A/N: I would like to thank my amazing beta JoMiSm for not getting mad at me for making this huge chapter.
I believe it makes up for the shortness of the other chapter, considering this is the longest chapter I have ever written.
After two weeks, Elsa was getting annoyed. Have two more people around the house was just irritating. Emmett, the Gryffindor, was one of the most exasperating.
He was tall with dark hair and large muscles. He and Scorpius were always arguing like Slytherins and Gryffindor's tended to do.
Of course, the fact they were everywhere she went was the most annoying thing about it.
At dinner, they would be arguing about the best Quidditch player and later they'd be outside racing to see who was better.
Isabella was a Ravenclaw. At school, she seemed modest. At home, though, Elsa realized she was completely and utterly show-offish. Every few seconds, she was spouting out facts! Elsa had tried to teach Leo how to levitate things when Isabelle'd stepped in and said that she was wrong.
Elsa hated the change. Even Leo was being more annoying because he was either following her everywhere or asking where Isabella was all the time.
Her father was also in their lives more than ever, and every time he saw her arguing with the newcomers, he got mad. Every time anyone did anything, it was somehow her fault. Elsa did not like this, not one bit, especially because half of the time, she had done nothing wrong!
One day, she had enough.
She was sitting in the drawing room, reading her Muggle book that Candace had lent her, when Scorpius ran into the room. He was chasing Leo, who was riding his broom. Granted, it was raining outside, but they were not allowed to ride brooms inside.
"Leo! Get down!" Scorpius yelled.
"No!" Leo yelled back and continued to fly. Elsa tried to ignore them, but all her effort was wasted when she heard a very loud crash.
She looked up to see Leo on the floor, and a antique vase shattered on the ground around him. Elsa didn't know what to say. She just stared in shock. She faintly registered footsteps from the hall before her father and Astoria appeared in the doorway. They'd heard the crash and went to investigate, startled.
"What happened?" Draco asked as he looked around at his three children.
In the time it had taken for Draco to get down there, Scorpius had hidden his broom.
"The vase broke." the Slytherin boy said as he looked over at his father.
"I can see. And who broke it, may I ask?" he asked. Elsa could tell he was trying to stay calm.
"Elsa." Scorpius lied easily and instantly.
"No, I didn't!" Elsa gasped as she looked between her father and her brother.
"Elsa… tell me the truth." Said Draco as he stared at his daughter.
"I am telling the truth! I did not break it. I was sitting here and reading!" Elsa was shocked that Draco thought it was her.
"She's lying." Scorpius said. Draco looked between his two children. Astoria stood behind him, assessing the situation. She knew something wasn't right, but she didn't want to anger her future husband, so she said nothing.
"Elsa, I am disappointed that you would lie to me." Draco said finally after a few minutes of silence.
"I'm not lying!" Elsa said as she stood and looked at her father in horror. She wasn't lying; she hardly ever lied! She only lied when it was completely necessary!
"Go to your room." Draco said in a voice that was filled with authority. Elsa glared at him and ran past and up the stairs. She walked inside her room, grabbed her emergency bag that was filled with stuff just in case she was going somewhere to get away, walked out of her room and closed the door.
She ran down the hallway to the other end opposite to the way whence she had came and went down the old maid staircase. The staircase, in which most manors had, was very old, dusty and had lots of cobwebs.
The stairs ended on the main floor, and opened to a door in the pantry. Elsa squeezed into the small food storage area and slipped out the doors. The kitchen was dark. The house elves had been given the day off, so they were not there.
Elsa ran to the side door, opened it, then closed it quietly when she was out.
The kitchen door went to an old part of the manor grounds. It was an old garden that Narcissa had told Elsa hadn't been used for at least 10 centuries, which was a very long time. Even though it was old and unattended, it was still beautiful. The old rock wall that separated it from the rest of the gardens had ivy growing wild all over it. There was an old tree with an old fashioned wooden swing hanging from one branch. On the far side there was a old gate made of wood that was washed out from all of its hours in the sun and looked worn from spending all of its days in the elements.
