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Chapter 2: One week
Ring! Ring! RING! Drat that stupid felly-tone, Draco thought. Of all things, he had found that maybe Muggles were okay to live with. But some of the inventions were just plain stupid. So when he got this felly-tone he wasn't expecting it to do anything. He had given out his phone number except to a few close contacts, like cousins, and his mother. Now that his mother was gone, that only left his cousins. And it was only for emergencies. Who that hell would want to use a felly-tone when they now had Instant-owls? Just tap the owl and it would fly anywhere and be received on the other side. It was a simply trick created by the Weasley twins that included Apparating owls.
When the ringing grew constantly louder by the moment. Draco cursed himself and forced himself to get up. Even if it was 7 in the morning, on a Sunday to say the least. "Hello," Draco all but growled. "Is this the Malfoy residence? This is Jenkins, the lawyer representing Simon and Nicole Murray." Draco became alert. Why would the lawyer of his cousin call so early?
"Yes it is, what do you want? This is Draco Malfoy speaking, by the way."
"Well, Mister Malfoy. I am sad and regretful to say that your cousin and her husband passed away in a car accident a few hours back."
"Shit."
"Yes, uh, shit sir. Well, the good news is, their only son escaped the accident unscathed."
"Crap."
"Sir, would you kindly let me explain without anymore brutalities?"
"Carry on Jenkins."
"Well sir, as you are the only living Malfoy present around the world, you are to be in charge of this child."
"Hold on. Me? Why me? Doesn't Simon have any relatives too?"
"Yes sir, he did. But in the will that Mister Murray and his wife made, they clearly stated that responsibilities of the child would be handed over to you."
"Holy crap. But why me? I mean, Simon has perfectly healthy relatives living in New York."
"Well, sir, apparently, the two of them rather have you bring up their son in London and also because Mrs. Murray was closely attached to you. Would you like me to read out a part of the will sir?"
"Yes, yes, do please."
" If harm is to occur to both Simon Murray and Nicole Malfoy, please ensure that our son, Benjamin Murray is well taken care of by the willing hands of Mr Draco Malfoy. And after that, it states your address and phone number. Hello? Hello? Is Mr Malfoy there? Hello sir?" The phone line went dead.
The doorbell rang. Still dressed in his pyjamas, Draco answered the door in a daze. Standing on the steps to the Malfoy Manor was a small boy with blonde hair staring back up at him. His blue eyes were teary and swollen. "Uncle Draco?" he stuttered, on the verge of crying. Draco bent down and hugged the little boy, murmuring comforting words to ease the boy's pain.
Carrying him easily, Draco hoisted him up and sat him on the couch. "Well Ben, I'm really sorry," Draco said softly. Ben sniffed a bit and replied, " At least Mum said I could stay with you. I don't want aunty Murray. She scares me a lot." With that, Ben started bawling.
Draco kneeled down awkwardly and patted Ben on the back. Well, at least the work at the Ministry wasn't so hectic. Maybe he'll be able to get a few days leave to get used to this kid. Draco could sense that this child had the magic streak in him. Even though he was half a muggle, it would still be okay. At least, when he was living here, he would be able to get used to the magic. Maybe Nicole had already started using it. Great move Nicole, he smiled up at the ceiling, as if Nicole was smiling down at him. At least with Ben here, he wouldn't have to go through the trouble of receiving letters by owls and having them chucked out by the aunts on the other side of the family. Simon understood magic, but his sisters and the rest sure didn't.
But now with this whole fiasco, it meant he had to get paperwork done for the child at court, and he had to attend to other matters like the funeral. Shit, the funeral. He would have to arrange it as soon as possible. Draco rushed up the stairs, only to appear a few second later to check on Ben. "Ben, could you just stay there for a while? Don't touch anything. Uncle Draco needs to change okay?" Ben nodded and lay on the couch sniffling even more.
