Salazar's Angel

XXII

Dinner goes smoothly, with Dahlia remaining as silent as possible. She has plenty to say, but Death Eater women are expected to be less outspoken than the men. This pisses her off, but this is neither the time nor the place to make this little fun fact known. Instead, she sits and listens. Listens to every single person at the table praise and worship Voldemort, discuss battle strategies, and plan things. All of which feel like top secret information.

Once the meal has been finished and the plates vanished off somewhere for the house elves to clean, people slowly start to filter out. Every single person at the table stops to say goodbye to Dahlia on their way out. She accepts their hands, their admirations, and their well wishes with as much grace and thankfulness as she can muster.

Finally, the crowd has been whittled down to just herself, Draco, his parents, and Bellatrix. Bellatrix has turned herself sideways in her chair and lays draped over it like a piece of cloth, picking at her teeth with her wand and staring intently back and forth between Draco and Dahlia.

Draco stands, just as the last person lets the door close behind them. "Mother. Father. Thank you for having us this evening. Dahlia and I should head back to school."

At this, Bellatrix leaps from her chair. "NO! No! That's ridiculous! You should stay the night! Granted, all of the spare bedrooms are occupied at the moment so that means you and Dahlia will have to sleep together BUT that is, of course, fine."

"Why?" Draco asks simply, turning to face her.

She jabs the end of her wand into his chest. "Because I said so. That's why. This is your home."

Draco looks at his father, then his mother. Narcissa shrugs. "You might as well Draco, dearest. You don't have classes tomorrow anyways, and I like to have you here."

"Yes, please, do stay," Lucius drawls, looking intently at Dahlia.

Dahlia knows there is no way for her to decline this offer without looking suspicious. In their eyes, she has no reason to want to spend any time at a school littered with mud bloods. She should practically be begging to hole up in their magical safe haven.

"I would love to." Dahlia grins at Lucius.

She can feel Draco glaring at her without even looking at him. Bellatrix claps her hands together. Narcissa offers her a small smile.

"I'm going to give Dahlia a tour of the manor!" Bellatrix pops over next to Dahlia, literally. It's as if she chose to apparate the four feet between them as opposed to walk it. She grabs Dahlia's arm, right over her mark, and yanks her up from her chair. "I'll drop her off at your room when we're through Drakey!"

With a wink to Draco, who looks absolutely horrified, Bellatrix hauls Dahlia off through a door at the back end of the dining room.

The Manor is absolutely enormous. It takes Bellatrix two hours to give her the entire tour, even with Bellatrix acting like she is on speed as always. There are at least six stories, and dozens of rooms and staircases and hallways. Dahlia thinks that she could get lost in here just as easily as she could in Hogwarts. The whole house is decorated in a gothic style, with looming ceilings and old paintings and dark ornate carpets. Actually everything is dark, Dahlia observes.

Finally, Bellatrix skids to a stop outside a room somewhere on the sixth or so floor. 

"This is Drakey's room." Bellatrix gestures to the dark wood door.

"Oh, alright. Thank you for the tour Bell, this house is absolutely lavish!" Dahlia exclaims, trying her best to brush off her impending exhaustion.

Bellatrix clasps her hands together in joy. "Of course! Oh how I have missed you Dahlia! You will have to start spending more time here."

"I would love that!" Dahlia nods enthusiastically, but doesn't elaborate...mostly because she doesn't know how. In all honestly Dahlia does like being in the Manor. It reminds her of last summer, and as long as there aren't a major surplus of Death Eaters staring her down like they were at dinner, she imagines she could get used to spending more time here. She knows she shouldn't feel like this, which only confuses her more.

"Well, goodnight Dahlia! You and Drakey be safe!" She cackles and winks at Dahlia before apparating off somewhere else with a crack.

Dahlia expects to feel her shoulders drop with relaxation once Bellatrix is gone, but she finds they already are. Thinking back, Dahlia realizes that she hadn't actually been putting on that much of an act this evening once she got more adjusted to her surroundings.

Suddenly, the door in front of her whips open and interrupts her thoughts. 

"Why are you just standing out here?" Draco asks, leaning against the door frame and looking her up and down.

Gone is his fancy attire from dinner, replaced instead by a pair of black sweatpants and a dark green baggy sweatshirt.

"Oh, I was just getting ready to knock," Dahlia explains, allowing herself to look him over. He is only wearing black socks on his feet, and she realizes that she doesn't think she's ever seen him look this casual before.

"Well, come in then." He steps back and opens the door wider for her.

Draco Malfoy's private bedroom. Yep, sure enough, that's where she's about to be, alright. She just can't quite put her finger on why she finds her shoulders tensing up now...