Penny followed Narcissa through the Manor, Draco dragging his feet as her aunt gave her a brief tour. Narcissa flicked her wand at both their luggage and it followed them as they walked.

'So you came in via the drawing room, we have the kitchen, the lounge, the dining room, lavatory, Lucius' study, the wine cellar is downstairs' Narcissa listed off as the three of them entered a large entrance hall. Penny's eyes looked around as they walked, impressed against her will. As they walked up the large staircase Penny noticed how the décor shared the same gothic style as the Slytherin common room, with dark emerald appearing every now and then in pattern of the marble pillars.

'Up here we have five bedrooms all with their own en suite. The one at the far end' Narcissa said pointing down to the right where there were two large doors leading off the hallway 'Is Lucius and I's master bedroom, next door is Draco's bedroom' At this Draco gave Penny a quick nod before slouching off to his bedroom, his trunk following behind him. 'This is where you'll be staying' Narcissa gestured the first door to the left, opening it and gesturing Penny into the room.

The room was large and comfortable, with a big four poster bed in the centre with a smaller door at one end, obviously leading to the en suite. A few artwork pieces hung on the wall, Penny studied these for a few seconds before noticing Narcissa had stepped quietly into the room and closed the door behind her. Flicking her wand, Penny's luggage placed itself along the bed; Narcissa then crossed her hands in front of her. Penny glanced at this, and then looked back at her aunt's face. The two of them studied each other for a few moments before Narcissa broke the silence.

'Lucius should be home from work soon, dinner will be in an hour, if you wanted to freshen up' Narcissa gestured towards the en suite, before regarding the girl 'Did you have clothes for dinner?' Penny raised her eyebrows, before looking down at her casual clothes pointedly. Narcissa's face took on her reserved smile again as she went on 'I thought that might be the case, we are a very traditional family, I shall be back soon Persephone, in the meantime, make yourself at home' Narcissa finished retreating, closing the bedroom door behind her.

Penny let out a sigh as she sunk onto the bed, continuing to take in her surroundings. Spotting a large window at the other side of the room, Penny walked over to it and wiped an area of condensation off with her sleeve. Looking out Penny couldn't make out much in the mist but was sure she could see the outline of some stables and a paddock, and beyond that all she could make out was fields. Suddenly Penny saw movement out the corner of her eye and pressed her nose against the window. Down below seemed to be something of pure white. Squinting Penny finally realised it was a pure white peacock. With a shake of the head at the Malfoys extravagance, Penny turned away from the window. She paused a moment before deciding to shower and headed into the en suite.

Penny let out a small gasp as she stepped into the bathroom. Instead of your standard en suite, this bathroom rivalled those at Hogwarts, with a large tub at one end, with seemingly endless dials for goodness knows what. At one end of the bath was a shower head on a hook, with that looked like gold plating. This was the Malfoy Manor, Penny thought to herself, of course nothing would be standard or basic. Penny took her time washing herself, allowing herself to get lost in thought in the steam. Eventually she wrapped herself in a towel before walking back into the bedroom. Narcissa had evidently been back into the room whilst she washed as some clothes were laid out across the bed. As she approached Penny could see it was a long black dress that appeared to be made of silk, with black lace around the top of the shoulders, the end of the sleeves and along the bottom of the hem. Next to the dress lay an elastic black hair band. Penny raised an eyebrow at this; obviously Narcissa knew the best way to tame her wild hair. Running her finger along the material Penny couldn't help but admire it. She couldn't deny she was enjoying how the other side live, even if she was bemused by it.

Just after she had squeezed into the dress and made an attempt to tame her hair she heard a soft knock on the door. As she turned the door opened gently and Narcissa stepped into the room. Looking the small girl up and down she smiled her smile.

'That dress fits you as well as it fitted your mother at your age' Narcissa commented as Penny's face flickered at this revelation. 'Come, dinner is ready' Narcissa gestured Penny to follow her and lead her back down the grand staircase and into the dining room. Draco sat down one side, and Lucius sat at the head of the table. On seeing them Lucius rose to his feet.

