beautiful - harry potter

prologue

A small girl, around the age of 6, nervously gripped the hand of her mother and hid behind her mother's dress. She glanced around the vast ballroom and looked down at the marbleized floor with such interest, as she watched the gold swirl around underneath the surface of the floor.

She looked up suddenly at the sound of a woman's black heels clacking against the floor and there were two unfamiliar people, a tall black-haired woman who was quite beautiful and a platinum blonde boy around the same age as her.

Unlike her, the boy was not allowed to hold his mother's hand in front of people, mainly because his family believed it showed weakness. He tried his best but it was apparent that he too was scared.

The young brunette girl tilted her head upwards to see her mother, who was smiling politely at the other woman in the room. "Thalia, this is going to be your new friend," her mother said.

The girl glanced at the blue-eyed boy, her dark eyebrows raised. The platinum blonde, despite his fear, managed to form a small smirk, that would one day be known as the Malfoy signature smirk.

"Draco Malfoy."

The two children looked at each other intently, sizing each other up. Neither of them dared to bat an eye or look away, but neither smiled either. "Draco, dear, why don't you bring Thalia to your room? You can show her the things you got for your birthday?" the woman nearby Draco offered.

"Alright," the small boy agreed slowly. He'd only said one word but his accent was thick and his tone was posh, being raised by the same sort that the girl had been raised by. "Come on, then."

Thalia questionably looked up, to her mother, who nodded assuringly. The young girl let go of her mother's hand, although she was trembling, and followed the platinum blonde boy.

Draco was surprisingly fast and somewhat eager as he climbed up the stairs, only tripping on a step every now and then. He used his hands and pushed them on the steps to give him some kind of leverage, whereas Thalia held onto the banister instead.

Draco reached the top of the stairs and found himself waiting for the brunette to catch up to him. When she finally reached the top, Draco grabbed her hand hurriedly and dragged her along until they reached his room.

"M'surprised my mum hasn't scared you off yet," Draco commented as they ventured into his large room. There were toys littering the floor and his bed was undone, the bedsheets thrown everywhere. "Sorry, I haven't cleaned it. Mum told me to but I didn't think that anyone would actually stay long enough to see it."

"And why is that?" Thalia asked. She sat on the edge of Draco's bed and folded her hands in her lap properly while Draco just stared at her with a disgusted face.

"Everyone's scared of these kinds of families. The rich pureblood Slytherins. But I suppose since you're a Forthing, they must be scared of you too," the blonde guessed. "You don't have to sit like that, we're not in public. You can sit like a normal human being."

Draco began making his bed but just moved around the part where Thalia was sitting because he didn't want to intrude. He hopped onto his bed easily, which he hoped would impress his new friend because the bed was on a high platform. 

Draco casually laid on his bed and tugged on Thalia's arm, pulling her down with him. "Are you six?" Draco asked.

"Yeah," Thalia responded shortly. Anyone who was from the muggle world viewing their conversations would think they were insane, because they were only six and talking like sophisticated human beings.

"I'm six too," Draco added, "so when we go to school, we'll be in the same year. What's your favorite food?"

"Pickles."

Draco frowned and his bright blue eyes pierced Thalia's green ones, staring intently into them. Thalia was about to defend herself but Draco's lips formed a happy smile and he made a small nod of approval.

"Perfect."