The heels of two ladies' shoes clicked against the marble floor as they walked. A little girl and a lady passed by multiple portraits hanging on the wall hand by hand. Finally, they reached the door at the end of the hallway. In front of the closed doors, a man waited.
" Are you prepared, young miss? ", Lexter asked the little girl.
Anastasia was dressed in a formal but expensively designed ball gown. The top part of it was in purple decorated with black and white ribbons and jewelries. The sleeves were puffed up while her arms were tightly hugged by the purple fabric. At the bottom part, it was in black color, slightly puffed up.
The top half of her hair was put up in two buns while the rest flowed down freely. Her hair was decorated with crystal flowers, both which are clips and hanging from her hair.
Anastasia could only nod nervously.
" Go ahead first, my lady. I'll just be around if you need me. ", Aranel said.
Aranel was also dressed for tonight, so are the other house workers. They all agreed with the house head that they would have fun tonight while the elves take over their jobs, and tomorrow, the elves would rest and the workers would rake over their jobs.
" Okay... I'll see you around, Ary. ", Anastasia said with a smile.
Finally, Lexter held the nervous little girl's hand and walked forward to the doors, waiting as they opened slowly. The elf who was sitting on a chair in front of the doors quickly stood up upon their arrival. " Ehem! The lady has arrived! Please welcome, Anastasia Glasswater! ", the elf announced to the big crowd.
Immediately, all the conversations between the people stopped as they watched the little girl descend down the stairs with the Glasswater House's lead butler by her side. They whispered their first comments amongst themselves about the heiress of Glasswater.
In the middle of the ballroom, the head of Glasswater, Alpheus Glasswater stood, waiting for the butler to bring his daughter to him. Once they're finally facing each other, Alpheus took Anastasia's hand before speaking.
" For many years since I became the head of my family, the Glasswaters didn't have an heir. For so many years, the knowledge that I have a child was kept from me by her mother. A wicked woman that all of you know. But finally, my daughter has found her way back to me safely. And now, let's celebrate for the Glasswater Family's new Heiress! ", his loud voice of deceleration woke everyone's spirits up. They clapped and cheered altogether for the long lost daughter's return.
Anastasia put her best smile to everyone as she bowed gratefully. She then felt her father move slightly closer to her. " Do you know how to dance? ", He whispered.
Anastasia shook her head truthfully. She felt quite embarrassed as it's even her first time attending a ball. A ball for her at that.
Thankfully, Alpheus gave an understanding nod. " You can do whatever you want now. Draco Malfoy is over there, in case you're looking for him. ", He said as he stared at a certain direction.
Anastasia looked at where he was looking and found Draco standing near a table with a blonde woman. She seems to be his mother. Draco attempted to reach one of the wines on the table but his hand ended up getting hit lightly by his mother's fan. His mother then shook her head in disappointment, causing him to frown guiltily.
Anastasia felt like laughing at the scene of not for Draco turning his head at her. The blonde boy smiled happily and waved at her. She honestly thought he was going to get scolded by his mother again, but instead, she just smiled warmly.
" Go on now. ", Alpheus said. " I'll take care of the crowd. " Anastasia nodded before walking off to her friend, hearing her father's voice talking to multiple people in the background.
" Draco! It's nice you're here. ", Anastasia said as she bowed her head in greetings. Draco did the same before saying, " Of course. Our last meeting wasn't enough. I hope we'll be able to talk much longer now. Oh, and this is my mother. "
Mrs. Malfoy nodded her head before introducing herself. " It's nice to meet you, Miss Glasswater. I am Narcissa Malfoy. I've heard so many nice things from my son about you. ", she said in a gentle voice.
" It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Malfoy. Do you mind if I.... Ummm... ", Anastasia hesitantly tried to think of a polite way to ask for her friend to play with her outside.
Thankfully, Narcissa seemed to understand her intentions. " Oh? Do you want to go somewhere with my son? ", She asked.
