Chapter Twenty-Two- Malfoy Manor
"Well, I guess I'll see you in two weeks, then?" Cari said, trying to be cheerful, trundling her suitcase down the stairs the next evening. Though, any attempt at cheerfulness was made difficult by Lindsey's somber expression.
"Yeah, two weeks," Lindsey's own forced optimism was much less convincing.
"Look, Lindsey," Cari said, setting down her suitcase. "I don't have to go if you really don't want me to; I can tell Draco no."
"No you can't," Lindsey said lightly, smiling her awry smile. "Really- just… go ahead. Have fun. Be careful, okay?"
Cari beamed, picked up her suitcase, and started down the rest of the stairs to where Draco was waiting. Then she stopped, dropped her suitcase, ran back, and hugged her friend.
"See you in two weeks!" she said again, no longer having to feign excitement.
Lindsey just kept grinning crookedly and waved as Cari descended giddily down the stairs. As she reached the bottom she looked back at Lindsey one last time. This was the last moment of doubt she had; she just looked so much scrawnier, so much smaller somehow… Maybe-
"Ready to go, Cari?" Draco's voice sounded breathlessly behind her. She turned and her doubt faded instantly.
There were snowflakes in his hair, his face was flushed with the cold and he was wearing the biggest smile she'd ever seen him wear (outside of a quidditch pitch), his eyes sparking. She accompanied him out the door without looking back.
The two took a carriage all the way to Wiltshire, a very lengthy ride. For the first hour or so (Cari completely lost track of time) they simply talked to each other, then as the hour grew later Cari began to feel her eyelids drooping. She looked over and saw that Draco was asleep.
Even in sleep he kept the same light scowl he wore when awake, though now he also seemed more troubled. Cari studied him a moment longer. He seemed much more vulnerable now, much less imposing; he just looked like a fifteen-year-old boy, awkward and unsure, completely contrary to the cocky, self-assured teenager he usually was.
Suddenly the carriage jerked rather violently, throwing Cari's back up against the carriage wall and Draco into Cari, his head on her chest.
Because of the way she had been sitting Cari's arms were now pinned by Draco's still sleeping form. She looked around nervously, wondering what to do.
"Draco…" she whispered, clearing her throat awkwardly and nudging him with her elbow, which was pinned under his back. Draco mumbled and shifted in his sleep, then blinked his eyes slowly open.
"Wha…?" he muttered confusedly, looking around, then up into Cari's face. Suddenly his eyes widened and he jerked upright, finally realizing exactly how (and where) he was situated. He scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably, his face turning scarlet.
"Sorry about that," he laughed with embarrassment.
"It's okay," Cari assured, wishing to alleviate his discomfort as quickly as possible. Luckily, it was then that the carriage jolted to a stop.
"Well, we're here," Draco said, smiling at her. Cari couldn't help but smile back; she never could.
Draco got out of the carriage first, bidding her to wait. Cari bundled her cloak up more tightly; it had been snowing when they left and from what she saw out of the glimpse from Draco's door, it was a veritable blizzard now. I'll bet Lindsey loves this, she thought, thinking already of her friend, and wondering how she was doing.
Without warning, her own door, which she had still been leaning on, swung open, causing Cari to tumble out into Draco's arms. However, let's just say that it wasn't the picturesque fall scene from old black and white movies.
Cari tumbled out with a startled yelp, arms flailing gracelessly. Fortunately, Draco's arms had been holding the door open, and by sheer coincidence, were situated to catch her, though completely inelegantly. Draco nearly fell himself, taken by surprise by the falling form, but managed to maintain a standing position. While thrashing her arms, one hand had caught him right in the nose and he cried out in surprise more than pain.
However, after the general chaos had subsided and both of them had a moment to regain their composure, Cari felt quite happy to be in Draco's arms and wrapped her own around his neck. Draco set her down with quite a bit more composure than he had caught her with and took her hand. Cari looked towards the house (or where she at least thought it to be; everything beyond five feet in front of them was obscured by the snowstorm) then back towards Draco nervously, so Draco flashed her a reassuring smile, and the two set off to the front doors Draco knew were there.
"Father!" Draco called into the cavernous front hall of the mansion he called home. "We've arrived!"
"I was beginning to think your carriage had been sabotaged," a silky voice sounded from the top of the winding marble staircase before them. Cari looked up to see none other than Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father, walking down the steps towards them.
"Father," Draco said, smiling as Lucius joined them at the door. "This"- here he pulled Cari out from behind him, where she had been trying to become invisible like Lindsey knew how to do- "is Cari Green."
