Chapter Five: Silver and Cold
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Did he have the plague or something? Of course Draco knew why people avoided him. He was "evil". Yet it was quite painstaking to head towards one side of a classroom then suddenly notice that almost everyone around you was gone. Fortunately though, things went quite smoothly his first few weeks after the feast. At least Potter and his merry band of morons didn't show up again - save for Ginny Weasley.
Eleven pairs of uneasy eyes stared at him from various seats as he quickly dashed into the N.E.W.T Charms class. So much for sitting with fellow Slytherins. Pansy wasn't in this class and Blaise's table was already full. The classes were small this year; nearly half of the Hogwarts populace had left school. Sighing, he took a seat in the back at the empty table. The table was rickety and unsteady, placed in the darkest corner of the room. The smell of the room made the pale nose on his face scrunch in disgust. It was a sickeningly sweet fruit-like smell that made him want to vomit. As he set his books down, Draco noticed the amount of scribbling and scratching from quills on the surface of the desks were far more prominent on his desk than those of the other desks. He smirked and set his books over a haphazard heart carved into the oak desk reading: "Eva & Draco." Wondering who this Eva was, he looked around the room. Not a seventh year; perhaps she was a silly third year.
They're so hormonal they're attracted to anything with a male reproduction system.
Something maroon caught his eye - there, down at the corner of the desk. Leaning down to avoid being seen by Professor Flitwick, though he doubted he could see - the Professor was so short, he wrenched the book from the wood in one hard jerk. Upon closer inspection he noted it was of a deep blood colour with very intricate designs of silver and green, probably in a Celtic fashion. The dark colours of the Dragonhide cover were vibrant somehow; they stood out in the grey and black contours of the dimly lit and dismal classroom. The borders of such book were covered in silver interlacing knot-like figures. For a moment the name of the pattern escaped him.
An eternity knot. I remember these.
When he was younger his mother had given him a serpent ring; the scales of the silver serpent were engraved with such knot-like patterns and the eye of the serpent was an emerald. She'd said that the pattern represented the crossings of people's lives, and how his actions would affect every person he'd ever met. If only he'd heeded her advice. He still wore that ring. Glancing over at it he shook his head before going back to his new discovery, pretending to be looking up a charm for Professor Flitwick. The title read: Mythology and Legends of Muggles. Draco cringed slightly at the mention of Muggles. Filthy trash. However he opened the book to a random page anyway.
"I see a woman, the fairest and most beautiful of all the daughters of Ulster. Her hair is long and soft, the most lovely bronzed colour with large dark eyes that sparkled. She has suffered much heartache in her life. She is a sad beauty, clinging to God but falling fast. Her name is Deirdre - Deirdre of the Sorrows. She will bring sorrow and pain to all the heroes of Ulster."
A girl-child was born to Siobha on the night of a full moon. Her proud father, Feidhlim, cradled her gently in his arms and named her Deirdre. He took her to the druids and asked them to foretell his infant's future.
The druids looked towards the stars and glanced sadly at the newborn. "What do you see?" Feidhlim asked the druids anxiously. They answered, "This child will cause great trouble. She will grow up to be the most beautiful woman in Ulster, but she will cause the death of many of our men…"
"Hello?"
Then Malfoy looked up with a start. "Merlin!" he exclaimed, quickly catching himself mid sentence and changing his expression to that of a sneer. "What are you bloody doing sneaking up on me like that!"
Her description matched that of the book exactly. Well… she wasn't I beautiful /I in his opinion. She wasn't bad looking though, he couldn't deny that. The frightening fact was that she had the same name- he'd remembered it from the sorting- and looks. Upon closer examination - ignoring her strange looks - he noted the contours of her face were soft and smooth and wore a slightly pained expression.
I Sad beauty, /I he thought instantly, then shaking his head in disgust that he had let the thought come to mind.
"So, are you going to let me sit? I do want at least an A on this assignment…" she drawled simply, curiously arching an eyebrow at him.
"I suppose so," he mumbled, quickly moving to shove the book he had just found into his schoolbag. He didn't think she saw it, good. Though why anyone would settle for an "Acceptable" on a simple assignment was beyond him.
