Disclaimer: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…
Placing:6years after the first war.
Challenge: 'Prompt of the day'. Prompt: (expression) a punch in the eye. 2500 words. Gryffindor, Hogwarts.
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sSsSsSsSs
SILENT ROOM
sSs
Draco Malfoy was lying hidden behind the sofa on the floor, contemplating his life.
Well, alright, he was contemplating the nicely shiny key he had tucked away in the book he was holding – but then, keys like that were a nice part of life in Draco's opinion…
So Draco Malfoy was lying on the stone floor behind the sofa, contemplating his life.
Of course, if his parents or anybody else would have found him there, he would have denied anything of that kind.
But then, if his parents would have found him – Draco would have denied that he was lying comfortably on the stone floor as well… no matter if he was caught in the act or not!
He had a book about quidditch with him and had it open somewhere in the middle – but he hadn't read a sentence since he opened it.
He didn't need to.
The key in between the pages shone nicely in the candle light and that was everything Draco needed…
So shiny!
So instead of actually reading, he had made himself comfortable on the spell-softened stone floor and was staring in the air.
He was lying on his chest, the feet in the air and his eyes looked emptily at the other side of the room at the floor-length, dark-red curtains of the window in the living room, just to skip now and then to the key within the pages.
Shiny!
It had been just yesterday that he had stolen Parkinson's fortune and send the other keys to the other conspirators.
Now he was staring into space or at the key, for once contemplating his own feelings and feeling unsure about them…
"It somehow doesn't make me feel better knowing that that family suffers right now," he thought unhappily. "On the other hand I'd do it again and again if I had the opportunity…"
Maybe, he should ask Longbottom or Potter for the memory of Parkinson and her cronies…
He picked up the key absentmindedly and made it sparkle in the candle light.
So shiny…
"Astoria wouldn't be happy with me if she knew what I did with my life after her death," Draco thought with a frown on his face. "She'd berate me for not moving on, for not letting go…"
Yet, Draco knew that there had been no way for him to let it go as long as he hadn't had his revenge. And even now, after knowing that Potter had done away with his wife's and son's murderers and Draco himself had stolen nearly the whole fortune and any other way of easy income from the family in question – it simply wasn't enough.
Draco's gaze intensified.
It was a wonder that the key didn't shrink into itself, feeling intimidated…
"Why?" Draco contemplated.
He had wanted revenge.
On Parkinson, on the others – on all those that had even just potentially a hand in his family's murder…
He had wanted that revenge for years now!
And he had gotten it – so why wasn't he happy?
What else did he want?
"I don't want Astoria and Scorpius back," he thought with a frown. "Well, no – I'd love to have them back! But not if that means that they'd have to live in this wretched world! I wish I could have them back in a world undivided and safe – but that's not going to happen…"
Draco turned the key again so that it sparkled in the light.
So shiny…
He had long since accepted the fact – as much as he hated it – that his Astoria and Scorpius would never return.
By returning to this point in time it was actually nearly a given that he wouldn't get back the two people he had loved the most in the whole world…
"Even if I'd marry Astoria again," Draco thought darkly. "She wouldn't be my Astoria and Scorpius…"
No, he couldn't think about his son!
Even if everything happened like the first time around, they wouldn't be the same – and that was unacceptable for Draco!
So he wouldn't even try to get them back…
"But then what else is there that I want?" Draco asked himself frowning while turning the key in his hand around again so that it sparkled.
Shiny…
Before he could ponder the thought further, his parents entered the living room.
Draco frowned at them and then hid the key inside the book before flicking a newly invented hiding spell into existence. He had not yet tested it, but it should shield him well enough and at least like that Draco could actually see how much energy it took him to maintain the spell…
Draco's father looked as if he had just returned home – clad in the suit and robes as he was with his cane in his hands – and his mother looked a bit concerned at the pale face his father was sporting.
For a moment Draco wondered if Potter had already managed it into the magical world and was now wreaking havoc out there…
Potter, after all, was known to be creative and his father might have seen his work while visiting one of his associates…
Then his father spoke up and that thought blew out of the window.
