"I don't see why I have to be here," Draco muttered, wincing when his father hit him on the shoulder with a rolled up programme of the evenings events. "It's my Christmas holidays. I shouldn't have to come to stupid theatre performances! I should be having a good time with my friends, not sitting here."

"We are all here because Raibert Yaxley is a very good friend of mine and he invited us all, you included," Lucius replied scathingly, shaking his head. "Now be a good boy and find our seats."

Narcissa glanced wearily between her son and husband. "Draco, do try and be a bit more cheerful. I thought you and Adelaide were friends?"

"I've only met her a handful of times," Draco pointed out, "I didn't even know she danced."

Lucius tutted, and Narcissa gave him a stern look. "And you be a bit nicer to your son, will you? You can hardly expect him to be thrilled about two hours of ballet – he's an eleven year old boy!" She swatted his shoulder with a gloved hand and Lucius sighed in defeat.

"Ah! Lucius! You made it! And you managed to convince Draco t' come along! Champion!"

Draco fought the urge to roll his eyes as his father extended a hand for Yaxley to shake. "We wouldn't have missed it, Raibert. We are all very much looking forward to seeing young Adelaide perform. Aren't we, Draco?"

Draco forced a smile and shook the hand that Yaxley offered. "Good evening, Mr Yaxley, sir."

...

After twenty minutes of small talk, the group made their way to their seats – a private box on the second floor of the theatre, with a perfect view of the stage. Draco was grateful when he realised that his seat was between the wall and his mother, and he leaned his head against the wall and stared tiredly towards the dark stage.

...

As much as he hated to admit it, Draco was captivated by the ballet performance. He couldn't figure out which one Adelaide was, but then, with scantily clad females with perfect bodies leaping about all over the stage, the Yaxley girl had slipped his mind within minutes.

But it wasn't just the girls that caught his attention; to his surprise, he was able to follow the story of the performance with ease in spite of the fact that there was no dialogue.

It was a story about the battle between faerie folk of both good and evil, both fighting for control of a forest. The villain was a beautiful woman with auburn hair – the bad nymph – and she ruled night time within the forest with an iron fist. The hero – a goodly tree sprite - was a man who looked altogether too large and muscular to be wearing tights, and it was his daughter and the son of the villain that arranged the battle, just so that they would be free to be friends.

It was rather beautiful, to be honest, though Draco would never have said it out loud.

At the end of the performance, when Adelaide came out to take her bows, Yaxley leapt to his feet, clapping and whistling like a mad man. Draco was surprised to see that Adelaide had been dancing the part of the hero's daughter – one of the main characters. He kissed her on the cheek afterwards and she blushed.

"You dance good," he said awkwardly, shuffling his feet.

Adelaide gave him a small smile. "Thank you."

"S'alright."

"How's Hogwarts?" she asked him, and he shrugged.

"S'alright."

She raised an eyebrow. "I hear Harry Potter's there."

Draco scowled. "Yeah."

"Touched a nerve there?" She smirked, and Draco narrowed his eyes. "I heard he refused to shake your hand. Arrogant swine isn't he?"

Draco shrugged. "I couldn't care less."

"Liar," Adelaide accused, smirk still in place.

"Don't tell me you're part of his fan club as well," Draco shook his head in disbelief.

"Nah. Maybe if he'd been in Slytherin it would've been different, but I'm a Yaxley. I can't idolise a Gryffindor – my father would kill me." A slightly dreamy look entered her eyes. "Your friend Blaise Zabini, however... Him I could idolise."

"Gross. You're like my sister," Draco groaned. "I don't need to hear who you fancy."

She poked out her tongue. "Why? Are you jealous?"

Draco scoffed. "Hardly."

But he was. Just a little bit.


"Does it have to be Hogwarts, Papa?" Adelaide groaned, and her father sighed heavily.

"Alice, I went t' Hogwarts. My whole family went t' Hogwarts. Don't ye want t' follow the family tradition?"

Adelaide narrowed her eyes. Her father only ever called her 'Alice' when he was trying to get on her good side and when he was drunk, and she senses that this was an occasion where both were true. "Mama's family went to Beauxbatons. Why can't I go there? It's warmer."

"I dinnae want my only child t' be in France for 9 months oot the year! Yer Ma' isnae here anymore, why do ye want t' be so far away?!" He sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands, and she knew then that he had definitely had a few drinks. "I dinnae want ye to be so far away, Alice. Please. I know I'm an old man, I know ye'd rather be in a big house in St Tropez with yer Ma's family than stuck in a flat in London with yer old Da', but..."

She sat down beside him and took his hand. "Papa, I don't want to live in France. I was just thinking about the weather. And anyway, I like our flat."

It wasn't really a flat. More like a three bedroomed penthouse suite near Tower Bridge that overlooked the Thames and had amazing views of the London skyline, with four bathrooms, office, miniature library, private elevator and a huge terrace complete with Jacuzzi, barbeque facilities and numerous seating areas. It was the perfect 'party pad, and Adelaide loved it. They'd only lived there for a couple of years, and it had been chosen out of necessity rather than amenities, but it felt like home. Their other houses – the Yaxley Manor in the Scottish Highlands and a beautiful villa in the south of France, close to her mother's family – were nice and all, but she really preferred being up in her tower like the little Ballerina Princess that she liked to pretend that she was.

Mournfully, she gave her Beauxbatons letter a last glance. "Alright. Hogwarts it is."

Her father smiled. "Champion. Shall we go out for dinner? To celebrate?"

"Whatever you like, Papa."

At least there was one good thing about going to Hogwarts – she already had her own little army of companions consisting of five pureblooded girls, all sure to be sorted into Slytherin, all well-respected families, all very easy to bend to her will.


"Young Miss Yaxley will be joining you at Hogwarts in the fall," Lucius commented nonchalantly, taking a sip from his coffee and turning down a corner of the paper to gauge Draco's reaction.

Draco pulled a face. "Does that mean she's going to be following me around until she makes friends?"

Narcissa smiled at his petulance and shook her head. "The girl already has a lot of friends, Draco. All of her friends from ballet, from her prep school, from all of the social events she attends; why, you might even find that she has more friends than you."

He scoffed. "Unlikely."

"Attitude," Lucius chided, raising an eyebrow.