The Healer II- The Patient (Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

Chapter 10- Pediatrics

I returned to the Chateau the next day with a bag full of baby toys. I went to the Underground Wizard Mall in New York City and purchased magical stacking blocks that arranged themselves into all kinds of shapes, pacifiers that tasted like butterscotch, and for when the baby was a little bit older, some animated toy lizards that scurried around and changed colors.

Paisley was excited to lead me to the baby's room. She told me that "the little master is exceptionally stubborn today" and that the House Elves had exhausted themselves trying to get him to sleep.

The nursery room was much too grand for a child, with lots of open space and too little warmth. A single bassinet was in the middle of the room, and next to it was an exhausted Gingham playing what seemed to be a very tired game of peek-a-boo.

"Boo-a-peek," Gingham said in his strange accent, hiding his eyes with his small hands and then removing them. "Boo-a-peek!"

"I believe it's peek-a-boo," I corrected gently.

Gingham looked at me and rolled his eyes. "Feh. Little boy does not want to play boo-a-peek any longer," he grumbled.

I told Gingham it was alright for him to go ahead with his other household duties, and that I would spend some time with the baby. I peered down into the cradle, and saw wide, shining grey eyes look back up at me.

Even though I had seen the baby a few times since his birth, I hadn't really seen what he looked like up-close before. He was astoundingly cute. He was bald, rosy-cheeked, and as calm as he had been the day he was born.

We blinked at each other a few times, and I suddenly found myself with a smile on my face.

"Hiya there," I said in a sweet voice. The baby stared up at me, unamused and uninterested.

I glanced at Paisley. "He's rather serious, isn't he?" Like his father, I thought.

Paisley stood on her tiptoes around the bassinet. "Paisley thinks the little master is surprised to see a human face, and not a House Elf's."

My heart began to ache. His mother had been in a coma since the day he was born- I don't think Astoria ever even got the chance to hold him. And Draco, for some reason, left everything baby-related to the House Elves. I don't think I'd ever seen Draco in the same room as his son.

I looked back down at the baby, who was studying my face curiously. "You poor little thing," I said softly. "To never have felt the touch of a human..."

The baby fussed a little, and I worried that I did something wrong.

"The little master wants to be held," Paisley announced. Before I knew it, I was being handed the child, bundled in a cream colored cashmere blanket.

I had taken some mandatory courses on childcare for my Healer license, so I knew how to hold a child safely. I held the baby securely against my white healer robes with one hand cradling his head. He had gotten quite a bit bigger since I last saw him, but he was still very delicate and soft.

I tried not to let it show that I was nervous, so I smiled and began to gently sway from side to side. Almost instantly, his eyes closed, and he fell asleep.

"Oh, santé!" Paisley whispered. "Incredible!"

With a sleeping baby in my arms, I began to feel much more confident about my child-handling skills. I looked around the room for a place to sit, but there was none. It seemed no one was planning on nursing in this nursery, or even visiting for long enough to require a seat.

Quietly, I began to ask, "Paisley, may I have a chair-" but discovered the House Elf had disappeared. She likely needed some sleep herself.

"Alright," I whispered to the infant. "Just you and me, then."