Draco has finally awaken but he is still very weak. Not remembering what had happened, Arthur had to bring the bad news to him: his mother has been found dead under the ruins of the Manor.

CHAPTER 4

"Girls! Wake up! Here Ginny, you got an owl early this morning. George is ready to bring your trunk downstairs so hurry up!" The voice of Molly Weasley woke up the three girls right away. It was 8 o'clock in the morning and they would all head up to King's Cross Station to drop off Ginny first before helping the boys move to their new flat in London. After stretching, Hermione was the first one to get up and went to sit on Ginny's bed.

"Ginny, wake up, you got a letter from Megan." Hermione had picked up the letter Molly left on top of her dresser, hoping it contained news that would change Ginny's mind about wanting to be homeschool. She had come back to the bedroom late last night after desperately trying to convince Harry one last time to side with her against her parents. Hermione and Esmeralda were already in bed when she burst in the room like a fury and went straight to bed, not glancing at them once.

Ginny kept the bed sheets over her head, pretending she hadn't heard her mother nor Hermione. Tired of her attitude, the brown-hair girl opened the envelope containing the letter and read it out loud.

Dear Ginny,

I hope you had a wonderful summer. I was saddened to read in your last letter you were thinking on not finishing your education at Hogwarts but I overheard something yesterday that might make you change your mind.

My brothers were talking and apparently your name came up as a candidate to be the new captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team!

I am going to keep my fingers crossed for you!

If your decision is final and you are staying home, try to come to King's Cross anyways, so I can give you a hug before leaving.

XOXO Megan

As soon as she heard the news of the gossip going around, Ginny jumped out of her bed and snatched the paper off Hermione's hands. She read it again, making sure her friend did not invent something to get her to go to school.

"Oh my... MOM!" She called her mother as she jumped out of her bed and ran out of the room. The girls could hear her running down the hallway and asking her mom where she had stored her Quidditch equipment.

"I knew it would only take that for her to change her mind", Hermione said with a triumphant expression on her face as she started to make her bed.

"You had something to do with this?" Esmeralda asked in disbelief. Hermione had never been interested in the sport so how did she influence the decision?

"McGonagall owed me one", she winked at her and that's the only thing Esmeralda got for an answer.

Molly reappeared in the room, holding shoulder and knee pads in her arms. "I swear, this girl is driving me crazy. Thank Merlin she's my last one! So, plan for the day: we drop Ginny to King's Cross Station and then help the boys settle in their flat." She was about to run out of the room as fast as she appeared in when Esmeralda jumped out of her bed as well.

"Molly, can I stay here instead?"

"You don't want to come with us dear?" She asked.

"It's not that", the young girl replied looking at the floor, "I would like to keep an eye on Draco and make sure he's okay." She felt a bit dizzy asking her for that, her heart was pounding so fast after she got that last sentence out of her mouth. She blamed it on the fact that she had never been left alone in a house with a boy that wasn't a member of her adoptive family.

"Oh! I forgot about him! I've been up for hours running around and didn't even think on checking on him! The poor boy must be starving!" Esmeralda promised she would take care of him and watched as Molly left the room. She suddenly felt a shiver down her neck and turned around to see Hermione was staring at her with a big smirk on her face.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She was already a bit annoyed knowing what her friend had in mind. "Stop it Hermione!", she said grabbing a pillow and throwing it towards her.

"You are lucky he's injured, it's the perfect excuse to stay here...alone with him." Esmeralda tried to not react at what she just said, showing her it did not bother her what she thought of the situation. "Oh bloody hell Esme! Can you, for once, admit that you find a guy attractive?! I am not like your family! I won't banish you!". Esmeralda remained silent and Hermione knew she had crossed a line with her joke. "I'm sorry, I know it's not a laughing matter for you. It's just that the other day I caught you staring at him, and more than just once."

