Disclaimer: We all know the drill now after 12 chapters or so I would hope.
A/N: Ok...so this chapter perhaps isn't quite as refined as I would want it to be as my computer has decided to take a trip to the land of Oz and has abandoned me to the mercies of an internet-less land. Hopefully, it'll be fixed in the next fortnight but I'm not making promises. Currently, I'm actually using dad's computer and we all know that's not such a wise idea.
Enjoy because the plot is coming together really quickly now!
It was with a good deal of waving and gesturing that Blaise Zabini stood before Draco Malfoy and explained his predicament.
"Gnomes?" The blond asked slowly, his left eyebrow twitching as Draco tried to control his sarcasm.
"And of course, the entire ground level of my house is flooded!"
"Of course."
"Well?!" Blaise demanded, his hair sticking up every which way from the repetitive frustrated ministrations of its owner.
Draco shrugged negligently in his wing tipped armchair, the aged leather creaking as he shifted position.
"You're rich enough to take up residence at some penthouse suite in a hotel…in fact; don't you own a hotel, or several hotels?"
Blaise gave his best friend an incredulous look. "What sort of best friend are you?"
Draco smirked and shrugged again. "The only one you have, take it or leave it."
A sneer curled the Italian's lips as he gestured for Draco's house elves to come forward with several suitcases of rather expensive luggage. "I'm taking up residence here."
Huffing with indignant pride, Blaise marched up the winding staircase, the burdened house elves, struggling along behind him as he swore and cursed in Italian, stubbing his toe and inciting another spree of prolific and creative insults, this time, directed at the manor house itself.
"That wasn't very nice, Draco." Narcissa frowned down at him from her superior vantage point. "I raised you better than that."
Draco's lips widened in a winning smile that never failed to appease his doting mother. "You most certainly did. I was only teasing and as you can see, Zabini understood. He's terrorising my household as we speak."
Narcissa nodded succinctly. "Such a sense of humour, from your father's side of the family no doubt."
"No doubt." Draco agreed stiffly, any reference to his father being something of a sore spot for him. "If you'll excuse me…"
"When is Hermione coming for dinner, dear? I haven't had any female company for some time."
A nervous hum began in the back of Malfoy's mind as he smiled tightly at Narcissa.
"I'm still redecorating the master bedroom and I'm afraid all the bustle will make Hermione suspicious. I think it should remain something of surprise, don't you?"
Narcissa clapped her hands gleefully in full anticipation of when the bliss of the newly weds would permeate the house. It had been sometime since the manor had seen any sort of happiness and the marriage of her only child was an event to be celebrated; so naturally, she enthusiastically agreed.
Excusing himself, Draco followed in Blaise's footsteps and raced up the staircase, however, instead of heading towards the guest bedrooms to see how Zabini had settled in, Draco ventured deeper into the manor and found himself standing before the double paned doors of the master bedroom.
They creaked open as a house-elf emerged, bowed deeply and sidled away, leaving Draco alone in the eerie glow of candlelight which emitted from the bedroom. As he stepped through the doors, Draco carefully inspected the progress done to the room and nodded in grim satisfaction. To an ordinary observer, nothing had been done to the room; the floorboards remained unbuffed, the walls remained patchy with age and it was still completely devoid of furniture.
