DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING!
A/N: OK guys there is a lot of cute Elloisa coming your way in this chapter as well as your first glimpse of Harry. Hope you all enjoy it. Oh and thanks again to all my wonderful reviewers.
A/N 2: This chapter is a bit jumpy and I hope you can all jeep up with what's going on, but I was desperate to get Draco off to school and to get Harry Potter in on the story. Hope it's not too confusing.
Chapter Warnings: A couple of time jumps, but only small ones.
Chapter Seven: Returning to Hogwarts
Enjoy!
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Professor Dumbledore was twinkling like mad at the small girl sat on the other side of his desk on Draco Malfoy's lap. Sat on Draco's right was his mother and his father was too his left. They were all here to work out living and caring arrangements for Elloisa while Draco was at school this year.
"So Draco, in conclusion, I see no reason at all why your lovely daughter can't stay here with you at the school, which would only leave us with the problem of care while your in your classes." Professor Dumbledore said merrily.
"I don't think Elloisa would be comfortable being left in the care of someone she barely knew while I was in classes, so if your open to the idea, my parents would stay at the school with us during the week to help me with Elloisa and then return home for the weekend if they chose to. I've been thinking about this a lot and it does seem to be the best way around the problem of care while I attend my classes." Draco said very matter-of-factly. He had been thinking about this a lot and had already spoken to his parents to get them on side. They had already agreed to stay at the school should Dumbledore approve the idea.
"What a good idea," said Dumbledore surprising Draco a little. "If your parents are ok with that arrangement that is what we shall do." he said looking over and Lucius with a slightly raised eyebrow in question.
"Yes that's fine." Lucius said curtly.
"Then everything is sorted. When you return to the school tomorrow with the other students, Draco, I would advise you to leave Elloisa with your parents and after the feast meet with them in my office, before I show you all to your new accommodation." Dumbledore suggested twinkling even brighter when he saw the small girl Elloisa looking at his tray of Sherbert Lemons.
"That's fine." Narcissa said, standing up and helping Elloisa off of Draco's lap. "My husband and I will see you tomorrow evening then Headmaster Dumbledore. Until then good day." That said Narcissa grabbed Elloisa's hand and with her husband made for the door, Draco following behind them before he turned back at his name being called gently by Professor Dumbledore.
"Draco? Have you thought about an education for Elloisa? What is she to do all day if not learn? Just something to think about, my boy," he said before bidding Draco goodbye.
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Later that night while Elloisa was in bed sound asleep, Draco lay on his back in his bed, arms folded behind his head, gazing up at the canopy, thinking about what Professor Dumbledore had said. What about an education for her? Was there any point teaching her how to do things when for the rest of her life she will be shunned for being what she is? Why are they shunned so anyway? It's not as if she's dangerous every single day she wakes up. One day a month she turns into a werewolf and because of that she will never have a life worth mentioning.
Yes Professor Dumbledore hired a werewolf as a teacher, but he's probably the only person that would hire them. What to do? And even if I tried to get her educated, who would teach her? No one qualified would teach a werewolf and no schools would take her because she's classed as a monster thanks to the damned Ministry of Magic What can I do?
Nothing! What can one person do to change the opinions of millions about werewolves? And then the idea hit him faster than a stampeding hippogriff. "I'll start my own school!" he announced to his dark bedroom walls.
Draco didn't sleep much that night with ideas flying in all directions. About a school and a campaign and Potter. Yes! As soon as school started up again he'd find Potter and get him on side. Yes! Everything would work out for the best. It had to!
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The next day Draco didn't have time to be preoccupied. Not only did he have to be a Kings Cross Station in less than half and hour, but Elloisa was very nervous about moving to the school and needed constant reassurance.
"What will it be like? What if I don't like it? What if I get lost? What if...?" Elloisa questioned rapidly.
"What if the sky goes purple and your nose falls off?" Draco said jokingly and laughing heartily when Elloisa clamped her hands onto her nose. "Everything will be fine, you'll see. And it's not like you'll be alone. I'll be there and Grandma and Granddad. You'll be ok, I promise." Draco said gently picking her up and giving her a cuddle. "Trust me."
"OK daddy. I trust you." she said smiling shyly at him.
"That's my girl. I have to go now, so you be good for your grandparents OK Missy?"
"Yes daddy."
