After Kingsley's visit, Draco and Esmeralda went to Gringotts where he hoped to find a note from his parents. After searching his family's vault, he realized they had left him nothing.

CHAPTER 7

Months had flown by and November had come almost to an end. Frost had overtaken the cold mornings and snow was expected one day or another to change the color of the familiar landscape surrounding the household. Harry and Ron had come back for a few days to help Draco collect the necessary amount of wood to heat up the Burrow for the upcoming months of winter. Esmeralda could see them through the kitchen window cutting and placing the logs in piles near the chicken coop. She had been trying to stay focus on her tasks and have lunch ready for when they would be done but she kept getting distracted and caught herself staring at Draco more often than wanted.

"Esme! You are burning the bread!" The voice of Molly once again snapped her back to reality and to the now burn grilled cheese on the pan. "You've been so distracted lately". Esmeralda had a lot on her mind these past few days: first of all, it had been almost three months since she had written to her brother and hadn't gotten a response yet. They had found Percy's old wand in his room when they were cleaning it to make it Draco's and he had been stuck with it since then. The wand seemed to have a mind on its own and barely responded to Draco's spells and charms. At the end, he had giving up on trying to use it and been patiently waiting for the one Esmeralda asked her brother to craft. Deep down, he had a feeling it would never arrive but she, on the other end, hadn't lost hope. She would wake up very early every morning and run downstairs to the kitchen to check if an owl had not dropped out a package during the night. But nothing yet.

"Boys! Lunch is ready!" After hearing Molly calling them, the boys headed towards the house and took a seat at the the table while Esmeralda was serving the food.

"Tomato soup and grilled cheese. Your favourite. And mine as well. Thanks", Draco winked as she gave him his plate and took a seat next to him. She gave him a corner smile in response and took a first bite of her sandwich.

"I sure thought I would never need to split logs ever again... And here I am again... Starving!" Ron was already reaching for a second grilled cheese when her mom gave him a light smack behind his head. "Ronald! You have aging parents and your number one priority should be to care for them. Until you don't have one on your own, we are still your family! Talking about family, are you planning on proposing soon to Hermione? You don't want her to lose interest."

Ron rolled his eyes as Harry almost chocked of laughter. "Mom! Stop! We haven't passed the six-month mark yet, relax!"

"I want my children to be happy, that's all. Anyways, when the time comes, you know you can have Aunt Morgane's ring. Hermione always loved that ring."

While Ron was trying to convince his mother they were still too young to think about marriage, Draco had been quietly staring at Esmeralda's black gold ring. Harry noticed and gave him a subtle nudge with his foot under the table.

*Flashback to earlier that day*

"Hey, how's it going? Ready to cut some wood?" Draco had just finished tying his boots and was sitting on his bed when Harry appeared at his door. "Ron is waiting for us downstairs...in the kitchen obviously..." Draco was not surprised. During the past few weeks he had witnessed with his own eyes how much the Weasley boys would eat and now knew from where originated the past financial struggles of the family.

"Harry, can I talk to you two minutes?"

"Yea sure, everything okay?"

Instead of answering him back, Draco reached for a book on his nightstand. "How much do you know about Esmeralda?", he finally asked. Harry had no idea what to respond to that question. "What do you mean?"

Draco started to feel even more uncomfortable with the question he wanted to ask Harry about. Maybe he should of waited for Hermione to come back from Australia instead of relying on Harry... or maybe have asked Esmeralda directly. Over the past months, they had spent a great amount of time together and he was feeling a strong connection between them, a connection he would be extremely saddened to jeopardize because of his curiosity. Nonetheless, what Blaise had warned him about, that black golden ring she wore, had stayed in his mind and finally he had found some information about it in the travel journal of his great-great grand uncle Reginald Malfoy. Now it was too late and he could not leave Harry hanging there, having him worrying about something probably not that important. "That black ring she has..." is all he needed to say. Harry's bright green eyes widened and, for a second, Draco was sure he would pretend to not have noticed the ring.

"Ah man...", Harry passed a hand in his black untidy hair and looked at the boards forming the floor. "It is not my story to tell and, besides, I don't know all the details, only what Ginny overheard when Esme got here... Maybe if you ask her she would tell you. I can see she had grown pretty fond of you."

