Haylan felt his eye twitch as he stared at the shiny blonde head of Draco Malfoy.
Now Haylan had come to respect and maybe even love Narcissa Malfoy nee Black. Narcissa was calm warmth, not overbearing like Molly Weasley was but her care and worry was still apparent when it mattered. Narcissa sat up through the night when Haylan struggled through many nightmares in the beginning. She made him warm vanilla milk with cinnamon and would run her fingers through his hair to let him fall back into a dreamless sleep. Some days Haylan selfishly dreamed that Narcissa was like having a real Mum around for the first time in his life.
But as much as Haylan cared for Narcissa, he also really wanted to be rid of the Malfoy men once and for all.
Haylan contemplated just leaving before Blaise or Draco noticed his presence, but in the back of his mind, he already heard Andromeda lecturing him to be the adult in the situation but also to not let them make a fool out of him.
Straightening his spine he let a tendril of his magic reach out to Blaise, drawing Blaise's attention to where he sat. Haylan couldn't help but admire how attractive Blaise was even if he was annoyed with him. Blaise was tall, and unlike the lankiness of Ron or the lithe look of Malfoy, Blaise clearly had some muscles under those robes, probably from his time as a chaser on the Slytherin quidditch team. Blaise's eyes looked as dark as the coffee Haylan was currently sipping on in the low lighting of the cafe, but he knew in the right light that Blaise's eyes reminded him more of warm maple syrup than bitter dark coffee. The summer sun wherever he was staying for the summer also aided in darkening his skin to a tone that made Haylan think of Mahogany in warm sunlight.
All in all, Haylan wanted to climb Blaise like a tree. But instead, he had to be irritated by the presence of the albino peacock accompanying the man he would like to tie him down to his bed for at least a week.
Life just wasn't fair sometimes.
Blaise and Draco stood in front of the small boy…man…emperor-to-be, somewhat uncomfortably. Haylan Caliban may look more human and approachable in his glamoured state, but his magic certainly was just as coaxing and dangerous as before.
"Heir Zabini, I did not expect you to bring… such company along with you to our meeting." Haylan's tone clearly conveyed just how he felt about the Heir Malfoy being there making Blaise cringe.
"I am sorry Heir Caliban… I would not have brought anyone along with me without your permission but there were some circumstances that I could not in good conscious leave Draco behind to face. Arrogant he may be, but he is also my god-brother and I take that responsibility seriously." Blaise spoke, eyes down on the dusty hardwood floors of the muggle cafe. Draco remained surprisingly silent and refused to look at Haylan as well.
"Both of you sit and you may tell me about these circumstances over coffee and tea," Haylan ordered before waving the kind barista over. Smiling kindly to put the girl at ease, Haylan read her name tag. "Brianna is it? Well, Brianna, I hate to interrupt you while you are so busy but my dear friends here are in need of some refreshments if you would not mind terribly?" Haylan asked just oozing charm and charisma, making the girl blush.
"O-Of course! What may I get you today?" Brianna stammered but looked over at Blaise and Draco, who was rather dumbfounded by Haylan's tone toward a muggle.
"English Breakfast with milk and sugar for me please ma'am." Blaise politely ordered, pinching Draco's side to make sure he behaved toward the muggle.
Draco scowled at Blaise before muttering, "Same with extra sugar though."
Brianna smiled at both of them, unphased by their behavior, before turning to Haylan once more. "Anything more for you? There are free refills on coffee if you would like."
"That would be lovely, thank you." Haylan grinned and allowed her to refill his coffee before taking off to grab Blaise and Draco's teas. Haylan's smile dropped as soon as the barista was away from them.
"Why would you treat a muggle in such a way?" Draco couldn't help but blurt out causing Blaise to look to the ceiling for patience and maybe a killing curse to be shot at him.
"You mean to ask why would I be kind to a mere muggle when I have given you no such mercy?" Haylan bluntly asked, even glamoured into a less menacing color Haylan's eyes were quite piercing.
