#daphaniel

Daphne sat idly in a guest bedroom in Malfoy manor. It had been nearly a month and a half since last she saw Nate. Her father was away on business, so she couldn’t slip away to see them, and both her mother and Narcissa Malfoy had been bombarding her with responsibilities regarding Astoria and Draco’s impending wedding. She was the maid of honor, after all, but never had she expected so many different and time consuming tasks. She was going over her list of things to do in the weeks ahead, when she heard a voice sound from somewhere by the doorway. “Miss Daphne, you’re being summoned.” It was a small grey house elf with large blue-grey eyes, who wrung its hands nervously.

“For what?” Daphne asked distractedly, pinning her hair out of her face.

“Miss, apologies, they didn’t tell me—should I go ask?” The house elf’s eyes grew huge and remorseful as it responded.

Daphne, softened, and focused on the poor creature, “You’re right, I’m sorry of course they didn’t. Thank you, I’ll be down in just a minute.”

“I was instructed to escort you. Immediately.” The elf squeaked out, barely having the courage to even continue standing.

“Oh… um, okay.” She rose from her chair and followed it out of the room and downstairs into a rather intimate drawing room off the side of the main hall. At one end of it sat a large wing-backed chair covered in a glossy black leather. In it sat Draco, and on him sat Astoria, running her hands through his hair. Draco looked up cavalierly and addressed her, “Daphne, thank you for coming so quickly.”

“Well, you know how I enjoy following orders.” She retorted icily, and winked humorlessly at him.

“Yes…well.” He swallowed hard and glanced toward Astoria, who looked unphased by the comment, and hoped she wouldn’t bring it up again. Draco cleared his throat and forced a response, “Your, uh, your mother is here, and she needs to speak with you.”

“Tell her I can’t see her today.” Daphne said abruptly, crossing her arms and turning to leave.  

“It’s too late for that, Daphne, you’ll see me whether you want to or not.” Draco and Astoria fell silent as Charlotte Greengrass emerged from some secluded shadowy corner of the room. The impossibly tall and lean woman cast an imposing shadow, even in the dim light of the drawing room. Her slick black satin overcoat tied ornately at her waist and billowed out to the floor. She wore short black leather gloves and her hair was in a very neat, high ponytail.

“Mum, I—.” Daphne tried to protest, but it was no use. Her mother interjected almost immediately. “Follow me.”

Daphne glared at Draco and Astoria as she left the room on her mother’s heels. They weren’t reactive, but rather something in their eyes told Daphne this wasn’t about the wedding. They were serious, and somber, and much too condemning. She shook the image out of her mind and tried to focus on where they were walking.

“What’s going on?” Daphne prodded, getting a little nervous.

They were now reaching the lower levels of the Manor. What are we doing down here? Daphne wondered fruitlessly. Following the end of the war and Lucius’ escape from custody, the Malfoys had retired their schemes indefinitely, and the dungeons had been quiet for almost an entire year. They arrived at the barred entrance to the cavernous cell at the bottom of the steps. Charlotte shouldered the door open and walked into the room. When she spoke her tone was cold and even.

“This showed up on our grounds the other day,” Daphne entered hesitantly. Her eyes took a minute to adjust to the low light, but as soon as they did, she realized what her mother was talking about. A body, badly bruised and cut, lay at her feet. Nate’s eyes watched her as she entered and approached his motionless body. She dared not look at him for too long, but hoped the split second of eye contact was enough to convey that she was going to try and get him out of this. “And I wanted to give you a chance to explain.”

Daphne’s eyes felt hot and it took all the energy in her to will herself not to tear up. She breathed deeply, and her expression hardened, “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

Charlotte flashed her daughter a dark smile that sent shivers down her spine, “Very good.” She cooed, “Now tell me you don’t know who this is.”

“I don’t know who that is.” Her voice broke a little bit and she hoped her mother wouldn’t notice.

“Ooh, that gave me chills. To your credit you’re doing much better than your sister. I’m almost embarrassed by how weak she is under pressure. She cracked so quickly. Luckily for her, she’s spent the majority her life on my good side, so when I found out she had deceived me in order to protect you, and—this—” Her mother kicked Nate in the side, and the wind was knocked out of him. He coughed and tried to breathe, but found it extremely difficult. “I forgave and forgot. With you I will not be so lenient.” Her mother approached her and grabbed her by the hair, lowering her voice to an eerie murmur, “This is the final humiliation you put me through.”

