The guests for the Malfoy's party began to line up and come into the house, where Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy greeted them, quickly followed by a friendly greeting from Draco and Briana. Most of the people that were invited, Briana met when she was younger, but they either didn't recognize her, or she didn't remember them.

All of Draco's friends and their families came as well. Most of them Briana was meeting for the first time, such as Marcus Flint, Pansy Parkinson, Ethan Bentley, Adrian Pucey, Theodore Nott, Tabitha Bainbridge and Daphne and Astoria Greengrass. All of these people seemed to like Briana, except for Pansy, who glared at her, and Astoria who shot her a quick glare for what ever reason.

With all these people that Briana didn't know prior to this evening, were the friends that she had made just a couple days ago. Chuck was one of the first people to come, with his parents and Catherine, who gave Briana a big hug but cowered in fear of Draco. When Chuck took Briana's hand, he kissed up her arm all the way to her shoulder, until Draco discreetly kicked him in the showed up with his mother, step-father and older sister as well. Alex showed up by himself, which Briana found a little odd, and wanted to know why that was.

Even Kaylee, the girl that Briana danced with at the club, came. Apparently Kaylee had a little sister and brother who were twins, who came with her and her parents. Kaylee smiled immensely when she saw Briana and told her to come find her later. The four hosts continued to greet and welcome people to the party until just after 5 o'clock when there was nobody else arriving.

Lucius, Narcissa, Draco and Briana joined everyone else in the ballroom, who sat in all their respective places. Briana took hers and was both nervous and delighted to see who she shared a table with. With eight people to a table, Briana was sitting with Draco, Chuck, Theodore, Millicent, Ethan, Kaylee and Astoria. Sitting directly between Draco and Chuck, Briana was glad with her seating arrangements. Alex and Blaise were directly behind her, sitting at the table 2 feet away.

Ethan Bentley stared at Briana as she sat down and straightened out her skirt, until she looked up and met his eyes. He smirked and raised an eyebrow, to which she responded by lightly blushing then looking at Chuck instead. Chuck looked Briana over and smiled.

"Once again," he said. "I love your choice of fashion."

"Thank you. You're looking pretty splendid yourself, with your bright green tie," she tugged at it, smiling at him.

"I got the memo, noting to wear bright and Summer-y colors. Obviously you did as well."

"Don't even start. My mother and Mrs. Malfoy made me wear this dress."

He gave her a look, "I'm not even sure why you're acting upset about it. You look insanely attractive."

She smiled at him and nudged his arm lightly before she turned her attention to Millicent Bulstrode and introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Briana. Isn't your name Millicent?"

The pudgy girl smiled sheepishly and nodded at her, "Did you just move here?"

"Well I lived here when I was little, moved to America when I was 11, but I'm back now."

"That explains why you're dating Draco."

Now Theodore, Ethan, Chuck and Kaylee were in the conversation as well.

"Oh no, no, no, Dray and I are best friends. I've known him since I was six."

"Oh yeah? And is that why you've got a pet name for him?", Theodore Nott teased her.

"Lay off, Theo. At least Draco actually as hot girls giving him nicknames," Kaylee countered.

"I've known Malfoy for years, but I don't have a pet name for him. Just saying...", Theodore backed off.

"How is it possible that Malfoy can stay 'just friends' with someone like you?", Ethan looked her over.

"Because not everyone is as anxious to get laid as you are," Chuck shot him a look.

"Like you can talk, Solomon. You're at least twice as perverted as I am. And if I recall, you're the one who was almost a father last year, yeah?"

Briana looked at Chuck with her mouth agape in shock and confusion while Kaylee, Millicent, Astoria and Theodore covered their mouths. Astoria and Millicent were attempting to stifle laughs. If looks could kill, Chuck's glare would have slaughtered Ethan. Before Chuck could express his anger verbally, Draco stepped in to defend his friend.

"Bentley, you're better off not mentioning petty rumors from the past just to try to hurt others. It's not exactly a trait people admire. Just because you're not all happy with yourself doesn't give you an accountable reason to attempt to put others down."

"You know those weren't just petty rumors, Malfoy. Half of Slytherin house was there when Tracey Davis made a scene about how she thought she was pregnant with Solomon's baby. I think we'd all pay a thousand galleons to see that again," Ethan scowled at Draco.

