Hello, all! First off, I wanted to apologize for the slight delay on this update. Shortly after I submitted the last one I ran into some unforeseen health issues. Moral of the story: listen to your body and get help when needed.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy this update, and as always I give credit to Buzzfeed for "The 7 Types of Girls You Date" and to J.K. Rowling for the Harry Potter universe.
The rolling clouds had already sent my wife and two youngest children into the manor by the time I had finished telling Scorpius about my brief stint with Hermione. It wouldn't be long before the clouds opened up, allowing rain to lash against the walls and windows of the manor. I had always enjoyed the noise that it made in the quiet rooms of the house, and couldn't help but think that the incoming storm would be the start to a peaceful evening with my family. Hopefully, Scorpius would stay for dinner as a treat to his siblings, but I knew that no matter how much he loved them he had his own life and plans to live out now.
Breaking me out of my thoughts, Scorpius stood and looked towards the sky with a look of disdain, obviously finding nothing about the impending weather to be enjoyable. "Why don't we continue this in your office, dad? I brought us some Ogden's to share, anyways." He suggested, motioning for me to follow him towards the house. Rising slowly, I stretched my legs and soon fell in step beside him as we approached the expansive house in front of us. It had always been my home, and although it would one day be in Scorpius' possession, I knew he wouldn't live in it.
Unlike all of the Malfoys before us and even myself, Scorpius didn't like to flaunt any wealth that he may or may not have. I would never forget the day that I realized my son was no longer a child, but a prosperous man on his own. It was shortly after he had accepted his job for the Daily Prophet where he had basically started as a whipping boy for the chief editors, hoping to be assigned to small articles every once in awhile. His first article had been an interview with a member of the Wizengamot, discussing some new laws that were up for review. We had been, as a family, attending a ministry gala shortly after the release of his article when one of his co-workers had approached Scorpius with a sneer, stating that he had only been giving the opportunity to write already because of his wealth, and that he should have turned it down to let someone else have a chance at earning some gold.
My wife had held me back as I stepped forward to defend my son, her head nodding at a composed Scorpius beside me. Without raising his voice or throwing a signature smirk, Scorpius had bluntly told him that his father's money was not of his concern, and he was rather keen on starting his own fortune to live on. My heart had swelled with pride, knowing that he was more of a man that I had been at that age, for I had accepted my father's wealth and flaunted it to whoever was in my vicinity. Scorpius had always been cautious when accepting money from me even at a young age, but after he had started his career, Scorpius had hardly asked me for help in any way. Of course I would make sure he had proper dress robes for any event that we would attend, but on a daily basis he was almost always dressed casually as possible, his blond hair ruffled and unkept. Maybe he was the breath of fresh air that Malfoy name needed.
Sitting next to the fire while sipping on good Firewhiskey instantly warmed my body, and as I watched Scorpius become comfortable in his own arm chair, I lowered the glass from my face, enjoying the comfort of my office. "How's work going, you haven't mentioned it in awhile?" I prodded, desperate to know if he was still happy in his job. From his first day I had dutifully read his articles, and hadn't seen one in the morning paper in awhile. With a low chuckle, he shook his head from side to side, and I assumed he was deciding where to start. "Work is work, I've been reporting on something big that should be coming out within the next week. Be on the look out for it." Instead of a long explanation he offered up something vague, as he was always telling me to be patient for his next story to come out.
Before long we were both placing our empty glasses on the side table between us, feeling completely content in the moment. It took awhile, but finally Scorpius broke the silence, his fingers tapping on the wooden arm rest. "So, your story," he directed our conversation back to his reason for coming, causing me to smile lightly as he continued on. "How can someone be your Tuesday? You said that they were forgettable, so was it an actual relationship? Nothing memorable ever happens on Tuesdays, or at least not as a writer."
"Well, after I stopped my tutoring with Hermione, I met Tuesday. Technically I had already known her, as she was in my house and year, but I hadn't really talked to her until the end of my sixth year." I laughed, shaking my head at how bad my analogy was for this day and particular relationship. Tracey Davis was a Slytherin in my year that I had dated until I left Hogwarts with Snape and Bellatrix after Dumbledore's death. We weren't necessarily exclusive or even in a proper relationship, but when I wasn't working on my task from Voldemort, I spent a lot of my time with her.
I was much too concerned with my own affairs to really notice if she was funny or sweet, or what really made her herself, but she was easy enough to read. I had noticed that she was quiet, and the things that she did say were always well thought out and well placed, never seeking attention like the girls around her. She was someone that I could have a real conversation with, someone that I didn't have to talk about Voldemort or Death Eaters to. She seemed to understand that I just wanted to talk about menial things like Quidditch when no one else did. While the relationship may not have been memorable, I had always been appreciative of her acceptance of just letting things be.
