3) Malfoy Manor

Selected Listening: Come As You Are- Nirvana

Anastasia lounged in the library on the tufted leather chase, reading her book and feeling terribly out of place. The house was much too quiet and spacious. She tried to settle in with her story but felt the gaze of the house overwhelming. She put on her headphones and attempted to drown out the silence with her music.

A few moments later, something grabbed the headphones off one ear.

"Dumblebrat!" Draco hissed.

"Agh!" Anastasia fell off the chaise and onto her knee, looking up at the boy who had woken her, "Wha'd you do that for?"

Draco laughed briefly at her expense and then offered her a hand.

"I called you three times, and you wouldn't budge. What are you doing in my house?" he asked. "What's that weird thing you've got?"

Anastasia looked down at the CD player under her arm and up to his expectant expression. He had changed over the summer. His face lost more of his boyishness, with notable angles in his jawline that hadn't been there before, and he had somehow grown even taller, now towering over her quite a bit. He also seemed…happier…than he had been during the school year, but she couldn't imagine why.

"I…your mum invited me over until the school year starts. Didn't she tell you?" Anastasia asked and took his hand to get to her feet. Draco tried to brush off her response as expected, but his genuine glance of surprise told her otherwise.

"Pft…of course she told me!" Draco looked around nervously as he pulled away to scratch the back of his head. "Why would she not tell me? But what's that loud thing you've got there?" He pointed again at the CD player.

Anastasia shrugged. She grew nervous about how easily he looked at her when previously they couldn't even have a face-to-face conversation without his father threatening to pry through his memories or send him away.

"It's a muggle music device. A CD player. Want to listen?" she asked and held it out to him. He scrunched up his nose and looked away.

"I don't need any of that muggle garbage," he laughed nervously.

"It wouldn't hurt you to try," she said and drew it back towards her.

"Fine," he stated and extended his hand. "Let me see." His fingers brushed hers as he took the headphones and struggled to put them on—first backwards and then somehow sideways. When he got frustrated, she laughed and came around the side of the chaise to help him.

"Like this," she said when she finally had them on his head the right way. His blue gray eyes stared into hers while he took in the music and eventually started nodding his head to the beat.

"Okay…not bad…Who's this?"

"Nirvana," she replied. Draco nodded, took the headphones off, and handed them back to her.

"So, you'll be here for three weeks then?" Draco asked. His voice hitched and he turned red under the collar. He cleared his throat. Anastasia grinned.

"What was that?"

"My bloody voice is changing. Don't make fun," he snapped. "Answer the question."

"Two and a half weeks. I'm going to the Weasleys to the Quidditch world cup, and I'll go with them to the platform."

"I'm surprised they could afford tickets. They bringing the whole brigade, or only two of them?" he asked mockingly.

Anastasia's smile slipped off her face and she look towards the window. Draco sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry, it was an easy target. I promise I won't make fun of your friends anymore while you're staying here."

"You promise?" she asked disbelievingly. He held up one hand like a scout.

"I solemnly swear on Salazar Slytherin's grave that I will not make fun of your friends during your stay…no promises once we get back to school. "

Anastasia took a deep breath.

"Okay…thank you."

Draco smirked down at her playfully.

"Well, with that out of the way, I suppose we ought to get used to each other's company. I'm about to go for a fly. Care to join?" he asked so casually, she stuttered on her next words.

"Um, I-I don't have my broom with me," she fished. Draco shrugged.

"We have extra. A Nimbus 2001 even." Draco said, emphasizing what he intended to be impressive, but Anastasia couldn't hold back her anxiety any longer.

"Aren't you afraid that your father is going to see us together? In your memories?"

Draco stared at her sadly for a moment and then shook his head.

"If my mum invited you, there's not much he can do about it. I'm expected to entertain guests if they're here. You're a guest, aren't you?" A smile played on his lips. There was something he wasn't telling her…

…but she guessed she didn't have anything better to do.

"Sure…" she said, left her CD player on the chaise, and followed him out the door.

It was immediately strange, being alone with Draco. They had never been in an open area where they could speak freely without someone interrupting or making a mess of whatever they were intending to do. Until then, their conversations had been limited to hideaways and storage closets. He asked her about her summer thus far. She told him about finding the prefects bath and he seemed impressed, and he told her about flooing between friends' houses all summer and she found herself a bit jealous that he could see people so easily. They grabbed brooms from the shed and strolled out of the building and down the gravel path.

