Chapter 7 ? Comfort

I wanted to add this chapter before I went off to the movies. Thanks to those of you who have read this and reviewed so far.

All canon characters belong to JKR.

Thanks to June for all of her help and suggestions.

Chapter 7 – Comfort

Lucius Apparated from the Riddle home to his own estate. The Dark Lord would contact him there at some point, so it was best to be there when he did so. Voldemort rarely left his own home and had never visited Lucius' home. Had he attempted to, however, he would have found it impossible. Lucius' wards were set specifically to warn him if the dark wizard was trying to gain entrance to his property. The wards would also serve to block Voldemort's entry. As powerful as the Dark Lord was, there was one thing he could not work against, and that was blood magic; it was a form of blood magic that Dumbledore relied on to protect Harry Potter at the Dursleys' home. Almost every form of magic was superseded by blood magic and by magic performed over the dying body of a human being.

Before his death, Lucius' father, Constantine Malfoy, asked him to perform a specific blood magic spell that would lay dormant, until such time when the caster would indicate who it was that was to be kept out of Malfoy Manor. For many years Lucius wondered why his father had made such a morbid request of him as he lay dying. After Draco's near-death experience during a Death Eater raid gone amok, the blond wizard realized that his father had foreseen the events to come. Constantine was not a supporter of Voldemort, whom he saw as a dangerous wizard; while he was not a Muggle sympathizer, he saw Voldemort's ways as too extreme. The elder Malfoy wanted his son to have the ability to protect himself from any future danger.

Lucius Apparated to the gardens that had been a constant source of joy to Narcissa, until she left to become Voldemort's concubine. She'd cultivated every orchid, every rose, and every flower with her own hands, wanting to know that she'd had a hand in the flourishing beauty of the garden. He was still injured, but he felt the need for something that reminded him of Narcissa. He needed to feel close to her. As he sat on a bench near one of the rose bushes, he was noticed by Emil and Dari, his house-elves.

"Master?" asked Emil.

Lucius looked with glittering eyes at his head elf.

"What is the matter? I sense that you are hurt." Emil had a magical bond that only some elves were privileged to have with their masters. He could feel when his master was ill or hurt. He'd also been born with the gift of empathy.

"I am not well, Emil." Lucius tried to stand but fainted on the spot.

The two house-elves levitated their master and took him to his room. They noticed as they were removing his clothes that he'd been beaten and his body was caked with blood.

Dari scowled. "Evil wizard. What has he done to our poor master?"

Emil shook his head and softly brushed Lucius' hair back with his hand. "Much more than physical damage, Dari."

They cleaned his wounds and left him in bed. Elf magic was strong, but they weren't equipped to perform advanced healing spells on humans. They would just have to keep their master comfortable until he awoke and was able to see a healer. Tonight at least Lucius would find comfort in his bed.

~*~*~*~*~

The next day at Hogwarts, Severus paced his study. Albus had taken over his classes after Severus' "death" at Lucius' hands. He knew he should be resting, but found it difficult when he hadn't heard back from Lucius. After the blond wizard left Order headquarters, the members waited there for his return. After three hours with no word, they decided to go to their homes and hope that they hadn't lost their only remaining spy.

Draco refused to go to bed; he'd just lost his mother and feared losing his father in the same night. He was finally able to sleep after Harry slipped him a Dreamless Sleeping Draught.

Hermione had a period between classes and decided to visit Severus. When she walked into his rooms she found him in the study, sitting on his leather wingback chair and staring at the fire.

"No word yet?" she asked, knowing he'd been waiting for word from Lucius since last night, like many of them.

He shook his head. "No, nothing," he said. He stood and walked to the coat rack and took his cloak.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to see if he is at his estate."

"Severus, no." Hermione took hold of his arm. "You're supposed to be dead. What if he isn't there alone?"

He gently took her hand and loosened her grip.

"I will Apparate just outside the gardens. I can Disillusion myself until I get close enough to see if there is anyone inside the home with him."

Hermione clung to him nonetheless, despite his assurance he would not be seen.

"Please be careful," she pleaded.

Severus looked down at her, and tilted his head. Ever since she saw him the night he came back beaten and close to death, he'd noticed a change in her as well as himself. The eyes that begged him now to stay were not the eyes of merely a good friend. Her eyes said something else altogether, but he wouldn't dwell on that; for all he knew he might be imagining things.

He kissed her softly at first, but then as her response grew so did his. He wound his fingers through her hair as she ran her hand down his back. After several moments they both needed air, so they parted slightly, their lips still a hair's breadth away from each other. He trailed petal-soft kisses toward her neck and held her tightly against him, feeling her racing heartbeat.

"I will be careful, Hermione." He lifted his head and smiled. "If you promise me one thing."

She smiled in return. "What?"

"That we continue this tonight, here in my quarters."

Hermione kissed his lips and nodded. "I promise we will most certainly continue this tonight."

