Waking up the next morning Gohan was feeling pretty great. As he moved around his room to prepare himself for the day he thought back on his mother's party. His friends were having fun. The two groups, consisting of those from Hogwarts and those not, got along well. Gohan had never seen his mother looking so happy which meant she really missed having other people around. And her being happy meant that Gohan was happy.
As he finished his morning routine he could smell the scent of sizzling breakfast wafting up through the house. "Gohan, I hear you moving around up there," Lily called out as she knew her son was awake now. She turned around from the stove to see her son eagerly awaiting his morning meal. Plating him up his normal portion of food she sat opposite with a much more normal serving.
As Gohan dug into his breakfast like a ravenous animal, his appetite larger due to the fight with Vegeta the previous day, Lily did the opposite and took her time with her morning meal. "I need to do some shopping in town today, would you like to go with me?" Asking as she would like to spend as much time as she could with her son before he went back to the castle.
Gohan nodded. "Of course mom." He too would like to hang around his mother and going shopping with her in town always led to him discovering something else that was new to him living in a place with other people.
"Good, maybe you'll get some ideas for presents to get your friends while we are there," Lily suggested as Gohan should start to figure out what his friends would like to get for the holidays.
"That sounds great mom," Gohan smiled. "Maybe we can get some non-magical things for the witches and wizards who don't really see a lot of that stuff?"
"A good idea Gohan," Lily nodded to her son. "I suspect many of them are not as aware of the non-magical world and would be more surprised to get a gift from it." She stood up and placed her dishes in the sink, knowing that the charms would get started on cleaning them for her. She headed over to the door to start donning warmer clothes, because even with charms she didn't want to expose herself to the cold Scottish winter too much. By the time she finished Gohan had just put his own dishes in the sink and was standing next to her.
Gohan held the door for his mother who leaned over and kissed the top of his head. "My little gentleman," ruffling his unruly hair as he grumbled about his mom being such a mom.
After a few hours of window shopping for Gohan, he and his mother stepped into an apothecary. Lily said that she wanted to get Severus a gift since she'd heard that he had an almost complete turn around in how he presented himself and taught. She knew he still slipped up at times, but she didn't expect perfection nor for it to be immediate. Lily also knew that a gift would show her support for his decision to let go of his past and change into a better man and she wanted to let him know she was proud of him for doing so.
"Oh hello Daphne," Gohan waved as he saw the Greengrass family in the store as they entered. Moving over to his friend while Lily introduced herself to Daphne's parents. "You missed a HFIL of a party yesterday."
"I'll bet, I am sorry I could not attend but something had come up that required my attention," Daphne said aristocratically as she pretended to inspect some random ingredient on a shelf before moving around the story to pass the time.
"Don't worry, we'll have more," Gohan smiled. "You're welcome to come to the next one we have." Giving her a blanket invitation since he didn't know when the next party would be, but he suspected it would be in the summer after his first year had ended.
"That's very nice of you Gohan," Daphne thanked the boy for his offer. She set down a set of silver stirring rods and started to move about the store.
"If you don't mind me asking, what came up suddenly?" Gohan inquired. "If you don't want to say, that's fine but…"
With a heavy sigh Daphne glanced over at Gohan, her sister's affliction wasn't exactly a secret but it also wasn't a topic she liked to discuss. However from the few interactions she had with him in classes, Gohan struck her as the kind and honest type so she didn't think it'd be too much of an issue to inform him why she was unable to attend as other families knew about her sister's affliction.
"It is my younger sister, Astoria," Daphne answered. "She is ill."
"Oh I'm sorry to hear that," Gohan offered his condolences.
"It's not new, she's had it for years," Daphne sadly answered. "Something in her heart, and no potion or spell can avail her of it."
"My dad had something in his heart, it almost killed him," Gohan said, recalling the heart virus that in the other timeline had succeeded in killing his father. "It showed up suddenly for him, but he must have had it for years for it to progress to where it was. When he exerted himself it would act up."
"Did your father get sweaty, feel weak and have sudden pains?" Daphne asked as she hadn't known this detail about the somewhat mysterious muggle man, but Astoria couldn't do very much before her chest would begin to hurt. She considered it interesting that a muggle could possibly have had the same "curse" that her sister was affected by.
"He did yeah, but we were able to cure him," Gohan smiled as he was glad that his father had survived long enough to help them with the androids and Cell as much as he did. "Do you think that your sister might have the same heart virus?" Curious about if this could be the same thing.
