Chapter 26
"Come on, darling, up and at them," said Jane on the first of September as she came into the room which had been Draco's all summer long with a cup of tea. He had to get up and ready or he was going to miss the train.
It struck her as she walked into the room that just how much she was going to miss him, miss doting on him.
The teenager rubbed his eyes. It was too early. It was too soon.
"Come on, sweetheart, up. Breakfast will be ready soon," she said as she went downstairs to see Molly had got there in her absence.
The two of them had had a quiet shop when they had gone to Diagon Alley together but the day had not been a complete waste. Though Jane was not sure she was ever going to be able to put Molly on her Christmas card list, they were at least civil now.
"September the first is always a horrible morning," Mrs Weasley said as she made tea for her own children. Jane smiled to see the toast was being buttered by a charmed knife.
"It is the rush of the morning and then the quiet of the afternoon which gets me," Jane admitted.
She had always hated it. Normally she sat down and she thought of the summer they had had, the trip of France.
But that year she did not even have that.
She was just going to have regret that her darling had barely even got to go outside. At least when he got back to school he was going to be able to stretch his legs.
"Have you seen Sirius yet?" she asked.
Molly shook his head, and the two shared a sympathetic glance. They were well practised at this day. They both knew the drill.
As for him, he had had the pleasure of being with Harry for a prolonged amount of time for the first time since he was a baby. Now he had to let him go. And it was not going to be easy for him to do.
"A hard day," said Jane as she turned. "We have two hours to be up and ready. We had better get to it."
X x x
"Have you had your breakfast?" asked Sirius as he paused in the corridor.
He had been about to go on when he had seen his cousin inside the room which contained their family tree.
"Yeah, I am ready and waiting to go," he said as his eyes strayed focused on one particular branch on the tapestry.
Unconsciously, his hand reached out and touched her name. Their names... the knot that tied the three of them together...
Draco felt his eyes grow hot. Never before had he spent a summer so close to her childhood home.
The picture of her showed a woman of great beauty, but he did not think it did her justice. All the times she had come to him... that was who she really had been.
"I know you did not like or approve of her. But I cannot help but wonder at times what my life would have been had she lived that night."
"That must be natural."
Draco nodded. It was.
He turned and left the room.
X x x
"Hey cus," said Tonks as she saw Draco and gave him a smile.
"Alright, Tonks?" he asked as he went over to her the two of them shared a quick embrace.
She had come to be part of his guard to the train station with Harry. He was jealous of her age suddenly. She was able to really do something in this fight where as the rest of them were forever being sent back to school.
"I am indeed. Just here to make sure you all get back to Hogwarts safely," she told him as they pulled back. "Are you excited to be going back?"
He guessed he was and he wasn't, like every year. "I suppose."
"Don't get to over enthusiastic, will you?" she said with a smile.
He shrugged. "How is Aunty Andy?"
"Missing you and sorry she did not get to see you this summer. I think your next Hogsmeade trip is going to be invaded," she warned him. She passed him a letter from a mother. "Nothing really interesting no doubt, but you can read it on the train."
"Are the two of them not going to join the order, Uncle Ted and Aunty - "
"You know what the two of them are like. If you do not go looking for trouble..."
He nodded.
"The problem is, trouble has a knack of finding us Blacks," she sighed and he nodded.
He knew that was the truth of it. Or at least that was how it felt.
"No - no, Sirius," they heard Molly cry and the two of them turned.
There was there cousin, in dog form, looking at the door.
If he was not very much mistaken, Draco thought that Padfoot was after a walk.
The ride to the train station was silent apart from the occasional question to make sure that they had remembered everything, as well as the panting of their 'pet'. The weather was better than it had been the year before, but still not very nice.
He was looking forward to getting back. To seeing Severus; to see Luna.
To be alone with Hermione without watching his back for Jane and Sirius all the time.
"Where are you going to go? Are you going to stay on at Grimmauld Place or are you going to go home now?" he asked Jane as they the two of them stood on the platform.
"I have not yet really thought about it," she said as she begun to consider her options in her head.
Still that was a task for later in the day.
"Come here you," she said as she put her arms about him and pulled him in tight. "Please for the love of all that is good in the world, at least try and stay out of trouble," Jane muttered as she kissed his cheek.
He had the good grace to laugh.
"We both know that I cannot promise anything."
Pulling back she cupped his cheek. He was her dear boy and he was always going to be.
"Try. Try for me and dad. This is not going to be an easy year, but please no unnecessary trouble."
He nodded and kissed her one more time before he got on the train, giving her a quick last wave goodbye as he and his friends went to find a carriage.
She stood on her own for a while and then she felt the presence of an animal by her side.
Behind down she stoked Sirius for a comfort.
"Those boys have no idea what is coming. And neither do we," she realized, as she looked at her feet and wondered what she had sent Draco away too.
The two of them stood there until the train was out of view.
X x x
The train ride on the Hogwarts Express was in many ways a lot more peaceful for them than it had been in previous years. Somehow, now they knew what was going on, in part, they felt as if they were able to go ahead and met it. Nothing was as terrifying as the unknown after all.
