~~ Chapter Eighteen: From Sweet to Sour, Part I ~~
"Oops."
Harry Potter looked up from the piece of paper he was reading and turned his attention to Draco Malfoy. "What do you mean, 'oops'?"
Draco looked at the contents of the bowl in front of him. "I accidentally dropped an eggshell."
"Oh, that's not good." Harry set the directions for baking cookies down and walked over to Draco and the bowl. "Can you see any pieces?"
Draco shook his head.
"Oh, well. We'll just have to warn people before they eat them. Now, we add three cups of flour."
They added the flour, and stirred it together. With the addition of the newest ingredient, the dough started to thicken. "This is kind of fun," Draco commented. "Do you make cookies a lot?"
"Whenever Dudley wanted any," Harry replied, "which was about two or three times a week."
The two boys laughed. Harry added some more flour to the dough, and they continued stirring. Before long, it reached the desired thickness. "That's good," Harry said, setting down his mixing spoon. "Where are the chocolate chips?"
"Over here," Draco said, walking over to another counter and retrieving the bowl of chocolate chips. He walked back, holding the desired commodity in his hands. "What do I do with it?"
"Pour it in here," Harry answered, "and we stir again."
Draco added the chocolate chips to the dough, and they stirred it until the chips were evenly distributed throughout the substance. "I think I see a piece of eggshell," Harry said, picking out a small white flake on the surface of the dough. "Well, that's one down, three hundred to go."
"Sorry," Draco said.
"Don't worry about it. It happens to the best of us."
By and by, along came Lucius Malfoy. "What are you boys up to?" he inquired, sticking his head into the kitchen.
"We're baking cookies, Mr. Malfoy," Harry replied. "Want to help?"
A small smile of amusement appeared on Lucius's face. "No, thank you."
"Father, do you know where Professor Terringer is?" Draco asked. "We haven't seen her all morning."
"I saw her about three hours ago, in the west library," Lucius answered. "She looked busy, so I didn't interrupt her.
At that moment, who should appear next to Lucius but Alina Terringer herself. "I was busy," she confirmed, "and thank you for not interrupting my work. The students of Skyliner Wizarding Academy will be eternally grateful." Her eyes fell upon Harry and Draco's concoction. "Ooooh, you're making cookie dough!" she exclaimed. "Quick, eat it before it turns to salmonella!"
"Skyliner," Lucius repeated thoughtfully. "Is that the school in Switzerland you were asked to speak at?"
She nodded. "Yes. They're small, about one-third the size of Hogwarts, but quite prestigious, I'm told."
"Hey, that's kind of good," Draco commented, eating a little bit of the dough.
"Oh, you can't tell me you've never eaten cookie dough before," Alina said.
Draco shook his head. "The thought never occurred to me."
"You've been deprived. Eat that cookie dough. But not too much, or you might get a stomachache."
"Goodness gracious," Lucius asked. "Do all Muggles eat the dough?"
Alina looked at him. "You've never eaten cookie dough, either? Oh, dear." She pulled a chunk of dough out of the bowl and offered it to him. "Care to experience one of the best things the Muggle world has to offer?"
Lucius hesitated. Being quite wary when it came to incorporating Muggle ways into his lifestyle, he took a moment to contemplate the possible results of this seemingly innocent action.
"Come on," Alina said after seeing him hesitate. Her tone of voice suggested that she was trying to persuade a six-year-old to eat his vegetables. "It's just cookie dough."
She was teasing him now, and that made him smile involuntarily. "I don't know," he said, trying to avoid making eye contact with her.
"Come on, you can do it," she said, bringing the finger that held the cookie dough on it toward his lips. "Open up. It's not going to bring down the entire Malfoy dynasty if you eat some cookie dough."
Harry and Draco were practically shaking from trying to hold in their laughter. Even Lucius was starting to chuckle. "Lucius Malfoy," Alina said, "if you do not eat this cookie dough, I will make you beg for death before I finally end your life."
"All right!" Lucius took the dough from her finger and placed it in his mouth.
