Chapter 8
All in all, by the time they got home once more, Jane had to wonder if she or Lucius had had a break at all or if they were going to get one any time soon. She had always known Draco was going to cause them trouble when he had been growing up as he had been such a little pickle, but she had always hoped she was not going to have to worry about him dying during a war as the parents of the last generation had had too. Yet it seemed that small comfort had been robbed of her and replaced by a massive fear he was never going to reach middle age.
Of course, they were going to do all they could to see he did, but they all knew there were no guarantees in this life.
Not anymore.
Maybe that was the reason why when they got back to the manor that Severus came to Lucius and asked if it was going to be convenient for them if he were to stay - only till they were settled back in. He did not want to leave the family yet, so Lucius had said to him that of course he must stay – he could help Draco with his potions homework. Naturally, he slept in the room he always did.
"I am going to take Draco in to Diagon Alley tomorrow," Jane said to Lucius after they had been home a day. Someone had to go and help him get his school bits and she knew even if he had taken him the first time, he had never been much of a shopper.
"That's a good idea," said Lucius nodding approvingly. As long as he did not have to go then he did not mind who did. "You seem much more your old self today if I might say so."
"You can if you use the word 'old' less," She said to him throwing him a smile as Draco came to the door.
"Dad, I just got a letter from Ron. Can I go over to his on Friday for dinner?"
"If you wish."
"Wicked."
"Uncle Sev?"
"Yes?"
"Have you ever thought there might be a bit more than friendship between my dad and Jane?"
"No."
Severus looked up at his nephew. He had to say he had not ever thought of Lucius and Jane in that way and had Draco not said it, he did not think he ever would have. After everything he had been through when Draco had been a boy, Severus had not thought of Lucius with anyone.
Least of all Jane.
"Why do you ask?"
"It is just since I got home I have noticed they are a lot closer than they have ever before," Draco admitted to him and he could not stop the smile from playing on his lips.
Severus raised his eyebrows. Ever since Maria, his friend had said he was never going to consider another woman. How was any woman meant to measure up to his beloved Narcissa anyhow?
If Jane was going to be that sort of women to him, then he was sure the two of them would have shown greater signs of affection for one another before then. But he had always thought Draco was good at reading situations - he did not seem to go far wrong often and nearly always hit the target. Nearly.
Draco sighed. The only way he had been able to bring up the subject was if he had been blunt but he had hoped Severus was going to say a bit more than he had so far.
He recalled how when he had been packing up he had wondered if Jane and his father had ever thought of each other as anything more than friends... and he knew there was a chance he might be simply trying to see things that weren't there. He could deny it to the outside world all he liked but deep down he liked the idea of Jane being his stepmother for real.
When he had seen Jane in his father's arms it had almost felt natural to him.
And as weird and as gross as it was to think of either of them in that sort of relationship – he knew it was going to give peace and joy to him if he knew they were happy. It was a conundrum at no mistake.
Severus tried to recall if he had seen any evidence of the two of them growing a lot closer than they had been in the past – he guessed if he had seen any then he would have picked up on it at the time. That said, the two of them had been a lot more affectionate of late, yet he had put that down to the fact that Jane had needed a little more support as she had recovered from her illness. It was not as if it had been life threatening but it had not been pleasant for her at any mistake.
He had just seen Lucius as a friend helping her through it at the time – but perhaps he had got it wrong... He did not know. Still, it was best not to raise Draco's hopes.
"I can't say I saw anything such as that.…" he admitted.
"But he has had more of a care for her health of late."
"He would have had that any times when she had been ill."
Yet, he knew that was a lie. If she had fallen ill when she had first been there, then she would have been sent to sleep it off and told only to come out of her room when she was well once more.
He was ninety nine percent positive the two of them were friends and nothing else. But if life had taught him anything then it was that you could not ever claim to know someone one hundred per cent.
He knew what he had said had not made a lot of difference to Draco's opinion in the end though – he knew the look in his eyes for he had seen it in the lads fathers before. It was a rather Malfoy look.
The one that said regardless of the council they were given they were going to go ahead with their own plan.
It generally as a rule did not bode well.
"How Slytherin are you feeling today, Uncle Sev?"
Candles had been lit when Jane got to the dinner table that night. On its own, it was not such an odd occurrence. In winter, she lit candles often for she liked the ambiance it gave off.
But as a rule, and as a women who lived with two men, she generally became nervous when candles were lit – and not by her.
Especially not when one of the men she lived with was a teenager.
It was then that she saw the note.
Gone to dinner at Hogwarts with Sev and am going to stay the night - D
It was odd enough that Draco had gone off for the night without telling her. It was even weirder that he had laid the table before he had done so.
"Did you know about this?" she asked her employer as he came into the room.
