An Interference of Portraits

Going Bigger With Plans

'I probably ought to be getting back,' Draco said, not looking much like he was in a desperate hurry to leave.

'What to?' I asked.

'An evening of Xenophilius and mother arguing about the best way to grow Dirigible Plums and Luna forcing my father to do a jigsaw with her. You know, Luna calls my father Lucy. I don't understand the world anymore. We have the Lovegoods staying with us and she's calls my father, my father... Lucy. All. The. Time. And he loves it. Maybe she's put him under some kind of Imperius. I definitely think he's enchanted.'

'Probably Fae magic. I suggest you stay here as long as possible in case you fall under her spell too,' I smiled.

'Perhaps you're right.'

'You know I am. More importantly, Mr Kreacher seems to have a remarkable secret store of red wine. I've yet to find out where he's hiding it... another mystery of the house, though I reckon there's a secret room under the Mr Kreacher's Den. Still, I bet you're tempted...'

'Depends what you're cooking...'

'Well, I've got some chicken and mushrooms or we could get in a pizza.'

I nearly laughed aloud again when I saw his grey eyes light up momentarily.

'Pizza it is then.'

It was then that Mouse returned, struggling to carry a lead-lined case, and with instructions on how to duplicate it and then get the books into their own cases and then how to seal them. There were further instructions on protective spells to use before actually opening the book to prevent corruption. It was a battle that made me sweat and afterwards I felt surprisingly shaky. Draco stayed beside me during the whole ordeal. Once the cases were sealed, their surfaces became automatically embossed with the cover of the book inside it. At least, once done, the house seemed to relax after that. Well, I did anyway. And the whispering in the library subsided completely as if the books were all calm and relieved too.

'Definitely pizza,' I muttered. 'I don't much fancy cooking but I'm definitely in need of that glass of wine.'

'It's like a lesson in Defence Against the Dark Arts when you visit this house,' muttered Draco.

Much to Mr Kreacher's disgust, we took the pizza straight up to the Snug and ate from the boxes.

Afterwards, as we sat idly perusing jigsaw pieces, I glanced at Draco, who looked more relaxed than I'd ever seen him.

When he looked up and caught me staring, I blurted out, 'so, how's fame and hero worship treating you?'

'Merlin!' he exclaimed. 'I fucking hate you sometimes, Potter!' But I thought that maybe he didn't mean that and maybe he could probably cope with the attention far better than me, if not turn it to his advantage. 'I can't go out anywhere. I can't do anything. Everything has to be carefully planned. Everyone stares at me, wherever I go. People talk about me and whisper in front of me, as if I can't see or hear them. They all think they have the right to comment on my every little...' he looked at me suddenly. 'You really did hate it, didn't you?'

'Mhem,' I said, my eyebrow quirked.

'To think I actually used to be jealous of you and your fame. Gods, sometimes I really hate it. It's worse than everyone thinking I was the devil's child reincarnate. At least then I could just pretend I was better than them all.'

'Mhem. Well, actually, that's not much fun either,' I said seriously. 'Problem is, it's always so fickle. One minute everyone is building you up into this god-like figure, next thing is they're all pulling you down and can't wait to see you destroyed. It's a funny old world.'