I feel like I start too many of these with excuses. This chapter has been finished for a while, I just have not had the time to read through it, due to some problems with me starting my final year of school. My grades from last year were appalling, and I have been kicked out of some of my subjects. There goes the hope that I would get to university.

Anyway this chapter is based on my time in France, which holds some very fond memories for me. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed my time there (although I did go in summer)

Thank you for any reviews.

PureBloodSnake xx

Belle Rêve

The South of France was unlike anyplace Caelum had ever seen. As they drove, yes drove, through the countryside, he marvelled at the fields of sunflowers that seemed to litter the place between each small town. But what shocked him most was the culture difference.

? ﾟﾐﾉ? ﾟﾐﾉ?

Narcissa Malfoy preferred to do things the muggle way when they were outside of the U.K, after she portkeyed herself and her boys to their holiday house. Caelum was expecting something that resembled the luxury of Malfoy Manor (well what he had seen of it), but was surprised to see a large cottage. Like most buildings in the area, it was painted an off white colour and had plenty of windows, each with their own set of wooden shutters. At the back of the house, between them and the nearest town, was a large field of sunflowers. Caelum walked slowly up to them, his feet making a crunching sound on the dry grass.

"They're your Mum's favourite flower. Did you know that?" The voice from behind made him spin around quickly, his hand on his wand. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." The voice belonged to Lucius, who was dressed in muggle apparel, and even more surprisingly, he looked comfortable in the white shirt and jeans, his hair up in a ponytail. Caelum didn't say anything, just kept playing with the sunflower head. "I bought this place for your Mum, she used to always talk about her childhood holidays to the south of France and how she wished our children could experience the same thing. For her birthday, I began to look into places near where she used to stay and I saw this place. It wasn't the huge chateau that she visited when she was a child, but it was homely and had this large field of sunflowers out the back. I thought it was perfect, thankfully your Mum thought so too. We were planning on bringing you and Draco here to celebrate Christmas, but then you disappeared. For years neither your Mum or I could even think about bringing Draco here. It was only the summer before he started Hogwarts that we finally introduced him to this culture." Lucius looked off into the distance, the clock tower of a church in the neared town looking back at him.

"What is so different about the culture here?" Caelum asked timidly, he was still unsure around his Father, and now that he wasn't a Gryffindor, he didn't have to fake that bravery.

"All will become clear soon." Lucius answered mysteriously before turning around and walking towards the cottage. "Come on, let's help your Mum unpack. You won't find any of your stuff if you don't." He called over his shoulder, leaving Caelum standing in the garden on his own. After that tiny bonding session, he thought he understood his Father slightly better, he would do anything for his family, no matter the expense. Caelum could relate to that. Realising that his Mum would probably find, and confiscate, the food he had stashed in his trunk, Caelum ran forward and into the cottage.

? ﾟﾐﾉ? ﾟﾐﾉ?

Evening fell and Caelum was unpacked and his toothbrush was sitting beside the sink in the washroom next to Draco's. The boys had to share a room once again, something neither of them complained about, but they were both slightly miffed about the empty bedroom. Their Mum had told them it would be occupied soon, but not by who. Those questions were soon pushed out of their minds as Narcissa proposed a visit to the Friday night marché nocturne. Both boys tumbled over each other in excitement as they hurriedly tied their shoes and made themselves look semi-presentable before marching out of the front door, their parents behind them, watching amused. Narcissa lead them round to the left of the cottage, where a garage stood. With a small click the garage door opened and inside was, according to the markings on the car, an Alfa Romeo GT. It was a beautiful car, had a shining black polish to it with a red leather interior.

"Mum likes to drive fast, even though Dad hates it." Draco whispered conspiratorially.

"Why don't we just apparate into the town?" Caelum asked confused.

"It's more fun this way." Narcissa answered with a smirk before pulling back the seat and allowing the boys to clamber into the back. Lucius slid into the passenger seat and immediately held on to the handle provided.

"Really Lucius." Narcissa admonished. "You're setting a bad example for the boys." Lucius' hold on the handle relaxed slightly, until Narcissa ignited the engine. Slowly she made her way out of the drive, the gravel flicking up against the metal of the car. Looking left and then right, Narcissa pulled out into the road and swung the car around to face her desired direction. Without any warning the car began to speed forward, the scenery speeding past in a blur of colour. All that could be heard above the roaring of the wind was Narcissa's maniacal laughter. Draco too was laughing and Caelum, when he caught on to what Draco was laughing at, joined in. Lucius was sat woodenly, his eyes screwed close, white knuckling the handle, his hair being wildly whipped around by the wind that buffered in through the window. He looked to be a completely different person to Lucius Malfoy, the Pureblood. But Caelum didn't think that was a bad thing.

