Chapter 2

One two. One two. One two. I turned over and grabbed my wand, motioning towards the music box, almost before it started playing. I sighed and considered lying back down and continuing to count my heartbeats like I had been doing for the last three hours, but decided against it. Mother and father were expecting, and father was already angry with me for missing dinner last night.

I got out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom. I fumbled for my toothbrush and started brushing, absently concentrating on the circles beneath my eyes. Unfortunately, my insomnia of the past few weeks was beginning to take its toll. The dark purple circles under my eyes stood out against my pale skin. I contemplated the pro's and cons of using a glamor to hide them, but decided against it. A glamor would leave a slight magic trace, and I didn't want mother asking about it. I settled with some simple concealer with a small glamor placed on top to even the tone.

I spit out the toothpaste and started about the task of getting rid of the circles. Once everything was said and done, I gave my reflection a nod of approval. I could barely feel the magic as it settled on my skin, so I doubt that either of my parents would be able to pick it out either.

I made sure my hands were clean before I left the bathroom and walked over to the wardrobe. I threw off the pajama pants as I started looking for something to wear. I eventually decided on a charcoal robe and black overcoat. I found a random pair of socks in the drawer and I slipped on the pair of black dragon scale shoes. I turned to the full length mirror that was by the door. I gave myself a final once over before I left.

I walked out the door and down the hallway, absently handling my wand in my pocket (1). Breakfasts in the Malfoy Manor were not the most pleasant way to start the day, and were often very trying, like walking through a room full of blast ended skrewts wearing only a smile and your good looks to protect you.

I quickly walked down the winding halls, each modeled by a Malfoy previous. Some halls were so gaudy that they deserved to be gutted and renovated. Others screamed 'evil dark wizard' so loud, it was cliché. Ironically, it was one of these dark hallways, complete with evil runes and gruesome pictures, which led to one of the most pleasant rooms in the manor.

A rather small, by comparison, sun room, designed with nearly white pastel colors and flowers. The occasional glimpse of gold and mother-of-pearl accented the light colors and made sure the eyes were never over, or under, whelmed. It was this room that served as the family breakfast room. It was a warm room, full of warmer memories, that didn't deserve the cold atmosphere that seemed to pervade all family gatherings as of late.

I gave a nod to my mother and father before I sat down. The table was laden with food, though I only chose some fruit and a pastry. We all made polite talk with each other until the house elves came with the mail.

Father quickly became absorbed in whatever he had received, so it was mother who found my Hogwart's letter. She quickly scanned it before she handed the parchment to me.

"Already that time of year again. I wonder who they got to fill the defense against the dark arts post this year?"

"Actually," a smooth voice spoke up from the head of the table. Mother and I quickly hid our surprise at hearing my father speak, "Fudge is so paranoid about Dumbledore plotting an uprising that he's sending in one of his own agents. A Wisingmont, Dalores Umbridge, I believe." A sneer of disgust appeared on my mother's face at mention of the name.

"Ugh, a stumpy little woman that believes herself a queen. She wants power, but has none of the discipline or class needed for it. She had tried to befriend me at one of the ministry functions a few years ago, but I found that despite her potential usefulness, she was entirely to unpleasant and untrustworthy to stand." I hid a smile behind my cup, imagining the encounter. Malfoy's mastered many things, one was a look of such utter disgust and disinterest that a mere glance would be enough to scare most of the worms away. Mother is even better at the look than father.

After that bit of information sharing, mother sent a house elf off with a list of my school supplies to order. The only thing that I now needed were new school robes, and all that required was a house elf taking my measurements and sending them to Madam Malkin's.

Soon, father excused himself from the table, and mother did as well a few moments later. I waited a few more minutes, making sure they were gone, before I bonelessly sagged in the chair and gave out a sigh. Despite this being one of the better breakfasts, it was still emotionally draining.

