The rest of the summer passed in a blur. After my birthday, every day was dedicated to meeting at least five different Pureblood girls that my parents had set up to try to find my Mate in the off chance that they didn't attend Hogwarts. They were all either from Beauxbatons, Durmstrang or just visiting the country and each girl seemed to just get worse and worse. Aside from the fact that each of the girls made me feel even emptier inside because although some were nice - all of them gorgeous - they just weren't the right nice or beautiful I wanted; the girls morals seemed to decrease. At first they were old friends who knew me and liked me for friendship's sake, next they were the daughters of my father's business clients, next they had heard of the Malfoy name and wanted to marry into it for money and power, then last of all were the harlots who just wanted to be with a Veela.
There were some excellent choices though, and I almost thought that they could be my Mate - but alas, it was none of them. There was Isabel, a small blonde, blue-eyed witch; there was Stevie, who was brunette with green eyes; Georgia, who had short black hair and brown eyes; there were even a pair of twins, Stella and Bella (only Merlin knows why their parents made their names rhyme) who were completely identical and feisty if you got their names wrong.
I can't even begin to imagine what kind of beauty has been hiding in Hogwarts for so long that she's escaped my notice and charm.
Soon enough though, Father and Mother had gotten annoyed at their lack of progress and after they had gone through every Pureblood girl they could find, they gave up. Completely and utterly gave up, only praying to Salazar and Merlin that she was at Hogwarts and not half way around the world where I would never find her.
Only days later though, Mother gave up on that too and spent the whole of 3 weeks trying to convince my Father to take me to see a Seer in Diagon Alley. He put up an extremely good fight against her - I wouldn't have lasted so long, one look from her and I would've been running to the fireplace with Floo powder already in my hand - but after so long he caved, promising to take me the next weekend.
This was today.
Not wanting to waste so much 'precious' time that he wanted to do who-knows-what with, we Apparated straight into the alley. Father, being ever so suspicious of someone figuring out the family's secret, looked around to see if anyone recognised us. I highly doubt anyone did, though, as we were covered in black cloaks with the hoods up to hide our faces; after checking, we quickly walked into Knockturn Alley and straight to the top of a seemingly abandoned building. If someone didn't know exactly where they were going they'd just walk straight past the shack, but luckily my Father knew exactly where to go.
The house reminded me of the Shrieking Shack in some ways - it had this eerie feeling about it, the floors creaked, there was dust and cobwebs with hundreds of spiders on them everywhere and it was almost as if the torn, burnt and otherwise destroyed paintings were watching you. Suppressing a shudder and shaking the feeling, I looked up to my father as he nostalgically said:
"My father took me here for clarification to who my Mate was when I told him it was Narcissa. She spoke very cryptically, as all Seers do, but I didn't completely listen to her words, as I just knew it was Narcissa, but you will listen to her and listen exceptionally well. Remember her words and try to work them out, it'll help you immensely."
"And if I don't remember anything once I leave? Let's not make the same mistake with my memory as you did in the past," I said rolling my eyes.
"I have a Quick Quotes Quill - everything will be written down for you to go over later. Maybe you should tell your friend Zabini to see if he can help you," He suggested.
"Fine, but I still think Divination is rubbish."
Walking up the stairs to the very top floor - making sure not to get our feet stuck in any of the existing holes or creating new ones in the rotten wood - our conversation ended with the silence being filled with the squeaks of rats and mice. At the top, where the Seer resided, it seemed no different from the rest of the house, as far as I could tell.
