Chapter Seven
A/N: I'd just like to say thanks to all my reviewers, btvs22, The Last Poison Apple, Sammii-jojo, Guest, gundamseeddestiny and Kali-blue. You make me write.
Hallowe'en had come and Beauxbattons School celebrated the occasion in style. The white marble halls were decorated with green garlands and red flowers, with large carved pumpkins every few yards along.
This meant that the Opening Ceremony of the Triwizard Tournament was approaching that night and Beauxbattons was practically buzzing with excitement. Students were gossiping among themselves during the lessons, mainly about the fact that the famous Harry Potter would be arriving at their school in a matter of hours. Allie didn't join in with the gossip, passing it off as giggling fangirls trying to get an autograph, but truthfully, she was just as excited as they were, maybe even more so.
That evening, when Allie and Monique returned to the common room, practically the entire house was gathered at the windows. She managed to push her way through the crowd to see a large ship emerging from the lake. The lake was an anomaly actually. It seemed as if it ended by the forest, but it actually continued underwater, due to a charm that Professor Mountjoy, Defense Against the Dark Arts professor had put on it. Mind you, while every pair of eyes in the school was on the ship, Allie's were on the crowd of Thestrals appearing in the distance. Hogwarts had arrived.
"Wow! I didn't know that Hogwarts could fly like that. They don't even have broomsticks!" exclaimed Monique, who could evidently not see the skeletal horses.
"They're Thestrals, Mon. You can only see them if you've seen death."
"And you can?"
"I was fighting in the Battle of Hogwarts, Mon. I saw a lot of people die that night." replied Allie, the sadness evident in her features. Monique, sensing this, clasped her hand.
"Come on, little cousin. Let's go and bag us some Durmstrang boys!"
"Yeah." laughed Allie, following her elder cousin out of the common room door. They ran to the bottom of the staircase and out of the door, quickly becoming lost in a sea of foreign students.
"Monique?" asked Allie nervously, trying to locate the girl. "Monique?!"
"You know, you really ought to be more careful." drawled a familiar voice. Allie turned quickly to confirm what she had heard and threw her arms around her elder brother.
"Draco!" she cried, holding him tight as she smiled. She released him after a few moments, before pulling him into an embrace once more.
"Oh, I'm so glad to see you!" she exclaimed, her voice muffled by her brother's fur coat.
"I'd never have noticed!" Draco replied in an amused and slightly sarcastic voice. Allie pulled away enough to hit him lightly on the arm.
"Oi, you, no need to be sarcastic!" Allie chastised. "How's Tori?"
"She's fine, I think. It's hit her quite hard, the seperation, especially with the baby, but the Triwizard should sort that." Draco admitted. Allie nodded. Although they were only engaged and not yet married, Astoria was already four months pregnant with she and Draco's first child. Naturally, his parents had not been thrilled by the prospect of having a grandchild only a couple of months after it's parents' marriage, but they had eventually accepted the fact that at least the child would be a pure-blooded baby born after the wedding, if barely.
"Allie!" came a sudden cry from behind and the dischevelled Monique tumbled through the crowds towards her.
"Hi, Moni!" Allie replied, waving the girl over to them. She arrived with a slightly confused look on her face, which Allie soon realised was due to the fact that Moni didn't know who Draco was.
"Oh, right. Moni, this is my brother, Draco. Draco, this is Moni, my friend and... well, I'll explain later." Allie finished, seeing the first crowd of Thestrals trot into line in the courtyard, the mix of blue and yellow uniforms standing out against the rapidly pinking sky. One in particular stood out, her brightly coloured necklaces standing out further against her uniform.
"Luna!" Allie cried, running towards the Ravenclaw girl and catching her in an embrace, one which she quickly returned.
"Hello, Allie." Luna replied, her regularly dazed voice unchanged in the couple of months they had been seperated.
"How are you?" Allie asked.
"Oh, alright, I suppose. I was bitten by a gnome again at the Burrow a couple of weeks ago, but I don't mind. In fact, I'm quite lucky. Gnome saliva is very beneficial, don't you know?" Yes, Luna certainly hadn't changed.
Suddenly, a cry came from the air above them, as two dozen more Thestrals appeared from behind the evening clouds. The first dozen landed prematurely in the forest, while the second landed subtlely in the courtyard, where they were supposed to. Ten students dismounted the beasts, along with two professors that Allie couldn't currently identify. The students were evidently from Slytherin house, due to the colouring of their uniforms, and, though the majority of them were nice enough to Allie, due to Draco's influence, the only one that the girl really wanted to see was running towards the elder Malfoy with her arms outstretched.