"Uh yes." Draco quietly muttered, honestly curious but also having some Slytherin self-preservation coming to his aid to maybe not get him killed by Heir Caliban.
"She is a human just like us. She deserves just as much respect, if not more than you or I do. She works day in and day out serving and helping the common man in an establishment such as this. She is able to aid and assist a great many more people than you or I help in the span of a day. But not only that, you look at her and you probably fear her or maybe she disgusts you for her lack of magic. Do you know what I can see? She has had magical relatives in her ancestry and if she decides to procreate with the right person then her child or maybe grandchild will be magical." Haylan spoke softly to not draw the attention of the other patrons, but in a firm enough tone to get his point across to the stubborn idiot sitting across from him.
"There is no way you could possibly know that!" Draco cried out.
"Mmm and that is where you are wrong. Anything else Heir Malfoy that you would like to accuse me of?" Haylan asked pointedly. Before Draco could say anything else though, Blaise was slapping his hand over Draco's mouth.
"I apologize for Draco's behavior, I am afraid he can come across as rather uncivilized."
"This brings us back to our original topic. Why did you bring Heir Malfoy along to our meeting Heir Zabini?" Haylan asked. The table went quiet as Brianna set Draco and Blaise's drinks down in front of them before quickly retreating away from the tension at the table.
"While I agree with the punishment and reasoning behind said punishment given to Draco, it has created some unfortunate tension and problems at his home." Blaise decided to start with. Haylan's eyes roved over Draco before going back to Blaise.
"Go on."
"Last night the uh, you-know-who, decided to drop Aunt Narcissa's sister off at their manor. I imagine had you know who had known about Draco's current predicament he would have found somewhere else to stash the crazy bitch while he was busy doing Merlin knows what. Because as crazy as they both are you-know-who has not had a reason to want Draco dead or to punish his parents in such a way that calls for the death of his heir, and you-know-who is sadly saner than Bellatrix is." Blaise spoke in a rush, not liking the darkening look on Haylan's face. "So this morning Draco's father pushed Draco through the floo to the Zabini estate and placed him under my care until further notice until he or Narcissa can find a different placement for Bellatrix."
"Why would Bellatrix try to kill you Heir Malfoy?" Haylan asked in a cool tone that maybe could have passed for neutral if it wasn't for the look on his face.
"She wouldn't normally. I mean she does tend to uh try to torture anyone within the house but nothing that can't be defended against. Since I currently am without magic, Bellatrix isn't sane enough to recognize that someone could lock away my magic and then give it back. So to save her sister the disgrace of having a squib son, she decided to try to kill me." Draco said in a dejected tone. Haylan felt a migraine rising already.
"Well then, I guess we need to be visiting your manor now," Haylan spoke in his authoritative tone, standing up, and leaving a large tip on the table. "Come along boys. It is time I handled Bellatrix in person instead of threatening her through her Lord."
Blaise and Draco looked at each other alarmed before quickly following Haylan.
"How are you getting into the manor? I can't get you through the wards and Draco doesn't have the magic to let you through the wards." Blaise asked concerned, having a surprisingly hard time keeping pace with Haylan's short but fast strides.
Haylan looked up at Blaise with mischief in his eyes. "Oh don't you worry about something as minor as wards my darling."
Blaise and Draco looked at each other rather alarmed as Haylan let out a laugh of delight, pulling the two of them into a dark alleyway, keeping a firm grip on the both of them before apparating out of muggle London and into the entrance hall of Malfoy Manor. As the three of them steadied themselves they looked up at the interesting scene of Narcissa Malfoy holding a wand up to her sister's throat and Bellatrix holding an unconscious Lucius Malfoy hostage. Not even the three boys apparating in had pulled their attention away from each other.
"Well," Haylan stated, letting go of both Blaise and Draco, and stepping further into the manor. "Looks like I made it just in time for the entertainment huh?"
Blaise couldn't help but feel turned on as Haylan's glamour melted away leaving the emperor to be standing in all his powerful glory in the middle of Malfoy Manor, not the least bit frightened by the two Black sisters stalemate in front of him.
Damn, Blaise was doomed.