A few minutes later, Draco appeared again, dressed immaculately in jeans and a white shirt. "Ben, do you know your mummy was a witch?" He asked Ben casually. "Yes. Daddy said it was cool. I think so too. Can I do magic Uncle Draco?" Draco nodded his head and smiled, " Sure Ben, you sure can. Come on, let's get breakfast."
While pouring cornflakes for himself and sugar puffs for Ben, Draco assessed his situation. Firstly, he had to deal with the Ministry. He had to explain what had happened, give a 1500 word 'essay' on why this 'break' was so terribly needed, then he had to arrange the funeral, after that, he was sure the muggles would be asking him to be sent to some place where they would have to check on him and make sure he was mentally sound before he could actually take care of little Ben. And during all this, he had to take care of Ben. Right. Ben in the meantime was happily munching away on his sugar puffs, clearly unable to understand the seriousness of the whole she-bang. Maybe he might get presents!
"Sure thing sir. We'll make sure they get on it right away." Jenkins had called about an hour later on the felly-tone. Draco was just checking whether Ben had to go for some appointments with the lawyers. Later that afternoon, Draco received a letter from the lawyers. He needed to appear in court to receive custody of the child. And what's more it would be on the day of the funeral! Yay!
It was raining on Friday. Just a slight drizzle but it made Draco worry about Ben. The little boy had started sneezing a lot and no amount of medicine from Draco's store could make him stop. Dressed from head to toe in black, Draco stepped out into the silent drizzle, his hand wrapped tightly around Ben's, and with a crack, disappeared.
Only moments later, Draco and Ben appeared outside the solemn looking graveyard. There already, stood the Murray family. Draco was the only one left in line of the Malfoy. Grabbing Ben tighter by the hand, he walked up stately and heard the last few sentences of the pastor. "…May they find peace in the next life," it ended. It wasn't long before Ben had lost interest in the funeral procedures and had started to poke the wet grass.
"Hello Benny, long time no see Benny Wenny," cooed one of the ladies. Ben glanced up at the large face before retreating to the back of Draco. Draco held on tightly to his hand and patted his head with a slightly wet glove. "It's all right Ben, I'll take care of it," Draco said reassuringly. "And you Malfoy, what do you think you're doing? Why do you get the boy?" One of the older ladies snapped.
"It was stated clearly in the will, I have one copy here, would you like to hear it?" Draco replied coolly.
"Enough of this nonsense! This can be easily settled in court!"
"Not in this case, ma'am. Both wills and the combined wills stated very clearly, that I held custody of Ben. And he is not 'the boy', he has a name. Please use it."
"Keep your mouth shut. As the paternal grandmother, I think my family should be looking after the child."
"I have heard enough. If you would want to, please be at court in the next 10 minutes to discuss. And I have to say, it's lunch hour, wouldn't the streets be filled with traffic jams? I have my own means of transportation for Ben and myself. Good day." Draco replied curtly and turned away, Ben still at his knees. Ben stuck out his tongue at the old lady. That lady was mean, she never gave sweets and she always forced Ben to stop playing when he clearly wasn't. At least Uncle Draco was so much more fun.
"You wretched man! Just because you can use that power of yours!" The old lady screeched to deaf ears. A few seconds later, she heard a crack and found the spot where Draco and Ben was standing empty.
An hour later, Draco was sitting on a very tight chair facing two very stern scientists. " So, Mr Malfoy, after attaining custody of Mr Murray we set you this 'test'. Let's see how you perform shall we?" the uptight lady scientist said. Her black hair was pinned up tightly into a bun and her hawk-like eyes seemed to follow Draco's every move. The other scientist was a man, with huge glasses, which seemed to magnify his eyes ten times. Draco nodded and stared at his hands. Why did he have to do this?
"Mr Malfoy, when we asked you to fill in question 34, it clearly stated: Pick two of the following. So why did you pick only one?"
"Well, if I'm not wrong, the options were limited and I think I should know myself better than both of you do. If I like running, and not anything else, what is there you can do?"
"Okay, Mr Malfoy. Then why did you shade two options when you were supposed to shade only one in question 47?"
