Hello again,
I'm back. I have no excuses for why I didn't update for so long. It just happened because I have less free times. I started university, which is, for those who had experimented it, quite demanding on your energy and your times. Now that it is summer break, I can find free time to write again. I hope you will enjoy reading this story again.
N.B: This chapter is unbeta'd.
Fallen & Risen 32. A Day with the Malfoys part 1
"Mnnn..." Heley groaned. Today, the morning sunlight was very annoying. It seemed like Mr. Sunshine had decided to be a real bothersome today. It kept stubbornly poking on her eye lids, refusing to let her return back to her sweet dream. Heley wanted to hide away from the annoying sunshine and rolled over to burry herself under the silk bed sheet.
". . ." She just realized something.
'Wait. Since when my bed have silk bed sheet?'
Heley jerked up from her bed to see that she wasn't in the Gryffindor girls' dorm.
'Ah! Where is this place? And what am I doing here?' Heley panicked.
She looked around the room. The room was twice the size of the Gryffindor girls' dorm. Instead of a plain brick wall like the dorm, the wall was covered with cream and golden pattern wallpaper. The bed, the dresser, the vanity, the nightstand were a set of crafted wood painted in a chestnut finish to bring out the warm burgundy-red color material of the bed, the curtain and the chair. It was a very nice and welcoming bedroom, but that still didn't stop Heley to wonder when and how did she end there. Then, she remembered what happened the night before.
Flashback
It was the end of the Malfoy New Year's party. The guests were starting to leave. The last remained were Heley and her friends, who were exchanging the last salutations.
"Well, we will be leaving now," Neville said. He put his arms around Heley and hugged her. "See you again, Heley. I'll come to school the Saturday before we start school again. We can spend the whole day together."
"See you too, Neville," Heley said, returning his hug.
"I will come too with him," Luna said, smiling to Heley. Heley returned her smile.
"As for me, I will certainly come AND I want to see the school with all its walls standing, so don't search for troubles until then. We want you alive for graduation," Hermione said. Heley grimaced.
"I never look for troubles. It's trouble which always look for me," Heley meekly replied. Ginny patted her shoulder.
"There there, Heley. Don't be down for something like that. I'll be there too and I'll bring Ron with me," Ginny said, then whispered in Heley's ear "If you are out to turn the school upside down, then I want my part of fun too. Hihihi!"
"Ginny, I heard that!" Hermione exclaimed outrageously while Neville and Blaise sniggered.
"Oops! Hnhnhn!" Ginny covered her mouth but was grinning behind her hands. Hermione sighed in despair.
"Heley, are you returning back to Hogwarts again?" Blaise asked inquisitively, not liking the idea of Heley spending all her time alone at school.
"Yes," Heley answered.
"Heley, is it really fine to spend the holidays alone at school?" Neville asked, not liking the idea more than Blaise do. Heley smiled to reassure them.
"It's not that bad," Heley said. Neville wished that she would accept his invitation to stay over his place or at the Burrow or at Hermione's place, but Heley stubbornly refused them all. "Actually, it's quite-..."
"Alone at Hogwarts?" Lady Malfoy interrupted. She had heard Blaise. "Heley, were you staying alone at school during the holidays?" At the sound of her voice, lady Malfoy didn't like the idea very much, just like everyone.
"Well, err, technically, I'm not alone," Heley hurriedly explained. "I spend times with the ghosts and the house elves. And I played outside with the creatures of the Forbidden Forest."
The company glared at the black hair girl. Sure, she looked like she had fun spending the holidays at Hogwarts with the err, non-wizard livings, but still…
"Heley, you will stay at the Manor until school start again," lady Malfoy said, more likely commanded. "You will return back to Hogwarts with Draco."
"Heh? But I…"
"She really can, lady Malfoy?" Hermione interrupted Heley, relieved at the perspective that Heley wouldn't be alone again. "It would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance for taking care of her."
"Huh? What? Hermione, wh-…?"
"Heley, me too I prefer that you stay here instead of going back to school," Neville cut in.
"If you're not going to the Burrow, then stay here," Ginny added in.
"Believe me, this is best for you," Blaise said.
"Hah…?" Heley ticked an eyebrow. What was wrong with them all? It wasn't like the concerned person was them, but it was her. How could they decide what was good or not good for her without her consent? (And damn Ron for being out and not taking her defense against Hermione!) She absolutely didn't want to stay at the Malfoy's place with this-...
"Heley, come with me. Now," Hermione interrupted her thinking and pulled her to the farthest corner of the room.
