"So, Lorcan," Draco walked back into the dining room with a fake smile. "What are we going to do today?"

Lorcan frowned. "Did you fall down?"

"What?" Draco asked, automatically raising his hand to his reddened cheek.

"You hurt your face." Lorcan informed him solemnly. "Did you bump into something?"

"I was jumping on the bed and fell off." Draco rolled his eyes.

"Someone came over to jump on the bed?" Lorcan's frown deepened.

"What?" Draco shook his head.

"The elf said you had a visitor, and you went out, and then you came back with a boo-boo and you said … "Lorcan began to explain.

"No, just forget it." Draco sighed. "I was being facetious."

"What's fa – sheesh – us?" Lorcan asked.

"When you finish your pancakes we can go fly the broom." Draco said to distract him.

"Yes!" the child shouted, and then attempted to stuff a whole pancake in his mouth.

"But not if you make yourself throw up!" Draco warned. "I've had enough bodily fluids today."

Lorcan nodded and slowed on the shoveling food into his face.

Despite having lost his appetite after the confrontation with Daphne, Draco sat back down at the table so Lorcan wouldn't rush.

"Draco, if I hold on tight can we fly high?" the boy asked around a mouthful of food.

Draco froze as the realization washed over him. He had agreed to take a child who had darted away from him on the ground up onto a broom. He forced himself to breathe slowly and smile.

"You have to show me that you will hold on before I take you up high." He raised an eyebrow at the child. "Your mummy will be very angry with me if you get hurt. Your Uncle Harry would probably arrest me."

Lorcan shook his head. "Unca Harry only 'rests bad men."

"If I let you get hurt, he would think I was a bad man." Draco answered drolly. "Finish eating. I need to get something upstairs."

He called for Dimpy to stay with Lorcan and left the room, wondering if there were still of the old horse harnesses in the stable, and if so, whether they could be modified to hold a child onto a broom. Draco then had the realization that if the kid were to make a sudden movement, he could unseat Draco.

He finally decided that his bathrobe belt would be the best solution. It would keep the two of them together, if anything were to happen, giving Draco a better chance to be able to save both of them.

He came back downstairs, where Lorcan had finished all but a few bites of his pancakes.

"Are you going to be able to eat all that?" Draco asked, nodding at his plate.

Lorcan looked up wide eyed.

"It's all right if you can't eat those last few bites. That was a lot of pancakes and you did eat all your bacon." Draco assured him.

Lorcan smiled in relief. "Then we can go now, Draco?"

"Let's go." Draco nodded.

Lorcan bounded out of his chair and practically ran to Draco's side.

"You're putting this on." Draco pulled a jumper over the child's head. "It can be a bit chilly up in the air."

He led Lorcan out the side door, where he had instructed one of the elves to bring his mother's old broom. He wasn't willing to risk riding his racing broom until he saw how Lorcan handled himself.

Draco showed Lorcan how to levitate the broom, then climbed on, lifting Lorcan to sit in front of him. He then looped the bathrobe belt around Lorcan's waist, tying the child securely to Draco's middle.

"This is to make sure you don't fall off." Draco informed him.

"I won't falled off." Lorcan shook his head solemnly. "I will hold on really good."

They flew a few lazy circles around the Manor grounds. Lorcan obediently held onto the broom and sat still.

"Ready to go a little faster?" Draco asked.

Lorcan nodded vigorously.

Draco took him a little faster, and a little higher, making a pass across the Manor grounds before increasing the speed and altitude slightly each time.

After the first two increases, Lorcan laughed and begged. "Faster, Draco! Higher!"

"All right, but you have to hold on." Draco cautioned.

"I'm holding on!" Lorcan promised. "Both hands. Very tight."

"I see." Draco praised, obligingly picking up speed slightly.

They flew for more than two hours, with Lorcan eventually asking quite a few questions about the area they were flying over. He was amazed that Draco owned all of the land, and at how big the house actually was.

Finally, Draco wrapped an arm around Lorcan and whispered in his ear to hold on. The child wrapped both of his arms around Draco's and pressed himself backwards into Draco's chest.

