The Dragon's Child Bride

A/N: If you can\'t tell, I still need a beta. If you have the ability and the inclination, or have an idea for the story, please feel free to email me at princess_tygris@hotmail.com. The link here to my addy is wrong. Again, thank you for the wonderful reviews. Keep \'em coming! Happy reading!


Laylani spent the next few days in bed reacquainting herself with the Malfoys. Draco would sit with her for hours, waiting on her hand and foot, and trying to explain to her the memories she would describe to him. She liked him. Very much. For some reason she was so drawn to him, she couldn’t explain it. He intrigued her like no one else had, and she wanted, no, needed to know everything about him. She pressed him for details about the life he had lead since she\'d left.

That’s always how they referred to it, that she had ‘left.’ Draco had been given strict instructions not to push for information unless she readily offered it.

He thought it just as well. He didn’t think he was ready to know.

He dazzled her with stories about Hogwarts and the many mysteries and adventures that were held within its walls. He would tell her about the teachers, the classes, the ghosts. She ate it all up. And while she considered all of this so fantastic, she had surprises for him, too. The first came when he was explaining the simple levitation spell they had been taught in first year.

“Swish and flick, swish and flick. I couldn’t bloody get it for the life of me.” he recalled.

She pointed her finger at the empty glass on the side table. “Wingardium Leviosa.” she said. The water glass began to slowly raise itself as she moved her finger upwards. She spun it around in the air a few times.

“How can you do that?” said Draco, clearly shocked that she could perform such a spell.

“Do what?” she said taking her eyes off the glass to face him. The glass fell to the ground and shattered. Draco ignored it continuing to stare at her

“How could you have done that? I never told you the words. You don’t even have a wand!” She blushed a faint shade of pink as he continued to stare at her.

“Can’t you?” she said innocently.

Laylani had acquired great knowledge in the past eleven years. They had made her study every day for hours on end, practicing spells and incantations in those dark and dingy rooms they had locked her in. She studied and she practiced or they would torture her for disobedience. Granted, sometimes they would torture and beat her for the fun of it, too. She had mastered what would normally be taught in first and second year by the time she was about seven. She learned some magic in the dark streets and back alleyways too, after she had escaped. She couldn’t have been more then eleven then. She didn’t know for sure; days and weeks ran together giving her no real sense of time or date.

“Not without my wand. Who taught you to-”

Laylani interrupted him quickly. She wasn’t ready to admit her past to herself yet, let alone this handsome man.

“How old am I? When’s my birthday?” Draco knew this was a sign she was not ready to answer his questions. He would bring it up to his parents later.

“You’re seventeen. Your birthday is May 12th.” He answered quietly. She asked him more questions, clearly trying to distract him from their previous topic. He let her. She would tell when she was ready.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The mediwizard made daily house calls. At first he would only ask her questions about her physical health. “How are you feeling?” and “Are you eating alright?” Things like that. On the fourth day he began to touch on the topic of her past, trying to find some way to assess her emotional state.

“Laylani, I removed some scars from your chest. Around five of them, dark and circular, ran horizontally along the length of your collar bone. Do you remember how you got them?” Her eyes clouded over.

“No.” she said darkly, turning away from him to face the window.

“Mm-hmm.” he said “What about the thin ones that ran vertically on your back?”

“No,” she said, louder this time, “I don’t remember.”

“Right. What about the marks on your wrists and ankles? Do you remember where you got those?”

“No!” she screamed “I don\'t remember, alright? Leave me alone!” She began to cry. “Please,” she said softly, “Just leave me alone.”

“I think you do remember, Laylani. You need to tell me where those marks came from. What about thick one on your stomach?” He barely managed to dodge the glass she threw at him from her breakfast tray.

“ I don\'t remember! I don\'t remember! Just fuck off!” She was standing up on the bed by this point, throwing everything at him she could get her hands on. Some items were even throwing themselves and he knew her magic was acting out on instinct. “I don\'t fucking remember and I\'m not going to tell you a goddamn thing! Get out! Get out!” He closed the door and heard something shatter against the back of it.

