The only sounds to be heard were the taps of Madelyn's heels. As each step passed, she felt her heartbeat harder and faster. There was nowhere to gain comfort, mostly because the boy next to her was just as troubled by what was forthcoming. Madelyn shifted her eyes to the left to see the man next to her, only to find a stern, blank expression. It only made Madelyn more worried knowing that the son of the woman she is about to meet was just as concerned.
The sun was still in the sky as it was the late afternoon and the light breeze made the leaves dance in front of the two as they walked down the pathway. Madelyn was well aware of how the Malfoy's felt about blood purity, but she was unsure if their opinion had changed since everything that happened the year before. Every anxious thought passing her brain made her heart pound even harder, sounding like the organ was in her ear. Madelyn let out an unwanted sigh but quickly cleared her throat to adjust herself.
"It's going to be fine," Malfoy said in response. Malfoy's words helped ease some of the thoughts but she still had no idea what to expect.
They eventually reached the door, allowing the two to finally face each other. After a quick stare, Malfoy pressed the doorbell and loud bells rang throughout the home, echoing along the walls. Madelyn took in a deep breath and let it escape. The door then opened and appeared a pale, thin woman, with black and white hair. She wore a tight, elegant dress with a dark green coat over top. Madelyn was unsure if her own outfit would even be suitable to enter such a place. The woman's dark red lips gave a genuine grin as she saw her son.
"Draco, my darling," Narcissa said as she reached out her arms and gave a hug.
"Hello, mother," Malfoy said, happily as they were in a hug.
She pulled back and looked at the woman next to her son.
"And, this must be Madelyn Jones." She reached out her arms to grab onto Madelyn's shoulders, giving a light kiss on each cheek. Madelyn smiled as Narcissa pulled away and looked Madelyn up and down.
"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Malfoy," Madelyn said, able to hide the nerves in her voice.
"No need for that. Call me Narcissa, dear. Come in, come in, I have been anxious to see the two of you," Narcissa said as she lead the two into a seating area to the left. Madelyn followed behind Malfoy, taking in all interior of their home. It was bigger than any home Madelyn had ever seen. The interior was vintage and elegant, but not a single spec of dust in sight. The windows took up an entire wall and had long, wine red curtains pulled back to expose the light to the room. There was a large built-in bookcase across the room and a classical piano on another side. There was not one thing in the home that didn't look expensive. Narcissa sat on an auburn armchair that matched the couch that Malfoy and Madelyn sat on. The two didn't know how close to sit, so they both adjusted themselves till they were a few inches apart.
"So? Tell me about yourself," Narcissa asked as she sat back in her chair but still in a formal manner.
"Oh, I, um, am not sure what to say," Madelyn said nervously. Not one thought came to her head of what she could say to Narcissa.
"Tell me about your parents."
"My father is Christopher Jones and my mother's name Gemma."
"Are they both wizards?" Narcissa asked as she sat up a bit.
"My mother is a muggle but my father is a wizard."
"Pureblood?" Malfoy fidgeted in his seat as Narcissa asked.
"Yes, my father is a pure-blood," Madelyn said she played with her fingers to try and calm her down.
"I see. How do they feel about this arrangement?"
"Um, I'm not really close with them so I am not sure," Madelyn said as she switched what leg was on top of the other. Narcissa was then interrupted by Malfoy.
"Mother, why don't we save the conversations for dinner," Malfoy said as he stood up.
"Oh alright, I made up the bed in your room for you two. I just picked up fresh new silk sheets. Go on, go make yourself at home," Narcissa said smiling as she patted Malfoy on the arm. She gave a small wave to Madelyn as Madelyn picked up her bag and began walking up the stairs. Madelyn gave a smile back. The stairs were to the right of the front door they came in minutes before and matched the size of everything else in the house. She followed Malfoy up the stairs to see an abnormally long hallway with high ceilings. It was like something she read out of a fairy tale.
Malfoy opened one of the doors on the right and they both walked in. The bed was on the left side of the room and a walk in the bathroom to the right. The room also had abnormally high ceilings with a vintage chandelier hanging. The walls were dark grey with carvings in the walls that made the room look more expensive than it already did. There were more large windows on the opposite wall from the door. The bedposts were dark brown while the comforter was black and there was a bookshelf, in the wall, next to the opening for the bathroom, filled with books.
"You can put your bag there for now," Malfoy said, pointing to an armchair in the corner of the room. Madelyn nodded, placed it down, then watched as Malfoy unpacked his bag.
"You have a really nice home," Madelyn said, breaking the building tension.
"It gets cold easily," Malfoy said back, blankly. Madelyn nodded her head sarcastically. She just wanted to be able to do something other than think about how weird it was to be there. Malfoy walked over and opened a drawer from a black dresser. "You can put your things in here." Madelyn grabbed a couple of things out of her bag and began placing them in the drawer. She didn't have many things since they were only staying one night.
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After they both finished unpacking in silence, they both awkwardly stood in different parts of the room, unsure of what to do next and Madelyn would rather do anything other than talk to Narcissa. After several minutes passed, Malfoy finally spoke up.
"Would you like a tour?" He said hesitantly.
"Sure," Madelyn said as she looked up at him. Malfoy walked out of the room and she followed behind.