'I believe you have met my husband' Narcissa said to Penny who nodded. Lucius smiled his cold smile as he approached.

'Welcome to our home, Persephone' He said as he stretched out his hand. Penny glanced under her eyelashes to her aunt who was watching her, and reluctantly shook Lucius' hand. 'I trust you are finding it comfortable?' Lucius enquired as Narcissa shot a look across at Draco, who slowly stood and walked to the foot of the table. Pulling out the chair he looked expectantly at Penny who rolled her eyes before sitting down. As they sat, Narcissa flicked her wand and food appeared on the many dishes set across the table.

'Cook has prepared a range of dishes for our dinner tonight Persephone, as I was not sure of your preferences' Narcissa explained

'Thank you' Penny replied before saying 'You have a human cook? I would have thought a building as old as this would have a house elf' Penny pointed out innocently; surprised to see Narcissa and Lucius exchange a dark look. Neither addressed her question but seemed to purposely change the subject.

'So as I understand it, you currently live in a Muggle orphanage when you are not at Hogwarts?' Lucius asked as they continued to eat, a note of contempt badly hidden in his tone. Penny nodded, not wishing to discuss her Muggle lifestyle. 'Do you like it there?' Penny took her time chewing to consider her answer.

'I have friends and connections in the Muggle world that I find useful' she eventually said 'Particularly whilst I am unable to use magic outside of school, this is not a hindrance if I am using Muggle means.' Penny finished, taking a draught from her goblet. Lucius regarded the girl apparently considering her words, before seeming to accept them.

'I guess whilst you are underage this is true' He conceded 'Although obviously when you are fully qualified Muggle means cannot possibly compete.' Penny offered no response to this. Lucius continued to watch her, before carrying on. 'We are curious as to how you come to be in a Muggle orphanage in the first place' Narcissa and Draco both looked towards Penny at this, evidently this was the conversation they has been waiting for 'Are you able to shed any light on this?'

Penny stared intently at her plate, prodding at the food with her fork. She felt a stab of annoyance of being backed into a corner, how dare they dive so deep when they hadn't even got to dessert. It wasn't any of their business. A few seconds past before Penny realised all three of them were still watching her intently. They were her family, she supposed, and it was only natural for them to be curious where she had been hiding since her birth. Pushing down her annoyance she finally replied.

'I don't know much about what happened at the very start' Penny began slowly. 'I know my mother left me with my Nana, the Muggle who raised me, at least to begin with' Penny added in at Narcissa's flicker of confusion 'when I was very new born, my Nana thinks I could have been born the same day. Apparently my mother had said that she would return, but that she looked unstable. After that I lived with my Nana until about the age of five, then ended up at the orphanage after that' Penny finished hurriedly, taking another draught of her drink.

'This... Muggle took you to the orphanage?' Narcissa asked stiffly. Penny shook her head.

'She died' She replied, looking down at her plate.

'Well' Narcissa sniffed indignantly as she reached for her own goblet 'My sister must have been very desperate to have left you with a filthy old Muggle.' The goblet in her hand suddenly shattered. The three Malfoys looked towards Penny who had gone white with fury, her fists clutching the edge of the table.

'Never. Insult. My. Nana.' Penny said slowly, rage filling every word as the table began to rattle. Grasping the table Penny took a long breath in, the contents of the table stilling.

'You need to get that temper under control Persephone' Narcissa said calmly, flicking her wand to repair her goblet. As if nothing had occurred she continued unscathed 'So what subjects do you enjoy at school? Any ideas of a career as of yet? Lucius works at the Ministry of Magic, he is Head of the Department of Business.'

The rest of the meal continued without incident, although Draco kept glancing at Penny as if she was a bomb about to explode. Afterwards Penny returned to her room, where she pondered the events of the evening. She sighed heavily.

It was going to be a long fortnight.