&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Snow wandered the hallways aimlessly, her nose in a book. Since she'd awoken from her sleep to find Draco and his friend standing at the foot of her bed four days ago, she hadn't seen either one of them. The burns distributed over her body had disappeared mysteriously, though.
She spent most of her time in the library a few doors down from her bedroom. The volumes that filled the numerous shelves were not filled with normal novels and textbooks, but instead they were filled with books about magic: witches, wizards, spells, potions, hexes…Snow had never heard of any of this, so she was interested in every book there and read at least five hours a day.
She was enjoying the time to herself, except for the fact that she had ample time to cry. For this reason, she was glad she hadn't run into anyone for the past four days. She wondered when she would run into another person. After all, the Manor was a mansion, and Snow only knew her way around a few of the many hallways.
At the moment, she wasn't paying much attention to where she was going. Suddenly, she found herself stumbling to catch her balance; her book was flying through the air. She landed on her butt with an "Oomph."
"Oh, sorry…er…" Draco extended his hand to help Snow up. She took his hand, noticing that it was almost twice the size of her own, and he pulled her to her feet.
"Sorry," she apologized, bending her head and trying to wipe the tear streaks from her face before he could notice them. "I wasn't watching where I was going." She lifted her head to look at him.
He was looking at her quizzically, his brow furrowed. "Are you alright?" he asked. She could tell he wasn't asking about her physical state, but her emotional one instead. She pretended that she couldn't tell that difference.
"Yes, I'm fine," she replied hurriedly. "We didn't collide that hard."
"No, no, I mean…" he looked uncomfortable confronting her about this, but continued anyway, "Snow, what I said a few days ago still holds true, you know. And…my room's only downstairs. Come down anytime you want."
Not giving her a chance to respond, he turned and walked briskly down the corridor and disappeared from Snow's sight.
She sighed and slid down the wall into a sitting position. Burying her face in her knees, she decided that she had been too lonely these past few days and she would take him up on his offer.
A few days later, Snow awoke in the middle of the night from a horrible nightmare. She was gasping and sweating and on the floor, still wrapped in her blankets. She had fallen from her bed in her restlessness. She lay back down on the hard floor for a few minutes, trying to gather her wits and remember the dream. She pushed a piece of dark, sweaty hair from her sticky forehead. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't even recall what her nightmare was about, though she figured it had been about the fire.
She got out of the giant bed and wrapped her bathrobe around herself. Normally when she awoke in the middle of the night she prayed, but her she'd lost most of her faith in God since she'd ended up in the Malfoy Manor.
Stumbling through the dark hallways, she managed to find her way to the stairs and down to the floor Draco's bedroom was on. The only problem was she didn't know what room was his.
She didn't want to start testing doors in case Lucius and Narcissa slept on this floor as well. She was debating what to do when she heard a laugh that sounded like it belonged to a teenage voice. She followed it to the end of the hallway and a mahogany door. She knocked and the voice inside went silent.
"Who is it?" the voice Snow knew to be Draco's called.
"Snow," she replied softly. "I wanted to talk." She wrapped the robe more tightly around herself.
"Come in," Draco said.
She opened the door slowly and entered the room. She saw Draco and his friend Blaise sitting in long black couches by an enormous fireplace. "Sorry, if you're busy I'll come back later…" she apologized, and started backing out the door.
"No, come in," Draco repeated. Snow paused for a moment before entering the room again. Draco's room was even bigger than hers was, and fancier as well. Most of the décor was black, though there was some red as well. There was a roaring fire in his marble fireplace, as there usually was with Snow's own fireplace, and he and Blaise looked very relaxed. She took a few more steps into the room.
"What's up, Snow?" Blaise asked. "It's the middle of the night. Not that I mind you being here or anything…"
Snow ignored his smirk and said, embarrassed, "I had a nightmare. I-I was just, lonely I guess. I wanted to talk to someone."
"Have a seat, then," Draco said. Blaise offered her the seat next to him with a wave of his hand, and she accepted, sinking into the black leather.
"What was your nightmare about?" Draco wondered.
Snow crossed her ankles. "I don't really remember," she said.
"Well what did you want to talk about?" Blaise asked. Subtly, he laid his arm across the back of the couch, so part of it was behind Snow's back. She didn't seem to notice but Draco shot him a warning look. Blaise smirked back at him.
