Chapter 3 ~ Possessed ~ By Princess Cora
Zalika walked through the airport towards her gate. She was going to Ireland! The home of her family. She had only been here once or twice, as a small child. Now that her father was dead, she was going there for at least a year, in a teaching position at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
It had been her choice to come a month early, to stay with Harry Potter, the current Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and part-time ruler of Ireland. She was very excited - of course she'd heard the stories about him, and marveled that he had actually volunteered to host her for the month of August.
Of course, it must get lonely in that big castle with only his four daughters. She never quite knew what happened to his wife, no one who knew the truth was prone to telling. Yes, she knew what being alone in a big house was like, her parents had always been distant and she was an only child.
The best part about the trip was that there was an opportunity to wipe the slate clean, to find her own life. She had been screened from the outside world for too long, and now she was getting a chance to make her own way.
The only thing she wished right now, as she boarded the Muggle plane, was that she was powerful enough to apparate the distance to Kilkenny. The plane was crowded and uncomfortable, and she had to blend in as a Muggle. Oh, well. She sighed, and took out her sketchbook to while away the time.
~ 2:10 pm
"An Egyptian princess?" Fiachra reiterated. "A real one?" She smiled, a faraway look in her eyes.
"Yes, a real one," Harry said with a smile. The family was gathered in the library, talking about Princess Zalika's arrival at 4:00 this afternoon. Of all the children, Fiachra was most excited.
"Can we decorate a special room for her?!?!"
Harry restrained himself from laughing. "No, the spare rooms we have should be fine. I'm sure she wants a taste of the Irish culture." He winked and smiled.
Cora laughed. "Dad. our rooms are anything but Irish!" Everyone laughed at that. Each of the members of the family had two rooms to decorate and redecorate as they wished - one to sleep in, and one in the collection of spare rooms.
"Aw, Corr, stop teasing!" Adonna said.
Harry laughed and hugged his youngest daughter. "Now, run along, all of you. You can at least make yourselves look presentable."
~ 4:58 pm
Draco Malfoy stood and stared at the gold case holding the Sword of Life, as it was known, sitting plainly in Harry's room. He was testing the powerful bonds, trying to find a way to break them. Indeed, they were strong, but Draco hadn't been Lord Voldemort's apprentice for nothing. He placed his wand on the lock-
And snatched it away. There were footsteps and voices coming from downstairs. Damn! Was it 5:00 already?
Draco bolted out of the door and flashed down the hall. There was a door on the right that led to one of the spare rooms. He yanked it open and spun inside, closing it as quietly as he could behind him. He gave the room a quick glance around - no windows, but a big skylight let in plenty of light. There was a bathroom to the left and a walk-in closet to the right. Draco ran to the closet, stuffed himself into a corner, and tried to calm his frantically beating heart.
~ 5:06 pm
"All our spare rooms are on this floor," Harry said. "You can choose one."
Zalika nodded. Harry was very gentlemanly, and his children were so sweet. She began taking a look at the rooms.
The kids were nearly holding their breath in anticipation. The competition of the rooms was a fierce one, especially between Fiona and Fiachra. They had both worked hard in the past hour to perfect their rooms.
However, Zalika passed them both with a glance inside and a smile. Maybe she just wants to see them all first, Fiona thought, as her room (in shades of dark green) was passed over. When Zika looked inside the last one on the right, however, her face lit up in pleasure. "I'll take this one."
Harry took a deep breath, sadness in his eyes, and replied, "All right then."
"Unless. would you prefer I have another one?" she asked, worried.
"Oh no, no, that's fine." He sounded distracted. "Yeah."
The square rooms was very simple, yet clean and elegant. The walls were pale purple, as was the comforter on the four-poster bed in the middle of the room. The accent color was white, and the wooden posts and wardrobe were red-brown cherry wood. The curtains on the bed were sheer white and tied back, the inlay on the dresser was mother-of-pearl.
There were a few framed wizarding photos on the wall, but other than that there were no windows or any other wall decorations. Light came from a large skylight in the ceiling.
