In the face

My response to the Ultimate Challenge! (To get more people signing up for Challenges!). My prompt was Lucius/Narcissa. I don't own Harry Potter.

Narcissa lazed on an armchair in the living room of Malfoy Manor, the private one for family only, to be exact. Lucius was sat across from her on the sofa reading a newspaper. It was early in the evening, just the two of them. Narcissa pondered whether she should seduce her husband into going to bed early today.

Looking over at him as he continued to read, Narcissa allowed a smile to tug on her lips. Sometimes she felt guilty that as her parents favourite (and the youngest) they had a love marriage arranged for her, while both her sisters hadn't had that kind of luck. Then again, it was their own fault for not looking for a boy early on who would please their parents and be able to pressure his own into setting up a betrothal.

Narcissa had gotten her hooks into Lucius early on. He had first noticed her in third year, but he had been so immature back then. Much like Draco was today. So while staying close enough to not give up her claim on him, Narcissa had let him simmer until he grew up. In their fifth year they started dating and at the end of their sixth year they were betrothed.

"Dear, you know it makes me nervous when you stare at me like that." Lucius suddenly said without ever looking up from his paper.

"Rightly so." Narcissa gave back. Lucius looked up into her eyes and raised both his eyebrows in question. Yes, Narcissa decided, he was going to get lucky tonight.

She started to formulate a plan on how to proceed, not that a plan was truly needed for her to seduce her husband, but she was a Slytherin, planning it was half the fun. Alright, in this case maybe a quarter of it… a fifth, let's say a fifth. However, before she could really get anywhere, there was a tapping sound by the window. Narcissa frowned a little. Mail this late might mean that she would have to reschedule her chosen evening activity. That would be unfortunate.

"Who sends owls this late in the day?" Lucius asked in an annoyed voice as he laid the paper down, got up and walked towards the window. Narcissa would like to know that, too.

When her husband came back, Narcissa recognised Draco's owl and handwriting on the envelope. "It's from Draco." Lucius announced.

"You don't say." Narcissa gave back. "What's the problem this time?" It was the middle of the week and Draco only wrote during weekends, unless there was a problem. Which happened to be the case more often than Narcissa would have liked. Most of the problems he wrote to them about were moronic, at best. She loved her son, but if she was honest Draco was much like Lucius that age. Arrogant, without much to back it up. The resemblance was uncanny, only Lucius hadn't run to his parents every time something didn't go according to his wishes. Narcissa did have hope though that Draco would grow out of this phase as his father had. The potential shone through every now and then, so for the moment she was content to let most of it slide.

While Narcissa had been in thought, Lucius had opened the envelope and started reading the letter. "It's about that Granger girl again."

Narcissa rolled her eyes. "Tell him if he is unhappy that the Muggleborn gets better marks than him, he needs to sit down and study." Really, as if Lucius or she could do anything about the marks someone received. Narcissa wasn't pro-Muggleborn, but she knew the teachers in Hogwarts to be strict and fair (at least in terms of the marking) and so she knew that if someone had marks as good as the Granger girl supposedly had, she earned them. Even more so, Narcissa supposed, if she was Muggleborn. Maybe Narcissa should take a closer look at the girl at some point. One should try and make use of a talent, no matter where it resided. At the very least one had to know one's future enemies.

"It's not about the marks." Lucius said after he had read a bit further.

"Then tell him that if he wants her respect he needs to do something worthy of respecting him." Muggles were proud people these days. They didn't just grovel before you because you told them you were above them. That of course led to the Muggleborns not knowing their place these days. You had to show it to them, and Narcissa feared Draco currently severely lacked the ability to do so.

"It's not about that either."

Well, at least then it was something new. Usually, when her son complained about the Granger girl it was always about her getting better marks than him or her not knowing her station. Oh, and how she's helping Potter all the time, that too. All that Narcissa concluded from her son's usual complaints was that the girl would make a fine Vassal if she only could be trained to be one. Nothing to be held against her, as far as Narcissa could see.

