A/N here it is the final chapter! I have no idea why I never uploaded these last chapters before, the story has been written for years! However here it is in all its original glory in case you want to see how it ends :)

Lucius remained in intensive care for another week before he was deemed stable enough to be transferred out into another ward. Draco had managed to talk some sense into his father regarding his attitude and Sergeant Bradley's threat but it had taken several days of arguments and Draco being thrown out multiple times before the truth hit home in Lucius's head. They were thoroughly stuck. His whole life was now being controlled by a squib. This thought alone was almost enough to send the blond haired aristocrat back into a screaming fit, but since that was how he'd got himself in this position, he doubted it would be a wise move.

With the immediate danger over with, thoughts were turning back to the original course of infection. The doctors wanted to be sure they had treated the problem, not just the symptoms and that Lucius wouldn't relapse. Draco gave his permission for x-rays, blood tests, MRI scans and after some discussion, a full dental examination. Draco knew this wouldn't go down well with his father, given what had happened before. When he told this to Bradley, the sergeant handed him a phial and told him to give it to Lucius if he needed to.

Two days later Lucius was wheeled into the hospital's dental surgery and none too gently assisted into the chair. The surgeon came in a few minutes later and Lucius froze: it was Brian Reynolds.

"Good morning Mr Malfoy. I trust that you are healing well?"

Lucius stared at the wall in stony silence.

"Very well. I heard you have an attorney, would that be you sir?" Brian asked, turning to Draco.

"Yes. I'm his son."

"And what's your name?"

"Draco."

"Draco, good to meet you. So today I'll be doing a full check up and we can discuss treatment options afterwards if that suits you? If you can get your father to work with us it will make my job a lot easier. Do you understand?"

Draco nodded. Brian then turned back to Lucius and lowered the chair.

"Mr Malfoy please could you open your mouth?"

Lucius refused. This muggle wouldn't violate his mouth a second time. He could still feel the last time as if it were yesterday.

Brian sighed. He hated cases like this. "Mr Malfoy as you are no doubt aware, I have to do this. If you do not open your mouth I will have to assume that you cannot do so and therefore take appropriate measures to ensure the examination can be completed."

"You won't touch me you filthy little-" Lucius was cut off by a firm grip to his upper arm. The guard was restraining him as he tried to sit up.

"Father we will be out of here much quicker if you just do as he says. You can't do anything about it, you're just going to have to lose your pride and accept it."

When Lucius still looked ready to refuse Draco took out the phial from his pocket. "Drink this" he said, handing it to his father. "It'll make it better."

Lucius looked from the phial to the steely glare his son was giving him to Brian and back. After a few moments he snatched the phial and swallowed the contents. It didn't taste bad and he didn't feel different. How was this going to make anything better? As he looked around to try and work it out he realised he must have been moved somewhere else whilst he was thinking. He had only been in here once before but there were wizards around! Right now this was the best sight he'd ever seen and his jaw dropped. He felt a pain in his mouth so he headed for the health centre he knew was around here. Maybe these people knew a way to cure him once and for all.

Brian looked to Draco and then back to Lucius who was lying with his mouth open. Draco didn't say anything and Brian wasn't about to question this extraordinary achievement. He got to work, receiving grunts of pain from various places as he went. The session continued in this way with Lucius not offering information but doing as he was requested and providing responses to stimuli.

Lucius found the health care centre easily and to his delight found it empty. He requested the dentist and was shown straight in to the room. It was a big room, obviously wizarding but with the usual large moving chair in the middle. There were moving posters on the walls, a collection of differently sized wands on a tray and a cabinet filled with all sorts of coloured potions off to one side. The dentist was a large fellow in a long white robe. Lucius sat down and tried to explain his problem but the dentist cut him off.

"Please. Talking won't help" he said. "I can find everything out I need, you just need to do as I ask."

Lucius nodded and lay down on the big chair with almost a sigh of relief. The requests were odd, often to open his mouth wider or move his head slightly but with the choice of here or that muggle he would do everything this man asked. It was excellent to be in the magical world again.

