The Way Home

They walked up the steps slowly, Olivia was trying her best not to trip as she kept craning her neck to look around and would occasionaly miss a step. The huge double doors opened up to a main hall where there were two staircases on either side of the room. The color scheme in the main room was rich and deep. There were velvet maroon curtains drawn over the high ceiling windows, the hard wood floors were a mahogany, and the rugs placed throughout were dark brown. The furniture looked antique, it had obviously been passed on through each of the Malfoy generations but it was so well kept that it's exact age would have been difficult for anyone to decipher. She waited by the door as Draco and Boscos brought in the luggage, when the last bag was set down Draco let out a deep breath and looked around.

"This place never changes," he said with an air of regret. "Let's see if we can't have a spot of lunch before we take the grand tour."

They left their bags and proceeded into the kitchen. The kitchen itself was almost as big as their house in Ireland. There was a large fire pit, a brick oven grill, and what looked to be a refrigerator up against the far side of wall. A large array of copper pots and utensils hung deliberately from the ceiling. Olivia and Draco had mince meat pies and pumpkin juice on top of the marble counter in the middle of the room. Boscos had brought in a couple of stools for them to sit on and even joined them for a bite. Lunch was quite hurried and Olivia noticed that the men were eager to talk but kept the conversation light for her sake. Finally, after Olivia had taken her last bite of pie the dishes were cleared, Draco spoke to Boscos.

"If you don't mind, I would like to take my daughter on a quick tour of the manor and show her to her room. You and I can talk while she unpacks her things." Looking over at Olivia he spoke next, "Let's start with the downstairs."

Through a couple of wooden screen doors the kitchen connected to the main dining hall. The hall ran the entire length of the house. There were two crystal chandaliers lined with candles and a long table that Olivia was sure could seat every student in her year. To the far left of the dining hall was the informal dining room. It was a smaller room with a circular oak table and high backed chairs. There were a number of lit torches secured to the wall. The rest of the downstairs included a two-story library, a formal waiting room and parlor, an informal waiting room, a large den with a long fireplace and large family portraits, and a few small spare bedrooms.

The upstairs of the mannor was not as easily laid out. At the top of the main staircases were two large hallways that crossed from the front of the house to the back. The right wing of the house contained most of the bedrooms including the second master bedroom and bathroom which now belonged to Olivia. The other side of the house contained the manor's master chamber, which was made up of an enourmous bedroom, an almost equally large bathroom, a sitting room, and a library. Draco pointed out some of the other rooms as they passed and on occasion he even opened the door so they could peek in. There were however, a few doors that remained closed and he often did not offer an explination as to what was behind them. He explained that the house also had a third floor, which was alot smaller then the rest of the mannor, and whose use was a bit more private, a basement, and a sub-basement. When at last Draco had shown his daughter all that he wanted to, he led the way back to her bedroom.

"Take a look around, i'll go downstairs and get your bags," he told her as he walked out of the room closing the door behind him.

The first thing that Olivia noticed about her room, and about the rest of the house, was how dark it was, There were plenty of windows but they were all so heavily draped that very little light, if any, came through. The second thing she noticed was that her entire house in Ireland could have easily fit into the room with space to spare. There was a large canopy bed with wooden steps that led up to the top of the mattres. At the foot of the bed there was a bench that doubled as a storage chest, she could see the hinges hidden under it's pillows. Directly in front of the bed was a large fireplace with a potrait of a garden above the mantel. To the right and towards the back of the room there was a small library space with high built in bookshelves. an armchair, and a large writing desk. There were also plenty of windows. The furthest one, she saw, led to a large balcony. Olivia approached the largest of the windows which it had a built in sitting bench at its base, and pulled open the wooden shutters. The sunlight poured into the dark room brightening it up a little. Beyond the window was a very well kept garden with plenty of beautiful roses. Olivia was sure that once the windows were opened the room would be filled with their sweet aroma. Standing up, she looked about the room deciding that she could be fairly comfortable staying there for the while that they were in Willow's Creak, although her room could definately use a woman's touch.

The door to her room opened and her father stepped in with her bags. "Boscos and I are going to have a talk," he said. "Why don't you unpack and get a little more aquainted with the room. we'll take a walk around the grounds when I get back."

"Okay," she answered. There was something that she had been dying to ask him and she couldn't surpress it any longer, "Daddy, how long are we planning to stay here?"

"We'll talk about that on our walk Oli, i'll be back in a moment."

She didn't like the way he looked at her when he answered. She heard something hidden between his words. Taking it as a sign, she supposed their stay would be longer than she had anticipated.

