"My father was not incompetent," With those words uttered, Kaguya earned a slap from her uncle.
If there was one thing Lucius hated, it was being contradicted.
He wouldn't let himself be humiliated by an eleven-year-old girl who had never even met the man she was defending.
"Your father was a man who only knew how to make mistakes in his life, one of them was you, but I am here so that you stop being just a mistake of your father. Do you understand?" Lucius took her by the arm, taking her out of the office.
"You will never be a complete Malfoy, but you should at least try to seem part of this family."
Draco used to watch his father's constant punishments of his cousin.
He felt a little useless for not being able to do anything, but Lucius was also hard on him.
He said it was so that he wouldn't be someone disposable in life, but he never understood why he hated Kaguya just for having a different last name.
His father could be very demanding with his cousin, she couldn't make a mistake, she couldn't present herself badly in front of people, she couldn't challenge him, she couldn't do anything without Lucius' approval beforehand.
Even so, Kaguya never cried after a punishment, she continued to break rules despite knowing that a painful punishment awaited her, she used to be the older sister he never had.
Kaguya sometimes took responsibility for some of Draco's accidents.
The blond didn't like that, and even though he tried to tell his father the truth, he never believed him and told him to stop protecting Kaguya.
That's why it hurt him when Kaguya was punished, because sometimes he didn't know if she was innocent or guilty.
And even if she was guilty, he didn't like to see her with a red cheek.
The little blond boy noticed the elf who was running with a broom straight to his father's office.
"Pss, Dobby!" Draco called him and immediately the elf stopped to attend with a little fear of boy's request, "I need you to bring me a piece of ice."
"D-Dobby will bring y-young M-Malfoy the ice when D-Dobby finishes cleaning the m-master's office," The elf's voice was always shaky.
Draco didn't blame him, if his father was hard on him and his cousin, he was even worse with those he considered servants.
When the blond turned his attention to his cousin, she was walking into her room with her head down.
Lucius walked down the hall, meeting his son, "I want you to be ready in ten minutes, when that girl calms down we will go buy your things for school."
He did not wait for an answer and went to the first floor of the Mansion, probably to tell his wife that in a while they would go to Diagon Alley.
Draco stood still until he saw that his father was no longer around, and he ran to his cousin's room.
The door was ajar, as Kaguya never slammed the door in Lucius' face no matter how angry she was.
She always waited five minutes to lock herself in and then stayed there for a couple of hours.
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"Black?" Draco entered seeing his cousin leaning out of the window with her elbows resting on the frame and her face in her hands, "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I just hope I get to Hogwarts soon so I don't have to see him every day."
Draco approached her, taking a seat on the armchair by the window and managed to see Kaguya's right hand covering the red mark on her cheek.
"Dobby is already coming with ice," he informed, however Kaguya did not even look at him.
"If I go, would you go with me?" She asked the boy, looking at the large garden of house and exit door on the other side.
"Sure! You're my best friend!" Kaguya smiled and turned slightly towards her cousin.
She sat on the arm of the chair next to him, "Do you think we'll separate when we get to school?"
"Why would we do that?" Draco started playing with his cousin's perfectly coiffed hair, "It's obvious that we'll both be in Slytherin, we'll be most popular and in a couple of weeks we'll be the best in school!"
"E-Excuse me" they both turned their heads at small voice that was heard on the other side of door, "Dobby brought the ice that y-young Malfoy ordered for Miss Kaguya."
"Come in Dobby," She smiled pleasantly at the elf who was walking fearfully towards them, "You know you can call me Kaguya if Lucius is not around."
"D-Dobby is sorry," he apologized and bowed his head as he usually did when he did something wrong.
Kaguya didn't understand what harm a small, tender creature like Dobby could do.
He was just following orders, and lived in fear of what Lucius could do to him.
He was more or less the same as her, but she felt it was unfair to treat him like a good-for-nothing servant.
"Don't apologize," Kaguya took the ice and caressed the elf's hand, "You didn't do anything wrong and thank you...."
She smiled at him again and the little elf imitated her with a little more confidence before leaving the room.
Draco stood up, resting his leg on the chair so he could have better access to his cousin's cheek.
He took the ice and carefully passed it over red mark that ruined Black's face.
"Always so kind, my dear cousin," Draco mocked, feeling the small drops of water falling down his hand, "No one would think you were friends with an elf."
"According to my uncle, it's better that no one thinks that," Kaguya agreed, feeling cold moisture on her cheek.
The ice chunk wasn't very big so it turned into water in a matter of seconds.
Kaguya pulled a towel out of her closet and wiped her cheek with one end while Draco wiped his hand with the other.
After making sure the other's clothes were neatly laid out and without any noticeable wrinkles, two children went straight downstairs with adults to get their things for school.
xxxxxx
#Reupload - I chose wrong Category before.
What are your thoughts about Kaguya's new life here? Do you think she remembers her past life? 🤔