Blackeyed Girl

@Daughter of a serpent: thanks again! Glad you are still enjoying yourself here. But why do you think that Lucius has a sneaky plan? Perhaps he is just a nice, sociable man who wants to help out a friend… ;)

And yes, I think Snape was a bit freaked out about the gift. I like that Eleanor has the ability to freak him out and that she is not always so easy to read for him as other people are. She has that mysterious thing from him in a way, so he is up against himself with that. And I like that she is not really aware that it is a rather special ability to not be readable by Snape. lol





So here is the new chapter. I hope to pick up speed with writing a bit! Be patient please! And leave reviews if you enjoy the story or if you have anything to say about it! Thanks!





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Chapter 15

The Land of the Pure



Eleanor held Snape’s arm tightly as they apperated. The first thing she saw, as soon as she felt hard ground under her feet again, was a high gate and behind it a long path leading up to a beautiful manor. Snape looked ahead but made no attempt to step towards the gate. He looked down at Eleanor, who was clutching her old leathery suitcase under her arm and the struggling cat in her hand.



“I still have my concerns about this. And I only agree to it because I see no other option. Now, I want you to listen very carefully, I want you to behave while you are a guest in this house. That means you will not sneak around, you will not put your nose into their business. You will do exactly as they say and stick to their rules. You will find they live very differently to myself.”



Eleanor looked ahead at the Manor and said quietly: “Clearly.”



“I can not stress how important it is to not anger Mr Malfoy or his wife. …And do not provoke Draco into anything stupid either”, he added with a thought. Eleanor nodded as though making mental notes.

-Do not anger the Malfoys

-Do not provoke their son into anything stupid….



Snape continued: “Be careful and listen to what they tell you. Be wise.”



“Alright”, said Eleanor seriously, but trying to bring the point across that she had understood and that he was repeating himself.



“And do not talk to the Malfoys about me or the Headmaster or Harry Potter. Should they ask questions about any of us tell them that you know nothing and try to turn the conversation into something else.”



Eleanor looked up at him in surprise now.



He looked at her seriously: “Do you understand? This is of the most importance. Do not tell them that you are befriended with Mr Potter.”



“But… Draco might have seen us together. He will know this… and what do I know about you or Dumbledore that Draco doesn’t know? What is it they are not supposed to know?”



Snape sighed: “Hopefully nothing. I just don’t want to run the risk…if you can, try not to talk about Potter or Dumbledore or me. Understood?”



Eleanor nodded, her brow in a furrow.



Snape seemed to be satisfied and pushed her forward towards the gate. Eleanor’s eyes widened and she stumbled backwards again as the gate started to form its decorative iron bars into a scary looking face, which suddenly spoke: “State the purpose of your visit!”



“I bring Eleanor Prince! She is invited by the master of the house!” Snape spoke loudly. The face disappeared and the gate opened. Snape pushed her forward. Eleanor stepped through the gate but turned around again when she noticed that he was not following her.



“Are you not coming to the door?”, she asked.



“I am in a hurry. You will be fine. They are expecting you. I will be back in a few days to pick you up again.”



Eleanor nodded insecurely: “Alright.”



And then she saw Snape dissapperate and he was gone. She looked at the spot on which he had disappeared until she was sure that he had really gone. Then she turned around slowly and walked down the path towards the house. She stepped up the marble steps to the door and knocked. She heard someone come towards her from inside and a tall woman opened. A pale, angelic but cold face looked down at her. It was a woman with long blond, shining hair, thin lips and piercing green eyes. She was wearing and equally green, piercing long dress that hugged her slender figure gently and gracefully.



“I’m Eleanor Prince, Madam”, said Eleanor trying to stand very straight, as she had learned it in school in Romania. But the wildly struggling kitten, which had enough of being held in one hand together with some luggage made her sway slightly as she tired to keep her grip on it. The tall woman slowly shifted her eyes towards the struggling cat, rose a brow and then stepped aside:



“Welcome to Malfoy Manor. I’m Mrs Malfoy. You will have to keep an eye on your cat while you are here. We have dogs.”



Eleanor tightened her grip on Molly. She was rather going to keep the kitten in her suitcase than expose it to any danger. Wide eyed she followed Mrs Malfoy into the reception hall. It was a grant, light hall. The walls were lined with portraits and there was a brilliant marble staircase on one side. She looked up and saw that the light came through a bewitched glass domed roof. Her big dark eyes took everything in, amazed by the glamour of everything around her. Mrs. Malfoy took her up another small, wooden staircase further down the hall.



“I will show you your room, so you can unpack your things. My husband will not be home before dinner.”



