Alice and Draco disapparated back to Malfoy Manor moments after having watched the sun sink into the enchanted landscape. They were still quiet, both feeling saddened by the blunt realization that they may never see each after Monday. In the foyer, Narcissa came to greet them from the drawing room with a concerned look on her face and her arms crossed.
"You risked it, didn't you?" she asked firmly staring at Draco.
"We weren't seen," Draco said reassuringly.
Alice removed the black school robes which acted as her cloak in Hogsmeade. At that moment, she was unsure if she should return to the guestroom or stay there.
Narcissa, a little bothered by Draco's rashness, managed to put her anger aside and said, "Well, why don't you two come in here, we're having a light dinner and you might as well join us."
Draco and Alice gave each other a slight reassuring smile before they headed into the drawing room. There Lucius was sitting on his armchair reading the evening's Daily Prophet newspaper.
"Giving interviews now are we?" He said snidely, as they came closer to his vicinity.
Alice drew in a heavy breath as she thought back to that morning when Barnabus Cuffe unexpectedly reached her on the mobile phone. She realized again how fast news traveled here.
"More like a brief statement," Alice said respectfully, knowing as she approached the man he was already formulating something damning to retort with.
"You seem a need to have your say," his hierarchical tone didn't waver. Draco hesitated whether to interject but he believed Alice could handle it.
Alice spoke with calmness, not trying to evoke any harsh critique, "And should I not? I know there isn't much point talking to a newspaper editor who only wants to sell papers. He doesn't care that all I want is to remember this week past Monday. Do I express this desire in an emotional plea to an audience who may or may not pity me? Or do I relay a rational response of the human condition this trial puts asunder? I did the latter. I don't want any pity."
Lucius said nothing, only noted that her response was again not what he wanted to provoke. He underestimated her nerve.
"That's respectable," he said, acting as if it wasn't a compliment.
"Thanks," Alice said, taking it as one.
Narcissa and Draco stood back a bit surprised by Lucius's response, it wasn't what they expected from the man who was more often cruel than kind. An awkward silence filled the space.
"Well, I'm going to eat something," Draco said, feeling obligated to cut the odd tension.
That evening there was less talk about the trial and more talk about the mundane, as Alice asked unusual questions about the wizarding world. One topic she queried was quidditch, something she had come across in their newspapers, in which a whole section is devoted. Draco, having played quidditch in school and still an avid fan, enjoyed describing the game to Alice, who found the whole concept of shooting hoops on the back of broomsticks a considerable feat. For muggles, broomstick riding goes alongside the witch kitsch of pointy cone-shaped black hats and long warty noses. She remembered almost abashedly that she had dressed up as a witch for the American holiday Halloween, when she was nine years old. She had wanted to be Peter Pan but her father took her to the costume shop too late and not many outfits were left on the racks. She wore the stereotypical black cone hat, black cape and a disgusting plastic wart nose that fell off half-way through trick-or-treating. She even carried around an old closet broom as an accessory. "That would certainly be an incriminating photo here," she thought. Despite the silliness of these stereotypes, muggle witch and wizard folklore had some basis in reality. Though broomstick riding, cauldron brewing old wart-nosed women is extremely far removed from the fast paced, heart pounding quidditch match of nimbus riding young athletes.
After discussing quaffles and snitches, beaters and chasers, Draco began talking about the Quidditch World Cup that was coming up that summer. Of course, this began a long conversation between him and his father about the odds of several of the teams. Alice and Narcissa looked at each other, acknowledging their sudden removal from the conversation, and decided to have a conversation of their own, this time on hair styles. Narcissa was one to take risks with coloring her hair, as noted by the sections of black she currently had put in. Alice was the same, swearing that her last big change was an extremely short pixie cut she did prior to graduate school. Since then she's been trying to grow it out.
"So what will you do tomorrow?" Narcissa asked, curious how she was going to spend her presumably last day in the magical realm
"Well, I need to return to my flat for an outfit for the trial," Alice said, uncertain what else.
"Now that's important," Narcissa chimed, "No doubt they'll be snapping a million photos of you there."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Alice said wearily.
"Keep your posture dear and you'll be fine," Narcissa reassured. "Unfortunately, Lucius and I will be away. We need to go look at a summer home up the coast. I do plan to see you off the following morning, however."
Alice was unsure what her last day would bring. With Narcissa and Lucius gone, she knew she'd be spending the entire day with Draco and the thought slightly troubled her. Her feelings for him were undeniable, but they were also unobtainable. At this moment, she couldn't fathom saying goodbye to him. These thoughts would follow her to the guestroom and make sleeping difficult. Only one more day until the trial.
