𝐎𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 | | 𝕝𝕦𝕔𝕚𝕦𝕤 𝕞𝕒𝕝𝕗𝕠𝕪

𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐚 𝐂𝐥𝐮𝐛

You can keep your costume and you can keep your mask
I'ma take a bow so you can kiss my ass

Spring flew by quickly, and by the end of June they had left the cozy cottage to move back into Malfoy Manor. The end of the unplanned vacation came faster than Katherine wanted, but Lucius had emphasized his desire to see his family. She felt a little guilty, keeping him away this long, but he needed time to rest and recover. He looked better, not at the same level of health he was in when she first met him, but better than the feeble state he was in when he first escaped from Azkaban.

They found it easiest to travel by floo powder, and soon appeared in the flickering green flames of the fireplace at the estate. Katherine stepped out first, dusting off excess ash from her skirt before Lucius, who held Achilles on his leash, followed behind her. Narcissa and Draco, who were lounging on the luxe sofa in the living room, immediately rose to their feet to greet the pair. The Doberman padded out of the room, immediately beginning to sniff around the empty hallways. Draco looked worse for wear in Katherine's eyes, the poor boy appearing stressed and disheveled.

"Lucius, Katherine, welcome home." Narcissa smiled, embracing her husband first. His lips pressed gently against the top of his wife's head, Narcissa looking less-than relieved her husband was back. There was not one ounce of joy or love in her eyes. Katherine saw her whisper something to Lucius, a look of dread appearing on his face. Katherine went to greet an unusually quiet Draco, placing her hand on his shoulder comfortingly.
"Hi, Draco. How are you?" she asked softly.
The boy shifted himself away, a meek smile crossing his face. She felt bad for him, she truly did. The poor boy was born into this life of darkness and submission to a leader who had evil oozing out of every pore. 

"Katherine, dear, would you mind helping me move Lucius's bags upstairs?" Narcissa asked, appearing behind Katherine. Knowing that it must be something important (if it was just about bags they would have called Abernathy), she offered one last sympathetic look at the youngest Malfoy before following Narcissa to grab Lucius's and her own bags before heading up the winding staircase. 

"Is Draco alright? He seemed upset when I spoke to him earlier." Katherine asked once they reached the second floor. Narcissa stiffened as she pulled her into the master bedroom, setting Lucius's bag on the bed.
"Draco had to take the Dark Mark, dear. He just got back from school, you know. The whole time he was at Hogwarts, when he should be studying and being a teenage boy, he was assisting the Death Eater's siege of the school."

Katherine's eyes widened as she dropped her own bag on the floor in front of her.
"What happened? Why didn't Dumbledore help him, and the school for that matter?" Her heart felt as if it were sinking down into her stomach. All she could hope for was that her sister was well and alive and out of trouble. Narcissa glanced down at the floor before placing a hand against the small of Katherine's back. Something was wrong. 

"Dumbledore is dead, dear. Professor Snape killed him, it was supposed to be Draco but my son could not do it. The Dark Lord was punishing my son for my husband's failures. He-he wanted Draco to die."

Taking a long step back to sit on the bed behind her, Katherine made an attempt to hide her emotional response. She hadn't known Dumbledore well as the headmaster had so many students she had never formed any connection or academic relationship with him, but she still felt mournful upon hearing the news. Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard of the century, murdered at the hands of his most trusted friend. He had meant so much to so many eager and bright-eyed pupils, yet was hated by so many. Deep down she knew that the Malfoys were pleased with the news of his death as he had fought hard against them and Voldemort.  The only comfort she had was knowing that despite being surrounded by his inner circle of moralless cronies, she was secretly fighting for the winning side.