Malfoy Manor, majestic and grand located in Wiltshire, England. The home of the infamous Malfoys and the soon to be home of the infamous Ashwoods. Walking up the stairs behind my brothers I enter the manor that will be my home for the next fortnight before I'm off to attend school.
A pop is heard from the corner and a small house elf appeared. "Glinky is here to take yous to the Masters and Mistress." It says before turning and walking off.
Feeling a bump in the back I'm shocked out of my daydream state and moved down the hall by Markus. Walking in a group the Ashwoods walk down the twisting and turning corridors of the Manor.
"That is all Glinky." Drawls a voice from behind us, turning we see a boy around my age walking towards us. "I'll lead them to Mother and Father."
"Yes Master Draco." Says the Elf bowing before popping away.
"Well come on." Draco says from the other end of the hall, Markus pulls me along quite harshly making her jog to keep up with his long strides.
"I'm perfectly capable of walking you know." I tell Markus haughtily, he just smirks as he picks up the pace.
"Draco darling," drawls a female voice from the room we enter. "oh my." She says her eyes going wide in shock as we enter the room.
"Now dear lets not be rude." The other male in the room says. "My name is Lucius Malfoy, this is my wife Narcissa and you've already met my son Draco." Giving the boy a smirk.
"I'm Markus, head of the family." Markus introduces himself before proceeding to let the rest of us introduce ourselves but before I can say my name he interjects. "And this is our youngest Alyssa." He says waving his free hand at me, his other still firmly clamped down around my arm.
"Very nice to meet you all, lets step into the study to discuss business." He says nodding his head at Draco who got up to follow. Markus turns and nods to Ayden, Blake, Jack and Leo the eldest of each section of our family before following Lucius and Draco into the study but not before giving me a hard glare. Which I gave right back.
The door closes with a loud clang leaving the rest of us standing in the doorway being watched by an anxious Narcissa.
"Oh where are my manners, please come and have a seat." She says sweeping her arm out to the assortment of lounges around the place. Walking slowly over to an armchair near her I take a seat. Looking round the room I take in its grand structure looking at the ancient architecture.
Stifling a yawn I look back down at my brothers, they're all yawning along with me. It must be the time difference because I'm pretty sure its very late back at home yet Narcissa looks quite awake.
"Oh you poor dear you look ever so tired. Pinky, Milky, Candy," The three pops signal the elves arrival in the room. "Please escort the boys towards their rooms." With a wave of her hand she dismisses the elves off to their tasks and my brothers and lead from the room.
"What about me?" I ask barely keeping my eyes open, she looks to me as she gets up. Helping me up she walks us out of the room and into the labyrinth of halls that it Malfoy Manor.
"Your room is on a different floor to the boys, its closer to Lucius and mine room, so if you need anything don't hesitate to ask." Stopping outside of a room she opens the door to reveal a simple yet elegant room.
"My room is just down the hall, now if that's all I'll see you tomorrow morning for breakfast." And with a smile she turns and walks back the way she came.
I don't spend much time getting ready for bed, I strip down to my under clothes and grab a shirt from a nearby back. The bag isn't mine because the shirts to big but I don't care. Slipping into bed I swear I'm asleep before my head hits the pillow.
The days pass quickly, I fill my time in sitting quietly in the library reading books. I had read all the ones from the Ashwood library and surprisingly there were other books I hadn't read. I don't see much of my brothers at all, I occasionally see one of them in passing or at dinner but I keep my distance.
Jayden and Blake sometimes stop to talk to me, but we always seem to be interrupted by Markus. He's watching me more and more these days, at dinner I sometime catch him watching me. It's very unnerving.
I bump into someone on my way to the library, I look up to see its Draco and I see two other boys with him.
"Oh sorry," I says stepping out of the way.
"Draco, you must introduce us to this lovely lady." The darker boy says.
"Yes, where have you manners gone Drake?" The other boy agrees.
"Fine," rolling his eyes, "Theo, Blaise this is Alyssa Ashwood. Alyssa this is Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini."
"It's a pleasure to meet you both." I say with a smile.
"No, no the pleasure is all mine." Blaise says taking my hand and placing a light kiss on the end of it.
"Yes its always nice to meet such a lovely girl." Theodore says repeating Blaise's action to my other hand.
"I have to admit you two are the first friends of Draco I've met and I've been here for most of the summer." I say looking at Draco with a sweet smile.
"Strange, I'm sure I've been here already this summer. Eh Drake." Blaise says raising an eyebrow at the blonde in question.
"Yeah, and so far we've only met an extensive group of boys." Theodore says looking from Draco to me.
"Those would be my brothers I presume." I say.
"Anyhow, I must be off I promised I would meet your mother Draco. Its lovely to meet you both." And with that I push between Blaise and Theodore and walk briskly towards the library.
"Strange, I just saw mother out in the gardens?" I hear Draco say just as I turn the corner and move out of sight. Luckily it took him a while to catch on to my lie. My walk turns into a run as I race towards the library, I only stop once I'm in the safety of the book covered walls.
Even though I've been out a few time meeting new people still does freak me out, sighing quietly I walk through the shelves running my hand over the worn covers of the books. Seeing an old tome with faded away writing I pull it out. The cover is covered in dust and I try to wipe some off at I walk towards my favorite reading seat. Looking up to check I'm totally alone I wave my hand over the cover banishing the dust.
Reading the title I discover its written in Latin Magicae: Sanctae ac fera luckily I did actually know Latin. Crazy I know but that's what happens when you are stuck in a house with nothing to do. It translated to Magic: Arcane and Wild. Curious I open the book and begin to read the ancient text.
I read of arcane magic, magic so old it was forgotten and the art of it was said to be lost forever. The further I read into this chapter I learnt more and more about magic that didn't need a wand to be performed I was in awe as each of the pages told me more about myself than I had every thought possible.
A knock at the door startled me out of my awe and I looked up the see Ayden. He was holding something in his hand.
"Hey," I greet him and he enters the library.
"This came for you in the mail." He says holding out the envelope.
"Thanks." I say taking the envelope off him.
"Well bye." He says as he makes a beeline for the door.
"Wait," he turns around, "what did I do?" I ask him.
"What do you mean?" He asks me.
"Why did you shut me out?"
"I didn't." he argues.
"You did, you all did. When dad died you, all of you cut yourselfs off from me, you hardly came out of your rooms. And coming here its even worse, you talk amongst yourselves and have a great time but when I enter the room you go quiet and all find an excuse to leave. God knows I've tried to understand but I just don't anymore." I'm breathing heavily by now and I look at his in disgust.
"Its been a year since dad died, and 3 months since we got here and not once in that time have any of you tried to talk to me, even Jayden and Blake have shut me out." Tears have begun to run down my face.
"Alyssa," But I turn away.
"Just get out." I tell him.
"You just don't understand." He says as he leaves the library and me alone in my misery.
I look down at the envelope and I can't make out what is says, my eyes are blurry with the tears. Wiping my eyes with the sleeve of my top I read the envelope.
Miss. A. Ashwood
First guest bedroom,
Malfoy Manor,
Wiltshire
I turn the letter of and see a crest of the front of it, a snake, a lion, an eagle and a badger. The Hogwarts crest. This is a letter from Hogwarts.