Chapter VIII:

Dumbledore looked over the top of his half-moon glasses at all of us. "Well, we really should be letting the children get back to their homework shouldn't we?" He said mildly, diffusing the awkward silence that had suddenly descended upon the room. At a loss for anything to say, I wordlessly curtsied to Mr. Malfoy, who raised an eyebrow, I grabbed Draco's wrist, and rushed out of the room.

After we were down the stairs he wrenched his wrist out of my grasp. "Why'd you run away? Are you scared Thorncrow?" A slight sneer appeared on his face. I suddenly realized that while he'd been slightly nice to me in the past, and he might slightly like me, he wouldn't respect me if I did anything he viewed as weak or wrong.

So I stuck my nose slightly in the air and said, "No, I just…."

"Just what?"

"I just wanted to get back to my homework, like Headmaster Dumbledore said." I responded in an imperious voice, as I turned and started walking back to the Slytherin Dorm. He caught up with me and we walked back the rest of the way in silence.

The weekend passed by far too quickly and I had mixed feelings as I was again called to Dumbledore's office the following Wednesday. Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, as well as three representatives from the Ministry of Magic were present. Papers were signed and the Malfoys were dubiously congratulated, with a bit of sidelong looks at me. Mr. Malfoy seemed very pleased though, and again I couldn't help but wonder why he had agreed to adopt me. On Friday it was announced to the school and the rest of the wizarding world that Voldemort's spirit was at large. I thought this was a smarter thing to do than keeping it quiet like what had happened in the books, no one benefited from not being given a chance to be on their guard. I imagined that maybe Aurors were even now being tasked with finding the horcruxes. Maybe I wouldn't have to do much at all to help defeat Voldemort, and Harry would have a much easier time of it, a less traumatic childhood and teenage years overall, even though he would still have to die.

000

Harry could hardly contain the horror he felt at hearing that Voldemort's soul was out in the world somewhere. Everyone was still reeling from the shock of Professor Quirrell's death, and now this. He was filled with anger at the thought that the monster who killed his parents was now semi-alive again. Why did the world have to be filled with petty, evil people? Why couldn't they all just go away? Why did they have to bother, even kill, good people? He hated Voldemort. Hated Snape. Hated Malfoy. He was in the midst of thinking this when he, Ron, and Hermoine ran into Draco, Crabbe, Esmira, and Goyle.

Draco immediately started to gloat. "Bet you're scared now Potter." Harry felt his hands curl into fists as he looked at Draco's smug face, at Crabbe and Goyle's belligerent ones, and at Esmira's menacing red eyes.

"I'm not scared of anything." He snarled at Draco and shoved past them. Ron shot them a glare and Hermoine wouldn't look at any of them. Back in the Gryffindor Common room Harry said, "I bet they're all happy that Voldemort's back. That makes them as bad as he is!"

000

It was practically obligatory that everyone attend the Quidditch match. Since they didn't have Harry on their team, Gryffindor eventually lost, though they put up a good fight. After they all touched down I thought I saw Wood arguing with the Gryffindor Seeker, hopefully Harry would get the chance to try out next year and that the Seeker wasn't "locked in" for the next couple of years.

Christmas was fast approaching and I was feeling happy, despite the fact that I was nervous to go home to the Malfoy's mansion. When the sheet was passed around to find out who would be staying at Hogwarts over Christmas Break, I had a mad urge to sign my new name, Esmira Thorncrow Malfoy, on it, but I didn't. Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, and I were exiting Potions class when we came across a blocked corridor with Hagrid, an enormous Christmas tree, Ron, Harry, and Hermoine. Draco of course couldn't resist insulting Ron. Ron's face twisted up and he lunged at Draco before Snape's voice rang out stopping him and taking points from Gryffindor. While Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle cleared off I lingered behind, getting an idea. "Hagrid?" I said, "Could I try dragging the tree? I've heard somewhere the vampires are super strong and I want to see if it's true."

