Of Doves and Dragons

Chapter Four: So, Wizards?

"Wanna believe, wanna believe, that you don't have a bad bone in your body. But the bruises on your ego make you go wild"

-Marshmello ft. Halsey, Be Kind

Ember's alarmed scream echoed through the house, jolting it awake. The creatures scurried together, dropping pots, pans, and rags to the floor in the process, their massive eyes widened in fright.

She backed into a table causing several utensils to topple over and clatter to the floor. Gripping the edge with shaking fingers, she couldn't take her eyes off the unbelievable.

Too quick for a human, Narcissa burst through the door with her dressing robe thrown hastily on, her blue night gown peeking through. Her hair was down and inelegantly framing her face. Draco, but a moment behind his mother, rushed into the room with gasping breaths. His eyes electric, his clothes wrinkled, hair tousled in a way Ember would have described as adorable were her brain not short-circuiting. Narcissa's eyes evaluated the situation with ease before turning to the petrified girl. Draco's, on the other hand, fled to Ember at first sight.

"W-What are they?" Ember managed to stutter out.

Draco's sigh filled the room of tension with his usual exasperation.

Narcissa, ignoring her son, hesitantly walked toward Ember, who scrambled away until she had literally backed herself into a corner. The soft wood at her back helped support her shaking knees and insured that nothing else would be able to sneak up on her.

"They're..." Narcissa trailed off. Her mind scrambled to find a sufficient excuse to silence the girl and delay the inevitable. She glanced back to the house elves that were now huddled together; their expressions anticipating the worst from their master.

A high-pitched squeak sounded from the small group causing Ember to flinch and Narcissa to wince. "Oh shut up," Draco barked dramatically, before looking back toward the trembling brunette. He was leaning against a support beam with his arms crossed over his chest. His expression was a look of exhaustion but his eyes were wary and interested in where this conversation would lead.

"They're house elves." Narcissa finally explained. There would be no back tracking; there was no reasonable way to explain away the existence of these magical creatures short of obliviation.

"Elves?" Ember whispered perplexed. She looked back to the disconcerting elves with scrutinizing eyes. Elves were supposed to be things of fairytales not maids in mansions cleaning the kitchens.

"Yes, bloody elves." Draco drawled, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Draco!" Narcissa hissed with a disapproving glare.

Ember's green eyes flashed to his before landing back on Narcissa's face. "But elves...they don't exist." She whispered, more to herself than anything else.

The older woman sighed and clasped her soft hands around Ember's small wrists. She gently pulled her away from the corner back to the dining room and away from the catalystic creatures. Draco begrudgingly followed.

"It is too late to be discussing this. One cannot possibly think at this hour." She petted Ember's hair placatingly. "We'll talk about this in the morning, yes?"

Ember looked over her shoulder to a pursed lipped Draco before glancing back at the fabricated smile of his mother. She numbly nodded, letting the woman pull her towards the foyer and back up the staircase.

~

She got no sleep that night. Instead she laid in her bed staring at the ceiling trying to wrap her mind around whatever it was she had witnessed downstairs. She clutched at her bed sheets at the possibilities of tomorrow. Narcissa had looked positively strained as she had promised her answers in the light of day. What answers would she give? What could possibly explain the existence of elves besides pure insanity?