"Do you need help unpacking?" Harry asked. Zika could see he was only asking to be polite, there was something about this room that made them all uncomfortable.
"No, that's all right." She smiled brightly. "I'll manage."
Harry smiled back, if a little sadly. "We'll have dinner at around six. If you want a tour or anything before then, you'll find me in the library."
She nodded and followed her bags into the room.
~ 5:06 pm
Draco had just about calmed down, when he heard the door open. Damn! He'd have to wait until the princess was down to dinner.
He pricked his ears, listening hard. He heard someone flop on the bed, then a sigh. He listened harder, and caught a *swish* that he had barely registered as a wand before an array of clothes appeared in the closet, trying to find hangers. They made enough noise that Draco was able to shift his position closer to the door. After a few minutes of little clinks and other mundane noises, he heard the door open. A few seconds, then it shut quietly.
Draco listened for another half a minute, hearing only silence. Slowly, just in case, he opened the door, giving the room a quick glance. Should he try the door? No, too much chance of running into the Potterettes. The skylight was probably warded, but that wouldn't be too hard to lift, and he could see the opening device on one end. He climbed up onto the bed, grabbing onto a post for support. He lifted his wand and waved away the warding spell easily. Now for the hard part. Even at Draco's 6' 1", he was barely able to reach the clasp. With a click, the skylight opened. However, to pull himslef up, he'd need two hands, which meant balancing precariously on the soft mattress.
"Need some help there?" Zalika asked, leaning against the doorframe to the bathroom.
Malfoy, distracted and frightened, lost his balance and barely missed a concussion with the headboard as he fell down onto the bed. He chose not to reply, his face burning crimson. How could he have forgotten the bathroom?
"Well, how about a cup of tea, then?" She conjured up a mug of hot tea.
He blinked and sat up. The fall had pulled at a recent scar in his shoulder, and it was stinging with pain. A cup of tea sounded all too good. Draco only nodded.
"Milk? Sugar?" She magicked up another cup and took a seat on the foot of the bed.
"Neither, but thanks." Now that he had a good look at her, he was surprised. She wasn't the dark, mysterious stereotypical Egyptian he'd been expecting. Her skin was slightly tan, but her shoulder length hair was only a burnished bronze, and her eyes were a cheery blue. Her face looked very British, except for a slight tilt of the eye that gave her an elegant, exotic look. She was, overall, very pretty.
Zika was also sizing up the man in front of her. Tall, she had seen that, pale blonde hair, wavy and down to his shoulders, a little on the thin side, and very, very, pale. His eyes were silver-gray, intense, very unique. And she didn't fail to notice the burn scar, running up the side of his face. She also took note of his outfit - black shirt and pants, long black coat, black fingerless gloves. He was definitely something else.
He finally took a sip of his tea. She grinned, seeing his eyebrows go up. "Where did you get this stuff?"
"I summoned it from my kitchen in Cairo. It's imported from India."
He looked impressed. "Well, it's good."
They sat in silence for another few seconds before Zika replied, "It's not every day a handsome man appears in my bedroom!"
Draco raised an eyebrow, taunting her. She laughed lightly. Then he shook his head, looking down, a shadow of a sad smile appearing on his face. "I'm not handsome."
Now it was her turn to raise an eyebrow. "Excuse me? I happen to be an expert on handsome men, and you, Mr. Mr." she realized she didn't know his name.
"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."
"Zalika Monaghan." She continued her earlier thought, her voice turning softer. "Believe me, you are quite handsome."
He blushed slightly and turned his head, showing of the burn scar. It had been a very long time since anyone had called him handsome. "Well, most people say things like," his voice was quiet but painful, "oh, I don't know, scarred, or maybe "disfigured" if they're trying to be nice, or just plain ugly." He stopped and froze as he felt a warm finger touch his cheek, at the edge of the scar.
"How did this happen?" Her voice held only curiosity, not pity.
Draco stared down at his mug, debating whether or not to tell her. What the hell, he thought. It's not like it's any big secret.
