Chapter 6

Malfoy Manor was a hive of activity when Hermione arrived, holding the potions she had taken from the hospital wing. She glanced around the room quickly, seeing where Severus was and taking the potions over to him.

"Ah, you've arrived, Hermione. Would you give Miss Malfoy the first set of doses while I go ascertain what has become of Draco? He had offered to assist, but appears to have vanished," said Severus, a worry line prominent in his forehead.

Hermione nodded at him. She knew better than to say anything when he had that look on his face. She turned to the little girl on the chaise lounge. "Hello again, Celeste. I see someone has helped get your hair back to normal, and the bruises and scars are almost gone! You certainly are a beautiful girl."

"Thank you, Miss. But Mama always said good looks are only icing. It is what is inside that matters. Headmaster Snape is more striking than handsome, but he seems like a very good man," replied the girl.

"Out of the mouths of babes, of course. You and your mama are absolutely correct. I didn't know if Lucius had anything ready yet to keep you busy, so I brought a few things with me." She reached into her small beaded bag and pulled out a rather large book. "This is Hogwarts: A History, a limited edition that is complete and self-updating. It is one of my absolute favorite books. I swear I find new things in it every time I open it, and I don't mean the newest items, either." Hermione smiled when her statement elicited a giggle from Celeste. She continued to talk while she pulled more things out of her bag. "This is a rune puzzle, a basic one; they are fun if you like adventure sort of games. Here is a sketch pad and pencil, and then I have a book of word and letter puzzles. My mum loves those when she has to be still for a while."

"Oh!" exclaimed Celeste. "I didn't realize your mama was normal!" She saw the confused look on Hermione's face. "The magical books all move for puzzles. And you have a pencil with them, not a quill!"

Hermione winced when she realized all the magical people in the room heard the girl's loud exclamation. She moved to intercept Lucius, who looked ready to explode, when Harry's voice rang out.

"Normal is relative, little one. My aunt thought she was normal and my mother was a freak. Hermione's mother is not magical, but that doesn't make her any more or less normal than my mum, who was, do you understand?" Harry asked the girl gently as he squatted down by the side of the lounge.

Celeste had seen the stormy look on her father's face and had shrunk back into the lounge.

"But Mama always said I was special. I didn't mean anything bad, really, I didn't!"

Lucius knelt down by his daughter and stroked his hand down her hair, which was growing in nicely. "Dearest, I know you saw anger on my face, but I swear to you now that I would never harm you. I don't like pejoratives, even if they seem harmless. I caused much harm to many innocents in the name of someone who was very good at labeling others. Your aunt is not the definition of normal. A normal person does not harm a child, especially their own blood, even if they are different."

Celeste gazed very seriously at her father. Then she nodded. "OK, Papa. You did bad things because of what you called normal. But you don't do that now, right? Or you would not have loved Mama... I will try to explain what I mean better." She turned to Hermione. "My mama liked the word puzzles too; she said they were good to occupy and exercise the mind when the body was stuck."

Hermione smiled, a beautiful smile the little girl mirrored. "I do believe I would've liked your mama quite a bit. Now, what would you like to do first?"

"I want to see the book, Miss Hermione. You said it was your favorite, right?" Celeste looked imploringly at the woman she had felt an almost instant rapport with.

Hermione patted Lucius's arm and handed the child the book. She was pleased to see the girl dive right in. She moved away from the chaise lounge and toward a table at the side of the room that held some pastries and tea.

She startled a bit when Lucius stepped in very close behind her, running his large hands up her arms and settling them on her shoulders.

"You have my thanks and admiration for the way you are handling my daughter. She is lucky to have you as her champion," he said, low and only for her to hear.

Hermione turned in his arms. "You told her a bit about yourself, and she saw you were willing to be truthful. It was amazing to see you bonding like that. You are going to have some hiccups, but I do believe you will manage the situation quite well," she replied.

"I don't believe we are going to need half of the emergency measures you believed we would need to employ, Hermione."

"No, probably not, but we should still send out a statement to the press. They need to know that your marriage was unfortunately not a love match but that you never meant to hurt Narcissa. Explain that Celeste's existence was unexpected, but not unwelcome, and leave little hints that a girl is important to a family that does whatever it can to ensure an heir," responded Hermione.