"Draco!" she cried when she reached him, throwing her arms around his neck in an emotional embrace.
"Hi, love. How are you?" Draco asked his fiancée, his right hand stroking the side of her face, while his left hand came to rest on her slightly rounded stomach.
"Much better now!" Astoria cried in reply, her eyes beginning to shine further in the early moonlight.
"How's Mini Malfoy?" Draco asked with both humour and affection, his hand gently stroking her stomach.
"He's fine, aren't you, my little man?" Astoria smiled, her voice softening slightly more at the mention of their unborn baby son. The woman's smile increased even more when she spotted Allie standing beside her brother.
"Oh, Allie, I didn't see you there!" Astoria exclaimed, wrapping her arms around the young Malfoy.
"That's alright, Tori. How are you? How's my little nephew?"
"He's fine. Has a tendency to wake me up in the middle of the night, though, because he gets hungry. Not even born yet and he's already demanding."
"Well, how could he not be? He's probably just looking for attention." Draco laughed.
"Yeah, I mean, look at his dad!" Allie exclaimed, a cheeky smirk lighting up her face.
"Oi!" Draco yelled in annoyance, glaring daggers at his younger sister, whose smirk widened at his reaction.
"I second that!" Astoria laughed along with her, causing Draco to pout almost comically at being ganged up on.
"I call thirdly!" came a third voice from behind Allie, one so unexpected, yet so familiar. Both the Malfoys turned and cried out in amazement.
"Dad!" they shouted in unison, Allie throwing her arms around the man, who accepted her embrace with a smile, reaching out to pat Draco on the back as he did so.
"Hello, Princess. Hello, Dragon."
"Dad, what're you doing here?!" Draco exclaimed.
"I needed a job, and Hogwarts needed a professor. The compromise suited most everyone." Lucius replied, the familiar Malfoy smirk adorning his features.
"But Dad, you failed Transfiguration. You only got a 'P'." Draco commented, his expression changing rapidly to one of confusion.
"Then it's just as well I am not teaching it." Draco's confusion only intensified, as did that of the others around him.
"But,… then what are you teaching?" Draco and Allie asked, in near unison.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts." The pair sighed, reminded at once that there was more than one vacancy at the school as of late.
"So, where's the new Transfiguration professor, then?" Allie questioned her father, looking in confusion toward the small line of Hogwarts professors filing into the building with the Ravenclaws in tow, Luna flashing her a quick smile as she walked. None of them seemed to be unfamiliar to her, much to Allie's further confusion.
"She's right there." Lucius replied, nodding towards the group of Gryffindors ascending the small slope opposite his daughter. The Malfoy twins turned in the direction he'd indicated and their mouths dropped open. By the time the woman had reached them, the pair each had a hand on their head in exasperation.
"Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable." Draco sighed, as the woman pushed the remaining Gryffindors towards the huge doors at the front of the palace, including Harry, Neville and the Weasley siblings, who waved towards Allie briefly, before they were ushered away by Professor McGonagall, who gave her a small smile as she walked away. The woman, however, did not follow them, instead approaching the trio and, without pause, kissing Lucius full on the lips.
"Mum!" the other two exclaimed. Reluctantly, the couple separated, a little out of breath.
"What?" Narcissa asked, her arm still around Lucius' waist, as his was around hers. "You didn't think I was about to let your father have all the fun, did you?"
Allie was still slightly disbelieving of the situation when Monique pulled on her arm, catching her attention and reminding her that the girl still remained there.
"Al, we have to go and get changed. Madame Maxime will kill us if we're late, and we'll completely embarrass Madame De Lumiere if we aren't in our celebratory robes."
"Yeah, you're right." Allie stated, turning with her friend and running towards the palace, in an effort to return to their dormitory without their rather strict Head of House seeing them still in their regular uniform.
They returned a dozen minutes later, red faced and breathing heavily, each tying a flowing shawl over their matching celeste coloured dresses. They muttered a quick spell in turn to fix their hair back into place and joined the lines of seventh year girls waiting under Madame Maxime's watchful eye. As the doors to the Great Hall edged closed, its occupants settling down into their seats, Monique and Allie turned to each other and, with their eyes, conveyed a common thought.
'This is where it all begins.'
A/N: I am so, so, so sorry about how late this update is. I finished it in December (still late, I know), but then my memory stick broke, so I couldn't put it up. Anyway, enjoy and review!