“It’s not her f—” Nate coughed, trying to get some volume in his voice. Daphne tried to get to him before her mother did, but she wasn’t fast enough. Charlotte shot her wand at Daphne who collapsed, suddenly unable to stand. She tried to crawl, pulling herself towards Nate by her arms, but she was too slow. Charlotte placed one foot on Nate’s chest, and pressed deliberately on his broken ribcage. He cried out in agony.

“You will not address me. Or my daughter. You ruined her. She may be damaged goods now because of her indiscretion regarding you, but she still has a chance to redeem herself, while I’m still around to handle her affairs. Tell me, in which of your dream worlds could a glorified low class farm hand have won this battle? You’ve—Daphne dear, I’ve told you before it’s not polite to interrupt,”

Daphne had caught up to them and was reaching out to pull her mother off of Nate when with a flick of her wand Charlotte sent her daughter careening backwards across the floor and nearly headfirst into the stone wall.  She let out a cry of pain. She felt something crack in her shoulder, and with her free arm, tried to steady herself as the room turned upside down.

Charlotte did not glance twice at her daughter, but continued to address Nate, “If you do not give up this hopeless venture, I will move on to other targets. Your parents, your sisters. Even Daphne, if I still have not made my point.”

Charlotte bent over him coming within an inch or so of his face. He stared right back at her, wincing as she leaned her elbow into his ribcage. “All you muggleborns and half-bloods, even sympathetic purebloods like my husband and father-in-law, think that because one infamous figurehead is defeated everything just goes away. But I want you to know that that is a fantasy. I want you to hear me very clearly when I tell you that I would kill my daughter with my own two hands before she was married to a muggleborn. It would be an easy decision. And that is the way this world works.”

Charlotte stood and walked to her daughter, dropping Daphne’s wand on the floor in front of her. “That’s enough for today. Clean him up, fix him up, and dispose of him, Daphne.” Her mother strode back towards the door and disappeared up the stairs. Daphne grabbed her wand and undid the binding on her legs. Her head was pounding, and the edges of her vision were dark and blurry as she made her way over to Nate. She fell to her knees, “Astrid!” She yelled through the gate. With a sharp popping noise, her elf appeared. “Oh, Miss Daphne, Master Douglas!” Astrid was shocked to see the state of the two young people she’d helped every day during the year.

“Astrid, please get me a washcloth, warm water, sal- you know what all I need.”

“Yes, of course, miss, right away.” With another pop, she was gone.

Nate’s hand rose and rested gently on the inside of her thigh.

“Can you see me?” Nate nodded as best he could without being able to sit up.

“Can you speak at all?” She asked him, feeling his forehead, and grazing his cheek.

“Not for a long time, but yes.” He wheezed as he spoke.

“Good, because I’m going to need you to walk me through the more advanced stuff. I can take care of your bruising and cuts.” Astrid reappeared with the necessary supplies and set them by Daphne’s side. “Thank you. That will be all.” Daphne said softly to her, “Oh, actually and Astrid, please try and keep anyone from coming down here, for as long as you can spare time.”

The elf nodded and disappeared once more. Nate held onto her thigh tightly as she took the cloth soaked in warm water to his arms and chest, and suturing up the big cuts by dragging her wand along them. Luckily he wasn’t as bad on the outside as he had been when he was attacked at school.

“So, you came to my house?” She said

“Yes.”

“Oh, Nate, why?”

“Daphne I had just,” He coughed a few times before continuing, and Daphne rested her hand gently on his. “I’d just proposed to you, and you left in such a hurry, and then I didn’t see you or hear from you for nearly six weeks. I was worried about you.”

“What can I do for your ribs?” She asked, not addressing what he’d said to her. Nate thought for a moment and gave her a few incantations to recite. She did so, and it was almost an hour or so before she spoke again. As his bones solidified and healed, Nate was able to breathe deeply and color flooded back into his face.

“Are you alright to sit up? I need to take a look at your back.” He nodded and pulled himself slowly up, facing his back to her. “I’m sorry you had to deal with her,” Daphne said quietly, as she combed his back for serious injuries, “And that I wasn’t there to protect you. I should have been, if it wasn’t for this ridiculous wedding.”

