Warning: adult language, mild gore, mentions of physical punishment
This chapter begins the material that was not part of the original manuscript, but the story does not get into the brand new material for another couple of chapters. It is also the first chapter from the manuscript that was not combined with another chapter to make up a chapter that I felt was of an adequate length to post. Reading through the first story, I found that the chapters were too short for my liking and as you may have noticed, these chapters are longer than the chapters for the first story. The laws and procedures for the property transfer are completely made up, but wizarding Britain has its own government and JKR has not explained any such procedures other than Harry, Ron, and Hermione being left things in wills, so I figure I can make up any procedures I feel like. So anyway, read and review…
Chapter 5: Malfoy Manor
Climbing the gentle slope of the hill, Draco led Blaise, Hermione, Harry, and Ron up to the gates of Malfoy Manor. Ginny, Luna, and Neville had opted to stay at Hogwarts over Halloween, but the others had decided to come with Draco when he came for the property transfer so that they could search the manor. On approaching the gates, they could see beyond across the neatly manicured lawns to the manor itself. It was a small stone castle complete with rounded turrets at the four corners.
"Sesame Abria" Draco said, pointing his wand at the lock on the gate.
"Whatever happened to Alohamora?" asked Ron.
"You think a simple Alohamora spell would get someone into Malfoy Manor? Not with all of our money and resources," replied Draco.
"Plus all the Dark Arts stuff" Blaise added.
"Well yeah, that too. Anyway," Draco opened the gate and ushered them inside, "Welcome to Malfoy Manor. This castle was built in 1174 by Armando Malfoy and his sons Cane and Filius. Cane inherited the manor as the eldest son and his son Cronius set up the wards on the manor when it was passed on to him. Cronius made this place unplottable and inaccessible to Muggles. He also set up wards of his own design to protect the treasures and secrets held within the manor."
"Draco" said Harry.
"Yes?" Draco replied.
"You sound like a cross between Hermione and a tour guide for a haunted house." Ron and Blaise laughed at the sentiment.
"May I be excused from this speech?" Blaise said with a smile so sickly sweet that it had to be fake. "I've heard it every time I've come here and it's getting annoying."
"I find it fascinating." Hermione said.
"Yeah, well, you would." Ron said.
"So where should we start?" asked Blaise as they walked across the grounds.
"How about with some food?" suggested Ron. "I'm starving."
"As usual," said Draco.
"Was that some kind of crack about my family?"
"No. I was merely suggesting that you are a bottomless pit, who always seems to be hungry and stuffs his face with any edible substance in sight."
"Oh, that's okay then, I think. So, food?"
"Fine, I'll get the house elves to whip us up something."
"House elves?" Hermione turned to her boyfriend.
"Yes Hermione, house elves, and I'm not setting them free because of you. They like working for me." Draco said.
"Dobby didn't." she replied.
"Yes, well, you get wierdos in every family." Said Blaise. "House elves are no different."
Draco led them into the manor. The large foyer was painted a simple off-white with an oriental rug and a sparkling chandelier. To the right stood a dark rolltop desk on which stood a large peacock quill, an ink bottle, and a guest book. On either side of this desk stood a pair of ornate doors which Draco told the others led to the grand ballroom. On the left were two more doors which Draco informed them led to the kitchen and the banquet hall. A dark wooden staircase stood opposite them and on either side were more doors which Draco told them led downstairs to the dungeons.
After they ate, Draco toured them on the second floor, which contained the drawing room-where Ron insisted they look under the floor, but they found nothing-the parlor, a small dining room for when the banquet hall was not needed, the sitting room, the library, and Lucius's study-where Draco said they would find the most important information. On the third floor were the sleeping quarters. Including the master bedroom there were seven bedrooms and various bathrooms. Draco would be staying in his own room and the others each took one of the guest rooms. As it was already getting late, they went to bed; they would begin their search properly in the morning.
