𝐀 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄

Chapter 17

Chapter 17: "Chapter Seventeen"

The next day, Mr. Weasley was preparing to leave. He wasn't going to travel by regular Floo, but long-distance, which required a trip into the major Floo hub in London. Draco, of course, didn't know that, but he was interested all the same as he paused on his way back from an errand and watched the family's interactions.

The children were milling about excitedly. The twins were chuckling to each other and standing rather suspiciously around the large suitcase. The eldest was directing the suitcases with his wand, setting them into a pile in the middle of the street while waiting for the traveler himself to emerge.

That is a lot of luggage, Draco thought to himself sadly. I wonder if he will be away for long. They shall miss him so. And so shall I, even though he doesn't know I am alive.

When the door opened, he backed away a bit, remembering the sickle, but it was the traveler who emerged, a smile on his face as he hugged the two youngest children to him.

"Will Moscow be covered in snow, Daddy?" asked Ginny excitedly, bouncing just a bit. "Or ice?"

"Will you get to drink real Russian icevodka?" Ron piped up, grinning.

"I shall owl and tell you all about it," Mr. Weasley snorted affectionately, ruffling first one's hair, and then the other. "Go on into the house. You two," said warningly to the twins, "whatever you've done to my suitcase, you had better undo it right now." The twins groaned and removed what looked like a sparkling ball of magic, and then amused themselves by tossing it back and forth between them.

Mr. Weasley shook his head at them, and then clapped the two eldest on the backs. "Take care of your mother and your siblings," he said. "I'd much rather stay here, but off to Moscow I go."

"If you find the boy," Ron called from the stairs, "send him our love!"

The two eldest waved their goodbyes before ushering the rest of the family inside and shut the door.

"Did you see," Ginny said breathlessly once she was inside, "the little-boy-who-is-not-a-beggar was standing outside and watching us, and he did look cold and wet, and I saw him watching us. Mummy says he always looks as if his clothes were given to him by someone rich, someone who only let him have them because they were too shabby to wear. The people at the school are cruel to him."

Draco, meanwhile, watched as Arthur headed toward the Leaky Cauldron, levitating his suitcases behind him. As he watched, he wondered who the little boy was, the one Mr. Weasley was going to look for. And he went slowly on his way, carrying the basket and finding it very heavy indeed.

And Mr. Weasley headed off in the opposite direction, going off to Moscow to look for the lost son of Lucius Malfoy.

That very same afternoon, while he'd been out, little Cliodne had seen quite an unusual sight. Only she and Melchisedec had observed the sight, and as one was an owl and one was a rat, they couldn't very well talk to each other about it.

The attic had been very still all day since Draco left. Cliodne was napping with her head under her wing, and Melchisedec was finding it all very dull. Shortly after, the rain had started, and the only sound had been the pitter-patter of rain on the roof. Melchisedec had squeaked and disappeared into his hole in the wall as the ceiling had begun to leak, and hadn't emerged again until the rain stopped. By then, the room was completely quiet.

He looked around curiously, earning a soft hoot from Cliodne before she tucked her head back under her wing, and was about to investigate what he thought was the smell of a crumb on the floor when he heard a sudden sound, and two people appeared into the darkness of the room with matching pops. He squeaked in terror and hurtled back into his hole as fast as his paw could carry him. Cliodne hooted angrily, and flew at them, batting them with her wings, but ceased when one, the dark-skinned one, began to speak in such a low, soothing voice that she couldn't help but be charmed by it. She relaxed, settling her little claws onto his shoulder, and he smiled before carefully removing her back to her perch.