Setting: Between Book 4, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Book 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Disclaimer: All characters from the Harry Potter series are the property of J.K. Rowling and used without permission. This includes: Draco, Lucius, and Narcissa Malfoy and Adrian Pucey.
Reason for this Fanfiction: I saw that 'Adrian Pucey' was on the Slytherin Quidditch team in Book 1 and Book 2, but there was nothing really about him until Book 5. I wrote this fanfic before Book 5 was released, and I am not going back to fix it. Anyway I created the Pucey family with his younger, crippled sister as the main character. No, I do not believe that in true HP canon, a crippled kind-of-nice girl would have been sorted into Slytherin, but that was how my mind was working when I wrote this. Bear with me. Besides, I have always wanted to show that Draco has a nice side...even if it last for only a millisecond.
If you are looking for HP cannon, this fanfic is not for you.
Date Written: 21 November 2002
The Dinner Party
Chapter 1: Tea and Cakes
Damara Pucey was curled up on the windowseat of the library on cushions and pillows with a blanket draped over her. On her lap was a leather bound book with worn, yellow pages and tattered, crinkled edges. The index finger of her right hand slowed moved across the page from left to right as she read from it. Leaning against the windowseat within arms reach was a wooden cane, curved delicately with an ornate handle.
The great doors to the library opened and a maidservant dressed in a black and white uniform enter with a silver tray in her hands. Her tidy hair was pulled back in a tight bun, not a single strand out of place. She moved across the dark green carpet quietly and set the tray on a table near Damara.
"Your tea, Miss Damara," the maidservant told her quietly as she folded her hands in front of her.
"Thank you, Ginger," Damara said quietly without looking up from the book. "But I am not hungry."
"Your mother insisted that I bring you your afternoon tea. Maggie made the cakes especially for you, Miss," Ginger persisted in a quiet tone that expressed her solemn decision to make sure Damara had the tea.
The girl softly closed the book and set it aside. She threw back the blanket to reveal a metallic brace on her left leg. After fifteen years of visiting professional physicians, mediocre healers, and even trying home remedies, Damara was certain that her leg would never be properly healed. When she was an infant, shortly after her birth, a rare disease had crippled her leg. A few of the therapies attempted over the years by physicians had healed the leg to a certain degree; it appeared healthy, straight, and the muscles normal, but Damara still could not put her entire body weight on it—the brace was still needed.
She had finally come to terms with the disability a only few years prior and no longer allowed it to prohibit a normal life for her.
"I will have a cup of tea, then, and a cake or two," Damara told the maidservant as took the cane in her hand. She limped to the table and sat down. All the time the metal brace hideously creaked and groaned.
"It seems time to re-do the silencing charm" Ginger said gently.
"Hmm..."
The maidservant gave a gentle, almost maternal smile.
As Damara poured the steaming tea into a cup and added the correct amount of sugar to suit her, Ginger went to the windowseat to straighten it up. She folded the blanket, fluffed and rearranged the pillows, and picked up the book Damara had been reading.
"What is this, Miss Damara?" Ginger asked.
Damara's lips puckered from the burning sensation at her first sip of the tea and set the cup back on its saucer. "It is just a book on herbal remedies, Ginger. I must read it for school."
"Ah, yes," Ginger replied in a conversational tone. "Fall term will start in just a week, I hear. Have you come across anything interesting?"
A smile played on Damara's lips. She reached for one of the delicious cakes. "Quite. Nothing that would aid in my particular predicament, however. The only thing that might cure my leg would be to remove the bones completely and regrow them."
"How would you be certain they would regrow straight?" Ginger asked.
"I cannot be certain, nor would I be willing to let myself go through such an ordeal. Regrowing bones is a terribly painful process, and you know I have a low tolerance for pain."
"Yes, Miss Damara," the maidservant answered. "Your father is having guests over for dinner tonight, so dinner will be a half hour later than usual and in the grand dining room."
"Really? Who?" Damara paused half way through her cake and glanced curiously at Ginger.
"A man your father works with and his family," she responded. "I do not recall his name, but their surname is Malfoy. I believe you attend school with their son."
"Yes, Draco Malfoy. He replaced Adrian as the Slytherin Seeker after he graduated," Damara reminded the maidservant.
"Ah, yes. I remember now. Tall, slender boy with blond hair," Ginger said. She smiled at Damara. "He is in Slytherin with you, isn't he?"
Damara just nodded as she finished off the last of the cake. She washed it down with the last of her tea. She stood, using the table to steady herself as her brace groaned.
"I appreciate the tea, Ginger," she said. "I think I will take a stroll through the gardens before dark."
"Do you need assistance?"
"No. I can manage perfectly well, thank you."
"Yes, Miss Damara."
Ginger lifted the tray and crossed the library to the door. Just before she disappeared, Damara called out to her.
"Would you please tell Maggie I adored the cakes?"
"Of course, Miss Damara."
The door shut leaving Damara alone in the library once more. She was not keen on entertaining the Malfoys that evening, as she personally despised the entire family, but she knew protocol. Her father was a very important wizard at the Ministry of Magic, perhaps in the running for the position of Minister, and he needed the continual support of Lucius Malfoy, one of the most affluent and powerful wizards in England. The only high point of the dinner that Damara was looking forward to was her brother, Adrian's presence.
Adrian Pucey was twenty-one years old and was working for the Ministry as well, though his specific job Damara did not know. Adrian was hardly ever in England anymore, as his mysterious job required his presence in other parts of the world. He often sent Damara posts and gifts from his various stations, and she was looking forward to what gift he might have for her tonight. Anything Adrian might give her would make up for the Malfoys' presence—that she knew.
She gathered the book and her wand from the windowseat and left the library. The halls of the Pucey Manor House were busy with servants seeing to the evening's preparations. Damara limped her way up the back stairs to the family quarters. In her room she put the Herbology book in her trunk, and she stood for a moment in view of her mirror.
Damara was not tall nor was she drastically thin. She was trim, with a moon-shaped face, waves of reddish brown hair, and a small nose over her green eyes. She could be considered pretty, but was in no way glamorous or eye-catching. The metal brace on her crippled leg was too noticeable underneath her knee-length, plaid skirt. It always drew unpleasant attention and then unwanted questions. For dinner, she decided to change into a longer skirt that would hide the brace from sight and—if the silencing charm was not replaced in time—dull the sounds it made. A few moments later, she was finished and made her way outside in the cool afternoon air.