Thanks so much to everyone who read, loved and reviewed this fanfic. I know it's been ages since I last wrote a chapter for this story but life happens and all that jazz. I'll try to prioritize the updates on this fanfic. Now let's move on to the story.
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CHAPTER 3
"Mom, can we just go back to our house?" Leo appealed to his mother as he held Jean even more tightly in his hand. Cassie cried louder while Orion hid behind his father. It's quite obvious apart from Scorpius, the rest of the children were somehow frightened to come into the gates of the Malfoy Manor. The place does emerge as having that gothic disturbing vibe.
From the outside, it looks very much like what looks like to be an old abandoned haunted house similar to what you can see in horror movies.
"Children, don't be afraid. It's beautiful inside. It just appears that way to ward of nosy neighbors." Lucius spoke in reassurance as he tried to force a half smile across his face.
"Come on kids, you heard what Grandpa Lucius said. There's nothing to be afraid of. See, there's Scorpius he's already past the gate with your Nana Cissa." Draco voiced out in encouragement.
Slowly, they approached the gate's entrance then stopped after setting one foot past it. Jean thought the place was indeed magical. Right before them was such an amazing sight to behold. It was absolutely spectacular! She's never seen this many beautiful trees in her life, leave swaying as if dancing with the wind. Likewise, there are these exquisitely rare-looking flowers to look at, plenty of places to sit and relax with a good book and what looks like a vast maze-like trail which would be exhilarating to explore. It dawned upon Jean how grand the garden was. If that was only the garden, she couldn't fathom how majestic everything could be inside the Malfoy Manor itself. Her thoughts were disrupted by the children's laughter. Gone were the terrified looks only joyful glee were splashed across their young faces as they ran around the magnificent open landscape. She took a glimpse of Drake. He was immersed in a conversation with Lucius while confidently walking alongside the elder Malfoy like he owned the place. It's only now that she noticed how Drake had that unmistakably autocratic air in him very much similar with that of the elder Malfoys. She assumed that must be how affluent people were brought up.
"Jean…Jean…", Narcissa called out. "Sorry about that Cissa. I was quite taken by the beauty of the gardens. What is it that you said?" "
Can I carry Cassie? She's such a lovely child. I would like to hold her if you don't mind."
"Oh, sure. Be my guest. Just a bit of warning though, she's somewhat heavy. Don't hesitate to give her back to me the instant you feel she's weighing down on you." Hermione advised Narcissa.
"No worries dear. I'm not that old yet. I can still carry the little one and you're doing me a great favor by letting me hold her", Narcissa reminded her.
As Narcissa was happily playing Grandmother to Cassie, Jean scanned the area. Truly, magnificent was an understatement in describing the place. She was glad that her family will be spending time here. It felt like an all expense paid vacation, not that they don't have money to splurge on such luxuries considering their own celebrity status in the world separate from this one. However, she somewhat senses that she's out of place in the midst of all these beautiful surroundings and despite the allure it possesses, she felt this chilling sensation all of a sudden just out of nowhere.
"Are you cold Jean? Maybe we should go inside already." Narcissa's voice took her away from her reverie. Unknown to Jean, Narcissa was observing her. She noticed how Jean was sort of scrutinizing the place and that sudden chill she exhibited was quite apparent to her. Jean may not have been to Malfoy Manor but Hermione did and it was not a pleasant experience for her and Narcissa knew Jean's subconscious is making her aware of this in some form.
"Sure", was Jean's one word response as she called out for the children that she was caught unaware when something or someone just popped out of thin air dressed in somewhat tattered clothing, "Mistress Narcissa, I've gathered and arranged their belongings as you instructed. Awaiting for your new orders"
"Good, Twinky. Instruct the others to serve lunch at the dining hall." With that Twinky disappeared.
"What or who was that?" Jean questioned in bewilderment.
"Oh. That's our house elf Twinky. She's basically my house elf." Narcissa stated.
"Are they some sort of servant?" Jean inquired further.
"Yes dear. She and her family had been with the Malfoy family for centuries. Most of the old families like ours have house elves. Hogwarts also make use of house elves."
"Why are they dressed like that? Don't they have proper clothes?"
"You mean dress robes? Like what Lucius and I wear?"
"No. Nothing like that, more like at least plain shirt and pants for males and blouse and skirt for females. Surely with your wealth you pay them enough so that they can buy clothes for themselves." Jean brought up to Narcissa.
"Merlin! Dressing up a house elf like that or paying them for their services would be a disgrace to them and their family." Narcissa revealed.
Appalled Jean continued to ask Narcissa, "You mean to say, they serve your family for free? How about leaves or vacations? Surely they're allowed to do that."
"Don't be silly, dear. House elves don't require vacations" disclosed Narcissa.