"I don't know," Daphne bit her lip, it would seem that Astoria and Gohan's father might have the same illness, but she wasn't sure. She was only eleven, she didn't know how her sister's illness worked, just that she was terrified of losing her.
However that was enough information for Gohan, a plan already forming in his head. "Mom, I'm going to Bulma's, I'll be right back," He called out as he headed towards the street before rocketing off the ground in the direction of Capsule Corp, his rapid ascent startled random passersby.
When he touched down on the lush green lawn Gohan hurried over towards the workshop, greeting the employees he passed along the way. "Hey Bulma?" Gohan called up as he looked down into the large workshop where the blue haired woman was working.
"Oh sup Gohan," Bulma said as she looked up to see who was coming to bug her and it put a smile on her face that it was Gohan. "Need something or is this just you coming to say hello?"
"Not really, I just wanted to know if you had any more of that heart virus medication?" Gohan inquired as he was here for a reason and didn't know how long the Greengrass family would stay in the store before leaving so this wouldn't be a long visit.
Bulma nodded as she scooted her chair over to a cabinet. "Yeah sure, I made a few after Goku was getting treated since I didn't know if one dosage would have been enough and wanted to be prepared in case it came back."
"Great, can I have one?" Gohan requested as he looked at the medicine the blue haired inventor held in her hand.
Bulma raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Why would you- Oh god is Lily okay?!" Bulma's realization hit her harder than any punch she'd see thrown by her friends.
Gohan quickly waved his hands in front of himself as it took him a second to realize how what he said sounded. "What, no! Mom's fine. If she wasn't I would have gotten Dende first or something. But there's a friend of mine and her little sister might have the same heart virus as dad did."
That was a huge relief for the inventor to hear that her friend was fine but that did leave Bulma tapping her chin to think for a moment. "Makes sense, if in the future I called it a virus and made a cure, it must not have been something only Goku had." She cringed and realized that it was possible that the virus got so bad because it started in such an isolated community like the magicals that it wasn't noticed until it broke out into the non-magical world.
"I guess so, since Daphne said that no potion or spell would help, which might make sense why a Senzu bean only made it worse for dad when we gave him one," Gohan reasoned as that was another clue that pointed to this being the same illness. "If magic can't fix it, then this might be her only chance."
Smiling at Gohan for always thinking of others first, Bulma handed him a vial of the teal liquid and a note with the instructions on how to properly administer it. "You're a good kid," she ruffled his hair as he happily took off back to Hogsmeade.
Gohan burst into the apothecary glad to see that Daphne and her parents were still there. "Here Mrs. Greengrass, I have something for you," he said as he hurried over and handed the medicine and instructions to Mrs. Greengrass who stared at the bottle curiously.
"Gohan, is that what I think it is?" Lily asked as she recognized the medicine she had to force her husband to take.
Nodding quickly to his mother, Gohan looked at Lady Greengrass' confused face and started to explain what he had just given her. "When Daphne said that magical cures weren't working and since a senzu bean didn't work for dad, I just thought Astoria might have the same heart virus that dad had."
"What potion is this?" Mrs. Greengrass questioned as she looked at the strange vial of liquid.
"Oh that wouldn't be a potion, it's medicine made by a family friend," Lily answered as she caught on to what Gohan's logic was and so far it was sound enough. "My husband had an affliction that magic couldn't cure, but this worked wonders. It's completely safe, the woman who made it is a genius."
Mr. Greengrass sighed in reluctance towards a non-magical solution, it went against the magical traditions to seek cures in the muggle world. "Although at this point I'm willing to try anything." He conceded as his pride and traditional ways meant nothing if one of his daughters had to die because of them. With his business concluded in the store he took his daughter's hand and started to lead her outside with his wife following behind.
"Bye Gohan," Daphne said to Gohan as she passed him.
"Bye Daphne," Gohan waved to her as she disappeared in the sound of apparation. He felt his hair get ruffled by his mother's hand a moment later as he was staring at the spot they departed from.
"Gohan, that was a very sweet thing you did for them," Lily smiled at her son, so proud of him for always thinking of others.
Shrugging Gohan scuffed his foot on the floor. "I just figured that this could help you know? And it might not work," He felt a little embarrassed for being praised for his idea that could turn out to be nothing and it wasn't helping that his mom was being such a mom about it.