After this experience Lucius decided to go home to bed because for some reason he was totally exhausted. Unfortunately when he woke up he was in the muggle hospital again.

"What am I doing back here Draco?" he demanded.

"Excuse me father? We've just come back from the dental surgery. You have to go back tomorrow and you can take that potion every time you go. As long as you keep healing this way and going to your appointments they think you might be able to leave in another couple of weeks or so."

"Why do we have to come back here every time? I have a perfectly good manor."

"You need to be completely better before you can leave. They said that should be soon though" Draco replied.

"Excellent, once I get my magic back you'll see why the Malfoys are feared."

"I have to go now Father, but I'll see you tomorrow."

Lucius said nothing, already plotting his first day of freedom.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Draco wanted to see Bradley. He wanted to know exactly what that potion was. It had affected his father so radically that Draco almost wanted to check it was still him.

"Ah Draco, glad you could come. Take a seat" Bradley greeted the blond.

"What was that potion you gave me? It turned my father into a different man!"

"I thought it might" the sergeant replied with a smirk.

"So what does it do? And can I have some more? We have to go again tomorrow."

"It causes the drinker to believe they have moved to a different place, more suited to their perceived needs. Everything in the disliked area is turned into something they would prefer it to be. In reality, it's just a calming draught mixed with a specific hallucinogenic. Not magical by nature so perfectly acceptable in this situation."

Bradley looked over at Draco lost in deep thought. It hadn't been entirely the young man's fault he had ended up in this situation, perhaps he could be redeemed.

"I know it's only lunchtime but can I get you a whisky?" Bradley asked.

"Yeah, why not" Draco replied. It had been one hell of a morning.

With the whisky Draco started chatting to Bradley's questions. Draco found that the man liked Quidditch, he knew muggle potions and he hadn't lost touch with the magical world. It was nice to have someone to chat to that he didn't have to hide from - did it really matter if the man couldn't do magic himself?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The following day Lucius took the phial with more eagerness. It was even the same dentist in the long white robe again! This time the man asked him several questions and did lots of work inside his mouth with various wands but always told him that it would feel better when he had finished. For some reason, Lucius believed him.

A compliant patient and a lack of insults made Brian much happier as he worked through another extraction. The peace was particularly relieving. Whoever made that stuff Draco forced down the man's throat deserved a knighthood in Brian's opinion. If the sessions carried on like this he could be done by the end of the week and then he would take his family on holiday.

Two extractions and a crown later, Draco took his father back to the ward to wait for him to sleep off the effects of the potion. There were still at least three more sessions to get through but Draco was optimistic that they might actually manage it and his father might finally be cured.

It was in their final session that Brian brought up a different point. The infection had been treated and this was the last assessment to check if Lucius could be discharged.

"Did you know your father has an overbite?" Brian queried.

"I didn't" Draco replied slowly. "Can you fix it?"

"Certainly, but it's not life threatening or relevant to this course of treatment so he would be seen separately as an outpatient."

"Ok... So we'd have to come back?"

"I'm afraid so. But with that wonderful drink it shouldn't be a problem, should it?" Brian winked.

"True. How quickly can it be done?"

"It depends. Anything from a year upwards I'd say."

"A year?!" Draco spluttered.

"You'd only have to come to the surgery every six weeks or so, so it's not all the time."

"And my father needs this?"

"In order to be discharged, no. But it will make his life easier in the long run and help the treatments along."

"Ok. I'll talk to him and my mother about it and let you know."

"Good idea. Well done by the way. It can't have been easy looking after your father like this." Brian put his arm around Draco's shoulders. "I think, if he could, he would be proud of you. He should be proud of you."

"Th-thanks" Draco choked out. "But I don't think he'll ever be proud of me."

"Well then he can't see how fortunate he is to have a son like you. Keep going lad, you'll make a fine man one day."

Draco smiled weakly and then with a final wave, escorted his father from the room.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It appeared that just as Draco has news for his mother, his mother had news for him. Lucius was due to be released from hospital the following day so the two were planning for it.

