Chapter 3

Carina Malfoy didn't wake with the dawn to the crowing of the cock. Instead, she awoke about midmorning to the piercing call of peacocks strutting the grounds some distance beneath her window. Instinctively, she groaned and covered her head with her pillow.

"I'm never getting bloody peacocks," she swore for the hundredth time. She rolled over, hazy visions of her debut drifting in and out focus before she jolted upright with a gasp.

"Father," she breathed. She dressed quickly and, taking care to compose herself, strode from the room. It took a bit of searching before she found her mother in one of the upstairs sitting rooms, having a cup of tea as she gazed absently out the wide window across the grounds. She didn't seem to notice Carina until her daughter touched her lightly on the shoulder. Even then, she hid her surprise and offered a tired smile.

"Good morning, darling," she greeted.

"Good morning. Have you seen Father?" she asked, perhaps more quickly than was necessary.

Narcissa thought for a moment. "He went out some time ago. He had somebody to meet with."

Carina frowned and sat across from her mother. Narcissa summoned a house elf to have a cup of tea brought to Carina.

"Something happened last night, didn't it?" she ventured. "While we were talking to the Minister."

Narcissa studied her daughter over the rim of her cup, then lowered it to the saucer on the table between them.

"It's nothing to concern yourself with," she answered briskly. Carina's brow furrowed.

"Was it something bad?" she pressed. Narcissa hesitated.

"Of course not, dear."

"Then what was so important that you had to leave the debut?" She purposefully forewent saying "my debut" in favor of "the debut," hoping to remind her mother that the event was as important to her parents as it had been to her. Narcissa eyed her disapprovingly.

"As your father said, there was simply a matter that we needed to deal with. You needn't worry so much, love," she reprimanded lightly.

Carina bit her lip. "I suppose… but Father looked like he was hurt…" She let the words trail off in something like a question, pleading with her eyes.

"He's fine," Narcissa assured her. "Why don't you go pack? We'll be leaving for the World Cup in the morning."

Carina sighed, knowing her mother could dance around her questions all day, though sending her on a task would be just as effective. She left the room, leaving her tea untouched on the table. Instead of heading for her own room, however, she detoured and knocked on Draco's door. Knowing full well he would still be sleeping, she entered without waiting for a response.

As she had expected, Draco still sprawled across his bed on his stomach, head beneath his pillow. He didn't snore—Malfoys never snored—but she could see the rise and fall of the lump that was his body as he breathed.

"Draco," Carina whispered. She prodded his ribs and he shifted just a little. "Draco, wake up."

He didn't move. Impatiently, she yanked the pillow from beneath the arm he'd slung over it to keep it in place. Draco moaned in protest and turned his face away from her. Carina rolled her eyes and flicked her wand at the heavy drapes, spilling the late morning sunlight into his room.

Draco groaned this time and threw a hand up to shield his eyes. "Wha're you doin'?" he complained. "What time is it?"

"Late," Carina answered curtly. "Scoot." She sat down on the bed, leaning against one post as she swung her feet up, crossing her ankles near his head.

"What do you want?" Draco mumbled, searching blindly for his pillow as his eyelids drooped closed again.

"I want to talk about Mother and Father," she told him. "Didn't you notice that they left last night?"

Draco, finally resigning himself to the fact that he wouldn't get to sleep any longer, rolled over and sat up, rubbing his hands over his face. Finally he answered, "Yeah, I noticed them leave and come back. You seemed kind of anxious about it, but I figured you were nervous about being the hostess while they were gone. Isn't that part of the deal? Mother and Father let you run things for a bit to show you're a good hostess or something?"

Carina shook her head. "They would have told me if it was. They didn't plan it. Father just… he had his hand on my shoulder and then suddenly he grabbed it kind of tightly, like he was in pain. Then he excused himself and Mother, and they left. They were gone for probably forty-five minutes or so."

Draco shrugged. "Maybe they went upstairs to the bedroom." He pulled a disgusted face and Carina rolled her eyes.

"It's terribly poor form for them to leave for such a silly reason. And besides, they were both immaculate when they returned." Carina considered for a moment before adding, "Mother walked on Father's right-hand side instead of his left."

Draco's brow furrowed. "Which means what, exactly?"