"He's cute", Esmeralda simply admitted. Hermione smiled and turned around to grab a pair of jeans that was laying on the floor. "He's bloody gorgeous! And you never know, he might fall for his sexy nurse one day..."

"Stop!" And another pillow flew across the room.

...

Seven trunks had been blocking the main entrance door before Arthur shrunk them to the size of a penny and put them in one of his pockets. Ginny was already waiting for everybody at the door, thrilled to be on her way to Hogwarts. Harry and Ron approached Esmeralda and the boy with the scar was the first to hug her goodbyes.

"You'll come visit often right?" She asked as she switched to give a hug to Ron.

"Of course! Or else we'll go hungry since neither of us knows how to cook!" Ron said. "Besides, we don't want to leave you alone here with the snake", he added with a wink.

"The snake?", Esmeralda asked, not sure what he meant by "the snake".

"Ron! Don't transfer the prejudices you have against him to her! Esme, he just said that because Draco is a Slytherin at Hogwarts and their house animal is a snake, that's all".

"Don't let him bite youuuu...", George quickly whispered to her as he was leaving. Despite the fact that more than half of the household would not be coming back later, Esmeralda was tired of hearing all their stupid jokes and happy to see them leave. Where they making fun of her? of him? of them both?

"Ok kids, ready to go?" Molly arrived and started to push everybody out of the house. "Esme, take good care of him, we will be back for supper".

"Yes, Esme, make sure he receives all the love and attention he needs...specially the love part" Hermione said with a wink. "Oh my lord, Hermione, stop it..." she said in between her teeth as she realized Harry had heard what she said. She waved them goodbye and they all apparated at the same time. She locked the door and went directly to the kitchen, where she had Draco's breakfast ready. Molly had prepared a tray of pastries, homemade bread and spreads, way more food than what a normal person could eat in one sitting. Taking her wand, she first levitated the tray off the table but then, with another flick, brought it back down.

"Maybe he would like to eat here...", the thought had crossed her mind as she imagined he must be tired of staying in her room, laying in bed. By now, he should had gained back most of his strength, enough at least to walk down the stairs to the kitchen.

She went up the stairs slowly, making sure he would hear her come up.

...

Draco thought he had been left alone in the house. He had awaken with the noise of trunks hitting the floor as they were going down the staircase and the shouting of the youngest Weasley. And then, the entrance door closing. The family must have left for King's Cross Station.

"Did they forget I was here?" he could not help wondering. He did not mind going back to sleep, since he had barely closed his eyes during the night. Memories of countless summer days spent with his mother, walking down the path in the forrest adjacent of the Manor, had tormented him all night. He would see her smiling and pointing at flowers and animals crossing their path, hear her melodic voice humming the lullabies she used to sing to him when he was a baby. Suddenly, she would stop singing to stare at him with agonizing eyes and let out a painful scream, a scream that just paralyzed him with fear. He then would wake up drenched in sweat. He would of liked to go back to sleep but he was starving. Maybe he could sneak out of his room and…

"Knock, knock! May I come in? It's Esmeralda"

He did not hear her come up. She opened the door and greeted him with a good morning and a smile. For a split second, he had a flash back of his mother, greeting him the same way in the morning.

"I have breakfast ready downstairs. I thought you would like to get out of bed, get some exercice, if you are able of course."

"Wouldn't be a bad idea, I cannot stay laying down anymore", he said as he kicked the sheets off his legs, uncovering his body. She could not stop herself from blushing after seeing his almost-naked body. He did not seem to mind he was only wearing a pair of boxers in front of a girl.

"I think Ron left some clothes behind…", he heard her say before she quickly disappeared. She came back with a pair of grey fleece pants and a white t-shirt. She put down the clothes on the bed and took a few steps back. She was going to run out of the room when she realized he only had one functioning hand for the moment, his left arm still incapacitated by the injury. Before he even asked for her help, she came back next to him and put on the pair of pants first. She could not bring them all the way up since he was still sitting on the bed. The waist band was around his thighs as she decided to put the t-shirt on him first and then help him get up.

