A Malfoy Holiday

It was nearing the mid of December and a chilly wind blew bringing with it snow and ice. But while it was freezing outside it was warm and toasty in the Malfoy home. One, Astoria Malfoy, was anxious for the arrival of her children from school, but was neiter pleased with nor looking foward to her sister-in-law showing up as well. Draco had merely invited her since it was near Christmas and she had no family of her own to spend it with other than her brother. He knew Astoria disliked her.

Astoria was in the sitting room, her hair pulled in an elegant bun so as to not obstruct her vision as she read. As she tured the page Astoria was alert to someone approaching the house. The children weren't due in yet so that could only mean one person was walking up the way to the door.

Astoria removed herself from her chair and moved to the door. It swung open to reveal none other than Melyssa Malfoy, Lyssa as she was usually called by her closest friends and Draco. She was Draco's twin and Astoria's worst nightmare.

King's Cross Station was slowly being covered by a layer of pure, freezing snow. Nearly invisible in the flurry stood a man nearly as pale as the storm around him. His robes, originally a pale grey, were now dusted over with snowflakes, blending him into his surroundings. Draco Malfoy was waiting (rather impatiently, in fact) for his twin children to arrive home from school for Christmas holidays. Normally he would've sent someone else to retrieve them, but his wife Astoria was anxious to have them home as quickly as possible.

After what felt like a pointless eternity of waiting and ignoring the curious glances of the more common people around him, Draco watched the train arrive and nodded curtly as his children as they spotted him and hurried over. "Father!" his daughter Eris cried, dipping into a sweeping curtsy, "What a wonderful surprise for you to meet us here." Scorpius, looking significantly less appreciative, frowned and continued dragging his luggage towards the shop where they would presumably Floo home from. He was not yet of age and couldn't levitate his trunk himself, and he was too proud to allow his father to do it for him.

"Your mother," Draco said by way of greeting, "is at home, welcoming your Aunt Lyssa. She's going to be staying with us over holiday." Eris began to snicker at the thought of her mother "welcoming" her father's twin sister. There was a definite dislike between the two, mostly on her mother's part. Scorpius, however, grinned while looking away from the other Malfoys. His aunt was really the only person by the name of Malfoy that he could endure. He entered the magical shop and dusted his robes off, waiting patiently in front of the fireplace for his father and sister to catch up. Now he couldn't wait to be home.

Astoria's face fell into a frown. She had known Melyssa would show up eventually, but she had hoped that Draco and the children would have returned before she did. "Melyssa," she said in a clipped voice as she moved to the side so that Lyssa could enter the house, "you're here early."

"I'm not early," the blond replied walking in, her bags following behind her, "Draco and the kids are just late." She smirked at Astoria knowingly. They had never set a time of arrival, just that she would be arriving sometime today. "Well, I'll just be taking these," she indicated to her bags that were still levitating behind her, "to my room."

And before Astoria could say another word to her, Lyssa was making her way up the staircase in the entrance hall up to the second floor. Astoria scowled after her and returned to the sitting room to continue reading until her family made it home.

Draco pushed a few sickles into the hands of the shop owner for the use of his fireplace and dipped one gloved hand into a pot full of Floo powder situaated on top of the mantle. Tossing it into the flames, he calmly stated, "Malfoy Manor" and stepped into the roaring green flames. Scor waved toward the fire with his wand hand (his left, that is; he had supposedly inherited that from his father), letting his barely older sister through before him. Watching her disappear, he rolled his eyes and shook his head at the space where his relatives had disappeared. "Gits," he muttered, and, reaching for a handful of powder, announced his destination and strolled into the fire.

Coughing and dusty, he immediately began brushing his black school robes off and neglected to look around. He gave a startled grunt when he felt thin arms around his shoulders and when he looked up, realized they'd arrived in the sitting room. "Hello, Mother," he monotoned into her shoulder, staying as stiff as possible in her embrace.