Lily giggled and headed towards the door, in the time Gohan had been gone she had finished her purchases. Holding open the door for her son, she smiled back at him as they stepped outside. "Then let's hope it does. Either way let me take you to get a treat as a reward," Leading him up the road to a candy shop.
"Mommy," Astoria said as she opened her eyes. "My chest doesn't hurt anymore," her voice slowly gaining strength.
"It's a miracle," Mrs. Greengrass gasped as she hugged her cured daughter. The medi-witch had nodded and said they could no longer detect the illness in the young girl.
"I don't know how we will ever be able to repay the Son family for this," Mr. Greengrass said as he wiped a tear from his eye. They had followed the instructions to the letter and after ten days, Astoria had just told him the dull ache that was always present, a constant reminder of her limited life, was gone. He didn't know what to do, his greatest fear had been that his youngest daughter would die before she lived a full life, but now she was free from the dreadful illness that had plagued her for years..
Daphne stood quietly watching her family rejoice from the doorway, she hadn't wanted to put hope in the medicine made by a muggle, but this was proof that magic wasn't always the answer. 'Gohan did this, and without a second thought. He just heard that she needed help and then acted and didn't even ask for a reward.' Daphne thought to herself as she could see her once lethargic little sister display energy she never had before. 'He gave me back my sister, what could I give to him that means just as much?' She began to think about what she could do for him personally.
She was not the only lady who had thought about Gohan during the holiday season though.
Gohan was awoken to the sound of something tapping on his window. With a groan he opened his eyes and could see that it was still very dark outside. Slowly shuffling across his room he opened his window only to see a grinning face floating outside. "Tonks?" Gohan rubbed his eyes as he was starting to wake up. "What are you doing here?" asking his neighbor why she came at such an ungodly hour.
"Will you let me in?" Tonk asked back as she was floating on her broom outside Gohan's window.
Stepping out of the way to make some room for her to enter Gohan watched Tonks scramble in through the small entrance only to get caught on the windowsill and tumble forward right onto him which pinned him underneath her.
The weight of a human body was nothing to someone as strong as Gohan, but there was a different feeling when a young lady was pressing herself on you. Squirming Gohan managed to get out from under his neighbor without putting his hands anywhere inappropriate on the older girl's body. "Now can you tell me what you're doing here?" He asked as the metamorph hopped to her feet with a sly grin on her face as she looked down at him.
Tonks feigned indignation. "I want you to start teaching me Gohan, you promised," Tonks pouted at the young saiyan. It had been almost two whole weeks since the party and he hadn't once mentioned any kind of training in the times they had met up.
"Yeah but this late at night?" Gohan yawned as he would have liked to get back to sleep rather than do training.
"No better time like the present," Tonks shrugged as she was too eager to postpone this any longer. "Come on, just one lesson." Pleading to the young half-saiyan for guidance because she really wanted to be able to fly and blow stuff up with laser beams.
Rolling his eyes as he knew that this was not an argument he could win, Gohan sat down on the floor and crossed his legs. "Okay fine, now sit like me and I'll get started on teaching you to find your ki." Pointing to the empty space on the floor in front of him, for her to join him.
"Ki?" Tonks questioned as she did as instructed. She'd never heard that word before and was curious how she was supposed to find it if she didn't even know it.
Gohan formed a soft ball of light in his hands, it lit up a small part of his room with the warm glow. "Yes, ki," he said as he orbited the ball around the room before dissipating the energy allowing darkness to retake the room again. "It's like magic, but it's also not. Ki is the energy of life, every living being has it. Everyone can use it, if they train it enough that is." As he felt it would be important for her to understand the difference between the two.
"Wicked, so what do I have to do?" Tonks nodded eagerly as she was excited to start doing what Gohan was.
"Well first you need to find your own ki," Gohan held back another yawn as he started to instruct the witch in what she would need to do to accomplish this task. To his surprise she was able to grasp the basics fairly quickly as it had only taken a few hours of meditation before a tiny glimmer of light came to life in her palms. "I wonder if it's because you've been doing magic for years that you found it so fast." Scratching his head as he had figured it would have taken at least a week to make any sort of progress.
"Maybe but I'm also pretty in tune with my body since I can change how I look. Have to know where everything is so I don't mess myself up," Tonks smirked as she looked at the little orb of light in her hands. "Now to make something cool," she confidently declared as she made the ball as big as she could before suddenly slumping onto the floor completely out of energy.
