Disclaimer: I'm not even gonna bother with it at the moment.
A/N: And yeah, exactly half the spells in this chapter are totally made up.
Getting to Know the Truth
Ashley's heart rate picked up and her breaths came labored as the door swung open to reveal a house elf, clad only in a rough loin cloth.
"And you might you be?" The elf asked in something of an Irish accent. Ashley ignored the question, wondering how far inside she would have to go before running into Draco.
"Is Draco home?" She didn't care about being polite, even though typically she was a bit kinder to the house elves than her husband.
"That would depend on who be asking." The elf chided merrily. Ashley was suddenly overcome with the desire to blast this ignorant creature into three years from Sunday.
"And your survival in your current form depends on how quickly you answer me." Her eyes had narrowed to slits, and the anger filling her was something akin to the way she used to feel all the time. She was beginning to return to normal, but she wasn't so sure if she wanted to go back to that again.
"Well, ma'am, you see," The house elf babbled on, completely ignorant of the danger it was putting itself in. "I am under strict orders from Master Malfoy not to admit anyone to the Manor unless they first state their name and business."
"Oh, you are, are you?" Ashley's tone had become deadly soft, a sure sign that the next thing to come between her and her victim was about to meet its untimely demise in a particularly painful fashion. "And do you need to check to see if their name is on a little pink slip too?"
"Well, as a matter of fact-" Ashley's wand magically appeared in her hand. She hardly paused to figure out why it hadn't been destroyed upon her imprisonment, and how in the nine hells it had found its way back to her possession, determining that Lucius must have had something to do with it. All she knew was that with it, the possibilities with which to rid herself of this tiresome creature were virtually limitless. Ashley cast her mind about for the best spell to use in this situation, settling on a personal favorite that never failed to bring a smile to her face.
"Serpensortia!" A large black serpent erupted from the end of her wand and fell to the ground, slowly advancing on the now terrified house elf. It lunged, and just as it was about to sink its venomous teeth into the impediment's skull, it was blown backwards by a counterspell.
"Ropelium!" A voice from inside the house bellowed, sending Ashley's inner self into hysterics. She chanced a glance up, her gaze settling on the one person who she thought she would never see again as long as she lived. Draco...
Draco Malfoy stood in shock, wondering desperately if his eyes were deceiving him. Ashley saw this and allowed her jaw to drop. And there they stood, in perfect mirror images of what a Malfoy should not be. Draco came to his senses first.
"Ashley?" He whispered, pondering the possibility that he was hallucinating, or dreaming, or crazy, or something that made more sense than what was actually happening.
"Draco?" The one word came out soft, but more in disbelief than surprise. Ashley was stunned at how much the male had changed since she last saw him. Sure, he was still the same old Draco that she fell in love with, but with some obvious differences. His hair was still white-blonde, but he no longer seemed to care about the state of slicked backedness that it was it. The facial features that could previously be described as "pointed" had morphed into the considerably more handsome "chiseled". But what hit Ashley the most was the way that his eyes had changed. His eyes, which used to be able to freeze a serpent in its slithering tracks with one glance, had softened, become weakened by something that Ashley supposed was love. After all, he had spent the past eleven years raising a daughter. A wave of guilt washed over her; she had left him to raise their daughter alone, without her help. She shook it off. Now was not the time for wallowing in self pity. Now was the time for... Well, actually, she wasn't really sure what it was time for.
"Is it really... you?" Draco's voice held a hint of incredulousness that was not wasted on Ashley. She nodded.
"Yeah. I guess it is." Draco shook off the shock that had overcome him earlier and sent the quivering house elf inside. "Do you want to... come in or something?"
Ashley shrugged.
"Well, it would be better than standing out here." She followed Draco into the mansion, observing the changes, or the lack thereof, that the interior had gone through since her departure from the place. They walked into the living room in silence, and both took a seat on one of the white pristine couches.
"So..."