Astoria had almost completely finished her book when she heard something from by the fire. She looked up to see Draco removing himself from the fireplace and brushing off himself. Eris soon followed her father and Astoria got up to greet them. She went over and hugged her daughter. "Welcome back, Dora," she said to her.

Then Astoria straightened back out to wait for her other child to show up. Scorpius came through the fireplace, more intent on brushing off the soot than paying attention to the goings on around him. Astoria felt him stiffen as she hugged him. "Hello, Mother," he said.

Astoria said nothing as she straightened herself from the second hug, smoothing down her skirt. "It's good to have you back home for the holidays," she then said addressing both children. "You're Aunt Melyssa arrived not to long ago, but she's upstairs resting and you're not to bothering her."

"No, I'm not Astoria," Lyssa said as she walked down the stairs, "I heard a commotion and I figured it was just Draco exiting the fireplace clumsily as always meaning they were back. And then I just had to come down to see them all."

She smirked at Astoria and walked to rest of the way into the sitting room. "So how has school been?" she asked the twins.

Scorpius, smiling broadly at his aunt's entrance, steps toward her quickly (oh, but he doesn't run, no, because that goes against his dignity, even if he won't admit it) and wraps his arms around her. "It was -,"

"It was positively awful," Eris blurts, cutting her brother off before he can even begin to describe his first term of sixth year. "Scorpius is behaving unbecoming of the Malfoy heir and James bloody Potter is Head Boy!" Her eyes, somewhere between grey and blue under the chandelier lights, flicker for a moment at the mention of the school's most distinguished male student.

"Language, Eris," Draco scolds smoothly, but his eyes aren't sharp and hard as they should be when he reprimands his children. Instead they are filled with a youthful gleam that seems to soften his sharp features. "The children have all holiday to complain about their childish runnings-about. How have you been, Lyssa? We don't see each other nearly as much as we ought to."

Lyssa hugged her nephew as Eris went on about how awful school had been. She shook her head at that. They were always over exaggerating things. Releasing Scor from her hug she look at her twin. "Well of course I'm not around often," she said. "I'm never invited around, except on special occasions. I'm not just going to pop up out of the blue someday and demand to stay here. That would be rude.

"I've been fine, though. If that's all you want to know. Nothing horribly exciting has happened either." She stopped and smiled at him. Then she looked at Eris. "I do believe a certain teenager owes me a hug," she said to her.

A single eyebrow rose sharply on Eris's face, but only for a moment. It was a nearly imperceptible hesitation and then, she was crossing the room and wrapping her arms around her waiting aunt. "Don't remind me that I'm a teenager," she said, frustrated, "it's horrid."

Draco's icy laugh rang out and both of his childrens' gazes shot to him. "Innocence," he laughed, shaking his head, "it's amusing. Almost as amusing as you, Lyss, to think you need an invitation to come and visit your own blood. None of us would turn you away from our doorstep." He spared a glance at his wife. "Well..." He dropped the subject before it had a chance to get away with him. "Melyssa Malfoy having nothing exciting in her life seems a bit oxymoronic. Surely you have something more interesting going on than a couple of children? Oh, but I hate to imagine them getting up to things we did at that age." His trademark smirk, less playful and more knowing than it had been when he was young, graced his face as he considered his sister.

Scor grimaced and looked away from his father. Yes, what he got up to when he was young....running about doing Dark things with Dark people for the Darkest one of all. He knew that train of thought was dangerous; he would be furious if he thought on it too much, and nothing, even his father, wasn't going to ruin his time with his favorite family member. "Surely you've been up to something worthwhile, Aunt Lyssa. You're less boring than the rest of us."

"We Draco? If I remember correctly you were the one who ran around like a scared puppy while I actually did something," Lyssa said in a fake confused tone. "But let's not get into that. The past is the past, and I don't plan on letting it interfere with my visit."

Astoria, who was staying out of the conversation, crossed her arms across her chest and frowned. No one had ever asked her reason for not liking Melyssa, but she felt it must be clear as day and out in the open. It was simply because everyone seemed to think she was so much more likeable than Tori was.