"And I'll see you very soon. Love you." Draco said warmly, giving her a small squeeze and setting her back on the floor.
"Love you too daddy."
Waving goodbye sadly Draco got into the carriage that would take them to the station and breathed a heavy sigh. He didn't want to leave her even if it was only for a couple of hours.
Before too long Draco was sat in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express with his trunk on the stands above him and an excitedly talkative Pansy sat across from him. Blaise Zambini was there as well but Crabbe and Goyle were not there. They had sided with their parents and were now waiting to stand trial at the Ministry. There weren't exactly missed though and without them there seemed to be an awful lot more room in the carriage.
"So what actually happened to you Draco? No one seemed to know. All we were told was that you'd been hit by a curse that no one recognized and you unconscious in Saint Mungo's." Pansy asked, obviously expecting the answer to be super amazing or something.
Draco told them that the curse had kept him unconscious for about three weeks and that they had kept him in a little longer to make sure that he was really OK and there were no lasting side effects of the curse. He didn't tell them about the spell Potter had given him for Christmas though. If Potter hadn't given it to them then he certainly wasn't.
He and his family had all tried it and to their utter astonishment, the spell had left all of their arms as unblemished as they had been before the Dark Lord had marked them. It had been incredible.
The rest of the train ride went by smoothly as did the carriage ride up to the school. As Draco and his friends entered the Great Hall he looked up to see the faces of his parents and with her head just about visible in between them was his daughter Elloisa. He smiled inwardly to himself and took his preferred seat at the Slytherin table.
Then as the rest of the student body settled down at their perspective tables Professor Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat loudly. Immediately the hall went silent. "Welcome back everyone. I must say I am delighted that so many of you made a safe return to us after the war and I hope you all had a good Christmas. Firstly I'd like to say a huge thank you on behalf of the school to Mr Potter for his excellent defeat of Voldemort just before Christmas and another thank you to all those who stood boldly at his side." Dumbledore paused to allow the Great Hall to erupt in cheers.
Draco took this opportunity to take a closer look at Potter. When considering that he faced off against the most feared dark lord ever just a few short months ago, Draco was surprised to see him looking so good. Sure he was a bit pale and Draco was sure his face wasn't that thin before, and if the bags under his eyes were anything to go by he wasn't doing as well as he would have liked everyone to think.
Again Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat and as before the hall fell silent. "Also I would like to announce that the Malfoy's will be staying here at Hogwarts. It would seem that Draco Malfoy is now a father but because of the young age of his daughter Mr and Mrs Malfoy have moved into the school during the week to help look after her while Draco attends his classes. I ask you all to treat them with the same respect that you show to your Professors. And now I believe we are all starving, so on to the feast." Having said that he clapped his hands and food appeared on the tables.
After it had been announced that Draco was in fact a dad now, a lot of people were turning in their seats to look at him and after Professor Dumbledore had finished talking a hushed whisper could be heard circulating the room. Draco just ignored it as best he could and carried on with his meal, missing the inquiring green eyes that looked over at him from the Gryffindor table.
After dinner Draco bade goodnight to his friends and went to the headmasters office as he'd been instructed to do. The instant he stepped into the room he was leaped on by his very excited little girl.
"Daddy this place is awesome. I love it. There are ghosts and on the way up here I was talked to by a pictuwe and the staiws were movin' all on their own and this place is HUUUGGGEEE Dad but I'm not scawed any more because the pictuwes all said dey would make sure they looked after me and..."
"Hey jumping bean, why don't you breath a little bit. That's it," he said kindly as she took in a massive breath a let in out heavily.
"You was wight Daddy, I love it here alreawy!"
"That's fantastic darling," Draco said grinning ear to ear at how excited she was. He looked up to find his mother was in a similar state as him and his father's lips had a small curve which, because he was in public, was a sign of how happy he was, and Professor Dumbledore, as always, was twinkling merrily away behind his half-moon specs and smiling like a Cheshire Cat.
"Right then," said Dumbledore cheerily, "shall I show you to your rooms?"
"Yes, thank you Professor." Said Draco stifling a yawn, the lack of sleep from the night before was starting to get to him a bit now.
"Right this way then," he said merrily indicating that they should follow him. Thankfully after the huge dinner in the Great Hall people were too tired, it seemed, to want to linger in the hallways and Professor Dumbledore, his parents, Elloisa, and himself all made it to their new rooms without running into any unwanted attention.
