Beauty From Pain

Chapter Twenty-Four

At some point, Draco's attention had drifted so far from his mother's descriptions of her renovation plans that he didn't notice when she stopped talking and began analyzing his appearance. Her eyes drifted from his hair, which was growing long enough to nearly fall into his eyes, and settled on his face. His expression was more relaxed than she had seen it in a long time, softer, and a faint smile was pulling at his lips. She frowned. His lips which had...

"Draco, darling, are you going to explain why your lip has that odd bauble attached to it, or are you going to continue to sit here and act like I cannot see it?"

Draco's hand immediately went to his face and brushed against the piercing in his lower lip. He had entirely forgotten. In the excitement of his night with Hermione and his thoughts of their next date, he had forgotten about the new modification she had given him. How was he supposed to explain such a muggle concept to Narcissa Malfoy?

"Am I to assume," she added when he didn't speak, "that it has something to do with the new markings on your arm?"

Draco blanched. Had he forgotten to tell her about his tattoos as well? Merlin, had he told her anything, or had Hermione taken up so much of his thoughts that he had forgotten everything else? "I'm sorry, Mother. I thought I had told you."

"You had not." Disappointment was clear in both her voice and the sharp glint in her grey eyes.

"I'm sure you've heard that Hermione opened a magical tattoo shop."

The look she gave him seemed to tell him that of course she knew and he should get to the damned point.

Rubbing the sleeve of his shirt that covered his tattoo, Draco said, "Hermione found a way to cover the dark mark, something about infusing magic into the muggle tattoo technique." Hesitating for a moment, he glanced at his mother to try and gauge her reaction. Tattoos were not a wholly unfamiliar concept to wizards as that had been the Dark Lord's way of marking his followers, but the idea that muggles could produce them was certainly new.

Narcissa was looking at him with an unreadable expression. Her gaze was calculating, sweeping back and forth between his face and his forearm. Carefully returning her tea cup to its saucer, she said, "Show me."

Draco rolled up his sleeve and held out his left arm. His tattoo was still as bold and beautiful as when Hermione had given it to him. The white narcissus flowers glowed in the afternoon sun, and goosebumps broke out over his skin as Narcissa traced her fingertip over the delicate flower petals.

"It's beautiful," she murmured quietly. She turned his arm this way and that, taking in every minute detail of the artwork spreading over his skin. "How far does it go?"

"Up to my shoulder." Draco made no move to take off his shirt and silently prayed Narcissa wouldn't ask to see the rest of it. There were several questionable bruises on his neck and chest that he absolutely did not need his mother to see. He suppressed a smirk at the memory of the night before and tried to focus on his mother's inspection of his arm.

Narcissa grew still and she breathed, "Narcissus flowers."

"Like in your garden."

The only outward sign of emotion was the slightest quiver in her upper lip. Draco knew she would immediately understand the meaning behind those flowers. Not only were they her namesake, they had been the most precious part of her garden in Malfoy Manor. His fondest childhood memories, the few that he had, took place almost exclusively in her garden. The fact that he would memorialize that onto his skin in such a beautiful way overwhelmed her with emotion.

"You trust her," Narcissa said softly. She gripped Draco's hand and brushed her thumb gently over his knuckles. "Does it hurt?"

Draco shook his head and tried to keep the emotions at bay. For years, his dark mark had ached and burned with an echo of the magic that had once claimed him. Every twinge and sting had him fearing Voldemort was still alive despite everything they had been through. To be free of that pain, of that constant fear...