A Visitor

Draco was sitting on the front step of his enormous house, not doing anything in particular, when out of the bushes came a woman he recognised at once: Esther Zabini. Her eyes were glued on him, probably waiting for him to be startled by her arrival, but he only stared ahead, his face void of any expression.

"Hi, Draco," she greeted, walking up to him.

He looked up at her. "How did you find this place?"

"I smelled it out," she chuckled and pointed to the space next to him. "Can I sit?"

He nodded. "That was a nice little tiff you pulled at the Ministry," he commented sarcastically.

She laughed as she took a seat, but sounded slightly nervous.

"Everyone is looking for you, you know," he told her as he picked up a small stick off the ground.

"I know," she sighed and stood up again.

His expressionless eyes stayed on her. "Are you planning on running?"

"Yes, I have a place to go, but I will probably turn myself in, eventually," she sighed.

"You should do it now," he said, his voice monotone. Her face twisted in bewilderment. "Turn yourself in, I mean," he clarified and threw the stick ahead of him as far as he could.

"Why did you do it?" He asked, staring past her at the spot where his stick had landed in the street.

She glanced at him. "I told Blaise I was going away for the weekend. I had no idea about Astoria. The next day, I came back, having cancelled the rest of my trip, and what did I find? Blaise setting up a romantic dinner." Her tone was full of resentment. "Naturally, I knew it was not for me because he thought that I would be gone for the whole weekend. I asked him what the dinner was all about, and he had the nerve to tell me that the dinner was for me!" She scoffed. "Well, I told him it clearly wasn't for me because he didn't know I was coming back that day. He couldn't come up with another excuse after that, so I went to my room, where an owl arrived shortly after with a letter. The letter was from Astoria." Esther looked at Draco. "She wrote to tell Blaise that she couldn't make dinner after all and that she was embarrassed because she had agreed to it."

Draco was surprised to hear this part of the story. He thought that Astoria had told Blaise that the answer was no, after all that happened.

"Astoria sent the letter a half hour before dinner, cancelling," Esther continued. "When I finished reading the letter, I went back to Blaise who was in the living room and asked him how long he had been with her and why."

Draco never knew how long Astoria was having the affair, so this would be news to him.

"Blaise recovered from shock it seemed because he actually answered my questions. He told me he was seeing her for the last five years and that he was with her because he was in love." Esther started pacing in front of Draco. When she looked at him there were tears in her eyes. "In love, Draco. In love. That was his answer."

He wasn't sure how to respond, again, never having been any good at comforting people, coming from the Malfoy family. He stood up and slowly put out his hand to pat Esther's shoulder, but held back. She continued pacing so he sat back down, grateful.

"I couldn't believe it when Blaise told me he was in love with Astoria," Esther continued. "I thought we were happy. I told him I thought we had a loving relationship and marriage. That I thought he loved me." She sighed and sat down next to Draco, again. The tears were still in her eyes, but none had fallen.

Draco was still uncomfortable with the emotional display but tried to hide it, so he turned to Esther.

"And what did Blaise say to that?"

Esther chuckled and stared at the ground. "He told me that things change, that he loved me once, but stopped."

It was quiet between them for a couple of minutes, the only sound Esther sniffing.

"I asked Blaise if you knew about Astoria cheating on you," she said, breaking the silence.

Draco stayed quiet.

"He told me you found out a couple of days before and that you and Astoria were separating."

"It obviously didn't stop there, though, did it?" Draco asked, now feeling frustrated with Esther for being there at his house. It seemed she didn't feel sorry about Blaise at all, just what happened to her.

She paused. "No. We....starting fighting. I didn't think it would escalate physically, but somehow, it did."

And her tale began. Draco witnessed and heard much in his 30 years, but, somehow, this whole situation disturbed him more than most.

"We didn't have our wands because they were in the other room. It wasn't even a big fight!" She cried, obviously trying to excuse her behaviour. "I barely hit him! Blaise just happened to be standing next to the china cabinet and fell into it."

Draco didn't believe her. The scene was exceptionally bloody, and she had plainly done way more than she was admitting. He raised his eyebrows, knowing she was lying.

"You don't believe me?" She yelled, her eyes bulging. "I'm telling the truth!"

"Esther," he hesitated, "the room was saturated with blood. How do you explain that? How would a fall into a cabinet create so much? How would it spread in such concentration throughout the entire room?"

Her face was void of expression. "It was the way he hit his head. I couldn't believe it." Her eyes filled with tears again, then disappeared abruptly, as though they had been for show.

"I wanted him dead, I admit that. But who wouldn't if they found out the love of their life was cheating on them?" She asked, looking at Draco for an answer.

"Well," Draco began, "I admit I was hurt about the whole affair, but I didn't want Astoria dead, Esther. Everyone reacts differently, but what matters, in the end, is how you act on it. Maybe you did kill Blaise by accident, maybe you didn't, but you did hit him, and that is what led to his death."

Draco didn't feel sorry for Esther. He knew she murdered Blaise on purpose and was lying. She had known what she was doing. She went into that room intent on questioning Blaise and then purposely struck him.

"What, you just left Astoria there without doing anything?" Esther asked, shocked.

The question disturbed Draco. She was implying that he should have taken measures into his own hands and not let Astoria get away with what she did.

"Murdering my wife was not the answer, and it never should be, Esther," he snapped. He wanted her to leave.

She glared at him. "You really are different from your family, Malfoy. What happened to you? Are you going to let me leave or are you too virtuous for that now?"

He sighed and pointed ahead of him. "Just leave, Esther. If you come back I will gladly arrest you." He lowered his eyes to the ground, waiting for her to disappear.

She walked halfway down the path, then turned around and sneered at him.

Authors Note: Isn't she awful?

I hope you are enjoying it so far! I post twice a week, Wednesday's and Saturday's, so be sure to stick around!