Draco leaned forward, kicking them into as fast of a sprint as he dared with Lorcan on the broom, which was considerably slower than if he had been alone, whipping them into a quick turn at the boundary of the property and executing a shallow dive before bringing them down gracefully on the lawn.

Lorcan was bouncing and laughing as Draco stopped the broom.

"How was that?" Draco asked the child.

"That was the best ever!" Lorcan shouted, tugging at the belt. "Untie me quick Draco."

Draco untied him and Lorcan ran toward the house.

"Where are you going?" Draco called after him.

"I gotta go bafroom!" the boy yelled back.

Draco handed the broom to Dimpy and followed after to wait outside the door.

When the door opened, Lorcan leaped out and wrapped his arms around Draco's legs. "Thank you Draco! You're the best daddy!"

The unfamiliar warmth in Draco's chest that began when Lorcan first hugged him was quickly replaced by a sharp coldness. He reached down and pried Lorcan off, then knelt to face the child.

"Lorcan, I'm not your daddy." He said gently.

"But you will be, because I'm teaching you." the child answered, as if things were just that simple.

Draco sighed and ran his hand through his hair, wondering how to address this, when one of the house elves approached.

"Owl come for Master Draco while flying." She handed him an envelope and walked away.

He frowned, flipping it over in his hands to see unfamiliar handwriting. He turned it again, and recognized the St Mungo's seal in the wax. He opened the envelope, finding both a letter and a smaller envelope addressed to Lorcan.

"Here." He handed the second letter to the child. "Your mummy wrote to you."

"Really?" Lorcan tugged at the envelope, tearing it slightly in the process.

Draco unfolded his own letter and began to read.

Dear Draco,

Thank you for your generous assistance in taking care of Lorcan while I am unable to do so. I have written him a letter as well. Please make sure it won't be upsetting to him before you give it to him.

Oops. Draco looked down at Lorcan who was smiling and mouthing the words as he read, so apparently the child was all right with things, at least for the moment.

If it isn't too much trouble, could you please bring him by the hospital to visit? He and I have never been apart from one another overnight before, and I miss him terribly. I hope he isn't giving you too much trouble. He can be a handful at times, but he is generally a very good child.

Thank you again for what you've done.

Luna

"Can we go see my mummy?" Lorcan asked shyly.

Draco again knelt in front of the child. "Do you miss your mummy?"

Lorcan nodded. "Lots and lots."

"All right then, we will go to see her. And then maybe we will go to lunch. How about that?"

Lorcan grinned. "Can we have fish and chips again?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "We will see about that."

Lorcan's face suddenly fell.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked.

"I was gonna make my mummy a picture but my crayons got burnded up." The boy's bottom lip poked out. "Do you have crayons, Draco?"

"No, but maybe we can pick some up later."Draco offered. "Then you can draw your mummy a picture and take it to her next time we go."

The child nodded.

"I was very good on the broom, Draco." Lorcan said in his solemn tone. "I holded on tight and I didn't lean and I did zackly what you said."

"Yes, you did." Draco praised.

"Will you tell my mummy?" Lorcan asked with a hint of a gleam in his eyes.

"Why do you want me to tell your mummy?" Draco questioned.

"So she will let you get me a broom." Lorcan rolled his eyes as if to tell Draco he was an idiot.

"I'll talk to her about it." Draco promised.

Dimpy took Lorcan to wash up and change clothes while Draco did the same.

They met back in the parlour and took the floo connection to St Mungo's. Luna was sitting up in bed, writing something.

"Mummy!" Lorcan shrieked, and bounded across the room. He jumped onto the bed and climbed into Luna's lap. "I love you, Mummy. I want you to come home. I'm at Draco's house. It hafs a bathtub as big as the pond. Can we stay there? Draco is my daddy now."

Luna's head whipped around to look at the other occupant of the room, who threw his hands up in surprised defense. "I didn't tell him that. He came up with that." Draco insisted, shaking his head, wide eyed.

"Why is Draco your daddy now?" Luna asked her son.

"'Cause he takes care of me. He got me new clothes and took me flying on his broom and he tied me up so I would be safe and he makes me eat all my food." Lorcan explained.

"You tied him up?" She raised an eyebrow.

Draco gestured with his hands. "I tied us together around the waist so he wouldn't fall off the broom. I mean, he ran off from me in Diag ... " He trailed off, realizing this was sounding worse by the minute.

