Word count: 2037
Year One: Calm Before The Storm
Chapter 4
It had been two weeks since Iris had arrived at the Malfoys'. She had grown comfortable. Every other day or so, their friends would come over to play. It was amazing for her. A surreal experience, one she needed.
The other days, Iris and Draco were left on their own. Today was one of those days, though Draco seemed oddly jumpy and excited for some reason. Iris didn't really care. She just wanted to play!
Meanwhile, two Malfoys were having a discussion..
"Lucius, we need to tell her," Narcissa said firmly.
"We cannot adopt her, Cissa! She is the bane of our Lord! Imagine his words if he reappears!"
"Lucius. Stop this. He will not return." Narcissa didn't budge. "And you cannot say you haven't grown to love her like your own.."
"Yes, but dear..she won't want to be with us.." Lucius was trying to reason with her..his heart wasn't in it though, he wanted to adopt Iris just as much as Narcissa.
"We need to fix our reputation, Lucius! Instead of our enemies cowering at the name Malfoy, they think Death Eater - imagine if the Girl-Who-Lived stayed with us!" Narcissa shouted. "Honestly!"
"But-" Lucius was still pensive..
"Stop arguing, Lucius. It's pointless. You know I'm right!" Narcissa was not giving in. "Stop dithering!"
"And if she objects to it?" He raised an eyebrow.
Narcissa laughed lightly. "She won't."
"Father and Mother want you," Draco said to her, panting. He had ran downstairs for a snack and then came back up with a message from his parents. "O-Okay.." Iris was a little scared. Mr Malfoy was really intimidating.. "Will you come too?"
"Course! You're my bestest friend in the whole world, even after Blaise!"
"And you're my bestest friend too." Iris said sincerely. She gave him a hug, but inside she was terrified. What if they made her leave? She didn't want to. She wanted to stay here! Then she remembered what Draco said about Slytherins: Cunning, ambitious..so she'd use her cunning to make sure she stayed!
..
Iris sat next to Draco on the chairs.
"Iris, before anything else, we need to tell you something." Narcissa's voice was gentle.
"Please don't make me go back! Please don't make me leave!" All thoughts of cunning were thrown out the window as Iris cried. "I-I don't w-wanna leave.."
"Iris, it's okay," Narcissa helped her up and looked her in the eye. "We aren't sending you away," she promised.
"Okay." Iris shivered.
"You know the man who killed your parents.." Lucius started.
"The Dark Lord." Iris remembered. "The one whose name is a badword."
Lucius laughed dryly. "Yes, him." Then his face grew serious. "We don't want to upset you, Iris, but.."
Iris was about to say, But what?; her thoughts were whirling around and a sinking feeling was developing in her stomach.
Draco finished the sentence.
"Mother and Father used to work for him."
Mother and Father used to work for him.
Mother and Father used to work for him.
Mother and Father used to work for him.
Mother and Father used to work for him.
No.
It wasn't true.
No.
The Malfoys were kind..they were nice..and good..why..how could they work for someone who killed her- her parents?
Everything she thought she knew about them..
Which was really nothing, how could she be so gullible as to assume every idiot that came along was the next Merlin?
She couldn't speak.
Please..let it not be true..she silently prayed. Please, please, please..
Please..
But it was true.
It was true.
Why would they..how could they..
"NO!" She screamed.
Then she ran. She ran upstairs, upstairs far, far away..she locked the door and collapsed in tears, unsure whether she'd ever come out again.
Narcissa was crying.
Lucius was holding her.
Draco was glaring. "Why..why'd you make her cry?"
He ran upstairs, too. He knocked on the door. "Iris?"
"What do you want.." A little voice sniffled.
"C'n'I come in?" He asked.
"Say the magic word."
"Uh..I dunno!" Draco didn't know what it was.
"Then, you can't come in." He could feel her glare through the door.
"What about, I'm sorry?"
"Fine, you can come in. But be quiet."
Draco stepped in and sat beside her.
Iris just cried a little as she asked,
"Draco..why would they..."
"Because of blood purity. Mummy and Daddy believed that purebloods are better than mudbloods and half-bloods, see. Grandfather Abraxas met the Dark Lord at school and believed him about blood purity, so they made a group called the Death Eaters, and then my Father was born and he joined too. It's..family.." Draco tried to explain.
"I wouldn't know about family. I've never had one." Iris stared at her feet.
"I'm your family." He told her.
"Really?" She asked.
"Duh! You're my best friend!" He smiled. "You're my family."
You're always my family.
My family.
Narcissa and Lucius had given her food, clothes, a place to live. They had hugged her and kissed her cheeks and made her happy, and most of all..made her feel loved.
Iris refused to believe anyone like that could be bad.
"C'mon. I think I'm ready to hear what they have to say.."
...
Lucius and Narcissa were more than surprised to see Iris and Draco, hand-in-hand, walking down the stairs. As soon as she saw them, a myriad of emotions flitted across her face: sadness, fear, happiness, elatedness, freedom..
Then, she ran straight at them and gave them two big hugs.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she cried. "I'm sorry!"
"Then," Lucius said with the happiest expression he'd wore since Draco's birth, "would you like us to adopt you?"
"What's that mean?" Iris screwed up her face confusedly.
