The New Boy

Disclaimer: I don't own The HP world.

'Master Malfoy, there's visitors to see you,' says Dopey. His name is Dopey because his eyes look sleepy and tired as if he's been doped. He's the oldest house elf we have.

'Show them in,' says Father. Dopey disappears and emerges with a tall black man and a boy who's about Draco's age. 'Mr. Zabini and Mr. Zabini,' says Dopey with a bow.

The boy is staring at me. I steal a glance at him, and he looks away. He is tall, with high cheekbones and long, slanting eyes.

'Hey Blaise,' says Draco, entering the room. 'You've already met Father and Mother. This is my sister, Ebony, you may call her Ebbie.'

'Hello Ebony, I'm Blaise,' says the tall black boy, holding out his hand towards me.

I turn away. Draco whispers something to him. 'Look at what Blaise got you, Ebbie,' he says to me.

The boy called Blaise holds out a blue something made of cloth. 'It's a Communication Hat. You put it on, and it reads your mind. If you want to say anything, it says so for you. See, I'll put it on.'

Draco puts on the hat. 'Try it, Ebbie,' the hat says in Draco's voice. Draco takes it off and puts it on my head.

A second later the blue hat says, 'It covers my ears, take it off.'

Draco takes off the hat and says to me, 'Here, keep it. Put it on, if you want to talk.'

Draco leaves with his friend to give him a tour of the manor. Father is talking to Mr. Zabini.

I go to the library and take off a storybook from the shelf. I sit down and begin reading. I like the library. Hardly anyone ever comes in here. I'm glad I can sit in here alone. Whenever there are people in the room, I am compelled to stare at a patch of the floor in front of me.

I can look out of the window and see the lawns. There is a big wild cherry tree planted just outside. Once when I was eight, I had climbed out of the window, and onto the tall branches of the cherry tree. Draco had brought me down on his broomstick. Father had scolded me for it.

I hear footsteps. 'And this is the library,' says Draco, 'Oh Ebbie, you're here. You don't mind if we sit here for sometime, do you?'

I don't answer. I never do. Draco and the boy sit down and talk about school. I take out a piece of paper and start drawing the scene out of the window. A blue sky. White clouds. A green sun.

'Draw a yellow sun,' says the boy. I feel like telling him that I know my colours. But my lips don't form the words. The sun is not yellow, it's green. The boy is lying. Perhaps he is jealous of my smooth cheeks.

'Draco! Come here a minute,' comes Mother's voice. Draco leaves. I wish he wouldn't leave me alone with this strange boy.

The boy gets up to look at the shelves. I don't like it when people are walking behind me, so I get up and also walk among the shelves. But I walk in the other direction, not in the one the boy went. I like picking up the books, opening them and smelling them. Father once said that some of these books have been here since before our great grandfathers. But some look even older.

I close my eyes and run my fingers along the stacked books, feeling the texture of the volumes. My fingers touch something soft. The boy is standing before me. His fingers are touching mine. He withdraws his hand quickly. I reach out and touch his cheeks. I want to know if they are soft like mine.

I look at his hands. They are darker than mine. I reach out and interlock my fingers with his. I hold them up in the sunlight. Our hands look beautiful together.

'Hey!' says Draco from behind.

'Yeah?' says the boy, releasing his hand from my grip at once.

'Mother is asking us to come down for tea,' says Draco, 'you too, Ebbie.' This was unusual. Mother did not like me to have tea with everyone, especially when there were visitors. I followed Draco and the boy downstairs.

Dopey serves everyone tea. I peer into my cup of milkless tea to see whether I can see the sugar crystals at the bottom. I put my cup down on the coffee table, and push it away. The boy looks at me.

'What is it now?' says Father. I feel my face becoming hot.

'Tipsy, get your mistress some more tea, and mix the sugar properly,' says Draco. He always knows what I want.

Tipsy gets me tea in a fresh cup. The sugar has been dissolved completely. I look at the crack in my cup, meandering into my tea. I make sure my lips don't touch the crack before taking a sip.

Draco is talking with the new boy about Quidditch. Father is reading the Daily Prophet. Mother is reading a magazine.

At night, while I am getting ready for bed, Draco after showing Blaise his room, comes to me and says quietly, 'Ebbie, do you like Blaise?'

I don't answer. He takes up the blue hat the boy got me and puts it on my head. Then he repeats his question.

'He has beautiful hands,' the hat says.

Draco smiles and says, 'Let's go to sleep.'

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