Unexpected Love: Along the Journey
Written by J.C. Vascardi

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Disclaimer: All characters and places featured in this story that relate to Harry Potter are the property of J.K. Rowling, various publishers, and Warner Brothers. I'm not profiting on this story and it is not my intent to infringe on anyone's copyright or trademark. The only things about this story that I own are the characters and storylines not featured in the books.

Summary: Set during the wedding reception for King Edward and Prince Ramesses, Lucius and Draco have a private conversation in which Lucius finds out just who his son has started dating… and he couldn't be any less than thrilled if he tried.

Warnings: Slash

Pairings: Draco Malfoy/Bill Weasley, Lucius Malfoy/Narcissa Malfoy

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One-Shot #1

Lucius and Draco:

A Conversation

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"Draco, we need to talk."

Draco had been expecting this would happen ever since he'd opted not to be announced with his parents and instead enter the room through the side entrance with his date for the evening. While they were seeing each other—seriously enough to attend the King's wedding reception together—they were not yet ready for the level of public recognition of their relationship that being announced by the court majordomo would bring. Looking at his father, Draco asked, "About?"

"Not here," Lucius answered as he laid a hand on Draco's shoulder and guided him away from the bar and over to one of the secluded alcoves that were setup around the perimeter of the room to give people some private time away from prying eyes. After he made sure the alcove they were in was empty, Lucius pulled his wand from his cane and cast a variety of charms to ensure that the conversation would not be overheard. Satisfied with the spell work he'd put in place, he put his wand back in his cane, turned to Draco and said, "Your mother and I were quite surprised when you said you wanted to forego being announced with us."

"I just didn't feel like it tonight."

"Don't lie to me, Draco. You didn't want to be announced tonight because you have a date."

"You're right, I do."

Lucius rolled his eyes. "Of course, I'm right Draco. That was merely a rhetorical statement of fact. What I don't understand, however, is why you didn't ask your date to join us when we were announced."

"We're not ready for that level of public recognition."

"And yet you attended the royal wedding with this girl?"

"Well, actually, it's not a girl."

Lucius looked thrown for a moment, but he recovered quickly, as he said, "It's not a girl?" Draco nodded. "I'd always assumed you were straight."

"Yeah, so did I actually," Draco revealed. "Let's just say that my time with the imposter opened my eyes to a few things."

"So you're gay?"

Shaking his head, Draco said, "No, Father, I still fancy girls, but I also fancy boys. I knew that even before the imposter but I ignored it. But then I met someone and we connected."

"I see," Lucius drawled. "Well then, who is this lucky boy?"

"I think he'd prefer man actually," Draco answered. "Considering that he'll be twenty-five in about a month's time."

Lucius pinched the bridge of his nose. "He's nearly eleven years older than you?"

"Actually only nine years and six months, if you want to get technical."

"That's still a rather significant age gap, Draco," Lucius said. "What could you possibly have in common with this person?"

"Lots of things. And not to put too fine a point on it, Father, but compared to the age gap between me and the imposter that I was sleeping with once a week for two months, nine years and six months is quite insignificant."

Lucius gave his son a withering look as he said, "Yes, Draco, I'm quite capable of doing the maths and am thus well aware of the fact that nine years and six months pales in comparison to ninety-seven years and eleven months."

Draco cringed. "Okay, let's not talk about the imposter anymore or I may have to dash to the bathroom to throw up."

"You're the one who kept bringing it up, not me."

"Noted."

"So does this date of yours have a name?"

Draco was silent for a moment, before he answered, "Yes, he does."

Lucius raised an eyebrow, "And? What is it?"

Draco's emotion-free mask slipped slightly, as he said, "You're not going to like it."

With a shake of his head, Lucius said, "Draco Lucian Malfoy don't you dare tell me that you're dating some filthy mudblood."

"Careful, Father," Draco warned. "I spent time in Lord Potter's dungeons for that kind of talk."