"Do you remember one of the earliest procedures your father underwent was to check every piece of magic cast on him in the last few years?" Narcissa asked.

"Yes, he was particularly annoyed at how long the wait was for the results" Draco replied.

"Indeed. Well the results came back today. Seems like he was hit with a tampered magic repelling charm and a tooth decay curse. From what the analysts have been able to interpret, any magic will make his problems worse until three separate issues are solved by muggle means."

Draco groaned. He could see where this was going. He was going to need more of that potion from Bradley.

"But with him coming home tomorrow after so many muggle treatments, it should have cleared up!" Narcissa continued brightly.

"No mother" Draco replied with a sigh. "You said separate issues. Most of Father's conditions were caused by making the tooth infection worse. So all of that is still only one problem. Dr Reynolds did say that he'd filled a tooth that must been causing Father pain for many years, so that's probably two and I know the third but neither of you will like it."

"Go on" said Narcissa, grim faced.

"He's got an overbite and needs braces." At her blank look he continued. "Two tracks of metal stuck to the teeth and tightened over time to make the teeth move."

"That's barbaric!" Narcissa shrieked. "They can't do that!"

"And it takes a year."

"A year?! Surely we can pay them to do it quicker than that" Narcissa replied, turning pale.

"Doctor Reynolds said anything from a year upwards."

"Do we have to?"

Draco nodded. "If we want our lives back" he said. "At least we know what not to do now."

Narcissa let out a shaky breath. "Merlin, how are we going to explain this to your father, not least that he has to spend a year without magic!"

"I know how mother, let me handle him."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Lucius did return home late in the evening of the following day he was accompanied by two aurors. Lucius was not bound in any way but there was no mistaking the reason for such an escort.

"Mrs Malfoy, may we come in?" one auror asked.

"If you must. Come through to the drawing room."

"Mrs Malfoy I don't know how much you know, but your husband has been convicted of some very serious crimes" the auror started once they were settled.

"My husband has been in hospital for nearly three months, our lawyer will-"

"Mr Malfoy's trial was three weeks ago and he attended it in person ma'am" the auror interrupted smoothly. "His lawyer was there and due legal procedure was followed."

Narcissa looked hard at Lucius. "I see" she said eventually. "I assume by your appearance in our manor now, the Wizengamot voted against him?"

"Yes ma'am although a sentencing bargain was offered and accepted. Upon Mr Malfoy's release from hospital, the sentence was reviewed as the bargain dictated. Mr Malfoy's magic has been bound for the period of at least a year and he is to cooperate with any investigations Dr Granger requests, be they criminal or otherwise. Any deviation from this will see his sentence returned to be life in Azkaban. We will be making frequent visits. Good day Mrs Malfoy, Mr Malfoy."

The family heard the front door click as they stood in shocked silence. Eventually Draco spoke.

"Well that solves the magic problem then."

The corners of Narcissa's mouth twitched ever so slightly whereas Lucius glared at his son. As the evening drew on and Lucius was told about their findings, he realised that there truly were things worse than death. Maybe, just maybe he shouldn't be so cruel to mudbloods - to their faces at least. They did indeed know of terrors worse than he could have imagined.

This thought cropped up again and again over the following months. Every time he had an appointment with the orthodontist it seemed worse than the last. Disguised aurors made sure he behaved himself, and their shock spells caught him when he didn't. The aurors refused to let him take the potion he had in hospital, so he was forced to endure the process completely. The Grangers decided that this was enough humiliation for the blond aristocrat and decided not to press charges for which the Malfoys were thankful.

After the year was up, Lucius regained the use of his magic but it was monitored and he had to be able to account for every spell cast. Any illegal magic was a one way ticket to Azkaban. His braces took just eleven months to manage the realignment he required but Narcissa made sure he wore the retainer every night afterwards.

Lucius had not at all enjoyed his forced time as a muggle, or the "barbaric" treatment methods they used, but it did make him slightly more wary of them. You just never knew just which one would be hiding a dentist friend.