𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓖𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼 || 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲

Chapter 28 - Detour

            Ophelia stood dumbfounded in the grand entranceway of the Greengrass house, Lucius had made his dramatic exit, leaving her behind to search for Draco alone. What was she to do now?

Ophelia swallowed down her anxieties as she thought quickly on her feet, but found herself distracted by something in the corner of her eye.

Movement.

On the upstairs landing overlooking the marbled hall.

"Draco?!" Ophelia called out as she darted for the stairs, her legs moving as swiftly as they would allow. She clambered up the marbled stairs, any class or elegance she thought she might possess was out of the window. "Draco?" She called again as she reached the top, she could only hear her heartbeat loud in her ears, pumping away harder than the Hogwarts Express.

There out the corner of her eye! The retreating figure was far too small to be an adult, she made chase.

Ophelia ran down a nearby corridor, and found herself facing a child, hiding behind an ornate occasional table topped with a crisp white orchid.

Not Draco.

Disappoint ran over her like a wave, but she tiptoed forward anyway, squatting down to the child's level.

"Hello there," Ophelia forced a warm smile onto her lips, despite the dread and disappointment in her heart. "What's your name?"

The child, a little girl a few years younger than Draco, poked her head out from behind the table sheepishly. Dark long hair fell about her shoulders, her pale face still partially hidden behind a table leg. She gave no answer.

Ophelia recognised the girl, but she wasn't a former student... ah yes!

"You were at the party last night, at the ministers house, weren't you?" Ophelia asked, the girl nodded slowly. "I remember, you were playing with Pansy, and Draco."

The girl nodded again.

"I'm Draco's governess, it's nice to meet you." Ophelia offered her a hand shake and a kind smile, but the girl didn't move.

"What's a governess?" She asked finally, in a tiny polite voice.

"It's like a teacher, who lives with you, but I'm more like Draco's friend."

"You're Miss Oakham?" The girl asked, with quizzical brows. Ophelia was slightly taken aback.

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Draco spoke about you." The girl inched out from behind the table bit by bit until she came to face the governess. Ophelia daren't stand, fearing the girl would have a fright and run away into hiding again, no she let the girl tower over her little crouched frame.

"Good things I hope?" Ophelia smiled. The girl nodded. "You know my name, it's pretty unfair I don't get to know yours?"

"I'm... my name is Astoria." The girl swallowed; her eyes darted over Ophelia's shoulders in a worried fashion. Looking out for her father no doubt.

"And what a beautiful name that is!" Ophelia's eyes sparkled with truth. "Now my friend Draco, he's in a bit of trouble, not trouble as in he's done something wrong.... Trouble as in something bad might happen to him, and I don't want anything bad to happen to Draco, do you?"

Astoria shook her head.

"Of course not! We wouldn't want that would we? You see Draco is missing, I think he might have run away... did he look sad, or say anything that made him seem sad... or angry? At the party?" Ophelia questioned the youngster. Astoria looked to think for a while.