Prince of Ruin

Chapter Twenty: Theodore

I had finally given in and sent out my resume to a few other departments. The blow to my ego sucked- not hearing back from the department I wanted. What hurt more was the little voice in the back of my head saying that my father was right. That I wasn't good enough.

"I expect you and your wife in the dining room for dinner." the very same man had commented that morning after Coco left for work.

"Yes sir," I answered, before also leaving.

After that first day, I learned that staying home while between jobs was not an option. I didn't want to deal with my father so every morning after Coco left, I would too. I usually went to the Malfoy house to have coffee with Draco and his mother.

Narcissa was handling everything as well as expected- which is to say with an impressive amount of grace and dignity. It had quickly been determined that she wasn't a Death Eater, she'd never done anything in the name of Voldemort and while she probably had been privy to a lot of the information there was nothing they could really lock her up forever on.

Not to mention that despite everything, the woman was filthy rich as the only living member of the Black family.

The trials had been- a difficult time. Some people, such as the Selwyn's, hadn't been touched by it at all. Genevieve wasn't involved in any of that, thus Baz had never really been pressured into it. My father managed to keep himself out of any of the drama with the threat of blackmail. Draco-

Well, Draco was another case altogether.

"I think I'm going to visit the Mulciber house, would you care to join me?" I asked as I finished my coffee. Narcissa had excused herself to go check on her peacocks.

"No, I have a few things I want to get done around here," Draco responded.

"Oh?"

"Nothing exciting," Draco promised. "Mostly just- cleaning stuff out." After everything had been done, Narcissa willingly let the Aurors in to take whatever was deemed 'dark artifacts'. I was sure they hadn't managed to get everything, there was just too damn much. Both Draco and his father had a taste for dark artifacts and I knew that he had spent- a lot of time and money hunting down some of the most rare items.

Malfoy Manor was also made for secrets. The number of hidden rooms and passages ways in the home were almost comical. It made Hide and Seek an actual nightmare.

"Are you getting rid of all of it?" I asked curiously. Draco glanced at the door to the garden where his mother was off feeding her beloved birds.

"No." Was all he said. I nodded and stood, taking my leave.

By the time I got to the Mulciber's home, which was a literal castle, It was nearly 10 am.

The house was silent, that was normal. I knew my way around the vast space, heading straight up to Alistair's wing.

I remembered as a kid thinking it was so cool that Alistair got an entire section of his family's home to himself, what I didn't realize until later was that it was done so that his parents didn't have to deal with him. He had house elves who took care of him and his parents really only dealt with him when forced to by public appearances.

I headed for the sitting room where he normally hung out, but found it empty.

"Huh..." The second option was the bedroom. I hurried up the stone steps and didn't bother knocking, just pushing it open. "Mulciber- oh."

He wasn't alone, there were actually two people in his bed. Both of whom woke up at my intrusion and scrambled to cover up.

"Nott, polite society dictates you knock before entering a gentleman's bedroom." Alistair didn't lift the eye mask he wore.