Invisible String - Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Fourty-Two: The House of Gaunt

Heavy boots hit the ground of the manor house, echoing through the marble estate. Once a grand manor that had been filled with expensive treasures, the house was oddly sparse, surfaces stripped to the bones, only certain rooms still holding furnishings of any kind. Cobwebs could be found across the remaining surfaces, and a single House Elf sat in the entry way, scrubbing a deep red stain on the white marble floor.

The walls had family portraits, each occupant staring with haughty expressions at the man as he entered the home. Their eyes followed him up the hallway, disgruntled whispers buzzing behind him like a swarm of angry bees.

Tall, with white blonde hair and grey eyes, Percival Malfoy strode into the room, long black cloak flowing dramatically behind him, giving the impression of an overgrown bat. His eyes were trained on the young man sat at the head of the table in the grand hall.

Marvolo Gaunt sat at the end of that large table, his face drawn in tight frustration as a dark haired youth sat to his left, pointing at different pieces of parchment, a collection of photographs, press clippings from the Daily Prophet, and a handful of letters.

Marvolo looked up as the heavy echoing boots came to a stop at the other end of the long table. A smile split across his face.

"Ah, Percival, it is good to see you," he said with a laugh. "How is your task going?"

"If I have to listen to one more brat complain about homework, I'll Avada them," Malfoy grumbled, his voice low and angry. His own expression of haughty righteousness evident on his face. "I do not understand why I could not simply Imperius the woman. It is humiliating having to the name of Malfoy to be her."

"You grow frustrated," Marvolo said, head tilted to the side. "Father will not be pleased."

"I signed up to overthrow the Ministry! Not to coax two idiotic teenagers into the Dark Arts."

"You do understand that without those teenagers, the plan cannot succeed."

Percival laughed bitterly, his grey eyes flashing. The blonde hair, so striking through the whole of the Malfoy line, seemed to glow as sunlight streamed in on him through the windows. "I don't see what Abigail Crane and Sebastian Sallow bring to this that my own son cannot accomplish."

Marvolo narrowed his eyes, taking in the sight of the man at the end of the table. The man, no older than seventeen, seated to Marvolo's left kept his own head down, refusing to look either party in the eye and pointedly attempting to stay out of the conversation.

"Does Ignotis know the location of the Repository and possess the ability to wield such powerful magic? I was under the impression your son excelled only on the Quidditch pitch."

The sarcasm dripped heavily from Marvolo's lips, the emphasis on the last few words of his sentence heavy.

Percival paled and glared in a way only the Malfoy family could. Cold, piercing, and full of malice. Lashing back, he said with distinct venom in his voice, "I was under the impression that the Gaunt family had more money than they knew what to do with it all. But it appears I was mistaken if your manor has fallen into this state, boy."

"Watch your tone, Mister Malfoy," Thorfinn Gaunt's powerful voice echoed from the basement stairwell. Malfoy gulped, turning his head to look the man in they eye as he climbed the stairs.

Thorfinn Gaunt was tall and slender, like his youngest son. His hair was the same shade of dirty blonde, his eyes a brilliant shade of green, though that was hard to see with how his eyes narrowed in on the Malfoy in his home. He approached slowly, spinning a gold ring with a black stone on his finger as he did so. Malfoy watched it curiously, a faint flicker of fear flashing through his pale face.