Chapter 18
The surprised/confused/outraged murmurs stopped. The silence that had wrapped its way around the student body held firm.
Wait, why were they staring at him? Why did they go quiet?
Seeming to snap out of the spell, Charles Bastien walked down the aisle between the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables.
The whispers slowly began to pick up, but the low volume almost made it sound like buzzing bees in the background.
Charles finally made it to the end of the aisle and faced Koty, dropping to one knee. “My lord,” he said, tipping his head respectfully.
The student and staff alike all gasped as one.
Koty’s eyes widened as he looked around for someone to… to do something. Why was Charles kneeling for him?! He looked to his Head of House for an answer, who simply nodded once and subtly moved his hand upward. What did that mean?!
“Um, Charles?” Koty began shyly. He felt so dumb! Of course! “You can... stand up…”
“Yes, my lord,” he said reverently, dipping his head one final time before standing. “If I may, my lord?”
Still feeling like an idiot, Koty gave a nod.
“We should arrange a meeting between ourselves, and in your own case, my lord, your mate and guardians.” He kept his gaze on the floor, refusing to meet the eyes of his lord.
“Sure?” Koty said hesitantly. What in Merlin’s name is going on? Why was he being called a lord? It just didn’t make any sense!
“With my lord’s permission, I will write to your guardians.”
“Alright,” he said, biting his lip. “I think I will as well.” And he definitely had to talk to Sev- Professor Snape. Where did that come from?
Without knowing what else to do, he took his seat, hoping against all common sense that no one was staring at him. Glancing up from the tabletop, he noted that every eye, aside from Charles’, was on him. Charles was backing away with his eyes downcast.
“Return to your meals!” Professor McGonagall called out, shaking her head minutely.
Eventually, the chatter resumed and everyone stopped staring so blatantly, though he did see at least four or five at a time pretending to be sneaky about it. Thank Merlin for small favors.
Draco moved to the opposite side of the table, directly across from Koty. “You’re a lord now?”
“I don’t know!” He whispered vehemently. “Do you have any idea what just happened?”
“Not really,” Draco replied just as quietly. “But Severus wants to talk to you later.”
Peeking up at the Head table, Severus was sipping his coffee, occasionally speaking to Professor Flitwick.
“How can you tell?”
“We have a signal,” Draco said simply, reaching for the pumpkin juice.
Letting it go, Koty turned back to his own breakfast. He needed to write that letter.
It took three days of confused correspondence between Koty, his parents and Charles to set up the meeting. According to his last letter, Koty's dad had spoken with Bastien Liegalos (as he was Charles' uncle and closest living relative) and invited him along. After a lot of discussion, Professor Snape and Lucius agreed that Koty didn't have to introduce his mate to the Liegalos family.
Koty had learned that in efforts to hide his heritage, Charles had actually changed his last name from Liegalos to Bastien to attend school in relative anonymity. It had been his idea to use his uncle's first name as his last name, as the pair were incredibly close.
So, it was all set up. They would meet on Friday, after the last class of the day. His parents had spoken to the Headmaster and Professor Snape together (mostly for the sake of appearances) for permission to take Koty and Draco out of the castle for the night. They would be back in time for lunch on Saturday.
It hadn’t been very long, but Koty was still excited to see his mum and dad again! He loved being able to say that! He had a mum and dad! He really hoped that the happiness he felt at that thought would never fade.
“Koty!” Someone called.
Turning around, Koty faced his new brother. “Hi, Draco.”
“Come with me,” Draco said simply, nodding toward an unfamiliar corridor.
“Why?” Koty asked, immediately suspicious. “What’s back there?”
“I’m not hiding anyone,” Draco said, rolling his eyes.
“Okay,” he replied, still unsure. He was still bringing Bear along. It was better to be safe than sorry, right? Trailing after his brother, Koty kept his free hand on Bear’s fur.
Seeing his brother’s actions, Draco scoffed and pushed open the door to an abandoned classroom. From there, he just flopped down on one of the stools at a slightly tilted table. He waited for Koty to come in and promptly took off one of his shoes and thunked it down on the tabletop.
“What are you doing, Draco?” He asked, staring at the shoe in confusion.
“Do you want to learn how to tie your shoes or not?” Draco asked exasperatedly. “I don’t have all day.”
