The Eye Of The Gazer

Chapter 5

"Come live with me at Malfoy Manor," said Lucius, holding Cho in his arms, and kissing her hair. They were relaxing in Cho's sitting room at Gildenford Hall, Bryony asleep in her crib across the room. Cho lay back against Lucius' chest, resting her head on his shoulder. Lucius moved her thick hair aside, and began to kiss her neck, feeling her shiver slightly in response. His arms were holding her around her midriff, and they both knew he would soon move his hands upwards. Lucius was blatant about loving the enlarged breasts she had while she was feeding Bryony herself. He had suggested a wet nurse at first, for this was common practice among the richer families; but when Cho had refused, he had not pressed the point, saying that it would allow him to enjoy her enhanced assets for longer. Cho sighed a little as he supported the weight of her right breast.

"I don't know, Lucius," she replied. "The present arrangement suits me very well. And you won't get round me by doing that," she added, as he nuzzled her ear.

"Why not?" he persisted. "It's a big house, plenty of room. Lots of house elves to see to Bryony. Or we can hire a witch to watch her if you prefer, plus I'll be there to look after her when you go back to the shop. You can have your own rooms in the Manor if you want, just like you have here. We can take turns visiting each other at night, you in your frilly feminine boudoir, and me with my black silk sheets. Or you can sleep in my bed all the time, if you prefer. You can redecorate if you hate the colours. I know you have excellent taste, you choose all the décor, I put it entirely in your hands."

Lucius had decided it was time that Cho made up her mind, and had begun to question her more persistently. For quite a while she had put him off by saying that it was too soon after the birth, she was happy where she was.

Cho had been living at Gildenford Hall, the home of her Chang grandparents, since she had told her family of the pregnancy. In fact, her grandmother had already seen that Cho was pregnant. She had the ability to spot a pregnancy of only a few weeks: sometimes she even knew before the witch herself realised her own condition. Madam Chang had passed on this knowledge, firstly to Sun Chang, and then to Cho's parents. They had already discussed the future by the time Cho brought the matter to them, and they had merely presented her with their solution: Cho should have a suite of rooms at Gildenford Hall, which was large enough to accommodate her at some distance from her grandparents, so that she could maintain her privacy as far as she wanted. The baby would be born there.

If Cho did not marry Lucius Malfoy, after she returned to work the child would be looked after by Cho's grandparents and the house elves. If the older Changs found it too stressful, a witch would be hired as a nanny. When the child was older, a governess would also be appointed, and she too would live at Gildenford Hall. Meanwhile, Lucius Malfoy could visit Cho at any time so long as she wished it, and have free access to see his child.

"Cho, I love you," said Lucius now, kissing her ear and squeezing her breasts gently. "Bring Bryony and come and live with me. We can be a proper family more easily than if you stay here. Malfoy Manor is a lonely place these days, it needs a new mistress. I know we can both apparate or use the floo network, and if you decide against it, we'll continue as now. But give our relationship a chance. Take a risk. Come live with me and be my love."

Cho tipped her head back to look at him from her dark eyes. Lucius kissed the tip of her nose. Cho rested her head against his shoulder, and pulled him down to kiss her mouth.

When they broke apart, he saw Cho smiling broadly at him. "Yes please, Lucius," she breathed, "Yes, we'll come and live with you."

Bryony Chang looked at Lucius Malfoy as he explained that they would be alone together in Malfoy Manor for a while. Draco would be there too, of course: her big brother, whom she adored unreservedly. Draco would play with her for hours, and hardly ever tell her off, unlike her great grandmother, who often reprimanded her if she screamed too loudly, played too roughly, or made too much mess.

Daddy told her, "Mummy's going away for a week, Bryony."

"Mummy going to Japan. Mummy telled me!" Bryony replied earnestly, pronouncing "Japan" carefully.

Lucius showed her Japan on a beautiful antique map of the world. "Look, Bryony, it's a long way isn't it? Mummy's friend Mariko lives there," he told her. Then he asked Bryony to show him England, and gave her a chocolate frog when she picked the right country.

Lucius loved the novelty of having Bryony to himself for a week. He spent the day entertaining his daughter himself, instead of leaving her to the house elves for much of the time as usual, choosing to do this to compensate for her mother's absence: for Cho had never been away overnight without Bryony before. She had been very undecided about the trip when the time came to leave, even though the reasons had been discussed many times.

Cho had gone to Japan on business. Cho's Chic was not making as much money as it should. Alan and Cho had had a tête-à-tête one day after work, where they had thrashed out the problem. Alan had pointed out that they had a lot of new customers, that was why the shop always seemed so busy: but the new people were not as rich. They came because they wanted to be seen in the best clothes, but they could only afford one garment made by Cho's Chic, and they did not come back.

