Draco's fitful night
Lucius Malfoy woke with a start The sound of the doors being thrown open broke into the silence of the master chambers. I looked down at the elf but before he could ask what was the meaning of this. The creature spoke up in a timid yet determined voice they said “There is something wrong with Young master draco. He has a fever, and his back has some sore-looking injuries on his back” Fear gripped me at the mention that Draco was ill but as a Malfoy therefore I could not go into a panic. So I calmly stood up and grabbed my wife's hand and quickly strode into our son's room.
The sight that we stumbled upon was the most frightening thing I have ever seen. Draco was lying on his belly with his shirt off. I could see two bony protrusions that had broken through the skin on my son's back. Blood was covering his white linen sheets and all over his back. On his lower back, large long feathers were starting to push through his skin. Then there were his hands and feet that looked like the talons of a bird. The texture of human skin faded into feathers that turned into the leather skin of bird feet. And where his fingers were the knobby limbs that ended in long sharp claws. His legs were another matter altogether they were being in odd shapes. It was as if he had two knees, no it was just as if someone replaced his legs with bird legs. The image was bad. He was shivering and whimpering in pain. Oh god, what was happening to my son? Narssia moved forward, kneeling to wipe soothingly to him.
“Draco darling what happened” A whimper from Draco was her only reply to her question “My dragon I need to know so I can help” Draco took in a deep breath and crooked back “Hot…. Couldn't sleep….. just pain" My son Whispered haltingly then Cissa turned his head so she could get a look at his face and let out a horrified gasp.his eyes were those of a barn owl's pitch black with no notable feature. He had feathers growing down his forehead and the bridge of his nose. Along with the edges of his cheekbones. Then there was his mouth. He had sharp teeth and his ears were fluff and feather with a hole in the center. His face looked like a veela on the attack but he couldn't be a Veela; there hasn't been one in the family in centuries. There's no way I looked at Narissa who gave me a look that held no argument and said. “ get Severus now”
I ran to my study to write to Severus he would know what to do and he cared for Draco and let him get away with a lot more than he usually aloud. He was a dotting godfather in his surly way. I pulled out a parchment and wrote.
Dear Severus,
Help Draco is in pain I think he might be a Veela. He has feathers coming out of his skin and it is bleeding everywhere. His face no longer looks human. He has black eyes and sharp teeth with no pupils. He has talons for his hands and feet. Get here as soon as possible. I can't stop the bleeding on my own.
Lucius
I called a house elf to give this to Severus as soon as possible. There was a moment of waiting that was the most long nerve-wracking moment in my life. Then there was a crack and Severus was holding a bag of his potion he kept for emergencies I grabbed his arm and dragged him into the room with Draco. He went right to work and poured what looked to be a sleeping draft. He called me over in a sharp tone when I saw Draco relax. “ we need to pull out the wings from his skin or it will just tear through when it is growing” I nodded my head and asked “What do you need me to do Severus”
“I need you to hold him down while I cut open a path for the wings to come out” I grimaced in sympathy but did what was asked of me I held Draco tightly in my arms and shushed him as he let out little moans while severus cut incisions into his back. “ Alright, Lucius come up here and help me out, Narcissa takes his place holding him down” I reached over to Cissa squeezed her hands, and gave her a reassuring nod with a faint smile. I stood over my son with a large deep incision that went all the way down to his middle back. The two bony protrusions that were already poking out of his back, the upper joint on the wings that must be bursting throw his skin. Severus looked at me with a determined look on his face and said “I need you to match my motions as closely as you can, you need to pull on the limbs with steady smooth pressure and if I say stop you stop right away do you understand”
