Christmas came and went without much fuss. Lucius and Nariccas had business to attend to for most of the day, leaving Draco and me in the huge manor alone. It was the day after Christmas when the letter came.
"Come on! The snow is absolutely perfect. Not too slushy, but not melted. Please, Draco?" I beg him.
"Alright I'm coming, Princess," Draco tosses on his coat as I run into the snow. The snow crunches under my boots, leaving footprints. I toss a snowball at Draco and he tosses one back, starting one of the best snowball fights I've ever been in. I fill some of the snowballs with ink-squirters, courtesy of Fred and George, making Draco covered in paint.
"No fair!" He wines. I laugh and wave my wand over him, returning Draco to his normal color. I shiver a bit and Draco leads me inside. I sit in front of the warm fire, feeling the warmth of the fire bring my fingers back to life. Draco covers both of us in a blanket and smiles at me.
"What's that face?" I tease him.
"What face?" He returns to his scowl.
"No, Happy Draco come back!" I plead. Draco laughs and smiles again.
"Are you still thinking about what my father said?" He asks.
I nod, it's been on my mind since that night at dinner. Although I've been doing everything to forget about it, to drag it to trash, it was sticking too much. I couldn't tell if it was a warning, a threat, or a promise. Whatever it was, it wasn't promising.
"Maybe we should forget about it," Draco suggests.
"That's easier said than done, but I can try," I concede. Draco smiles.
"Thank you, Princess," I lean into his hug and smile.
"I'm the farthest thing from a princess, but alright," I laugh. Suddenly, an owl I don't recognize taps on the window. It was white and brown with hazel eyes. Draco opens the window and the owl drops two letters on the floor. Both envelopes were white with black and gold wax seals. One was addressed to The Malfoy Family and the other was addressed to me.
"What do you think it is?" I ask.
"No clue," Draco replies. I open my letter. It read:
Diana Aryelle Zabini:
You are cordially invited to celebrate the marriage of Cassandra Zabini and Severus Snape.
Saturday, February 15th, 1995 at the Zabini Manor in Geneva.
The letter drops from my hand. My mom was marrying Professor Snape, my favorite professor.
This could only mean one thing: he was her next victim.
"Are you alright...oh my Godric," Draco looks at his own letter.
"Di, are you alright?" He asks me.
"No...I need some air," I run outside, not bothering to put on my coat. With every angering thought, the letter crumpled more and more in my hand. Professor Snape has been mentoring my family for ages now. He is the only one who knows of Elaine's existence and helps her over the summer. I can't stand the thought that he would disappear from my life.
To clarify, Elaine was born with very little magic in her, even though both of our parents were Purebloods. Mother hid her existence, telling everyone that she was stillborn. Draco and Snape are the only people who know of her existence.
"Hey," Draco runs out.
"I'm stopping this wedding. No matter what it takes," I decide, stalking inside.
"What do you mean?" Draco asks.
I give him a look. "I'm going to break them up, Draco. I can't have Snape being my mother's next victim," I head to my room and write an emergency letter to Elaine and Blaise, asking for their help.
"How is she? Elaine," Draco asks.
"Alright. Still reading like crazy, but it's sad because Mom doesn't care about her much. We send letters back and forth a lot," I reply. I hand the letters to Dagwood.
"To Blaise and Elaine Zabini," I instruct her, and away Dagwood flies.
I flop on my bed. "Have you found anything about your father?" Draco asks.
"Yeah. Elaine, Blaise, and I share a father, Basilio D'Ambrosio. He was part of the Italian Wizarding Mafia until his death when I was a few months old. What I can't find is how he died," I reply.
"Huh," Is all Draco says. That set off an alarm, he clearly knew something. I could tell. The question is, do I press him? Do I finally get closure about my father, or is ignorance bliss?
"Anyways, I think I'm going to get some rest," Draco nods and closes my door. Dagwood taps on my window. That was awfully fast.
Elaine had responded. "Don't worry, Di. This is different. I think Mother really likes Severus. Besides, we'll be protected from You Know Who. By the way, Sable and Alaire say hi :)" She wrote. Feeling a bit relieved, I feed Dagwood some granola before falling asleep.
A/N: A bit of a shorter chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it! Also, I changed the storyline a bit, so head back to the first chapter to see(I found out more about the Zabini family so I made some adjustments). If you want to learn more, here is a link: https://blaisezabini.weebly.com/family.html. Enjoy!