting chill. Their warm bodies were huddled close together as they watched the snow thicken. Their surroundings were painted white.
"Your hair's getting long," Draco commented, pushing Jade's fringe away from her eyes. Jade smiled at him, her cheeks tingling slightly.
Narcissa Malfoy watched them, unseen from a window upstairs. She had very ambivalent feelings towards that little scene. It worried her.
It had been slightly over a year since she and her husband had rescued Jade Bloomwood from the orphanage. The focus was "rescued", not "adopted".
Jade Bloomwood had no right to be viewed as a Malfoy. Compassion had brought her that far, but that was all. Even Draco's mysterious connection to the girl wouldn't waver her.
She was not pureblood. In fact, from where Draco found her, she was most definitely Mudblood. Even if she were of magical descent, so what? Blood traitors were no better. There were so few honourable families left.
Narcissa remembered how she and her fellow Death Eaters had ruthlessly killed Muggles for sport, and wondered why she didn't despise Jade the same way. Somehow, you just couldn't spit the word "mudblood" at her. It just didn't fit- the gentle, respectful little girl.
But she wasn't a Malfoy.
Jade seemed to comprehend that soon after entering the manor. While Draco got new robes, Jade got the clothes Draco outgrew. Even though there were many healthy sized guestrooms, Jade removed her meager belongings to the bedroom in the attic. Like Dobby, Jade chipped-in in cleaning and cooking. Like Dobby, she recognized that they were not equals. Lucius was "Master Malfoy", and she was "Lady Malfoy".
But Draco was Draco. And that made Narcissa just a bit unsettled.
But it had made it easier, in a way, for Narcissa to make excuses. When guests came and saw Jade, Narcissa could tell them that she was to aid Dobby. The Manor was big, after all.
"What are you thinking about?" came a soft murmur, as her husband wrapped his arm around Narcissa's waist. They exchanged a swift kiss, and Narcissa felt her heart lighten.
"Draco and Jade, actually."
Lucius said nothing as they walked downstairs together, into the dining room. Narcissa knew that he was considering the situation as well.
They sat in their respective seats, contemplating. Within minutes, Jade entered, bringing the food in, closely followed by Draco and Dobby. Jade was giggling over something Draco said.
"Settle down," Lucius murmured. There was an edge to his voice that none but the practiced ears could pick up. The boy slipped into his seat almost reluctantly. Narcissa noticed that his eyes kept staying to Jade, and she pursed her lips imperceptibly.
"What's this?" she asked, addressing Dobby.
"A Japanese dish, Mistress. It's called Ramen-"
Lucius's eyebrows raised as he stared coldly at the house elf. Dobby faltered.
"It's delicious, Father," Draco piped up, noticing the change in atmosphere. "Jade made it just right."
Lucius's eyebrow's furrowed, and waved his hand in dismissal. Jade and Dobby bowed and retreated to the kitchen.
Draco was silent throughout dinner. Lucius and Narcissa watched in disquiet at their son's expression when Jade re-entered the room to serve dessert, not missing out how his eyes trailed her every movement. Finally, when Jade was gone, Draco spoke.
"Father, can Jade not sit at the table with us for dinner?"
"No, Draco. You know the reason full well yourself."
The boy's eyes shot down.
"Are you fond of the girl?"
Narcissa watched as Draco twitched. There was a pink twinge on his pale cheeks, but he said nothing.
"I will not condone you being attached to Jade, Draco. If you do, I will have to send her off," Lucius continued.
Draco stared at his father, aghast. Slowly, he removed himself from his chair. There was a spasm in his fingers as he laid down the cutlery, and Narcissa saw that his face had turned even paler.
"I'm done," he whispered, as he went up the stairs to his bedroom.
Lucius and Narcissa's eyes met. They saw in the other's eyes a reflection of their own turmoil.
Narcissa decided on the spot to throw a Christmas party here. It'd be a reunion- furthermore, it would bring Draco in the company of others around his age. Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini, Parkinson, Montague, Flint, amongst others.
Perhaps that would do the trick. To make Draco a proper Slytherin and keep his distance from Jade.
But deep down, Narcissa wondered if she actually believed it would work.
She recalled how Draco worked when he found Jade at the muggle orphanage and sighed.
However, that was all in the past. Several years had passed since that little scene, and in that span of time a lot had changed. To say the least, Dobby had left the Manor, and Jade had uncovered her family history. She was half-blood.
Now we will fast forward, to Jade and Draco's fourth year in Hogwarts, where the drama truly begins. We have sped past the times of that inexplicable connection, that suppressed friendship, the jealousy. Even first love.
We are now at Passion.