"So since we're bringing up old memories, perhaps you wouldn't mind me reminding everyone of how you hit yourself in the face with your broom in first year? Or how even Longbottom laughed at your face full of boils and pimples when you made your potion incorrectly last year? Maybe everyone would be interested in hearing how you got turned down by 6 different girls when you asked them to the Yule Ball in fourth year?"

"Stop it this instant! Trying to embarrass me isn't going to work in your favor, not to mention it's just plain childish."

"But isn't that what you were doing to Chuck just a moment ago yourself?"

Everyone turned to Ethan now, who was silent. Nobody said anything more until dinner was served five minutes later. Briana stole a glance at Chuck who looked extremely distant as he picked up his fork. She squeezed his hand under the table for a moment, and he clenched hers back tightly as if to reassure her that he was alright.

Everyone at the table continued to eat their chicken cordon bleu in silence, until Astoria apparently thought it was alright for her to speak to Draco again.

"So, Draco, how did you do on your O.W.L.s?", she asked, batting her eyelashes.

"I received O.W.L.s in Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration and Potions. Pretty much all I was expecting."

"Really? I always thought you were smarter than that, you talk sointelligently," she giggled furiously.

Briana rolled her eyes and turned to Kaylee, "Is she always like that?"

"Only around Draco and Blaise. But you know Blaise; he always gives her the cold shoulder. From the looks of it, Draco's barely able to stand her, himself."

Briana watched Draco discreetly roll his blue eyes, which caused her to snicker.

Everyone left their plates with just a few crumbs and smears on them as the house elves began to send out slices of cheesecake with fresh strawberries. Without any hesitation, Briana stole Draco's plate and ate all the strawberries before giving it back to him.

He smirked at his friend, "You remember that I don't like strawberries?"

"I distinctly remember you saying that you couldn't care for a fruit whose seeds are on the outside," she laughed with him as she noticed Astoria sending her a glare.

People began to migrate to the gardens after their bellies were full of desserts. Before going outside with everyone else, Briana went to the restroom. A few minutes later, she joined everyone else in the gardens of Malfoy Manor. The outside was decorated just as intricately as the inside was. She saw Alex,

Chuck, Blaise and Kaylee sitting as a group on a couple of white wooden benches by some bright blue and purple hydrangeas.

Taking a seat between Blaise and Kaylee, Briana smiled at her friends, "What's going on?"

"Kaylee and Chuck were just telling us about what happened with Ethan at the dinner table," Alex informed her.

"Sounds like it was a cheerful meal," Blaise added sarcastically.

"You know how we warned you about the people at Hogwarts you ought to stay away from?", Chuck looked at Briana.

"Yes, of course."

"Ethan Bentley is one of those people. Remember that."

She nodded at him, then turned her head when she heard footsteps coming from behind her.

Draco was walking towards them with his aunt Bellatrix at his side, looking as insane as ever. Upon seeing Briana's face, Bellatrix Lestrange got a deranged, big smile on her face. Giggling dementedly, she ran towards the girl who stood up abruptly before being embraced in an extremely tight hug.

"Briana! Briana, darling! Why you're no child anymore, are you? You look so much like your mother, you know," she continuously smiled rather creepily at Briana who politely smiled back and nodded.

Bellatrix then turned to Draco, but said, not very inconspicuously, "I know you're excited and ready to get on that one. If you ever have any doubts, I greatly approve, nephew. You two would make such beautiful children."

Briana's cheeks got hot and Draco looked at the ground as his aunt skipped away, seemingly happy. Briana sat back down, her best friend joining her on the bench. He turned to Chuck, "Are you alright there, mate? I don't know what Bentley was thinking."

"It didn't really bother me, actually. He's always just been an arrogant douche."

"You can say that again," Kaylee murmured as she stood up to walk to her mother, who was beckoning her from a table far away.

"Well now that she's gone and it's just us," Blaise began, his voice now hushed. "I can't help but ask you Draco; how much longer does your father have until he's being locked up?"

"Excuse me?!", Briana exclaimed.

"Ssh!", Draco quieted her. "My father was caught at the Ministry just before this Summer with several other Death Eaters."

"Why didn't you tell me about this?!"

"It never really came up," Draco shrugged and looked at her apologetically.

"My father wasn't at the ministry, so that's why he's here," Chuck told Briana.

