Yours In A Distinctly Peacock-Like Fashion
January 2006
Draco,
Happy New Year! I welcome you to the final fourteen months of your sentence. I remember you said once that five years is a fucking long time. You were certainly not wrong.
Al’s fourth birthday was one for the history books. With the addition of Luca and Lily, I’m not sure Parkinson House has ever been so full. The combination of Molly Weasley and Narcissa Malfoy remains a bizarre one, but I’m not sure anyone else loves quite as fiercely as those two. As per tradition, I made the cake, and Blaise made his pasta. Still as good as the first time I tried it, and he still won’t tell me what’s in it. I’ll break him one day, mark my words.
I have been speaking to Narcissa about the Manor. I think the new year has made her feel rather reflective. Is making a new year’s resolution a muggle thing, by the way? It’s funny, over fifteen years in the magical world, and I still find things I don’t know. Anyway, if you’re amenable, she wants to return with you and Scorpius, the three of you going back for the first time together. She is rather insistent that I accompany you all as well, but I think it would be better if you kept it a family thing. There’s plenty of time in the future for me to face those particular demons.
Speaking of your mother, she ventured back into the realms of party planning this year. We had a fancy new year’s ball in the Parkinson House ballroom, and if that’s what Narcissa can pull off on a whim in a little over a week, I both dread and anticipate what she could do with months of time to plan something. Theo and George’s wedding is going to be stupidly ridiculous, isn’t it? Scorpius was gracious enough to be my new year’s kiss, the little gentleman that he is. It’s really very selfish of all our friends to have found partners like that. What am I? Chopped liver?
Scorp continues to have bouts of accidental magic. You’d be so proud of him, Draco, he turned Harry’s hair bright pink. Even I couldn’t reverse it, we just had to wait for it to wear off, and Harry had to go to a meeting with Kingsley like that. Completely ruined his austere Minister of Magic persona apparently because he couldn’t stop laughing. It lasted four days. Arthur took a few photos, both magical and muggle as he’s become rather fond of the muggle camera I got him for Christmas, so rest assured that you’ll get to see it when you’re home. Scorp is getting really good at French (well, comparatively for a four year old, anyway) and Narcissa is incredibly impatient for the day we get to be rude about people to their face. Apparently, you two used to do that all the time at galas. Ce n’est pas une surprise, je suppose.
Narcissa and Neville have worked nothing short of a miracle in the Manor gardens. I mean, they were pretty impressive before, as I’m sure you remember, but now? Madness, there’s no other word for it. The peacocks seem well pleased, at least. They have names now. Apollo II and Hermes II (legacy is, of course, important), and then Scorp very kindly named one Mia. Not sure I ever wanted or needed a namesake in a peacock, but here we are. Theo named the fourth one Sluggy before Scorp had the opportunity to name it Pansy. She was not too keen on the honour, by all accounts. Apparently you were all rather fond of Slughorn in school. Should I write to let him know he’s joining me in the annals of Malfoy history?
It’s really quite a strange place that we exist in. I miss you, but I’ve never actually spoken to you face to face in the context of this friendship, so do I just miss the idea of you? I could get more philosophical, but it’s all rather maudlin, so I’ll contain those thoughts. I wished you’d been at the new year’s party. There, I’ll settle for that.
Theo asked me to add in a note from him. ‘A bit of housekeeping’, he says. As always, I will apologise if he’s been a dick.
Yours in a distinctly peacock-like fashion,
Hermione
For the attention of His High Lordship Sir Dracinius Lucy Jr Malfoy,
As you are aware, I was incredibly careless and fell for a Weasley. Then, it got worse because I asked the bloke to marry me. Honestly, I must be more mindful in future. Anyway, I write to ask if you fancied being my best man. I’ve gone full diva (as someone needed to take on the mantle in your absence) and informed everyone that I simply cannot get married without you, so you don’t necessarily have too much choice in the matter. Don’t make me ask Harry, I have standards to maintain. If it serves to sway you any, a certain Miss Granger is George’s best woman, so you’d get to be on her arm all day. Or her on your arm. Either way around is fine, we live in the modern world, do we not?