"When I was sixteen. my house burnt down. I stayed too long inside, hence the. burn." he waved a hand at his face. "My family used to have a fortune. We were one of the richest people in Wizarding England. However, most of our money was in documents, property, and illicit Dark Magic items. Then most of our money was either wasted away by the Dark Lord or put into health care for my mother and I. And, later, for her funeral." He stopped to take a long drink of tea. "She was hurt a lot worse than me. She's the one who dragged me out of the house, I couldn't move, I was so shocked. Once they established that I was going to live, I was basically ignored.
"And then when I got back to school, on our first day of double Potions, I made a dumb mistake and splashed an acidlike potions onto my face. It naturally got the burn horribly infected. So. I have a bad scar." Draco shrugged, like his story was nothing.
Zalika looked thoughtful. "Did you say. you were 16?"
"Yeah."
"How old are you now?"
"35." He gave her a suspicious look.
Her eyes widened and she sat back. "You're the one from my dream!"
He blinked in surprise. What.
"When I was 11, I dreamt that I was inside a burning house. It was more like a palace, but I knew it was home. And I saw these portraits burning, and I felt very, very. sad. Just before I woke up, I could feel the flames burning up my left cheek. it was you." She held up a hand as if to touch his cheek again, but let it drop.
"And I remember the potion dream. I thought it was only a lot of pain and some wild memories I didn't really understand, as I'd been sick for the past few days. What I could never understand was why my cheek and neck were hurting. And then. in September. you were." her eyes widened. "Oh my god. the humiliation. I'd hoped no one had to live through that."
Now he looked up, pain in his eyes, to meet her crystal blue ones. Instead of pity or sympathy, both of which he despised, he saw.
Empathy.
She set her tea down on the floor, then walked over to his side of the bed. Suddenly, she put her arms around his waist and pulled him close in a hug, sliding onto the bed. Her eyes were springing tears as she remembered her painful dreams.
Draco awkwardly put his arms around her. He'd only been hugged by his mother, when he was much younger. He didn't remember it feeling this good.
"I-I'm sorry, I just." she let go and pushed herself back to her original spot. Draco let her go with a small twinge of regret.
"I knew it had to have been someone else. My normal dreams were never anything like that. but. as the years passed. I convinced myself they were just dreams." She shook her head, then started to chuckle a little. "And now, you appear in my room. What were you doing here, anyway?"
"Well." He searched for a good alibi. "Actually, I was trying to leave without being noticed. However," his continued, his voice turning melodramatic, "my evil plans were thwarted by the lovely Lady Monaghan."
Zika laughed. "Evil plans, huh?" She laughed again. Draco smiled, genuinely. She had a nice laugh. "All right, Mister Malfoy. I won't tell anyone about you."
He blinked in surprise. Not tell anyone? Why would she do something like that?
"You look surprised." Her voice was kind.
Draco looked down at his tea, which was almost empty. "I'm. I'm just not used to people being nice to me," he muttered.
There was silence for a few moments as Zika took both cups and set them on the dresser. She turned around and looked at him fondly. "You look like you need another hug."
Draco looked up for a second, then slid off the bed. Zalika took a step forward and encircled her arms around his waist. This time, he returned the hug gratefully, musing that it really did feel good.
She drew back a little, looking up into his clear gray eyes that were carefully devoid of emotion.
Suddenly her watch let off a sharp chime. "Oh," she said. "It's 5:50." she sighed. "I should go down to dinner. I'm not hungry but I want to be polite. Harry's been so kind." She felt Draco tense up. "What is it?"
"Well." he trailed off. "It's nothing."
"No, tell me."
Draco took a deep breath. "Well, you know the people who taunted me after the fire?" Zika nodded. "Yeah. That was him." Draco's voice was flat and emotionless. "Him and his friends. they hated me."
She rested her head on his shoulder, unsure of what to say.
"I hated them, too." he let her go and turned away. "Yeah, Potter and I go way back."