Alice awoke earlier than normal that Sunday morning with several things to do on her mind. Her plan was to organize and clean the guestroom, making sure everything was in the exact order as when she arrived. Then she would pack up all her belonging so she could take a majority of them back to her flat, which is where Draco and her would presumably go that day. She also intended to return to the library to reshelf all the books she had read. The Malfoys had been amazing hosts and she didn't want to leave any hint of being a lazy, ungrateful guest, even if it was the house elf's job to clean up around here. Of course, the other motivation to be physically busy was to help keep Alice's mind off of more pressing issues.
Entering the library doors, Alice reencountered the sense of wonder she had when she first entered this room. The smell of old parchment, the orderly lines of leather bindings covering the shelves. She had read only a fraction of what this library contained. Her pile of specially picked books was still sprawled out on the study table. There her notebook sat open; the questions she wrote on its pages may never be answered. She randomly chose a book from the pile and slowly began to reshelf them via the author's last name. She rolled over the old trolley ladder to reach the higher shelves. It was slow process but having her mind focus on one thing provided subtle therapy.
While on top of the ladder she heard the library doors swing open. Draco walked in, amused at the sight of Alice manually shelving books.
"I was wondering where you went," he said, though he wasn't angry.
Alice stayed on the ladder, "Sorry, I wanted to clean up."
Draco retrieved his wand from his pocket and waved it horizontally. Suddenly all the books from the table levitated and directed themselves back to their original destinations throughout the room. Alice watched this spectacle with wide eyes, not moving from the ladder.
"You can come down now," Draco said amused, though in his mind he wondered whether she was trying to avoid him that morning
Alice slowly came down the ladder and said smiling, "Again the muggle way is defeated."
"That would have taken awhile," Draco said smugly. "You could have left them."
"Trying to be a good guest," she said, slipping her feet into her shoes and then grabbing her notebook on the table. "I guess you better keep this," she said, handing it to Draco. "I wrote a lot of notes in it and if I have it tomorrow, well…"
Draco knew what she meant, if they obliviate her memory then having those notes in her possession would only confuse her and maybe start this whole process over.
Draco took the notebook hesitantly, not enjoying the thought of what was to come. He already knew today would be bittersweet. Giving her a reassuring look, he said, "I took the liberty to set up brunch in the garden, it's a perfect day to be outside."
"You're too kind Draco," Alice said, in awe of his charming qualities. She hated to admit that while staying at Malfoy Manor, she felt more like a princess and hardly like a prisoner.
They walked side-by-side through the corridors exchanging smiles and glances as they went.
"You don't mind making a trip to my flat today, do you?" Alice asked.
"Not at all," Draco replied, "You should probably take some your stuff back as well."
"That's what I was thinking too."
Walking out of green room into the garden, Alice saw a white albino peacock strolling across the lawn.
"I've never seen an albino one before," Alice said, her mind took her back to Fritz's shoe chase fiasco the other day.
"They've been on this property for generations, they actually live to be around 100 years old."
Alice's eyes went wide and sounding a little too Californian she said, "Seriously?"
"Serious," Draco looked at her, amused by her accent.
"I would love to know how that's genetically possible."
"It's magic," Draco said; the phrase seemed to explain everything in this world.
Cutting through Narcissa's extremely manicured rose garden, the couple veered into the outer limits of the grounds. The polished gravel gave way to large smooth stepping stones and then to black and green colored ceramic tiles that covered the floor of a magnificent terrace. It looked out onto the rolling green hills behind the manor.
"From inside the manor grounds you can see into the distance, but from outside it simply looks fenced in," Draco explained the charm which produced two different visual realities.
"This would is full of wonders," Alice said, "Makes going back to my world a little boring."
"Actually, I'm looking forward to visiting your side of town today, not often I get to do that," Draco replied.
"We'll go into the city then. We shouldn't have to worry about being spotted there," Alice said, thinking of places to take him.
Draco waved his wand and a small feast appeared on the glass topped table that stood near the edge of the terrace. They ate leisurely and talked comfortably about non-trial topics. Both of them realized how easy the other was to talk and relate to.
"Grade school wasn't the best of my years socially. I must have gotten off to a rocky start with family issues and moving to a different country," Alice said thinking back. "But for me, school was about making the grades so I could go to a decent college."
"At least you were a good student," Draco said.
