Hey everyone!
First of all I want to say a great big thank you to everyone who read my stories last month. It means so much to me to be able to write stories that y'all love to read and enjoy. Secondly I can only apologise about the delay in the beginning of the month updates. Work has been draining and I didn't have the energy to update after work but I have a few days off now so getting these up now I can.
Say safe.
Lots of love,
LSH xxx
Finally Belonging Somewhere-Part 94:
"Lucius Abraxas Malfoy…" Priscilla said as she caused Lucius and Narcissa to look up at the use of his full name, "what are you not telling me? Don't bother trying to lie either because your wife will buckle and tell me if you don't," she added with a smirk and she looked at her daughter-in-law who squeezed Lucius' hand and nodded softly.
"I think you should just tell her Luc. She'll end up seeking me out later and then I'll end up telling her anyway," Narcissa said and Lucius sighed.
"We think that Aurora would be better up there where she can be far freer than she is here. The Greengrasses have far more land than we do and she needs that rather a lot," Lucius said and watched as his mother nodded, "Astoria's aunt Janet… Jen… is a Healer, both magical and Muggle. She thinks that she'll be to understand Aurora better than the Healers have been able to discover."
"What do you mean?" Priscilla asked as she looked at her son.
"Jen thinks some of Aurora's medical issues are non-magical rather than magical and she's trained to be able to identify both of them and that means that she may be able to help us better with Aurora and what she needs."
"We don't understand what Janet means but she'll explain anything to us and how to help Aurora with anything that she will need help with," Narcissa said, "we aren't really sure what Aurora could have but we trust Janet on this one. We have to do what is best for Aurora."
Priscilla nodded as she sipped on her tea before thinking softly,
"I can see why you wish to do that and because she'll be exploring new places Janet can assess her without arousing Aurora's suspicions. I'm guessing that's your plan as well." A nod came from Narcissa and then she looked up at Priscilla,
"Astoria also has cousins that are a little younger than Aurora as well so Jen will be able to see how they all are together. It'll help as well," she said before sighing softly, "I just want her to be a normal child and have everything she's been deprived of for so long. She's a Malfoy and been through so much already in her life."
"Everything will be ok in the end and she'll have that normal childhood. It's just taking a little while for her to get there but, once she is on the correct path, she'll thrive and then be able to do everything she's always wanted to do," Priscilla said, "she's finally settling down at school which is something we all thought she'd struggle with…"
"Only because Draco and Charlotte and the Greengrass Sisters are there helping her. If she didn't have them then I'm not sure she'd be settling down at all," Lucius said as he looked at his mother and then smiled softly, "I do understand what you mean though," he said before silence fell as everyone finished their cups of tea and Narcissa silently poured some more.
"How is it going with her immune system? I know some work has been started there," Priscilla said, biting her lip and Lucius would have chuckled if the conversation hadn't been as serious as it was clear where his wife had picked up the habit from.
"She's lacking a lot of the basic things that she should have and it's slow trying to identify it all but Jen is hoping to be able to do something the Muggles call a blood test and that will instantly tell Jen what Aurora is lacking so we can tackle each other in the best way possible," Narcissa said before rising from her seat, "excuse me whilst I go and see where the sandwiches are," she said before walking out of the room.
As soon as she was out of sight Lucius sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"Speak now," Priscilla said and Lucius sighed once more.
"I'm worried that she's overdoing it," he said as he looked at his mother, "I mean the whole Healer to our daughter, school Healer and mother to our children… especially now we're starting to discover that things are far more complex with Aurora than we first thought.
Priscilla sat back in her chair and thought about what Lucius had said and he could see the concern there for is wife and she nodded,
"I was wondering that myself, especially after the tiredness overcame her the other day. I think, maybe, she could do with taking a step back and just being the school Healer and focus on being a mother to Draco and Aurora instead of being Aurora's Healer as well," she said pausing for a moment, "the lines are getting blurred and it's becoming too much for Cissa to cope with," she said.
"But then who would take Cissa's place? The only other person Cissa trusts is Healer Jones and obviously Jen…" Lucius asked.
"You've already answered your own question there my son. Jen. If Aurora's problems are both magical and non-magical then you are going to need to have both sides covered. You already said that Jen knows both magical and non-magical healing so that would be a huge help if that is the case," Priscilla said, "I really think that you should consider putting the idea to her."
"Put the idea to me about what?" Narcissa asked as she came back in with a platter of sandwiches, cakes and a fresh pot of tea before raising her eyebrow at Lucius.
She sat down and the obvious silence that she was receiving said that it was something the two were nervous about suggesting to her.
"You're so tired with trying to do everything… especially with Aurora that it might be an idea if you took a step back and focused on being the Healer at Hogwarts and a mother to Draco and Aurora," Lucius said and almost choked on a sandwich as he put it into his mouth quickly to distract himself from what he wife was doing.
"Why do you think that would be a good idea? Who would take my place?" Narcissa asked, unable to decide if Lucius was right or if she was angry at him for even suggesting the idea.
"Because you're so tired… tired to the point where you virtually collapsed last night," Lucius said, "if Aurora's got non-magical problems as well as magical then Jen would be the best one to help and take over from you. You'd then be more free to act as Pomfrey's assistant and able to help Aurora at school but also to be the mother she needs. She's been apart from us all these years and she needs her mother."
"She also needs a Healer…" Narcissa said.
"She has Healer Jones and probably soon Jen but what she needs above all of that is her mother… not one who is exhausted all the time or one that she sees as a Healer but a proper mother to tell her that everything is OK.. or that it will be, who loves her and does things with her that she's never had. She needs Narcissa the mother and not Narcissa the Healer," Priscilla said, "you care deeply about her and that's understandable Cissa but she needs her parents now more than ever and the lines are blurred because you are also her healer."
Narcissa sat in silence as she began to process everything her husband and mother-in-law had told her. She had to know what was happening with her daughter… that part would never quieten down had she been not been her Healer as well. Yet part of her knew that she needed to know what was happening with her daughter at the same time.
"I don't ever want to be shut out from the Healer side of things with my daughter but I can also see your concern as well," Narcissa said after a pause and she sighed softly.
"You won't. You'd still have access to all of that but something has to give and I don't want our daughter losing her mother to lose her mother," Lucius said as he held his wife's hand in his own, "for Aurora's sake let Jen take over."
Narcissa sighed as she looked down at her lap, a thousand thoughts swirling around in her head and she thought for minute after minute about everything that had been said before finally looking at her husband.
"OK fine. For Aurora's sake then but if I am shut out from knowing things that I should then I will be her Healer once more," she said.
"You won't be shut out Cissa. I promise you won't," Lucius said, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief, happy that Narcissa could understand where he was coming from.