"I've just been lonely, I guess," Snow admitted softly, looking down at her bare feet. "I haven't seen anyone in a few days and I'm—"
"Missing your parents?" Blaise asked.
Snow raised her head and looked at him. She nodded her head sadly. "So tell me something about your school," she said, changing the subject. She tried to sound cheerful, but it didn't work very well. She wanted to forget about her parents for now.
"Have you read anything about the magical world yet?" Draco asked.
"Yes," said Snow. She was slightly puzzled: how had Draco know she'd been reading books on magic for the past week?
Answering her unasked question, he said, "I saw you in the library one day. But the things you really need to read are your schoolbooks."
"I've started on those as well," said Snow, leaning back into the sofa. Back running into Blaise's arm, she looked at him quizzically and he moved it backwards a little bit. "But I want to know about Hogwarts."
"Well, there are four houses, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor," Blaise explained. "The houses are sort of like your families for the year. You want to be in Slytherin. That's where all the cool people are."
"I've come across stuff about Harry Potter…does he go to Hogwarts?" Snow asked. "I think I'd like to meet him."
A sneer crept onto Draco's face and he curled his lip in distaste. "Yes, Saint Potter goes to Hogwarts," he said. "Believe me, you do not want to meet the Boy-Who-Lived, nor any part of the Golden Trio."
"But Harry Potter sounds like a really great person to meet," Snow said, slightly confused. She bit the inside of her cheek.
"Believe us, Snow, you don't want to meet Potter. He mixes with the wrong people," Blaise assured her.
Snow's forehead creased as she looked at Blaise questioningly. "What kind of people does he mix with?" she wondered.
"Mudbloods," said Blaise with an air of disgust.
Before Snow could ask what he was talking about, Draco said, "You're a pureblood, Snow, and you should stick with purebloods. You're a full witch. You're more talented and powerful than half bloods and Mudbloods. If you mix with half bloods like Potter, Muggleborns like his friend Granger, and blood traitors like his mate Weasley, then you're asking for trouble."
"Oh," said Snow, less confused now. She thought that what Draco was saying could be awful prejudice…or it could be the truth. Though, if what he was saying was true, and she was a talented witch, why hadn't she done any magic before?
"Enough about Hogwarts, tell us about yourself," said Blaise, flashing a grin in Snow's direction.
"Well…" said Snow, looking thoughtful for a moment. "There's not much to say, really. I've got a rather dull life. Well, I had anyway, until…" her voice trailed off and she gulped, thinking about the events that had landed her in this house.
"There must be something worth telling," Draco said hastily, trying to cover up his uncomfortable state at Snow's reaction with a Malfoy-like drawl.
Snow brushed a curl of hair from her face and leaned more into the sofa. "I like to read," she said. "That's probably the most interesting thing about me."
"I doubt that," Blaise said, raising his eyebrows. "Where'd you used to live?"
"Arizona," replied Snow. "In America…I lived in this little town called Armadillo. The population was only about five hundred. I knew most of the people in town. And now…now I live in a house where I don't know any of the people or half of the rooms." She didn't try to hide the discouragement in her voice.
"You'll get used to it, and you'll get to know people…at least you'll get to know Blaise and I," Draco shrugged, trying to sound indifferent to her apparent emotions.
"You might get to know Lucius better too, whether you like it or not," added Blaise.
There was a pause. Then Snow said, softly, almost embarrassed, "Do you guys ever have nightmares?" Then she added, quickly, "Sorry, that was a stupid question. I don't know you two well enough for an answer to that. I should probably go to bed."
She made a move to get up, but before she could walk past Blaise, he grabbed her arm gently and she stopped walking. "No, it's alright," said Draco with a small shrug, though Snow couldn't see the gesture. In truth, neither he nor his friend wanted Snow to leave.
She sat back down next to Blaise on the couch. Snow decided to ask another question to cover her embarrassment from the last one. "Draco, your father said that I protected myself until he came and rescued me from the fire. Do you have any idea how I did that?"
"When witches and wizards have extreme emotions or they're in danger, their magic kicks in to protect them," Draco explained. "Your body warded off the fire until father could save you."
"Oh," said Snow, and she lapsed into silence. She felt tears pricking at her eyes. "Well, I think I'm going to bed now. Goodnight." Without another word, and with uncomfortable knots forming in her stomach, she went back to bed to try and get some better sleep.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Review review review!