Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling, the only characters I own are Katia Lockston and Ophelia Adams, etc.

Another chapter should be coming soon, please let me know what you think so far!

I got to the Manor a little earlier than I was supposed to, but I thought it would take me a long time to find it - well, it didn't. Not at all.

I wasn't really sure of where it was, but it seems like I am one of the only people in the whole of England who didn't. When I was at home, eating my lunch with my two room-mates, one of them asked where I was having dinner.

"Some place called The Manor," I told them, with no interest whatsoever. Both of them gaped at me for a while before shrieking,

"You're eating with the Malfoys?!?" And so I pretty much got directions from them. It wasn't hard at all to find once I arrived at the town, I could see it on the tip of a hill in the distance, it was just so damn big. Neither of them could really decide whether eating with the Malfoys was a good thing. Ann, who's a little younger than me, told me it was a good career move, but she wouldn't go near Lucius Malfoy, not even if she was offered a million pounds. (Which I'm sure is the biggest lie she has ever told in her life) My other room-mate, Jessica, (she's Ann's sister, she's just a bit older than her. But despite being sisters, they do not look remotely similar, although they both have the same nose, no matter what they say) told me that she had talked to Lucius before at a business meeting at the Ministry a while back, and he was the most patronising, vicious person she had ever met. She said it wasn't worth it, not even for his money.

"You know, I think he's very nearly a billionaire." She said thoughtfully. I blinked at her.

"I didn't even know he was in his millions." I told her. Both of them stared at me.

"You should really - well - SOCIALISE more." Jessica told me. "Everyone at the Ministry talks about him all the time, he's always giving huge donations."

"I thought you just said he was evil?" I asked her. "If he was evil, why would he give donations?" Jessica gaped at me, looking exasperated.

"Because he's a show off, and he wants everyone to think he's nice!" She said, shaking her head at me. And through the rest of lunch, Ann and Jessica pretty much told me everything there was to know about Lucius Malfoy, and I don't think there was one good thing about him. I was really dreading this. I don't even know why I agreed!

"Well, Draco's going to be there at least." I said, dumping my plate in the sink. Jessica looked disgusted.

"Draco? Draco's going to grow up to be even worse than his father, you mark my words!"

"I teach him, he's always been - well, not exactly nice, but there's nothing wrong with him." Jessica snorted.

"YOU weren't there at the last Ministry party." She snorted. "Horrible little creature, he was. Nothing on his dad, but still just..." She finished by pulling an ugly face.



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As I stepped up to the huge, shining gates, I looked briefly at what lay beyond them, before hitting the button at the side of it. It really was huge. Surrounded by a huge garden that looked like it had been professionally decorated; towering trees, rare and exotic flowers, a beautiful fountain, carefully cut grass, the list was endless. The house itself was also beautiful, though it had a different kind of beauty to the garden. It was dark and towering, looking ancient, yet new at the same time. From what I could see of the windows, they too liked incredibly expensive. I guess Jessica wasn't joking about his money.

"Hello?" Asked a voice from the side of the gate. I looked around wildly, my eyes finally resting on the button. God, I hoped no one had seen me just standing there dazedly.

"Um, hi, I'm Katia Lockston, I've been invited here by Lu - um, Mr. Malfoy." I said nervously. Whoever was at the other end didn't question me further, and the gates swung open. I walked quickly along the white-pebble path, slightly upset at how fast I had to walk. I wasn't the sort of person who was interested in gardens, frankly they bore me, but this one was something I didn't want to miss.

As I reached the towering manor, the door opened. Lucius Malfoy was already there, waiting for me, smiling. He looked annoyingly great, his robes suited him perfectly, and his hair wasn't quick so flyaway as it usually was.

"Hi, Katia." He smiled. "I heard your conversation with the elf, you may call me Lucius."

"You have a house elf?" I asked. He smiled again.

"I have many. 5 elves attend to each room, but there are 10 in the kitchens." I nodded, impressed despite myself. "I'll take your coat," He said, slipping my long black coat off my back. I wished I'd worn something else now, a dress or something. I wasn't sure what to wear, so I had just worn a blue blouse and black trousers, which really, didn't suit me at all.

"Do you mind if I change, quickly?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound as stupid as I thought I did. "Only, I wasn't really sure what kind of dinner this would be, and, well, I look awful."

"You look fine." He laughed. "But of course, if you want to." I magicked myself into my favourite dress; it was long (I know long dresses are apparently out of fashion at the moment, but I don't feel comfortable wearing anything short), red, and sparkling, and went perfectly with my hair, which was also long and red. (red, not ginger! My hair is naturally blonde but I hate it, so I dye it red) I considered magicking a tiara in my hair; I really liked them, despite what everyone else thought of them. But I decided better of it.

