Troubled Past, Troubled Future
By Draco is a Hottie
A/N: Feedback is greatly appreciated, thanks in advance. So here's chapter two…enjoy?
It was weeks before Narcissa could bring herself to walk to the nursery. Granted, it was days before she could actually walk again, after the birth, but she just couldn't bear to see her child again, yet. As she slowly crept down the hallway, a cry drifted towards her ears. At the sound, her breasts grew heavy and engorged with milk, instinctually activating her let-down reflex at the sound of her baby in need. She frowned, but continued towards the door, her small body slightly bent at the extra weight in front.
As she pushed open the heavy mahogany door, she immediately took note of the lack of people in the room. In the far corner, standing at a window, was a nurse. However, she appeared to be deaf to Draco's tiny cries, and made no move to comfort him.
"Aren't you going to stop him crying?" Narcissa questioned.
"I'm on my break. I need this," she raised her hand slightly, showing a half-burnt cigarette. "This kid, oh god, never stops crying. I come in to work, he's crying. I leave work, he's still crying. I'm starting to go out of my mind."
"Oh." It wasn't Narcissa's place to contradict anyone. Lucius had made sure she knew that. Instead, she walked over towards the luxurious crib in which her son lay. Peering cautiously over the railing, she was a bit surprised. He looked smaller, or at least thinner, than when she'd last seen him.
The nurse, who'd finished her break walked up behind her, and noticed her shocked expression.
"He's not eating well. The kid just doesn't seem to want to thrive. Odd really, I've never seen a baby reject a bottle all day…"
"What do you mean he's not eating well? Can't you force him?"
"Well, we've got to give him the bottle, and he just doesn't seem keen on it. Ideally you should be the one feeding him. It's better for him anyway."
"How dare you suggest…it is obvious to me that you certainly have no idea how to care for my child adequately…please leave, and do not bother to return."
"But Mrs. Malfoy…do you even have any idea of how to take care of him? It wouldn't be right for me to entrust a two-month-old baby in the hands of someone, although technically his mother, who has barely held a child, let alone fed, diapered or bathed."
"You shall not tell me what I can and cannot do in my own home. Now I suggest you leave before I summon my husband." Narcissa turned once again to face the crib. Draco looked up at her with enormous grey eyes, and continued to wail. Glancing quickly over her shoulder, she checked to see if the nurse had gone. She had.
"Shit," She mumbled. "Quiet down, Draco darling." She prodded his tiny arm. He cried louder. Feeling slightly nervous now, she reached down and plucked him out of his protective shell of bedding. The frail baby screamed louder, afraid of the stranger clutching at him too tightly. Narcissa was positively panicking now- what was she going to do? The nurse had been right in saying that she didn't have the faintest idea of how to care for a child.
Lucius strode quickly through the door, staring at his wife and child.
"What is this commotion! I could hear it all the way from my study. Thank god Macnair had gone before this started." He glared for a moment at his son before facing Narcissa.
"Oh, honey, he was crying when I came in here, and I fired the nurse for not doing her job, but now I have no idea how to shut him up and…"
"Now, now my love, I'll take care of it." He stooped to be at the child's level, staring into his own eyes as he studied the baby's face. "Draco, my heir, you are about to learn a lesson in silence. For, you see, silence as they say, is golden…and a quiet baby is a happy one. You'll soon learn. Silencio."
The crying was immediately quieted.
"Now, I'm going to lift the spell, and you're going to be a silent baby, correct?" He spoke as if the two month old child could understand. He flicked his wand and the room filled with wailing redoubled.
"Crucio." The tiny baby rattled in Narcissa's arms as the pain shook his little body. "Silencio." Quiet again. He repeated this process several times, until no noise came from anyone in the room. Draco trembled as his mother placed him back in his bed.
"Lucius, my brilliant husband…" She started.
"Why were you in the room in the first place? How many times do you need to be told you will have no part in the rearing of this child?" He was angry, red flickering in his eyes. A moment later, Narcissa collapsed onto the floor as the magicked pain washed over her as it had her son.
