The Request by redhead414

Chapter 10

Anya scurried around her room, grabbing the Divination book from her desk Hermione found for her and tossing into her Hogwarts trunk as she completed some last minute packing. Wearing one of her several thin, long sleeved black knit shirts in her closet, she grabbed a sheer, purple and green striped scarf James got her for Christmas off the back of her desk chair and looped it around her neck while stepping into her tall, grey knit boots. She sat down on her chair, making sure her skinny jeans didn't bunch near her ankle when Claire came into her room, holding a big piece of paper.

"What's that?" Anya asked, sliding her hand down her other boot to straighten out her jeans.

Already dressed in a red jumper with a white, lace collared long sleeve shirt underneath with matching white tights and black Mary Janes, Claire skipped over to her sister and handed her the paper. "I drawed you a picture to hang in your room." Presenting the picture to Anya, she moved to stand next to her and pointed at the drawing. "See - there's you, and there's me, and that's Scorpius, and we're making snow angels like Grandpa Richard showed us."

Anya wrapped an arm around her sister and gave her a hug. "Well, it's by far my most favorite picture yet."

"You think so?"

"Absolutely. I'll hang it up next to the others by my bed."

Clare grinned, standing on her tiptoes to kiss her sister's cheek. "I'm going to miss you."

Anya gave her another squeeze. "I know, but I'll be home on the weekends for awhile this semester…so that will be nice, right?

Nodding, Claire sighed as she leaned into her sister. "I guess."

"You start school on Wednesday - you're going to be so busy with counting and coloring and reading that you aren't even going to notice that I'm gone," Anya said, trying to cheer her up a bit. "Now, if you want, I'll braid your hair before we leave for the platform."

"Can you just put it in a big ponytail instead?" Claire asked. "I feel like having swishy hair today - but with a bow."

"Like I'd let you leave the house without a bow," Anya mocked, grabbing Claire's hand as she stood up and led her down the hall to her bedroom, where they passed their father walking in the direction of their mother's room. "Hey can I get -"

"Not a chance," Draco replied as he kept walking.

"Seriously?"

He stopped and turned around. "Do you know how embarrassing it was to have Granger walk across the hall to my office with an improper use of magic letter with your name on the top of it?"

Anya scowled. "It's happened once!"

"Twice, actually, which is two times too many," Draco replied. "You can have your wand when we get on the platform."

"Fine," Anya huffed. "But you're going to have to drag my trunk downstairs because it's heavy and I can't do it myself."

Draco placed his hands on his hips and gave his eldest a look. "You have three house elves at your beck and call - use one of them."

"Hermione says we shouldn't make elves do things for us that we can do ourselves," Claire recited in her most serious voice.

Draco flared his nostrils slightly, humming a laugh as he looked up at the ceiling for a moment. "Well, can either of you carry the trunk by yourself?"

Anya smirked. "No - but you can."

Draco watched as Claire giggled, Anya pulling her hand as they continued walking towards his youngest daughter's room. He wasn't really sure what it was about his eldest today. Maybe it was her hair and how it was parted to the side, different than the sloppy bun she usually had it in. Maybe it was the faint, sheer lip gloss on her sassy mouth, or how her dressing habits were slowly evolving from t-shirts and zipper jackets to something a bit more put together, but she looked a little bit more grown up today, and that notion wasn't sitting well with him.