Author Note: There is a bit of a time jump here. This chapter is pretty much going to wrap up Philosophers Stone. I didn't want to go through the motions just for the sake of it with Norbert and everything. If I need to return (I don't think I will) then I can always use a flash back. Hopefully, I have tied it up though without any plot holes. The Chamber of Secrets is going to be a more interesting for reasons which will become clear by the end of the chapter. Things are about to change dramatically for our boys...

Chapter 42

"She needs bed rest and plenty of fluids."

"What she needs is to be left well alone!"

The Healer looked over at the old women who clearly in a bit of a bad temper. Falling down and hurting her hip was hardly going to improve her mood though, was it?

"She'll get it Healer White, thank you for coming out." Said Lucius more amicably than his old nurse was at the time, though he did not blame her for her annoyance. The fall had been nasty and most likely painful. And yet he thanked god it was only her hip. When he had seen her at the bottom of the stairs... his heart had stopped for a while.

The door shut as the healer left the room Lucius turned to the bed where Eliza lay.

"I am not going to lay here for the next six weeks and do nothing." she spat miserably. She had always been so active. She had always been busy.

"Oh yes you are, if you don't want me on your case twenty four hours a day and I will be – believe me." Said Lucius as he sat on the edge of bed and looked at her with pity in his then soft grey eyes. He did not realise how much she really did mean to him till then and he hatedthe thought he might lose her. He would be more grieved at the loss of her than he had been at the death of his mother; he knew it in his heart. She had been there for him always. From when he had been a child, to the day he had had his own child and then beyond. "You took such good care of me when I was a boy." He reminded her. "Now let me take care of you." He said as he cupped her cheek in his hand and gave her what she could only think to be a nervous smile. Nervous over what she could not say but it unnerved her to see him like that, yet it also made her realise how much he thought of her.

His words had the desired effect and she seemed to be calmer than she had been when the doctor had left but she was still unhappy. The fact was she wasn't ready to grow old yet. She was not passed her sell by date, was she? She still wanted to go out in to the world and be admired as a woman – not treated as an invalid.

Her mind passed back through the years and she recalled how even at Maria's and Lucius' engagement party she had enjoyed it and she had had all the men about her. She did not want romantic love, but admiration, yes!

She knew as well as any other she had grown slightly narcissist in her old age. But who could blame her? She was not like Jane, ready to do her duty and get little thanks for it. She had done that when she had been young....

She was ready to... she didn't know – she was just so tired. And she hated that fact more and more every day.

"Oh sweetheart," she said to him as he doted upon her. She didn't think she had ever been so glad that out of all the nannies who had been interviewed for the job, that she had been the one who had been picked to help raised Lucius. He had made mistakes in his life, she admitted to herself, but deep down he was a good boy.

"Please rest Eliza," he pleaded with her, determined she was not going to beat him in submission with her gentle words.

She nodded, angry at herself for being so foolish. She should have been looking where she was going.

-

When he looked back over his first year at Hogwarts, Draco often could not believe that it had passed. It certainly had not been without its dramas. He thought life at Hogwarts, if that year was anything to go by, was often going to be full of that drama.

Especially when you were friends with Harry Potter.

Months had passed since Valentine's Day and somehow things had snow balled so that he found himself sitting by Potters bedside in the hospital wing, having just heard Ron and Hermione's account of what had gone on down in the chamber.

He did not know how it had got to this. He had hoped that the climax was when they had been serving detention in the forbidden forest and they had seen what they thought was – him. He Who Must Not Be Named. If only they had got Norbert out of the castle without being seen but none of that would have happened. Vincent had put a stop to that though. He knew that he should not still be annoyed with him. It was not as if he had gone to the teachers on purpose. He had just been speaking rather loudly about it when McGonagall was in earshot and he had revealed the time and the place that the baby dragon was to be picked up. He now wished he had not confided in him. He had thus far though been able to keep the incident from his father, after much pleading with his uncle.

All he knew was that He Who Must Not Be Named had been terrifying when he had risen to power before. Eliza and his father had kept tip lipped about that time in their life. He had not wanted to ask about it either – he hadn't been interested. All he did know was at the time of the fall of the dark lord, his father had been preoccupied with his grief for his mother. Lucius had said that was the dominate thing in his life at the time. There had been some whispering in the house about Azkaban. He knew he had had to stay with his nana Eliza for a time but he had never really wanted to know more, he had never had the desire to find out. As ever, there was nothing more painful than the thought of his separation from his most beloved father. He didn't care why. All that mattered was that his father had come back for him.

It had not been a nice time, he was sure. That was all he needed to know.

His mind run over everything winch had happened since from Norbert to the time that Harry had told him about his uncle being bitten on the leg by whatever was guarding the stone. Of course, he had told Harry that whoever and whatever was trying to steal the stone, his Uncle Sev had nothing to do with it. He had not failed in his loyalty to his uncle and he knew that he never would.

The stubborn Gryffindor had been proved wrong in the end but he had nearly had to pay for it with his life. After a year of friendship, Draco knew that he didn't want to lose the boy Harry was after all he Boy Who Lived and if he popped his clogs now, then he was hardly going to be worthy of his title, was he?