Draco awoke the next morning to a squeaky voice. "Master Draco, Master Draco, wake up, you have company." Draco opened his eyes slowly and turned to see the house elf bouncing next to his bed. She had large bat-like ears which resembled Dobby's and large blue eyes. She was wearing a pillowcase with holes in it for her head and arms.
"I know that I have company Scuppy" Draco told the elf irritably. "That's Hermione, Blaise, Potter and Weasley. Now go get my coffee, two creams and one sugar."
"Master Draco that is not what Scuppy meant. It is two men, Bernard MacNair and another man, Scuppy does not know who."
Draco sat up straight in his bed then practically jumped out of it. Racing to his closet, he called to the house elf, "Forget the coffee Scuppy. Go see to our guests; show them into the study and tell them that I'll be with them shortly."
"Yes Master Draco." Said Scuppy, and she hurried out of the room.
Draco pulled on a set of acid green robes and grabbed his hair gel as he raced to the next room where Blaise was sleeping. He shook the other boy awake. Blaise looked at him annoyed. "Draco, what the…" he started but Draco cut him off. "Bernard MacNair is here. Blaise, get dressed and wake up the others. Tell them to hide and then meet me in the study."
"Bernard MacNair?" Blaise repeated, shocked, as he jumped out of bed as well, hurrying to get dressed. "What is he doing here?"
"No idea" Draco said "He must be here as my legal representation. Mother said she hired him last summer." Bernard MacNair was a lawyer and was not officially a Death Eater as his brother Walden was. Draco found it slightly twisted the Bernard was a lawyer and his brother was an executioner.
"You need legal representation for a property transfer?"
"Apparently, now hurry up and hide them." Draco looked at the jar of hair gel, decided against it, and threw it down on the nightstand. Draco collected himself and calmly walked down to Lucius's study. When he entered the room he found Scuppy serving tea to Bernard MacNair and the other man she had mentioned. MacNair was a strong man in his late forties and he was tall and burly. The other man was short and very round. His rosy complexion and red robes gave Draco the impression of a giant cherry.
"Ah, Mr. Malfoy, we've been waiting for you," said the cherry man, "my name is Fredrick Walker and I'll be handling your property transfer this morning. I'm sure you know Bernard here," he indicated MacNair and Draco nodded. "He insisted on coming with me as your legal representation, but I don't think that's really necessary." Draco agreed but didn't say anything. He sat down behind Lucius's desk and MacNair moved to stand behind him.
"Who were you speaking with upstairs?" MacNair asked him suspiciously but Draco was saved from answering by Blaise walking in. "That was my associate here, Blaise Zabini, the head of the English division of Zabini Industries." Blaise nodded and pulled up a seat next to Draco. "Now if you don't mind Mr. Walker" said Draco, "We'd like to get this done."
"Ah, yes of course" Mr. Walker said, pulling out some papers from a briefcase "Property transfer from Mrs. Narcissa Black Malfoy to Mr. Draco Lucius Malfoy, entailing Malfoy Manor and all property within, Malfoy Incorporated, and the Malfoy family account at Gringotts Wizarding Bank. If you'll just sign by the Xs."
Draco took the papers from Mr. Walker and read through them with Blaise and MacNair reading over his shoulder. "This says that my mother needs to sign these papers in order for the property transfer to be legal." Draco said looking up.
"That doesn't apply in this case Draco," MacNair replied, "considering your mother is incarcerated, you will be acting in charge of the estate in her absence."
"What happens when my mother is released from prison?" Draco asked.
"All property originally in her name is returned to her but you retain any property originally under your father's name." Walker told him.
"What if my father is released from prison?" Draco said, referring to Lucius as his father, which his rarely did anymore. "Is his property returned to him?"
"Your father has received several life sentences Draco" MacNair reminded him. "It is very unlikely that he will get out of prison in a legal manner. You are his legal heir and given his incarceration with no forseeable time in which he might be released, inheritance law comes into effect. You are already seventeen, so all property in the Malfoy name is technically already yours. This document will make it legal. Everything seems to be in order Draco."
