Chapter Two: Servant

The day passed at a steady pace, Regan finding that the work was hardly difficult. The pair took care of the main floor of the house, which included the dining hall, a formal living room, an office, the entrance hall, various closets, and a library. They mostly dusted and fluffed up cushions. Every spine of every book in the library was wiped off and Regan found herself enjoying the company of Natalie. Yes, she prattled on endlessly, but it was just good to hear somebody speak so cheerfully to her.

When it came time for dinner, they went to the dining room where another older maid and butler were waiting for them. They were Mr. and Mrs. Harvey, the house managers who had worked for the Malfoy family since they were first married. They greeted Regan politely before giving her precise instructions on what to do. She was to go to each person and allow them to take however much they wanted. When they heard voices, the four of them lined against the wall and waited quietly with their heads bowed. Regan's insides were trembling, but she wasn't sure if it was fear or dread that she felt.

"I've told you dozens of times, Diagon Alley needs to be closed."

"And I've told you that we cannot afford to lose the income."

Regan peered up as four different figures entered into the dining hall. She quickly recognized Lucius and Draco, both looking exhausted from a long days work that was clearly not over. She quickly looked away, fighting back the horrible vivid memories that were surging forward.

So much death…so much blood…

"It's dinner time, you can talk about business tomorrow." Draco's beautiful wife Astoria put a hand on her husband's shoulder with tiny Scorpio balanced on her hip. Draco sighed, but nodded as he pulled out his wife's chair for her. Their son was placed in a high chair next to his mother while Draco sat across from them with Lucius at the head of the table. Regan followed Natalie's path for it seemed that she knew the order that each person should be served. She avoided any eye contact, but it seemed that nobody was really that interested in her…not that she could see, anyway.

"And who is this?" Regan stilled as the question seemed to echo around her.

"This is Regan Westwood, sir." Natalie quickly introduced. "She's new, just arrived this morning." Regan stood perfectly still with her large bowl of green beans. She could feel that everybody was staring at her and it was an extremely uncomfortable feeling.

"And might I have the pleasure of seeing those pretty eyes, Ms. Westwood?" Regan forced herself to look at the slightly amused face of Lucius Malfoy. She fought the fear that was weighing down her chest, but for some unknown reason she was able to keep eye contact with Lucius. A ghost of a smile touched his lips before he lightly chuckled.

"Such an interesting eye color," Lucius commented.

"Thank you sir." Regan quickly answered.

"And that hair," he mused to himself. "I haven't seen hair like that since-."

"Father, just leave the poor girl alone." Draco quietly insisted. "There's no need to torment her on her first day."

"Complimenting the girl is not torturing her." Lucius shot back. "Ms. Westwood, come here." He demanded, motioning her over with the flick of his fingers. Regan slowly handed the beans to Natalie and cautiously walked forward to stand beside Lucius. He quietly looked her up and down, but his eyes seemed to always come back to the flaming locks that grew so proudly from her pale scalp. "Ms. Westwood, do you like it here, working with Natalie?"

"Yes sir." Regan instantly answered. Lucius smirked, which only proved to get on Draco's nerves.

"That is good to hear, especially since Natalie has been working alone for such a long time." He stared at Regan's blank face, as if hoping for some sort of reaction from her. "Take out your braid." That finally made Regan flinch from surprise as she offered him a curious glance.

"Sir?"

"Take out your braid, let me see your hair." He told her with a slightly more stern voice. Regan hesitated for a moment before sliding the headband from her head. With diligent fingers, Regan undid her carefully weaved braid and let her hair hang over her shoulders in loose waves. It fell naturally into its usual heavy side part, framing Regan's pale face and bringing out the gentle flush in her cheeks. Lucius leaned back in his seat completely captivated by the rich, golden color. "You don't see red hair like that nowadays." Lucius mindlessly commented.

"I wouldn't know, sir." Regan answered, feeling the strong urge to push back her hair and go to stand beside Natalie. She suddenly stiffened when Lucius reached out a slim hand to run his fingers through her hair.

