A/N- I kind of see these chapters as being almost episodic; each covering a specific moment/person/etc. This is the couple's visit to Malfoy Manor to see the changes Draco's parents have made. Scorpius is adorable, isn't he? He doesn't feature quite as much in this chapter, for which I apologize. In this one Narcissa and Lucius, and Draco's feelings toward them, take center stage.
Malfoy Manor looked very, very different than Draco remembered. "Are you okay?" Hermione asked.
"Yes," he nodded. "It's just…strange. It's not like I remember it being."
"Well your parents aren't so why would the manor be the same as before?" Hermione asked.
"I guess that makes sense," he said knocking on the front door. It felt strange, knocking on the door of his parents' home like a stranger.
Narcissa soon opened it, "Draco, Hermione! Please come in." The couple entered, Scorpius in his mother's arms. Hermione was impressed. The house did look substantially different. They might have rebuilt it but they must have used a different floorplan and certainly different interior design. Draco's arm wrapped around his wife's waist. "Lucius had a little emergency at the office to handle but he'll be home in time for lunch."
"Okay," Draco said, looking around. "The manor looks nice."
"I loved getting to throw out some of those hideous family heirlooms," Narcissa smiled, "Scorpius you look so handsome today."
Scorpius smiled and reached for her. Hermione relinquished her son to her mother-in-law, amused that Scorpius liked Narcissa so quickly. He usually wasn't so trusting of new people. "I'll give you a proper tour," Narcissa said, adjusting her hold of Scorpius. "We've asked some elves to build a nursery for Scorpius. Nanny is delighted to get to meet him."
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When the tour had finished Draco was very impressed with the changes they had made. The parts of the house which were bad memories had vanished, and in their place were new rooms with distinctly muggle features. The pool was stunning. It was large, in-ground, and the area around it gave the feel of being outside even though it was enclosed by high glass ceilings and walls, magically reinforced of course. There was a movie theater and a muggle game room. There was also a tv room that was very muggle and Draco was certain that his parents had built the second Malfoy Manor in an attempt to show their son that they were changing. As a young father, he couldn't imagine there being a limit to what he would do for his son. So on that front he understood his mother and father's motivations.
Narcissa settled them down in the living room, where some elves had left a small pile of toys for Scorpius to play with. "Nanny!" Narcissa called.
An elf appeared almost silently, which surprised Hermione, "You called Missus?" Then the elf saw Scorpius, "Oh youngest master is here! He is just like Master Draco!"
"Hello Nanny," Draco said. The elf whirled to see him and rushed over to hug him, making Hermione smirk. "This is my wife, Hermione. And that is our son Scorpius."
Nanny bowed to Hermione, "Is pleasure to meet young mistress. I is Nanny, and I is happy to look after youngest master."
"It's nice to meet you, Nanny," Hermione smiled. "We'd certainly appreciate the help. Scorpius can be a handful sometimes. Just like his father," she kissed her husband's cheek and leaned into him to cut off Draco's inevitable protest. At the feel of her breasts against his arm, Draco stifled his rebuttal. So long as she was leaning into him, he'd let her say just about anything.
"He is beautiful baby," Nanny smiled at Hermione. She liked this witch.
"He has an affinity for dragons," Hermione said, smiling as Draco's arms wrapped around her, "although he might get that from me as I do too."
"Dragons are awesome, what's not to love?" Draco grinned before leaning in and kissing her.
Narcissa smiled, watching her son and his wife together. It was so apparent how much they loved one another; how in love they really were. She was hopeful that now Draco and Hermione would become part of their lives. Or more accurately, let her and Lucius into their lives. It was painful, thinking about how she and Lucius had thrown their son out of their lives. Simply for being in love. Narcissa was quite sure it would be a long time before she forgave herself for that, if she ever could.
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Scorpius had never seen a house elf before, and so he was quite baffled by Nanny's appearance. Hermione was pleased that the elf was dressed in a decent outfit. Nanny was quite nice to Scorpius as he played with his toys on the floor. "May I use magic to entertain Master Scorpius?" The elf asked Hermione and Draco.
"Sure," Draco nodded, watching as Nanny made the little toy quidditch seeker Scorpius was playing with fly through the air, diving and performing loop-the-loops. The toddler clapped his hands and laughed as Nanny made it move around the area.
With her grandson and the house elf taking to one another, Narcissa turned her attention to her son and daughter-in-law, "Lucius and I made all these changes in large part for you two. We were hopeful that you might want to live in the manor if it was more muggle-friendly. So if you want to live here, we'd be more than happy to turn it over to you. It would have been yours after you got married, anyway."
