Author's Note: This takes place about 2-3 years after the events of "The Bloody Babies."
"I'm pregnant," Narcissa told Lucius over dinner.
Lucius's fork paused in midair. He looked at Narcissa with an emotionless expression on his face.
"I'm past my first trimester," Narcissa continued.
"And what have the Healers said?" Lucius asked, his voice betraying even less than his face.
"They say that the baby appears to be developing just fine," Narcissa replied.
Lucius lifted his fork to his mouth. He chewed and swallowed the piece of meat that had been on the fork.
"When is your next checkup?" Lucius then asked.
"They want to see me back in a week," Narcissa answered.
Lucius just nodded his head. He then took a sip of wine.
"They're going to be keeping a close eye on me," Narcissa remarked. "This might be it, Lucius. This time, we just might get lucky."
"I hope so," Lucius returned. His voice, though, clearly reflected his doubt.
Narcissa, however, also caught a hint of hope in her husband's voice. Even after losing Ara and even after all the miscarriages, he still had hope of one day becoming a father.
Just like Narcissa still had hope of one day becoming a mother.
It was, however, only a small amount of hope. It was hard these days to have much hope.
Lucius waited until Narcissa was asleep before he slid out of their bed. Usually, the only time he would even think about leaving her alone at night while she was pregnant would be because he had been summoned by the Dark Lord.
But this time, he had not been summoned by the Dark Lord. No, this time, he just needed to go outside for a while. He just needed to be free of the manor's walls for a while.
Usually, Lucius didn't have a destination in mind whenever he went on his nighttime wanderings. He just went wherever his feet carried him or wherever he happened to Apparate to.
Tonight, however, he had a destination.
The cemetery where the Malfoys were buried.
Lucius Apparated right outside the gates that led to the Malfoy cemetery. There was an Anti-Apparition Jinx around the cemetery, and the gates were charmed so that only a Malfoy or someone who had received a Malfoy's permission could enter.
Lucius touched the gates with his hand. The gates automatically opened. Lucius walked past the gates. He then began to make his way through the cemetery.
Lucius had spent a lot of time in his family's cemetery as a child, especially during the night. While most were frightened about the idea of being so near the dead when it was so dark, death was something that had always fascinated Lucius.
His mother had died in childbirth. Lucius, therefore, had never had the chance to get to know her. And even though he had done lots of research on her, there was not much information to be found. He just knew her name and genealogy, but he didn't know anything about who she had been as an individual.
Would she have been like his father? Or would she have been more like Narcissa?
As a child, Lucius had often went to the cemetery at night to visit his mother's grave. And he had spent a lot of time fantasizing about what she would have been liked if she had lived. He had always liked to think that she would have cared about him, that she would have done everything in her power to protect him from his father.
Once, Lucius had dreamed that he and his mother had ran off somewhere. The place where they had ran to had not been a grand as Malfoy Manor or as luxurious, but both Lucius and his mother had been happy because Abraxas Malfoy had not been involved in their lives in any way.
But all of that had been nothing more than the fantasies of a small boy who had been lonely and miserable.
Lucius rarely thought about his mother these days. He no longer came to the cemetery to visit his mother's grave.
He now only came to visit another grave.
Lucius went straight to Ara's grave.
"Hello, Ara," Lucius spoke as he knelt down and gently ran a finger through his daughter's name on her tombstone.
Lucius felt the tears building up in his eyes, but even being alone like he was, he refused to cry. He had been too well-trained by his father for that.
"Your mother is pregnant again," Lucius said next. "She'll probably come to visit you soon, if she hasn't done so already." Lucius paused for a moment. "We barely have any hope left, Ara. I want to believe that this child will be born alive and healthy, but it's hard to really believe that."
Lucius paused again. "I really want this child, Ara. But not to replace you, of course. There will never be any replacing you. No child could ever take your place. Nor could any child ever take the place of any of your other brothers or sisters." Lucius paused for a moment before saying in a soft voice, "I don't even know if they would have been boys or girls." Lucius then paused again.
"No, Ara," Lucius finally continued, "I just want your mother to finally have the happiness that she deserves. She wants to be a mother so badly. But she's never going to forget you either. You will always be our first child. You will always be our little girl. I think about you all the time, Ara, and I know that your mother does the same. You are everything to us, and you always will be. The same goes for your other brothers or sisters. All of you are everything to us. I think a lot about them as well, as does your mother."
Lucius took a deep breath before continuing. "Everything I've done since you died, I did it in your memory. We are dying, Ara, us Purebloods. The Muggle population continues to grow, while our kind continues to disappear. I'm afraid, Ara, that one day there will be no more Purebloods, despite all my best efforts. And I'm afraid that we will be forgotten, our culture, our beliefs, our traditions, all forgotten, as if we had never existed.
"But I promise you, Ara, that I will never stop fighting. I will never allow your death to have been in vain. And I will never forget you, just like I know your mother will never forget you either."
Lucius paused for a moment. "Oh, Ara, I want this new baby to be the beginning of something wonderful. Please, look after your mother and your baby brother or sister."
Lucius stood up. He looked at his daughter's tombstone for a long moment. But still, he did not cry.
"You will always be a part of both me and your mother, Ara," Lucius whispered. "This baby will not change that. Nothing will ever change that. No matter what happens in the future, we will never forget you. The world may not care about a Pureblood baby that died before she even had the chance to take a single breath, but both me and your mother care about you. And we will always care about you. Just like we will always care about your other brothers or sisters who never had the chance to live either. Always, Ara. Always."
Lucius reached out and gently touched Ara's tombstone. "I'll be back soon, my little Ara, my baby girl."
Lucius slowly turned around and began to make his way out of the cemetery.
He did now, however, automatically return home. He was too restless to return home. If he went back home now, he wouldn't be able to sleep. He would just lay awake, wondering whether or not they were going to lose this latest baby like they had lost Ara and all the other babies that had followed.
There was a small pop. With that pop, Lucius disappeared. He had no destination in mind. He would just go wherever his Apparition took him.