At the top of the stairs she opened a wooden door and entered a cosy room. Eleanor followed her into it and realised that this room was only another reception room. There was a window and two chairs beside it. From this room two more doors let into opposite directions. Mrs Malfoy pointed at the one to her right, which lay opposite the one they had just come through.



“This door leads to the main first floor corridor. This…”, she turned to the other door further back in the room and opened it, “Is one of our guest rooms. You can sleep here. It has a bathroom through there.” She pointed at another door going off the bedroom. Eleanor entered and looked around. It was a wonderful room, it did not compare with her room in Snape’s house at all. She loved the room Snape had made for her, it was a lovely room for a young girl but this, this looked more like a noble hotel room with a four poster bed, with green curtains and a lot of space and her very own bathroom. Eleanor’s mouth fell open again as she started turning in circles. Mrs Malfoy closed the door upon noticing the cat struggling even harder. Eleanor let go of Molly finally who instantly dashed under the bed, hiding from the unfamiliar territory. Eleanor took no note of it and walked towards the window, which gave her a brilliant view over the wonderful and well-maintained park.



“You live in a beautiful place, Mrs Malfoy.” Eleanor said still looking over the land.



“Thank you”, said Mrs Malfoy, her voice however was just as formal and cold as it had been. She knew very well that her house was beautiful, it was nothing special to her anymore.



“You will mainly use the staircase I showed you. It is your separate entrance to your rooms. That way we won’t be in each others way.”



Eleanor turned around to her now, her arms crossed behind her back: “Of course. Thank you very much for allowing me to stay.”



Mrs Malfoy blinked, her expression remained hard: “Your guardian is a very good friend of my husbands and he looks after our son for us during school time. It goes without saying that we look after you while he is away.”



Eleanor remained quiet and only looked back at the woman. Somehow she got the feeling that Mrs Malfoy was not entirely happy with her being here. Or perhaps it was simply that she was not very warm and welcoming to strangers. She could not point her finger on it, but though this woman knew all the rules of hospitality she was still not quite convincing.



Mrs Malfoy seemed to become uncomfortable under Eleanor’s silent glare. She pushed her chin up and started to fiddle with her dress.



“I am very grateful. Thank you.”



“If you need anything you can call for the elf. Its name is Sally.”



“You have an elf?”



“Of course we do. Well, this one is quite new. Our old one was stolen from us. It is not easy to get a new elf these days once you loose one.”



“Right”, said Eleanor not really knowing what the woman was talking about.



“I will leave you to yourself now so you can unpack. We have dinner at 7 pm. You will find the dining room downstairs back through the reception hall.”



“Thank you. I will be punctual”, Eleanor said and watched Mrs Malfoy leave the room.



Eleanor sat down on the huge bed and tried the flexibility of the mattress, which made the cat dash out from under the bed again in alarm. Eleanor saw her shoot out from under it like an arrow and straight into the bathroom of which the door stood open.



“Don’t make a fuzz, Molly. It’s really pretty here.”



She lay on the bed for a wile, studying the carving work in the ceiling of the bed and letting her feet dangle. She did not notice it getting dark outside until she heard voices from the garden. She got up and looked outside. She could make out three figures near the woods at the end of the park. They were casting spells, hexes and curses at things Eleanor could not see, they directed them at the bushes and trees and occasionally at each other. But it was not a fight. They were laughing. As she continued to watch she could make out the very blond hair of Draco Malfoy and then recognised the voices of his friends Crab and Goyle. She watched them for a while till they disappeared in the house. Now it was quiet outside, except for an owl hooting somewhere in the woods. Eleanor turned around again and looked back into the room. Molly was still hiding somewhere in the dark bathroom. She sighed, as she had to admit to the feeling of homesickness towards Spinner’s End. She missed Snape, too. His home had been an odd cosy place where she felt save. She also missed Hogwarts, now that she thought of it, but not Hogwarts by itself. She could have gone there after all, had she wanted that. She missed her friends and her classes. This place, as beautiful as it was, was unfamiliar and so very different to anything she knew. And she did not actually know the Malfoys well at all. She had hardly exchanged a word with Draco at school. She had met his mother for the first time today and she did not seem to be the warmest kind of person. And Mr Malfoy…, well, she did not know how she felt about him. She only knew she felt terribly nervous and excited every time she met him or even thought of him. But there was something unpredictable about him. He seemed so friendly and nice, and then again there was something else about him she could not quite identify, she wondered if it was just her imagination, because of what Harry had told her about him.



