Flowers and Oranges - Ron Weasley

TWENTY NINE

The door to his bedroom creaked open and he glanced up from the letter in his hand, watching his wife release a heavy sigh as she sat down on her side of the bed. Slowly he lowered the parchment in his hand, letting it fall to the ground as a furrow formed between his brows when his wife buried her face into her hands with a sob.

A sob she had most likely been carrying around all day, keeping it from sight.

Lucius Malfoy pursed his lips into a tight line and stood up, moving to stand in front of her. When her shoulders began to shake as her sobs grew more frequent, he lowered himself into a crouch before her. "Cissa?"

She did not respond, nor lower her hands.

He sighed, doing everything in his power to ignore that sharp pain at his heart. The pain caused by seeing her like this. Seeing his whole family in shatters. Placing his hands gently on top of hers, he carefully removed them from her face. "Darling, did something happen?"

Narcissa blinked up at the ceiling, taking deep breaths in order to calm herself. Swallowing, she met his eyes and Lucius had to force himself from flinching at the utter heartbreak that swindled in there. "It's Leilani. She is slowly starting to fade away, Lucius and there is nothing we can do about it"

It was his turn to pinch his eyes shut. It was true. Painfully so. "Cissa, you know i would do anything if i could but-"

"-but there is nothing we can do" she finished for him with a nod. Narcissa swallowed, watching his thumb stroke calming patterns on her palms "Have you noticed how she never uses her wand anymore? Outside of her lessons with Bella, she never touches it"

He had noticed it.

Lucius nodded "I have"

Her gaze met his again "Lucius, how will she protect herself if she refuses to use her wand? We are in the middle of a war and from the way the Dark Lord speaks of her...he will surely want to have her on the battlefield by the end of all this"

Lifting a hand, he brushed a tear away from her face, before stroking her hair gently. Leaning up, he kissed her forehead before standing up. "Don't worry, Darling. Leilani will not be defenseless when the time comes. Nor will Draco"

"How can you be so sure of that?"

"There are ways to practise magic without a wand" He assured her with a weak half smile "You of all people should know that. After all, you were the one to teach me wandless magic"

Her eyes widened, a small smile of her own creeping up on her face "When will you start?"

"Tomorrow. At dawn"

"The Dark Lord could have you executed for this"

"He won't find out" Lucius assured her confidently "I'll see to it that he won't. Don't worry, Cissa, both of our children will make it out of all this alive. I'll see to it"

He heard her footsteps behind him before he felt his arms wrap around his waist, hugging him from behind "And what about you, Lucius. Will you make it out alive?"

"That doesn't matter" He replied, feeling her nod against his back "What matters is that you three do. If i die along the way, then so be it"

Narcissa didn't say anything, but her arms around him squeezed tighter by the end of his sentence.

—

He woke up with a sudden gasp, whole body covered in cold sweats. Sitting up by the end of his bed, he dragged a hand through his now short hair. Lucius had been replaying that same dream for the fifth night in a row now and he couldn't help but wonder why the dementors let him have it.