Carina raised her eyebrows in exasperation. "Mother always walks on his left. It's traditional for a bride to stand on her husband's left, and they've always walked that way. Mother sits to Father's left, she even sleeps to his left. Haven't you noticed?"

Draco shook his head. "I didn't realize it mattered so much."

Carina sat silently, mulling over the scene just before her parents had left. They'd been discussing policies… Nothing that would majorly affect their family came to mind. In fact, she couldn't think of a situation where her father would have been more comfortable.

"He was favoring his arm," she muttered to herself. At this, Draco looked up at her.

"Which arm?"

"Which do you think?" she asked irritably. Draco scowled at her.

"I'm just confirming that it was his left. You know, the arm he's got his Dark Mark on."

Carina stilled, not having considered that bit of information. Of course she'd seen the Mark before, and she knew of her father's involvement with the Dark Lord during the war. More often than not though, her father wore long-sleeved garments. She couldn't remember when she'd last seen him wearing anything that exposed the skin past his wrist.

"You don't think he could… feel something, do you?" she asked quietly.

Draco met her gaze, sensing her unease. "If he did, do you think—"

The rest of his question went unasked as Narcissa rapped smartly on the door.

"Draco," she called.

"Yes, Mother?"

Narcissa opened the door, pausing when she caught sight of Carina on the bed. She swung her legs down and stood up.

"I thought you were packing," Narcissa said, one eyebrow raised primly in question.

"I thought I'd make sure Draco was awake. He would sleep the day away if we let him."

A smile touched Narcissa's face. "Best get ready. We leave tomorrow morning. I'll have breakfast sent up to your rooms."

Carina nodded, cast a quick glance at her brother, and followed her mother out of the room.


Carina spent the day packing, carefully choosing outfits for the days spent at the campground in addition to her personal journal, her study journal, and a few texts that she intended to look through while waiting for the Quidditch World Cup.

Once her bag was packed, Carina attempted to do some more of her schoolwork, but found her mind too preoccupied by her father's odd behavior the previous night and her mother's avoidance that morning. Instead, she pulled out her personal journal and recorded every potentially relevant detail that she could remember about her debut. Despite the fact that she wrote quickly, she still spent a couple of hours to complete it. By then, a house elf had been sent up to remind her about lunch.

After a brief meal with Narcissa, Carina and Draco went out for a round of Quidditch out on the grounds. Training certainly helped to take her mind off of it, redirecting her thoughts to her team and their tactics. Previously, the Slytherin captain had gone more for brawn than skill, and it had hurt their chances. Carina had made changes last year, however, and though they had fallen just shy of winning the Quidditch Cup, she hoped that this year they would have a better chance.

She faltered suddenly, thinking of the Triwizard Tournament. Surely they wouldn't cancel the Quidditch season in lieu of it, would they? The troubling thought caused her to let Draco's shot slip past her, and she scowled at his whoop of triumph.

"Always stay focused!" he parroted at her, one of her favorite instructions to her team.

Just to spite her brother, she dropped all pretenses of going easy on him and scored four goals in a row.

Once the siblings grew bored, they abandoned their game and brought in their gear. Carina took a quick shower, then picked up a copy of the Daily Prophet from where her mother had left it at the dining room table during lunch. She'd been too preoccupied at the time to study the headlines, but now she peered closer at its contents.

The front page of the Prophet was dominated by speculations about the upcoming match between Ireland and Bulgaria that would decide the champions of this year's World Cup. According to the list of contents cramped in one corner of the page, she noted that thus far, a story hadn't been released yet on her debut. That suited her just fine, she thought. She dreaded the story that Rita Skeeter would release, worried that Lyra's name would be dragged through the mud for her impotence.

Then again, she realized, Lyra didn't much care about her name being in the press. She relaxed and let the paper drop back to the table. With nothing else to do, she retreated to her room for further study.


Later that evening, her father returned home. Although the Manor was of a considerable size, she could note the slight change in the atmosphere when he arrived. Lucius Malfoy carried a certain presence with him wherever he went, and when the house itself seemed to stir in response, Carina all but dropped her book. She listened closely for a moment to the stillness.

There! The murmur of her mother's voice responding to her father's deeper timbre reached her, and she swung her legs off the bed. She resisted the urge to run down to meet him, instead hesitating just before she reached the staircase to listen.

"—felt it as well," Lucius was saying. "Last night, at about the same time."