*~*~*~*
Thanks to my wonderful reviewers: Eternal MoonPeach Goddess voldemortsucks18 shiroiryu144 Nenuial aka Cheese Monkey
Zalika walked through the airport towards her gate. She was going to Ireland! The home of her family. She had only been here once or twice, as a small child. Now that her father was dead, she was going there for at least a year, in a teaching position at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
It had been her choice to come a month early, to stay with Harry Potter, the current Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and part-time ruler of Ireland. She was very excited - of course she'd heard the stories about him, and marveled that he had actually volunteered to host her for the month of August.
Of course, it must get lonely in that big castle with only his four daughters. She never quite knew what happened to his wife, no one who knew the truth was prone to telling. Yes, she knew what being alone in a big house was like, her parents had always been distant and she was an only child.
The best part about the trip was that there was an opportunity to wipe the slate clean, to find her own life. She had been screened from the outside world for too long, and now she was getting a chance to make her own way.
The only thing she wished right now, as she boarded the Muggle plane, was that she was powerful enough to apparate the distance to Kilkenny. The plane was crowded and uncomfortable, and she had to blend in as a Muggle. Oh, well. She sighed, and took out her sketchbook to while away the time.
~ 2:10 pm
"An Egyptian princess?" Fiachra reiterated. "A real one?" She smiled, a faraway look in her eyes.
"Yes, a real one," Harry said with a smile. The family was gathered in the library, talking about Princess Zalika's arrival at 4:00 this afternoon. Of all the children, Fiachra was most excited.
"Can we decorate a special room for her?!?!"
Harry restrained himself from laughing. "No, the spare rooms we have should be fine. I'm sure she wants a taste of the Irish culture." He winked and smiled.
Cora laughed. "Dad. our rooms are anything but Irish!" Everyone laughed at that. Each of the members of the family had two rooms to decorate and redecorate as they wished - one to sleep in, and one in the collection of spare rooms.
"Aw, Corr, stop teasing!" Adonna said.
Harry laughed and hugged his youngest daughter. "Now, run along, all of you. You can at least make yourselves look presentable."
~ 4:58 pm
Draco Malfoy stood and stared at the gold case holding the Sword of Life, as it was known, sitting plainly in Harry's room. He was testing the powerful bonds, trying to find a way to break them. Indeed, they were strong, but Draco hadn't been Lord Voldemort's apprentice for nothing. He placed his wand on the lock-
And snatched it away. There were footsteps and voices coming from downstairs. Damn! Was it 5:00 already?
Draco bolted out of the door and flashed down the hall. There was a door on the right that led to one of the spare rooms. He yanked it open and spun inside, closing it as quietly as he could behind him. He gave the room a quick glance around - no windows, but a big skylight let in plenty of light. There was a bathroom to the left and a walk-in closet to the right. Draco ran to the closet, stuffed himself into a corner, and tried to calm his frantically beating heart.
~ 5:06 pm
"All our spare rooms are on this floor," Harry said. "You can choose one."
Zalika nodded. Harry was very gentlemanly, and his children were so sweet. She began taking a look at the rooms.
The kids were nearly holding their breath in anticipation. The competition of the rooms was a fierce one, especially between Fiona and Fiachra. They had both worked hard in the past hour to perfect their rooms.
However, Zalika passed them both with a glance inside and a smile. Maybe she just wants to see them all first, Fiona thought, as her room (in shades of dark green) was passed over. When Zika looked inside the last one on the right, however, her face lit up in pleasure. "I'll take this one."
Harry took a deep breath, sadness in his eyes, and replied, "All right then."
"Unless. would you prefer I have another one?" she asked, worried.
"Oh no, no, that's fine." He sounded distracted. "Yeah."
The square rooms was very simple, yet clean and elegant. The walls were pale purple, as was the comforter on the four-poster bed in the middle of the room. The accent color was white, and the wooden posts and wardrobe were red-brown cherry wood. The curtains on the bed were sheer white and tied back, the inlay on the dresser was mother-of-pearl.
There were a few framed wizarding photos on the wall, but other than that there were no windows or any other wall decorations. Light came from a large skylight in the ceiling.