"Well, I stand mistaken, much better." He smiled. I nodded, feeling very uncomfortable.

"Is Draco around?" I asked.

"Draco?" He asked, looking surprised. "No, I sent him up to his room. The house elves will send food up for him later on. He just gets in the way otherwise."

"Oh," I said blankly. Well, I couldn't just ASK for him, could I? I think he got the picture from my face though, because he asked,

"Do you want to see him?"

"Well, he wouldn't bother me, and I'm sure YOU'D much rather if he was here?" I said, hopefully. He looked even more confused.

"No, I wouldn't, but if it's what you want..." He put out his foot so that a passing house-elve stumbled and fell over it. "Trinny, go and fetch Draco and tell him there's been a change of plan, and he can come downstairs." He hissed at it. Trinny looked up at him in confusion.

"Sir has locked young Malfoy's door, Trinny cannot reach high enough, Sir." Lucius glowered at her.

"Then go and get another house elve and stand on it's shoulders, idiot." He snarled. Trinny nodded quickly.

"OK, Sir, I should have thought of that, Sir..." She said, scurrying off. Lucius turned back to me, a smirk on his face.

"House elves these days, they should be a bit more, well, clever." He said. A laughed weakly, fully aware I had been looking at him strangely. It looked like Jessica had been right; he WAS a bastard.

A few minutes later, Draco Malfoy walked slowly down the stairs, looking worried.

"Yes, father?" He asked.

"As you can see, Draco, we have a guest with us today." Lucius snarled at him, gesturing over at me. Draco looked mildly surprised, like he had only just noticed me standing there. "Well, aren't you going to say hello to her?" He snapped.

"Hi, Katia." He said obediantly. I was about to respond, when Lucius took a firm hold of his hand, digging his nails into his son's skin.

"Where are your manners, Draco?" He asked. "You do not call a teacher by her first name when you are a student in her class." He whispered at him. Draco nodded, wincing with pain.

"Hi Miss. Lockston, how are you today?" He asked, his voice slightly strained. I frowned at him, unable to work out why Lucius was hurting him like that.

"Hi Draco, I'm fine, thanks for asking...and you?" I asked eventually. Draco gave me a small smile, and looked up at his dad, clearly unaware of how he should answer.

"Um, I'm...fine...thanks..." He said, wincing more than ever as Lucius applied more pressure. He looked very confused; clearly his dad was expecting him to ask something else, but he couldn't work out what that was. "You look nice." He said eventually, looking at his dad to see whether he had said the correct thing. Clearly he had, as his father released his hand.

"Thank you." I said, beaming at him. "You've raised him well." I said to Lucius, thinking that I should at least try and help Draco out. Lucius smiled at me, but I could see a slight sneer on his face as he turned to his son.

"Thank you, thank you, but this is Draco on a bgood/b day. Normally he won't do anything, he's just pathetic and rude, and he can't do anything right." He said, looking incredibly disgusted. "You'd think that, seeing how well trained both of his parents were, that he would be a little better, but no." I couldn't help but think, that if Draco's mother had been anything like Lucius, then it was actually a wonder at how well behaved Draco was.

"Sir, dinner is ready!" The house elf called Trinny asked as she ran into the room. Lucius nodded at her.

"Thank you, Trinny. If you'd like to follow me, I'll take you to the dining area." He said, linking his arm with mine. This made me feel very uncomforatable, but I didn't refuse. He held his chin up high, and I could tell it was going to be hard work keeping up with him; he just seemed like one of those people who would know exactly how to do, 'the walk'. Draco began to walk slowly behind us, but Lucius stopped and glowered at him. "Draco, go and get changed, put something decent on, do your hair, and just look respectable, you're embarrassing me." He muttered, continuing to lead me through a corridor. I was right, he had an incredibly posh walk, that forced me to hurry to keep up with, hoping that I wouldn't start laughing.

As we walked through the corridor, I couldn't help but admire it. The walls were decorated with large, expensive paintings, as well as other items such as more tropical plants, expensive cutlery, and more.

As we entered the dining room (with a large number '3' on the door) I noticed that this room was very different. Everything inside it was expensive, yes, but at one side of the room sat a small table, on which photographs of the Malfoys sat. Lucius looked at them, and turned back to me, looking slightly embarrassed.