"Ok, now put yours hands on my hips", she told him.

"What?", Draco asked, not sure he heard correctly what she had asked him to do.

"Put YOUR hands on MY hips", she repeated as she grabbed his right hand and put it on her body like she had asked him. She did the same with the left one, but more carefully.

"Now, try to stand up. I will help you". She bended toward him and put her arms under his around his body. He got a whiff of her perfume as his face almost touched her collarbone. As she bended down, her shirt was giving him a view of what was under it but for some reason he stopped himself from looking. With mostly the help of his right hand, he was able to get up as she pulled him up at the same time.

He was much taller than what she thought he was. As he got up, their bodies bumped into each other and she felt how hard his muscles were. He still had his hands on her hips and, frankly, he did not want to take them off her.

"I have, hum, breakfast ready for you in the kitchen". She did not know what else to say.

"You already told me that", he said almost in a whisper. He wished he could have a glance at those hypnotic almond-shaped eyes of hers.

Esmeralda did not want to raise her head, too afraid she would get lost in his stormy grey eyes. She knew she would. "It's getting cold". She turned around, freeing herself from his hold. She started walking ahead and Draco tried to follow her pace as much as his weaken legs could. When he got in the kitchen, she had already poured him a cup of tea and with a flick of her wand pulled a chair for him at the head of the table.

"Usually I read the Daily Prophet in the morning" is the only thing he found to say to break the tension that seemed to be between them. He eyed it from across the other side of the table but almost instantly Esmeralda levitated the newspapers and threw it in the oven, closing the door behind it. "No Daily Prophet today" is the only thing she said but her actions just said a lot more: they most have written something about him, about his mother or about the whole incident and she didn't want him to read it.

"Fine, then you'll have to keep me company while I eat". He pulled the chair next to him with his foot and with his hand invited her to take a seat. She put a face of "I have a million things to do" but finally she caved in, pouring a cup of tea for herself before sitting next to him.

"Soooo...Ginger is off to Hogwarts, right?", he asked. He felt like he would be the one making the effort to not let the conversation die. She obviously wanted to leave the kitchen while he was having breakfast and now she was trying to drink her tea as fast as she could but couldn't, the water still almost at boiling temperature.

"If you are referring to Ginny, then yes she is. And Harry and Ron are moving to their own place".

"Mmm...maybe tonight I can ask to sleep in their old room, so you can have yours back, you know?" She simply nodded; in reality, she would be happy if she could have her room back, specially her bed. "Speaking of bedroom", Draco said between two bites of banana bread, "why do you have a room here? I mean, why are you here? You're a gypsy, right? Aren't you supposed to be travelling, living in tents, with other gypsies?" He had to ask. He was grateful she had been there to save his life but it is pretty unusual to see a gypsy living amongst wizards, specially such a young woman.

That was a question she did not want to answer. He didn't need to know the reasons why she wasn't with her family. It would just revive painful memories, even though people always sided with her after hearing all the details. They just did not understand that in her world things don't work the same. As she was about to tell him that it was none of his business, they heard a knock on the door. Draco saw in her eyes she wasn't expecting any visitors. She grabbed her wand and left the kitchen to go answer the door.

"Yes?", she said as she barely opened the heavy wooden door, just enough to have a peak of who was outside.

Draco was swallowing the last bite of his breakfast as she came back in the kitchen. "Your friends are here", she announced. He lifted his head and saw one familiar face poking through the door frame.

"Draco! How's it going, man?!", Theodore Nott said as he slapped a handshake to the convalescing man.

"Theo, Blaise! How did you know I was here?", he asked as he gave Blaise Zambini a handshake as well. "We went to King's Cross, figuring we would find Potter there. Since he's an Auror, we figured he must had an idea of where you were. We went to St. Mungo's first but after being constantly refused access to any information, we bribed a nurse and she told us you weren't hospitalized there", Blaise explained.

