Chapter Two: The Address
"She must have been joking... It was a joke right?" Blaize asked, puzzled over Ash's behavior.
"No," Zane replied curtly, "Jokes are funny."
"Oy, lover boy, I'm the one skiving my grounding, disobeying Her Majesty, My Mother, hitching a ride with the hippie, coming here, and finding out there was ABSOLUTELY nothing I needed to know." Draco snapped.
"You got grounded?" Artemis smirked and Draco shrugged.
"Who wants dinner at the Bubble room?" Yin asked pulling out a car-disk for her silver BMW Z5. A car disk is a small circular disk that stored cars. You simply pressed the car logo you wanted, dropped it on the floor and the next thing you saw was your zippy, very expensive car. Car disks were developed by Blaize's mother, Director Aryana. They were only one of the many inventions of Memta.
"Bubble R-Room? Sounds g-great, but why don't we go to Black Long's?" Rem
asked yawning.
"Good evening Sleeping Beauty. Have a pleasant beauty nap?" Zane said, rolling his eyes.
"I know you think I'm pretty Zane." Rem said batting his eye lashes.
"Let's go to Black Long's." Draco interrupted, wanting to avoid a fluffy battle scene. "I'm starving."
"I think we should buddy up," Blaize said. "Yin and Arty can go together. Zane and Rem and Draco and I have a few-erm, things to take care of." Blaize smiled, winking at Rem and Draco. Zane shook his head and smirked in the safety of his bowed head.
"That's a great idea." Rem said sleepily, pulling out a disk for his convertible. Zane nastily snatched them away.
"I barely trust a muggle car, but there's no fucking way I trust you driving it!" Zane spat. Rem pretended to be mortified. They all burst out laughing, and Rem's mock anger soon subsided. Artemis held the door open for Yin, smiling slightly as they drove off. Zane gave Rem's viper a disgruntled look and sighed as Rem collapsed into
the passenger seat.
"My car or yours?" Blaize asked Draco.
"Doesn't matter." Draco said; Blaize shrugged and pulled out his disk. Draco glanced at the red Ferrari and grinned. It was such a Blaize car.
"I cannot believe you got grounded, that's too funny!" Blaize said laughing.
"Keep your eyes on the road and shut up! Stupid crap muggle things..." Draco glared, but Blaize snorted , and the two began sharing what they had each done in the past year. Draco and Blaize were like brothers, they had never once kept a secret from each other. So Draco included every embarrassing moment of the previous school term. The conversation got them all the way to London's exclusive Asian fusion restaurant Black Long's. As predicted they had absolutely no problem getting their favorite table by the Zen garden. The waiter handed them the signature triangle menu, and they all pretended to look for a dish, but they already knew what they were going to order: The Dragon faerie's boat. It included possibly every variation of sushi known to man. And they were going to get a great-wall of chocolate to commemorate Rem's 16th birthday.
"Well, I had a shitty year, anyone else want to share their experiences?" Zane prompted, and they laughed.
Everyone began chattering away, Draco picked at his lobster crêpes and baby spinach salad, occasionally smiling and nodding. He glanced over at the serene waterfall; a flash of black hair caught his eye.
"Raveyn!" He shouted, and she halted, her shoulders tensing slightly before she turned to face them.
"Draco, oh it's you." She said nervously, smiling slightly. Raveyn Saunders was a year younger than the crew.
"Hey Raveyn, I don't think I've seen you in over a year." Blaize said cheerfully
"Why don't you join us for dinner? There is plenty of room!" Rem added, causing Raveyn to glance around the table nervously again.
"The more the merrier!" Blaize added
"I'm sorry guys I really can't, I have to run." She said a bit fervently.
"Maybe next time then." Rem said kindly.
"Yes…next time" Raven said in a far away tone. Draco blinked. The Raveyn he knew was a hyper manic. She ran away rapidly as if something was chasing her.
"Did she strike anyone else as weird?" Draco asked popping a spicy tuna roll in his mouth
"A bit." Yin offered. Artemis and Zane looked troubled."She was probably late for a party, we aren't accidentally skipping any are
we?" Blaize asked, immediately lightening the mood.