I took another breakfast claw as I studied the room, trying to think of something to do. Really, the most appealing thing I could come up with was moving to one of the window seats and basking in the sunlight streaming through the ceiling. I sighed again before I got up, finishing off my breakfast. It wouldn't do for mother, or, heavens forbid, father, to find me lazing about. The only other thing that seemed even minutely entertaining was practicing the spell I had started learning last night.

I stood up and wiped my fingers on a napkin before I left the room. I quickly started to pick my way through the house, down to the dungeon levels. I turned off right before the stairs, into a medium sized stone room. The only source of light came from two candelabras on the left and right sides of the room. The room was otherwise empty, except for an iron pedestal and a stack of old pillows.

I closed the door, a sign that the room was in use, and levitated a pillow onto the pedestal. I had to give a slight smile at the selection of pillows in the stack. They were all truly hideous things that deserved being destroyed. The one I chose was an ugly orange and green affair that had no place in any home.

Once it was on the pedestle, I steped a few paces back and readied my wand. I went through the arm motions once more. Dark magic spells were hard to practice since, unless done perfectly, they could come out with disastrous, and often random, effects. This fact is why every household that houses a dark wizard also had an unwarded stone room below ground level. Wild dark magic mixed with stringent ward magic had interesting effects; bad, but very interesting.

I steeled my mind, putting the arm motions and incantations together, focusing on the pillow.

"Disdendo." I saw a few flashes of light appear around the pillow, definetly not the 'whirlwind of blades' that the book promised. I waited a few more moments, making sure that the magic disappated, before I moved to inspect they pillow.

The pillow seemed unharmed, though there might have been a few runs in the fabric that weren't there before. I stepped back to my previous position and tried the spell again, to the same effect. I twirled my wand in thought.

Perhaps I didn't have the right emotional backing. It wasn't unheard of to have a spell's outcome porportioned to the caster's emotions at the time, the Unforgivables being a prime example.

I dug up a suitable memory and let it consume my mind. Ah, when the mud-blood Granger punched my face in third year. Behind the shock and pain, there was a deep pit of anger and hatred. Yes, plenty of negative emotions to feed the spell. I imagined Granger's head superimposed on the pillow for extra measure before I cast the spell again.

"Disdendo!" This time there was a noticiable difference in the spell. I could see long silver ribbons appear out of my wand and fly towards the pillow. It was probably only the room's dark lighting that allowed me to see the ribbions swirl around the pillow, as if caught in a tornado. The effect only lasted a few seconds, but it left its mark on the orange and green monstrosity this time.

While the pillow was still standing, there was very little fabric covering the stuffing. I felt my eyes widen slightly in surprise. I thought Faedil was mearly exagurationg in his spell descriptions, but apparently I was wrong. While it wasn't a spell for common occasions, it was a nice ace to keep tucked up one's sleeve.

I continued practicing until there were no more pillows left in the box. Just as I was about to summon a house elf to get more, there was a knock on the door. I waved it open and a house elf walked in, not taking the chance of apparating into the middle of a spell.

"The mistress has ordered me to take the young master's measurments," it spoke in a squeaky voice, eyes keeping level at my knees.

"Very well. Wait for me in my room. Also, send an elf down to replenish the target stock."

It bowed and apparated away. I burned the reminents of my spell practice before I walked out of the room. It had been at least five hours since breakfast, and I knew I should probably have a house elf send me up a lunch, but I truly wasn't hungry. I instead decided to spend the rest of the day in the gardens.

There wasn't much time left before I would be shipped off to Hogwart's again, and while it did have a distinct lack of Death Eaters, it was still very hard to find a truly secluded moment to one's self. At least in the manor, I didn't have to worry about any troublesome masks, though it was getting harder to dodge the Death Eaters. And I suppose, that no matter what happens, here or there, this place is still home, and I always hate leaving it.

I shook off my strangely frivolous thoughts and hurried to my room. The elf was there, and if he was impatient, he didn't show it. I was slightly surprised at his proficiency. As if he was a tailor himself, all necessary measurements were taken within moments, and he was back on his way. I stared absently at the wall before grabbing a random book and heading out to the gardens.