"Where's Draco?" His father asked, obviously wanting to shield his seven-year-old son from whatever news he had brought home.
Draco frowned, then his eyes fell onto the lordship ring of his father on said man's left hand and for a second he was distracted.
Oh…! Shiny…
Draco's mother frowned.
"I think he might be in his room," she said. "I haven't seen him for quite some time. You know him – I guess he has found a nice place and is reading whatever quidditch book he made me buy him yesterday."
Lucius nodded at that, then drew his wand and closed and locked the room, before casting a charm to reveal the persons inside the room for good measure.
His lordship ring reflected the light of the candles.
Draco couldn't help himself and followed the sparkling bit of jewellery with his eyes.
Shiny…
He had never known that a lordship ring could be nearly as shiny as a Gringotts' key…
Draco wondered if he just felt like that because it was the Malfoy ring and it had been his in the future. Then he shook off the thought to watch the ring a bit more.
So shiny…
Sadly, thanks to his distraction by shiny things he was actually too late to recognise the human revealing spell his father cast on the room…
Not good!
The charm hit Draco's wandless hiding charm before giving Draco's father the feedback that the room was currently empty except of him and his wife.
Huh?
Seemed like Draco was a genius, after all…
He had watched the charm hitting his shield and hummed silently when he saw it acting as if Draco wasn't there. Then he nodded to himself before pulling out a piece of parchment from inside his book and a quill, marking down the new facts he had learned about the spell he had finished inventing just hours ago.
"Test One, completed," Draco whispered to himself.
He hadn't actually planned to test the spell in action yet, but he definitely didn't mind to fasten up his research on the new spell.
Not that he had planned that – it was just… why did the Malfoy lordship ring have to be so shiny?!
When he had marked down the oddity the spell had with a revealing charm, he packed away the parchment and quill again and returned to seemingly reading, while actually listening to the conversation taking place not too far from him.
"It's odd, Narcissa," Lucius Malfoy said in that moment to his wife, concern in his voice. "There's no trace of the one who took the money, no lead –"
Ah! So it wasn't Potter who had given his father grief…
For a moment, Draco wondered if he should feel guilty, but then he shrugged it off. It wasn't as if his father hadn't given him enough trouble for a life-time in the future.
Things like that were called Karma – weren't they?
Draco frowned in thought and then slowly slid forward so that he could actually see his parents.
Thanks to being distracted, he had actually missed the first exchange of words between his parents, but even without it, he could accurately guess what it was about.
But now, that he thought about it further, he wasn't even sure how his father had gotten involved in that whole thing.
It wasn't as if Draco had done anything to his father directly, after all…
His eyes caught the glint of the lordship ring on his father's finger.
Yet…
It was just Parkinson.
And it had just been a tiny little thing to do – nothing worth to be interested in…
So why did it concern his father?
When he was finally far enough to the side so that he could spy further around the sofa at his parents so that he didn't only see his father's hands gesturing, he saw his mother frowning.
"But if the key was recalled by the goblins into their lost and found – shouldn't there have been a search being conducted to show who had the key last?" She asked with a furrowed eyebrow. "It's always like that if people lose their key, after all, or if – Merlin forbid it! – it was stolen!"
Draco's mother, sadly, was right with that observation. It had been a major set-back to Draco's activities when he started them in the future…
But then, Draco was nothing but creative when it came to shiny things…
Lucius sighed and nodded, confirming her words as well.
"I'm well aware of those facts, Narcissa," he said unhappily. "Yet the goblins' spell doesn't tell us anything. It's as if the thief in question walked into Gringotts, used the key as if he had been given permission to use it and then handed it over to the goblin in question to return to the owner…"
Narcissa's frown deepened while Draco had to suppress a snicker.
How wonderfully accurate his father had described Draco's actions!
"How high is the chance of exactly that happening?" Draco's mother in that moment asked concerned.
