FicWad

Master Me
"Laura! Come along, we're going shopping!"
Startled by the words, I looked up when Draco Malfoy opened the door leading to the small bedroom not far from his own that belonged to me.
"I'm to go as well?" I asked.
My name is Laura Delaney. I'm a maid in the Malfoy Mansion, Draco's personal maid. Because my family owed a serious debt to Lucius, I was assigned to be his maid until that debut was paid or my 21st birthday came to pass. I recall those days now with fondness, and in an attempt to try to garner sympathy for a boy so often misunderstood by people who don't k now the horrors who parented him.
Draco and I were both eleven. Papers had arrived that very day heralding Draco's admittance to the less than prestigious but well taught Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"Of course you're to go. We need robes, wands, books and all that. Mother said that the blasted woman who runs the robe shop won't be able to accurately judge your size without you actually being there. And when we go to Ollivander's-"
"But Draco, I don't understand. What do I need robes for?" I was confused.
He sighed patiently, and smiled. "Laura, you won't be staying here while I'm away at school. You're going to Hogwarts too."
"I-I wasn't enrolled, Draco, and I haven't got any money-"
"Don't worry. Father's paying for everything you'll need. And your letter came with mine. I just didn't say anything. Come, Mother and Father don't like being kept waiting. We need to go."
Stunned, I followed him to the fireplace where his parents stood. Lucius had always been too sly, too self-assured by half and quite horrifying, in all frankness, for me to trust him in anyway. I had seen him beat his son bloody and near unconscious, and then call the boy a sissy, a blood traitor and worse for crying. No, I didn't trust Lucius Malfoy. He was a wolf in sheep's clothing if I ever saw one. Narcissa Malfoy made her contempt for all things Not Malfoy related known with annoying frequency.
"Laura." As usual, the elder Malfoy male's voice was honeyed poison when he spoke to me. "I assume Draco has explained the situation to you?"
"Yes, Mr. Malfoy." My eyes were low and away from his glorious personage. That particular rule (never look at a Malfoy unless they ask you to or it's necessary to be polite) had been pounded in to my head early in my servitude. "And I thank you for the opportunity."
"Well, someone has to clean up for the boy. He's a Malfoy and no one expects him to do it for himself. You understand that all of your duties here still apply at the school?"
"Yes, Mr. Malf-"
"Look up, you little idiot, and stop acting like a servant." Narcissa snapped. I looked up immediately, not wanting to be slapped by the vicious woman. Lucius glared at her, but continued speaking to me.
"What my wife means to say is that even though you're still in our employ, the general rules governing your servitude don't apply at Hogwarts. As a student and a young lady of relatively good blood, you and Draco are more or less equals."
My head was reeling. What was happening to me? Since I was 3, I had lived in Draco Malfoy's shadow, chased after the Blonde Prince and served his every whim. He ruled my world with a firm but gentle hand, and had always treated me with kindness. Being his companion was the only world I knew. I wasn't sure if I would be able to function as anything else.
"Father, you're scaring her. It's all right. I'll still take care of you. Come on, we're taking the Floo network. Hold on to me."
We stepped into the huge, carved, black marble fire place and I wrapped my arms around Draco's waist. His smell, something dark and delicious, wrapped around me, and to my eleven year old mind, it was homey. It fit him to a tee, but I didn't know it then. In that moment, it was just Draco. He took a handful of shimmering green powder from a pot sitting on the mantle and threw it down.
"Diagon Alley!" He shouted as flames roared up to spin us off to his desired location. We stopped in the Leaky Cauldron. I grasped Draco's waist tight enough to crack a rib, shock gripping me. Floo travel was completely new to me. My life had been very sheltered with the Malfoys. Terror had my heart tripping in an uneven rhythm, beating hard enough to burst out of my chest and make a run for it on its own. Draco smiled as he led me out of the fire place, my arms still around him. "Are you all right, Laura?"
"Y-y-yes. I'm f-fine." I stammered. My lungs were working over time to keep me awake and aware.
"Then it might be wise to stop clinging to me like I'm your last salvation, my dear girl. Floo powder is nothing to fear."
I pried my self off of him just as his parents apparated near us. We went in to the back yard of the little hovel and I had my first awe inspiring look at Diagon Alley. It mightn't seem impressive to someone who grew up knowing of a world full of new people and places but to me it was amazing. Draco turned to his parents expectantly.
