SMILE » n. longbottom

lxxix

The interior of the mansion was dark and gloomy and showed the wealth of the Malfoys. Despite its gloominess, it was intricate in the parts where you looked.

"It's just this way, to the formal dining room," Mrs Malfoy explained, and led them down one of the halls to a doorway. Aronn looked towards Alana with some concern. But after that, Mrs Malfoy swung the doors open and walked through it. The formal dining room was darker now than the other parts of the mansion that they have seen so far, despite the very obvious lighting above the table that had been failed to be turned on.

There was cloaked people sitting in every chair of the dining room, except for four seats. There was only one person at the end of the ends of the tables, a bald person by what Alana could see. Alana kept her eyes to the floor, hiding partially behind her parents.

Aronn bowed slightly, "It is my fault for the inconvenience of our tardiness."

Mrs Malfoy smiled as she sat in an empty seat, "Don't be silly, come sit."

Alana's parents curved around the other side of the table where the two other empty seats were. Alana looked through the people sitting at the table, who turned to look at her parents, and then her. Amongst the faces, she only recognized Draco and his mother. They whispered amongst each other, and then he stood up, "Alana, my fiancée. How rude of me to not notice you."

"May I be excused to show her the Malfoy mansion and grounds?" He went on.

"Of course —" His mother had almost replied.

That is, until she was interrupted by the bald man on the far end of the table. He stood up, and she noticed his face, which seemed to be lacking a nose, where two slits replaced it. It was Voldemort. "Not so fast," he walked to the close vicinity of the two children, "I am yet to question your loyalty. Your siding last year showed something else."

Alana eyes flashed to her left ring finger where the ring that Draco had given her was on.

Voldemort grabbed her hand almost immediately, and turned it around so that the ring sparkled in the dim light of the room. "I see," he stated blankly. "And what about your involvement in the Slug Club at Hogwarts?."

"My involvement is just for my betterment in education, and to collect information on my fellow classmates," she answered suddenly. She continued on after the dark wizard stared at her as if she thought he was an idiot, "What else would there be to do at Hogwarts?"

"Truer words never spoken," Voldemort hissed. "By the time we're done, there shall be no use of Hogwarts or the life people may live after it. You may leave."

Draco Malfoy nodded, collected Alana from where she was standing, and practically pushed her out into the hall. He started walking down the hall, to the opposite side of where the entrance to the mansion was. And so, Alana followed him.

After a minute or so had passed, they came to a stop.

"How have you been?" she asked.

Draco just rolled his eyes, but eventually answered, "Fine. We weren't expecting you to arrive today."

"I assumed that was so," Alana hummed out.

They were stopped in front of a big broad window that was at the end of the hall. It was snowy outside, and speckles of snowflakes had collected and fogged up onto the window's panes. It was cold and dark by now outside, just like the inside as well.

Draco drew with his finger on the window, a petaled flower. He began on just for a moment, "For you."

"How come?"

He pointed to the pendant of the necklace she was wearing.

She instinctively grabbed at the flower pendant, and grabbed her thumb against the engraving on the back of it with her thumb. To prosper, to live, to you, she read it in her mind.

Then Neville's words came to her mind as well, as if he were speaking to her now: A daisy, because it is something that can exist beautifully even within the worst of conditions, and under the right conditions with love and care, it can prosper.

Draco must've noticed Alana staring off into the distance in a prolonged silence, and he said ever so slightly, "I know that this isn't exactly what you want. But we can make the most of it." Alana nodded subconsciously, as the tears began to collect in her eyes, and she feared that her voice would break if she spoke.

Suddenly, from down the hall, the door to the formal dining room swung open. Draco and Alana turned towards the noise. Dark shadows flew out of the doorway, and out to the opposite end of the hall where the front door was. Once the shadows reached the entrance, it swung open and then swung back on its hinges and slammed shut.

"I guess we had better go back," Draco suggested.

They walked silently back, and when they returned they noticed how it was only their parents left in the room now. Maurice Wallace exclaimed suddenly, "Ah, you're back."

Mrs Malfoy smiled in greeting at Alana, as she was still frightened from the dark wizards who were just in the room. In comparison, Alana's father was sipping at what looked to be a dark alcoholic drink in a crystal glass, which she could assume was given to him by Mrs Malfoy.

"Alana, I just wanted to say for just a moment that I'm glad you'll be joining our family soon enough," Mrs Malfoy nodded then looked to her parents, "Of course, once the agreed upon time had passed — after Hogwarts."

Aronn nodded bluntly, a sour expression still cast onto his face.

"Come sit," Mrs Malfoy motioned to next to her. Draco stayed standing, his hands kept in his pockets, just observing their conversation. She grabbed Alana's hand and observed the ring she was wearing, then looked to Draco, and back, "This was from a great great grandmother of mine. Enjoy it."