'What do you mean?" It was now Draco's turn to ask the question. Harry's serious face lit up, relieving the tension between them. "Well, apparently she writes a lot about you and the time you spent together in her letters to Ginny and Hermione. And you can't deny that you two spend an awful amount of time together!"

"Yea, I guess..." Draco did not want to fully agree with his ex-enemy, now-friend, fearing it would uncover feelings what he was not ready to share with him. Feeling Draco's discomfort, Harry did not add anything more to the subject. "Anyways, just talk to her, you got nothing to lose. She might just hex you but you'll be fine."

...

The sun had just started to set when the boys were finally done with their task. All the wood needed to heat up the house during the months of winter had been cut and piled properly.

"Hey Draco, for a rich spoiled kid who never had to do a chore in his life, you did not too bad today", Ron said while wiping the few drops of sweat dripping down his face. Esmeralda could not believe Ron had just said that: Draco had been helping and working hard since he decided to stay at the Burrow and never one could of guessed he was new at cleaning the chicken coop or at mowing the lawn. He would help setting the table every evening before supper and clean the dishes after. All these tasks and chores had to be done manually, since his wand did not want to obey him. Draco never complained about it; he actually seemed to enjoy all this manual work.

"Hey, I have an idea!", Harry said, "let's go for a broomstick ride! The breeze will surely cool us off! We'll go fetch ours and we go right away!"

"Sure, but I don't have a broomstick. I am waiting for the new Nimbus to come out in January", Draco said.

"No problem, you can have one of Harry's! Trust me, you don't want to borrow Ginny's, its temper is even worse than Percy's wand!", Ron said as he stepped inside the chimney and disappeared in the green flames. Harry did the same after him.

"Are you coming with us? Do you have a broom?" Draco asked Esmeralda as he was taking his shirt off and wiping his neck with it. Esmeralda had brought him a clean, dry sweater to change and it was hard for her not to stare too much at him and his topless body. All the hard work he had been doing around had certainly help in keeping him in shape. Despite all the food Molly would serve him during their meals, he managed to keep a lean figure.

"No, it's okay, you guys go and have fun. I'll stay here. Besides, I've never been on a broom..."

"You have NEVER been on one?! Nobody has ever taught you?"

"Not really... I wasn't allowed to have one back at camp and here, well, I would just sit with Hermione and watched Ginny and the boys play Quidditch."

"Here, you're ready?" Ron had returned back, followed by Harry who was carrying two broomsticks. "Yes, just going to grab my coat and Esme's", Draco said nonchalantly. She jumped when she heard him say her name, not knowing what he had in mind.

A smirk appeared on Harry's lips and he clearly decided to play the innocent card to not embarrass Esmeralda. "Oh, you are coming too? Wait two seconds, I'll go get another broomstick for you".

"It's okay Harry, she'll ride with me", Draco clarified. As Harry was handling him his broom, he discreetly winked at the pale blond boy and whispered "That's what I wanted to hear, man" to him.

The night sky was clear of clouds, making the moon and stars shine bright and illuminate enough the surroundings for the group to be able to fly without casting any luminosity charm. The night felt warmer than the previous ones and a light breeze would come from time to time brush their hair. The conditions for flying were perfect but that did not prevent Molly from coming outside and making sure they would fly carefully.

"Esme, grab on Draco tightly. And don't look down! I made that mistake once... since then, nobody could convince me to go back on one!"

"Really, mum? Not even somebody like...I don't know... Like Alistor Belchester?" This cynic remark of Ron only earned him a second slap behind the head from his mother. "Be careful, boys. Don't stay out too late."

As soon as the matriarch went back inside, Harry and Ron passed a leg over their brooms and almost instantly took off like rockets. Esmeralda felt her legs shaking and unwillingly breathing faster than usual. Draco had already Harry's Nimbus in between his legs and, with a hand sign, told her to come closer.

"You can sit behind me." She was still hesitant. First, she was going to be meters far from the safety of the ground and, second, she would be holding on to him. Their bodies would be close to each other and that would definitely be odd for her. For him it wouldn't be: she was sure she wasn't the first girl he would bring for a ride in between the clouds. She lifted her head and saw the familiar silhouettes of Harry and Ron crossing the sky at high velocity.

