A Malfoy Holiday

Cassie laughed at the look on Draco's face when Nicole held the ferret out to him. It was the funniest thing. Draco glared at her and Cassie put on her. "I'm innocent" face. Laurie peeked out from behind Cassie again and went and stood in front of her. "Why don't you go interduce yourself Laurie?" Cassie asked her. Laurie nodded and slowly walked up to the adults. "Hi." She muttered it was barely audible. Cassie smiled. "Why don't you introduce your pigmypuff?" Cassie heard Lyssa laugh and turned to smile at her best freind. Laurie shook her head at her mum. Cassie smiled. "Come on, Draco won't bite...hard." Laurie smiled slightly but was still too shy to introduce the pigmypuff. Severus bounded over and reached up to grab it but Laurie held it out of his reach.

"I wanna hold Voldemort." He complained pouting.

"No." Laurie said frowing at her brother. "You will drop him."

"Will not."

"Will too."

"Guys." Cassie warned. She was still smiling from the affect of the Pigmypuffs name to sound very stern. It was weird. argueing helped bring Laurie out of her shell.

"I wanna hold Voldemort." Severus complained again. "Mummy! I wanna hold him." He started to wail.

"Laurie? Can he? So he will be quiet."

"No."

"What do you mean you don't want to hold her!?" Nicole said angry and glaring, ignoring Draco's attempts to distract her. " Vous êtes juste à être méchant et amer!" Then for good measure she stomped her foot on the ground, tears coming to her eyes. Well, that was just on the outside. On the inside she was laughing like mad.

"Why don't you introduce your Pygmy Puff?" Lyssa heard Cassie suggest to Laurie as to help her not be so shy and she just couldn't help but laugh at that, earning herself a smile. She rolled her eyes and looked at Nicole who was putting her acting skills to use and shook her head in humor.

Astoria had been sitting on the couch the whole time, a frown upon her face, and her eyes narrowed. She didn't like it, but she would tolerate it…As long as Draco held up his end of the deal. She scowled disapproving as she noticed how well Eris was getting along with the smallest child.

Draco quavered in the face of his (seemingly) distraught niece. "Fine, fine, this is ridiculous, hand the thing here!" He quickly reached up for the animal, stroked it twice, and then offered it back up. "See? Held it. Petted it even. Nice ferret. Very good ferret, no one ever sent you down Vincent Crabbe's pants for no reason, I bet."

Scor, in the midst of all the ruckus, had discerned that his father was holding and petting a ferret to appease a crying Nicole, his sister was making nice with the youngest kid of the bunch, his mother was surprisingly quiet but sullen as usual, and there seemed to be something in the room named Voldemort.

Eris frowned as the young boy began to cry. "I think he's big enough, Laurie, really. Or he can come and stand by me, I'll make sure he won't drop....Voldemort." She made a strange face at the name choice but continued on. "He's never going to stop crying if you don't let him hold it, just for a minute. You're too big to be so selfish." With this she shot a glance at her mother who was staring tight-lipped at all of them.

"I am not selfish." Laurie glowered at Eris. "He's four, he'll probably squish it to death." She held Voldemort in her arms patting it.

"I wanna hold him." Severus wailed.

"Fine." Laurie spat giving him the pigmypuff then wacking him on the head out of frustration.

"Laurie." Cassie snapped. "Apologise."

"No." Laurie was very stubborn when she wanted to be and she crossed her arms and glared at her mother. Cassie tried not to smile and failed abismally. Laurie was a little her when she was that age. But Cassie hadn't read that much. Cassie always punched or wacked people who disliked her. Including Voldemort. She smiled again. "Just don't do it again." Laurie was still glaring at her. "It's his fault for being a annoying brat."

Cassie hid her smile this time. "Laurie." She sighed and sat down on a spare seat. Severus was standing in the middle of the room holding Voldemort and looking senserly hurt.

Cassie stood up again and hugged him. "She doesn't mean it." Cassie soothed. "She's just annoyed."

Nicole smiled at Draco as she put Bijou on her shoulder, just so, where the ferret wouldn't fall. "Thank you," she started, "for a) proving that mum's story is true and b) that my acting is still up to par. Would you pet Fred now? He's been neglected." And then she pulled the dark pink Pygmy Puff out of her pocket and showing Draco.

Lyssa watched amused as Nicole pestered Draco. She also looked around at the rest of the group. Aside from Draco looking distressed and Astoria looking sullen (as was usual when Lyssa was around) everyone seemed to be doing relatively good. Well until Laurie got angry at Severus…again.

Astoria's eyes were still narrow, and her blank, with the slightest hint of hatred mixed with disapproval and bitterness. She still, and never would, like this. But at least none of them had come near her yet, and for that she was grateful.

