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“Peacocks.”
Harry looked around at the immaculate lawn.
“You have peacocks.”
“And peahens, too.” Draconia Malfoid nodded. “Unfortunately, the peacocks will be shedding their feathers soon.”
She reached into her bag and pulled out some crackers. Breaking them in half, she tossed them at a peacock, who greedily began pecking away at it. Draconia passed one over to Harry, who threw it over at another bird.
“Do the house elves care for them too?”
“Yes. Plenty of water, shade, a tree for them to hide in. Extra food at this time of year. There’s probably a nest around here somewhere, but the birds will attack us if we get too close to them.”
The two of them stood side by side and watched the birds in silence for a while.
“I used to sit at the window and watch them for hours instead of studying. Father threatened to have them taken away. I knew he never would. He likes them more than me.”
There was another period of silence.
“They are amazing. There weren’t any at the Muggle zoo.”
“Zoo?”
“It’s a place where Muggles keep animals to look at. Tigers, lions, monkeys-“
And then Harry let out a snort.
“A snake escaped because of me. It was one of the first times I ever used magic. Vernon was furious.”
“What happened?” Draconia smiled.
Harry told her. About how he had talked to the snake, how the glass had vanished, how the snake had talked about going to South America. Draconia listened without interrupting.
“I wonder if it made it…” She murmured at the end.
Harry nodded. He would think it was impossible. But he was proof that far more unlikely things could happen.
“I missed the peacocks.” Draconia said. “And I’ll miss them. After all…”
She looked over at the front door to her manor. An Auror stood at attention there. Next to him was a wooden signpost with the following words:
MINISTRY OF MAGIC PUBLIC AUCTION
AUGUST 22, 1998
By virtue of the Confiscation Act of 1998, issued by Caretaker Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt, the following property is to be auctioned off to raise funds for those harmed in the Second Wizarding War. Interested parties should register-
Draconia looked away. Harry moved next to her and reached out for her hand. She took it.
“Come on.” She said. “Let’s go get my things. There is only three days left.”
The two of them walked inside, past the Auror who gave them a nod of acknowledgment. Peacocks still pecked away at the crackers.
They did not go to Draconia’s room first. She insisted on leading Harry through a tour of the house. No humans were in the house, but the house elves were still at work scrubbing and cleaning. At Draconia’s request, one quickly made them a pair of sandwiches. Harry thanked it.
“Your parents will be out soon.” He tried to reassure her.
“I know.” She nodded. “Only six months in a prison, and not even Azkaban. But...they’ll have to start over. At their age.”
Malfoid looked down and began eating the sandwich far too quickly. Harry didn’t know what to say. He looked over at the house elf, who was looking up at him with its boggling eyes.
“Will they be taken care of?” He asked her.
“The new owner will be required to maintain them.” She murmured.
After the meal, Draconia took him down a hallway. They stopped in front of a tapestry that stretched on for several meters in the hallway, if not more.
As he expected, it showed the Malfoid bloodline. But there was more to it than that. There was a small section next to every Malfoid name showing in cloth some event in their life. One Malfoid, in the 1400s, was flying a broom over the ocean. The tapestry said he was the first wizard to fly across the North Sea by broom. Another was a prominent leader in the Goblin Rebellions. They were not moving like wizard photographs, but somehow they felt more real.
Harry took his time, watching every image. He could not help but wonder what the tapestry would say about Draconia and her parents. But when he reached it, there was nothing. Their names were there, but only that.
“We Malfoids don’t depict our achievements here while we’re alive.” Draconia said quietly in response to Harry’s puzzled expression. “It’s only our children who can decide what we truly accomplished in our lives. When Father and Mother’s time comes, I will have to write in something for them.”
“What will you write?”
It was the natural thing for Harry to ask. But he did not. Instead, he asked if Draconia knew how to weave.
“Not with a machine, like Muggles do. But combining thread with a wand is a skill. There’s no way you could do it. Every Malfoid girl learns.”
Harry reached up and touched Draconia’s name. Then he looked back at the entire tapestry.
