Murder to Malfoy - D.MALFOY

[36]

Fin and Ivy said goodbye to Blaise at the train station in London, it was only a goodbye that would last a few days at the most. Fin was to stay over at Ivy's for the night because they wanted to and Ivy, after the events of the year, wouldn't have particularly wanted to be alone with her thoughts for too long all at once. She had made a deal with herself to keep busy constantly, rarely having a rest moment for her mind so it didn't wander too far. And she would do whatever it took to achieve that, whether it was just sitting in the room with her father like always or taking a trip to the nearest town alone to buy something that she did not need.

Ivy, after briefly talking to her father on the walk into the house, took a detour to the kitchen with Fin in tow. They struck up the same conversation that they had both debated for most of the train ride, annoying Blaise greatly, and both found it rather easy to fall back into the half argument. She laughed as she walked over to the fridge, opening the doors as Fin slipped onto the stool in front of the kitchen island.

"So you're telling me that you don't see it?" Fin asked, laying their head on the table.

"Fin, I love you dearly, but you're clearly seeing things. There is no way on earth and any other celestial thing that that is possible," she laughed, looking through the many layers of the fridge to find something worth snacking on before dinner.

Fin sighed deeply, exclaiming, "Oh come on Ivy!"

"There is no way that your brother is going to ask a girl he has been dating for just over two years to marry him," Ivy responded, poking her head around the fridge as she continued. "He's not that stupid. Though he is stupid enough to try and wear a hat upside down." Fin laughed then, deep laughs that relieved some of the tension within their chest as they remembered that day. When Cedric had attempted to put a hat on upside down while also tugging on a jumper, his head in an armhole, since it had started to snow and he wanted to be out in it as soon as possible. It took him a good fifteen minutes to entangle himself, without the help of course since it was fat better to laugh at.

"Maybe you're just blinded by lingering feelings for him," Fin teased once their laughter had ceased, wriggling their brows suggestively.

"Oh come off it," she laughed, uncovering a tiered stand of cupcakes that bought a huge smile to her face. Chocolate cake with vanilla icing, covered in strawberries dipped in chocolate. In one word, stunning. "I felt somewhat attracted to him in second year for just over a month and you're holding it above me? He had long hair then!" she exclaimed in defence, once again popping her head out from behind the fridge. "Cupcake or cheesecake?"

"Cupcake," Fin answered quickly and paused as Ivy ducked behind the fridge again, taking two cupcakes from the top of the tiered holder. "So it was his hair that did it for you, huh?" they laughed as she slid the cupcake across the bench, hoping that it would not topple over in the process.

"Longer hair looks better, like when it hangs just in front of their eyes. Gives you something to run your fingers through," she shrugged whilst peeling the paper wrapper away from the cake. Once she looked up and saw Fin's raised brow, she sighed deeply. "Not like that dumbass!"

They laughed, wiping cupcake crumbs from the corner of their mouth. "You know who does have semi-long hair?" they asked softly as Ivy took a bite from the cupcake, immediately feeling a sense of home. She looked up from the cake, furrowing a brow while she plucked the chocolate covered strawberry from the top. "Ma-"

"Fin no. Not in a million years," Ivy quickly interrupted, laughing softly at how very stupid that even sounded let alone if it was put into practice. Silence fell between them, well silence but for Fin's smothered sniggers, as they both ate the cupcakes. Ivy sighed after a few minutes, balling up the paper before tossing it into the bin. "Maman must have been stress baking again."

"She hasn't done that for a long while," Fin almost reminisced, doing the same. "Wasn't it a few Christmases ago? When Ant got that piercing that got infected?"

"Oh yeah I totally forgot about that," Ivy smiled brightly, almost laughing at the memory. It felt weird to her to see something of Antony's, a memory like that, as a fun event instead of one that flared up such anger within her that she turned directly to murder. It wasn't that the urge to kill had disappeared completely but it had more of regenerated into more justified revenge, one that would bring torture to the perpetrator in unfathomable ways. "Speaking of piercings..."

Fin rolled their eyes, "Oh Gods, what now?"

"I want to get the Daith one, it's pretty."

"Now?"

She shrugged, not really having an opinion on the matter, "As soon as really."

"I'll message my piercer," their grin finally broke through the fake disappointment that had once inhibited their lips and Ivy found herself smiling too. "I was thinking about getting another somewhere."

"Shocker that," she marvelled, chuckling softly as she exhaled deeply.

-

"What if they're not asleep?" Fin whispered as they and Ivy snuck out of the window balcony that adjoined her room. They were halfway down the hidden ladder amongst the greenery up to her window that both Ivy and Antony had used to sneak out over the years, looking up to Ivy with a worried brow furrowed. 

"Trust me Fin, I've got their routine down now. After goodnight, Dad comes in at around three-ish after waking up to go to the bathroom, just to check that I'm alive. He's meticulous about it and it happens at exactly three minutes past three usually," Ivy whispered back, quickly making her way down the ladder while Fin stood waiting at the bottom. She smiled, an odd form of adrenaline she used to get from murderous plans flooding through her brain."It'll be fine."

"We could have just done it in the day, she said there was an opening tomorrow morning."

"At 9 am, we both said we didn't want to get up that early," Ivy laughed softly as she began to walk down the path that went down t the gate where it would be safe to appreciate without risk of anyone hearing. But as she reached the corner of the house, she stopped and stared around the corner and up to where her parent's bedroom was. The honey glow from the overhead lamp bore through their curtain covered window, peeking around the corners where her father had been too distracted by his before bed book to notice where he drew the curtains. "If you look to my parent's window, the lights will go out... now."

"Damn," Fin whispered, still feeling apprehensive even though it seemed Ivy had the whole sneaking out thing down to a delicate art. They were slightly more comfortable though, enough to shake the tense feeling that tightened the muscles in their shoulders, "Come on then, let's get you pierced."