His Final Riddle

29. A messy Nott of chaos

As soon as my father leaves the Ministry Draco quickly walks away from me, he heads straight towards his mother and father who are stood embracing tightly, the three of them seem to have a silent conversation as they nod and walk to the closest fireplace disappearing from sight.

I turn to Theo who is staring at his wand in his hand.

"Hey" I catch his attention and gesture with my head to Pansy who is walking towards us "we are going to head to the Manor. Are you going to stay to say hi to your dad?"

Theo shakes his head his mouth in a straight line "no. Not yet, I need to work up the energy."

I don't ask any follow up questions as I can see the closed expression on his face. Instead I merely nod my head as the three of us walk to the fireplace together.

We land back in the Malfoy's fireplace and step out looking around.

"What happened?" Blaise walks into the room and looks at the three of us "the Malfoy's just arrived home and walked straight to Lucius' study. Lucius is back and didn't even seem to notice myself and Xavier."

I shrug "my father announced that he had released all death eaters from Azkaban. Plus Snape is the new headmaster of Hogwarts."

We walk together to the drawing room with Theo and Pansy walking behind.

"Seriously?" Blaise laughs "Snape is headmaster?"

"Everything's going to be different this year." I say as we enter the drawing room. Dark expensive panelling lines the four walls and the carpet is a dark shade of grey with intricate patterns on it. Lush furniture is placed around the room. Portraits of Malfoy family members hang from the walls and the people inside stand watching us as we walk to the two large sofas.

I sit down and Theo sits beside me stretching out his legs in front of me. Blaise sits in the small loveseat besides Xavier and rests his head on his boyfriends shoulder. Pansy curls up in one of the arm chairs and wraps a blanket around herself.

Blaise whispers in Xavier's ear catching him up before the room falls into a heavy silence.

"So your father is back then?" Xavier looks across at Nott with his eyebrows raised "how you feeling?"

Theo shrugs "it should be fine." He looks down at his feet and lets out a long sigh.

Xavier stays watching Theo his face worried "I can come with you, that way you won't be alone there? You and I could spend the rest of summer there? Or why don't you just stay here."

"I need to go back, I need to get my things and at least see him." He offers Xavier a tight smile "thanks though mate."

Draco walks into the drawing room his face in a deep frown, he sits down heavily in the armchair besides Pansy and lets out a deep sigh.

"What's wrong?" I ask as I stare at the tightness of his jaw.

Draco shakes his head "nothing." His voice is gruff and he crosses his arms over his chest as he stares angrily at the floor in front of him. We all fall into a stiff and awkward silence as Draco's anger passes around the room.

Theo stands up and walks to the large globe pulling it open to reveal bottles of alcohol inside. He pulls out a bottle of firewhiskey and pours a large portion into a crystal tumbler.

"Here" Theo walks to Draco and places the drink into his hand, Theo pours himself a glass and the boys cheers silently before taking a sip.

"Thanks" Draco offers Theo a flicker of a smile. The tension lifts slightly and Theo comes to sit back besides me.