"This is one of the hallways," Malfoy said sarcastically as he pointed up.
They walked down the stairs they came up and out the front door. Narcissa was nowhere in sight but Malfoy didn't seem to care. The sun was beginning to set as the two were walking around the house.
"This is the front of my house," Malfoy said, waving his hand over then continuing to walk around his home. Madelyn knew that Malfoy couldn't take it seriously but there was nothing better to do.
"Now this over here, well, this is something special," Malfoy said sarcastically as he hurried over to a fountain, then turning to face Madelyn who wasn't walking as fast as he was. "This is my fountain," Malfoy said as he held onto the side, leaning against it.
"Oh, yes, this is exactly what I wanted to see out of this whole entire house," Madelyn said sarcastically as she began to laugh and Malfoy gave out a tiny smirk.
"I don't really know what to show you. There are just lots of empty hallways and bedrooms. Then there are large empty grass fields," Malfoy said looking over to one of the large areas of grass.
"It feels like we are straight out of a book I read when I was a kid," Madelyn said looking around.
"It's unnecessarily big," Malfoy spat. Madelyn nodded uncomfortably at his statement. "It's probably time for dinner." He walked by Madelyn, towards the entrance and Madelyn followed hesitantly. She was unsure how the dinner was going to go since it seemed like Narcissa had lots of questions. Once inside, they saw Narcissa walk in from a large area in front of them with a smile.
"I was just about to come to look for you two. Dinner is ready," she said as she lead the two into the dining room. Everything was laid out on an abnormally lengthy table in front of them. "Sit, sit," she said as she pulled one of the chairs out for Madelyn to sit at. Madelyn smiled and sat down, with Malfoy on her left. Narcissa went around and sat across from the two. The fireplace was on across the room and was the only thing making noise for several moments.
"Tell me, Draco, about school," Narcissa asked.
"It's great. We are really starting to progress in advanced potions. I'm almost the top student of my class," Malfoy explained with a slight bit of enthusiasm but soon dropped it.
"Fantastic! How about you, Madelyn?"
"I'm really enjoying my classes this year. I surprisingly like the changes that were made to the school," Madelyn said with a tiny smile.
"Wonderful! Do you have any plans for a career in the future?"
"I haven't thought about it too much but I was thinking about becoming a healer."
"Oh, yes, that would be lovely," Narcissa said with a smile.
The three continued on with small talk as they ate their dinner.
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"From everything that I have heard, you two will need to be married in a few months," Narcissa said making both Madelyn and Malfoy freeze. "When do you plan on having the wedding?"
"Mother, we haven't talked about that yet," Malfoy said anxiously, placing his fork down.
"Oh, that's a surprise. We really need to figure this out so we can start planning."
Malfoy looked over to Madelyn and Madelyn looked back, shrugging.
"We will talk about that later," He said sternly when he looked back to Narcissa. Narcissa gave a concerning look back to Malfoy.
"I don't think we are ready to talk about that yet," Madelyn said quietly, looking at Narcissa.
"I mean how could you guys be ready for that anyhow? You both have only been dating for a month or so. I don't understand why they are making it happen so soon," Narcissa said frantically. Madelyn could never call what she and Malfoy have been doing for the past month, dating. They have a mild conversation on a good day. "You should go get ready for bed, dear," Narcissa said to Madelyn.
"Oh, alright, thank you for the meal," Madelyn said as she got up from her seat and headed for the bedroom but before reaching it she began to hear the conversation pick up again. She couldn't help but listen in.
"She is a quiet girl," Narcissa said as plates were being placed together. The voices were quiet but echoed off the walls.
"Can you blame her? She was probably nervous to meet you," Malfoy said back sternly.
"I'm unsure why that would be."
"Take a guess."
"She is a beautiful girl but I'm not sure she is the right fit for you," Narcissa said as plates were placed down.
"Why is that?" Malfoy asked sarcastically.
"She has muggle blood in her. You will be the last pure-blood in the family if you two were to have children."
"How is that important anymore?"
"You know how your father will react when he comes home," Narcissa said more firmly.
"I don't care what my father thinks and you should care about getting to know her than worrying about her blood purity because one day we will have to get married, and you will just have to deal with it," Malfoy spat and a chair screeched on the floor.
"Do you even like this girl? I always thought you and Pansy Parkinson were a great couple," Narcissa said lightly.
"Pansy was nothing more than a mistake. And as for Madelyn, I like her much better than any girl you or my father would choose for me," he spat quietly and footsteps began to get closer to Madelyn. Madelyn hurried into the bedroom and sat down on the bed. Malfoy came in moments later and slammed the door shut, then hurrying over to the dresser. He tore off his suit jacket and threw it across the room. He looked over to Madelyn as he began to unbutton his shirt.
"Are you going to shower?" He asked sternly.
"Oh, yes," Madelyn said as she hurried off the bed and into the bathroom. She grabbed a towel from the stack, got undressed, and stepped into the running water. As she let the water run down her hair, she thought of the conversation between Malfoy and his mom. Madelyn was unsure how to feel about Narcissa not wanting her apart of their lineage, but it felt nice having Malfoy defend her. She continued with her shower, unsure of what to expect for the day that followed.