Chapter 31

"How has he been?" asked Lucius as soon as he got back. Eliza was in the living room. Having gone home that morning for a while she had sorted her overnight bag for a few nights. She was not going to leave her boys when they needed her. Both of them. She didn't know how Lucius was coping with all this, not really. She had not spoken to him, but her own shoulders were slumped down buy the weight of it all, and she felt she had to make a confession.

"He is as well as can be expected I suppose. He asked for you a couple of times but Jane has kept him occupied. You had a good find with her, you know that don't you? She is a good girl."

He nodded. He knew that now. And she was such a big influence on his son. He wondered had she not been there would he have let him go to work. She had opened her eyes when he had shut his own.

"I know she is. She's great with him." The girl was worth her weight in gold – and that was saying something.

"Why do you say such a thing?" he asked curiously. Satisfied that for five more minutes Draco would be ok with his governess, he sat down and looked into the face of his own.

"I feel so dreadfully responsible Lucius." She sighed heavily. She had to say it to him. She just had too.

"For what?" he asked.

"Draco," she muttered to him and he was alarmed to see that tears had entered her eyes. Deep set as they were in her face now, they still spoke volumes. "If I had not urged you to take another wife then perhaps -"

"No," he said to her firmly. He was not going to have her blaming herself for this. There was only one person who was going to shoulder the responsibility for this and she was down in the dungeons. "This is not your fault!" He said as he took her hand. "You're more of a mother to me than my own ever was. You have only ever looked out for me, for both of us!" he said to her. "You didn't know what she was going to be like and I know you had my best interests at heart."

"I want to make it stop hurting – for both of you."

"Then be here. And stay strong. I am going to need you before the end, my beloved Eliza." Her presence gave him comfort.

Nodding, she learnt forward and kissed his forehead as she might have when he had been a boy. But to her he was still a boy. She could not believe some days that he was old enough to have a six year old.

"You know I can never walk out on the two of you." She said to him.

Rising up from where he had been he let go of her frail hand and heading towards the door. He had to get back to his son.

"Eliza, we're going to go to France. You look as if you could do with the break too. Come with us?" He had always planned for her to go with them but he supposed it was only polite for him to ask.

"I would like that very much darling. Thank you."

Nodding he left the room, and headed up the stairs to find that Draco as playing much more happily than he had been the day before. He had a timid and nervous look on his face even though he was with Jane but she was keeping him happy enough he thought to himself. He looked more serene.

Going into the room he knelt down by his son and kissed his forehead.

"Are you having a good afternoon little man?" he asked and the boy nodded, but adjusted how he was sitting so that his son was able to comfortably lean into him.

Draco nodded and smiled up at him.

"Well, daddy did too because I have made a decision. Draco, what do you think about me, you, Jane and Nana Eliza going back to France for a while?" He offered.

In response, his son cheered and jumped into his arms.

"Dad can we?" he begged. The fact that it was welcome news to the little boy was written over his animated features as a true smile swept on to his face which warmed his father's heart.

"Of course, we can I would not have said it if we couldn't," he said ruffling his hair.

Jane nodded with a smile on her face. This was going to be a good thing for all them she was sure. It was not as if they were running away from what had happened. She had a faint idea that Lucius had dealt with the problem in his own way. Now they were all going to relax. The stress of the last months meant they needed it.

The two looked at one another as the boy continued to cling to his father. They both knew that somehow he was going to get through this. His son was a tough little one.

Lucius stayed there with the two of them for an hour. He was quite content to let Jane lead the game of exploding snap as Draco continued to lean into him, a continual need for affection being displayed by the young Malfoy that his father was only too pleased to lavish upon him. Periodically, Jane noted as the man absentmindedly kissed his son or pulled him closer when he got too far from him.

It really was a touching bond that the two of them had when they were like that. So quiet and together.

Later, before dinner he headed back to the office. He intended the four of them to be at the château by that evening so he knew he had some loose ends to tie up. Having decided on the official line he was going to take in the public eye, he flued Severus.

"Sev?" he called into the seemingly empty Hogwarts apartments. However, within fifteen seconds of hearing his name being called the Potions Master had left his office and had come out to see his friend.

"Is everything well Lucius?" he asked. When he was not teaching he found his mind continually turning back to the Malfoy's.

"Yes, fine. Have you managed to get the Polyjuice Potion yet?" he said impatiently.

"Just did it this lunch time. When do you want her to have shown her face by?" he asked.

"Tonight if possible."

"Yes, that's fine. I can do that."

"Good." The head in the fire place. "We're leaving for France tonight. Draco, Jane, Eliza and myself."

"What of Maria?" he asked.

"I have two options. I can have the pleasure of killing her myself, or she can starve to death. As much as I would love to leave her to the latter fate, I want the final blow to come from my wand."