"Yes, well Lord Potter isn't around is he?" Lucius asked with a sneer. "And the privacy charms I cast won't allow anything I say to be overheard, so just answer the question, Draco, before I lose my temper."

"No, I'm not dating a muggleborn," Draco answered, deciding not to use the word 'mudblood' even though he knew that's what his father would have said, at least in private when nobody was around to overhear it. He was, however, making a concentrated effort to remove the word from his vocabulary, so that meant not uttering it even to his own father if he could avoid it. Of course, he did have a certain image in Slytherin House that was necessary if he wanted to remain in good standing with the majority of the house and he knew that would sometimes require him to use the word whether he wanted to or not.

"Oh thank Morgana!" Lucius exclaimed. He normally might have said Merlin, but after meeting the man in the flesh in the Tribunal Chambers, he felt odd saying it. "So they're a proper pureblood then?"

"Well…" Draco hesitated. "They are a pureblood—they're even one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight—although their family has been quite vocal about not liking being included on that list."

"So what you're telling me, Draco, is that you're dating a blood traitor," Lucius said with an obvious edge to his tone which clearly showed his disapproval. "Their name. Now."

Draco sighed. "William," and after a moment of briefly considering trying to get away with saying only their first name he realized his father would not let that stand as when he asked for their name, he wasn't actually asking for their given name, but their family name. "Weasley. William Weasley."

"Weasley?" Lucius repeated. "I'm sorry, I must not have heard you correctly Draco because I thought you just told me that you were dating a member of the dirt poor, lazy, good-for-nothing, red-haired, freckled, blood traitorous Weasley family."

His father's tone had gotten every more hard and angry with each word, prompting Draco to shrink back from his father a bit, as he said, "You didn't mishear me, Father. I am dating William Weasley."

Lucius closed his eyes and Draco could see his lips moving, but no words coming out, which led Draco to believe that he was praying for patience. After a moment, he asked, "William? Which one is that?"

"Arthur and Molly's eldest son," Draco answered. "He's a curse-breaker for Gringotts'. As a matter of fact, he heads their best team of curse-breakers—the one that's been clearing Hogwarts of curses in fact—and he was one of the other suitors chosen by, well, you know who."

Vaguely remembering the wizard who'd seemingly been in charge of the curse-breakers brought in to check Hogwarts, Lucius couldn't really picture him, as he hadn't been paying too much attention at the time. Thinking back to the World Cup and the dinner with the fake King Edward, however, Lucius recalled the suitors and asked, "The one with the long hair and the fang earring?"

Draco nodded. "Yes, that's him."

Lucius remained silent for a moment, before he said, "Dump him."

Draco's eyes widened as he said, "Father, no, I really, really like him. And he's helped me deal with the aftermath of the imposter because he knows what I'm going through since he went through the same thing."

"So does Marcus Flint," Lucius said.

"Father, he's straight," Draco pointed out. "Not to mention the fact that he's got the intellectual range of a dishpan."

"Whatever, Draco," Lucius said. "Dump him."

"Why?"

"Because he's not good enough for you, Draco," Lucius said in a tone that suggested that the reason should be obvious. "You're a Malfoy and he's a… well… a Weasley." Hearing the name come from his father's mouth, Draco couldn't help but cringe because it sounded as if Lucius was saying the name as if was the name of some undesirable disease.

"He's more than good enough for me, Father," Draco said as he gazed out into the ballroom of Castle Camelot and couldn't help but grin when he caught sight of his boyfriend… chatting with a very important person. "And if you'll turn around and look, you'll see that he keeps very interesting company."

Not sure what his son expected him to see, Lucius turned around and he scanned the ballroom to find the red-haired curse-breaker. When he did, his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates when he saw just who the red-head was talking to in a manner which suggested that they were old friends.

It was a moment later that a shocked Lucius asked, "Is that?"

"Pharaoh Seti Ptolemy? Father of our new King-Emperor-Consort? Yes, Father."