"We've talked about it," Draco conceded. Well, it would be more accurate to say that Hermione had made the decision for him. But Draco didn't feel he could be impartial when it came to his parents, and so Hermione making the decision made sense to him. He did love the changes to Malfoy Manor. It felt not only more modern but like the perfect place for them to raise their son. And future children. So he understood Hermione's choice. "And the house is perfect for us," Draco personally would love the privacy living in the large manor would give them, "But where exactly are you going to live then?"
"We built a house just down the road. We'll move in there," his mother answered. "We just want to be part of your life again. If you'll have us."
Hermione looked at her husband. While she loved this new Malfoy Manor, she would gladly leave and never enter the house again if that's what Draco wanted. She knew everything he'd experienced during the war. When his parents had been in the room. And rationally she knew there was nothing Narcissa, and later Lucius, could have done as Draco was threatened and tortured by the deranged creature that was Tom Riddle. Not unless the entire Malfoy family had been killed. But for Draco the pain was still there. The nightmares still came. This was his decision.
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Draco took a deep breath, "I love Hermione. I love our son. And after he was born I held him and looked at him and I knew that there was nothing I wouldn't do for Scorpius. If he was a squib I'd find the best muggle schools ever and live life as a muggle." Hermione took her husband's hands in hers and gave a squeeze of support as his arms that were still wrapped around her tightened. "If he wanted to marry a bloody Weasley one day, I'd smile and put the past where it belongs. I would never, ever abandon him. I would never throw him out of the house for falling in love. And I would never, ever let anyone torture him as I sat there, doing nothing to stop it." Anger had seeped into his voice as he spoke and Hermione turned in his embrace to hold him, rubbing his back to soothe him.
Narcissa's eyes filled with tears. Draco took a shuddering breath before finishing his thoughts, "But my wife, the woman I literally gave everything up for, she believes in second chances. But for Hermione's kind and forgiving heart, I wouldn't be the happiest bloke alive. I wouldn't have survived the war, even. Because she gave me the strength to make it through. When those big brown eyes stared at me as Bellatrix tortured her in front of us I could see her pleading. Not begging me to stop the bitch," Draco swallowed thickly. He felt like he was choking on the words as his eyes filled with tears at the memories, "but begging me to not do anything. To not do anything stupid and try and be the hero in that moment when I so desperately wanted to. She made me promise I'd survive the damn war the year before and in that moment more than any other I wanted to stop Bellatrix, even if it meant me dying. But looking at her I realized that she was protecting me in that moment. That she needed me to say and do nothing and just survive the war. Survive the war so that her sacrifices…being marked and tortured by that bitch…that they'd be worth it. That we'd get our happily ever after." He felt the tears flowing but didn't care. He needed to get it all out, "I was her reward. And she was mine," Draco swallowed again. Hermione gently wiped his tears away and he took a breath before saying, "And if I could do nothing to stop Bellatrix from harming Hermione, I have to concede that you couldn't have stopped them from marking and harming me. Which sounds horrible, to me. But sometimes we're placed in circumstances that we can't control and Lucius wasn't exactly the first Death Eater in the Malfoy family. So I forgive you, Mother. I learned the hard way that sometimes the hardest thing you can do is to do nothing and that nearly killed me. But if you had intervened, if I wasn't in the position I'd been put in…I don't know that I would have ever had the chance with Hermione that I did and my sixth year was so much better having her by my side. She's worth everything I went through. I can't blame you for that."
Hermione dabbed at the few tears that had escaped her eyes during Draco's monologue and then kissed her husband, "I love you," she said to him.
"I love you," he responded before hugging her tightly to him, his head buried in her hair as he regained his composure slowly. "You were worth it all," he whispered into her ear.
"You were worth it too, Draco," she reminded him. "And Scorpius was worth everything we went through."
Narcissa wiped her eyes. Draco released his wife and stood, walking over to where his mother was sitting. He dropped to his knees, "Mother, I forgive you for everything that happened during the war."
At that the normally poised witch broke down, collapsing into her son's arms as she cried. In between sobs Draco heard the words, "I'm so sorry," repeated over and over into his ear.
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Lucius had been standing in the doorway when Draco had begun speaking. He'd stayed still, out of sight as he'd taken in his son's words. He did, often, wish he'd done more to protect Draco from Voldemort. He was about to enter when he heard his grandson's voice, full of confusion, "Mama?"