As she sat down, stretching out in a rather feline way he noticed something silver dangling from her neck by a chain. A tiny silver raven.
"What's that?" Draco asked rudely, not bothering to be polite about it.
"A necklace from my mother," she answered in a monotone voice, taking out the needed supplies for the Charms assignment. He failed to notice the chattering of students in the room, the motions of the group work and the Professor hobbling about on his stubby legs to check the progress of the pairs.
"Give it here for a bit."
"Excuse me? A "please" would be nice," she responded, looking rather unimpressed as she jotted down notes on her parchment.
"Fine. May I please see the necklace?" Draco scowled. She smiled at him now, reaching behind her neck to unclasp the silver.
Handing him the necklace, Deirdre's hand brushed his for a moment and she glanced down at the parchment. He couldn't actually explain his reaction that moment, but a fluttery feeling lingered in his abdomen. No, wait - it was just the effects of spoiled pumpkin juice.
"Lets just get to work. Dario, is it?" she questioned.
"Draco."
"Right. Give me a minute to set up the heading…" Draco nodded, turning over the small raven in his hands. It was incredibly lightweight and most likely hollow from the feel of it. Upon examining the object closer he noticed within the contours of the raven's wings and feathered body were an intricate pattern of knot patterns.
The crossing of lives and fate. Destiny is intertwined in knots like these .
The words of Narcissa Malfoy on his eleventh birthday flickered through his conscience for a moment. His ring and Deirdre's necklace were oddly similar and it made him feel slightly uneasy.
"Tell me, what are all these patterns on it for?"
"They're eternity knots. They represent continuous life, the intertwining and connecting of people's lives and fate itself. Why?" she asked, looking up from her work now. Draco shrugged but said nothing.
"I take it this was a gift or something then…" he mumbled, now setting up his own parchment to copy what she had written about dangerous charms and hexes.
"It was in the will."
"The will?"
Deirdre looked up and over at him again. "Are you always so bloody intrusive?" she suddenly snapped, sneering at him. Draco rolled his eyes, looking annoyed.
"Well excuse me for asking. Anyway, Ashcroft is it? Is that even pureblood?" he drawled.
"Yes," she answered rather indignantly.
"Who's your father then?" he responded coolly.
"Marius Ashcroft," she snapped, her writing on the parchment becoming quite sloppy from her not being focused on it.
"I've heard of a Marius Avery, but not an Ashcroft… He was in the Azkaban break-out."
She froze, dropping the quill and turning to give him an icy look. "I don't see what that has to do with me," she said in an even tone, almost secretively. Draco smirked, knowing he had hit a soft spot. He knew of the Avery's, they hung around with Lucius. He also knew how on their guard people were about the breakout. They wouldn't be allowing Hogsmeade trips this year, only once just before the holidays. Shopkeepers in Diagon Alley were setting up guards around their shops - those who decided to stay anyway. You couldn't trust your best friend anymore, and thousands of "wanted" signs were being displayed every time you turned your head. He'd seen the likeness of his father and aunt stare down at him from a few posters already. Times were so untrusting, with people so paranoid. A single slip of the tongue could land you a spot among the Ministry's Most Wanted.
Shaking his head, he turned to start copying her questions down so Flitwick would think they were actually getting something done. He grimaced as he continued to read her answers. Most of them were wrong. In fact, practically all of them were wrong. Rather than say anything however, he smirked and wrote the answers he knew were right. About at the second to last small paragraph, he paused, feeling someone's eyes on him. Draco looked up to find Deirdre staring intently at him. She was studying him by the looks of it, although he couldn't imagine why. Her dark eyes were intent on him, that same very gaze he'd seen in dreams, although luckily they'd stopped since he'd arrive at school.
"Is there a reason you're staring at me?" Draco smirked. Looking guilty, as well as caught, Deirdre's gaze flickered back to her own parchment.
"Your…er…. your not writing the same things as me," she protested weekly. Draco could tell just by the tone of her voice and the sheepish look on her pale face that she was lying. Her eyes were focused on the left corner of her paper anyway. Liars always looked to the left. It didn't take a Legilimens to figure that out.
