Hey everyone!
Happy June! I think we can all agree that this Leap Year has been a mad one and yet I think it's still going to be crazy for a while yet but hang in there! We're all surviving and that is something we can be proud of really. We'll remember this year for a lot of reasons and we will never forget the year that was 2020.
Stay safe!
Lots of love,
LM xxx
Finally Belonging Somewhere-Part 71:
Lucius arrived at Hogwarts just after breakfast and spent some time with Narcissa. The two hadn't been able to see each other as Lucius had been at the Ministry of Magic late so Narcissa hadn't been back to the Manor. The two spent some time together before they decided to go and look for Draco and Aurora.
Oddly the little group that had formed were not together at the lake and that concerned Narcissa and she retrieved Draco and then looked at him.
"Where's Aurora? You never let her out of your sight…" Narcissa said, worried about her daughter, "Charlotte's here as well. Where is she?"
"She said something about the library," Charlotte said, "I'm sure she's OK."
Narcissa didn't wait after that and soon turned on her heels and hurried back towards the Castle.
"Narcissa…" Albus said.
"Forgive me Albus but I need to find my daughter," Narcissa said before tracing the steps to the library. She knew them well from her days at the school.
She walked into the library and looked at Madam Pince, who came rushing over to Narcissa.
"She's curled up with a book," she said pointing to the chair, "I kept her where I could see her."
"Thank you Irma," Narcissa said, "can she have the book?"
"Bring it here and I'll log it," the librarian said and Narcissa nodded before she headed over to her daughter.
"Aurora sweetheart. It's time to go out for the meal now. Madam Pince said you can have the book but she needs to sign it out to you," Narcissa explained softly, her anger melting away as she saw that Aurora wasn't hurt.
"OK mummy," Aurora said as she picked up her book and walked over to the desk and soon had the book in her folded arms and she walked down to the entrance hall with Narcissa and saw Draco and Lucius and she stayed close to Narcissa.
"We just need to walk beyond the wards and then we can apparate," Lucius said before he led the way down to the gates speaking with Draco before watching as Aurora held her book close to her. He would ask her what the book was about and then he stopped as they arrived at the gates.
Lucius looked at his wife and she looked back at him. Apparation wasn't Aurora's strongest point and they didn't want her to get separated from them as they went. He scooped his daughter into his arms and Narcissa and Draco grabbed onto his arms and they apparated to London.
Aurora was placed back on the floor and she looked around and realised where they were. She held onto her mother's hand and smiled as she walked with her family to the selected restaurant that Lucius had picked out for the meal.
"Aurora why don't we put your book away and you can show us it after we've decided on our meal?" Draco said before he could put the book in Aurora's unicorn bag.
They walked into the restaurant and were shown to the table in the corner. Narcissa had asked for it just in case anything happened. She knew everyone would be watching them and she didn't want anyone to judge her daughter because she wasn't a typical Malfoy. That didn't bother Narcissa but she knew that others would judge her just because of her name.
Once their orders had been taken the parents looked at their children and knew that now was the moment that they needed to explain what the meal was over.
"Well as you both know Aurora took a test the other week and we had the results and that is why we are having this meal," Lucius said, "because we are so proud of your Aurora. You have made progress and have learnt new things! That's great!"
Draco broke into a smile and he looked at her,
"That's great! I'm so proud of you!" he said before his smile faded as expected Aurora burst into tears.
"I don't want to get better because you'll send me away because I am better," she cried before Narcissa rushed to comfort her daughter.
"No my little love," Narcissa said as she brushed Aurora's hair back from her face, "you're not going anywhere. Just because you get better and smarter that doesn't mean we are going to send you away. I wish you'd somehow understand that your home is with us and it always should have been." She took a look at Lucius, who watched with sadness in his eyes. Years of being in care meant Aurora probably didn't really understand the word home. Come to think of it he'd never heard her call the orphanage home once, just 'the orphanage'.
Narcissa stayed close to Aurora and soothed her before seeing that tears had stopped flowing and she placed a gentle kiss on her daughter's forehead before retaking her seat next to Lucius and had a long sip of her wine.
Silence fell as a pause and refreshments were had before Lucius turned to his children.
"So as well as the plan for your mother and her Healer position we also discussed that Aurora will be at the next Quidditch training," he said.
"What? Why? How will that benefit her in the long run?" Draco asked.
"Because she doesn't understand the game but may be able to see things that you don't. Slytherin is suffering and there's time to rectify that but maybe Aurora will spot something that nobody else can see," Narcissa explained, "also Astoria has volunteered to explain things that she needs to know. We believe this could help her use parts of her mind that she's never used before," she said.
"Well I guess that could work," Draco said as he looked at Aurora, who was reading her book again already, "I mean anything to help her to catch up right?"
"That's what we were thinking. If it's too much for her then we simply stop," Lucius said, "but we will never know unless we try," he said and Draco nodded in agreement. He would help his sister no matter what that took.