"Below zero percent," Lucius replied with a shake of his head. "The whole thing would involve fooling a goblin spell – and as much as I hate those creatures even I have to admit that fooling their spells is next to impossible."
Again, his father's ring sparkled in the candle light.
Shiny!
Draco suppressed his usual reaction to something shiny from where he lay and again forced himself to seemingly return to reading one of his new books about quidditch.
There was a nice, shiny key in there…
Then his father's words hit home and Draco had to suppress an amused snort as well.
Next to impossible – what did his father know!
"Still!" Narcissa said in that moment. "We all know that every key being lost by the owner will be recalled to the goblins either after it being requested or after the thief's first try to use it somewhere else! And if the thief goes to the goblins they're easily able and contracted to check the key for the agreement of the owner!"
How right his mother was!
But then, she hadn't raised an idiot – even if Draco had to admit that it had taken him a long while and a war to actually grow up and use his intellect…
"The goblins," Draco's father sneered in that moment. "Assured that no breach of contract happened. Considering that the aurors would have been automatically alerted if a breach would have been deliberately done by the goblins, I fear we will have to believe those creatures."
Draco suppressed another snicker, not daring to look up from his shiny key.
Draco was not stealing his father's lordship ring tonight!
So instead he wondered how his father would react if he knew that from the goblins' point of view the money had been taken away quite legally?
Draco guessed that if he'd ever try and give his father a heart-attack – this would be the way…
"Then how do you explain the Parkinsons' troubles?" Narcissa asked with a frown. "If the goblins called the key back as Mrs. Parkinson requested, shouldn't they have used a spell on the key to ensure that nobody unauthorized used it?"
"They did," Lucius said with a grimace. "They even repeated it when the Parkinson demanded it. Nothing. There was no unauthorized transaction from the key."
Draco suppressed another snicker and hid his face behind his book.
It was definitely something else to listen to his bewildered parents…
"Did they check for magical traces?" Narcissa asked with a frown.
Lucius inclined his head.
"It's as if the one who stole the key somehow simply added it to the box of Gringotts' ready-to-return keys – a box nobody but the goblins have access to," he said unhappily. "It's the only way that would have washed off the magical trace of the person who stole the key. The box is build to remove the magical traces on keys, after all, to ensure that no harmful spells stay on the keys that could harm the owners."
Narcissa shook her head.
"This sounds unbelievable," she told her husband. "No wizard knows where the box is located and no wizard can actually access it anyway – and if the goblins can insist of having not breached the contract without repercussions, a goblin can't have done it either…"
Lucius sighed and Draco was sure that if his father had been less dignified, he would have pinched the bridge of his nose at that point in the conversation.
For a moment, Draco was tempted to look up – then he remembered the ring and instead stroked his key.
Nice and shiny – and all his own!
"It's baffling," Draco's father said unhappily. "Of course, whoever did it would have been helpful in the last war. We could have drained our enemies dry if we had their abilities!"
Then he shook his head.
"Like it is, it's not good at all for us," he continued unhappily. "Parkinson had actually promised to help us with our next bill in the Wizengamot. He promised to soften some of the discussions somewhat for our side."
Oh, that sounded like a punch in the eye for his father…
Draco actually snickered this time around.
He didn't regret it – at all!
He might have, if it was somebody else, but it was Parkinson so…
No!
No regrets!
Never!
Draco was ripped out of his thoughts when he actually looked up and saw his mother raising an inquiring eyebrow.
Then his eyes landed on his father's ring.
Shiny!
Immediately he looked back at his key.
Nice and shiny and all his own!
No ring needed!
"So your plans are on ice now?" Draco's mother asked, to Draco's surprise sounding oddly neutral on the matter.
His father shook his head slowly.
"We'll still be able to get it through, I think," he said, looking a bit unhappy while saying so. "It would have just eased a few people to our sides without straining the coffers of us others that much."
So his father and Parkinson had been about to pass a bill and needed some money to grease some wheels – wheels that Lucius or others would have to grease now that Parkinson was out of the calculation.
