This chapter is a bit longer than the previous ones. I feel good about it and I hope that you will like it too. Don't be too harsh on Alice, she's only doing what she think is right. ;)

RonHermione7: Oh, you meant that kind of house. Well, we'll just have to wait and see ;) It's not too long before they'll start at Hogwarts now.

Chapter 6

Alice opened the door and hurried inside. It had started raining when they were in the backyard and it'd just gushed down on them.

"It looks as we've taken a bath", Alice said laughing, "how long were we out there? A minute?" Draco closed the door behind him.

"I'd say thirty seconds", he said and shook some of the water of.

"Stop it I'm getting wet", she said and held her hand up to protect her from the water coming of his body.

"Who are you kidding? You already are wet!"

"Alice." Alice turned around and looked at Narcissa. She looked almost too serious and the deep frown didn't suit her otherwise beautiful face. "Your father is waiting for you in the sitting room", she said and turned to walk back upstairs. She turned back to where Draco stood, but he'd disappeared. With a slight nudge with her shoulders she went upstairs and to the sitting room. The big house felt cold and she wished she'd changed her clothes before seeing her father. But on the other hand she also knew he didn't like to be kept waiting. Alice entered the sitting room to find her father standing by the window to her left. She walked across the room and stood beside him.

"I couldn't help but notice that you seem to get very well along with young Draco", Voldemort said, without looking at Alice.

"Well yes", she confessed. "It's hard to not keep company when there's practically no one else around." Truthfully, she didn't owe the older man an explanation, but she still felt as she had to give one.

"I do not wish that you take future interest in the boy", her father said. "His blood is not fine enough for you." Alice didn't quite understand what he meant; Draco was pureblood, from a wealthy family and with exceptional social contacts. Could it possibly get better?

"We are nothing more than friends", she said, finishing the topic of. Voldemort turned around and faced his daughter, if he'd still looked like he did forty years ago, only a blind man wouldn't see that they were family. He felt proud that his gens had suppressed her mother's; it only showed he was the stronger one.

"Now my child, tell me, have you ever heard of the three most powerful spells?" He asked. Alice wasn't sure which spells he referred to and shook her head.

"Have you ever heard about the Imperius Curse?" She shook her head again. "Then I will show you." A small elf entered the room. She had a bit rosy cheeks, big, almost glowing eyes and wore nothing but a piece of a bedcover tied around her body. Lord Voldemort pointed his wand in the elf's direction and spoke;

"Imperio." The elf looked up on her new master, bowed so that the tip of her nose touched the floor. "You see, Alice, this curse allows me to have absolute control over another living being… What do you want her to do?" Alice wasn't sure what she wanted.

"Make her tap-dance?" Voldemort gave the elf a meaningful look and the elf started tap-dancing.

"I want you to try it", he said, putting his wand back inside of his robe. Alice took out her wand and pointed it at the elf. She wasn't going to disappoint her father. "Feel it, feel the need to control this creature all the way from your stomach to your hand and trough your wand."

"Imperio", she said and the elf suddenly stopped dancing, turning her gaze against Alice instead before bowing down as she'd done only moments ago toward Lord Voldemort.

"Well done", he said with a smile, clapping his hands.

"Brilliant", Alice said, chocked over her success. "What's next?"

"The Cruciatus Curse", he said. "The curse is used on enemies to inflict pain." He took out his wand once again and pointed it on the blank starring elf. "Crucio!" The elf fell down on the floor; she strutted and screamed out in pain. "You have to mean them harm for it to work. Feel it, they deserve it", Voldemort said, exhilarated by the screaming elf. He broke the spell and the elf stopped. Alice understood it was now her turn. She raised her wand once more and pointed it on the elf.

"Crucio", she said. The elf twitched, but nothing more happened.

"Remember, the elf deserves it", he whispered in her ear. Determined to not disappoint her father, she pointed her wand on the elf again and only whispered the words out. The elf fell down to the floor again, screaming. Of the surprise, Alice broke the spell.

"Well done!" Voldemort said again in delight. "Remember those curses, remember the feeling of them." Alice nodded; she wasn't sure what to think. If felt wrong, all of it, but in the same time… It was her father that told her this and he only has her best inters in mind, right?