“No, it’s not your fault. I shouldn’t have been there. I just—needed to see you.” He looked over his shoulder at her.

“Alright, your back looks okay. Does it hurt anywhere else? How are your legs?”

“They’re fine, surprisingly enough she mostly target head and upper body. She did take my wand, though.” Nate responded, a little melancholically.

“Oh, here,” Daphne pulled out Nate’s wand, “I saw it on her when I got close, grabbed it before she pushed me away.”  He beamed, and approached her in an expression of gratitude, but she waved his thanks away, “I know how much your wand means to you.” A sudden shot of pain surged through her head and she fell backwards hoping it would go away if she laid down.

“Daphne? Baby, here,” Nate grabbed her, trying to get her to sit up again, and she yelled out.

“My shoulder.” She explained weakly. She was disoriented and could barely focus on his face.

“It’s okay love, just relax, I’ll figure it out.” He laid her head in his lap and started probing her shoulder, “It’s dislocated. I’ll have to, just hold on tight to my leg or something, this is going to be uncomfortable. I’m sorry,” He apologized, watching her face as he shoved her arm back into its socket. She sobbed in pain, and Nate tried to comfort her, “I know, I’m sorry, baby.” She was usually so confident, talkative and aggressive, it was disconcerting to see her so vulnerable. He brushed her hair away from her face, and her tears away from her eyes. He grabbed the damp cloth and cleaned the blood from her forehead.

“Are you dizzy, or tired at all?” He asked her sweetly.

Daphne had managed to get herself to St. Mungos in one piece. Looking around she wasn’t so sure about how easy getting home in one piece would be. She found something that looked like an information area and took a leap of faith. “Hi, hi, um, I’m here, my boyfriend he left his badge at home is there any way I might find him?” She flashed the badge to the woman sitting behind the counter, who wore a similar one

“Let’s see, what’s his name?” The nurse at the front desk inquired, kindly in an attempt to reassure the girl who was clearly out of her element.

“Nathaniel Douglas.”

“Oh, Nate, last I saw him…” she murmured, glancing at a chart of timetables. “He should be cleaning up in the E.R. right now…it’s through there, first door to your left.” Daphne made sure to thank her profusely before hurrying along down the corridor.

She turned into the small holding room outside, and looked through the observation window. Nate sat with his back to her, and pulled off his shirt. He picked up a gleaming silver instrument with a considerable blade, and winced as he sliced into his chest, making an incision the width of his chest scar.

Daphne gasped and burst into the room “Nate, what are you doing?”

Nate jumped and the instrument slipped from his hand, “Jesus, Daph, what are you doing here?”

She held up his badge, then threw it angrily on the nearby counter. “I was just bringing you this, and now I’m trying to figure out what the hell you were trying to do. Medieval torture reenactment comes to mind.” She bent to pick up the medical instrument that had clattered to the floor seconds earlier. She set in the nearby sink and cleaned the blood off of the floor.

“I was…There’s this practice in muggle medicine called skin grafting-“ He began to explain to her, “I thought maybe, if I couldn’t do it with magic… I just want this gone.” He gestured to the word carved into his skin. “I can’t look at it anymore.”

Daphne was silent, her back to him as she grabbed materials, a stitch-sewing hook and some plastic wire, disinfectant. She dropped them on the portable tray by Nate’s side, then locked eyes with him as she slowly bunched up her skirt, and sat gingerly on his lap. “What are you, OW, JESUS Daphne!” He yelled out in pain as she shoved her hand against the skin near the slice Nate had made, to secure it before washing it out. She concentrated her brow furrowed as she gently and carefully made the first stitch.

“Hang on…. How did you even know where to find that stuff, let alone how to do what you’re doing now?” Nate asked incredulously. She still refused to look at him. The room was tangibly still and quiet before she spoke,

“My caregiving tendencies extend past the bounds of credibility.” She exaggerated, avoiding the question.

“Seriously Daphne, I’m curious. It took me at least a year at my muggle internship before they let me do anything like this.” Nate prodded.