"Oh, chew carefully," Harry warned. "Draco dropped an eggshell."
Draco smiled sheepishly. "Yeah."
"Thanks for the warning," Alina said, taking a bit of dough herself. She looked at Lucius. "What do you think, Malfoy?"
"It's not bad," Lucius admitted, surprised at himself for saying that.
"Told you," she said, and winked. "Didn't I tell you?" She looked at the boys. "Didn't I tell him?"
"All right, all right, you told me," Lucius said. "You don't have to rub it in."
"You two fight like you're married," Harry commented.
Lucius and Alina then realized how close they were standing to each other. Both of them blushed slightly and put some distance between them. Draco was about to say something to Harry, but at that moment, Harry's owl, Hedwig, flew in an open window with a letter in her beak. Harry held out his arm, and Hedwig landed on it. "What's this?" he asked, taking the letter from her. He read the name on it, then handed it to Lucius. "It's for you, Mr. Malfoy."
Lucius broke the wax seal on the letter and unfolded it. "It's from the Ministry of Magic," he read. His brow wrinkled with concern as he read the letter, and when he reached its end, he looked at Alina. "They want us in London. Both of us."
"How soon?" Alina asked.
"Immediately," Lucius replied. "Tomorrow at the latest. They want my personal input on the appointment of a new Minister, and your presence is requested for an undisclosed reason." He glanced at the boys, then whispered in Alina's ear, "I need to speak with you in private. They've identified the creature that killed Fudge and Su Li."
"Is something wrong?" Draco asked, noticing the concerned looks on his father and teacher's faces.
"Harry, Draco, you two just worry about the cookies right now," Alina said. "We'll be back in a few minutes."
The boys watched Lucius and Alina leave, and then Harry spoke. "Something's up," Harry said. "Something's definitely up."
Draco nodded in agreement. "Do you think we'll ever find out what it is?"
"I'm afraid so."
Lucius and Alina left the house and retreated to the sprawling gardens to discuss these urgent matters. They had been walking in silence along a wide grass path lined with cherry trees for several minutes before Alina spoke. "You said they found out what killed Fudge and Su," she said. "What was it, a werewolf?"
Lucius shook his head. "As if we should be so lucky to be dealing with just a werewolf," he said. He stopped walking, and noticing his halt, she stopped as well. His eyes locked with hers, and he spoke again. "It was a Nundu."
"A Nundu?" Alina repeated, unable to believe what she just heard.
He nodded. "A Nundu is something like a-"
"I know what a Nundu is," Alina interrupted. "I just… didn't think they existed, that's all." She paused as the pieces in this puzzle began to come together in her mind. "Then it was a Nundu that killed your family, too," she realized.
"It has to be," Lucius said. "The four parallel gashes, two inches apart and an inch or so deep… no other creature leaves a mark like that. It was Professor McGonagall who realized it was a cat, and only a Nundu is a big enough cat to make marks that size."
"But how could a Nundu have gotten all the way up here?" she asked. "They're supposed to live in East Africa, and they must be very rare."
"It didn't get here by itself, that's for sure," he said. "Someone must have brought it."
Alina saw where this was going. "Someone like…" There was no need to speak his name. He knew as well as she did who she was referring to: Voldemort.
"Yes. Someone like him." He walked a few feet away and turned his back to her, unable to look her in the eyes during his moment of weakness. "He killed them. All of them. If I had been there-"
"He would have killed you, too," she interjected. She walked over to him and put her hand on his arm. "Then Draco would be alone and you wouldn't be here to make sure he was cared for. Don't blame yourself, Lucius."
Lucius was a little surprised. Aside from the act they put on for the Dursleys the previous day, that was the first time he'd ever heard her call him by his first name. He was about to comment on that when the pounding footsteps of something approaching rapidly from behind them reached their ears. He pulled out his wand and stepped in front of Alina, ready to face whatever this thing was.