All too soon, for everyone but Lucius, they arrived at the marché nocturne. Walking up to the town square, Caelum was surprised to see the number of people of different nationalities, sharing tables and talking as if they had known each other their whole lives.

"Where is he?" Narcissa mumbled, oblivious to her boys as she searched through the mass of people for an unknown someone. "He should be saving us seats near the music." Caelum was looking at the different stools that bordered the square, all were food related, but they differed vastly from each other. There was paella, curry, chips, burgers, ice cream, waffles and many other foods that Caelum was almost drooling for. Draco, who was expecting the amount of food, looked amazed and hungry.

"Ah, there he is." Narcissa started to walk off, in the direction of what Caelum presumed to be the dance floor, at a brisk pace. Both he and Draco stumbled to keep up with her.

Sitting alone at one end of a long table, sat a man with long black hair tied in a bun at the back of his head, a black band tshirt, partially obscured by a leather jacket. But most noticeable about the man was the goofy smile on his face.

"Padfoot!" Caelum ran forward and the man jumped up to meet his hug.

"Look at you!" Sirius gasped pulling away to look at Caelum properly. "You look like a proper Malfoy, you've got the white blond hair and grey eyes. Are you even a decent person still?"

"Sirius." Narcissa warned, her cold tone cutting through whatever thoughts he could be having.

"Cissa, it's so lovely to see you, cousin." Sirius answered back in a teasing voice. "And your dear husb- OW!" Caelum had hit Sirius on the arm. Hard.

"Be nice Padfoot. This is my family remember. And I can easily choose them over you." Sirius shrunk slightly at Caelum's words, bowed his head and gestured to the empty seats around him. When Caelum sat down beside him, he once again lit up with a smile.

"So tell me what's happened since the last time you wrote to me properly."

Two hours later, Sirius insisted that he buy the boys dinner, so he gave them a few muggle Euros and sent them to look around.

"Why is he still so small?" He asked Narcissa. "I thought the removal of the glamour would have added a few more inches to his height."

Lucius sighed sadly. "It seems that whatever caused him to be small in the first place, affected his growth, so it wasn't anything to do with the magic that hid him from us."

"It was probably those Dursleys then." Sirius growled.

"Who are these Dursleys?" Lucius asked, his voice spilling false politeness.

"The Dursleys are Harry Potter's only living relatives. They were his carers. Well, I wouldn't call them carers:" Narcissa gripped hold off Lucius' arm her knuckles going white in anticipation of what her baby might have survived through. "I think they starved him, Cissy, and forced him to do manual labour for them. I don't think he was treated well at all." Lucius grabbed hold of Narcissa's hand that clutched his arm and squeezed tightly. He was furious. However before any of the adults could say anything more, the two boys returned carrying all sorts of paper bags and tin foil tubs in their arms. Smiling widely.

"Neither of you will mention this conversation to Caelum." Narcissa hissed quickly before schooling her face into a pleasant smile. "Boys, did you get something nice to eat?" They nodded before sitting down and spreading their food around them. Draco had more food than Caelum and that worried Lucius slightly. Narcissa had started a conversation with Sirius and Draco, which gave Lucius to talk to his youngest son.

"Caelum, I hope this holiday will be a way for me to get to know you a little better. I sincerely regret what I have done to you in the past and am paying for it now by the lack of trust my son has in me." Caelum looked up from his food and regarded Lucius silently.

"I would like that." It was simple and quiet, but it filled Lucius with hope. Caelum went back to his food and engaged in a quiet conversation with Draco and Sirius, before Draco pulled him away and to the dance floor, where they disappeared amongst the other teenagers.

"I do hope we can give him as much of a normal childhood as we can." Narcissa whispered into Lucius' ear as she watched Caelum and Draco dance large smiles on their faces.

? ﾟﾐﾉ? ﾟﾐﾉ?