Cari, not really knowing what she should do, made a deep curtsey, bowing her head. Upon straightening, she saw Lucius smiling at her amusedly.
"Miss Green," he said smoothly, taking her hand and brushing a kiss across her fingers, sheer blue eyes never leaving her face. "Draco's told us about you."
Oh yes, this is most definitely the man Draco gets his charms from, Cari thought, shaking her head inwardly.
"Where is Mother?" Draco asked curiously, craning his head in an attempt to see upstairs.
"Your mother… won't be joining us," Lucius said stiffly, a shadow coming over his face. Draco's smile faded. "She's spending the holidays with friends."
Cari could see that this was a delicate topic (Lindsey's skills were rubbing off on her!) and so attempted to distract them.
"This is a beautiful house- er, mansion," she said, tripping over her words in her haste to change the subject. Lucius's genteel manner took over once again. He inclined his head in gratitude.
"Draco," he addressed his son suddenly. "Why don't you show Cari where she will be staying these next two weeks?" Draco nodded and, retaking Cari's hand, led her up the magnificent staircase.
Upon entering the enormous set of intricately carven wooden doors the entrance hall of Malfoy Manor completely took Cari's breath away. It was the largest room she had ever been in, excluding Hogwarts, with a ceiling so high the elaborate and innumerable candelabras could not penetrate the darkness far enough to illuminate its surface. The hall was decorated in a highly classical gothic style, rather cold, actually, with gargoyles and the Malfoy family crest decorating the walls. The brightest thing was the massive staircase. Stark white and made of marble its shine was great enough to reflect Cari's face when she looked down as Draco led her up the stairs.
After getting upstairs the atmosphere lost none of its elegance or dark and brooding feel. The spacious corridors were lined with blood red tapestries and portraits of wizards she could only assume were from the Malfoy family. She was surprised at how long this corridor seemed to go on, then realized that the house probably had an enchantment on it: it was bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. For though she had not yet seen the outside, since it had been obscured by the snow, she knew that no house outside of a castle could be this enormous.
Eventually Draco turned and led her to another set of wooden double doors, much smaller than the front, and opened the wrought iron handles to reveal the room inside.
"This is where you'll be staying," Draco with a smile as he saw her gaping at the room.
"Wow…" was all she could manage.
The room was decorated in hues of deepest green, with highlights of silver: Cari's favorite colors. (Coincidentally Slytherin colors.) There was an impressive four-poster bed with velvet curtains, in front of which sat Cari's luggage, brought in from the carriage magically. Directly across from that was a vast fireplace, already with wood crackling inside and a clock ticking on the mantle.
The other furniture, in perfectly accenting red-brown toned mahogany, consisted of a very comfy looking overstuffed armchair and ottoman, a spacious chest of drawers and a luxurious dressing table, complete with a large oval mirror and velvet-upholstered chair with what looked to be talon feet. There was a door leading to what Cari could only assume to be a lavatory and a generous bay window, the kind you could sit at, the bench loaded with pillows and- of course- upholstered in velvet; the window draped in the same.
"It's gorgeous," Cari finally managed to breathe; certainly much better than anywhere she had ever stayed before. Draco shrugged dismissively, though it was obvious he was pleased. It was then that the clock on the mantle began to chime in delicate, crystalline notes: eleven times.
"Well, I suppose I should let you get settled," Draco said after the clock had silenced. "It's already late. There's a pot of floo powder on the mantle, should you need me for, you know, anything." And with a last smile to bid her good-night, Draco closed the doors and was gone.
First Cari just stood self-consciously in the center of the room, wondering what she should do now. Then she knew.
She began skipping around the room happily, then spun around in circles until she felt sick, and finally sprawled out on the bed, laughing herself breathless: she was spending a whole two weeks with Draco Malfoy! She never thought she'd see the day… And right now she wasn't thinking about how much her parents would disapprove, or if Lindsey was feeling lonely back at Hogwarts. Right now the only thing she could think of was that this was the happiest she had ever been in her entire life.
This was going to be a great winter vacation.
A/N: I had so much fun describing the Malfoy Manor I pictured in my head; I hope it was satisfactory for y'all. If not well… there's really not much you can do about it! - I really didn't feel like writing in Narcissa (to be honest she's really not one of my favorite characters) so… yeah. I also apologize just because, well, Cari is not my character (this is based off of some craziness of my friend and I, and Cari is her character, therefore making Lindsey mine) so I am never sure if I'm getting it right. But the real life Cari has yet to start beating me with things yet so… I guess I'm doing alright! And… that's all for my lil' author's note!