Fallen & Risen 33. A Day with the Malfoys part 2
After breakfast, lady Malfoy asked Draco to take Heley outside for a visit around the manor.
"Our land in the snowy morning is an enchantment not to be missed," lady Malfoy said to Heley. "You will fall for the sight."
And that was how Heley found herself sitting in a horse sleight, admiring the landscape while Draco led the horse. Strangely, the owl didn't want to leave her side (probable because she had shared her breakfast with it). It was now cradled in Heley's arms, quite please with itself.
Though Heley didn't say a word since they had climbed in the sleight, the huge smile adorning her face was enough to tell how much she like what she was seeing. The Malfoy land in winter was a magnificent spectacle. Everything was covered in pure white snow. Big fluffy snowflakes danced around them, leaded by the dancing rhythm of the wind. Winter usually reminisced of a season of dead, but the winter on the Malfoy land was different. Instead being for the deceased, winter on Malfoy land reminisced a season of hope. When Fall stripped off the trees of their leaves and sent the animals to hibernate, Winter brought everything into a long sleep so they can regenerate their energy for their next rebirth. Until Spring would be back, everything was resting under the Winter's kind, snowy, mantle protection. Winter was a powerful season that could even be destructive, yet it could also be caring and gentle. Heley now understood what lady Malfoy meant by 'an enchantment not to be missed'.
Heley's eyes were permanently wide open, not wanting to miss anything. She was like a child in front of a fairy tale castle, mesmerized by the magical sight around her. Draco couldn't help but smiled at Heley's childlike joy. It amused to see how easy it was to please his new ward. Her naive grin made Draco wanting to show her something worthier to be mesmerized, a secret place he was very fond of. He pulled on the reins and led the horse toward another direction a little bit further inside the wood. Captivated by her surrounding, Heley didn't notice when Draco stopped the horses and had climbed down the sleight. She also didn't see him going around the sleight to offer her his hand. Instead, it was the owl in Heley's arms that jumped on the offered hand before hopping up to Draco's shoulder.
"Heley," Draco called, his hand still extended to her, the palm up. Heley startled and brought her attention back to see Draco still waiting for her to give him his hand.
"Oh! Err, it's okay! I can g-... Aaaah!" Heley didn't finish her sentence as she missed a step, tripped, and fell out the sleight. Luckily for her, Draco caught her between his arms before she hit the ground.
"Oomph!" Heley found her face buried in companion's winter coat, his peppermint and black pepper scent titillating her nose. Heley cursed between her teeth, wondering why she kept tripping everywhere lately.
'It must be a jinx Blaise cursed me with!'
Draco helped her straight up on her feet again, his larges hands holding her upper arms.
"Are you alright?" Draco asked worriedly. Heley blushed at the proximity and stepped back to put a distance between them.
"Hn. Thank you," Heley muttered shyly, her face still burning. Draco nodded and released her arms. The owl on Draco's shoulder jumped down on Heley's.
"Hoo?" the owl hoot-ed, asking her if she was hurt. Heley smiled and brought her hand up to pat its head.
"I'm not hurt. Thank you for worrying," Heley said, smiling to the owl. The owl cooed, and then nuzzled its head against Heley's cheek, earning itself more pats.
"Come, I want to show you something," Draco said. She followed him.
Draco guided Heley a little bit more in the forest through the trees. The black haired girl gasped at the sight of the lake revealing to them. Her reaction made Draco smile. The surface of the water was frozen, reflecting the sunlight like a mirror. The sunrays bounced on the ice before leaping up, giving it a magical-like light. A willow had taken root at the edge of the lake. The three was covered with a thick coat of snow, making the branches bend over the surface of the frozen water. It was like the willow was sleeping, patiently waiting for the return of the spring. At the feet of the willow, a doe with its baby fawn were searching for something to eat under the careful watch of a stag no far away. The stag was most probably the father of the fawn. Heley smiled at the image of the small family. The stag and the doe reminded her of her parents.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Draco quietly asked.
"Hmn..." Heley gave a small nodded, her eyes not leaving the stag, the doe and the fawn. Draco inertly smiled, very happy about his decision to share his favorite hiding place with her.