Jean was aghast. She can't fathom the medieval practice that reigns in what they call the Wizarding World. "I hope you don't take this the wrong way but in my world what you practice would mean enslavement and that's inexcusable."
Narcissa was taken aback by the barrage of questions thrown at her by Jean but in true Malfoy conduct she easily regained her composure and was about to respond to Jean when Drake and Lucius approached them.
"Drake, did you know that they employ house elves here without pay or benefits?" Jean immediately brought up the subject to his husband.
"Is that so?" Her husband retorted. "Pardon, my wife; I fear she does see herself as some sort of crusader for the oppressed. She's always been like that. It's irritating really but what can I do? I love her so I put up with it." Drake continued with a smirk.
With that remark, Jean smacked her husband by the shoulders causing him to duck and falter back a bit.
"Hey! What did I do?" Drake pressed on.
"You're being your usual annoying self again. That's what! Seriously, how archaic can the Wizarding World be? These elves that Cissa mentioned are practically slaves. No offense meant, Cissa…Lucius," became Jean's roused disapproval.
"No offense taken Jean," Lucius smoothly reciprocated.
"Oh come on Jean, It's not that I'm taking sides here but you must understand; we don't have a say in this world. It's their world. We don't belong here and I don't see myself living their life. I'm not a wizard and you're not a witch. Can't you see that we're just plain Muggles as what Lucius calls normal people like us, so criticize if you must but be aware that they'll look like they're listening but believe me, it'll fall on deaf ears and you'll just exhaust your efforts without any productive results and I say let's end this useless argument because there's nothing that can be done. So, give it a rest. Again, no offense meant to both of you," he addressed the elder Malfoy's.
As Drake tried to make Jean see reason how crudely a manner it may seem, both the Felton's didn't notice how the elder couple flinched almost at the same instance when Drake mentioned that he and his wife are just mere Muggles.
Narcissa drew back a huge sigh and winced when the word Muggle was thrown in the discussion. Her heart was in pain. Though it was without any malicious intent, it felt like their son renounced not only his heritage of belonging to the illustrious Pureblood Black and Malfoy families but also them as being his parents. Just hearing him say he's just a Muggle broke her heart.
On Lucius' part, he felt more guilt-ridden as ever. He's never really been shameful of being a wizard though he's quite regretful of his past actions until he heard his son say outright that he's just a Muggle and don't belong in the Wizarding World. It wounded his pride listening to his son speak of just being a lowly Muggle and not belonging to this magical world. At the same time it kills him that his once proud "of being born and growing up in a Wizarding family" son now shows not even an inkling of wanting to be part of this society. What was somehow ironic in all of this Lucius thought now that the tables were turned was…that ideology of Pureblood supremacy he forced upon Draco when he was younger is the same bias that his son holds upon them that him being just a mere Muggle doesn't have a place in the Wizarding World. He never thought how very much ingrained that belief was in his son's mind that even though he's living his life now as a Muggle, he still very much has that same old prejudice.
"Fine, I'll give it a rest for now. But I hope you'll see that we have to hold our ground with the injustice that seems to be so evident in this world because I don't want my son and our children to believe that it is right to enslave someone even if that someone has no qualms about it. I apologize for this Lucius…Cissa. I know we're your guests and I'm not trying to be difficult or anything but you must see how different our worlds are surely. Despite the differences we can reach a compromise and I plan on voicing out my opinion because if they don't want to hear it and take the appropriate fair action upon it then I don't see how my son will benefit being schooled in this world when our world or the Muggle World as you call it has the best schools it can offer and my husband and I are well off enough to send him to any school he wishes to be in attendance." Jean asserted with satisfaction.
"We understand dear. We volunteered to have you as our guests and we know that there's bound to be some issues with how things are practiced between our societies and we'll try our best to accommodate to your needs. Now, enough of this talk, lunch should already be served in the dining hall. Let's call over the children shall we?" Narcissa broke off as she led the way inside the manor.
Lunch proceeded without any difficulties and conversation stayed within the safe topics of the weather and the children which both Lucius and Narcissa were very thankful for. Afterwards, the older couple gave everyone the grand tour of the manor. The place was so huge that even the latter half the day wasn't enough to familiarize themselves with the estate. The children were so inquisitive and kept on asking various questions on just about everything they laid their eyes on to the delight of both Lucius and Narcissa. It was during their turn in the family room that housed most of the family portraits that Jean noticed something quite peculiar. Some of these images spoke and most were silenced. Most of those silenced ones belong to the Malfoy family whereas a handful from the Blacks even greeted her with excitement. These moving silenced images seem to be telling the same thing and quite in a fit or so it seems but she couldn't make something of it. She moved closer to decipher what everyone seems to be saying. Then, she figured it out - Mudblood. She turned around and figured Lucius was nearest so he approached him and asked, "What is a Mudblood?"