“It’s beautiful.” He says.
He expected her to nod, or smile. But she only stared at the tapestry and wiped her eyes.
She continued to show him around. To other rooms, even to some hidden passages. But as the tour continued, Harry noticed. She seemed to be avoiding…
“Draconia.” He said after she showed him the second tea parlor. “Can I see your room?”
Draconia blinked. Then she grinned and brought a hand to her mouth.
“Why, Harry! I didn’t know you’d be so bold. It’s true that my parents aren’t here, but-“
“Cut it out.” Harry grumbled, but couldn’t help turning red. “Are you hiding your room from me?”
This time it was her turn to go red.
“No! I’m not! You know how large my house is, I just wanted to show you everything. It’s not like there’s anything in my room that I need to hide-“
And then she stopped. Harry blinked.
“Draconia? Are you all right?’
She continued to stare like she had seen a ghost (It seemed like there were no ghosts in this manor, but Harry would have been hardly surprised if they were). And then-
“Oh, Merlin.”
She said it just barely loud enough to hear. And then just as Harry registered those words, she took off running.
Harry gazed blankly for a moment. But then he took off running after his girlfriend. Malfoid dashed up one set of stairs, then another. And then right as Harry reached the top of the second flight, she dashed down a separate flight of stairs. She was trying to lose him.
Well, she wasn’t going to. He kept running after her, down one hallway than the next. Draconia said nothing, but ran like her life depended on it. Then suddenly, she stopped, turned around, and pulled out her wand.
“STUPEFY!” She screamed.
Harry just barely managed to duck. But the shock that she would pull her wand out at him again caused him to stop in disbelief. It was long enough for her to run into a nearby door and slam it shut. Harry grabbed the doorknob and turned it. But while there was no lock, something had been jammed behind the door.
“Draconia.” He hammered away. “Open the door.”
There was no response. But he could hear the sound of something being torn. And then, just a few moments later, there was a sound of something heavy being moved and then the door opened. Draconia stood, trying to look as prim and proper as one could while panting.
“You can come in.” She said.
Harry came in. She took a seat on the bed. There was a desk there and he took a seat on the chair, before turning it to face her.
“What did you hide?” He asked.
“Uh…just some underwear.” Draconia nodded. “I realized there was some underwear lying on the bed, and I didn’t want you to see it. W-well maybe I do, but-“
Harry narrowed his eyes.
“Draconia. This is your first time in this room in a year. There is no way the house elves would leave your underwear lying around. Even if they did, there’s no way you would know that.
Besides, I may be bad at lying. But I am very good at knowing when you’re lying.”
Draconia’s face fell. Harry smiled.
“I promise, I won’t laugh at whatever it is-“
“You won’t laugh! You’ll…”
She looked away.
“You’ll be ashamed.”
She bent down and reached under her bed, pulling out an object. She held it up for Harry to see.
It was a poster. On the left was a castle tower, clearly meant to be Hogwarts. In the middle were two witches, one male and one female. Proud-looking, clean-shaven, muscular and feminine. Their arms were raised to their right. Because to their right…
Was a horde of misshapen humanoid creatures. Some had hooked noses. Some had crooked teeth. Some had long beards that stretched down to the ground in a way not unlike Dumbledore. And at the top of the poster was one slogan in bold, clear, white letters:
PROTECT OUR BLOOD
Harry looked at the image, than up to Draconia.
“Did you buy it?” He asked.
“Father gave it to me. After the Dark Lor-Voldemort returned. But I never took it down. Maybe I would have if I had been in this room more recently, but still…”
She looked down.
“I know I was on the wrong side. I know the only reason I’m not in prison is because of you. But I’m still angry. This was my home. This was my father’s home, his father’s home, and his father’s home for 700 years. Maybe more. And now it’s all gone.
What’s going to happen to the tapestry? What’s going to happen to all the artifacts our family has grabbed over the years. It’s all going to be sold off, Harry! Hundreds of years of history gone because of my stupid father. Who joined Voldemort not once but twice.