"What about your old customers?" Lucius had asked. "You made clothes for all the best families. They can afford to come back again. The rich witches always want new clothes every season."

Cho had tried to avoid answering this question, but eventually had been forced to tell Lucius what had been happening at Cho's Chic. Alan had been the one to diagnose the problem:

"Cho, firstly, you were away for a relatively long time when Bryony was born, considering we were a new business. I know you couldn't help being ill, but it meant you were off for much longer than you planned. We kept going, and all the seamstresses we used were a wonderful find, and still work for us when we have enough sewing to give them. But the customers had got used to seeing you. I know a few prefer me, especially the older witches and the very conservative wizards, but most of our customers like dealing with you personally even if it's just to say hello. Your flair for design and cut is what makes this business. That's why it's called Cho's Chic. When people couldn't see you, they started looking elsewhere. They won't pay our prices for less than top service, they'd rather go to Madam Malkin's and get something off the peg.

"Then when you did come back, everyone knew you were involved with Lucius Malfoy, it wasn't a secret anymore. You weren't just another of his flings, you actually had his child, and he acknowledged her as his own. The Malfoys still have a bad name with a large number of wizarding families. So many of them have relatives who were killed by Voldemort or Death Eaters. Then there was the way it appeared Lucius moved you into Malfoy Manor straight after his wife's death. Not only was he a notorious Death Eater, but he didn't even respect his wife's memory. Narcissa Black had a lot more influence than we thought. Part of Lucius' acceptance by the cream of wizarding society was due to her smoothing the way for him. She was prepared to charm her way into the top echelons, whereas Lucius just sneered at everyone. People weren't to know Narcissa's portrait had effectively given you permission to be together. So you were tainted by association with Lucius, and people decided not to come back.

"But you're still an object of curiosity for some people – hence all those new customers. They make one relatively cheap purchase so they can come and have a look at you, but they don't come back."

Cho had edited the version of this she had told Lucius, but he still realised that he was partly the cause of her business problems. If Lucius had his way, Cho would not be working at all – neither of them needed the money – but Lucius was wise enough to see that her business was just as much Cho's baby as Bryony was, and refrained from saying anything to this effect. He merely asked her what she and Alan had decided was the solution.

"We decided to get another designer in for a while, to help build up the trade again. We have enough seamstresses on our books to make a lot more clothes, and most of them want more work than we can give them. A new face would get people through the door again, especially if I took a back seat for a while. I'd love to spend more time with Bryony now she's walking and talking, before she gets a governess. Eventually, people will forget about why they stayed away." Cho smiled: "Alan said I should take Bryony to work now and again too. I'd have all the witches cooing over her."

Lucius raised an eyebrow. "Another designer? I take it you have someone in mind?"

Cho replied, "I have a friend in Tokyo who is a wonderful designer. Her name is Mariko. She's been saying for years she'd like to move to London, but she's never done anything about it. So I plan to go to Tokyo and ask her if she'd like to work with me for a while. And at the same time, I could import some of the wonderful kimono fabrics she uses. The rich witches of England will all be wearing kimono silks next season!"

Lucius had listened to Cho's plans, and agreed that she should do whatever she thought her business needed. Bryony would be fine without her mother for a week, he would be happy to assume prime responsibility for his daughter.

However, Lucius had forgotten how exhausting a three-year-old child could be, and he was much older now than when Draco was three. He was grateful when Bryony had calmed down, and was happy to sit with a large pile of old parchment, and draw on the back of it. Lucius sat watching her, absorbed in her task. She reminded him of her mother, sat over her drawing board creating new fashions. Bryony was quiet, occasionally talking to herself about the creatures of her vivid imagination that she attempted to reproduce in ink, getting much of it on herself in the process. Lucius was glad he had insisted she wore her oldest robes.

Bryony finished her picture of a bright blue pixie, and turned to show it to Daddy, only to see that his blond head had fallen back, and he lay asleep in his chair. Bryony tiptoed right up to him, and examined him gravely. She did not touch him, but instead decided that she now had a great chance to examine something that had always fascinated her. Daddy had told her not to touch, but it was so inviting.

Bryony went to the corner, and stood in front of Daddy's cane, standing proudly in the old giant's foot umbrella stand near the door. The silver serpent's head glittered in a shaft of sunlight. Bryony loved the snake head, she stroked it tentatively with a tiny finger, feeling the smooth, cold metal. She then picked up the cane. This was difficult for a small child, for the cane was designed for a tall man. It was very unwieldy, and Bryony just missed overturning the umbrella stand, and when she knocked a side table, she looked round fearfully to see if her father had woken; but he did not stir. The cane scored the wallpaper as it wobbled in her grip. She then pulled at the snake head, as she had seen Lucius do, and she found herself holding Daddy's wand. Bryony was delighted, but she did not laugh or cry out, for she knew she was disobeying her father, and did not want to wake him. She felt a guilty pleasure as she ran her tiny fingers up and down the ebony shaft.

