𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧 - 𝑨 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝑺𝒏𝒂𝒑𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

CHAPTER ONE - Mother

For those who read this story before it got deleted, you'll notice a lot of MAJOR changes.
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The dying sunlight was floating through the air of her bedroom. The belongings were off the shelves, bedsheets stripped off the mattress, leaving it bare of the soft sheets and the girl that would normally lay across it with a book in her hand.

Mia tilted her head back, shutting her eyes to let Mona brush back her hair using her free hand, while the other balanced a cigarette between her fingers. She was a mother figure to Mia, the head Maid of the Manor who looked after the girl since she was in diapers.

It was her decision after all, to keep her in the Manor instead of sending her off to some orphanage, especially considering she was also her late mothers dear friend.

Moma, she would call her. She was originally supposed to call the older woman Mona, but she grew up constantly mispronouncing her name to the point that it became a habit. Not that she minded.

"My darling," Mona sighed, released a thick puff of smoke from her lungs. "Are you nervous?"

Lifting her head to look at her, Mia shook her head. "Not really....well maybe a little, but I'm more excited than anything."

She turned her body to face her, not minding the smoke that drifted into her nostrils. The smell of cigarettes didn't bother her, as it was a scent she was used to, a familiar fragrance that hugged her since childhood.

"I'll be working for Severus Snape after all. I'm honestly surprised you allowed Mr. Malfoy to transfer me."

"Are you?" She snorted, and flicked some ash off her cigarette and went to sit down on the sheetless bed, crossing a leg. "A controversial man he is, but he is just as distinguished. It'll do wonders for your career in the future."

She nodded, another spark of excitement eliciting in her chest. The thought of leaving the Manor to go work for someone else - someone who was known as a hero according to the many books she read about the war - gave her a sense of independence. She was always under Mona's wing otherwise.

"I just wonder why he chose me of all people. You'd expect Lucius Malfoy to select one of his best maids for a friend." She placed her hand upon her neatly groomed hair, feeling the flower like pins Mona tucked into her locks.

"Oh but he did. You're a wonderful maid my dear." She lazily takes another drag, before parting her lips to let out the toxic vapors. "You were trained by me and others after all."

"Yet Donna still gets on my arse about not knowing how to perfect majority of the fancy desserts."

"I'm sure he isn't too picky anyway," She waved a hand dismissively. "But if anything comes up, you can always reach out my dear."

The older woman crushed the butt of the cigarette against the dark oak wood of Mia's bed frame, snuffing out the remaining embers before standing, her pristine white skirt gracefully falling around her ankles. "Now hurry up and finish packing girl, you're leaving tomorrow. I'll return in a while to check-" She tossed the smoke out of an open window. "-for now I must return to work."

Mona cast a glance at her direction before walking the of the bedroom, leaving the door open to a slight crack. With a soft sigh, Mia stood up and stretched her arms, moving to one of the last shelves to clear off the books, and her camera - her eleventh birthday gift from the Malfoys - that homed it

She stuffed them into her second trunk was already quite full, and after a bit of effort she managed to lock it shut. With a soft huff Mia plopped herself down on the trunk, swinging her legs back and forth as she looks around her soon to be former bedroom.