Silent Evil Daughters, Like Sirens on the Water

[Serpentine Malfoy]

She was annoyed. She had been playing the night before with something other than her dolls - a rarity for the blonde haired Malfoy child. A little grey thing that looked like it could have easily been a piece of string and she had been perfectly fine with the staff assuming that was the case. She would have tucked him away during Nova's weekly visit to her sons. She probably could have slipped him by far longer than two days if only the maid hadn't been interested in what she was doing. The little girl saw no reason for the maid to have freaked out over something as petty as her snake. It wasn't like she was even playing with a venomous snake anyway. Or at least her grandfather hadn't said it was.

But the maid had come closer and saw the five-year-old child playing with a snake, though she had missed her talking to it, else the maid would have likely died rather than passed out, and now she was, the next day headed down to her father's study, with her new found companion tucked into her collar, his head barely peeking out, beady eyes staring as it watched the house and those who occupied it.

Snapping her lip back in from pouting, she knocked on her father's door, prompted by the maid.

@'gaius malfoy'

  

[Gaius Malfoy]

Since the latest addition to the family, Gaius had been making a concerted effort to spend more time at home—though yearned still for his research at the Ministry, no matter how many quiet evenings were spent with his wife and no matter how well Serpentine was doing with her own studies. To that end, his ‘time with the family’ had translated very quickly to ‘time in his home study instead of his work one’, and he was deep in an ancient set of scrolls when the soft, low-hitting knock came to his door.

Jerked abruptly from his academic reverie, it was with a small scowl that Gaius rose from his seat and moved to open the door—charmed to lack even a knob from the outside when its master was present.

When no one met his gaze, the wizard dropped it downward to find his daughter, his expression shifting from displeasure to one more neutral.

“Does Nanny know where you are?” he inquired with equal measures nonchalance and warning. He did love his daughter, in his own way, but Gaius Malfoy had not been raised to be overly affectionate with his children, and until they were older, had long since resigned himself to reserving judgment until they were old enough to (potentially) share his passions.

  

[Serpentine Malfoy]

She had known he was in there - the door handle had been missing, but honestly, she wasn't sure if she expected him to actually open the door. She flinched back for a second at his expression, before she straightened. If she could handle a dragon, she could handle her absentee father. She had faced the dragon. "Nanny told me to come," Serpentine stated matter-of-factly, watching her father like she was trying to judge him. She wasn't too certain how to approach the snake topic but she knew Nanny would ask her father about it and she would never have a chance of slipping past the both.

"Nanny said I couldn't keep a snake as a pet," she ended up stating, quite bluntly, her tone now annoyed as she mentally fumed about the woman - any other staff and the girl would have demanded her fired, but Nanny was the closest thing she had to a mother and the only staff that she had known her whole life. The rest seemed to scared of the partially orphaned Malfoy daughter. "Igor wouldn't hurt anyone."

  

[Gaius Malfoy]

Nanny told the child to come pester her father in his study? The matter, Gaius realized, must have been a serious one if that was the case—though at the word ‘snake’ he looked at his daughter in confusion. Of all the things he had expected her to say, that she had acquired a snake called Igor was very far down the list.

“I think I shall have the final say, not Nanny,” he reassured Serpentine, “though I must meet this Igor before I can make a decision either way.”

Frankly, he had expected his prim daughter would shy away from reptilian companions.

  

[Serpentine Malfoy]

She smiled brightly at his initial reply, a genuine toothy smile rather than a simply sweet one she used to get her way with the maids. "Of course, Father," she stated before twisting her head to look down at the neckline of her dress where she had hidden the snake. Thinking nothing of it, rather than taking the snake from around her neck with her hands she offered it a brief set of instructions for it to follow that to her sounded just likely the English she had spoken to her father but would sound like a series of drawn out hisses to anyone else.

"Father, this is Igor," she stated about the small, a little over a foot long creature, that had now shifted from her neck to her arm where it peered up at Gaius, three rows of risen scales making it look like its name sake as the dragonsnake. 

He was likely right, however, should she not be able to talk to them, she likely would have avoided the creatures. They scared her before she had come face to face with a dragon that was for sure.

  

[Gaius Malfoy]

The sounds that left his daughter then startled the wizard, who gazed wide-eyed down at the little blonde.

Serpentine Malfoy, you have been well-named indeed, Gaius thought as he realized what must be the case. His daughter was a parselmouth, a rare ability that could only be born, not taught. This drastically raised the child in his estimations, as his look shifted from one of surprise to consideration.

The snake was not an adder, and would not have looked so large were it not in the hands of a small child. As if to test this theory, Gaius took the small reptile, eyeing it carefully for strange markings that might indicate it as an animagus—and thus, a spy in his home. Finding no such clues, he handed the creature back to the five-year-old.

“He seems safe enough,” the wizard allowed. “What does he say of his new environment?” he added, probing further.

@'Serpentine Malfoy'

  

[Serpentine Malfoy]

She shifted her weight uneasily when she was parted from the reptile, unsure of her father's plans or her friend's safety in his hands. Still her worry was overtaken by confusion when he scanned the snack, like he was looking for something. "What are you looking for, father?" Serpentine questioned as she reached tiny hands out to retrieve her pet.

What did he think of his new environment? She curled her lips up, and relayed the question the the grey colored snake. "He says he likes it better. He likes the pillows and fireplaces. But he wants better food."

"He was a gift from grandfather," she offered, happy now that it seemed she would be allowed to keep her new friend.