Draco slouched. He knew he was doing it, and it was not something he usually did, but it was worth it to see the tic begin at the corner of his father's jaw.
"Father, I do not want to go to Germany for the summer," the tall blonde announced, letting just the right amount of boredom slip into his tone.
His father snapped.
"I do not care what you want!" Lucius Malfoy thundered, appearing to reach twice his normal height. "I am sending you to stay with my brother – your uncle – Reinald, and that's final!" Draco watched as his father attempted to regain his inner calm and poise, he smirked. "Look," the elder Malfoy began in a quieter yet somehow more nasty tone, "My brother has kindly agreed to take you in whilst the final preparations for our Lord begin around here. You will have a chance to meet Reinald's new wife and her daughter and boost your knowledge even further of the Dark Arts. What reason is there not to go?"
Of course, Draco thought, mentally rolling his eyes. That's why his father wanted him gone, so that Lord Voldemort and his followers would have the full run of Malfoy Manor. And Lucius, being Lucius, was never entirely certain of anyone's loyalties, even his son's.
However, Draco hadn't missed the sparkle in Lucius' eye when he had mentioned his uncle's new wife and step daughter, there had to be a plan abroad here somewhere.
"Fine," Draco agreed slowly. "I'll go, just to be out of your way. (Anything to be out of your way, he thought) But what of mother, is she being sent away as well?" Draco fell into silence to allow his father the pleasure of trying to reason his way out of that one. Of course he knew his mother would stay here, he just wanted to know how his father would justify it. In reality, the Slytherin was somewhat relieved that he would not be around for Voldemort's plans, that way he could not be forced into anything, after all, he still wasn't entirely sure that being a deatheater was the way for him, there were many other cults he could join for a better deal. In fact maybe after the farce that was Hogwarts he would leave England altogether and never come back, maybe go somewhere cooler with a decent reputation for dark wizards and more flexible laws, like Norway. He thought eagerly about all the possibilities.
"She will stay here," his father finally snapped. "Stop asking questions and for Merlin's sake stand up straight!"
Draco shrugged but complied, why insight punishment by disobeying when it could be so easily avoided after all?
"When do I leave?" Then again…
"Tomorrow," Lucius replied sharply. "So now go and pack. No house-elf help because of that last question and blatant disregard of my wishes." With that Lucius turned on his heel and strode away from Draco. The boy rolled his eyes for real this time. He was old enough to have a family of his own, why, oh why, did he have to listen to his father at all?
He knew the house elves would pack for him though; they were too well 'trained' to do anything else. One day it would be him giving his father orders, he vowed to himself.
The journey had already been long and was getting longer still. Draco sat in his own compartment on the German steam train; his father had said that it would be a two hour ride from the German National FlooPort to his uncle's villa in Lübeck but he'd been sitting in the same position for over four hours now, and his arse was beginning to ache.
At first the scenery had proved to be interesting, but now it just flew by in his peripheral vision without him noticing it barely at all. Various greens and grey merged together, making his impression of Germany to be quite dull and uninteresting.
He wondered what he would find when he reached Lübeck and whether it would be any better than what he had left in England. His Uncle Reinald was a twisted wizard, almost as much as Lucius was, he'd had four wives in as many years all of them with suspiciously young and attractive daughters. Draco supposed that this time would be no different, he wondered briefly what his real blood cousin – Damian – would think of them this time.
Damian was Reinald's only acknowledged offspring, though Draco was sure there were many bastards fathered by his uncle in the surrounding towns. His cousin was always something of an enigma, even Draco admitted this and he was Prince of the Ice Caps. His cousin was about three months older than Draco was and had attended Durmstrang, as most of the German witches and wizards did, except now he had left to study the origins of curses and hexes in a south German college. Draco often envied him because he got to do anything he wanted whereas his Father always expected him to follow in his footsteps and follow the Dark Lord.
Spending the summer in Germany wouldn't be so bad he supposed, as long as he was left to his own devices most of the time. He just wished that his Father's first instinct wasn't to ship his son off to another country, especially since Draco knew that he could give a flying Niffler about his safety, he was only worried that he may get in the way and ruin the Deatheater party. Draco snorted.
