Author's Note: This is the first sequel to "The Lost Baby." This fic is about the miscarriages that Narcissa suffered in between Ara's death and the time she finally became pregnant with Draco.
Additional Author's Note: In "The Lost Baby," Lucius and Narcissa were still fresh out of Hogwarts. In this fic, however, about 2-3 years have passed; and Lucius and Narcissa (while still young adults) are not the same people that they were in "The Lost Baby." They have had several years to harden, and they are still hurting a lot from the loss of Ara.
Another Author's Note: In the original version of this chapter, there was no Dobby. But after receiving a review from one of my readers that bought up some good points, I decided that I needed to add Dobby. There are some other edits as well, but the main events of this chapter have not changed that much.
It was a typical raid of a Muggle village. It was late at night. Muggles were running and screaming. There were houses on fire. There were Death Eaters everywhere. In other words, it was complete chaos.
Yet this chaos did not affect Lucius Malfoy in any way. His life had always been nothing but a chaos. He did not know the meaning of peace.
And he doubted he ever would.
Underneath his mask, Lucius took a moment to look around. Despite all the chaos going on around him, he was able to just stand there, his body completely still.
He was not relaxed, though. He was rarely relaxed. He did not understand what it meant to be relaxed. Relaxation was too closely related to peace, and peace was a foreign concept to him.
Lucius's sharp eyes suddenly caught sight of a figure in the shadows (away from the light of all the flames) trying to slip away without being noticed.
His wand out, Lucius began to make his way towards the fleeing figure. But he did not rush. In fact, his steps were steady, almost casual.
Houses had been destroyed. Fires were burning everywhere. The figure would not be going anywhere that fast. There was no need for Lucius to hurry.
As Lucius had predicted, the figure was suddenly stopped by a huge pile of smoldering ruin, the remains of what had used to be a house.
Lucius could now see that the figure was a woman. But that did not cause Lucius to pause, not even for a moment. His soul had long ago become numb. He would not show this Muggle mercy just because she was a woman. He had never been that sentimental. Besides, this Muggle filth was not his beloved Narcissa or his precious lost Ara. It would have been different if this woman had been Narcissa or Ara.
But this woman was clearly not Narcissa, and Ara had died before she had even been allowed to take a single breath.
Yet this woman was alive. This filthy Muggle woman was alive. Not like his poor little Ara. Why had this Muggle woman been allowed to live but not his Ara?
Lucius's steps remained steady, but they had lost their casual edge.
The woman looked over her shoulder. Her eyes widened with fear when she saw that she was being followed. She tried to run, but Lucius nonchalantly waved his wand, causing the woman to fall down to the ground.
Not increasing his pace, Lucius approached the fallen woman.
As Lucius drew closer, he noticed that the woman was not alone. She was holding a baby, a baby that could not have been older than the age of one.
Narcissa should have been the one allowed to hold a baby, not this filthy Muggle woman. Muggles were truly a taint on the world.
"Please," the woman begged. "Please, don't hurt my baby. Don't hurt my daughter."
Well, this was just great. This woman didn't just have the baby that he and his wife should have had. This woman also had the daughter that he and his wife should have had.
The baby then began to cry.
His Ara had never had the chance to cry.
The woman tried to soothe her baby, but the baby continued to cry.
"Please, don't hurt me or my baby," the woman pleaded over her baby's cries. "I'm pregnant."
Narcissa was pregnant, with her first baby since Ara had died.
This woman could have been Narcissa, if Ara had lived.
If Ara had lived, Narcissa would currently have a daughter already born and living.
And she would now be waiting excitingly for her next child to arrive in the world, instead of worrying over whether or not it was going to end up being another Ara.
Why did this Muggle woman have to have all the fortune? Why did she have to be like Narcissa should have been?
The woman had finally managed to calm down her baby. The little girl was now completely silent.
In his mind, Lucius was performing the Killing Curse on this filthy Muggle woman and on her filthy Muggle babies, both the living one and the one still waiting to be born.
But in reality, Lucius was hesitating, his wand shaking slightly in his hand.
He couldn't kill Narcissa, Ara, and their unborn child.
No, this woman was a Muggle, not his Narcissa. And this woman's baby was not Ara. And this woman was not expecting his and Narcissa's next child.
Still, though, Lucius hesitated. What was wrong with him? This woman and her babies were nothing more than filthy Muggles. This woman and her babies represented everything that he and Narcissa did not have.
The woman took advantage of Lucius's hesitation. Holding her baby close to her chest, she somehow managed to make her way back to her feet. She then began to run away from Lucius as fast as possible.
Lucius raised his wand and pointed it at the woman's retreating back, but that was all he did.
"Aurors!" Lucius suddenly heard several Death Eaters calling out in warning. "Aurors are coming!"
It was time for them to leave.
Lucius's eyes, however, were still on the retreating woman, his wand still raised. But still, that was all he did.
"Aurors!" several of the Death Eaters cried out once again.
It really was time for them to leave.
Lucius gave the retreating woman (who was now almost a distant figure) one final glance. Then, he began the task of helping to round up the remaining Death Eaters, as several of them were still trying to get in some last-minute curses on the Muggles.
Narcissa came awake suddenly, feeling severe cramps and also intense pain in her abdomen. She also felt some sort of fluid running down her legs.
Narcissa crawled out of the bed. Perhaps walking around a bit would help with the pain.
But what was running down her legs?
Narcissa grabbed her wand from the top of the small chest of drawers beside her side of the bed.
