Chapter 54

"Uncle Sev!"

As soon as he had come into view Draco smiled. He had to say he had been disappointed his uncle did not come to him the night before but Jane had said to him he had been with the headmaster and then he had been with his father so he had been quite indisposed. He had come once he had been asleep but of course, Draco hadn't been able to talk to him.

"Good morning dragon," sighed Severus as his heart loosened. Even when he had been told by Jane that he was ok he had not quite believed it until he had seen him sitting up. "How do you feel young man?"

"Better than I did yesterday." he assured his uncle who smiled gratefully.

On the other side of the bed Jane was still there. She looked utterly exhausted, and was still in the clothes she had been wearing when she had got to the school but she too had a look on her face of relief.

"Yes he has been a lot brighter since you woke up darling haven't you?" she said with a sad smile that he had ever been ill at all.

"Have you eaten yet Jane?" Severus asked.

"She hasn't," Said Draco before she had the chance to make an excuse to stay. It was quite clear his uncle had something he wished to say to him.

Knowing she had been defeated Jane sighed. "I can take a hint lads."

"You'll come back later?" Draco checked.

"Try keeping me away." She said with a wink as she left the room once she had ruffled his hair.

He lay back against the pillows. "Do you know what I am going to say to you?"

"I think I am in for a lecture about magic objects I am not sure about."

"What else?"

"Then you're going to talk me into seeing dad."

"You are a quick learner. Shall we begin?"

He had to say he was not as worried about the first part of the conversation as the second. He knew what Severus was going to say.

What he had been saying to himself all year.

That if he wasn't sure he should ask. That it was silly of him to trust something that was so clearly from the dark. That he should have gone to him.

"As far as I am concerned, I think considering everything you got off very lightly. If it were not for Potter and Weasley things could have gone quite differently."

"I know that uncle Sev." Said Draco again keenly aware of his own mortality.

It was not a feeling he liked.

"Well then shall we talk about dad."

Draco nodded.

"I understand tensions were running high last night. I had words with your father myself. Do you think you can handle seeing him today?"

Draco nodded. "He has been really stupid Uncle Sev."

"I know he has and I thoroughly agree with you. But you are going to have to be the bigger man where Draco you know that don't you?"

"I never said I was going to forgive him!" Draco scowled. "What if it was Ginny who had ended up in the chamber? What if she had not got out? Do you think he would be so sorry for what he had done then?"

Severus was silent.

"There is a side to my dad I don't think I like." He admitted finally. He had been denying it all year. When he had been young it had been impossible to him that his father was anything but a hero.

Since he had come to Hogwarts that had changed. He had got his own ideas and he was beginning to see he had to stick to them if he was ever going to be happy. Really happy.

He had hated the way he had treated his friends that year. It had led him... well, to the hospital wing as well as bringing them, Hermione here.

"I know exactly how you feel!"

"Thing is though... I love all of him Sev."

"I know you do. And that is why the two of you are going to be able to work this out and find some kind of common ground once more."

It was lunch time before Lucius was admitted to see his son. He knew Severus had gone in the morning and Jane had been with him during the night. However, once he had seen Severus he had gone off to sleep for a while and so it was not till one that the two of them got too met.

When he sat down by Draco's side, he still had his son's words from the previous night ringing in his ears.

He had said he had hated him. He knew he had only it in the heat of the moment. God, if he had ever had a right to hate him then it was then.

"How do you feel Draco?" he asked.

"Better than I did." The lad nodded.

"Good... that's good." He did not think things had ever been so tense between the two of them. He knew it was going to be a long time till they were back as they had been when his son had been a young boy. He knew he had been deluding himself that things were going to be fine even before the chamber business.

So much had happened.

God, if only he was able to turn back time.

But he knew he could not.

"I don't know where to start except to say I am so sorry for everything son. I did not mean to hurt you, that was never my intention."

"But was it to hurt Ginny?" it was not said maliciously as it had been the night before. His son just wanted to know if he had meant harm to them girl.

Lucius shrugged. He knew he should say no but then he would be lying. He had known what he had been doing when he had given her the diary. He was no fool. But god knows if he had known what was going to happy he would never...

