Chapter Three
A bell rang.
"Mr. Malfoy, you have a visitor." A young woman's voice could be heard clearly throughout the house, including the bedroom where Draco lay disheveled.
He covered his face with a pillow and groaned. His body lay sore and tired. And arm was wrapped around Ginevra, who lay asleep on his chest. The bell rang again and again the woman spoke.
"Mr. Malfoy,"
Draco groaned again and untangled himself from Ginevra. He lifted her head carefully off his chest and placed it on a pillow. She sighed contently. Draco hopped up and stretched. He found his pants on the floor and threw them on with a bathrobe from a closet. He ran down a long flight of stairs concealed behind a bookcase and came out right in his front hall. Draco swept his hair off his face with a brush of his hand, plastered a grimace on his face and opened the door.
"Draco, how dare you make your own father wait on your Muggle doorstep." Draco registered his father's leisure drawl before he realized whose face it was. Lucius stepped inside, Narcissa following.
Draco swallowed. "My apologies, Father." He swooped down on Narcissa and kissed her cheek. "Mother,"
"Never apologize, Draco," Lucius said coldly. "It's a sign of weakness."
"Right."
Narcissa spoke in a high voice. "Draco, darling, what are you doing here? This house is beautiful, but the Muggle world?"
"I found that showing my face in the Wizarding World was not very," Draco swallowed again. "Safe. This home is comfortable; I bought it off an old wizard living in solitude for a very nice price. I enjoy this life."
Lucius looked angry but his voice did not show it. "You enjoy living alone, Draco? Surrounded by the Muggles— "
Draco cut him off coldly. "I am hardly surrounded, father. I live well away from the world and, yes, I enjoy it. Now, if your business was to see me, you have finished and I must beg your pardon, but please," he took a breath. "Leave."
Lucius lifted himself up to his tallest. "You force us out of your house when we have not seen you in two years? What, Draco, are you hiding here?"
"I have," Draco took a deep breath. "A guest. I don't believe she would like to wake up to a house full of recently released Death eaters."
Lucius held back his contempt. "Very well." He said dryly. "We shall visit at a more appropriate time. Narcissa, we shall leave Draco now."
Narcissa looked a bit heart broken but nevertheless kissed her son and followed her husband out the broad silver door.
Draco let all his breath out. He slouched against a nearby wall and slid down to sit on the floor. He threw his head back to rest it on the wall. The day he had most dreaded had come. His father and mother had been released from Azkaban and had discovered him. The days of living comfortably in solitude with Ginevra were through. Draco stood, shook away his feelings and focused his thoughts on his love. He sighed, walked to the kitchen, and began preparing their breakfast.