"I was a bit of a terror at home, however," Alice exclaimed, but Draco didn't believe her. "No, really. My father started dating at that time and well, I never acted exactly mature about it. I guess I was selfish and I didn't want things to change. His current wife, oh, I was awful to her. I put laxatives in her soup once. Luckily we're civil to each other now."
"I never suspected that from you," Draco said amused, "Sounds like something I would have done."
Alice's one eyebrow raised, "Trouble maker?"
"Something like that. Having four houses produces extreme rivalries on school grounds. Your house is your family and whether it's on the quidditch field or in the school halls, you put them first."
"Slytherin, right? Cunning, ambitious, achievement oriented," She remembered what she read in Hogwarts: A History. "Those are all good traits."
"Also self-preservation and disregarding the rules to a certain extent," Draco added.
"I guess that's all a part of being ambitious, don't you think?" Alice said.
"True," Draco replied.
"I would think putting people with similar traits in one house would create more of a problem than mixing them up. I mean, wouldn't a group of equally ambitious individuals tear each other apart?"
"Ah, you would think, but pride for your house holds you together. It's more about solidarity and winning the House Cup that matters. You hardly ever compete against your own." Draco went on to briefly explain the points systems at Hogwarts. "I never got along with Potter or his Gryffindor friends; we were rivals from day one."
"From day one?" She inquired.
"Yes, I offered my friendship, but not before I had insulted friends he had made," He said thinking back. He wondered whether a different first introduction would have altered history.
"Why did you insult them?"
"Well, his one friend was muggle-born, the other was from a family known to be blood traitors. As you can imagine, I was my father's child and pure-blood ideology controlled my behavior."
"So you were a bit of a bully?" Alice assumed he would be if he believed such things.
"Yeah, I had a lot of anger in me and truth be told, I came to be jealous of Potter and his friends. He was the chosen one, mentored to greatness by your grandfather. With my father's Death Eater ties, I was already set to oppose him. I thought being chosen by Voldemort was an honor and I foolishly wanted to prove myself. What I did will always taint my reputation." Draco said a bit disgusted in himself.
"I think you and your family's reputation needs an overhaul. I have been treated with nothing but kindness and respect since coming here. Even your father has been incredibly civil to me."
Draco smiled, "I think he's okay with you; you aren't what he expects."
"I'm grateful for that," she said, "I think you're also not what people would expect. You've become an expert in the field of potions, you conduct important research, you teach. It's very honorable."
Draco blushed slightly, "You make me sound better than I am."
"Case in point, you've put up with a muggle like me for a week and I'm still in one piece. Now, would the old Draco Malfoy have been able to do that?" She implored.
"Probably not, at least you wouldn't have gotten away without being insulted," He was overly amused at the thought.
Alice laughed and then remembered some stereotypes, counting them on her fingers, "Right, muggles are stupid, backwards, they smell…Now I wouldn't disagree if this was 500 or so years ago. Intelligence and hygiene back then wasn't what it is today."
Draco laughed, "Well, I don't think I could find any insults for you now."
Alice blushed slightly at the compliment, "I'm glad I could be an outstanding muggle ambassador."
Two birds flew through the air chirping harmoniously before leaving the frame in front of them.
"Sometimes I can't believe it's already springtime," Alice said solemnly, unintentionally changing the conversation. Her mind started to think about how she spent the last several months preparing that book for publishing, hoping its release this spring would make a name for herself outside the market of academia. If successful, it could have even helped her within academia by bulking up her curriculum vitae. Instead it inadvertently made a name for her here, in a realm she contrived as fiction. Would she even be remembered by summer, or would people forget as easily as she would on Monday afternoon?
A few hours went by on the terrace and the two again talked about their lives, their like and dislikes, and their professional hopes for the future. They both avoided talking overtly about the trial. Nor did they mention their feelings for each other, but even through the words they did speak, it was apparent.
Later that afternoon Alice retrieved her small suitcase from the east guestroom and met Draco in the foyer.
"I think I have everything that isn't necessary for tomorrow morning," she said approaching Draco who was holding the book he borrowed from her collection.
"Thank you for letting me borrow this," he said, taking her suitcase from her hand.
"Oh, I guess if you kept it I would think I left it somewhere, although I have so many books who knows if I'd realize," Alice looked to the side, knowing her attempt to be funny only concealed the depressing thoughts she tried all day not to mention.
Draco slowly grabbed Alice's hand and gently pulled her towards him, "Are you ready?" His voice was soft and steady; Alice felt lost for a moment in his eyes. She managed to nod her head and although she wanted to remain looking into his grey orbs, she closed her lids. Draco then disapparated them both into her central London flat.