"I don't know." He said ashamed.

"She's a kid, dad. She is younger than I am."

"I know that."

The silence was deafening between them and they both hated it. Draco tried to find words that would make what his dad done ok. Some kind of twisted justification.

But they both knew was there was none.

"I never knew how cruel you could be. That's not the man my dad is."

"Please dragon." The look of disappointment on his sons face said everything he could not put into words. Lucius had finally lost his halo in his son's eyes and Draco knew his dad was a human just as he was and he had faults. He had huge faults.

"Dad, I don't get what you want me to say to you." He admitted.

He couldn't say what his father had done was ok because everything about what he had done was so dreadfully wrong.

But he looked at him with desperation.

"I don't know either. I just –" he sighed. "I just want to make it up to you and I swear I will. This summer." Draco stayed silent. "You want to come home? I mean early?"

"No, I want to stay till the end of term – I'm ok." He nodded quickly.

Lucius felt sick as an awful thought dawned on him. "You do want to come home don't you?"

Again his son was silent.

"Come on son, you know me." Said Lucius as he took hold of his sons hand.

"Do I?" he questioned but he did not pull his hand away.

"We can work through this. You just have to trust me dragon."

Draco shrugged. "But dad, I don't."

Jane went to Severus' room once she was done eating and had gone to have a wash. Having quickly looked in on Draco she saw that he was not done with his father yet.

When she turned up Severus made her a tea.

"I'd offer you something a bit stronger but I think we are going to have to keep our wits about us till this is over."

She nodded in agreement. "This isn't going to blow over. And drink has caused this family enough trouble."

"I know."

She ran her hands through her hair. "I keep trying to find some words to make it all ok but there are none."

He smirked. She was so used to being able to soothe the lad and it comforted him to know he was not the only one who was pulling his hair out.

"Still at least we can comfort ourselves with the fact that he is a boy with a forgiving nature!"

"He forgives sins against himself, but he does not forgive them against others. It is going to be what Lucius nearly did to the girl that gets him down and keeps him from forgiving his father," Severus pointed out.

Jane could only nod and agree.

"In the end, I am sure all will be well."

He nodded. There could be no other outcome.

The two of them sat and ate together before she returned to the hospital wing to find Draco alone and looking pensive.

"Now there is a face with the weight of the world on it."

He gave a weak smile as he looked up but he did not contradict her.

"Shove over," she said as she got to the bed and sat on it by him putting her own legs up on the bed.

"Have you got a story book with you?" he smirked. Jane cocked her eye brow looking for an explanation. "We always sat like this when I was little."

"I remember well." She winked. "Two stories, one coco. Nothing else would work." She said as he snuggled into her and sighed.

Silence for a moment came between them till he looked up at her.

"What should I do?"

"I wish I knew," she admitted. "But I don't. And this has to be your choice, and come from your heart."

He shook his head. "What are my choices?"

"Well you can go and live with your aunt, or you can go and live with your uncle Sev. I could get somewhere, perhaps we could go and get a little cottage together." She said as she kissed his forehead. "You can do any of those things, but we both known none of those thing will make you happy because you – sweetie, you are never going to be happy without your dad. We both know it."

He hated the fact she was right.

He used to think his dad was so cool. And he was such an idiot.

"I really don't like him."

"Now that I believe," She said. "So what we need is a compromise."

He nodded, and then he turned with her. He grinned. "I have an idea, Jane."

Having pleaded with the nurse to let him out for a while, Draco later found himself at his uncle Sev's apartment, Jane behind him. As he had predicated, his father was still there looking extremely pensive.

"Why are you even out of bed?" asked Severus as he and Jane walked in. Sev through her a look as if to ask why she had let him come.

"Because he has something he has to do.…" said Jane making it clear she knew what was going on and that it had to be done.

"Dad?"

As soon as he had seen his son Lucius had got up. "Yes?" he asked shocked his son had come to him.

"I want Jane to come home." He said to him.

Somehow when he had thought of it, it had made perfect sense for her to return with him when he went home for summer.