"I'll take it easy, don't worry", Draco said with a reassuring smile and extending his hand to her. "Are you going to leave me hanging here? I won't take off without you". It was getting more and more difficult for her to say no to him. There was something in his voice and specially stormy grey eyes that she could not resist. She found herself grabbing his hand and jumping on the broom, positioned behind him, hugging his body tightly, like Molly told her to. A few seconds later, her feet were not touching the ground anymore and she could see inside the Burrow from the windows of the second floor, then from the third floor and finally they were hovering over the roof of the house.

"How does it feel so far?" He asked.

"Amazing" was the only thing she could think of saying to describe this experience. She was loving it. Harry came down next to them while Ron was still doing loops in the air. Esmeralda could not hold the giggles after looking at his hair: when you thought the hair of the boy-who-lived could not be messier, after this flying session a goblin-forged steel brush would bend trying to tame it.

"Do you trust Malfoy enough with your life to go higher and do a few spins?", he asked with a smirk directed at Draco. "She knows she's riding with the best Seeker of our generation, right Esme?", Draco had turned his head around and saw on her face how truly she was enjoying this moment in the air...with him.

"Lets go", she said as she ajusted her arms around his stomach to get a better hold. She let her head rest on his back and wished she knew a way to make this night last forever.

...

The heat coming from the fire burning in the chimney felt great on their skin numb by the cold air and wind present when they went higher in the night sky. Esmeralda's cheeks, ears, nose and hands were red as she tried to warm up as fast as she could next to the fireplace so she could go help Draco in the kitchen with the tea. Molly and Arthur were probably already sleeping and Harry and Ron had just left a few minutes ago. Soon, Draco appeared in the room caring in his hands two cups of steaming earl grey tea.

"I hope you are not going to get sick", he said as he handled her her cup.

"What about you? You did not seem to be cold up there", she said after taking a first sip. In fact, she was sure that, of all four, she was the only one shivering like a leaf while in the air. Draco smiled and looked at her with eyes she recognized from when he was about to be cocky and overconfident. "When you are a Quidditch player of my caliber, a night like tonight is a stroll in the park! As the star seeker for the Slytherin team, I had to play in the most horrible cond-"

He could not finish his sentence as she had thrown a pillow that had just missed his head. She had heard enough in the past weeks of their glorious days on the Hogwarts pitch and he knew she could not take it anymore.

"Hey! Girls used to throw themselves at my feet to hear the tales of my athletic exploits!", he joked. He stretched his body on the couch and sighed, thinking about the past. His mother had never had the opportunity to see him play Quidditch... He wished he could have one memory of her sitting in the stands and proudly cheering for him...

"I love how free I feel up there", he finally said. "I feel like I could escape anything while riding a broom. Nothing can stop me." Esmeralda reflected a bit on what he had just said. "I wish I could feel the same but I don't think I'll be ever able to experience complete freedom...". She felt a knot forming in her throat and her vision became blurry as tears were coming to her eyes. She took another sip of tea but was barely able to swallow it.

"The way you feel...does it have anything to do with that black ring you're wearing?"

Her sip of tea went down the wrong way. She coughed a bit and by looking at him she realized somehow he had found out about it. But how? Already the fact he had noticed the ring was pretty surprising. Maybe she should just ignore the question. "Wh-what ring? Wh-what are you talking about?" She knew she blew it up, the quiver in her voice being clearly audible.

Draco reached for his temporary wand left on the coffee table and for the first time it seemed to have listened to him. A book appearing in the room, floating towards Draco, and he reached for it before opening it to a page almost at the end of it. He hesitated first but finally decided to read out loud a few paragraphs of the book.

February 28,1879. Yesterday, as I was on my way to embark in a train to Paris, I stumbled across a group of very interesting people. They called themselves Gypsies and they had settled their colourful tents near the muggle train station. I got to meet their king, King Sherbellak, and decided to stay with them for a few days. Their culture is truly fascinating but what really made me postpone my trip to France is a woman with hair as black as a raven. Her beauty is ravaging and I was astonished to hear she was no man's wife yet. Gypsies girls younger than her were already married and with children. Her name is Isabella and, after asking around, I found out she is the king's daughter, a child he had out of wedlock. A bastard was the word they used. She doesn't share a tent with her father's legitimate children but lives in a small tent on her own, far from everybody. Despite her breathtaking beauty, no man seems to be interested in claiming her as his and her presence is being ignored by everyone as she walks amongst her peers.

