Bright

-17-

Trigger Warning - possible mentions of rape/assault, possible mentions of blood

Elle woke up in a daze, greeted by the smile of Narcissa and a nice cup of tea with honey and milk. There was a sharp pain that greeted her head whenever she woke, but it quickly wore off. She sat up and graciously took the cup from Narcissa's hands, which were unusually cold.

"Are you feeling okay, dear?"

"Yeah," she said, "How long was I out?"

"Only a few hours," Narcissa said plainly.

"How did I pass out? I mean, it was just a scrape to the finger."

"Well it was more than just a cut, it took me an hour to heal, unfortunately, the scar remains." She said.

"That's fine, what's a little..." Elle looked at her finger to see a deep scar that ran from the top of her finger to the crease in between her thumb. She was startled by the sheer size of it. "Scar."

"Yeah, it can be touched up cosmetically whenever your skin fully heals." Narcissa said.

Elle nodded her head and took a sip of her warm tea, which was a great refresher.

"Lucius is going to take you back to school in a few hours. You will floo to Snape's office and go straight to your room. You need to rest."

"Narcissa," Elle started,

"No, Elle. You will listen to me."

"Okay," Elle said, throwing her free hand up in surrender. She didn't understand why Narcissa was freaking out over a finger scrape, but she knew better than to question it.

"I'm sorry." Narcissa says, "I just want you to be safe." Narcissa gave a smile while patting Elle's hand gently. She got up from the bed and headed towards the door.

"Mippy will bring your meal up to you." Narcissa said, nodding her head and exiting the room.

Elle sat in utter confusion. She brushed Narcissa's awkward behavior off as a protective mechanism, thinking it would give her peace of mind.

She decided that she would go back to bed, she didn't want to keep her questions raging. She laid her head back down onto her silk pillow, setting her tea down on the nightstand. She saw her photo, the one that brought her so much comfort in her hardest times. She saw the pink blanket that her dad clutched onto, smiling down at her baby face.

Looking at the photo brought her heart equal parts joy and pain. She wished that she had her father here now, to comfort her like he did when she was a wee child. But, he isn't. And he won't ever be.

* * * * * * * *

Narcissa shut the door quietly to ensure that Elle was not startled by her exit. After she removed her cold, trembling hand from the door knob, she made her way past all of the Malfoy paintings, who gave her a nasty snarl.

"What did you do to our grandson"

"They're just kids!"

The paintings shouted harshly. Narcissa tried to ignore them as she made her way down the hall all of the way to Lucius' study. She was abruptly stopped by the portrait that made it a habit of meddling in the business of the Malfoy's.

"Narcissa, what is happening?" Guinevere asked the trembling woman.

"Guinevere, now is not a good time, we'll chat later." Narcissa said running past the portrait and opening the door to the study.

Lucius had kept his study pristine and in peak condition. With the wood being old and rugged, the books dating back over a thousand years, he had to be tidy. It was the one constant that he could have.