A Slytherin Black Sheep

-Memories from Cats

Edana arrived at Malfoy Manor and handed over the flask of potion Mrs. Malfoy requested along with the change to a waiting house elf who instructed her to dress for dinner. Not certain of what to wear, Edana put on a set of nice robes that, while not among her best, were certainly of a better cut and quality than her everyday or school things. As she finished, Mrs. Malfoy came to fetch her.

"You look lovely, dear." Mrs. Malfoy said. She had changed into lavender evening robes. "I was worried you might not find your way. The layout of the house is quite confusing."

"Yes it is," Edana agreed.

"Lucius´s ancestors took a page from the Hogwart´s founders. If an intruder did manage to enter the Manor, they would not know where anything was located."

The dinning room was paneled in polished dark stained oak and contained several suits of armor that whispered about the meal as the two women passed them. The dinning table in the Malfoy table was made of highly polished mahogany. Mrs. Malfoy told Edana it could be expanded to accommodate a party of twenty.

"Lucius considered a larger table, but I informed him that twenty was quite enough. More than that is overwhelming." Mrs. Malfoy said as she took her place in the hostess´s seat.

"It´s a lovely table." Edana commented. As she sat down, she noticed the birch inlay around the border of the table. The work was so fine it could only be magical - and the work of an expert at that.

Mrs. Malfoy beamed. "The table has been in my family for three generations. When Lucius and I were married, I insisted the old table - an oak trestle of all things - be moved to another room. Lucius was a bit stubborn, but he eventually saw my way."

As though her words were an introduction, Lucius appeared leading a young boy of about six years. Father and son greeted the two women formally before taking their places, Edana noted the boy glancing over at his father and copying his motions.

"Draco, this is your cousin Edana Rosier." Mr. Malfoy introduced the two.

"Good evening Cousin Edana," Draco chirped with sacharine sweetness, bobbing his head in another obvious imitation of his father.

Edana was amused, but managed not to show it. If Draco was anything like she was at that age he would be hurt by the notion of anyone finding his attempt to mimic adult manners adorable. "Good evening, Cousin Draco. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"I think it would be permissible for you and Draco to simply use your given names," Lucius said in what he appeared to think was a magnanimous tone. He seemed to be going out of his way to engender familial feelings in her. Edana wanted to know why, but suspected real answers would not be forthcoming any time soon. "We are all family after all. Edana´s mother died a few days ago and her family is not able to take care of her right now and she will be staying with us for the time being."

Edana found herself grateful Lucius did not elaborate. Draco appeared to accept this explanation as he moved on to a topic that appealed far more to the young boy.

"Do you like Quidditch, Edana?" Draco asked after the soup course was served.

Edana was still tired from her trip, her lack of sleep the previous night, and not interested in discussing Quidditch, but she suspected it would be better to play the casual family guest. "Yes, I do."

"I want to play Quidditch at Hogwarts, you are in Hogwarts aren´t you? What house are you in?"

"I´m in Slytherin."

Draco nodded in a mannerism reminiscent of his mother. "Do you play Quidditch?"

"I´m a Chaser."

"Oh," a disappointed Draco said, "I want to be either a Beater or a Seeker."

"Slytherin always needs a good Seeker." Edana reminded him. "The current team will have all left when you arrive at Hogwarts."

Draco grinned around a mouthful of rice. Mrs. Malfoy shot her son a warning look and the boy made a visible effort to recover his table manners.

* * *

After dinner Mrs. Malfoy pulled Edana aside.

"The funeral will be on Saturday." She said quietly, then in a louder voice suggested Draco show her the library while she and Lucius talked. Edana would have dearly loved to have been pivy to that conversation, but instead she followed Draco to the Malfoy family library. It was a large room with vaulted ceilings that contained about a third of the books as the Hogwarts library, but with a different selection. Edana noticed a great deal of books on history, both ancient and modern, and the dark arts, but very little concerning Muggle studies or divination. She peered at the titles, some of them were in the Restricted Section at Hogwarts but none were on the illegal list as far as she could tell. If the Malfoys had any of those books it was doubtful they would keep them with their legitimate collection.

But then again, was not the best place to hide something in plain site?

Edana waited until Draco´s nanny chased him off to bed to begin probing the library in depth. Surely Aurors had searched the house during the investigation into Lucius Malfoy? Then again the Aurors look into Malfoy had been cursory by all accounts.