"I had discovered this place recently. It is very special to me. Whenever I feel that there is no more hope left for me, I came here. Just the view of this place makes me forget about all the worry of the world." Draco paused momentary, admiring the shining face of the frozen lake. "It is like this place has a mysterious power of its own. It can dissipate negative feelings like sadness and despair and give you in exchange a sensation of peace and serenity. It always marvels me how this place can heal me." Draco finished with a serene smile stretching his lips.
His smile was so mesmerising that Heley couldn't detach her eyes from him. Standing there with the snow dancing around him, a calm and gentle smile gracing his features, his aristocratic profile cut on the white scenery, he was enthralling. Heley found herself completely drawn by him.
'I never realize that he is so handsome...' Heley jerked, her cheeks burning crimson at the sudden and ludicrous idea her heart just popped in her brain.
'What was I thinking about? Where did that come from?' Heley chewed her lips, mortified that she just had thought of Draco Malfoy as handsome and searching for a plausible reason of why she had that weird (and ridiculous) idea.
'It must be the coffee! That's it! It must be that! It's all the coffee's fault! My taste buds are not used to such deep and refined coffee beans so the sense of taste brain zone is upside down, affecting the analyzing capacity all the other zones!'
Heley hastily turned her face away from him and pretended to admire the lake too. Soon, she came to realize that Draco must be right about the healing power this place have. She forgot about her previous embarrassment and a sensation of serenity washed throughout her being.
'This place is really magical. I never felt so in peace before like I am now, even standing so close to him.' Heley hesitated momentary before continuing.
'And he shares this place with me...' Again, Heley felt her cheeks burn at what that realization implied. But despite herself, it made her heart feel warm at that idea. Her cheeks took a soft peachy pink tint.
'It... It is not a bad feeling...' she admitted to herself.
Heley closed her eyes, accepting to let the feeling spread inside her, enjoying the caress of the gentle wind against her cheek. She was unaware that Draco was watching her, slightly gasping. For a reason he didn't, he felt his heartbeat pounding faster in his chest.
Draco and Heley left the lake. Draco helped Heley climbed back in the sleight before he took place next to her. He gathered the reins in his hands and led the horses to go back to the manor. While Draco led the horses, Heley enjoyed the peaceful silence of the forest. Her hands were crossed over her coat, cradling the small owl, snuggling against her warmth. Draco eyed the owl, an idea came to him.
"Heley, the owl seems to like you very much. Why don't you keep her?" Draco said.
"Eh?" Heley responded, startled out of her reveries. She looked down at the white snowy feathered ball in her arm.
"Ever since I picked her up, she had never let anyone get near her, except you. She looks like she has adopted you," Draco said, seeing how the owl seemed happy in Heley's arms. "You don't have an owl, so you should as well keep it."
The owl looked up at Heley with affectionate golden eyes as if it wanted to support what Draco said. The way the owl looked at her reminded Heley of how Hedwig used to watch her. Heley smiled softly at the souvenir of Hedwig, her first owl.
"Are you really sure you want to give her to me?" Heley asked Draco.
"Hmn," Draco nodded, answering. "Besides, I think that it is better that she had a master or mistress in your case. Apollo, my hawk, doesn't seem to like her. He is often annoyed with her and when he is annoyed, he... is less willing to owl-post for me." Draco explained sheepishly. Heley giggled, amused by Draco's predicament.
"I figured that I must gave her away, but I haven't have time to think about how I should do it. So if you accept to take her, it will help me very much," Draco said, almost pleading.
"Hahaha!" Heley laughed. To think that the little cute bird could bring troubles to Draco Malfoy was just hilarious. For sure, if he heard about that, Ron would elevate the bird among the most awesome creature to ever exist in the world just because the owl could annoy the mighty Slytherin Ice Prince. Heley brought the owl up to her face.
"Do you want to be my friend?" Heley asked, cooing at the cuteness of the bird.
"Hoo hoo!" the owl squealed, showing Heley how much its liked the idea. That made Heley smiled.
"Then I shall call you... hmn... Heather! That's it, Heather. Do you like your new name, Heather?" Heley asked.
"Hoo hoo!" Heather flapping her wings happily.
"Hahaha! Then Heather you shall be!" Heley said, kissing the owl's head.
"Hoo hoo!" The two newly formed mistress and pet nuzzled against each other. The joy reflecting on their face unconsciously brought a smile onto Draco's face.
