Harry Potter and the Rise of the Slytherin Prince

Summer memories continued

Two days later a black carriage apparated in front of the cottage and Lucius Malfoy stepped out with disdain for the quiet cottage and its owner. Nedra approached the carriage nodding to the cold man before turning to the young blond girl that emerged followed more slowly by a tall blond teenage boy. The boy hung back only taking a few limping steps from the carriage staying behind his sister with his eyes trained on the ground.

"I trust they will not be too much effort." Lucius glared at his children before leaning to Marsali to receive a formal peck on the cheek. He ignored Draco as he climbed back into the carriage after levitating the luggage to the front door. With a crack the carriage disappeared and with it some of the tension evaporated.

"Marsali, you have become a beautiful young woman." Nedra tightly embraced the girl before turning to her grandson. "Draco, what a strapping young man!"

She carefully hugged him knowing he was still sore from the injuries he had sustained but also knowing the siblings did not know of her visit with their godfather. She turned and led them into the house, turning as she opened the door to find Draco using a black cane half hidden behind his sister as he attempted to conceal his injury.

"Oh, this won't do at all. You are too young to be hobbling around like an old man. We'll get you fixed up in no time at all." Draco looked embarrassed but was swept into the cozy house behind his sister. She levitated their luggage to separate rooms and told him to change into shorts before setting Marsali to make tea with a regular muggle stove and kettle. The tea was ready by the time the sullen boy struggled from his room, the shorts clearly showing where the bone had broken the skin surrounded by bruises. Nedra shook her head and sighed before sitting Draco down on a window bench. She propped his leg up on a chair before sitting on a stool beside him to examine the leg.

"How did this happen?" Nedra probed firmly but gently as her grandson clenched the pillow top of the bench.

"I fell down the stairs about five days ago." Nedra looked up at him sharply at the lie with a frown on her face. He avoided her face but gazed unseeingly at the bruises on his leg.

"You can't lie to me Draco, I know you better than you know yourself and I know that beast you call father just as well." Draco started and looked at his grandmother with surprise. He took a deep breath while Nedra continued to watch his face intently. She sent her granddaughter out of the house to water the gardens, who only hesitated an instant before doing as she was told.

"I ripped a page in father's book..." She cut him off again immediately sensing the lie before he even finished. "Alright, Marsali ripped a page in father's book but I told him I did it so he wouldn't hurt her. He was so angry, he knew I was lying. He wouldn't stop."

Draco turned his face to the window as his voice cracked with anguish. Nedra stood and wrapped her arms around her grandson who fought the tears threatening to fall. He stayed rigid, refusing to give into the comfort of her embrace.

"I'm fine." He tried to push her away gently as he took a deep breath regaining control of himself. She took his face and forced him to look in her eyes.

"No you are not and I regret every day that I was unable to stop my daughter from marrying that brute. There is nothing wrong with crying and showing emotion when you have been so severely harmed by someone that should love you. Don't ever let that beast tell you what it is to be a man. He is not a man but a Neanderthal. You are better than that." She saw the tears starting to fill up in his eyes and he tried to pull away again. She pulled him into her embrace encouraging him to let it out until he relaxed into her and she heard the reluctant sobs overtake him. He cried for a long time as she rocked him, stroking his hair and whispering to him. Finally the sobs subsided and he sat up bleary eyed but his eyes had lost the cold detachment his father had tried to beat into him. "Feel better?"

Draco nodded and accepted tissues to blow his nose and wipe his eyes feeling empty at last from the sorrow and frustrations that had built up inside him. Nedra handed him a cup of tea before turning back to his leg. "The bone has not been mended straight. I am going to have to straighten it if you are ever going to walk properly without pain again."

She called Marsali into the house who took in with shock her brothers disheveled appearance. He gave her a weak smile before she would sit meekly at the table. They sipped their tea for a few moments before Nedra told Draco to move to a chair away from the wall but leaving his legs propped up on several chairs. "Marsali, you are going to have to hold his arms and shoulders back as best you can because this is going to hurt."

The teenage girl swallowed with trepidation but took her place behind her brother holding his arms and chest to the chair. Draco grabbed the sides of the chair as anxiety built in the pit of his stomach. Nedra said a spell and her patient felt a tingling in his upper leg as the bone became pliable.

"Ready? On three." Draco held his breath as Nedra took her place at his feet grasping either side of his leg carefully.

"One!" Nedra pulled on his leg sharply and pain coursed through his leg. He cried out in agony as Marsali tried in vain to hold his torso against the chair. Quickly Nedra probed his leg to ensure the bone was set properly and the same length of the other leg before removing the spell. Sweat beaded on Draco's face as he clenched his teeth at the continuing waves of pain.

"What happened to two and three?" Nedra smiled briefly at her grandson before applying a numbing cream to the afflicted area as Marsali let her brother go and took his hand.

"If people know exactly when it is coming they tense up and it hurts far more. If you are not expecting it, it does not hurt as much." The pain began to subside and Draco leaned back in his chair exhausted from the emotional and physical traumas of the day. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing over tea on the window seat as Nedra asked them about school, their friends and hobbies. By the end of the first day a close bond was formed belying the years of separation between them.