Bite Two
First year summer was a new beginning, second year sealed it as a routine.
Their summer commenced with a one-week break at a rented coast cottage of Cornwall, then to a two-week rest at Malfoys residence in Brittany, and the last course of delectation was a full August sojourn in his own manor in Northern Italy. He said nothing about the acquirment of this new property, but she overheard that Heinrich Selwyn, the former Head Boy who had graduated only about two years, was his new adjutant, and as an emissary of Malfoy the younger, Selwyn handled the expansion of his shareholdings in Gringott bank. It was not a surprise to her that he used his own name as the Legal Person of his recent business, after all, he was fifteen now, which was the threshold of wizarding economic activities. She had some ideas of how his individual wealth augmented significantly, but she was not going to complain because she knew he was fond of Italy for as long as she was taken in by Malfoys.
Pansy, Pansy Parkinson was with them this summer. It’s not like she invaded her space of some sort, for that she only came after all Ginny’s summer activities ended i.e her birthday.
They celebrated her birthday at a townhouse located in Piazza Maggiore.
On the other hand, Ginny felt no pressure on inviting Astoria Greengrass with her this year. Their friendship was growing on mutual appreciation of each other’s intellectual works: her findings on Basilisk and Astoria’s productive curiosity on metrics of incantation. Astoria insisted that toning changing while casting charms was a lost art that had to be reevaluated!
Before summer, Astoria Greengrass tried every way of persuading Professor Flitwick for a short stay with the Greengrass family at their summer house in Cornwall. Flitwick turned down the offer with politeness as always. It occurred to Ginny that her governess, Ms Ganassin was a lecturer in Poetry and Spells, a celebrated one. It might be an advantage for Flitwick to meet. She arranged the whole thing. This time Flitwick said yes. As a result of that, Astoria, Liselotte and Ginny, the three girls spent quality time at Ginny's place in the Bolognese countryside.
The heads-up of Parkinson’s arrival was brought by Astoria’s older sister: Daphne. Daphne and her Mother, Mrs. Greengrass came to collect Astoria for the new semester. Daphne was the timid one compared to Astoria’s peppiness. However, her demeanour changed drastically once she got a chance to be alone with girls only. She chatted in a manner of calmness reminding Ginny of covent girls she met while Malfoys socializing with Daoulas Abbey. Celtic Christian religious institutions like Daoulas Abbey seemed to have a long history of receiving wizards and witches in spite of the Statute of Secrecy. In fact, they had this off-record accord with prestigious wizard families like Malfoy, being part of Malfoys charity work to accept squib girls into their yearslong study before adulthood. Their course modules were designed to be an integration to both muggle and wizarding worlds. Therefore, they could find a sense of belonging from both sides of the society. Additionally, their muggle classmates, the local Breton muggle girls of the school, were also fully aware of the wizarding world.
Again, it amazed her how deeply the two worlds actually intertwined with each other. Her thoughts went to the late headmistress, Elizabeth Burke who was the last person to martyr herself to the Basilisk of Slytherin. Burke’s lifelong pursuit of ending the Statute of Secrecy, the abolishment of segregation became merely a footnote of her family’s bitter wrestling of power. Ginny was flustered with a temporal surge of anger towards Malfoy the younger. She still could not entirely reconcile that he used her as a vessel to further tame Riddle’s Diary so that he can explore the secret chamber.
Perhaps, because nothing ever had been expressed from him!
Not even a mea culpa!
Speaking of the event she attended at the Abbey, it was a perplexing one for her so far. On the brighter side, she finally met Snape’s wife, Ms Petunia Evans. On the confusing side of the story, well, she and Malfoy dropped by around four in the afternoon. Having been welcomed by Abbess, he exchanged some pleasantries with Reverend Mother Benedictina. Abbess was in her forties with some herbs in hand. Ginny had been told by Ms Ganassin that it was a casual gathering. Still, Reverend Mother Benedictina, dressed in a tie-dyed muggle summer midi dress looking tan, presumably freshly off from Breton boating, was another level of enchantment for her to digest.
“Miss Ginevra, I was a friend of your mother! Molly and I had been close since we were studying in Hogwarts.”She grinned, only five feet six, but full of energy. The Chouchen color of eyes whisked her away from all her hesitation. She smiled back graciously.
And⋯⋯she knew.
She knew about her mother’s transgression with young Regulus Black.