"Draco, what did your father want? It must have been pretty important if Snape was able to convince Dumbledore to let you go." Millicent Bulstrode practically screamed at me across the table, drawing the attention of half of the Slytherin table. I went rigid as the feeling of all of their eyes sent shivers up my back. The burning mark against my left wrist reminded me exactly of the reason of why I had left. I had been working on the cabinet when a burning sensation had nearly made me cry out. Although I had received the mark before returning to Hogwarts at the beginning of the year, this had been the first time that he had called for a meeting. What my peers didn't know was that Dumbledore had not been asked if I could leave. Rather, I had just went.
I opened my mouth to tell them all to shove off when a small hand rested on my shoulder and the owner sunk onto the bench beside me. "Talking about the Malfoys again, are we Millicent?" Tracey Davis said quietly, meeting Bulstrode with an icy glare that finally explained why she had been placed in Slytherin in the first place. "I'm sure there's something better for us to talk about, such as why Harry Potter is suddenly fantastic at potions?" I couldn't be more thankful to the girl as she changed the subject with ease. I noticed that once everyone had started to talk about Potter, Tracey had withdrawn from the conversation, obviously not caring.
Quirking an eyebrow at her, she shook her head minutely and lifted a shoulder in a shrug. We had barely ever had a conversation before, yet here she was diverting attention away from me without being asked to. Strangely, it had been the nicest thing anyone at the table minus Blaise had ever done for me, and I didn't even really know her. Closing my eyes, I released a breath as I tried to remind myself I had to get to know more people. Granger hadn't been so bad, after all. And at least this girl didn't actually hate me deep down or just want to get to know me because she thought I was in Voldemort's inner circle. Besides, it wouldn't hurt me to have more than just one reliable friend.
Although I had decided to get to know Tracey, my next run in with her didn't occur for a few weeks. My nights were spent in the Room of Requirement, endlessly trying to figure out what my next move would be. Voldemort had been angry at our last meeting, already deeming me a failure for not finishing any of my tasks. Though she was completely batty, I couldn't help but feel thankful that my Aunt Bella had bought me more time, that she had convinced Voldemort that the stupid cabinet had been almost completely ruined when we came into possession of it.
After another night of feeling like I had made little to no progress, I found myself sneaking outside to sit by the lake, something I always did when the weight of my tasks started to take too great of a toll on me. It was nights like these where I couldn't return to my dormitory as my failure normally turned to fear and nightmares of what Voldemort would do to my mother and myself when I did indeed fail. It was better for me to be outside and go without sleeping. Unlike all of the other times I had ventured out to the lake, I suddenly became aware of the fact that I was not alone. There was someone out there, someone in my spot.
Quietly, I crept forward, trying to distinguish who it was before they saw me. Just as their features started to come into view, a particularly feminine voice spoke and nearly scared me witless. "I was wondering if you'd be here tonight," She said simply, motioning for me to sit beside her without so much as turning to look at me. Wordlessly, I made my way to her and sat with my hands on bended knees before turning to look at her. She giggled softly at my questioning face, shaking her head before leaning back onto the cool grass. "I've seen you out here before, from the window in my dormitory. I don't know why you're always up so late, but since I am too I figured that we could both use some company."
Once again, Tracey Davis surprised me. Who was this girl and where did she come from? She had been in my house for six years and until recently she had never said more than two words in a row to me. Although she hadn't directly asked me why I was out here, I could almost feel her curiosity hitting me in waves. "I-well, I don't really want to talk about it," I murmured stiffly before laying back as she had. I had too many people in my life that only wanted to use me because of my last name, and if her motivation wasn't for use, then it could really only mean one thing. I could accept her friendship, but I'd have to be careful or Voldemort would use her against me at any chance he got.
"I wasn't going to ask you to talk about it," Tracey assured me, before pointing up to the sky. "Isn't that Draco?" My gaze drifted upwards, following her hand until I saw the constellation in question. "Yeah, that's the one," I smiled, wondering how she could so easily switch between conversations without any awkward moments in between. We stayed there the rest of the night, talking about her love of Astronomy, and how it was rather funny that I knew very little about it considering most people in my family were named after celestial bodies. The conversation hadn't been important, but the company had kept me from sleeping, kept me from dreaming.
She didn't join me every night, but her visits to the lake were frequent enough. We talked about her family, and how they were very in the middle in this war, and occasionally we would talk about how not in the middle my own family was. Somehow, Tracey always seemed to know when my nights were worse than others, and on those nights she would take my hand in hers, and we wouldn't talk about the war at all. Instead it would be about the latest gossip traveling the Slytherin common rooms that wasn't about me. Who was dating who and would they ever last.