Hagrid chuckled, "A slip of a lass like you? I don't think you'll be able to budge it, vampire or no." He was right too, apparently vampires in this world don't have any special powers. I followed a bit behind the group as they all headed towards the Great Hall, I could tell that Harry, Ron, and Hermoine were uncomfortable around me even though Hermoine was slightly my friend. When we got there, Hermoine mentioned going to the library. They seemed to have forgotten about me because they answered when Hagrid asked them why, that they were searching for information on Nicholas Flamel. I was surprised, were they still going on about that? I guess they didn't know that the stone had probably already been destroyed. Then I thought, Oh no, the mirror was probably never brought to Hogwarts because in the books it was brought after the attempt on Halloween. Wasn't it important that Harry see his parents in it? What if that was one of the memories he used to fight off the Dementors? Oh, I guess that doesn't matter anymore anyway, because Sirius was released from Azkaban.

Hagrid started to laugh, "Yer don't have to worry about that anymore Hermoine. Didn't yer pay attention to the announcement? He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named returned in spirit form. That means he didn't succeed. The attempted break-in at Gringotts doesn't matter anymore."

Hermoine, Harry, and Ron all looked very put out by this announcement, so I said, "If you still want to learn about Flamel just out of curiosity's sake, I believe you'll find the information you're looking for on a chocolate frog." They all turned to stare at me.

I suddenly felt very awkward, and I rubbed the back of my neck with my hand. "Sorry, I just couldn't help but overhear."

"How would you know?" Hermoine asked curiously, "You don't even eat." Oooops. Right…. How was I going to get out of this one? My mind blanked. The Dumbledore card was so common that I couldn't even say I'd heard another student talking about it, because people didn't bother talking about the common cards.

The silence stretched out unbearably until Ron said, "Nevermind then, let's go." I beat a hasty retreat. I was going to have to be more careful. It was just my good fortune that Ron was so impatient. It was then that I remembered that I had seen Ron's name on the list of people staying for Christmas, but not Harry's. I supposed that he was going to stay with Sirius over Christmas break. That would probably be good for the both of them.

The next morning I had expected to get on the train, but Draco said, "My Father has gotten permission for us to travel by floo powder. Much more convenient that way." So we went up to Dumbledore's office and used the chimney. I stared at the opulent hall that I stepped into. Everything was festooned with Christmas decorations.

I was so busy looking up that I nearly tripped over Dobby. "I'll take your things for you Miss." He said, snapping his fingers.

"Right." I said. I didn't dare say thank you, because I didn't want him to start blubbering. I asked Draco, "Are there always this many Christmas decorations?"

Draco nodded, "It's for the Christmas party."

I raised my eyebrows. "Who all will be there?"

"Well, this year we might do a smaller party, since it will be your first. Normally we invite all of the pure-blood elite, but you don't know how to behave yet, so it will probably just be close friends of the family who will be more understanding."

"Oh." I said, I hadn't considered that I would need to learn how to act any differently to be a part of the Malfoy family.

Then, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy appeared coming down the stairs.

"Draco!" Mrs. Malfoy exclaimed, hurrying down. She hugged him, much to his embarrassment. She gave me a hug too, though it was very brief.

Mr. Malfoy spoke. "Dobby will show you to your room Esmira. Then you'll join us for dinner." I nodded and turned to Dobby. I was quite delighted with my room. It was on the third floor and was very nice.

"Dobby? Is Draco's room near mine?"

"No." He said in that squeaky voice of his. "The rest of the family lives on the second floor." I didn't know what to make of that. Naturally I wasn't going to feel a part of the family straight away, but separating me by a floor certainly wasn't going to help that. Unless they didn't want me to feel like a part of the family. Which led me back to the question of why they had adopted me in the first place. I figured that I wouldn't be finding that out any time soon, so I determined that I wouldn't bother worrying about it anymore.

At dinner, while the other Malfoys ate, I remembered it had been a few days since I last had blood. I also realized that it would be about the time of the Christmas party that I would go mad with thirst again. I cleared my throat, but before I could speak Lucius did. "Your parents were very fine Slytherins, Esmira. It's a pity you don't remember them."

"Yes, it is." I said. "Would you tell me a bit about them?"

Mr. Malfoy looked like he was enjoying a private joke as he asked "Did no one at Hogwarts tell you? Why…before the ban, they were both very successful vampire hunters. It seems that someone decided to…make an example of them and insult their legacy by turning you into one." Lucius stared coldly at me and suddenly I felt very unwelcome.

I stood. "If you'll excuse me…"

"Esmira." Narcissa said, "You will get up at eight, we have some shopping to do before the party the day after tomorrow."

"Yes Mrs. Malfoy." I said as I turned and left them. I didn't feel like talking to them about needing blood anymore. What was I going to do?