Chapter 2- A Visitor and What Could Have Been a Hor-Crux
Alex opened her eyes slowly, savoring the feeling of a warm, soft bed. They felt infinitely better than park benches, that was a given. She finally opened her eyes completely and waited as the room swam into focus lazily. When she heard a knock on her door, she hurriedly clutched the sheets back over her loaned nightdress of Narcissa's– she had been carted off to St. Mungo's a few days ago, Draco told Alex last night– and called out tentatively, "Come in."
A small house-elf carting an enormous breakfast tray scooted into the room and looked up at her nervously. "Does this breakfast please Mistress?"
"Breakfast in bed!" Alex squealed excitedly. "I haven't gotten this in weeks!"
She suddenly seemed to remember that the house elf was there. "Oh. Yes." The blonde teenager picked up the tray and put it on her lap, before beginning to eat. As the house elf bowed its way out of the room, she called back in a small voice, "Thank you."
The tiny creature kept walking, but unbeknownst to Alex, tears of gratitude filled its eyes. No one had ever thanked him before.
As she was finishing up, the same elf walked back into the room as if it knew she was finished, and offered to take the tray away. She smiled and nodded, for her breath had caught in her throat. There stood Draco, looking absolutely perfect in his dark robes. The shadows seemed to have been concealed magically, taking away the blank look from his eyes, and his hair was nicely combed. "I'm leaving," he announced. "I have some business affairs to deal with regarding the manor, Alex. Will you be all right here today?"
He still had not even looked at her, leaning against the doorway and staring at a point about three inches to the left of her head. Alex hurriedly stopped staring, feeling suddenly inadequate in the nightgown and with no make up. Her hair was uncombed and ratty, and she still looked half-asleep. She pulled the covers up firmly and said softly, "Y-Yes. I'll be fine."
Draco nodded and started to walk away. "I'll be home around noon," he called back. "Umm, and don't go up to my father's section of the manor. It's got some nasty tricks for intruders."
Now that the newly groomed, handsome Draco was gone, Alex felt considerably braver, and managed to call back, "Oh, so is that why your face is so disfigured?"
The young master of Malfoy Manor, with his father firmly in Azkaban, smiled in spite of himself. "You're not a morning person, are you?" he called back.
Then, with a swish of his robe, he swept down the stairs and out of the manor. He had not left his home in weeks, but this girl had given him a new amount of bravery that he didn't know was there. There was work to do, but the man in charge of the Malfoy estate had been waiting for weeks, afraid to enter Malfoy Manor, believing that Draco would never have the gumption to come to him. He was politely surprised to see Draco sweep into his office and ask what he could do to help.
Alex, meanwhile, leaned back on her pillows and grinned. It was going to be amazing, living with Draco... but she had a mission to carry out before too long. Alex decided to make the absolute best of the time she had with the charming and WEALTHY Malfoy boy. Okay, maybe not that charming. But definitely wealthy.
Alex reluctantly swung her legs over the edge of the bed and got out of it. She dreamily twirled around in her nightdress, pretending it was a ball gown. She curtsied to an imaginary Draco and took his hand, waltzing around her bedroom, humming to herself. A banging on the downstairs doors woke her out of her trance. She hurriedly yelled into the house, "Somebody get that, and if you recognize the person, let them in and tell them I'll be right down."
She hurriedly pulled on more of Narcissa's clothes– a nice day dress– and transfigured it into jeans and a nice top. Brushing her hair and pulling it back into a ponytail, and deciding to scrap the makeup idea, she rushed down the stairs to see that the house elves had indeed let in the visitor: Severus Snape.
Her eyes widened at first, and she almost ran back upstairs. Then she took a deep breath. "Mr. Snape," (remember, she never had him as a professor), "what can I do for you?"
He said nothing for a moment, seemingly in shock to find her here. "I'm sorry about your parents," Snape said softly, though his eyes made it clear that he was not at all sorry.
"What do you need from Draco?" she demanded a second time. "He's not here right now, but you can wait for him if you want."
Snape nodded, and Alex sighed inwardly. She had never been very good at playing hostess, especially not in other peoples' houses. "Miss Singleton," he said very quietly. "I need your help convincing Draco to allow me to stay here with him."
"You disappeared when he needed protection the most, just to save yourself," Alex said cooly, looking him over with a hint of distaste.
Snape's oily hair was in his eyes so that she could not see his expression. However, Alex did notice that he was thinner and seemed as bone tired as Draco. If working for the Dark Lord tired everyone out this much, she was not really sure she wanted to work for this side. Of course, the mortality rate on the other side was much higher. The damn fools never killed anybody, no matter how much it would help their cause.
Alex nodded slowly. "I'll help you."
He smiled in thanks, and sat down in a plush armchair that she motioned him into. Without opening her mouth to ask, a house elf appeared at her elbow. "Get Mr. Snape a drink please," she said to the elf.
Snape raised an eyebrow when he heard the word 'please' but simply leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. "Brandy," he ordered, and dismissed the elf with a wave of a hand.
Alex excused herself when the elf returned with brandy and went to put on some makeup. Severus Snape watched her leave, an unfathomable expression on his face. Why had Draco invited her to his house? What possible purpose could she serve? Perhaps it was because they were so alike in situation, he mused. Both had their parents effectively out of their reach, and both were not all that bothered by this fact. Both were intelligent and self-sufficient, but there the similarities ended. Draco refused to pour his heart and soul into anything for fear of getting burned, and kept himself firmly grounded in reality. Alex obviously seemed to be a dreamer, and he was willing to bet that if she was to find a cause that interested her, she would invest in it with every ounce of her being. Both subjects of his thoughts re-entered the sitting room at the same time. Draco's grey eyes turned nearly black with fury. "You let him in?" he asked, his voice shaking, as he turned on Alex. "After all I told you about him last night?"
