Chapter 23
"It is here the two of us are to spend our summer," said Jane as she held on to Draco with one hand and looked at the map she had been giving to find Grimmauld place with the other.
When they two of them had shared the embrace at the station she felt as if for the first time in quite a while she understood something of the world. Lucius was gone and before long the two of them were going to have to square with that as hard as it was going to be. As for Draco he was still in her life and by her side and if by her life or death she could keep the situation the same, she would... though in dying, that would...
Oh never mind.
"Well, it is not a lot like the France," he said to her and she all but heard his lip curl. He had not been brought up as a city lad and he was never going to be. When he was at school, when he was at home, all the time it seemed to her, he was surrounded by greenery and he never had to consider the fact that he could not just take off for a walk whenever he wanted to when he was in either of those place.
That was set to change.
"It is not, my love," she said as she looked up at the big window on the houses. Her first impression was that it was very dirty.
But no matter. It was nothing that a bit of elbow grease was not going to put right.
"Come on love, we had better get inside," she said to him gently as she put a hand on his shoulder and lead him towards the house.
"Is there a secret keeper for this house?"
"Been reading up on this have we?" she asked with a gentle smile.
"Harry's parents had one when they were in hiding when he was a kid."
"Well, I am sure we do have one now," Jane said as she walked up the stairs. "But I do not know his name. Or hers."
The two of them looked at one another and agreed – it was time the two of them got inside. And one of them, at least, was deep down, eager to do that.
Draco felt so very curious about this house. It was the house of part of his family and the Blacks at that.
So in a way – he was going home. But to a type of home.
Not that it was as nice as the manor. A very different type to the one he was used too. Draco went in, crossing the thresh hold– and he thought family. Jane went in and the first thing she thought was dust.
There was so much of it all around. It was lucky that neither of them had any allergies or they would have been set off.
"It looks as if you and I are going to have a put on some rubber gloves this summer, my dear." She muttered.
"Yeah, I can see that. I can smell that."
It was as the two of them got to the bottom of the large stair case that they were joined by Sirius Black. He had been in what Jane supposed to be the kitchen and he came out with a grim look on his face. It was clear he was not completely unhappy with the situation. He smiled when he saw Draco though.
"How you doing kid?" he asked his little cousin as he moved forward to embrace him. Ever since Dumbledore had sent him from the school he had longed to be back with his godson so he might help him through all that had to be racing through his head at that moment. He knew the situation was not for ever and he was for the first time since Harry had been one going to be able to spend prolonged amount of time with his godson that summer.
But until he got there, then it was enough he got to be with Draco.
Very much as he had done when he had been at the station with Jane, Draco wrapped his arms around the ex prisoner.
"I am doing a lot better now I am here," he said to him as he drew back with a smile.
"I cannot think of one reason why," Sirius said as the two of them drew apart. He had spent the majority of his life trying to get away from this damn place and now he found he was utterly caged by it once more.
Draco was not going to say that he was because it meant the two of them were going to be able to get to know one another know, properly. But he was hateful that the subtext was there. That he didn't want to be there with him.
"And I think this is the Miss Greenwood that Dumbledore told me about."
"Yes, I am," she said as she found her voice. She knew he was innocent – but that did not change things. Not when you had believed the press for so many years. She knew she was going to get over it soon. She had no choice. She simply had too. "Hello."
Sirius appraised Jane quietly. Well she was a blonde but that was the only way she was similar to his first cousin. She was a bit of a drudge from what he could see.
But it was quite clear quite quickly that second his cousin thought a lot of her. He could see it in his eyes it was the way he looked at her.
And so he guessed he had to be civil to her. Even if she was a Slytherin. And Lucius Malfoy's choice to look after his son in his absence. From what he was able to tell that did not seem like a wonderful recommendation. But each to his own.
"I guess after your journey the two of you are going to want a cup of tea. Come through. Have you got yours things?" As for his own journey, he had only got there the night before. He was glad to be joined so soon for he had not relished the idea of staying there on his own. If he did then, he was libel to have time to think with all that time on his hands and he was not sure if he was ready to do that.
"Yes, they are in my pocket. Shrunk them all at the station," said Jane as she followed him through.
The kitchen was as dirty as the rest of the house was. She took in a deep breath. It was only because she had been with her charge since he was so young but she wanted to tell him to be careful not to touch anything for fear he might catch some sort of bug. She had not thought like that since her boy had been very young.
"How are you Sirius?" asked Draco as they walked through to the kitchen.
"I am a lot like the two of you are I should think. Pissed off at the fact I have to spend the summer coped up and wanting to go and see my godson."