On the night that I finished the cabinet, I couldn't have felt more scared or more happy. I was free of the damned cabinet, I hadn't failed. Although this happiness found me easily, fear started to creep in soon, and I knew that everything would be changing soon. The next night Bellatrix and a few other Death Eaters would travel through the cabinet and I would have to kill Dumbledore. As I made my way to the lake, I was relieved to see my companion already waiting for me. "Ah, I didn't think you were coming," she stated happily, already staring at the stars above her.
I seated myself next to her, looking up at the constellations that she had taught me about. I didn't really owe her anything, an apology or an explanation, and I had a feeling she didn't expect one. And be that as it may, I still looked to my side, a sorry expression forming on my normally stoic features. "I'll be gone after tomorrow, I… I have to do some stuff," I broke off vaguely, not knowing how to tell the girl I was going to kill our headmaster the next night. Instead of replying, she took my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze before starting to talk about something funny that Slughorn had said during potions that day. Although my life was changing drastically, the normalcy of the conversation reminded me that I could be normal too, that I wasn't just a Death Eater who would have his first kill the next night.
"She seemed nice though, why didn't you properly date her later on? It didn't seem as if she would have hated you even after the war" Scorpius pointed out, pouring himself another drink before topping off my own. His question was one that I had asked myself many times right out of the war, but it wasn't something that I often dwelled on. "Part of it was the timing. If I had been in a relationship, Voldemort probably would have threatened the person when I failed, and I wasn't going to be responsible for anyone else's death if I could help it," I started, knowing that this was only part of it. "I also just didn't have a connection with her that was strong enough to maintain a relationship after the war. While she may not have cared that I hadn't been exactly good, there was nothing about us that was worth fighting for. She wouldn't have fought for me because being ridiculed would have been far more costly than any gain I could have given her. And as for me, I don't think I really thought of her as more than a friend."
She had of course been a nice, lovely young woman who would have made a fine girlfriend, but there were plenty of those in the world. While nice was definitely different at the time, I hadn't felt anything exciting when I thought of Tracey. I was content, yes, but compared to other experiences that I had, our time together was rather forgettable. She had been lovely company at the time, but a few nights of handholding were never going to turn into something more. Not something that would have amounted to any length of time, anyways.
Before Scorpius could question me any farther, a small knocking sound came from across the room. "Come on in, Lyra, it's unlocked." I called, knowing the soft nature of the knock could only come from one person that inhabited the manor. At ten years old she was small for her size, easily fitting in the chair with me. As she pulled herself into my lap I felt a pang of sadness hit my heart. I knew that I had limited moments like this left, that after she left for Hogwarts she would start to feel as if she was too cool for her old father. Scorpius and their middle brother, Thuban, had both lost interest in this sort of thing as soon as they had left, and I could only hope that since she was a girl that she would be different, that she would never not want to spend time with me.
"I can't stay long. Mum told me to leave you alone, but I wanted to Scorpius. It's been so long," Lyra complained, obviously pouting to emphasize why it was so important that she disobeyed her mother to see her brother. I smirked proudly behind her head, knowing I had a little Slytherin in the making. Although she was as smart as a Ravenclaw, kind as a Hufflepuff, and as adventurous as a Gryffindor, she could throw all of those traits out of the window to favor being cunning to get her way. "Why did you come here anyways, it's been weeks! You haven't even been home to see how good I'm getting at flying, and you promised you'd come to the Falcons game with me and dad last week. I thought you forgot me," She continued to pout, her bottom lip protruding slightly.
I stifled a laugh at the distressed look that crossed Scorpius' face. There really was nothing worse than a guilt trip by Lyra, she had a way of pulling directly on your heartstrings. "I'm sorry, Lyra, things came up at work and I've been really busy. I sent an owl for you, did you get it?" Scorpius apologized softly, and Draco knew that he was upset that his little sister had taken it so hard. "Yes, but I still missed you," Lyra finally whispered, relenting on the pouting and settling for honesty. Although Scorpius was nearly twice Lyra's age, there had always been a special bond between the two, and she had taken his leaving the house the hardest. Scorpius had always been a good brother, exceptional even, and one of his hardest struggles of leaving the house had been how to manage his time between family, friends, and work. For the most part he visited once or twice a week, but recently he hadn't been able to make it due to work, and as I suspected, his budding relationship.
"Well, I'm glad you came, Lyra. I was just telling Scorpius some stories, and this next one is proper for you to hear as well. Why don't you go sit on his lap so I can look at you both while I tell the story? If your Mum asks, I'll tell her Scorpius lured you in. We all know she won't get mad at him." I hugged my daughter lightly before she left my lap for his, and turned towards Scorpius with a smirk forming. He nodded his thanks at me for starting to mend his wrongdoings to Lyra, and I settled back into my chair, preparing to tell the story of my unexpected and surprising Wednesday.