"What does this mean?" Narcissa asked quietly.

Carina hesitated, and she leaned forward to hear his response.

"We must tread very lightly. Until we hear more, there is nothing to be done," he murmured.

"What about the cup?"

"We shall proceed as we always have."

A long moment of silence followed, and Carina took another step forward to hear more of the conversation. The floorboard creaked beneath her and she cursed under her breath. She held it for a moment, hoping her parents hadn't heard.

"Carina?" Narcissa's voice carried up to her. "Draco?"

With a sigh, she strode out onto the stairs and descended, refusing to show any hesitance.

"You're home," she said to her father, not giving them a chance to question her as she reached the landing.

Lucius didn't so much as nod. "It isn't becoming to skulk about," he reproached her. Carina frowned.

"I just wanted to make sure you were alright. You vanished last night and then this morning you were gone," she explained.

Narcissa fixed her with a stern look. "We discussed this, Carina. It is nothing of concern."

"But there is something that happened," she pressed.

"As your mother said, it is nothing to be concerned with," Lucius said.

"But I am concerned. You left my debut last night."

"And you did wonderfully acting as hostess," Narcissa commended her. "Truly, we were not missed by our guests."

"You were missed by me," she argued.

"Carina Rosalind, you will respect your mother," Lucius warned sharply.

"I'm just trying to understand what happened to make you leave," she pleaded. "I'm of age, I can handle it!"

"This isn't a matter of age," her mother told her.

"Is it something to do with your Dark Mark?" she asked, playing off of their assumption that she wasn't aware of it. For a moment, her parents appeared stunned, and she took advantage of it.

"Father, I'm not Draco. I may have only been four when the war ended, but I still remember things about it. I—"

Lucius cut her off.

"That is enough," he snapped deliberately. "We'll speak no more of this."

Carina dropped her eyes. Although she now knew that there was more than her parents were telling, she didn't dare push her father when he had that dangerous glint in his eye. A few seconds passed in tense, uncomfortable silence.

"Do you understand?" he asked, slightly calmer now.

"Yes."

Lucius straightened. "Good." He swept out of the room, and after a moment Narcissa followed. When they had gone, Carina clenched and unclenched her fists, gritting her teeth. Her head jerked up at the sound of footsteps descending the stairs.

"What was that about?" Draco asked, staring between Carina and the door their parents had vanished through.

"Nothing," she muttered sourly, and pushed past him back up the stairs to her room.

OOO

Although Carina was tempted to have her dinner brought up to her, she didn't want her father to think that she was giving up on the matter entirely. She sat beside Draco in the dining room, eating stiffly. Draco glanced between her and his parents, and Carina imagined the little dragon scuttling anxiously between her wrist and elbow.

At length, Lucius broke the silence.

"Did you study this evening?" His question was directed at Draco, who tensed the tiniest bit. Carina nibbled her bread, saying nothing.

"Yes," Draco responded slowly. "I thought I'd get ahead before we leave tomorrow morning."

Lucius nodded his approval before turning to Carina. "How are your studies?"

"I've been studying Transfiguration and Potions," she said evenly. "And I've been reading up on the policies being reviewed by the Ministry."

Lucius regarded her for a moment. "And what do you think of the proposed increased security for the Department of Mysteries?"

Carina caught herself before she could shrug. "I think they're putting resources into a project that could be better used elsewhere. Everyone knows that the security is already nearly impossible to crack."

"It would seem that the Department of Mysteries has been experiencing more nosy visitors than the Ministry is comfortable with," Lucius countered.

Carina took a moment to chew the piece of bread she'd placed in her mouth before answering. "They wouldn't happen to be having trouble with any other Ministry members, would they? I mean, they are still part of the government."

"The Ministry is a large organization, with hundreds of employees," Lucius replied, cutting into an expertly prepared salmon. "Not all of them should be privy to the kind of sensitive information contained within that department."

"What if that information were necessary for their safety?" Carina pressed.

"It would be up to the Minister and the head of the department to decide what information was pertinent," Lucius explained.

Just then, a house-elf scuttled into the room and effectively derailed the conversation as she offered the Evening Prophet to Lucius. Carina straightened immediately as his cool, silvery eyes skated over the headlines. He flipped open to the society pages, then handed the paper to Narcissa with an unreadable expression. Carina swallowed as her mother's cool, blue eyes scanned the same article, itching to see the paper. It took all of her restraint not to snatch the paper from Narcissa's hands when she handed it to Carina.

