The dreaded day soon came when Uncle and I left for Malfoy Manor.
"But I don't want to go. Please, Uncle!" He turned around, finally losing his temper. "You will go," he said angrily.
"Please!" I pleaded. He slapped me hard on the cheek. I cupped my hand to my face and
ran to my room. Uncle had never struck me before. There, I turned myself invisible and climbed onto the roof outside my window. A few hours later, I saw him walk outside. he pointed his wand at my still­open window and watched him mouth the dreaded words.
"Accio Scarlet!" I flew down, transforming before I hit the ground and flew into the air.
Uh oh. More trouble.
"So you are an Animagus, just like your father," he said softly. He grabbed my tail and Apparated me to the Manor with him.
"Transform." I did so reluctantly, sighing loudly as I went. He roughly dragged me to the grand mansion's embellished doors and knocked loudly.
A man with long blonde hair opened it.
"Severus! Wonderful to see you. And this is?"
"Scarlet. She will be staying with you." I walked up to him, forgetting my anger, just
needing to mock him, I said in my most posh voice, "Mr. Malfoy! How are you doing on this fine winter day?" He didn't seem to notice the mockery, because he led us into a large entry hall.
"Draco, Narcissa! Come greet our guests!" he said loudly. A boy of about seven (just developing his powers) and a lady walked into the hall. They were also, like Lucius, very blonde.
"Hello. I'm Draco Malfoy, Pureblood. And you are?" the young boy greeted. "I'm Scarlet," I responded. bending down so I could look Draco in the eye. "Blood Status?" he asked.
"I honestly don't know. I'm adopted.""She is Half­Blood," said Uncle. Narcissa was looking at me strangely, but all the same, she said kindly, "I'm Narcissa. It's nice to meet you." as an afterthought she said, "I remember who you look like, you look like the girl Severus was chasing after, Lily Evans."
"She was my mum," I said.
"Draco, take Scarlet to her bedchamber," Lucius sternly commanded. Draco looked at me.
"Come." was all he said. As we walked into the front room, out of earshot from the adults, I said, "Lighten up! You're seven, and you act like a Muggle prince with years of finishing school behind him!" I saw the corners of his lips turn up. I tried again once we had gotten to my room.
"Hey. I want to show you something."
"What?" he asked suspiciously.
"Magic." I pushed him through the open door and locked it. "Watch."
I transformed and flew around the room. I was determined to turn this serious boy into a kid. He looked almost bored, and soon walked out of the room. I knew he wouldn't tell anyone though, this family didn't seem very conversational.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, I demanded we go Christmas shopping. The Malfoys had already gone, but Narcissa agreed to go with me, saying she had some secret shopping to do as well. We Apparated to Diagon Alley and split up, agreeing to meet at the Leaky Cauldron in an hour for Butterbeer. I wandered around for awhile, my money bag jangling from the small amount of money I had collected from my vault in Gringotts. I soon stumbled upon a magical junk shop full of clutter and magical objects. I looked around the shop, knowing something would catch my eye. And catch my eye it did. Sitting there on a shelf was a beautiful snow globe with three moving girls standing outside the Hogwarts castle, looking as though they were really alive. I
took the item to the front desk and asked the shopkeeper the price.
"Three Galleons. A bargain if you ask me, it's in perfect condition," she said brightly. "Yes it is. Could you change this girl's hair to red, this girl's hair to blonde, and this
girl's hair to change colors occasionally?" The girls looked up at my finger as I gestured to each one.
"I sure can! And I'll do it for free as a Christmas deal."
"Thank you." I gave the girl three Galleons and continued looking around the store. Eventually I came across a row of mini creatures. There were dragons, phoenixes, unicorns, and even slow­moving snails. I picked up a tiny winged green dragon. It flew a few inches into the air, and then settled on my shoulder. I looked at it, then bought it along with a tiny phoenix that looked just like I did in Animagus form and a shaggy black dog for two Galleons. I walked to the Leaky Cauldron, happy with my purchases.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I woke up on Christmas Day feeling almost gloomy. I had never had a Christmas without Uncle.
