Year Two - Chapter 2
The next day, during breakfast, my dad told me that Aunt Cissy is coming today to take me to buy new clothes, so I ate as quickly as I could so that I could take a shower. When I got out, I put on a simple silk green dress, black shoes and I put my hair in a high ponytail. I looked at myself in the full body mirror; my aunt was right, I had grown a little during this year, the dress used to reach me to the knees and now it goes a little bit over them.
I knew that every time my aunt said that we would go shopping "for a couple of hours", she always meant to spend the whole day emptying the stores almost completely, so I decided it would be better to sit down and do the rest of the homework that I had left, I don't want to give my dad an excuse to not let me go to Hermione's house.
A couple of hours had passed when I heard voices talking in the living room, I left my pen in a place where it would not stain my parchments, I covered the ink and because I was doing everything quickly, I almost spill it on top of everything, but luckily I managed to take it before it spill everywhere, although I did get a little ink in my hand (and by a little I mean that my left palm was covered in black ink), I washed the best I could in the bathroom, although I could still see the ink; I would've kept trying to try to remove it, but my dad started asking me to go to the living room.
I ran down the stairs and saw Aunt Cissy sitting in one of the couches, but she got up as soon as she saw me.
—Aunt Cissy! —I hugged her and she did the same, laughing a little.— I missed you so much.
—I missed you as well, darling. What happened to your hand? —She grabbed my hand stained with ink and started to inspect it.
—Oh, I almost dropped my ink bottle and I managed to grab it before it made a mess but I stained my hand, I tried to clean it but I think I made it worse.
She put out her wand and with a non-verbal spell, she removed the ink stain from my hand.
—You should be more careful, darling, a young lady like you can't be dirty. Again, Severus, thank you, we'll return at sunset.
—Behave, Eileen.
—You know I will.
I grabbed my aunt's hand, left the house and we started to walk towards a dark alley where we would be able to apparate without being seen.
—I still don't understand why your father doesn't want to move from this place, we even offered him that you two would come to live with us and he said no.
—He says it's too much trouble to move when we barely spend time here.
—Too much trouble… —My aunt shook her head and moved me closer to her, squeezing my hand when we walked next to a man that appeared to be drunk. Extremely drunk.— Still, this is no place for you to live.
Finally, we reached the alley, I felt the stretch in my stomach and the pressure in my chest that made it difficult to breathe, luckily I've been doing this since I was little, so I no longer felt dizzy like the first times; I thought we would apparate in Diagon Alley, but instead, we are in an alley near the Ministry, what are we doing here?
—Aunt Cissy? —She opened the door to the phone booth and she rushed me in.— I thought we were going to Diagon Alley?
—Give me a moment, darling. —Out of her bag she took out a white glove, put it on and pressed the telephone numbers.
—Welcome to the Ministry of Magic, please, state your name and the reason for your visit.
—Narcissa Malfoy and Eileen Snape. We have an appointment in the Department of Magical Transportation.
Two silver badges appeared in front of us, my aunt took them and handed me mine, where it could be read Eileen Snape, DMT Visitor, I put it on my dress (not before pricking my finger, of course) and the cabin began to descend, the ground began to rise and cover the booth windows, making it so dark inside for a while.
—Now, what were you saying? —She said as she put the glove back in her bag.
—What are we doing at the Ministry? I thought we were going to Diagon Alley.
She chuckled and the elevator stopped, the doors opened, showing the Atrium behind them; as always, it was full of people coming in and out of the chimneys, we got out of the elevator and started walking towards the fountain.
—By now you should know that the stores in Diagon Alley are good, but they are nothing compared to ones in France.
—And why didn't we use the Floo? That way we wouldn't have had to leave the house.
—Because your father thinks that we're in Diagon Alley.
—Oh.
Perfect, another thing that I'll have to hide from my dad... Or maybe not? Anyway, it's not like I planned this, so I shouldn't be in trouble...
We stopped in front of the statue in the fountain and while my aunt was taking a couple of galleons out of her bag, someone came up to us.
—Narcissa Malfoy! Long time no see, don't tell me you had a daughter? —He was a man a little taller than my aunt, and seemed to be the same age as Uncle Lucius, but he had short black hair.
—Richard, good day. No, she is Severus Snape's daughter, do you remember him? —The man, Richard, nodded, a little surprised. My aunt put her arm around my shoulders.— Although I love her as if she were my daughter.
—Then it was true that they had a daughter...
—Yes, but tell me, how are your wife and children?
—Clarice is fine, a little sad since our youngest son will be starting Hogwarts this year and she feels like she will be left alone.
—I know that feeling, that's how I felt last year when Draco and Eileen started Hogwarts. It was very good to see you, Richard, but we have to go; maybe after the school year starts I'll send Clarice a letter to catch up and have tea. Have a good day.
My aunt threw a couple of galleons into the fountain and we walked away from that man, who continued on his way to one of the chimneys.
—Who was he?
—Richard Hansen, an old friend from... From Hogwarts, I haven't seen him since… I think since you were born! Time goes fast.
We finally got to where the security guard was, a man who seemed to hate his life and his hair, because every time I see him, he always has his hair badly shaved.
