Chapter 21: Suspended

Narcissa Malfoy rarely lost her composure in public, but she was doing all she could to hold it together at Hogwarts just now.

She could not believe Draco had gotten suspended for having a fight with the Longbottom heir of all things. She didn't know who she was angry with her son or the headmaster right now.

She grimaced as she thought of the conversation she had with Dumbledore a couple of minutes ago about Longbottom's behavior after Draco had been sent back to his dorm room to grab his belongings before they headed back to the manor. She was just glad Harry was staying at Andromeda's for the time being, the last thing she needed today was to introduce the boys after Draco had been suspended of all things.

Not that his suspension was over by a long a shot.

"I'm asking for lenience, Narcissa." Dumbledore asked in regards to Longbottom.

"Healer Black," She stated.

Dumbledore gave her an odd look.

"We are not close," she said. "You can refer to me by my professional name."

"I am sorry, Madame Malfoy." Dumbledore said not wanting to even dignify her professionally.

She wasn't surprised. Most people didn't. It was funny how many people just thought she was Lucius's dump socialite wife when she was renowned in her field.

"And why should I give it?" She snapped, "You didn't give it to Draco. And don't you dare try to pin this on the dead."

She knew she was in for the diatribe of how Neville was affected by the evil misdeeds of her sister. Dumbledore was fairly predictable and he was the so called leader of the light.

Leader of the light. She hated that fucking term. Used to there was just magic before that idiot Riddle took over. Yes, some magic was darker in nature than others, but the world used to not be this fucking polarized where if you read a few dark tomes you weren't deemed instantly evil.

She really was in no mood for this bullshit.

Dumbledore sighed. "I'm sorry for your loss. But…."

"You're not," she said. "I'm surprised you didn't throw a party for Augusta when she died. I noticed you didn't send us your condolences."

Albus grimaced.

Good. That stung.

"Be that as it may, surely you can emphasize with how the boy feels."

"I cannot," she said. "I would've thought after what happened this fall, Gryffindor would've learned their lessons about bullying others."

"But your son…"

"Yes?"

Dumbledore sighed, "Surely, you don't want to cause waves with Augusta."

"Lucius is more than willing to deal with Augusta," she snapped before adding, "and you if the situation is not properly resolved."

Dumbledore sighed before stating, "I will take that into consideration, but as of now the suspension still stands. It is what your husband agreed to in the board. You should ask him about it."

"Oh, trust me, we'll be discussing it."

"What is it, Mother?" Draco sighed when he noticed her presence in the dormitories

"A word, Draco." She said trying not to show her disgust for the state his room currently was in. She understood Hogwarts had house elves but he could at least not throw his laundry on the floor like a barbarian.

He rolled his eyes, "Was I just suppose to let the Fat Lump attack me without defending myself?"

"Was there anyway to defuse the situation?" She asked.

"I…." Draco frowned. "Maybe. I don't know."

"You leave if there's an option," She stated. "I understand wanting to defend yourself, but you're a Slytherin not a Gryffindor, Draco. It's time you started acting like one."

"But he would've…"

"Would've what? You always say Longbottom is useless with his wand. Your cutting curse certainly did more damage than his did. It was his fist that got you. Had you thought things out, your nose wouldn't have been broken. You wouldn't have been suspended."

He grimaced. "But it's…you saw how unfair it was?"

She rolled her eyes knowing he was referring to McGonagall. "Yes, I did. And no thanks to you make the situation worse with your constant insults. As I have mentioned to you several times before you need to have tact, especially when it comes to dealing with your professors"

"I didn't even say anything to Longbottom when he was staring at me and making those comments all week."

"But did you react today?" She said knowing what Daphne Greengrass had said that apparently had caused the whole situation to grow out of hand.

Inwardly, she smirked at the remark Greengrass had made. It was something she herself would've done in school not that she'd tell her son that. Draco needed to grow the fuck up.

He glared at her. "I don't deserve it. Because your crazy sister…"

A part of her wanted to slap him, but she didn't. She wasn't like Mother. Instead, a silencing spell took care of it.

"Don't." She said, "Don't speak ill of the dead and of people you have never met. Do you understand?"

Yes, she knew that her son didn't know that her sister wasn't the crazy killer that everyone made her out to be, but regardless she did not want to hear another bad word about Bellatrix especially from him.

Draco nodded his head and she removed the spell.