The Malfoy family heard the commotion from the breakfast table downstairs. By the time they got to Laylani’s door, the mediwizard was already outside writing furiously in his clipboard. This was quite a development. She was still screaming incoherently from the bedroom, intermittent with heavy sobs.

“What the hell did you do to her?” Draco yelled as he pushed past the doctor. He opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind him.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Lucius and Narcissa had the mediwizard join them downstairs at the table. Both were upset with him. He had obviously done something to provoke her, and neither liked the idea of anyone intentionally upsetting her. Still, they knew as a mediwizard, he should have her best interests at heart, so they decided to let him explain himself.

“It would seem she’s been traumatized on several occasions. I asked her about the origin of some of the marks I removed from her body. She was quite unresponsive. Upon further inquiry she turned, from what you could hear, defensive and violent. Someone, possibly more then one person, has been seriously abusing that girl for quite a long time.”

“What marks?” asked Lucius, feeling a rage build up inside him. How could anyone have hurt that sweet little girl?

“There were several. She had burn marks along her collarbone, scarring left from what I think were restraints on her wrists and ankles, and whip marks on her back. But that’s not even the half of it. She-”

“Please stop.” said Narcissa quietly. She couldn’t bear to hear it. “What can we do for her?”

“I suggest taking her to St. Mungo’s to register her for therapy. She won’t need to be confined there, no. I don’t find her to be at all hazardous unless purposely provoked. But she will need to see someone roughly two or three times a week to treat this. She’s repressing right now, but if we don’t find out what happened to her soon, she could become very dangerous.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Draco closed her bedroom door, and a glass vase broke against the wall, just right of his head.

“Laylani! It’s me. It’s Draco!”

She immediately stopped screaming. She looked so miserable, her face streaked with tears, hair mussed, standing listlessly in a white nightgown. It made his heart break. Her legs collapsed under her and she curled up on the bed and cried.

“Shhh. It’s alright. Everything’s going to be alright.” He walked cautiously towards the bed. He had no experience with crying women, the only thing he could think to do was to get her to stop. “Don’t cry, don’t cry. It’s alright.” Draco sat next to her and put his arms around her. It felt awkward with her lying on her side and him sitting up. He lifted her from the waist and put her face against his chest. He lay back, stroking her messy hair and she lay next to him, her head on his chest, soaking his shirt with her tears.

After ten minutes, she had cried herself out. She was no longer angry. All she felt was shame. Shame for losing her temper and shame that Draco saw her cry. He was still stroking her hair when she lifted herself off of him, and sat with her head in her knees.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “It won’t happen again.”

“What happened?” asked Draco, “What did he do?” She lifted her head and passed her arm across her face, wiping away any stray tears.

“He, he kept asking me questions that I couldn’t, I couldn’t answer.” Her breathing was shaky. “He wouldn’t leave me alone, he kept asking. I…I-I couldn’t tell him. I can’t. I can’t tell.” Tears slowly began to roll down her face again. She ducked her head into her knees again, trying to hide her tears.

He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close “Look, you don’t have to tell him anything if you don’t want to. I’ll talk to him. I’ll tell him…” Draco didn’t know what he would tell the mediwizard. Tell him not to do his job? Tell him not to try and make her better? He didn’t know what he could say to the mediwizard, but he knew he wouldn’t let that man upset her again.

“I’ll tell him.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Lucius and Draco took her to St. Mungo’s that afternoon. It was her first Floo experience and she didn’t think much of it. She came out with her nightgown covered in soot. She was embarrassed to be in public in nightclothes, but they had nothing else for her to wear. That’s why Narcissa was absent; she had volunteered to go buy Laylani some clothes of her own.

Laylani still had little energy, so they put her in a wheelchair once they arrived. Draco wheeled her next to an empty chair and took a seat. Laylani couldn’t help but noticed people were staring at them, at her. One young woman even pointed. She leaned closer to him.