Far away from other people's ears, Heley and Hermione had a little chat.
"Hermione, why do you want me to stay here with the Malfoys?" Heley protested, clearly not liking the 'invitation' forced upon her. Hermione grabbed Heley's shoulders and forced the girl to look straight into her eyes.
"Heley, even though I don't understand why, you always seem to be uneasy around Draco, almost as you dislike him. I was wondering if somehow you share the same feelings Harry had toward Draco. Heley, you only know Draco for only a few months, but you seem to his prejudices against him. As far as I can see, Draco never did anything that might hurt you. Yet, you seem so cold toward him. It seems to me that you took all of Harry's anger toward Draco into yourself. You treated Draco like the way Harry would certainly do to him. But Heley, you're not Harry. You are not him. You are you, who have known Draco for only a few months. I feel that you're being unfair to Draco in the way you act toward him. If you were Harry, then I would understand your feelings, after everything Draco did to him from the moment they started Hogwarts. I myself also have the right to hate Draco after everything he did to me. However, today, I'm not the same persone as I was before. I came to understand that it is just pointless to bear grudge against the past. We cannot walk ahead if we keep continuing to watch the past. Besides, Draco had changed too. You, Heley, you don't have any past grief with Draco. Among all of us, you are the only person who should be able to have a fair opinion about Draco and the Malfoys. However, it doesn't seem to be the case."
Hermione paused momentary. She didn't notice that Heley had froze under her words while she talked. Hermione let go of Heley's shoulders and turned her head away.
"If Harry was still alive, I know that he would still have hard feelings against Draco because he was the one who have lost the most in the war. His parents, his godfather, his surrogate godfather, his friends and his mentor. And even him di-... (Hermione bit her lips, trying to stop them from trembling) ...he left too after them." Hermione took a grip on herself and turned to face Heley again. "But as I just said Heley, you are not Harry. You are you. I don't know how and why you came to share the same hard feelings Harry had toward Draco. Certainly you must have your reasons, but for whatever reason it is, I ask you to give Draco a chance so you can properly see him under a new light. But most importantly, I ask you to give you, yourself, a chance. I want you to take this opportunity before starting school again to learn to see Draco as the new person he became today. Heley, I've learn the hard way how bearing negative feelings toward other people can bring disastrous consequences. Many times, I told myself that if right from the beginning, we weren't so caught in the prejudices and rivalries between Gryffindor and Slytherin, the war might not be so cruel for all of us. (Hermione close her fists to refrain them from shaking too much). Heley, I wish you could avoid doing the same mistakes we did. I hope that you would use the opportunity to settle down your prejudices and grudges against the Malfoys. So please, stay her and learn to pacify with Draco and his mother and with yourself, especially considering their new position toward you as your legal guardians."
End flashback
'It seems that you took all of Harry's anger toward Draco into yourself... Heley, you are not Harry. You are you... You don't have any past grief with Draco... Among all of us, you are the only person who should be able to have a fair opinion about Draco and the Malfoys.' Hermione's words echoed in Heley's head.
"Ha..." Heley sighed as she leaned against the bed headboard. Because of those words, Heley ended here, in one of the guest rooms of the Malfoy Manor.
'Hermione was right. I had never been able to completely erase my past.' Heley looked through the window, which gave out on the garden behind the manor.
'I had always thought that Harry was finally put aside. I did everything to erase the traces of Harry, but it seems that feelings, particularly the hard ones, are not that easy to erase. His feelings are still live inside of me, particularly those toward Draco Malfoy... (Heley chewed her lips) who is now my guardian... (Her shoulders slumbered) Fate, why do you hate me so much?'
She grabbed the bed-cover and hide covered her head with it, hiding herself.
'Learn to pacify with Draco and his mother and with yourself,' Hermione's voice echoed again.
'And pray tell me how do I do that, Hermione?' Heley grunt. 'You forgot to leave behind a tutorial manual book for me to use!'
"Miss Potter," a voice called.
"Wah!" Heley jumped and dropped the cover over her head to see a house-elf standing in the room. "Err, yes? What is it?"
"Mistress Malfoy would like to know if you will join her for breakfast or would you prefer to take it here in your room?" the house-elf asked.
"Ah! I, err... I... err..." Heley couldn't find her words. Waking up in a foreigner room with Hermione's voice admonishing her in her own head, plus a house-elf to serve her ware not things that was used too. It was just too much for her system to take.
'What is wrong with me? Why am I so slow this morning?'