"Go and get your robes. Make sure Laura gets decent ones too, poor thing. She knows nothing about good material, I'm sure. I'll get your books while your mother is in Ollivander's. She wants her wand re-designed. When you've finished, I want you to go to the pet shop and pick up a pet or two for yourself and for Laura as well. Then go to Ollivander's. Once all your shopping is done, we'll go somewhere for supper. Understood?" Lucius instructed.
"Yes, Father."
"You brought money?"
"Yes, Father. I refilled my money bag from the vault when we left."
"Good, good... I almost forgot. Laura has no money to spend." He tossed a merrily jingling bag of money at me. I tried to give it back when I found it full of galleons.
"It's too much!" I protested. He laughed.
"Laura, this is pocket money. We're off. Be good, children." He and Narcissa left us. Draco led me to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.
"Young Master Malfoy! Ready for your school robes, I imagine?" said Madam Malkin herself when we walked in.
"Indeed, Madam, and Laura as well. We'll both be needing black, and I'd like something... extravagant, but tasteful."
"For yourself or the lady?"
"Both."
She went off on a long, rambling tangent, none of which I heard. Draco responded with a few words, and we were whisked off, being fitted for new robes within minutes. We were nearly finished when another boy was ushered in. his hair was black and wildly unkempt, but in a natural way. It didn't look messy on him, it looked normal. His eyes were jewel green, and I blushed when he looked at me, dropped my own green eyes. I saw Draco bristle out of the corner of my eye, and his voice was stiff when he spoke.
"Hello. Hogwarts, too?"
"Yeah, you?"
"Yes. My father's next door buying my books and my mother's up the street looking at wands-"
"Are you?" His eyes focused on mine again. Pink sufficed my cheeks. This boy had a certain charisma to him that drew me, even though I didn't know him. "Going to Hogwarts, that is?"
"Y-yes, I'm going to Hogwarts... I'm Laura." I blurted. He smiled, reveling even white teeth.
"Pleased to meet you, pretty Laura-"
As the boy had spoken to me, Draco had continued to talk, but here he realized no one was listening, and broke in again.
"Have you got your own broom?"
"No."
"Play Quidditch at all?"
"No."
"I do-Father says it's a shame if I'm not picked to play for my house and-" Draco continued on another rant but his words were lost along with the rest of the world outside this stranger's eyes. I was pleased and flustered by the attention he paid me. I realized dimly in some deep recess of my mind that he was still talking to Draco, but I never cared. My mind refused to obey my spirit's commands to steer clear of those hypnotic orbs. I was both thankful and heartbroken when Madam Malkin spoke.
"That's you done, dear." He left the shop, not looking particularly happy to have made our acquaintance and without looking back or saying goodbye.
"I say, what a rude little wretch he is. I ought to demand his name and tell Father." Draco complained.
"Don't do that... I don't think he was raised in the wizarding world, Draco."
"He said his parents were our kind, you heard him say so."
"He also said they're dead." I pointed out. He huffed out a breath, annoyance clear on his handsome face.
"Very well, but I must say I didn't care for him making eyes at you either."
"You're don dears. I'll just pack these two up for you and be back in a tick. You'll both be needing how many?"
"A dozen more. Come along, Laura. Madam Malkin, how much for 13 robes each?" Draco asked.
"Well, it's fifteen galleons for ten robes, and 2 galleons a piece after that up to 12. That makes... 21 galleons for each of you, and 42 is your total." She replied. He paid her that staggering amount and we left her store, headed to the little pet shop. Inside were all kinds of animals, each more fascinating than the one that preceded it.
"Can I help you?" There was a bored-looking young witch behind at the counter.
"I need two eagle owls, a pair of female falcons, and have you got any wolf puppies?" Draco said casually, as if it was common to request animals most people only dream of coming into contact with, let alone making pets of.
"We've got several varieties of wolves, elemental and non-magical."
"Can we see them?"
She directed us to the cages near the front of the store to a cage near the front of the store full of furry little bundles. They began to uncurl, whine and stumble around happily. I was delighted, played with several of them as Draco watched.
"Which one are you going to get, Draco?" I asked eventually. He shrugged, his trademark smirk firmly in place.
"You tell me, Laura. One of those owls and the puppy are for you." I stared at him, astonished once more. "Yes, they're yours. Don't argue. Pick a puppy, Laura, so we can go and get our wands. I want to see the racing brooms before we go home."