Then she could hear the grandfather clock from downstairs chime 7 pm. She stood up quickly, all tiredness and momentary sadness had gone. She felt nervousness rush through her. She hastily brushed her thick hair out of her face and reattached her hairclip and with a last look at the open bathroom door she left the room to go back downstairs.



In the reception hall she met Draco, who was also on his way to dinner, as it seemed. They both stopped when they saw each other.



“Hello”, she said shyly.



“So father was serious then, about taking Snape’s orphan into our house. Here you are.”



“Is that a problem?” she asked bravely but also seriously concerned. She did not want to be in anyone’s way.



Draco frowned: “I guess not. After all our house is big enough.”



He turned away and walked into the other direction. Eleanor followed him. They entered the dining room. It was a rich and impressive long room with a broad table in the back and a chandelier above it. Mr Malfoy just sat down at the longer end when they entered. Mrs Malfoy was already seated and did not look up.



“There you are!” said Lucius with a smile towards the teenagers and rose from his chair again.



He pulled out the chair on his left, opposite Mrs Malfoy for Eleanor. She nervously shuffled over to him and sat down. She gave him a shaky smile, very aware that she was again wearing the same dress and worried he might take offence on it but he seemed to take no note of it.



“How do you like you room, Miss Prince?” he asked as the food appeared on the table.

“It’s more than I could have ever asked for. Thank you so much. I would have been fine with a lot less.”



Draco snorted.



Lucius caught his son’s eye but did not linger on it: “Well, young lady, in this house we do not give pure blood wizards and witches less than a decent quarters when they stay over night.”



Eleanor smiled meekly but quickly looked down onto her plate.



They started eating. Eleanor did not quite know what it was she was eating but she could tell that it was expensive and artfully designed food and of best quality.



“Which brings me to another point. We will have to organise a decent wardrobe for you if you are staying for our New Years party.” He looked her up and down, distracted from his food and even Mrs Malfoy looked her up and down briefly with a critical gaze.



Eleanor looked up quickly: “Oh the Professor did not give me any money… I can’t…”



”Don’t worry about that. Old Severus was never easy with his money. It is not a problem.”



“But… but you can’t pay for it”, Eleanor argued in disbelieve.



“But it would be a pleasure”, he smiled.



“You may as well buy her new underwear while you’re at it. I happen to know she needs a new pair of knickers.”



Eleanor dropped her spoon onto the plate. But then it was dead silent. She wanted to turn into stone. She did not dare move nor look up. She fixed her eyes at her plate and wished for her thick wave of hair to come loose and hide her eyes. Then she suddenly heard Mr Malfoy’s quiet and yet thunderous voice:



“Leave the room, Draco. Leave the room now.”



Eleanor heard a chair pull back and Draco leaving the room. But it did not make her feel any better.



“I have to apologise for my son. He is at a difficult age and apparently he has forgotten his manners. I will make sure to remind him.”



He said the last sentence while turning his eyes towards his wife, who was staring back at him. But Eleanor did not see this. She still did not dare to look up and show her deep red face. How she was going to get over her embarrassment she did not know.



They continued eating in silence and Eleanor was more than glad when it was over and she could excuse herself to her room.



She exhaled deeply when she closed the door to her room behind her and was with herself again. ‘Great, now Mr Malfoy had to wonder what was wrong with her knickers’ she thought, a sickening feeling in her stomach. This was worse than if Draco had simply told him what had happened that day, when he found her crying under a desk.



Her view fell on the still open bathroom door. She walked over to it and lit her wand to look inside. The light reflected in Molly’s wide eyes from the small space between the bath and the wall. Eleanor sighed and walked out again. She sat down on the floor next to the bathroom door and unwrapped some meat the elf had left on the small table next to the door for her cat. She laid it out just outside the door to the bathroom and waited.



“Molly, don’t be silly. You must be hungry. Look what I’ve got”, she waited but the kitten did not show, “I know cats don’t like to move, but you have been fine with Hogwarts and Spinner’s End, why do you have to be so difficult now? Do you just have enough of new places, is that it?”



In that moment, faster than Eleanor could look, a black, furry ball of a cat shot out of the dark bathroom, grabbed the piece of meat and dashed past her back under the bed, where she had been hiding in the first place.



“Drama Queen”, said Eleanor sadly and got ready for bed.



The night was long and dark. Even though she knew Molly was under her bed she felt lonely and wished the kitten was acting normally and come out of her hiding place to cuddle. But Molly stayed under the bed and did not as much as stir.



The next morning Eleanor was relieved to find a tray with breakfast on her nightstand. The elf must have brought it and it meant she did not have to face the Malfoy family for breakfast and could remain in her room for a while till she felt awake enough to leave it.