"Well now," she finally interrupted before Lyssa had a chance to response to Scorpius's prompting to talk more, "let's let Melyssa rest now. She's come a long way, and is no doubt tired."

"I'm not tired," Lyssa replied to her. "I'd rather talk to my family then rest anyway."

"No, no," Astoria argued. "I insist."

In order to avoid an argument that would surely break out she said, "Fine. I'll be up in my room if anyone wants to talk to me."

As she neared the stairs, Lyssa turned to them again. "Oh, and Cassie is bring Nicole tomorrow, along with her own kids. She's staying here too for the holidays. Hope you don't mind."

Draco gave a casual shrug at the sudden announcement of more guests. It wasn't as if there wasn't room in the Manor. He glanced warily, however, at his wife. Adding more people that loved Lyssa to the house would put undue stress on her, which meant bad things for him. He hoped against hope that the children being home would make up for that. Draco Malfoy is and has always been Slytherin to the bone, and he has the lingering tendency to consider the repercussions that actions will have on his own well-being before anyone else's. He is less worried about Tori and Lyss killing each other then the slight chance that he will be caught in the crossfire. As his sister started up the stairs, Draco pushed his wife toward the couch, trying to keep any anger to a minimum.

Scor and Eris both twitched towards the stairs at the same time, but on seeing his sister making a move, he resigned himself to settling down into a chair a bit off from his mother and father, trying to look in the other direction as much as possible. Being at home usually made him vaguely ill will with himself. Between his father's advice on how to be the perfect little pureblood heir and his mother's doting on Eris and, to a lesser extent, himself, he usually ended up wishing her were an orphan by the time holidays were over.

Eris, however, was dashing upstairs behind her aunt. This would've confused the rest of the family, if they had notice, because she had never shown too strong a liking for her aunt, who was so different from her ideal picture of a Malfoy. However, she had certain questions on a sensitive topic that she knew would send her mother into curious hysterics and her father, unfortunately, would only disapprove if he had the time to care. Standing in the doorway of her aunt's guest room, she bit her lip. "Aunt Lyss...I have...There's something we need to discuss." She had meant to ask for help, but her pride was twinging at her at the mere thought.

Lyssa walked in her room, leaving the door open in case someone had followed her up there. After all, she had said they could if they still wanted to talk to her. She had just sat on her bed when she heard footsteps. Looking up, she saw that Eris had stopped in her doorway. Curiosity sparked inside her. Eris was never one to come to her alone for things. They were only ever really around each other when other family was present. " Aunt Lyss...I have...There's something we need to discuss," she said.

Lyssa nodded at her. "Come in then, and have a seat. Close the door behind you." Eris did as she was bid to do. "Now what do you have to discuss with me?"

~

Back downstairs, Tori sat moodily on the couch. She did not want more people about the house, most particularly not people who favored Lyssa.

"I do not want them here," she was complaining. "It'll be crowded around the house."

She knew this was a lie, but she was fishing for reasons why they shouldn't come without outright saying it was because Cassie was Lyssa's best friend.

"Nicole is fine to be here, but not those other three," she went on.

Cassie yawned and she walked through the hallways tea in hand. She would have prefered coffee but that would have kept her up all night and then she'd probably fall alseep at ariving at Malfoy Mannor, which in not a good look. She passed Laurie's room in which the ten year old was sitting on her bed diciding what books to take. Cassie laughed.

"Laurie, just take one or two, I'm sure they will have books over there too." She smiled at her daughter. Laurie frowned at her.

"That's the problem, I have too many books to chose which two I want to take." Her Pigymypuff rolled on the bed next to her. Cassie smiled at the memory of when Laurie brought it home and told her it's name. Voldemort. Out of all the names. Laurie had said it was to mock him, a small purple ball of fluff having his name. Cassie had just smiled and shook her head. Laurie picked up the ball of fur and put him on her shoulder.