I chose a black male and named him Alexander. My own became Serenissima because her sleepily blinking amber eyes gave her a look of such utter contentment.
"They'll be delivered later this evening." The bored witch promised.
We walked to Ollivander's and soon after had wands. Mine was an eleven and a half inch pure ebony wood with a phoenix feather core. It had shot off a dancing, winding dragon shaped of purple sparks which had refused to die. That is, refused until silver flames shot from the 13 inch cherry wood and dragon heart string wand that chose Draco devoured it.
"Quite impressive! You've both got quite a lot of potential. That's 9 galleons for you, Mr. Malfoy and 8 for you, Miss..."
"Delaney. Laura Delaney." I supplied helpfully.
"Ah, yes. Would you be Eric and Christine's little girl?" I nodded. "Yes, yes. I remember them well. Surprisingly, they both had wands from the same willow, heart strings from the same dragon. It was love at first wand." He chuckled. "Your father's wand was 4 inches longer than your mother's. She had a ten, he had a fourteen. Yellow sparks shot form her and blue birds from him. Another extraordinary couple, there's never been a pair like since. I heard they'd come upon a bit of financial trouble, though, a while back."
"Yes, they owe my father. Laura is with me to pay back that debt." Draco explained. His voice implied that everyone gave their only child into 18 years of servitude for the sake of money, for a debt they'd had no part of incurring. Ollivander nodded sagely. Draco paid him as well and we went to Flourish and Botts. Narcissa and Lucius were sitting, sipping wine, in an upstairs parlor.
"Well?" Lucius lifted one lofty silver brow.
"13 robes each, a wand, two eagle owls, two falcons and a puppy. I assumed we wouldn't need cauldrons or supplies because we have those at home."
"You assumed correctly. Is there anywhere we need to stop before we move on to supper?"
"I thought we might go into broom shop. I need a new racer and Laura has to learn on something."
"Why not?" Lucius conceded gratiously.
The broom I received was a Nimbus 1080, and Draco added a Comet 260 to his expansive collection of brooms. From there, we returned to the Leaky Cauldron. Our packages were piled within the fire place, and when we were done, there was only room left for one person.
"Go ahead, Laura." Draco said gently. "You'll be fine. If you end up at a gate too far off, just ask whoever you get tossed at to give you some more Floo powder. Keep trying until you get the right one."
"I can't! Please don't make me." I begged as he nudged me firmly into the open space. "Draco--!"
He hurled a handful of the green powder at my feet and yelled, "Malfoy Mansion!" As I spun away, I saw him wave goodbye, but his grin was wicked. I was moving really fast, too fast, screaming, almost falling. As I traveled, snatches of peoples' homes invaded my vision until I spilled from the fire place in Draco's room in a jumbled heap with the purchases. My head was spinning. I was crying in huge gulping gasps. Never in my life had I been so terrified. Well, once before. To a toddler's young eyes, the awe inspiring sight of Lucius Malfoy could be quite a lot like those beings that prowl the night, those dark hungry beings. When I'd been presented to him by my father, I'd been sure that my father had given me to a vampire. I had myself ill, crying, screaming and begging him desperately not to eat me or suck the blood from my small body in one swallow. He had taken vindictive pleasure in frightening me for hours, until Draco and Narcissa had returned from some excursion. I was assigned to be Draco's maid and thus saved from the man of my nightmares.
I was still on the floor, sobbing to wake the dead, when the fire roared up in green flames behind me.
"Laura! Merlin, are you all right?" Draco's voice was a harsh whipcord of concern. I flinched, thinking him angry, until he hurried to my side and lifted me up. "Laura? Answer me!"
"I don't like Floo powder, I hate it, oh, Draco!" I clung to him. He had been my rock and my shelter for most of my life. I was safe as long as he was with me.
"Shhhh. Don't worry, Laura. We can try a portkey or something next time. I won't make you use Floo if it frightens you so much."
"I'm sorry for being such a baby."
"No, don't apologize. You're not being a baby. My parents sent me back to make sure you and the packages made it, and then I'm supposed to go to them so we can have dinner... You'll be okay , Laura. Separate everything and put it in your bedroom or mine, depending on who it belongs to. My parents and I will be in later."
I obeyed him, my lord and master, just as I always had, as I had been raised to do, and then, as I thought I always would.