“ Yes, Severus, I understand anything for my son,” Severus nodded his head in approval. I match his movements when he carefully puts both hands on the limbs poking out. They were achy with Draco's drying blood which made it made me grimace at the thought of how much blood my son was losing. “ Alright start pulling on the count of three, ok” I shook my head in agreement “One…. Two…. three…. Now pull. I pulled on the limbs while focusing my eyes on Severus so I could focus on the task at hand. While we were pulling on the wings Draco let out the most soul-crushing wail I had ever heard my son make. It was awful but I had to do this for him so I tried to keep a level head and focused on Severus. We pulled and pulled until we heard a sicking wet sound and then Severus yelled out “Stop, stop that's all it will go I believe” I let go as if my hands were on fire and when I looked back down I saw the mere bones of two large wings that went down to the bottom of Draco’s feet. “ Alright, all we need to do is whip him clean of the blood and change the sheets” “I have some potions I especially made for male veels to speed up their healing and growth he needs to take a dose in the morning at night” Severus said with an exhaust vice. “ but he should be fine in a couple of days once he is no longer in so much pain he will be able to shift back and forth in between from this more human for to what you see right now but I would recommend teaching him occlumency so he has better control over his emotion” I interrupted him with shock “ but there is only a week till school starts up again will he be ok to start so soon,” I asked. Severus got a focussed look and his face while determined his answer and said “ he will be physical ok to go to school but you need to start teaching him occlumency and I will just have to continue his lessons when he gets to Hogwarts,” Severus said with conviction.
“ We need to keep this from Dumbledore. I don't trust him to try to use it to his advantage and I don't want him anywhere near Draco for long” I stated to Severus knowing that he works closely with the man and not like that. Severus replied “Of course Lucius I would want him to get his hands on him either. He set a large bottle of dark blue liquid inside and said this is the potion Draco needs to have but I really need to be getting home” WHAT i thought this was not like Severus at all if things were normal he would stay at Malfoy Manor until he absolutely had to leave. Especially if Draco is injured in any way something is not right. Is Dumbledore making him do so ridiculous suicide mission? I decided to look inside his mind to see what I could get out of him.
I was expecting to feel Severus’s shields in his mind that not even the dark lord could break. But what I found was no shields at all and all that was in his mind was Regulus. Finding him in that cave, how injured he was, and how worried he was to have left him alone right after he had gotten him back. How much he wanted Regulus to stay with him and just everything Regulus. It was at that moment I felt his shield slam right back into place and I was forcibly removed from his mind. I looked up at him inshook “ Regulus is alive and you're in love with him” I yelped, gaping at him. I had always thought he was in love with Lilly but I guess I was wrong so wrong because Regulus is not anything like Regulus. They are complete opposites well they were quite close in school. They would always be sitting in a corner doing homework, complaining about Sirius, or just talking to one another. In hindsight, it does make sense and now that Regulus is back he can make sure that Severus is not so alone all the time.
Severus grabbed me tightly by my shoulders and said “This can not leave this room Lucius I am not losing him again, I just got him back I will not lose him again” Severus was looking quite frantic when Narcissa walked towards us and asked with “ Regulus is alive? ” she looked so hopeful I turned to Severus to see what he was going to say. But he looked conflicted; he did not want to betray Regulus' trust by telling her. But then she said “Please Severus we were close we would get together and talk about our siblings going off and writing each other off. He was a big help after Andromeda ran away to be with her muggle lover” I nodded and spoke up “She was quite distraught when the daily prophet reported on his death and am sure we could help him be able to into society again” “ you know those Auror’s will try to lock him up for shaving the dark mark but we can get my layers on it so we can make sure he is safe”. Severus seems to finally relent and begins telling her the story I had seen in his head. About the Horcruxes, regulus's mission, and how Kreacher had come to him.
At the end of the story, I looked at him in wonder “You do love him, Severus, a wild smile spread across her face. Oh no, I know that face she's going to try and play matchmaker that never ends well. “Severus I said quickly you should be heading back now you don't want to worry regulus do you I can start making preparations for Regulus while Narcissa can tend to Draco” Severus sighed in relief and strode out of the door once he was gone I looked pointedly at Narcissa while she just pouted at me that I had stopped her fun. I shook my head while I headed to my office to start writing letters.