"Ok, once you've finsihed chosing the books remember to pack everything else." Cassie left and Laurie nodded turning back to stare at her books. Cassie went into Severus' room next, Severus wasn't even attempting to pack he was racing around the room on the broom (not the flying one the cleaning one) and preteniding he was playing quidittch.

"Severus." Cassie sighed. "You'll knock soemthing over." She took the broom and leant it on the wall. "Come here and chose some things to pack while I get your clothes." She went through Severus' clothes finding things apprioaite. Severus dumped a pile of toys at her feet.

"Sev." She sighed. "Too many, you only need maybe five."

Severus pouted and sat down chucking half the toys over his shoulder.

"Better." Cassie put his toys and his clothes into a bag and took it with her into her room, cheaking on Laurie on the way. She had packed everything else and was still argueing with herself over which books. Cassie smiled and went back to her room. She was going to go see if Nicole had packed all her things but she had a early christmas present for her first. She got the present from her room then went down the hall to the guest room which was where Nicole usually slept.

"Nicole." Cassie said. "I have a present for you, It'll really annoy your uncle though." She smiled giving the girl the cage with a creamy white ferret inside. "Happy early Christmas, even if your mum will kill me."

Fidgeting nervously and playing with the edge of her school robes (for she hadn't had a chance yet to change; she certainly wouldn't have done it on the train with everyone around), Eris stared pointedly at her knees as if they were suddenly highly interesting. "Erm. Let's say there was a person. And this person was someone you had always paid a lot of attention to. And I...I mean, you, or whoever, suddenly realized that you were paying attention for a much worse reason than you could have imagined." She stopped, realizing she was making absolutely no sense. But she couldn't very well just open her mouth and say, "I've got a big fat crush on James bloody Potter," because that would be both embarrassing and downright vulgar.

She cleared her throat and looked up at her aunt, who didn't look as if she was following. "Okay. I'll try again. I thought I hated someone. I don't. What do I do?"

~~

Draco had never quite figured out how he had moved on from the whining neediness of Pansy Parkinson to the demanding complaints of his wife. Not that he would have had it any other way in the end, really, but sometimes he thought it would've been a bit easier to deal with someone who didn't command quite so much. "It's not as if you'll be forced to associate with them, Astoria," he said, feigning formality in the hopes that it would seem authoritative. "The children will be watched, and Cassie will no doubt spend her time exclusively with Lyssa."

Scor shook his head and wondered if he ought to speak up. He considered asking his mother if she had a problem with people who didn't find her fascinating. Instead... "Mother, do you have anything sweet to eat?" Scor watched in disbelief as his father gave a genuine smile.

"A Malfoy with a sweet tooth. Thought I'd never see the day. But, I must admit, you've no reason to worry yourself over losing a figure. Never shown an interest in Quidditch, wife all picked out and planned. I sometimes wonder if you know how easy your life is. You should thank your stars every night that you were born a pureblood and a Malfoy."

Scor only snorted.

Lyssa was slightly stunned that Eris had come to her, to anyone, for advice. "Well, I would say be their friend, or at least try to. But I'm going to gather from you asking me that neither of your parents would approve of it. Am I right?"

~

"Just their mere presence in this house would do well to upset me," Astoria continued to argue. "And I don't care what they'll be doing. I don’t want them here to begin with!"

The last part she said unreasonably loud, hoping it would get her pointing across and persuade Draco not to allow them to come.

"Mother, do you have anything sweet to eat?" Scorpius asked her.

"Yes, we do. We always do," she replied, still in so bitter a mood that not even the prospect of sweets would lighten it.

Then she sulked moodily on the couch, paying the two males no mind. And she wouldn't until Draco found some way to make her feel better.

