.:o:.O.:o:. Growing Up in Malfoy Manor .:o:.O.:o:.
.:o:. Chapter One – From Infants to Toddlers .:o:.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and anything related to it belong to J.K. Rowling and/or Warner Bros.
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Dobby gathered together several of his house-elf friends in the Manor who had also been concerned for the welfare of the children. Twinkle, Paddy, Dolly, and Jingle met with Dobby a few nights after the birth of little Daphne Greengrass on the twenty-second of June. Dobby knew that these four house-elves had no love for the elder Malfoys and would gladly assist in ensuring that young Master Draco and his friends did not suffer the same fate as their parents. Any supervising witches or wizards would most likely stay well away from the children while they were still too young to receive daily lessons, so the house-elves felt secure in the knowledge that they would have a few more years to take care of the young ones. They lovingly cuddled and took great care of the youngest masters and mistresses in the Manor during the day. This special care proved to be much easier to conceal from the parents then the house-elves had anticipated.
Dobby and the others watched on with a secret pride as the children learned to talk, crawl, and eventually walk. Such advances were of course reported to the parents, who seemed pleased and completely unaware of the loving atmosphere inside the nursery. There were several times when the house-elves could only watch helplessly as the children were scolded or lectured to tears, but made sure to be there to comfort them. Fortunately, there were other memorable moments that proved to be more pleasant to recall. However, there was one instance that caused much fear in the five house-elves, occurring on Draco's second birthday.
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The children were celebrating Draco's birthday in the playroom adjoining the nursery, with several other children in attendance, among them the children of the Goyles, Crabbes, and Bulstrodes. Draco had somehow slipped past Spuffy, the house-elf supervising the children's party, and into the parlor where the adults were celebrating.
"Hi," said Draco, looking up at the witches and wizards assembled in the parlor. "My birthday!" he announced proudly. Narcissa Malfoy, however, was less than pleased.
"Draco dear! What on earth are you doing down here? You should be upstairs playing with your little friends!" she exclaimed, hurrying over to her escaped son. A swift glare from Lucius had Paddy placing the plate of refreshments that he was serving down on a table. He picked the boy up and hurried toward the playroom, followed by Narcissa and Lucius.
"Which house-elf was supervising the children?" demanded Lucius in a deadly whisper once they had arrived in the playroom.
"I was, sir," squeaked Spuffy, coming to the front of the room from where he had been attempting to stop the younger Goyle and Crabbe from hitting each other.
"I assume that it was you who allowed Draco to escape into the parlor?" questioned Lucius disdainfully.
"Sir, I wasn't being aware that young Master Draco left the room, sir-" began Spuffy anxiously.
"Obviously," Lucius sneered. "Come with me. Paddy, I am entrusting the children into your care for the rest of the party. Be sure that you do a better job than Spuffy…" Lucius left the threat hanging ominously in the air before he swept out of the room with Spuffy at his heels.
"Now Draco, you'll be a dear and stay up here for Mother, won't you?" asked Narcissa as she awkwardly patted Draco lightly on the head. Then she, too, strode away toward the party. When Lucius reappeared a few minutes later and received questioning looks from the other guests, he hastened to reassure them that nothing had happened that would cause any measure of alarm.
"That house-elf has been slipping, but he has been taken care of. Do you wish for more tea?" asked Lucius, ever playing the gracious host. There were murmurs of agreement and Lucius snapped for Dusty to serve the guests.
Up in the playroom, the party continued without further incident. Cake was served and some of it was eaten. The house-elves hastily cleaned up the mess before anyone could see it, but there was a tense silence between the Dobby and his friends. Would Master and Mistress Malfoy suspect anything? The five of them had been watching over the children the most, and as a result had spent the most time with them. Would they be forbidden from seeing the children? Surely they would wonder how Draco had had the nerve to leave the playroom, especially from the scolding he had been given the last time he had left… What if they put two and two together and realized that the house-elves were not keeping their emotional distance and not enforcing all of the rules set out for the young ones?
However, the day faded into night without any unusual punishments for the house-elves, and they eventually relaxed when neither mistress nor master seemed to have kept the day's events on their minds. They did feel rather sorry for Spuffy, who was never again seen by Dobby and his friends or the children.
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The house-elves considered themselves to be extremely lucky that there were no masters or mistresses in the Manor on the day that the children discovered the joys of sliding down the banisters of the grand staircase in the foyer of the Malfoy Manor. These banisters had a gentle slope and curved elegantly downward and ended about six inches from the floor, perfect for little three-year-old toddlers to slide down on. Imagine the surprise of Dobby and his friends when they went to check on the children after leaving them in the playroom for a few minutes to find them sliding down the banisters and giggling happily. They were at first panicked that the children would fall off and hurt themselves, but they seemed to have the hang of it. Dobby didn't want to disrupt their fun, but knew they could not be allowed to do this without unpleasant consequences for both child and house-elf.
"Master Draco! Please, stop sliding on the banisters!" said Dobby worriedly.
"But…sliding fun!" protested Draco from his spot on the floor, before he moved quickly out of the way of the upcoming form of Theodore Nott sliding down.
"Sliding reeeally fun!" agreed Daphne, who had sailed down primly on the other banister.
"Oh, what will we be doing?" asked Twinkle anxiously.
"We can be watching them for a bit, until Master and Mistress come back," suggested Jingle, looking on with amusement as Blaise and Pansy also came sliding down.
"Well, young masters and mistresses can be sliding down, but you must be going back to the playroom when Dobby is saying you must," Dobby told the little group of toddlers, who readily agreed. About an hour later, the house-elves began to get rather jumpy and decided that they should put a stop to the sliding while they were sure the parents were still out of the Manor.
"Young masters and mistresses must be stopping now. Your parents might be coming soon. Time to be going in the playroom," Dolly coaxed. There were a chorus of disappointed toddler noises, but even they didn't want to be caught by their parents, and allowed the house-elves to transport them to the playroom.
"Now, masters and mistresses must be playing nicely in the playroom with all the nice toys," said Dobby.
"Paddy will be watching young masters and mistresses," volunteered Paddy. The other house-elves agreed and went back to the staircase to make sure that no evidence was there to suggest how the five children had spent their day. Back in the playroom, Paddy was instructing the children to not breath a word of their activities that day to anyone, especially not their parents.
"You must not be telling your parents, for they will be very angry," said Paddy.
"We won' tell," promised Draco solemnly.
"Theo no tell," added Theo.
"No tell," repeated Daphne and Pansy.
"No tell anyone", said Blaise emphatically.
"Very good," said Paddy in relief. It was a good thing the children were so willing to listen to Paddy and the four other house-elves, otherwise their actions would have been found out long ago. The Staircase Sliding was one of the many secrets shared by the five house-elves and the five children.
A/N: That's it for this chapter, and I hope you enjoyed it, or at least found it somewhat possible. :) Anyway, responses to reviews will be in my bio, with the current chapter's review responses up. Thanks for reading!