Fourteen months to go, mate. Honestly, I cannot manage a second longer without you. I’m like a bereft wife waiting for her husband to return from the front line. I had to befriend several gryffindors without your guidance and I simply refuse to watch the-man-who-refuses-to-die lumber about another dance floor without anyone to laugh at him with.
Just tell Granger either yes or no, I’ll know what you’re talking about. If it’s a no, I’ll see if Scorp is available. Your kid’s got one hell of a packed schedule these days.
Lots of love always, Your Theo xx
***
January 2006
Hermione (the witch rather than the peacock),
Happy New Year. You know I’ve only got one more of those to say to you in letter form before I get to say it to your face? Gods, how impatient I am for that day. I’m going to torture myself and list a few things I’m most looking forward to: 1. I get to finally be Scorp’s dad and know my son properly. 2. I get to give you a massive hug to thank you for everything you’ve done. 3. I get to find out if you’ve exaggerated my mother’s painting skills, or if her portrait of you is actually a decent likeness. 4. I get to see Pansy and Longbottom together, because as honest a person as you may be, I simply will not believe that to be a thing until I’ve seen it with my own eyes.
To get Theo’s ‘housekeeping’ out of the way, tell him it’s obviously a yes. I wonder if your famously brilliant brain can puzzle out what he asked.
New year’s resolutions are a muggle thing, yes, but not entirely uncommon in the wizarding world. In years gone by, I think my family considered them to be beneath us, in the same way as they did pumpkin carving and Easter. Are you saying that my mother’s resolution is to visit the Manor again? In that case, 2007, we all go. That includes you, by the way. I’m not sure I could do it without you, and as it’s a family thing, your presence is mandatory. You’re a ridiculous witch, thinking you aren’t family at this point. I hate to break it to you, Hermione, but you’re stuck with us.
French used to be like a secret language between my mother and I. My father never learnt to speak it, so it was just something for us. She’s right, she used to be far too entertained by telling some vapid society woman that her dress was hideous right to her face, and I imagine she’s missed being able to do that. I’m excited that you and Scorp will get to join in, although I am struggling to imagine you having the capacity to thrive on schadenfreude. Having said that, Pansy did once tell me you trapped Skeeter in a jar for a year, so I’ll keep an open mind. If you have remained in ignorance of what Narcissa Malfoy can do when it comes to event planning, then allow me to enlighten you. She’s insane. No detail is overlooked. More than once, I came home to her carefully choosing between two seemingly identical shades of white for napkins or tablecloths. Theo and George’s wedding was always going to be ridiculous by the very nature of it being Theo and George’s wedding, but with my mother involved? That thing will rival the events put on by the muggle royals. You must have seen my first wedding in the Prophet, the woman doesn’t mess about when it comes to this sort of thing.
Tell Scorp that I’m always proud of him, but I am exceedingly so when he does things to inconvenience the-boy-who-lived-twice. Add the photos to the stack I need to see when I’m back. I’m going to need days to get through it all at this rate.
Wish Luca a happy birthday from me. Let’s see how keen Blaise is to ‘start him early’ on a broom now it’s his own son at risk of bodily harm.
I know exactly what you mean by your deep, philosophical thoughts because I have the same ones. I miss you desperately, but outside of these letters? I don’t actually know you. That scares me a bit, if I’m honest. What if we don’t get on when I’m back? Or, the opposite, what if I’ve become co-dependent and can’t ever bear to leave your side? Things we’ll need to work out, I suppose. Things that need to be said that I won’t say in a letter.
I wish I’d been at the new year’s party too. You’re right, that will do for now.
Yours in a way that is far less peacock-like,
Draco