Severus left his room through an exit unknown to the students and most of the staff. He'd used it often when coming back into the school from meetings or raids he'd been forced to attend. It would not do for a student to see their professor walking down the hall and covered with blood.

As soon as he was outside he walked a short distance to an Apparation point. Once at the Malfoy estate he walked close to the home, making sure he wasn't seen. He was about to Disillusion himself until he felt a tugging on his frock coat.

"Professor, please, you must come quickly. Our master is ill, very ill," said a distressed looking Emil.

Severus and the elf rushed up to Lucius' room and found him tossing in bed, his body covered with a light sheen of sweat as he mumbled something unintelligible.

As Severus approached him and sat on the bed, he used Legilimency to see that Lucius had been thinking of Narcissa. Severus saw what had transpired the evening before, when Lucius had gone back to the Dark Lord. He sighed and shook his head.

"He grieves for the former mistress," said Dari, who had been caring for her master. She looked at Lucius sadly.

Severus looked at Emil. "Is the Floo connection secure?"

The elf nodded. "Yes, sir. Precautions were taken when the young master was sent away."

Severus approached the Floo and threw in a small bit of powder. He was perfectly capable of brewing any healing potion, but he wasn't qualified to make a full diagnosis; he needed a healer.

"Hogwarts hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey's office," he called out. "Poppy! Poppy! Blast it, where are you, woman?"

The Medi-witch took a long minute to appear.

"Severus, what on earth is the matter? Have you finally decided to come and take the Skele-gro?"

"No, I have not! Poppy, I am at Malfoy Manor. Lucius is very ill. I need someone to come and look at him."

Upon their return to Hogwarts, Albus and Minerva had briefed Poppy on what had happened at last night's Order meeting, regarding Lucius' new spy status and return to Voldemort. Poppy had been caring for sick students and couldn't attend.

"This is a bad time for me to leave. Madam Hooch has been practicing the Quidditch teams and I have a ward full of students."

"Poppy, I can't very well take him to St. Mungo's," said Severus. "They would ask him how he was injured. Besides, he could be called by Voldemort at any time."

"I was going to suggest you contact Ginny Weasley. She's recently left her position at St. Mungo's; I think she is staying you-know-where."

Severus nodded and cut the Floo connection. He contacted Albus and asked him to get word to Ginny that she needed to come immediately.

After the Order meeting, Ginny had stayed overnight at number twelve, Grimmauld Place. She was still there when Albus contacted her. Although she agreed to his request, she felt trepidation about going to see Lucius Malfoy. She'd always been a bit wary of him, especially after the incident during her first year, when he'd slipped Tom Riddle's diary into her cauldron when she was at Flourish and Blotts.

For the past three years Ginny had worked at St. Mungo's. It was there that she began seeing Seamus Finnigan. Even though they dated and he even proposed to her, he'd never truly been supportive of her wanting to further herself in her chosen field. Ginny wanted to eventually have her own practice someday. She wanted to offer medical services to witches and wizards who could not afford medical attention or who were so ill that they could not travel to a healing institution. Oddly enough, she thought as she walked up the pathway to Malfoy Manor, the wealthy Lucius would be her first house call.

She knocked on the large wooden doors and waited. After a short wait a small house-elf in what looked like a Medieval servant's uniform answered the door. His eyes were brimming with tears.

"Are you the healer, miss?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm Ginny Weasley."

The small elf smiled and motioned for her to follow him.

As Ginny ascended the large staircase, she noticed groups of worried house-elves standing in the halls. She wondered how badly Lucius must have treated them that they were afraid of any human who entered the house. She walked into a large sedate looking bedroom. It was nothing like she imagined Lucius Malfoy would sleep in. Ginny caught herself; yes, there were times when she did wonder what kind of a bedroom he slept in, among other things.

In the room there were two more elves. One was larger than the others she'd seen in the home, and dressed in much finer clothes; the other was a female elf, crying and standing next to the bed.

Severus approached Ginny.

"Thank you for coming. Poppy couldn't make it, and there was no one else to be trusted."

Ginny furrowed her brow as she approached the bed. "What's wrong with him?" Like her own mother had always done for her sick children, Ginny placed her hand on Lucius' forehead. "He's burning up."

She took off her cloak and pulled down the covers of his bed. When Lucius had arrived at Grimmauld Place, he was beaten but she'd only had time to perform temporary healing spells on him so that he might be more comfortable during his talk with the rest of the Order. Lucius was then Summoned back by Voldemort, before she'd had the opportunity to heal him properly. From what she could tell, he hadn't received any new injuries, but the temporary healing spells had clearly worn off. His wounds had been cleaned but they were now bleeding and no doubt he had developed an infection. Coupled with the high intensity of emotions he'd gone through with his wife's death and with seeing Draco again after seven years, his body was struggling to heal itself, but to no avail.

Ginny looked at Severus. "He'll be fine. I just need to make sure these wounds are healed properly, and if you can get me an extra-strength potion for his infection I think his fever will go down quickly."