"It's okay Scorpius," Hermione moved across the room to pick up her son. "Everything is okay," she reassured him, holding him close. It was then that she noticed Lucius in the doorway. She gave him a knowing smile before placing her son's head over her breast so Scorpius could hear her heartbeat. He saw Lucius and smiled at the older man, the confusion on his face vanishing as he looked at Lucius curiously. Hermione turned her attention to her father-in-law, "You aren't intruding, you know."
"Narcissa deserves her moment with him," Lucius responded. "She's been horribly wracked with guilt the past couple of years."
Draco heard his father's voice and he glanced over his mother's shoulder to see his wife near Lucius. He swallowed, "I forgive you too," Draco said. "You were both doing what you had to to survive. It just took me a long while to admit that."
Standing so close to Lucius, Hermione saw the change in him at Draco's words. Lucius might not be one to show his emotions but it was clear that he'd been feeling quite guilty as well for Draco's involvement in the war. Hermione gently reached out and took his hand, "I suppose you forgive me too?" He asked her.
"I do," Hermione said. "The only thing I can really hold over you involves a basilisk and there are many, many people who shoulder blame for that. Dumbledore the most of it but Ginny was certainly no innocent party."
"Thank you," Lucius said to her.
"You're welcome," Hermione smiled. "We're family, Lucius. If you feel a need to pay penance for you past actions, I think you should see about putting those mirrors in place between the Manor and my parents' house. My mother has found the perfect spot in her laundry room so that guests don't discover it accidentally but my parents have easy enough access to it."
"I will make the required arrangements," Lucius nodded, pleased that they seemed to like the Manor. He wanted Draco back in his life. Like Narcissa, he felt horrible about how they'd spurned their only son. Also like his wife, Lucius was quite taken with his grandson. When he'd thrown Draco out of the house, Lucius had initially thought he would win. Draco would dump Hermione Granger and that would be the end of it.
When Draco hadn't done as Lucius had expected, he'd reasoned Draco would change his mind. But when he left Hogwarts and altogether left England, for parts unknown, Lucius had to concede that he had greatly underestimated not only his son but the strength of his son's affections for Miss Granger. Lucius had tried to put himself in Draco's shoes. If it was Narcissa he'd been ordered to break up with, Lucius would have acted exactly as Draco had. And so Lucius had begun to come around on the subject of Hermione Granger.
Learning Draco was married had not shocked Lucius or Narcissa. The existence of Scorpius, and that he was named in the Black tradition, had successfully stunned them both. His middle name was that of his muggle grandfather, which Lucius thought was quite appropriate given the circumstances; but never would Lucius have guessed that Draco would name his son after the Black tradition. A tradition that was so incredibly dear to Narcissa; in fact it spoke volumes of Hermione's character that the tradition was honored despite Narcissa being Bellatrix Lestrange's sister. "Why Scorpius?" Lucius asked his daughter-in-law as they patiently waited out of the way for Narcissa to calm down.
Understanding the question Lucius wanted to ask but didn't, keeping himself to only two words, Hermione answered honestly, "Draco wanted to honor the Black tradition. And after thinking about it, I thought there was no better irony than giving the half-blood scion of the Black line the name of a constellation."
Lucius chuckled. The cheek of it all was admirable. On the family tree, Scorpius would look as pure as any other because of his name. "Quite clever of you, Hermione."
"Thank you," Hermione smiled.
"I take it you like the manor?" He checked.
"We both do," Hermione nodded.
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Narcissa pulled herself together and stood, "Well, it is time for lunch now."
"Lunch sounds good," Draco smiled at her as he stood as well. Hermione handed him their son, "Hey there Scorp. Are you hungry?" The toddler rubbed his belly in answer and Draco chuckled, "Let's get you some lunch then."
Lucius checked to make sure his wife was feeling okay as they walked to the dining room. "I'm fine Lucius," she assured him.
"I'm just making sure," he said. "I came home to you crying."
"I'm okay," she said. "I feel much better, honestly." She smiled at her husband, "Draco and Hermione want to live here."
"That's good," Lucius nodded.
"I know," she smiled. "It feels so good to get to be in Draco's life again." Lucius nodded. It was. He was very impressed with Hermione, and their grandson was just precious. Draco had done very well for himself, and it was obvious his son was happy with his life.
"Hopefully we will always be in it from now on," Lucius said.
"Of course we will," Narcissa said, determined. Their family wasn't getting split up again.