Gohan sighed as he figured that would happen. Tonks had no understanding of how ki worked so she just exhausted herself in a moment as she didn't have a large reserve to pull from nor did she know how to regulate her own power output. Looking at the girl who was laying on his floor, his first thought would be to take her home. But then the idea of him being found with Tonks' unconscious body in his arms by her parents made him very afraid for his well being.
Instead he decided that he needed to wait for her to wake up so she could go home on her own. So he gently picked her up and carried her across the room where he placed her in his bed and moved to cover her with his blanket when he was suddenly grabbed and pulled onto the mattress.
"Mmm, cuddle bear," Tonks murmured in her sleep as she cradled Gohan to her chest. The young man mortified about the predicament he was in. He knew he had to get out of the bed, he had to be literally anywhere else but lying next to Tonks. However her grip was tight on him and short of forcing his way out, which could end up hurting her, he'd be stuck.
He tried to move Tonks arms but that only caused her to grip him tighter and curl up into a ball on him, trapping his legs with her own and whimpering sadly. "So this is how I'm going to die," Gohan said to himself as he looked up at his ceiling. "After surviving everything the universe had to throw at me, my own mother is going to kill me for having a girl in my bed." Resigning himself to his inevitable demise Gohan started to drift off to sleep because of how late Tonks had kept him up.
"Yes, you do need to come see this, I promise, you'll enjoy it," Lily said as she met with Andromeda in the morning. She had discovered her son in his bed as he normally didn't sleep in this late, her initial reaction to seeing the older girl cuddling her son like a teddy bear had been to cast a quick charm to ensure that nothing improper had happened and after finding out they had just been sleeping, her next course of action was to get Mrs. Tonks so both mothers had blackmail material.
"That is precious," Andromeda smirked. "I can see her broom on the floor. I never figured my daughter was so smitten by your son," Andromeda wondered what drove Nymphadora to sneak over to the neighbors just to climb in bed with Gohan.
"We'll let them think they got away with this, for a while," Lily grinned as she shut the door quietly. "Then we'll get them with the photos." holding up the pictures she had taken.
When Tonks finally woke up she let out a half scream when she realized she had been using Gohan like a body pillow before slapping a hand over her mouth as she realized being too loud would get them in trouble.
"Hrrn, Tonks?" Gohan slowly sat up in his bed when he felt someone shifting around. Rubbing his eyes he watched as Tonks scrambled to grab her broom. "Leaving already?" He asked sadly as he had been comfortable next to her and would have liked to continue laying together in bed.
"Ye-yeah," her metamorph powers, unable to hide the blush on her cheeks as she pushed open the window. "We should uhh train later, during the day or something." she quickly said as she took off, hoping that no one would notice the bubblebum pink haired girl flying a broom out of the window of another house and racing over to her own window a few hours down.
She was wrong and many people saw her.
Gohan had a feeling of dread that late morning as he sat across from his mom. Lily had a devious smile on her face that Gohan couldn't look away from because of how it was unsettling him. "OH SHIT!" Gohan shouted as he finally deduced why she was doing that. "Mom, it's not what you think." He quickly said, hoping to get ahead of whatever she had planned for finding him and Tonks in bed together.
"Gohan, I don't mind that you are attracted to older women," Lily slowly set her cup of tea down. "It would make sense since you never had friends your own age and Tonks is a lovely young lady, but you are a little too young to be doing more than holding each other and napping." Chastising her son to make sure he knew not to cross certain boundaries too early.
"I mean it, we were just training," Gohan pleaded hoping his mother would understand.
"Oh I wasn't aware that training required sleeping in the same bed together." Lily teased as her son pounded his head on the table. "Otherwise me and your father "trained" almost every night after we got married," watching the horror cross on her son's face as she gave him a small glimpse into her sex life with his father.
Meanwhile Tonks wasn't fairing much better as her mother had her sat down on the couch next to her, and by sat, what she had done was charm her daughter's clothes to be stuck to the couch so she could be given a talk about how to woo another man and support for deciding to go after such a nice boy like Lily's son. Any defense she tried to come up with was quickly twisted into more proof of her feelings towards the young neighbor boy.
"Oh, hello," Lily greeted the owl that was waiting on the perch for her when she and her son entered the home after a bit of shopping near the end of the holiday break. After taking and reading the letter, Lily relayed to her son what the content was. "Gohan, Lady Malfoy has invited us to her home for tea this afternoon."