"And now to the last, the killing curse", Voldemort said. He raised his wand. "Avada Kedavra!" A green flash appeared and the elf fell down, with her eyes still open. "Do not fear death", Voldemort said and put a hand on Alice's shoulder. "Not for those whom deserve it." She didn't respond. "Friday, I'll join you for dinner", he said and left the room. Alice walked over to the elf. Had she really deserved to die? What could an elf possibly do to a wizard that made her deserve death?

"Alice?" Alice turned and faced her mother. "Have you done this?" Anna asked, she stepped in to the room and looked at her daughter in horror.

"No", Alice said. "Father did."

"Why?" Alice, who still was mad at her mother didn't respond. What did Anna have to do with Alice and her father's business anyway?

"Leave me", Alice said. Anna gave her one last, worried look before leaving the room. Alice sat down on the floor beside the elf and put her hands on the elf's tiny chest. She yelped out in pain, but it didn't last long. The elf blinked, took several deep breaths and then sat up.

"What is your name?" Alice asked. The elf looked at her with wide eyes.

"Beth, Miss", the elf said.

"Beth, I want you to leave, you're free. Go somewhere you'll be safe and stay there. Never come back to this place, do you understand?" The elf nodded, stood up and looked at Alice with humble eyes. "Do you have a place to go?"

"I'll go to Hogwarts, miss, where I was born. Albus Dumbledore will protect me", Beth said. "Thank you miss", she said before disappearing with a bam.

Draco stood by the living room window, looking out on their latest houseguest. She sat in the grass by herself, looking rather bored. He decided to join her, being bored himself it sounded like the most amusing thing to do. There was something about her that he couldn't place a finger on. Except the fact that she was stunningly beautiful and absolutely adorable, there was something to her that stirred in Draco's mind.

"Can I join you?" She looked up on him with a smile and padded gently in the grass beside her.

"Beautiful day, isn't it?" He just nodded. "Where is your mother by the way? I haven't seen her since breakfast."

"She's shopping in Diagon alley …"

"Right," she said and gave him a soft smile. She lifted her hand and a few small rocks formed a man under her hand, she lifted her fingers, like she pulled invisible strings to make the little stone puppet move.

"How do you do that?" It wasn't the first time Draco had seen her do it.

"You just concentrate on the rocks and lift them up", she explained, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. He did as she said, focused on a group of rocks and tried to make them move. As he'd expected, nothing happened.

"Feel them in your fingers", she said with a smile. "Like this." She placed her hand upon his. He could feel the red colour spread in his face, not because he'd failed the first time, but because she'd touched him.

"Can you feel it?"

"Yes", he answered as fast as he could so she wouldn't look up on him and see his embarrassment. He lost focus and the stone puppet fell down to become the little pile it used to be. He sighed and lied down on his back, looking up on the blue sky.

"Are you alright?" He asked. "You seemed a bit shaken from yesterday."

"It's just much to take in at once", she said with a shrug of her shoulders. She looked over at the boy lying next to her. He didn't wear black clothes today, as he usually did. He had a pair of blue denim jeans and a white t-shirt under a navy blue vest.

"Do you like reading the clouds?" She'd tilted her head back and looked up in the sky as well.

"I don't think I've ever tried", he said honestly.

"I did when I was younger. Tried to read if I'd ever meet dad. They always said no, so I made them change to a yes", she said, as if it was nothing abnormal with it at all. "I can make it rain if I want to." With that said, the blue sky changed and cloud filled every corner with it before it started to rain. Not cold, fall rain. More like a warm, late spring rain.

"Can you hear it?" He didn't say anything, not sure what he was supposed to hear. "The music?" He listened carefully, he did. He did hear the music. It was as if every raindrop had its own tone that was released when it hit the ground. He stood up and reached out to her. She took his hand and let him pull her on her feet before he lead her in to a calm dance.

"Alice", she looked him in the eyes, "you look absolutely beautiful." They stopped dancing, and just enjoyed the tight embrace they were in. She stood on her toes and he bent down to meet her. Her lips softly touched his ear.

"Draco", she said, "so du you." The turned his head to look at her. They took a step apart. "Thank you", she said.

"For what?" She just smiled at him before leaving him, standing as a question mark.