"I just went to Mr. Odd-uh-vander." Lorcan told his mother contritely. "Draco didn't know we were s'posed to go there. I didn't really runned off. And I was very good on the broom. I holded on tight and did zackly what Draco said." He nodded his head, wide eyed.

"He was very good on the broom." Draco agreed.

"What about the rest of the time?" Luna continued.

"He's been a good boy, for the most part." Draco shrugged. "He gave me a fright running off to Ollivander's and he had a bit of trouble going to sleep last night, but he's behaved very well, especially under the circumstances."

"We should keep Draco, Mummy, 'cause he matches." Lorcan informed her in a loud whisper.

"What do you mean, he matches?" She asked.

"He hafs hair like us and eyes like us. He matches us, like the Weasleys match." Lorcan explained as if the adults were abnormally thick.

"I suppose he does match." Luna smiled with a glance over at Draco, who was also somewhat amused. "But you can't choose to keep someone just because they look like you."

"But Draco wants me to keep him. He said he wanted me to be his family." Lorcan pleaded.

"It's not that simple, love." She kissed her son's forehead. "Draco and I will have to talk about things more."

"And talk about him buying me a broom, too." Lorcan instructed.

Draco laughed.

Luna gave her son a stern look. "You are not to ask people to buy things for you."

"Draco said I can hafs whatever I want when I'm with him. He bought me three Thomas shirts." Lorcan held up three fingers to make his point. "And aaaaaaaaaall the candy I wanted."

"Draco and I will have to talk about that." She looked between the two of them.

Draco dipped his head, feeling somewhat like a scolded child.

Molly Weasley came in the door at the moment.

"Grammy Mawlee!" Lorcan shouted, running across the room for a hug.

The older woman scooped him up and kissed his cheek, apparently realizing that she had walked into a somewhat tense situation.

"Hello, Luna, Mr. Malfoy." She nodded. "Lorcan, I bet the mediwitches don't make tea the way your mummy likes it. Why don't you come to the tea room with me and we'll get her a nice cup of tea."

"Can we get some chocolate milk?" Lorcan asked.

"If they have some." Mrs. Weasley promised, leading the child out of the room and closing the door behind.

"Draco," Luna sighed. "You're not doing the best thing for Lorcan buying him all these gifts. I know it's all you know, but I don't want him to grow up to be a materialistic person. And it's going to be hard for him if you buy him everything he sees, and then he comes back home with me, where I can't afford to spoil him like that."

Draco frowned. "He's a Malfoy. He should have nice things. I don't understand why you won't let me give them to him, or why you won't take money from me for his care."

"I still worry about what's going to happen to Lorcan when the novelty wears off." Luna told him. "He's going to be terribly hurt when you cast him aside."

"I wouldn't do that." Draco protested.

"Your proper, pureblood society wife won't mind you spending time with a blood traitor's illegitimate child?" Luna raised an eyebrow.

Draco's forehead wrinkled as he considered her words. "I don't know how it's all going to work out, but I want Lorcan in my life." He said finally.

"Have you told your fiancee about him?" Luna questioned.

"No," Draco shook his head. "But it shouldn't be a problem. We're not getting married any time soon. Not until spring or later. I'll just give her some extra spending money and send her off to the continent for the weekend sometimes so I can spend time with Lorcan."

"Draco, keeping two separate lives isn't going to be a good solution for anyone." she answered.

"Well then, she will just have to learn to accept that Lorcan will be around sometimes." he replied stubbornly. "Now, have you considered where you and Lorcan are going to live when you're released?"

She looked down at her hands. "The Weasleys have offered to let us stay with them, and Harry has offered a room for as long as we need. We had a small insurance policy on the house. It won't be enough to buy a new one, but hopefully it will get us a place to stay so I can get back to writing."

"Don't be ridiculous." he dismissed. "You'll stay at the Manor until we find you something else. I'll buy it for you. Consider it three years' worth of child support."

"Draco, no," she shook her head. "You will not buy us a house. And I will only stay in the Manor on one condition. You hire me as an employee, and let me stay with Lorcan in one of the servants' quarters."

