China Doll

Part 59

Draco POV:
As soon as I stepped out of the fireplace, I knew I was in trouble. There wasn't a crowd of parents and a handful of servants like yesterday. Just our fathers. Both looking dark and cruel. I didn't know where Astoria's mother was, nor did I really care. That woman was as useful as a broken wand. No, I was much more concerned with Mother's absence. The only person who could really talk sense into Father was missing.

I heard the fire roar behind me, but I stayed firmly in place. A feeble sort of protection. I couldn't really do anything. I knew it, Father knew it. I'm not sure if Astoria knew it. She tapped my tense shoulders lightly, as though asking me to move. I didn't budge until a muffled sneeze sounded.

Reluctantly, I moved aside, eyeing the older men carefully. Neither moved much. Mr. Greengrass's eyes shifted to his daughter, a sneer curling across his face. I stifled the urge to step in front of her again. They would see her as a weakness. Possibly, probably, one they would try to exploit.

My brain knew that technically she didn't need protecting. She was fierce in her own right. But without her magic, without any strong incentive of anger, I wasn't sure exactly what she could do. And that scared me. More than I ever wanted to admit. That, and the fact that she shouldn't have to protect herself. She wasn't supposed to defend herself from her own Father, from anyone.

It had enraged me more than I thought it would when I'd heard about the girls cornering her in the bathroom. I thought boys were bad when they were jealous, but no. Somehow these girls sounded a hundred times worse than any fistfight I'd ever had. If possible, I wanted to get her some sort of bodyguard. Or she could stick with me whenever possible, though it's likely she'd find it stifling.

"How disappointing." The words were so heavily unenciated, for a second I thought Professor Snape was in the room. Father's eyes looked almost black as he shifted a little closer. "For some reason, I thought you better than this Draco. Perhaps I was hoping that with guests here you'd be a bit more... behaved. Clearly, I was wrong."

My grin was smooth and languid, my posture liquifying considerably. "And you just hate to be wrong, don't you." All the warning I got was an audible cracking sound before my head was whipped to the side. The skin tingled in a long line down my face where Father's magic had struck. It'd been a while since I had pushed him to blows, he must be in an especially foul mood.

To Astoria's credit, she didn't gasp, and I didn't dare look to see what her reaction was. Instead I tipped my head back, letting my hair fall up and out of my eyes. "I will not be spoken to like that." Father was seething. "Especially not by a mere boy!" He sneered the last words, his hair impeccable, and posture relaxed. There was no way for me to beat him without my wand. We both knew that.

My laugh was as dark and hollow as Astoria's was that night when we learned she'd be coming to the manor. It was the laugh of the beaten, the broken. The laugh of someone who'd been pushed past the limits of despair until there wasn't anything to do but laugh. "Well, at least now I know I can burn your present." The words were bitter on my tongue. We'd gone shopping partially for them. Because of them. Because we needed an escape from our lives. I hadn't had the chance to meet Mr. Weasley today, but my guess was that he was nothing like this.

Mr. Greengrasses eyes gleamed greedily at the mention of gifts. He studied the bag Astoria held with blatant interest. I couldn't help the curl forming on the edge of my lip as I looked at him in disgust. This was who our father's were. One obsessed with power and respect, the other obsessed with money and gain. It was a testament to Mother that I was even half well raised. I don't even know how Astoria was as amazing as she was with the parents she had.

"Your present is likely as useful as you. Please, burn it." Father stood still as the Greengrass man drew closer to Astoria. Like a vulture impatient for the kill.