"I'll see you when you wake up," he said as he squeezed his friends hand and then left the wing. He had had enough of being there and felt the need to get out and think about something other than what his friends had gone through at the hand of a murderer. He could not believe it of Quirrell! Out of all of teachers? Who would have guessed it?

Not him – but Sev. Sev had. He had always been on his case by the sounds of things. Again, the chest of the young man swelled when he thought of Severus. He would always be a hero to his nephew.

He settled on thinking of home and on going back. His father's letters had of course remained affectionate but there had been some cause for concern in them, for he often spoke of Eliza now was having spent the day in bed or having a little cold when he asked. She herself, his father had explained to him, of late had been far too tired to write to him herself. She needed more rest.

No, all in all, he was going to be glad to be back just so that he might see his nana for a while. Now he thought back on it she had been a little quieter than she was usually over Christmas but he had just put it down to fatigue. Nothing more, for the holidays were busy season. They had had a lot more late nights than they usually did.

"Hello Draco!" he heard a voice call to him as he walked down the corridor.

"Oh, hey Theodore," he said as he turned and waited for him to catch up.

"How is Potter?" he asked.

Was it that obvious that he had just been to the hospital wing? He thought it most likely was. Even he could image the look on his face. He had been in a blue mood after all.

"Yes, he is going to be ok but he hasn't woken up yet."

"There are a fair few rumours going about over what happened to him."

So that was why he cared, thought Draco to himself. Thankfully the Slytherin first years were not yet so prejudiced against the Gryffindor's that they had cut him out of their lives when they had found out that he was friends with them. Still, he didn't like the idea that he was there just to give the others the gossip.

"Yeah, well we are not going to get the truth until he wakes up are we?"he said in a slightly defensive tone, that told Theodore that if all he wanted was gossip then he should back off as he was not going to get any from Draco.

"Suppose you must be pretty worried about him." said Theodore in a tone that conveyed the sympathy he was feeling for his old friend rather than the hunger he felt to know what was going on. He was, after all, more concerned about Draco than he was over Harry.

Draco nodded this time without snapping¸ taking the friendship that was being shown on face value.

"Well I just wanted to ask if you wanted to come and stay for a couple of days over summer." Theodore asked. Draco had always been the only one he had been able to view as an equal to him. The others were alright, and Blaise was his best friend but there lines were not as ancient or as pure of Draco's. And he had a good mind. In every class they had together Draco had demonstrated the fact he was always thinking and was a highly intelligent young man.

"Yeah," said Draco as he felt bad for being so short with him earlier when he had come to ask him such a thing. He would be grateful to be with him for a few days over the summer. It would keep the bonds of friendship between the strong. He did not want to lose them.

"Awesome, so I'll write to you some time so we can sort it out." He offered and was greeted by a smile.

"Thanks Theodore, that'd be great." he said to him. He had not yet given a lot of thought to who he had was going to see over the summer. He knew he was not going to be able to see the Gryffindor's. That was going to be out of the question. His father, he knew was the sort of man who would not deny him anything – except the company of those he saw as blood traitors and mudbloods.

His mind wondered to whether there was any way to alter that view in his fathers mind. He knew that his father could be a stubborn man and he had had his views on life longer than he had been alive. But if one person was able to alter their view on the world why could another not? He had nearly believed what his father had and yet he had been saved from that by his aunt. And so could he not save his father?

He was sure that he had the right view of the world. He knew that his view was what the majority of people now believed. It was what people had lived and died for.

But he knew that if his father asked him to change his view back then he was not going to be able too. Draco was going to remain true to the course he had chosen. He knew that even he would go against his father when it came to the choice of his own friends. He didn't think he was ever going to be willing to give any of them up. Not now.

He wondered what Harry and Ron would think of the manor and what the three of them would do if they were to hang out there together – but then he knew that was never going to happen. It just couldn't. He had brave thoughts but that was all they were. After all, he was not a Gryffindor and he did not think he had the strength to tell his father. Not yet.

No, but he would invite some of the Ravenclaw's round in the summer. He was sure that his father was going to find them suitable companions for him. They were intelligent and some of them were of the right linage. He would miss them if he did not see them. And he was determined he was going to see at least some of the friends he had made for himself in the time that they were not at school.

-

An aggravated Lucius Malfoy walked down the stairs. Of all the times to have to go up to that damned school. If he was going to see Draco (though he would undoubtedly pop in on his son while he was there, which was going to bea light in the dark) then it would be ok, but to have to go up over this bloody Stone nonsense. He wondered if being a governor was really worth it.

To him the only thing that truly mattered was keeping Eliza in good health. He was not letting go of he without a fight; for he had lost too many good women from his life and he would be damned if he lost her.

"Eliza," he said as he gently knocked on her door. He opened it quietly to find she was dozing. So far she had been very quiet after her initial protest. Somehow she continued to look small and smaller as she lay there.

"What is it my love?" she asked as she reached out her feeble hand to him. Taking it he sighed. "I have to go up to Hogwarts for an hour or two. Will you be ok?"