Daphne sighed and shrugged, “Three years ago, a friend and I left school for a few days and traveled to China. We got into a quarrel at a… at a gambling house and my friend needed medical attention so I found a hospital and persuaded one of the doctors to show me how to help so that we didn’t need to get involved with the Chinese government. I improvised as best I could, but I never forgot.” Daphne smiled, remembering the Chinese doctor fondly as she continued to stitch.

“Why would the Chinese government get involved?” Nate asked, confused.

Daphne paused to catch his glance before turning her eyes downward to focus again, “Well, the house wasn’t strictly legal, and you know how they love to detain foreigners. If we had to explain where we were and what we were doing to doctors… well, my friend and I wanted to sidestep as much fallout as possible.”

“You mean Draco.” Nate frowned. “You would have just said your sister if it was Astoria, and unless you’ve got someone else in your life that would whisk you away like that somewhere, I would hope you would have told me about them. So you were with Draco, sewing him up like this.”

“I don’t know why it was necessary to go on about it,” Daphne sighed, “but yes, I mean Draco.”

“Because Daphne, you tread on eggshells whenever he comes up like he’s some dear departed that you’re afraid to invoke the name of. You act like he’s some big secret, like I don’t know you were involved, and to be honest the way you treat your memories—it makes me uncomfortable. It’s like—you know what never mind.” He grinded his teeth and inhaled deeply.

“No, don’t stop now. What is it like?” Daphne challenged, though she had an idea of what he was going to say. She looked him dead in the eyes, and her hands froze, only a few stitches away from being done.

“It’s like a part of you is still in love with him.” Nate exhaled, watching her for a reaction.

Daphne leaned into the hand holding his wound closed which sent a shock of pain running through his body and she went on stitching. He winced. “I’m not even going to entertain your thoughts on that, Nate. I mean how could you even think that? Well, actually I know how, you just explained,” She paused again. “Nate, you’re just going to have to trust that I know my own mind. The bridges I had with Draco—they’re not burned but they’ve certainly been abandoned. You probably haven’t had time to notice, but I haven’t even crossed paths with him in months, let alone spoken to him. And if he ever found out about you—that is about how much I love you,” She raised her hand to graze his cheek sweetly, “and that I’ve ever even let you touch me—they would go up in flames. And I’m okay with that.” She finished stitching him up.

“Now as far as all this,” she gestured towards his fresh stitches, “is concerned, if it really really bothers you, we can talk about it when you get home, see if we can’t figure something out that doesn’t require you to flay yourself. But I want you to know that it doesn’t—it doesn’t change anything for me. And it doesn’t change who you are. You’re still Nathaniel Douglas, intelligent, hardworking. Sweet. An amazing brother, and Uncle…Father.” She cleaned what blood was left dried around the area, and admired it for a moment.

“You know you did alright,” Nate admired the relatively clean handiwork, “the only thing you forgot was the, uh, the localized anesthetic.” He laughed wincing again at the pain from the nerves.

“I didn’t forget anything. I was punishing you for your vanity.” She retorted with a matter-of-fact smile plastered on her face.

“That’s a seriously sadistic move,” He said laughing.

“Yeah, well you’re a big guy,” Daphne whispered as she shifted her body closer to his, watching him with a sly glint in her eye, “I figured you could handle it.”

Nate threw his head back and laughed dryly before grabbing her face in his hands and kissing her deeply. When they broke, Daphne smiled and stood, pulling down and smoothing out her skirt. Nate pulled his shirt back on, and put everything away. He grabbed his badge, and followed her out into the hall. The nurse at the desk stared, open-mouthed at them and Daphne laughed uncomfortably. “I think we made quite an impression on your coworker.”

Nate peered over her shoulder to see what she was talking about, “Yeah, well, seems like we can’t enter any hospital without giving at least one nurse something to talk about.”

Daphne smiled and nodded, “Listen, I probably don’t need to remind you, but check up on those stitches every once in a while so you don’t bleed through the scrubs. I can’t have them thinking I’m a biter.”

“Why not? You are, after all.” He answered her, smirking.

She ignored him, smiling to herself and blushing. “I’ll see you at home?”

“Be there before you know it.” He nodded and watched her as she turned on her heel and walked quickly away.

