Territory
She could feel a chill seeping into her heart as she heard the first knock on the door. It was rather late and a cold night so Celeste shrugged off the feeling of unease and went to answer it.
A tall masked man was standing before her and she could feel the magic before she saw the wand. Many more shadows loomed behind him and Celeste’s heart began to beat furiously as she attempted to keep herself calm. He was apparently considering his next move, and she could feel his eyes sweeping over her thin form. These people were just the type Blaise had warned her about, but how was she to get help from Ms. Zabini now?
The tall man reached behind him and one of his friends handed him a small bundle. He shoved it into her arms and Celeste screamed when she realized what it was. She could not help the tears that fell as a hundred knives were clawing at her heart.
But she had to be strong for the others.
“How dare you step into this territory and do what you please?” she tried to muster a confident voice, “Do you not know that Zabini controls all this land?”
She felt silly saying it, but apparently her words had shocked the man into speechlessness for a while. She needed to somehow get word to Blaise or his ‘mother’ without leaving Nana and the children at this murderer’s mercy.
“Clever Muggle, aren’t you?” he spoke at last, “Destroy everything in the garden and then go home, leave the house to me!” he said in a louder voice to his companions.
Celeste was suddenly shoved roughly in through the door and she heard it close loudly after her as she picked up the cold corpse of the youngest orphan in the house. The beautiful little girl they had decided to name Rose.
“You’re going to tell me everything you know about Zabini right now.”
She stared at the shadowy figure that was now sitting on the couch before the fire in amazement. Why would he be so interested all of a sudden? She wondered if she had made a mistake, if this would somehow hurt Blaise.
“I’m sorry,” she swallowed hard, “Sir, but I can’t tell you anything.”
“Well then we’re just going to sit here until I find some things out either from you or from Zabini himself,” the man took the mask off to reveal a young, mischievous, but rather tired face. For some reason the sight of his handsome features calmed her and she began to think ahead. If she could stall him long enough, and warn the children, then maybe she could get little Howard to run over and get the woman’s help. Or maybe if she got hold of the notebook then she could get Blaise to help.
So she set about making the murderer tea and supper.
She was well aware of his eyes following her every move and she tried to keep on a façade of coolness as she set the precious bundle down in her unused baby-chair and rummaged around in the fridge.
He didn’t say a word until the table was laid with a nice little supper and she walked over to his side by the fire.
“I don’t want to see it in this room, take it upstairs and tell the others not to breathe or else they get the same.”
She couldn’t even get a squeak out of herself as she took Rose upstairs. She would have to be quick, because she didn’t like to leave the murderer alone while he was in the house. It was like turning your back to the monsters in the closet.
She had barely whispered a word to the older woman when she heard a loud bang downstairs.
“Please, just don’t go down and don’t let anyone make any noise,” she begged.
“Go on then,” the old woman said, “I heard the boy warning you about wars and whatnot, just make sure you know what you’re doing.”
Celeste swooped down on the woman and gave her a teary kiss before running downstairs to see what was going on. The door was wide open and a woman stood facing the young murderer. They had each other at wand-point.
“Mrs. Zabini,” the young man spoke first, “This is a rather interesting night isn’t it?”
“Interesting indeed,” her voice was cool and venomous, “Let’s cut it short, boy, I want to know your orders word for word.”
Blaise chose that moment to rush in with a short, very ugly person (she didn’t want to say child) at his heels. He had his wand out and the first thing he noticed was Celeste.
“Upstairs now!”
His voice was powerful and very different than anything she’d heard before. She didn’t think twice before walking up the stairs, but she stopped halfway up and sat down to listen to the yelling. Not much could be understood. Blaise kept repeating “none of your bloody business” in a very loud voice and she heard the young man repeat “what am I supposed to say to him?” several times as well.
Soon the yelling died down and she began edging down the stairs cautiously when Blaise suddenly called her name.
They were all sitting in a tense silence when she got back downstairs. Blaise’s mother was writing something and he was sitting staring at the other man.
“This is my school-friend, Celeste,” Blaise said in a very collected voice, “Draco.”
“Your friend is a murderer,” her voice was bitter and demanding, but she needed some explanation if this was her brother’s ‘friend’. She needed to finally ask Blaise which side he was really on in this magical war.
“No,” Blaise’s voice hardened, “My friend is a boy who wants to protect his family…you don’t always get to choose sides in a war, Celeste.”
“You always get to choose if you want to be a murderer or not,” she retorted, although one look at the haunted face told her that her brother was telling her the truth.
“That’s all the explanation you’re getting now,” Blaise said with finality.
“We’ll see,” she retorted before walking over to the leaden table. She picked up a couple of the plates and brought them over to the fireside. The boy- Draco’s eyes were following her around as she worked.
She handed the food around once she was finished and sat down beside her brother who decided to break the silence again.
“Listen, mate,” he said, “I need to get back to Hogwarts tomorrow, but I’ll explain things to you later.”
“Fine,” the boy said with a grin, “I’ve just invited myself over for Christmas dinner.”
They sat in silence for a while and a letter came back by Owl soon letting Blaise know he had done a good job in marking his territory. Apparently, that meant the crisis was over and both Draco and Ms. Zabini left.
“You did a good job,” Blaise whispered to her. And for the first time since they had met her brother willingly wrapped his arms around her in a comforting embrace.