"Know about what? " Lucius questioned.
Jane passed him the note and it was quite clear he was as clueless as she was over the whole thing and he was none too pleased about it either. Not only was something seriously odd going on here but Severus had taken his son before he had so much as asked permission, something his friend would know he hated.
And it was then that he begun to cotton on to why they had done what they had. The dinner table had been set beautifully.
There was a bottle of red wine on it – and there were two seats.
It was only a small wonder that Draco had brought no orchestra in.
"Oh boy," he sighed as he looked at her.
It was then that she clicked on to the fact the two of them had been – set up?
"You don't think?" she said but it was obvious they both did, because it spoke for itself.
"Yes I do," said Lucius as he laughed, setting her off into giggles.
"Oh bless his heart," she said. The image of Draco she had in her mind just then was of a much younger one than he was then. Of a little boy who wanted a family more than anything. She could so imagine him planning and laying the table.
"We shouldn't laugh," she sighed as she tried to stop and failed. He had done a very sweet thing.
"I know – but it is a little funny."
It was for the first time that she felt a slight tension between them then. She wondered if the thought of the two of them had ever crossed his mind before. It had hers – and yet she had dismissed it, just as the two of them were doing that night.
It was a ridiculous idea to her and it was always going to be.
The two of them were very good friends and they were wonderful companions but in all honestly, she did not think the two of them could ever be anything else. After all she had seen him do, she could never fall in love with him.
"Well you know what Jane? Cissy hated waste and it does seem a shame to waste a good meal, and so...old friend, will you join me for dinner?" he said as he pulled back a chair for her as he had not done for any women in years.
And he knew he was not going to be dining with a woman that night. He would be dining with a lady.
She nodded as she sat down. "Why thank you kind sir," she mocked.
"The pleasure is all mine dearest Jane," He said as he sat opposite her and smiled. "To friendship," He raised his glance.
"To friendship," she agreed.
()()()
Severus did not know how on earth how Draco had talked him into helping him do what he had done, and yet by nine o'clock he was beginning to feel a little better over the whole thing. If Lucius was going to kill him for being an accomplice to Draco then he would have done it by now.
"You know for all your talk of honesty, you can be as devious as the next Slytherin," the head of house said to the Ravenclaw.
It was a big compliment from the head of house; it was the biggest one he could get.
"Why thank you," said Draco with a smile which told Severus that for then at least the boy could not be less sorry for what he had done though he had not yet had to face his father.
He reminded himself that the fact that Lucius had yet to come said he was not going to be too angry with him - hopefully.
"Part of me can't help but think if the two of them were going to get together then they would have done so on their own."
"It is too late for all that," said Draco with a teasing edge in his voice. "If I am going down for this then you are coming right along with me."
Severus had an awful feeling that was going to prove surprisingly true.
Part of Lucius had considered going up to Hogwarts straight after finishing the meal with Jane. There were various things he was not happy about. One that Draco had felt the need to interfere in his love life without so much as talking to him about it first. And then the was the fact that Severus had taken part in it all.
But at the end of the day, he knew they were both safe at Hogwarts and he had had quite a nice time. He and Jane got on well and they had had enjoyable meal.
He did not see there was much point in going up there.
Beesides...
He tried not to think about Jane as a woman that evening but when the two of them had been set up on a date... And it was hard not too when Draco had just put her there in front of him as if to say 'this is the women who I think could make you happy for a long time to come.'
He did trust the judgement of his son and he did like Jane.
He thought of the way he had raised his son with her; of the way the two of them had been ever since she had been a young women; and of the decade they had spent together. He had wondered before if when Eliza had spoke to him of a wife... if he had seen Jane for what she was then and not looked so far afield.
He missed having a wife. He missed the support. He missed knowing someone intimately.
Was it such an awful idea? She had laughed. She saw him as a brother from what she had said when they had been away and yet... if there was the right moment, the right spark...
Nothing could dampen the love he had for his wife which was always going to be over whelming.
But did he really want to be celibate until he died? There was not going to another Maria... but... perhaps if he was not careful, he would find out there would not be another Jane either...
"So how did it go?" said Severus as he got to the senior Malfoy's office after dropping Draco back in his own quarters. He had wanted to test the ground with Lucius first.
His best friend shot him a look which could almost kill, though it would be more likely just cause grievous bodily harm.
"Jane and I had a lovely dinner together, thank you very much."
Severus knew he was not going to be able to find out a lot more than that from the way that he said it.
"You didn't propose then?
"Shockingly not," drawled Lucius. "I assume it is my son who I can blame for last night?"
"And what make you think it was not me?"
"Well, I know you have been known to be a Romeo in your day, my friend, but setting Jane and I up just does not ring true to your style."
