Dear Wendy,
I am glad to finally receive an owl from you. To be really honest, my parents have been bugging me a bit about you—they weren't sure if I was telling the truth. For now my summer has been uneventful, I'm planning to train further for Quidditch and my father is really supportive, but my mom wanted to do some fun activities together; traveling perhaps.
The Quidditch World Cup will be at the end of the season, my father and I will be watching and we're going to invite the Weasley's. They're a fun bunch, especially the twins. They're in my same year, and every class with them is full of that little bit extra of magic.
How has your summer been going? I've noticed your letter came from the Malfoy's Manor. Is it a temporarily situation or are you, perhaps, related?
As for your question about how I conjured the piece of paper, you'll have to wait to your sixth year to know about it. It may seem confusing since I'm just about to get into my sixth year, but my father wants me well prepared. I can tell you it's a useful skill to summon things without needed the "Accio" spell. I'm sure you will be great at non-verbal magic, I can't wait to see you practice it. Perhaps, I can help you while I'm in my last year of Hogwarts.
Since you're staying with the Malfoy, you might be coming to the World Cup too. They come every time! Really hope to see you there.
Cordially,
Cedric Diggory
Dearest darling princess,
How come Ron gets a letter from you, and we don't? We had to steal the address from Ron while he was asleep. He wouldn't give it to us and said "if she's not writing you she probably doesn't want to deal with you two". But you wouldn't, would you?
And how come your letters come from the Malfoy's Manor?! What happened? When was it decided that you would to spend summer at their house or are you just visiting them? How come you won't visit us?
You still have our address? It's the same as Ron's. We'd love to see you before school starts again!
The best Weasleys,
Fred and George Weasley
Dear Wendy,
I hope you're doing well with the Malfoy's and that they're treating you fairly, I'm doing well myself. I'm writing you from Australia, actually. I told my parents about your travels and they seemed so intrigued by the country we decided to visit it ourselves.
It really is a beautiful place. Full of history and adventures. I hope to come back here soon again, but alas, we shall be heading back to England tomorrow. By the time you receive this I shall be at the Burrow, with the Weasley's. They invited me over to watch the Quidditch World Cup with them along with Harry.
I hope to see you there too, I have missed you so much during these past few months. To make up for the time lost, I have compiled here much of the pictures we took in our travels around Australia.
Write me soon!
Your dear friend, Hermione
SUMMER AT THE MANOR went more differently from what Wendy was expecting. She enjoyed her time with them and learned so much from Narcissa Malfoy and her crochet. She practiced riding a broom with Draco whenever it was permitted by Lucius, which happened quite often as Lucius found himself unusually fond of their guest.
"Have you ever played Quidditch, Wendy?" Asked Lucius one night at the dining table.
"Well—no sir, I never had the chance to," She answered before sipping in water.
"What a shame— perhaps Draco could teach you how; he has been seeker for the Slytherin since second year for a reason, anyways." Draco looked down at his supper trying not to mind how the conversation changed topic to him and his skills. "I'm sure you have noticed?"
"Oh yes, indeed. I come to every game the Gryffindors have, and I saw them against the Slytherins who make fair competitors," She smiled at him.
"Right... Gryffindor," He whispered.
One aspect Lucius seemed to not sip down about the girl was how she was in the Gryffindor house and friends with Harry Potter.
"What about your parents? Are they well?" Narcissa asked changing subject, probably feeling the tension that was beginning to form.
"I'm not sure," Wendy looked at the woman, with no burden seemed to be in her face, "they—they are not around."
"Oh," Narcissa said simply, "I am sorry."
It was up to Draco now, to save the atmosphere, "perhaps, you will be interested to know of how Wendy was able to catch up with lessons?"
Every night, they gathered around the dining table to eat and tell each other more about themselves. Wendy learned more about Narcissa and her origins, to how she was related to the Black's. Lucius was harder to get through, but Wendy was proud to say, that she was able to crack a smile from the man once or twice.
