A/N : Sorry about the wait, folks! Hope you enjoy this chapter!
--
A tawny owl soared over the treetops in the starlit sky, its wings barely grazing the tips of the topmost branches as it flew. Suddenly it went into a dive, gliding into the open window of an old-fashioned manor house and onto a perch that seemed to have been waiting for it.
"Archimedes," a wispy blonde girl said, looking up from her chair by the fire with a mild expression of surprise on her pretty face. The bird ignored her completely and began cleaning its feathers. "What are you doing here?"
The owl hooted twice and held out its left leg, where a scroll was tied with a green silk ribbon.
"Astoria," the girl sighed, rising from her chair as she rolled her eyes. She crossed the room to remove the scroll. Her thin, pale fingers fumbled with the ribbon, almost as if she hadn't the strength to untie the knots. "What does my darling sister want this time?"
As she scanned the note, she drew a sharp intake of breath, and her expression changed to shock and mild disgust. "So it is true," she breathed. "I had wondered…but then…"
She finished reading her letter and dropped into the nearest chair - in front of an ornate mahogany writing desk - and let her head fall into her hands, apparently deep in thought. Suddenly she lifted her head and gazed into the mirror that was situated just in front of the desk. Leaning her cheek upon her hand, she sighed.
"I wonder if I should…but if I didn't help her, she would make quite a fool of herself," she mused aloud to her reflection.
"Certainly, with the state of our family's current affairs…even the mention of being connected with someone from his family could possibly return our status…I must admit that it has been a harsh few years since the end of the war," she continued, pulling a blank piece of parchment to her and tracing her fingers over its surface absently.
"Of course, I would have to do the thinking in this; Astoria is many things, but clever isn't one of them," she added with a wry laugh. "If it hadn't been for Father's influence, she might not have made it through school…But still. If I help her, she could possibly do the thing that would bring us back to our rightful place."
"To marry a Malfoy!" she breathed, gazing into her own reflected eyes in the mirror once more. They glinted in the candlelight. "Still influential and powerful even after the end of the war…still extremely wealthy, as well…"
Here she glanced around at the comfortable room and all the luxuries it offered - roaring fire; deep, rich armchairs; lavish ornaments of silver and gold - and heaved another deep sigh. Apparently the girl was used to more, perhaps a few servants or richer furnishings; whatever it was, she appeared more determined as she reached for a quill and dipped it into a nearby inkwell.
She glanced again at the letter now lying on the table, and her expression grew troubled once more.
"And as for him…I can't believe that he would lower himself to that level! I mean, the filth…how his parents can allow him to continue with this is beyond reason. I shouldn't wonder if she slipped him a potion, or perhaps Confounded him…" she trailed off. "I must save him from himself, and save our family's name in the process," she continued, beginning to pen a reply to her sister.
She paused. "But how?"
Suddenly, her face lit up with a glow that served to make her pretty face seem slightly distorted, almost inhuman. Her frame, which had been hunched over the desk and seemed rather weak and fragile, suddenly seemed filled with a power that didn't belong to her. Her back straightened, and her eyes met those of her mirror self.
"That's it," she breathed, hardly daring to speak above a whisper, hardly daring, it seemed, to believe her incredible luck at formulating such a solution to her problem.
Immediately she re-inked her quill and began to write. When she finished, she rolled the parchment up into a scroll and sealed it with wax from the candle at her elbow. Then she crossed the room to tie her response to the owl's leg.
Archimedes, it seemed, had fallen asleep on his perch. He did not seem particularly pleased to be roused from his slumber, either. He hooted in an annoyed sort of way and nipped at the girl's finger as she began to tie her message to his leg.
"Oh, come off it, you stupid bird," she mumbled, finally succeeding in attaching the scroll. Archimedes gave her one last reproachful look before soaring off into the lightening sky. Dawn was breaking; the inky black sky was slowly turning gray, then lighter and lighter until it touched the horizon, where a thin line of red was slowly forming.
--
"If you're not down here in exactly three seconds, I'm leaving without you!"
"Oh, hold your horses, for goodness sake! We're going to be early as it is, and it's not as if we're having tea with the queen or anything," Hermione huffed, flouncing down the stairs at last. Draco gave her one last irritated glance before grabbing her elbow and turning on the spot, Apparating them from the cozy warmth of his living room and right into the cold autumn air of the Manor's front lawn.
"You're right," Draco replied as if nothing had happened. "We aren't having tea with the queen; we're having tea with my grandmother, which is almost exactly the same thing. Except perhaps that you've got to mind your manners more in this case."
Hermione rolled her eyes and snatched her arm away from Draco in a huff. She never liked it when he Apparated them together, as if she were some child who couldn't do it herself.
"Please, since when do I care what your family thinks of me?" she sniffed, nose in the air.
"You know," Draco said thoughtfully, taking her defiant chin in his hand and turning it this way and that, "you shouldn't stick your pretty little nose up like that. It doesn't become you. Better you leave it to the professionals."
Hermione growled and bit at his hand. Draco laughed.
"There. That's better. Now," he added, offering his arm for her to take, "shall we descend into the pit of snakes together, then?"
Sighing, Hermione took his arm and let him lead her up the front steps of the Manor. Her eyes flitted over the large, foreboding house and she shivered slightly. Even the fact that she had at least one ally (in the form of Narcissa Malfoy, Draco's mother) inside the big house, she couldn't shake the feeling of foreboding she felt as the great oak doors swung open of their own accord and they stepped inside.
"Oh, thank heavens you've arrived, darling!" Hermione almost jumped out of her skin as the thin, high voice echoed - too loud - in the gleaming, quiet entranceway. A very harassed-looking Narcissa took Hermione's cloak in a distracted sort of way. Draco bent down to kiss his mother's cheek, but she barely seemed to notice.
"Your - grandmother," she began, saying the word like it was an expletive, with a slight shudder as she did so, "is waiting for the two of you in the drawing room. I hope you've brought your dragon-skinned gloves, Ducky; you know she needs to be handled with care under normal circumstances, and since you're a bit late - "
"Told you so," Draco muttered under his breath as an aside to Hermione. She barely heard him, her mind was still spinning from the dragon-skinned gloves comment. What in the world?
" - well, you understand, darling," Narcissa continued. Her eyes fell on Hermione at last. She placed a cool hand on Hermione's cheek, the expression on her face suddenly changing to what could only be described as pity. "Hermione, dear, I honestly hate to send you in there alone like this - " Draco snorted loudly from beside her, " - but Mother Malfoy and I don't - exactly - get along. She actually forbade me from the room," she added, now scowling at the door, and looking as if she might storm in there anyway. Only her apparent dislike and - was that - fear? - seemed to be keeping her out of that room.
"In my own house, no less," she muttered as Draco pushed Hermione toward the now-terrifying double doors of the drawing room.
Hermione gulped. What was waiting inside for her?
--
A/N 2 : What do you guys think about chapter previews? Personally, I hate reading them, but I love tacking them on to the end of my chapters and tormenting you. It's great fun. Let me know what you guys think, and I'll decide next time! :D