"Are you sure? Is it not a bit too soon?"

"No. My heads clearer now than it was yesterday. When I leave with my son for France, this ends. All the loose ends have to be tied up before we go. I don't want her to be waiting for us when we get back."

Severus nodded. "Maria will be out in the streets of Diagon Alley in half an hour." He knew it had to be done quickly.

"And then she disappears for good."

"Yes. She'll be gone for good, from all our lives."

-

The flash of green indicated the end of the young woman's life. As Lucius Malfoy stood above her corpse he felt reflective. She had put up no fight for life when death had come to her. She had barely been conscious. What he had asked his friends to do they had done indeed, and her bruised and battered body indicated this. Her body was a mixture of purple, blue and yellow bruises now he looked at it.

He didn't know why but he felt almost a pity for this girl who had thought she was destined for such great things only to be killed by the man she had supposed had loved her. He knew she had loved him somewhere in her otherwise cold heart.

But she was also his son tormentor. And the fact that she was never going to be able to get anywhere near Draco again pleased him beyond any cry for mercy she might have given him.

Ordering two of his elves to dispose of the body as they had done so many timers in the war, he walked out of the dungeon.

It was done with. It was over.

-

Maria Pilak walked down Diagon Alley. She had tears rolling down her face and those who recognized her were giving her looks of pity as she walked past. They had obviously all heard that she was meant to be the mistress of the Malfoy manor by now and yet here she was, still a Miss. Her plan had fallen apart around her.

Sitting down when she got to a cafe she begun the wait for her best friend, Cecilla who she had arranged to meet.

She knew what she was going to say to her of course. The official story. Maria checked her watch. Forty seven minutes to go.

She had to get there soon.

It was then that Maria saw her best friend. As soon as Cecilla came towards her Maria's through her arms about Cecilla's neck and begun to sob and wail.

"Maria you have got to tell me, what happened? You were so happy and then Snape took Draco... I don't understand."

"They found me out – " she said to her.

"Found what out darling?" she asked sympathetically.

"I – I did a terrible thing. It is all my fault." She said to her.

"What did you do?" Cecilla questioned again as she reached out and took her hand.

"I lied to him. I cheated. It was only the once but – I kissed André."

André had been her first serious boyfriend at Hogwarts, from the days when the two girls had shared a dorm together. Cecilla having seen the build up to the relationship, the duration and the break up was shocked she had been back there. It was uncharacteristic of Maria to say the least.

"But you said you were so in love with Lucius..." she said disbelieving.

"Oh I am! I adore him and I hope he can find it in his heart to forgive me one day ... but he has thrown me out of the manor and says he never wishes to see me or talk to me again!"

"Oh Maria," she said to her as the two friends held hands. She had known what the marriage had meant to her.

For the rest of the meeting the two girls tried to come up with ways to get Malfoy back for Maria, a way that she might salvage the marriage she had been looking forward to so much. But they both knew how proud Mr Malfoy was. The fact that she might have blown her chance of happiness with him was very real. If the scandal was broken by the papers then Maria was never going to make a respectable pure blood marriage. Not now that she had caused such a great insult to Lucius Malfoy. Indeed, he might not go out in society much since he had lost his first wife but the name of Malfoy still meant a lot to the pureblood community. He was a powerful man. Not one Cecilla had expected her best friend to be foolish enough to cross.

It was about forty five minutes after Cecilla had got there that Maria announced she had to use the little girl's room and abandoned the table. She walked in to the cafe and her friend followed her, getting her money out to buy another round of coffees. She had a feeling they were going to be needing them, Maria was that upset. She didn't look as if she was going to be stopping crying any time soon.

It was while she was in the queue that she saw her old Head of House come out from the gents and exit the shop. He gave her a respectful nod and then vanished from view.

She waited for fifteen minutes, then she checked the toilets.

But Cecilla never saw her friend again.

-

"Oh yes, here we are. Let's get some light in here, shall we?" Eliza said to adopted grandchild. They walked into the living room of the châteaux. As soon as the thick velvet curtains were pulled back, a blinding sun beams came into the room, illuminating the dust that floated about the room. "I am so glad we arrived before sunset." She said. She would watch it balcony.

Turning, she saw Lucius stroll into the room as Jane took off her blue travelling clock. Had it really been just two hours since they had been in Draco's room playing exploding snap together?

As for Draco he was utterly delighted to be away with three out of four people he considered to be his family. He looked about the well trodden and beloved rooms with a new eye. He didn't know why, but even though it was nearing winter he was looking at everything as if it was new again.

"Yes I should think it will be most spectacular," Lucius agreed with her. It might be a little chilly, but nothing a jumper would not solve. A glass of red wine and a sun set. Yes, it would do him the world of good he thought to himself as his son wondered over to him and he smoothed back Draco's hair.