Draco picked up an eagle feather quill, dipped it in an inkwell, and signed his name. "Congratulations Mr. Malfoy" said Mr. Walker, standing up and offering Draco his hand, "you are now the legal owner of all Malfoy property." Smiling, Draco shook the man's hand.
With the property transfer completed, Walker left them, ushered to the door by Draco. He said that he needed to get to the Ministry to get the paperwork sorted and filed. MacNair left after him. They couldn't disapparate on the property, but once they were outside the gatesz they were able to do so and Draco let out a sigh of relief when the men were gone.
"That was unexpected" Draco said as he and Blaise walked back into Malfoy Manor.
"What do you mean?" Blaise asked. "The whole point of coming here was so that you could do the property transfer."
"Yeah, but I didn't expect them to show up so early." Draco said "Where did you hide the others anyway?"
"In the bathroom of one of the guest rooms. I thought that no one would do in there. Good thing the house elves didn't say anything."
Draco hit his head with the palm of his hand. "I should have thought of that. It is a good thing that they didn't say anything. I didn't think to tell them not to." Draco and Blaise entered the house and climbed the staircase to the third floor. Blaise led Draco to the bedroom and through it to the bathroom where he had stashed the others. Hermione had put the lid down on the toilet and was sitting on top of it. Harry was leaning against the counter which held the sink and Ron was sitting on the seat in the shower.
"Are they gone?" asked Ron.
"No Ron," said Draco "we're just leading them to you so they can turn you over to Bernard's brother Walden and the rest of the Death Eaters."
"Hey, you can't joke about something like that" Ron chided "A few months ago and that's exactly what you'd be doing."
"A few months ago I wasn't allied to you guys and in love with Hermione," Draco countered.
"That was precisely my point" Ron pointed out.
Draco rolled his eyes. "I need my coffee," he said. "Scuppy!" he called. The house elf popped into view beside him, "I'll take my coffee now." He turned to the rest of them. "Anyone else want anything?"
"Orange juice" said Ron. Hermione shot him a dirty look but he ignored it.
"Look Hermione" said Draco "house elves are a part of wizarding culture. Besides, they like working for us. Don't you Scuppy?"
"Yes master Draco. Scuppy very much enjoys serving you. It is an honor for any house elf." The elf responded.
"See, they like it." Draco concluded. Hermione still looked unconvinced. "You can ask the rest of them if you like." Draco offered. "But I'll tell you this, I'm not getting rid of them. It's a disgrace for them if they go free."
"Yeah Hermione" Ron put in, "remember Winky? She was so upset that Crouch let her go. She was drinking all the time and falling all over herself."
"Why didn't Dobby like working for you then?" Hermione submitted.
"Probably because Lucius beat him" Draco answered as if it was nothing.
"Lucius beat him?" she asked, "Why? And why didn't he beat the other house elves?"
"The other house elves didn't question his authority. Dobby did. He didn't like that obviously." Draco answered. "Now does anyone else want anything?"
"How about a stack of galleons as tall as I am?" Blaise joked.
"You already have that Blaise." Draco reminded him, "Several of them in fact."
"Oh yeah" said Blaise. Ron scowled.
"Nothing else then?" Draco asked. Receiving no answer from any of them, he sent Scuppy to get his coffee and Ron's orange juice. She returned minutes later with the drinks in hand.
"Thank you." Draco told the elf. "You may go do whatever you have to do today." Scuppy left them then. Draco drank some of his coffee. "So what are we doing?" he asked the others.
"We search the house for anything suspicious." Hermione answered.
"Like what?" Draco asked "I doubt Voldemort would give Lucius any information about his Horcruxes."
"He gave him one of his Horcruxes." Harry stated bluntly.
"Yeah, but Lucius didn't know what it really was" said Blaise. "He still doesn't know."
"Still, he could have more information about the Horcruxes somewhere, especially if he doesn't know what it's really about. Or he could have something else useful." Hermione said.
"We should start in his study." Draco suggested, "then we can move on to the library and then to the rest of the house. Honestly, he could have stuff stashed anywhere."