Draco glanced at his watch 1:30 am. He sighed running a hand through his silver blonde hair and down the cold wood of his front door. He was dead meat when he got inside. Perhaps his mother hadn't noticed? That was wishful thinking, she would have definitely noticed, unless there were thousands of aurors distracting her. He climbed up the ancient oak tree just outside his bedroom window. To his relief, his bedroom window was actually open. Lanai had probably noticed that he'd gone and left it open. His room was exactly the way he had left it. Organized chaos. Kicking off his shoes, Draco climbed into bed and promptly fell asleep. A five point star…
high laughter, echoing across a room. Who was that? Someone…so far away.
"Master Draco!" A shrill voice whimpered. Draco pulled the covers over his head, what the hell was a house elf waking him up for? He was grateful, no doubt, the nightmare would've gotten worse, he knew, but the house elf couldn't have known that. They were too stupid. Unless they were on steroids? These thoughts chased themselves through his head, and he lay on his side, attempting to ignore the pleading voice next to him.
"Master Draco… please wake up…else missus will be very upset. Oh! Bad Lana! Bad! Bad! Ba-" Lana's "Bad!"s were cut off abruptly by a more authoritative voice.
"Master Draco, get up right now!" Of course, it was the diligent and loud Lanai, the head house elf of the Malfoy estate. Draco groaned and glanced at his watch, three o'clock. It was three bleeding o'clock.
"What the bloody hell Lanai?" Draco hissed , rubbing his eyes. He gasped; he was staring at three aurors, their silhouettes fell against the door impressively. Lanai had her arms crossed and was glaring openly at them, behind her missy, the younger elf was trying to hide. Draco had a fleeting thought: be careful what you wish for.
"You've got quite a mouth there youngster!" An older man chided, amused.
"Who the fuck are you, what do you want? IT'S 3 IN THE BLOODY MORNING!" Draco glared at them across the room.
"Trust me boy, we're quite aware of that fact."
"By order of the Minister of Magic you are to report downstairs immediately." A different auror with a deep voice said. Draco snorted and grabbed his cashmere throw trying to fall asleep again.
"I would recommend getting up kid." A woman's voice said impatiently.
"And I would recommend that you get the hell out of here." Draco replied curtly. And after eyeing her 'SAVE THE TREES!' shirt, he added.
"tree-hugger."
"Stubborn brat!" One of the men growled.
"Stupid wanker!" Draco countered; the man grabbed him and flung him over his shoulder like a rag doll.
"ARGH PUT ME DOWN!" Draco screamed, he could see the two aurors clearly as they stepped out into the hallway. One had pink hair, she had a tag on her 'SAVE THE TREES!' tank top that read TONKS, the other was an older man whose name tag read DAWLISH.
"LET ME GO, I WANT MY LAWYER! WHERE'S MY MUM?" Draco screamed. Damn the cool and calculated poise of The Malfoy's. He was tired and the buffoon swines in his room didn't seem to care.
"I AM COUNTING TO TEN, STARTING NOW. TEN, NINE, FIVE-"
"There's got to be an off switch!" Tonks groaned exasperately. They had been dragging Draco around his house for half an hour.
"I ORDER YOU TO PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!" Draco screamed again, but the aurors completely ignored him.
"I'm tired. Leave me alone, what did I do?" Draco asked weakly. His voice was hoarse from screaming.
"You should have thought about that when you came home at 1:30." The auror holding him grunted.
"What, have you been stalking me?" Draco asked incredulously.
"Isn't that a little past your bed time kid-o?" Tonks asked mockingly.
"Shut up. At least I'm not a pink-haired poodle." He smirked at Tonks's astonished expression. "I demand that you comply with my wishes and drop me at this moment!" he said to the auror hold onto him.
"With pleasure." The auror holding him drawled, tossing him to the floor.
"Not like that! That HURT!" Draco cried indignantly from the floor, rubbing his arm.
"You'll live." Tonks growled, her eyes glinting dangerously.Draco ignored her. What in the Devil's name was he doing near the entrance foyer?
"I DEMAND to know the reason for your presence." Draco hissed, whirling around to face the aurors.
