Chapter 8: A Discovery

AN: Sorry for the delay folks. I could give you a laundry list of reasons why I have not updated for a while. But to save time, and get you to back to the story faster I decided to work it this way. It's been 3 months since I updated, so I'm giving you three chapters. Hopefully the next wait wont be so long.

Draco was sleeping soundly in his bed, Harriet's latest letter still held loosely in his hand. He had fallen asleep almost immediately after reading it, and had forgotten to put it away before he did. Little did he know he would regret that. (AN: cheesy sentence, I know. But it's all I could think of. Sorry).

Lucius Malfoy silently entered the room of his sleeping son. He knew his son was keeping secrets from him and he was determined to find out what they were. He gazed at Draco, and was on the verge of waking him up when he spotted a letter loose in his fingers. Lucius carefully slid the paper out and glanced quickly at it.

Dear Serpens,

Lucius duplicated the letter and set the original down on the bedside table. He would talk to his son later right now he needed to read this letter. Leaving as silently as he entered, Lucius made his way to his private study and sat at his desk. He looked back at the letter in his hand and began to read.

Dear Serpens,

Thank you for my birthday present. The day was wonderful, but I still wish you could have been there. I know I've said that a lot but I really do. I'm also sorry, I sort of slipped. My godfather saw me wearing the necklace and literally bombarded me with questions about who gave it to me. All I said was that it was from a boy from school, I swear, that's all I said. However if you hate me for it I'll understand.

The Hogwarts letters should be arriving soon. Maybe we could try and meet up at Diagon Alley. I miss you so much Serpens, and I can't wait to see you, if not before, back at school.

As always, be safe, and write back to me soon.

Love, Leona

Lucius scoffed as he finished reading and threw the letter down on his desk. So some girl was toying with his son? Well, this was a problem. He had his own plans for his son, and having a girl hanging all over him was not one of them. He was not adverse to his son having a woman in his bed (he had had many before Narcissa), but this seemed to sound more like a commitment, rather than just a short standing. No, this wouldn't do at all.

Lucius picked up the letter again and re-read it. There wasn't much clue in the contents of who this girl may be so instead he looked over the pen names. He knew about Serpens being a snake but he wasn't sure about Leona. He continued to stare blankly at the note, like he expected it to tell him something else. There must be a hidden meaning somewhere. Serpens was a constellation Leona wasn't. Still, he was sure that that was where the identity of the girl lay.

Lucius ran his fingers along the text of the letter lazily. He had no idea about any of this, and he did not like not knowing things. He knew his wife feared him, he knew that his son was weak; he knew things that the Ministry of Magic itself didn't even know, now to not know something… He ceased the movement of his finger. It was resting on top of the girl's signature only the only letters visible were Leo.

That was something. Leo was a constellation as well, but surely that that was not the only clue as to what the names meant. Serpens the serpent, Leo the lion (Leona made it female); serpent for Slytherin, lion for… no that surely couldn't be right… Gryffindor? His son was in love with a Gryffindor?

Lucius forced himself not to yell out in frustration. He remained as calm as he could and started to consider other options. Maybe this wasn't by house symbol. Lion could be her favorite animal, birth symbol, or possibly her patronus. Yes, that could be possible. Draco's patronus was a dragon, but obviously he was already named after one so they substituted it with the serpent, for whatever reason. Either way something had to be done about this.

Covering his mouth as he yawned, Lucius decided that he would ponder this more in the morning. He put the note in his desk drawer, got up, closed and locked his study, and headed toward his rooms, retiring for the night.