"Can I stay up for it?" Draco asked butting in to his father gently as Lucius hand rested lazily on his shoulder.

"Of course you may."

France seemed to soothe them all as soon as they had entered the country. Tensions had been so fraught in Wiltshire that they had forgotten was it was to relax.

Lucius decided that they were going to be staying for some time. Two, maybe three months. Andromeda could come over for days or Draco could go back for a day if she insisted on seeing him. Having booked indefinite leave from work on compassionate grounds, he knew he was going to have to be a family man first for the next few months. His son came first.

Dinner that evening was a light meal of chicken and salad. The four of them sat down together to enjoy it. Jane had noted the difference in the way her employer was treating her since everything had came out. She was now much more his equal than she had been before. Indeed, she had proved herself to him. He would have no one else to help him. Draco had found his Eliza in her.

After dinner Lucius took his son for his bathe and to sort his sores. The routine would not last long for Severus had promised him that the cream would soon heal them. It was the scars Maria had left on the inside of the little boy that were going to take a lot longer to heal. But they would, in time. He had such a loving family unit about him that they could not fail too now.

Lucius had to say he was quite pleased with the story he had come up with about Maria's adultery. He had always been a private and prideful man, the last thing he wanted to announce to the wizarding world was that he had failed to protect his son in his own home. No, the ministry would have come down on him he was sure, no matter how much money he had given to St Mungos and then his son would have been on his way back to the Tonks'. He was not going to let that happen.

No, this way he decided had been the best. Maria had still come off as the 'baddie' and the family had been able to save face to a degree. He looked a bit of a fool, but then he was, so that was ok, he could handle that. When Draco went out in public he did not want everyone looking at him with pity - that was not what neither of them needed.

By eight o'clock Lucius found himself getting ready to watch the setting sun. It melted blood red into the sky. Jane sat out on the balcony to, having the night off with a copy of some magazine in her hand while Eliza entertained herself with some knitting. His little one curled up contently with a story book in his arms.

It struck him how ordinary this all was. It had not yet been twelve hours since he had killed for the first time since the fall of the Dark Lord and here he was enjoying a normal domestic life, or however normal it could be without the presence of his most beloved Cissy.

She would have understood why he had killed her and had she been there he was sure she would have joined him in doing so.

Had she been there though he might never have heard the name Maria.

The three of them would have been such a happy family, he thought to himself. He would have been a good husband to her as they aged. Would have held her, and continued to make her laugh. And oh he stilled ached when he thought of her timeless beauty.

"It sure is a sight to behold is it not?" Eliza as the sun reached the lowest point in the sky and Draco peaked out from his father's embrace. It blazed across the horizon, at first blood red, orange, pink, a softer purple shade till it met mauve which hastened in the night.

Indeed it was.

However, not five minutes later the glorious sunset was over and rainclouds swept in, covering the September sky. Heavy clouds which were weighed down. Clouds that needed release.

At first it begun by tiny spatters and tip taps of rain hitting the floor below them. Sat as they were sheltered, none of them moved as the rain storm descended upon them.

It was not long until the rhythmic soft drops, turned into angry, stabbing ones which made quite a racket. They seemed to have purpose as they fell, hitting the floor as if there were targets they all had to hit – and bull's eyes to! They bounced off the roofs of the out houses and merrily run down the drains pips. The rain seemed to be clearing out the old, sweeping the old dead leaves out of the property leaving it cleaner, brighter.

Draco's eyes were then distracted by two bolts of light that illuminated the sky further and seemed so powerful that they could light the entire word, slating together as they were. They lightening was graceful, a force of nature that worked to the agenda of no man. Yet the two bolts were in sync with each other, dancing as if they were listening to the beautiful music, holding, tempting one another.

If he was in bed then he was sure that the rain would have terrified him. But as it was, with him sat in the security of the arms of his beloved father and eternal protector, he enjoyed the storm, which was truly thrilling to see. The claps of thunder that followed the dancing lightening made him jump but he giggled straight after. It was a happy jump. Yet more than anything it soothed the little boy.

He could feel his father's hand at the bottom of his neck, resting as he played with his son's wisps of hair.

Draco could not remember the last time he had felt this contented.

"Daddy?"

"Yes son?"

"Can I come in with you again tonight?" he asked.

"Yes you can."

Draco's last memories that evening was of the storm continuing the rage. They had watched it for a long time, till the end – or the adults had at least.

Then he woke up in his father's arms the next morning.

They were completely together and united.

Father and Son.

An: Hello all! I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did writing it, especially the storm. Just a quick update to say the next chapter is the end of Part 2. I considered ending it here, but Part 3 needs more setting up than Part 2. Just so you know Part 3 will begin with Draco turning eleven and getting his Hogwarts letter.

Hope you liked the chapter,

Please review!