"That's nice mom," Gohan said as he put away the purchases his mother made. "How will we get there?"
"She's given us the floo address, since she knows apparating wouldn't be good for me," Lily said as she quickly wrote an acceptance to the offer and sent off the owl. "Make sure you wear something nice." She instructed her son who normally wore older clothes that he could also train in when he was working with Tonks as he helped her get stronger over the break. She had let him go after a couple days of teasing as she understood that Nymphadora really did just want to learn how to use ki and, like a teenager, chose to do so in the silliest way possible with no regard for anything else. She was kind enough to only make a few comments here and there when she saw the young metamorph sleeping next to Gohan after tiring herself out during the training.
Lily exited the floo and stepped out of the way for her son who stumbled a bit but caught himself before he became a hazard. "How was that for travel Gohan?" Lily asked her son as she cleaned the soot off his clothes.
"It's a new way, that's for sure," He grumbled as he straightened out his fancy robes while he took in the decorations of the very large waiting room. "Still would prefer to fly though."
"Maybe you'll change once you learn to apparate," Lily shrugged as they patiently waited for Narcissa to collect them.
They didn't have to wait long before Lady Malfoy strode into the room with a smile on her face. "Lily Son, and her Son Gohan," giggling at the fun naming structure for how the young man introduced himself. "I am ever so glad that you are here."
"Your home is very lovely," Gohan bowed respectfully to the lady of the house.
"Oh why thank you," Narcissa leaned forward and pinched his cheek tenderly. "You are so well behaved." After getting a reaction out of the young man she turned towards his mother. "Please join me for tea and cakes." Motioning for the two to head into another room.
As the Son family exited the room, Narcissa mentally checked off part of her plan. 'All I need now is for Lucius to come home and see what I have done,' She thought as she followed them into the next room.
As the conversation between the mothers was had about their times at Hogwarts and what they have been up to in the years since, Gohan was looking around as his highly trained senses were being tickled by the movement of something else in the home. "I'm sorry to interrupt Lady Malfoy," Gohan said after a lull in the conversation allowed him to get Narcissa's attention. "Is there someone else in the home? Perhaps your son?"
Narcissa shook her head curiously as for her plan to work there couldn't be anyone else besides them in the manor. "No, my son is away learning to better ride a broom from some Quidditch player that Lucius paid to train him over the holidays. Dobby?" Narcissa called out for the elf and a moment later a soft pop in her ears let her know the house elf had arrived.
"Yes My Lady," Dobby bowed low, having been summoned.
"Is there currently anyone in the manor besides ourselves?" she asked as she didn't believe there was an intruder and Lucius wasn't due back for a few more minutes.
"No Mistress," Dobby quickly shook his head. "There's be no one but Mistress and her guests."
"Hmm," Narcissa mused as she looked to Gohan to see what he had to say about this.
"It was you." Gohan said after putting together what was causing his senses to go off. The elf had an energy that he was able to detect. "You were the one I could sense all over the house. That popping you do… is that why I could feel you in all those different rooms?"
Dobby quickly nodded. "I bes cleaning sir." Answering the child's question.
"I'm not a sir," Gohan corrected the elf as he never really stood on things like sir and ma'am.
Dobby looked horrified at his mistake. "I bes most sorry Missy Gohan," Dobby bowed as Gohan realized a moment later what he'd just done. However he was not the only one to hear the house elf and Lily began to laugh heartily at the misunderstanding.
"I should have kept my mouth shut," Gohan grumbled as he resigned himself to remain quiet for the remainder of his stay before he gave his mother more things to tease him about. As the conversation between the mothers carried on Gohan was aware of the sound of the floo flaring to life in the room they had arrived in. A minute or so later the doors to the parlor opened and Lucius Malfoy stood shocked in the doorway as he stared at the scene before him.
"Hello dear," Narcissa smiled as she came over to her husband to greet him as he returned home from some "business" he occupied himself with. "You remember Lily from school, this is her son." Gesturing to Gohan before she crumpled to the floor from the force of Lucius' slap to her face. She had tears in her eyes as she looked up at him in horror.
"You bring a filthy mudblood into my home, and the son of a muggle!" Lucius angrily hissed down at the sobbing form of his wife. He was furious from the long and tiring day he had been having and then to come home and see this disgusting display had pushed him past his boiling point.
