A few days passed. Visitors came and went. I began to teach Draco Latin,
and my thoughts began to stabilize. One afternoon, as I was engrossed in
the ablative case, he mentioned that his birthday would be in exactly three
months.
"Are you excited to at last become an adult?" I asked, my attentions entirely on Draco's translations of Ovid.
"I suppose," he replied listlessly.
"Your father will buy you your own slave, if I'm not mistaken," I said.
"Oh, I look forward to that," Draco responded, smiling. "It will be good to have my own darkie to beat around."
I was shocked. My moral upbringing, by way of my godfather, had been Quaker. "Draco, even the lowest of slaves deserves humane treatment. We are all God's creatures," I said.
"Ah, they're just niggers. They wouldn't know what to do without a whip at their backs. If I didn't think better of your character, Mister Potter, I'd say you were a dirty abolitionist!" he responded, laughing.
I thought I would strangle him at that very moment, beautiful form or no.
"How absurd," I said instead, laughing uneasily.
"And I must say, the closer my wedding looms, the less I wish to marry any woman, ever, especially Pansy. She is too...feminine. Something about the curve of her arm, or the elaborateness of her coiffure, sickens me that I will soon have to be near it all the time," Draco mused.
"I see," I replied, not listening.
"Not that there's something wrong with femininity. It is an acknowledgment of beauty in a world of brutality. I just dislike it in someone I must spend the rest of my days with," he continued.
My senses jumped, interpreting what he had just said. Before I could respond, however, Narcissa called up for Draco to assist her in some manner. As soon as he left, I walked to my room and took a nap, confused.
When I woke up, the house slave was standing over me calmly, holding a letter bearing my godfather's seal. When I had put on my spectacles, I took the letter and, opening it, bade the slave to leave.
Dear Harry,
I am gladdened at thy safe arrival to Malfoy Manor. The Malfoys sound to me like an ordinary wealthy plantation family, although Draco is certainly more enigmatic.
As for here in New Surrey, Doctor Remus Lupin has arrived. He was a close friend to thy father and myself back in school and is now a professor of ethics and religion at the university and brings with him many new ideas for easing extreme fears. Upon our reunion, I accompanied Remus to a Universalist congregation, the first in this area. I must admit, dear godson, that perhaps I should be thy moral guiding light no longer and perhaps also cease in my manners of speech, for the Universalist philosophy appeals to me far more than that of the Quaker meetings ever could. To be now honest, there are many things in my heart that I have realized in the past week, all of which I pray thee not condemn me for.
The letter continued onto another page, but the dinner bell rang before I could finish reading.
At dinner, Draco ignored me completely. I thought nothing of it. After I had finished eating, Lucius asked if I would help him with a few business letters and receipts.
A few articles turned into three hours of compositions, revisions, and calculations. When Lucius felt at last our work was done, he thanked me, and, worn, I went up to my room with a candelabrum in one hand.
As I mounted the top of the stairs, I realized that I had left some books in Draco's bedchamber. Thinking that he was probably asleep, considering the late hour, I stepped very quietly through the door.
I heard the noise of a lamp being lit and looked up to see Draco in front of a mirror, fussing with something I couldn't distinguish in the dark. He turned around and, setting the lamp on a table at the foot of his bed, came towards me. As the light of my candelabrum hit him, I understood the identity of his eccentricity.
Draco was dressed in a lace-trimmed, red and black saloon-girl's gown. His blonde hair was combed down from its perpetual greased-back state and instead kept from his face by means of tortoise-shell combs. Manascar coated his eye-lashes, and rouge coated his lips.
"Is all now clear, Mister Potter?" Draco drawled seductively, pushing my hand that held the candelabrum away from him. It joined the lamp on the table.
Our hands locked. Draco smiled with his teeth and kissed me. I kissed him back. And then my eyes widened, when I realized what a terrible thing I had just allowed, what perversion. I dropped my hand from Draco's and grabbed the candelabrum.
"I never wanted this," I whispered. "I only wanted to bear my sin in peace."
I ran from Draco's room to my own, my object for entering his forgotten.
