T/W - This chapter contains mention of child abuse.

Cornelia's cheek smarted in the balmy heat of the sun as a drop of sweat trickled from her hairline into the fresh graze that coloured it, but she barely noticed the sting. Her body was peppered with wounds and bruises that throbbed in a constant reminder of their presence, and her cheek, although the freshest, was mild in comparison. The worst was the burning of her palms whenever she curled her fingers to turn the pages of the newspaper she was currently absorbed in; across which were multiple long, plum-coloured slashes of raised and raw skin where Uncle Lucy's cane had struck her repeatedly the previous night.

Every now and then Cornelia would break from reading her book and turn her gaze either to the skies or to consider the skin of her hands. She would clench and unclench her fists, hissing at the sharp pain the movement caused, and yet her deep brown eyes glimmered with satisfaction. She was proud of her war wounds.

She was currently sat in the centre of the maze that stretched the entirety of the far end of the Manor's grounds, it was a spot she had been haunting regularly throughout the summer holidays. It was open and far enough from the manor for Cornelia to feel a sense of freedom, and yet enclosed enough by the four tall, hedged walls to be comforting. In the centre of the square was a simple, yet elegant water fountain surrounded by four, deep, stone benches. Flowerbeds lined the square, and their scent together with the soft gushing of the water created a sense of tranquillity that would be otherwise impossible for Cornelia to find during those weeks.

Cornelia and Draco had memorised the route to the centre of the maze by the time they were 8 years old, and they had long since stopped playing in the maze as it held no mystery for them anymore. Cornelia knew the same went for Uncle Lucy and Aunt Cissy, both of whom very rarely stepped outside. This made the centre of the maze the perfect hiding spot for Cornelia during that summer.

As she had predicted, it had been some of the worst weeks she had ever spent in the Malfoy Manor. Uncle Lucy was sour and tense from his shameful removal from the School Board and being shown up by Dumbledore and Harry Potter. His already short fuse was even quicker to spark, and his outbursts were violent and harsh, and even extended to Draco. He wasn't accustomed to losing.

Draco was nearly as miserable and as bitter as his father. Every cruel word or sharp jab with Uncle Lucy's snake-headed cane increased his hatred for Harry Potter, who was suddenly to blame for all of his woes. He was almost as unpleasant to be around as Lucius, and Cornelia enjoyed her space from him too; not to mention part of her felt sickeningly responsible for many of the beatings he had received, as well as feeling utterly useless in preventing them.

For, as you know, Cornelia had found her own escape for the rage she kept constantly bottled up inside her that year at Hogwarts, and it had become clear very quickly it was impossible to bundle it up back inside now it was out. Her outbursts, disobedience and general unpleasantness in the face of authority continued into the summer, and it had made for a terrible but spectacular firework display when met with Uncle Lucy's lack of tolerance.

Cornelia's bruises and sallow appearance were testament to this combination, and whilst she accepted her beatings and missed meals with a stubborn satisfaction, each blow a validation for the resentment she harboured within her as well as proof that she was making some sort of impact, Draco did not. Two years of growth and freedom at Hogwarts had changed him too, and that summer he had quite often attempted to argue with his father when he blew up in the face of Cornelia's defiance. It was this that had earnt Draco all of his beatings, and that was something Cornelia couldn't stomach.

This was how Cornelia had earnt her newest wound, the wide graze across her right cheek. That morning she had been allowed back to the breakfast table after 3 days of only being afforded food at dinner time – this has been in punishment for refusing to obey Aunt Cissy's demands of proper mealtime etiquette such as sitting up straight, elbows off the table, not playing with food and not sulking. For a while, Cornelia had abided Aunt Cissy's warnings, mainly because she was ravenous and the eggs benedict was too good to be passed up, but as her shrunken stomach began to fill, her resolution faded.

"Slow down." Aunt Cissy hissed across the table to her, her face was taut and Cornelia noticed her eyes flit nervously to Lucius and back.

By this point it was barely a conscious decision for Cornelia to disobey or mock the rules given to her, and without a second thought she froze with the fork halfway to her open mouth before continuing to eat her breakfast in ultra-slow motion.

Aunt Cissy pursed her lips, definitely shooting nervous glances towards Uncle Lucius now, who hadn't looked up from his own meal yet. Draco had stopped eating entirely to stare at Cornelia with wide eyes. He no longer found her antics amusing and had countless times begged her to behave that summer, but Cornelia either couldn't or didn't want to - she didn't know which.

