"I.." Narcissa started.
Minerva walked over to her, her eyes wide as tear streamed down her face. "Narcissa.." But the blonde shook her head softly and stepped back, first taking the blue potion. It instantly felt a lot better and she looked shakingly at the woman in front of her.
The older woman hugged the blonde carefully, who winced slightly but hugged back. "Did he.." Narcissa nodded and sobbed quietly. Minerva simply held the woman close, stroking her hair softly as she cried. "Come Narcissa.. " She led her to the bathroom and carefully took of the blonde's bathrobe, Narcissa shivered from the cold but said nothing, she blushed and looked away, embarrassed when Minerva looked at her worried.
The blonde was carefully taken care of by the other woman, who healed what she could, though most wounds were cursed and could not be healed by magic, who dressed her, being careful not to hurt her further, and who sat her down on the sofa to sit beside her. "What has he done, Narcissa?.."
It felt almost unreal, except for Lucius and of course Bella, no one had ever helped her like this, not even Dromeda. Narcissa looked down into her lap, closing her eyes before answering. "Loads of curses.. Cruciatus.." She shivered "R rape.." Minerva gasped softly and hugged the small woman.
"How could he.. Come here…" Narcissa moved closer to her, curling up slowly in the embrace. Minerva send a patronus to Albus, saying neither of them would come to the meeting that afternoon and they sat like this for hours. The older woman stroking the blonde's hair softly until she had calmed down at least a bit.
Neither went to the Great hall for dinner, instead they ordered an elf to bring something to eat and stayed on the sofa. Though it was silent, Narcissa was immensely grateful for the source of comfort given by the other woman. Draco was taken care of by another house elf until the blonde was calmed down, and Minerva had told her not to worry about anything for now.
When Narcissa fell asleep, Minerva layed her down in her own bed and layed down herself on the sofa, not leaving her alone for tonight. As requested by the blonde, the lights stayed on and the elder had asked the elf watching Draco to wake her up if either the boy or Narcissa would wake up.
Minerva calmed the blonde down when she woke up because of a nightmare and held her until she fell back asleep, and the next morning she made sure Narcissa was well enough to teach, which the blonde insisted she was.
Narcissa had had always trouble with others helping her, hating how it made her feel weak, but she was thankful for Minerva's help, she was embarrassed to admit it, but she had needed it. She knew it would be a few days before she would be back to her usual self, not that that was completely okay, but she didn't expect that.
"Narcissa, are you sure you can teach today? Don't force yourself to act like nothing happened.." Her voice was worried and Minerva looked at the woman almost pleadingly. But Narcissa shook her head softly.
She sighed "Don't worry, I'm fine, honestly. And I don't have another choice Minerva, I'm used to it by now." Narcissa smiled slightly. "I'll be fine, promise." Minerva sighed softly.
"Let's go then."
OoO
After her last lesson, Alicia came to visit her in her office. The girl walked in looking a bit shy and greeted the older woman. "Good afternoon, mrs. Malfoy." She smiled and sat down in an armchair.
"Good afternoon Alicia, how are you?" Narcissa smiled at the girl and offered her a chocolate truffle from the bowl on her desk, which she gladly took. Alicia looked down a bit, blushing a bit when she shook her head.
The blonde looked worriedly at her and asked what was wrong, the black haired girl spoke softly. "They want to close the orphanage." She bit her lip as she continued "They don't have enough money anymore, a lot of children have been adopted, according to miss Ives. But.. I'm not there and, the ones who don't find a new home… they will probably have to live on the streets.."
She looked at Narcissa with tears in her eyes and the blonde stared at her unbelievingly. She had known Alicia was an orphan, her parents had died in a carcrash, whatever that was, when she was three years old and the girl had since then lived in an orphanage near Wiltshire.
"They can't actually.. do that, can they?" It couldn't be true, sending innocent children to live on the streets? Muggles couldn't possibly think that was normal. But Alicia nodded softly.
"They can. I think most of the children will be adopted soon enough though.. But I'm not even there to see possible parents, and who would want a witch?.. No normal muggles would." The girl was clearly trying not to cry, though two tears fell slowly down her cheeks. Narcissa stood up and walked over to her, forcing herself not to flinch away when the twelve year old hugged her.
The woman shook her head "You won't live on the streets Alicia, I'm sure you can stay at Hogwarts during the summer, multiple professors do that as well. And even if they won't let you, I promise you won't go to the streets, I promise." She stroked the girls' hair softly, feeling her calming down slowly. Alicia looked up.