She then held the wand as she had seen Daddy do, and as Mummy did with hers, and waved it imperiously, saying the first spell that came into her head: "Incendio!"

Bryony screamed in shock as tongues of flame shot from the end of the wand, and licked the upholstery of a nearby chair, which immediately ignited and burst into flames. Bryony dropped the wand in fear, and stood paralysed, screaming again. As the wand hit the floor, the Persian carpet also caught fire, orange flames leaping upwards between Bryony and the door.

Lucius awoke to his daughter's howls of fear, and leapt to his feet. He saw Bryony standing before a rapidly spreading fire. Looking instinctively for his wand, he saw that she had moved his cane, and as he rushed towards her, he could see that the wand lay burning under the flames. Lucius lifted Bryony clear before her robes could catch fire, and turned to the door. The flickering flames were higher now, and between him and the door. Lucius grabbed the hearthrug, and wrapped Bryony in it so that she was almost completely hidden. Then he ran through the flames, shielding her from the fire with his own body. In the hallway, he put her down, and was about to unwrap her and check that she was unharmed, when he suddenly felt a searing pain: his shirt and hair were on fire. He tried to beat out the flames, but realised that all he had succeeded in doing was burning his hands too.

Lucius Malfoy screamed in agony as the skin of his head and back began to burn, with a sickening smell of roasting flesh.

Wide-eyed house elves ran into the hallway in response to their master's cries, to be greeted by the sight of Lucius writhing in agony on the floor as he rolled on the flames to try and extinguish them, while his daughter still lay swathed in the rug, her terrified sobs and screams adding to the clamour.

Pain. Searing pain. He awoke but could not move his head, he had been restrained by some magical force. He could tell he was in bed, but this was not his own bed or his own room. He tried to focus, but his vision swam. An unfamiliar face appeared. Then waves of nausea overcame him, and he passed out once more.

Later. It was night now, it seemed. A nightlight was burning beside him, casting flickering shadows on the unfamiliar walls. Still he could not move his head. Pain again, but duller now, a distant persistent throbbing. He lifted his arms to look at his hands, and saw nothing but white bandages. He tried to see if anybody was there, but the effort exhausted him, and he lost consciousness again.

Later still. Was this the next day? The room was dim, but there seemed to be evidence of daylight trying to get in around the edges of the blinds. He tested his head: yes, he was still restrained. He lifted his hands. No, he had not dreamt the white bandages. He tried to identify where it hurt, but the dull pain seemed to be coming from so many different parts of his body. He was floating in a warm sea, the noises he heard seemed to be so far away. He groaned involuntarily. A face again, a different one this time, peering at him. He could see its owner was wearing lime green robes: so this was St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. He was unable to decide whether this was good or bad, and was still trying to decide when he slipped back into sleep again.

So it went on: slipping in and out of consciousness, only vaguely aware of his surroundings and the Healers who came in and out of the room at intervals; feeling as if he were not really here at all, is if his brain had decided to be in a separate place from his body, where the world was bright and the sunlight hurt his eyes; but always aware of the pain, distant now, but still remaining; barely able to prevent himself from screaming out loud when the dressings were removed and a new application of orange burn-healing paste was applied, for the pain of burned flesh exposed to oxygen is excruciating, even when one's senses have been dulled by laudanum.

He did not know how long he lay there, the Healers often working on him while he was unconscious due to the sleeping draught they gave him. He did not see their muttered consultations with each other, the efficient way they dealt with him. He did not see Cho Chang, who arrived to sit by his side hour upon hour, her face drawn and white with worry. He did not see the anxious glances she gave him, the way she questioned the Healers. He did not see Alan appear to sit by her side, to mutter such words of comfort as he could muster. He did not see Cho fall asleep from pure exhaustion with her head on Alan's shoulder.

Finally Lucius' eyes opened, and he felt more awake than before. He tried to move his head, and discovered that the invisible bonds had been removed, that he could turn and look to the side. He saw Cho sitting there, her brown eyes brimming with tears. Instinctively, she put out her hand to him, then withdrew it in confusion, for his hands were still bandaged, and so was his head and much of his upper body. Lucius looked into Cho's eyes and for a fleeting moment he saw something he had never seen there before. He did not recognise it then for what it was, and difficult as it still was for him to think clearly, he dismissed the thought from his mind to respond to her greeting as warmly as circumstances would allow.