Healing Elizabeth
Chapter 13
Draco took Elizabeth back with him to his room on Diagon Alley. She had stayed in the hospital at Saint Mungos for two days and though she was almost completely healed physically, mentally she was still struggling with what had happened to her. Any quick movement or noise made her jump. Elizabeth didn’t talk much and she would sit to herself staring off into space, tears in her eyes. He had to be careful with her when he tried to comfort her because when he would reach for her she would flinch as if expecting him to hit her. Draco knew it was going to take a long time before Elizabeth was herself again.
Draco had taken the liberty of getting her clothing, shoes, toiletries, and other things she might need while she had still been at Saint Mungos. He had to do it while she was sleeping because of the medication the healer had given her. He’d hated leaving her that way because Elizabeth did not like being alone and he knew she wasn’t ready to go back to her flat, the place where this terrible thing had happened.
Elizabeth started coming to herself a little as she realized she had missed her work with the theater and the coffee shop, “Draco, I don’t know how I am going to do it, but I need to go back to work. What in the world is my theater troupe going to think about me never showing back up or calling?” she said softly. It was the first she had spoken since they had left the hospital. She had not even questioned him on why he had brought her to his room.
“Elizabeth, I have already spoken to them and told them that you had an emergency that was keeping you away. They were very sympathetic and the director said that even though he had to give your part to another they are looking forward to you coming back and that you will always have a place there when you do come back. As for the coffee shop, I don’t want you to worry about going back there ever again. You work to much as it is and you have no business working those late hours,” Draco told her matter of fact.
“But I need that job. I need both of them to pay my bills and school,” she stated getting upset.
Draco got down on his knees in front of her where she was sitting in a soft arm chair. He slowly took her hands in his and looked her in the eyes, his silver-blue eyes looking at her intensely; he could see the worry in her ocean blue eyes, “I have already told you that you don’t have to worry about any of that. I want to take care of you if you will let me and you don’t have to worry because I have more than enough wealth to spare,” he slowly kissed her fingertips, “Please let me do that for you Elizabeth?”
Elizabeth could feel the tears gathering in her eyes. Draco was being so kind to her. No one had ever done anything like this for her before. And he’d been there for her after Derek had done what he had to her body. She felt she didn’t deserve his kindness, “Draco, I can’t accept all that from you. I don’t see why you still want anything to do with me. I deserved it for what I did.” And Elizabeth really felt that way. After all she had cheated on Derek with a married man. It didn’t matter that this man was the one she had dreamed of for years and had finally found. She had still done a terrible thing.
“Never say that again, Liza,” Draco said angrily, using her pet name he had for her, “You could never do anything bad enough to deserve what that asshole did to you, so get those thoughts out of that stubborn head of yours. And it would be impossible for me to not want to be with you. That will just never happen,” he finished softly.
For Elizabeth, the tears started running down her cheeks in earnest as she realized just how much she loved this man. Oh, how she wished she had not turned her back on him when he had tried to talk to her and explain about his marriage. If she had stayed with Draco then the thing that Derek did to her probably never would have happened. Draco would have been there to protect her and she wouldn’t feel so defiled and dirty. But right now she did feel that way and unworthy of Draco Malfoy.
“You are going to get through this Elizabeth. And we will do it together,” he said tenderly, running his hand gently along her face, wiping the tears away. “I hope you don’t mind staying here with me. I know how you feel about me after I lied to you, but I need to keep you near me.” Elizabeth sat forward in the chair and wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him tightly, “Thank you,” she whispered, kissing his neck softly.
“Don’t thank me for something that I would do whether you wanted me to or not. I am going to take care of you, Elizabeth Thorne.”
That night Draco and Elizabeth fell asleep in his huge bed, Elizabeth snuggled up against him and he simply held her through the night. She only awoke once, whimpering from a bad dream, but Draco whispered sweet words to her softly and rubbed her back gently until she calmed down and sleep found her again.
The healing process was a long one, but Draco was there for her. Not once did he try anything with her, other than to be a shoulder when she needed it and hold her in the night. Draco never questioned her about what happened that night, but Elizabeth knew she needed to tell Draco what happened so he would know and understand. It would help her heal to talk about it with him, but she was afraid that if she did he would not want her anymore.
Draco had also brought Elizabeth’s wand with him and he started working on spells with her again in an old wizarding village nearby. He told her to keep her wand on her always, for protection. He taught her defensive spells and ways to protect herself and plenty of other useful spells. They also worked on her Apparating skills and she just about had it.
It was Christmas Eve and the start of the second week of her stay with Draco when he asked her if she would mind going with him to visit his parents so he could visit his son. At first Elizabeth did not want to, but the look of disappointment on Draco’s face made her change her mind. She wanted to meet Draco’s son, but was afraid of how his parents were going to receive her.
After a trip to the Toy store in Diagon Alley they arrived in the afternoon by cab and once inside they put the toys for Draco’s son under the Christmas tree and waited in the sitting room for the servant to get Draco’s son and mother. His father chose not to join them. When they walked in Draco’s son ran to him and Draco picked him up, hugging him tightly and kissing his cheek. It touched Elizabeth that Draco was such a loving father. But she should have known that because of how he treated her. Draco’s son was adorable, with platinum blond hair like his father and sparkling light blue eyes, almost the same color as Draco’s with less silver-gray in them. Elizabeth finally looked over at Draco’s mum who was watching them with a smile on her face.
Draco finally looked over at Elizabeth, walking over to her with Scorpius in his arms, “Scorpius, I would like for you to meet someone. Scorpius Malfoy, this is Elizabeth Thorne,” at first Scorpius looked at her shyly.