She grabbed her toast with marmalade and walked over to the window to look over the park again, now that it was light and sunny. It was all so beautiful and looked after, she thought of Draco and how amazing it must be to live here and to call this home.



About an hour later she dared to slip out of her door and started wandering about the reception hall, studying the paintings. It was an ancestor gallery. Each painting showed some kind of glamorous and sometimes scarily and cold looking person who would frown at her or watch her every step.



“It is rude to stare, Young Lady”, said a man in a rather old paining, which she past. She twitched and apologised.



Then she heard a low noise behind her and turned. It was Draco who shuffled past her as though he had tried not to be noticed. Eleanor only watched him passing her. Was she only imagining it or was his cheek and lip swollen? He ignored her and vanished through another door.



She turned back to the painting. A moment later she heard another noise behind her and as she turned around she stumbled backwards into the painting because she found Lucius Malfoy very close behind her.



The woman in the paining shrieked: “Watch were you are going, stupid girl! It is not too much to ask for this little bit of two dimensional space!”



“Pardon me”, smiled Lucius, well aware that he had startled her, “I was just wondering if you have seen our garden yet.”



Eleanor shook her head, staring up at him wide eyed.



He held out his arm for her to take: “Then I’ll give you a tour.”



She hesitated but felt there was no way out, so she took his arm tentatively. Lucius smiled, mildly amused about the shy and nervous touch of her small hand around the velvet of his coat’s arm.



He led her out the French doors of the drawing room, she had never entered before and they stepped down some wide stone steps into the garden, which she had seen from her window. She tried to let go of her nervousness and enjoy the walk beside this glamorous man as he led her down a gravel path through the English park. They did not speak for a long time, but Eleanor did not find it awkward. It gave her a chance to dive into her own fantasy and imagine that she was some noble young lady, walking her own garden with her prince, -only that she did not feel very ladylike. But then again, it was only a dream.



“So, living with our dear Severus must be quite different from what you were used to at home?” he eventually started.



Eleanor hesitated, she did not yet find it at all easy to speak to Mr Malfoy, he made her too nervous. But now, as she did not have to look straight at him she felt she might be able to and she watched the albino peacocks instead as she answered quietly:



“It is different. But I like it.”



“It appears to me that you are… not very demanding.”



Eleanor remained quiet a moment, then she said: “Why would I demand anything?” She wanted to ad that she did not think she deserved anything, but she did not.



“Well I don’t know. I don’t think I would be who I am had I not been slightly… demanding in life.”



Eleanor considered a moment: “I can be demanding of myself. But I am in no position to demand anything from Professor Snape. He is already giving me more than I can ask for.”



“You are a very well raised girl. What were your parents like?”



“They loved me.”



“Of course they did. I guess what I am asking is, what did they believe in? Where they conservative or… did they believe in the inclusion of muggleborns? Were they politically active at all?”



Eleanor hesitated: “I don’t know. They never spoke to me about that kind of stuff.”



“I see. Then… since you are … unspoiled by any party. What do you think? After all Hogwarts represents rather…, lets say modern views under the current headmaster.”



“I don’t know.”



“Don’t you think that you, as a pure blood witch should have rights over the others who just… pop up accidentally out of muggle breeding with miserable potential? Don’t you find it unsettling that those types mix with pureblood wizards?” Lucius spoke lightly and casually as they continued walking, but Eleanor did not like the words he was using.



“I have everything I need. I think there is enough magic for everyone.”



Lucius chuckled and patted her hand: “A truly naïve spirit.”



“I like your garden, Mr Malfoy”, she suddenly said, not comfortable with the subject he had chosen.



“Thank you. Now let me be demanding for you since you lack it and let me take you to Diagon Ally tomorrow.”



“I don’t think Professor Snape approves”, she said quietly.



Lucius stopped. Their path had led them into a group of old trees. And as he turned to look at her she suddenly found herself very much alone with him. She had to look away from him again as his thrilling light blue eyes gazed directly down into hers.



“It is very simple, dear child, you will be a guest at my New Year’s party and though there is no dress code, what you are wearing is simply not suitable. I don’t want you to become the laughing stock of the evening. I want you to make some new friends. So please, help me to help you.”



Eleanor could not help but form an embarrassed smile and looked shyly past him: “If you take responsibility for it in front of Professor Snape…”



Lucius gave a comical face and sighed dramatically: “Yes I will take the wrath of the overgrown bat on me and I promise…” he took her hand and kissed it, this time for real. He looked back up into her eyes and gave her a strange look she could not interpret; “I will protect you from harm.”



Eleanor smiled self-consciously and pulled her hand slowly but determinant out of his grip.