"That's for us to know." Dawlish told him. To Tonks he said, "I don't remember Fudge telling us that silencing a force loud as Howler was part of the deal." Tonks offered him a weak smile and shook her head.
"What are you doing here? Did the Minister run out of people to frame?" Draco spat cruelly.
"Listen to me, you drugged up, high headed prat of a child. If you don't shut up, I will—"
"You will what?" Narcissa asked coyly, descending the entrance steps. "Scream him to death? I was not aware that the Ministry had stooped so low as to not only wake young and innocent children up at this beastly hour, but to threaten them as well."
"We are under orders to evacuate this house, so it can be examined till further notice Ma'am." Tonks said, flustered.
"Yes, well, as long as you cannot legally justify your actions, they will not occur. If you leave immediately, I will assure you that word of this will not reach the Ministry." She bestowed a cool smile towards Dawlish and Kingsley. Draco could help but disgustedly notice that they were staring at his mother's bare legs.
"Well Ma'am-"
"Please, call me Narcissa." She corrected kindly.
"Well-erm, Narcissa, we have a written consent from the Minister of Magic himself." Dawlish said confidently.
"Ah, well, perhaps Cornelius has forgotten that it is not within his power to take control of properties in Wiltshire county because we are perfectly isolated from muggles, and are most definitely not murder suspects." Narcissa stopped. The jaws of each Auror seemed to be reaching the floor. She grinned. "I'm beginning to think that Cornelius finds me quite dim." Narcissa smiled her perfect hostess smile.
Kingsley came to his senses and said, "Perhaps we should wait for the Minister then?"
Narcissa nodded. "Would any of you care for a snack?"
The front doors burst open, and in strode Cornelius Fudge himself, flanked by several aurors.Narcissa pretended to be surprised. "Minister, you do seem to have impeccable timing. To what do I owe this honor?" Narcissa asked sweetly, her cool blue eyes pinning Fudge like daggers. Draco may have been exhausted, but confusion and curiosity quickly took over his other emotions.
"Don't even try to talk your way out of this Narcissa. To be frank, if you refuse to comply with my orders, I will personally send you to Azkaban and take your son away from you." The Minister said pompously.
"You have no legal grounds to make those kinds of orders, Fudge." Narcissa sneered.
"That's where you're wrong. I have a long list of your wrong-doings in my back pocket." Fudge said confidently.
"I see. And pray tell, what are these false accusations?" Narcissa asked, one eyebrow arched.
"Deatheater involvement is quite enough of an accusation." An Auror snapped.
"Is that so?" Narcissa turned her eyes from the Auror to Fudge. "Is this what it's come to save yourself Cornelius? That is what you are doing. There isn't a chance in hell for you to deny that." Narcissa said as smoothly as her rage would allow.
The Minister flushed. "Narcissa I really do not wish to arrest anyone, so please attempt to cooperate."
Narcissa was silent for a moment. "So then let me leave. I will leave the manor with you, on your word that everything will be just as I left it."
"Agreed." Fudge smiled triumphantly, just as an Auror stepped into the house.
"Sir, we found this boy lurking outside." The auror said, dragging the boy with him.
"I was not aware that 'lurking' and 'walking' were the same thing." A familiar voice snapped. Draco looked over the auror's shoulder and sure enough, Artemis Kenda Fole was glaring at the auror that was holding him. Draco shot his mother a quick look.
"He's mine. My nephew, under my custody." Narcissa told Fudge lying easily.
"Let him go." Fudge told the Aurors. To Narcissa he said, "I suppose you're taking your son and…nephew with you?"
"Of course, and some house elves." Narcissa said. Fudge glowered. "Narcissa, now be reasonable-" Narcissa did not say
anything, just stared at Fudge blankly crossing her arms."Fine. Be prepared to leave your home at 5:00 o'clock. Some aurors will
escort you to London where I will address you and others in your situation at the Ministry." Fudge said as he turned to leave.