March 2nd, 1879. I talked to Isabella. She is very introverted and shy, showing how isolated she is from the rest of the camp. I also suspect she is being mistreated by her siblings and seen like an inferior being. I asked her why she is alone, with no husband. She did not answer me back and instead ran inside her tent but not before I noticed she rubbed a black ring, similar to a wedding band, around her left ring finger.

March 7th, 1879. I am leaving tomorrow. King Sherbellak invited me in his tent and we shared a meal together. He asked me if I wanted to stay, even though it is very unconventional for a non-gypsy to be invited to remain amongst them. He said I could even choose a wife to keep me company at night. Any girl. I asked for her. As soon as he heard me say her name, his eyes darkened and his smile disappeared from his face. He told me I could not have her, as she is promised to the "Angel of Death".

His great-great-grand uncle did not write anything more about his brief stay with the gypsies. Draco knew Reginald Malfoy had done a lot of traveling in his youth and there was a slight chance he might had encounter gypsies during one of his trips. He had finally gotten to that particular part in his reading of his travel journal the night before. He was not expecting her to break the awkwardness of the silence between them, but she did.

"How did you figure out it wasn't just an ordinary ring?", she asked. Draco expected her to be more on a defensive state, ready to tell him he had guessed wrong. "I didn't. Blaise did. He was worried for me, that's all."

Esmeralda got up, leaving her cup on the table, still half-full. "Tell Blaise to not worry." She wasn't mad at him, like she had been at Hermione when she tried to find out more about it by directly harassing her with questions years ago. Nonetheless, she did not feel like talking about it.

"I am sorry to have brought it up. It's really none of my business." It was a sincere apology but the whole situation brought back some painful memories.

No! What are you doing?!

Please, please! Just leave me alone!

Her muscles tensed just by remembering bits of that awful night. She really did not want to talk about it. As she was walking away, both heard a strange noise coming from the kitchen, like a flapping of wings. Forgetting about what had just happened between them, Esmeralda ran to the kitchen and saw, perched on top of the faucet, a big silver and black owl and a long narrow package he had dropped in the sink.

"Is that it?" Draco saw the package too and waited for her to pick it up and open it.

Under the kraft wrapping paper was a wooden box closed with a locket. "Where's the key?", Draco asked, making sure they did not lose it in the now crumbled wrapping paper that they had tossed aside. Esmeralda seemed to be amused to see him looking for it; she was certain they did not need a key to open the box but instead a password. She lifted the box and, as if the locket was actually an ear, she whispered "Lash is the best". The lock made a clicking sound and the top of the box popped open.

"Here's your new wand, Draco Malfoy" He had never seen anything like it. It was truly a work of art. The wand was long, about 25 cm maybe, and crafted in what seemed to be acacia wood dyed a very dark shade of brown. But, what really was breathtaking was the sculpted dragon head at the end of the wand. Every single detail was beautifully done, a true masterpiece.

"I would of never found anything close to this at Ollivander's! I can't believe how amazing it feels to hold it!"

There was a letter addressed to Esmeralda included with the package. Her brother might be the best wand maker in Europe but his handwritting was absolutely the worst. She recognized the letters forming her name on the envelope as his and felt a pinch in her heart. She missed him so much and she couldn't wait to see what he had to say.

She couldn't not laugh as she unfolded the letter. The first thing she saw was the big black ink stain at the top right corner of the parchment paper. Draco noticed her amused look as she was reading the first lines but suddenly he knew there was something wrong. Her hands started trembling, her eyes watering.

"Esme, is something wrong?"

She did not hear his question. She felt her heart racing , her lungs collapsing. "No...No...No...", for a moment she had the impression that "no" was the only word she knew. She read again the last paragraph of the letter, making sure she read it correctly. All of a sudden, she was not able to read it again for a third time. Her vision started to blur but not because of the tears. All she could see was white as if she was being blinded by a lumos charm directly aimed at her eyes. Her head started to feel light and heavy at the same time. She was not sure if she was still standing on her two feet.

As she realized she was losing her balance, she barely heard his voice calling her name and felt the warmth of his arms and body surround her.

Thank you so much for the new followers! In the next chapter you're going to finally find out why Esmeralda is living with the Weasley ;)