Cecily was sitting on a dark green chair, the highest part was as gold as the features of the cup that she was holding in her hands. Looking out of the window she sipped her tea, bitter as her life. The room smelled like old books, the rain that was falling was making a relaxing sound and she was almost certain that in a matter of minutes she would fall asleep, until she heard the sound of a cane approaching

She adjusted herself on the chair and closed loudly her book about potions, swallowing her fear she looked over her left shoulder...

"good morning Miss Beaumont, how do you find yourself here in the Manor? I hope that everything is of your liking, we don't want any complaints. But I'm quite sure that we don't need to worry about that"

Lucius Malfoy was standing near the door, his hair was in a low ponytail and he was wearing a dark grey robe. " Good Morning Mr Malfoy, please suit yourself.." she replied pointing to the couch in front of her

"You shouldn't say that... as if I'm your guest in my house" he snorted while he was moving to the black couch.

"I'm so sorry Sir ... please accept my apology" she said shily, moving a stand of hair behind her ear. Her tone was the sweetest possible, she knew that Lucius was a difficult man to satisfy and to understand. The last thing that she wanted was to make a wrong move.

"Of course Miss Beaumont or should I call you Cecily? I came to know thanks to my loving wife that sooner you'll be a Malfoy. Us Malfoy are loyal to each other and very supportive, My dear Draco clearly knows that... Sorry... we will talk about that near the engagement" Lucius looked around the room with his blue eyes, his hand was on his right knee and the Malfoy ring blinked every often.

He was so hard to read, not like the young girl, she was an open book to everyone while he perfectly incarnated the Slytherin man

"You may call me has you prefer " she said, a small smile appeared on her lips.

Lucius arched an eyebrow and smirked " My dear son will come tomorrow, I hope that you will make him feel at home and that you will accompany him to our Manor in Paris. Narcissa is already there but she will join us during dinner. Sadly I will not be there until next week. Work is hard but someone needs to do it , by the way I'm proposing a new project to the ministry and your father will partecipe " he finished with a proud tone. Lucius harshly pronounced the word father , how he was right

Cecily tried to contain a laugh, the voices that said that he was a pompous and vain man were right. However he did not sound as an evil man and she was a bit glad that he was not rude, it was kind of making her feel safe ... well maybe safe was not the right word

"Oh, of course! It would be a pleasure, thank you Mr Malfoy for telling me "

Lucius nodded and stood up, Cecily did the same " I'll see you at dinner Cecily, now I have something really important to do. Do you need anything from Diagon Alley?" he asked and looked at her face for an answer

"No Sir... I will see you at dinner" she said while extending a hand

Lucius was perplexed but after a second he grabbed it and kissed her hand. Cecily opened her eyes in shock , she thought that he would shake it

"Certainly, welcome to the family"

Cecily sat down and closing briefly her eyes, she assimilated what he said, family.

The sun was setting down and the tea now cold was almost finished, Cecily was woken up by a small and delicate hand shaking her shoulder. A small sound escaped her lips while reluctantly she opened her eyes

"Miss Beaumont dinner are ready, please going to the dinner room. Mr and Mrs Malfoy and young Mr Malfoy is already there" a pitched voice said

On her right she found Stinky the house-elf, she had large purple  eyes and she was Draco's personal house-elf. Stinky was wearing a dirty pillowcase, on her arm it was evident the Malfoy family crest

"Please say that I'll arrive in a few minutes... " Cecily couldn't finish the phrase that Stinky disappeared

"Stinky!" she said in an rude and annoyed tone

"Miss called me?" the house-elf bowed in respect, her large ears almost seemed of  a normal size

"Did you  said that Draco is here? "

Stinky nodded happily " Young Mr Draco have arrived early because he argued with Mr Zabini's son, Blaze"

Cecily replied with the sweetest tone possible, feeling sorry for the house-elf "Well, Draco is known for arguing with people. I'm not surprised that Blaise kicked him out of his Manor"

Stinky laughed but then she covered her mouth " I'm so so sorry... I shouldn't have laughed at that ..." Stinky fell to her knees and started banging her head on the chair

"Stinky ! Stop it right now!"

"No Miss, Stinky needs to punish herself" she answered continuing

"Stop or I will call Draco" she warned the house-elf , clapping her hand on her leg

"Why would you need to call me?" a voice said from behind her

Her eyes widened and she sweared that she never turned her head so fast. Draco Malfoy was standing in his perfection. His expression was a mix of annoyed and surprised ... maybe he was surprised by her presence

"Stinky wouldn't stop what she called "Punishing herself" she answered in a low tone , almost scared of doing it

"Go to the kitchen now" he said to the house-elf, who nodded and disappeared with a snap of hands

"Good Evening Beaumont. Dinner is ready and my father will not by pleased of eating it cold. Follow me" he said while watching her from top to bottom

"Hello to Malfoy" she said in a snarky voice "I came to know that Zabini kicked you out"

Draco snorted , his pink lips tightened in a thin line " And I came to know that your father kicked you out"

"Touchè" she smirked

Draco waved his head to make her understand that they needed to go. The hallway was dark, its walls were decorated with ancestral paintings. All women had blonde hair, except a few : Rosalie and Delphine. They smiled at her while she was following Malfoy. The men looked a lot like Lucius, some were older and some had shorter hair but the resemblance was evident

they all were whispering

is she  going to be his wife ...they look so cute together... look at her hair it is so perfect ... oh, their children would be so beautiful ... I hope that she is a pureblood ...