"Absolutely not!" he protested. "If anything were to happen to me, at the moment, your son is the Malfoy heir. The Malfoy heir will not live in the servant quarters. And his mother will not be a servant."

Luna shrugged with a hint of a smile on her lips. "It's probably happened over the course of the past thousand years. That the rightful Malfoy heir was the child of a servant."

He looked scandalized. "Even if it did, it will not happen now!"

"Draco," she began.

"Luna, look. Just stay at the Manor for now. It's big enough you could have your own wing and not even have to see me."

"Mummy, please!" Lorcan ran across the room, spilling chocolate milk from a cup whose lid wasn't on quite right. 'Please let's live wif Draco and he can be my daddy!"

She was saved from having to answer by a mediwitch arriving with a lunch tray. "Here you go, love. Soup, a nice soft roll, cottage cheese, and caramel custard." She rolled the over bed table into place and put Luna's lunch on it, then bustled out of the room.

Lorcan climbed up onto the bed to inspect her food.

"They're all things that won't hurt my throat." she explained.

"I'm hungry." the child announced.

"Kiss Mummy goodbye." Draco instructed. "We will let her eat her lunch, and I'll take you to get something."

"Can we have fish and chips?" Lorcan asked, his eyes alight.

"I suppose." Draco shrugged.

"Yes!" Lorcan kissed his mother and bounded off the bed.

"This isn't over." Luna said softly as Draco was dragged toward the door.

"I'm sure it isn't." he called back.


Deciding the two of them were already the subject of enough gossip, Draco cast a Notice Me Not charm over himself and Lorcan before they stepped into the floo to go to Curran's Cafe.

When they stepped out on the other side, Lorcan tugged on his hand and pointed at the aquarium. "Can we sit by the fish box?" he asked excitedly.

Draco turned to answer him, and a moment later realized the charm had worked very well. A young woman crossing the room walked right into them.

"Pardon me. I'm so sor ... " She trailed off in stunned surprise as she looked up and realized who she had bumped into.

"Astoria," he breathed.

'He ... hello, Draco," she stammered, taking a step backwards.

A small sound drew her attention, and she looked down at the source. Her blue eyes widened even further. "Oh, um, your son is very handso ... " she began, a flush staining her cheeks.

Draco automatically interrupted to correct her. "He's not my ... "

He then found himself interrupted, at one of those moments when somehow, a perfect silence descended on the crowded room that chattered noisily just a moment ago. In a piping voice that carried quite clearly that only small children seem to have, Lorcan asked "Daddy, who's that lady?"

It seemed every head in the restaurant turned toward them, including, Draco noticed from the corner of his eye, Potter, Granger, and the two youngest Weasleys, sitting in a corner booth.

Draco took Astoria's hand and tugged her back toward the alcove leading to the loos, away from the stares of the curious onlookers. Before he could think of an answer to give Lorcan, another question occurred to him.

"Astoria, why aren't you at school? Term started over a week ago." He frowned.

She shrugged, her face carefully conformed into a pleasant but non-committal look. "We were supposed to get married next month. My parents did not enroll me for my seventh year because they thought I would have too much to do with getting ready for the wedding. After the wedding was postponed, they still didn't send me, because they said a trophy wife doesn't need to be intelligent."

Draco's brows came together in indignation. "We have several things we need to talk about. Can you come to the Manor this evening?"

Her eyes darted back to Lorcan for a moment before she answered.

"No," she shook her head. "My parents are hosting a dinner party, looking for new potential matches for Daphne. I have to be there. Perhaps tomorrow for lunch?"

"Fine." Draco nodded. "Please be there. I will make sure there is a chaperone."

She nodded with one last glance at Lorcan. "I will be there. Have a pleasant day, Draco."

She turned and headed into the ladies' room.

Draco sighed. "Lorcan, do you really want fish and chips?"

"Yes." Lorcan nodded, looking at Draco as if there were something wrong with the man.

Draco sighed again, rubbing his hand over his face, and renewed the Notice Me Not charm. They sat by the aquarium, where Lorcan was mostly too distracted by the fish to eat.

"You didn't answer me, Daddy." Lorcan said halfway through the meal. "Who was that lady?"

"Why are you calling me that?" Draco snapped. "I'm not your daddy."