"Because I liked them both as much. I do one as often as I do the other. So are they not of equal statues?"
"If you were stranded on a deserted island with only one palm tree, what would you do? Mr Malfoy, it didn't state you have tools, so how would you make yourself a boat and direct yourself in the correct way to land?"
"Does this have anything to do with raising a child?" Draco wondered aloud. This test was ridiculous! How would they be able to assess how good he was at looking after a child if all they did was ask silly questions like what was your favourite colour? Or maybe, if you had a computer (what the hell was a computer?) what kind of games would you load onto it?
Just then, the door burst open and Ben rushed in with tear-streaked eyes. "Uncle Draco! They made me play with Barney! I don't like Barney!" he screamed. Draco patted the boy's head and smiled at him, " Me too. Isn't he so ugly and purple? Tell you what, I'll bring you to Florean later to get an ice-cream okay?" Ben immediately stopped crying and grinned widely at Draco.
"Hold on just a moment Mr Malfoy. You aren't done here yet," The lady said.
"I sure think I am. How is finding out whether I liked Barney and Coco Puffs going to help Ben?" Draco glared at the two scientists. "Well, in the least, we need to ask Ben some questions. Ben, I'll give you some sugar-free candy later," The man said, trying to tempt Ben. Ben nodded his head warily. Sugar-free didn't sound all that good.
" Ben, has Mr Malfoy been nice to you?"
"Yes he has. He brought me to see a giraffe yesterday!"
"That's very nice Ben. Does Mr Malfoy give you sweets?"
"Yeah. He gives me candy. But only if I behave myself."
"Good, good. Now Ben, can you tell me, what is 5 plus 6?"
Ben stuck out his fingers and counted slowly. " It's 11!" he finally said, grinning.
"Very good Ben. Now, what do you see in this picture?" The lady asked Ben as she held out a picture card with some inkblots.
"That's a car. And that's a cow. But why is the cow purple?" Ben asked Draco questioningly. "It's a special cow. When the milk comes out, the milk is purple." Draco joked. Ben giggled and carried on with the inkblots.
"Well Mr Malfoy, I guess you passed." The two scientists said grudgingly after Ben had left the room. "Finally. Well, goodbye," Draco stood up from the small seat and rubbed his back.
Back at home; Draco cooked some sloppy spaghetti (it was eventually thrown away), and ordered in some Chinese food. For the past 5 days from Sunday, Draco had been ordering in food over the owl service. Sometimes, it was Korean or Japanese, but most of the times, it was Chinese.
After the first Sunday night with Ben, Draco found out that Ben couldn't sleep at night if he didn't have his teddy bear, milk and cookies, a storybook and night light. To make do with what little things Draco had at the Manor, Draco transfigured a table lamp into a green teddy bear, bought some food, told his stories when he was child and to make do with not having a night light, Draco had bought a small lamp which he cast a spell upon so that it never toppled and went out once Ben fell asleep.
The next day, Draco found out that over the past years, he had always eaten out and couldn't cook for peanuts. No matter how many times he had tried, he just couldn't get the fire working properly, or the eggs were burnt. Eventually, he settled for bringing Ben out for breakfast and lunch and ordering in something for dinner.
This went on for the subsequent three days, and by Friday, he was pretty much sick of this 'life'. He had a little boy to take care of! And this little boy was only 6! He had to start school soon, plus, Draco had his own work to take care off. He wouldn't be able to keep on taking leaves from the Ministry. He might as well be kicked out. Being one of the Aurors meant that he had to keep his eyes peeled for any movement. It was a tough job, but it was worth it. Even if he had to work with Potter. Actually, come to think of it, Potter wasn't so bad in the end. After the whole Voldemort fiasco had ended, Potter was just like anybody else.
Draco sighed. After school, he had come out into this world and was immediately spotted by Moody to go for Auror training. A few months after excelling the exam course, he had started as an assistant to one of the top Aurors, helping with the whole vanquishing-evil act. It was not bad actually, to be able to help 'rid the world from evil' once in a while. Yeah, 5 years sure passed quickly. Until this week that is.