"Both of my parents are already in Azkaban," Alex said quietly, which explained why he showed up alone.

"And nobody in my family is associated of the Death Eaters. We may affiliate ourselves with Death Eater families, but we have no ties to the Dark Lord in any other way," Blaise also explained his current situation.

Briana nodded, then asked Draco, "So why is Lucius still here? And your aunt Bella?"

"My aunt was able to escape. As for my father, the Ministry allowed him to be home for a little while before they took him in. He hasn't been allowed to leave the house, though. He's being taken in tomorrow, actually."

Draco looked a little sad, but shook it off quickly when Briana linked one of her arms around his. Kaylee came back to the group, but she had a girl with her now. The girl looked about their age, being an average height and very skinny. She had dark skin and long black hair but interestingly enough had piercing grey-blue eyes. In truth, she was actually very pretty.

The two girls sat down with the others in the group as Kaylee introduced the girl to Briana, "This is Letha. She goes to Hogwarts as well, in the same year as us, but she's in Ravenclaw."

"It's nice to meet you," Briana smiled.

"Kaylee's told me a story about you," Letha smiled mischievously back at Briana before the two of them began lightly laughing.

The boys looked at each other with interested expressions painted on their faces.

Sitting together as a group on the two benches, the seven teenagers looked around at each other. They could all tell the others were bored, but nobody really knew what they should do about it. That was, until Letha came up with an idea.

"We should play a game," she suggested.

"What do you have in mind?", Blaise asked her.

"Two Truths and a Lie. It'd be perfect, considering I hardly know any of you except for Kaylee."

"Sounds good to me," Draco nodded.

"Me too, I'm just not sure how to play," Chuck said.

"It's so simple! The instructions are practically all in the title!", Blaise stared at him.

"Okay, does anyone have any objections?", Kaylee asked them.

Nobody said anything.

"Alright. So for those of you who don't know how to play," Letha looked at Chuck. "Everyone takes a turn saying three things about themselves - two that are true, and one that's a lie. The rest of the group has to guess which one's the lie. That's it!"

"Oh, well that's so easy!", exclaimed Chuck.

"That's what I told you!", Blaise gave him a look.

"Alright, alright, let's just start this game! What order should we go in?", Briana attempted some leadership.

"Let's just go in a straight line starting from Letha," Draco said.

"Okay, so the order goes Letha, Kaylee, Briana, Draco, Chuck, Alex and then Blaise."

"Start then, Letha!", Chuck pressed.

Letha shot Chuck a short glare then pressed her eyebrows together in thought, "Okay, so I have three cats, I love to cook and I've never had a boyfriend."

"The last one," Blaise exclaimed immediately. "That has to be the lie."

"I agree with Blaise, I'm pretty sure you've had a boyfriend before," Kaylee said.

"Does everyone agree we think the last one's the lie?", Briana asked the group.

They all nodded.

Letha smiled, "Actually, the lie is that I have three cats. I kind of hate cats."

"Rubbish! You're trying to tell me you've never dated anyone before?!", Blaise stared at her bewildered.

"It's the truth! I find it rather flattering that you're so surprised about it," she smiled at him, and he smiled back.

Noticing the looks the two were giving each other, Draco looked at Chuck, who gave him the same knowing look back, and also gave the same knowing look to Alex, whose face was identical to theirs.

"Moving on! Kaylee's turn!", Chuck shouted.

"Right... I used to be best friends with Cho Chang, I was almost sorted into Gryffindor, and I secretly have a crush on Justin Emerson."

"Oh for Merlin's sake, here she goes on about Justin Emerson again...", Letha rolled her eyes.

"Wait, what? Justin Emerson?! How do you know Justin Emerson?!", Briana stared at her surprised and confused, when she heard her ex-boyfriend's name.

"I watch his videos on YouTube all the time! He sings and writes songs and plays the guitar and piano. Plus, he's a total hottie, I love him. He's like a celebrity, kind of! But he hasn't been signed yet," Kaylee explained her obsession with the boy.

"Oh..." Briana had forgotten about the fact that Justin has several videos of himself singing on the internet, not to mention the fact that he has quite a following.

"Why, do you watch his videos too?", Letha questioned Briana.

"Wasn't Justin your ex-boyfriend?", Draco asked her. She nodded.