Elsa ran to the front of the manor and down the path leading to the road. Her pony tail flew out behind her in a stream of blonde. Her eyes were trained on the spot ahead and soon enough she was there, outside the gates of her home. She started walking down the road that lead away from the manor. It was out of sight before she knew it, and she didn't know what to do.
She had soon gotten tired of walking, considering it was only just ten in the morning, and sat down beside the road with her bag beside her. She had no idea where she was going when she snuck out. She couldn't go back now though, Elsa knew, because people would have realized by then she was gone.
All of the sudden, right before her eyes, a purple double-decker bus appeared.
Elsa was completely shocked. Not often did you see a bus in these colors on the streets. Actually, Elsa did not know if she had ever seen one at all.
The doors opened and between them appeared a boy, just over the age of a teenager, it seemed, with acne on his face and messy black hair.
"All aboard the Knight Bus." He said in a monotone bored voice. After a second, Elsa's brain got control of her legs and she climbed onto the bus with her bag on her shoulder.
She sat down on one of the chairs that was set out, though it seemed to not be set nicely.
On the bus were other people in wizarding robes, so she could only assume that this was a wizarding bus.
"Where to, little lady?" the man/teenager asked Elsa.
"Diagon Ally." Elsa said with a small smile. The man nodded and all of the sudden she heard a voice with no body.
"Hang on tight, we're in for a bumpy ride!" the disembodied voice said before the bus went shooting out of its spot. Elsa had never been on something that fast before, and was holding on to the rail beside her seat for dear life. She thought that she was going to fall out of her seat.
Everything outside the windows flew by in a blur. Elsa was soon starting to get a headache from it. Luckily, it wasn't long before they stopped.
"Here you are, lass." The boy said.
"Thank you." Elsa replied as she climbed out of the bus.
Diagon Ally may have been Wizarding-London's shopping central, but behind it there was something else magical: a village.
It was in that village where James was sitting at his front window, staring out the window in boredom, when he saw something he would have never expected. His friend, Elsa, was walking up the road in the hot sun. Her blonde hair glowed as the rays bounced off of them, though her pony tail sagged, and a bag rested lightly on her shoulder.
James ran to the front door and down the front steps, his younger brother, Albus, watching him from the front window as he reached the blonde girl.
"Elsa! What are you doing here?" James said in confusion as he stopped his jog beside his friend. Elsa looked up at him.
"No 'Hello?'" Elsa asked him. James blushed after realizing that he had not, in fact, greeted her properly.
"Sorry; hello, Elsa." James said politely. "Now, why are you here?" He asked, dragging her into the cool house and shutting the door on the blistering heat. The cool air inside of the Potter's house felt nice to Elsa. She'd always preferred the cold. Elsa looked up to see James staring down at her.
"My father was being a prick and I wanted to get away. I understand if you are busy… I can go…" Elsa trailed off. All of the sudden, she heard two voices.
"Don't go…" a male voice said.
"… the only one that comes is John…" a female voice added.
"… And he is boring." Elsa looked behind James to see a small red haired girl and a boy who looked much like how she had seen Harry Potter in the Daily Profit.
James looked embarrassed as he looked over, "Sorry, those are my two younger siblings." He explained.
"I'm Lily, and this is Albus." The little redhead said with a proud smile on her face.
"Hello, I'm Elsa." Elsa said as she looked at them with a smile on her usually solumn face.
"James, who's there?" Elsa heard a voice say from the hallway. A moment later, a red haired woman walked into the room. Elsa recognized her as a Weasley, (or, well, as someone who used to be a Weasley).
"Mum, this is my friend from school. Her name is Elsa." said James, looking over at his mum.
"Hello, Elsa, I'm Mrs. Potter." Mrs. Potter said with a smile at the young girl.
"Hello, Mrs. Potter." Elsa said with a small smile.
"You look very red, dear…" Mrs. Potter said as she looked at Elsa. James looked at her too. It was only then that hit him: she looked slightly different than usual because she was sunburned.
"Elsa, how did you get here...?" James asked, realizing his friend had appeared on the street by herself. He figured out that she'd left without anyone knowing, but his mum didn't need to know that.
