The White Sparrow {Draco & Lucius x Reader}

chapter twenty nine - covert

"Please, stay still."

The electric shaver buzzed quietly against your hand as you held Lucius' face in place and slowly brought it up against his skin.

His patchy beard had long past it's stay, but he had been hesitant to go through with shaving it completely. His outer shell represented how he felt inside, and for him that was hard to let go of.

But that had been the least of your worries. To say things had been troublesome over the past month was an understatement.

Pulling him out of his madness had been much more difficult than expected.

The night terrors. The delusions.

How he terrifyingly clutched on to you at night, as if you would slip away again at any moment. The sudden shouting and thrashing and cries of pure fear.

You had long past the point of trying to discern the source of these terrors. There was such a number of horrors he'd endured amongst his time with Voldemort, and imprisoned at Azkaban.

But slowly things were getting better. Lucius was eating again, often present in this reality, and you graciously cherished every minute you got to spend with his old self.

The one you fell in love with.

"I feel like an absolute idiot," he murmured.

You carefully worked your way around his face and were just about finished as hair collected on the bathroom counter below you.

"I don't see why. You are nothing of the sort to me."

Your hand had raised to his face to brush away the excess hair, but he caught it before it could go any further.

"Look at me. Please, just look at me."

You did as asked and looked him in the eye, with no faltering. His grip loosened on your wrist as he stared at you wistfully, his lip quivering with tears about to fall.

"How can you look at me and see someone worthy of your affection? I lost any ounce of my dignity when I led you to believe our world was something else."

You sighed deeply. This was a topic brought up frequently and you had been through this many times, nearly every day. But you would take as long as needed to get things through his lovely, yet thick head.

Setting the shaver down, you wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling his long hair away from his face.

"I love you Lucius. I'll tell you it every single day if I must. I've moved on from the past, and you must do the same. I forgive you."

He closed his eyes and exhaled deeply, suddenly wrapping his arms around your waist.

"I don't deserve you. I never will."

"You can say that all you like, but you are the only one to believe that. I adore you, Lucius and that will not change."

With a light kiss, you continued to erase away the peppery beard that had once overtaken his face.

Finishing up your handiwork, you cleaned everything up and headed to the kitchen afterwards.

With the departure of Mary, and the beloved house elf Alfie, many household duties had fallen to you. Cleaning, cooking, laundry, and all the many other daily tasks that had become normal to you after being at the manor for some time.

It had been an oddly calming feeling to have a completely empty house with Lucius. For the first time there was no mingling voices outside your door, knocks every other hour asking you to come out, or the company of... Draco.