"NO WAY!", Kaylee screamed. "You dated him?! Oh my Godric, I'm so jealous! Wait, why the hell would you break up with him?!"

"Because I was moving here! At any rate, we're just friends now."

Chuck noticed the slight awkwardness in the conversation "SOME people are trying to play a game here! Well, now we know that the last one is true, I'm guessing the fact about Chang is the lie."

"Yeah, I never saw you with her," Alex said.

"Well you guys are right! I actually kind of hate her," Kaylee shrugged passively.

"Don't be rude! She's rather nice, you know," Letha scolded her friend. "Anyways, it's your turn, Briana."

"Oh, right. Um, my favorite color is blue, I can't dance, and Winter is my favorite season."

"You suck at this, the second one is obviously the lie! You can dance, like at the club," Kaylee said quickly.

"I second that statement," Blaise raised his glass of champagne in the air.

"I third it," Chuck said.

"I suppose I'll agree with the rest of you," Letha decided.

"Honestly, Bri. You're one of the best dancers I've ever seen. You guys should see all her trophies and crowns and whatnot," Draco spoke of his best friend's achievements.

Briana rolled her eyes, "Okay, okay, you guys all got it right! Bloody hell, sorry I suck so bad at this game. Just take your turn now, Draco."

Draco sat up straighter and clasped his hands on his knees, "Alright, so I've never been drunk before, I secretly sing to myself a lot of the time, and my favorite beverage is hot apple cider."

"The one about you singing to yourself?", Chuck guessed.

"No, it's obviously the one about him never being drunk," Blaise corrected.

"I'm with Blaise," chimed in Alex.

"I think it's the last one! That drink is for little kids," Kaylee stated.

"I'd have to guess... the one about you never being drunk is a lie as well," Letha noted.

"Well, I know your favorite thing to drink is a good hot apple cider... And this sounds a little rude, but I think the one about you never being drunk before is a lie," Briana confessed.

Draco smirked at his friends, "Chuck was the only one who was correct. I've never been drunk before, and my favorite thing to drink is hot apple cider. I don't sing to myself though."

"Are you serious?!", Kaylee asked. "That's a lie!"

"I swear on my life."

"Come on now, it's my turn!", Chuck rubbed his hands together. "Here's the three things: one, I've never bought my own school books before, I've never gotten into a fight with a girl before, and I can't sing to save my own life."

"Second one's a lie!", Blaise shouted.

"No, the first one!", Letha challenged.

They ended up needing to do a vote by raise of hand, the majority of the group voting that the lie was the second one, about him never being in a fight with a female before. Upon reaching this decision, Chuck laughed somewhat bitterly and told them they were wrong.

"The lie is the one about me singing! I actually sing well, if I may say so myself. Kind of insulting that you all think I sing so badly. I take this sort of thing to heart, you know."

"Chuck, stop being a baby. Maybe if you actually sang in front of us for once, we would KNOW such things," Draco commented.

"I sang for Briana earlier today!", he defended himself. They looked at Briana.

"It's true," she told them. "He is actually quite good."

The others looked around at each other, some of them nodding approval and understanding, while Chuck stood with his arms crossed and a look that said "I told you so".

Now, it was time for Alex to take his turn in the game of Two Truths and a Lie. After carefully thinking over what he would say, the rather quiet teenage boy spoke, "I have an older sister who lives in France, I've never had a girlfriend, and I suck at Astronomy."

For once, it was silent. All of Alex's were quiet as they tried to decipher which fact was actually fiction. He had done well with the things he chose to say. After a few minutes of independent thinking, the six of them looked around at each other. Nobody really had any idea of which one was the lie, so they shrugged at one another and looked to Alex for the answer.

When he was about to speak, Chuck cut him off, "WAIT! I know which one ISN'T a lie! You really do have a sister who lives in France, I remember you telling me. But I don't know which of the other two is a lie..."

Smiling weakly and shyly at his friend, Alex explained, "You're close, Chuck. The only lie was actually that I have a sister who lives in France. I DO have an older sister, Claire, but she lives in Belgium, not Paris. Basically, I just took three true statements and changed one of them a tiny bit, so it would be hard for you guys to choose."

There was a collective "oh" of understanding from the group of friends as Alex slowly nodded, yet Draco shook his head side to side.

"Why are you shaking your head 'no'?", Briana asked him.