"You're to tell me or your father if there is anymore bullying," Narcissa said. "And in addition to your suspension and detentions I want you to work on an essay about tact."

Draco groaned. "I already have so many essays already…really, Mother?"

"Really." She said before they went home.

Lucius Malfoy never missed his anniversary.

He knew a lot of men did, especially in arranged marriages like his own. But he loved his wife.

It also helped that their anniversary was easy enough to remember since it was on Valentine's Day.

They hadn't exactly picked the date themselves. It had been forced on them by their parents like everything else in their married life, but it was sort of kismet.

Every year he made sure that Narcissa had the best Valentine's Day possible.

Only this year…well, his plans were crashing down due to a lot of factors.

The first was the "death" of her sister. He frowned thinking of the whole Bellatrix situation. Blasted blood contract. He wanted to talk to Narcissa especially about that potion the ministry wanted her sister to take.

The effects seemed awfully familiar to what had happened to the crazy ass bitch and Black all those years ago. Of course, asking Amelia about it was next to impossible, in a few days he likely wouldn't remember it himself though he tried to write himself some cryptic clues that would bypass the bloody blood contract.

He only hoped he could pick them up later after Bellatrix took the potion. He still wasn't looking forward to that day even though Bellatrix had agreed to the deal.

Sometimes he really hated his job.

He knew Narcissa and him had stuff they had to keep from the other, but he knew the sort of crap he had been dealing was the sort of stuff he did not want to keep from his wife.

And that was only the tip of the iceberg…Draco.

He sighed heavily thinking about the nice little chat he was going to have with Dumbledore tomorrow about his son's suspension. Augusta Longbottom be damned his son was not going to have a suspension on his record for defending himself. He had been disgusted when Narcissa had told him what happened and it had ruined what was otherwise going to be a very nice night. Andromeda had even been generous enough to let Harry stay with her, though she had been wanting him to stay with her and Ted for a while.

"Lucius?"

Even exhausted she looked breathtaking. He was surprised how much he missed the dark hair. It and it's shorter cut emphasized her eyes. She looked too tempting; despite the fact she was wearing a bathrobe not the lacy negligee he had hoped she'd be wearing tonight. The negligee he wanted to rip off of her as soon as he saw her in it. Tantalizing minx.

"Are you okay?"

She shrugged. "Our son is going to be the death of me."

"I'll get it all sorted," he said.

"Draco needs to learn to control his mouth," she said. "I was hoping…"

"He's eleven," he said as he started to massage her shoulders. She felt so tense.

"He can't have a suspension on his record," She said. "Even with the Malfoy name…"

"He won't," He said. "I'll make sure the headmaster knows that no tolerance doesn't include the victim soon enough."

"And Augusta?"

"She and her fat lump of a grandson can rot in hell," he said. He was really getting quite sick of dealing with the old biddy. If it hadn't been for her maybe, just maybe he wouldn't be blood adopting the crazy ass bitch as a member of his family.

Fucking blood adopting Bellatrix Lestrange. He still couldn't believe it.

"I agree, but she's a powerful player in the ministry like it or not." Narcissa pointed out.

"I thought you hated talking politics," he said fingering the sash of her robe wanting desperately to untie it.

Narcissa laughed, "But you do. But not tonight. Your mind is certainly elsewhere."

"Why, yes, it is," he said. "While our original plans for tonight might be delayed there's no need to further delay celebrating our anniversary…"

He never got to remove the robe. Narcissa did it for him.

Head trauma was a funny thing. At least that's what Aunt Andromeda told him as he tried to reconcile that he didn't feel like the boy he was supposed to be.

He didn't feel brave.

He didn't feel like the sort of kid who'd go after a troll. All he wanted to do was read—though it really was all he could do in part—when he wasn't thinking about his life. Or what he thought his life was. And his mum. He always thought about her these days.

"It might be a subconscious thing," His aunt said. "You may be trying to repress the part of you that got hurt."

"I just don't know why I'd do it," he said. "I've never been that brave or that reckless. At least I don't think I was ever that way. I always picked my battles with the Dursleys in the past."

The only thing remotely reckless he could remember doing was trying to hide his letter from Hogwarts from Uncle Vernon, but the way he went about it was hardly like confronting a fully grown mountain troll.

He had seen the pictures of one of those beasts and it was amazing he had survived.

