Chapter Four: Dawn of Reality

As she sat on her bed, fidgeting slightly with the hem of her plain dress, Elaine felt for the first time a jolt of worry. Though Draco had only been gone for a few minutes, the silence threatened to crush her soul. She did not belong in this mansion at all.

So she sat on her bed primly and affixed her gaze to the door, willing it to open and the boy to walk back soon, the sooner the better. Presently the door creaked open and Elaine hopped off the bed cheerfully to look up into the cool gray eyes of Lucius Malfoy. They were expressionless as ever, but his anger could be sensed in the surrounding air. His thin, aristocratic hands gripped her shoulders with surprising strength and shook her back and forth vigorously.

"I trust you have learned not to do that again, my darling niece?" he whispered, lowering himself until their eyes were but inches apart and Elaine could smell the expensive cologne sprayed tastefully on his body. She nodded with tears nearly spilling out of her eyes, and Lucius released her.

"Excellent." He clicked his teeth and flashed a hungry smile. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some unattended business to finish with my son Draco. Simply…wait here, and he'll be back shortly." Lucius Malfoy was never one to dawdle, and he turned on his heel and strode out, closing the door softly behind him.

Ten minutes later, Draco flung himself into her bedroom and glared at her with the anger of an eleven-year-old, but an eleven-year-old who had had many chances to learn to be expressive. His slick blond hair was ruffled, which he hurriedly tried to smooth as he spoke.

"Well then, I suppose you're learned."

Elaine bit her lip and returned the glare. "Would someone in this house please tell me what I supposedly learned? You, your father, all so cryptic," she muttered darkly.

"And this is but the beginning. Elaine, don't forsake us—instead, learn who we are." Draco smirked, allowing a bit of the practiced snake to show through. "But to answer your question, simply don't prod in things that aren't your business. If you don't listen, you're going to get yourself killed someday." He shrugged indifferently and continued, "You're in the Game now, so do act like it."

"What Game?" she asked curiously, but Draco was nearly out of the room by then. Nevertheless, he turned around and cocked a blond brow.

"You don't know of the Game? Then I suppose Father will tell you soon…just don't go wandering around any more. It's not for you," he added with a touch of finality.

"Fine then. I have nothing more to ask," Elaine imitated his condescending tone.

"Of course not. I would hardly expect you to pick up on the intricacies of Malfoy life." He slipped out the door and shut it firmly.

Elaine sighed and wandered to the chair that had been conveniently placed by the writing desk, running a hand through her dark hair, thinking deeper thoughts than she ever had before. Her parents—loving, but now dead—had not explained this much, but she doubted that they did not know of it. Was it an attempt to protect her? Or simply mere oversight?

Whatever the reason, she smiled in much the same manner as Draco Malfoy and swore, childishly, perhaps, that it would not take her down…

* * * * *

The next morning dawned bright and clear, awakening Elaine with a blood red sunrise that managed to filter through heavy velvet drapes. She rolled off her bed drowsily and stepped into the shower, letting the warm droplets of water untangle raven locks. By the time her head felt fully awake and she had finished, a house-elf had sent up a plain white shirt, a pair of semi-casual black pants, and a wizarding robe. Initially she was grateful for the comfortable dress, until a cursory glance at the robes found that they were emblazoned with the crest of the Malfoys, a surprisingly intricate silver dragon underlined with the motto Abs fortitudo redire dicio; abs dicio, periculum.

With strength comes power; with power, danger.

A shiver rose up her spine that was irrelevant to the warmth and humidity of the bathroom adjoining her bedroom. The seal offered her a glimpse of what life would be like, and even her extreme youth and innocence could not shield her from the facts. Worse yet, so it seemed, was that she stood as a follower of such motto. Draco had been correct.

She strolled down the stairs and into the spacious kitchen. Though the sun had not yet passed the line of trees, the entire blond Malfoy family was already seated around a smaller table that was generally used for ordinary occasions. Lucius Malfoy skimmed a newspaper as he ate, but on closer inspection, it bore no resemblance to the Daily Prophet. Mrs. Malfoy, however, contented herself by looking like the fastidious snow queen as she had yesterday. But she didn't really need to try; the whole family looked the same.

"Good morning," Elaine smiled brightly and plucked a slice of toast from the platter, then took a sip from the steaming brown liquid inside a china mug. Her expression immediately changed from perky to uncomfortable as she wrinkled her nose comically and forced herself to swallow.

Poison…

No, she reminded herself, it wasn't poison, because the house-elves served them and they wouldn't poison an insect. Unless their masters asked them to do so…highly unlikely. She was still alive.

It brought a smile to Draco's face, and he responded coolly, "Good morning to as well. Is this your first time drinking coffee?"

Lucius folded the newspaper with barely a crinkle and locked eyes with his son. "If you've finished breakfast," he nodded dismissively, "both of you, we're going for a ride over the estates today."

Without a moment of hesitation to supposedly finish their drinks, Elaine and Draco both stood and trotted after his tall but elegant figure that filled the hallway with a mere presence. Nothing physical, but Lucius Malfoy exuded power and control wherever he chose to walk and sneer at the minions below. Even in his own family, he was indisputably a leader, and a strong one at that.

