"So, Draco, what are your plans now?"
His father cut a slice of meat with the silver knife and then looked at his son. As Draco sat quiet Lucius raised his eyebrow. Narcissa looked at Draco from the other end of the big table, which still didn't fill the even bigger room. The walls were filled with portraits watching your every move, and a warm fire shined from early morning to late night.
"You are going to follow your father's footsteps, aren't you, darling? Start working at the ministry?" she said and looked at him with a gentle smile. Every single blonde hair lay perfectly on her head, but Draco could she how fragile she had become. Her smile was nervous, and her eyes always close to tears.
"I'm sure I could get you something, even after the recent… incidents." Lucius said, with the tone of someone talking of a misbehaving child or pet.
"I'm not sure yet" Draco answered. "I was thinking of going away somewhere for a year or so. Travel, see the world." Not ending up here for the rest of my life, he added in his mind.
"Oh…" said his mother, looking as though he had just told her he had gotten an A on an essay.
"Do you think that is that wise so soon after everything?" his father asked.
"Well, I can't see why I couldn't." Draco said harshly. He had a hard time trying not to think about the body that had floated over this table about a year earlier.
"It's not safe yet!" his mother cried out. "It's better for you to stay here, make a career at the Ministry!"
"I don't want to" Draco said and put down his fork and knife. He had barely even touched the potatoes or the meat.
Both his parents' heads turned like one and looked at him.
"I mean not yet" he said with an inaudible sigh.
"Well, if that's how you feel, I can't see why you couldn't. After all, we are one of the most important families in all of England. What would it look like if our only son didn't get the chance to travel? It is somewhat of a tradition." Lucius gave his son a fatherly look, and Draco smiled back at him. His mother, on the other hand, didn't take the decision with such calmness.
"What?" she outburst. "Lucius, you can't be serious" she whispered in a screaming way.
"Oh, Narcissa, stop treating him like a baby." Lucius seemed tired; this was a conversation they had had many times before. "He can take care of himself. And it's not like he's going alone."
"I'm not?" Draco couldn't help but to let out.
"Of course you're not" his father said, almost laughing. "You'll go with someone of your friends, like Goyle, or Nott. You didn't think I would let my only heir out all by himself, did you?"
Well, yes, Draco wanted to say. But he should have known it was too good to be true. It always was.