 WizWorld Universal / Tom Felton for President
Chapter Three: Father's Orders
29 Dec.
He knew he'd better be home by 7:00, so as the sun rose he put his clothes back on and quietly slipped out of the room while Sara was still sleeping. He hustled around to the side of the building and found his broom. He kicked off and sped home, fighting sleep as fatigue began settling in. He’d gotten maybe an hour of sleep; he had to admit, though, that she was definitely worth it.
He crept back in through his window, quickly tossed his clothes in the hamper and hopped in the shower. He just wanted to crash for the rest of the morning, but there was no sleeping in at Malfoy Manor. His dad had no tolerance for “laziness” and set a 7:30am deadline for showing up at the breakfast table.
He got dressed and ran his fingers through his hair, feeling rushed. You should have left earlier, he chided himself. Draco groaned as he looked at his watch: 7:35.
He raced down the stairs and into the dining hall. His father was calmly cutting a piece from his Belgian waffle. “You’re late,” he said curtly, not looking up. Draco winced- “I’m sorry, father”. Thankfully, Lucius didn’t launch into a lecture on punctuality. Narcissa rose from her chair and gave Draco a kiss on the cheek. “Good morning, darling. You look tired! Did you sleep well last night?” She knew he’d been out; his bed was empty when she’d come to check on him, but she wouldn’t dream of mentioning that in front of Lucius. Draco cleared his throat and thought about his night. “Uh, no, I was…up a lot”. Technically the truth.
“Draco,” Narcissa started, “I’m going over to the Parkinson’s for tea later today. Would you care to join me? I’m sure that Pansy would love to see you.” Draco looked away from his mother and rolled his eyes. Oh I know she’d LOVE to see me, his thought dripping with sarcasm, and I’d LOVE to run the other way screaming. But before he’d been able to respond, “No thanks, Mum- I’d rather jump into a swimming pool full of razor blades and lemon juice (or something like that), Lucius interrupted.
“Draco will be attending a meeting with me and some of our associates this morning; he’ll learn a great deal today. After that, Severus will spend the afternoon with Draco, working on Potions.”
“What?!” Draco was astonished. Snape is coming here to teach me Potions?! “Why? I’m on holiday!” he complained. Lucius gave him a hard look. “So are you telling me that you would rather remain in second place behind that Mudblood girl of all people?! You ought to be ashamed of yourself.” Draco closed his eyes, cringing inwardly from the hurt he felt. He knew there was no point in arguing; the tirade would end sooner if he didn’t protest.
“Change your clothes,” Lucius ordered; put on your black suit with the silver serpent cufflinks. And for Merlin’s sake, fix your hair!”
Draco was heading out of the dining room before he even realized that he hadn’t eaten. He sighed and called for Mimsy, one of the house elves. “Bring me a Belgian waffle with strawberries, a 3-egg omelet with onion and tomatoes, and an enormous cup of coffee; I’ll be in my room”. Mimsy hurried to fill the order.
Last edited by steflegan; 04-04-2011 at 01:19 PM.
Reason: minor re-write and font change
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