She picked up a cup of berry tea from one of the abbey sisters, who enthusiastically told her about the almanac and sun drying berries accordingly. Let’s be honest, this week Brittany’s weather was not, by any means, warm. The morning sunshines were constantly robbed by the afternoon's moody drizzle. The teacup was flexing her algid thumbs. He finished the conversation with Abbess. Behind her, hand on her left shoulder, his slightly assertive tone: “Come, there’s someone I need you to know.”
Lips turned up, she walked by several young girls whom she had just become acquainted with. They were students in Abbey's all-girl school similar to her age, thirteen. By the hall’s exit to the courtyard, the original flying wooden roof was supported by later added constructional stones. Open arcades helped the gleams of natural lights to reach inside. She hadn’t noticed that the clouds gave up the sky.
Oh, the woman she met at Snape’s dungeon office!
“Ms Evans.” She heard him talking: “Forgiving me for interrupting, I had to arrange you to meet with Ginevra. I suppose it is necessary. Upon hearing from the Reverend Mother Benedictina, I decided to come without a proper appointment.”
The lady’s blonde hair was completely down, a contrast to the elaborate Chignon she had seen before. In a sleeveless empire waist, the woven patterns of the dress fabric were modest lilac lilies fully decorating the beige silk. First thought in her mind, she was the polar opposite of Molly Wealsey.
“Of course.” The smile continued while she was talking: “Nice to meet you Ginevera. So are you, Mr Malfoy.”
Leaving him behind, she maintained her uncertainty under control. Two feet apart, she stopped and noticed that the young girl, her daughter ran from the centric fountain towards where they were: the cloister.
Intercepted by her mother, the little girl fisted Ms Evans’ lower dress.
“I know that you are a Slytherin? I’m Professor Snape’s wife and this is Aurelia. She will be attending Hogwarts this upcoming semester.” Putting one hand gently on her daughter’s back head. They shared the same hair color. “She can’t wait. To Severus’ distaste, I consider our Aurelia a Gryffindor. Though I have no magical traits myself, My sister was a Gryffindor, brave and smart, an extraordinary witch.”
It took Ginny only seconds to understand that Ms Evans was referring to Lily Potter, Harry Potter’s mother. She wondered about this Union: A muggle sister of a Gryffindor witch and a Slytherin Potion Master.
“Yes, I am! It’s a pleasure to meet you here, Ms Evans. This is my second summer in Brittany and I presume that you are a regular too?”
Ms Evans acknowledged what Ginny said by pointing to the far side of the courtyard where a ligneous egress connected a narrow alley to the botanical garden.
“I have been here every summer since Aurelia was in my life. The abbey is famous for its botanic garden which is different from most of those across Europe by mainly locally sourcing Breton plants and herbs for medical usage.” she paused for a second: “Some gardens in the East and some most reclusive one in Asian minor share similar stance but the gifted Brittany nature provided this garden unique herbs, magical or not, for professionals such as muggle aestheticians, wizarding alchemists and potion master and so on, to treat those wretched and dispossessed.”
“I heard of the story of you and Basilisk. The venom might be a cure to postpartum distraught of some witches. It is very kind of you to offer.” Ms Evans’ eyes now directly met with hers, the ombre pupil swirling with no emotion other than celestial caring.
Ginny realized that he probably oversold her to Ms Evans. Of course, she supported Ms Evans and the Abbey’s mission but she was also sympathetic to the fate of that Basilisk. The loss that Elizabeth Burke endured was not just a personal one. It also bore a once young promising Slytherin witch’s eventual despair of herself and her powerful family’s public life. She could not imagine what kind of silent sacrifice she made to the Basilisk at the last moment of her life. An infamous headmistress as she was, decrepit but determined, she must have offered something exceptional so that the morally dubious Basilisk of Salazar Slytherin would partake a deference to her death wish.
Many still remained mysteries to her. She knew that he had far more information and understanding of these matters than hers and would not share them if he regarded them as harmful to her. She probably needed to earn more insights by herself.
Back to Pansy Parkinson,
Daphne Greengrass was Parkinson’s class peer and only female friend of her year. Parkinson’s coming was all natural to her as she put: “Draco and Pansy have been close since they were kids. Her family’s finances crashed after a series of bad investments led by Pansy’s father. Poor Pansy! Her old man had to declare a mental breakdown, then all creditors agreed that if Malfoy was willing to be the guarantor, Pansy as the sole inheritor of Parkinson estate could buy some time to avoid default.”
“It can’t be that bad? She still looked decent when I saw her in the common room from time to time last semester.” Ginny retained her nonchalant voice.