"You should of seen him Draco! Blaise was screaming at the staff over there, demanding information about you. Can you imagine it?! Blaise? Screaming?!" Theo added with a laugh. By his tone of voice and way of speaking, Esmeralda deduced it must have been pretty unusual in deed to hear the tallest of the two raising his voice. The other friend, with the black hair and green eyes, was a bit more energetic and less reserved.

"The Zambini Roar is pretty uncommon, I have to agree", Draco noted with a smile at his friends.

"Do you want to go in the living room? I think you all will be much more comfortable in there to talk." Esmeralda suggested as she got closer to Draco to help him get up of his chair. He felt slightly embarrassed appearing so weak in front of his friends but they did not seem to mind. But he remembered that this very same morning she ignored the fact he needed help going down the stairs; now, to walk a few steps into the living room, he had an arm around her.

"I'll bring some tea" she said as she placed a pillow behind him on the couch.

"Can I have a shot of espresso, if you don't mind?" Blaise asked. "I'll be back", she just said. Theo had been silent this whole time, something both friends knew was quite unusual. But as soon as Esmeralda left to go back in the kitchen, he opened his mouth.

"I didn't know the Weasleys kept a gypsy in here! Oh Merlin, I wish I could have a piece of that!", he said as he threw himself on the couch. "Unless you already had, mate". He winked at Draco.

"I just woke up yesterday and, as you can see, I can barely walk on my own. I think I'll be off duty for quite a while",

"Well then, if you don't mind, I'll try to get under her skirts. They think those long skirts help keeping men away but for me...I can't help imagining lifting all those layers of fabric and...mmm..."

"That's enough, Theo. Can't you see it's bothering Draco? We came here to see him and give him moral support. Not to check on the girl healing him." Blaise snapped. Draco stayed silent and turned his head toward the fireplace. Usually, between them they would constantly talk like that but this time...this time it was different. "It's okay Blaise, for now I rather not think about what happened. And T, don't talk about her like that: she saved my life. I owe her. Even if it means saving her from your perverted mind!" He punched him on the elbow.

"Hey!" Theo seemed still lost in his thoughts despite what Draco had just said about Esmeralda. Speaking of which, she entered the room carrying a tray. She served a cup of tea to Theo and Draco and handed a little cup of espresso to Blaise.

"You did not bring a cup for yourself?" Theo asked.

"I have a lot to do. I'll come back later." They all watched her leave, and Draco had to agree with Theo this time: that long skirt she was wearing was actually very enticing.

"You two, stop staring at her like that. Specially you, Draco." Blaise said with a reprimanding tone. "Did you notice her left hand?", he added. Both boys looked at him, not knowing what he was talking about.

"She has a black gold ring around her left ring finger. Black gold is cursed gold for gypsies. Plus, there has to be a reason why she is living here and not with her clan. Just be careful around her". He finished his shot and got up to leave his cup on the tray.

Draco had never noticed the ring on her finger, maybe because the bangles around her wrist were more eye-catching. Also, he had technically met her just the day before. "But she saved my life. She even risked her own so I would not need to have my arm amputated." Draco did not understand why he had to be careful around her. She obviously did not want to harm him.

Blaise went back to sit on the armchair across the coffee table. He needed to be more specific: "Be careful with your feelings towards her, man". Blaise was wise, more mature than his friends and Draco knew he wasn't saying this to mock him. Theo knew that too. When Blaise had that tone in his voice, he usually paid more attention to his words. "You...you can have her, Drake. She's all yours".

Hello to all! I hope you didn't think I gave up on the story :( I had a pretty busy month and then I left for a little vacation :)

Thank you to all the new followers and the reviews! From the bottom of my heart!

I'm sorry for what happened to Narcissa but I hope you like where this story is going. I promise you will get more info on what happened soon!

See you guys soon!