"Yes fine," she said dismissively. "Is everything well with dragon?"

"Yes, it is not about him, don't worry. It is for my duties as governor. I shall not be long." He said as he kissed her forehead.

"Take your time. I am not going anywhere Lucius."

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead tenderly before departing swiftly. Whatever it was, he was eager to get it over with. Already, he just wanted to get back to her.

-

At the same time the children of the Black sisters found themselves going about the lake. Draco did not know how he was going to cope without her the next year. She was more than his cousin. Nymph was like a sister to him.

"I wish you could come back for an eighth year." He said to her.

She gave a wistful smile. Part of her had had the same thought. When she was not here, he was going to be exposed with no one to take care of him and he had always had someone from the family close. She knew Snape was there, but she didn't count him. She had no doubt in her head that his next year at Hogwarts was going to be very different from his first. And yet he had grown so much in the year he had so far been there. He would continue to do so whether she was near him or not.

"So do I but you know none of us are ever that far from you. You've been told it enough times." She said as she dared to put her arm about him. No longer did he response so warmly to physical affection but he did not draw her away from her. The fact that his friend was in hospital was obviously making him feel rather vulnerable.

"I know I have but – Nymph..." He said as he hugged her. It was a turn up for the books.

She ignored everything but the fact he had practically thrown himself into her arms. She could not help but wish that her mother was there. Not only for him but for her as well. She was always so much better than she was at given comfort. She could only put it down to the fact that Andy was a mother and therefore she had years of experience when it came to looking after people. She was so much more maternal than her daughter could be at her young age.

None the less, the girl who preferred to be called by her surname held on to her little cousin, intent on not letting go of him until he was ready for her too. Kissing the side of his head, she allowed him to take comfort in her, knowing she was the nearest thing he had to home nearby. She was, while they were at school, his family. Or at least, the only member of it he had on hand.

"You'll be ok little dragon." She whispered to him, thinking it sounded like something one of the adults would have said to him if they were there. She knew that soon she was going to be one of the adults. But still... she didn't feel as if she was, being as she was as in the transition stage. She was not an adult – or, at least she did not think she was. But what she could not deny was that she was no longer a child either. She had always been good with Draco but the fact she was older than him seem to have a greater significance for them both just then. "Chin up baby," she whispered to him as he decided it was time to pull back and she was horrified to see tears on his cheeks.

They were hastily swept away. Just because he felt venerable did not mean he wanted people to see it.

"Thanks." he said as he tried to take a hold of himself.

"You'll be ok sweetie. And in a couple of weeks you are going to be back in your own bed where you belong, my darling," she said.

He nodded. "I think I am going to head back up to the school," he said as he turned away from her. He wanted to be alone.

He was soon climbing the stairs up to the dorm room. But after his moment with Nymph though and his thoughts about home, he ached furiously for his father. Physically, he was aching. All he wanted to do was shut his eyes and open them again to find he was in his arms and had his head on his father's chest. For the first time in months, the homesickness he had been suffering with all year threatened to overwhelm him.

"I want you..." he whispered to the empty stair well. "Daddy I want you here so much." He said so low no one could have heard if they were there.

Finding himself on a deserted staircase, he sat with unseeing eyes. All he could think of was home, and Harry and Eliza. He began rocking back and forward. He wanted his dad, and Jane, and Eliza... Severus... he would go to his uncle...

I am never more than a fire place away....

Swallowing back his own sob, he was shocked to hear one anyway. Turning he was surprised to see his bushy haired friend with a tear strained face.

"I was just with Harry - I know he is going to be ok, but it is not nice – you know, to see him like that," Hermione said as tears threatened once more. She was clearly as shaken up as he had been.

Sighing, he got up from where he had been sitting. He had needed a hug off Nymph and now he got the feeling she needed one from him. "Come here," he sighed.

She did not need telling twice. She rushed to him and buried her tear stained face in his shoulder. She had been in all but one of the chambers and she had gone through the shock too. His fingers found her hair and he begun strumming them through it, the way his father had done for him when he had a bad nightmare.

"It's ok," he said to her soothingly.

Hermione heard the footsteps before he did. Despite knowing they were soon to be caught hugging, she did not pull back. Most likely it'd only be a group of students.

Little did she know... But by the time she had figured out who it was, it was too late.

"Draco," she said as she clocked on, panic evident in her voice as she looked down the stairs. She didn't know why she feared him but she did.

His hands remained about her as he pulled back. "What is it?" he asked with a smile playing on his lips. He felt happier now he had been strong for someone. Being there for her had made him feel better.

"Sorry. "she whispered as she looked to the bottom of the stair case. She knew he would not want them to be caught this way in front of...

He turned. His eyes widened. His heart skipped a beat.

The school governors, gathered together looked up at him – them. Him and muggle born Hermione Granger. All of the governors were there, and they saw him with his arms wrapped about her.

All.

Author note: So I know a lot of you were wondering how/when Lucius was going to find out his son wasn't exactly playing by his rules when it came to friends. I hope this reveal didn't disappoint...

Please review!