"How?"

Draco grinned as he recalled a story that William had told him. "He's met Pharaoh Seti before, Father, back in Egypt. As a curse-breaker for Gringotts' he often works in the tombs in the Valley of the Kings and one day a few years ago now, William drank a vial of Felix Felicis and that day led his team to the discovery of a previously forgotten tomb with gold and other treasures worth several million galleons. It was the largest find ever and as the curse-breaker leading the team that found it, William was brought before Pharaoh Seti, who awarded him with the Order of Thoth—which is named after the Egyptian God of Magic and is essentially Egypt's equivalent of the Royal Star of Camelot."

Lucius was silent for several moments, before he said, "So he's a Knight of Egypt?"

Draco nodded. "Yes. He was apparently the first non-native Egyptian to be awarded the honor. His full title is Sir William Weasley, Knight Grand Cordon of the Order of Thoth. Other than the title reserved for the Pharaoh as Head of the Order, Grand Cordon is the highest possible level of the order—limited to just thirty members—and is usually reserved for members of the imperial family, but Pharaoh Seti was extremely pleased with him for the find and wanted to show his appreciation in the highest way he possibly could. Knight Grand Cordon comes with a monthly stipend of 5,000 Galleons and he was also awarded with a finder's fee of 100,000 Galleons for the find itself."

Lucius looked dumbfounded as he said, "So you're telling me that he's got at least 100,000 galleons in the bank and makes an additional 60,000 galleons a year from his title, on top of whatever Gringotts' pays him—and considering the danger involved I assume it's quite substantial—and yet his family is still dirt poor?"

"His parents are very proud people," Draco answered. "Since William no longer lives at home with them, they flat out refuse to take any of his money, thinking it should go towards his own household instead of theirs. He's offered several times to help them out, but they turn him down each and every time."

Draco couldn't help but feel pride in his boyfriend, because while it was true that a few months ago he would have thought that William was beneath him in every conceivable way, spending time in Seacliff's dungeons made him rethink a lot of things. Enough so that he managed to forge a friendship with William, brought together by their both being suitors to the fake king and then spending time together at Hogwarts—secretly, of course. Then the night they found out about Gellert, they turned to each other for support and one thing led to another and before they knew it they were in bed together.

The next morning, waking up in each other's arms, they talked and everything came out, which is when they decided to make a go of being a couple. They were still in the early stages of a relationship—only having been together for a couple of days—but Draco was very hopeful about his future with the red-head.

He was aware that some people would call his relationship with William a rebound relationship for the both of them, but Draco didn't see it that way as they'd already forged a friendship before things turned sexual or romantic. Plus, he knew that neither of them had ever actually fallen in love with the fake Edward. More and more every day Draco couldn't imagine his life without William in it and he was determined to keep him, regardless of what his father said.

"So, no, Father, I will not dump him," Draco said. "La familie est primodial, Father, and while we haven't been together long, I've already begun to think of him as my family. So, don't make me choose."

Lucius sighed, as Lord Malfoy, he could order Draco to dump William, but the moment his son quoted the family motto and said that he thought of his boyfriend as his family, any chance of that flew out the window. Not only would it go against every single thing that Lucius had been raised to believe in regards to family, he also knew that if Narcissa—who doted on Draco like he was the second coming of Merlin—found out that he had ordered Draco to dump someone who he considered family that she was likely to castrate him.

Before Lucius could say anything, Draco smirked and said, "Besides, Father, just think for a moment about William's connections. He's one of only thirty Knight Grand Cordons of Egypt which means that only one other person holds a higher rank in the Order of Thoth than he does and that's of course Pharaoh Seti himself as the Knight Imperial Cordon and obviously that's a position that only the Pharaoh of Egypt himself can hold. But as a Knight Grand Cordon, William has ties to some of the richest and most powerful people in Egypt and that kind of influence could bring some very interesting business prospects our way."