It didn't take long for Lucius's cool blue eyes to fix on Cornelia's performance, and after a second or two he quietly placed his cutlery down on his plate. Draco and Aunt Cissy were holding their breath now, and though Cornelia's heart raced in anticipation, she kept up the charade.

"What are you doing?" Uncle Lucy practically whispered, yet his voice seemed to echo around the silent room.

"Hmm?" Cornelia mumbled around an overly stuffed mouthful.

Without another word, Uncle Lucius stood from his seat and crossed the room in one fluid movement. Cornelia hastily swallowed her food as he approached, a cold sweat prickling across her skin. Sharp pain flashed across her scalp as Lucius grabbed a fistful of her hair, and she cried out as he dragged her to her feet. She barely registered the sound of Draco's chair dragging across the floor as he shot up, nor his yell of "Father!". Only when Lucius stilled, his left hand tugging on Cornelia's hair, did she open her eyes to see his wand drawn and pointing towards Draco.

"Sit down, Draco." Uncle Lucius seemed scarily calm, his eyes narrowed on Draco who looked suspended in action, his hands reaching towards them but his face slack and blank. He obeyed Uncle Lucius's demand without hesitation, his face still completely void of emotion, clearly imperiused, and rage curled in Cornelia's stomach.

"Stop it!" She screeched, quickly and violently striking out at Lucius's wand, which arced through the air and clattered noisily to the floor. As Draco drew a deep and ragged breath, the world turned upside down for Cornelia and she was thrust towards the floor. She collided hard with the ground, her cheek being the first to break contact, and for a few moments she was completely disorientated.

Uncle Lucius's calm façade had finally cracked, and his cheeks were flaming, spittle flying from his mouth as he demanded Cornelia to be locked up for the rest of the holidays, how he wouldn't abide being made a fool of in his own home. Despite her sore and spinning head, Cornelia scrambled to her feet as he stepped towards her again, her instinct for flight thrumming through her veins, and she managed to dart through his hands that swiped for her and stumble towards the door.

She didn't look back at the cacophony behind her, a loud confused mess of Lucius screaming curses after her, Draco calling her name and Aunt Cissy's higher, shrill voice attempting to calm her husband, and just allowed her feet to carry her from the manor and to her safe space.

When she burst into the centre of the maze minutes later, chest heaving, cheek angry, hair tangled and wild and head still spinning, she collapsed on one of the stone benches. Adrenaline was pumping thick and fast through her, and her sides were cramped from the desperate dash into the maze. It took a while for her heart to slow and to be able to gather her scattered thoughts.

That was the angriest she had ever seen Uncle Lucy. Even yesterday when she had gotten her owl through with her results from her second year at Hogwarts, Lucius had been icy cold as he delivered the biting whips to her palms. It was frightening and invigorating all at the same time. As the expression on his face burned in her mind, her lip curled, not quite a grimace and not quite a smile. She had made him feel as angry as he made her! She had finally gotten a rise out of him!

Then her mind wandered to Draco. She had left him defending her, left him to face the wrath of a furious Lucius. Her chest squeezed and her stomach flipped and she quickly averted her mind onto something else – she wouldn't think on that. Instead, she leant forward and pulled a briefcase from under her bench. It was filled with books that she had planted there early on in the summer.

And it is there that she stayed, glancing from the book to her hands to the skies, as if she were waiting for something. That something came just before lunch - a grey spotted owl carrying a newspaper lurching through the skies towards her. She exchanged coin for the paper and when she smoothed the paper open, a smile grew on her face and she breathed "hello again" to the face staring back at her on the front page.

It was Sirius Black, a recently escaped convict from Azkaban. His expression was gnarled in the picture, his teeth bared in a growl and a yell, long curled hair bouncing about his face as dark eyes condemned all the press that surrounded him.

During one of the rare moments of peace early in the holidays, Aunt Cissy had discussed the escape of Sirius Black with her and Draco. Draco had been the one to bring up that Sirius shared his mother's maiden name, and Aunt Cissy's lips had thinned in the way they always did when she was thinking deeply on something.

"Well, he is my cousin." She had eventually said demurely, her large eyes watching Draco amusedly for his reaction.

"He is?! But you never told us about Sirius!" Draco had said accusingly. It would have been another string to his bow to have the known mass murderer Sirius Black as a family member.

"He was disowned when we were young so I never felt the need to mention him." Aunt Cissy explained and this time Cornelia's ears pricked up.

"Disowned? For what?" She asked, sitting up from her previous slumped position.

"He didn't abide the family rules." Aunt Cissy's voice hardened considerably as she addressed Cornelia, who had already caused considerable trouble by that point in the holidays. Cornelia hushed at the pointed remark, but Draco took it up instead.