Caelum thought this was the best Christmas he had ever experienced, and the day hadn't even arrived yet! Not that he had many to compare this one to. True to his word Lucius had spent some time with Caelum, choosing to take him out and learn fencing (something Draco was already quite good at). Caelum found that Lucius was quite easy to get along with and Caelum found that the odd lesson of fencing was extremely stress and reducing. He wanted to continue when he returned to Hogwarts, maybe Lucius could arrange that. Along with spending time with Lucius, Caelum spent a lot of time with the rest of his family, Narcissa took him shopping, Sirius told him many stories (he was still a wanted man and couldn't leave the house too often) and Draco made sure that Caelum was the happiest he could be, whether that was flying with him, talking late into the night about stupid things or helping with his potions homework.

Christmas Day, was the best day Caelum had ever had. The day started too early, with Draco pushing him out of bed. Caelum was tired, he and Draco had talked into the early hours of the morning. Only a couple hours had passed since they had both fallen asleep on Draco's bed.

"Wha-?"

"Get up Caelum! It's Christmas!"

"But it's too early-" Caelum checked the clock by the bed. "It's six in the morning. We were still awake at three!"

"And? Christmas!" Draco didn't seem too concerned with the lack of sleep. "Come on Mum's making her breakfast hot chocolate and Dad is cooking breakfast. They only do that at Christmas. Come on! I like to steal the food as they're cooking." Without waiting for a reply Draco grabbed hold of Caelum's hand, hauled him up off the floor and out of the bedroom towards the kitchen.

"Morning darlings." Narcissa called as the two boys walked into the kitchen. She noted, amused, that Caelum was not very awake yet, but Draco was bouncing on his feet. She turned away, a small smile on her face as Draco snuck towards Lucius and stole a bit of apple. He received a small tap on the back of his hand in return. Draco just ran away a huge smile on his face. Caelum on the other hand, threw himself into a chair and buried his face in his arms, only to be shaken awake by Narcissa a few minutes later, who gave him a steaming mug of hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was amazing, it soothed Caelum's throat and the sugar woke him up slightly. Soon the family had eaten Lucius' beautifully cooked pastries and headed to the lounge, where a large pile of presents sat under the Christmas tree.

"Where's Sirius?" Caelum asked looking around for the scruffy dog animagus.

"He went back home, to spend Christmas with a friend that would be alone." Narcissa explained gently, guiding Caelum to his spot on the sofa next to Draco. Caelum smiled, a little disappointed but glad that his first Christmas would be with his immediate family.

There were many presents passed between the four Malfoys. Most was small little charms such as new quills for Draco, earrings for Narcissa, journals for Lucius and a emerald green cloak for Caelum. However Caelum's favourite present was given to him after the initial present giving ceremony. Lucius had called Caelum into his make-shift office.

"Caelum, I have a special present for you, sir down." Caelum took a seat in the cushy armchair provided, whilst Lucius rummaged around in the bottom drawer of the desk. "Ah here we go." He presented Caelum with a large, magnificent box. The wood had a large metal clasp. Caelum sat there staring at the box on his lap for a while, almost afraid to open it. "Go on." Lucius encouraged. Slowly he opened the lid to find a black snake curled up tightly.

Hello he hissed, Lucius recoiling as he heard the harsh sounds roll from his son's mouth.

Hello human. The snake sounded female but Caelum wasn't sure.

What is your name?

Maikoa (My-Ko-Ah). What is yours human?

Caelum Malfoy.

It is nice to meet you Caelum Malfoy. I hope we will become good friends.

"So what do you think?" Caelum had forgotten his father was still in the room.

"She's beautiful, thank you Dad." Caelum left the room after embracing Lucius in a large hug, that had the man standing stone still for a few moments.

"Thank you." He whispered to the doorway his son had just exited through.

? ﾟﾐﾉ? ﾟﾐﾉ?

The time to return to Hogwarts approached too soon. Draco had been a little bitter over Maikoa, although he was glad his brother now had a loyal companion that wasn't family. The snake in question was curled around Caelum's shoulders dozing. Pansy appeared in front of them at the station. She threw her arms around Draco before moving on to do the same to Caelum. But before she could Maikoa reared her head and stared at Pansy, her green eyes clear as emeralds.

"That's new." Pansy spoke a little shakily. "Was it a Christmas present?" She asked before leaning forward to pet the snake. Caelum nodded, hissing quietly to Maikoa.

"Look, deatheater junior has a snake. He wants to be just like his idol, You-Know-Who." Ron stood with Seamus and Dean, who were glaring at the three Slytherins with hatred in their eyes. Draco growled and Pansy's eyes narrowed into slits, but Caelum stood frozen, his heart shattering slightly. How would he ever regain his friendship with Ron? Before anyone could do any damage to the others, the conductor blew the whistle and they hurried on to the train.