17th December 1972
Over the weeks that followed since the DNA test had been done and Lucius had made sure that he didn't look at the little girl who might be his daughter. He had made it perfectly clear to Cassandra to keep his possible daughter away until the results came back. Lucius didn't want to become attached to this child so spending no time with the child would mean that wouldn't happen. Cassandra was being bitter too, trying to persuade Lucius to leave Narcissa and let the three of them be a family; something which he said would never happen and he was still refusing to give the whore a penny until Lysandra was proven to be his daughter.
He thought that the test would have been back by now with the results, but Abraxas had assured him that due to staff shortages at St Mungo's the test results would be with them shortly. It was only due to Abraxas paying the hospital even more donation money that the healer dealing with the test promised to get the results back to them before the students of Hogwarts arrived home for the holidays.
It was one morning after having a huge argument with Cassandra yet again over Lysandra's future when he saw his father looking at him in shock. Abraxas handed the paper to Lucius and he felt his heart stop temporarily as he read the scandalous article in the morning paper, written by none other than Rita Skeeter, a gossip columnist.
Malfoy heir has secret love child!
Daily Prophet writer Rita Skeeter reports that the cold heir to the Malfoy fortune: Lucius Malfoy has a three and a half year old love child with old flame Cassandra Schwartz. A source close to Miss Schwartz has revealed that the American pureblood socialite met Mr Malfoy in Italy when the latter was aged fourteen and she fifteen and a child was conceived after a 'heated' night together.
The child, a daughter named Lysandra, is said to bear no resemblence to Malfoy but has her father's mannerisms. "She certainly knows how to exert authority and run the place she is in. She gets that from her father and she really is popular with all the little friends that she has made through her mother's connections." says the source.
Asked if Malfoy had recognised the child as his heir the source claims: "Yes, he is very happy to have discovered his child. Cassandra had originally wanted to raise the child by herself but Lysandra is at the age of asking questions on who her daddy is. Cassandra felt that she couldn't keep the truth from her daughter much longer and decided that Lucius and Lysandra should meet and build a loving relationship. As for the relationship with Lucius and Cassandra, it is early days but there will be talk of wedding bells soon so that Lysandra can be recognised as the Legitimate Malfoy heir and Cassandra will be changing the girl's last name to Malfoy as soon as they are married."
The wizarding world will have to wait and see what happens regarding Mr Malfoy's current betrothal to Narcissa Black and no-one has yet made comment from the Malfoy family regarding this matter.
Lucius threw the paper on the dining table, feeling more angry than he had felt when he had slapped Cassandra. The whole world knew about this and clearly Cassandra had made up the fact that they were getting married and raising a child, a child he wasn't even sure was his. They had had an agreement and Cassandra had backed out of her side of the bargain and now she would pay for it.
"Father-
"I will take care of that vile Skeeter woman. I have spoken with Cassandra's father who has revealed to me that the other man that Cassandra slept with around the time of Lysandra's birth was in a relationship with Cassandra until last year when he was killed by a dragon when visiting Romania. The man had raised Lysandra as his own and Cassandra had been written out of the will due to Lysandra being illegitimate. That is the reason why she came to see you after all these years, after learning that she could not raise Lysandra on her family's money and having lost the income provided by the other man, she got desperate."
"That is no excuse for her trying to ruin my life!"
"I know son, but try to understand her reasons. Of course she was never going to reveal to you that there was another man, she was hoping that by agreeing to a DNA test that it would come back that the girl is your daughter and that she could have you provide Lysandra with a future. Of course, we will not be getting the results back until this afternoon. If the results come back that you are not Lysandra's father then you can have revenge, if the child is yours then you have some thinking to do."
"What am I supposed to do now?"
"I have received a letter from Cynus. Narcissa has read the article and is deeply upset, I told you to tell her weeks ago Lucius and you did not listen. Go to the Black manor and try and see if you still have a fiancé."
Lucius didn't give it a second thought, hoping that Narcissa would be home, he pulled on his winter cloak and left the manor; apparating to the manor where he hoped Narcissa would be. Pounding on the door, he didn't know what to make of Cygnus's blank expression toward him.
"Mr Black, may I come in?"
Cygnus let him in with Lucius passing his cloak to the house elf and allowed Cygnus to lead him into the living room. Lucius sat on the sofa, hoping that he still had a future with Narcissa.
"You have some explaining to do young man."
"I know and first I apologise for the way this came out."
"You should have told her from the beginning. I do not like seeing my daughter upset, she is currently in her bedroom crying her eyes out and my wife finds it distressing because there is nothing that Druella can do to end Narcissa's pain. So explain to me why I should even consider letting this marriage go ahead, when you clearly cannot be trusted?"
Lucius sighed, "Mr Black, it is true that Cassandra and I had a one night stand when I was fourteen and what the paper does not tell the world is that Cassandra slept with another around the same time of the child's conception. Cassandra came to me in August with claims I was the child's father and I arranged for a paternity test which the results are due back this afternoon. I was going to tell Narcissa when I was certain whether the child was mine."
Cygnus hummed in thought, "And why is this story in the paper Lucius?"
"Because Cassandra is disappointed that I refused to cast aside Narcissa and marry her instead, the whore only wants me to marry her so that the child can be declared legitimate in her family. Her parents have written her out of the will due to having this child out of wedlock, she is desperate for the girl to have a good upbringing. I promised Cassandra that if the girl was my daughter then I would provide a yearly sum for the girl's upbringing until her seventeenth birthday and wanted no contact with her, I wanted nothing to do with the child for I would not recognise the girl as my heir. The children that I have with my wife, your daughter, will be my heirs."
"And she went to the paper for that reason?"
"I believe so. Rita Skeeter pays well for gossip and dirt on the Malfoy family will have been a heavy sum."
"And what do you intend to do about it?"
"I need to speak with Narcissa and apologise, I will put everything right even if it takes a while."
Cygnus sighed, "What can you say to her? She had to read on the train home that her relationship with you was over, that you lied to her and cheated on her. She's distraught."
"I know but I have to explain that it is all lies."
"You do not have to explain anything, I have heard everything."
Lucius and Cygnus turned to see that Narcissa was stood in the doorway, the evidence on her tears still clung to her face. Cygnus left the room, kissing his daughter's forehead before shutting himself in his study down the hall.
"Narcissa-
"If what you said is true, then I feel slightly better."
"I never promised her marriage or a relationship with that bastard child. I wanted to know if she was my daughter before anything happened."
"I know, but you should have told me from the beginning and I could have helped you; I would have stood by you Lucius. What you have done has only shown me that that I cannot trust you. How am I supposed to marry you knowing that you keep secrets from me?"
"I only sought to protect you."
"I am not a child Lucius, I am supposed to become your wife in seven months. Now I am not so sure."
"Let me fix this."
"How?"
"I will find a way."
"The faith I had in us is gone, you will have to do a lot to fix this."
"I will."
"Your words mean nothing to me right now."
"I will leave you to your thoughts but know I have missed you a great deal and you mean the world to me."
Narcissa turned away from him and Lucius left the manor, starting to form plans in his head on how to fix this mess that he had gotten himself into.