Oh, yes this was going to be a very different type of summer, thought Draco to himself as he pulled out one of the heavy wooden chairs and sat down. He did not think that his father had ever sworn in front of Jane. That was not the way the two of them were together.
"Well, I am sure we are going to be seeing him soon though, are we not?" asked Jane. In the week between the return of He Who Must Not Be Named and coming to the safe house she had gone to the head master of Hogwarts to formerly pledge her loyalty to him, though she was yet to be initiated in to the Order of the Phoenix. That was due to happen at the first meeting hosted there that summer.
But the head master had said to her that the Boy Who Lived was not going to be spending the entire summer with his relatives, thank god.
"Yes but we have got no arrival date as of yet," Sirius muttered as he raised a wand over the crockery. Two tea cups were soon being filled.
"Are the ministry not going to be able to track you if you do that?" Draco worried for his elder cousin.
"Don't fret yourself over me cus – I am the master of Grimmauld place, as much as that fact would sicken my father," he explained. About as much as it sickened him, actually. "He set up some rather helpful wards. Only good thing he ever did for me, as it turns out."
"So can I do magic while we're here?" he asked with a look of optimism in his face.
"No, you cannot," Jane answered swiftly, crushing the idea and making Sirius laugh for the first time since they had got there.
So she was as a mother to him after all.
"She is right. The only one who can do magic undetected here is the master of the house and even though you are my relation, buddy, you are not master here. I am the only one who has that dubious honour," Sirius said to him.
Jane looked relieved. ,
"Have we any other arrival dates?"
"No, but it think we can say with some surety it is only going to be the three of is for the next week or so."
"And we are just going to be rattling around this house for the whole of the summer?" Draco queried.
"No, from what I have seen so far we are not. I hope you do not mind me saying so Mr Black, but I think we are going to have to try and clean this place up a little bit if it is to be habitable for your god son's arrival."
Sirius smiled. "I do not mind in the least – in fact, I agree. But call me Sirius. No need for such formality if the two of us are going to live together for the rest of the summer."
"Then you had better call me Jane," he said to her as he passed over her tea mug. "Thanks."
"You're welcome."
Then silence took the room for a moment.
She sighed as he sat down opposite the two of them. "This is awkward. You know if this was even just a little bit more normal, I could ask you how school was at the end of the year but I do not think that is going to be much of a conversation started at the moment."
"I can tell you all about it if you want but there are not a lot of bright spots."
"No – I do not suppose there are," he said with a disheartened sigh. The two of them were glad to be back together. But there was not a lot of point in either of them pretended it make up for who was missing.
"You are both going to be sleeping in the same corridor as I am," said Sirius as he turned back to matters practical. "It is the only one that is very safe and habitable at the moment which I am sure will not come as too much of a surprise to either of you."
After the three of them had had their tea Sirius lead them up the stairs to said rooms. Draco was put in to the room of Sirius' younger brother while Jane was told she was on one which had only ever been used by guests.
She could not help but wonder if by guests he meant that the women who in another life would have been her mistress would have stayed there when she had gone to see her aunt and uncle. She could only suppose the answer was yes.
"I do not know about me being 'Sirius'," said the animagus as he helped Draco settled into the room next to his own. "I think we should give that name to your old lady."
Draco could not resist a snigger.
"Jane is ok, really. She just gets a little up tight when she is on the move. She is at her happiness when she can settle into a place and stay there for a while. Do you remember her when the two of you were at school? I know dad didn't really, but your time at school and hers crossed by a couple of years."
"If I am honest kid, once I got to the more senior years the going on's of the first years did not really register on my radar that much. She was a Slytherin right?"
"Yeah."
"Well, that figures for the reason your father employed her – but in the flesh she is as quiet as a door mouse. I'd of guessed a hufflepuff."
"He hired her because she was the best woman for the job. And you only think that because you haven't seen her mad," he said as he put some parchment on the desk as well as some books. If all else failed then he supposed he had his studies to get him through the summer. And his letters from Hermione.
"Is that something that I want to see?" Sirius asked as he tried to suss out the women he was going to be spending the summer with.
Draco gave a smile. Was it? Well the times he had seen her mad he had not been able to appreciate it. He had been ill at the time generally.
But looking back...
"As long as you are not the one she is angry with."
The three of them soon settled down to a quite life together that week – a life which was alien to all of them.
Sirius found, though his mind was ever switching to his godson, that he liked life better with companions – even the house seemed a little better when there were people there. It didn't have to be Jane. It didn't even really have to be Draco. It was just hearing other people were in the living room. It was knowing that when they made a brew, they would offer him too.
But at the same time he felt as if every time one of them walked through the door he felt as if he was on edge.
