Love, and be Silent

two.

Draco was upset with this new addition to the plan. It was supposed to have been an outing with just him and his father- a father son bonding experience, if you will. But now Cordelia was ruining everything, as she always did. He stomped loudly past her room. He pulled her hair whenever he could. He sneered in her direction, and refused to answer a single question. Cordelia rolled her eyes at her brother's dramatics, but said nothing about it. She knew how much time alone with their father meant to him- and how much he hated whenever she got in his way for it. It wasn't often Draco received Lucius's undivided attention, ever since they were little. It wasn't like Cordelia had very much either- Lucius had simply not been meant to be a father. It was written all over his face anytime either of them asked for his help, emotional, physical or otherwise. Cordelia figured that was why their mother was so pampering, so hovering, so eager to please a spoil; it was an apology, in some ways, for having had children with a man so obviously unfit to parent. Cordelia didn't care though- she'd never wanted Lucius's attention very much anyway. At least, that's what she liked to tell herself. Perhaps her blatant disrespect for his beliefs and political opinions were an argument against that.

The trip to the game was fairly quiet- Lucius had never really known had to talk to his children, and Narcissa insisted that the high seats for professional Quidditch always made her queasy. She'd attended every single one of Draco's games, though. While Draco held the position next to their father with unbridled insistence, Cordelia trailed behind, holding a rather obviously muggle book close to her face. The book was silly, and full of one liners that made her bark with laughter, which almost always caused her father to glance back at her sharply. But Cordelia didn't care- she never cared what people thought of her. Not anymore- not since she'd been sorted into Slytherin. Because being a Slytherin was badass, and being a Malfoy was badass, and being both meant that nobody would fuck with you- ever.

So she wandered along behind, glancing up infrequently from the little book, laughing at it out loud. She laughed when they passed Lucius's co-workers, which surely annoyed him to no end, and she teased when they passed Draco's classmates, which made the tips of his ears go red in anger. Cordelia supposed this was a punishment, in a way, to have to spend a long day- get up early, trek through the mud, tolerate her father's silence. But at the same time it was sort of fun, being within the festivities, walking through the tents as her other two family members sneered at everything in disgust.

She quieted, though, when they got to their box. She swore she could feel the stands sway with every light breeze that passed, and it was very loud up here. Cordelia dimly realized her father was speaking, and only tore her eyes away from the great drop below to hear

"-and my eldest, of course, Cordelia. Narcissa wasn't feeling well, so Cordelia took her

place instead. Isn't that right, darling?"

Cordelia glanced up, but instead of landing on who her father was speaking to, her eyes met brown ones. Familiar, and angry, she realized she was staring at one of the Weasley twins. She bristled slightly, and turned to her father. Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic himself, was looking at her with mirth filled eyes.

"Goodness, look at you! What a fine young lady you've blossomed into! Spitting image of your mother, I say."

Cordelia flushed with discomfort at the compliment from the fat old man, but smiled politely, nodding a little. She could feel Draco seething beside her, and glanced at the Weasley family. It seemed that they took up nearly half the box, and she idly wondered how blood traitors such as they could possibly afford such great seats.

The twins, with their wide shoulders and stocky builds, seemed to take up more space than any. She couldn't remember the names of any of the others- the twins of course, were well known in her year, and even though she remembered that they had names, she was never sure which was which, and so settled on always just referring to them as "the Weasel twins", or "those lads, you know, the annoying ones", or "the tossers with the red hair". Harry Potter stood behind them, with his friends, and Cordelia watched in amusement as he glared meaningfully at her brother, who glared just as meaningfully back. She'd heard a lot about the boy from Draco, but it was still fun seeing their little rivalry in person. Entertaining, even. She almost laughed, if it weren't for the fact that her father seemed tense with the same amount of anger as well.