"Do you need help unpacking?" Harry asked. Zika could see he was only asking to be polite, there was something about this room that made them all uncomfortable.
"No, that's all right." She smiled brightly. "I'll manage."
Harry smiled back, if a little sadly. "We'll have dinner at around six. If you want a tour or anything before then, you'll find me in the library."
She nodded and followed her bags into the room.
~ 5:06 pm
Draco had just about calmed down, when he heard the door open. Damn! He'd have to wait until the princess was down to dinner.
He pricked his ears, listening hard. He heard someone flop on the bed, then a sigh. He listened harder, and caught a *swish* that he had barely registered as a wand before an array of clothes appeared in the closet, trying to find hangers. They made enough noise that Draco was able to shift his position closer to the door. After a few minutes of little clinks and other mundane noises, he heard the door open. A few seconds, then it shut quietly.
Draco listened for another half a minute, hearing only silence. Slowly, just in case, he opened the door, giving the room a quick glance. Should he try the door? No, too much chance of running into the Potterettes. The skylight was probably warded, but that wouldn't be too hard to lift, and he could see the opening device on one end. He climbed up onto the bed, grabbing onto a post for support. He lifted his wand and waved away the warding spell easily. Now for the hard part. Even at Draco's 6' 1", he was barely able to reach the clasp. With a click, the skylight opened. However, to pull himslef up, he'd need two hands, which meant balancing precariously on the soft mattress.
"Need some help there?" Zalika asked, leaning against the doorframe to the bathroom.
Malfoy, distracted and frightened, lost his balance and barely missed a concussion with the headboard as he fell down onto the bed. He chose not to reply, his face burning crimson. How could he have forgotten the bathroom?
"Well, how about a cup of tea, then?" She conjured up a mug of hot tea.
He blinked and sat up. The fall had pulled at a recent scar in his shoulder, and it was stinging with pain. A cup of tea sounded all too good. Draco only nodded.
"Milk? Sugar?" She magicked up another cup and took a seat on the foot of the bed.
"Neither, but thanks." Now that he had a good look at her, he was surprised. She wasn't the dark, mysterious stereotypical Egyptian he'd been expecting. Her skin was slightly tan, but her shoulder length hair was only a burnished bronze, and her eyes were a cheery blue. Her face looked very British, except for a slight tilt of the eye that gave her an elegant, exotic look. She was, overall, very pretty.
Zika was also sizing up the man in front of her. Tall, she had seen that, pale blonde hair, wavy and down to his shoulders, a little on the thin side, and very, very, pale. His eyes were silver-gray, intense, very unique. And she didn't fail to notice the burn scar, running up the side of his face. She also took note of his outfit - black shirt and pants, long black coat, black fingerless gloves. He was definitely something else.
He finally took a sip of his tea. She grinned, seeing his eyebrows go up. "Where did you get this stuff?"
"I summoned it from my kitchen in Cairo. It's imported from India."
He looked impressed. "Well, it's good."
They sat in silence for another few seconds before Zika replied, "It's not every day a handsome man appears in my bedroom!"
Draco raised an eyebrow, taunting her. She laughed lightly. Then he shook his head, looking down, a shadow of a sad smile appearing on his face. "I'm not handsome."
Now it was her turn to raise an eyebrow. "Excuse me? I happen to be an expert on handsome men, and you, Mr. Mr." she realized she didn't know his name.
"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."
"Zalika Monaghan." She continued her earlier thought, her voice turning softer. "Believe me, you are quite handsome."
He blushed slightly and turned his head, showing of the burn scar. It had been a very long time since anyone had called him handsome. "Well, most people say things like," his voice was quiet but painful, "oh, I don't know, scarred, or maybe "disfigured" if they're trying to be nice, or just plain ugly." He stopped and froze as he felt a warm finger touch his cheek, at the edge of the scar.
"How did this happen?" Her voice held only curiosity, not pity.
Draco stared down at his mug, debating whether or not to tell her. What the hell, he thought. It's not like it's any big secret.
