STORM \\\ D.M T.N

0.9

0.9 Hide 'n' Seek in the Past

September 1987

    "Five! Four! Three! Two! One!" he peeled his hands of his eyes. "I'm coming for you Mallory!"

It was a sunny day at Malfoy Manor, the sky was blue and not a single cloud was in sight. Lucius was out for work at the Ministry and Narcissa was somewhere within the Manor, most likely planning her next room to re-design. Narcissa hardly ever worked, often doing her job as a house wife, watching over the children whom spent most of their days outside playing.

Six peaceful years had passed by since the fall of the Dark Lord and everything was as normal as possible. 

Sticking to their orders, each Death Eater family kept their children in their homes, where most would play by themselves. Many of the children had learned about the Dark Lord and the ways of the pure-bloods, who the pureblood's were and the children amongst them, however, several have not learned about their families active participation. It was a mutual agreement between families that the children wouldn't learn until they turned eight. It was a precaution of sorts to ensure that in the event of surprise guests, they wouldn't spill secrets to the wrong people.

Per orders, the children had also been oblivious to the relation of Maizelle and Matthew.

At the age of three, the Malfoy adults had ordered that Maizelle change her name. It was of necessity that she hid her blood from the world and so she went by her middle name instead: Mallory. Her new middle name became Serpent, a suggestion from her pet snake, Nagini, as she had relations to Salazar Slytherin. So it became Mallory Serpent Maizelle, her birth name quickly becoming her last name.

The Berkshires had gone through the same process with her brother, Matthew. Unlike his sister, Matthew wasn't really up to tossing his first name away completely so with the help of the Berkshire parents, he merged his middle name, Thomas, with his birth name to create Mattheo, similar to Italian name, Matteo.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Draco hollered, the wind carrying his voice up and over the growing hedges.

Just as Snape had predicted, the Ministry went for all the known Death Eaters. Imprisoning Bellatrix and her husband, Rodolphus, in Azkaban, alongside Rodolphus's brother, Rabastan, and Barty Crouch Jr, all whom had proudly participated in the torture of the Alice and Frank Longbottom.

"There you are!" Draco yelled after spotting what he believed to be the edge of her cloak. Turning the corner, he groaned in frustration as he realized it was infact not her but a leaf. Mallory was still hiding. "Oh come on!"

So although Maizelle knew who they were, she never got to meet the Lestrange's at an age where her brain could remember them.

Today, Maizelle had suggested that the herself and Draco play hide and seek in the gardens. While they had done this before and knew the gardens like the back of their hands, it was rather risky. Years ago, before the two had been born, Narcissa had placed an enchantment on the hedges to ensure protection of the home. Every forty minutes, the hedges would explode, collapse or simply become one with eachother or the grounds before rebuilding themselves in different position among the property. Another measure of security. And although Narcissa would never admit to it, it was also a means for change of scenery, new flowers and plants appearing each time— which was what made playing within them so risky. They change and you lose all sense of direction, having no idea which was is in and which way is out. All place markers vanished, leaving you stranded until help arrives, that is if the peacocks and garden pieces deem you worthy enough of it.

The hedges, almost quadruple their height, make it impossible to see over top.

Through out the gardens, perfectly carved stone benches were placed beside the gravel path.  Intricately carved statues were placed here and there and often bowed to those of pure-blood status. If they were caught in a good-mood and you were well-respected, they would wave to the half-bloods– not that anyone ever came to visit them. However, any chance that mudbloods and blood-traitors were passing through and then they were off! Throwing several insults and swinging their swords, leaving any witch or wizard running for the exit, tears streaming down their cheeks.

The garden maze was a peaceful place to be, especially it's center.

Set in the middle of it all was a large clearing equivalent to two-hundread Quidditch pitches. It had a couple benches and some trees here and there but was empty for the most part, save for the great big willow tree Narcissa would often demand the elves set up for a picnic lunch.

The willow was Maizelle's favourite location in the entirety of the Manor grounds.

Most times, when in need of serenity or space, she would come out here to the willow and sit at the base of the trunk. It's branches reached the grounds providing the perfect place to shield her from the view of outsiders. 

There was a time when she came out here late at night to see a bunch of fireflies had infested the tree. In her eyes, the tree had never been so beautiful and magnificent. She had come out the night after hoping for the same sight, unfortunately, she was met with disappointment. 

The following morning at breakfast, she had gone to Lucius had asked for him to buy her loads of string lights on the way home. Confuddled, he tried to ask her what she would need them for. She simply muttered "something" and continued to quickly shovel the last bite of her breakfast into her mouth.

crunch

Poking his head around the corner, Draco watched as a darkly scaled tail slither into the bushes, rustling the leaves and crunching a few of them. Rushing to where he saw the tail, he parted the bushes to find a raven-haired girl trying to reach the other side.

"FOUND YOU!" he screamed scaring the girl hiding within the leaves. 

"NO! Come on! That's not fair, Nagini's tail gave me away!" Maizelle exclaimed defeatedly. 

Sorry Nagini had whispered, bowing her head in guilt.

It's okay! It's not like I haven't won more rounds than Malfoy! Maizelle giggled. 

"What'd she say?" the pale boy asked. One thing Draco hadn't been left in the dark about was Maizelle's ability to converse in parseltongue.

"Nothing you need to worry about! Let's play again, this time you hide!" She exclaimed and he took off running.

Lucius did end up buying her the lights that day and that night, she had climbed out her window to entangled the lights with the leaves and branches of the great willow. She even carved out a door in the trunk, hollowing out part of the trunk to create shelving.

Inside, she left some activities like a chess board, books and even a quaffle ball to toss. She eventually added a few blankets and pillows to the hidden compartment. Since then, she will often spend a few nights out there just star gazing and hiding away from the many residents in the Malfoy manor, humans and creatures alike. 

No one ever made note of her disappearances. She made sure they were in a deep sleep so that they couldn't.