Chapter Two! I'm happy! :)
Draco turned, key in hand, to face the door. It was a fancy door, complete with an ornately carved door-knocker.
He looked up at the knocker, and ran back in horror. "Wha-"
"MAAAALLLFFFOYYY..." came an echoing voice from the doorknocker, which had suddenly bore the resemblance to his old friend, Vincent Crabbe.
The illusion, as he believed it, faded.
He slowly walked back up to the stoop, and poked it carefully with his wand. The brass remained stiff and unmoving.
"Codswallop, then," he muttered to himself, turning the key and opening the door to his little house elf, Tinky.
"Tinky?" he asked cautiously.
"Yes, young Master Malfoy?" she responded, bowing low, with her bat-like ears brushing the ground.
"Hurry, the door, close it," he said quickly.
"If it pleases young Master Malfoy for Tinky to do so, sir," she said squeakily, shutting the door behind him.
"Anything to warm you, Master Malfoy? Porridge? Tea?" asked Tinky as she lit the torches on the way up the spiral staircase.
"Nothing, Tinky," he replied sharply, barely noticing her presence.
"Well then, Master Malfoy, sir, Tinky wishes you a Merry Christmas, sir," she said, smilingly.
"Merry Christmas? Codswallop," he said to himself.
"Your room, sir," Tinky said.
"Yes, yes. Tell Twitchy to have supper up at once," he said, waving the elf away.
With a crack, the elf was gone, and he quickly changed into his bedclothes.
An echoing voice reverberated about his room. "MERRY CHRISTMAS, MALFOY..."
"What? What?" Draco said, spinning around to see the source of the noise. "Who's there?"
Suddenly, floating through the wall, a ghost, pearly white and shimmery, appeared. It's face was one that he remembered well, and was cloaked in chains.
"What do you want from me?" he asked shakily.
"Much..." replied the ghostly, unreal voice of his dead business partner.
Refusing to believe what was happening, he called out, "Who are you?"
"Ask who I was..." murmured Crabbe once more.
"Well, who were you, then?" he said.
"In life, I was your partner, Vincent Crabbe..." the specter replied.
"He's dead. Gone," Draco replied stoutly.
"Seven years tonight, Draco..."
Snuggling closer to her father, nestled in his armchair, Violet shivered slightly. Even in the warm glow of the fire, ghosts never failed to scare her.
Draco cried into the black, "Why do you come here?"
"I must. It is commanded of me. I must wander the world and see what I can no longer share, what I would not share when I walked where you do now..." the echoing voice rung slightly in his ears, and he shivered.
"Why the chains?" he asked cautiously.
"This chain? Look at it, Draco. Locks and vaults and golden coins. I forged it myself, each link, each day when I sat in these chairs, commanded these rooms. Greed, Malfoy, wealth. Feel them, know them..." he murmured, holding the bonds out. "Yours were as heavy as mine seven years ago, and you have labored to build them since..."
"If you're here to lecture, I have no time for it," he said briskly. "It is late. The night is cold. I wish for comfort now."
"I have none to give. I don't know how you see me this night. I didn't ask it to happen. I have sat invisible by you many a day, Malfoy. I am commanded to bring you a chance. Heed it!" he said slowly.
"Quickly, then," he said, slipping into bed with a yawn.
"You will be haunted by three spirits..." Crabbe muttered.
Vi shivered once more. "Mommy, more ghosts?"
"Yes, sweetie. They won't be as scary, promise," she said, smiling at her daughter.
"Is that the chance?" Draco scoffed.
"Mark it..." his dead partner said.
"I do not choose too."
"Then you will walk where I do, burdened by your riches, your greed." Crabbe said ominously.
"Spirits mean nothing to me," he yawned, laying onto his pillow.
"Expect the first when the bell tolls one, the second at the same time the day after, and the third upon the next when the last stroke of twelve has ended. Look to see me no more, I must wander. Look that, for your own sake, you will remember what has passed between us..."
Crabbe slowly left, and called out, "Adieu, Draco..."
Then he was gone, and he fell into a deep sleep.
"Mommy, is that it?" Violet asked cautiously.
"Not quite yet, sweetie."
Then the clock began to chime.
Draco sat straight up in bed, staring at the clock.
"Eight...Nine...Ten...Eleven...It can't be...twelve. Midnight? No. Not twelve. I haven't slept the whole day through. Twelve? Yes, yes, twelve noon." he said hurriedly, rushing over to the window and throwing back the dark drapes.
"Black. Twelve midnight..." he murmured, pausing, throwing on his scarf and muttering a quick Lumos. "I must get out, a day wasted. I must get down to the office."
Suddenly, two more chimes are heard.
"Quarter past. But it just rang midnight!" he said, shocked, as his head turned to the clock once more. "Fifteen minutes haven't gone by, not so quickly!"
Again, two small chimes break the silence.
"Quarter to one. The spirit...it's to come at one."
He hurried to his bed as another ring tumbled from the clock.
"One."
Sorry for the cliffie...I'll hopefully have more posted later this week. I've got a lot of stuff to do, including a solo. :P Can you guess who the spirit will be?