Ben became hyper pretty quickly. The amount of sugar must be sky-high in this kid, Draco thought, amused. Ben had started jumping around on the furniture, ruining some curtains with chocolate stains, and breaking one of the antique vases. Thanks goodness for magic. This house was Draco's last valuable asset. Except, the asset was becoming dirty very dangerously. The white tiles were slowly turning brown and yellow from the chocolate spills and mud, and the walls too. Draco rubbed his temples and decided to go to the owl post office on Saturday. The bulletin board would surely have some things about house cleaning and people desperate for jobs to look after children.
"All right you little monster, stay right there while I buy you breakfast," Draco growled menacingly at Ben, tickling his stomach. Ben giggled and laughed. Coming to the park sure was a good idea. Up and early by 6 due to Ben's incessant chatter about seeing dogs at parks and going to the sand pit, Draco had lugged himself out of bed, pulled on a pair of jeans and another polo shirt, and left once he had downed some black coffee to keep himself awake.
Going to the post office to check for notices was a brilliant idea. By 6.45, he had found at least 5 flyers about baby-sitting and house cleaning services. He'll just call them up and check their prices. Ben grabbed Draco's polo shirt and gave a mighty tug causing the shirt the stretch far more than it was supposed to. Draco sighed heavily, this kid sure was adorable, but it sure would take a special person to control him.
A few minutes after Draco had left, Ben was becoming tired of waiting for Draco to come back with breakfast. Spotting a sand box in a far corner, he rushed over to play. And that's when he got himself hurt when he tripped over the ledge and landed face first into the sandbox. Draco heard the scream from where he had bought breakfast. Hurriedly keeping the change, he rushed over to the bench to find Ben missing. "Ben! Where are you?" Draco yelled as loud as he could.
Finally, after 10 minutes of searching, he spotted Ben at the sandbox with a young lady kneeling next to him. He hurried over, accidentally dropping his breakfast (crap!), to the little boy. He saw Ben pointing randomly in his direction and saw as the young lady followed his finger. From the distance already, he could tell that she was quite pretty. Her hair was tied up in a messy high ponytail but what was so charming about her was her smile.
"Thanks for finding him. He just ran off all of a sudden. Thanks again," Draco said with a large smile after scooping Ben up into his arms. Draco noticed that after that short run, he was slightly out of breath. When the lady asked a question about Ben, he noticed that she had a brilliant set of teeth, "It's Ben," Draco replied hurriedly, " Don't be fooled by him. He keeps on thinking he's Huck Finn. You know from that muggle—", Draco mentally slapped himself and looked away, running his free hand through his hair, trying to keep his cool. The worst that could happen was the lady was ask about what muggles were and he would come up with a lame explanation about ships and boats, and bore the life out of her. But instead, the lady laughed and smiled back. "It's alright. I'm a witch too." She had said. Draco smiled again and heaved a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. Man, was he lucky.
"Right, well thanks again. Have to go off. This young man has piano lessons with Madame Eleanor to attend at 9. Right Ben?" Draco lied through his teeth. Even if it were true, the lawyers hadn't sent a copy of his timetable yet. The lady eventually left, accidentally dropping a piece of paper on the floor. Curious, Draco picked it up only to be met with large red words screaming on the page. Folding the paper up, he knew he would need it in the near future.
"I saw an angel today!" Ben grinned at Draco from his high perch. "Really now? What did that angel say?" Draco grinned back. "She said, "My, aren't you a beautiful child?" Ben sang. Draco laughed and replied, " Yes you are a beautiful child, and I think this child would want some breakfast!" Ben nodded his head vigorously. In a matter of seconds, a loud crack echoed through the silent park.
YAY. With so much free time, there is so much to achieve. Ahahaha. :D hope you enjoyed this one too! Don't expect a super fast update because the exams are looming. Bye for now! Ming.