Sequel: Anchor
Status: Complete! Check out, Anchor. It's the sequel to this story.

Love Gone Mad

TWENTY-EIGHT

"Oh, Adara, you've done a marvelous job." Narcissa Malfoy praised as she glided into the exquisitely decorated parlor in her home. The warm fragrance of spice scented candles reached Narcissa's senses and she gazed at the twinkling lights that peeped out from the towering Christmas tree in the right corner of the room.

Adara smiled bright and casually dusted her hands off on her pants, admiring the work she'd done as well.

The focal point of the lavishly decorated parlor in the Malfoy manor was a marble fireplace whose stone work reached to the top of the sixteen foot, vaulted ceilings. Adara had adorned the fireplace with frost tipped garland, red and gold ribbon, and two gold candlesticks at opposite sides of the mantel piece. A twelve foot Christmas tree presented itself on the opposite side of the room of the fireplace. Red bulb ornaments nestled themselves in a perfect arrangement along the pine branches. Glittering gold ribbon draped itself in a swirl around the tree and ended in a bow at the top. All across the room were Christmas themed knickknacks, twinkling lights mixed with forest green garland wrapped around the staircases railings and banisters, and red velvet curtains cascading to the ground from each glass window that encircled the walls of the living space.

"And you did this all by hand, no magic?" Narcissa asked as she walked across the mahogany wood flooring toward the Christmas tree whose lights winked from behind the pine branches.

"No magic," Adara replied while resting in one of the ivory plush sofa behind her; a pleased grin shining upon her rosy cheeks.

Adara rung a small silver bell that rested on the dark wooded coffee table in front of her and a long-limb, bug-eyed house elf appeared in front of Adara in an instant. She instructed the gangling creature to bring her a mug of hot chocolate and the elf vanished as quickly as it had arrived.

"Your work is very impressive," Narcissa complimented, averting her eyes from the charming décor and striding over to the coat rack at the end of the staircase. Grabbing a richly colored jade waist coat, Narcissa pushed her arms through its sleeves and buttoned the coat over her sleek black dress.

Lucius and Draco Malfoy entered the parlor and gave Adara the same praise her aunt Narcissa had bestowed upon her.

"Don't get too lonely, cousin," Draco uttered; a smirk slithering across his cheek, while slipping a small black box into Adara's hands.

"I'll try," Adara responded while briefing looking down at the present in her hands, then rose from her seat. Adara hugged her warmly dressed cousin, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before he departed with his parents.

"We're so sorry to have to leave you alone on Christmas Eve, Adara," Lucius Malfoy addressed, while his wife adjusted the tie underneath his blazer. "But when the Dark Lord calls, one cannot delay."

"I understand," Adara breathed while becoming highly interested with the hem of her sweater.

Draco watched Adara with sad eyes, wishing he could stay and keep her company. A war was brewing and he and his parents had been summoned to help the Dark Lord on many occasions recently. The one day the Death Eaters didn't gather together at the Malfoy's home just happened to be on Christmas Eve.

After watching her family apparate, Adara sighed and nestled back into her seat on the couch, the house elf she'd given orders to her reappeared with a steamy mug of hot chocolate, toped with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles. She ushered the elf away and invited the warmth of the beverage into her lips.

Remembering Draco's gift, Adara placed her mug down on the coffee table in front of her. She slowly pulled off the silver ribbon which laced itself around the box and opened its lid to reveal what was hiding inside. Adara's eyes twinkled in amusement as they landed upon a small note resting inside the box. She quickly opened it; curiously filling her mind and she read:

Go downstairs. Third door on the left.

Adara giggled with delight and raced out of the parlor and towards the staircase leading to the basement of the manor. She stepped in front of the third door on the left side of the hallway, just as Draco had instructed. Adara clenched her eyes tight and twisted the cold door handle to an open. She opened one eye before the other, growing nervous of what she might find inside the room. Her sapphire eyes shown bright as they continued to grow wide out of shock when she took in her surroundings.

The setting before her resembled that of a potions lab. A wooden island in the center of the room held a resting place for several cauldrons and rows of empty potion vials. Along the wall on the right side of the room were shelves holding potion books which varied from subjects of basic potions making to advanced. Occupying the entire back wall of the room was cabinets; cabinets Adara found to be full of ingredients she would need to concoct any potion of her liking.

After Adara made one trek around the room, her eyes caught side of a small box sitting on the edge of the counter in the middle of the room. It was a twin of the black box Draco had first given to her, its only difference was that his box was red and laced with green ribbon. She eagerly opened the box and was gifted with another note. Her eyes began to tear up as they soaked in the words on the page.

Merry Christmas!

This lab is something I've been working on for you for months; with the help of mother and father. I figured it would be nice for you to have a place to start right after you graduate Hogwarts this year. And what a better place to start then at home? You're a very talented young women and I know you will go far in this world. I feel so grateful to have you as family.

Have a happy Christmas,

Draco

P.S. I've arranged for some visitors to keep you company tonight. Please, be nice.