Draco wasn't with William for the reason he'd just given his father, because he honestly couldn't care less about the business aspect, but he understood what might get his father to come around to his way of thinking and he saw nothing wrong with exploiting that if it got him what he wanted. Looking at his father's face, Draco could see the moment that his father realized the truth of what his son had just said and he hid his grin at knowing that he'd just played his father like a fiddle—not that he'd every say any such thing aloud.

"Fine, fine, Draco, you can date William," Lucius said. After a moment he said, "I suppose your mother and I will just have to redouble our efforts to give you a little brother so that there's someone to take your place as the heir since there'll be a serious lack of heirs if you marry William and decide to remain faithful to him."

"As I've recently found out, Father," Draco said, "there are means that are widely used outside of Albion in some of the more progressive parts of the continent and beyond that will allow same-sex couples to have children, so there's actually no reason why William and I couldn't have children together at some point, but I don't plan on having children anytime soon. At least not until after I finish Hogwarts."

"There's ways for you and William to… get pregnant?"

Draco shook his head. "No, as far as I know that isn't an option but there is a procedure involving Transfiguration which would allow either my sperm or William's to be transfigured into an egg, fertilized with the others' sperm and then implanted into a woman who's willing to carry the child to term for us. Apparently it's called surrogacy and was adapted from a muggle technique called in-vitro fertilization, but some healers took it to a level that the muggles can't by introducing magic to the mix, so we improved it."

"You're telling me that magical healers actually learned something from muggles?" Lucius asked, clearly shocked.

Draco nodded. "Yeah, apparently, but at least we were able to improve on their work and take it further than they can. Besides it wouldn't be the first time that we've borrowed something from the muggles and improved it." At Lucius's raised eyebrow, Draco added, "Well, the Hogwarts Express is based on a muggle invention, although we've used quite a bit of magic to improve it. Such as the fact that the water that produces the steam is heated by magical flames that never die out. According to William, when the muggles still used steam engines—and apparently they don't anymore, having moved on to something else—they had to shovel coal or throw wood into a furnace to keep the flames going. With magic that's not necessary and thus it's more efficient."

"I need to lie down," Lucius said, as he made his way over to the nearby settee and laid down. He wasn't at all worried about anyone seeing him do it because while the alcoves were more often used for private conversations or sneaking off to make out with a partner, their intended purpose was actually to give guests a place to rest for a little while between dances. Lucius wasn't particularly tired, but he did feel just a little faint after hearing what Draco had just told him and thought it best to lie down before he fell down.

Draco could understand his father's reaction as he'd had a similar one when he first found out about all of this from William, but he'd had time to digest it now. Looking back out into the ballroom, Draco smiled as he noticed William had finished speaking with Seti, had noticed him, and was headed his way. A moment later, William passed through the Silencing Charm into the alcove and smiled at Draco.

"Hey Drake," William said, as he wrapped his arms around the younger boy.

"Hey yourself," Draco said as he put his hands on William's shoulders and pulled himself up onto his tiptoes to place a chaste kiss on the redhead's lips.

For his part, William didn't complain, at least until he spotted Lucius lying on the nearby settee, one of his hands resting over his eyes. Gesturing with his head in the elder Malfoy's direction, William asked, "You do realize your Dad is right over there right?"

Draco nodded. "Yes. He pulled me aside and I had to tell him about you."

"And how did that go?"

Before Draco could answer, a new voice asked, "So I assume you're the reason for my son's perpetual smile these last few days?"

Turning towards the entrance to the alcove, Draco and William spied Narcissa Malfoy standing there looking at the two of them.

"Yes Mum," Draco said.

Coming over to the two of them, she asked, "Well, Draco, are you going to introduce me?"

Draco looked momentarily abashed, before he said, "Mum, this is Sir William Weasley, Knight Grand Cordon of the Egyptian Order of Thoth, a Senior Curse-Breaker for Gringotts', and my boyfriend. William, this is my Mum, Lady Narcissa Malfoy, the Countess of Coleford."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am," William said.