"Iris, adoption is when children don't have parents and a family lets them stay with them, and that child becomes part of the family," Lucius explained, trying not to laugh.
The tears stopped.
"Yes, please!" Iris grinned. She'd have a family..
When they reached Gringotts, all the stories Draco had told her came to life.
Iris saw surly goblins all over, staring at her and whispering. Then she watched as Lucius went to the front desk and said importantly, "I am Lucius Malfoy and would like to perform a blood adoption."
"Of whom?" The goblin asked.
"Iris Potter," he said. The goblin's eyes widened for a second until they popped back into place.
"And this will all be highly confidential, I assume?" He asked.
"Yes, Master Goblin." Lucius bowed.
"Follow me." The goblin waved his hand and a new door appeared. Iris tried not to show her excitement, but it was getting stronger by the second.
He led them into a dark room. The goblin waved his hand, again, and the lights came on. "Ooh.." Iris whispered softly. "Come forward." The goblin commanded.
"That goblin's name is Gornuk," Draco said quietly. "I remember him from my studies."
Iris nodded to him and followed Lucius forward.
There was a table awaiting them in the room. It was dark and serious, with an aura of strength about it. On the table was a bowl. The bowl had red splatters all over it. Splatters of what? Iris hoped it wasn't blood..she steeled herself. If blood was required to get her adopted, Gringotts would have all the blood they needed.
Gornuk flicked his hand upward, and the plate became clean. He handed Lucius a silver dagger. "Cut yourself, humans."
Lucius nodded and sliced his arm with a wince. He dripped his blood into the bowl. Iris was mesmerized by the red droplets spraying across as they fell into the bowl slowly. Lucius took out his wand and healed himself quickly. "You." The goblin pointed at Narcissa.
She nodded and took the dagger. She too cut herself, and Iris was once again mesmerized by the blood.
Draco's turn came. He looked terrified, but he sliced himself and a lone tear came out of his eye. As his blood fell into the bowl, Iris didn't feel so mesmerized anymore. Thankfully, Narcissa healed him quickly, and relief shone on his pale face as a smile came Iris' way.
Her turn. She took the dagger, and without an ounce of hesitation yanked it across her arm. Pain erupted. Ow! Ow! It took all she had not to cry. The blood dripped in and then Narcissa..healed her..Iris wanted to cry with joy. No one had ever taken care of her like that before.
Instead, she stared at the goblin with unblinking eyes. Gornuk looked at Lucius. "This is an option for your spawn to change her name."
Lucius looked at Iris. "Iris, our family - purebloods - have a tradition of naming their children a specific way-"
"Do it," Iris said determinedly. "Do it."
Lucius nodded stoically. "Astra."
Iris smiled. "Astra." She was leaving the Muggles, and her old life, behind.
"Hold the bowl." Lucius commanded. Everyone clasped the bowl.
""I, Lucius Abraxas Malfoy, Head of House Malfoy, do hereby induct Iris Lily Potter, Heiress of House Potter, now Astra Lily, into House Malfoy as a daughter of House Malfoy. Astra Lily Potter, Heiress of House Potter, do you accept?"
Threads of light shot out from Lucius's hand, and connected to Astra, then Draco, then Narcissa.
"I, Astra Lily Potter, Heiress of House Potter, do hereby accept your induction into your house. May our lines be entwined until we vanish into nothingness. So mote it be, so mote it be!" The words flowed out of her easily, like water.
She felt a tugging in her stomach, and then she knew, without a doubt, that she was now a Malfoy. She grinned at Draco as she doubled over, feeling lightheaded.
"Iris...no, Astra...are you okay?" He asked her.
"Yeah..just..tired." Astra assured him.
"Good, cos you're my sister now, and Malfoys don't get sick!" Draco laughed. Astra's vision was blurry. She pulled off her glasses, and suddenly she could see! "Look at yourself." Draco advised her. So she looked at the reflection of her face in the bowl, and was surprised when she saw her long red hair had turned silvery-blond, just like Draco's.
Her eyes were still green, but her features were harder, more sleek, more like that of Draco or Lucius. Her jawbone was still pointed and angled like James Potter's, but she no longer looked like a carbon-copy of her biological mother.
"Whoa.." she breathed. "Impressive, isn't it?" Lucius smiled at her. "Adoption magic is an amazing thing."
"So.." she said awkwardly, "what should I call you?"
"It will take time to get used to, I'm sure. But I'd like you to call me Father." Lucius smiled at her.
"Okay!" Astra was happier than she'd ever been. A family, a family, she had a family!
AN: Yup! Here it is! So I'm sorry I've put basically everything else on hiatus - if you really want me to un-hiate them just PM me, I take every bit of advice I get into consideration - I promise! Anyways, I think I'm going to abandon Diary Of The One And Only Salazar Slytherin, if anyone wants me to not, drop a review or a PM! So anyways, I plan on Dumbfacedore finding out about Astra in chapter six, but how?
Any ideas?
Also, I'm considering making an AU of this story where Astra doesn't meet the Malfoys and goes to Hogwarts and still gets Slytherin - wanna know why? You saw her personality, even at six, in chapter one and two. Vengeful, cruel..she is a true Slytherin. So should I do it? Yeah? No? Check out the poll on my profile, or drop a review, or both! Thank you everyone!
-Phoenix