Halloween in the wizarding community was a nasty business.
A nuisance, especially for the Ministry of Magic, and its employees, who had to deal with the flux of illegal magical objects at the bottommost levels.
Malfoy Manor had served the gathering of upper-class wizards and witches for ages.
With its pure-blood guests and ancient history of the family, the manor acted as an annual host of Halloween feast where countless matches had been made and would for years to come.
Of course, it also served as a playground for children, providing many candies, cakes, and assortments suitable for the occasion. But the prime reason for the feast had always been to bring together young wizards and witches of marriageable age.
Today, under the bone-chilling windy night, the manor looked like a huge candle in itself.
All around the manor, hundreds of Jack-o'-lanterns were hovering, howling, cackling at the incoming guests. Some were singing, some were chasing children, and some were having an in-fight about who among them was the biggest and scariest.
A huge bonfire was burning in the middle of the vast lawn backside of the manor.
A few spare chairs were dancing on their legs, ghosts were roaming around, presenting themselves to the young and old alike, and children were prancing here and there with ever-changing robes that howled with werewolves costumes, glowed red with vampires costumes, and sprouted a long nose with hags costumes.
Round tables with plates of Barmbrack (-a type of bread-), Bonfire toffee, Candy apples (-biting which revealed tiny figurines of magical creatures-), every flavor beans, fizzing whizzbees (-that caused a person who sucked on them to float a few inches off the ground-), Soul Cakes (-that mimicked a distorted facial appearance of their eaters-), and many drinks to wash these down glided from one end to another in the lawn.
The Halloween feast was also the night when the patriarch of the Malfoy family, Lucius Malfoy, presented the richest collection of wine from the family-owned Malfoy Apothecary.
Only the selected group of family's closest friends knew that the Malfoy Apothecary was only a front, and along with winemaking, it served as a central hub of black market trades in many objects of darkest nature, illegally procured magical creatures, poisons, potions, ingredients, and even information.
Tonight was about wine. And, yes. To show others that Malfoys only became rich with time, both in wealth and status, their blood being already the purest.
Lucius Malfoy hosted the wine tasting in the High Grade Chamber on the 2nd floor, with children claiming the lawn for their own before the adults' subsequent arrival later.
Unlike the usual sight of old women gathered around Narcissa and her daughter, showering them with false praises and falser smiles, today the center of attraction on the lawn was Draco and his new tricks.
Hours of practice with his sister had made him quite proficient in broomstick riding, and Draco, like his father, didn't fail to let all know about it.
The group of boys and girls gaped in awe as he swirled on his Nimbus 1500 through the round tables, chasing a particular piece of cake with a pointy chocolate hat acting as a snitch.
When he saw the others getting bored and fed up with him being the only one flying, Draco instead started to boast about how he had brewed potions last month, and how he could do magic now, like his sister.
The expressions on the children's faces must have satisfied the young master of the Malfoy family, for he grinned majestically. Suddenly, he looked up towards her sister's room, and saw her silhouette pass by the windows, glowing dimly yellow.
Inside her room, Darcie Malfoy paced around under the light of a chandelier hanging over her head by the chains on the ceiling.
With the monstrous talent in reading, learning, and remembering that she had shown her parents in the last few months, she had earned herself quite a few privileges during social gatherings. Early retirement from the function was one of those. Alas! She had failed to deter her mother's desire to show her off to other families equal to their status.
Now she was waiting for a friend before calling it an early night. To prevent others from calling upon her, she had already changed into a green nightgown.
"Are you really going to show the minister of magic this?" Daphne asked. She was wearing a black gown, tattered at the ends, and there was a crooked, pointy hat on her head. Both Greengrasses' sisters had come acting as hags for the feast.
Daphne's aversion to her clothing could be seen clearly on her face, but for now, the scroll in her hands had caught her entire attention.
Darcie grunted a reply. "I've hinted my theories to her in the last few letters," she told Daphne. "And Milli isn't like others, believe me. She knows how to read and see things from a broader perspective."
"I don't understand it thoroughly," Daphne said, putting the scroll away. "What I do know is that people don't take kindly to our families talking about Dark Magic."
Darcie and Daphne's eyes matched briefly, both thinking the same thing. Suddenly, Dobby appeared by Darcie's side with a crack. "Miss Darcie," he squeaked, smiling ear to ear, and wearing the same red cushion cover the girls had forced him to wear on his birthday. "Dobby just saw her enter the manor."
"Good, Dobby," Darcie nodded, patting the house-elf's head. "Thank you."
After half an hour, the minister of magic, Millicent Bagnold, entered her room, with Narcissa following her. She was wearing a long-sleeved purple gown with a Chinese hairpin holding her hair in a tight, but neat bun.
"Good evening, Ms. Bagnold," both girls greeted her together.
The older witch beamed at them. "It's Ok, Narcissa," she said, looking at her host. "Let me have some time with the girls now. I will return soon. You know how busy it gets tonight."
Narcissa smiled, but only Darcie noticed the glint in her mother's eyes when she noticed Daphne. "Sure, minister," her mother said cheerily. "I will send some refreshments for you."
"That will be wonderful," Ms. Bagnold replied.
Narcissa then stepped out and closed the chamber's door partially.
"Now, young lady," the minister said, looking at Darcie, "why don't you introduce me to your friend?"
Darcie nodded. "Milli, this is Daphne Greengrass, my close confidante and a closer friend," she told her. "And Daphne, this is Milli."
Ms. Bagnold chuckled. "Sit and tell me what you have for me. You sounded quite thrilled in the letters."
Daphne passed Darcie the scroll, which she handed over to the minister as she helped herself to a cushioned chair.
For a minute or two, Ms. Bagnold went by the scroll's contents with a plain face. But as she kept reading, one of her eyebrows lifted, and a smile surfaced on her face. "Exciting!" she commented. "Now, here is something controversial. Haha! Did you write it yourself? No. Don't answer that. I am not here to insult your intelligence, young lady. But you must know the basics of Dark Arts to even think of the underlying matter mentioned in the scroll…"
Darcie nodded. It wasn't something she had planned to hide. "We bought a few second-hand books using our pocket money, Milli," she lied, and Daphne nodded, her cheeks reddening behind Darcie. "Our parents don't know, I am afraid. After our last talk, I became very interested in knowing more about magic and its history. So…"
"That's not something I would encourage," Ms. Bagnold said, shaking her head. "But if you were to promise me not to do it anymore, I would not tell both of your parents. OK?"
Darcie looked at Daphne over her shoulder and then nodded.
Ms. Bagnold grinned, pinched Darcie's cheeks, and put the scroll away with a wave of her wand. "Let me read it further," she told her. "I will let you know through another letter. And now, I must go. Few knew I would come here, and the news must have already reached the Daily Prophet's reporters by now. You must visit my home sometime and bring Daphne with you if you wish. Goodbye."
"Thank you, Milli," Darcie said and escorted her to the door. "Please come back soon."
The minister of magic giggled like a little girl herself, and then with brisk steps, disappeared behind the corridor leading to the Drawing room.
…
"I don't think it was right to lie to her, Darcie," Daphne said, breaking the silence.
The two girls observed each other.
"As you said," Darcie told her, looking thoughtful, "people don't take kindly to our families talking about Dark Magic. But history says that people don't like absurd truths even more."
Daphne looked troubled, biting her lips as she listened to Darcie.
At last, she nodded, and said, "I understand."
***************
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