A Song for Severus ~ (Not Update, but Edit)

Chapter 44 ~ Getting Answers

Draco was dressed immaculately in a black suit as he stood on the sidewalk looking at the small house the Pascals resided in. The front yard had sparse grass and thin bushes, and it was less than gray. Colorless would be the word to describe it as he walked up the walkway. No wonder Malina had been so somber if she were raised in this household. Draco could feel the coldness as he approached the house. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.

Almost immediately the door was pulled open by a tall, dark haired man, with narrowed mean eyes and an angular face. His lips were held in a thin, disapproving line and his dark hair combed straight back. Draco had a feeling this was the man’s natural look and just not for him.

“May I help you?” William Pascal said in a deep, pastoral voice.

”Yes sir. My name is Draco Malfoy. I am here to speak to you about your daughter, Malina Pascal,” Draco said offering his hand to the muggle.

William looked at Draco’s hand as if it had been dipped in shit. Draco lowered it.

“Daughter? I have no daughter,” he said to Draco.

Draco pulled out the form.

“It says right here that you are the father of Malina Pascal,” he said.

A slender dark-haired older woman appeared next to William, her brown eyes sad as she stared at Draco.

“Get back in the house, woman. This doesn’t concern you,” William snapped at her.

Malina’s mother melted back into the house, William looking after her with a frown before he turned back to Draco.

“Satan fathered that child, not me,” William said, “Exodus Chapter twenty-two verse eighteen: Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Malina was the spawn of Satan and would not repent her evil. We gave her over to the devil long ago. She’s dead to us. That God has taken her wickedness out of the world…is a blessing. A victory for Heaven.”

Draco stared at William Pascal. He had disowned Malina because she was a witch? His own daughter?

Draco swallowed down his rage, though he shook slightly as he addressed the pale muggle.

“Mr. Pascal, Malina’s body is in the morgue. I would like you to sign this form so I can give her a proper burial,” Draco said, holding out the parchment.

William looked incredulous.

“A proper burial? She is a witch…she can’t be buried on hallowed ground. Let her rot where she lies,” he snarled, “Or burn her. That is the proper end for a creature like her. I will sign nothing! Good day!”

Mr. Pascal slammed the door in Draco’s face.

Draco stood there blinking for a moment as cold anger rose up in his belly. Mr. Pascal would sign the paper…or else. Draco pulled his wand and was about to blast the door off its hinges when he heard a “pssst!”

He looked around and standing down a ways at the end of the yard was Malina’s mother. She waved him over and started walking quickly down the street, Draco following. She stopped when they were out of sight of the house. Draco walked up to her.

“I’m Diana Pascal, Malina’s mother,” she said softly, her lip trembling, “Is she really dead?”

”Yes,” Draco said, his eyes hard as he looked at the woman.

Diana’s eyes filled with tears and they began rolling down her face.

“How…how did she die?” she asked him.

“An accident. She fell from a great height,” Draco replied, leaving out that she was on a magic carpet.

Diana swallowed, blinking back her tears.

“Did she suffer?”

“I don’t think so. I believe she died quickly,” Draco replied, his eyes softening a bit as he felt Diana’s pain.

“Good. I wouldn’t have wanted her to suffer…she’d suffered enough over the years. My poor child,” Diana said in a near whisper, “Give me the paper. I’ll sign it. Please bury her with some dignity.”

Draco gave her the parchment and Diana produced a pen from her sweater pocket, and resting it against her palm, signed her name and handed the parchment back to Draco.

“Thank you,” he said, folding it and placing it in his pocket. He turned to go. He felt Diana hesitatingly touch his arm and stopped, looking at her. She was tall and slender just like Malina was, though she looked more like her father.

“Wait. I want to know…were you someone special to Malina?” Diana asked him, “A friend?”

Draco looked at her.

“I was more than a friend, Mrs. Pascal. I wanted to marry Malina,” he said.

Diana smiled at him through her tears.

“So, she wasn’t alone then. She was loved,” she said softly.

Draco nodded.

“Very much so,” the wizard said.

“That’s good,” Diana said, looking at him gratefully, “I was always so worried she would be alone. She was so introverted, so to herself. It wasn’t her fault, you know. William never understood that. When things happened around her, he said the devil was at the bottom of it…but I never believed it. Malina was a sweet little girl, there was never anything evil about her. But William treated her like a pariah, keeping her locked away as much as he could, only letting her out for school and church, having everyone pray over her to drive the evil out of her constantly. Then…then the owls came…creatures of the night…the devil, all carrying letters that said she was to attend a school for witches. William was livid, saying hell itself was rising to take her…then came the exorcisms…the terrible rituals. Malina was almost drowned once as they held her in the baptismal pool trying to drive the evil demons out of her…”

Draco frowned at Diana.

“You are her mother! How did you let them do that to her?” he demanded.

“I…I am subject to the will of my husband. All good Christian wives are,” she replied, “There was nothing I could do. If I tried, then I would be considered on the side of the devil as well.”

Draco scowled at her as Diana continued.

“Then…then he showed up, dressed in a bright blue gown with orange stars, a tall hat and a white beard past his waist, asking that Malina be allowed to go with him to some place called Hogwarts. Hogs were what Christ cast demons into. My husband told him he would never take Malina…he would kill her first. And he went away,” Diana said.

Draco knew Albus had come to visit to convince them to let Malina go to Hogwarts and been turned away.