"I've known a few red heads in my day…but they were all wicked, wicked people." Lucius's grip on Regan's hair suddenly tightened and he yanked Regan down to her knees. Regan let out a pained cry as she fell against Lucius's side, cringing as her scalp pulsed from the rough treatment. "You're not wicked, are you…Ms. Westwood?" Regan whimpered as he roughly grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes, which seemed to amuse Lucius. "Well, are you wicked?"

"No sir." Regan finally managed to answer, her voice trembling. Lucius's smile widened as his hand let go of her chin.

"Good girl," he muttered. "Natalie, take Ms. Westwood back to your room." Natalie quickly nodded, helping Regan stand and escorting her out of the room. Regan trembled and leaned against Natalie, hearing Lucius's laughter echo around her as they disappeared into the servant's quarters.

"I've never seen him do that to anybody." Natalie said softly as Regan climbed into her bed. "He usually doesn't even acknowledge new servants…" Regan shrugged, running her fingers through her damp hair. Despite the rough treatment she had endured during dinner, she was thankful for the hot shower and the hot meal that she had received.

"Every boss has to scare his employees, you know, to make sure that they'll respect him." She explained, quietly thankful for the blanket that Natalie had made for her. Things were very chilly in this strange basement dormitory.

"Master Lucius never treated me like that when I first arrived…although, maybe he's more interested in you because you're the first person to start working for him since Mistress Narcissa left." Regan quirked a pale eyebrow curiously.

"What happened to her? Why did she leave?" Natalie sighed, pushing back her dark hair.

"Divorce…Master Lucius doesn't like to talk about it, but she left him. I know all the papers say that it was a mutual thing, but it wasn't...that day she left, I remember, she couldn't get out of here fast enough. I don't know all the personal details, but once the divorce was finalized, she was gone. Nobody's heard from her, not even Master Draco." Regan leaned back against the wall, letting out a small sigh. She hadn't heard that Narcissa had left; it had never been brought up when she was working at the Ministry. Of course, Regan couldn't imagine that their magical leader would openly admit to all of his employees that he had been left by his wife.

"Any idea why she divorced him so suddenly?" Natalie shook her head.

"Not any reason that I could see, but I'm not a personal servant so I don't have those connections." Natalie answered with a small shrug.

"And what does a personal servant do?" Regan asked.

"Well, it depends on the person I suppose, but usually they act as an assistant to that person. They're with them the whole day, doing whatever needs to be done..." Regan nodded, relieved when she felt a decent amount of her hair had dried.

"So it's just a servant..." She muttered, sinking down into her bed. "But wouldn't Narcissa's personal servant know where she went to?" Natalie giggled.

"Well I would hope so, they left together!" She exclaimed. "Sweet woman from Ireland, her name was Nancy. Anyway, we don't have to worry about things like that. Master Lucius has gotten so much older and I think he's more concerned with training Master Draco to take over for him than finding a new wife." Regan pulled her blankets up to her chest, lazily blinking her eyes. "So what did you do before you got here?" Natalie asked, thankfully moving on to a much more pleasant subject.

"I worked at the Ministry as a secretary. Just a lot of busy work, nothing too complicated." She said with a small smirk, thinking about the fact that she would never have to go back.

"Doesn't sound like too much fun, sitting at a desk all day."

"Living situation wasn't so great." Regan muttered. "They made all of the unmarried women live upstairs in crowded dorms. They had bunk beds stacked four high and there were only three bathrooms for all of us. As you can imagine, this place is an absolute paradise compared to where I used to live."

"Master Lucius always treats us well, much better than other households." Regan stifled back a yawn, forcing her eyes to stay open. "We should go to sleep; it's late and you've had a long day." Regan nodded, refusing to argue with the girl.

"Goodnight Natalie." She said as her young roommate turned off the lights.

"Goodnight Regan," she replied as she snuggled into her own blankets. "Regan?" Natalie suddenly asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Yes?" Natalie hesitated for a moment before speaking again.

"I'm really glad that you're here…I didn't like being alone." Regan gently nodded with her eyes already closed.

"Me too," she whispered.

But she lied…