"I took the knight bus to Diagon Ally then walked." Elsa explained with a shrug as though she did that a lot.
"Well, lets get something on those burns." Mrs. Potter said as she lead Elsa to the kitchen.
The kitchen was bright and airy, with large windows that faced a back yard. There was a table near sliding glass doors. Mrs. Potter sat Elsa down on a chair. James sat beside her.
"How has you summer been?" he asked her.
"Boring, as usual. Grandmother and Grandfather are in Italy right now so I don't get to go see them for another three weeks." Elsa said with a sigh. James nodded sympathetically. "How has your holiday been?"
"Brilliant! My dad is teaching me seeker techniques so I will get onto the team for sure this year!" James said as a huge smile lit his face.
All the time that the two were talking, Mrs. Potter was making sure every red spot on Elsa's pale skin had a burn removal potion on it.
"Done!" the pleasant redhead announced with a smile.
"Thank you, Mrs. Potter." Elsa smiled as she looked up at the woman. She was such a nice lady.
"Anything for my son's best friend." She said before shooing them both off to James' bedroom. She stated that when lunch was ready she would call them both.
Albus and Lily went to follow the two, but they were stopped when Mrs. Potter told them to leave their sibling alone.
James room was covered in Quidditch posters (obviously) and he sat down on his bed, which had a bedspread in the Gryffindor colors.
"So, what should we do?" James asked her. Elsa shrugged as she looked around. "Sorry that it's such a mess… I wasn't expecting company…"
Elsa giggled. "No, I like it." She said with a smile. "The manor is always spectacularly clean, so somewhere not being clean is amazing. Brilliant, actually."
"What about Scorpius' room?" James asked in curiosity.
"We have house-elves that make sure everything is spotless." She explained. James stared at her in amazement. She had people, (well, elves, really) to clean for her?
For the rest of the time that they spent in his room, they cleared a spot on the floor and played the card game Exploding Snap. They chatted about different things and laughed whenever something happened. They also played wizarding chess, in which Elsa beat James every time.
They were half way through their third game when the bedroom door opened and the one and only Harry Potter walked into the room.
"Hello, dad!" James said as he grinned up at his father.
"Hello, Mr. Potter." Elsa said politely from her spot on the floor.
"Hello, son." Harry said as he ruffled James' hair. "Hello, Miss Malfoy." He said with a smile at Elsa. His smile reassured her that he did not hate her because of her father.
"Please, call me Elsa." Elsa said with a smile.
"Of course." Harry said. "What are you two doing?" he asked his son.
"We're playing chess! Elsa is bloody brilliant at this game." He said.
"Very good. You must practice lots." He said as he looked over at Elsa.
"I do." Elsa confirmed as she looked down.
There was a pause before Harry added "Well, James, your mum sent me up here to tell you both that lunch is ready." and walking out.
"Shall we go?" James asked as he stood up from the floor. Elsa didn't move, though; she was worried. What if everyone hated her?
"Do I look alright?" Elsa asked, looking up at him, her expression clearly concerned.
"Of course! It is just a simple lunch." James said as he laughed and pulled his scared friend from his bedroom.
Elsa, of course, had never had 'just a simple lunch' and was worried that she would mess something up. She said nothing as they walked, but as soon as they got into the kitchen placed a fake smile, which she had trained to appear, onto her face.
"Hermione, this is Elsa Malfoy." Harry said as he introduced the brown haired woman to the blonde haired girl.
"Hello, Elsa." Hermione said with a smile as he held out her hand.
"Hello, it is a pleasure to meet you." Elsa said shyly as she shook her hand. The brown haired woman seemed nice.
"Where's Ron?" Mrs. Potter asked as she looked around the room, looking for all the world as though she expected the redhead to appear out of nowhere.
"He is just finishing up at the office." Hermione explained as Harry called in all the kids. Soon a red-haired girl and a red-haired boy appeared with Lily and Albus.
"Elsa!" Albus said as he noticed the girl. "These are our cousins, Rose and Hugo!" he said proudly.
"Hello." Elsa said pleasantly as she looked at the two.
