The next morning, I awoke to a world of silence, surprised not to hear my mother screaming at me for being so late up. Surprised that was, until I remembered the events of the night before. I sat up, blinking my eyes and reached for my wand, removing the Temporary Deafness Charm, only to wish I hadn't bothered.
"…DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME? GET UP YOU LAZY BRAT AND COME DOWN HERE NOW IF YOU WANT SOME BREAKFAST! IF YOUR FATHER WAS HERE HE'D MAKE YOU EAT YOUR BREAKFAST COLD! AND IF YOU DARE SAY THAT YOU DON'T WANT ANY BREAKFAST I WILL COME UP THERE AND BEAT YOU UNTIL YOU ARE UNABLE TO EAT ANYTHING FOR MONTHS! DO YOU HEAR ME UP THERE DRACO? GET DOWN HERE NOW! YOU UNGRATEFUL INSOLENT BASTARD! GET DOWN THESE STAIRS NOW!" I had always been in awe of my mother, not least for the fact that she could scream an absolute tirade of abuse and threats without taking a single breath and not be breathless at the end of it. And I had never known my mother to use the Sonorus charm. The voice was all her own.
I hurriedly got dressed, not bothering to have a shower before breakfast. I could quite easily have a shower later. If, that was, Narcissa would let me. I brushed my fingers through my hair and walked out of my bedroom, closing the door quietly behind me. I didn't need a brand new lecture on closing doors. I walked down the stairs and stopped on the first landing, coming face to face with my mother in all her fury. She scowled at me and said, "Decided to come down have you? It's about time too!" Her top lip curled into the Malfoy sneer, which she had spent many years perfecting. I nodded and whispered my apologies. Narcissa seemed placated and we walked into the dining room together, sitting at opposite ends of the moderately sized dining table. The fire was not burning this morning but the room was plenty warm enough. It was, after all, the middle of summer.
I looked at up from my meal and glanced towards my mother. She stared fixedly at her plate, barely eating and I sighed to myself softly. I looked at the Malfoy crest above the fireplace, gaining strength from it's motto. The crest itself was a shield split into four, crossed wands in the top left and bottom right hand corners and green and silver stripes in the remaining two corners, the letter M in black in the centre of the shield. "Nil Desperandum in Extremis." I muttered to myself, reading the motto at the bottom of the shield. I would have laughed aloud at getting comfort from that particular phrase, were it not exactly how I felt. Despair of nothing at the point of death.
"Did you sleep well last night mother?" That wasn't what I meant to say.
"Fine. What about you?" Narcissa looked like she was smiling but her eyes flickered and I knew that she was lying.
"Not particularly. I heard all this God awful screaming last night. I'm surprised it didn't wake you up." My mouth curled into a sneer as my mother started to open and close her mouth, looking like a rather unattractive goldfish. Not that goldfish are ever particularly attractive… "I saw you on the plains last night mother. Over by the stones. I heard you. I heard what you screamed. What's going on? I deserve to know mother." Narcissa swallowed convulsively. Another sure sign she was lying.
"Finish your breakfast Draco. I'll explain everything then." She lowered her eyes and continued to eat her porridge oats. I would have groaned but the way that I had defeated her into telling me so easily made me wary. Obviously this was something big otherwise mother would never have deigned to tell me anything unless she felt it absolutely pertinent. I finished my breakfast in record time, doubting that even Crabbe and Goyle could have eaten as fast as I had. "Go upstairs and have a shower Draco. Don't worry, I'll still be here when you come down. Get into your walking robes. We're going to the stones." Mother gave me a weak smile as I rose from my seat, running upstairs in the hope of getting ready as quickly as possible. Luckily, I was used to quick showers and even quicker changes. It came from being a Slytherin. It came from having been walked in on just once wearing nothing but a smile, which had quickly vanished, being turned into a look of pure mortification on my part and a fit of giggles on Pansy Parkinson's. Bloody stupid witch.
I ran down the stairs and skidded to a halt in front of my mother. She had changed into a simple black set of robes with red trim and the same weak watery smile was still firmly placed on her lips.
"Well, let's get going then." She attempted a smile which wavered and disappeared as she turned away from me, heading towards the circle of stones.
Most people know what Stonehenge is. Most people know the background behind it. At least, they think they do. I had always thought I did until I saw it that day. I had never been allowed into the centre of the ring. Mother had always banned me from entering. I always listened to mother. You didn't get to the age of five in the Malfoy household without knowing that you listen to your parents. Or else.
As we stepped through the ring of stones I felt an odd sensation, almost like walking through treacle. The stones appeared to shift slightly, almost as if the whole world had decided to move and then changed its mind. It was odd really. There was no other way to describe it, unless I wanted to sound like a frigging walking Thesaurus. Or, of course, like the Mudblood.
I looked around the stones and realised that they all had words engraved into them. This was just a clock, why would there be words engraved on the stones? I walked to the nearest stones and took a step back. The words were names. Not just any names, but Malfoy names. All the stones had names and dates written on them. I felt the blood rush from my face at the same time as I felt my heart plummet to the pit of my stomach. Stonehenge wasn't just an olden day Druid clock…it was a graveyard. My head swirled and I felt myself begin to slip to the floor as I saw the name and date scratched roughly on the central stone.
Lyra Nightshade Malfoy. 13th January 1980 – 30th July 1980.
I felt my head hit the ground at the same time as the words and their meaning registered on my brain. I had a twin.