"So..." The silence was unbearable. It was hard for either of them to believe that there was once a time when they were unable to keep quiet for hours, talking on and on about who knows what.
As Ashley gazed around the room, she thought. She thought about how much she had missed the Manor in all its richness, how much she missed Draco, and Victoria. As if to emphasize her point, her gaze rested on a set of pictures standing in frames atop the mantelpiece. The pictures told a story of sorts, showing how a little amber haired girl had grown from birth to the current day. She was playing, laughing, having the time of her life, and Ashley hadn't been there for any of it. She blocked the guilt before it came, and instead decided to change the topic.
"I, uh, don't suppose I could wash up a bit before we talk, is there?" She observed the dirty prison clothes she was clad in and became suddenly aware of the fact that her hair hadn't been washed in who knows how long. Draco looked up, surprised.
"Yeah, um, I think you know where the bathroom is, right?" Ashley gave him a tight lipped smile and nodded. It may be true that she hadn't been in the Manor for over eleven years, but that certainly did not mean that she had forgotten her way around it.
She made her way to the bathroom, pausing only to briefly observe a room she passed on the way, which must belong to Victoria. There was an abundance of pink in the room, and there were dolls and stuffed animals strewn all across the bed and floor. Ashley almost cringed. Her daughter was a girly girl. Shaking her head, she continued on to the bathroom.
Upon arriving there, Ashley found a clean set of clothes and robes already laid out on the counter for her, as well as a large plushy emerald green towel. She stripped, leaving the dirty clothes on the floor, turned on the shower, and stepped inside, allowing the water to flow over her. It was comforting, really, to be able to do things like take a shower, to be able to pretend that maybe life could and would return to the way it should be.
Eventually, she was finished, and set about the task of managing her hair. Ashley magically trimmed it by more than just a few inches, as it had started to grow out of control many years ago. She allowed it to remain cascading over her shoulders after it was dried, creating the impression of a clean cut woman without any problems in the world. Ashley had forgotten what it felt like to be so clean, and she decided that, as strange as it felt, she liked it. This was definitely something that she could get used to again.
She dressed in the clothes set out for her, marveling at the fact that there were indeed other fabrics out there than Azkaban prison garb. When she was finished, she headed back out to the living room, where she was met by a stunned looking Draco. Apparently she wasn't the only one who had forgotten how good she looked when she wasn't incapacitated.
They sat again, this time Draco seating himself closer to Ashley than before. He reached out a hand to touch her shoulder, causing her to flinch visibly. When she didn't offer an explanation for her actions, Draco assumed that something had gone on in Azkaban that made her distrustful of anyone who came near. He changed the point of focus.
"I... I didn't know you were getting out today. I would have come and met you or... something." Ashley shrugged.
"That's Lucius for ya. Has his own reasons behind his actions and never feels the need to divulge those reasons to anyone other than the voices in his head." They chuckled, imagining Lucius having a vocal conversation with a seemingly empty room. The mood returned to the way it had been rather quickly, however.
"So, do you know why he chose today?"
"No idea. Unless..." Draco trailed off, leaving Ashley without a satisfactory response.
"Unless what?"
"Nothing." Ashley raised her eyebrows, but decided not to push the matter further. She instead opted for a conversational change. "So, is Victoria around?"
Draco looked at her strangely.
"She's at school, Ash. You knew that." Ashley mentally slapped herself for allowing such an important detail to slip her mind and went to work covering up her mistake.
"Of course I know that. I just didn't know if she was home for vacation or something." Draco chose not to comment on the fact that there were no vacations only days after term started. Then he remembered something important.
"I think I might know why Father chose now to have you released." He said slowly. Ashley's interest was piqued.
"What? Why?"
"This weekend is Parents Day at Hogwarts."
Ack, don't kill me for the cliffhanger, please! I'll- I'll sic Kyle on you if you do. Yup, that's it. Uh huh.
