Author's Note: This story is dedicated to my friends Lu Mezenga, who encouraged me to write it and Stefanie, who was the inspiration for my OC. I own anything, all rights go to J.K. Rolling. Read it, enjoy it and review it! :)
Chapter 10: Painful Truths
"Shut up, Astoria," Draco said before she could talk and he kneeled in front of his son. "Scorpius, listen to me,"
"I'm your mother, kid," Astoria blurted
"But my dad said that my mother died," Scorpius looked at his father waiting for a confirmation.
"Son, this matter is complicated. I wanted to protect you…" Draco looked at his son.
"Did you lie to me, dad?" the boy asked.
"Yes, he did, sweetie, I'm your mother. I'm alive and I'm here," Astoria smirked evilly.
"Astoria, leave," Draco demanded.
"Why did you lie to me, dad? What other lies did you tell me?" Scorpius started to cry and stepped back away from Draco.
"I never lied to you about anything, son."
"You lied about my mother."
"I was protecting you."
"I could've had a normal childhood. I wanted her to be in my life."
"Scorpius," Draco reprehended him. "Don't say it like you know what happened, this is not the right way to judge my actions."
"Then what happened?" the boy asked with the typical Malfoy arrogance.
"Why don't you ask your mother?"
"Malfoy, stop it. This discussion is not healthy for him." Hermione intervened. "Scorpius, calm down, you can't have emotional distress. You're not strong for a discussion as serious as this one."
"Granger, this is all your fault!" Draco said.
"My fault? How's that?" Hermione spat furiously.
"You had the brilliant idea to get Astoria here!"
"You brought my mom here, Hermione?" Scorpius asked.
"Yes, dear, I brought her here to cure you. Her blood will help your recuperation."
"Granger, why do you have to get into everything? This is not your problem," Draco said getting angrier.
"Don't talk to her like that, dad. She's my friend and she's the only one who didn't lie to me." Scorpius replied.
"That's enough! We need to have a serious talk about respecting authority, young man. I'm your father and I'm the one who give orders here, did you understand?"
"I don't trust you anymore!" Scorpius cried again and ran through the hall.
Draco rushed to go after him, but Hermione held his arm.
"Stay, Malfoy. He won't talk to you. I'll go after him" she said and left after the little boy.
Draco looked at Astoria, who hadn't said anything since then. He dragged her into the Scorpius's room, to avoid the curious looks of everyone passing by the hall, because after all it wasn't always that such drama happened around there. Draco put a silencer spell around the room so he could talk to Astoria without caring if anyone was going to hear them. Draco was so furious that smoke was almost coming off his ears. Astoria looked at him afraid to pronounce any word and silently she started to cry.
"I don't believe your tears, Astoria. Save them for when they're really needed," he said harshly.
"Draco, I'm sorry…"
"No! You're not sorry!" He trapped her between him and the wall with his arms.
"I am, please, believe me," she kept crying. "When I left, I never thought I would miss you two, but after a while Antoine didn't satisfy me anymore. He was wonderful to me and I was amazed by all the promises he made me. I thought about all the things I would have with him that I didn't think twice," she said.
"Antoine? Was that his name? I see, so you were cheating on me with a guy named Antoine? And now you're telling me that you had been seeing each other before you left?" he turned away from her.
"Don't act like you were faithful to me. You kept it as a secret for the press, but you never hid it when you left the Manor to find some company."
"You know pretty well that our marriage was arranged and never based on love or loyalty, Astoria, but you know what? I'm glad you decided to leave."
"I know it wasn't based on love, but I'm saying the truth when I say that after a while away from Scorpius, I started to wonder how my life would have been if I had stayed, if I had seen him grow up. Every time his birthday came I would think of you two. I thought once about coming back, but so many things happened at the same time that I forgot the idea."
"Lies! You're telling me only lies. You never wanted to come back and I should never have agreed to get you here," he shouted.
"If I wasn't here, how would the mudblood cure our son?" Astoria spat crying.
"First of all Scorpius is my son, not ours. And Granger is not a mudblood. She's taking care of my son better than any pureblood doctor would. She was the one who found out what was wrong with him, so I don't want to hear you talking about her. And stop calling her a mudblood."
"What's wrong with, Draco? You've always known the value of being a pureblood and now you're letting the Malfoy's heir be treated by the mudblood you most hate in the world!"
"Granger may not be a pureblood, but she's a million times the woman you'll ever be. She's a great person and she's one of the few people I know that think about others before herself. She should be admired by everyone, because altruism is a very noble value."
"Draco!" Astoria shouted. "Are you listening to yourself? Are you falling for her?"
"What? No! I'm getting to know her and believe it or not, she's a great friend."
"And I'm the one lying! Draco, if I were you, I'd open up my eyes, because you may be falling for her. But she'll always be a mudblood. What would your father say?"
"My father is dead and so is his opinion. What I do with my life and who I fall for is none of your business, Astoria. Now, you're going to leave this hospital, while I go look for my son, whose life you just ruined, if I may remind you."
Draco opened the door and turned to Astoria.