They were lead toward the dungeons and Draco couldn't help but feel a little relieved that he was still going to be close to his friends in the Slytherin Common Room. They were shown to a picture of a family of snakes and Elloisa burst into a fit of giggles when one of the younger snakes came right to the edge of the frame to look at her.
"This is the entrance to your quarters," Dumbledore said stating the obvious a little bit, "and to enter just say 'Adder-nuf'."
Draco snorted a little as he tried and only just managed to hold in his mirth at such a ridiculous password. But when he thought about it he guessed it would be a password that Elloisa could appreciate. Grinning like a mad-man he walked into the apartments with his daughter in tow and found himself in a nice sized area with was obviously the sitting room. It was decorated tastefully in beige and and dark green and the sofa and armchairs had silver patterns on them and the whole collection of seating was placed around a large fireplace which already had a fire burning away in it.
"This is obviously the lounge and please feel free to redecorate if you would like to. Through that door there," he said pointing to the back of the room, "is the kitchen slash dinning space. And down this corridor," said Dumbledore indicating them down a narrow but well lit hallway, "are the bedrooms. The first door on the right is yours, Lucius and Narcissa, and includes an en-suit. The door next to yours is the bathroom, the one across from the bathroom is for Draco and the on next to Draco's and across from yours," at this he pointed to Draco's parents, "is all your Elloisa. Again you can change anything you like but I put you all where I did because Draco's bedroom has a connecting door to Elloisa's. I thought that would prove to be the best."
"Everything is perfect, thank you headmaster," Lucius said genuinely pleased at the amount of thought the headmaster had obviously put into their new quarters.
"Now Lucius, there is no need for formalities here. You are no longer a students and may call me Albus," he said clearly indicating that Narcissa was to do so also. "And that goes for you to my dear," he said leaning down to Elloisa's level. She giggled prettily at him and Professor Dumbledore's twinkling eyes seemed to be going full pelt. "I hope you all sleep well and that I see you all at breakfast tomorrow morning. Goodnight everyone."
"Goodnight," all the Malfoys replied.
After he was gone and the door was shut securely behind him, Draco burst out laughing. "Adder... Adder... Adder-nuf!" he finally managed to say through the laughter. Elloisa and his parents joined in with his laughter as it truly was the silliest password any of them had ever heard.
After he had finally managed to stop laughing, some fifteen minutes later, he straightened himself out and wiped the tears of mirth from his eyes before swooping Elloisa up into his arms and started walking towards the bedrooms. "How about we check out your new digs?" he said giving her a little tickle.
Draco opened the door and stepped quickly into the room, he could he his parents following them in behind him before they too stop and just stared at the room.
"Wow! " Narcissa finally said, although it sounded more like a soft sigh. "He really went all out didn't he." It wasn't a question as they could all see that nothing had been left untouched by the headmasters careful decoration.
The walls of the room had been done like a mural and was just one continuous scene. It was of Hogwarts and it was incredible. Over in the distance in front of the was the gates to the school, and over to their left was the Forbidden Forest. On the right wall was Hogwarts itself standing proud and looking every bit as magical as the actual castle was. And behind them on the wall with door they had just come through was the giant lake, sparkling in the low sunshine. The detail in the pictures was absolutely astounding. Draco spotted the Quidditch Pitch in the distance and could almost swear there were little rooftops sticking up where Hogsmeade was. There were owls flying through the sky and there was unicorns and hippogriffs painted mid-leap over the grass surrounding the beautiful scene.
If after the amazing mural Draco had thought the furnishings would be a let down he was wrong. All the furniture was done in a creamy-white colour that screamed a little girl lived in the room. The wardrobe was a fairly small, and Draco guessed it was like that so Elloisa could reach the hangers, their was a small writing desk with a draw built into it and across the room from that was a gorgeous dressing table with a large oval mirror attached to the top of it. But it was the bed that caught Draco's eye the most. It was a very small double that, once Elloisa sprawled out in, Draco was sure it would fit her perfectly. It had four white beams, one from each corner, that went up until they almost touched the ceiling and they had another four beams attached to those making a square directly above the bed. From the four poles above the bed white and pink lace hangings hung down to give off the impression a real-life princess slept there.
All in all the room was incredible and Draco was sure his mother would be almost in tears at how wonderfully it had been decorated for her beautiful granddaughter.
