Innocence and Arrogance

Summer at the Mansion

"Draco," my head lulls back, hitting the tufted headboard. "Draco – letters."

He slides back up the bed, white-blonde hair standing in stark contrast to the black silk sheets. His tongue glides over his bottom lip, giving me a proud smirk as he settles against the pillows, "What are you going on about?"

"Letters." I glance over at the door.

Sitting just inside the room are two crisp white envelopes. At least Narcissa had the decency to not open the door. I'm not sure how much more she can take. Draco and her have very different ways of handling his father's trip to Azkaban. While Lucius's wife seems to draw into herself, Draco grows more and more reckless and impulsive.

Getting up, Draco snatches the envelopes from the floor, handing me one with my name printed across it; our O.W.L results. He pulls me close to his side, already pulling his letter out. "Don't suppose these really matter anymore, huh? What'll we need with Charms and Astronomy?"

"He wants us to finish our education, Draco," I answer coolly, popping the wax seal on my own letter. "It will look suspicious if we don't return."

Draco grumbles under his breath, eyes scanning over his results, "I've gotten six Outstanding's; Charms, Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions, and Transfiguration."

"I've gotten six as well, all but Divination and History of Magic," I sneer down at the inked As. "They've given me an Acceptable."

Beside me, Draco drops his chin onto my shoulder, looking over my O.W.L results, "I've gotten an A in Divination as well. How'd you manage an O in Astronomy?"

"Dunno," I shrug, letting the paper fall to the floor. "It doesn't matter anyway, I'm not going to continue with it. Snape will be happy, he was expecting both of us to be in his Advanced Potions class."

I've lost him again though. Draco wears a familiar far away look. While he's doing his best to mask his feelings, I know his father's imprisonment is weighing heavily on him. This is a moment where he should be gloating, shoving the paper under his father's nose, waiting for the little nod of praise.

"There's still time to visit," I offer cautiously, waiting for the harsh outbursts that usually come with these suggestions. The last time I told Draco we could visit his father I ended up sleeping in my own wing of the house until he came to apologize.

Draco swallows hard, his head giving an unnatural twitch, "No. He wouldn't want us seeing him like that. It's bad enough they put his picture all over the Prophet."

"Draco? Isabelle?" A timid knock follows her voice.

"Enter."

Narcissa, a once stunningly beautiful woman, now looks destroyed. Her eyes are bloodshot, skin blotchy. Deep purple bags sit under her watery eyes and her hand shakes as she reaches down to pick up the results I dropped. Her gaze bounces around the room, trying to avoid the crumpled sheets and her half-naked son. "If you circle the classes you'd like to continue taking, I can send off for the booklists."

"I think Isabelle and I will go for a swim," Draco states as if his mother hasn't spoken, staring out the window at the far end of his bedroom.

He doesn't mean to be this way. In her heart, Narcissa has to know this. Draco's never had a blow like this before though. Since I met him, he's thought the Malfoy name made his family invincible. He's spent the majority of the summer deluding himself into believing his father is taking an extended vacation. To see his mother so broken, to indulge her new appearance, to see the tear tracks that now stain Narcissa's face would send Draco's carefully crafted defenses tumbling down. Instead of fighting him about it, I've taken on the role of an intermediary, the peacekeeper.