The stone path leading to the stables was obviously ancient but still well maintained. Elaine fell into the rhythm of clicking heels on granite, allowing herself to smell the airy, sweet scent of dew on the lawns. Nearing the end of the path, soft whinnies floated on the breeze, as did the rushing footsteps of a harried groom snapping to attention just outside the barn's door.

Lucius took no attention of the servant except to lazily command, "Take out our personal mounts, and…" He hesitated for a moment, then continued, "The black foal for the girl."

Hastily the young man bowed and ducked under the roof; the nickering grew louder until he emerged a few minutes later holding the leather reins of three magnificent horses that pawed the ground and tossed their manes nervously. Elaine gasped softly; out of the shadows, the sunlight gleamed on their feathery wings and their powerful muscles that rippled just beneath the skin. Though they were not shod like ordinary horses, the groom had fitted each with a polished leather saddle and a braided, impeccably clean bridle. Two were palominos, with a coat the color of purest buttercup yellow and a long, silky ivory-colored mane and tail. They looked like father and son, two powerful stallions, and one only a few inches taller than the other. But the third, flicking its ebony black tail, trailed the golden horses like a diminutive black shadow. It was young and energetic and more than enough for Elaine to handle.

Draco smirked at her expression of awe. "Yes, winged horses," he answered her unspoken comment softly. With a practiced grace, he sprang lightly onto the smaller palomino's back. "Come on, surely you've ridden before?"

Of course she had taken weekend excursions into the countryside astride a lazy, obedient mount, but these horses had wings and were going to fly. Elaine didn't bother to reply, since she occupied herself well scrambling to grab onto a handful of mane so that the rest of her could follow. The horse's small but regal head tossed upward suddenly and nearly pitched her off, but she managed to throw a leg over and find a balancing point.

They rose into the air surprisingly smoothly for such a short distance, and Elaine relaxed her stiff posture. Higher up, the breezes were much stronger, whipping at the sleeves of her robes and ruffling her hair until the previously neat cascade fell around her shoulders with the individual strands sticking out in every direction. The Malfoys, however, retained the immaculate, aristocratic bearing they radiated while standing on solid ground. She rolled her eyes and nudged her horse forward to move into a straight line with the father and son pair.

"I'm going to call you Raven," she suddenly whispered, leaning into the horse's delicately arched neck.

It beat its great black wings faster until Elaine was at the end of the row. She glanced down then and saw patches of various hues of green interspersed with white, which she knew to be buildings. Farther to the left, the reline loomed dark and stormy, as though it denied any visitors who even chanced to walk there. To the right, mists and swirling vapors obscured her sight.

From the air, the ground was beautiful, and the same held true vice versa.

A prickling sensation arose on the back of her neck; it was the feeling of cool gray eyes boring into skin. Elaine turned, and Mr. Malfoy hovered above her. "The Malfoy estates," he drawled in a voice barely above the rustle of the lush leaves on tree branches. "From the cliff and the Arch," an expensively robed arm snaked out to the right, "and extending halfway into the forests."

"The Arch has quite a long history of its own," continued Lucius Malfoy as the horses took advantage of a soaring updraft to glide on their wide wings. "It was built two thousand years ago by our ancestor Caius Malfoy when he established these lands as properties of the Malfoy Kin, head of the Gentis Apexis, the High Peoples. In those dark ages, magic was a highly prized gift…one that many would gladly kill for. And though Caius was one of the most talented wizards—or should I say most talented," he chuckled humorlessly, "he was of sufficient intelligence to deem that a method of preventing unauthorized entry to his private grounds must be devised. Hence the Arch of the Malfoy."

He paused and appeared to be examining the cuffs of his robes, but when he lifted his gaze, those gray eyes were thoughtful and focused. "A slight difficulty comes to mind, Elaine. One needs to join in the Blood Ritual to enter without another to open the doorway…and I am afraid that you shall be coming and going far too frequently to spare a Malfoy to usher you in." A hard smile formed on his chiseled face. "I truly hope that you are not, shall we say, offended, by blood-letting…"

Elaine swallowed and shuddered in the saddle, causing Raven to raise her front hooves sharply. She ran a hand over the horse's neck and straightened. "No, I am not," she replied, which was far from the truth. Blood magic. Elaine Kwan, Auror's daughter, would be participating in illegal Dark magic. It was unthinkable, yet she found that she was already morbidly fascinated by the art of adding human blood to increase the potency of a spell or potion…so long it was not hers.

They circled the Malfoy estate slowly, Draco and Lucius both occasionally pointing out distinctive or important features of their properties. An hour later, the horses flew closer together until she could hear a whisper clearly, even above the winds.

"Now," purred the elder Malfoy, "I believe time has come to give you a brief overview of what has made life worth living when circumstances are bleak for centuries…it is time to tell you of the Game…"

AN: This was definitely a more interesting chapter to write, but frankly, after spending the whole day working on it, I have no opinion whatsoever. So tell me what you think, any kind of review is welcome!

l8er,

-cybErdragOn