Chapter 4
Curious stares and whispers followed them on their way through the Malfoy Manor.
Why is Dumbledore attending with a beautiful young girl no one has ever seen before? Maybe he found a liking to younger witches. Maybe he liked working with children for different reasons…
Anastasia nor Dumbledore paid them no mind. She just waited for the moment when the professor introduced someone to her and she will be able to drop the bomb. Her name. She shared Dumbledore’s interest in the behaviour of others towards her. Anastasia never went to rallies or meetings with her father, so she didn’t know if someone here was a supporter of his cause or otherwise his enemy. Dumbledore abruptly stopped in front of a family of three, probably the hosts greeting guests.
“Mr and Mrs Malfoy, Abraxas, thank you for the invitation and for allowing my company to attend.” He put his sweetest smile on. The Malfoys didn’t seem phased and just nodded. Anastasia was glad there were people who shared her dislike of him.
“Glady. Welcome to our home and enjoy,” Mrs smile said with a stern look, not meaning it. She fixed her gaze on Anastasia and finally smiled, sensing some juicy gossip about Dumbledore’s new possible girlfriend. “Oh dear, I do not think we had the pleasure to meet. You are?”
Anastasia was no fool and could practically sense people around them stopping mid conversation and trying to eavesdrop. Luckily, she knew how to act in high society.
“My apologies, madame. It would seem professor Dumbledore,” she exclaimed the part about him being her teacher and not her sugar daddy, “forgot his manners. I am a new transfer Hogwarts student. I will start attending sixth year in a few days.” Anastasia smiled politely.
“How nice, our Abraxas here will be in sixth year himself, what a coincidence.” At the sound of his name Abraxas started paying attention to them instead of shooting longing glances to the bar and presumably, his friends standing near it. Mrs Malfoy didn’t stop the interrogation. “And what is your name, maybe we know your family or relatives?” Anastasia immediately saw through this “subtle” insinuation regarding her name. They wanted to find out if she was a mudblood. Of course, that’s what they’re interested in. She didn’t really care about the whole blood purity stuff, the importance in a wizard laid in his power.
“Oh, I am sure you do. My name is Anastasia. Anastasia Grindelwald.” At that moment, you could hear a pin drop. All three Malfoys looked like their eyes will pop out, jaws slacked. Conversation around them stopped. Anastasia and Dumbledore both smirked.
“I beg your pardon? As in, Gellert Grindelwald?” the patriarch turned his full attention on her and seemed to finally look at her rather than through her.
“Yes, yes, exactly him. My dear father enabled me the opportunity of attending Hogwarts. Until now, he himself homeschooled me.” That was news even for Dumbledore. The Malfoys fixed their postures. Finally, Anastasia thought, the respect I deserve. Mr Malfoy’s eyes sparkled with a plan and he tried smiling at her. The important word here is tried.
“Abraxas,” he nudged the boy towards her, “you shall accompany miss Grindelwald all throughout the evening. Forgive me, Dumbledore, but I deem it best if young miss had a chance to meet some of her classmates. You know, it will surely make it easier to blend into the student body.” He smiled innocently, but both parties knew why he got the idea. His son could befriend her, maybe marry her. Mr Malfoy just hoped his useless son won’t screw it up for them.
Dumbledore let go of her hand and smiled knowingly at Anastasia. “Enjoy your evening, I believe you will find your way back to the castle without me.”
Abraxas offered his hand to her and lead her through the crowd.
“Where was your father hiding you for all these years, miss Grindelwald. These boring events would have been more pleasant with you here, so would Hogwarts as I presume,” he winked at her. Anastasia didn’t meet a lot of people her age throughout her life, but flirting was nothing new to her. Sometimes the prisoners of Nurmengar tried to charm her when she visited then, hoping she was just a naïve servant able to let them free if they seduced her. Or just hoping to have a good time with a gorgeous girl. That was usually the moment they sealed their fate. Her father would then emerge from the shadows and through slow but painful legilimency tortured their tainted and perverse minds for even thinking about his daughter this way.
She leaned her face so close to his that some older women looked away from the obscenity and whispered in his ear. “I could make your brain explode with so much force your eyes will fall out with only a flick of my hand, do you really want to keep flirting with me?” Anastasia looked into his eyes and tried to get into his head to look for possible situations he could tried to corner her somewhere, just to get into her pants. Women like her are never too cautious. What surprised her was a hard wall. She would have to make more effort to break the barriers and she wasn’t really that much curious, so she just touched it to scan his emotion. He was a little intimidated by her from the beginning, but now he started to feel her power. But how was a boy this young and so cocky that good of an Occlumens? Maybe she underestimated the Hogwarts curriculum?
“Now now, don’t get your knickers in a twist,” she frowned at that expression. “No need to make a scene, I was just trying.” He held up his free hand in surrender. “If you’re no fun, accompany me to the bar, I need a drink.”
Anastasia could use a drink herself. She wasn’t much of a drinker herself, it clouded her mind. But something soft would only make this evening with Abraxas bearable. As he led her towards the bar, a group of five boys probably their age was staring at them.
“Are those your friends?” she nodded in the direction of the group.
“You could say that. We are all sixth years in Slytherin. Do you know in which house you would like to be?” Abraxas asked, this time more politely and he lost the cocky smirk.
“I was already sorted into Slytherin. Guess that makes us housemates or whatever you call it.” They arrived to the bar. Anastasia got herself a flute with champagne, but Abraxas reached for a whisky of some sort.
“What you got here, Abraxas, did mummy finally made you tie the knot? I hoped for you she would wait at least to Christmas to announce the betrothal.” One of the boys from the previous group looked challengingly at Abraxas, as if daring him to hex him right here.
“Fuck you, Lestrange. You are just jealous I scored her while you seem to be stuck with…” he didn’t even finish a sentence before Anastasie hexed him wandlessly, so nobody knew it was her. Just a small stinging charm but she still let it hurt. How could they speak of her in this manner, as if she wasn’t right next to them.
“Merlin, which one of you was it? Stung like a b-“ Abraxas started to moan in pain and shock, but one of his friends interrupted him. Lestrange just snickered.
“I think that is enough of that, both of you. Abraxas, introduce us to your company,” the boy ordered. He was taller than the rest of them and eyed Anastasia with a newfound interest.
Abraxas cleaned his throat and glanced nervously at her. Tom will not let it go after he learns her name, he thought to himself.
“Gentlemen, let me present to you Anastasia Grindelwald. She will be our new classmate and housemate.” Their reaction was priceless, Anastasia couldn’t wait for the school year to start and experience this over and over again for the first few days. Abraxas was still very obviously nervous. The one named Lestrange with the other two stared in shock. But Anastasia’s eyes stayed fixated on the tall one. He didn’t let his face show any emotion, but she thought she saw his eyes turn scarlet for a moment. Maybe the light or something. She cleaned her throat to put them out of their weird trance and viewed them expectantly, waiting for their introduction. When it didn’t come, Abraxas started naming them and pointing.
“Adrien Lestrange, Hadrian Avery, Thomas Nott, Adonis Rosier,” while pointing to Rosier he stopped for a moment. “Rosier, mate, you alright there? Looking a little pale.” Rosier didn’t acknowledge him.
“Miss Grindelwald.” She tried so hard to remember the boys’ names she forgot about the last one Abraxas didn’t get to introducing. The mystery tall boy was now standing next to her. “May I ask you for a dance?” He extended his hand to her and Anastasia decided to entertain him. What the hell, she is only young once. What better time to dance with handsome men than now. And he was indeed handsome.