Be his friend? That sounded reasonable, and at the same time as if it might be the worst experience of her life. "Father would be...highly displeased. He would think me keeping such company...unbefitting of a Malfoy." The phrase rolled of her tongue so familiarly these days. "Making friends with...well, this person...might be difficult on both of our parts. We...erm, we don't have any friends in common really, not unless you count Scor, which I don't, because he's less a friend than an annoyance. And we don't see each other often either." She looked up desperately. If only it could've been Albus, at least. Her family still would've thrown fits, but at least he was halfway respectable as a Slytherin.

~

Scor, feeling disgusted with his mother and her histrionics, departed for the kitchen to see if he could find some scones or perhaps a cookie.

Draco watched his heir saunter away and wondered if the boy knew how much he resembled him in his younger days. The traits were not there, admittedly: there was no ambition, no cunning, no appreciation for the finer things. But every time Draco watched his son sneer or take the slightest step, he saw the Malfoy shining through in him, and thought there might still be some hope left in his dreadfully non-Slytherin son. Perhaps with a good, Pure wife and a little time in the world outside of the insulated nuthouse that was Hogwarts, he would come to his senses.

Returning his attention to his wife was almost painful. He couldn't seem to find an option that would please both his sister and his wife. He snatched randomly at the first idea that passed through his mind. "Look, I know it's going to be unpleasant for you. Don't get any ideas that I'm going to like it one bit either. But does it matter? You're home, I'm home, the children are here. And...and tomorrow, I'll floo over to Borgin & Burke's and buy you that enchanted emerald pendant, the one that wards against unwanted intruders. They won't come within ten yards of you, just turn around and go about whatever nonsense they were doing to begin with. Alright?" He has been in the practice of bribing his wife for many years now, and it has not failed him yet.

Lyssa gave Eris a stern look. "I never cared what my father thought of what I did. And if I did, I wouldn't be the person I am today, nor would I have the friends I do. You'll never get anywhere if you care what he thinks, because Draco has some sort of ability to find a fault in everything," she said. "And as for that other business, make an effort to go around him more, talk to him. You'll never get anywhere if you don’t."

~

Astoria scowled at Draco. "No, it's not alright," she said, voice somewhat shrill. "One thing isn't going to make up for having to endure having them around for at least a couple weeks. You're at least partially used to them being around as Lyssa was around Cassie a lot in school, and I'm sure you didn't ignore your own sister. I on the other hand, have never been forced to be around her, or her children for that matter."

"No," she muttered. "I want something for each and every day they are here."

And as if to make a point, Astoria jab her finger into her palm with every word of her last sentence before making an annoyed huff sound and crossing her arms, eyeing Draco, as if daring him to challenge the demand.

"If I don't care what Father thinks, I might as well just emancipate myself and start campaigning for Muggle rights. Either way, I'll be disowned. I know all too well about him finding the flaw in every perfect achievement. He doesn't even know about my teaching the new DA." She frowns, thinking about her father's cold distance from her and the challenges in her future. With a smile, she realizes that the conversation is no longer as ambiguous as it had been. "You said 'him.' How'd you know it was a boy?"

~

Draco could almost feel his Gringotts account whimpering at the sound of his wife's demand. "That's...that's just...I mean, really..." He felt like a teenaged boy again, caught in a jam and in way over his head. He gave a resigned shrug. "If you wish dear. Anything and everything, to make you happy." He feels like smiling but doesn't. He learned from his father early on that marriage was not about feeling love but miming it. He feels a little confused now, even as a grown man, when his heart gives a little shift when Tori smiles at him. Even more, he is enraged when he thinks of how beautiful his daughter is and how he wishes she were happy. These are not appropriate feelings, really; people get what they deserve, what they earn, and just because she is his daughter does not mean she can slack. No half-blood like the little Weasley bint should be passing his own pureblood children in school marks.

Lyssa's eyebrow rose. "You're teaching the new DA? I remember that from when I was in school," she said, eyes looking at the door, when she was really remembering. With a small shake of her head she came back to reality. "I didn't know it was a boy. I had a guess, and you just proved it," she replied with a smile.