Wendy, although she had her difficulties at first, loved her time with Narcissa Malfoy. She always found her as a disturbed character, but she seemed so serene during the time Voldemort wasn't there. The woman was astonished to find out Wendy didn't know how to do crochet, and dedicated part of her summer in teaching her. Wendy owned a clothing line, and although she did a lot of mending and sewing, the fine art of crochet seemed so difficult. Nonetheless, she enjoyed learning it.
Lucius Malfoy was often not present, and Wendy could feel that Draco seemed do be more active when his father was not around. Which saddened the girl a bit, no one should ever be afraid to be themselves around their own fathers. She preferred not to meddle in other people's affairs, but she slid in a few compliments about Draco in front of the father, from time to time, just to show him how proud he should be of his son.
One day, when Wendy was starting to wear too many times the same clothes, Narcissa forced her to come along shopping in town. She bought her an incredible amount of dresses and formal wear, things Wendy would have never thought of picking up herself. Wizards and witches had an entirely different concept of fashion, but Wendy was so happy to explore it.
She bought herself a notebook from Hogsmeade, the year before when she visited for the first time with the twins. She never picked it up as she wasn't sure how to use it still, but now she was determined to use it to catalog every fashion wear this world had to show her. So she could use it when she went back home.
When she opened the notebook she was gladly surprised to see the first page, already written upon. The messy cursive of Fred and George's round handwriting wrote beautiful words that Wendy would have not expected the twins to dedicate her.
hope you find your inspiration for this notebook, as we found ours.
Sincerely,
The best twins you'll ever meet
At the very bottom you could see their name.
It's Fred and George, if it wasn't clear enough.
"What a couple of bubble heads," Wendy chuckled.
She used the notebook everyday and brought it with herself at all times, receiving some questions about it from Draco.
"What is that for?" He asked eyeing the notebook.
"Recording stuff."
"Stuff like?"
"Girly stuff."
Draco raised an eyebrow, wondering if he wanted to risking hearing about the 'girly stuff', but couldn't restrain himself, "girly stuff like?"
Wendy glanced at Draco, who seemed really curious about what she was bringing around with her every single time and decided to share with him the joys of her notebook.
"That's ridiculous," he said and regretted shortly after, but did not apologize for his words, instead continued, "why would you use a notebook for drawing and writing about stuff, you're not in school!"
Wendy smiled in compassion, she knew Draco had a silver tongue and forgave the boy for his choice of words , and explained herself so he could comprehend better, "it's liberating in some way, you write your thoughts in it and things you want to remember, so you don't have to keep them in mind."
Draco, afterwards, as he saw Wendy so captured in her journal, asked his father to buy him one next time he went to London. Without much of a deal, Lucius was home with the most luxurious leather journal, complete with Draco's initials on the cover. Draco was very grateful for it, but after days of sitting with Wendy as he watched his journal get dust, he started to grow rather annoyed with it instead.
"Still no idea how to use it?"
"Oh no, I do have some ideas. I was thinking of keeping it until the winter and then use it to start fire during one cold night," Draco said with a smirk.
Wendy sighed and pulled Draco to the immense garden that surrounded the Manor, "do you know what you want to do after Hogwarts?"
Draco stayed silent as he followed Wendy through the gardens. The smell of fresh hair and wet grass could be smelled with every breath, and the sound of little rocks moving under their feet followed their steps. It was an uncommonly windy afternoon, perfect for a walk during the summer, and Wendy, with notebook against her chest, enjoyed every bit of the sun she could get against her skin.
Draco still thinking of an answer to give, he studied the girl that ended up in his house, the same girl he found unconscious in the train to Hogwarts. Because of Narcissa, Wendy didn't wear any jeans during that summer as it was 'a complete lack of fashion sense' and 'a fabric that was wasted on legs of a lady such as Wendy'. She instead spent the summer in formal wear, such as skirts and dresses.
That day she wore a simple cream and flowy dress, which resembled so much the white flowers that bloomed around them, and kept her two braids, her fine signature.
"No," he finally admitted.
Wendy smiled and bowed down to one of the plants among the other millions around them, and touched it. The yellow petals closed and away from the sun, unlike the other flowers that were on full bloom.
"Is there something wrong with the flower?" Draco asked curiously.