"I forgot those pictures were there." He told me. "We don't usually use this dining room, but the first is having work done on it at the moment. The second, which is the one I was planning to use, had been decorated ready for the occasion, but Draco told me he didn't think you would like how it was set out." He said, shooting a dark look at him.

"I'm sure I won't mind it there, if you've already made an effort then I'd love to see it." I told him, curious despite myself. This room was very bland, it didn't seem like much effort had gone into it all.

"I'm glad you said that," Lucius smiled. "I'll go and get the elves to send dinner downstairs then." He told me. (we were on the first floor at the moment, of what I think was somewhere around 5 floors) As he left, I moved over to the small table and began politely looking at the pictures. The majority of them were of Lucius with important looking people; three of them were of him and another woman, both smiling at the camera, though Lucius' expression looked very fake. The main thing I noticed though, was that there were none of Draco. I turned round, and saw him standing uncomfortably a short distance away from me.

"Don't you like having your picture up?" I asked him. He shrugged.

"I don't mind..." He said slowly. "But mother and father have never taken a picture of me before, they said it would ruin it."

"Oh," I said, looking very surprised. I was going to ask him why, but I decided it would probably upset him. In fact, there were a lot of questions I wanted to ask him about his relationship with the rest of his family, but I didn't really think it would be a good idea. Instead, I pointed at the woman in the photographs.

"Is that your mum?" I asked him. He nodded, looking more depressed than before.

"She left when I was about 8. She'd been fighting with father for a while already, about me, most of the time." He said. "But father really went mad when he came home with the Minister and found her with me; said it didn't really make a good impression to see me lying on the floor covered in blood, with her kicking me. Said that was the reason anyway, but he was desperate to get rid of her all the same." His tone of voice said was trying to make me believe he didn't really care; his expression said differently. "And that was about 7 years ago, father has his whores, but he hasn't really been with anyone." He informed me. I didn't say anything, unsure of whether that was a joke or not.

"You don't get on with your mum then?" I said, ignoring the fact that that was probably the understatement of the century. He shrugged.

"I loved her...and I still do...but she hated me." He said, his voice breaking slightly. I knew it was hard for him to talk about this. Hearing Draco Malfoy of all people, say the word 'love,' proved that this was the last conversation he had ever expected to have.

"And your dad, you don't seem to get on with him too much?"

"He hates me too, but not as much as she did. He hurts me a lot, but I don't think he wants me dead like she does. But I still love him and all..." he said, beginning to look uncomfortable. "No one else loves their parents, I'm just weird like that."

"Do you still see your mother?"

"Not really. I want to, even though everytime she sees me she hits me." He paused, looking thoughtful. "Besides, father wouldn't allow it, he tries to keep me from her. If there's someone he doesn't like, then I can't see them, and if there's someone he likes, then I HAVE to see them a lot, I have to put up with them, even if I don't like them. I don't think my parents ever loved each other anyway, I don't think my dad is actually capable of loving anyone, he doesn't have any friends, he just pretends to, and he -" He stopped abruptly, looking over my shoulder at the door. I didn't need to look to guess who it was, didn't need to hear the cold voice.

"Draco, it's not a good idea for you to be telling lies to our guests." He said, his cold eyes burning with what looked like hatred. Draco cowered slightly under his father's furious glance.

"I - I, I didn't - I..." He stammered, looking like he was about to burst into tears at any moment.

"Don't lie to me!" Lucius yelled, slamming his fist into the side of Draco's face with such force that his son fell to the floor, cracking his head hard against the edge of the table as he fell. As he landed, he gave me a quick, depressed glance, before clenching his eyes tightly shut from what I guess was to stop himself from crying from the pain. Lucius muttered something I didn't catch, before kicking his son hard in the knee so that he let out a yelp of pain. "Let's go then, shall we?" He asked me. I wondered how he could do something like that to his son, and then talk so calmly to me.

"He wasn't saying anything bad about you." I told him, coldly, surprised at how confident my voice sounded. "He was hardly even talking about you." Lucius looked slightly caught off guard, but shook his head all the same.

"He was still telling lies." He said.

"Aren't you at least going to check that he's OK?" I asked, looking down at the pathetic heap that was Draco Malfoy. He'd curled himself up as tight as he could, one hand covering his eyes to hide what I guessed was his tears. He was shaking violently, and I wasn't sure whether that was from fear of his father, the pain of being attacked, or just from his crying. It was very likely to be all 3.

"What?" Lucius asked, looking confused. "He told lies, and he was punished. He's had worse than that before. Draco, when you've calmed down, you may come and eat your dinner." He told him. It didn't seem to have occured to him that he had done anything wrong. Exasperated, I knealt down by Draco's side, and put my hand gently on his back. He flinched slightly; I guess he thought I was his father.