When in my room, I blew out the candelabrum and lay on my bed, staring out into the darkness, tears in my eyes.
"Are you excited to at last become an adult?" I asked, my attentions entirely on Draco's translations of Ovid.
"I suppose," he replied listlessly.
"Your father will buy you your own slave, if I'm not mistaken," I said.
"Oh, I look forward to that," Draco responded, smiling. "It will be good to have my own darkie to beat around."
I was shocked. My moral upbringing, by way of my godfather, had been Quaker. "Draco, even the lowest of slaves deserves humane treatment. We are all God's creatures," I said.
"Ah, they're just niggers. They wouldn't know what to do without a whip at their backs. If I didn't think better of your character, Mister Potter, I'd say you were a dirty abolitionist!" he responded, laughing.
I thought I would strangle him at that very moment, beautiful form or no.
"How absurd," I said instead, laughing uneasily.
"And I must say, the closer my wedding looms, the less I wish to marry any woman, ever, especially Pansy. She is too...feminine. Something about the curve of her arm, or the elaborateness of her coiffure, sickens me that I will soon have to be near it all the time," Draco mused.
"I see," I replied, not listening.
"Not that there's something wrong with femininity. It is an acknowledgment of beauty in a world of brutality. I just dislike it in someone I must spend the rest of my days with," he continued.
My senses jumped, interpreting what he had just said. Before I could respond, however, Narcissa called up for Draco to assist her in some manner. As soon as he left, I walked to my room and took a nap, confused.
When I woke up, the house slave was standing over me calmly, holding a letter bearing my godfather's seal. When I had put on my spectacles, I took the letter and, opening it, bade the slave to leave.
Dear Harry,
I am gladdened at thy safe arrival to Malfoy Manor. The Malfoys sound to me like an ordinary wealthy plantation family, although Draco is certainly more enigmatic.
As for here in New Surrey, Doctor Remus Lupin has arrived. He was a close friend to thy father and myself back in school and is now a professor of ethics and religion at the university and brings with him many new ideas for easing extreme fears. Upon our reunion, I accompanied Remus to a Universalist congregation, the first in this area. I must admit, dear godson, that perhaps I should be thy moral guiding light no longer and perhaps also cease in my manners of speech, for the Universalist philosophy appeals to me far more than that of the Quaker meetings ever could. To be now honest, there are many things in my heart that I have realized in the past week, all of which I pray thee not condemn me for.
The letter continued onto another page, but the dinner bell rang before I could finish reading.
At dinner, Draco ignored me completely. I thought nothing of it. After I had finished eating, Lucius asked if I would help him with a few business letters and receipts.
A few articles turned into three hours of compositions, revisions, and calculations. When Lucius felt at last our work was done, he thanked me, and, worn, I went up to my room with a candelabrum in one hand.
As I mounted the top of the stairs, I realized that I had left some books in Draco's bedchamber. Thinking that he was probably asleep, considering the late hour, I stepped very quietly through the door.
I heard the noise of a lamp being lit and looked up to see Draco in front of a mirror, fussing with something I couldn't distinguish in the dark. He turned around and, setting the lamp on a table at the foot of his bed, came towards me. As the light of my candelabrum hit him, I understood the identity of his eccentricity.
Draco was dressed in a lace-trimmed, red and black saloon-girl's gown. His blonde hair was combed down from its perpetual greased-back state and instead kept from his face by means of tortoise-shell combs. Manascar coated his eye-lashes, and rouge coated his lips.
"Is all now clear, Mister Potter?" Draco drawled seductively, pushing my hand that held the candelabrum away from him. It joined the lamp on the table.
Our hands locked. Draco smiled with his teeth and kissed me. I kissed him back. And then my eyes widened, when I realized what a terrible thing I had just allowed, what perversion. I dropped my hand from Draco's and grabbed the candelabrum.
"I never wanted this," I whispered. "I only wanted to bear my sin in peace."
I ran from Draco's room to my own, my object for entering his forgotten.
When in my room, I blew out the candelabrum and lay on my bed, staring out into the darkness, tears in my eyes.