The iron-gated courtyard posed no obstacle at all to the two wizards. Led by Severus, Lucius and Haji entered the small villa beside the vineyard as if returning to their own home.
When they pushed open the ivory-white double doors, they were met by a sea of blue.
"I thought we'd arrived at a Ravenclaw's home," Lucius said teasingly.
Severus ignored him and walked into the carpeted house.
If the Hufflepuff common room emphasized warmth and comfort, with yellow drapes everywhere and plump, rounded armchairs, then this place possessed a more fluid, dynamic beauty. Every line of the furniture had been carefully sculpted, like cut gemstones.
The French had a decorating habit of facing bedrooms toward the garden. Malfoy Manor was like that too. Fortunately, there was nothing so nerve-racking to be seen on the first floor. This was a place for receiving guests. By the French windows stood a small tea table where two people could sit across from each other and drink tea or coffee.
Light streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating the sitting room. The sofa was gray and perhaps silver-plated, but there was no coffee table. In the open space before it stood a wooden rocking horse for a child, while toys for a little boy lay beneath the sofa.
Severus picked up a wooden elephant and stood utterly still, as if petrified. Haji had been about to say something, but Lucius stopped him.
He stood there for a long while before walking next door. This room had fewer drapes, but it contained a desk, a chaise longue, and the only painting on the entire wall.
It was Titian's "Bacchus and Ariadne," clearly "brought over" from the Louvre Museum. A vast expanse of lapis lazuli blue filled the painting, along with stars. Considering that ultramarine