different | h. potter

4

Only after a few hours of slumber, the Malfoy family and Cassia gathered their belongings as fast as possible and began their journey back home. Trudging through the campsite, it seemed as though no one was particularly eager to stay; nearly half of the tents and their inhabitants were already gone and the remaining ones were in the process of departing. Wordlessly, they snuck past the site manager and Apparated back to Malfoy Manor.

Upon their arrival, the house elves immediately relieved them of their luggage and escorted them into the sitting room. There, they settled down on the dark couches in front of the already-lit fireplace while breakfast was being prepared. Shortly afterwards, footsteps could be heard echoing down the corridors, causing the quartet to jump to their feet. The owner of these footstep were none other than Cadmus and Vivienne Clarke, who suddenly appeared in the doorway, looking slightly distraught. Before they even had a chance to greet their daughter, they were whisked away into the study by Lucius and Narcissa, leaving their children standing idly in the living room.

Glancing around, Cassia spotted the latest copy of the Daily Prophet sprawled across the coffee table. She walked over and picked it up, examining the front page. The headline read 'SCENES OF TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP', accompanied by a twinkling, black and white photograph of the Dark Mark over the tree-tops.

"Hey," Cassia called softly, after quickly skimming through the article, "come check this out."

Draco strode over and stood beside her. Cassia handed him the newspaper and watched as he scanned over the front page. Within the span of a minute, his grey eyes had flashed with curiosity, amusement, and even fear.

"National disgrace," Draco chuckled, "Well, they've got that right."

"The Ministry must be absolutely hectic right now, trying to sort this out," Cassia said.

"Yeah," Draco said, laying the newspaper back down onto the table, "Funny how our fathers aren't there right now, since they're so essential in the inner workings of the Ministry."

"Well, I'm sure they've got their own World Cup related business to attend to," Cassia said darkly.

At that moment, muffled shouts could be heard from the study. Cassia and Draco couldn't help but share an unimpressed glance.

"Just another regular day at the Malfoy residence," Draco sighed, "Come on."

Turning away, Draco led them up to his bedroom. They climbed dozens of cold, stone steps before arriving on the second floor landing. Much like the main floor, it was made up of spacious corridors that featured priceless paintings and were lit by magnificent chandeliers. Each winding hallway held numerous bedrooms, far more than the small family could ever use. On the East side of the Manor, near the end of the corridor, was Draco's bedroom.

The room's palette and décor seemed to mimic that of the Slytherin common room and dormitories, back at Hogwarts. Immediately to the left of the dark wooden entry was a lavish four-poster bed with an emerald green comforter set and Slytherin house banners on either side of the headboard. Their bags, which were brought up by the house elves earlier, were set neatly by the foot of the bed, beside Draco's school trunk and Nimbus 2001. On the wall opposite the bed were large windows, each paired with fine, black silk curtains, facing the perfectly-pruned garden. Another wall held two identical doors: one led to an extravagant bathroom and the other to a well-organized closet. The room had a comforting scent, one like vanilla and mint - a scent that Cassia associated with Draco.

The duo settled down onto the bed, sighing dramatically. They simply lied there beside each other in silence. It was rather comfortable; the two of them were close enough to be able to feel completely at ease with the other without even speaking. The only sounds that could be heard were their soft breathing and the distant voices coming from the floor below. The tranquility was finally disturbed when Draco turned his head to the side to look at Cassia.