—Visitors? —The guard asked.
—Clearly.
The guard dropped The Daily Prophet that was reading and took a long, golden rod, which began to run through my aunt's body and then mine, I always hated when I had to do this, because it meant that the man had to get close to me and he didn't have a very good body odour, to say the least.
—Your wands. —I took my wand out of the pocket in my dress and handed it to my aunt, she handed both to the man, who placed them on top of a brass scale. — Thirty centimetres, Dragon Heartstring core, twenty-four years of use, is that correct?
—Yes.
He returned the wand to my aunt and now put my wand on the scale.
—Thirtyone centimetres, Dragon Heartstring core, one year of use, is that correct?
—Yes sir. —I said. Wow, I didn't even remember what it was made of. He returned my wand and I put it away, we went back to where the crowd of people was and headed down a hallway that led to where the elevators were.
We got inside one and luckily only one person got on with us, it was a man who seemed to be nice, unlike the man who was at security, and he had red hair... Oh no, don't tell me it's Ron's dad, I don't remember seeing him that day at the station, but... There are a lot of redheads in the country, right? I can't be that unlucky.
—Good morning, Mrs Malfoy.
—Mr. Weasley.
Damn, he is Ron's dad; I started to look at the ground, making my hair cover my face, I hope he ignores me and doesn't recognize me. Although I've never seen him before, so I doubt he knows who I am.
—Sixth floor —The elevator announced.— Department of Magical Transportation. It includes the Floo Network Authority, the Broom Regulatory Control, the Portkey Office and the Apparition Test Centre
I hurried out after my aunt and brushed the hair from my face as soon as I heard the elevator doors close; the department was more crowded than normal, I suppose many families go on vacations during the summer when they are with their children.
We went into the Portkey office and I sat in a chair while my aunt went to talk to one of the employees.
—Follow me please. —The young woman told my aunt, I got up from my place and followed her to some offices that were at the back, where there were several shelves filled with objects, which I suppose they used to create the Portkeys.
The young woman, (named Evelyn, according to the plaque on her chest) grabbed an old scarf that had several holes in it from the shelf and pointed her wand at her.
—The destination is Paris, France, Montmartre, correct? —She said and my aunt nodded.— Portus. The Portkey will activate in two minutes and will be activated again at six in the afternoon for your return.
She handed the scarf to my aunt and then left the office; I took a part of the scarf and wrapped it around my hands, not wanting to be left behind when the Portkey activated.
The two minutes passed faster than I expected, I began to feel the stretch in my stomach and everything began to spin; when we showed up in France, I tripped over my foot and fell to my knees to the ground, scratching my knees a little.
—How can you still not learn how to appear without falling? —My aunt said as she helped me up. — You've used Portkeys several times.
—I'm sorry, but it's just very different from apparating, plus we don't use them as much as apparition. At least I don't feel as dizzy as I used to.
We walked until we reached the bronze statue, which moved as we approached and gave way to Place Cachée. We went in and my aunt made me sit on the closest bench we could find.
—Lift your legs, I saw you scratched your knees —I lifted my legs until they were in the shape of an L, my aunt took out her wand and pointed it at my knees.— Episkey.
I felt an intense heat on my knees, followed by intense cold, the scrapes slowly getting very small until they disappeared.
—Thank you, Aunt Cissy.
—It's nothing, my dear, but please be more careful, I don't want to have to explain to your father why I had to cast so many healing spells on you. Let's go, we only have a couple of hours left before we have to go back.
We entered Maison Capenoir, and my aunt started talking to the store clerk in French, as I never wanted to learn the language, I didn't understand what they were saying, so I moved away from them and began to look at the sweaters that were hanging on the wall, one of them caught my attention, it was yellow with white lines, in addition to having a collar also white.
—Come on, Eileen. —I took the sweater and went to the back of the store, I don't know when she and the clerk went there.—You're not thinking of buying that, are you?
—What's wrong with it?
—To begin with, the colour, you will look like a Hufflepuff with that colour, plus the design is atrocious.
—I thought it was cute...
My aunt took the sweater from my hands and handed it to an employee, this one went to leave it where I took it from, while another made me get on a stool and began to measure me.
The same employee who took the sweater I wanted, gave a book to my aunt, it seemed to have various types of fabrics, she would either nod or shake her head at what the employee was saying.
—What do you think of this cloth, Eileen?
My aunt handed me the book in which there was only a rectangle of cloth, the colour was... Green.
—Green? Again? But all my clothes are green.
—What's wrong with being green?
—Green is Slytherin's colours and I'm not a Slytherin, besides, even if I was, having all my clothes green is too much; people at school already think I'm a copy of my dad and only having dark clothes doesn't help me. Could I choose the colours, please?
My aunt sighed and took the book back.
—Fine, but just don't choose those bright colours.
I smiled and let the workers continue taking my measurements; when they finished, they showed us various types of dresses to choose from, in the end, I ended up choosing a plain light blue dress, it also had a white high neck and short sleeves, it reached a little below the knees.