It had been well over ten years since he had lived with other humans. If Draco or Jane begun a conversation out of the blue he felt himself jump. The interrupted silences were something new to him.
He had to get used to being a free man again.
And it was going to take time.
As for Draco, he felt as if he was in a prison.
He felt as if all he had time to do was to sit there and to worry. He was not able to go out of clear his mind. And he so wanted to do that. His mind was racing to his father or to his friend –
And there were days when he felt as if it was more than he was able to bear.
And then he compared his situation with Harry's and he felt guilty.
After all, Jane had made it clear to him that she was always going to be able to find something for him to do. She had cleaning to do, and then some more and was always on the lookout for some help as the House Elf who lived in the house was distinctly unhelpful.
"Your father would not have such an elf in the house, darling, I am telling you that."
Jane had had cooperation when she had worked with the elves at the Malfoy manor, but this Kreacher character Draco had the idea was another breed of elf entirely.
He was the opposite of Dobby. Something Draco had never thought was going to be a bad thing but he had to say, now he was not so sure.
Jane herself seemed to begin to enjoy the endless rounds of cooking for the boys and cleaning after a couple of days. He had thought she was going to take longer to settled, but it was then that Draco remembered that she had left the manor before to go and work with the twins and... she had not grown up there.
It was not home to her like it was to him and she knew how to cope in a new place.
Quite asides from that she had him as well as Max with her. She had two out of her four boys with her. It wasn't a bad showing... not a great one, yet it was passable.
She fretted still: but she was not as fearful outwardly as she had been the summer before.
Sirius and Jane did not grow close though, in those initial weeks, Draco noted. The two adults seemed dance about one another, not sure what to make of the other. They were polite and could share a joke over a meal.
But Draco had a feeling the two of them were not really making friends, as lost as in their own worlds as they were.
All in all, he was very glad to receive a letter from the Weasley family saying they were going to be arriving the next week.
"Do you think Sirius is ok with all the noise in the house?" said Jane on the day that the red headed family were welcomed into the Order head quarters. The truth was that even she had been looking forward to their arrival. It had been too quiet with just the three of them in the house.
It had been unnatural.
Now that the twins were her with Ron and Ginny she had no doubt things were going to liven up.
As well as that, they also now had Miss Granger in residence. She did not fail to notice the spring that put in Draco's step. No mother kind of could fail to notice something like that.
The previous day she, Sirius and Draco had made their way down the corridor preparing the bed rooms for the new comers. They were now almost respectable.
It was the way he looked at her. But for now, the only woman Draco was looking at was the one who brought him up.
"I think it is going to help him. You know he keeps telling me stories from when he was younger and he knew Harry's dad. And I can't quite square the him today with who he was when he was with the Potters."
"Well, a lot of time and hurt has come to him since then," she said thoughtfully.
The two of them were in the kitchen, putting away the latest lot of supplies sent in, Max sleeping by the fire place. Kreacher had taken an almost actively dislike to the spaniel as soon as Jane had brought him into the house.
She felt better when she was able to see him.
He nodded.
"So you are doing soup for all of us?" he said as he looked at the ingredients on the table. "I did not know you were able to cook."
"Anyone can if the follow a receipt, my love," she said with a shake of her head. "It is pretty easy and I would say hard to mess up soup. I just thought I would do something for all of us to sit down and eat together, you know, break the ice."
"I did not know there was any ice to be broken."
"My darling, the last time I saw Molly Wealsey was when you had just got out of the chamber instead of Ginny. I do not think she has a high opinion of me."
"But she knows that was all dad."
"Nevertheless," she said as she turned to begin preparing the veg.
"Oh, Jane there you are."
Talk of the devil.
"Welcome Mrs Weasley. We didn't hear you arrive. Have you been here long?" Molly shook her head. Draco was glad to see she had a warm smile on her face.
"Only just ten minutes – Sirius let us in. Lucky he heard us!"
"Wasn't it just?" the old nurse said with a wide grin. It didn't seem to be natural though.
Molly turned her attention.
"Draco dear," the two of them embraces and exchanged pleasantries before turning back to Jane.
"I hope you all like soup, I just put some lunch on."
"Oh yes," said the red headed women to the blonde pair.
"I just wondered where the cleaning things were – the kids bedrooms need a real going over."
Draco sighed. The kid's bedroom which Jane had spent the whole day on yesterday, he thought to himself.
It did not need saying out loud.
"Just down the hall," the governess said with a smile now plastered on her face. She was trying. He knew she was really trying.
'This is going to be one hell of a long summer kid,' Sirius had told Draco on the day he had arrived. He was beginning to see how true that was.
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Happy new year all!