Luna came and joined them too, as did Neville. The two Ravenclaw's and the four Gryffindor rode up together.
"How was your summer Neville?" asked Harry.
"Not too bad. I got a Mimbulus minltonia for my birthday!"
All of his friends knew not only of Neville's love for Herbology but his skill at it too. He explained the plant to them and showed them what it did and as far as things ever got for them, it was normal.
A nice, normal carriage ride into Hogwarts.
With a group of loyal friends. Luna and Neville were both quick to say to Harry that they had no doubts over what Harry was saying.
Luna's fathers magazine was actively supporting him too, a dangerous position when the Ministry was trying to get everyone sucked in by the Daily Prophet. The Quibbler might have a tiny readership, but it was better than nothing at all.
"But you know when we do get back to school that not everyone is going to think as we do," said Hermione to Draco as the others tucked into some chocolate frogs. Long gone were the days when they first checked the card.
The chocolate was now the most important thing.
He nodded.
"Well that is a bridge we are going to have to cross when we come to it," he said as he looked at her with a slightly concerned smile.
X x x
"Do you want some tea?" asked Jane as she saw Sirius sitting, miserable in front of the fire place which for a short time only might have earned the title of family room.
Not that there was a lot left at the family now the kids were back at school.
He smiled up at her but felt some pity. All her life it seemed to him, from what he had seen and heard, she had been serving others. That was her role in life he thought scornfully... to make the tea.
"No," he shook his head and she left the room. He had not dismissed her, but he might have well as done.
Walking back to the kitchen she sat down. She had not even wanted the tea. She had just wanted something to do. She knew bed sheets were waiting to be stripped. But strange as it was, or wasn't, she didn't want to do that.
And she couldn't even asked Krecher for help. She had learnt better than that.
Jane smiled as she felt something warm cover her feet.
"Oh Maxxy," she sighed. "I didn't even want tea either."
She buried her head in her hands as she realised how pathetic she had sounded.
Time to sort herself out...
She had to do something. She had to decide where she was going to live.
It had been a subject she had avoided during the summer. She had just had to think about one day as it came. Home had seemed so far away and as much as she had longed for it, she had had to focus on what she was going and her new role in life, even if she was not quite sure what that was.
The idea of going back to the manor was one which filled her with joy. She did miss it. She missed her room. She missed the familiarity. She missed the elves. And lord only knew Max missed the fields. She thought he was looking a little plump. Though he had had some walks over summer, it was nothing like he had had when they were back home.
Yet, if she went there she felt she had to make a decision as to her and Lucius. Still, she did not know if she was ready for that. Had anything changed since the two of them had agreed that it was best left for another life time? She didn't know. Maybe it had.
Or maybe it had not and she was not ready to admit that.
But to stay here was not quite what she wanted either. She and Sirius got on. They were friends and there had been a tentative respect between the two of them... until that day. But she was well able to see why he was in such a black mood and excuse it...
And she and Molly had called a truce too but...
There was only one way to find that out to find out if she could go home.
"Sorry," she heard a deep voice say to her from the door.
She turned to see Sirius there and she nodded. There was nothing she had to say to that. "It's fine. Can you watch Max for a while?"
"Sure. You going out?" she nodded.
"Be safe, Jane."
"I will be."
X x x
If nothing else than Jane felt she was owed a trip to the Malfoy Manor. Relieved of her charge, she knew she was at least a little freer. However, when she got there she was not sure if that was the case and she wondered if she had got things wrong. As she stupid as she knew it was, she thought it felt dark. As if it was some where she did not wish to be. She did not remember the last time she had felt thusly about the manor.
From the moment she stepped in the door, she knew this was not the same house as the one she had left at the beginning of summer. It was not her home anymore. Going up into the Great Hall, she saw there was a long meeting table there.
She had not ordered it to be put there and she was house keeper. She should have known every change that went on there.
"Jane," she heard a deep, unknown voice say to her from the end of the hall. What was an unfamiliar voice doing in her home? She turned, and was glad she could put a name to the face.
"Mr Crabbe?" she said as she painted on a smile.
"How are you?" he asked her.
"Quite, quiet well," she nodded as she swallowed. "Is Lucius here?" she asked.
She could not believe he of all people had more of an idea as to where he was than she did.
It felt wrong to her.
"He is in his office," he said as he looked her over suspiciously. "How is your mother? Is she well?"
"Depends on your meaning," she said as she begun to take the well trod path down to the office with more confidence than she felt. All the way, she felt as if Crabbe was watching her every move. As if he was judging her and finding her wanting. And she did not like it.
The two of them arrived at the office at about the same time and she had been about to knock on the door when she learnt that apparently that had to be done for her.
She felt indigent. It was not an emotion she was used to.
"Enter," the smooth voice of her old friend said and met her ear. She felt as if she was calm in a moment.
"A visitor," Crabbe told Lucius as if he was his master. As she entered the office, Lucius rose and the shock that she had come back was visible on his face.
