It had been a couple days since the engagement party. Now that the Dark Lord had resurfaced everything was slowly getting back to how it was before The Battle of Hogwarts. Muggle-borns were being rounded up, only purebloods were brave enough to show their faces in the Wizarding World, and the Dark Lord was back ruling over the ministry. I wasn't even needed at the ministry at the moment. I had spent the days following the party at the Manor only leaving for the appearances my mother and Narcissa had set up for Draco and me. Speaking of Draco, those were the only times I saw him. Voldemort had him spending all his extra time preparing for the impending raid and he still had to do all his work for the ministry's legal services. And with all of the trials of muggleborns he was busier than ever. At least I hadn't needed to perform any healing spells.
The day after the party, I was supposed to have had lunch with Avalon but she had sent an owl and canceled without any reason. I was sitting in the drawing room flipping through the latest issue of The Daily Prophet. There were wanted ads for muggleborns on almost every page and the ones without had pictures of Draco and I. We had made an appearance at Diagon Alley, a quidditch game, and gone to Hogwarts for the dedication of the renovated west wing.
Since moving back into the manor, I had remembered all of the reasons I moved out. I had forgotten how hard it was to avoid my mother when we lived in the same house. Even though I had requested to have all meals in my room she still found a way to force me to talk about wedding plans. I heard the doors near the door to the drawing room opening and closing. It was too late to hide. I decided to go ahead and get it over and walked over and opened the door myself.
"Mother, are you looking for me?"
"Yes, yes I am. Why are you in the drawing room?"
"I was reading."
"That's what the library is for."
"Oh, I am sorry mother. I didn't realize that whenever purebloods read they must do it in the designated room for reading, the library."
We both stood in a silence for a moment and just looked for eachother.
"We will be attending the engagement party of your cousin Avalon tonight. Do tell Draco when he gets here, wont you?"
"Avalon? Avalon is engaged?"
"Yes. Didn't she owl you about it?"
"No. Mother, do you know who she is marrying?"
She turned to walk away and angled her head towards me before slowly saying, "No."
My mother was acting oddly but it was probably just due to the fact the Avalon was finally engaged. All of her discreteness was finally starting to make sense.
The party started at seven so of course my mother wanted us to arrive as close to that time as we could to make our entrance. Only give the guests a few moments to talk to Draco and me so that we would be the center of attention the whole time. It was a quarter to seven and Draco still wasn't back from working with Voldemort. I already had my dress on and was waiting for him in his bedroom. Finally the door opened and he walked in. He looked awful. Covered in blood and scratches and dirt. I usually didn't see him when he got home from working or training or whatever it was he was doing with the Dark Lord.
"Why are you so dressed up Vic?"
The way he talked was if it pained him.
"We have a party to go to. It's Avalon's engagement party. My mother wants us to leave in about ten minutes."
"I can't go."
"But Dra-"
"I can't go. I had a hard day today."
Before I could respond he walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. It didn't sound like there was any hope in getting Draco to go so I walked down to the living room to wait for my parents so that we could leave for the party. They showed up moments later.
"Victorine, where is Draco," my mother asked as they approached me.
"Oh, he just got back and I don't think that he will-"
"Sorry I'm late." Draco was quickly descending the stairs and tying his tie. "I needed to clean up a little bit." He came over to me and hooked his arm with mine. "Shall we go?"
We all apparated to my uncle and aunt's home. The room was already filled with people and when we arrived all eyes immediately turned to us. The Carrow siblings were closest to us and bombarded up with questions mostly about the upcoming raid. Before we could get to into the conversation my Uncle walked half way up the stairs and clinked his glass.
"Welcome all to the celebration of my daughter's engagement. I think we can all agree this is a long time coming." There was a collective chuckle. I began scanning the room to see who was in attendance. There was a good turnout but not nearly as many people as were at my engagement party. I noticed Landon's parents standing near Avalon's mother but Landon was nowhere in sight. He probably had a game tonight. Since everything with us ended I had stopped keeping up with his quidditch schedule. My uncle was approaching the end of his speech so I returned my attention to him as I anxiously awaited to find out who Avalon was marrying.
"Will you all join me congratulating my daughter and her new fiancé, Landon Covington."