Redo

Chapter 15

"Lucius, 
I hope this letter finds you well. Honestly this letter is hard for me to write in many ways, that I'm sure you understand. Honestly, from what little I knew of you it was surprising to hear you had a son. 
Please don't go straight into deep topics in these letters. It's hard for me. 
I no longer go by the name Lyra, but by Raelyn." 

Lucius had read the letter 5 times at least by now, a quill hovering over a piece of his own parchment. He could hardly claim the two were close, his father's bastard child who was treated like a stain on the family. He, as the heir and legitimate child, was largely kept away from her. 

In fact, the only interaction Lucius really remembered the two of them having was when he came to her room once by mistake, thought he pretended it wasn't and gave her the snacks he had for himself when he saw her pale face. She had looked skinny and ill, but her right cheek was clearly bruising and her eyes were swollen. Lucius wasn't supposed to feel pity for anyone, but he couldn't pretend he didn't feel bad for her then. 

"Raelyn, 
You're right, Draco is not my biological son, though it was an agreement before he was conceived. I love him as though he was my own. I heard you have an adopted niece, I won't ask about that situation, but I would like to know her name. 
And, to make it clear, you and your family can ask me for anything you need, no strings attached. I apologise for the lack of relationship for so long, I have no excuse. 
Your once brother, 
Lucius Malfoy." 

It was his third attempt at the letter in as many hours, none of the letters long enough to explain such time spent on them. If it weren't for Narcissa he would have been too far behind in his work to catch up in time to be present for Draco's Christmas holiday. 

"Draco, 
I would appreciate it if you could read through this letter before sending it through. If it doesn't sound acceptable, please don't pass it on and instead send it back and tell me what's wrong. 
Thank you for putting me back in contact with her. 
I love you, 
Your father." 

Draco already knew about the situation around his parentage, but every time it was mentioned Lucius would make a big deal about calling himself Draco's father. Draco didn't have another father. 

"Are you doing okay?" Narcissa stuck her head through the door. 

"Would she hate me if the letter isn't good enough?" Lucius was not known for his weakness, but when he was at home he was more willing to show it, though it had taken years for Narcissa to convince him he wouldn't be punished for it, and it was only after the deaths of his own parents. 

"She wrote to you first, I doubt she'll hate you." Narcissa gave him a hug, caressing his precious hair, the one thing he was allowed to control about himself as a child. 

----- 

"Oh father," Draco shook his head with a small smile as he read the letter Lucius sent him. 

"Something wrong?" Harry's voice was quiet, and he was sitting in close to Draco who was acting as a shield against the looks Harry was still getting. 

"No, my father is just letting his worries show. It's kinda sweet of him, you know?" Draco shrugged, wrapping an arm around Harry, fighting the urge to kiss him on the head. 

"Sweet to worry?" Harry was recovering slowly, and he struggled with saying the first word of his sentences. 

"It can be. I mean, my father doesn't typically show that he cares at all, so it's kinda sweet when he shows us that he cares enough to get worried about these kinds of things." Draco didn't know how to explain what was 'sweet' that his father worried about these letters. 

Crookshanks jumped up to join Harry on the sofa, curling up between Harry and Draco. Crookshanks would never hiss at Draco, but didn't seem to like him either. The cat seemed protective of Harry to the point of trying to keep people he didn't like away from the boy. 

The problem with this was that Crookshanks didn't like many people; Harry, Hermione, and usually Ron were the only people Crookshanks seemed to like, Harry being at the top of the list. Draco and the others were only put up with because Harry liked them. 

"Hello cat." Draco frowned at the cat as Harry stroked him. 

"Be nice to him, please?" Harry smiled at Crookshanks. "I like him." 

"Fine, because it's you." Draco rolled his eyes with a smile, glaring at a 4th year who was clearly snickering at Harry with a friend. 

----- 

"Knock knock," Draco said from Lexsaidh's door, his father's letter for Raelyn in hand. "Can I come in?" 

"Huh, oh, yeah, sure." Lexsaidh looked up, her face pale and, until Draco interrupted, she had her head resting in her hands at her desk. "Sorry, I have a headache." 

"Have you been sleeping?" Draco lowered his voice as he came in, dimming the lights. 

"Not much, Rose's cat accidentally spilled the potion and Dumbledore and Snape have given me more work than I can do and won't give me enough time or listen to Professor Sprout when she tries to help me." Lexsaidh shook her head, hands shaking. "Rose was very apologetic, but still... Lots of visions." 

"I'll bring you some more, I can use an unspillable vial." Draco frowned, hatred for Dumbledore and Snape growing. "I have a letter for Raelyn from my father." 

"Thanks, but it will take some sleepless nights to finish all of this before it's due anyway. I think it's revenge. Could you give it to Killian, he's also busy, but less so, he has time to send it. Sorry we can't spend more time together." Lexsaidh waved her hand at him. 

"What's the topic? I'll help." Draco could see that she wasn't in a fit state to be working like this. 

"No, it's not something you need to be dealing with, you have your own homework." Lexsaidh shook her head. 

"Lexsaidh," Draco's voice became firm, "You look like you're having a migraine, have some of the sleeping potion, get some sleep and let me help. My homework at the moment is pretty much just looking after Harry anyway." 

"Are you always like this?" Lexsaidh asked, her eyes closed. 

"Like what?" Draco was searching through his bag for the potion. 

"Looking after other people, you're basically parenting me." Lexsaidh stood up. 

"Only if it's people I care about. Here," Draco handed her the potion as she let her hair down from the bun into the twin braids the bun was made from. "And don't worry about the homework, as I'm sure you can tell, I love potions." 

"Oh, fuck you." Lexsaidh's voice was more affectionate than aggressive. 

"He's making you do this?" Draco muttered to himself as he saw the work Lexsaidh had been assigned. 

Snape had been working on many, unsavoury, potions for a long time. They were all personal projects, and most were illegal, but they were certainly not school work. Lexsaidh's work was almost entirely solving the problems he had run into in his experiments. The only things she wasn't given were the illegal ones. 

Draco was the one who solved them last time, but he wasn't sure if he should do that this time. 

Snape had committed several crimes in secret thanks to those potions. Draco could still feel the weight of that guilt, even now those things had never happened. 

He clearly couldn't go to Dumbledore, but maybe McGonagall would do something about it.