Chapter 7
Lucius and Narcissa thought it would be nice to have a quiet lunch, just for the two of them as both Draco and Rasalas were taking advantage of the rest of the summer holiday and were being very lazy and had decided to sleep for as long as possible. Therefore the couple were sharing a romantic meal in one of the manor's smaller dining rooms. The sun was shining and the house-elves had opened some windows so that the fresh breeze could blow straight from the expansive grounds into the room. It was nearing the end of July stretching into the heights of summer and so the couple were thinking of getting ready to make the trip to Diagon Alley for Draco's supplies and they were only waiting for the confirmation that Rasalas also had a place at Hogwarts.
The two of them talked of their hopes for the future they now had both near and far. Also of Severus and possibly letting him in on the secret of Harry Potter and Rasalas Black ("I still think his is clever enough to work it out for himself given all of the clues Lucius.", "Well then love, we shall wait for a little longer."). Suddenly shrieks and shouts echoed through the halls and passing soft glances between them, husband and wife left the room to see what all of the noise was about.
Coming to the top of the stairs they were nearly trodden on as their son and his cousin continued to dance quickly down the hallway with many embellishments of spins, twists and dips. Rasalas clutched sheets of parchment in one of her hands as tightly as Draco held her to him in a particularly violent turn. Narcissa could not help but laugh at the sight of them, neither had prepared for the day properly and so both had thrown on the nearest clothes to hand and Rasalas' hair hung in messy curls down her back while Draco's was standing up around the crown of his head.
As Lucius stood at the top of the marble stairs next to his beautiful wife he noticed with pride the young ones were no longer children but adults as their quick feet danced lightly across the floor. Seeing the joy on their faces he could not help but smile at their happiness. He wrapped and arm around his wife's waist and pulled her close to his side and pressed his lips to her temple and felt her relax against him. Together they stood in silence waiting for their children to exhaust themselves.
Finally the two dancers slowed to a stop before their watchers and stood smiling at them only occasionally swapping glances and snickering. Narcissa smiled indulgently at them with hints of a pink flush on her own cheeks, Lucius was affectionate when it was just the two of them but never when others would see, a glance or a brush of touch would be all she would get and so such obvious affection was slightly embarrassing. Her embarrassment quickly faded when she saw the obvious joy in Draco's eyes. Catching Rasalas' eye she nodded to the parchments which were then dutifully handed over to Lucius.
"A in Divination," Rasalas shrugged at the look Lucius shot her over the top of the parchment still not releasing his wife, "EE in Ancient Runes and Arithmacy and O's in everything else. Very good. The other letter?"
"My official acceptance to Hogwarts for the final year in September. I just need to confirm the list of the NEWT subjects I wish to take." The excited grin was back on her face and she was almost visibly humming with excitement. Her voice was very sensual and slipped over every word like music.
"Then you had better go and write the missive hadn't you?" Lucius gave Rasalas a soft smile filled with pride and held the parchment out to her to return it. Suddenly he found his other arm filled with a female as Rasalas threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around his neck thanking him furiously. He chuckled, "Wait, you will not like me so much in a moment. We are definitely going to Grimmauld Place on the 31st to Harry Potter's birthday party."
Silence filled the hall before Rasalas slowly extracted herself from Lucius' arm. She gave a small smile and nodded.
"You want to introduce me as Regulus' daughter." Lucius inclined his head. "Very well then. We might as well make an impact and I wish to talk to my Grandmother's portrait."
"We shall go to Diagon Alley tomorrow Rasalas. Once you have been fitted for robes Lucius will take you to Gringotts to help you sort out your inheritance and I shall get your books and supplies. We should also get you a pet, maybe an owl..." Narcissa trailed off as her eyes glazed over slightly and Draco rolled his eyes at Rasalas recognising his mother's mental list making.
"Come Draco, you can help me write a reply to McGonagall. Something fancy but not arrogant." Lucius watched as his heir and ward sauntered off together discussing what they should write. He suddenly realised that they had left him with his planning wife and sighing he steered her to the study, he might as well get some work don and perhaps if he gave her some parchment, quill and ink Narcissa could entertain herself.
Hermione and Ron were at the Burrow preparing to go to Diagon Alley for their school things. Well, Hermione was ready and Ron had stopped getting ready as they took advantage of the really noisy house to talk quietly about Harry and Rasalas. When they had returned from France and met up with Harry to spend time together as the Golden Trio again they began to become worried. Harry was expecting things to be done for him as The-Boy-Who-Won and was lapping up the media attention as if it was his right. They had watched the others around them to see if they noticed that Harry had done a complete turnaround, no-one (bar the twins) had, occasionally Sirius or Remus would look at him and frown, but they would be distracted by something or someone else, mainly James or Lily Potter.
The other thing Hermione and Ron noticed about Harry was although he is officially dating Ginny (who Ron had overheard muttering about deserving more as Harry Potter's girlfriend) he still flirted with other girls, the prettier the better. Both Ron and Hermione agreed that Rasalas was gorgeous and were now worried that Harry would go after her. They knew that the Malfoy's would be bringing an extra guest to Harry's party and had no doubt that it would be Rasalas, they doubted that Harry, in Ginny's sight or not, would be able to resist.
Molly Weasley peered around the door before letting them know that there was a slight change of plan, they would all be staying at Grimmauld Place tonight for a week as Molly would be in charge of the food for the party and wanted to know what she should prepare. Once she had left Ron and Hermione looked at each other and, realising that they had no choice, shrugged before Hermione drew her wand and in a sweeping movement and quietly muttered word had collected Ron's belonging into a bag for the week.
"We'll just have to send a letter to Rasalas about Harry from Number 12."
"Don't worry Hermione, Rasalas should be fine. Especially with all she learnt as Harry last year. I'm sure Rasalas will tell you the same. C'mon let's get going."
For Harry Potter life was good. People offered him things for free, the press followed his every move, women threw themselves at him and he had two extremely loyal friends. None of which he had worked for himself.
His godfather was planning a birthday party for him and all of the Order was invited. He hoped to get lots of present's especially expensive ones. He thought that the plan was to have a fancy dinner but it was to be a surprise. At least he had new robes. Harry frowned as he lounged in the library, one of the few rooms in the house he liked, the Harry clone had terrible fashion sense and all of his clothes were far too big and everything was fairly tatty, did the thing have no sense? Luckily Madam Malkin's had offered him 75% discount off a whole new wardrobe.
The only thing he got worth having was his Firebolt, Sirius' gift to him on his 14th birthday. Unfortunately his father took back the invisibility cloak to help his in his returned job as an Auror and the beautiful snowy owls he had really wanted refused him and tried to peck him when he attempted to per her, ruddy bird. He hoped he could get a better bird today in Diagon Alley. Thinking of birds he should have thanked his clone for getting him a girlfriend. He was enjoying his pick of other girls as well, not that Ginny needed to know, she was kind and innocent (perfect for a wife) but he had needs and so he'd had several lovers since he entered the wizarding world and no-one was the wiser.
Suddenly Mrs Black began to scream and Harry leapt to his feet and after a quick look in a mirror he prepared himself to meet his friends and snog his girlfriend. He smirked at his reflection, life was really good.
