Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Dinner that night was prepared seemingly on its own from Maera's perspective. She never saw Mrs. Malfoy or Mr. Malfoy walk towards any sort of kitchen and they each seemed to be relaxing just as Draco was. The blonde boy had dragged Maera off as soon as they had come out of the floo and into a drawing room at Malfoy manor. She had little time to look around and take in the place that she would be calling home for the rest of the month before she was being dragged about. She was brought past many branching off hallways and had no idea which path they were taking as they went through the house. She didn't think she'd be able to get back to the drawing room that they had come in through on her own, let alone any other part of the house. Finally, Draco had stopped and brought her into a room - likely his room if the decorations and personalization indicated anything. The room was colored in silvers and greens and looked quite extravagant. There were pictures and posters on the walls and Maera was shocked to watch them move, magic truly was amazing to her.
The cousins sat and talked about the wizarding world as well as anything that Draco felt she needed to know, one such thing being quidditch, while waiting for dinner. When they had gotten bored of that, Draco had dragged her around the house again. They found Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy in a smaller drawing room than the one that they had initially entered through and stayed with the two adults playing wizard's chess (a game she was slowly getting the hang of) until Mr. Malfoy indicated that Mr. Snape had arrived and that dinner would be served momentarily. Draco seemed to be unsurprised by this and once more dragged Maera through the house. He brought them to a small bathroom in order to wash their hands before they were to eat and then he led her into the dining room. Food was laying across a large and ornate table. Everything looked amazing and Maera couldn't help but stare at everything hungrily - even if it was all somewhat blurry. Draco moved forward and sat down at a chair before indicating that she ought to sit next to him. Sitting down quickly, the two eleven year-olds waited patiently for the adults to enter the room.
They didn't have to wait long, for shortly after they had sat down, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy walked in and took their seats at the table directly across from Maera and Draco. Mr. Snape came into the room a second later and sat next to Mr. Malfoy. Mrs. Malfoy smiled at everyone before nodding her head for everyone to dig it. It was already a vastly different experience than what Maera was used to, but she wasn't sure how much she'd be able to eat. She had already had lunch and she was used to eating only one small meal in a day. Worrying her lip between her teeth, she squinted her eyes at the dishes in front of her and recognised what seemed to be some type of mashed potatoes. From experience, she knew that they were generally more plain in flavoring, unless someone added something outside of the standard cream, butter, salt, pepper, and potatoes. She carefully scooped a small amount onto her plate and picked up her spoon to eat some. The food was delicious, if a bit rich, so she was grateful that she had only given herself a small amount of potatoes. She didn't notice the adults exchanging a look over her head and Draco staring at her plate in a mix of confusion and concern, too busy savoring the potatoes.
"It would seem, Miss Potter," Mr. Snape began, immediately catching her attention, "that we will need to have a healer look over you." Maera wasn't sure what a healer might be, though she suspected it was something similar to a doctor. She nodded her agreement hesitantly before looking back down at her potatoes. She'd never been to a doctor before, even when she was horribly sick, her aunt and uncle citing her to be too much of a burden in those instances. She gulped and hoped that the Malfoys wouldn't share that opinion. It seemed that Draco noticed her souring mood as she felt his hand grab ahold of hers and squeezed it in a reassuring manner.
"Perhaps we can have the goblins look her over?" Mr. Malfoy suggested, though there seemed to be a hint of some feeling that she wasn't exactly sure she was able to recognise.
Mrs. Malfoy nodded and the three adults quickly began to plan how their summers would continue between Maera's stay at the manor and the many trips that they would be taking to Gringotts and wherever else they might need to go. As this was happening, Draco talked to Maera about their day, asking what she had enjoyed the most and what she was looking forward to.
Conversation continued to flow freely as dinner progressed. Eventually the adults seemed to have come to a consensus on their plans and had swiftly moved on to include the others in their discussion, though about very different topics. At one point Mrs. Malfoy was discussing going shopping for even more clothes for Maera while Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Snape were talking about some potion that they were both interested in.
"Oh," Draco suddenly exclaimed when the conversation began to lull as their dinner seemed to come to an end. "Mother," He began, "Father, did you know that Maera is a parselmouth?"
There was a muffled choking sound coming from Mr. Snape's direction and a snort of surprise, shockingly, from Mrs. Malfoy. Seemingly as one, each of the adults paled before turning to stare at Maera in shock. Maera blinked, still not fully understanding the importance of being a parselmouth - or whatever it was that Draco was claiming she was.