Yet, the house-elf patiently waited for an answer.
"I will join her," Heley finally managed to blurt.
"Mistress said that, in case you choose to have breakfast with her, you can take your time to prepare. Mistress will wait for you," the house-elf added.
"I will take a shower and will be down soon," Heley said.
"Very well. I shall inform Mistress." The house-elf bowed and popped away.
Heley climbed down the bed and hurried into the shower. Five minutes later, she walked out to remember that she nothing else to wear except the gown she worn the night before. But she was immediately relieved when she saw a set of clothe displayed on the bed for her. It was an indoor old-pink color dress long down to the feet. Heley wasn't sure she was happy it was a dress, but either she wore that or it was the gown. She grabbed the dress and slipped in.
'At least, they had the good idea to provide me flat shoes!'
She slipped in the slippers, brushed her hair and left her room.
As she stepped out of her room, an(other) unfortunate accident happened to her.
WHAMP!
"Ouch! Aaaaaaah! Oomph!" Heley got hit with something from behind her head, yelped, fall and her face connected with the Malfoy Manor hallway carpet. Once again, she found herself flat on the floor, kissing the carpet. "Grrrrr..." Heley cursed under her breath.
"Why is it always happen to me?" she grunted as she sat on her heels.
A chance neither Ginny nor Blaise weren't there. Otherwise, Ginny would dutifully note down on the list of Heley's new friend the Malfoy Manor's hallway carpet after the ballroom floor while Blaise would start exposing his (absurdly) super developed theory with complex scientifical hypotheses that would make the great genius magician Merlin himself, or even Einstein, look like a scholar just to explain of how Heley Jane Potter managed to trip while wearing absolutely flat shoes.
'Could it be that I am cursed?' Heley wondered. But this time, it really wasn't Heley's fault at all. Something had collided with into her.
"Awww..." Heley groaned, massaging the sore spot behind her skull where she was hit. She turned around to see who/what was culprit it was only to find a ball with wings at her feet. "Heh?"
Heley picked up the winged ball, which happened to be an owl. The owl wasn't big one. It was bigger than Ron's owl Pig, but smaller than a Quaffle. It had snowy white feather with hints of gold.
"Houuuu..." the owl whimpered, its eyes swirling. It appeared that the bird got knock hard when it collided into Heley's head.
"It was you who collided into me, yet you dare to whimper on me?" Heley said accusingly to the bird.
"Houuu..." the bird answered, as trying to say it was sorry. Heley blinked, surprised. It seemed like the bird could understand her. But before Heley could say anything else, her stomach reminded her it was breakfast time.
GROOOOOOOOOWL! Heley blushed, happy that no one was around to hear her stomach's demand.
"I'll deal with you later. Right now, I'm hungry!" Heley said and headed down to the dining room, carrying the owl in one hand, the other one kept massaging the sore spot behind her head.
"Ah, Heley. Here you are," lady Malfoy greeted as she saw the black hair girl entered the room. Draco was also there. He gave her a nod.
"Good morning, Aunt Narcissa, Draco," Heley greeted and returned Draco's nod.
"Good morning, darling. Here, take a seat. And how did you hurt your head?" lady Malfoy asked, seeing Heley massaging the back of her scalp. Heley grimaced and showed her the bird she was cradling in her arm.
"This bird collided into me when I left my room," Heley said.
"Again?" Draco said, recognizing the owl.
"Again? You know about its flying performances? Is he yours?" Heley asked, sitting on the only empty chair next to Draco.
"Actually, it's not a he, but a she," Draco explained. "She is still a baby. I found her in the forest behind our land. She fell off her nest and was facing alone a hungry wolf. Her mother died protecting her. The wolf wanted to have her as a meal when I came upon them. I brought her back with me. And about her flying performances, she has a habit to bump into everywhere all the times. I cannot help her because I don't know how to teach a bird to fly. And Apollo, my hawk, refused to teach her. So she had to learn it on her own, which ended up crashing everytimes into everything."
"Oh," Heley said, surprised to learn that Draco Malfoy could be nice to an owl. The owl had regained conscious and was staying still in Heley's arm.
"You can take care of the owl later, Heley. Now let's eat," lady Malfoy said.
They started their breakfast. Heley even share a piece of bacon to the owl.
Updated on Tuesday, June 28, 2011. Unbeta'd.
A/N: Due to a tight schedule, my previous beta-reader had to resign. So know, I'm in search for a new beta-reader. If there is someone who is interested to beta-read Fallen & Risen, please send me a notice. Thank you.