Nate nearly stumbled through the portrait hole, dropping his duffel bag to the ground. It’d been the longest day at St. Mungo’s and he was so looking forward to getting home. He smiled and snuck up on Thalia who was sitting on the hearth of the fireplace, trying to read a small picture book. “And what do we have here, my darling?” He said gently. She gasped sharply, then exclaimed quietly, “Dad!” Thalia let her book fall to the floor as she jumped up on him, wrapping her hands around his neck and hugging him tightly.

“Violet, leave Aaron alone.” He heard Daphne call from the kitchen. He was surprised as he turned to see Violet lunging, about to pounce on her unsuspecting brother. Daphne had developed a remarkable sensitivity to the triplets’ troublemaking. Nate laughed as Violet shrunk away, a little deflated. He approached his other daughter, his arms still full of Thalia. “Oh, cheer up my dear. Is mum in the kitchen?” Violet nodded, and Nate set Thalia down on the floor next to her sister, and strolled into the kitchen. Daphne was starting to make dinner, chopping up some ginger root. Two of her school books sat above the cutting board and she read as she worked.

He paused just inside the doorway into the kitchen and watched her. A few strands of hair fell from her bun and her face was flushed. She waved her hand over the books and each turned their pages. Suddenly she saw him there out of the corner of her eye, and turned to meet his gaze. She smiled gently at him for only a moment before returning her focus to her books. Nate walked to her and wrapped his arms around her torso, squeezing her gently and kissing her generously. “How was your day?” She asked him quietly.

“It was alright. Long. Everyone was disappointingly not you.” Nate groaned into her neck.

Daphne sighed, “You’ve put in so many hours, aren’t you a healer by default yet?” She caressed his arms, then turned to face him. She place her hand on his cheek and ran her thumb gently under his eye, “You look like you haven’t slept in ages, do you want to lie down? I can call you when dinner’s ready.”

He brushed her hair away and held her head in his hands, “I know I must look like hell. I’d like it a lot more if you joined me.”

“Now, sir, I’m not sure that’s entirely appropriate.” Daphne pretended to be shocked.

Nate lowered his voice and retorted, “I’m not sure I’m entirely appropriate, but that’s never stopped me before.” He smirked at her.

“Tonight, when the children are asleep, I promise.” She said dulcetly to him, smoothing out the gathers in his scrubs at his shoulders.

“I’m so glad we stopped that nonsense business of not being together.” Nate leaned in to whisper in her ear.

Daphne laughed and smiled at him wordlessly.

“I mean it Daphne, I’m so lucky to have you, taking care of me, taking care of our children. Keeping it tight.” He joked as he pulled her even closer to him. She rolled her eyes for just a second, but became serious again.

“Well, it’s very simple, you see. I love you. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Oh, my darling—” Nate growled, smiling and wrapping his one arm around her and lifting her up onto the counter. He kissed her over and over. She giggled and wrapped her legs around him, when suddenly a loud ring sounded from the pocket of his scrubs. Nate groaned unhappily, and reached into his pocket, pulling out his ID. He glanced at the message that scrawled across the back, then shook it to turn the alarm off. “They’re calling me back, they need an extra pair of hands—some sort of crash related injury.”

Daphne pouted and slid off the counter, following Nate out of the kitchen. “Daddy, where are you going?” Aaron asked, noticing his moving toward the front door.

“Oh, I’ve got to make a run back to work for a little while. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“Come home soon, daddy.” Violet added in a sing-songy voice.

Daphne smiled at her kids then held out a jacket for Nate to slip into, “Here, it’s getting pretty chilly out.” Night had fallen and earlier she heard it might snow. He nodded, zipping the jacket up.

“Nate?” Daphne spoke up, wringing her hands nervously and becoming suddenly very serious.

“Yeah?” He faced her. She looked so weary and worried.

“Be careful, please. Be safe.”

He laughed and pulled her into a tight hug. “I will. I will. I promise. I’ll be back before you know it.” He reassured her as he kissed the top of her head. “Just save me a place by you in bed.”

"Mistress, I'm wondering... When will your partner be returning? I very much enjoy helping you out, but it was a lot of work before the accident, for the three of us taking care of these children. Now that it's just you and I, it's considerably harder." Astrid purred gently, trying to be sweet. Daphne sighed.

"I know. Astrid I'm sorry I've been so dependent on your help. I don't mean to stretch you so thin." She couldn't take it anymore. "I hope he'll be home soon."