The gardens, while full of many poisonous plants and flowers, also had many other different types of flora. The gardens, when added together, were nearly as large as the manor itself. My personal favorite was the predator garden. Even though you had to watch where you placed yourself, it held the most beautiful flowers. Watching the snake lilies move and crawl while they searched for food was always hypnotic to me.

I laid out on the bench, finding a comfortable spot, before I started reading. It was actually one of the few fiction books I had, a mystery, and it was quite entertaining. For once I didn't feel time crawl by. I was so absorbed by the book that the sound of talons trying to find purchase on marble nearly made me fall off the bench. I almost smiled at the aggravated owl, trying to stay on the bench while fending off the advances of the snake lilies.

"Here Horus," I spoke quietly. The owl immediately perked up at its name and flew to my outstretched arm. The barn owl started smoothing out its sand brown feathers before it haughtily extended its leg to me. I gave off the ghost of a laugh before I untied the letter from his leg. He became considerably more relaxed and actually tucked his head under his wing and went to sleep. I gave off another light laugh and braced my arm on my bent knee; even an owl got heavy after a while.

I unfolded the letter, and after reading it, couldn't keep the small smile from my face.

Dear Draco,

Sincerely,

Blaize A. Zabini

Most would assume that there was a secret message, perhaps hidden by magic or written in invisible ink, but I knew Zabini too long. It truly was just a parchment adressed to me, and signed by him. Ironically, his sentiments still got through. I would have to keep this. In these times, one never knew which letter would be the last letter one would ever get from a person. Oddly, I wouln't mind this being my last correspondance with Zabini, you know, if he died. It sums up his personality rather well.

I absently noticed that the sun was beginning to set, and that it would almost be supper time soon. I sighed, and refolded the letter, putting it in my pocket. I gently started scratching Horus' chest feathers until his head came back out, shooting me a rather nasty glare. I carefully stood up, Horus not even attempting to help me or himself to keep balance. I scratched his chest again, this time in a peace offering, before I launched him in the air. He circled above me once before he flew off into the forest, probably looking for something to eat. I grabbed the book and straightened my robes before I headed off back to the manor.

As soon as I walked through the door, I felt the Malfoy mask slowly creep back up onto my face. I walked up to my room and deposited my book before I started back down to the dining room. It was a slow walk; I had left early enough to where I didn't need to rush, so I let my mind wander. All summer, this seemed to be the only thing I was doing. I was merely trying to occupy my time until . . . what I wonder? Was I simply staving off boredom, or was I wasting seconds until the four minute count down ran out? Both options were equally depressing. My lack of care for anything, coupled with my sleeping and eating habits, was leading me somewhere that wasn't going to have a happy ending. How sad is it that I didn't care?

I cleared away all those unnecessary thoughts and walked into the dining room. My stalling and becoming introspective wasn't going to make the familial obligation go away. I walked into the room, taking my seat at the table. No matter if it was just the three of us, of if the entire Winsigmont came to dine here, supper was always a serious affair that lacked the relaxed atmosphere of breakfast. This was quite sad as breakfast itself wasn't very relaxing.

Mother was already there, and she gave me a ghost of a smile as I sat down. I truly hate lying to my mother, so I merely inclined my head and started polite conversation. Father walked in a few moments later, and what little pleasant atmosphere my mother and I had made died of frostbite when he sat down. I had the strange inclination to follow its imaginary death to the floor, but I ignored it and instead started eating the first course.

It was a light affair that went completely unnoticed by all of us as we started up the game. It was more of a battle royale between the three of us, though mother rarely aimed anything at me. The objective was to see who could keep their mask on the longest while still obtaining their objective. Father was trying to goad me into becoming a death eater as soon as possible. Mother was trying to get him to stop making me become a death eater. And I, well, my only objective was to avoid my father's landmines while aiding mother when I could, all the while making sure that none of my cracks were visibly showing.

