Double Dare

Finally it was Christmas. Draco and I were picked up at Kings Cross by some magical limo service. I couldn’t stop grinning. Draco rolled his eyes and pushed me playfully.

“Shut up”

I laughed; “you’re going to serve me on my every whim!”

He sighed; “at least the Christmas holidays are shorter than the summer holidays”

I nodded; “it sucks...But I’m going to make up for it”

“Oh please someone save me!”

I smirked and danced about in my seat. We got to the Malfoy Manor in about an hour. Lucius and Narcissa were stood at the front door to greet us. I jumped out of the limo and ran into their arms.

“Lenore! It’s wonderful to see you again!” Narcissa said smiling. I grinned back at them. Draco wandered over. Lucius rest his hand on his shoulder.

“Welcome home son”

Draco smiled meekly; “it’s be better if I wasn’t her slave”

They looked at us oddly.

“Care to explain?”

“At the beginning of the year, Draco challenged me to a bet, he lost and now he’s my slave until we go back to school”

Lucius smirked; “unlucky Draco”

“Tell me about it”

“Come on inside before we all get ill” Narcissa said ushering us inside. The Malfoy Manor was amazing beautiful and full of age-old furniture which, combined, was worth more than the house. We went through to the living room. We’d just sat down when a butler scurried in.

“May I get you anything?”

“Firewhiskey for me and good lady, children?” Lucius said.

“Can I have Firewhiskey too?” Draco asked. Lucius contemplated it.

“A small one”

The butler nodded and looked at me.

“Uh...Some Cocoa?”

“Of course”

He scurried off again.

“When are my parents arriving?” I asked.

“Everyone will be here in two days”

“Does that include Snape?” Draco asked. Lucius nodded.

“Indeed”

Draco sighed and looked around. The butler came back with the others’ drinks.

“Your drink will be here shortly”

I nodded and smiled. We all talked and caught up for a good half hour before Narcissa had Draco show me my room. Even though this was my second home and Id had the same room since I’d first stayed here age 3, we knew it really meant “sod off and let us talk”. Draco dived onto my bed.

“So...What’re we going to do all holidays?”

I shrugged; “well, there’s definitely more to do here than at school...We can go out shopping or...Whatever”

He nodded and rolled off my bed. I wandered round and sat in the window.

“How much are you going to stalk Snape?”

I laughed; “every moment he thinks he has alone, I’ll be there”

Draco laughed too; “poor him”

“He likes it!”

“Yeah, I guess...Do you think he’s going to unveil his plan any time this holiday?”

I shrugged; “I hope so, it’s annoying the hell out of me that he’s plotting something”

“Of course it’s annoying when you say he’s plotting! It sounds bad when you say that!”

I laughed; “well, it’s Snape! He never plans! He plots!”

Draco laughed and nodded; “true...True...”

“Anyway, get lost Blondie, I want to unpack”

Draco nodded and left. I put all my clothes in the wardrobe and drawers and piled my books next to my bed. I jumped down on my bed and stared up at the canopy above me. I thought about all the things I wanted Draco to do. I started penning my ideas down on a piece of paper, giggling as some extremely random ones came into my head. Just then there was a knock on my door.

“Come in!”

Narcissa came in. She smiled at me and sat on the edge of my bed.

“Lucius thought it would be best if I informed you about this Christmas’ events...”

“...Do you mean this being a Death Eater meeting?”

She nodded; “who told you?”

“Snape?”

“Why would he tell you?”

“I’m not sure...He just told me why he would be here”

“Well yes...And I know you’re not keen on the idea of becoming a Death Eater, but for the sake
of this going smoothly, will you please just go along with anything that happens?”

“As long as Voldermort doesn’t try to rope me into his group, I’ll be happy to”

She nodded; “I doubt he will, and I’ll make sure Lucius does all he can to ensure it doesn’t happen”

“Thank you”

She smiled and hugged me before leaving. I’d been alone for just over a minute when Draco burst into my room.

“Right I’m bored! What shall we do?”

I shrugged; “I’m hungry! When’s dinner?”

He looked at the clock; “should be in about an hour”

I groaned; “really? Can we go outside then? If I smell food I’m going to start killing people”

He laughed; “sure, c’mon”

We raced downstairs to the back yard, where there was almost a foot and a half of untouched snow. I tripped Draco up, sending him to the floor face first. I burst out laughing, almost falling to the floor myself. Draco got up and glared at me.

“You’re a bitch!”

I laughed and ran away from him. He chased me round the garden before it turned into a snowball fight. Eventually we both almost looked like snowmen. The butler came outside.

“Uh, dinner, is now served!”

We ran inside and dusted off the snow before joining everyone at the dinner table. We sat shivering throughout the meal.