After Heather's christening, Heley and Draco were more relaxed and enjoyed talking to each other about anything and everything on their way back. It was so fun spending time talking with her new guardian that Heley felt slightly disappointed when they reached the manor. She didn't realize that time flew so quickly between them.
Back to the Manor, Draco had a house-elf to take care of the horses. Once inside, he helped Heley to take off her coat before leading Heley's into the winter garden, where his mother was waiting for them for tea.
"Go first. I have some papers to fill. I will join you later," Draco said. Heley nodded, understanding. After a last nod, Draco walked away, leaving a trail of fresh mint and black pepper scent behind him.
Once alone, Heley entered the winter garden when something suddenly popped in her mind.
'Wait. Fresh peppermint, black pepper and winter-like scent... Why do I have the impression that I am supposed to remember something about this scent?' Heley pondered.
"There you are, Heley," lady Malfoy greeted as soon as Heley stepped in the winter garden. "Come and sit with me." Heley took the seat across from lady Malfoy as the later poured her a cup of tea. "So, how was the ride?"
"It was, as you said, an enchantment. I particularly like the-...! Eep!" Heley jumped as something poked her hand. She searched for the culprit when her eyes landed on a bird. It was a peacock, a white peacock. The bird was totally white, except for the eyes, which were a ruby red.
Heley noticed that there were many white peacocks roaming around in the garden. She then remembered Ron saying something about the Malfoys have 'white chickens' running in their manor, but she had never expected the said white 'chickens' would be so... unlike the usual chicken we all know.
"They are beautiful creatures, aren't they?" lady Malfoy said, very pleased by Heley's reaction.
Heley, still amazed by the beauty of the birds, only nodded for answer. One particularly beautiful peacock toddled toward Heley, curious about the new girl. It was, like his companions, immaculately white. However, unlike his companions, it was like his feather were glowing and the eye of the tip of his tail feather were lilac encircled in a glittering silver ring. Fascinated by the beauty of the creature, Heley slowly extended her hand toward the bird, asking its permission to touch it. The peacock watched her for an instant, evaluating her. Then, slowly, it walked toward Heley's extended hand and rested its head against her palm. Suddenly, Heley felt like something was sucked out of her through where the bird touched her. Heley froze.
'W-w-what was that...?' Heley wondered, blinking. Surprisingly, Heley didn't feel scared or anything. She felt suddenly very good and in peace with herself.
"These peacocks are magical creature, but this one particularly special," lady Malfoy said.
"How so?" Heley asked politely, but was still confused by the sudden swing of her emotions.
"Look at its feet, Heley," lady Malfoy said, smiling. Heley did as she was told. At the bird feet, Heley saw a small patch of white star flowers that wasn't there a minute ago.
"Huh?" Heley exclaimed. "This bird can make flowers sprout out from the soil?"
"Yes," lady Malfoy, smiling again. "I myself had become very found on these flowers. They are very soothing for the sight."
"But how did it do it?" Heley asked.
"You just feel like something was suck out of yourself when it touched you, right?" lady Malfoy asked. Heley nodded. "Ami, that is its name, can absorb people negative energy when he touched them. He purifies the energy, and then releases it out under the form of flowers. The more negative energy one has, the more flowers Ami can produce. Heley, you must have a lot of sadness inside you, considering the number of flowers Ami just sprouted." Lady Malfoy explained.
Heley bite her lower lip and dropped her eyes to her feet. It was true. Christmas season was so... blue to her. She had dreams about her parents, about Sirius, about Remus and all the people who left the world. She was happy to see them in her dreams again, but also sad at the same time because they were so far away from her. During the school, with all her friends around her, Heley had less time to see them. But as she was alone during holidays, she could think and dream about them as much as she wanted. That was why she was so insistent to return to school alone because she wanted to see them again. But Hermione just wouldn't let her have her ways and made her stay at the Malfoy Manor. Clearly, Hermione knew her too well. She played all the cards she had to avoid Heley drowning into loneliness again. Sometimes, it just annoyed that Hermione mingle in her business, but Heley knew Hermione did it for her well-being.
"Ami saved Draco's and my life," Lady Malfoy softly spoke. Surprised, Heley looked at the elegant lady sat in front of her, waiting for her to continue.
Update on Tuesday, September 6, 2011. Beta'd by DaniPotterLovesGod.