Adara's throat tightened as she read the last line of the note. She wondered who Draco could have invited and frankly, she wasn't sure if she wanted to find out. Letting out a shrug, Adara walked back up the stairs and into the kitchen. She informed the elves, who were hard at work cleaning the kitchen floor, that she would be having guests; mentioning that she didn't know how many, but a meal was to be severed. The cowering creatures nodded and hobbled up to their feet and began to start on tonight's dinner.

Adara strode back into the parlor and her eyes met her reflection in the mirror handing against the left corner of the wall. Her hair was in its usual style loosely curled and cascading past her shoulders; it grew an inch or two within the past year. Her warm completion was glowing in the low light. Now at the age of 18, Adara was taking on the features of a more sophisticated young woman.

Pleased with her appearance, Adara pulled her wand out of her pocket and muttered a performed a spell that bewitched the air to fill with soft music. She retrieved her lonely mug of hot chocolate from the coffee table next to her and sat in front of the fire, letting the heat from the flames warm her body while sipping her beverage slowly.

"Miss," A small house elf chirped, as it scurried into the room, avoiding eye contact with her. "Your guests have arrived."

Adara simply nodded and rose to her feet; taking in a deep breath she strode into the foyer to greet her secret guests.

"Deveny! Rachelle!" Adara squealed at the sight of her two best friends, who were shaking the snow off the shoes and coats, which were soon handed to a twitching house elf, which entered the room only moments before.

"Merry Christmas eve," Deveny greeted Adara in a tight hug. "I brought Christmas cookies."

"And I brought presents," Rachelle chimed in; throwing her arms around Adara and hugging her tightly.

"I'm so happy you two are here!" Adara expressed while leading the way into the grand dining hall.

"Once Draco owled us saying that you'd be here in this big house alone on Christmas eve, we couldn't refuse the offer to visit." Rachelle replied; taking a seat at the long glass dining room table.

"Plus, it's hard to pass up a chance to visit this mansion," Deveny gawked; gazing at the ethereal stone architecture furbishing the hall.

The three girls chatted endlessly throughout the three course dinner. Stopping every so often to take a bite of the delicious food filling the plates before them.

"I must admit," Adara announced after taking a sip of her warm apple cider, "I thought Draco invited George here tonight." She ended her sentence with a short awkward laugh; denying her desire for her friends' response to be, "He is."

The room grew silent. Adara traced her finger along the rim her goblet slowly and looked over at Deveny and Rachelle, who were exchanging glances.

"Draco did invite George," Deveny confided, shifting her gaze over to Adara.

"But he declined the offer," Rachelle added in; half frowning.

"I wouldn't have expected him to accept," Adara uttered; suppressing the sadness that was attempting to ease itself into her mind.

"I assure you Adara, George's decline wasn't out of bitterness," Rachelle continued, Adara scanned her hazel eyes and found that Rachelle's statement held to be true.

"Let's continue this conversation somewhere a bit warmer," Adara spoke; wanting to stop talking about George Weasley. She arose from the table, exited the double doors of the dining hall, and strode into the parlor.

"Are you two sure you want to stay the night?" Adara asked as she sat down in one of the ivory armchairs that matched the rest of the seating in the room. "I'd hate to keep you from Christmas with your families in the morning."

"Oh, don't talk like that," Deveny replied, taking a sip from the steamy mug in her hands.

“Yeah, we are happy to be here,” Rachelle chimed in with a wink, “Now who’s up for a game of Exploding Snap.”

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“Christmas!” Deveny squealed as she vaulted out of bed, ran down the hall, and snuck into Adara’s dark bedroom. Once inside, Deveny jumped on top of Adara’s sleeping body.

“Hello,” Adara said sleepily as her blurred vision met Deveny’s face, which was an inch from hers.

“It’s Christmas!” Deveny yelled loudly into Adara’s ear then jumped off of the bed and repeated the same procedure to Rachelle who was sound asleep in the room to the left of Adara‘s.

The three girls sprinted down the stairs and into the parlor, they giggled with excitement at the sight of the presents that had magically appeared under the tree, more like, were placed there by the girls last night.

Adara, Rachelle, and Deveny spent the morning delighting themselves in the gifts they’d received from one another and their families.

“I love Christmas,” Rachelle sighed, as she wrapped a white knit scarf, given to her by Adara, around her neck.

“I second that,” Adara beamed as she sat on the floor, cross legged, enjoying three Licorice wands, given to her by Deveny.

A faint pecking sound was heard from the window to their left; all three girls turned their heads and saw a shivering chocolate brown owl staring back at the front outside. Adara exchanged a questioning glance with her two friends and curiously headed to open the window for the owl. It happily flew inside, ruffling its feathers; letting clumps of snow fall onto the floor. She stroked the owl’s chilled feathers and detached a package that was tied to the bird’s leg.

“What is it?” Rachelle asked, studying the timid look that formed on Adara’s face.

A small label was tied to a ribbon that wrapped itself around the long box, Adara flipped open the tag and her eyes fell upon her name.

Her name scripted in a way she hadn’t seen it written in over a year.

Sloppy. And in black ink.
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:o