Evermore

IX.

"I've already read that one. No records of any fire," she said, slamming back against the chair, her brows knitted in a thoughtful frown. "I did notice something, though. There were a couple of names...blocked out," she chuckled, "Scratched out, rather furiously, actually."

Indeed, she was right. As he flipped through the pages, he saw that there were in truth more than just a couple of blocked-out names - 15th of August in the year 1715, Antoine Malfoy, at the age of 25, took to wife, (scratched out), daughter of (scratched out) and (scratched out), from the town of Tolpuddle...27th of March in the year 1785...30th of December in the year 1835...14th of May in the year 1895.

All of the entries in the tome started with a marriage between a Malfoy heir and their bride and followed by a brief narration regarding the couples' offsprings, their contribution to the Malfoy fortune (lands purchased, gold acquired, business ventures/partnerships), issues and/or problems encountered in running their growing empire and such. They all ended with the dates of the deaths of the couples. But for those entries with blocked out names, some of the details were also erased.

"Someone's trying to cover up something, don't you think?" Hermione asked. Draco couldn't agree more.

"Someone wants to keep certain things about House Malfoy secret. My father never really talked about our ancestors. He probably never even opened any of these." He's always suspected that there were 'undisclosed facts' in his family's public version of Malfoy history.

"Hmmm...you know...I think I remember seeing a few diaries at the back," Hermione said, jumping to her feet and running towards the far end of the library. When she came back, she was holding a small but thick leather-bound book in her hand. "I saw this the first time that I came here to research about the curse. The others were written in French, just like the one with the M.B. Malfoy initials, but this one's written in English. I didn't think it was important back then so I didn't take it out. But when I came across the name Elethea Edwardson, this got me into thinking. Look at this here," she said, flipping the cover open, her finger going to the dedication on the very first page:

'My dearest Elie,

As you begin your married life today, I pray that you find joy and love with your husband. Your father had this made especially for you to keep your thoughts in so you will never lose sight of who you are. We are always here for you, my dearest daughter. You will always be in our hearts.

Forever,

Your loving mother'

"I have a feeling that this is Elethea Edwardson's diary," Hermione said, turning the fragile pages carefully. "I'll take this with me. Maybe this could shed some light on what happened during their time here at the Manor. There are only two records of a fire breaking out in the Manor - the last one was when Elethea was in residence."

"Okay, see if you can get a glimpse of her time here. Where's the other diary, the one with M.B. Malfoy engraved on it? I can take a look at that if you want."

"You know how to read French?" Hermione asked, smirking.

Draco chuckled. "Oui, ma chѐre Hermione. As you probably have gathered by now, the Malfoys originally came from France. Therefore, French is a second language to us. German is a close third and Italian...well...only when I need to pick-up Italian girls," he said the last with a snort. Blaise would hex him if he told him that.

"Well, well, well. It seems that you're quite the linguist, Malfoy," she laughed.

He chuckled and said, "If you only know how often I got punished for running away from my tutors. The only time that I was able to appreciate my extra lessons was when we were traveling. It made it easier to meet...well...girls."