THE COVER UP
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any part of the Harry Potter universe and I am grateful to be able to borrow them for a short time.
Reviews are a writer's coffee: they keep us going as long as we get some. *hint*
Liam nodded his head, "Alright, but here's the deal. If you feel you can't take it anymore, if your vision blurs, if you feel lightheaded or dizzy or like you're going to vomit, you have to tell us. Those are your body's warning signs to stop. If you feel just one you have to tell us. Alright? Tomorrow is going to be harder for a couple of reasons. 1) that's when we do the color and I can't say I'm not going to hit lines, 2) the shop will be open. I'm going to put up a screen so we can't be seen but we can be heard so you can't be screaming your head off, puking or passing out and 3) um.. I can't really think of the third, but I'm sure there is one. Understand?"
Draco nodded his head.
"No, say 'Yes, Liam. I understand and promise not to be a hero or to hex you if you do hurt me.' Say it." Liam stared at the younger man.
Draco rolled his eyes, "Yes, Liam. I understand that you can be a git and will probably hit a line just to be mean and I'm not a hero. That's her job." He pointed to Mina.
"Close enough, let's get back to work. Mina."
She did a fairly complex set of wand motions and muttered the spell. "Done."
Draco took a deep breath, "Let's go, Liam."
Mina pulled a stool over so she could watch Draco's reactions to what was happening on his arm. "Draco, tell me a story."
This caught Draco off balance. "A story?"
"Yea, a 'Draco as a child' story."
"There aren't many good ones." He replied.
She shrugged. She was trying to take his mind off of what Liam was doing but didn't want him to remember bad things, "Just pick one, any one."
He thought for a moment and picked one, "I got my first broom when I was about 3, I think. I was pretty young and Father came home with it one day. 'Just because' he said. I remember it was wintertime because we couldn't go outside to fly because of the snow. He helped me get on it and showed me how to hold on then told me to kick off the ground like I was going to jump.
"The next thing I remember is someone screaming and me hanging upside down from the chandelier in the ballroom still holding on to the broom as if my life depended on it. I don't remember if I was screaming or Mother was but I do remember watching my father laughing, really laughing and then mother trying to get me out of the chandelier. Oh was she mad at Father. The broom was only supposed to hover about a meter off the ground and only go about as fast as an adult can walk. But Father, thinking that a Malfoy can always do better, had enchanted it to hover up to 7 meters off the ground and go about 5 kilometers an hour.
"Apparently when I kicked off I had the broom handle pointing straight up so I went up, right into the lights." He was smiling as he remembered the story, "You know something, my Father wasn't always the way you met him. I remember him being fun and playing with me and teaching me spells and things. He was a good man." Liam was silently working and Mina had a strange sad look on her face with a watery smile.
"Your turn Mina, tell me a young Hermione story."
"I grew up in the muggle world, there is nothing like the story you just told me. But, the first time I tried to make pancakes all by myself I was also about 3. I was hungry and I had been told to wait for dinner but I didn't want to wait. I got out the flour, the eggs, the milk, the baking powder, the baking soda, the cornstarch, the garlic, the curry, the basil, the brown sugar, well apparently I pulled everything out of the pantry along with the biggest bowl I could carry which was about the size of a soup bowl and started to put ingredients in.
"Of course I didn't measure anything and missed the bowl more than not. I forgot a spoon to mix it with so I used my hands. At that point I wasn't hungry anymore and was just having fun playing. It took about an hour for my mum to notice I wasn't in my room anymore. That's when she heard something in the kitchen and came in to find me covered in a sticky, gooey mess. I didn't just cover myself, I covered the counter and floor as well. I think some was even dripping from the ceiling. It was the first time I had ever taken a bath with all my clothes on! Oh she was mad at first but she told me several years ago that she wasn't really mad because I had a smile on my face and when she asked what I was doing, apparently I said, 'I'm spearmenten, mummy!' I was so proud of my 'spearmenten' that she just couldn't be mad at me. Your turn again." Mina prompted.
"It's Liam's turn." Draco tried to include the man in the conversation mostly to prevent having to tell another story.
Liam stopped his work for a moment to look up and say, "Nope, I've got to concentrate." And he went right back to work.
"Draco?" She prompted.
"Um…I'm having a hard time thinking of any."
Right now, in this situation, Mina could read his face like it was a book, "No you're not; you are just having trouble remembering or thinking up a Draco as a happy child story. I didn't ask you to limit it to happy stories. Just asked for a story. Tell me a sad one then."