"I want you to be my daddy." Lorcan tilted his head. "And you want me to be your family, but I can't be your brother because I'm a boy and you're a grown up."

Draco rubbed a hand across his face. "That is the lady I am going to marry."

"No!" Lorcan shouted, leaping to stand on his seat in the booth. "I don't want you to marry her! I want you to marry my mummy and be my daddy."

Everyone at the tables around them was watching them again.

"Come on, Lorcan." Draco stood. "You're not going to eat anyway, so let's just go home."

"Can I take my food?" the child sat back down.

"What?" Draco frowned.

"The lady puts your food in a box so you can take it home and eat later." Lorcan explained.

"I'd be glad to do that for your son." the waitress seemed to materialize out of thin air and smiled sweetly.

"Shove the fawning." Draco snorted. "You'll still get a tip."

She looked at Draco oddly, but took Lorcan's plate and returned with the food packed neatly in a takeaway box. Draco took the box in one hand and Lorcan's hand in the other, leading him to the floo.

Amazingly, the boy was suddenly hungry the moment they arrived in Malfoy Manor, or more precisely, since there was no longer an aquarium to keep him occupied. Dimpy ended up putting the food right back on a plate for him, despite Lorcan's protests that he could eat out of the box. The child was yawning by the time he finished his lunch.

Draco carried him upstairs so he could take a nap.

"Draco, please don't marry that lady." Lorcan asked sadly. "Please marry my mummy and keep us and be my daddy."

The man sighed. "Lorcan, it's not that simple. I have to marry Astoria. It was arranged for me to marry her when we were both children. Secondly, your mum doesn't want to marry me. She may not want to marry anyone."

"I'll talk to her." Lorcan nodded, yawning. "I'll tell her to marry you."

"Lorcan, I have to marry Astoria." Draco repeated.

"Maybe she doesn't want to marry you." Lorcan suggested.

"It doesn't matter." Draco told him, pulling up the covers and handing him the lumpy stuffed animal.

"It should be the only thing that matters." Lorcan snuggled into the bed. "I love you, Draco."

Draco's throat felt oddly tight. "I love you too, Lorcan."

The child pulled the stuffed animal against his chest. "I miss my other toys. Did they all get burnded up?"

"I'll check for you." Draco promised.

He walked to the door slowly, watching for any sign that the child was going to jump out of bed, but Lorcan's eyes drifted closed by the time Draco left the room.

Dimpy met Draco on the stairs to tell him that Narcissa was calling on the floo. He went to the parlour to take her call.

"Well, the house is still standing." She observed dryly. "That's a good sign."

"We're getting on fairly well, Mother." Draco rolled his eyes and explained to her why Lorcan had called him a bad man.

"How well do you know Astoria Greengrass?" he asked his mother.

Her eyes narrowed instantly. "What are you on about, Draco? You can't be thinking of trying to back out of this marriage ... "

"No," he assured her, shaking his head. "I just ... I need to talk to her about Lorcan. I need to tell her who he is and that he is going to be around some, and I just wondered how she would take it."

"There are some questions you need to ask yourself before you talk to her." his mother cautioned. "How long are you going to keep the child and his mother around? For a few weeks? A few months? Until you have a child of your own? Who are you going to tell the truth?" She sighed. "And the biggest question - why are you doing this? Do you feel guilty about what happened to his mother? Are you trying to atone for your father's sins, and if so, why? Or are you just trying to replace Augustus?"

Draco recoiled in shock. "I'm not ... I mean, I didn't even know him. How could I replace him?"

"You were very excited about having a brother. You were heartbroken when we lost him. And you were further disappointed that you never had another chance to have a sibling. Not until now." She shook her head. "Just something for you to think about, Draco."

She signed off a few moments later, and Draco wasn't sure if he had said anything else.

Instructing Dimpy to keep an eye on Lorcan, Draco walked outside and apparated to the same spot down the road from Luna's house. This time, as he approached the house, he could smell the stale smoke in the air.

He approached the ruins cautiously, but there was nothing to worry about. The fire was long ago extinguished, and no animals dared to pick through the fresh ashes.
He walked around the perimeter, surveying the knee deep rubble. Only the remainder of the chimney stood taller, blackened from the fire and broken jaggedly about halfway up. He walked to what he presumed was Lorcan's room, nudging at the debris with one toe, not spotting anything salvageable. He continued walking toward the kitchen, spotting a large quantity of broken glass.