"That will be all Crabbe," he told him on no uncertain terms. She did not like the tone he took, and somehow knew she was in for a scolding.
As soon as the door was shut he crossed the floor to her.
"What are you doing here?" he asked. She was unable to tell how angry he was. Another thing that had changed.
"I dropped Draco at the school and then I got lonely, I wanted to see you."
"And if I had not been here. What are you playing at?" Lucius almost hissed.
"I am no child and I am not going to be treated like one," she said as she met his eyes.
That was something he knew, Lucius thought as he looked down on her. When the two of them had first met all those years ago she had been little more than a child but she was not one anymore.
She had not been for a long time.
"I can defend myself if I have too," she nodded.
There was a silence between the two of them. He did not think he was going to get her to say sorry for what she had done, but he was damned if he was going to. But he still did not think her turning up unannounced had been the best idea she had ever had.
"I know you can." He nodded. "What can I do for you?"
She sighed. After all that had passed between the two of them of later that seemed so very formal. She crossed to the window. She had thought formality between them was a thing of the past... but then in many ways, the past had returned.
"I wanted to come home, I told you."
But it did not seem to be there any more, she thought as he came to her side. "Why did Crabbe ask me how my mother was?"
"I had to explain your absence. You are part of the furniture and as far as many of my 'friends' are concerned you are my mistress. Suddenly you were gone."
She nodded. That did make a lot of sense.
"Do you want me to come home?" she asked quietly at last.
Taking her hand, he kissed it. "Yes. You know that is all I want in the world. But you can't, it isn't safe enough."
"I can def - " she was about to repeat what she had said early but he shook his head.
"You'd be a fool to think you could, when you do not know what you'd have to defend yourself against. I cannot defend myself and you. If you stayed, you'd have to live the -" he crossed to his desk and scribbled on a piece of parchment.
Returning to her side, he passed it to her.
The life I and Severus now lead. Jane, I am not going let you do that. It isn't safe here, can't you see that?
She nodded - she could. With hot eyes she went over to the desk and picked up the quill.
Back to GP it is. Sorry for playing the fool tonight. I knew I shouldn't have come.
The two of them looked at one another for a moment before she turned and left the room.
She did not know what she had been expecting. She had never been going to get a warm welcome.
These were not the old days.
X x x
All in all, it had been a very discomforting night for Draco Malfoy.
For one thing, Harry could now see what was pulling them up to the school. It made the carriage journey somewhat different, with Luna and Harry quite fixated on what to him was just an invisible being.
The thought of his own death did not scare him. His life had begun with a death in fact so he was used to it. But there was something about the Thestrals which had unsettled him.
When they had got to the school he had been reasonably dry for once so that had been enough to make him smile. Or it had been until he had seen the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. As usual as they had travelled to school, there had been comments such as that the new one could not be worse than the one before.
Moody, had he actually taken any classes, might have been a good teacher and there were many students who still longed for the days when they were taught by Remus Lupin.
But this new pink, ministry woman unsettled him completely, as much as she had done the Gryffindor's. He had looked at Hermione throughout her speech and the look on face just seemed to scream that this could not be happening to them.
Not this year. Not when Defence was there most important subject.
And that was before Harry told them she had been at his trial.
He did not think he was ever going to be able to look back on that might and find any good in it. It wasn't just Umbridge herself.
It was the fact Hagrid was gone. It was the fact that the new professor had interrupted Dumbledore. Draco was not a greatest champion of the headmaster but he knew he was due a lot more respect than she had given to him that night. And he would support him any day of the week over her...
Happy little faces... hem, hem...
It was enough to make his blood boil. It did make his blood boil. And it filled him with dread.
He had known another woman once who had enjoyed what little power she had too much...
Whatever optimism he had had for the year, he felt as if it had been sucked out of him by the time he got to the common room which he was glad to arrive at. This was one place where she was not going to be bothering him. Yet the one thought in his mind was that Umbridge added difficult to what had always going to be a tough year.
"Maybe she is not going to be as bad as she looks," he heard a second year with more hope than he did say.
A seventh year was quick to squash that. "If you believe that, you're in the wrong house."
Unable to take any more for that night, he heard to the stair case.
What he needed now was sleep.
"Night," he heard a voice say softly from behind him as he headed for the stairs.
If it had been anyone else but Luna he did not think he would have been able to summon the smile that he did for her.
"Night."
X x x
Jane took off her coat in the hall way of Grimmauld Place and hung it on her peg. She felt quite deflated and quite stupid.
Removing her hair band, she let her blonde hair sit on her shoulders as she went into the kitchen to be greeted by Max. Sirius sat at the head of the table.
"Not going anywhere just yet then?" he asked her.
"Seems not," she sighed.
He could not have predicted what would come out of her mouth next. "Fire whisky?"
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Author Note: Sorry guys - a bit of a filler chapter and reading it back, I'm not crazy about it. still, at least Order of the Pheonix is kicked off.
Up next: Jane is giving her first mission for the Order, Draco and Severus discuss Summer and Umbridge and Harry gets detention...