It was finally the holidays. Everyone packed up some necessary items and left for the train. All of Draco"s friend was going home so all of them stayed in the same compartment chatting. After hours of sitting on the train, they finally reached the station. Everyone had their families come pick them up, so Draco was the only left waiting for his father to come."Did he forget about me?" Draco thought looking around the station. Then he saw Lucius coming out from the corner looking for him. Draco stood up and went up to him.
"Why are you late?" Draco said.
"That"s not a nice thing to say to your father after not meeting for months." Lucius said smiling.
"Wait, Smiling?" Draco looked at his father"s face and he was really smiling happily. "Did something good happen or is he just glad to see me after a while?"
"What"s wrong?" Lucius asked looking at the dazed Draco.
"What? no... nothing" Draco snapped back, "I was wondering about the surprise you told me about?"
"Yes, Surprise." Lucius smiled even more brightly, "We need to get home first, for you to find out what it is."
Draco nodded sighing, "Did he hit his head or something?"
"I heard you were quite busy in school this first semester." Lucius smile changed back to the original grim one.
"What are you talking about?" Draco asked innocently.
"Don"t give me your puppy eyes, I am not your mother." Lucius said, "I am talking about you fighting a troll in Hogwarts."
"*Cough* How did you know about this?" Draco asked
"Severus sent me a letter of your heroic deed." Lucius sarcastically said, "And you told them that you fought troll for its whisker?"
"Hey! It sounded like a good excuse at that time." Draco said, "Does mother know about this?"
"You are lucky, I haven"t let her found out about it." Lucius said, "This is not the right time for your mother to get stressed out about you."
"Why?" Draco asked getting slightly worried.
"You will find out when we get home. Let"s go, your mother is waiting for you." Lucius said pulling Draco into the corner and apparated from there.
Draco didn"t like the feeling of apparating since it actually feels like you"re being forced through a very tight rubber tube.
Apparition is wizarding transportation. It is basically the magical action of traveling by having the user focus on the desired location in their mind. After the user is properly focused they then disappear from the current location and instantly reappear at the desired location. In short, an Apparition is a form of teleportation. It is by far the fastest way to get to the desired destination but is tricky to pull off correctly and disastrous if botched. Draco even puked the first time.
Apparition is a popular method of travel in the wizarding world, though it is stated that plenty of adult witches and wizards do not bother with it. These witches and wizards prefer brooms, Floo Powder or portkeys.
Draco wanted to learn apparation, but due to it being more complex than normal magic and having risks of splinching, he didn"t want to try it early on, without having sufficient mana and understanding of it. Splinching can occur when one has insufficient determination to reach one"s goal, causing certain body parts to fail to arrive at the destination with the wizard, even though the limbs could be attached back, Draco didn"t want to go through that experience, since it could be very traumatizing.
Draco and Lucius arrived outside the mansion. Their house was enchanted with "Anti-Disapparition Jinx" making it impossible for people to apparate inside their house. The only people who this Jinx won"t work against are the elves. Hateful creatures if you think about it. They can come and go out of any place they want without anyone interfering. They have powerful magic in them and can use wand-less and chant-less magic as well.
Draco pitied the house elves when he first arrived here but later on found that chaining them up is necessary. The servile att.i.tude they carry is the only way to keep them in check, or else if they gain a test for freedom then they can wreak havoc. Luckily they liked getting enslaved for some reason. Draco didn"t know if that was the result of years of enslavement or if it was their natural instinct but luckily it was there. House-elves are intensely loyal to their owner whether they like them or not but there are some exceptions, for example, if a house-elf is smart enough and he/she doesn"t truly respect his master or mistress then he can disobey them by finding loopholes in their command.
House elves magic are very complex as well. From apparitions being a natural talent they could use charms like levitation charm or even disarming charm and they could use powerful dark magic as well. Draco has been preparing a plan for the house-elves to help him and he is now ready to put his plan to use.
Draco and Lucius walked inside the manor. Draco looked around for his mother but there weren"t any signs of her.
"Mother!" He called out.
"I am here, Draco." Narcissa"s voice came from within the living room.
Draco dropped his suitcase and ran over to the living room. Lucius rolled his eyes and walked behind him.
"Mother?" Draco walked inside the living room and to his surprise, his mother was sitting on the couch with a big belly.
"Come here, Draco." She said reaching out her hand.
Draco slowly walked over and caught his mothers hand with his eyes still wide open.
"How do you like your surprise?" Lucius who had just arrived in the living room asked smirking.
"Mother? What is this?" Draco asked looking at her big belly.
"You are having siblings, now." She said caressing his hair.
"Siblings?" Draco asked
"It"s twins." Lucius answered, "You are going to have two siblings from now on."
"Wait! Wait! Were you pregnant before I left?" Draco asked unsurely, it hadn"t even been 4 months since he went to Hogwarts.
"Yes, I started having signs early on but I wasn"t sure." Narcissa explained.
"So how long has it been?"
"6 and a half months," Lucius said sitting beside them, holding Narcissa hands.
