Salazar's Angel

XXI

Upon descending the stairs, Draco lead Dahlia through a door and down a long hallway. Dahlia's clicking heels overpowered the sound of solemn conversation coming from the door at the end of the hallway. They do not speak to one another. Once they reach the door, Draco connects his eyes with Dahlia's and takes a deep breath. Then, he opens the door for her.

Dahlia herself takes a deep breath and then crosses the threshold. The door leads to what appeared to be a formal dining room, with a great table seating twenty people placed in front of an ornate black marble fire place roaring with a black flamed fire. Dahlia squares her shoulders.

Draco crosses the threshold right after her, then holds out his elbow to her. Dahlia lightly places her hand on it and allows him to lead her over to the end of the table where two chairs are vacant. The other eighteen seats were already filled. He pulls out her chair and Dahlia sits down, then he walks over and seats himself across from her.

"My, my. If it isn't Salazar's Angel," A voice to Dahlia's left murmurs. She turns her head to find none other than Snape seated to her left. 

Dahlia's eyes immediately shoot over to Draco's upon reflex. Quickly, she rights this and forces them to meet Snape's.

"Severus. I wasn't expecting to see you here." Dahlia reached for the goblet at her place setting, black with a serpent curling from the base up around the cup. Her throat had gone as dry as the desert, but she would be damned if she let on. Taking a sip, she realized with a start that it was wine.

"Nor I, you." And with that he turned his head to his left, striking up a conversation with the dark haired man seated next to him, signaling the end of their conversation. 

Dahlia set her goblet back down next to her plate and resigned herself to drink no more of it. Alcohol would certainly be of no benefit to her and Draco's situation this evening. 

To her immediate right, at the head of the table, sat Lucius. He was perched on what appeared to be practically a throne, all dark wood and complete with several detailed serpents winding around the arms.

Dahlia risks a glance at Draco again, only to find him having been sucked into a conversation with Bellatrix who is seated immediately at his right. Other than Narcissa, on the other side of Bellatrix, Dahlia knows no one else at the table. However, she has seen almost all of them before, in some capacity...

Lucius interrupts Dahlia's attempt to discern the vaguely familiar faces when he raises his hand and a silence descends over the table. 

"Thank you all for joining us this evening. As you may have noticed, we have a special guest. Dahlia, please, stand." Lucius looks at her expectantly as her heart promptly stops beating in her chest at shock.

Dahlia does as he says, pushing her chair back and rising. She turns and nods towards the other end of the table and all the faces seated at it.

"Now, Dahlia, seeing as you are the guest of honor this evening, would you like to say a few words before we begin the meal?" Lucius asks, eyebrows raised. 

Something about the way he is looking at her, as if he knows something that she doesn't, makes a shiver run up her spine. She glances over at Draco to see that he has gone as white as a sheet, his hand clenching his goblet so hard she is almost expecting to see it shatter. He doesn't think she can do it...

Dahlia plasters the calmest smirk onto her lips that she can manage. "Of course Lucius, I would be honored." She smiles at him, then opens her mouth and unleashes approximately two minutes worth of complete and utter ass kissing, propaganda filled bullshit worthy of a true Death Eater.

After she has finished and retaken her seat, she realizes she's not entirely sure what exactly she just said. Though, based on the look on Draco's face, she knows that it was good. Surprisingly, Dahlia is completely calm now. Everyone bought her little speech, her whole act entirely, really. Calm as she may be, the taste of acid in the back of her throat is so strong she wants to gag...however, her mark has stopped burning almost entirely...