All of Luna's carefully preserved food was destroyed.

He walked all the way around the remains of the little house, occasionally using his wand to move a larger piece of char. The only thing he found that could possibly be rescued was a metal headboard for a bed, but it would take a lot of work to clean it up. He fully grasped for the first time that everything Luna and Lorcan had owned was gone.

He apparated back to Malfoy Manor, where Dimpy informed him that Lorcan was still sleeping. He nodded, and made his way into the parlour to use the floo.

He called the editor of The Quibbler, notifying the man that Luna had lost everything in a house fire, and asking what she would need to be able to write more articles.

"Not much." the man shrugged. "Just quills, parchment, and access to research materials if necessary."

Draco nodded. "Very well then."

"I'm very sorry to hear of her misfortune." the editor nodded. "But while I have you, may I ask if you wish for me to continue to buy everything she submits?"

"What?" Draco frowned.

"Your father had given an order for us to buy all of her articles, even if we didn't publish them. It's actually worked out well. A few times we've been able to pull out one of her old articles and run it when we needed something to fill a page on short notice." The editor informed him.

"Yes, continue to buy them all." Draco instructed. "We can afford it, and she needs the money."

"As you wish." the man agreed and signed off.

Draco started to go upstairs to his own bedroom, but halfway up, a door down the hall caught his eye.

He turned and made his way back down, slipping into the room he had once feared to enter, locking and silencing the door behind him. He then boldly walked over to the portrait above the fireplace.

"Father." He folded his arms.

"Draco." The man in the portrait tipped his head in greeting.

"Did you know about Lorcan?" Draco asked.

"Who?" Lucius frowned.

"Luna Lovegood's child." Draco ground out.

"I knew she had a child." Lucius shrugged.

"Did you know he was your son?" Draco asked in a huff, certain his father was being intentionally obtuse.

"No. I knew it was possible." Lucius didn't seem at all concerned. "She never informed me, and I didn't see a need to ask."

"Then why did you buy The Quibbler from her?" Draco asked, frowning. "Why did you give the order to buy all of her articles?"

"I owed her a debt." Lucius drawled. "Yaxley, MacNair, and I agreed that if all of what took place in the cellar were to become public knowledge, well, our reputations would be damaged. Fortunately she didn't appear interested in telling the Aurors the full story. Our attorney offered anonymous financial assistance if she refrained from changing her mind. We arranged for the eldest Weasley son and his wife to buy her useless property, we bought The Quibbler from her for more than it was worth, and we made sure she never had a problem selling her articles. My benefaction was because I had red on my ledger. It had nothing to do with her child, other than the fact it would have been very difficult for her to provide for her child had she not kept our secret."

"You raped a teenage girl, made her pregnant, and blackmailed her not to tell anyone?" Draco asked incredulously.

"Not exactly," Lucius shrugged. "Blackmail would have mean I had threatened harm toward her or the child had she told what had happened to her. I simply rewarded her for her silence."

Draco shook his head. "You're a right bastard, you know that? Rewarded her for her silence? She's barely kept herself and the child fed all this time!"

Lucius rolled his eyes. "You act as if I was responsible for them."

"You were responsible!" Draco shouted. "The boy is your son. You knew he could have been and you didn't even bother to find out?"

"Draco please." Lucius made a face of disgust. "You sound like some hysterical female. The child may have been biologically mine, but he was not my son and never would have been. His mother was a blood traitor who had relations with the entire High Council except Snape in one night, and other members individually at various times. Even if I had known I fathered her child, I certainly wouldn't have claimed it."

"Maybe you should have." Draco sneered. "Because if I don't produce an heir, that child is all the Malfoy family has left."

"You wouldn't dare." Lucius growled.

"I continue to be amazed by things this family would dare to do." Draco snapped, stomping from the room.

He made it to the top of the stairs this time, but instead of going to his own room, he stopped in the door of Lorcan's room, watching the child as he slept peacefully.

Draco stood there for over an hour, wondering where this was all going to go.