"Aren"t you happy Draco?" Narcissa asked seeing Draco staying silent.
"Huh? Yes, of course, I am happy." Draco said smiling, "I always wanted a sister but now I am getting two."
"It could be a brother too, you know" Narcissa said.
"No, it has to be a daughter!!" Both Lucius and Draco said at the same time. Both of them looked at each other and nodded. It seems both of them agree on something.
"Sigh! Not you too." Narcissa sighed, "What will both of you do if you have a son and a brother."
"There are two, aren"t they?" Draco said, "Then there are still some chances of there being at least one girl."
"Yes, Draco is right." Lucius said, "I have been telling you this for a couple of days now."
"Okay, you two don"t count your owls before they are delivered and Draco go take a bath. I will prepare dinner for you." Narcissa said, "Do they not serve good food in Hogwarts anymore? My baby boy looks so thin."
"Really? I think I look good." Draco said standing up, "I will go take a bath then."
The house elf quickly prepared a bath for him and Draco got inside relaxing.
"Sigh! I am happy to have siblings but I don"t know if its the right time. Voldemort resurrection is important without it, he can"t be killed. But resurrecting Voldemort with my baby siblings around doesn"t seem like a good idea. either. What do I do?" Draco was worried about his family more than ever now.
After a long bath, he came downstairs and sat at the dining table.
"So Draco how is school going?" Narcissa asked
"It"s going pretty well than I thought it would." Draco replied, "With Pansy and Theodore, it"s not that boring."
"I heard you made friends with the girl from Greengra.s.s family?" Lucius asked
"Yeah! But how do you know everything?" Draco said, "Are you spying on me?"
"I am friends with her mother, you know." Narcissa said, "She has been sending me letters thanking me for having you take care of her."
"Oh! So how come I have never met them before?" Draco asked
"They live quite far away." Lucius replied, "Besides we have only met each other on formal occasions every now and then."
Draco nodded, being acquaintances with other wizarding families wasn"t that big of a deal, since he himself knew quite a few.
"So who do you like more?" Suddenly Narcissa asked making Draco choke on his food.
"*Cough* What are you talking about?"
"I am talking about who you like more, Pansy or the girl from Greengra.s.s family, I think her name was Daphne, right?" Narcissa said in a teasing voice.
"I don"t like anyone," Draco said shoving food in his mouth.
Narcissa giggled seeing her son"s behavior.
"Its good if you decide earlier." Lucius said in a grim voice, "If you like one of them, then I can help you by setting good relation between our families. Both Parkinson and Greengra.s.s families are good allies to have."
Draco looked at his father who looked serious and said, "Even if I like someone, I am not going to be involved in a political marriage. Just so it can benefit our family."
"You are still naive, Draco." Lucius said, "Allying with other families will help strengthen us. Especially in controlling the wizarding world in the future."
"I can do well myself, father." Draco said, "I don"t need to nor do I want to use the people that I like just so I can benefit from them."
"Draco you have to understand, setting good relation from early on will strengthen the bond between our families." Lucius said, "I am leaning more towards the Greengra.s.s family, they are the oldest pure-blood family and have a great relationship with other pureblood families as well. So I hope you can focus more on the Greengra.s.s girl."
"Lucius stop it." Narcissa said, "Our son has finally come home after a long time and you have started talking politics already, he"s too young for that."
"He has to learn someday, Narcissa," Lucius said. "If he plans to finish what has been started then he has to learn sooner or later. Besides I am not telling him to lie to that girl. If he becomes close friends with her then they will eventually fall for each other, as we did."
Draco stood up from his chair, "Father, I know of your ambitions but I have my own as well and it"s much greater and superior to yours. As for who I marry in the future, it"s my life to decide, I might even marry a muggle if I want to and you will have no say in it."
"Draco!!" Lucius stood up as well.
"I am done." Draco said walking towards his room.
"Lucius, I know you have been having a lot of stress lately due to the ministry seizing some of our businesses but you can"t take it out on Draco." Narcissa said, "I know my son more than you, the more you force him to do something the more likely he wouldn"t do it."
"Sigh! I am sorry." Lucius said sitting back down rubbing his forehead, "With the dark lord gone some people have been acting out now and again, and now with our baby on the way I am more afraid for our family"s protection."
"It"s okay Lucius." Narcissa said, "Draco has always been a little hot-headed and besides he is just 11 so we don"t need to rush into things like marriage. Also with Draco"s personality, I am sure that even if he grows old, he wouldn"t be willing to partic.i.p.ate in a political marriage, I am afraid that if you really keep pushing him, one day he might even come home with a muggle wife."
"I will have a talk with him later." Lucius said sighing.
Draco reached his room and closed it. He has been stressing about Voldemort and the future but now his father wants to use him as a political tool to gain more power as well. Draco laid down on his bed, this wasn"t the first argument he had with Lucius but he didn"t expect it to be right after he comes home from school. Especially on the topic of marriage, he is too young for it and even though having allies is a good thing, he won"t marry someone just so he could get another families alliance.