~

Astoria near immediately felt better when Draco said she could have what she wanted, yet again. She smiled at him, just a small smile. "Thanks Draco, dear," she said.

Then she got up from the couch and gave Draco a small hug and a kiss on the cheek, before she happily walked from the room, on her way to make some more sweets, as was her passion.

Eris bowed her head in defeat. "Yes, a boy. Isn't that where all the trouble in the world starts? Emeric the Evil, Loxias, Grindelwald, Voldemort. All men. That's not a coincidence. Boys will be the ruination of the world. Why do that have to be so lovely while they do their ruining?" His green eyes are floating about in her mind like something she cannot quite reach and she is overtaken by the futility of it all. "Doesn't matter. He'd never see me anyway." She shrugs and, standing, leans down to hug her aunt. It is the only thing that feels appropriate.

~

Draco's heart gives one of those strange lurches and he forces it down, but allows himself a smile as he watches his wife disappear into the kitchens.

Scorpius looks up and sees her walk in but continues his talk with Twitchy, the son of a particularly old house elf that had been his favorite as a boy. He has been talking, without realizing it, for several minutes about Vena. As soon as his mother walks in, however, he drops the subject and wonders if it was very clever to spill his thoughts to a creature that spent day and night around his parents. Grabbing a sugar cookie from the counter, he watches his mother mixing bits of this and that together by hand, not by magic, and wonders how life might be different if he'd been a Muggle. It's a silly question of course, but he can almost pretend, watching her stir, that he is a normal boy of sixteen instead of the heir to a great fortune mostly attained by Dark means.

Once the kids were all in bed, packed and asleep, Cassie retraeted into her room to finish packing. If she forgot something he could always come back and get it anyway. She yawned, Once finsihed she got into bed and smiled. She hadn't seen Scorpius and Eris since they had been about Laurie's age and when she had occasionaly dropped in, they had been at school, so she was looking forward to seeing them again. Two people she was not looking forward to seeing were Draco and Tori, Draco she could tolerate, she had learnt to at school but Tori. She sighed. Well ruining their holiday made up for them semi ruining hers. She fell asleep thinking of that. Cassie's alarm woke her the next morning and she got dressed before walking past all three of the kid's doors and waking them up, telling them to get dressed and to go down to breakfast when they were ready. She put toast in the toaster and got the butter out. Making sure her wand was in her pocket she got the milk out.

Once everyone had finished breakfast, was dressed and made sure that they had everyone they were gathered around the fire place.

"Laurie do you have Voldemort?" She asked her eldest child.

Laurie nodded and pulled the pigmypuff out of her pocket and placed it back in.

"Nicole do you have Fred and your ferret?"

"She got a ferret?" Laurie asked.

Cassie smiled. "It will annoy Draco."

"I want a ferret." Severus complained, he had no pets while Laurie had Voldemort and Mi.

"Well you're not getting one." Cassie said. "Nicole you go first, then Laurie and then me and Sev will come."

Nicole grabbed a Handful of floo powder. "Malfoy Mannor." She said clearly then stepped into the flame. Laurie went next and then Cassie with Severus. Once Cassie had come through Laurie darted behind her. Cassie smiled. Laurie was shy around strangers and she had never met the twins before, or only when she was very little and Draco and Tori were strangers to her too.

Everyone was sitting on the couch (or at least near it) in front of the fireplace when Nicole came through. "Bonjour à tous!" she said cheerily, running over to hug her mum.

Lyssa smiled back at her and hugged her too. "What's that you've got there?" she asked motioning to the cage in Nicole's hand.

"It's a ferret!" she said happily, watching her uncle from the corner of her eye. "I named her Bijou!"

Lyssa frowned. "Who got you a ferret?" she asked, as Laurie came from the fireplace.

"Aunt Cassie did," Nicole replied just as Cassie showed up.

"You got her a ferret!?" was the first thing Lyssa said to her.