"What family rules?"

"The House of Black wasn't so different from our family, they understood the importance of upholding the pure blood line of wizards. Sirius never liked that… he left when he was sixteen."

Aunt Cissy had Cornelia's full attention now, and she slid from the sofa to join Draco on the floor by the fire, its flickering light moving across her rapt expression as she stared up at Narcissa.

"But the news says that he killed twelve muggles – that's why he went to Azkaban." She said softly, and Aunt Cissy looked at her for a long time. It might have been because it was one of the first times since the children had returned from Hogwarts that Cornelia didn't have a haughty or miserable look on her face, or wasn't talking in a mocking or hard voice, that Aunt Cissy chose to divulge the truth about Sirius in that moment.

"I don't believe that's what happened." She said after a long, tense pause. "Sirius was a lot of things - arrogant, idiotic – but he wasn't a muggle killer. He loved them too much." Her face twisted at the end as if she were tasting something sour. Draco's face fell, immediately less impressed by the thought of Sirius being innocent. Cornelia on the other hand leant further forward, her eyes eager.

"So… what do you think happened?" She asked slowly, still being careful in her approach.

"I think a lot of things happened at that time. It was just after the demise of the Dark Lord; supporters were being murdered and imprisoned everywhere, going into hiding…" her eyes flashed at that "it was chaos. Sirius was just one amongst many being labelled a traitor."

"Did you tell anyone?"

"Tell anyone what?"

"That you thought he was innocent?" Cornelia questioned, and she immediately knew she had gone too far. Aunt Cissy's eyebrows shot up and her lips pursed.

"Certainly not! That fool belongs in Azkaban. He could have rotted in there for all I care." But despite her haughty look of disdain, Aunt Cissy looked uncomfortable, something in the stiff way she held herself perfectly composed.

Since that moment Cornelia felt a strong affinity to Sirius Black, and whilst Aunt Cissy refused to give her any more details on what he was like or what he had specifically done to be disowned, Cornelia began avidly reading the news or searching the library for any mention of him. The Daily Prophet gave certain information about Sirius Black and what lead to his arrest, covering how he had been the secret keeper to his supposed best friend James Potter and his wife Lily and son Harry, only to betray their location to the Dark Lord. The information Cornelia was so desperate for though was his relationship with the rest of the Black family, and what had led to their cutting of ties to each other. Cornelia felt as if she were drowning in the Malfoy's expectations of her, and here was living proof that it was possible to escape the chains of a noble family. However, the newspapers weren't interested in the backstory of Sirius Black, they were more bothered about gathering information of his whereabouts, and the tidbits of information Aunt Cissy gave her before she shooed her away just made for an even more convoluted story.

It was then, as Cornelia continued to pore over the newspaper article on Sirius Black, that she heard the footsteps approaching on the gravel paths that wound through the maze. She shot to her feet and cast her eyes wildly around the square centre, there were two entrances, and she darted as quickly and quietly towards the one that the footsteps were not coming from.

Keeping completely still and quiet, Cornelia listened as someone stepped and paused on the other side of the hedge in the centre. No doubt they would be taking in the open briefcase filled with books and snacks, and she cursed herself for leaving it open – her hiding place was now ruined.

"Nelly?" Draco's voice called and the breath that Cornelia had been holding escaped in a rush. She stepped out from the bush and back into the square to find Draco looking at her with a tired amused expression. "So this is where you've been hiding." She saw his eyes flit down to her cheek and his smile faded.

"You found me." She answered, but there was no joy in her voice.

Draco gestured to the newspaper she was still clutching. "Still on the Black case?"

She moved forward and placed the paper on the bench. "It's just the news."

A silence spread awkwardly between the two of them then and Cornelia's insides twisted uncomfortably. She hated herself for being like this with Draco, it wasn't his fault that he was a Malfoy by default, and he had stood up for her multiple times this holiday, she just wished that he didn't bother, she didn't want it on her conscience.

"Is your cheek okay?" Draco said in a strangled sort of voice, stepping towards her slowly. She shrugged.

"How was Uncle Lucy when I left?" She asked, watching Draco as he stopped before her, his head tilted to the side as he regarded her grazed cheek with a furrowed brow. She turned her head so he couldn't see it clearly, hair falling over her face.

"Furious. I got out of there pretty soon after you." His cool fingers slowly guided her chin back to face him so he could inspect her again.