I sent off the presents I had bought with Storm. I had duplicated the snow globe so that Tonks, Alice, and I all had one, and I had sent the shaggy black dog to Sirius. Sirius Black was Harry's godfather, and was currently rotting in Azkaban because no one knew that the Potters had switched their Secret Keeper to the traitor, Peter Pettigrew. I conjured some green and silver wrapping paper and wrapped up the mini dragon to give to Draco. I placed the phoenix on my shoulder and walked downstairs with Draco's gift. I placed it under the tree and waited for everyone to wake up. Soon, one of the house's many House­Elves walked up to me and said, "Would Mistress like some Butterbeer?"
"Yes please. But call me Scarlet." I said, then continued, "What's your name?"
"Oh, my name is Dobby, Miss, er, Scarlet."
"Hello, Dobby. Can you keep me company until the Malfoys get up?" I asked, trying to
ignore the fact I was talking to a tiny greenish creature as if he were human.
"Whatever you wish, miss," he squeaked.
"Please call me Scarlet." The odd little creature started banging his head with a lamp. I
pulled him away and said, "It's okay, call me what you want. Just don't hurt yourself."
"Thank you, miss." I sighed. I doubted he'd call me by my name, but that didn't matter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Soon the Malfoys came down, with Draco in the lead, looking­­ was that e​xcitement I saw? I put the small box for Draco beneath the tree with all of the other gifts that had arrived while Dobby scampered out of the room. I tore open my gifts and was excited to see that I had gotten a full set of Zonko's pranking supplies from Tonks, a stuffed bunny (it literally hopped its way into my heart.) from Alice, a bottle of shampoo from Uncle, in hopes I would "keep my hair pretty", and lastly, from the Malfoys, a giant stash of Honeydukes chocolates. I noticed one more tiny box for me and opened it quickly. Inside was a beautiful Goblin­made silver chain necklace.
I put it on, marvelling at how well it fit. The card read:
Dear Scarlet,
Happy Christmas. The bracelet is enchanted to never fall off the true owner. It is also equipped with a strong Shield Charm, and slightly heightens the user's powers. Something tells me you'll be needing this in the near future. Don't tell Lucius.
Best wishes,
Narcissa MalfoyAfter that, Draco opened his gifts. He had received a Pensieve in a small, ornate chest with the carved Malfoy crest and a self­writing quill (green and silver, of course). Finally he unwrapped the present from me. For a second, when he looked at the dragon in delight, he looked like a true kid. The dragon flew into the air, oh­so­mightily, and breathed a puff of fire into Draco's face. He laughed, the flame not catching on his hair, being that it was really just colored hot air. Then as soon as the smile had appeared, it was gone. He looked over at me, then at his parents. I showed him my phoenix and he smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. He kept glancing over to where his father sat, as if he was wondering if his dad approved.
"Thank you," he said.
"You're welcome." I was more than happy to do anything within my power­­ or money to help Draco before it was too late. I excused myself politely, saying that I'd be back for breakfast. I walked to my room and emptied the fishbowl of scarlet lilies into the wastebasket. Then I filled the bowl with water and stuck in one of the lily petals.
"M​ox Piscus!"​I said pointing my wand at the petal, hoping this would work. I carefully walked to Draco's room, making sure I didn't spill the and tried the door. Locked. I pulled out my wand.
"A​lohomora!"​The door swung open revealing a tidy green room. I placed the fishbowl and the note I had written on the mahogany dresser. The note said:
Draco-
This is your second present.
It may not be as expensive as a Pensieve (hey,
that rhymes!) or as elaborate as that chest, but I
did all the enchantments myself. It's the thought that counts. Happy Christmas,
Scarlet Lily
The lily petal would turn into a scarlet fish when Draco saw it. It was very powerful magic and I was immensely proud of myself. I had found the spell in one of the numerous books on the shelves in my room.
Suddenly, I heard the door slam open.
"Cissy! We're here!"
"Rodolphus! Bella! Oh, come in. Have you had a good Christmas so far?"
"Simply delightful," said the voice, speaker unknown still.
"Bellatrix. Rodolphus. A pleasure to see you," I heard Lucius say. I now knew who these
people were. The Lestranges. The people responsible for the Longbottom's insanity. They were dangerous. But worse than dangerous, they were insane.