“Draco, why are they staring?” She began to blush and hunched over herself trying to hide from those gawking stares. Draco looked around. They were staring. He was used to it, but he could see why it would make her uncomfortable. He didn’t know what to say, so he said the first thing that came to mind.

“It’s because they’ve never seen such a beautiful girl.” he said and winked at her. She smiled. Cautiously, she reached down and took hold of his hand, her eyes always on his face for any sign of rejection. There was none.

“Stanners?” called the receptionist. “They’ll see you now.” Lucius took the chair and wheeled Laylani to the receptionist, who took her into the back. Lucius came and joined his son. They sat in silence for what seemed like forever until Draco could no longer stand it.

“She can use magic without a wand, you know.” He said this was an air of pride. Not many people could perform even basic wandless magic, but his girl could. Lucius snorted.

“Draco, I don’t know what she’s told you, but the mediwizard assured me that she has limited magical ability. She was taken when she was six. How much did you know when you were six? Exactly. Most of her magical ability is performed out of instinct.”

Draco turned to his father, his eyes wild with anger. Not only was Lucius calling him a liar, but Laylani as well. Every good knight had to protect his lady’s honor.

“She didn’t tell me, Father. I saw it. I was right there and she levitated a glass without a wand. She even knew the words. Granted it did drop when she looked away.” His father’s jaw dropped and Draco looked smug. ‘That shut him up.’ he thought.

Lucius considered the implications of this statement. If what his son said were true, then the mediwizard was all wrong in his assessment of Laylani’s magical ability. It wasn’t that she had no control over it or didn’t know how to use it. Just the opposite, she may be quite a powerful witch so long as she kept her focus. Unconsciously, Lucius’ mind began to explore the possibilities of what this could do for his cause. If she were to be trained, she could be quite an asset. Yes, the Dark Lord would be pleased.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Meanwhile, Laylani was taken to a small office in the back. Inside there was a short, stout little witch bustling behind a desk with the name plate ‘Marigold Z. Kerrin.’ It seemed like she had lost something but Laylani wasn’t surprised. The office was in a terrible state of disarray. One could probably lose pets in there.

The receptionist behind her cleared her throat. The little witch looked up. “Hello! Hello! It’s so nice to see you! You must be Laylani, am I right?” Laylani nodded. “Lovely. Sorry about the mess. I wasn’t going to clean it up, but sorry about it anyway.” Laylani smiled. She liked this woman.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Laylani exited the office an hour later. Laylani and Ms. Kerrin (“Please,” she had said, “Call me Mari.”) had arranged a schedule to meet for one hour, three times a week. Mari would be coming to her, as she knew how taxing it was on her to get there. She had given Laylani a silver notebook. It was for her to write her thoughts and feelings in whenever she felt upset, or didn’t understand them. She was wheeled out into the waiting room. Draco and Lucius were sitting where they were when she had left.

“Draco.” she called softly. He looked up at her and smiled. He sauntered over to her and took the wheelchair from Mari.

“Mister Malfoy, if I could speak to you please.” Lucius joined the short woman while Draco tried to pop wheelies with Laylani’s chair.

“She’s quite fond of you and your family, sir. Particularly your son.” Mari and Lucius watched the two for a moment before resuming the conversation. “I’ve given her a book to write her feelings and thoughts in. Under NO circumstance is anyone else to read it without her permission. Laylani has a lot of issues with trusting others, particularly men. She must be guaranteed some privacy.” Lucius nodded. Mari continued by telling him the schedule they had set up. She began about something else when Lucius interrupted.

“What about schooling? Would she be able to attend? The boy’s told me she possesses quite the magical ability.”

“I’d have to talk to her first. But from what I’ve read in her file and observed so far, she could be able to attend school with counseling.”

“I see. Thank you.” Lucius turned on his heel and they headed to the fireplace. Laylani stood from the wheelchair and promptly fell into Draco. She blushed.

