Harry Potter: Instant Kill

When we left the train, I informed Walburga about the party invitation as well as the duel and what I had won. "I see, that sounds like a very good bet to make. However, your last dress robes will be a bit too small judging by how much you have grown." The simile she had on her face sent shivers down my back and what she said next made me grimace, "We will have to buy you some new robes. Let us stop by on the way home so that we can get it out of the way."

Knowing my fate was sealed I nodded and followed behind Walburga who walked quickly to the disapperation point. We apperated directly to the outside of the clothes shop, Twilfitt and Tattings, not even stopping to take a breath Walburga marched in through the door. "Hello, we would like to see your fine dress robes." She said to the elderly shopkeeper who looked up from the book he was reading.

The fitting of the robes didn't take too long however choosing which robe looked best on me took considerable time, Walburga seemed to be unsatisfied unless I tried on every robe in the shop's collection. "We will take these two," She finally said after much thought and changing of robes, they complement his build well while fitting the aesthetic of his house.

Thanking my lucky stars that I didn't need to waste more time there, I took hold of the bag while paying the large amount of 35 galleons. It didn't take much time before we returned home and I had a chance to sit down to relax. "Erik dear, you will need to brush up on your dance skills if you want to be presentable at Malfoy's party so we will be spending at least an hour each day leading up to it going over your dance lessons to make sure you remember them."

"I promise you Walburga I have not forgotten the lessons so there is no point wasting your time on this," I said trying to weasel out of it but she was having none of it as she chuckled before replying, "Oh it would not be a waste dear. It is my duty to make sure you represent your house to your full capacity."

Finally, after 5 days of dance and etiquette lesson recaps, the date of the party was upon us. Daphne flooed to the Black ancestral home first to meet up with me before we both flooed to the Malfoy entrance room as instructed on the invitations. We arrived and dusted the soot off of our nice dresses wear before surveying the entrance hall, "Would you please present your invitations, Sir and Madam." An older voice asked from next to us where a grey-haired butler stood to welcome guests.

We presented our invitations and were escorted to the ballroom where the old man opened the door before announcing to the hall, "Lord Bodewig and Lady Greengrass." Walking into the hall all eyes turned towards us, Daphne looked stunning in a light sky blue dress which paired nicely with her ice blue eyes which were visible beneath the white arctic fox mask she wore while I looked noble in my deep blue almost black dress robes with a black raven mask.

Out of the staring crowd came the older of the Malfoys accompanied by his wife, "Welcome Lord Bodewig and Miss Greengrass, I am glad both of you were able to make it. I believe this is the first time either of your families has been at a Malfoy yule ball, may you attend many more in the future." Lord Malfoy said with his glib tongue wagging the whole time as if I was a great wizard needing to have his ass kissed.

"It is good to be invited, Lord Malfoy, It is good to see a fellow lord doing well and thriving in the company of so many friends. It is regretful that this is our first meeting as I am sure we would get along amicably." I said letting my own tongue wag in a flattering way while not saying anything concrete or approving.

After the brief introductions, we were left to mingle with the other party guests, "Spot anyone you know?" I asked Daphne after taking two fruit drinks from a passing server and handing her one. "I can spot a few pureblood lords who are hard not to recognise such as Crabbe and Goyle who are the ones who look like trolls." She answered while subtly nodding towards the named pair before taking another look around and continuing, "I see Lord Nott and Avery. The one who looks like an understuffed ferret is Nott and the old wheelchair-bound one is Avery."

"So what you're saying is that most of the dark faction is here, that is not really surprising since we know how Malfoy does business. Any from the grey faction?" I asked but before she had a chance to reply we were greeted by Minister Fudge who shook both our hands before giving me condolences over my Grandmother's death. "Thank you, Minister. I cannot tell you how much it means to me to receive your condolences." I say with enough happiness in my voice to cover how sarcastic the remark actually was.

Daphne and I walked around the ballroom for the start of the evening greeting all those of the grey faction we came across but when the music started I was pulled onto the dance floor and wasn't allowed off of it until the music was interrupted to announce that some food was served. It was also at that moment when the older Malfoy was announcing food that he looked at me and gave a subtle nod to indicate it was time to settle the debt his family owed me.