Wake Me up When My Story Ends

Alexa wanted to curl up and hide in one of her parents’ suitcases so they could take her with them. Instead, they were standing by the door saying their farewells to everyone, including Alexa.

“Now Alexa,” Lyssandra’s voice was fainter now that her lips were nearly touching her daughter’s ear. Alexa was so close to her mother right now and even though affection wasn’t her mother’s intention, Alexa longed to reach her arms around her and embrace her like she used to as a child. Instead, Lyssandra’s low voice reconstituted what she had told Alexa earlier, “The Malfoys are being very gracious by agreeing to host you for the rest of Christmas break. Even though your father and I will be gone on his urgent business, I expect you to behave. You are representing us.”

Alexa glumly nodded, not bothering to hide her distaste. Staying with the Malfoys for one night had been rough; a whole week was going to be hell. Her mother pulled away while smacking her lips together, and returned her husband’s side.

“Thanks again for accommodating Alexa,” her father shook Lucius’s hand and his eyes gleamed with pride as he continued, drawling his voice out in a referential manner, “Duty calls.”

Alexa narrowed her eyes accusingly at Lucius who had a similar twinkle in his eye. Here they were, speaking about the You-Know-Who’s shady business right in front of her as if she didn’t know…

“We’ll see you in the summer Alexa,” her father rigidly nodded at Alexa while picking up their luggage. He took Lyssandra’s hand and sent Alexa a stiff smile. She respectfully smiled back, her lips tightly pressed against each other. After a loud crack, her parents had vanished.

The minute, yet painfully awkward silence that followed reminded Alexa of how uncomfortable this week would prove to be. Being a Gryffindor in the Yaxley family was bad enough but in the Malfoy family it was bound to be worse.

“Well…” Narcissa trailed off, gradually turning on her heels to face the three others in the room, “It’s a shame that they had to miss a Malfoy Christmas dinner but it’s still waiting for us in the dining hall.”

Draco led the way to the dining table, Alexa keeping six feet of safe distance between them as she followed. The table had already been rearranged for four and Alexa awkwardly seated herself next to Draco and Narcissa, leaving Lucius to unnervingly stare at her from across the spacious table.

A Malfoy Christmas dinner apparently constituted of much more food than was necessary. Each pale individual at the table was clearly too slender to eat this much. Either they expected Alexa to gorge herself or they enjoyed throwing food away.

“Cabernet Sauvignon?” Lucius offered, holding a lavish wine bottle. The lengthy name daunted Alexa at first, but after a few seconds, the familiar name struck. Alexa hastily glimpsed at Draco and Narcissa’s full glasses, realizing they had already accepted the red wine.

“Yes please,” Alexa nodded, holding her wine glass up for Lucius to pour in. Hot blood rose to her cheeks when Lucius took the glass from her trembling hand, pouring it himself. He handed it back to Alexa, giving her a thin, falsely reassuring smile.

Alexa politely sipped the wine from the ornate glass, immediately savoring the rich berry flavors and admiring its lingering finish. She was accustomed to wine, it was the foundation of her deep red blood, but she didn’t rarely drank Cabernet Sauvignon. She knew enough about it to know that it was considered the king of red wines and understandably a Malfoy’s drinking choice. Her father would have enjoyed this drink.

Bitterly remembering her parents who had abandoned her here for Voldemort’s chores, she zealously gulped down the rest of the glass, setting it back down on the table next to her food. All of the Malfoys had their judgmental eyes focused on Alexa’s cup, flushing her face further.

The corner of Draco’s mouth curled up, an irrepressible smirk taking over. Draco looked down on his plate to hide his face while continuing to cut through the pork loin, suppressing a chuckle at the overwhelmed Yaxley.

Everyone continued their meal in silence, discernibly noticing how Lucius chose not to pour Alexa another glass.

Nearing desert with full bellies, the silence started to become too much for Narcissa who attempted to start conversation, “How’s school Draco?”

Draco swiftly crushed her endeavor, “Good.”

Narcissa softly smiled at Draco, affectionately staring at him as he chomped on his foie gras. While Alexa wasn’t a big fan of duck liver, she courteously swallowed it down.

A small, wry smile played on Lucius’s lips as he continued the conversation, “How’s Gryffindor Alexa?”

Pausing momentarily, Alexa hurriedly finished chewing her mouthful of food and set her fork down, briefly assessing how she should respond, “… It’s going well.”

Lucius’s eyes cynically narrowed, amusedly watching Alexa squirm, “Do you have a lot of friends in your house?”

Alexa tensed, furtively biting down on her lower lip to resist retorting. She wanted to counter by proclaiming her close friendship with the muggle-born Hermione Granger and her companionship with the blood-traitor Ginny Weasley. Even naming her acquaintance Harry Potter just to spite him would be pleasurable, but she wisely decided against it. Stirring trouble now would only make the following week more unpleasant, not to mention what her parents would do to her once they would find out.

“Yes,” Alexa stiffly nodded, wholeheartedly wishing to snatch the tall wine bottle next to Lucius’s plate and guzzle it.

Draco sat back in his chair, openly entertained by the exchange in front of him. Narcissa flashed a warning glance to Lucius that he blatantly disregarded.

“You must enjoy it there… with people like you,” Lucius sardonically said, toying with Alexa. He examined Alexa’s resilient expression, waiting for her to crack.

Alexa had a metallic taste in her mouth from biting her tongue too hard. Having her parents deride her actually meant something but she couldn’t care less for a Malfoy’s opinion. Controlling her temper was proving to be difficult but she tried submitting herself to indifference.

Before she could respond, Narcissa interrupted them, waving her wand widely over the table as a traditional Christmas pudding appeared before them, “Draco, I made your favorite pudding!”