"Calm down," I told him, glaring up at Lucius. "Do you know how much you've hurt him?" Lucius looked confused again.

"It was just one slap." He said. "It can't have hurt him that much, he's just being a wimp and trying to get attention."

"Would you at least look at him?" I snapped. Sighing, Lucius yanked Draco's hand away from his face. I have to say, that it was then that I decided that maybe Lucius Malfoy wasn't quite so bad as I'd been thinking. He took one startled look at his son's depressed face, took in the tears that covered it, saw the blood that was leaking from where he'd collided to the table, before instantly calling a house elf for help, and apoligising to his son.

So he wasn't quite as fatherly as most people were; he didn't hug him, he certainly wouldn't kiss him, he wasn't particularly comforting, but he tried. He took hold of his son's hand, and though he was probably hurting him from the pressure, he thought he was helping. And he even asked Draco if he was OK, and actually seemed genuinely interested in hearing the answer. And as we left Draco's room, leaving him in the company of Trinny the house elf, I began to think - hope - that maybe Lucius would actually start being the father Draco always thought he was.

Well, probably not. But I could still hope.

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By the end of the night, it was like me and Lucius were almost - well - bfriends/b. I could just imagine the look on Jessica Harwood's face when I told her how sweet Lucius had been! Well, I'll be honest, he wasn't exactly SWEET. But he did make an effort, and during dinner went to check on his son twice. At least, I think it was just to check on him, I decided I would just trust him and not follow him.

Lucius hadn't been lying about decorating the room; flowers and ribbons were everywhere, and the lights had been fitted with a special cover so that purple light shone across the room. I had to admit, that Lucius looked VERY nice when in the glow of the purple lights - ick, forget I just said that.

I hated to admit it, but I really had a great time. After the shock of seeing Draco, Lucius seemed to have calmed down, and had become almost charming. He really was quite sweet, very funny, and full of entertaining stories about things that had happened at the Ministry.

"Are you going to stay the night?" He asked suddenly. "Only most people do. You could share my room, it's a very rare priviledge to be given access. Or you could sleep in another room, we've got a few guest rooms, or if you really wanted, you can sleep in Draco's room, I'll get one of the elves to bring you a bed, you seem to like him." He said, sounding so serious I had to burst out laughing. I was slightly worried I'd offended him, but he smiled at me.

"I'll stay." I told him firmly.

"And where would you like to sleep?"

"Where would you prefer?" He raised his eyebrow, making me burst into laughter again.

"Well, I thought you'd want to stay in my room, it being such a privilidge and all." He said, beginning to laugh slightly himself. "And I promise I don't snore, though don't expect to get an early night because the chances of me shutting up are very low." I laughed again (and no, I'm not drunk, I'm a goody-goody that doesn't actually drink at all)

"Sounds good." I told him. "Do you mind if I use your phone quickly? My room-mates are expecting me home, and it's just like them to wait up all night, wondering if I'll be back soon."

"Sure. There's one just in the corridor, right outside this room.

"Thanks," I said. I found the phone straight away, and quickly dialled the number, unable to remove the grin that had spread across my face. It was picked up instantly, and Jessica's voice began shrieking at me about how it was.

"You know," I began, once she had finally stopped talking. "If I wasn't Katia, this would be very embarrassing for you, wouldn't it?"

"I would just hang up," she said, sounding incredibly confused.

"Well...anyway...it went fine, everything went well, dinner was great, blah blah blah." I told her.

"And just how much of a bastard is Lucius Malfoy?" Asked Jessica. I glanced briefly at the open door; Lucius was still eating his dinner, he didn't seem to have heard.

"Not one at all, he's very nice." I told her, having to speak loudly over her disbelieving squarks. "Anyway, when you're done complaining, I just wanted to tell you that I'm staying the night." I said. She instantly went silent.

"What?" She asked.

"At the Manor. I'm spending the night at the Manor." I repeated. Jessica remained silent for a while. I was actually feeling quite disappointed at the way she wasn't complaining about it, so I decided to add the rest of the twist. "Don't worry, I won't be alone, I'll be in Lucius' room...with Lucius." I told her, and she began screaming again. There was a distant noise of equal screaming; my guess was that Ann had also heard.

"What's wrong with you?" She was shrieking so loudly I had to hold the phone away from my ear, but she was beginning to laugh at the same time.

"When you're quite finished, I have dinner to finish." I told her, promptly hanging up.