Edana decided she needed more information on the family. She discovered that the Malfoy´s purchased the bound collections the Daily Prophet printed of each years papers . Since the books came with a comprehensive index it was much easier to search for specific things than checking individual editions. She decided to start there.

She began with 1981, but found only articles containing information she already knew. A few paragraphs about Mr. Malfoy´s arrest and a handful of longer articles when he was released two days later. All charges were dismissed due to his being under the Imperius Curse. Aside from a few scattered editorials about the speed and quality of justice afforded wealthy pure-bloods nothing further was printed on the matter.

A search of the1980 volume yielded Draco´s birth notice. Edana skimmed the brief article. Draco´s birth occurred the same day as the attack on the Prewitts, a prominent Slytherin family, and the news and obituaries took up so much room that the birth of such a prominent family`s heir merited only three sentences on the fourth page. It was all but buried between a scathing commentary on the Ministry and an article by a former Slytherin denouncing "unwarranted prejudice against our noble house" by the magical community and pointing to the Prewitt murders as evidence that Slytherins were not immune from Death Eater attacks.

Edana closed the 1980 volume. She knew there were articles inside the book about Evan´s death, but she never intended to read them. She did not want to know any more of the specifics than she already did.

On a whim she tried the 1982 volumne. With You-Know-Who defeated, previously classified information and rumors were recounted and picked over by self appointed experts in the Prophet. She wonder if Mr. Malfoy´s claims of innocence had been subjected to the experts scrutiny. Probably, Edana decided, though she figured it unlikely that those particular bits would be printed in the Prophet. The Malfoy´s were wealthy enough to keep good solicitors on retainer.

Then a listing caught her eye.

Binding, The... 56, 89

"There is still The Binding. I recall the Rosiers were among the families who participated, but only our Lord can draw upon that."

Edana turned to page fifty-six.

"Edana?"

Edana slammed the book shut as Mrs. Malfoy entered the room.

"What are you reading?"

"I wanted to see if my name ever appeared in the Prophet," Edana replied ingeniously.

Mrs. Malfoy smiled. "I think everyone has wondered if anything about them was printed at some point, but you needn´t slam books shut."

"You startled me." It was, after all, the truth.

* * *

Edana wondered if her behavior in the library sparked Mrs. Malfoy´s suspicions after all. Either that or she thought Edana was reading about her brother´s death and wanted to keep her from that so soon after her Mother´s death. Either out of a desire to protect Edana from her curiosity or to keep her from stumbling on any damaging articles, Mrs. Malfoy found ways of keeping her young charge away from the library in a most creative way: by having her join Draco´s tutoring sessions.

Edana was not pleased at having to join a class whose sole other member was not old enough to be sorted, but the subjects she shared with the boy were not ones she was taught at Hogwarts: French, Latin, Muggle History, and Magical Literature. In that last subject, she and Draco read different books chosen by Draco´s tutor Mrs. Pembergast.

Mrs. Pembergast appeared delighted to have an additional student. Draco Malfoy was an intelligent child and could exude charm when he chose, but he was far too used to having his own way and not eager to learn anything that did not interest him. Muggles bored him and their history was greeted with disdain until Mrs. Pembergast mentioned some of their wars and discussed Muggle weaponry. Anything involving blood and gore attracted Draco´s immediate interest, much to Edana´s annoyance.

"This arrow was used to pierce armor," Mrs. Pembergast explained. It did help her lessons that the Manor was littered with so many examples of armor, swords, axes, longbows and other devices from the Muggle occupancy and Mr. Malfoy´s extensive collection. They had all been charmed into place to prevent curious children from playing with them.

It surprised Edana that the Malfoy´s wanted their son taught Muggle history until she realized that they were using it to instill a sense of superiority in Draco. The Muggle weapons served that purpose as well as being trophies and disturbing visitors.

"That´s all it did?" Draco sneered as he studied the arrow. "Just poke through the armor?"

"Muggle arrows have been known to be tipped with poisons at times, but since they cannot use Magic, there were no enchantments." Mrs. Pembergast explained.

"Why is the end shaped like that?" Edana indicated the ragged edge of the arrow head.

Mrs. Pembergast looked down at the arrow, running her finger gently along the metal tip. "It was designed so that it could not be pulled out of a victim. It had to be cut out."

Draco´s interest grew at that disclosure.

* * *

After lessons with Draco and Mrs. Pembergast, Edana made certain to check the papers for anything on the Longbottoms or her mother´s obituary. She arranged for her mother´s subscription to be sent to her at Malfoy Manor as it was already paid for the year.