“Sorry.” She said trying to right herself, but to no avail.

“No problem,” said Draco with a smirk. He put her arms around his neck. “I’m used to women falling all over me.” She rolled her eyes at him and laughed.

“I’ll be sure to remember that, Don Juan.”

Draco bent over and slipped one of his arms behind her knees. He carried her into the fireplace. His father joined them with a handful of Floo powder.

“Malfoy Manor.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

She spent her first night at the table with them for dinner. ‘Nice,’ she thought, ‘this must be what a family is like.’ And indeed, it was nice. They talked, they laughed at old memories and enjoyed some wonderful food. But as nice as it was, it was all too much for her. She was exhausted.

“Goodnight all,” she said as she stood up from the table. “It’s been wonderful, but I need sleep.” She headed towards the stairwell.

“Wait!” called Draco. She turned to face him. “You can’t walk two flights of stairs alone, let me help you.” He approached her, bowed and offered her his arm “M’lady?” She laughed at this display of mock chivalry, accepting his arm.

“Why thank-you, kind sir.” she said in her best Southern belle impersonation. She could hear Lucius and Narcissa laughing gently from behind them as they walked away. She liked having a family.

They had to take their time walking up the stairs, but they eventually made it to her room. She needed to change into one of the new nightgowns Narcissa had bought her that afternoon so he said his goodnight and was just about walk out when she called to him.

“Draco, can I tell you something?”

“Sure.” he said. He came back and sat near her on the edge of the bed.

“I had a great time with you today.” she took his hand. “I just wanted to thank you for being so good to me. So, thanks.” She placed a soft kiss on his cheek. He smiled.

“Anytime, Lani. Anytime.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It couldn’t have been more then one a.m. when the storm woke her. She had always hated storms as far back as she could remember. And this one was terribly violent. The wind was blowing hard knocking the branches from the nearby trees against the window. She was scared. She hated being scared. The lightening flashed and she felt the urge.

‘No,’ she thought, ‘Not after today’s tantrum. I can’t. No. Calm. Be calm.’ The thunder crashed and she couldn’t resist. All the calm thoughts in the world couldn’t stop her. She got up and did what she hadn’t done since she was a child, she ran into the closet.

She had always done it. There would be a storm and she would run into the closet and beat mercilessly on the back wall, tears streaming down her face. She couldn’t explain why, but she’s always known somehow that something on the other side of the closet would keep her safe. Her captors would pull her out by her ankles every time and beat her unconscious, so she had learned to stop. But there was something about this place, this room that made her unable to resist the need to get into the closet. Laylani had never understood why she had to go into the closet in the first place.

Not until now.

Her closet led to Draco’s bedroom.

She didn’t notice that until she had run all the way through the room and into the bed. Draco’s bed. The sudden intrusion woke him up. “What the...?” he said groggily.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped, completely out of breath, “There’s a storm and I’m-”

“You’re afraid of storms.” he finished. “I remember. You can stay with me tonight.” She was grateful that he didn’t make her ask; the running had exhausted what little energy she\'d had and she wasn\'t sure how she would make it back to her room. She pulled up one of his pillows, putting it under her head and arm. Draco began to laugh low in his throat. Laylani lifted her head.

“Alright, Chuckles. I’ll bite. What’s so funny?”

He looked over at her with a smile. “We still sleep in the same position.”

She began to ask what he meant by that when she saw it. Where slept with her head and arm on a pillow, he had his arm wrapped around one, the top half pulled up to his chest. Remove the pillows and put them together, that’s where they belonged. She laughed.

“Could I…?”

“Absolutely.”

They moved their respective pillows and she crawled up next to what she found was a shirtless Draco. She laid her head on his chest and placed a hand over his heart. He wrapped his arm around her, and placed his other hand on top of hers. She closed her eyes and was asleep almost instantly. He pulled her close and kissed the top of her head.

Neither had slept that soundly in years.