Wearing a frown that marred his pointy but handsome features, Draco sent a pointed glare at his sister. "You're a right little manipulator, you know that? If you're not Slytherin I'll eat a talking shrake. As for the Pygmy Puff....?" He trailed off, but finally figured, why not?

Scor watched his mother as she glared bitterly at the way the day was unfolding. "What's the matter, Mother? No one paying you any attention? It may have to do with that lovely new necklace you're wearing. It's a bit intimidating." He walked a tough line between sounding insolent and helpful. He wouldn't dare speak like that to his father, but his mother, although she could be pushy, rarely punished him and never punished Eris, who was her obvious favorite.

Cassie laughed still hugging Severus. "Will you give Laurie back Voldemort now?" She asked him. He sniffed and nodded and Cassie took the Pigmypuff off him and passed it back to Laurie who was still glowering. Cassie smiled and kissed her on the cheek. "Liven up." She smiled. "Draco, you don't mind gettting me a drink do you?" I asked him. Laurie was still grumpy but pulled a book out of her bag sat down of the couch and started to read ignoring everyone around her. Cassie smiled at her daughter. She liked to read when she was frustrated or annoyed it seemed to vent the frustration out of her.

"I'm hungry." Severus said then he looked at Laurie expecting her to say. Like usaul. But she was too imersed in her book to pay anyone else any attension.

Nicole made a face at him. "I don't want to be a Slytherin. I want to be like mum and be in Gryffindor," she argued. "And I didn't manipulate you. I just used a matter of skill to get some information I wanted. Ok…so maybe I did, but that doesn't matter." She held up Fred to him.

Astoria's attention turned to Scorpius, and unfortunately for him she was still in a horrible mood, and he hadn't helped it along any. "This necklace is by far the most tasteful thing in this room, and in no way intimidating," she said. She chose not to address the other matter, for not wanting to sound self-centered (though she is) and selfish (which again she is).

Accepting the pink, slightly puffy animal, Draco looked her squarely in the eye. "Gryffindor won't look nicely on your 'skill' at all. They prefer riding off into the middle of everything with no backup plans. And most of the time no first plan to begin with. And it matters a lot. The Hat knows. Although I do trust its judgement sometimes. That Longbottom...." As he realized that Cassie had asked him something, he quickly directed the tast towards Eris.

"I'm not a servant," she muttered under her breath, annoyed, but she loved to please her father. "What would you like?" she asked Cassie. "And would Severus like something to eat while I'm at it?" she asked, bending down more to his level.

Once again aggravated with his mother, Scor spotted Laurie immersed in the book and, smiling wildly, took out his own and sat directly next to her, every so often leaning over her shoulder or making little noises of disapproval or amusement at his own book. Finally, hoping to draw her into a more amicable mood, he marked his page with his index finger and turned to her. "What are you reading?" he asked simply, smiling and praying he wasn't going to be hit. Hell hath no fury like a little girl scorned.

Cassie scowled. "Yes well Slytherin didn't helo defeat Voldemort now did it?" I grumbled. "That was Gryffindors "going in without a backup plan." and loyalty to what we care for. Tea." She then said to Eris.

"I wanna cookie." Severus said.

Cassie sighed but left it. It he wanted a cookie I suppose he could have one. She didn't want a whinging four year old on her hands again.

Laurie looked up at Scorpius. She looked at her page number and stored it in her brain to come back to. "It's called The Magic Faraway tree." She said. "It's the second in it's series and its about this tree in which there is a land at the top of the tree that changes every few days. It's a muggle book." She smiled. "I like Silky the Fairy and Saucepan man, Saucepan man hears everything wrong because he has bad hearing and is covered in Saucepans, So if you sat Hat he will hear like cat." Voldemort nudged itself against Laurie's cheek and she patted him and picked him up in her palm. "Voldemort, do you want to say hi to Scorpius?"

Satisfied that she had bothered her uncle enough, Nicole returned Fred to her pocket, gave him a smile and bounced away over to where Scor was. She hadn't talked to him or Eris yet, and Eris was busy it seemed. "Whatcha doin'?" she asked, taking Bijou from her shoulder and petting her.

Astoria pursed her lips together at the fact that she was once again being ignored. And by her own son this time! She made a small growling noise in the back of her throat and got up from the couch, leaving to bake. It would calm her down. No one even seemed to noticed her leave.

Eris retreated to the kitchen where she encountered her mother furiously chopping up bits of Merlin-knows-what. Not wanting to enrage her by asking any questions, she set about making tea and finding a nice chocolatey cookie for Sev.

Draco watched interestedly as he saw that all of the children seemed to get on well with his son. He couldn't help but think that Scor's children would turn out soft (what a disgrace if they should come out to be Hufflepuffs!) with all of his son't niceties and undeserved attention.

