𝐌𝐮𝐝𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞 || Draco Malfoy

𝐹𝑜𝑢𝑟

Aurelia was helping Sinja with the dinner for tonight. She carefully placed the tiny vegetable tortellini on the porcelain plate.

How much she would like to eat one of them herself, but she was forbidden to do so. It made Aurelia sad, after all, it was only the appetizer, and one tortellini more or less didn't really matter.

"You know, the leftovers we have to throw away—all waste if you ask me, but the way Mr. Malfoy wants it to happen, so it has to happen. Once, one of the servants ate a strawberry, that was on Mrs. Malfoy's plate after she had finished eating. The servant was taken to the cellar and never seen again." She told Aurelia in a whispering voice, and a cold shiver ran down the shy girl's spine.

"T-that's awful. They are wasteful a-and cru-el," she stuttered, shaking her head as she turned to the salad, "Do the t-two of them always get such a f-f-feast for d-dinner?"

"Of course, or do you think Mr. Malfoy would only eat soup? Besides, Kayla is one of the pickiest people I've ever seen. Everything she eats comes from the finest countries in the world and probably costs a fortune—well, as long as her husband pays for it, I'm pretty sure she doesn't care." Sinja sighed, visibly disappointed that her stepsister was capable of such a thing. Without another word, the two prepared dinner.

When it was finally time to serve it, Sinja took one plate and Aurelia the other one.

The two maids carefully placed the plates on the large table and received a deprecating look from Kayla Malfoy. Draco, however, didn't even pay attention to them.

Just as Aurelia was about to go back to the kitchen, Sinja pulled on her sleeve, pointing to the right corner of the room. Sinja herself moved to the left corner, and both watched as the Malfoy's quietly ate their appetizers.

"I found a dress for tomorrow. You will attend the gala, right?" Mrs. Malfoy asked after a while.

Aurelia was glad that there was no more silence in the room. It was unpleasant to watch them just eating while she was hungry.

"Of course I'm. I'm the one who financed all this shit after all." He hissed without looking at his wife.

"You're right, honey, I just thought, because you've been working so much lately," Kayla spoke softly and put her cutlery on the empty plate.

Without saying anything, Mr. Malfoy also dropped his silverware on his half-full plate and just hissed, "Remove it."

Aurelia was startled at the loud unexpected noise and flinched slightly before slowly taking Mr. Malfoy's plate and heading towards the door.

Her hands were shaking in fear, and they were sweaty. So it was no wonder that the plate slipped out of her hands and broke into a hundred little porcelain pieces, with a loud clink, on the floor.

Sinja, who was walking in front of her, turned around, frightened.

"I-I-I am so sorry. Please, i-it was a m-m-mistake." The girl immediately apologized and looked desperately back and forth between the couple.

"That's probably what your mother said when she gave birth to you," Draco said spitefully, as his wife began to grin as she noticed the tears forming in Aurelia's eyes. "Aww, look at it. It's crying because it knows you're right," She looked at Aurelia, "Why don't you go to your dirty little mudblood mommy? Oh wait, she's dead."

As fast as she could, Aurelia ran out of the dining room, not caring what the consequences would be. She rushed to her small room and closed the door behind her before taking out a moving picture from under her pillow.

The picture showed her parents and her. It was taken when Aurelia was five years old. Her parents were standing in front of the Christmas tree, and she was held by her mother. All three smiled into the camera, and the girl herself mouthed, "I love you, mommy and daddy".

She always hid the photo, not wanting anyone to take it away from her since it was the last thing she had of her parents.

She let out a sigh, just looking at her parents sadly. She would have done anything to see them again. She knew that muggle-born adults got killed, at least a lot of them, she wasn't sure if her parents were still alive, but she doubted it.

As she thought about them, a memory appeared in her head, making her smile widely.

A little girl with long wavy brown hair ran down the stairs, "Mom! Look what I have got." The girl shouted excited and raced into the kitchen, where her mom was currently doing the washing up.

The little girl proudly showed her mother the letter she received.

As her mother saw the letter, her face lit up, "You know what that means, Aurelia? You are finally allowed to go to Hogwarts and do your own magic."

Little Aurelia nodded eagerly, "Can we go to Diagon Alley? I want to get all my things."

"I am sure we can go tomorrow. Today your dad is at work, and I think he wants to come with us too." Her mother smiled at her daughter's enthusiasm.

"Fine," She mumbled and ran upstairs again, still not believing that she got a letter from Professor McGonagall.

Aurelia quickly wiped away the tears which had escaped her eyes.

Her parents were muggles but her mothers sister was a witch. She loved her parents for excepting this side of her.

She lay down in the uncomfortable bed before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.

-

The next day Aurelia got up quite early. She actually wanted to take a shower but instead got dressed in her clothes again and walked downstairs to the kitchen.

Sinja was already waiting, giving her a look of pity, "Are you okay? Yesterday was a lot for you."

Aurelia just nodded and walked over to the sink, starting to do the washing up.

"You know, after you left, they didn't say anything. That's good. I mean, normally maids go to the dungeon." Sinja sighed, clearly happy that Aurelia was still with her.

The shy girl offered her a small smile, which Sinja returned, "And I am sorry to tell you, but we both have to serve at that big gala tonight. Every pureblood family will be here. Maybe even the dark lord himself will arrive."

Aurelia felt a lump in her throat. The dark lord. The man who is responsible for everything that was happening in the wizarding world. The man who killed her parents.

But then the girl got a little hope.

When she had to serve at the gala, she would wear a dress too, wouldn't she? The young woman was always so pure and still think about such unnecessary things.

"W-will I also wear a beau-tiful dress?" She asks with a bright smile, to which Sinja's grin faded.

"I am afraid you won't, maybe some new clothes but definitely no dress. I am sorry, but I promise you I will do my best to arrange something for you." The maid answered, already having an idea to make Aurelia happy again.

Aurelia looked down, disappointed, "I'm going to start preparing the main salon for the gala. If you're looking for me, I'll probably be there."

Sinja nodded and watched as Aurelia strolled out of the kitchen.

The red-haired maid finished cleaning the cuisine before running out of the room as well. She knew that the dresses must still be somewhere in Malfoy Manor and wouldn't be picked up until after the gala, in case Kayla decided to wear another gown after all.

After an hour of searching, she found all the dresses in one of the storage rooms. A wide smile appeared on her face before she ran into the salon to Aurelia.