He looked uncomfortable, "I don't think I want to tell you any of those. They are too many to pick from." It was obvious that he honestly didn't want to remember let alone share any of those stories.
"Save it for tomorrow kids. We are done for tonight." Liam announced as he turned off the machine and cleaned up Draco's arm. "How's it look?"
Draco examined the crouching dragon. He had his wings spread out behind him with a wand in one clawed hand and what looked like a ball in the other, "What's that?" Draco pointed to the ball-thing in the dragon's claw.
Liam gave his explanation, "Even though this dragon is mostly of western design, it still has some Japanese elements to it. Dragons symbolize strength and a reconciliation of opposites. That," he pointed to the object in question, "basically represents the closed lotus which in turn represents the spirit of the universe or in this case the spirit of the person. The Dragon is bringing your inner-self into balance with the universe." He looked up at the people he was talking to. At the looks they were giving him, "Fine. I had to make an adjustment to the design to cover a stray line and this seemed the best way to do it. Of course the other stuff I told you is true, so let's go with that story if anyone asks, ok?"
"Mina?" Draco asked. She looked at him rather than continued to stare at his arm, "Could you release me now, please?"
"Oh, sorry." She mutter the counter curse. "Be careful moving. Your arm and body are going to feel like they are asleep and when the feeling comes back, it's going to be pins and needles all over. Wait, it worked! The localized spell. The Mark didn't fight it. Excellent!" She watched him get up and stagger a little as the feeling returned. "Oh, let me do a slow healing spell on your arm so we can get back at it tomorrow."
He held out his arm and she spoke the spell. "All done."
"Great." Pause, "I need a drink." Draco deadpanned.
Liam looked at the clock on wall, it said 12:37am. "Lucky for you, mate, I know a place that's still serving." They watched as he magically cleaned the machines and area and he led them up to his apartment and handed Mina a beer and a soda to Draco.
"What the hell? Where's my beer?" Draco exclaimed.
"Don't want you to have thin blood tomorrow. No alcohol for you until the work is all done." Liam stated just before he tried to take a swig of his own beer.
Draco took the beer out of his hand and handed it to Mina, "If I'm dry, mate, then so are you. I don't need you foxed before you do the hard part on my arm." Draco smirked at him.
"Foxed as in loaded? Not going to happen! Now give me my beer!" Liam tried to get it from her.
"And I quote 'I stay sober for business', isn't that what you said?" Mina questioned as she poured both beers down the drain.
"OH! THAT'S JUST WRONG!" Liam was beside himself.
"Don't you want to start early tomorrow? Get the worst of it done before you open at noon?" Mina asked. Liam scowled at her and Draco was smiling. "That's what I thought. Then I suggest we all head to bed and get a good night's sleep. Where are we staying?"
"Spare room is ready. Mr. Happy-fun-guy here can either stay in there with you or he can have the couch. Quite frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." With that he left them to go to his own room. "Somebody wake me up at 7."
"Come on, let's go to bed." Mina pulled a small wallet out of her purse as she went into the spare room.
Draco followed her into the room to see two twin beds. "Twin beds?"
"Liam's daughters share this room when they stay with him. Most of the time they are with their mum. He gets them for 2 weeks in the summer and one weekend a month when they're not in school. She doesn't think letting a 12 year old and a 10 year old live over a tattoo shop is a good idea. It kills him because he is crazy for those girls. They are great girls."
Draco was surprised at the small time the girls were allotted to their father. "Are they the ones that gave you 'Mina' for a nickname?"
"Yea. Esmeralda has a speech impediment. She couldn't say Hermione so she tried Herminy, which I didn't like, then came Minny but I don't care for that one either, so she settled for Mina. It stuck and I quite like it." Mina laid the small wallet on the bed and re-enlarged it. It was a large duffle bag that contained both of their clothes as well as toiletries. She pulled their sleepwear out of the bag. She handed Draco his and she left with hers to use the bathroom.
When she came back Draco was changed; he asked, "Esmeralda? Honestly, that's mean."
"Her older sister is Tabitha. Liam's ex-wife loves an old American telly program called of all things, Bewitched about a witch falling in love with and marrying a muggle. Tabitha was their daughter and Esmeralda was the witch's mother."
