Chapter 3
Breakfast was early, as usual. Narcissa glanced at the spot where Lucius would usually take. Empty. Should have expected it, he had mentioned that business had picked up in his department.
She sat still for a while before slowly turning her gaze towards Draco.
Head down. Hairs out of place. Shaky hands. Sickly skin.
Narcissa frowned. Had the boy not slept well? He looked too distraught for this early in the morning.
"Darling," his body tensed up at her voice, "did you not sleep well? You're quite unkempt today."
"I'm alright mother. Didn't sleep well last night is all." The boy looked up to gaze at her as he spoke.
It looks wrong. His face. Not- she didn't mean it like that. It was just how his features seemed amplified. Sharper bone structure, dare she say stretched skin, and his- his eyes. Merlin, what was wrong with his eyes?!
They looked dead. Like one of those muggle inventions where they tried to keep an animal looking alive, taxidermy she thinks.
The glossy look that glazed over his eyes almost seemed false. Fake. A poor attempt to replicate that of her son's eyes. The ones that still held a glimmer despite his pureblood training.
The Draco tilted its head, "Mother? Are you okay?"
This- this was not her son.
—
After breakfast was over, Draco was quickly escorted to the gardens by his second mother.
His second mother? His mother? Both felt uncomfortable to address her as, so he decided not to think about it.
He felt a cold hand take his. He glanced up at his,,, other mother.
"Dearest, the garden is open for you to roam through. It's full of exotic trees and flowers and anything you want. Here," she handed him a broom, "I want you to go out and have fun while I tend to some business inside. Don't worry about falling, I've spelled everything to be safe for heights."
Draco smiled as he held the broom. It was the latest release and felt pretty hefty to hold. He only had last seasons broom stick due to a fit he threw at one of his fathers work parties a while back that got him into trouble.
"Thank- thank you! I'll have fun!"
The other mother smiled, leant down to tuck his hair behind his ears, before heading back inside the manor.
Excitement buzzed inside Draco as he quickly hopped onto the broom to ride. He would have never been allowed to fly on his own with his real parents and house elves around!
The broom shook a bit but didn't do much while Draco tried to convince it to take off.
He shook the thing, "Come on! This shouldn't be that hard to do!! Just fly-"
The words were caught in his throat as the broom shot up in the air and started to fly uncontrollably, Draco barely having a grip on it.
He shrieked as it swerved past a bush and began to rise, and rise it did, right into the grand oak tree by the side gate of the garden.
Draco grabbed a hold of an outside branch before the broom could throw him into the tree and scrambled up to sit on it.
He watched as the broom got thwacked by the sprawling branches before stopping and falling to the ground. He sighed in relief as he watched it land unscathed.
Perhaps he had been a bit too hurried. He remembers his tutor lecturing him on how to respect the magic inside quidditch brooms, Draco didn't understand why until now.
"Well, that was amusing to watch."
Draco whipped his head around to see who spoke, promptly forgetting he was on a tree branch. He let out a shout as he lost balance and fell. Right into a bush.
A laugh came from above, "Why, this just keeps getting more entertaining."
A black cat emerged from the maze of tree branches, swiftly moving through the chaos to sit on the branch that Draco had just been momentarily. The eyes on the creature looked amused as it gazed down at Draco, who was still in a bush.
"My, I never thought magical beings to be so clumsy and slow."
An embarrassed flush spread across Draco's face and he fumed, "You're just a mangy old cat!"
"You're a right twat of a boy, you are." The feline chuckled once more before disappearing behind another branch.
"Wha- now you listen here! I am a Malfoy, and you can not disrespect me like that! My father will have you thrown off this property!"
No response.
"Well? Are you going to apologize?"
Still nothing.
Fumbling up, Draco stepped towards the grand oak, dusting leaves off of his body.
He gazed up at the tangled branches, but nothing moved. Tilting his head, he walked around to the other side.
Nothing but bark and leaves.
Draco's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion, how-
"Draco! Are you alright dear?"
Footsteps approached and Draco hurriedly turned around to see his other mother. Her figure grew closer as she walked along the brick pathway.
"Oh, uh, mother, I was just," Draco stumbled through his words as he tried to make himself look more presentable and less like he had just been lying in a bush, "I uh, the bush- no- I was taking a walk after flying is all!"
The buttons on her eye gleamed in the sunlight as she let out a gentle laugh, "You're fine dear, I just came out here because I sensed something was wrong. Did something happen?"
Draco shook his head, "Nothing, just having fun is all."
The other Narcissa raised her eyebrow, "Really? You didn't happen to see anything, did you?"
His mind wandered to the annoying black cat he saw, "I… no, I haven't." He didn't know why, but the thought of telling her about the old mangled animal made Draco uncomfortable.
The buttons bore holes into his face, the sharp eyebrows momentarily formed a glare before her face lightened up, "Well. That's quite a relief. How about we go inside for now though? I could show you the library."
She held out her hand and Draco hesitated before reaching out to take hold of it. The moment they touched, a shiver went through his arm.
She smiled down at him before walking back to the manor. Draco picked up his pace to not get dragged behind.
A shiver ran up his back and he turned to look over his shoulder. Draco's eyes widened as he saw the black cat emerge at the trunk of the tree. It's yellow eyes followed them with interest before shaking its head and going into the shadows, disappearing once more.