Ebony had been at Malfoy manor for a month, she had a good system worked out, she'd eat breakfast with Lucius in the hope that he'd give an indication to how things were going regarding the ministry's search for her. She knew that a ministry official had been to see Mr Costa, but that was all that Lucius would tell her.

After breakfast, Ebony would spend as much of the day as possible avoiding Lucius, she was far too stubborn to suddenly change out of the blue, Ebony had put so much effort into avoiding Lucius that she barely noticed when all of her old things from her flat appeared overnight. She never had much of her own as she was living in a rented accommodation, her dressing room seemed fuller and there were a few photographs on her desk, she supposed that Mink had put her things where they were, and the books she had would be in the library, in the same disorganised way that Lucius' books were.

The late summer rain poured down ferociously, drumming against the windows like some strange percussion band, Lucius had received an owl from Draco, who was in Egypt! When Draco had told him that he wanted to travel, Lucius didn't take him seriously, he found it strange how much Draco had changed, he had once been a complete 'mummies boy' and was now very much independent and doing his own thing.

Lucius sat in his study, bored, he had sent a reply to Draco, and he had not been sent much paperwork to do. He walked lazily through his manor, hoping he'd find Ebony, he tried to convince himself that there had been an improvement between them, she had gone from glaring at him whenever he walked into a room to acting as if he wasn't there at all most of the time. On the rare occasion that she did acknowledge him, it seemed very strained. He found Ebony in one of the disused rooms upstairs that was almost completely empty apart from 2, old, worn out arm chairs.

She had positioned one so that it looked out towards the window and was sitting in it silently, curled up, a look on her face that suggested that she was deep in thought. Lucius recognised this look, it was almost the same one she wore at the ball whilst looking at the moon, it was a dreamy sort of look, serene like. Lucius would have thought that she was contented if she had not been frowning, Lucius walked to the window and placed his palms on the windowsill, looking through the rain.

"Sometimes I think that you hate me" he said softly as if only he were meant to hear it

Ebony remained silent, he turned his head towards her

"Do you?"

"Yes" she started "well..no, oh I don't know!"

Lucius nodded solemnly, a hurt look fell upon his face. Ebony felt something stir in the pit of her stomach, making her chest feel tight, something that she would never have expected to feel in regards to Lucius…Guilt.

Ebony didn't understand why she was feeling such guilt, yes, it had been quite a mean thing to say, but he had kidnapped her to begin with, he couldn't have expected her to just be fine with that. Lucius was at the doorway, Ebony had watched him go back to looking through the window then slowly walk away

"No" she said before he left "I don't hate you"

Lucius kept walking away, Ebony was sure that she had meant what she said, and she was sure that he had heard her, it felt strange that after all the time that she had been ignoring him and now what she wanted was for him to have at least acknowledged what she had said. She had become so used to him talking to her, even when she didn't reply that him ignoring her felt like a spear penetrating through her very being.

Ebony had decided to join Lucius for dinner that evening, however when Mink had finished cooking and sent food to the plates, Lucius was not there, Ebony ate alone, then went to her room. Ebony wished she could send a letter to Alyss and Sasha, they would have been able to give her some advice, she wouldn't know what to say to them though, and she pondered the idea.

'Some guy kidnapped me, and I said something that upset him and now he's ignoring me! How can I get him to notice me again?'

Ebony considered borrowing on of Lucius' owls to send a letter to her friends, but what if the letters were searched? Then the ministry would know where she was. Ebony was feeling very alone, she found it hard to believe, but there was a part of her that truly missed Lucius' presence around her.

Lucius was not present at breakfast the next morning, Ebony had resolved to stay in the dining room until he made an appearance; she rationalised that he would have to eat at some point during the day. At around midday Lucius came into the dining room

"I thought so" he said

"You thought what?"

"I haven't heard you since you came in here this morning, I thought you hadn't left"

"Oh"

"What are you doing staying here all day?" he said demandingly

"I was waiting for you"

Lucius raised an eyebrow mockingly

"Why do you insist on pushing me?" he said

"What?"

"You say you hate me, then instantly change your mind, for the past month you have barely even looked at me let alone make any sort of contact, even when I have tried, and yes I have tried, very hard, but there is only so much a man can take. You have been rude when talking to me, if you replied at all! And now I find you waiting for me, as if none of that ever happened! Do you enjoy causing me such pain?"

"I do not wish to cause you any more pain, but Mr Malfoy, please put yourself in my shoes, one moment I am living a normal life, a good life then the next I am here, I find out that you have been practically stalking me for just over a year and that the ministry is after me." Ebony paused for breath "Do you know how horrible it feels to know that you are probably safer with the person who kidnaps you than you are in your own home? No! I don't think you do" she paused again, tears were starting to well up in her eyes.

"And to top it all off, I know that you are trying, I know you want me to be safe, but, whenever a part of me sees that, I feel angry with myself! You are not meant to sympathise with your kidnappers! And then I feel guilty for treating you so coldly when I know you have done nothing but be good to me"

Ebony had broken down and was slumped back into her seat.

Lucius had expected many things, but never did he expect the girl to break down in tears right in front of him, he had no idea what to do, if he tried to put an arm around her, would she accept it? Probably not. He sat in the chair beside her, watching and waiting for her to calm, he knew it was important for her to let everything out. It took an hour for Ebony to stop crying, Lucius tried to give her a sympathetic smile, but it was a sentiment he wasn't used to and he seemed very awkward in his attempt.

"I have news" he said

Ebony made eye contact

"The Aurors are furious, they haven't been able to find you, Kingsley Shacklebolt has demanded that everything to do with you is to be forwarded through him, he said that he'll take on the whole case himself if he has to. He has bowed to most of the Aurors demands so far because he can't really afford to lose them, but they're getting a bit big for their boots trying to catch you and some others"

"So, the minister is involved? That's not good"

"Not good? It's very good actually, Kingsley is a very fair man, with him on the case things won't get blown out of proportion, I expect no one will bother you unless you do something suspicious"

"But isn't not going out, having no wand and generally not being seen suspicious in itself?"

Lucius contemplated what Ebony had said for a moment

"I suppose you are right, tomorrow, I shall give you some money, and you will go to Diagon alley, with Mink, buy yourself a new wand, and treat yourself with what ever is left"

Ebony was shocked

"Mr Malfoy, I cannot take your money"

"Yes you can, I won't take no for an answer, also, it's Lucius, you are my guest, not a servant"

Ebony let out a small laugh and Lucius raised an eyebrow

"I was under the impression I was a hostage, not a guest"

" You were free to leave any time you wanted to"

He and Ebony parted ways, Lucius was in his study, writing some sort of report about overcrowding at Azkaban, Ebony had gone to the library to find where her books had been put, it was a pleasant surprise when she found them all in a few small piles on the table. She picked up her old, tattered copy of Frankenstein. She found her bookmark exactly where she had left it and continued reading.

Dinner was a quiet affair, both parties involved had grown used to eating alone, any conversation made was awkward, so they remained silent, which didn't bother Lucius, as it wasn't the same cold, resentful silence he had been forced to endure for a month before Ebony's break down. He was grateful that she had not asked how he got all of the information from the ministry. He didn't think she would have been so open with him if she had known how he had been blackmailing and bribing several people in different departments so that he could know what was going on when it came to her.