Riddle Me This

Chapter 73

Catherine's POV

"Yay! Lolli gets to serve Lady Catherine at Malfoy Manor." Lolli chirped happily. I frowned a little.

"Malfoy Manor..." I said as I pulled away from Draco. Lolli nodded, and I bit my lip.

"What's wrong Kitty?" Draco asked. I sighed, unable to find the words.

"She won't live at the manor." Luna said. I both thanked her and cursed her in my head. Draco turned to her. "It holds too many bad memories for her and the rest of us quite frankly."

"Kitty." Draco sounded so upset. "It's... it's my family home..."

"And this is mine, but you don't see me bent out of shape about it." Andromeda said as she entered with Teddy. She kneeled in front of Draco and I. "Draco, I understand you're the only Malfoy heir, but do you want to force your fiance to be uncomfortable at home?"

"Of course I don't. But my family's lived there for ten centuries. Tradition-" Draco started.

"Is bullshite." Andromeda interrupted flatly. "Cissy is a very traditional woman. The fact she won't even reside within the walls should be more than enough to say that the Manor is no longer appropriate for living." Andromeda let out a deep breath. "I don't know, nor care what happened in that house. But if Catherine's acting like that, I'm sure it's nothing good." I hadn't even realised I had started shaking, or that I was breathing hard, but I was. I was panicking slightly at the thought. I barely slept when I spent the night. How would I live there?

"Kitty?" Draco asked carefully. I turned to him and whimpered.

"I'm sorry Dragon. But... I just can't live there." The room became very quiet. I couldn't look at Draco, which real sucked since we JUST GOT FUCKING ENGAGED! An irritated huff turned everyone to Pansy, who was sitting on a sofa with Dean.

"Can you two worry about living arrangements at some different time? It's not like either of you needs to pack up and move right now. You two just got bloody engaged. Stop moping and perk the hell up." Pansy smiled. "Besides, we should be celebrating, right?" She turned to her purse. "And I have the perfect thing. It was supposed to be a housewarming present for Potter, but." Pansy shrugged, pulling out a bottle of elven wine, and then a bottle of firewhiskey.

"So we should get shite faced?" Blaise asked, reaching for the wine. "Oh, and you actually got the good stuff this time." He teased. Pansy glared, grabbing the bottle from him.

"Back the hell off Blaise. You can have firewhiskey with your boyfriend." Pansy snapped.

"Should we really be drinking with Teddy here?" Hermoine asked, eyeing the two year old.

"I won't be drinking." Andromeda said. "And as long as no one gets too out of hand, it should be fine."

"We're in a room with Gryffindors. It's going to get mental." Blaise said with a smirk as he watched Seamus eyeing the firewhiskey. Andromeda sighed.

"I can always bring Teddy with me to our room." She supplied. "It's getting close to nap time anyways." Andromeda had Teddy wish everyone good bye before bringing him away. Drinks were poured, but the atmosphere was still so tense. Especially between Draco and I. Sevy was worrying from where she hung on a curtain rod. It did not help any.

"Lolli's sorry, Lady Catherine. Lolli didn't mean to make things uncomfortable." The house elf wailed eventually. Kreacher was glaring at her slightly, and it made everything even worse. I sighed as I put my untouched glass down.

"Lolli, you were just excited. I'm not angry with you." I said gently.

"Speak for yourself." Draco grumbled into his glass. I don't think he's ever been angry with one of the house elves. And considering her master had shown this anger, Lolli became even more hysterical. "I think it's about time we go home, Lolli." Draco said when he finished his glass. I frowned as he stood. "Congratulations on the remodel of the house, Potter." Draco turned to me, the mask he had put up slipping slightly. "Floo me when you return home, Catherine." And he was gone with Lolli. As soon as the green fires died back to their orange glow, I broke down into tears.