Pansy had owled me the following morning to let me know her friend Cormac MacLaggen was expecting me at the Ministry to teach me apparition. Draco had accompanied me to my flat so I could shower and change after having done so himself at his place. I'd had a shit night, probably because of the amount of alcohol I'd drank the previous evening. I'd woken up at least three times because of nightmares of being chased by someone I didn't know, but who apparently wanted to hurt me.

When I'd gotten ready, I arrived in the living room to the sight of Draco and Lydia chatting about some movie she'd seen in the previous day. Ollie was just getting out of Lydia's bedroom and gave me a tired smile before turning his attention to Draco. "Oh, you must be the girls' new neighbour. I'm Ollie, nice to meet you."

As he stretched his hand out to Draco, I saw him pausing for a second, eyeing up Lydia's boyfriend before shaking his hand. "Ollie you said? I feel like we've already met, I'm Draco." Ollie looked to the side thinking for a bit. "I don't think so, pretty sure I'd remember someone called Draco."

It might have escaped to Draco the mocking tone in Ollie's voice when he said his name, but I'd noticed and gave him a nasty glare. He wasn't one to talk, was named after a skateboarding trick after all. Ollie noticed me and straightened up slightly. "I'm not from London anyways. Not from the UK at all actually." Draco nodded slowly, seemingly still sceptical at his words.

I broke him out of his trance by grabbing his hand and pulling him by the door. "I think we have to head off now, don't wanna be late..." Lydia arched an eyebrow at me inquisitively. "Where are you guys headed?" I felt a small blush creeping onto my cheek as I was trying to find something to answer but Draco took him upon himself to make up a lie. "Just meeting an old mate of mine for lunch." Lydia shrugged, satisfied with the explanation and quickly waved us off.

_ _ _

Cormac was the stereotype of a lad. Bulky muscles, flirty attitude, clothes way too tight for his body. He was a decent teacher though and had managed to teach me how to apparate within over a couple of hours, which he was apparently impressed by.

"You said you were sorted into Slytherin? Honestly that was Ravenclaw level learning speed. Impressive." I chuckled slightly. "Yeah, Draco keeps saying the hat got confused and sorted me into the wrong house." Cormac shot his head up at his name. "Draco, as in Malfoy? I thought you were Pansy's friend." I shrugged while putting on my jacket, the weather having warmed up enough to avoid wearing a thick coat outside. "No I met Pansy through Draco."

Cormac's brows furrowed slightly. "Right, are you guys dating or..?" I raised an eyebrow at how inquisitive he was. "Yep." I knew he'd been flirting for the past few hours and didn't want to lead the guy on. He immediately looked somehow terrified. "Oh, okay, cool cool cool." I knew Draco wasn't the nicest guy around during the schoolyears, but had he been that terrifying? It seemed like so, but I just couldn't picture it.

Speaking of the devil, a knock on the door made me turn around and Draco entered the room with a look of worry on his face. "Chloé I'm sorry but something's happened." I narrowed my eyes at him and quickly thanked Cormac who still looked like he'd seen a ghost and followed Draco out only to end up face to face with Harry. "Okay, what's wrong? Who's dead?"

As soon as the joke left my lips, I knew it somehow wasn't one. Harry gave me a sorry smile while Draco wrapped me in his arms. I pushed him off trying to figure everything out. "Okay seriously, who's dead?" Draco couldn't seem to find words to answer and I turned expectantly to Harry.

"Chloé, I'm so sorry. Your father was found dead in his room this morning. He'd received a killing curse." I know I was supposed to feel something. Anything really. Sadness, anger, despair. But I didn't. I just crossed my arms at the news, taking a deep breath.

If I hadn't felt any emotions at the news, Harry's pitiful look and Draco's arm being wrapped around my shoulders sent me over the edge. I didn't need to be coddled. I wasn't going to shatter like crystal. He was a madman who'd hurt my mother and I. Nothing more. I shook Draco's arm off and straightened my posture.

"Okay, what do I need to do?" The boys gave me a startled look as I spoke. "I suppose there's paperwork I need to sign, as his only child. Administrative processes I need to follow?" Harry's eyes widened in surprise, and I felt Draco hovering over my thoughts, which I let him do. If that's what he needed, to see for himself that I was okay, I wasn't going to resist.

"You have to sign the death certificate and close his account at Gringotts I believe. Probably gather his belongings at St Mungo's." I nodded quickly and looked at them expectantly. "Right, I'll see you guys at St Mungo's in a second" and disapparated before them, leaving them both gobsmacked at my sudden disappearance.

_ _ _

One thing I had to concede to the wizarding world was how speedy the administrative processes were. I had signed my father's death certificate and gotten his belongings back in just under an hour. Draco was by my side throughout all of it. Not that I needed him, but I appreciated his presence. He could have avoided it, gotten scared at the entire situation, but he hadn't.

He had kept silent too, respecting my own muteness. I wasn't exactly sure what to say anyways. What do you say when you find out you're a witch, you descend from a dark bloodline and your father gets murdered in a mental asylum?

As we exited the hospital, I squeezed Draco's hand tight, thanking him silently. "Right, so I have to go to Gringotts now I think and use this key?" A huge, rusted metal key was sitting in the box of belongings I'd gathered from the aurors inside. "Yeah, it's a bit of a walk away though. But I guess since you're apparently a genius who can now apparate." I grinned at his playful tone. That's what I needed, to pretend nothing had really happened. "Race me?" Before I even got an answer, Draco disappeared and I quickly followed, muttering a "cheating prick" under my breath.

_ _ _

I would never go back to Gringotts unless absolutely necessary. For one, goblins weren't the nicest. And the ride down to the vault was quite... something. I had held on to Draco for dear life, which seemed to be a recurrent theme in my life, as we'd travelled through the bank at the speed of light.

Stepping in front of the vault's door, I had to lean against a stone pillar to avoid throwing up all over the floor. I could see Draco's biting his lips to avoid laughing hysterically at my state and thought really hard I'd eventually get my revenge, hoping he would somehow hear it.

The goblin who had led us there caught my attention as he gestured for me to enter the vault. As my eyes grew accustomed to the darkness of the room, I quickly started to notice it was filled to the brim with galleons and random objects. "What the fuck..." I turned to Draco, whose head was peaking through the doorway, taking in the contents of the room. "Shit Rosier, this is more than what's in mine." I raised an eyebrow at him and gave him a smirk. "Sweet. I've always wanted to be a Sugar mummy." and held in a laugh at the disgusted noise coming from the goblin standing next to me.

_ _ _

AN: Right, so, shit's starting to hit the fan eheheheh. Can't wait for what's coming.