“Hello Scorpius, it is very nice to meet you,” Elizabeth smiled at him. He was so cute that Elizabeth longed to hold him in her arms. Scorpius smiled at her sweetly, than looked up at his father, “She is very pretty,” he said shyly. Draco laughed a little at his comment, “Yes, she is. Do you think I should keep her?” Draco joked.
“Yes, only if I can keep one of Nana’s kittens,” Scorpius said strongly.
They all laughed at that and then Draco remembered his mother, “Mother, this is Elizabeth Thorne. Elizabeth, this is my mother, Narcissa Malfoy.”
Elizabeth didn’t know what the other woman thought of her by looking at her, but Narcissa was very kind and beautiful, “It is a pleasure to meet you Elizabeth. I knew some Thorne’s from Hogwarts. Your parents’ names wouldn’t happen to be Felix and Rebecca Thorne would they?”
“Yes, Mrs. Malfoy, they were my parents.”
“I remember what happened to them. I am sorry for your loss my dear,” Narcissa said considerately.
“Thank you, Madame.”
“Please, call me Narcissa,” she smiled at Elizabeth kindly. It was easy to see where Draco got his good looks from because his mother was a very beautiful woman. And it surprised Elizabeth how kind she was to her, especially after hearing the nastiness of Draco’s father.
“It is Christmas daddy,” Scorpius said excitedly, taking Draco’s face between his two small hands.
“I know,” Draco smiled broadly, “tell me have you been a good little boy?”
“I sure have,” he said like a big boy.
“That is good, because I would hate to have to take all these presents back to Santa,” Draco laughed as Scorpius jumped down from his arms and ran to the tree, dancing around excitedly. Draco took Elizabeth’s hand and led her over to the tree with him so they could sit on the huge rug by Scorpius, “Well, go ahead and open them.”
Scorpius wasted no time ripping into the wrapping paper. It was wonderful watching the look on his face with each gift. The final and biggest one was the best. It was a magical train set and Scorpius squealed with delight as he played with it.
Draco, who had been holding Elizabeth’s hand the whole time leaned over and whispered to her, “I am so glad he likes it, I have always wanted a train set for Christmas.”
They both watched Scorpius play with his train set and soldiers, until finally Scorpius came over to sit in Draco’s lap, hugging his father. Then he looked over at Elizabeth and slowly went over to her and sat in her lap, surprising her. Elizabeth couldn’t believe it and Draco was surprised to, especially when Scorpius turned in her lap and took her face in his hands so she would look at him, “I like Elizabeth,” he said looking at Draco. Then he looked back at Elizabeth, still holding her face gently in his small chubby hands, “Would you like to see my kittens, Elizabeth?”
Elizabeth smiled a huge smile, the first real smile Draco had seen on her face since the ordeal with Derek, “I would love to, Scorpius,” and immediately he jumped from her lap and took her hand and had her running along with him to who knew where. She followed him through Draco’s family home until they finally arrived in what looked to be the kitchens and there by the fire was a basket filled with about seven sleeping kittens.
“They are beautiful,” Elizabeth said sitting beside Scorpius near the hearth. Very gently Scorpius started petting them until finally they all woke up and began meowing and playing. Scorpius and Elizabeth laughed at the kittens as they playfully tumbled around the floor and began swatting at each other and then they came onto their laps.
“This one is mine,” Scorpius picked up a beautiful little silver tabby with bright green eyes, “If it is a boy I am going to name him Rufus, but if it’s a girl I think I will name her Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth was touched by that and could feel the tears in her eyes because of Draco’s sweet little boy. She didn’t notice Draco watching them from across the room where he had followed them down.
“Do you want to pick one, Elizabeth? Nana says there is no way she can keep all these kittens, but we will find good homes for them. Their mama is going to be sad, but they will be okay,” he said bravely.
Elizabeth couldn’t stop herself from hugging little Scorpius to her and he hugged her back, “You are a sweet little boy. And so very kind to think about the kittens mama,” she hugged him again and he sttled in her lap to continue to play with the kittens.
“Have you picked one yet?” Scorpius asked impatiently, just like a little boy.
“I don’t know. You know more about these kittens then I do. Will you pick one for me?”
Draco watched the two people he loved more than anything sitting on the floor of the Malfoy Manor kitchen playing with baby kittens. It really touched him that they seemed to be drawn to each other. This was what Elizabeth needed right now. Scorpius was helping Elizabeth to heal and feel again and Elizabeth was the sweet mother figure that Scorpius needed because his own mother, Astoria, was anything but sweet. Draco imagined Elizabeth as the mother of his children, even Scorpius. He knew that she would love Scorpius as much as one of her own and that made him start to consider fighting harder for custody of his son, at least partial custody, instead of only seeing him on the weekends or at his parents’ house.
Draco hated saying goodbye to his son and he could tell Elizabeth hated it also, but they had to leave before Astoria showed up to pick him up. Draco knew he did not want to expose Elizabeth to a confrontation with her, not in her condition right now.
Back at Draco’s room they both got ready for bed and as they settled down for the night Elizabeth turned into Draco’s arms, hugging him to her, her head settled on his chest, “Thank you so much for sharing your sweet little boy with me on Christmas,” she said softly, leaning over him to kiss him softly on the lips. Draco restrained himself from pressing her closer and capturing her lips for a deeper kiss that he so wanted. He knew it was too soon and she had to be the one to initiate the kiss in her own time when she was ready. He simply hugged her to him close, settling her against his side. He heard her even breathing and realized she was drifting off to sleep.
“Thank you for going with me. I think Scorpius has fallen for you just like his father,” he whispered, realizing she was sound asleep.