"Oh, and Cornelius?" Narcissa called to his retreating back. The Minister turned around impatiently. "I just wanted to let you know that you are wasting your time." Narcissa smiled and watched him stomp off.The aurors named Tonks and Kingsley stayed behind. Narcissa raised an eyebrow at them. They remained stone faced.
"LANAI?" Narcissa called.
"Yes my lady?" Lanai said from behind Draco.
"Get ready to leave, tell Kaori, Missy and Lena to pack and inform the rest of the elves of our situation. I expect everything to be kept in order during my absence. Also please get our guests a bite to eat." Lanai nodded, and Narcissa responded with, "Thank you, that will be all."
"Mother, you can't be serious?" Draco asked indecorously.
"Draco, please. Go pack everything you need. See if you can find some things for Artemis as well." Narcissa said with a sigh. Draco threw a glance at Artemis and stormed off towards his room. He threw himself onto his bed and screamed very loudly into a pillow. A vase shattered nearby. Artemis sat down in a chair, Draco noticed streaks of blood and that his robes were torn."I left. I can't stand my family anymore. They probably are burning every picture they have of me right now." Artemis said wearily in explanation "Oh, well that's just…great! Can anything else happen?" He seethed, "But at least you've got us. You know, my parents would adopt you in a second." Draco said pensively.
Artemis gave him a weak smile."Well I suppose we have to pack, right?" Draco said getting up and kicking a trunk open violently. With anger coursing through every bit of him, he began shoving things into the trunk. After the trunk was filled, Draco shrunk it until it could fit in his pocket. He then handed Artemis a t-shirt, jeans and a black robe. Artemis's eye shone with gratitude which made Draco feel remarkably better. After Artemis had changed they walked down to the library and grabbed as many dark arts books as they could and shoved them into a bag that quickly folded into a wallet. The whole entire house seemed very much alive at the desolate hour of 4:30; the very walls seemed to be holding news of what had happened. The paintings were all gossiping, house elves were scurrying back and forth carrying clothes, equipment, books. Draco had always found it interesting that the house seemed to have its own mind. Narcissa was speaking to Aryana Riven over a K-line. A K-line was the Memta's version of a cell phone it was built on several runic formulas, created by Cassius Malfoy, Draco's late grandfather.
"How did Blaize take it, Ary?" Narcissa asked cautiously.
"Goodness…he didn't-. Please, just listen to this." Aryana's face shifted to the side of the screen, and Blaize was vaguely in focus, followed by a furious roar. "I WANT MY FUCKING ROOM BACK YOU BLOODY WANKERS! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS FUCKING GOING ON? NOOOOOO, WAHHHH AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH! MY ROOM! WHAT'RE YOU DOING TO MY ROOM…MUTHER!" Blazie was sobbing uncontrollably, all fake tears, of course, but some of the aurors beside him, were covering their ears with pillows. All of the aurors were swearing under their breath. Aryana came back into focus.
"That should give you an idea of what I've been listening to since three."
"I think Draco was too shocked to speak, but he's handling it quite well. Artemis, poor dear, is handling it very maturely like always."
"Where are you going to go? I certainly refuse to stay in this country with that madman and a Dark Lord running amuck." Aryana said.
"I'm heading to the Muggle states. Do you remember the summer house my father bought for my mother in the Caribbean?" Narcissa smiled, reminiscing.
"How can I forget? The one in Key West?" Aryana asked.
"The very same. I'm fully prepared to be away from the chaos, and stress, and get that tan that I haven't gotten since I got married, and wear those outfits that have been in the back of my closet since I had Draco." She smirked mischievously.
Aryana laughed. "The good times. When we had more boys lined up, willing to do us favors than the number of Chocolate Frogs Blaize eats every month..."
"MUTHER- DON'T YOU CARE? LOOK, SEE WHAT THE MONSTERS ARE DOING TO ME? OF COURSE IT'S BLOOD, YOU FOUL MONSTER! WAHHH, MUH-HUH-THER!" Blaize screamed from behind Aryana.
Aryana sighed."A wonderful welcome back to reality. I suppose I'll see you at this 'meeting' to snicker at Fudge's pig-sty attempt at a speech." Aryana gave Narcissa a quick smile and disabled the connection by pulling out it's magical core.