For a moment, Draco thought unhappily about the fact that he might have aided muggleborns by taking the money off of Parkinson, considering that the bill they were to endorse most likely had to do with those of non-magical blood.
Then Draco shrugged it off.
While he wasn't that fond of muggleborns and their views, he was even less fond of Parkinson and their ilk.
Child murderers, all of them!
And Parkinson's key had been so shiny!
Nearly as shiny as Draco's own!
He caressed his key, forcing himself not to hold it up to look at it in the candle light. He didn't want his parents to see the sparkle and find him…
Still – he had helped muggleborns!
But then – Parkinson!
"Looks like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place," Draco thought with a mental frown. Then he shrugged off that thought as well.
"Whatever," he thought. "It's not as if I didn't come back here to basically destroy the pureblood movement anyway. If that means to collaborate with muggle-lovers, so be it."
Draco grimaced at that thought.
He didn't want to collaborate with someone like the Weasleys!
"Loveg… Scamander wouldn't force me to do something like that," he reasoned. "And Longbottom is reasonable enough to know that he can't expect me to make nice with the Weasleys!"
Draco shuddered.
Then he suppressed a groan when mentally reminded himself that Potter was part of their little excursion as well…
No Weasleys, please!
Draco would commit murder if he had to work with them.
Then he shook his head.
This was Parkinson and their ilk they were going against…
"Maybe, the Weasleys aren't the worst option," Draco thought pouting.
Because, as much as he didn't like the Weasleys, he would never sit by and watch while child murderers were out and about, ready to kill another innocent child or two – exactly like they had done to Scorpius…
Draco shied away from that thought, still not ready to deal with it. His family's death was something he would never forget and never forgive – even if that meant to hate himself as well…
His eyes landed on his key.
Shiny!
And so nicely distracting…
"It's not ideal," Lucius said in that moment with a slight head-shake. "But we will make do."
Narcissa frowned at him.
"Lucius," she said slowly. "Maybe you shouldn't –"
Draco's father stopped her from voicing her opinion with a soft hand on her shoulder.
The lordship ring sparkled and drew Draco's attention from his key.
The ring was shiny as well…
So shiny!
Draco shook his head and looked back down at his book.
Not good!
Not good at all!
This was his father's ring!
Lucius would kill him if he touched it – nevertheless took it!
But it was shiny!
So shiny!
"Don't worry about it too much, darling," Lucius said in that moment. "I'll be careful. I promise."
And while Draco's mother pressed her lips together quite unhappily, his father dismantled the wards surrounding the room and then strode towards the door.
"I'll be in my study until dinner," he said. "I have to talk it through with the others and change plans."
With that he swept out of the room, leaving a sighing Narcissa behind.
Draco suppressed the urge to follow his father and take away something shiny from the older man.
"Sometimes," Draco's mother mumbled to herself. "I've actually the feeling that he spends more of his time on those he looks down upon than on his family."
Draco's mother shook her head. "I'm not actually convinced that bothering to ensure I'm superior is worth the time he has to use to ensure it."
That at least distracted Draco, making him wonder, when his mother had gotten that wise…
With that, Narcissa left and Draco crawled out behind the sofa.
His father truly had a nice lordship ring!
But his father would kill him if he took it…
"Guess I'll have to talk to Potter," he mused. "Maybe I can ensure that at least mother is spared his insanity…"
He definitely had no other reason to write Potter!
With that, he left the room to go to his own and write a letter.
The moment he opened the door to his room, a foreign owl flew through his window.
Draco looked at it surprised before relieving it of its burden.
It was a surprisingly thick letter.
He opened it.
A second later his left eyebrow nearly touched his hairline.
"Huh," he said. "Guess I have another thing or two to do before writing to Potter…"
At least it would distract him from the shiny things of his father – for a while, at least…
He frowned at the letter.
"Now let's think about it," he pondered. "Where does Father hide that insane house-elf away again?"
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Just a little look at the new normality in the Malfoy household…
I hope you liked it.
'Till next time
Ebenbild