His thoughts shifted to his upcoming year at Hogwarts, his seventh and final. Oh what fun… Personally, he quite enjoyed Hogwarts now, there was a time when he hated it with a passion just because his father's expectations always laid so heavily on his shoulders, but now it was just an excuse for a good time. There was always a decent supply of willing girls looking for a pleasurable date to giggle with their friends about and Draco was always happy to acquiesce.
In fact the only low point of going to Hogwarts was having to share it with the Gryffindors and all their morals, Draco would be quite content if Voldemort just finished them off and then topped himself, which would solve all his problems. It was just that the whole 'courageous' house (stupid, more like) were just such a waste of space, most of them being mudbloods – Granger being a prime example – or even worse than that, mudblood lovers like Weasley and that squirt sister of his. The blonde fought the urge to spit on the floor, partly because it was impolite, and partly because Malfoy's didn't spit.
Draco slid smoothly off the Lübeck Express his trunk hovering (feather-light) beside him. He glanced sharply around the station, it looked almost identical to the one he had boarded from – more than five hours ago, except this one – if it was possible – was even more deserted.
He caught sight of a short blonde man with a receding hairline standing at the edge of the doorway into the station building. The man waddled towards him seemingly nervous; he fiddled with the buttons of his tailored suit. Draco watched him expressionlessly as he approached, taking in his somewhat slippery and greasy demeanour. Definitely sent by his uncle, he concluded.
"Master Draco?" he asked, a strong German accent coming through gutturally.
The blonde inclined his head gracefully, answering the title. He hoped that they weren't all going to be speaking like this; else he would barely be able to understand a word.
The blonde man hefted Draco's baggage into his arms, the feather-weight charm wearing off immediately he touched it. "I am Fremont, Herr. Malfoy sent me to collect you and return you to the Villa. A car is waiting outside as we speak."
"We're going by muggle transport?" Draco inquired, wrinkling his nose in disgust.
Fremont nodded. "The Germans are very suspicious and shrewd, we must be subtle. The journey is only twenty minutes."
Draco followed Fremont to the outside waiting car, it was black and sleek with tinted windows. It would do, he supposed. Once in the car, the journey seemed to blur by, and he wondered what enchantments had been put on the car after all. Very slowly he caught sight of his uncle's villa on the horizon and watched as it drew ever nearer.
It was certainly huge and magnificent, although it had nothing on Malfoy Manor of course. It stood atop a hill, windows facing vigilantly in every direction. As they approached Draco saw there were people sitting on the lawn, reclining in style beneath the heated German sun. To his surprise, Fremont drove them straight up, across the drive and headed straight towards the gathering of people. He stopped right before them.
Way to go for an introduction. Fremont said; "You get out here Young Master, and I will drive your belongings up to the house to be unpacked. Your uncle is waiting to greet you."
Draco climbed abruptly out of the car, the heat immediately smothering him in waves. Reinald approached him calmly, wearing nothing but a loose shirt and some ill-fitting trousers. Draco suddenly felt very over dressed.
"Welcome Draco! How was the journey?" The blonde was relieved to find that he spoke perfect, articulate, non-German lilting English.
"It was fine thank you uncle," he lied stiffly. "Lucius sends his regards."
"Yes, yes, I'm sure he does," his uncle agreed doubtfully. "Now, first we must introduce you to everyone, and then you can change into something a… little more fitting for the weather."
Draco allowed himself to be propelled along towards the small group of people, one of whom he recognised as Damian.
"This is my new wife, Marian," Reinald began gesturing to an older woman with chestnut hair and dark – almost – black eyes. Draco acknowledged her politely. Two more women were introduced as his sister-in-laws and three young men as their offspring, Draco greeted them all calmly, wondering how many more irrelevant relatives he had to be introduced to.
"And where is Viveka?" his uncle exclaimed, jerking Draco back to his slightly uncomfortable – sweaty – reality. Oh Merlin, how more relatives could there be?
"I'm here, Father," announced a ringing voice from behind Draco's back. Father? That must mean she was his new cousin.
Draco turned to find himself staring into darkened depths of beautiful eyes. His breath caught in his throat, and his eyes did a quick, unavoidable tour of her bikini-clad body. This holiday was going to be great.