(A/N: I'm back at it again! I just want to take this moment to thank you all for your kind reviews and comments; they truly do keep me going. I hope that you will enjoy this chapter, so on with the show!)
The North Wind Blows
Part 27
They were in the gardens collecting herbs and flowers when Harry froze. Narcissa observed him with some small amount of fear as he seemed to go from smiling and laughing to completely blank at the flip of a switch. The other two boys noticed shortly after she did and froze as well, both watching their surrogate brother with a great deal of curiosity.
"Harry? Is everything okay?" Dudley asked softly and reached out only to have Draco pull his hand back.
"If you tough him right now you're in for a nasty shock. He's talking to the Old Magic right now," Draco informed, having seen Harry do so several times before. He had been practicing with it more and more as his Mind Healer led him through exercises that would free him of panic attacks. Having something so ancient and powerful to fall back on was what had propelled Harry through so much of the healing and recovery process. Now, he could communicate with the Old Magic almost effortlessly when before it had only come out under extreme duress.
"Ah, I understand," Dudley said and dropped his hand, watching Harry carefully, ready to reach out and catch him if he were to stumble or fall.
Just as quickly as Harry had checked out he came back to reality, his eyes opening to look at them all with curiosity.
"I'm sorry for worrying you. Tom was using the Old Magic and mine wanted to make sure that he had help if he needed it," Harry said gently, accepting hugs from Dudley and Draco and a gentle touch on the cheek from Narcissa.
"It's perfectly alright Harry, just as long as you aren't taxing yourself overmuch," Narcissa said and Harry positively beamed in her direction.
"I promise I'm not. It is getting much easier and much less tiring to speak with the Old Magic. Using it still takes the energy out of me, but just talking to it is fine," Harry assured in a gentle voice. Narcissa smiled then, his mannerisms were still coming into their own, but he was not the shy and demure boy that she had met not so long ago. No, Harry was truly beginning to blossom and form a personality all his own.
"That's good Harry. I'm very relieved to hear that. Now, shall we resume collecting herbs?" Narcissa said, hoping to steer the conversation away from just what Tom was using his Old Magic for before Draco and Dudley became too curious. Tom, Lucius, and Severus would share the news, whatever it was, in good time.
"Could we see about getting something to eat soon?" Dudley spoke up shyly, his entire face burning red at the mention of food.
"Of course we can my dear. What do you say we finish getting the ingredients on the first page of my list and then take a break for some sandwiches and tea?" Narcissa suggested, relieved to have Dudley finally saying something instead of passing out from the lack of fuel in his body.
"That sounds lovely," Dudley said in response and followed Draco as he led the way to the next plot of herbs. Narcissa adjusted the basket on her arm and rechecked the list that she carried, making a mental tally of the potions that she would be able to brew were they not to get to the rest of the ingredients before sundown.
Satisfied that she would be able to do quite a lot with just what she had in her basket, she followed the boys and waited patiently while they used small penknives to cut the herbs and flowers as directed on the list. All three had proven to be deft hands with potions and their components, though it was her Draco that excelled in them the most. She couldn't help but be ridiculously proud of the three boys, it only remained to be seen whether her plans for them would be approved by the others.
"Is that everything Mother?" Draco asked as he attempted to stand on the tips of his toes to see the list. She handed it to him without a word and lowered the basket so that he could look things over and assure himself that they had done their very best.
"I wonder how ingredients that smell so good become potions that smell so bad," Harry commented and made a face, it reminded her instantly that he was in fact still a child, despite everything that he had been through, despite the Old Magic flowing through him, he was still just a 9 year old.
"The brewing process brings out a lot of the bitterness that is inside of the plants and other components," Narcissa said sympathetically and Harry sighed almost dramatically, turning his eyes to Draco.
"Are you any closer to figuring out how to make this stuff taste good?" Harry asked and Draco gave an enthusiastic nod before launching into a detailed explanation of just how the standard pain potion could be made to taste like whatever flavor they so wished.
Seeing that the boys were raptly listening to Draco's commentary, she was able to step away for a moment and call a House Elf to her side. The tiny creature appeared before her with a quiet pop, distinct from the crack that most House Elves made upon appearing.
"Hello Dobby," Narcissa greeted and the House Elf gave her a sweeping bow.
"What can I be doing for Mistress today?" Dobby asked quietly, his voice well contained with the boys around. The children still reacted poorly to the appearance and disappearance of the House Elves and so they had been training themselves to be as quiet and unobtrusive as possible in their duties. Narcissa wasn't sure if the House Elves had even needed to be told to keep themselves contained for the sake of the children as it seemed that they had done so with little notice. Perhaps Lucius had spoken with them down in the Kitchens one day.
"Please take this back to my table in Severus's Lab. Then could you bring us some sandwiches and tea?" she asked politely and handed the basket off to the Elf.
"As you wish Mistress," Dobby said with a smile and vanished with another soft popping noise. Dobby had once been her and Septimus's House Elf, but she had sent him away years ago when Septimus had stated taking his drunken rage out on the Elf. Whatever Tom, Lucius, and Severus had been doing to help Dobby recover, it was a staggering difference, from his mannerisms to his speech patterns. It seemed that the three wizards were adept at helping all manner of people recover from past traumatic experiences.
(A/N: Well that's it for now. I hope that you enjoyed it and will leave me a comment or a review to let me know what you thought. As always, thanks for reading!)