"Of course I wasn't. Yours are all wrong."
"You don't know that."
"I know enough to know that the Fidelius Charm is not used to spy on someone. Haven't you ever heard of it? You must be pretty thick if you haven't…" Draco drawled.
"I'm not stupid, if that's what you're trying to say…my aunt just didn't think it was important to teach me these kinds of things. She said it wasn't proper for a young lady," Deirdre responded in a defeated tone, a slight blush on her face from being proved wrong.
Draco snorted. "How old's your aunt, hundred-fifty? Needs to start living in the present if you ask me."
"No one asked you," she retorted with a slight edge to her voice, as he watched her start to change her answers to his own.
Watching her scribble the answer to the last question, she rolled the parchment up with a sigh and stood abruptly with a scrape of the wooden chair on stone. Other students in the class had begun to go back to their normal seats as well, and Professor Flitwick was starting to collect the rolls of parchment. The chattering had started up again, all but Draco seemed to be talking animatedly about Merlin knows what. There was pitter-patter of pelting raindrops against the windows of the classroom in a perpetual rhythm that Draco ended up tapping out on his desk with his fingers. Absentmindedly, he was tuning out of Professor Flitwick's closing lecture and was staring out the window. The grounds seemed to match the classroom - grey and dull. Nothing had been anything more than that this year. Hogwarts used to be an awe-inspiring place, full of splendour, wonder, and mystery for him and all the others. It used to be Draco's home away from home. A home away from the cruelty of Lucius, and quiet stony comfort of Narcissa. A bustling castle filled with people always - nothing the disturbing silence that was Malfoy Manor. For all its grandeur, Draco liked Hogwarts better. He was the one tormenting, not the one being tormented. He was in charge of Slytherin here - or at least he used to be. Yet now Hogwarts was hardly such a thing. All it took was the death of Dumbledore and this strong and flawless castle was nothing. Nothing compared to what he previously envisioned it to be.
Draco shivered as he thought of Lucius. Was he still hiding out at the Averys' with Snape and Avery himself now? Was Bellatrix with them again too? Would they talk about him at all? He hoped not - his father was not his most favourite person. Years of criticism and abuse - both verbal and physical - were something Draco hated to be reminded of. He shuddered as he thought of some of the punishments, quickly shoving them out of his mind and then recalling the type of boy he was afterwards; a small, thin and pale boy crying into his mother's arms. She knew how horrible Lucius was, yet Draco could not remember her saying anything to him about it. He supposed it was love. What was this so-called 'love' anyway? Did it look like anything? How could you tell? Was there a moment when everything burst into a brilliant flame about you - or did it happen gradually and slowly? i What was it like? /i
He wondered, for he had never known.
Draco wouldn't call what he felt towards his mother "love", it was more of a strong respect and admiration for a woman who'd taken care of him all his life. It was deep affection and relativity with her - but it wasn't love. He definitely did not love his father, for he only tolerated him out of fear and respect. Lucius Malfoy was an enigma that Draco did not have the time nor strength to figure out. Cold as ice he was, but fiercely loyal and protective - also somewhat careless with others. His son and wife weren't family, they were trophies - trophies to haul around with him as he wished; toys to play with as he saw fitting. He thought he loved Pansy, but in the end she wasn't that pretty nor did she make him "weak at the knees". Wasn't that what they said happened? That even the toughest man was brought to his lover's mercy from such a...a thing?
The Dark Lord wasn't swayed though , thought Draco, and neither was Father.
Maybe he'd solve this mystery on top of all the others someday. Someday everything would be clear to him, and everything would make sense. Just as he stood from his seat to leave as class was dismissed, another thought occurred to him.
He'd never given Deirdre her necklace back.
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Author's note: I'd like to thank Orlaith once more for the beta-work done on this chapter. (amidst many headaches and bouts of boredom I'm sure.) Hope you get good marks on that essay!)
The text from the book Draco reads is taken from All info about Myths and Legends, found at http/myths. on the Celtic patterns & knots taken from various websites I forgot to save. (
Animal representation in the jewellery that both Draco and Deirdre have can be found here http/