~

Astoria was settled on the couch, pulled into greeting those who were invading her home. The emerald pendant Draco had already gotten and given her glistened in the light of the room. She allowed a smile as Nicole came through first, wiping some stray soot from her dark hair. But it soon turned to a frown as the others showed up.

Draco, who was sitting between his wife and the new visitors as to hopefully defend against any sort of attacks that might end up passed between the two. He was delightedly not paying attention as he tried to figure out what he'd be buying for Tori the next day, until he heard the word 'ferret' thrown into conversation. His mouth, a straight line when he was pensive, now twisted itself into a sneer.

"Ferret. How clever of you," he snarled. Leave it to a Gryffindor to never let the past die.

Scor and Eris eyed the visitors carefully. They hadn't seen Cassie since before they'd even started school, when they'd still been best friends, and the hadn't met her children at all. It was Scor who finally lifted himself from his seat and walked over. "Good to see you again," he said a little awkwardly. Not knowing quite what to do with himself, he stuck out a hand for Cassie to shake.

I grinned still holding Severus in my arms. Laurie was still hiden behind me. She was really shy. "Nice to see you too Draco. I can see that I was missed." She smiled at Scorpius and shook his hand. "You two." Severus was struggling to get down so Cassie put him down. He ran straight into Scorpius nearly making him fall over.

"Severus." Cassie sighed. "Sorry Scorpius, he tend to get exicted when he meets knew people." She smiled. "Sev why don't you interduce yourself without knocking him over."

"Severus Harry Evans." Severus said smiling. He was considerably shorter then the boy.

"Good." Cassie said smiling at her son. "Go introcude yourself to the others." Severus nodded and half walked half ran in front of Draco. He held out his hand this time as he introuced himself. He could have good manners sometimes. For a four year old.

"Laurie." Cassie said smiling at her daughter who was still hiding behind her. "Want to introuce yourself?" She shook her head. Cassie laughed. "Please?"

"Laurie Evans." Laurie said peeked out from behind her mum.

"Do you want to tell Scorpius which house you want to be in?"

"Ravenclaw." Laurie muttered her voice muffled as she was hiding behind her mum again.

Cassie sighed and laughed. When meeting new people Laurie acted like a five year old not a ten year old. She was shy, dreafully. Laurie's pocked started moving and Cassie remembered her Pigmypuff.

"Why don't you put him on your shoulder?" She suggested.

Laurie nodded and took Voldmort out putting him on her shoulder. She laughed on the look of Tori's face as Severus bounded up to her to interduce herself.

"Hello Eris." Cassie said to the other teenager in the room.

Nicole grinned as she put the ferret cage on the ground and undid the latch on it. Out bounded a ferret that looked strikingly like Draco had when he himself was a ferret. " Viens ici Bijou," Nicole cooed at her.

The ferret bounced over to her and she picked her up. Nicole cradled her as she looked at everyone. "Mind that Bijou doesn't get loose ok?" Lyssa told her. "This is a big house."

Nicole nodded. Then lightly she stepped over to Draco. "Hi Uncle Draco!" she said cheerfully, a grin on her face. "Isn't she cute?" she held up Bijou at him. "Wanna hold her?"

Scor smied down at the young girl as she muttered "Ravenclaw" into her mother's robes. She seemed painfully shy but he knew that Hogwarts made a sort of family for kids who started out like this. He knew that Ravenclaw would welcome her with open arms.

Eris gave a polite nod across the room, then focused her attention on the little boy who seemed to be making the rounds of the room. "Well, aren't you sweet?" she asked. He poked his hand out at her and she shook it firmly. "You'll make a gentleman out of him yet," she said, smiling. No one really noticed how much Eris love children, mostly becaue she was never around them.

Draco, however, was staring with a look of mixed anguish and disbelief at the ferret in his niece's hands. "Really, I'd rather not. Bad...bad experiences with ferrets, really, nothing good could come of it. How've you been? Excited about school next year?" He tried his hardest to distract her from the topic of the animal held firmly in her hands.