Luna and Draco sat, awkwardly silent, across the table from his parents. No one had chosen to speak as to avoid any subjects that may still strike someone the wrong way. Luna stared Lucius down with her usual dreamy gaze as she slowly ate her soup. Occasionally, he would glance up from his bowl to see her blue eyes still fixed on him. Not only did it make him absurdly uncomfortable, but her staring also perplexed him.
"You have very nice hair, Mister Malfoy."
He nearly choked on the spoon in his mouth at her abrupt comment. "Thank you, Luna," he coughed out.
She smiled brightly at him before turning her attention back to her food. She's a loon. My son is going to marry a bloody loon. As Lucius brought his silver eyes up, he caught his son's own grey glare. The older Malfoy raised a questioning brow. "Yes, Draco?"
"You know," was all Draco replied to his father. He had been rather apprehensive about bringing Luna to dinner with his parents. The last time she had been there it hadn't been of her own free will, and just being in the presence of the Manor mustn't have brought good memories to her.
Narcissa tapped her spoon against the lip of her bowl. Everything about the current situation was making her stomach curl into knots. It wasn't that she wasn't happy for her son, she was, but his choice of a woman worried her slightly. Of all the people he could have chosen to marry, he had to choose one of the people that had been personally affected by them during the war.
"So, Luna," she started, forcing a small smile out. Luna's eyes flicked to the older woman with a small grin still on her lips. "How is your father?"
Luna froze for a moment, her smile faltering. It had been almost half a year since she had spoken of her father's passing to anyone besides Draco. "My father?" was all she was able to squeak. She couldn't really blame them for asking. The only people who really were alerted were the Individuals who subscribed to the Quibbler, and there weren't many of those.
Narcissa's expression twisted into one of confusion. "Yes, dear." She scanned the young blonde's face that was now strewn with pain and a great sadness. "Or, did-"
"Mother!" Draco snapped, turning to Luna to comfort her.
"No, it's quite alright, Draco." Luna gave him a weak smile. "My father died a little over six months ago while on an expedition to find-" She took a moment to think about her words. "-well, something."
Lucius simply slurped more soup into his mouth as to hide any sort of emotion he might have had about the news. He never hated Xenophilius Lovegood. In fact, he had found the man to be quite tolerable until the death of Luna's mother; that was when the old coot really went off the deep end, in his opinion.
"Lucius, it's not polite to slurp your soup," Narcissa told him while daintily wiping the corners of her mouth with her napkin. "Especially when we have a guest."
The normal smile returned to Luna's face as the subject of conversation changed. "It's quite alright, Missus-"
"Luna, you're welcome to call me Narcissa." She nodded before glancing over at Draco, who, like Lucius, was deeply focused on his food.
Silence fell upon the table. Only the sounds of silverware hitting the fine china bowls and the occasional slurp could be heard for what seemed like hours to the occupants of the table.
Finally, Lucius spoke, "You look like her, you know." Luna's eyes snapped to him. "Your mother, you look like her."
Luna gave him a warm smile.
Perhaps Lucius Malfoy wasn't such a bad guy.