" Yes, if you don't mind. "
" I don't mind at all. ", She then gestured to her son. " Go on now, Draco. Don't keep her waiting. "
Draco nodded happily before the duo excitedly walked out of the ballroom. Anastasia led him at the wide garden behind the manor. It wasn't decorated much as all the events would happen inside, but fairy lights and more flowers were added in case some guests were to go out. It was empty at this time, save for a man who was on his way back to the manor and some elves.
" Is this your garden? It's beautiful here! ", Draco said.
Anastasia giggled at that. " I know! It's empty right now so we could play here all we want! Look! Miss Aranel prepared us some toys and snacks earlier when I told you her I wanted to play here with you. ", she said as she pointed at the pavilion in the middle of the garden.
Inside the pavilion, an elf waited there, guarding the food and toys in case a guest were to come in. When the elf saw the two young masters going in his way, he quickly bowed his head. " Greetings, Young masters. I've prepared everything you needed as instructed by Miss Aranel. "
" Thank you, Lax! You may leave now. ", Anastasia said. Lax bowed his head one last time before disappearing completely.
The two kids sat down as they played games while chatting. Different sorts of games were present, both which are muggle and wizard games. They left the gobstones alone to avoid making a mess.
At the moment, the two were playing a muggle card game called Uno. A game that Anastasia personally requested. Though Draco was confused at first, he quickly understood how the game works in just minutes. They both now had two hards in their hands.
" Uno! ", Draco screamed as he slammed his card down happily.
" Awwhh... Good game, Draco! ", Anastasia said as she raised her right hand.
Draco looked at her hand in confusion before poking it, earning a deadpan expression from the girl. " Huh? What am I supposed to do? "
" It's a high-five. I didn't knew only muggles do that. Anyway, you're supposed to go raise one of your hands and hit the other's raised hand. Not too hard though. ", Anastasia explained, hand still on the air. Truth to be told, she too has no idea how she knows of this high-five. It just suddenly appeared instinctively.
Draco quickly understood and hit her hand. Quite harshly.
" Ow! ", The little girl exclaimed. " I told you not to hit my hand to hard! "
Draco gave her a guilty look but still laughed nonetheless. " Hahaha.. sorry about that. "
" I told you I saw her go in here with that Malfoy. "
A voice caused the two to stand up and check. The saw three people, all whom are ginger. The shortest one seemed to be in the same age as them. He looked hesitatant, looking back at the door of the manor multiple times. The other two looked identical, twins surely. They both had mischievous looks on their faces as they dragged the younger one along.
Finally, they noticed the two children inside the pavilion quietly staring at them. In the shorter ginger's point of view, the two kids looked like one of those typical mean girls or group that he has seen in one of his father's muggle books. Well, the girl had a softer look, but he still felt like they were both judging them.
" Hello there! ", Anastasia greeted to the new comers while Draco stayed quiet, his eyes squinting and his mouth frowning uninvitingly. " Are you also here to play? Come here, there's a lot of games here. ", the little girl added as she gestured for them to come in.
The twins walked inside with smiles on their faces as they continued to drag the younger one with them. " Greetings, Miss Glasswater. ", the twins said at the same time, catching her off guard.
" Oh, umm.. Greetings... "
" My name is Fred Weasley. ", The one with slightly rounder eyes than the other twin said.
" And my name is George Weasley. ", The twin with slightly downward eye lids said. His nose also had a small bump compared to his brother if you look closer, but it's hard to tell in different angles.
Finally, everyone looked at the younger one of the three. He nervously gripped his sleeves before speaking. " My... My name is Ronald Weasley... "
" It's nice to meet you three! My name is Anastasia Glasswater. And this is my friend, Draco Malfoy. ", Anastasia introduced.
" Ooooohhhh... A Malfoy. ", The twins said.
Draco glared at them. " Hmp. Weasleys, huh? My father always told me what kind of- ", he paused and glanced at his friend who was looking at them expectantly. " Tsk. Well met.. ", he muttered.
The three looked at the two in interest.
" Heh. Nice to meet you too, Malfoy. ", Fred Weasley said, putting a harder tone at the last name. Anastasia could feel that there's something going on between the two families, but she hasn't received a memory about that yet. She should ask Lexter later while waiting for a memory that can help her.
