Silens I Chapter 29
I feel their pain,
their stress
like it was my own.
To be replaced by someone else,
is about as painful
as dying.
We drove quietly, Ms Granger occasionally adjusting the wheel. After a stretch of silence I said,"'I hope I won't be disturbing you guys." I was looking out of the right car window, which I was nearest to.
Tom shook his head. "Nah," he said. "You've met Dad before." The word Dad seemed to roll off his tongue like he was swallowing an unfamiliar food. Lucas and I noticed and exchanged a glance, though Lucas was blind.
After a while the car coasted into the Manor driveway, past the open gates that closed with a snap behind. I saw white peacocks strutting confidently on the hedges, and shrunk beside Lucas, feeling his warm shoulder. The Manor seemed a bit, well, imiadadating. I didn't know how the other two stood it.
"Okay," said Ms. Granger in a slightly shaking voice, "Tom, Lucas, Asia, we're here." She parked, and everyone got out. Tom slid out of the front seat, where he had been riding shotgun, and Lucas and I climbed out of the back. All of us looked at the Manor in all its grandeur. I had never seen Tom and Lucas's home, but I was sure it wasn't as nearly as grand as this mansion was.
"Hello," said Draco as he walked out of the front door. Well, the huge front doors. "Tom, Lucas, Hermione?" he said, his eyes lingering on Ms. Granger longer than his sons. Was that look contempt, or maybe even sadness? "Asia," he said, and I nodded.
"I'm glad you recognize me," I said.
"You're hard to forget," he said shortly, and I guessed he had remembered my eyes. "Come in," he said. "Dinner is ready and waiting, and Scorpius is too." I quickly did the math in my head. According to Tom, Scorpius had been born in 2006: it was 2014 at this time, Tom and Lucas being 15 and me being 14, so Scorpius must be at the tender age of 8 years old.
We walked into the dining hall. I needn't describe, it was all too much, but the table was in the middle of the room, weighed down with food. It reminded me of a Hogwarts Feast. My heart twanged but I kept it from showing on my face.
On the far end was Scorpius, looking like a mini version of Draco, Tom, and Lucas, only he had grey eyes. He looked at me and waved, and spell was broken. He was just an innocent little kid. I fought a smile when he smiled, but didn't smile for Tom and Lucas's sake.
"Come sit." Draco said.
I didn't see his wife anywhere. We all sat.
Everyone started talking. Unlike last time, at Christmas years ago, there wasn't an awkward silence. Scorpius was introduced, and so was Tom, Lucas, and Ms Granger. I was introduced last, simply as a friend. Friend? I could see Lucas out of the corner of my eye about to correct, but thought better of it when Draco continued talking.
Scorpius seemed interested in me, like any 8 year old should, I guess, but after a while it got unnerving. The dinner went on, and they all talked, and I sat listening, feeling unincluded: which was the correct way to feel. But I also felt somewhat jealous, Tom and Lucas were meeting their half-brother, and I had never even met my real parents.
I hope you enjoyed, and please like! Also, Knight, you can prolong or do whatever you want, I hope you liked my take on it. ;)