"Your hair is pretty." Hugo stated. Elsa giggled.
"It is." She confirmed.
"Everybody sit!" Mrs. Potter said and with a wave of her want, the table became bigger with more chairs.
Everybody sat down, as they were told. Elsa and James helped her with bringing food to the table, then everyone sat down and started to eat.
They had ham and cheese sandwiches, pumpkin juice, fruit, and soup. There was friendly conversing, and though the meal was not five-star as she was used to, Elsa decided that this was the best meal she had ever had.
After they ate, the adults shooed the children into the yard.
James and all of his siblings and cousins (except Lily), decided to play a game of Quidditch. Lily and Elsa, who had both flat out refused to get on brooms, were to be the score keepers.
Lily was silent beside Elsa, trying to build up the nerve to talk to the pretty older girl. It was intimidating-she was one year away from being a teenager.
"Why don't you fly?" Lily asked Elsa quickly after she had gathered her courage.
"I fell off of by broom." Elsa explained. "Now I don't even like to be in the air." Well, that made sense. "Why don't you?" she asked.
"They all play to win," Lily said. "If I play, I just want to do it for fun." the eight-year-old explained to Elsa. Elsa nodded; that made sense too. They sat down on the green grass to watch. With the sun beating down on them, everyone soon became sweaty. So, obviously, the only thing to fix it was to run through the magic sprinkler set up by Harry.
A little while later, they were all resting in the shade with lemonade. That was, until Ron got there.
He was very tired, and Malfoy was being annoying as usual after Ron had gotten there just a little bit late. He really just wanted some family time and food. Well... until he saw a girl with very familiar blonde hair sitting under the tree with his children and niece and nephews.
"Hello, daddy!" Hugo and Rose said as they ran over and hugged their father.
"Hello." Ron said flatly. That couldn't be who he thought it was, could it?
"Uncle Ron, this is my friend Elsa. Elsa, this is my uncle Ron." James introduced. At that moment, he wished very badly that his father was out there.
He knew that his mum, Aunt Hermione, and dad were all over the war and had forgiven Malfoy, but his uncle had not.
"Hello, sir. It is a pleasure to meet you." Elsa said pleasantly, holding out her hand with a smile.
"Hello." Ron said tightly, ignoring the offered hand, as he looked down at the girl who he now recognized as the despicable Draco Malfoy's daughter. "I'll be inside." He grumbled as he walked off.
"Don't worry about him." Rose said with a big grin, skipping over to the older girl. "He is always grumpy after work."
"Okay…" Elsa said. She was unsure. She did not know whether he hated her specifically or not. He hated her father though, she knew that much for sure.
As they all sat back down under the tree, they heard voices coming through the house.
"Why is she with our children?" they heard a very angry voice yell. All of them tried to ignore it, especially Elsa. James had his back against the tree, Elsa sitting between his legs as she played a game of Exploding Snap.
"She is allowed, Ron!" Mrs. Potters voice could be heard. Everyone stopped what they were doing to listen. Elsa knew it was about her.
"She is a Malfoy! The spawn of Malfoy!" he spat. Elsa tensed up. Nobody looked at her, but she knew if they hadn't thought it to be rude they would be staring.
"She is a child, Ronald!" Hermione's voice could be heard.
"She is probably exactly like him! She is going to brainwash our children!" he yelled.
"Stop being so bloody stupid!" Mrs. Potter and Hermione yelled together.
"I should go." Elsa said quietly, startling the underage eavesdroppers.
"No, Elsa!" Lily said as she stood quickly and hugged the blonde. She'd grown very fond of her older brother's friend. They both didn't want to play Quidditch! Who else would she sit out with?
"Ignore our dad!" Hugo commanded as he hugged Elsa also.
"Don't leave." James agreed as he stood up.
"I should. Thank your mum for lunch, James. Thank you for having me unexpectedly." Elsa said curtly with a small smile towards her friend before turning to the children. "It was nice meeting you all, and hopefully we will meet again before you all come to Hogwarts." She said. She gently pried their arms off of her before disappearing around the front and walking down the road.