"Lumos," she breathed. Light immediately shot out of the tip of her wand.
Narcissa shone the light down on her legs. She gasped. It was blood that was running down her legs, lots of blood.
Why hadn't Lucius noticed yet? He was a restless sleeper. He always had been. He should be awake.
But then Narcissa noticed that Lucius was not there in the bed. Her husband, in fact, was nowhere to be seen.
Lucius had to be doing a mission for the Dark Lord. He would not had left her side during the middle of the night for any other reason. He had been overly protective of her since he had learned that she was pregnant again.
"Dobby," Narcissa cried out.
There was a snap, which was followed by the appearance of the house-elf in question.
"Yes, Mistress."
"Go to St. Mungo's. Get me some help."
It would be better for the Healers to come to her and to stabilize her before taking her to St. Mungo's than it would be for Dobby to Apparate her to the hospital without any prior treatment. Narcissa didn't want to attempt any form of Apparition in her current state.
But even as Narcissa was speaking, she suddenly heard something hit the floor.
Narcissa looked down, shining her wand light down as well. She felt the breath leave her lungs when she saw what exactly had hit the floor.
It was her baby. It was tiny, very tiny. But its arms, fingers, toes, and ears were fully formed.
The baby was covered in blood, unmoving and completely silent.
The baby was dead.
Narcissa crumbled down onto the floor, sobbing hysterically. She continued to bleed, but she didn't notice. All that she noticed was her dead baby.
Dobby just stood there, frozen in fear, unable to say or do anything. It was clear that he was nearly as traumatized as Narcissa was by the sight of the small, bloody fetus.
At that moment, one of the bedroom doors slowly and quietly opened, as if not to disturb the person sleeping inside.
Lucius silently stepped inside the room, removing his mask and his outer clothes as he did so. In the dimly lit room, the first thing that he saw was his wife's crumbled body on the floor. He could hear her crying.
His heart began to race.
Then, he noticed the blood around Narcissa.
Then, he noticed the bloody fetus on the floor.
Lucius had to grab onto the doorknob for support.
Narcissa looked up and noticed her husband.
"Lucius," she cried. "Oh, Lucius."
Somehow managing to snap out of his state of shock, Lucius tossed aside his mask and his outer wear and began to make his way towards his wife.
Lucius then noticed Dobby, just standing there, his face a picture of shock and horror.
"Get some help from St. Mungo's," Lucius hissed at the house-elf.
Lucius's harsh tone snapped Dobby out of his trance-like state. The House-Elf disappeared with a frantic snap.
As soon as Dobby was gone, Lucius immediately stepped into action. He knew that it would be a few minutes before the Healers arrived, and he knew that if he didn't act fast, he could end up losing Narcissa along with their baby. He trembled at the thought that if he had arrived home just a few minutes later, he may had returned home to both a dead Narcissa and a dead baby. Especially since Dobby had proven to be of no use.
Lucius, forcing himself into a calm state, pulled out his wand and waved it. A cabinet door opened, and a bottle of Blood-Replenishing Potion (he had brewed several bottles of this potion in case he ever got severely injured while doing his duty for the Dark Lord) flew into his outstretched hand.
Narcissa was watching Lucius. How could she have forgotten about the Blood-Replenishing Potion? She had seen Lucius put the bottles in the cabinet, and she had known what the potion was for. How could she have forgotten something so important? Usually, she was not this forgetful.
But she had forgotten all about the potion and all about everything else the moment that she had seen her dead baby on the floor.
By this point, Lucius had made his way to Narcissa's side. He bent down beside her.
"Open your mouth," he said in a deceptively calm voice. Inside, though, he was close to panicking.
Lucius's calm voice helped to calm Narcissa just enough for her to register what he was saying. She opened her mouth, and Lucius poured the potion down her throat.
"That will keep you from bleeding out until help arrives," Lucius spoke, his voiced still eerily calm.
There was suddenly the sound a snap. Dobby had returned. Several Healers were with him.
They immediately went over to Narcissa.
"I just gave her a bottle of Blood-Replenishing Potion," Lucius told them.
"That was good thinking," one of the Healers remarked.
If Lucius had not been so worried about Narcissa, he would have rolled his eyes and given the Healer a snarky comment. But at the moment, his main concern was his wife.
Lucius watched as the Healers began to work on Narcissa. There was so much blood.
Lucius was no stranger to blood. He had spilled his share of blood.
But the blood had never before been Narcissa's blood.
After the Healers had finally managed to stop Narcissa's bleeding, they told Lucius that they would need to take her to St. Mungo's for further treatment. Without it, she would soon start bleeding again.
Lucius just nodded his head as he took his wife's hand and squeezed it gently, so she would know that he was there and that he wouldn't be leaving her side anytime soon.
Narcissa gently squeezed her husband's hand back, so he would know that she was still fighting and that she was glad to have him with her.
It was after the Healers had told Lucius that Narcissa was going to be just fine but that she needed to rest when he suddenly thought about the Muggle woman and her babies (both born and unborn) from earlier that night.
Lucius had failed to kill them. They would live to see another day.
Unlike his and Narcissa's baby.
It was not fair. It was not right.
Why were Muggles allowed to keep on having live babies, while he and Narcissa kept on having babies that died before they even had the chance to live?
Author's Note: Narcissa's baby was about three months old when she miscarried, so it would have been about 3.5 inches long and it would have had its arms, fingers, toes, and ears fully formed. It also would be possible to determine the baby's gender by this point.