"Draco, he doesn't have anywhere to go," Alex said simply. "He's on your side, and he can protect you."
"I don't need his protection!" Draco fumed, but he was weakening.
Alex seemed to notice this, and did not press her advantage. She simply stood there and watched him think it over, her beautiful blue eyes calm and patient. Finally, he snapped, "All right, Snape, you can stay."
Severus Snape smirked slightly as he watched the tormented teen finally do as Alex told him to. It would be very useful to get the girl on his side. It was obvious that she exercised more than a little control over Draco Malfoy.
Alex also noted that he did as she asked as long as it seemed reasonable. "Well, I'll just let you two catch up," she said with a soft smile.
The two men were glaring daggers at each other, but Alex serenely glided out of the room and back to her bedroom. She decided to take a self-guided tour of Malfoy Manor while the two caught up, since this would be her home for the next few days, if not weeks, depending on how fast Draco tried to kick her out of the house. Drawing her wand, Alex slowly began to wander around the house, peeking in each room. She found a glorious library that she knew she had to return to later, and several well-furnished bedrooms. Following her instincts, she opened the last door on the second floor and found it locked. Whispering "Alohomora" had no effect, but Alex wanted desperately to get into that room. That it was locked only made it more intriguing. Putting all of her strength into it, she commanded, "Alohomora" a second time, and the lock clicked.
With a smile, Alex opened the door and saw a set of red-carpeted stairs. This, she knew, had to be the entrance to Lucius' secret wing. Deciding that Draco had something she obviously shouldn't see in there, but that it probably was not horribly dangerous, she kept her wand out and walked up the stairs. When she was about half-way up, the rooms above her illuminated, and she almost ran up the rest of them. Right by the stairs was a desk with papers strewn all over it, but that was not what interested her. All over the place, very dusty because no house elves were allowed up, were scattered various artifacts of questionable virtue. She recognized some objects as rather dangerous and decided not to touch anything. Something hidden in the very corner, however, caught her eye. It was a snowglobe, like those she had seen in Muggle store windows when she chose to prowl London. Inside, amid the snowflakes, she clearly saw a glowing orb, shining with dark blue lights. On the outside of the globe, on the golden platform under the glass, she saw a tiny inscribed "R". "Ravenclaw," she whispered. "This must be Ravenclaw's Orb." She remembered hearing about it, but her mind was going sleepily blank as she stared at the dark blue lights.
It was a stress reducer, she remembered, as she slowly sank to the floor, mesmerized. If you stared at it long enough, it would totally relax you. For someone with as much to worry about, and as great a mind as Ravenclaw's, simply clearing her mind would have been far too difficult. But why does Lucius Malfoy have it? She wondered silently. As she started to break off eye contact, unwilling to let her thoughts rush back to her, a hand gripped her shoulder, hard, and a voice growled, "What did I tell you about my father's wing?"
"It's dangerous, don't go there," she said in a sing-song voice, whirling to face a livid Draco Malfoy. "Honestly, Draco, if you hadn't told me about it and how dangerous it was, I wouldn't have come up here. And what exactly are you trying to hide up here, anyways?"
"What you were staring at," he said, his voice dangerously soft as his furious grey eyes met her glorious blue.
"Is that really Ravenclaw's Orb?" she asked.
The fury in Draco's eyes was diminishing as he saw that she was simply curious. He had panicked when he noticed that the door to his father's wing was open, thinking that she was actually an Auror or something that had taken Polyjuice, and come to steal the Orb. "Yes, it is," he replied, searching her eyes for something else now. Or maybe he just wanted to look in her eyes again.
The aforementioned eyes widened. "When the Ministry raided your house, why didn't they take that?"
"It's not Dark, it's not dangerous, they have no right to take it," Draco said, a small smirk on his face.
She smiled in appreciation of this logic, and then stood up slowly, almost stumbling as she realized how stiff her legs were. Draco caught her and helped her straighten up, noticing how much smaller she was than him. He had at least six inches on her small frame, perhaps more. Alex held onto his arms until she was steady, and then released him, smiling into his eyes. "Thanks," she whispered. Her voice had heat in it now, and Draco knew she was feeling exactly what he was feeling.
With an effort, he broke eye contact. Feelings for anyone were too dangerous. Attachment led to disaster, everyone knew that. Alex, however, seemed to have a different philosophy, for when they got to the bottom of the stairs, she told him gently, "I'm going to rest in my room for awhile."
He nodded, and then she stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek before sauntering away. He rubbed his cheek where she'd kissed it and called, "You'll be coming for tea, right?"
She waved a hand in acknowledgment and disappeared into her room. Alexandra Singleton knew that Draco felt the chemistry too, and decided that if it was the last thing she did, she was going to get him to admit that he felt it. One way or another, he'd realize that a torrid love affair with his houseguest was not only something straight out of all the sappy stories Alex loved to hear, but also very exciting and fun to live it out. Once he could admit that he thought she was gorgeous and charming, the fun could really begin. Alex hummed to herself as she chose what to wear for dinner, deciding to skip tea and make him wait. Before she pulled out a book to relax for the rest of the afternoon, she curtsied one more time in front of the long mirror.
And that's it for Chapter 2.
Stay tuned for Chapter 3, Less-Than-Dreamy Love Lives. R/R please! I appreciate your advice.