Elsa felt horribly guilty. Mr. Weasley said she was a spawn of Malfoy, and by the way she had heard some people talking at school, she knew that was a bad thing. Soon, she sat down on the side of the road, quite a ways away from the Potter house, and wished for the knight bus to appear. Not long after that the purple, double decker bus stopped right in front of her and she climbed on.
"Where to this time?" the boy asked in a bored tone of voice.
"Canterbury, please." Elsa said politely as she sat down on the same chair as before and held on for dear life. The bus sped down the street. She had no clue how it was doing this, but she knew it had to do with magic in some form or another.
When the bus stopped, she said her thanks and got off. She started walking until she found what she was looking for: the house Candace had told her about.
She and Candace weren't the best of friends, but they were still close. Elsa knew that Alice was probably still at Hogwarts with her father, so she knew this was the best place to go. She took a deep breath before walking up to the door and knocking.
After about a minute, the door opened to reveal Candace.
"Elsa?" she said in confusion.
"Surprise!" Elsa said with a smile. Candace pulled her in by her arm.
"What are you doing here?" she asked happily. Elsa knew that no matter what, Candace would always be happy.
"Well, I was just at James' house, but his uncle wasn't too happy that I was there so I left. I don't want to go back to the manor just yet, so I decided to surprise you!"
Candace squealed and hugged Elsa before telling her to take off her shoes. After that was done, she dragged her into the living room to meet her parents.
"Mum, dad, this is Elsa." she said.
"Hello, dear." Candace's mother said.
"Hello." Elsa said politely.
"May Elsa spend the night?"
"Of course." And with that, Elsa was immediately let into the family. She and Candace made a bed on the floor, and after a dinner of roast beef, Yorkshires, and three different types of vegetables plus mashed potatoes, the girls were stuffed and laid on their beds in the dark.
"You know, we need to hang out more." Candace said before she yawned.
"We do." Elsa agreed as she also yawned. Candace turned on her side to face out the window.
"Elsa, maybe one day, if your dad would allow it, I could come to your house?" Candace asked.
"If Father would allow it, of course you could." Elsa answered as she laid on her side.
Before they had decided to lay in the dark, Elsa had written her father to tell him that she was staying at a friends for the night. She said nothing of what she had done earlier, nor had she said whose house she was at. She knew her father would object right away.
"Can to please describe your house to me?" Candace asked.
"Of course." Elsa said as she stared at the wall. The wall, which was blue, looked grey in the dark. "It looks almost like a medieval castle, with pointed roofs. The gates have the Malfoy crest on them. We have albino peacocks. I don't like them, they always look like they are hatching an evil plan."
Candace giggles. "I need to see them."
"Of course. Anyways, in the back there are huge gardens. My younger brother Leo and I love to go back in them. In the very back, I have my garden. It has a wooden swing, big enough for two, suspended by rope and hanging from a huge tree which holds the tree fort that my grandfather magically build for Scorpius, Leo and I when we were young. The rope of the swing is covered in roses that hang down from the base of the tree house."
"How do they do that?" Candace asked sleepily.
"They are magic." Elsa said simply. "There is one garden, I call it the secret garden like in that Muggle book, has only two places in which you can enter by: the kitchens or the back forest. It looks old, and very pretty. The old stone walls are covered by ivy and there are weeds growing all over, but it looks magical and as if fairies would live there." Elsa said.
She had no clue if Candace was asleep now of not. It turned out, a moment later, that she was awake and she asked about inside.
"Inside is different. You can tell it is haunted by ghosts. The whole west wing has been cut off. We aren't allowed to go back there because of the war. Everything is dark and dreary. I have grown up there, so I am used to it. To everyone else, though, it would be intimidating."
At this point, Elsa again wondered if Candace was asleep. She continued for good measure. "My bedroom has a princess, four poster bed, a huge closet and a vanity mirror. My favorite room, though, isn't my bedroom, it is the library. There are so many books; it is brilliant. If I could, I would spend the rest of my life there."
Without realizing that she was trailing off, Elsa soon fell asleep, her dreams focused on magic gardens, fairies and princesses.
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