The Hidden Hero (A Harry Potter Fanfic) [Book 1 of the Hidden Hero series]

Chapter 23

    Making her way downstairs, she went to the dining room to see if breakfast was ready. Since it was rather early, she didn't expect anyone to be there. But to her surprise, Daniel was sitting down and enjoying his food.

    Once Celestia walked in, Daniel's head went up and saw Celestia. Not really knowing what to do, Celestia grinned sheepishly at him. Let's see how much Grace was right. Did he actually change?

    To her surprise, his mouth twitched upwards and he said, 'Merry Christmas, Celestia.' Oh, so did know that I actually exist, brilliant. 'Merry Christmas to you too,' Celestia replied happily.

   As Celestia was about to dig in, Daniel asked, 'So, how are you?' 'It's all good.' This was all pretty awkward for both of them as they barely spoke. Her relationship with her siblings were nothing like Lance and Lysander.

    They just got along so well, and it made Celestia a little envious. The things she'd do to have cheerful banter with Matthias without him blatantly ignoring her or teasing Natalia without getting her hair bleached green as revenge.

    But this minor change was really all she needed. It can suffice for a present for Christmas. How cheesy, Celestia wanting only family bonding time for Christmas. But all she got is a party that she's forced to attend. One can only dream.

                                                                                           ***

    'Celestia, hurry up!' Mother yelled, clearly annoyed. Silently cursing, Celestia hurried up and go up to her family. How was she supposed to run in a tight dress? They were running late so they were going to apparate all the way to Malfoy Manor. Apparation, that didn't sound good to me, especially because of all the gory tales Nathaniel told me when I was younger about failed attempts at apparition. Celestia shivered at the thought of the time a man apparated into a wall and ended up suffocating. Not a very child-friendly bed time story.

    'Celestia, want to join me?' Grace asks, 'Daniel is helping Matthias.' Celestia nodded eagerly.

    'Alright,' Grace instructed, 'Grab on to my hand and make sure you don't let go, I think you know what will happen if this goes wrong.' Celestia nodded and did as she was told.

    Grace held on Celestia's hand and said, 'Okay, one, two, three-,' Once she said three, Celestia felt her body being squeezed and she could feel my insides going all weird, causing her to gag.

    That moment of pain soon passed and Celestia found herself standing in front of Malfoy Manor. She felt slightly sick and dizzy, causing her to trip and fall onto the grass. She immediately got up, careful not to ruin her dress.

    Her family were already ahead of her, Grace was the only one waiting for her.

    'Come on,' Grace said kindly, 'We mustn't be late.' Celestia nodded and followed behind.

    In the gigantic mansion, there were quite a bit of people. The entire extended family was there, except the Tonks since they stopped attending these events long ago.

    Celestia's plan was to stay unnoticed and try to avoid as many people as possible. How hard could that be?

    Well apparently, it was very hard.

    Celestia's uncle, who was her mother's brother, Lucius Malfoy immediately greeted the Hearthscrambles once they came in the manor.

    'Leonardo, Natalie,' he greeted, 'How wonderful to see you.' Natalia replied, 'You too, brother.' However, the tone of her voice contradicted her words as she sounded as cold as usual; the same nonchalance as always.

    Hmm, I guess the lack of closeness between siblings runs in the family, Celestia thought to herself.

    The best way to execute her plan of being unnoticed would be to quietly tag along with her parents and then after dinner, simply head down to the kitchen and spend the rest of the night there. It worked every time.

    But not this time... When Celestia was about to leave, her mother stopped her and said, 'You should go see Draco and Blaise. That would be better than just pointlessly moping around.' Pointlessly moping around? Had Celestia been moping according to others?

    Sighing, she had no choice but to obey her mother.

    Looking around, Celestia finally spotted that bleached-blonde brat. And her new brother-in-law. Reluctantly she went towards them, not really knowing what to do. She couldn't really initiate a conversation for obvious reasons.

    Besides, what was she supposed to say? Have any new plans to take down Potter? But if you say it that way, it sounds like something the Dark Lord would do.

    'Well, look who's here,' a way too familiar voice sneered. Celestia winced at the fact that she'd have to have a civil conversation with him. 'Hi,' was Celestia's brilliant response. Wow...

    Blaise Zabini rolled his eyes at Celestia while Draco asked, 'Why are you here?' Which honestly was a very stupid question. But Celestia too, was famous for asking stupid questions. Another thing that ran in the family...

    'Because I am unfortunate enough to be related to you? Isn't it pretty self-explanatory?'

    Draco grumbled a whatever and turned away from Celestia, obviously not wanting to chat anymore, much to her relief.

    Celestia quickly walked away from the pair as fast as possible. So much for talking to them...

                                                                                        ***

    'Hey Dobby!' Celestia greeted cheerfully. She had finally managed to sneak away from the party and come down here. 'How are you?'

    Dobby, the Malfoy's house elf, smiled upon the arrival of Celestia. 'Miss! How wonderful it is to see you! W-was dinner good?' He asked with his squeaky voice. Celestia smiled fondly and replied, 'It was splendid!'

    She and Dobby continued catching up when Dobby asked, 'Uh, miss. I've had something in mind and I haven't told anyone about it yet...'

     'What is it?' Celestia asked, her curiosity settling in.

'How is it like to be free? To have no master?' Dobby asked. Celestia thought about it for a bit and replied, 'Technically I'm not free. I still have to obey my parents and people like that. But to answer your question, I don't think anyone is really free, if you think about it. We're still held back by responsibility.'

    'I-I don't really u-understand mi-miss.' 'Well, uh see it in this way. No one is really free. We may not all be slaves but- wait you know what? I'm overcomplicating things. It feels good to be free. There's your answer.' Celestia stopped herself from rambling on and on.

    The house elf smiled and said softly, 'Well, I'd like to be free miss. Do you think that would ever happen?' 'Of course! I hope that one day you'd be free and get to live your life, without anyone dictating it!' Celestia said enthusiastically. She truly did want Dobby to be free. Although it was indeed unusual for an elf to crave freedom, Dobby ought to live his dreams.

    'Miss! I think its time for you to go back! Goodbye!' Dobby said, beaming.

     Celestia waved goodbye and hurriedly rushed up the stairs. Now, she was even more inspired to crack the case of the Philosopher's Stone. If a little house elf like Dobby can hope to be free, then she could believe that she, with the help of her friends, can stop Snape.