The Grants Artefacts

04 The War and Peace of Arundal Granville

The War and Peace of Arundal Granville

Arundal stood with Narcissa Malfoy studying a blond child as he played with one of the albino peacocks. "He's not very...."

"I know," his mother sighed. "Dignified. Apparently, you can train that into them."

Arundal chuckled, "And how are his parents? Still recovering from the Imperius curse?"

Narcissa gave her a haughty sniff. "Oh yes, we are all very much recovered. It's cost us a lot."

"Is that why you called me here?"

The blond child let out a scream as the peacock tried to peck at him. Narcissa watched as the child screwed up his face and the peacock turned into a wooden toy. "Little Draco's got some fight in him."

"He needs to stop that, he's going to get a caution," she poked him with her toe. "Stop it child."

"I do like Malfoy Manor," Arundal sighed as she looked around the estate's lavish gardens. "Wiltshire's a lovely part of the world."

Narcissa wasn't listening. She was still poking Draco with her toe, trying to push him so he faced away from her. "I don't know what to do with him. He's too young to teach and he smiles all the time, I don't know why he's so happy. I can't have a conversation with him."

"Oh, he'll grow up soon enough, and turn sour like the rest of us."

"As long as he's not as snivelling and pathetic as his father." she bit her lip, "You know, I might have to use a memory wipe on you. Lucius is- he's not himself, I do love him though."

"Don't worry Ciss, it's only natural to be angry with the situation. Macnair is working as an executioner for the Ministry now, he disposes of dangerous creatures. Avery's gone back to his mums. Even Greyback's gone into hiding in Germany, I saw him recently, but I didn't stick around for long as you can imagine. Everybody's doing what they need to do to survive. I'm sure he's dead but if he is out there somewhere he'll have no choice but to accept it, or he won't have many followers left."

"It's so easy for you to talk about the Dark Lord like he's a puppy, isn't it?"

"That's never been true."

"We're reduced to houselves. Our name is worse than shit and those filthy mudbloods who think they won spit at us in the streets." she turned her nose up, but Arundel saw only relief in her eyes.

"I suppose this little creature is all that matters now," Arundel put her hands in her pockets and studied baby Draco.

"You think my husband will let it lie? He's furious, he has a dream of blood purity that will never be realised."

"Am I here to restore your good name?"

Narcissa motioned to one of her servants to take Draco and she turned and started to walk back to the house. "Lucius wants some items hidden before the ministry inevitably raid us. We need to seem repentant, he's in London at the moment speaking to Fudge. soon enough the Ministry will rely on so much Malfoy gold nobody will dare touch us. He'll be back in an hour or so," She laughed, but it was humourless and exhausted. "Come with me."

Nacissa took Arundel down to the vaults below the house, here the Malfoy family kept all their contraband. The things that were too valuable or too dangerous to have anywhere else in the house. She moved to a locked cabinet and took out five items, including a book and a necklace and handed them to Arundel. "He gave Lucius this as a gift, right?" she muttered as she put the items into her charmed bag. "It looks so... boring."