The Moon Girl | Druna

Chapter Two

Though the morning was crisp and cool, signaling the upcoming season change, Draco could not find it within him to admire the lovely day. He was exhausted. He had wrongfully assumed that because he had spent all night keeping watch in the dungeons, he would be exempt from breakfast; however, the soft pop in his bedchamber followed by the gentle and fearful rousing from a House Elf proved his assumptions to be wrong. After spitting harsh words at the cowering creature, Draco threw the emerald bed covers from his body in an annoyed huff. His knees popped and his head throbbed from lack of rest and as he stretched, his entire body protested.

I'll have to find something more comfortable to sit upon this evening, Draco thought to himself with a flash of irritation as he thought about having to return to the dreaded duty.

After dressing and combing his hair into a perfect part, Draco descended the stairs leisurely. If he had to function on such a small amount of sleep, he wasn't going to rush for anyone. Walking into the dining room, Draco tried to hide a grimace. Whenever he looked at the table he had eaten meals at for all of his life, he could no longer see birthday celebrations or joyous Christmas feasts. No, all Draco could see now was a giant snake slithering across the dark wood, fangs bared with dripping venom aimed for his past professor. Though he knew Professor Burbage once taught a most ridiculous subject, Muggle Studies, and held the despicable idea of muggles and their offspring being equal to pureblood wizards, Draco never expected her to be eaten before his eyes.

The impatient clucking of his mother's tongue brought Draco out of the haunting memory. He morphed his face back into a look of indifference as he slid into his spot to the right of his father; because the Dark Lord was not present, Lucius was able to claim the seat at the head of the table. Once seated, Draco looked up to meet his mother's eyes; he saw any previous annoyance she held for him slip away. He supposed he looked a right mess; though he was dressed and groomed meticulously, Draco knew dark circles shadowed his eyes and his typically fair skin was ashen. The stress and fatigue did not befit him nor had it for the past two years.

Looking at Narcissa Malfoy, an outsider would never be able to read her small facial twitches or body language for anything other than indifference and natural poise. Draco, however, knew his mother, and in that moment, her concern was evident; he could tell she wanted to say something, but in doing so, she would go against his father and, most likely, the Dark Lord. A sharp look from Lucius caused her left eyebrow creased in worry, a telltale sign of her true feelings, to smooth out in a perfectly relaxed state. Lucius knew his wife still viewed Draco as the sickly infant he once was; he had yet to convince her Draco, their only child, was nearly a grown man. She had spoiled and coddled him for far too long.

"How nice it is for you to finally join us, Draco," Lucius drawled slowly distaste clear in his voice. "It is as if you've forgotten breakfast is served promptly at eight o'clock, just as it has been your entire life."

"My apologizes, Father," Draco smarted as the House Elves came bustling into the room; their wiry forms weighed down with platters as they carried what they could not levitate. "My duties to the Dark Lord kept me up until just before sunrise this morning."

"You mean your pathetic watching," Rodolphus Lestrange snorted. "You must be absolutely fatigued, my dear nephew. Tell us, who caused more trouble? The senile, old man or the emaciated, little girl?"

Draco's cheeks burned internally though he made sure to keep his face impassive as to not encourage his aunt's husband to mock him further. Just as his mouth was opening to shove a hefty portion of poached eggs to keep from saying something he would later regret, Bellatrix fixed her husband with a steely glare. Her dark eyes were fierce giving her the look of a wild animal, which her crazed, dark curls enhanced.