"Is it weally mine, Daddy?" Elloisa asked in a timid voice, almost scared to find out that it wasn't really for her.
"She my angel, it is all yours." He said softly holding her tightly to his chest.
"Why don't you let Elloisa explore a bit before bed while we see to our rooms?" Lucius said gently. When Draco looked around at him his mouth was slightly open in a very un-malfoyish manner, and he couldn't take his eyes away from the walls. There was so much to see in them that Draco couldn't blame him.
"OK," Draco said placing Elloisa on the floor. Looking down at her he saw that on the floor that was a very soft, very thick pale pink carpet which, in Draco's opinion finished the room of perfectly. "Have fun exploring and I'll be back in a bit, alright Ella?"
"OK daddy." she said again in an almost whisper, and she walked slowly over to the her writing desk while looking at the walls and staring wide-eyed at the unicorns.
Draco smiled at her back and turn to the adjoining door to his bedroom. Once inside Draco could see that the headmaster had once again gone all out for him. The floor was bare with dark floorboards and there was a small couch in the middle of the room that faced a small fireplace. On either side of the fireplace were book cases as tall as the ceiling and at the far end of the room was large king-sized bed again with hangings but his were done in a heavy green material. Across from the fireplace and bookcases, along the wall with the adjoining door was a tall wardrobe made of the same colour wood as the floor but with a beautiful inlay done in a lighter shade of wood and against the wall with the door leading to the hallway was a ornate carved writing desk. At the foot of his bed, which again was made of dark wood was a thick shag-pile the same colour as his bed hangings.
Draco stared in awe of it all. His room was amazing. Very grown up and sophisticated in Draco's opinion.
He then made his way out of the door and into the hallway before heading into the bathroom. Again it was made up perfectly. This room was done in a black and white marble theme and instead of it feeling cold like Draco thought it might, it felt warm and inviting. There was a bigger than normal back tub against the far wall and there was a toilet placed strategically in a little alcove against the wall to his right. And again against the wall that was shared with his parents room was another alcove with a white marbled sink in it. Everything in this bathroom had been done with Ella in mind, Draco thought as he spotted a little step next to the bath tub and a larger set of steps pushed under the sink. That made Draco smile.
Then he made his way back to Elloisa bedroom and saw that she had moved on to looking in a truck that Draco hadn't seen in there earlier.
"Hey Ella, where did that come from?" Draco asked sitting down beside her and peering into the trunk.
"It was under my bed and look Dad, it's full of toys. Are dey for me too?" She asked her eyes sparkling with longing as she gently stroked a plastic unicorn's tail hair.
"I should think so considering they were in your room." he said chuckling softly to himself when she squealed in delight and started rummaging through the trunk again.
"Hello again," Narcissa said cheerfully as she and Lucius came through the doorway. "What's your room like Draco? Do you like it?"
"Merlin, mum, Dumbledore went full out on it. I've got my own fire place and a desk and two bookcases and the bed is up on like a little stage and it's a king-sized one two. The wardrobe was incredible and there is this shag-pile under the bed and it is truly the thickest thing I have ever seen! It is incredible and I love it!" Narcissa was almost in hysterics at Draco's enthusiasm over his room.
"Draco I will repeat what you said to Elloisa not even a hour ago. Hey jumping bean, why don't you breath a little bit." she said still giggling away like a school girl. Lucius was behind her grinning fondly as he watched his wife, son and granddaughter getting settled in to their new rooms. His family was finally acting as just that: a family, and what made it all better in his eyes was that it was his family. And all because of this one little girl, he thought smiling inwardly at how sentimental he sounded, even to himself.
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Up in the headmaster's office, Albus Dumbledore sat in his brightly coloured pajamas sipping on a cup of lemon tea thinking about the little girl that was now the daughter of Draco Malfoy. And what a little girl she is, he thought to himself. She already has that family wrapped around her little finger, and Albus knew that if she asked him for anything he'd be hard pressed to say anything but yes to her.
Albus had learned the hard way never to take anything for face value, but when that face belonged to Elloisa Malfoy how could he not. Her face was just far too cute. Overall his first impression of the young girl was the best kind, he loved her already and would pay good money to see someone who didn't after meeting her.
One thing he knew for sure, one hundred percent, was that this was going to be one hell of a year at Hogwarts.