They half-expected a Nundu, so when they saw that the incoming creature was a unicorn, both of them were quite relieved. "Elessara!" Alina said, walking over to the elegant animal and draping her arm around its majestic neck. Elessara did not "belong" to her, so to speak; rather, she belonged to the unicorn. Unicorns had no masters, but they did have soul mates.
Lucius took a tentative step closer to Alina and Elessara. Unicorns preferred women, and he wasn't sure how this particular unicorn would react to him. Alina saw his movement and beckoned him closer with her hand. "It's all right," she said. "Just move slowly."
He did, and Elessara watched him and didn't move. Soon, he was standing next to Alina and was close enough to touch the unicorn. "Go ahead," Alina encouraged him when she saw him looking at the magical creature.
Lucius reached his hand toward the unicorn, and soon, his fingers were touching her neck. Elessara twitched slightly, but, reassured by Alina's presence, did not shy away from him. "I don't believe this," he said, smiling in amazement as the unicorn allowed him to pet her. "This is amazing."
Alina was beaming. "I think she likes you," she commented. "I've never seen her take to anyone like this."
"I thought unicorns didn't like men," Lucius said.
"They prefer women, but they do like men," Alina replied. "Well, as much as men deserve to be liked, that is."
Lucius cast her a suspicious look. "Are you implying something?"
"I might be." A twinkle appeared in her eye, and she smiled. "Have you ever ridden on the back of a unicorn?"
The unicorn galloped across the grounds with her two passengers as swiftly and lightly as if they weren't even there. Alina was used to riding on Elessara, but Lucius wasn't, and his tension was starting to show. She took a moment to glance over her shoulder at him and said, "You can relax. She won't let you fall."
"I'm sharing a seat on the back of a unicorn with a siren," Lucius replied. "Do you think it's falling I'm worried about?"
A shy smile worked its way onto Alina's lips, and she faced forward again. Strands of her long, golden brown hair were blowing in his face from the wind generated by the unicorn's speed, and he gently smoothed them aside. Those strands were quickly replaced by more, and the task proved to be much more difficult than he originally anticipated. Alina chuckled when she realized what he was trying to do. "Let me help you," she said, reaching her right hand up to her hair to pull it aside.
Their fingers touched, and for a few moments, neither one moved. Elessara slowed down to a canter. Lucius found the rest of her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Alina," he said, "there's something I have to know."
He was almost surprised when she didn't pull her hand away; in fact, she gripped it tighter. "Then ask, and know."
"You hated me," he said. "Everyone knew that, and you even told me yourself. But then you nearly died to save Draco, and then there was the incident with the Dursleys… what happened?"
"I had a feeling this would come up soon," Alina replied. She rotated her upper body so she was facing him. "Do you remember that conversation we had the night Draco was injured in Quidditch?" She then let go of his hand and dropped her arm. "I'm sorry, but that was terribly uncomfortable."
He placed his hand over her left hand, then brought her fingers up to his lips and kissed them. "Is that better?"
She smiled and lowered her eyes briefly. "Much."
"Yes, I remember the conversation," he said in response to her question.
"What I said didn't apply just to Draco. I had you in mind as well. I never dreamed you were capable of caring so much, and it opened my eyes to a whole new side of you."
Elessara's pace had dropped to a trot.
"When Severus told me you were planning to deal with those awful Muggles, I knew I had to intervene in case something went wrong," she continued. "Your methods of handling Muggles are not exactly the best, after all."
Lucius half-smiled and nodded. "That's true," he admitted. Elessara slowed to a walk.
"But," she said, "it touched my heart that you were willing to deal with people like them for the sake of your son and his friend. I was wrong about you, Lucius. Beneath everything I thought I hated about you was a good man waiting to be set loose. Severus told me not to give up on you."
"Which reminds me, there's something else I must know," he said. "What is the story behind you and Severus?"
"Severus is my friend," she replied, "nothing more, nothing less. He is a good man, but…"
"But what?" he whispered, leaning in close to her so their faces were inches apart.
"But I love another."
Following those words, the ancient feud between their two bloodlines ended as Malfoy and Muggle-born shared their first kiss.