Disclaimer: I am poor so therefore please do not sue me for borrowing the characters for a little while. All Characters belong to JK Rowling, a brilliant and talented woman. All characters you don't recognise belong to me.
A/N: 2 updates in 2 days! Go me!
Chapter 10
"Are you staying up?" Aggie asked turning the lights out in the kitchen and the hall.
"I think I'll try and sleep." Lucius said pulling himself away from the window and watching the night sky and walking down to his room after looking in on the 3 year old asleep down the hall.
He couldn't help wonder whether she would still have a family when she woke up in the morning. If Sirius had managed to get there in time and stop him. At that meeting he had felt physically sick whereas before he would have laughed and cheered with the rest of them. But not this time. As Voldemort has outlined his plan to Lucius, Bella and a few others he couldn't help but seeing the last 3 months fly past his eyes.
What if he decided to go after Narcissa and Draco because Lucius wouldn't do something for him? Would he accept Lucius's answer or go after his family? Was Sirius right? That all the babies killed as apparent abomination were being killed because the ministry linked birth defects to Voldemort and his dark magic and curses, his followers?
These questions were at the forefront of Lucius's thoughts all evening and now as he slipped into a restless sleep.
About midnight Hailey was awake and sitting up in her bed rubbing her forehead with a frown firmly in place on her face. Pulling her teddy bear and blanket with her she climbed out of bed and wandered down the hall way past Aggie's room then stopped still dropping her teddy bear outside of Lucius's room as she started rubbing her forehead again but a lot harder as her face contorted with pain.
Picking up her teddy bear again and walking into the room still in pain she found the bottom of the bed and threw the teddy and blanket up on to it and pulled herself up using the ottoman at the foot of the bed to climb up then crawl along the bed up to the top where Lucius was thrashing about. After steadying herself on her feet, Hailey began to hit Lucius on the chest with the teddy bear occasionally missing and hitting his face. after about 2 minutes of this brutal assault Lucius rolled over making Hailey unsteady and fall on top of him knocking the wind out of him and waking him up.
"Hailey? What are you doing awake?" Lucius asked rolling over and sitting up, careful not to knock the child off the bed.
Hailey sat up and stared towards him then rubbed her head.
"Is your head sore?" Lucius asked making a guess and receiving a nod as his answer.
Hailey pointed at him then her head.
"I don't understand." Lucius said softly
"You're making my head hurt."
"Pardon?" Lucius asked watching the child. "I'm hearing things again. I really am going mad." Lucius stated running his hands over his face.
"Not."
"I assure you I am. You're mute and I can hear voices and I'm talking to myself, no the voices… this can't be good."
While Lucius continued to mutter to himself Hailey felt around for her forgotten teddy bear and swung at him hitting his mouth and nose.
"You're not going mad. You are hearing a voice. My voice."
"How?" Lucius asked searching the child's face for answers, which immediately smiled
"I don't know."
"Prove it." Lucius replied
"How?"
"I don't know."
"Think of something and I can tell you what it is."
"Mind reading isn't the same as speaking inside someone's head."
"You can't prove the speaking. Will you believe me?"
"Ok."
"Good."
"What's wrong with your head?" Lucius asked
"You're making it sore."
"I am? How?"
"You were having a nightmare."
"How do you know I was having a nightmare?"
"I could feel it. I know you're upset and worried about things usually, but even more tonight. What's wrong?"
"Nothing that I want to worry you with."
"If you have another nightmare my head will start hurting again."
"I miss my family." Lucius replied
"You must love them a lot to hurt so much."
Lucius couldn't help but think back to the dream he was having. Roles were reversed instead of it being James, Lily and Harry Potter that Voldemort was after it was Narcissa and Draco, and he was powerless to stop it. He walked into the library in Malfoy Manor and found Narcissa lying dead on the sofa. Thinking instantly of Draco he ran upstairs to find the tiny child dead in his crib. The door opened wider behind him and Voldemort stepped in. Too consumed by pain and grief he didn't hear it and only knew someone else was there when his body was wracked with physical pain and the cruciatus raged through his body.
That was the point where Hailey had woken him. It felt real. Too real and all he wanted to do was to see his family and make sure they were alright.
"Who's the blonde lady?"
"Narcissa."
"Who's she?"
"My wife." Lucius said swallowing hard with an audible gulp
"Is Draco your son?" Hailey asked
"How do you know that?"
"I can see in your mind. You keep thinking bout the blonde lady and a blonde little boy. You miss them don't you?"
"More than I could ever say."
"You don't need to, I can feel it." Hailey said crawling into his lap and wrapping her arms around his chest and giving him a hug. "You need a hug."
"Is this your way of saying you want a hug?" He asked wrapping his arms around the child and hugging her close, savouring the feeling.
"No, but I don't mind hugs anytime." She laughed. The laugh resonated through him and made him smile
"You're 3 years old and you talk like an adult."
"I'm clever."
"In fact I know only a handful of people who can string a coherent sentence together."
"I listen to people, well you, Aggie and Sirius. You read to me, not just children's books, I pick things up." She replied reaching out for her teddy then her blanket.
"How long have you been able to see into peoples heads?"
"I don't know. Before you came."
"So I did here a child's laughter." Lucius asked and she nodded against his chest. "Why was I the only one who could hear it?"
"Because I wanted you to hear it. You are my playmate so I need to be able to talk to you."
"Did you run through the mud on purpose?"
"It was fun wasn't it?" She grinned
"It was definitely a first for me." he replied with a soft laugh.
"You need to sleep. You can borrow my teddy bear. He's a good bear, he keeps nightmares away." Hailey said pressing the bear into his chest
"But who will keep your nightmares away?" He asked
"I don't have nightmares. I don't have anything to be fraid of." She said releasing him and standing up in front of him. "You do."
"We all have reasons to be afraid."
"I have you and Sirius watching over me for that." She said kissing his cheek then walking back down the bed.
As she reached the edge and crouched down to slide down the covers pain racked through her head then through her whole body sending her falling to the floor in painful spasms hitting her head on the ottoman on her descent.
"Hailey?" Lucius asked scrambling quickly from the bed and down towards the small child lying on the floor with blood over her face and shaking all over.