"It's good to meet you too, William," Narcissa said. "Anyone who makes Draco happy is fine in my book." Grabbing William's chin in her hand and looking him dead in the eyes, however, she then added, "But I will warn you only once, William. Hurt my son and by the time I'm finished with you, you'll wish that you had never been born. Understood?"

Draco groaned, "Mum," at the same time that William, his chin still in Narcissa's firm grip, did his best to nod as he said, "Yes, ma'am."

"There's a good boy," Narcissa said as she let go of William's chin and patted him on the cheek. Looking him up and down, she then looked at Draco and added, "He's definitely very easy on the eyes, Draco, so I'd say he's a keeper."

William blushed as Draco grinned and said, "Yes, I'm definitely keeping him."

Noticing Lucius, Narcissa asked, "What's wrong with your father?"

Taking a moment to explain the gist of the conversation he'd had with his father to both William and his mother, Draco then explained about how he'd told Lucius about the surrogacy thing and muggle steam engines. William was grinning at this, while Narcissa just nodded and said, "Yes, I can see how that could get under Lucius's skin—he was nowhere near as well travelled as I was before we got married. I went on the customary Grand Tour after Hogwarts, however, so I already knew most of that. Lucius skipped his though, as that was right around the time that your grandfather Abraxas contracted dragon pox, which ultimately killed him. So, as the new Lord Malfoy, Lucius didn't have time to go on his Grand Tour."

Walking over to the settee, Narcissa pulled her husband's hand from his eyes and glared at him, as she said, "And you're very lucky that Draco got through to you, husband dear. Honestly, nearly ordering him to dump someone that makes him happy?" Confident that her own frame would hide her actions from anyone who looked into the alcove, she reached down and grabbed Lucius's crotch and squeezed, "It would have been very bad for your member if you hadn't seen reason."

"Mum! Not in front of your kid!" Draco exclaimed as he buried his face in William's chest so that he couldn't see his mother grabbing his father's privates. Even fully clothed that just wasn't something he needed to see.

For his part, Lucius knew better than to point out the fact that castrating him would land Narcissa in Azkaban for the rest of her life, as removing a noble lord's ability to sire children was considered to be a very grave offense. Instead he simply nodded his head and said, "Yes, dear." When his grandmother had told him before he married Narcissa that the key to a successful marriage was that the wife was always right—even when she wasn't—he hadn't believed it, but in the ensuing years he realized it was very true.

Letting go of Lucius, Narcissa said, "Anyway, stand up, Lucius. Let's give the boys some private time—we have mingling to do."

Lucius smiled as he stood up and asked, "And perhaps a dance or two with my lovely wife?"

"Maybe, if you play your cards right," Narcissa said as she looped her arm through Lucius's and led him out of the alcove.

When they were gone, William leaned down slightly and said, "You can look now, they're gone."

"Thank Merlin," Draco said, as he moved his head away from his boyfriend's chest and looked around the room for a moment, before pulling out his wand and using it to close the curtains at the entrance to the alcove. William cocked his head but remained silent as Draco said, "I think we can find a much more fun use of that settee, don't you?"

"Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?"

"If you think I'm suggesting we have sex, no," Draco said. "A settee in an alcove of Castle Camelot's ballroom during the King's wedding reception wouldn't be the appropriate place for that." With a mischievous grin, he added, "But a little make-out session never hurt anyone."

"I do like the way you think, Drake," William said, as the two of them moved over to the settee, as William sat down, before Draco sat on his lap and they began a rather intense make-out session.

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The End.

So there you have the first one-shot of 'Along the Journey'. More will follow with various characters and situations as the mood strikes me. There will likely be several set during Edward's and Ramesses's wedding reception and after it, since there will be one detailing their first time. But that's a story for another day.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? I love hearing from my readers, so feel free to contact me in a review, by email, my Yahoo group, or on Twitter JVascardi.