A brilliant, black-and-white photograph of Carina adorned a decent section of the page as she turned slightly with the "society smile" Lyra had mentioned settled easily on her lips. Her eyes skipped over the photograph—she already knew she looked radiant—to the headline and accompanying article.

The Inside Scoop—Carina Malfoy's Dazzling Debut

The brightest and most glamorous of Britain's wizarding community donned their best robes to welcome the eldest daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, Carina Rosalind, into high society, and the lady of the hour did not disappoint! Gliding into the room wearing a stunning blue-to-silver gown tailored to make her shine, it was impossible not to be impressed by the poise and elegance displayed by one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight's own.

Previous to the young Miss Malfoy's grand entrance, a private dinner was held in the company of the Malfoys' most exclusive guests, including chairmen of the charities to which the Malfoys have so graciously donated, and suitors eager to win the fair maiden's hand. While the Prophet was unable to attend this portion of the evening, sources tell us that it was as grand as can be expected from one of the wealthiest families in Britain. As always, Carina Rosalind presented herself with grace and poise that could only come from her mother.

During her debut, Miss Malfoy was introduced to several eligible bachelors, include schoolmate Erak Duncan. In an interview with the Prophet, Miss Malfoy remained tight-lipped about her opinions of these suitors. "I've met a number of young men during my time at school," she commented mysteriously, "but very few of them could measure up to the fine gentlemen I've met here tonight." One must wonder if, perhaps, one of these lucky attendees might have already caught the eye of the newest bachelorette.

Carina fought to contain her eye-roll at the focus this author put on her imaginary love life, and continued reading.

Miss Malfoy also proved to be an excellent hostess when Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy excused themselves for an important meeting with a foreign contact, actively entertaining her guests and graciously letting the Prophet in on her unconventional plans for her future.

"I intend to pursue great things during my last year at Hogwarts," she stated. "Once I've graduated, I intend to pursue a career of my own in politics."

Upon being asked if a career is temporary until she marries, Miss Malfoy faltered in answering. "As a Slytherin, I have always been ambitious and have no desire to temper that trait. If my suitors disagree, then perhaps they might better spend their time keeping up with me than dissuading me from my goals."

True to her word, Carina Rosalind is as ambitious as they come. Heading into her final year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Miss Malfoy will continue her duties as a Slytherin Prefect and Quidditch Captain, as well as carrying an impressive course schedule in preparation for her N.E.W.T.s at the end of the year. Miss Malfoy also hinted at an additional extracurricular project she will be undertaking before the year is out, though she refuses to offer details to the Prophet at this time.

Clearly, Miss Malfoy seems to be shaping up to be a career woman, with no interest in suitors who intend for her to be a demure wife. No word yet on the opinions of Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy regarding their daughter's intended plans.

Carina pressed her lips into a thin line and lowered the paper, not bothering to read the rest of the article discussing the guests and who spoke to whom and who wore what. Draco had already taken advantage of her silence by quizzing their father about the players on the Bulgarian and Irish teams, and Carina was grateful for the momentary distraction as she processed the article.

She had hoped that drawing attention to her career and plans at school would distract from the suitor situation, but the reporter seemed fixated on her newly-minted "bachelorette" status.

She wasn't aware that she had been chewing on the inside of her lip until Narcissa cleared her throat and Carina sank her teeth in more deeply than she had intended. She stifled a gasp and met her mother's stern look. She released her lip and straightened up the tiniest bit.

"What do you think?" she probed, trying to mask her impatience as she shifted her gaze to her father.

"You did well," he said simply. "Particularly when your mother and I, ah, stepped out for a moment."

"Speaking of which," she pressed, flattening her hands on the table. Lucius's warning gaze snapped to her face, and she immediately quelled beneath it, switching subjects. "The Prophet seemed eager to know about my plans at the time. They obviously want a statement from you concerning them. What would you have told them, had you been present?"

At this, her father relaxed and considered.

"That you are as ambitious as any Slytherin with a strong mind and will," he remarked.

"You will do great things," Narcissa added fondly. Carina's chest warmed at the praise, and for a moment, she almost forgot all about the Dark Mark and her parents' tense behavior.

Almost.