"You may want to let Narcissa know what you are going to do. It will take the wind out of her sails. You remember how she would be, all fire and storm until she calmed down and thought a bit," said Severus, who had glided almost silently across the room to join the conversation.

Lucius had a rather feral grin on his face at the thought of what he would write to his erstwhile wife. "I do believe I will, Severus," he said, then turned and walked out of the sitting room.

Hermione sighed when she realized that on his way out he had detoured a bit and given his daughter a little bell to ring if she needed him.

"He is a doting father, Hermione; he always has been," said Severus, noting her response.

"It is amazing that he can live his life behind that mask he wears all the time when he obviously feels everything so deeply," she answered even though Severus hadn't verbalized his question. "It is easy to see what you have seen in him for so long. But it is also easy to see that he believes the world should fall at his feet when he so desires. It confuses me. How can you want to snog someone silly yet make them stand in a corner for their bad behavior at the same time?"

Severus nodded absently, his thoughts whirling.

"I need to speak to you, though, alone. Maybe when we return to Hogwarts?" Hermione asked, not realizing she had just caused Severus's whirling thoughts to cause a whirlwind in his stomach.

She must not want the both of us anymore. But she did not say that... I will have to see. Jumping to conclusions is not going to help me defend my position.

"Don't look like that, Severus. It isn't anything bad. I promise."

"I didn't realize I was giving myself away, love. You will have to explain how you saw my discomfiture. Shall we return to Hogwarts? Everything seems well in hand here, and there won't be any talking to Lucius until he is done with whatever diabolical scheme he has in mind with that letter he is writing," responded Severus, oddly comforted that she could read him so well.

Hermione caught Harry's eye and walked over to him. "Harry, could you please let all the Malfoys know that we didn't want to be underfoot any longer, but if they need either me or Severus, we will be back at Hogwarts?" she asked.

"No problem, 'Mione. Although, I think Lucius may be running over there if he thinks he's being left out of anything," Harry cautioned.

"He won't be. But I need to speak to Severus, and there are a few things we need to finish up before school starts... If he says anything, tell him he's welcome to stay with me if he wishes. I don't really have a place here yet, and I know Severus isn't going to stay here and send me home... I mean Hogwarts," she stuttered, realizing she just called the castle home.

"Don't worry, I thought of it as home for a very long time, you know." Harry smiled knowingly.

Hermione swatted him on the arm affectionately, then walked toward the Floo. Severus, who had spoken to Draco, joined her, and they went back to the castle together.

****

While Severus and Hermione returned to the castle, Lucius had gone into his study and sat at the desk. He knew that what he was going to write was going to devastate Narcissa. Unfortunately for her, the time when he would have felt the smallest pang of regret was long past.

My dear Narcissa,

Celeste is my daughter, yes. Born of a love-match between her mother and I. Before you burn this, I am not trying to hurt you. I did not realize I had fallen in love with Belinda Bonaventura until she bore me a daughter. Malfoy girls are only born when their parents are in love. All those years ago, when Calliope was born and you thought I was so attentive because I wanted a boy instead? You were wrong. You pulled away from me after she died, only allowing me near you a few days a month. You never asked me. I found out your beliefs from your insane sister, after you had destroyed any feeling I had for you with your affairs.

Lucius

Lucius called his fastest owl and sent the letter off to Narcissa. He knew she was going to need some time to process everything he had told her. My mother always said Narcissa would regret her cavalier treatment of me. I think she would've enjoyed that letter.

He returned to the sitting room, finding Draco and Ginny entertaining the little girl with what looked like a rather wild game of transfiguration charades. Harry was sitting back, watching with a bemused look on his face.

Harry looked up when he saw movement, then stood up and walked over to Lucius. "Hermione and Severus returned to Hogwarts. Before you panic, she did say you were welcome to stay with her if you wished. I don't think she is entirely comfortable here yet."

"Thank you very much, Harry. I will make certain Celeste is sufficiently recovered, then see if she wishes to accompany me and Draco back to the castle," responded Lucius.