ALL NOVEL Chapter 209: Magical Suitcase – A Lesson in Malfoys!
"Did you see him?" Draco guffawed, bringing his broom to her. "He looked like a toad. Haha!"
Darcie didn't like her brother's hurting their house-elf. But she had learned that confronting Draco about this would only make it worse. So, she had left it to time, like many other things, before.
Now, it seemed she couldn't anymore.
"Did you do it?" Darcie asked her brother, landing on the lawn. A ray of sunlight landed on the pale fog along with her, making it look golden, just like the snitch in her brother's hand.
Draco had convinced her father to get a practice snitch for them. And before he would show his skills to his friends, he had asked her to practice along with him. In return, and though she loved to ride the broom herself, Darcie had asked him to summarize their etiquette lessons from the last month for her.
"No," Draco said, looking away from her. "I didn't get the time."
Darcie said nothing as they walked to the manor and then up the stairs to the first floor. But just as Darcie and Draco turned towards their rooms, she said, "You did have the time to kick Dobby."
…
After freshening up, they had their breakfast in the Dining Room with Narcissa on the other side of the table. A copy of today's Daily Prophet was sprawled open in front of her as she drank her tea noiselessly.
Darcie's stomach felt like a pit. There were fried eggs, sausages, bacon, tomatoes, fried bread, and, yes, freshly baked cupcakes. She tasted a bite of everything before sliding the tray of cupcakes towards her. When she caught a sulky Draco spying on the cupcakes from the corner of his eyes, Darcie put one of them onto his plate.
The brother and sister looked at each other, and Draco grinned. Darcie had to permit herself a smile as well.
"OK," Narcissa suddenly said, her eyes on the newspaper. "What's going on with you two?"
"Nothing." Draco shrugged, devouring the cupcake.
"Where's father, mother?" Darcie asked, carefully tending to the crumbs. "This early in the morning and he's already gone without even having breakfast."
And this time, it was Narcissa who smiled.
Suddenly, two distant whip-like cracks reached from the open windows into the dining room.
"Darcie! Come down."
Darcie recognized her father's voice. She again looked back at her mother and noticed her meaningful smile. "Is it…" She didn't complete her question, put down the half-eaten cupcake, and walked toward the service stairs. Draco mumbled something, stuffed the cupcake into his mouth, and followed her with hurried steps.
Through the kitchen, and ignoring the sweet smell, she entered the Great Hall where two men were standing tall.
One was her father, in his long black overcoat, and holding the snake-headed cane. The other was a beardless old man, properly dressed, but looked nervous and anxious. This man she didn't recognize.
"Good morning, father," Darcie greeted, and her brother followed with his own, but hastily. She then faced the guest and said, "Good morning sir, I am Darcie Malfoy. May I have the honor of knowing your name?"
Lucius smiled and the old man came running towards Darcie, his shoulders now relaxed than before. "Ms. Darcie, I have heard so much about you," he said. "I am Pigplanter Hillam, not someone you might know…"
But Darcie knew him. "You are the manager of Flourish and Blotts, aren't you?" she almost exclaimed.
"Enough," Lucius announced, smiling coldly, and then moved aside to let Darcie see the object placed behind him on the long table.
With small steps, she approached the table and ran her hands over it.
It was a brown-colored leather suitcase, big enough for a grown man to pass through it once opened.
Darcie looked at her father, and Lucius nodded. With bated breath, she put the suitcase down on the floor, flicked open the locks, and pushed the upper lid up. Even Draco looked more agitated than her, standing behind her, looming over her head.
The moment she saw a ladder, and the sight of a hall through the opening, Darcie knew her wish had come true.
"Well, go in," Lucius said.
Darcie stepped down the ladder, followed by Draco, her father, and Mr. Hillam.
They landed in an enormous hall full of light and space. But it wasn't the decoration, furnishing and the sheer comforting aura this place emanated that had caught her eyes. It was the shelves.
The hall within the suitcase was twice as long as its width, and ceiling-high shelves occupied half of its length, lined up against three walls. Darcie walked towards the shelves, and the first one on her right beckoned her to itself.
She and Daphne had made extensive plans to get books for themselves, as they knew the adults would never allow them to have such things. Not now when social interactions were more important in their eyes than their children's wild goals and wilder dreams. They had planned to sell a few of their party dresses and jewelry with the help of their house-elves, and then use that money to buy books.
It had sounded so good to their ears that they had almost giggled thinking about it, then.
So when Darcie saw SCHOOL written over the top of this shelf, and its lower two rows filled with books with the brightest sheen on their covers, her neck couldn't help but snap towards her father.
Lucius was already smiling back at her, his chin high and his eyes brimming with pride and plain mockery for everything and everyone other than his family. "Only the first and second year," he said.
She looked back at the shelf and moved forward.
HISTORY OF MAGIC had the most books, and Darcie noted many that she loved to read when she had nothing to do. Biographies, tales and myths, and lost fields all had a place on this shelf. Then there were shelves for GEOGRAPHY, MAGICAL CREATURES, HERBOLOGY, and POTIONS as well, with at least a few books on each of them. And even then, her eyes hadn't reached half the shelves on one side of the hall.
"There are catalogs here, Ms. Darcie," Mr. Hillam said, pointing at the various tables placed in the hall, his finger shaking. "If you need any book, just write to us, and we will deliver the book right away. My lord… if that's all, may — may I go?"
Lucius scowled at him and flicked his hand. The man almost ran away as if his life was at stake.
Darcie had only the books in her eyes.
"There's a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a room for Potioneering as well," Lucius said, nearing her, and pointing at the doors in the latter half of the hall with his cane. "There's a fireplace and you can control the brightness anywhere in the hall. The entire hall is enchanted to provide a peaceful environment. You can add more later when you are all grown up."
Darcie saw the fireplace at the other end of the hall and Draco eying the tapestries there with an open mouth, his head bobbing around like a peacock.
She looked back at her father, and with one quick step, wrapped her arms around him. Her head only reached his waist, and she buried it there. It felt warm and cozy.
Lucius laughed, patting her head. "Just make sure nobody gets to know about it," he told her, not unkindly. "And don't ask for any book without my permission. OK?"
Darcie pulled herself back, looked up at him, and nodded. "But," she said, sounding as composed as was expected of her, "then what about Mr. Hillam?"
Lucius put his hand on her back and took her to the middle of the hall. There was a smile of open disgust and scorn on his face. "Don't worry about him, Darcie," he told her. "He would keep his mouth shut if he wants to keep his job."
— And his life, the thought suddenly welled up in Darcie's mind.
Her brows furrowed, knowing that she shouldn't think like that. Today was such a beautiful day. Even if her father had pulled some strings as he had told her, it was for her, and because he loved her, she knew.
And for the first time, Darcie learned what the name Malfoy meant.
She also learned, though begrudgingly, that wealth and status were nothing without a bit of fear hidden in the shadows.