“Then William became obsessed with cleansing Malina’s soul. He took her out of school and kept her locked in her room reading the Bible night and day, repenting what she was…and…and…he beat her, trying to drive out the evil, and there were even more exorcisms. They did horrible things to Malina…and…and one night they had bound her and were whipping her when the entire room shook and everyone was thrown against the wall, unable to move and watched as the ropes around her untied themselves, and Malina stood up…”

”’I’m not taking this anymore,” she said, “I’m leaving here and if any of you try to stop me, you’ll be sorry. Very sorry.’ Then she dressed herself and packed a small bag and left. She was only twelve and a half years old when she left. We were all stuck to the walls for about an hour before we could move again. My husband and the others said Satan’s power had done this, protected his own and from that day William declared Malina dead to us. But me…I’ve always loved my daughter. You have to believe me,” Diana said, bursting into tears.

Draco didn’t have any sympathy for the muggle. She had abandoned Malina too, and let them do those terrible things to her.

”Some way to show your love,” he said coldly.

Diana blinked up at him.

“Goodbye, Mrs. Pascal,” Draco said, disapparating with a peal of thunder, startling the woman. Diana stared at the empty space as William walked down the street, his face contorted.

“What deal have you struck with the devil, woman?” he snarled at her.

Diane began backing up, shaking her head.

“No deal, William…I just wanted Malina put…”she started.

“Don’t mention that name in my presence!” William cried, slapping her, “Now get back to the house you…you bitch!”

Diana scampered back to the house, William striding after her, already unbuckling his belt. She was supposed to obey him. He was the head of the house and closest to God. She would pay for her treachery and repent her sin against him.

He entered the house, slamming the door behind him.

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Draco returned to St. Mungo’s with the form. The same medi-witch was at the counter, took the parchment and with her wand, tested it for validity. It glowed blue.

“Very well, Mr. Malfoy…you can contact the morticians to come and claim the body,” she said to the wizard.

“Can I see her first?” Draco asked the medi-witch, who looked very somber.

“I really don’t advise it,” she said, “She was badly mangled. She’s been physically set to rights, the broken bones knitted back together and organs put back inside and the flesh repaired as good as possible…but there are marks and bruises. It would be better if you waited for the morticians to prepare her body cosmetically.”

”I’ve seen mangled bodies before,” Draco said evenly, “I want to see her.”

The medi-witch looked at Draco sadly.

“Very well, but I’ll take you,” she said, motioning to another medi-witch and whispering in her ear. The witch looked at Draco with a sympathetic expression, then nodded. The medi-witch walked around the desk.

“Come with me, Mr. Malfoy,” she said walking through a set of double doors and into a lift, followed by Draco.

“Morgue,” the medi-witch said, and the lift began to descend. She looked at Draco.

“I’d like to go in first, Mr. Malfoy, just to make sure everything is as it should be,” she said.

Draco nodded, saying nothing, his belly in knots as the lift dropped lower. Finally it stopped, the doors opening.

The bowels of St. Mungo’s was very cave-like with torches in sconces on the wall. It was also very cold down here. The medi-witch wrapped her sweater around herself a bit tighter.

“This way Mr. Malfoy,” she said leading the way down the long corridor, torchlight flickering over the silent pair. They came to a set of heavy double doors.

“Wait here,” the medi-witch said, entering the morgue.

Several empty metal gurneys sat side by side. The last one held a body covered by a sheet. Ethel, for that was the medi-witch’s name walked up to it, drawing her wand. Taking a deep breath, she removed the sheet from Malina’s head, looking down at her.

“Poor thing,” Ethel though as she looked at her blackened bruises and stiff hair. She pulled the sheet down further and saw the witch’s body was a mass of bruised flesh. She pointed the wand at the body and glamoured it so the skin was even and pale. Then she cast a charm on her hair to soften it.

“You look much better,” she said to the dead witch, “At least it won’t be as painful for Mr. Malfoy to look at you.”

Ethel wiped away a little tear, pulled the sheet back over Malina and walked back to the door, pushing it open.

“You may come in now, Mr. Malfoy,” she said.

Draco entered and stopped at the door as he saw the body of his lover covered in a sheet on the last gurney, her feet sticking out of the end with a tag on her toe. They were so pale, much more pale than he was used to.

“May I be alone with her?” he asked Ethel in a hoarse voice.

“Of course. I’ll wait outside for you,” Ethel said, exiting the room.

Draco stood there for a minute or two, then slowly walked over to the gurney. Everything felt strange and unreal as he looked down at the sheet. He gripped the top of it and slowly drew it away from Malina’s face, looking down on the witch he loved. She was so pale, so still…it was as if she were a golem waiting to be given life. Her lips were blueish.

“Oh Malina,” Draco breathed, his gray eyes filling with tears as he looked down on the dead witch, “You were the only woman I ever loved. Why did you leave me? Why, witch?”

Malina lay there, silent and cold. Draco caressed her hair which felt stiff, despite how soft it looked. The wizard realized the medi-witch had cast a glamour on Malina’s body. He was thankful. Yes, he had seen many broken bodies at the revel, but he didn’t think he could have stood seeing Malina’s body battered and bruised. He was nearly falling apart now.

“I’m going to keep you near me, Malina,” Draco breathed, “I will bury you in the garden on the Manor grounds…remember the garden with the roses that you loved so much? Yes, there. You’ll be surrounded by beauty and birdsong. And I will visit you, sit by you and tell you everything that’s happening in the world, yes…I’ll sit by you and…”

The wizard’s throat suddenly closed up and he couldn’t speak for a moment. When he did he could only gasp, “What am I going to do without you?” falling across her cold body and weeping as if he would never, ever stop.

It was a long time before he did. And when he did, he looked down at her once more, and pressed his mouth to her cold lips.

”Goodbye, Malina,” the wizard said, covering her once more with the sheet. “I will always love you.”

Wiping his eyes, Draco exited the morgue, feeling as if all the happiness he had ever known was left behind on a steel gurney, alone, cold, dead and covered by a thin white sheet.

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A/N: Thank you for reading.