It didn't seem that anyone knew what to say. An awkward and heavy silence weighed upon each person in the room, but there were no words that the adults could use to express their thoughts. The general consensus was that it was impossible for the savior of the wizarding world to be a parselmouth just as the Dark Lord was. Maera shrunk in her chair, intimidated by each of the stares aimed at her. What could she have done? Was it truly that odd to be able to talk to snakes? Just when she had thought that she would finally fit in somewhere, she had to go and ruin it again by being a freak. If she was still with the Dursleys they'd claim that she was right where she always belonged - a freak even among freaks.
As these thoughts grew heavier and heavier, seeming to physically push her down further in her chair, Draco appeared to grow more and more annoyed.
"Oh honestly, it's not as if her being a parselmouth is the end of the world, is it?" The snarky boy asked.
The adults shook themselves out of their stupor before indicating that it was just fine that she was a parselmouth, maybe that even indicated that she would be a Slytherin like everyone else currently in the room - after all, their mascot was a snake and the ability to speak with snakes came from Salazar Slytherin, the founder of Slytherin house and one of the four founders of Hogwarts. With each word in favor of being able to speak to snakes and in support of her rather than trying to tear her down further, Maera felt more and more comfortable. She still felt like a freak amongst freaks, but she imagined that that feeling would leave with time.
Dinner ended shortly after the discussion concerning her new ability - or, new to those around her, she'd known that she could talk to snakes for years, they were some of the best friends that she had when working on her aunt's garden. When they were excused from the table, Draco led Maera to the room that she would be staying in for the summer. He wished her good night before walking across the hall to his own room, waving from the door before shutting it and leaving her truly alone for the first time that day.
Maera quietly opened the door to the room and was shocked at the size. She had seen Draco's room earlier, although it was slightly blurry given her glasses (maybe she should mention that to someone?), sure. But, she didn't expect to receive a room anywhere near the size of his. She walked into the room and looked around, turning fully to see every inch around her. There was nothing overly personal in the room, though she did note that her beautiful, cherry trunk was at the foot of the large bed. Moving towards the trunk, she opened it slowly and found it to be empty. She looked around the room again and finally noticed the bookshelf by the desk was filled with the books she had picked out earlier as well as her school books. Maera opened the door she believed would lead to a closet, but was surprised to find a full bathroom. She left the door open and continued to investigate, finding another door and opening it to look at all of her clothes in the closet. It was nice, she thought, to see things that she had bought in a room that was for all intents and purposes hers. Grabbing what looked to be a pair of pajamas from the cupboard in a rich purple color, she went back to the bathroom.
Maera closed the door to the bathroom and put her change of clothes on the counter before looking into the mirror. She sighed as she changed her appearance back to what she imagined was what she actually looked like before being told that she had to have messy black hair and green eyes. Looking at herself, she noted the differences between what she had seen for the past ten years and what she was seeing now. The girl in the mirror had a heart-shaped face with aristocratic cheekbones, somewhat different to the rounder features that she had previously seen. Her cheeks were hollow, however, from many years of eating only one meal a day, if that, causing her cheekbones to stand out more and giving her a haunted look. Moving on, she noticed that her hair was an inky black and rather curly, though it wasn't as messy as she was used to some would likely claim it to be a disaster in its own right. Finally, she looked at her eyes. She released a sigh of relief as she realised that the eyes she was so used to seeing were the same now, a dark viridian with flecks and swirls of silver or gray throughout. She wasn't exactly sure what her parents looked like - especially now that she had a third parent she had known nothing about - but she hoped that she looked like the perfect mix of each of them. Personally, she could recognize some of Draco and Mrs. Malfoy in her own face, though it wasn't the strongest resemblance, it was enough for her to know that they were definitely related.
Maera moved away from the mirror and quickly took a shower, taking advantage of the ability to do so seemingly whenever she might want to. She brushed her teeth and tied her hair up in a towel as she had seen her aunt do sometimes. Dressed in the purple pajamas, Maera exited the bathroom and turned the lamp on her bedside table on before turning off the main light. She climbed into the large bed and was happy to note that one of her new friends was already at home among the blankets. The 'kitten' that was really a fox pup. She didn't know how the shop owner had come across the little one, but Maera was grateful for being able to give it a good home. She patted next to her when the little pup lifted its head to look at her. The fox seemed to weigh its options before uncurling and lazily walking into her embrace.
As she lay in the large bed, Maera quietly thought about everything that had happened. She reflected on finding out about magic, Mr. Snape's initial visit, and finding out that she had another father as well as a larger family than she had known about. A small smile grew on her face as she fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.