"They said you were trying to help someone," His aunt said. "Is that something you think you might do."

He shrugged. He wasn't sure. He'd like to say yes, but it wasn't exactly like he never really had anyone to help before. And it wasn't like he was really friends with this Hermione Granger girl from what he was told.

The boy who died, Ronald, was apparently his friend. But he remembered nothing at all about him. The boy's picture even looked strange to him as he told his aunt.

He was told it was unlikely he'd ever recover any of those memories he had had before the attack or if he did they'd just be bits and pieces. Occasionally, he thought he'd read or heard something before, but the feelings were just vague at best.

"There's no need to be frustrated," Aunt Andromeda said noticing the look on his face. "I'm sure you had your reasons, and they made sense at the time. The fact that you seem more cautious now is a good thing."

"I just…I just can't believe I did that."

"It's not just what happened with the troll is it?" Andromeda asked knowing he was upset about his mum.

His mum and dad really.

His dad hadn't contacted him since the day he told him about Mum. His aunts told him he was dealing with a lot, but at the same time Harry wanted his lone parent. He wondered if he didn't care about him anymore because Mum was dead. It seemed so stupid yet…yet that was how he felt.

"You know you can talk to me, Harry," Aunt Andromeda said.

"I know," He said before adding, "He hasn't picked up his mirror."

Andromeda sighed heavily knowing just who he was referring to.

"Harry you know…." Then she stopped herself. "I will talk to him."

"I just want to know if he's okay," He said. He honestly was worried about his dad. They had said his mum was fine and then…and then she died.

He didn't want to lose another parent. Not that he even thought he had parents until months ago. But from the couple of letters he and Sirius had exchanged, he missed the man.

Bern, Switzerland

Andromeda frowned as she flooed into her cousin's rehab facility. A part of her wanted to give the man some space, he was grieving after all, but she had just been with a little boy who was in desperate need of a father and like it or not Sirius needed to man up for him.

The past couple of weeks really had just been awful.

Bella's death had been plastered all over the news and it had been a slow enough news week for them to relive all her worst moments. Never mind that no one was interested in writing up how a muggle was capable of killing a witch of all things in Azkaban. No one even mentioned Petunia Dursley other than that she was a casualty as well in the events that occurred on the island.

Casualty. She was a bloody murderer. Aided by the ministry in Andromeda's point of view. She knew Narcissa said Lucius was already investigating the death, but she had half a mind to get Ted involved even though she knew he was busy dealing with that poor Granger girl's case.

The treatment they were using on her was touch and go at best of times. She at least was recognizing people and things, but the littlest amount of stress could trigger a relapse. Last month she had lasted only a couple of days before transforming back. If it wasn't for the use of constant calming droughts she was pretty sure she'd still be in that cage eating corn. Hell, she could be back in the cage in her next shift if the past couple of months was any indicator. As it was, she was currently on several potions and likely to be in the long-term facility for a while until they got her stabilized.

Andromeda didn't know if that mother would let the girl ever go back to Hogwarts. Or if she even could Not that she blamed her with she had to endure, though the ministry's laws would likely prevent Emma Granger from pulling her out entirely or at least without jumping through a few hoops if the girl could still attend.

She shook her head realizing she almost bumped into someone.

"I'm sorry," She said as she turned to see a tall man that looked oddly familiar.

She frowned trying to place where she had seen him before turning towards the nursing station and asking where her cousin's suite was.

Yes, suite.

Or penthouse suite in the case of Sirius since the ministry was trying to go up and above in order to appease him for being wrongfully locked up for ten years.

The place was ridiculous, she thought when she entered the rooms Sirius was staying at.

"That was fast, Moony," She heard a voice from another room say. "I must really be slow it's usually a much longer walk to the….Andi?"
"Sirius."

He looked way too thin was her first thought. Thinner than when she saw him last. He was wearing lounging pajamas not a big surprise since she was pretty sure he was in condition to go outside which was a shame because he used to love to ski. Or at least loved to ski with Bella.

"I'm…." He said, "I'm sorry, I'm really not great company today. Moony insisted on coming but…"

"Moony?"

"An old friend," He said as he looked at her. "Why are you here? I told Cissy that I needed space. You look…."

"Too much like her," She said knowing the resemblance was uncanny. It probably was now with Cissy too since her hair was back to being black.

He nodded. "I'm not in a good place right now. Even worse than before."

