Malfoy Manor was a looming presence up the road ahead, the first time Abigail Thorpe had been here she had hesitated at the front gate and almost turned around but her determination had spurred her on and now she was a regular visit at the run-down Manor House. She made it to the front gate and rang the bell, though it made no noise she could hear the metal gates creaked open, inviting her inside the grounds in an eerie manner. The noise sent a shiver up her spine even now though she had heard it many times before. Abigail walked towards the front door, she remembered the garden had been pretty once, though now it was over grown and the topiaries were desperate for attention. A rose bush by the front steps looked vicious with its over grown tangle of thorny stems, only a few white roses were left on the bush, like the rest of the garden it had seen better days. Another bell at the dark wood front door though this one she could hear sending its low, booming echo through the house. A moment later and the door clicked open, revealing Mrs Malfoy, she was an elegant looking woman, though she looked tired. Her hair was greying and her skin was paler than it had been before the war. She smiled, "Ah, Abigail." She opened the door wider, "Do come in." Abigail walked past the women, offering her a small smile of her own. "He's in the library I assume?" She asked but didn't wait for any confirmation as she strode towards the grande staircase.
The library was on the second floor. The large, double doors were guarded on either side by two long worn dragon statues. Abigail took one steadying breath and squared her shoulders. Then she pushed open the library doors. Inside the room was dark, the heavy curtains still drawn across the windows. A small fire crackled in the gaping mouth of the fireplace, too small to light up anything but the one chair and coffee table placed in front of it. Abigail strode towards the fire, pulling out her wand as she did so. A single flick of her wrist had all the curtains peeling back from the windows, releasing the midday sunlight upon the room. It was enough to startle the boy sleeping in the armchair. The book that had been open in his lap tumbled to the floor as he reached for a wand he no longer possessed, old habit. After a second, the boy realised it was her and slunk back down into his chair. Not a boy anymore, she reminded herself, it had been three years since the end of the war making Draco Malfoy twenty and therefore he was a man, not a boy but looking down at his dishevelled hair and defeated expression Abigail could only see the boy she'd watched from afar in those long gone days at Hogwarts.
"Please tell me you're going to have your hair cut before tomorrow." Abigail said walking back around the armchair and towards the large circular table that took up most of the open space in the library. She set her briefcase down on the table and took a seat in her usual chair. Clicking the briefcase open, she began to riffle through the papers and notes it contained.
"What would be the point?" Draco asked, picking himself up once more and dragging himself over to the table, he seemed to have lost all the swagger he had once possessed and now moved like every part of him was too heavy to carry. "There won't be any haircuts in Azkaban." He sniggered at himself but there was no real amusement to it, just a look of dread in his dark eyes.
The Wizengamot had been very busy the last few years dealing with the fall out after the war, trying to sort those who had willingly followed Voldemort from those who had been forced to in one way or another. Trials were taking much longer to complete and so other trials were being pushed back further and further. Finally, Draco's trial had arrived after three long years of waiting and preparing, Abigail had said it was a good thing that it had been pushed back so much, it meant they didn't really see him as much of a threat in the first place but Draco didn't see it that way and after three years of being locked inside this house, not even being able to step into his own front garden, she didn't blame him. She promised herself that as soon as Draco was free, she'd take him wherever he wanted to go.
"You're not going to Azkaban, Draco." Abigail told him firmly, she'd told him a thousand times, had grown tired of saying it if she was to be quite honest but she'd say it a thousand times more if she had too. "I'm not going to let that happen." It was the same thing she'd said to him upon their first meeting three years ago and it was what she had been telling him every meeting since. She had only two rules for their meeting, no secrets and no lies and she hoped more than anything that she wasn't lying to him when she told him he wasn't following his father to Azkaban.
A/N: I hope you like this first chapter, leave me a review maybe? ~Legerythil