Lily had quickly stood up from her chair and hurried over to check on Narcissa who had a line of blood dripping down her cheek from the heavy ring on Lucius' hand that he struck her with. She couldn't believe that Lucius would do something like this… with witnesses around.
Seeing the mudblood coming to his wife's aid he angrily moved to pull his wand from his walking cane when he was forced off his feet as he rocketed across the room and was pinned to a wall by a furious young boy. Instead of the black eyes and hair he had before, the child was instead practically engulfed in flames of power as his hair shone a brilliant gold and his piercing green eyes were locked onto his own, and even when he'd been in the presence of the Dark Lord Lucius had never felt such primal fear as he was feeling in this moment.
"Move an inch and I crush your throat." Gohan warned him in a tone that carried the full weight of the situation Lucius found himself in.
Gohan looked over to his mother who was helping Narcissa to her feet. "I'm taking her back home with us," Lily informed her son who was listening to her intently. "Do not kill him, but if he makes a move to attack you, only do what is necessary to defend yourself. You know the direction to where home is, I will see you there when you are done here," she instructed as she led Narcissa over to the fireplace for them to use the floo.
However Gohan didn't release his grip on Lucius until he could no longer sense the presence of his mother nor Lady Malfoy in the home and he waited even longer to push out his ability to sense energy for miles to ensure that they had made it back home. Once he was assured of their safety, Gohan lowered himself and Lucius to the floor and he took a step back. "Now it's just you and me," Gohan said as he looked down at the man clutching his throat on the floor of his own house.
"Mudblood," Lucius wheezed as he could feel bruises already forming underneath his skin. "You'll pay for this," the man threatened slowly getting to his feet as he looked towards his wand that was laying on the carpet and the child who had manhandled him.
"I doubt it," Gohan said flatly as he noticed the way Lucius was eyeing the wand, for how close it was, it might as well have been on the other side of the planet with how much faster Gohan could react if he chose to grab for it. "So, are you going to go for your wand and lose your arm or fight me like a man? I'll even give you the first punch," goading the man into making a move that would justify hurting him.
"Dobby," Lucius called out as he knew the house elf would be able to remove the child from his home. It would allow him to save face rather than try and defeat the terrifying boy standing in front of him, which his every instinct was screaming at him to not attempt. When Dobby appeared in the room he pointed to the glowing child. "Take Mr. Son home," Lucius commanded of his elf since he would be able to remove the boy from his house.
"Dobby be doi-," Dobby started to say before Gohan interrupted.
"I know the way out," Gohan turned his back on Lucius and half expected him to immediately move for his wand. With a smirk of surprise that the blonde man hadn't done that he continued onwards towards the door and after getting outside the large manor Gohan was tempted to just level the building with a ki blast, he'd even gone so far as to form the ball of crackling energy in his hands but decided against it as his mother wouldn't have liked for him to do that since she told him not to kill the man.
However he knew he couldn't just power down easily when he was so primed to fight and instead of heading home he took off in the direction of Vegeta who could help serve as a punching bag for him to vent a little.
"Okay Bulma, thank you for calling me," Lily said as she set down the handset receiver, having just gotten word that Gohan showed up to work off some steam with Vegeta. She figured something like this might happen. She knew her son would be home later that night but she had something more important to take care of now. Turning to the woman who was sitting on the couch almost motionlessly in the living room, she walked over and sat down next to her.
Narcissa wasn't really responding to the world around her. Lily couldn't understand what she was feeling, her only relationship had been with Goku and he was such a gentle man that she never once felt that he would abuse her. "I'm so sorry that happened," Lily said finally after feeling that she needed to end the silence. It seemed that her words startled Narcissa out of whatever trance she was in.
"Please, we both knew what kind of man he was," Narcissa looked down at her lap dejectedly. "I just... I don't know what I was hoping when I had you come over. That he would somehow give up on the beliefs that led him to join the Dark Lord," her voice getting less stable as tears formed in her eyes. "I didn't think he'd, at least not…"
"Narcissa," Lily said calmly as she gently took the other woman's hands. "Has he ever done this before?"
"It was never more than a rare occurrence," Narcissa sobbed. "He would always apologize, but I…" she was cut off from her despair when Lily pulled her into a hug.
"It's not your fault," Lily said softly as she didn't want Narcissa to start blaming herself for her husband's behavior. "He had no right to hit you ever and don't you ever think it's your fault."