The other one I chose was one with a brown blouse, but the skirt was made of white squares with a little lighter brown. I was happy with my decision so I let my aunt choose the rest of the dresses, but I think she did think about what I told her because from time to time I saw that they made a dress in a colour other than black or green, I even think I saw a red one.
—Aunt Cissy, can I wear the blue dress now?
My aunt said something to the employee who was the one attending us, she nodded and my aunt handed me the dress, while she pointed to a door.
—You can go change there.
I took the dress and went into the small room, there was only a table with a couple of chairs around it, so I guess this place is not used as a dressing room. As I was taking off my dress, I overheard my aunt talking to an employee.
—Avez-vous ce pull en rouge et jaune?
—Oui.
—J'en veux un à sa taille.
I didn't understand anything that they were saying, so I ignored them; I put on the blue dress and walked towards the mirror at the end of the room; it wasn't a full-body mirror so I had to get away a little to see me completely and I loved how I looked. I folded the dress I was wearing when we got here and left the room.
—Oh, you look beautiful. —My aunt said as she took the dress from my hands and shrink it so that she could put it inside the bag where the rest of the dresses were.
—Thank you! I love it, thank you so much, Aunt Cissy.
—Come on, it's late, we should eat something before we have to return.
We left the store and walked up the street, it was still sunny outside, but I think it should be around four-thirty or five in the afternoon by now.
We went to Café Abringer, a small cafeteria, but judging by the looks of the people who were there, very expensive (and it should be because otherwise, Aunt Cissy wouldn't have come here).
We sat at a table near a window and two menus appeared as soon as we sat down, it was in French, but when I grabbed it, the letters changed to English, making it easier to read.
A waitress came to take our order and I ordered a chicken sandwich and my aunt ordered a salad, as there were not so many people, our food came fast.
—Do you have something planned for the summer, Eileen? You know you can always come to stay with us. In fact, I want you to, I wanted to use this day to talk to you, but clearly, one day is not enough.
—Oh, maybe later, on Monday I'll go to my best friend's house and I will stay with her for a week, also another friend invited us to his house, but I don't know if I'll go...
—I understand, and who is this friend?
—Her name is Hermione...
—Granger?
—Yes, how did you know?
—Draco told us about her. —My aunt took a sip of her tea.— Why do you associate with those kinds of people?
—What do you mean?
—I know she's a... Muggleborn.
—Yes, what's the problem?
—What is the problem? That is the problem, they do not deserve to go to Hogwarts, they are not on our level.
—Why not? Hermione's extremely smart and—
—Memorizing books doesn't mean that she's smart.
—Well, maybe not, but... —I put my half-eaten sandwich on the plate, my hunger suddenly disappeared.— But that doesn't mean they can't go to Hogwarts, just because they have muggle parents.
—That's the reason why they can't go, their blood is contaminated, it's dirty.
—So, my blood is dirty, too? You know my dad and I are not Purebloods.
My aunt sighed and checked her pocket watch.
—We have to go, the Portkey will activate in five minutes.
I got up and left the restaurant without waiting for her; I will never understand why they believe in the importance of blood, isn't it very hypocritical to hate the rest of them, while they treat me like family?
My aunt came out of the restaurant, torn scarf in hand, gave me the end of it to hold it, I took it and waited for the horrible tug in my stomach. We apparated in a room in the Portkey Office and I fell again, my aunt offered me her hand, but I didn't take it, I just got up and left the office.
The way out of the Ministry and to get to the house was in complete silence; we apparated in the same alley as always, and we walked to the house, my aunt knocked on the door and it didn't take long for my dad to open the door.
—I must admit you are earlier than I expected.
I entered the house without saying anything to my dad and went straight to the kitchen to have a glass of water. I heard them talking, but they were talking too soft to understand until she spoke a little louder.
—I hope you have fun with your friend, Eileen. And I hope you can visit us this summer. Goodbye, Severus.
I heard the sound of the door closing and a couple of bags being placed on the table in the living room.
—I thought I told you to behave. —I didn't say anything, I just stared at the glass of water as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.— Eileen, what happened?
—Everything was going fine until she started saying that I shouldn't be friends with Hermione because she's a mud… Because she's a Muggle-born.
—The Malfoys have their ideals, and although... Although they may not be the correct ones, you shouldn't behave that way anyway.
—So I should just... just let them talk ill about my best friend?
—No, but you can discuss it with them and try to get them to understand your opinions, instead of just getting angry and ignoring them.
—I should've used Occlumency, shouldn't I? I completely forgot...
—We'll practice that later, now go put your new clothes away.
I put the glass of water on the table and was about to leave the kitchen.
—I like your new dress.
I turned to see him with a smile on my face, I don't know what happened to my dad, but lately, he has been more... Expressive, with his thoughts, it's strange but cute.
—Really? I chose it myself.
He nodded and started to drink his coffee, I took the bags with the clothes and went up to my room, I emptied all the bags on my bed and they created a small pile of dresses on it, I was about to start putting them all away when I saw something that was red under a couple of dresses, but the cloth was different from the dress that Aunt Cissy bought so I pulled it out and couldn't help but smile when I saw the sweater that I had liked when we entered the store, but instead of yellow with white, it was red and yellow.