Scor, however, was not thinking of his father at all. He was listening intently as Laurie described her book while he stroked her pet and then flashed the cover of his own reading material. "It's a Muggle book, as well. Well, not really a book, but a play, by Shakespeare. I don't know if your mum might have told you about it, it's called Romeo and Juliet. It's about forbidden love." And I know plenty about that, he silently added.

Turning to Nicole, he first noted the ferret that made him snort with laughter, then quickly covered it for fear of his father seeing. "Just talking to Laurie about our books. Do you read any, or are you an action/adventure sort of girl?" he asked miming swordfights and boxing matches with his hands.

Laurie smiled. "Sounds interesting." She said frowning at Voldemort who was rolling down her arm. "You mkae it impossible to read you know Voldemort." She said frowning at the ball of fluff. Severus who was happily eating a chocolate cookie bounded up to Scorpius. "Do you have a girlfreind?" He asked.Cassie laughed. "Don't mind him Scorpius, he asks that to every teenager he meets." And sure enough Severus then bounded over to Eris and asked the same question. She had a look if indifference on her face but Laurie smiled. "I think she does," She giggled to Nicole and smiled before ducking her head back into her book.

Nicole rolled her eyes at Laurie. "Just read," she said with a laugh. "Teenagers are weird anyways. Especially these two," she had a small motion to the set of twins that were her cousins.

Lyssa watched the children settle in with the rest. It was good, because at first she hadn't been too sure how it would all work out. Well, she had expected Astoria to act like she was, but the rest was a mystery.

Astoria was in the kitchen, a place she was a lot. She was busily mixing things together for brownies, some with nuts, some without. Slowly, very slowly, her temper began to calm down.

Scor let a lok of mock hurt cross his face. "I'm not weird!" he protested. "And anyway, Eris doesn't have a boyfriend. Just wishes she did." His sister, overhearing, sneered at him in what was an almost perfect imitation of one of their father's most intimidating glances. He only laughed at her. "But I do." Screwing up his face in distaste, he realized what that must sound like. "I mean, I have a girlfriend. But it's a secret," he whispered to the girls. If their was one thing young girls loved, he head learned, it was a good secret.

Draco looked over at his twin, who seemed to be extrmely relieved. "What, were you afraid we'd curse them off their feet the moment they got here?" he asked. "We are civilized, you know."

Laurie's eyes widened and she grinned. "What's her name?" She asked Scorpius, whispering so the adults wouldn't hear. She put her book down on her lap and looked at her best friends cousin.

Cassie laughed as she drank her tea. "Course you wouldn't Draco, you'd wait untill our back was turned, that is why you got turned into a ferret I believe." Her eye's twinkled evily annoying her best friends brother had always been fun, even if they had layed off eachother in the last few years. She finished her tea and placed it on the table. "I see the house hasn't changed much since I was last here, it hadn't changed much from before then either when I was eighteen. Bit behind the times Draco, I think it needs some refurnishing."

"You are so weird," Nicole said back to Scor before she whispered with Laurie, "Yeah who?"

"Well actually, Draco," Lyssa said, "I was expected you two," she motioned to him and Cassie, "to get into some sort of argument with occasional threats, and maybe her hitting you. And I was worried how the kids would get on. Seeing as they really haven’t all been around each other before. But it all seems to be just fine. And besides, if you had wanted to curse them you would have failed…miserably…"

She smiled at him.

Scor smiled, glad that he could entertain the girls a bit.In a conspiratorial voice, he whispered, "Her name is Vena R-," and broke of just there. Would it be a good idea to reveal that he spent his time hand in hand with a direct relation of Voldemort, who their mothers fought to defeat? Finally, he figured they were only children and it couldn't hurt. "Vena Riddle," he finished quietly.

Draco's eyebrows shifted unattractively upward as he was basically openly mocked. "Yes, well. We all know how amusing it is that I pulled my wand once more than twenty years ago and a raving lunatic transfigured me for it. I'm just sorry that you don't have anything better to keep your spirits up with after all this time." Glancing around his abode, he sighed. "Tori doesn't decorate, she bakes. Besides, no telling how much of this stuff is cursed to remain."

Laurie frowned slightly at that calculating something in her head. She sighed and started coutning on her fingers as her counting skills weren't superb. "Vena would be in your year yes?" Scorpius nodded. Laurie frowned again and redid her mental calculations. "Voldemort died twenty six years ago, and yes would be sixteen, which means that he was dead ten years before his daughter was born, Which logically doesn't work." She frowned again.

Cassie smiled. "Of course I do, but none of them concern you so it wouldn't be a amusing." Severus walked over and put his arms up wanting her to pick him up. She sighed bent down and picked up her youngest child. Then looked around the room. "And because you are too lazy to actually find out what is and what isn't. That's why I'm glad my mum brought me up a Muggle, I didn't turn lazy expecting magic to do everything for me and things magic couldn't do, I just left." She changed the sides she was holding Draco on. "Muggle's do have some things right."