"When I was sixteen. my house burnt down. I stayed too long inside, hence the. burn." he waved a hand at his face. "My family used to have a fortune. We were one of the richest people in Wizarding England. However, most of our money was in documents, property, and illicit Dark Magic items. Then most of our money was either wasted away by the Dark Lord or put into health care for my mother and I. And, later, for her funeral." He stopped to take a long drink of tea. "She was hurt a lot worse than me. She's the one who dragged me out of the house, I couldn't move, I was so shocked. Once they established that I was going to live, I was basically ignored.
"And then when I got back to school, on our first day of double Potions, I made a dumb mistake and splashed an acidlike potions onto my face. It naturally got the burn horribly infected. So. I have a bad scar." Draco shrugged, like his story was nothing.
Zalika looked thoughtful. "Did you say. you were 16?"
"Yeah."
"How old are you now?"
"35." He gave her a suspicious look.
Her eyes widened and she sat back. "You're the one from my dream!"
He blinked in surprise. What.
"When I was 11, I dreamt that I was inside a burning house. It was more like a palace, but I knew it was home. And I saw these portraits burning, and I felt very, very. sad. Just before I woke up, I could feel the flames burning up my left cheek. it was you." She held up a hand as if to touch his cheek again, but let it drop.
"And I remember the potion dream. I thought it was only a lot of pain and some wild memories I didn't really understand, as I'd been sick for the past few days. What I could never understand was why my cheek and neck were hurting. And then. in September. you were." her eyes widened. "Oh my god. the humiliation. I'd hoped no one had to live through that."
Now he looked up, pain in his eyes, to meet her crystal blue ones. Instead of pity or sympathy, both of which he despised, he saw.
Empathy.
She set her tea down on the floor, then walked over to his side of the bed. Suddenly, she put her arms around his waist and pulled him close in a hug, sliding onto the bed. Her eyes were springing tears as she remembered her painful dreams.
Draco awkwardly put his arms around her. He'd only been hugged by his mother, when he was much younger. He didn't remember it feeling this good.
"I-I'm sorry, I just." she let go and pushed herself back to her original spot. Draco let her go with a small twinge of regret.
"I knew it had to have been someone else. My normal dreams were never anything like that. but. as the years passed. I convinced myself they were just dreams." She shook her head, then started to chuckle a little. "And now, you appear in my room. What were you doing here, anyway?"
"Well." He searched for a good alibi. "Actually, I was trying to leave without being noticed. However," his continued, his voice turning melodramatic, "my evil plans were thwarted by the lovely Lady Monaghan."
Zika laughed. "Evil plans, huh?" She laughed again. Draco smiled, genuinely. She had a nice laugh. "All right, Mister Malfoy. I won't tell anyone about you."
He blinked in surprise. Not tell anyone? Why would she do something like that?
"You look surprised." Her voice was kind.
Draco looked down at his tea, which was almost empty. "I'm. I'm just not used to people being nice to me," he muttered.
There was silence for a few moments as Zika took both cups and set them on the dresser. She turned around and looked at him fondly. "You look like you need another hug."
Draco looked up for a second, then slid off the bed. Zalika took a step forward and encircled her arms around his waist. This time, he returned the hug gratefully, musing that it really did feel good.
She drew back a little, looking up into his clear gray eyes that were carefully devoid of emotion.
Suddenly her watch let off a sharp chime. "Oh," she said. "It's 5:50." she sighed. "I should go down to dinner. I'm not hungry but I want to be polite. Harry's been so kind." She felt Draco tense up. "What is it?"
"Well." he trailed off. "It's nothing."
"No, tell me."
Draco took a deep breath. "Well, you know the people who taunted me after the fire?" Zika nodded. "Yeah. That was him." Draco's voice was flat and emotionless. "Him and his friends. they hated me."
She rested her head on his shoulder, unsure of what to say.
"I hated them, too." he let her go and turned away. "Yeah, Potter and I go way back."
*~*~*~*
Thanks to my wonderful reviewers: Eternal MoonPeach Goddess voldemortsucks18 shiroiryu144 Nenuial aka Cheese Monkey