"Ignorance is bliss, that shall be my new motto. So please, mother, I do not want to know." Draco said as his mother turned to him.
Narcissa grinned wickedly."Know about what? The house in Key West or the boys?" Narcissa asked innocently. Draco glared.
"I'd hate to interrupt Ma'am, but we should probably get going." Kingsley interrupted loudly, leading them out of the house.Artemis sighed.
"No one should be so willing to be bored to death," he mumbled, lifting his bag and following the Aurors out.
"And furthermore, I would just like to reiterate how important your past contributions have been to our cause…" Cornelius Fudge stood in front of his desk, speaking to a disinterested audience.
"He loves hearing his own voice, doesn't he?" Narcissa whispered to Aryana. She smirked. Narcissa looked around the room. She furrowed her brow.
"Aryana, where the hell is Ash?"Aryana craned her neck over the other purebloods in the room.
"No idea. Don't worry, she'll be here."Narcissa shrugged. "I know. I just wish I could've skipped this part of the speech with her."
"Albus Dumbledore." Dumbledore looked up from the chairs and smiled. He motioned to one of the chairs in front of him.
"I was not anticipating your arrival."The woman across from him said nothing. The hood of her cloak covered most of her pale face, showing only her smirking deep crimson lips.
"You don't mind that I did?"
"Not at all. I've always adored company, you know that as well as anyone. What brings you here?" Dumbledore asked after a pause. The woman delicately placed a scroll in front of him. Dumbledore untied the black ribbon holding it together and read it quickly.
He smiled."For you, yes.""You have my gratitude." The woman said, smiling back.He waved away her thanks.
"It is my honor."The woman bowed. She stood up and glanced at her surroundings. "I remember this place well."
"As you should. Grimmauld has always held a special place in your heart." She tilted her face towards Dumbledore, her eyes cast to the marble floor.
"That it has. I take your leave professor."
"You have it. Until we meet again." The woman nodded, the ring on her necklace catching the light and the curious eyes of a raven haired boy with a lightning bolt shaped scar.
"And how well do my fellow musketeers fare?" Ash said, causing Narcissa and Aryana to jump.
"Terrible. Where were you?" Narcissa demanded. Ash put a finger to her lips and tossed her head in the direction of Fudge. Aryana and Narcissa rolled their eyes but quieted down.
"And in conclusion, I would like to reiterate just how very important your past contributions have been to my order."
"For Quidditch's sake, you've only said that three hundred and one times!" a voice from the back of the room said.Fudge glared menacingly in that direction and then cleared his throat.
"As for your current situation-"
"FINALLY!" the same voice said gratefully. Fudge glared again."As I was saying, your current situation is a bit complicated…"
"Only because you made it so." Fudge's face became red with glaring and he finally shouted, "DRACO MALFOY, WILL YOU SHUT UP THIS INSTANT?!" Fudge took several deep breaths. "Thank you.
"Now, to get out of this pickle that I did not create, all pureblood families will stay in one muggle state, no more than one family per state." Fudge halted, and this time no voice called out from the back. "All of your possessions will be carefully reviewed by the ministry and-"
"Have you gone completely mad?" This time the voice belonged to Artemis's father, who had just walked in. His glance landed briefly on Artemis, who looked away quickly, in an embarrassed fashion.
"Muggle nations? This is absurd. I will not comply with this… this… complete overlook of decency."
Narcissa looked curiously at William Fole."Well isn't that tragic William? That they're putting us with Muggles?" Narcissa asked.
"Yes, why, yes it is!"
"It is, isn't it? Because you deserve to be put with rats," she hissed and looked away from the dumbstruck William to Fudge. "My family and I will be staying in Key West, Minister. It would be appreciated if you could make a note of that."
"Yes, erm, yes, I suppose I could..." he started stuttering, and Narcissa walked out of the room, catching glimples of hostile faces and winks from Ash and Aryana. Her business here was done."Rats?" Draco sputtered as Narcissa pulled out her car disk, "Rats? You should have said asparagaus. Some people actually like rats," he said, thinking of Neville Longbottom who reminded him of one. "But no one likes asparagaus."