"Where else do I have to go?.." Narcissa closed her eyes, mentally slapping herself for what she was about to say.
"Malfoy Manor."
OoO
Monday.
It was finally Monday.
Narcissa was extremely tired, still hurt and she flinched slightly whenever someone made an unexpected move. She needed Lucius and couldn't help but smile that she would see him tonight again when she returned home.
She and Minerva walked to the great hall together, Draco in her arms babbling non-existent words. She had thanked the other woman thoroughly for everything she had done the past week but Minerva didn't seem to mind it at all.
When she was sitting in the great hall during lunch, the doors opened while everyone was eating. Narcissa didn't look up at first, but a few others did and they started whispering. The blonde raised her head slowly and gasped, a bright smile appearing on her face as she stood up, Minerva took Draco from her.
Lucius.
Narcissa made her way down the teachers table and walked over to her husband as quickly as she could. Lucius smiled brightly and held his wife close in his arms, burying his face in her blonde hair.
They didn't say anything at first, Narcissa hugged him tight and buried her head in his warm chest, finally feeling the comfort it gave her again. "I missed you so much.." She whispered it just loud enough for him to hear and Lucius kissed the top of her head.
"I missed you too darling.. so much." Everyone was watching them so he didn't ask anything, yet. It was obvious to the young woman he felt guilty for leaving her, he always did when he went on a trip. Narcissa smiled softly and stood on her toes in an attempt to kiss him.
Lucius chuckled and moved his head lower, kissing her softly before embracing the woman once more. "When do you have class again?" He asked softly, stroking a lock of hair behind her ear.
"Ten minutes, afterwards a free period though. Will you wait?" He smiled and nodded.
"Of course I will, where is Draco?" "Minerva has him, but he'll be with you in my rooms when I teach."
Lucius smiled and nodded "Alright then, I'll see you then love." He kissed her forehead and she smiled before he walked out of the hall, proud and arrogant as ever.
OoO
The next lesson couldn't be over soon enough for Narcissa, but at last it ended.
Lucius was waiting for her in her private rooms, Draco in his lap laughing while the man tickled him. The woman smiled brightly and sat down beside him. He kissed Draco's head and laid him down in his small crib. Then he turned to Narcissa. "Did he visit?.." She nodded and Lucius held her close, not having to ask how she was, he knew her reaction to it. He did ask who helped her and Narcissa answered softly.
"Minerva.. I asked her to look after Draco during the night, I kept waking him up when I screamed.. She came into my rooms when.. right after he.. " She didn't need to say more, Lucius understood what she meant and kissed her head.
"I'm glad she did, I don't even want to imagine how you would have been if no one had been here for you…" His face was filled with guilt but Narcissa shook her head softly.
She took his hands "it's not your fault love, honestly, don't blame yourself for something he did…"She knew it would only help a little, but she also knew there was not much else she could do. The guilt always washed away after a day, max two. Lucius smiled softly and the woman sighed.
"I need to say something though…" He looked at her curiously and she continued after closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "I may or may not have told Alicia she can stay at Malfoy Manor during the holidays."
Lucius looked at her surprised, not angry, simply surprised. "And.. why exactly?" She had told him about Alicia a couple of times, though she might have let out the fact that the girl was muggleborn.
"I told you she lives in an orphanage right?" he nodded "Well, the orphanage is closing. A lot of children are being adopted now, but since she isn't there but here, no one can adopt her. And.. the children who don't find a new family, will have to live on the streets, with barely anything."
She looked down "It's just for the summerholidays, and if you don't want to, I'm sure she could stay here if she really has nowhere else to go…" But Lucius smiled softly
"If you're sure about it, I'm not going to argue Narcissa. From what I've heard she's just fine, well-mannered and intelligent. Of course she could stay for a few months a year. But do tell me more about her though."
Narcissa sighed in relief and smiled "Well, like I said, she loves literature, is very intelligent, good at potions, charms and Defence against the dark arts, she's a bit shy, and she's muggleborn." Lucius' face dropped when she said the last words.
"Muggleborn?" The woman nodded softly. "How can a girl like that, be muggleborn?" He seemed genuinely surprised, and Narcissa knew her reactions had been the exact same thing.
"No idea honestly, but there's no way to notice it. Sorry I didn't mention it before but, she's really great, honestly."
Lucius nodded thoughtfully "Well.. I trust your judgement of course, but I'd have to meet her myself first."
It was all Narcissa could ask of him.
OoO
Reviews please?
