When we welcomed our guests to the Winter Ball less than thirty minutes later, we were all smiling, as if nothing had happened. But even with the strange distortion the world had seemed to be under for the past hour or so, I took note of the fact that Mother was spending as little time around Father as she could get away with.

At the start, that was most of the time, as Father was far too busy parading me around to those in the Sacred Twenty-Eight, and demonstrating that, despite my sorting, I was still the perfect Pureblood daughter. I played along with curtseys and subtle blood-purist bigotry; the sentence still repeating itself in my mind made sure of that.

Act like a true Malfoy...

At one point, Father fell into conversation with Mr Selwyn.

"She is still going to wed a respectable Pureblood husband, I assume?" Mr Selwyn asked. The foggy sound everything had to it seemed to have got worse since the incident with Mother and Father earlier, and it meant I had to concentrate harder than ever to hear what he was saying.

"Of course," Father said. "She may have broken tradition, but that was merely a political ploy; her loyalties still very much lie with this family, and with the true Pureblood cause. Isn't that right, Pandora?"

Say yes... Father's voice echoed in my head. Make it clear that what I said is true...

"Yes, Father," I said, though the voice that was talking didn't really seem to be connected to me. "I am a Malfoy, and I wear the name with great pride."

"Then perhaps, Lucius, at some point, we can discuss a possible arrangement with my son, Emeric."

Father gave a slight nod. "Of course."

"How about Friday?"

"Friday," Father agreed. "I have some business to attend to in the morning, but that will be finished by lunchtime."

"That sounds alright," Mr Selwyn said. "Emeric is obviously home from Hogwarts for the holidays, so perhaps you ought to come to our manor so he can be involved too — he's of-age now, after all." He glanced over at me, then added, "And perhaps it would be better if your daughter is left out of matters until she is a little older, a little more mature."

Father nodded again, and I heard a new order echoing in my head, drowning out what he was saying.

Find Draco... spend the rest of the ball with him...

I immediately turned and walked away, looking for my brother. The strange distortion in my brain meant it took me a while to think of anywhere he might be, but I eventually remembered the alcove in the wall we'd turned into a little den during the previous Winter Balls, and went over there, hearing the foggy-sounding voices of Draco and the other Slytherin Pureblood kids coming from behind the sheet they'd once again pinned up.

"Dora!" Draco said, smiling as I pushed the sheet aside and sat down next to him. "I was wondering where you were."

Act like a true Malfoy...

I didn't return the smile. "Father told me to join you," I heard myself saying.

Pansy opened her mouth, presumably to object to my being with them, but I fixed her with a steely gaze, and she closed it again, looking a little scared.

"Oookayyyy..." Draco said slowly, sounding confused. "Dora, are you feeling alright? You've been acting really strange today..."

Act like a true Malfoy...

"I'm fine, Draco," I said sharply, my voice clearly leaving no room for arguments.

This time, he gave me a slight look of 'oh, I get it', probably thinking about how I'd said I was only joining them because Father had told me to, and putting two and two together to make five.

A silence stretched on for about a minute, as the others tried to work out how to react to my presence.

"Does anyone want a chocolate frog?" Daphne Greengrass eventually asked, pulling multiple boxes of them from a hidden pocket in her pale pink dress.

Act like a true Malfoy...

There was a chorus of "me!" and "yess!" from most of the others, but I shook my head.

"Father said we weren't to eat anything sweet until the desserts are brought out," I said, in a superior tone. "Besides, I don't know about you, but some of us are careful what we eat." I felt myself give a pointed look at Daphne's stomach, then added, "I don't want to end up chubby, even if you don't seem to care."

A tiny part of me was wondering why I was saying those things — why I was being so mean. But this misgiving was quickly overruled by the order still echoing in my empty brain.

Act like a true Malfoy...

***

After the Winter Ball was finished, and Dobby had started on the cleanup, Father called me into his study. I walked up there as if in a dream, getting more and more comfortable with the curtain blocking me from my true thoughts as every moment went by.

Act like a true Malfoy...

"Enter," Father called, as I knocked on the door.

I quickly pushed the door open, dropping into a curtsey before approaching his desk.

"Father," I said. "You wished to see me?"

Father just raised his wand and made a complicated motion with it, muttering, "Facere non imperio."

The curtain in my mind was suddenly torn down, flooding my brain with the thoughts and feelings that had previously been kept hidden. I began to tremble as one thing after another showed itself: my time with the other Pureblood kids during the ball — Father and Mr Selwyn's conversation about beginning to arrange my eventual marriage — being paraded around to those of the Sacred Twenty-Eight as the 'perfect, obedient Pureblood daughter' — and finally, as tears began to roll down my face, Father beating Mother, screaming at her for trying to protect me.

I stumbled backwards, gulping in air as though the spell had been stopping me from breathing. But before I could reach the safety of the hallway, Father waved his wand again, and the door slammed closed, locking itself in the process.

"I need to talk to you for a minute." He conjured a hard wooden chair from thin air, putting it on my side of the desk. "Sit."

I froze, trying desperately to get my breathing under control, and to stop myself shaking. But this hesitation was too much for Father.

"I said SIT!" he yelled, striding over to me and grabbing me by the hair.

I cried out as he dragged me over to the seat and practically threw me into it, using a spell to stop it being tipped onto its back.

"If I tell you to do something, you do it," he hissed, taking hold of my hair once more and yanking my head back so I was looking up at him. "You do not hesitate. You do not refuse. Do you understand me?"

I tried to answer, but my terrified, gulped breaths meant all I managed to get out was, "Y-y-y—"

With a frightening suddenness, Father slammed my head into the desk, and I cried out once more as the sickening crack of a broken nose filled the room. He then yanked my head back again, and I had to fight back dizziness and nausea as I struggled to focus on what was happening, blood dripping down my face.

"I SAID, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"

"Y-y-y— y-yes, Father..." I managed to force out, my words slurred and barely understandable. "S-s-s-sorry, Fa— Father..."

As I said this, he let go of my hair; I slumped forwards slightly, everything now seeming to swim and blur before me in a way that was almost scary. Trying to fix my vision, I squeezed my eyes tightly closed, but this only made it worse.

Either not noticing this, or simply not caring, Father just continued to talk as though nothing had happened.

"I have been thinking about your disgraceful sorting, Pandora," he said, "and I have come to the conclusion that I will not stand for a Malfoy being in Gryffindor."

But I'm a Malfoy... being in Gryffindor... I thought absently, pushing down a new wave of nausea as I tried and failed to make sense of what was happening. Yes, a Malfoy... in Gryffindor...

"So, when you return to Hogwarts, you will go to McGonagall and tell her to move you to Slytherin," Father continued, his voice now sounding echoey and far away. "If you remain in Gryffindor, there will be consequences. Do you understand me?"

Even in my disoriented and confused state, I knew how to respond to that question. So, with an enormous effort, I forced out a barely audible, "Y-ye— yes, F-Father..."

"Good. Now leave."

I struggled to my feet, using the back of the chair for support. And then, I was vaguely aware of my legs giving way beneath me as I fell to the floor.

Everything sunk into blackness.

***
A/N: oop I fell asleep before I could post this yesterday—

Also tysm for 17k reads! 😊🖤

Word count: 1519