Finally Lucius put down the letter, a look of bewilderment on his face. Narcissa raised her eyebrows. This may be good. "It seems the Granger girl hit him and nearly broke his nose."

Whatever Narcissa had expected, this wasn't it. "Come again?"

"The Granger girl hit Draco in the face so hard he had to go and see the school nurse."

Narcissa blinked a few times, then she couldn't help herself. She started chuckling. Though the ignorant and uneducated masses might have mistaken her chuckling for laughter. A true pureblood girl doesn't outright laugh.

Lucius looked at her bemusedly, although the corners of his lips also quirked up a little, probably in amusement at her unusual display of mirth. Still he raised a questioning eyebrow.

After a couple of seconds, Narcissa managed to calm down long enough to say "Like father, like son." Then she started chuckling anew.

For a few moments Lucius looked confused, then a look of understanding appeared on his face. He joined in with a bit of chuckling of his own. "I had forgotten about that." He stated, a look of amusement and melancholy on his face.

Narcissa, who finally managed to stop chuckling, cocked an eyebrow. "How could you forget the first time you asked me out?"

Lucius looked pained for a moment. "I prefer to remember the many times after that, where you agreed instead of knocking me unconscious so that I had to spend the night in the hospital wing, wife." He pointed out sternly, even though his expression soon turned to amusement again.

"You were a wimp back then. Really, who gets knocked to the ground because he takes a slap to the face? It wasn't my fault that you landed head first on the edge a stone."

"I'm a Malfoy. People don't generally hit us in the face."

"And I was a girl of pureblood upbringing. How much training do you think I had slapping people around before I tried it on you."

Lucius seemed to look for a counter argument for a few moments, but then he sighed. "Fair enough."

"Maybe it's some kind of family curse." Narcissa pondered.

"What is?"

"Getting hit in the face by your future wives. I remember your father complaining about your mother slapping him around Hogwarts when he came too close to a Veela one time, before they got together."

Lucius eyes clouded over. "I remember that. Wasn't that the evening we convinced them to negotiate a betrothal with your family."

"It was." Narcissa agreed, smiling fondly. "So are there any stories about your grandmother hitting your grandfather before their betrothal?"

Frowning in concentration, Lucius fell silent for a few seconds. "Now that you mention it, dear, I believe I remember a story where my grandmother was quite irate with my grandfather, because he decided to go broom racing with his mates and nearly got himself killed by flying into a tree. They started going out soon after that."

"Well, then I guess we know what to tell Draco."

"What is that, dear?"

"That you'll talk to the Granger girl's parents to set up a betrothal, of course." Narcissa quipped. "If every Malfoy finds his match by being hit in the face, who are we to break tradition."

Lucius shivered a bit at the thought. "You shouldn't joke about those things, dear. My heir with a Muggleborn, really."

"Wimp." Narcissa repeated. She agreed that it was a ridiculous notion, but that didn't mean she couldn't joke about it. "Well, maybe we can wait and tell Draco the happy news when the betrothal is finalised. If all goes according to tradition, by that time the two of them should've been on a couple of dates. I can already see the look of joy on his face when we tell him."

Despite his obvious distaste, her husband snorted at her last words. "So I guess we let him work this out on his own?" He asked after a couple of seconds, more serious this time.

"Definitely." Narcissa agreed. If the Granger girl managed to knock some sense into Draco, then Narcissa was all for it. Remembering her original plans for the evening she snatched her husband's hand out of the air before he could pick the newspaper back up. "Enough reading for today, husband." She said, standing up and walking around the small tea table.

"My colleagues in the Wizengamot will think that I feel other things are more important than being well informed." There wasn't really any complaint in Lucius voice.

"And how right they would be." Narcissa simply replied, sitting down beside him and starting to kiss his neck. Then she moved back a little and looked him in the eyes sharply. "Wouldn't they?"

With a smile on his face, her husband sighed. "Yes dear."

Returning his smile, Narcissa got up again and led her husband to the bedroom.

Thanks for reading :)