"Is that why you're not answering Harry's calls?" She said deciding to be blunt.

He grimaced realizing that was why she was here. "He's upset, isn't he? You don't need to answer that. I….I haven't been in a good place to talk to him. The healers have upped my dosage and the only reason I'm even out of bed is because of Moony."

"He's your son, Sirius. He is grieving as well." She stated, "I think he's afraid of losing you."

"I…I will try to pick up next time he calls, Andi. I just…"

"At least write him a letter," She said. "He's your son. Her son. She would want you to take care of him."

He nodded and she noticed his hands were shaking.

"It's a side effect," he said noticing her staring. "It was worse before, though I sort of had relapse since…"

She nodded her head. "You have to get well for him, Siri."

He nodded as she heard someone come into the suite. "The nurses were asking why you weren't down there. Really, Padfoot….Andromeda?"

She then realized who the man she had bumped into was. "Remus Lupin."

Emma Granger frowned as she looked at the list of potions that was being shown to her in regards to her daughter. It was obscene with how many medications they had her on and as Healer Chang explained it was likely she'd have to be on said potions for the rest of her life.

"Right now anything can potentially trigger a transformation," The mind healer said. "Stress is not good for her."

Emma grimaced knowing that was the truth. Hermione had struggled staying human for more than a couple of days. Although, she had initially been able to transform back and recognize her the mention of the troll incident had her turning back into a rat two days later. Her medication had been updated but they had to keep things extremely calm around her.

"At some point she is going to have to come to terms with what happened though, right?" She asked Chang.

Chang nodded. "Correct, but she's not going to be able to face it if she can fade back to being…"

"Being a rat," Emma said grimacing. "And there's no way to stop the change?"

"Healer Black would probably be a better healer to ask that question," Chang said. "I just deal with the psychological aspects, but stress is a trigger for the transformation."

"It's her crutch." Emma stated.

Chang nodded. "The medication should help ease things and then I want to start some occlumency exercises with her. If she's able to control her mind, she might be able to control some of the racing thoughts she's having when she's aware."

She frowned realizing Chang had been reading her daughter's mind even though she knew it was all a part of the mind healing process. Honestly, she still found this world to be creepy.

Probably in part because she associated with her creepy family.

She grimaced thinking of Petey. He was in a cell near where those women died. Apparently, he got burned in the incident. Lost his eyebrows and some of his hair apparently, nothing too substantial—pity.

He of course was making a mountain out of a molehill and was mad when she had told his solicitors that she wasn't paying for him to sue the ministry. Or any of his legal bills really.

No. Not one cent on that fucker.

The only reasons he even had lawyers for his criminal case was the magical government paid for that. She was even working with Ted to take over the family accounts. At the very least they might be able to help Hermione with her schooling.

If she ever went back to school, at this point it looked like they might have to help her with the costs of all these potions.

It was fucking ridiculous.

"Mummy?"

"Yes, sweetie," she said.

Thank God she was her little girl. She'd be grateful for the full moon for that. By forcing her daughter to be herself.

Hermione at least was more aware this time during the transformation. Though she had no idea that almost a month had passed since Emma had last seen her.

"What are you reading?" Hermione said.

"Just work stuff," Emma lied as she took in her daughter.

Some of the potions were to lessen the effects the transformation had on her. Apparently, living as an animal for so long could sometimes have lasting detrimental effects. See Petey. One of the potions they were giving her now was to make sure her teeth weren't growing any larger and an appetite suppressor and metabolism stimulator.

She tried not to frown when she noticed that her daughter's teeth did appear a bit longer and she was also a bit plumper than she had been before. Her hair was also starting to grow back, she thought. Hermione would be happy about that at least. It seemed darker than she remembered more like her color than Remus's.

Hermione shook her head, "Where's Daddy?"

Emma tried not to frown when she thought of Dan. They had a big argument the other day. Mainly, because she hadn't been home at all, and he didn't understand why they couldn't just take Hermione to a normal doctor.

Needless to say, her marriage was on the rocks. Another catastrophe of the wizarding world. Not that she told Hermione any of this, "He's busy at work. He sends his love."

And he did. Dan did love Hermione for better or worse. He just didn't understand this life.

She really felt bad for them.

She felt bad for all of them.

Chapter 22: A potion is taken and a new identity is form as secrets about the Malfoy heritage come to light.