What am I going to write in the tapestry when he goes? ‘Lucius Malfoid became a criminal and lost all the family’s estates and wealth. He destroyed the Malfoid name, leaving her daughter to build everything up again?’ Will my children write about me as another of Voldemort’s minions?”
Her hands trembled, and she tore the poster in two.
“I HATE HIM! I HATE HIM FOR RUINING EVERYTHING! I HATE MY MOTHER FOR DRAGGING ME INTO SERVING VOLDEMORT! I HATE THE MINISTRY FOR SEIZING EVERYTHING! AND I HATE MYSEL-“
She didn’t finish. Harry rushed forward and embraced her, his arms around her. Draconia let out a gasp, then broke out sobbing. The two sat there quietly and Harry let her breathe.
“I can’t buy the manor, Draconia.” Harry murmured quietly. “I’m sorry. But I can buy the tapestry. I’ll spend every last Galleon I have if that’s what it takes. And any other artifacts you want to keep? I’ll buy them too.
And that tapestry? It’ll continue. I promise it will.”
“It’ll be hard to hang up in our apartment.” Draconia muttered.
“I’ll drape it around every last wall if that’s what it takes.”
The two quietly stayed there for a while, not moving. Draconia’s sobs drifted away.
“I don’t hate you.” She finally said.
“When did you stop?”
“I don’t know.”
And with that, she pulled away. She stood up from her bed, and went over to the window. Harry followed her. She was right. You could see the peacocks from here.
“I don’t know when I stopped hating you as well.” He admitted. “But I know this. The Malfoid name won’t stop here, Draconia.”
In the end, Harry didn’t even need to pay for the tapestry.
The two had a talk with the Auror standing guard. They didn’t know his name, and he probably should have contacted his head or someone with the Ministry first. But instead, he agreed that Draconia could take the tapestry with her as long as they did it while he was “on break.”
Which created the next problem…
“Draconia. Just how are we going to get this all back?”
The tapestry was the only thing that arguably didn’t belong to her, but Draconia had plenty of stuff. Extra clothes, items, magical equipment. Harry stared hard at a black necklace which looked suspiciously like the cursed necklace Draconia had given to Katie Bell in Harry's sixth year, but she promised that it was just a necklace. This time, he could tell she was not lying.
They had come here via car (Harry had purchased it, but only Draconia could drive it for now) and had bags with them. Without levitation magic, there’s no way they could have even brought the tapestry to the car, and everything else was heavy as well. Besides, you can’t just shove a 700-year-old tapestry into the car with everything else, right?
“We’ll put the tapestry in the car with everything else.”
Harry gave Draconia a look.
“I’ll put protective charms on it and check it again when we return. It won’t be damaged.”
Harry was skeptical. But he listened. Packing all of this took a long time, and the house elves came out with more sandwiches as they finished up. The two of them sat behind the car, gazing at the manor.
“I can’t promise that I’ll be able to buy the manor back someday.” Harry murmured. “But I can certainly try.”
Draconia nodded.
“And Draconia…thank you.”
“For what?”
Harry looked out at the manor.
“You always talked about your father. But I never knew anything about the Malfoids. I always saw your family as just a stuck-up bunch of losers, clinging to lost glory.”
“Maybe we were.”
“But that doesn’t mean the glory didn’t exist. And I can understand a bit more of what you’re proud of. And what, I suppose…”
He looked away.
“I hope to be a part of some day.”
Draconia looked at him. And then she giggled.
“We’ve been dating for three months, Harry. And you’re already talking like that?”
“Yeah. I am.”
Draconia nodded and bit into a sandwich.
“That’s just how you are. And I like that side of you.”
The two of them finished up before getting into their car. Draconia took the wheel and started it.
“Harry?” She said as they started rolling down the road.
“Yes?”
“Thank you. For always being there.”
Harry frowned.
“You said it yourself. We’ve been dating for three months.”
“I know.” Draconia smiled. “I still meant what I said.”