Magic | D. Malfoy

28. I won't say I'm in Love

Malfoy Manor had been Draco's home for most of his life. It had been the space all of his memories were made, most of them good until he had grown too old to just exist in the house and expectations were placed upon him. The first time he had not thought of the Manor as home was when the mass break-out of Azkaban happened and suddenly his aunt, a woman his own mother had not spoken much of over the years, was living under the same roof as he did. He knew this place would never feel like home again when the Dark Lord had permanently claimed his residence there. That had been years ago, but today was the first time he gazed upon the building and thought it was inhospitable. He wondered why his mother was still staying, what she could be waiting for. His father was not coming back, he was not coming back. There was no reason for her to be in this too big house for one person with only the house elves for company. He knew she would not listen to him, though. Narcissa would not leave the Manor – this was the house of the Malfoy family for generations and she would not be the one to let it to ruin, she had said when he had asked her a while ago. Draco had resisted telling her she was not a Malfoy to begin with.

Even though he had willingly left a few months back, Draco still felt as if not a day had passed since he was walking through these halls. He knew every nook and cranny of this place – because of that he knew exactly where his mother would be this afternoon. He had come in right after he had finished work. Only a few days after his visit to Andromeda, his mother had replied to his letter asking him to visit her at the Manor whenever he had had time. He had thought over it the whole day yesterday before he decided he would go to her as soon as possible. The sooner things cleared up the better. He had asked Blaise and Theo to meet up with him right after, though, just in case. He imagined he would need to vent afterwards. Theo had been gracious enough to offer his apartment for their hangout.

Draco headed to the library. It was his mother's favourite place during the evening because the sun got in through the arched windows and warmed it up. She liked to stay in the library even during the summer when he thought the sun was much too warm to endure. Sometimes she read books, other times, she just sat there in silence, thinking to herself. He did not know what the case would be this time until he entered the library and saw her for himself – there was no book in her hands so it was one of the other days, when quiet was his mother's best friend. Narcissa turned to face him when she heard his footsteps, but she didn't say a word as Draco crossed the room and sat down on the armchair next to her own. There was no hint of surprise in her expression as she glanced at him for a moment and then looked away once again, trained her gaze where it had been before. She made no attempt to speak up and neither did he. The seconds turned into minutes as Draco tried to arrange his thoughts and present a good argument but the longer the silence edged on the harder it was for him to remember what he had thought before he moved to the next point he wanted to make. After waiting for his mother to speak and not receiving the desired outcome, he spoke up.

"You are mad at me."

Narcissa did not show any passionate change in expression – her gaze remained glued on that one spot and her lips remained pressed into a thin line. Slowly, though, she spoke up. "I am more confused than mad."

"Because I chose Sophia?" he asked, but he didn't wait for her to continue when he kept on talking. "I told you the reasons I did last time I visited. Have you thought about it? Do you have questions-"

"I am confused because in all your years you have never, not once, ever disregarded my teachings," she cut him off as she slowly turned to face him even though her expression was still a mask, not able to be penetrated by emotions. Draco kept quiet. "So many years later, you go into the muggle world, get attached to a muggle, introduce her to our world and now you meet with my sister who had been disowned so long ago and you don't even ask me about it. You just inform me and expect me to be pleased with your decisions."