When we were about five minutes away from King's Cross, and the sky outside was almost pitch black, I stood up, levitating my trunk down from the luggage rack.

"I ought to go and sit with Draco now," I said, looking apologetically at Hermione and the others. "Mother and Father won't be too happy if they think I'm friends with five other Gryffindors, after all."

They nodded, and we said our goodbyes. Then I took my trunk and walked down the train, looking for my brother.

"Hi Dray," I said, as I pulled open the door to the compartment he and the other Slytherin Purebloods were sitting in. "I thought Mother and Father would be a little less annoyed with me if I was sitting with—" I broke off and waved my hand vaguely around the compartment.

Pansy opened her mouth, probably to say something scathing, but Draco shut her up immediately with a warning glare that made even me flinch.

"Sit down, Dora," he said, giving me a slight smile and patting the seat next to him.

I sat where he wanted me to, leaning into him as I waited for the train to reach the station. Despite what I'd said to my dorm-mates at the start of the journey, I was terrified. What would Father say? What would he do?

As though reading my mind, Draco put his hand on my shoulder, giving me a look that I immediately knew the meaning of — whatever happened, we would face it together.

***

Almost as soon as we got off the train, levitating our trunks behind us, I made eye contact with Father. A terrified shudder ran through me as I quickly looked away again and followed Draco over. Mother was there too, though she was standing in what I recognised as her 'avoiding conflict' stance — hands clasped together in front of her, head bowed the slightest amount, face showing no emotion.

"Draco," Father said, his voice caring, almost loving. Then he turned to me, and, slightly sharper, added, "Pandora."

"Father," I said softly, barely avoiding curtseying. There were a few people watching, clearly wanting to see just how the Gryffindor Malfoy would be received by her parents, and I knew it was best not to do anything they could see as odd.

Mother stayed silent, but took Draco and myself into a quick hug, kissing both of us on the top of our heads. As she hugged me, she surreptitiously tapped on my arm in a pattern that I recognised as morse code.

Anger. Or perhaps danger, if I'd missed the first letter. Either way, I knew she was telling me that Father was likely still going to be punishing me for my sorting... again.

I gave her a slight nod to show I'd understood, then walked with her, Father, and Draco to the Floo fireplaces at the front of the station, and Flooed home.

I'd been expecting one of Father's sudden outbursts of anger as soon as we'd stepped out of the fireplace and into our living room, but he just swept out of the room without another word. Mother gave a quiet sigh, taking Draco and me into another hug, this one far warmer and far longer than the one she'd given us on the platform.

"Try to be obedient this holiday, Pandora," she said softly. "Lucius isn't in the best of moods at the moment, and I think one more thing might make this holiday worse for you than the first bad Christmas."

I knew she was talking about the Christmas when Father had started hurting me, and quickly nodded.

"Of course, Mother."

She kissed both of us on the top of our heads again, then said, "Why don't you both get settled in your rooms? We'll be having dinner in about an hour, and Lucius wants you to pick out your outfits for Monday's Winter Ball after that."

We both nodded, and Draco called Dobby to take our trunks up to our rooms. I tried not to show my irritation at getting him to do something we could easily have done ourselves.

"No mention of the silence, then," Draco commented, as the two of us walked upstairs.

"Not yet," I said. "Maybe Mother's waiting until Father's in a better mood before talking about it?" I pulled a resigned face. "Though from what I can tell, if she's doing that, she'll be waiting for a long time."

"Mm," Draco agreed. "Well, I'll see you later, Dora."

"See you later, Dray."

We parted ways, going into our own separate bedrooms. I let out a contented sigh as I stepped into mine.

Home sweet home. Well, sweet if you ignore the fact that Father's really angry with me, Mother's pretending she hasn't failed to contact me once over the past three or four months, and I can't do half the things I used to do because Father's sure to be keeping a close watch on me.

I pulled my shoes off and flopped backwards onto my bed, a smile on my face. And then, just when I thought my day couldn't get any better, there was a flash of blinding golden light, and Aureli appeared on my stomach.

"Hi Aureli!" I said, carefully moving him onto my arm so I could sit up. "I wasn't going to call you until later, I thought you'd be out hunting."

Aureli rubbed his head on my arm, clearly trying to get me to stroke him. My smile even bigger now, I quickly obliged.

"Have you had fun since I last saw you?" I asked softly. "I know it's only been a couple of days, but it seems like forever. Did you feel the same?"

He made what was unmistakably a noise of agreement, now rubbing his golden feathers on my face. I gave a quiet laugh.

"You really are very clingy — you know that, don't you?"

Another noise of agreement made me laugh even more, and I fondly shook my head.

"I'm back here for two weeks, so I won't be leaving you much for a while now. And I was thinking — well, I'm not entirely sure yet, so don't get your hopes up — but I was thinking that maybe I could take you to Hogwarts with me after—"

Before I could even finish my sentence, Aureli gave an excited squawk, flying around my room in a very odd pattern, with dives and loop-the-loops.

"I'll see if it's still alright with Father a little later in the holiday then," I said, as Aureli landed on my arm again. Then, getting up, I added, "I need to unpack now. Did you want to help?"

***
A/N: oof sorry this chapter's a little shorter than normal (and for the terrible ending), my muse just went 📉

Also, tysm for 14k reads! 😊🖤

Word count: 1114