“Why don’t you two go get changed and warm up before returning for desert?” Narcissa suggested. We nodded and went upstairs. I hung a set of clothes on the radiator whilst I had a quick warm soak in the bath. I was ready in fifteen minutes. I ran back downstairs. Draco was already there, still looking slightly cold. Desert hadn’t been served yet so I was fine.

“All better?” Narcissa asked. I nodded and took my seat.

After we’d eaten we went to the living room again to talk more.

“So what was this bet you lost?” Lucius asked.

“We kind of dared each other to seduce someone over the school year. I got annoyed with mine and told her to, well, go away? And kind of forfeit the bet...Hence, I lost” Draco sighed. They nodded.

“So, who were the victims?”

“I had to do Tempest Reed”

Lucius eyed him suspiciously; “the half-blood lunatic?”

“Lunatic isn’t the word! She belongs in a mental asylum!”

“And who did you have to seduce Lenore?” Narcissa asked. I looked uneasily at Draco. He shrugged.

“Uh...It doesn’t matter...I didn’t have to anyway. Draco got annoyed with Tempest before I could even plan to make a move on mine”

“But still, who was it?”

I saw Draco mouth; “lie”

“Uh...Dean Thomas”

“...The Gryffindor?”

“Yeah...He’s dating Ginny Weasley, my bet was more to see if I could break them up”

Lucius laughed; “you two are so devious”

We smirked at each other. We talked until late in the evening.

Two days later Draco and I were dressed in our finest. I was wearing long black and dark purple dress. We were stood in the ballroom, waiting for everyone to arrive. Crabbe and Goyle had already arrived, as had some of the Death Eaters. My parents were next to arrive. They hurried over to me and hugged me tightly.

“Lenore! We’ve missed you! How has your first semester been?”

I smiled; “it’s been great! Draco and I have had all sorts of fun”

They smiled even more and hugged me again. Eventually all but one had arrived. I stood next to Draco and Lucius.

“Where’s Snape?”

Lucius sighed and shook his head; “he said he’d be late”

Draco nodded and looked at me. I rolled my eyes and elbowed him. Just then Bellatrix came over.

“Sissy! How are we?” she asked hugging Narcissa. They talked before she looked down at me. She grinned.

“Lenore? My my, haven’t we grown”

I smiled meekly. She grabbed my face and lifted my chin.

“You’ve inherited your mother’s flawless looks, she would make a good wife for young Draco” she said to Lucius. Draco and I looked at each other, totally horrified. Lucius laughed graciously.

“She would”

He agreed with Bellatrix’s crazy notions with no intentions of carrying them out. Eventually Snape turned up. He marched straight over to the Malfoys.

“Apologies for my severe tardiness. Something, arose” he said before looking down at me. I smiled sweetly at him before looking away. Lucius nodded.

“It’s perfectly fine,” he looked to Narcissa; “shall we begin this?”

She smiled and took his arm. Snape came and stood next to me whilst Lucius announced the beginning of the holidays. Draco wandered off, leaving Snape and me alone.

“You look lovely”

I smiled; “this old thing? I throw it on when I’m feeling low”

He smiled; “you’re feeling low?”

“Not really...So...Why so late?”

“Business with the Order”

I nodded; “fair enough...”

We stood in each other’s company in silence until someone came to talk to Snape. I decided to go speak to my parents.

“Mum...Would you ever marry me off to Draco?”

She laughed; “of course not! I know he’s the brother you never had”

“Thank God! Bellatrix thinks we should get married”

My mum shook her head; “she just wants the blood-line to continue as pure as possible”

“...Don’t you?”

“Yes, but I know that if you fall in love you fall in love”

I smiled; “does dad know that?”

“Of course not! And you’d do well not to tell him!”

I laughed and nodded; “you’re secret’s safe with me!”

“So I saw you speaking with Snape, quite casually, are you two on familiar terms?”

I shrugged; “we’ve been getting on scarily well since the beginning of school...He thinks I have brilliant abilities in Potions”

“Oh wonderful! So he’s putting in extra effort with you?”

“I guess so...I’ve been assisting him with his first year class because I have a free period then, and, I’m helping him with his marking”

“Lazy git, can’t he do it himself?”

I laughed; “I’m sure he could, he just seems to be really busy this year”

“Well, as long as he’s keeping you busy”

I smirked and looked over to Snape. He was speaking with Crabbes parents. He left them and stood alone by the wall. I slipped away and went over to him.

“Having fun?”

He sighed; “not particularly. Social gatherings aren’t my thing”

“Really? And here I thought you were Mr Social”

He smirked; “of course you did, you naive thing”

“I’m not naive!”

“I know you’re not”

“So what’s this Christmas got in store for us?”

He shrugged; “I can’t say”

“Can’t say or won’t say?”

He smirked and rest his hand on my shoulder.

“Don’t be getting nosey”

I sighed and glared at him playfully.