Doe (#Wattys2016)

Chapter Five

Draco's space became a blessing in the days leading up to Winter's feast. It was far enough from the main house to be completely out of the way. Something Draco wanted as his father was spending all his free time supervising the preparation for the holiday. Whenever they bumped into each other Lord Lurie just couldn't resist trying to include his son in someway- no matter how rude the reply. These encounters left Draco in such a foul mood that he often couldn't bring himself to speak even to Francis for the minimum time of an hour. During these gloomy silences Francis contented herself with the books from his study. The gothic imagery that the tower conjured was not lost on her, and in the lead up to Winter's feast the weather had turned into fantastic thunder storms. She'd pick her favourite gothic; curl up in Draco's armchair, a blanket wrapped about her shoulders and a cup of tea placed in a saucer on the floor. Only interrupted infrequently by the sighing of Draco who lay on the floor at the foot of his bed. She wasn't totally sure why he was so stressed and upset but she knew better than to ask. Draco's peculiar coping mechanism of lying on the floor worked best undisturbed. In his own time he might reveal the cause to her.

Of course these moments were only snatched between lessons, which the masters had increased for some reason. Even Draco was not his usual cocky self under the added pressure of an increased workload; he still didn't care but it was a nuisance to have so much. Doe also had more work to do, as she was dragged in to help with the holiday prep. Francis wasn't sure what all the fuss was about only the family would be eating perhaps a surprise was in store for the day after; she hoped it wasn't another party.

On the day of the Winter's feast, Francis and Doe got ready with extra care. Their mother too, wore her best dress. The Meeting was different on Winter's feast, instead it was called Reflection and most people were expected to attend even residents of The Lab (though many still avoided it, including Harrison and his family) all classes would be there. It was a Meeting to show others what you had achieved in the year and what they could expect from you next year. How serious you took it depended on where you were already, the merchants from Bugshout Way wanted to be merchants from Crossroad Leads and so would be wearing clothes far above what they could avoid. Crossroad Leads would be sitting as close as they dare to the residents of Pauper's Stare and so on. The main difference was that the Home Security took part in the ceremony. It was an opportunity for young boys and girls to aspire to something  different from being shopkeepers and wives. The Home Security always looked powerful in their unity and glamorous in their evergreen uniforms, no else wore uniforms, no one else belonged to a group so wholly. Francis grew up playing many games fashioned on the myth surrounding what the Home Security did. Never believing any of the legends that stirred amongst her peers as she had never seen any evidence of why the Home Security was really needed. Sure, it was good to have prevention against crime, but she had never witnessed them ever come into The Lab where most of the crime happened. There was always something sinister, she thought, about them. Sometimes, Lord Lurie would conduct conferences at his home, rather than go to the base at the end of Soldiers Walk, and though most who attended were no longer wearing evergreen uniforms they still had not regained their humanity. When Francis looked at them, she did not see individual people, all though they all were in appearance but their vacant expressions unified them and disturbed her.

So when the Home Security marched in during Lord Lurie's speech of reflection, she found herself sitting up a bit straighter but also lowering her eyes. At the end of Lord Lurie's joyous speech of how peaceful their country remained, the Home Security snapped to attention, they went through their standard drill and then the congregation  had to stand. Francis dropped the pamphlet behind her onto her seat as she did so. As they sang their most beloved hymn, she couldn't help glancing askance at the officers in front of her. She went along the line slowly, it was as they sang their second prayer that she noticed the officer directly in front of her. He must have been only a little older than her, he still looked very young in his uniform and his voice lacked the depths of a man. As she watched she saw that his mouth was quivering more than it should and when she looked up at his pale eyes she saw tears swimming in them. His pride made her look away quickly, she felt she had seen something disgusting and as the Home Security marched past again (with a last salute to Lord Lurie and the book of Creation) she found herself able to breath again. They were only half way through the three-hour event. After Lord Lurie her father always took his place at the podium. He was the last High Lord to speak, like the others he revealed what his department had achieved that year, what they hoped to achieve in the next and how they would set out to do this. Then he would read a passage from the book of Creation, he had a poor reading voice compared to Lord Lurie, his voice was thin and breathy it made the Creator's wishes seem more urgent, whereas Lord Lurie persuaded you to rejoice. The other thing Francis hated of her father's speech was that he closed it with a great long harangue, personally attacking them for their failures. He would read out unlucky names from a list, people who had been reported as shirkers or saboteurs. Occasionally people would cry out in shame, usually the relatives of the accused. And Lord Cecil would ask them to repent. This was a laborious task, each person named would come up to the podium (sometimes the walk alone took them an age) and beg the Creator for forgiveness, and they did this by kneeling to face the whole hall. They had to give their reasons and then ask for forgiveness. No one denied the accusations. Francis would try to shut off at this point; she found it hard to watch probably because she knew she was likely to end up in the same position when she was older. The majority of the persecuted were women, accused of not being charitable enough or supportive of their husbands. Nearly all of them were higher class, not a single person from The Labyrinth or beyond was called up. Francis would joke with Draco that was because they would be there all day, first to wait for them to walk up from the back of the hall and then to listen to them confessing to everything they had ever done.