The unpacking of her things went fairly quickly since she hadn't brought to much with her. She found her closet behind two screen door. It was a walk in and aside from a couple of hanging robes in the corner, it was completely empty. When she hung her clothes she found that only a small portion of it had been filled. Thinking that no one could ever posses enough clothes to fill the closet she closed the doors and looked around for the bathroom. Aside from the doors to the closet and the one leading to the hall, Olivia could not see any others. She walked around the room looking for some sort of door handle when she noticed a portrait of a waterfall. The picture was mostly still except for the movemant of the fall. Unable to resist the urge, she reached out and touched the picture. At first, all she felt was canvas but when she reached the waterfall where she instantly felt the sensation of cool running water. She moved her hand in a bit futher and then felt something hard. Surprised Olivia pulled on it and stepped into a room. She had found the bathroom.

A while later, she had arranged all her toiletries in the enormous bathroom and had even comtemplated taking a bath in the miniature pool she assumed was the tub, when her father called out. "Oli, are you about ready for our walk?" She appeared from the bathroom and he asked her, "How do you like the room?"

"It's beautiful daddy, a bit dark though."

"You can change it if you'd like. Come on let's go." He led her out of the room.

They climbed down a small staircase that led to the parlor. The large curtains were open and outside Olivia could see that aside from a large house, they were sitting on a massive piece of land. They walked out onto the back porch and down stone steps that led into the garden and headed for the trees beyond. There was a small dirt path that dissapeared through the trees which they imediately followed. Although it was getting late in the afternoon the sun was still shining bright and Olivia found the cool shade of the trees refreshing. They walked slowly her father leading the way.

"I want to apologize again Oli, for springing this news on you so suddenly. I know you must be angry with me, you have every right to be," He paused here as the path rose a little, they were both breathing heavily.

"I don't think i'm angry anymore daddy, I was just a little disappointed that you lied to me. I never expected you would be capable of doing something like that. I trust you so much, it just hurt that's all." She turned towards and noticed that his face looked a little hurt. 'That's new', she thought he is never that easy to read.

"I am going to try to shed some light on what I did. Maybe when you learn the reasons why I felt I had to do it, you will forgive," he added. Olivia nodded in agreement even though she had already forgiven him. He was her father after all, yet she couldn't deny wanting to hear his explanation. They continued walking and Olivia knew that their talk was far from over. They came across a small brook where there was a patch of grass underneath an old oak tree. It was here where they finally stopped. Draco sat down and Olivia followed.

"I can't pretend that I had a good childhood Oli. My life at the manor was so chaotic. Full of misery and despair that no child should ever have to feel. Don't worry," he quickly added noting her expression. "It's just that, well you see... I was constantly trying to impress my father but it seemed that no matter how hard I tried, I was never good enough. Your grandfather was a difficult person to love and because of his stubborness, I was driven into a world that may not have been the healthiest alternative for me. I felt frustrated and alone and I suppose you can say that I behaved recklessly in the hopes that he would finally begin to really look at me as a father."

"What kind of world were you driven to," Olivia asked noticing at once how vague her father was being. He was keeping something.

"Let's just say that I did things that I am not proud of."

"And grandma...was she...?" she asked. Her father's eyes grew tired and sad.

"Your grandmother did everything she could for me. I suppose she loved me in her own way, I mean she did leave me everything in her will, didn't she?" He said this as if he was trying to convince himself of it as well. "But her love only went so far, it was father who truly ran the house, and when your grandfather set out on me there was nothing she could do but stand back and watch. Sometimes I think that the reason I kept you from them was because I didn't want you to be a part of that life."

She couldn't picture living with such people, having grown up in such a happy place. But Olivia supposed that not all families were perfect."You were a teenager," she told him. "Lashing out at his father for attention, it happens. If you were a difficult child maybe grandfather's strictness was a result of it. Loads of people go through that I don't see why you are so upset about what you did as a kid."

Draco didn't respond he merely looked at the darkening sky, thinking."It's just like you Oli, always trying to find the good in a situation or in a person." When he finally looked back at Olivia his eyes seemed a little warmer. 'Maybe he's finally starting to come to terms with his past', she thought. "I am never going to understand how I came to deserve such a wonderful person for a daughter."

"You're a wonderful person daddy, you deserve good things." She smiled at her comment. He got up and brushed himself off afterwards reaching out for her hand and pulling her up.

They began walking down the path when Draco called out, "You think you can find your way back home," he asked. Olivia looked back at him a little puzzled and than realized what he had just asked her.

"I'm sure I can," she said knowing then that they would be living at the manor, he had called it 'home'.