"I don't want to see you here when I come back," he said and left.
Draco started to look everywhere he thought around the hospital, until he found Hermione walking through one of the halls.
"Granger, where were you?" he was angry.
"I've been looking for your son, Malfoy."
"And…?" he crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"I haven't found him yet, but I'm still looking."
"I can't believe you lost my son in this hospital! He is sick, Granger! What if something happens to him?"
"Calm down, Malfoy. You stop complaining and help me. Come on."
Hermione started to walk away and Draco rushed after her.
"Granger, have you looked at the children's wing?" he asked.
"Do you honestly think I'm stupid? That was the first place I looked, but there was nobody in there, because today is visiting day, so all children are outside with their parents."
"Are you sure everyone's outside?" he asked and she stopped suddenly.
"Damn, Malfoy. You're right! I think I know where Scorpius might be."
Hermione changed her way immediately and walked back to the children's wing. Draco followed her trying to understand what Hermione was doing and he was a bit mad at her. He hated when people just ignored him. Who did she think she was? They were looking for his son, he had the right to know what was going on. Through the whole way, Draco kept asking where Hermione was doing and she kept telling him to shut up. Finally they got to their destination, where all lights were out. Hermione headed to one of the rooms and inside it she found Lucy and Scorpius. The boy was still crying, so Hermione entered the room slowly and both children looked at her.
"Scorpius, you can talk to me if you want," she said.
"She's really my mother, right?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Why did my father tell me she was dead?"
"He wanted to protect you. He wants you to have the best and at that time your mother didn't have any conditions to be with you."
"But I wanted to be with her," the boy complained.
"I know, but the choice wasn't yours, dear. Your father is outside. He wants to talk to you."
Scorpius wiped his tears away and met his father outside the room. Hermione sat besides Lucy and stroke with her hair.
"Are you ok?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, I guess, but what about Scorpius? Is he going to be ok? He's really upset, Hermione."
"Scorpius will be fine. I'll make him better, the same way I'll make you better," Hermione smiled.
"Granger!" they heard Draco scream.
Hermione ran out of the room and she found Draco kneeling down and holding Scorpius, whose body was shaking uncontrollably.
"My head, dad, it hurts," the boy cried trying to put his hands on his head.
"Granger, do something," Draco pleaded.
Hermione rushed to them and picked Scorpius up. She left with the boy calling the nurses and in a few seconds there were a bunch of people around Hermione and Scorpius. They all left Draco and Lucy standing in the middle of the hall. The little girl approached Draco and touched his arm. He was still in shock.
"Mr. Malfoy, don't worry. Scorpius will be fine. Hermione is the best medwitch I know. She'll make him better just like she's making me better."
Draco shook his head and looked at her.
"I know, but I'm not sure if Scorpius is strong enough for this."
"He is strong. He is a Malfoy, right?"
"Right, you should rest, kid. I have to go."
Lucy got back to her room and Draco left. He stayed at Scorpius's room for a very long time and every hour that passed, his agony grew even more. He tried to sleep, but his mind didn't let him rest. All of his thoughts were with Scorpius and all those nurses around him. However, Draco was happy about one thing: Astoria was out of sight.
Hermione just met Draco a couple of hours after the sunset. She was passing through the hospital's entrance when she saw Astoria talking to a nurse.
"Greengrass! What are you still doing here?" Hermione asked.
Astoria said goodbye to the nurse and walked up to Hermione.
"My son is here, mudblood. I want to see him again. Do you have any problem with it?"
"Actually, I do. I thought I heard Malfoy telling you to leave."
"That's the matter, mudblood. I'm moving back to London."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Yes, it's true. After I manage my stuff in Barcelona, I'll come back to London to be with my son."
"You must be kidding."
"No, actually, I'm very serious about this. Anyways, I won't waste my time explaining my decisions to you. Hasta la vista, mudblood!"
"Just get out of here, Miss Exterminator."
Astoria smirked and left. Hermione rolled her eyes and headed to Scorpius's room. Finally, she reached Draco, who desperately got up from the sofa he was laying in. He looked at Hermione and his eyes begged for answers. Hermione looked away and sat next to him. Draco kept waiting, but by Hermione's silence he knew something bad had happened.
"Malfoy, Scorpius had an allergic reaction from the potion he was taking, that's why he was shaking like that earlier. Besides, the infection spread to his brain, making his head hurt a lot. However, I must tell you that I have good new after all this. We still have Astoria's blood. If we do the transfusion, he'll be able to take the potion that will kill the funguses on his body. After that, he'll be weak, but out of danger. But right now his condition is not good at all."
"You can still save him, right?" Draco asked.
"Well, yes, but there is something else, another complication," she looked down.
Draco looked away and started to cry silently.
"Just say it, Granger," he whispered.
"Scorpius, well, he got into a coma," she said.
A/N: Hi everyone, I'm posting it because I'll be travelling on friday and I hope you liked chapter 10. Next week, I'll try to make a double update to celebrate 4th of July as I'm staying in the U.S. for the month, so try not to miss it