Circi | 2

ONE

"Greenhouses and Escapees"

June 1993

Despite the acres of land around Malfoy Manor, there are no trees to cast shade over the path between the Manor and a near-abandoned green house at the edge of the property. The grass is brown, nearly charred, and snaps under the bare feet of Draco Malfoy. He whipped his head in an attempt to unstick his near-white hair from his forehead.

In one hand he held a leather-bound textbook and, in the other, a glass of water, which the elves had enchanted to stay cold. His fingers fidgeted against the book, and he shrugged his shoulder in an attempt to keep his shirt on.

Upon entering the greenhouse, the air stilled and the heat radiated off of the plants. Most of the flowerbeds were dry, the plants having withered and rotted away as the years passed; one of the flowerbeds, by a broken window in the fair corner, was overgrown with weeds. Underneath that flowerbed, behind a curtain of weeds, two dirt-covered feet poked out. Draco lowered himself beneath the flowerbeds and crawled next to his sister. She glanced up from her book and watched him situate himself against the wooden base of the greenhouse. Draco handed her his drink and squeezed his sweat from his fringe.

"That's disgusting." The two of them grimace at the sweat, glistening on his palm and the stain left on the leather of his textbook.

"You're disgusting." He grumbles and wipes his hands on his jeans. Then, he digs into his pocket and produces a hair bobble, "here." Circini takes it and ties back her hair, having to peel brown strands away from her neck and face. She leans over to look at his textbook, disregarding her own story book.

"What are you reading?" He opened the book to a page with a folded corner and lifted up the front cover to show her the silver engraving on the cover that spelled out 'Goshawk's Guide to Herbology'. Leaning on his shoulder, she peers down at the picture of a mandrake covering an entire page. She giggles at the memory of Draco's letter from his first year at Hogwarts when a mandrake had bitten his finger.

The two sat there, silently sweating and reading up on mandrakes while the flowerbeds and hanging weeds provided them limited shelter from the hot sun beating through the greenhouse windows. As the day passed by, clouds began to cover the sun and a light breeze picked up. The water had disappeared long ago, but the glass remained cold against their hands.

It wasn't until they were on the final few pages of the textbook and the sun was beginning to set were the two interrupted. The greenhouse door opened, and they looked up as the weeds were pulled aside to reveal the hard face of their father, Lucius Malfoy. His face was pulled tight, wrinkles lined his forehead and the corners of his mouth, and his silver-blonde hair hung past his face.

"I think it's time you two prepared for dinner." His voice sounded thick and troubled, but he cleared his throat and looked over the two. "Do your shirt up, Draco, it has buttons for a reason. Circi... look at your feet." She does, and they're covered in dirt.

"I see them," she retorts and wiggles her toes at him. He bats her feet away and points a finger in her face.

"Stop with the attitude," he stands up, composing himself as he glances around the barren greenhouse. Images of the woman who had erected it pops into his mind and it takes him a moment to shake them away and recompose himself in front of the children, "dinner is in ten minutes."

A few minutes after he leaves, Draco and Circini make their way back to the manor, mimicking their father's voice to the best of their ability before racing the final stretch of dry grass to the kitchen entrance.

In her room, Circini had wiped the dirt off of her feet and changed into warmer clothes as the night air became colder. She was pulling her slippers on when someone knocked on her door. Calling them in, the house elf Teeley skittered into the room, balling her fists against a newspaper that was about the same size as her. She shut the door behind her and looked around the room with eyes that bulged out of her head before rushing up to Circini and thrusting the newspaper at her.

"Wha-"

"Forgive me, young Mistress. The mistress told me Dobby not to show you, but Teeley knows- Teeley knows you need to see this. If the mistresses discovers Teeley, Teeley would be punished badly-" She stopped when Circini held her hand out to stop her, and they stood in silence as Circini read over the paper.

The headline on the front page read "ESCAPE FROM AZKABAN" accompanied by the moving mugshot of the crazed mass-murderer Sirius Black. The article itself covered Black, but on the inside of the paper a paragraph or so was dedicated to another escapee. Beneath a mugshot of a woman with more tears on her face than evil was written:

Serenity Rier, along with Black, has escaped Azkaban. Convicted for the use of the cruciatus curse on Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy in allegiance with the Death Eaters. She is known to be highly dangerous and highly powerful with the ability to use wandless magic.

The Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, has assured us that, after years with the dementors, her powers will be weaker. But we caution everyone to stay clear from the criminals and alert the Ministry about any possible sightings.

"Circi?" Draco calls from behind the door and begins to open the door. Teeley apparates from the room in time for Draco to poke his head in. The smile that had been on his face disappears as he sees the newspaper, "What's that?" He snatches it from her hands, despite her objections and looks at the article on Sirius Black before flipping the page and nearly missing the article on Serenity Rier. But when he does see it, he pauses, reads it, and looks up at Circini with wide eyes. She slumps down on the mattress and shakes her head.

"Don't tell Father."