"Herbology is such an interesting subject at Hogwarts, so many plants with their properties and so hard to find. Sometimes we forget that even the flowers that bloom in our gardens have their own properties."
Draco studied the girl and the curious plant. Not really getting what she was talking about, but nodded in agreement still.
"Evening Primrose, it blooms in moonlight and sometimes during a cloudy day," She explained as she looked up to the sky, too sunny for the flower to bloom, "Muggles cultivate it for its oils—medicinal purposes."
Draco looked at the yellow flower, "this has medicinal properties?"
"You wouldn't have guessed it, would you?" Wendy chuckled and whispered to herself, "too pretty to be useful to humans."
Draco, who heard her, frowned at the girl, "one thing can be both beautiful and useful."
Wendy, with memories of the past in her eyes, glanced at Draco and smiled gracefully, "you are absolutely right."
After that day, Wendy noticed how Draco was more inclined to his journal more than she was with hers. Catching glimpses of it, she saw different leaves and flowers attached to its pages and neat cursive all around the plants. She often found him in the library, not as big as Hogwarts' library, but impressive nonetheless. He brought out books of medicine and herbology, but didn't stop there. With hesitation, and lots of nights contemplating on it, he asked Wendy to bring him to a muggle library to study more about muggle healing arts.
Wendy, then, accompanied him to town, where a public library stood amongst its other buildings. It was a lovely library, and Wendy found herself enjoying her time too along with its thrilling feeling of going out without the knowledge of either of Draco's parents.
The young librarian often shot glances at Draco and helped him often at finding books he needed. Wendy couldn't help but find it funny at first, but after a couple of times going back to the library, she started to find the lady quite annoying. After a while, she decided to step outside instead and find other activities to engage in.
Draco was a bit surprise to find himself alone in the library, so he left to find Wendy around town. It was beginning to get dark when he found her looking at the window of a clothing store.
"Found something interesting?" He asked startling Wendy from her place.
"Uhm—no, just looking around," She said turning to the boy.
"You left me—with that muggle girl!"
"Sorry, I found her a bit annoying, so I left."
Draco studied the girl, she seemed honest and he blamed himself for not noticing that she might have not been enjoying herself in the past few days, always bringing him to the muggle library.
"I'm sorry..."
"It's quite alright," she said with a smile and followed to hand him the paper bag she has been holding, "gave me time to get you this."
Draco looked over at the bag and frowned, he was never the guy to deny a gift, but he felt a bit shy to accept a present from his guest. Especially after neglecting her for his new found vocation, "I couldn'—"
"Oh please?" She said, "just open it, once you do—you'll regret not opening it sooner."
Draco smiled gratefully and got the bag. It was rather heavy, so he guessed it wasn't clothes. He tried studying it before opening, but it didn't display any brand or logo, just a simple plain white paper bag.
"Sorry, I was going to wrap it, but I couldn't wait to give it to you—and please don't expect too much!"
Draco then, finally, got his hand inside the bag and grabbed the object inside. He was surprised to pull out a book. 'Encyclopedia of medicinal plants from around the world.' He looked at her, all confused.
"Happy early birthday!" She brought her arms up high and greeted him with a big smile.
Draco was lost. Wasn't expecting the girl to know his birthday was coming soon and, although he received lots of gifts in his time, this was the first time he received one without asking for it.
"You... don't like it?" Asked Wendy, not receiving any response from the boy.
Draco smirked at the face Wendy made, how important it seemed to be—whether or not he liked the gift. His smirk, unlike all other times, was soft and not malicious. He suddenly felt a warmth in his chest that was not caused by the summer sun. Like that time in Halloween, he didn't know how to express himself. But people learn from their mistakes, and instead of shaking the girl's hand, he followed through with a hug; a clearly not expected hug, but appreciated, nonetheless.
Notes:
This was longer than usual but i tried so hard to compress Wendy's whole summer in one chapter. But if you want to know more about her summer let me know and I'll make another chapter. There are so many things I've let out because I felt it was too much.
This chapter was just to showcase her first summer as an orphan and to strengthen her bond with Draco— for you fans of Draco AYIE ok bye
Stay safe, guys! A new chapter for this quarantine time