"Did he… hurt you?" Cornelia asked sullenly like she didn't really want to know the answer. Draco met her eyes, and she became suddenly acutely aware of their proximity, his fingers still gently holding her chin in place, barely stood a foot away from her. The awkward twisting in her stomach shifted a little and became something entirely different and new to her. She jerked her chin from his hand and stepped away from him.

"He hit me when I tried to stop him from coming after you." Draco replied in a blasé tone.

"Sorry." Cornelia mumbled to her feet and Draco sighed loudly, flopping onto the stone bench beside them.

"If you're so sorry why do you keep on making trouble for me?"

Cornelia's eyes flashed at him then, her familiar friend anger rearing its head again. "Trouble for you?" She snapped and Draco returned her scowl.

"You keep provoking father!" Cornelia barked an ironic laugh at that, but Draco continued. "You know what he gets like when he's mad."

"I still don't see what that has to do with you."

"What it has to do with me -" Draco's voice had risen considerably, and Cornelia got the sense that he had been wanting to say this for some time. "-is that I can't sit and watch him hurt you!"

They glared at each other for a moment or two, before Cornelia heaved a sigh of her own and joined Draco on the bench. A large part of her wanted to promise that she would stop making trouble then, that the last thing she wanted was for Draco to get hurt because of her, but she wasn't so sure that she could stop. Something had snapped inside her and she wasn't even sure what it was, so how could she fix it? Besides, the words seemed to get stuck in her throat and in the end, it had to be Draco to break the silence again.

"You've been avoiding me all summer." His voice was soft again now, sad.

"I'm sorry." She said again feeling like an idiot because she couldn't express herself any better than that.

"Why though?" Draco asked urgently, attempting to peer up into her face that was hidden by tangled curls. Cornelia clenched her fists in an attempt to shush the emotions that were building inside her, clawing for an escape, and hissed with the pain – she had forgotten about the wounds on her palms. Draco noticed and immediately grabbed her hand, pulling it open in front of him.

"Nelly!" He moaned and she tugged her hand away, holding it to her chest.

"It's nothing." She said quickly.

"It's not nothing!" Draco cried attempting to pull her hand back towards him but giving up and getting to his feet when she didn't let him. "I'm going to talk to mother about this."

"No, Draco, don't." Although Cornelia was sure that Aunt Cissy already knew about the beatings she was receiving, the thought of Draco complaining to her about it made Cornelia feel as if she had lost. Right now she was suffering in silence, even provoking further attacks, to make her mark and fight her ground – crying to Aunt Cissy about it was weak, it would waste her weeks of struggle.

"You need healing." Draco was beginning to walk away now, and Cornelia scrambled to her feet after him, tugging helplessly on his arm. He turned deaf ears to her pleading for him to stop, to not tell Aunt Cissy, and Cornelia did the only thing that she knew would stop him in his tracks; she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling him close to her, allowing the tears that always seemed within reach these days to spill.

Draco froze in his tracks, shocked by the sudden close contact and show of emotion from Cornelia, who had gone out of her way to avoid him for weeks now and hadn't cried in front of him since they were 10 years old. Slowly he unravelled and wrapped his arms around her, she felt disconcertingly small after a summer of skipping meals, not to mention he had grown considerably since they last hugged and was now almost a foot taller than her.

"Please don't tell Aunt Cissy!" Cornelia sobbed in his ear and Draco knew he'd do anything to stop her from crying.

"Okay, okay, I won't." He murmured, squeezing her tightly as if he could somehow absorb the sorrow from her into his own skin. He didn't understand why it was so important to Cornelia, but it didn't matter in that moment.

After a few minutes the sobs that wracked Cornelia's body slowed, and she started to release him, he slowly followed suit, his expression strained. As Draco stared concernedly into her face, Cornelia's self-hatred bubbled violently inside, especially when she caught herself making a mental note of how effective her tears were against him.

Draco spent the rest of the afternoon in the centre of the maze with Cornelia, and soon after her explosion of emotion they were able to lapse into the comfy familiarity they had always shared. As the warm light started to dim, Draco returned to the mansion to scope out the situation for Cornelia, returning half an hour later with the news that she was to remain out of the sight of her Aunt and Uncle for the remainder of the holidays, and that somehow Aunt Cissy had managed to convince Uncle Lucius not to lock her up.

Welcome back to the party! It's been a pretty dark summer at the Malfoy Mansion for our troubled Cornelia, but she's found a companion in Sirius Black of all people! I wonder how he would feel to find Bellatrix's Lestrange feels an affinity to him... not too pleased I would imagine. Draco's as fluffy as ever, but it seems like their relationship is getting a little more complex and troubled - can't wait to throw a few more obstacles at them during this school year!

Until next time.