"Your right – I would not have been so discreet."
The sarcasm between them was flowing fast and thick. It was just like it had been in the past between them. However Severus knew it had to come to an end sooner or later.
"Did you not even try to talk him out of it?"
"Well, it did seem as if – no, I did not my friend," Severus sighed, not even trying to excuse himself.
The two of them looked one another trying to figure the other out.
Severus had thought that Lucius would go off the handle, or at least part of him had. But he had taken it in his stride it seemed, something he might never have done in the past. He had been repulsed at the idea of another woman.
And yet now it seemed as if he was contemplating it. Maybe Draco had got it right after all.
"Do you think I should – ask." How was one to put these things when they were past forty? He did not think it was a matter of him asking Jane out as if he was still some pre-teen. But neither did he think he could ask her –
It was so complicated. It was not often you had to consider such things about a woman you had already asked to move in with you.
And then it just made him think he should not be considering such things at all. Jane and he had always worked so well due to the fact there had been no strings attached. They had brought up Draco together as friends and as employer and employee.
Why would he want to complicated that?
"I think you need to put a lot of thought into anything before you move."
Severus and he were thinking the same thing.
"Great minds?" Lucius sighed.
"So I have to say that was very smooth last night."
Draco had been sitting up on his bed when he heard Jane come in to his room. Peeking out from behind the smile he was relieved to see there was amusement in her eyes.
"So how did it go?"
"Your father was a gentleman. We had a bottle of wine and some conversation."
"And as much as I do not know if I am going to want to know the answer to this, what happened then?"
"Oh, we went to bed."
Draco felt his stomach drop – he was not sure what to think. He had not thought things were going to develop that fast!
"To our separate beds."
"Oh very funny." Draco said as he felt the feeling in his stomach lift.
"Well, I liked it." She said as she sat on the edge of his bed. "So what was last night really about dragon?"
He knew she had a point. She deserved to know.
It had been about a variety of things he supposed. He wanted them to be a family, a real family. And he wanted his dad to have that security and support. And he wanted the security of knowing she was not going to go and leave them even though he knew in his heart of hearts she was never going to do that.
"I want you to be happy," he said as he reached for her hand and took it in his own. It had felt so right when he had thought about her becoming his step mother and he knew there was not another woman in the world he could ever think that about. "And I do not want you to wake up one day and think you have wasted your life."
He did not think he could stand that.
"I have brought you up since you were a two years old with your father. That time will never be considered wasted by me!" She said as she held on to the hand he had given her. She ran a hand through her hair. "Sweetheart, if I have ever given you the impression I felt I was wasting my life here then I am sorry for that – that has never been the case, I've never felt like that."
He nodded and he knew he had phrased what he had been trying to tell her wrong.
"I haven't, its just – don't you want your own family? Children?"
"Have you been speaking to your father?"
Draco shook his head.
"Why would I speak to him over this? I wanted..."
"To set him up too."
Jane took comfort in the fact Lucius had not told anyone that she had said to him in confidence. She hoped he would take what she had said to him to his grave.
She sighed.
"You know I am going to be here for you no matter what. And as long as I am helping you and your dad then I am not going to be wasting my time the way I see it. As for wanting a family of my own... I have that," she said as she cupped his face.
He sighed. "I am sorry."
"Don't be – I meant it. Your father and I had quite a pleasant evening." She said with contemplation in her voice. "Darling, if I want to go on a date then I can find one myself – or at least I'd try too. I do not need you to set me up for future reference," She said as she leant forward and kissed his forehead, wondering if what she had said was the truth.
Please review!
Author Note: Seven months? Seven whole months... one for each of the Potters, hey? I am SO sorry guys! I really did not mean to leave it this long. People reading Time for Truth might remember me saying January was a horrible month for me, so that is where my excuse begins I suppose. I was faced with one of my personal boggarts I suppose and felt the Dementors closing in. Luckily, it went away before it kissed me in the end, but it was still pretty terrifying. I had only just begun chapter 8 then and kind of lost the plot and will to write this for a while. I have always enjoyed it, but I couldn't bring myself to touch it in the following months. The FS universe is a comforting place to me – it has been part of my life for about three years, a story I love writing and figuring out and as silly as it sounds, it is very real to me, so... yeah. I didn't want it to become wrapped up in the bad memories. Between the after effects of January, University/exams and finding myself in a much better frame of mind to write my other stories, I got quite neglectful of FS. I truly didn't mean to leave it so long and thank you guys for your patience. I can only say again how sorry I am it took so long to get this chapter up.
However - I feel as if I have hit my stride now with FS again (I am drafting chapter 10) so hopefully service as usual has been resumed : )
Thanks and sorry again guys x x x