Abraxas replied so loudly that she and Draco stopped moving " Obviously she's a pureblood my dear Lucius would not permit it"

"Hello Nephew , it has been a while since you visited me " the painting said. Abraxas was the exact copy of his son, long blond hair and blue eyes, same smirk, same eyebrows, the only difference was a mole on his cheek

"I've been busy" he replied, putting his hand in his pocket.

"Who is this lovely girl?"

Draco turned around and looked right in her eyes "Just a friend"

"mh,mh, just a friend. Did you hear that Abraxas?" a feminine voice near the end of the corridor said "It doesn't looks like that but who we are to judge" All the painting laughed ,making Cecily blush. 

"We're late for dinner... this isn't finished" Draco said in a harsh tone. He grabbed her arm and dragged her away

"Stupid paintings. My father will hear about this" he muttered under his breath

"Draco you're hurting me "

"Sorry, I'm not thinking straight. Later I will put cast a spell so they will shut up for a few days" Draco said after freeing her arm. "Did I hurt you?"

"No , don't worry. You just have a very strong grip"

he smirked . licking his lips he looked briefly at her while they arrived to the dinner room. Obviously it was dark as the rest of the Manor, dark brown chair and table. The walls were grey and on the table there were dark and white flowers. She was  grateful  for that small evidence of color.

" Mr and Mrs Malfoy , I'm sorry for my delay" she apologized and sat down, Draco did the same.

"Don't worry darling, sometimes it happens" Narcissa said with a cheeky smile.

Narcissa Malfoy was a beautiful woman. And Cecily saw her as a sort of protector. Her long blonde hair was styled in waves and she was wearing a dark blue dress, it was part of Leonor Greengass newest collection . Cecily's dress was nothing compared to it

"Was Draco a good guide?" Asked Lucius after some minutes.

"Sure, but at least he could have chosen another hallway"

Lucius laughed " Oh , I see. Did he made you pass through the hallway with our family paintings? He should know that they're always searching for news"

Cecily nodded while biting her pumpkin pie "He did"

"Well I'm sure that he did it on purpose , after all he's a Slytherin" Lucius chewed his last piece of pie

"As we all are " Narcissa replied softly and touched his arm

"Mother, Father not now please" Draco's expression showed his disgust of seeing his parent act in such a way.
Cecily nudged him in the ribs, causing him to shut up. Malfoy groaned and leaned closer to her, he whispered in her ear :

"I will make you pay later for that"

Cecily rolled her eyes, he was ridiculous "Yeah sure"

"Dinner was lovely, have a wonderful night and ... uhm , Draco show Cecily her room" Narcissa and Lucius walked out arm in arm

"Beaumont wait a few minutes"

Cecily nodded clearly surprised, she waited for him to continue talking. During that year thanks to their project they got on very well but they couldn't say that they were friends. It was fun to work with him, he was a brilliant guy and when he wanted he could be fun.He was just misunderstood, well ... he always made fun of Potter and his friends but he didn't hate them. It was a rule, Gryffindor and Slytherin could not be friends

" I-"

"you?"

"nothing" he replied looking down.

The silence took over the room, except for the raindrops that fell on the window and the wind. It almost felt like it wasn't event summer.

"Draco, you can talk with me" she said trying to find his glaze

"I saw you and your father in St.Mungo. I was there with Nott and we saw you. Does he use the cruciatus curse on you?"

Cecily swallowed and shook her head "No , of course not"

"You've to tell me please, it's killing me from inside ... I-... I'm sorry" he said in a shaking voice "Is there something that I can do?"

The girl wet her bottom lip and watched him with glittering eye "Why would I even tell you? We're not even friends" she lied

Draco nodded "You're right. I don't even care"

She felt as if her heart broke after hearing him saying it.

She was a failure.

"Come, I will show you your room" he said. His silver eyes were looking directly at hers... she could get lost in them "Take my hand, I'll apparate us there. Tomorrow morning I will show you how you can arrive there by walking"

A knot appeared in her stomach and a feeling of pulling carried her away

"Here we are"

Draco  was still holding her hand, "Cecily"

"Draco?" she asked not understanding what was wrong

"I know about the deal" and with that he disappeared, apparating away

The first thing that came to her mind was that magic was illegal outside Hogwarts , the second was that he knew that they'll marry.

Not now. I will not cry she thought

She took off her shoes, and walked to the bathroom , taking out her wand she made the make-up disappear and then she scourgified her mouth.

Strangely the bathroom wasn't dark, it was grey and white with a giant tub in the middle of the room and a marble sink. she took one last look at the bathroom and then went back to her room

Her trunk was near the end of the bed, she crouched down and grabbed her diary and her pajamas. She stroked the cover and then she opened it, the quill was between the pages

Dear D.M

thank you for just existing. I would not be here without you. My heart is literally bleeding. My family is falling apart, my friends aren't around anymore and I don't know what to do . Even if you don't love me , just know that for me is enough that you know that I'm alive. Today was one of the hardest day of my life, I packed my bags and put all my clothes inside, thanks to the help of my mother who casted a spell to make the capacity of them infinite. By closing them I put an end to my life and started a new chapter. I can only hope that it will be better then the old one. Forevers yours . soon your C.M

Cecily closed loudly her diary with tears streaming down her face