?????? ???? | Lucius Malfoy

"And now, I'm supposed to marry Astoria Greengrass unless I can come up with a rich pureblood girlfriend within a week." Draco groaned, dreading the thought of a future with Astoria.

"Fake girlfriend. Find someone rich and pureblood, make them pretend to be your girlfriend." Isobel shrugged, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

The rest of the group were silent for a moment, and Draco hesitated before answering.

"That's not a bad idea."

"Might be onto something with that one." Lorenzo said sarcastically.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Onyx said with a raised eyebrow, immediately stepping in to defend her best friend from whatever rude take that Lorenzo had on her idea.

"They think she's gay like Pansy." He replied, reminding everyone of the disaster that was last years Malfoy Christmas Ball.

"Hey, I didn't say I was going to be the fake girlfriend." Isobel hissed, looking at Draco with exaggerated disgust.

"Right." Draco nodded, rolling his eyes. "Onyx?"

"I think not." Blaise smirked, putting his arm around his girlfriend.

"Well, then I guess Izzy will just have to come out as straight." Pansy laughed, and Isobel gave in.

"Whatever. But I'm gonna charge you for it."

"Yeah, okay." Draco dismissed her, and finally sat down, feeling slightly more relaxed.

Isobel, Onyx and Pansy soon went up to their dorm to finish packing their stuff for tomorrow.

It was the last day of term before winter break, and whilst most people were going home to their families, this little group were staying at Malfoy Manor.

With Blaise's mother off on her honeymoon with her 7th husband, Pansy and Onyx's families in foreign countries, and Lorenzo already practically living at the Manor, it made sense for them to spend summer there together.

Unlike the others, Isobel had a home that wasn't halfway across the world, or empty while her family was away. No, she had a family quite similar to the Malfoys.

A beautiful mother, a powerful and rich pureblood. A mildly absent father, from a bloodline similar in wealth and status to her mother's. That, and three sisters and four brothers, whom she was close with, but with most of them moved out and only coming home from Christmas Day, there wasn't much to do for three weeks on her own.

However, unlike the Malfoy family, they didn't appear so serious and cold all the time.

The parents were known for their lavish and fun lifestyle, and the kids were known for their slightly reckless behaviour, just as their father and his siblings were when they were young.

And unlike Draco, she was incredibly close with her mother - she looked a lot like her too, with her big round eyes, pouty pink lips, and slightly curly, honey blonde hair.

It was for this reason - and to steal her sisters clothes - that she decided to go home for a few days at the start of the winter break, before joining her friends at Malfoy Manor.