One good way to do this was to slip in my associations with my friends, who were all guaranteed to become death eaters. It subconsciously soothed father and allowed mother a bit of breathing room since the conversation would be shifted toward myself.

"Zabini finally sent a reply to my letter from a few weeks ago. I got it just this afternoon."

"Oh," my mother grabbed onto the un-barbed sentence, "How are they, still in Florence?"

"Yes, though the weather wasn't at its best," quickly making up a lie on the spot, "It seemed like he was rather . . . busier than previous summers, though it didn't sound like he minded." Truthfully, most likely only half of that was a lie. Zabini despised the idea of becoming a death eater even more than I did for the sheer fact that the date was closer for him. Unlike me though, both his parents were die hard death eaters that didn't oppose the idea at all. At the very least I had mother doing what she could to stall.

"Ah, the Zabinis. Pity they didn't have a girl. Did he mention . . . "And like that, the game had begun again. It was an hour and a half later that I was finally able to escape, the night ending in another stalemate between mother and father. I threw off my clothes and headed directly to the shower, turning it so hot that the bathroom was filled with steam in minutes.

After that, I had at least gotten rid of most of the tension that had accumulated during supper. I wandered over to my desk, hair still dripping in only my pajama bottoms and a button up shirt hanging off my shoulders, to look for my book of notes. Sleep did not sound appealing, and it would be fun trying to come up with a new spell. I grabbed the book and my quill and was going to go towards my bed until I heard a slight clicking coming from my window seat.

I turned toward it, and was surprised to see Horus looking rather angry at the see through barrier separating him from my room. I placed my things down and opened the window. He hopped up so that he was gripping the window sill and looked at me expectantly. I gave him a small smile and sat down on the seat, bringing the book onto my lap. I slowly started writing down ideas for a new spell. Horus, for once, didn't demand any attention, and merely stood at the window sill, sometimes staring at the book or at the moving quill, but mostly, his eyes were constantly scanning his surroundings.

I put down my quill and stared at him, though he kept ignoring me. It truly was strange behavior for him. Usually by now he would be demanding treats and scratches, especially since he had to fly so far, but all he kept doing was scanning the room and outside. I didn't understand until there was a slight noise from the gardens. His head instantly swiveled towards it and he drew out his wings, making angry hissing noises.

I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry, because my owl was guarding me. For some reason, the little peacock had gotten it into his brain that I needed to be protected tonight. I don't know why it affected me so much, but it did. This creature, who truly had no need of me, cared for me enough to guard me of his own free will. I got my feelings under control and slowly started to scratch his head and make shushing noises. He calmed down again, and leaned into the touch, but after a couple moments he started looking around again, completely ignoring my presence. In that moment, I knew that Horus would give his life if only to protect mine. The epiphany caused strange emotions to swell in my chest, and while they weren't normal, they were not unpleasant in the least. (2)

I spent the rest of the night like this, sometimes writing down new ideas, sometimes looking at the sky, and sometimes fawning over my little diety. Only when the sun rose did he demand one last scratch before he flew off towards the woods. I felt that my face was a little cold, and found that my cheeks were slightly wet. I quickly wiped the tear tracks and got into bed. If the nights were going to be like that, this last week and a half wasn't going to be as bad as I thought.

(1) No sewer minds please. He's on his way to breakfast with the family.

(2) When I named Draco's owl, I just knew that Horus was an Egyptian God. It was only when I wrote the last couple of paragraphs that I read that Horus was known as the God of war, protection, and the sky. Horus is definetly going to get more face time now.

Notes: I'm a little rusty, so critique is always welcome. There are some parts that I'm not really satisfied with, but can't think of a better way to do them. I hope you liked this chapter. Next chapter some more familiar characters are going to be introduced, and the school year is finally going to start. It shouldn't be too long before chapter 3 is up, but chapter 4 will probably be a while. I have to really figure out where the story is going, and it's hard to find time to write between all of my college work. Just a heads up.