She missed the smirk that briefly formed on Narcissa's lips because of their embrace, but she quickly reverted to her saddened look. With a sigh she let her former Hogwarts rival offer her comfort. "Thank you Lily, you always were a sweetheart."
Later that night Gohan returned home a bit scraped up and bruised, he took his normal seat at the dinner table and Narcissa looked horrified at his appearance. "That monster-" Narcissa shrieked as she couldn't believe that her husband had done that to a child. Her plan did not include a child fighting off Lucius.
"What?" Gohan said in confusion then took stock of how he looked. "No, your husband didn't do any of this, that was Vegeta, the man I fought at the Christmas party remember?" Gohan quickly corrected the woman so she didn't believe Lucius had been capable of hurting him.
Narcissa let out a relieved sigh that the man she had escaped from hadn't decided to torture a young child. "Former husband," Narcissa said with a smile towards Gohan, very pleased to be able to finally say that after all these years. "I informed the current Lord Black of what transpired and he was more than willing to annul the marriage contract for, "damaging the treasures of the Black family," she snarkily informed the child as to what transpired while he was gone doing… whatever it was that left him looking like he was trampled by a herd of centaur.
"Who… what?" Gohan looked at his mother for an explanation as this was already going over his head.
"Sirius Black, the man who could turn into a dog, he's the head of Narcissa's previous family." Lily answered the first part of her son's question, reminding him who that man was. "We flooed Amelia about the situation but because Narcissa and Lucius were married when this happened there was nothing she could do about this," Lily continued saying with barely restrained bile at how their laws didn't really extend to protect spouses from one another. "But she recommended that Narcissa speak to her former Lord of the Family about what he might be able to do to help."
"He was more than happy to jab Lucius in the proverbial eye, that he had a legitimate reason to do so was all the better for him," Narcissa sipped at her drink as she had expected that to take much longer to convince Sirius that this was not a trick but Lily had handled that with a single sentence. "Lucius slapped her in front of me and was about to draw his wand, I want her out of that marriage now," Thinking back to how the fiery redhead had practically ordered the man to annul the contract between the families.
"So what happens now?" Gohan asked as he didn't know what to make of the situation that the former Lady Malfoy found herself in as his only examples of marriage had been seeing his own mom and dad and Vegeta and Bulma, so it was a toss up in that regard.
Narcissa seemed to shrink in on herself as she looked around the table for anything else to catch her attention so she didn't have to think about that yet. With a heavy sigh Narcissa looked at the young man who had helped her. "I am unsure, the manor and all its possession that lie within are his, I am without money, a home and a name. I have only the clothes on my back and the stigma of being a divorcee."
"You have us," Lily said as she set a plate of food in front of the now recently freed witch. "I won't have you worrying about where you'll live just because you got out of an abusive relationship." Offering to open her home to Narcissa in her time of need.
Narcissa was genuinely surprised by the kindness offered to her. Her plan was to just use the Son family to free herself from a marriage she hated. She didn't bother to think about anything beyond that point in time. Narcissa was sure she would have been able to come up with a plan, even if it meant doing things she would normally turn her nose up at. But now, it seemed as if they would continue to be helpful to her. It made her feel guilty about deceiving Lily and her son with how she forced the conflict with Lucius.
Back in a dim manor Lucius was seething about the events that transpired just mere hours ago. He'd been humiliated by the son of a muggle, his wife having left him and was likely slumming it with a mudblood. "DOBBY!" Lucius bellowed as he summoned his house elf.
"Yes my lord," Dobby bowed so low he was practically spread out on the floor.
"Bring me my drink and the black tome in my study," he ordered as he sat in front of a fire. He needed to see what the Dark Lord would tell him, he needed to plan his revenge on the woman who left him. As he waited for Dobby to return he noticed his morning drinking cup next to him on the side table. Seeing that Lucius thought back to his morning, how seemingly throughout the day he was getting more and more frustrated at even the smallest things. "That clever bitch," he hissed as he waved his wand around the cup and found that a potion had been added to it.
It all made sense, she had given him something to lower his inhibitions, to make him angrier, less in control of himself. "Sir, Dobby has your drink and book sir," Dobby said as he placed the black book down next to his master fearfully.
Lucius quickly opened the book and began to scribble in it as the words he wrote disappeared into the pages. A large and sadistic smile grew on his face as he read the response from the Dark Lord's diary.