Blinking in surprise, Koty took the seat across from him. “You-you’re really going to… help me?”
“Malfoy’s value family above all else.” Draco said sternly. “You’ve become family, and I’ve come to accept it. Now, take one string in each hand.”
Sprawled across his friends’ laps in their abandoned classroom, Koty gushed (and had been for the last half hour) about how well his visit with his brother had gone.
Olive’s book was abandoned on Koty’s legs as she smiled at her littlest friend.
Amelia dragged her nails along his scalp, just listening in satisfaction to the third retelling of how Draco had promised that they would take Lucius’ albino abraxans out for a ride.
“I’ve never even heard of albino abraxans!” He said excitedly. “They’re not mentioned in any books I’ve ever read!”
“Well,” Penny said with a grin. “The Malfoy’s are nothing if not consistent. At least they match the albino peacocks.”
Koty giggled and sighed deeply, utterly at peace.
“Mr. Malfoy,” Professor Snape said as his students were cleaning up their stations on Friday afternoon. “Remain behind.”
“Yes, Professor,” he replied, levitating his cauldron and tools toward the sinks.
When all of the students left, Koty made his way to Professor Snape’s desk, leaning heavily on his walking stick. “Is everything alright?” He asked, gingerly taking a seat.
The man merely lifted his brow. “I was about to ask you the same thing, Koty.”
Cocking his head to the side, he looked at his professor in question. “What do you mean?”
“Since you’ve come back from break, I have noticed, along with several others, that you seem to be having more and more trouble with your leg. Why have you not mentioned anything to Madam Pomfrey?”
Because he’d have to tell them that he was sleeping on the floor. “I’m not sure what you mean, sir. It doesn’t seem to be any worse to me.” He hated lying, but what else was he supposed to do? There was no room for him anyway, so it didn’t make a difference. Besides, summer wasn’t too far off. Surely, there would be a place for him next term. He was fine for now, even if he was slowly outgrowing the cupboard.
“If that is the case,” Professor Snape continued, clearly choosing to play along. “Then why were you late to both Arithmancy and Herbology this week? In fact, you were late to Herbology twice this week.”
“Dawdling, I suppose,” he lied again. “I’m sorry, sir. It won’t happen again.” He would have to start letting Bear carry him to Herbology. It was just so far! And the uneven ground was not exactly helpful.
“Regardless,” the man continued flatly. “I have scheduled an extra appointment with Madam Pomfrey. I am aware of how often you see her, as well as the fact that you have missed your last two appointments with her. We are due to meet her in ten minutes.”
He was halfway across the room when he noticed that he was not being followed. Without another word, he went back and picked Koty up under the arms and carefully deposited him on Bear’s back.
Madam Pomfrey was… cranky. “And where exactly have you been, mister?” She demanded as soon as they entered the infirmary, summoning two jars. Without waiting for his answer, she all but shoved him into his usual bed.
“I’ve been using the salves you gave me before break!” He said desperately. “I still have enough left for the rest of the week!”
For the next half hour, she scanned, stretched, rotated and prodded at his knee. “Your range of motion is lessening. What have you been doing? Have you been skipping your stretches?”
“No, Madam Pomfrey,” he sighed. Really, he wasn’t. He was doing everything he was supposed to. “Nothing’s changed, I swear.”
At some point, Professor Snape had left, muttering something about being forced to put up with moronic Gryffindors in his final class of the day.
“Madam Pomfrey?” Someone called out softly.
The matron stopped fussing over Koty (finally!) to find a little blonde Ravenclaw, clutching her wrist. “Just a moment, dear,” she said kindly. “Hop up on a bed and I’ll be right with you.”
“So, can I leave now?” Koty asked hopefully.
Madam Pomfrey’s eyes narrowed. “Until we can get this sorted, you’ll be seeing me every morning before breakfast.”
He nodded, wanting to leave. Before he could get up, she demanded to know where he was going.
“You’re not moving until that has fully absorbed into your skin!”
Groaning, he flopped back into the pillows.
The Ravenclaw girl smiled at him. “You’re changing things, you know? It’s already begun.”
Koty looked at her in confusion, but didn’t get a chance to reply, as the matron began examining her.