The Years of Blue [2]

Chapter 17: Secret Passages and House Elves

That night, I made up my mind to speak to Theo, for I was on his side on this. And I knew that nothing was worse in this family than to be threatened with being disowned.

But when I reached his room, I opened the door to find I was not the only one with this same idea. Theo was situated on his bed with Damion sitting next to him, giving him a pep talk. On the floor, leaning on the bed frame was Ed, his eyes directed at me as I entered.

Theo, who had been listening intently to what Damion was saying looked up at the sight of me.

"What? You feel bad for me too?" I gave him a stubborn look, not happy to see he was still giving me attitude, but my mind took over my emotions.

"I just wanted to say that I think our Father was absolutely horrible to you and I think you handled it well, considering." I paused for a moment at the thought of father slamming the house elf into the wall took shape in my mind. I was only a foot taller than that elf.

"I'm glad you stopped him before he hurt anyone else." My voice had lost its edge as I started to bawl again, and I thought for sure Theo was going to say something mean to me. But instead I heard him jump from his bed and bear hug me.

"Of course," he muttered through my hair.

"He wasn't going to hurt you, Ava," Damion's voice sounded, as I broke away from Theo. Damion was looking at me, hurt, as seeing his baby sister cry seemed to hit a pressure point.

"We would stop him if he tried." Ed nodded seriously as I took to move next to my brothers and talk about what happened and what to expect for the holidays.

As Ed guessed, the next morning our parents acted like nothing went wrong last night. The house elf was in recovery and was sold to another house in London. My father was sitting at his normal space at breakfast reading his newspaper.

Our mother even had a cheerful smile on her face as she told the boys what to pack before we leave in the late afternoon. Theo and I had exchanged looks of outrage at the façade but we cut it out the moment Damion gave us a warning look to keep quiet.

A fake façade was better at the moment than a war zone.

A car was prepared for us a quarter to 4. My father had our driver pack the car as we split the drive between two cars. One housed my parents and Damion. The other housed the three younger children, and was thus the far cooler car.

Ed made it better by passing out Cauldron cakes which greatly improved the trip.

Malfoy manor was situated in Wiltshire, hidden off a main road by charmed hedges that shielded the rocky driveway from no-majs and muggles.

"I honestly don't know how I'm going to survive this holiday. How say you?" Theo asked turning to me who gave him a pitiful look.

"Yeah exactly," He muttered in agreement as the car drove slowly to a sturdy pair of impressive wrought-iron gates. They opened on their own as we approached and the car drove on, followed by my parents.

Lines of hedges followed the straight-line drive way leading up to the House beyond. The grand black door was opening revealing the Malfoy family in full, ready to great their guests as we approached.

Both cars parked before our doors opened and I was escorted out by my driver with my brothers following behind me.

My mother and father were already out and talking to the Malfoys as my siblings joined in a huddle next to Damian.

As Lucius Malfoy greeted us with his stone-cold face, I took to looking around me, and up at the house's large stone front, lined with glinting diamond-paned windows. A squawk was heard behind me, making me turn in time to see the feathers of a white peacock pop out atop the yew hedge surrounding us.