"Our quidditch pitch is right through here," he said and pointed to where the path led into the dense forest that seemed to stretch for miles. Anastasia's stomach tied up in knots. Alone in the woods with Draco was not how she expected to spend her first day. She kept her free hand tensed around her wand in her pocket. He noticed, stopped, and turned to face her.

"There's nothing in there. A few billywigs max. It's not like the forbidden forest." Draco waited for her to relax.

"Oh, um, right," she tried, but still didn't loosen her grip on her wand.

"I'm not going to hex you. We physically can't, remember?" he asked.

She wasn't afraid of Draco hexing her. Quite the opposite. She still wasn't sure how she felt, and the last thing she wanted to do was slip up and make a hasty decision.

"Sorry, I'm just…never mind." she said. Draco's eyes flashed away and back at her, finally understanding. He sighed.

"Don't worry too much about what…happened between us…like you said, it was an accident. So, let's pretend it never happened," he suggested. "Call it a truce."

Her own words, thrown back at her, stung.

"I'm sorry, I—"

Draco turned to her again with a stunning smirk and wink.

"Can't be sorry about what never happened," he said. "Now you want to fly or not?"

She smiled and followed him into the trees.

But the whole time her mind reeled.


Light filtered down between the tree leaves creating star-shaped patterns on the gravel trail. Eventually they strayed upon a vast clearing, walled off in a familiar oval shape with goal posts at the end, the most formal set up she had seen at someone's house.

"Welcome to Malfoy Pitch." Draco presented proudly.

"Wow!" she exclaimed. "Are you training for pros?"

"What, me? I haven't decided yet…what about you?" he asked.

"Not sure. But I don't get much field time as an alternate, so I don't think I'd do very good in the primaries."

"The field time you do get is pretty spectacular..." he backtracked, "I mean, you do alright."

She smuggled a smirk.

The two spent the afternoon throwing the quaffle back and forth, laughing and making each other fly farther and farther for each catch. They only decided to go in when the sun started to sink to the horizon and the sky changed from blue to stunning golds and reds. When the two walked back to the manor, covered in sweat and tired as hell, they ran upstairs to get cleaned up, but were greeted on the landing to the library by a less than amused Lucius Malfoy holding Anastasia's CD player.

"Draco what is—" He looked up and saw Anastasia. His nostrils flared and his eyes widened. "What are you doing in my house?" he demanded. Anastasia stuttered back a step. Apparently Narcissa had not told her family that she was coming at all, and suddenly she found words hard to come by.

"I-I—"

"Is this your muggle trash?" Lucius demanded with a sneer. Draco looked between them unsure of what to do.

"Father, mum invited her to stay with us a few weeks," Draco muttered nervously. Lucius fingers tightened around the device so tightly that his knuckles turned whiter than his already pale skin, and he looked to Anastasia with intense loathing as he took in this information.

"Whether my wife invited you without my knowledge is beside the point. We don't use muggle instruments in this house!" He threw it on the wooden floor and the CD player crashed. He then took out his wand and began cursing it repeatedly. Anastasia froze, jaw slightly unhinged.

"Lucius!" Narcissa appeared at the bottom of the stairs and stomped her foot. Lucius turned back to her slowly. "May I have a word with you?" she asked.

"I was just about to suggest the same thing." Lucius said. He took Narcissa's arm, dragged her into the study and slammed it behind them.

Anastasia folded her arms across her stomach.

"Don't worry about father." Draco tried to reassure her but didn't look so convinced himself. "Once he gets used to you being around, I'm sure it will be fine."

Anastasia stared down at her broken companion, and then looked back up to Draco who had a desperate hope in his eyes.

"And if he never gets used to me?" she asked. He was silent, his face pained. It was one thing to call a time out for a couple of weeks. Another to call one for the rest of their lives. "I'm going to my room," she said and wandered away, leaving Draco disheartened in the hall.

Anastasia sat on the bed with her hands folded on her knees. She looked at her rucksack and realized the house elf had already put everything away into the drawers. She felt like she needed to undo it all and go home immediately. She felt tears form in her eyes as she realized one of her only good media outlets was broken and she was stuck in that stupid silent house.

