Broken: a Draco Malfoy Love Story

Chapter 13 - Burke Estate

Behind a traditional brick fence, at the end of a cobblestone driveway in Whiltshire was the Burke Estate. It was a charming country mansion, as large as ten ordinary houses of the town. In comparison with the Malfoy Manor, it was slightly smaller but on a larger piece of land, a little further out of town. It was much airier; the walls a brilliant white stone. In front of the house was a small pond that had frozen over, and the other surrounds were beautiful gardens and green lawn.
Inside, the floors were marble, the walls white and the huge staircase had railings of ornate mahogany, carved and polished so that it shined. There were family portraits hung in gold frames in the downstairs sitting room, yet Alexia barely knew any of the faces, and the air smelt of flowers, yet Alexia had never seen a flower wilt or die.

The few days before Christmas were chaotic at the Estate. Alexia was grateful that she was a pureblood and lived with her witch mother so she was able to use magic at home without being caught by the trace, therefore was able to get jobs done quicker. Visitors came and went, delivering goods and setting up the tables, chairs and stage in the ballroom.
On the day before Christmas Eve, Draco had come to help with his mother and keep Alexia company.
"Thank Merlin there's finally someone in this house my age!" She had said when he had arrived. But there was no time to spare, they immediately began to manually wrap fairy lights around the marble pillars in the ballroom.
The ballroom was much different to when Draco had seen it last, which was last summer. Its transformation was taking place hugely and quickly. The marble floor had been polished and was gleaming in the light, and around the edge of the space that was cleared as the dance floor, there were round tables and matching chairs. The huge and magnificent room was usually empty and the realization that only two people and a house elf lived in the massive but half-empty house seemed ridiculous to everyone.

"I've always loved your home, Alexia." Draco said as he finished tying one string of lights around a pillar and started with another.
"So have I." Alexia agreed, "It's like no other in town. Apparently, the architect was executed once it was built to make sure he could never make a replica."
Draco looked around the ballroom in amazement, "It's so beautiful," he said.
When Alexia looked up from untangling a rope of lights, Draco was staring deeply into her eyes. They stood, holding each others gaze for several long moments, lost in their own worlds. Then Alexia's disorientation became realization of where she was and what she was doing. Quickly, she got back to work with her fairy lights.

Draco cleared his throat, "So..." He began, turning away, "Have you been to Diagon Alley to get your gown yet?"
Alexia tugged hard with frustration at a knot in the rope of lights, "We're going after Christmas. Mother thinks it will be less frantic around here, I doubt it though." Alexia told him as she pulled even harder.
Draco laughed lightly at her attempts to untangle the rope, "Here," he said, taking his wand out and fixing the knot with a quick spell.
"Hey! We were told not to use magic!" Alexia reminded him.
"Sticking to the rules? Doesn't sound like the Alexia I know." Draco said.
"I'm not saying we can't, I'm just reminding you what we were told, Draco," Alexia said, holding back a grin.
Draco nodded and smirked, "Okay, you're right, I shouldn't have disobeyed your lovely mothers orders."
Alexia laughed and finished tying the lights around the pillar. "Well, that was the last one."
"Let's try these out then. Sorry Laurel!" Draco said, then he took his wand, pointed it at one of the pillars, drew back his hand and flicked it, "Lumos Maxima!"
A blinding flash of bright white light shot from the tip of his wand, straight at the fairy lights. They all lit up and shone brightly and beautifully. Draco repeated the spell on the other pillars, and the two stood back to admire their work.
"Looks great," Alexia said, "It's really coming together."
"Nox," Draco murmured, extinguishing the lights. "It's going to be a great night." He said.
Alexia agreed with a nod. "It would be nice if Father could be here though." She admitted.
"You must miss him a lot," Draco said, stopping what he was doing and giving Alexia a look of concern and empathy; something Draco would rarely do, especially for anybody else.
Alexia nodded.
"Are you seeing him on Christmas?" Draco asked, carefully.
"Yeah, we are." Alexia answered with a strain to her voice.
Christmas was usually a wonderful time for everybody, and for Alexia and Laurel it was, but it was always a little different for them. Of course Alexia always received wonderful presents and enjoyed an extravagant lunch, but every Christmas she would visit her father, Rufus, in Azkaban, and though this seemed like a good thing, Azkaban was a dark, depressing place that drained all of Alexia's energy and was difficult to be in, especially at such a young age. Alexia had convinced her mother, who had to convince the Ministry, to let her visit yearly, and truthfully, Laurel still wasn't very convinced she should let Alexia go, but Alexia loved her father even though they were miles apart. She was only a baby when her father was around, but through visiting him, she had bonded and had gotten to know him a lot better. She discovered they had a connection through their love for scheming and power. Alexia suspected her mother had gone to visit Rufus and told him that Alexia had changed since dating Blaise Zabini, and this Christmas, she yearned to show him that Blaise Zabini was a mistake and the real her was back. Never in her life did she want to disapoint her father.