After the brief obituary appeared in the Prophet, Edana was surprised to receive several letters of sympathy. Most were from people she knew from school, people who never met her mother. There was even one from her roommate Malina, but Edana could not bring herself to read it. She tucked it into her trunk.

There were also a handful of letters that left her feeling cold and unclean after she read them. They were carefully composed so not to incriminate, but the Death Eater sentiments stained every stroke of the writers quills.

She hoped the writers of those letters would not appear at the funeral, but she doubted she would be that fortunite.

* * *

Lenore Rosier´s funeral was better attended than that of her son; the presence of the Malfoys almost made it a society event for the Muggle loathing set. Edana, the Malfoys and Uncle Brian filled the first row of seats. Edana was uncomfortable in her stiff chair, a feeling compounded by the black linen dress robes and uncomfortable new shoes she wore. She had never worn stilettos before and wished for a charm to help her balance when walking in them. The sheer stockings she wore with the shoes did not help matters. They made her shoes feel as though they were about to slip off.

It was felt vaguely wrong to wear black stockings to her mother´s funeral. Mrs. Rosier had believed stockings inappropriate for those under seventeen and forbade Edana from wearing anything other than socks or tights until she came of age. Mrs. Malfoy, however, was horrified at the notion of Edana still wearing tights to a formal event at fourteen and provided her with a pair. Edana did not feel much like arguing, though she did draw the line at make-up.

Edana barely heard the eulogy Uncle Brian gave. She spent the entire time in her own thoughts, alternately remembering her pre-Hogwarts days and the closeness she shared with her mother then and wishing the funeral over. For some reason Edana could not explain to herself, she felt incredibly uncomfortable and vulnerable.

At least she was not the only one eager to leave. Draco fidgeted in his seat through the entire service, tugging at the collar of his dress robes and fidgetting, Mrs. Malfoy had to lean over and hiss at him to behave several times. Draco would keep still for a time before the urge to swing his feet or squirm became too much.

The luncheon after the service was, in Edana´s opinion, excruciating though Draco appeared happier at being able to move about. Strangers came up to her to express condolences and chat with her. Edana knew it was polite to speak with them, but it was hard to think of things to say after pleasantries were exchanged. Thankfully those who came to talk with her were willing to accept her excuses and bring their discussions to a quick close. Edana wished they would leave her be so she could sit down and brood. The back of her heels ached from where her shoes rubbed through her stockings and against her skin.

Uncle Brian noticed the way Edana kept shifting her weight from one foot to the other and led her away from the crowd to a couch. "Edana, please sit down."

Edana sat down. She fished around for something to say. "You gave a nice eulogy."

Uncle Brian shrugged. "You look different in that outfit...older."

"Are you sure it´s the outfit alone?"

"Grief does have a way of aging the soul." Uncle Brian agreed. There was a weariness in his voice Edana only partially understood. "And speaking of grief, how are the Malfoys?"

Edana looked around for the family to make sure they could not hear before answering. "I want to go home." Her voice sounded whiny to her own ears.

"I wish you could go home too." Uncle Brian replied.

Edana tried to speak but the words would not come. Uncle and niece sat on the couch as conversations flowed around them.

"Poor dear, must be shattered..."

"Some bloke in the pub told me about it."

"Solicitor´s fees are outrageous these days!"

Edana closed her eyes. She decided she hated funeral more than ever and resolved never to attend another. They were so false. She doubted anyone in the room other than herself and Uncle Brian cared anything about Lenore Rosier.

* * *

Edana kicked off her uncomfortable shoes and watched one end up under the bed. The house elves left the evening Prophet for her on the bedside table just as she requested. She flipped through the paper, searching for information on the outcome of her warning, when a headline snagged her attention. The article was sketchy but Edana thrilled that the Longbottoms were alive and their Death Eater attackers arrested.

AUROR ATTACKED!

Respected Auror Frank Longbottom was kidnapped on his return home and interrogated by a group of Death Eaters. When he refused to speak, the Death Eaters forced their way into his home and tortured his wife, Emily. At some point, Longbottom was able to escape and summon help. Ministry officials and Aurors arrived on the scene and arrested four individuals whose names were not available at press time.

The Longbottoms are currently at St. Mungo´s hospital for Magical Maladies receiving treatment. An update on their condition will be posted as soon as information becomes available.

She folded the paper and placed it in her trunk. Edana could not help but feel smug that things had turned out all right: the Longbottoms lived and their attackers were in custody.