Draco finished his coffee and Ron finished his orange juice and they called for Scuppy to come and take the glass and mug away. Then they headed down to the second floor to where the library and Lucius's study were located. They entered Lucius's study first. They split up, with Ron and Draco searching the desk and the others taking the bookshelves that lined the darkly glossed wall behind it.
"Guys, I think I got something." Ron said after a while. Draco looked over at the file Ron was looking through. Blaise, Harry, and Hermione came over to look as well. "I think these are notes from Death Eater meetings." Ron said.
Draco took the file from Ron's hands so that he could get a better look at it. It looked like the minutes to some kind of meeting but they were written in some kind of `1`code that Draco could not decipher just by looking at it. He didn't know if it was shorthand or if it was in some other kind of code but it was definitely encrypted. He and Hermione would have to work out the code, but they probably wouldn't have time to do so while they were at the manor.
"Gentlemen," said Hermione "I think we just found a clue."
"Let's put it in our handy dandy notebook." Blaise exclaimed. The rest of the party gave him funny looks.
"Did you just quote an American television show for preschoolers?" Hermione asked.
"My father owns Zabini Industries" Blaise said "It's ian advertising company that caters to both wizards and Muggles worldwide. I've seen all kinds of television shows and everything else from all over the world. I'm actually in charge of the English division now. Father gave it to me when I came of age. He's preparing me to take over the company."
"Isn't he only like forty or something?" Harry asked.
"He's thirty-eight" Balise said, "What's your point?"
Harry gave Blaise an incredulous look, then shook his head and said "never mind."
They searched the library next, in which the only suspicious findings were books on the dark arts, but that was something that they expected to find. As they searched the rest of the three main floors they found nothing of particular interest, except for an observation Harry made.
"You have a lot of dragon stuff here" he noted
"My mother likes dragons" Draco defended.
"Yeah, but she likes them to the point of being excessive" Blaise said "Draco and I once went around and counted all the dragon stuff in the house. There were 384 things that looked like dragons or had dragons on them. And I'm sure there are a lot more now. We were about twelve when we counted."
"Plus she named you after dragons" Ron put in.
"She named me after a constellation, which is a tradition in her family." Draco argued.
"That, and she named you after dragons." Blaise said smirking.
When they descended into the dungeons it was starting to look like they had found all that they could find at the manor. Draco turned a corner and found a large stone expanse of wall with a snake engraved on it.
"I've never seen this before" Draco said.
"What do you mean you've never seen it before?" Ron asked disbelievingly, "you live here."
"I've never really explored the dungeons" Draco said, "I came down here once and Lucius beat me for it."
"Lucius beat you too?' Hermione asked concerned.
"Not often" Draco assured her, "Only when I was in trouble, you know, when I was really bad."
"Well this is probably what he was hiding down here" Harry asserted "but how do we open it?"
"What do you mean?" Asked Blaise. "It's a wall. It doesn't open."
"I'll bet it does" Ron said, and tried to push on different places on the door. He tried to pull on the carved snake. Whatever he tried, the wall remained simply a wall with a carving on it. Ron turned back to the group, his ears red. "Hey, it was worth a shot" he said, "Harry, try speaking parseltongue to it. Maybe it opens like the chamber of Secrets."
Harry said something that sounded like hissing to Draco. Nothing happened. "Obviously that's not right." Hermione said.
"Maybe it needs blood," harry said "when Dumbledore and I went to get the locket that turned out to be fake, we had to give this door a blood sacrifice." Before anyone could respond, Harry produced a knife from his pocket and slit his hand open. Little beads of blood pooled in his palm.
"Harry, where did you get that knife?" Hermione practically shrieked.
"it's Sirius's knife." Harry said. "I've been carrying it around with me since Dumbledore died, just in case."
"In case of what?" Hermione asked panicky. Harry didn't answer her. Instead, he pressed his hand against the door. Nothing happened.
"We have to get through this door." Draco said.
"That is, if it is a door" Blaise replied.