Eventually a soft knock came at the door.

"It's me." Narcissa said gently. "May I come in?"

"Yes." Anastasia called, trying not to let her voice crack, but it did anyway.

Her godmother entered, closed the door gently behind her, and came to sit beside her on the bed.

"I'm sorry for the way Lucius acted."

Anastasia looked back to her.

"Why didn't you tell them I was coming? Draco didn't know either. I'm lucky he doesn't hate my guts, or that could have been an even worse encounter."

Narcissa pursed her lips.

"In your family, I'm sure the way it works is when you want something to happen, you ask for it, and then someone tells you yes or no, correct?"

"Yes?" Anastasia asked, not realizing it was done any other way.

"In our family…in most Slytherin families, you do what you want, and then other people must deal with it whether they like it or not. Does that make sense?"

Anastasia shook her head. "That sounds pretty stupid, actually."

Narcissa smirked.

"Maybe, but that's what we do. If I asked Lucius if you could visit, he would have said no, and once he said something, he would sway Draco to be convinced that he was right. Even if that's not what Draco wanted."

"So, you invited me, knowing he would be angry, but now he has to put up with it out of appearances."

"Exactly." she said with a smile. But Anastasia wasn't so convinced.

"I'm not sure if I should be here anymore. Maybe I can go to the Weasley's early, or I can owl my friend Hermione and ask to stay with her."

Narcissa's eyes flashed with irritation, but she shook her head and her immediate reaction vanished into a kind smile.

"I won't hear of it. You are my goddaughter, and you have a right to be here when I want to spend time with you. If you leave now, Lucius will believe his little tantrum helped him win." Narcissa said absolutely. Anastasia sighed.

"He broke my CD player…could I possibly get another one? Is there a muggle town nearby?"

The smile faded from Narcissa's lips.

"Don't you think you should listen to some wizarding music for a while? We have a gramophone in the library you can use. Do you listen to wizarding music at all?" Narcissa asked as she picked bits of grass out of Anastasia's hair.

Anastasia shook her head.

"Not really."

"Your father, he made you do a lot of things that you don't have to do, you realize that don't you? You don't have to force yourself to be interested in muggle things. Perhaps it's time you learned about your own culture. What it's like to be a real witch."

Anastasia considered this.

"Okay…but I'd still like a new CD player," she insisted.

Narcissa nodded.

"Alright dear, if we see one in town, we can pick one up."

Anastasia smiled.

"Okay."

"Now wash up and get ready for dinner," Narcissa said, gesturing with her head to Draco's rom.

"Alright." Anastasia tried not to blush as Narcissa left and went to look through her clothes for something else to wear.

At dinner, Lucius criticized Anastasia's outfit and her manners and her attitude, none of which her to his taste. When he wasn't criticizing her, he ignored her completely. Draco gave her apologetic and embarrassed looks across the table. What may have been worse, was that Narcissa didn't defend her, but tried to excuse Lucius's comments away as things she would fix.

"Why does she dress like a muggle? Has her father taught her nothing?"

"We're going shopping tomorrow. I'm buying her some real robes." Narcissa said.

"Bastard old man, can't even dress his own child."

"Don't talk about my father like that." Anastasia snapped. Lucius rolled his eyes and ignored her.

What Anastasia understood from that conversation was that she was not enough. That no matter what she did, she would not be witchy enough for a real magic family. Even her father knew she wasn't witch enough, which was why he insisted she go spend time at the Manor in the first place. She finished off her food and put her fork down next to the plate. The new house elf, Mopsy, wandered around with a pitcher and nearly poured her another glass of water.

"No thank you, I'm done." Anastasia told the elf and rose from the table.

"Miss Dumbledore, in this house we asked to be excused from the table, and we certainly don't thank the house elves." Lucius shot.

Anastasia turned to the house elf.

"Thank you very much for everything you do." The elf froze and then scampered away. She said pointedly and then turned to her godmother. "May I be excused?"

"Yes, you may."

Anastasia went up to the guest room, and lay on the bed, looking out the window at the stars above the pine forest. It was a moonless night. She did not want to cry, but she cried anyway.

At one point, she thought she heard a soft knock at the door, but she was too embarrassed to answer it.