“You are a year junior to us ! You probably did not notice! Pansy only had a small suitcase with her last year when school started! Some of her uniforms’ trims were unevenly ragged! I felt for her! She had to take over everything financially while her mother took care of her ailing father!”
Could not tolerate her sister’s ridiculous tone any more, Astoria chimed in sarcastically: “Would you stop being a neurotic? We all knew that Malfoy, well the younger, single-handedly caused the seismic concussion of market gold price. I would say that short selling was insidious and unethical to the public! That is the only reason that ‘mysteriously’, Gringotts’ stingy goblins would agree to exchange shareholdings of the bank with him as part of the deal. If the gold price had not fallen, the Parkinson family would have been saved with some graces. In other words, Draco Malfoy feasted on his childhood friend's and her family’s humiliating downfall.”
“Are you seriously not knowing where you are and who you are now?” Liselotte was not even able to control her soft laugh, looking into Astoria’s eyes: “you are a guest of this ‘insidious and unethical’ young man’s house. You were co-existing with him the whole August and you are a dear friend of his cousin, Ginevra. Also, Malfoy owns that new gold mine. Besides, it is a business decision to increase the gold supply. The fragile wizarding economy of Britain needed this wake up call.”
Astoria leaned back to her chair: “well, I am not complicit. We have a democratic governing body, Wizengamot. This system,” her index tapped on the hardwood surface of teapoy: “many of the sacred twenty-eight families shed blood for! Republic not Tyranny! Greengrass might be in alliance with Malfoys, but we are not blind and deaf.”
“Okay, Okay! Relax! No more politics!” Ginny decided to move on. She had a Parkinson problem to dwell on, hence she was not ready to engage in a theoretical debate of morality with Astoria Greengrass!
Pansy Parkinson’s outfit was anti season!
After deliberately delaying her meeting with Parkinson while knowing that she had already arrived in the morning, Ginny’s first thought of this bob hair witch was her odd ensemble. She was dressed in a long, full sleeve witch-garment dress, and the cotton fabric was woven thinly and probably suffered from repeatedly washing. The original color might be black but now it looked like plum.
Ginny was looking after a Santa Teresa lemon tree sent by her grandmother Gillian Prewett, though she continuously declined her visit. The lemon tree was an Amalfi Coast native. Since her husband Truculentus Prewett died some years ago, Gillian Prewett moved back to her hometown Minori, Amalfi Coast, to set up and manage a lemon farm. She planted the tree in a sizable bonsai pot. It was his idea to distinguish this special one from those in the estate-attached lemon garden.
“It is fascinating how money could reshape things to its core.” The gloomy contralto voice behind Ginny was the actuality of her reluctance. She turned around facing no other than Pansy Parkinson.
“I can tell that as well and nice to meet you too, Pansy. Could I call you that?”
“Sorry for interrupting your pruning. I just wanna say Hi.” Her words were genuinely cautious, and overwhelmed Ginny with the exhaustion that she attempted to conceal but could not.
“I suppose that some much needed rest should be immediate. Any urgent business talk could wait?” She tried to end the conversation.
“Yes, as you see, Draco generously persuaded his father to mitigate my family’s crisis. Still, a lot to discuss.” Parkinson indeed matured a lot, as Ginny observed. Same age as her brother Ron, but there was simply no childhood naivety remained in her composure. Nevertheless, she looked mentally better than Ginny’s first ever close encounter with her at the freshmen induction supper where she served them drinks after the then head boy Selwyn finished his speech.
It would be too much, so instead of dealing with Parkinson herself, she waved to Liselotte signalling that she finished attending to the lemon tree. Liselotte set foot in front of Pansy Parkinson, guiding her to find a household worker, maybe Aimée who most likely knew the arrangement of Parkinson’s stay.
She smiled at Parkinson one more time before she and Liselotte disappeared inside the loggia connecting hall.
“I felt a deep unease, Ms Ganassin.” Ginny then confessed to the only other person left on this under rondella Garth who happened to be the most appropriate person, her governess.
“You must have faith, Miss Ginevra.” The Italian governess stretched her right arm around young Ginevra’s shoulder. The outdoors was getting chilly.
Walking across the hall, they turned south entering her bedchamber building.
“I am afraid that turning to faith is too convenient a settlement, Ms Ganassin. Herein, nobody would be satisfied.” Ginny’s voice was a tad jolted.
“Not resolution, my dear. A place to contemplate and deliberate. A peaceful hiatus under the olive tree for a valiant quester amid storm.”