"Telly is that box thing with the moving pictures, correct?" She nodded, "hm…ok. That's just…weird. Anyway, while we're talking about sisters, are you going to try and see your sister?"
"I don't know. I've thought about it but…" she looked at him, "I don't know."
"Ok, let's see how tomorrow goes. If we get it done or get done early, maybe we can figure out where they are and I can meet them." Draco smiled at her.
She was surprised, "You want to meet them?"
Draco shrugged, "It's up to you, if you want me there."
"hm, I'll think about it." They climbed into bed and fell asleep within seconds.
The next morning, it was Liam that was banging on their door. "Get up! We've got to get going." He banged on the door again, "Come on, already!" He finally heard some movement in the room and the door opened to show Mina standing there, bedhead and all, "About time, you're worse than my girls!"
"Shut it. Is there coffee yet?"
"Yea, get dressed. It's almost 7 and I want us fed and down stairs by 7:30."
"Fine." She shut the door and turned to her roommate, "DRACO! Get up."
He rolled over, pulled the pillow over his head and tried to ignore her.
She pulled the pillow off of his head and hit him in the head with it, "Get up."
"Evil woman." Draco grumbled as he got up and headed to the bathroom. She snorted at him and threw the pillow at him. He quickly shut the bathroom door and heard the 'thud' of the pillow hitting the door.
At 7:30 on the dot all three people were down stairs getting ready for the day ahead. Draco was pacing a little while Mina watched him. "Drac, stop. You're going to be fine." She tried to encourage him.
He tried to smile at her but he just couldn't make it happen.
"Have a seat. Let's do this." Liam said.
Draco sat down and held out his arm. He looked at Mina and nodded his head. She started with the localized
bind. She nodded her head and Liam set to work.
She pulled a stool next to Draco, "Where were we again? Oh yes, Draco was about to tell us a story." She looked at him expectantly.
"I haven't thought of any." He dodged.
"Yes you have. Tell me a story."
"I could tell you about the time in third year when this annoying know it all punched me in the nose." The baleful look she gave him had him chuckling.
"That sounds interesting, who could possibly have punched a nice guy like you?" Liam teased.
"Liam, would believe it was our lovely Mina?"
"Really?"
"Yes and that was after she called me a 'vile, evil little cockroach' while her wand was pointed at my throat."
"You forgot 'foul' and 'loathsome'." Mina smirked.
"Wow. You must have really made her angry."
"Yea, I did. I was pretty much an arrogant snotty little git back then. I'm sorry Mina. I just didn't know any better."
"Drac, which one of us did?" She countered.
"You."
She blushed, "besides who said you'd changed?"
He caught on to the joke, "Me. I'm not little anymore." He smiled at her.
She had watched him flinch a few times and even suck in a breath due to the pain, "How are you doing? How's the arm?"
"It's ok in general. I mean it hurts, he's sticking needles in my skin after all, but overall not as bad as I thought it would be."
By 10am things weren't going so well. The easiest part of the colorization was done and Liam was onto the really detailed and delicate work. There were frequent yells of pain and he was starting to feel light headed. "I need a break. I'm getting light headed and a little sick."
Liam immediately stopped and Mina released the bind on him before she went to get him a soda and a snack as he stretched and moved his arm around. While he took a break, Liam set up the screen that blocked the area.
"Liam, what about doing a silencing spell around the area?" Mina asked.
"They have to at least hear the machine going, otherwise they would get weirded out."
"Damn, I haven't figured out how to put a volume control on a silencing charm."
"Hey, people? It's ok. I can go for longer." Draco never did like being talked about like he wasn't there it reminded him to much of his childhood.
"Drac, I'm going to put the numbing spell back on and at full strength. That should give another hour or so."
"Don't, not yet; not until the first person walks through the door sometime before noon. Once the spell is put on, it will give us 40 minutes or so based on last night's experience. We will do as much as we can today and finish up tomorrow." Liam said. "Can you handle the pain until then?"
"I'll try. If I can't, I can't. You said it, pain is my friend right now. Correct?"
"Correct. You ready?"
Deep breath in, "Yes." Deep breath out.
Mina stepped forward and placed the local bind on him but still placed a silencing charm on the area they were in just in case he was yelling when someone walked in.
Draco made it until nearly noon before he needed another break. As he ate, one of the artists that worked for Liam came through the door and Liam went to talk to her. Mina took off the silencing spell.
"We're so close to being done. I would say that another hour or so will see it done." Liam told them when he came back.