Nicole's eyebrows pulled together. Laurie had a point. "How does that work out?" she asked. "Laurie's right. It doesn't add up…"

Lyssa watched amused as Cassie ranted at Draco. She'd gotten used to it a long time ago, and had resigned to not stopping them unless it got too bad. And besides it was horribly, horribly funny to watch Draco get flustered.

Scor wavered on how to respond to the girls. He should've known not to mention anything. "Well, I mean, he's Voldemort. Wouldn't put anything past him. If he can put bits of soul in snakes and rings and such, I'm sure he can father a child after his death." It'd be very bad idea for any kind of ideas about Tom Riddle being alive to get stuck in their young, impressionable minds. No doubt the whole wizarding world would know in a few days, if the girls liked to gossip half as much as Eris had at that age. Or at her current age, at that.

Draco's lips pursed in agitation. "Muggles rarely have anything right. The Ministry is, at this moment, running circles over itself trying to correct all the things that Muggles have done to the Earth we are forced to cohabitate with them on." He shrugged. "Your implications that I'm lazy are well-founded. I work smart, not hard. I'm no Hufflepuff."

Laurie frowned again. "Bit's of soul into rings?" She asked confused. "I don't get it." Which didn't please Laurie at all. She prefered understanding things that came across her not being kept in the dark. Laurie then heard her mum arugeing with Nicole's uncle and tuned into that.

"You know." Laurie said turning to face him. "I bet you that somewhere in your so called "pure-blood" family tree, a muggle or a squib would have been in it." Most pureblood families weren't actually pureblood and Laurie had been taught that by Cassie when she was younger. "You family would have disowned the ones without Magic, because you like and want to feel superiour to others who have a different blood status to what you pretend to have." She said calmly.

Cassie laughed and winked at Laurie who smiled at her mum. Laurie really didn't get that to some wizards being a pureblood wizard was something that they cherished about her family. she also didn't know that Draco was exactly one of those people. Laurie was younge and clueless and Cassie had never really toldher about it because it had never seemed to come up in coversation. Laurie knew that some wizards were against Muggle's and Muggle borns but she was too younge to actually comprehend what it meant. She didn't know what she had said was probably insulting to some wizards, she had just outed that their family wasn't "special" for being all pureblood wizard.

Nicole gave a tiny frown. While she wasn't as pressing for information as Laurie was she was just as curious, but would rather not ask for it. She heard her uncle and Cassie arguing over something in the background. It was about…Muggles?

She turned her head towards them, listening intently. Then Laurie added in her bit about blood status and such, which inwardly made Nicole cringe. She herself was a half blood. But her family never counted that against her. But was it only because she was adopted by Lyssa, who was a Malfoy herself? Nicole frowned deeper.

Scor weighed his options on how to explain Horcruxes to young girls, but was happily saved by the comments Laurie was making to his father. Inwardly, he cringed. His father was normally polite in a very flat sort of way, but if people began suggesting things about having Muggles or Squibs in the family (which was probably true, but definitely not something that was proper to discuss) he was likely to go off, even if it was only a child who provoked them.

Draco's mouth started a steady downward twitch that threatened to wipe his usual smirk from his face. "My blood," he said, his voice quivering only slightly in its cold indifference, "is pure." With that, he rose from the couch and paced over to the fireplace. It was undignified to fidget, but he had to keep his body occupied or he was sure it would give away his anger. How dare someone suggest that his ancestry was tainted. There were records kept, proving that his blood was purely magical. Why, the greatest Dark wizard the wizarding world had seen had been below him in blood status.

Eris scurried into the room with a platter holding a teapot, several cups, and what seemed to be sugar and milk. Next to it there was a saucer with not one cookie but several, of different kinds. She paused when she recognized the heavy silence in the room. "Something wrong?" she asked.

Laurie made a face that said. "Sure I belive you." She wasn't stupid dispite her age. "That's what they want you to think." She muttered at Draco who was seeminly trying to keep calm not that it was working well. His daughter Eris entered the room with a plate of tea and cookie's. Severus nearly sent it all flying as he ran up to her trying to get a cookie. Cassie laughed. "Laurie just stated that your family tree isn't just pureblood." It was actually quite an obvious thing

"The muggle born or squibmight notbe directly related to you, Mr Malfoy." Laurie said. She was a stubborn girl and when you got her onto something she truely belived in it was hard to waver her mind. "But a sibling, or a aunt or someone, somewhere on your family tree wouldn't be magical. No-ones family tree is pure, a Muggle born could even have a magic relation from hundres od years back. It doesn't make a difference. We're all equal. That's what started the Voldemort buisness, people thinking they were better then others."