He had always known she had never settled in to her new job really. Part of Draco blamed himself for that because he knew no matter where she was part of him was always going to need Jane and that made him beyond unwilling to let her go.

But if she was to return to the manor then he knew things were going to be ok. There was going to be someone there to back him up when his dad was being dumb and he was going to have someone to talk too.

As well as that he was sure if she was there then he was going to be able to think of it as home as he had when he had been a child and if he was honest, that was all he wanted.

He wanted to go home. He really wanted to go home.

Lucius looked at Jane and he knew she was more than ready and willing to return with them if he were to only say that she could.

If he said to himself he was not disappointed than he knew he was going to be lying. The fact his son felt he had to bring his nanny home to feel safe with him that summer said a lot about state of their relationship.

But at least it was as if Draco was saying he wanted to work on it.

He knew they could get back to where they had been when he was a kid; or at least that was what Lucius was telling himself.

If he had to take Jane back in to his home to get his son to return then he had to admit, he thought, it was going to be a small price to pay.

Besides if he was honest he did miss having a woman in the house. She was not Cissy but then when he had lost his wife, he had always had her or Eliza there with himself and Draco.

He looked at the women and he saw in her eyes a huge mistrust for him. He remembered how she had looked at him when he had first got rid of Maria. She had been so full of admiration for him and she had had faith in him. But that was gone now.

If he was honest it was that faith and the faith that Eliza had had in him that had helped him get through the crisis all of them had had to weather together.

But when he looked at her then he saw there was a huge mistrust of him in her and all respect she had had for him when they had all been so much younger was gone.

He wanted to regain her trust as well. So much. It was then he knew he wanted to be the man he had been when his son had been a child. He wanted to have there respect back and even though Draco had to be the most important person to him in all of this, by no means was he the only person who held importance for him.

"If Jane is willing to come home then, of course, she is welcome. She is very welcome indeed." He said praying that she was going to be willing to return to the manor which she had helped make a home for his son when he had been young.

He had to hope she was going to be able to work her magic twice for Draco.

But then if she was unwilling then why had she even brought the boy here.

To say 'no' now would be a cruelty to his son and he knew she had never been cruel to Draco. Not once.

"I would be more than willing," she said to him but she did not look at him. It was as if he repulsed her at that moment which he knew he most likely did which he had to say was understandable.

"Very well then, Draco."

Draco beamed. Somehow out of all that had happened to them since he had lost his nana had to bring something good to him.

And if that something good was to bring Jane back to the place where she belonged then that was just fine by him.

A day later and Draco was let out of the hospital wing. He had to say he was shocked how fast he had got better by what had happened. But then maybe he had the emotional maturity to realize that it was not going to be the outward scars from all of this that were going to hurt him the most.

He had been sitting out by the lake when he heard footsteps behind him.

Looking about, he beamed as he saw Harry and Ron coming towards him. Harry was the only one who had been there with him he had been down in the chamber. He knew now no matter what his father said to him that he was always going to be friends with them. And he swore to the highest heaven, as he sat there, he was never going to try and hide it again.

Quietness came over the three boys as they sat by the lake together. Harry and Ron, perhaps knowing there friend had been deep in thought, did not even say hello. They all knew somehow a turning point had been reached for the Ravenclaw that year.

And somehow it was going to affect all of them.

"So," said Harry after a while. "You alright?"

"I'm alright." Draco nodded and there was a confidence in his voice that meant Harry and Ron did not even have to question it. Draco was ok. He was, at last, going to be fine.

"Good," Ron nodded. "We couldn't have you feeling unwell – dragon."

And just like that it happened. Hearing his childhood name come out of Ron's lips was ridiculous. For the first time since the day when his father had found him on the steps with Hermione, Draco laughed hysterically, so much so that by the time he was done his tears were stained with tears and his stomach hurt from his laughter.

From the windows of the castle, Severus watched the moment take place and he too laughed as his nephew failed get control of himself.

The sense that they had reached a turning point was also in his heart. And somehow, he knew things, for the mean time at least, were going to turn about for them.

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