"Because. Alex is a secret genius. It's just nobody knows it because he hardly ever speaks," explained Draco, giving Alex a look, whose cheeks got pale pink as he lowered his head in a bit of shame.

"Alright, alright, stop rebuking him. It's my turn anyways!", Blaise had been patient long enough. "Of course you guys keep choosing to lolly-gag around."

"Then stop criticizing us and go already!", Letha snapped her fingers.

Glancing at her for a second, Blaise took the last turn of the game, "Right, so the man I came here with is my sixth step-father, I've been able to fly since I was 5, and I used to believe that Cho Chang was attractive."

"The first one's the lie!", Briana said immediately, believing she was right.

"I agree with Briana!", Kaylee shouted.

"Me too," said Letha, Chuck and Alex nodding in the background.

Draco looked skeptical. Squinting his eyes at Blaise as if it would help him figure out what the lie was, he slowly said, "That's not the answer... It's the last one. The one about Chang is the lie, I know it."

Blaise smiled at Draco, then turned to the rest of the group, "Malfoy was right. I've never fancied that girl."

The others groaned. "I was so sure the first one was fake!", Kaylee looked exasperated.

"Wait, so then your mother has been married seven times?", Briana gave Blaise a crazy look.

"Indeed. This is her longest marriage, though, so I think she's finally settled down for good."

"Of course, I already knew all of this. Just a testament to how good of friends the two of us are," Draco stretched, bragging of his knowledge of his best friend.

"Well that was a pretty fun game," Blaise admitted, standing up.

"I told you. And now, we all know a lot about each other now," Letha pointed out.

"So... this is like our official group of friends, here, right? Because I will not appreciate you guys ignoring me at school after we just played this game together," Chuck was being serious, but of course he was saying it in a funny way.

His friends laughed. Kaylee spoke, "Okay, so all seven of us here are friends. Admittedly, we're not all that close yet, but I feel like we can get there really quickly and easily. That's why we're going to stay in this group of friends. You have a problem, go to anyone of the six other people in this group and nobody else. This is how friendships start and last, you guys."

Everyone nodded, almost everyone smiling. Chuck stated, "We also all must hang out together as often as possible! Any combination of the seven of us, just... hang out with one another as much as you can."

"I feel like this is a sort of cult or something," Alex said a little quietly, but they all heard him and laughed.

"No, but honestly, this is an elite group. I'm glad we're all able to be friends. And everyone will do what was mentioned," Blaise finalized, to everyone's agreement.

Suddenly, the beautiful Summer day vanished, and in its wake left a bundle of grey clouds and dark skies. Apparently, the weather wanted to screw over the Malfoy's party tenfold, because the dark clouds let out all the rain they had gathered up. Since everyone who had attended the party was outside, lots of squeals and shrieks were heard, mostly from women and girls who wished to remain dry.

Everybody ran inside to avoid the falling water. Some people even left the party all together. Doors and windows were slammed shut and locked, as Briana stared out of one. She was greatly confused by the drastic change in weather, wondering why it was so out of order, and if it had anything to do with the wizarding world. Her questions were answered when she heard a distressed Missus Malfoy telling nearly everyone to leave immediately, and that the party was now called off.

Letha, Kaylee, Alex, Blaise and Chuck were all ordered home right away, but Briana noticed that Chuck's father stayed behind as Draco joined her at her side. Looking around, she further realized that the only remaining people were Death Eaters, other than herself and Draco. They were all filing into a room in the back of the house. Mister and Missus Brightsman themselves passed the two of them. Perseus stopped when he saw his daughter, then said, "Briana, you really need to go home. Now." He kept walking.

"They're having a meeting," Draco told her. "You-know-who has called a meeting. I really don't know why though."

Narcissa came running back into the house, looking as stressed and pained as ever. Her son stopped her, "Mother, what's the matter?"

"Those who have been caught at the Ministry were just taken. But some of them were able to get away, like your Aunt Bella. That's why the Dark Lord has called us together."

"Where's father?"

She fanned her face as she struggled to keep her tears back, "He was taken."

Briana watched sadly as Draco's face turned cold, hugging his mother before she ran off to the meeting. The two friends stood there, watching the door shut behind Narcissa. Briana looked up at Draco.

"Are you okay?", she asked him.

He stood idle for a moment, before holding her hand, saying, "We should go upstairs."

And they did.