" Let's all sit down now. ", She said. " What do you guys want to play? Oh, and Ronald, what kind of food do you want to eat? There's different kinds of sweets here. ", she hopes food can help the boy's nervousness.
Ronald grimaced at the name but still smiled happily at the girl's invitation. " Please, just call me Ron. And anything is fine. "
" Oh. Then you can all just call me Ana. ", Anastasia said happily as she handed some strawberry and chocolate tarts to the younger ginger.
Time passed, and the kids were able to keep playing inside the pavilion. Once and a while, Ron would take a break and eat to his hearts content, only to get bothered by his brothers into playing once more.
Draco and the twins were surprisingly interacting better than before. Well, it isn't good yet. But at least they don't look like they're about to murder each other anymore. Instead, Draco just sent multiple glares in their way once in a while, yet never made a rude comment.
" Why can't we play gobstones? ", George asked in the middle of their break from games.
" Because our parents won't like it if we come back covered in gobstones. ", Anastasia answered simply.
" Right, you're turning eleven soon, aren't you? " Fred asked, earning a hum from the little girl. " Where are you going to study? "
" Maybe she'll study at Beauxbatons. Father said some most members of the Glasswater Family studied there since half of their family members are French. Only a few has studied in Hogwarts. ", Rod said.
" Oh, about that. I'm actually studying at Hogwarts. "
The three raised their heads excitedly. " Really?! ", the twins said.
" Of course she will. Severus Snape is also her guardian before Alpheus Glasswater. ", Draco chimed in.
The siblings looked horrified. " Severus Snape?! "
" How is he your guardian? "
" Well, he was the one who took care of me before my father found me. I lived at H- uhm... I lived at his home. ", Anastasia explained.
George looked amazed. " Woah... Never thought someone Snape took care of would end up nice. ", He said blatantly.
Anastasia could only chuckle. He isn't wrong. If it weren't for her somehow strong mentality due to the memories, maybe she would have been influenced by him.
Sounds of rustling entered their ears, causing them to stand up, thinking it's just another kid. Surprisingly, it was Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Malfoy and one of the Glasswater Manor's elf following after them.
Once they've spotted the childer, they walked towards them. The frown on Lucius' face was evident as soon as he saw the Weasleys. " Draco, there you are. Your mother and I have been looking for you. "
Draco walked closer to his parents. " Father, is something wrong? "
Narcissa answered for her husband. " It's nothing. It's just that it's getting late now. We should go home now since the others are going home also. "
Draco looked disappointed but nodded nonetheless. He then turned back to Anastasia before saying, " I had fun. Let's meet again sometime before school starts. ", He said before bowing and walking away with his parents.
The elf, Rod, stayed behind. " Y-young misters of the Weasleys, you're parents are looking for you now. P-please follow me. "
Anastasia pitied him and decided to do it instead. " I'll go with them, Rod. You can rest now. "
" Th-thank you, young master! ", Rod said gratefully as he bowed down before disappearing.
Anastasia then turned back to the brothers. " Well, let's go now then? ", she said.
Not even 5 minutes after entering the manor, they already found Mr. And Mrs. Weasley.
The brothers immediately received scolding from their mother for suddenly running off before the two introduced themselves. " I am Molly Weasley and this is my husband Arthur Weasley. We thank you for looking after them, Anastasia. I hope they didn't bring you trouble. ", Molly said.
" Oh no, no. Your sons are very fun people. I enjoyed my time with them. ", Anastasia said.
" Oh thank you dear. I congratulate you on your return. "
After exchanging a short conversation, the Weasleys turned to leave. At the entrance of the manor, she could see other gingers, probably also siblings.
" Did you have fun? "
Anastasia jolted in surprise at the sudden voice behind her. Turning around, she found that it was just her father. He awkwardly scratched his neck before saying, " Sorry, did I scare you? "
" No. Just surprised. "
No words were exchanged after that. The father and daughter just watched the guests leave silently.
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AN : I did a sketch of Anastasia's gown. But you can only see it in WP because I can't post any photos here.