Olivia Black

Malfoy Manor

I look in the mirror in my room. It's around four o'clock in the afternoon. My dress is short and black. Luckily it looks really nice which hopefully gives me the amount of confidence I'll need tonight.

I look at my shoes I wonder if I should go for my silver high heels or my black flat ones. Samantha is next to me in her gorgeous white dress with her wavy hair open and light but beautiful make-up on. She laughs.

"Oh my GOD! Can you believe it, Liv? We're REALLY invited and we'll see the Malfoy's manor - oh my god - Olivia, that's INSANE! D'you know how long it'll take us to arrive?"

I smile back. "I think it'll take an hour or two." I don't want to ruin the moment but how can she be that happy? We barely know anyone there and it'll at least be very awkward.

Also, Fred and George really made me obsess over their Death Eater theory. What if the Malfoys are having this party to invite us into their cult? Or sacrifice a muggleborn? Or - even worse - bring You-Know-Who back to life?

With such premonitions I can't look forward to tonight as much as Sam obviously does but since it means a lot to her I try to act as normally as possible.

At least Jack asked me to go with him so I won't be completely lost because my sister will probably hang out with Draco Malfoy all the time just as she did the past two weeks. I have no clue why they're that close, lately but they are.

I don't know what to think about their friendship since Draco is constantly insulting muggleborn witches and wizards. I asked Sam about it but she always says he's actually not that bad and can be quite funny.

Yeah, as funny as his older half-brother? Scorpio is really going on my nerves and his idea of how our team should play Quidditch is more than absurd. Anyways.

Sam mentions that she knows Draco's behaviour is bad and she admits she has no idea what to do about it. But if there's one person who's really bothered by the fact that Samantha is visiting the Malfoy's tonight, it's Fred.

I almost forgot about their strange dancing at the my first party at Hogwarts but there's apparently more between them than I originally thought. Sam doesn't like talking to me about guys and Fred gets quite uncomfortable about everything in connection with my sister, too.

One day, I talked about the invitation even though I normally try to avoid this topic since Fred and George aren't really fans of it (they're hiding it but everyone can tell by just looking at their faces that they hate the Malfoys). Anyways.

Fred asked if Samantha would be at the party, too and I said yes and that she's friends with Draco. His look was more than surprised and I thought it was funny because he always makes fun of either George looking at Angelina for one second too long or me talking to Jack.

I think he actually deserves us making fun of him for once but I stayed silent. "Honestly, Draco Malfoy?", he asked pulling up one eyebrow. "She's better than that." I tried not to laugh and told him that I'm pretty sure she knows what's right and what's not.

"I'm just saying there are better guys out there and Draco doesn't deserve her."

I had to admit that he wasn't wrong but who am I to tell my sister who to hang with? And to be honest, I'm not sure if I really want to see my little sister being in love with my best friend who doesn't seem to know anything about what a serious relationship means.

"Well, Fred, so you think you deserve her, don't you?", I answered just to upset him. "Me? You mean like real relationship and love and romantic dinner and sunset and -" "Shut up, y'now what I mean."

What can I say? He changed the topic to his future vision, the "Weasley & Weasley" joke shop. He has to have some weird problems with all that love thing. I mean he gets so offended by me just mentioning anything related to it.

Samantha turns around. "What d'you say, Liv? How do I look?" I tell her that she looks very pretty and that we'll have a great night.

Since the first party had taken place I thought it would be better to stay away from alcohol as much as possible because I don't want to kiss someone I shouldn't kiss, again. Fred constantly tries to make me drink more which he luckily won't be able to do tonight.

One hour later

Telling myself that everything's fine and that we won't visit a Death Eater's meeting tonight turned out to be actually easier than I expected it to be. Jack's black suit and my dress look perfectly together so if we die we'll die good-looking.

We sit on the train to the Malfoy's manor and I'm actually quite excited to see if their home's actually as big as Sophie said.

I thought she would get an invitation, too but George told me that only pure-blood witches and wizards were invited. That made me really angry.

My family had always tried to stay away from all that drama even with the name Black and the fact that the Malfoys care about blood status in a way where they actively discriminate everyone else really pisses me off. I don't understand why nobody's doing anything against it.

My dad sent an owl to Samantha and me (that doesn't happen often) where he made very clear that we have to go to that party if we want to "honor our family". Fred and George laughed at me infront of nearly everyone in our year.

Now, they believe it's a good idea to reply "honor your family" as a running-gag to literally anything I say. Anyways, Sophie tried to stop me from going to the party.

"C'mon Liv, that's so stupid. You shouldn't go. Honestly, the Malfoys aren't a family you want to impress, right?" Even though she might be true I should do what my dad wants me to.

I basically have no choice. She seemed to be kind of offended but after a few hours everything was fine between us so I didn't think about it anymore.

"Hey Olivia, is everything alright?", Jack asks all of a sudden. I immediately look at him. Wow, he's so handsome and the suit is perfect for him. Pull yourself together, Olivia.

"Umm yeah thanks. I got lost in my thoughts, y'know?" I sigh and try to smile. "Have you been to the Malfoys before?" Jack grins. "You are nervous, aren't you?", he says.

Wow thank you, very good, yes I am apparently but that doesn't make things easier. I roll my eyes. "That took you quite a long time to notice", I answer sarcastically and look out of the window, again.

Guys are always the same. Even if they're in Hufflepuff. The sunset is red and very pretty and I try to enjoy this moment for a minute.

"Oh come on Olivia. That is normal, honestly. You cannot imagine how nervous I was before I have talked to Lucius for the first time. I mean you should be, kind of. You know he is not the kindest person but it is acceptable." Jack smiles.

"But look, you have got me next to you, just do what I do and everything will be fine." That's very cute. I look back to him. "Thank you. Honestly, that means a lot to me."

Still, it doesn't really make things better. I've heard stories from Lucius Malfoy that really make me shiver. In this case, my family name could help me out there since Narcissa Malfoy was born a Black, too.

"Furthermore, there will be many people so they probably will not care about the two of us that much.
So we are safe", Jack ensures me and touches my arm. He smiles kindly. I smile back and look out of the window.

The Death Eater theory the twins created seems quite stupid to me now.

Still, the feeling of a deep fear and nervousness doesn't want to leave me alone and my heart raises as we wait for our train to finally arrive at the Malfoy Manor.