Severus nodded. "I have some in my private stores. I'll return shortly." Severus then made his way to Hogwarts, this time via Floo.

Emil took Dari by the shoulders and pulled her away from the bed.

"There now, you see, Dari? Our master will be fine. No need to worry. Go and let the others know, and have some stew made for him when he wakes."

Dari smiled and nodded, then left the room.

Ginny took hold of her wand and began to chant the necessary spells needed to properly heal Lucius' wounds. She put cool wet cloths over him for the fever. As she finished she looked at the elf still standing there.

"You have clothes. Are you all freed elves?" she asked.

"I am the only one. I came to Master Malfoy seven years ago. My previous master and entire family had been killed." Emil looked at Lucius. "He took me in and made me head elf. He supplied me with textiles and instructed me to dress the elves properly and educate them as I was educated."

Ginny was flabbergasted. She remembered the horror stories she'd heard from Lucius' former elf, Dobby.

"He is the best master in the entire wizarding world. We are all very privileged to serve him. He is very good to us."

As she looked back at Lucius, she realized how much the man had truly changed. Perhaps Draco and Snape were right.

He began to stir as the spells were working on his wounds. He opened his eyes and looked around the room, then stopped when he saw Ginny.

"Miss Weasley?" he asked, not knowing if he was dreaming or if his eyes were playing tricks on him. He'd found the young woman attractive when he saw her at Order headquarters.

"How do you feel, Mr. Malfoy?" she asked as she waved her wand over his body. She still read a very high temperature, but she could see the wounds on his chest were now fully healed.

He closed his eyes and turned away from her. "Hopeless, Miss Weasley. I feel hopeless and lost."

She stopped waving her wand and looked at him. Hopeless and lost were the two last words she would have ever thought about the arrogant Lucius Malfoy.

"I'm...I'm sorry about your wife," she said.

Just then Severus came back through the Floo, holding a small gold bottle in his hand.

"This should get rid of his infection."

Ginny allowed Severus to take her place on the edge of the bed and give Lucius a double dose of the potion. After a few minutes, she placed her hand on the blond wizard's forehead to make sure his fever was going down.

"I think you'll be fine for now. You should probably spend the rest of the day quietly in bed. I can write you a prescription scroll for some vitamin potions, or perhaps the professor can supply them to you."

Severus nodded and looked at Ginny. "Leave me a note of what he needs and I will make sure he has it. Thank you for coming so quickly, Ginny."

Ginny smiled and looked at Lucius.

"Yes, thank you for coming here, Miss Weasley. I am in your debt."

Ginny felt herself blush. "It was nothing. I can stop by again tomorrow if you like, just to check on you."

"I would like that, thank you again," added Lucius.

Ginny took her cloak in hand and bid goodbye to the two men, then threw some powder into the Floo and went back to Order headquarters.

Emil, who was still in the room, approached the bed and placed his hand on his master's shoulder.

"Welcome back, Master Malfoy. I will go and make sure your dinner is being prepared. Will you be staying for dinner, Professor?" he asked Severus. The Potions master nodded and the elf left the room.

There was silence for a long time, and then Lucius finally spoke.

"Narcissa is dead," he said plainly, he knew that Severus most probably knew that as the rest of the Order, considering what he'd said the previous night. But he felt he needed to say it out loud, as if it to convince himself it hadn't been a dream.

"I know, I'm sorry."

More silence.

"He will be concentrating his attacks on financial institutions and schools." Lucius sat up slowly and rubbed his face. "I don't know when he will begin. Right now he's deciding who will be told of his plans for the attacks and who will be involved in the actual work." He made to get out of bed when Severus stopped him.

"You should stay in bed a while longer. You were very ill."

Lucius scoffed. "I feel fine. Besides, I can't lay in bed all day." He walked to his wardrobe and pulled out a pair of trousers. He'd been nude when he got out of bed, but neither Lucius or Severus were shy about their bodies. And they had seen each other nude before.

Severus walked up behind Lucius and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. Lucius turned and they looked into each other's eyes. Lucius cupped Severus' face with his hand and they touched foreheads. Their lips so close that a slight movement from either of them would make contact.

"You have always been here for me, my friend. You are my rock," Lucius said.

"As you were mine when I began Hogwarts. I will always be there for you," Severus said as he patted Lucius on the back and stepped away. "Get dressed; we need to get you fed, and you can rest just as well at the dining table as in bed. Do you expect to be called again today?"

"No, perhaps not for a few days. We are safe here, however. He cannot set foot anywhere near the property or my home, and I have wards set for any other Death Eaters attempting to show up unannounced as well." Lucius told Severus about the blood magic his father had him perform over the property.

"Your father did well making you perform the blood magic on the grounds. He saw what was coming."

"He did. I'll have to thank his picture for that."

They walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs. They would contact Albus after finishing their meal.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Thanks for reading. I'll hopefully have another chapter ready soon. I hope you enjoyed this.