I can't eat another bite. Hermione sighed, rubbing her belly and looking around the room.
It was Christmas Eve and, since most of their friends were planning to spend Christmas with their own families, the Malfoy's had invited their friends over for a Christmas Eve dinner. Harry looked exhausted, while Pansy, who was just entering her twenty-third week of pregnancy, glowed beside him. Ron and his boyfriend, Thad, were laughing at something Theo had said. Theo had brought his new girlfriend with him; Hermione had been thrilled to see Luna on his arm when they'd arrived. Blaise and Ginny, engaged as of an hour ago, were deep in conversation with Draco. Lucius was currently rubbing Hermione's thigh while talking to Narcissa and Phillipe about their recent trip to Japan.
"How are you feeling, dear?" Narcissa asked her.
Hermione knew she was truly lucky to have Narcissa as a mother-in-law and as a friend. She'd come to visit her at least once a week since Hermione had returned from her honeymoon and was always quick to answer any questions she had about pregnancy, or to tell her stories about Draco as a toddler. She also shared a myriad of stories of Lucius as she knew him at Hogwarts. Evidently Draco's 'wait until my father hears about this' mantra was genetic because Lucius had muttered it often when he'd been young as well.
"Like a fat, stuffed pig at the moment," Hermione told her honestly.
"Oh hush. You're not fat. You're all belly. As soon as you give birth, you'll have your figure back."
"Did you keep a lot of pregnancy weight after you gave birth?"
Hermione wasn't afraid of keeping some of the two stones she had gained during the last eight months, but she hoped to lose most of it.
"Narcissa left St. Mungo's in her pre-pregnancy robes the next day," Lucius cut in. "I heard more than one medi-nurse mutter how lucky she was on our way out."
"Yes, but not everyone has that experience," Narcissa told them. "And my pregnancy was so hard, I only gained a stone. I actually lost weight in the first few months and had to take lots of potions. And I may have been back in my pre-pregnancy clothes, but it took a few months for my stomach to flatten out. Thank Merlin for magically enhanced clothing."
"You wore clothes that hid your stomach?" Lucius asked.
"Of course. You know how ruthless Pureblood society can be. And as your wife, I had to look a certain way."
"I apologise, Narcissa."
"It wasn't your fault, Lucius. That was how we were raised and we all accepted it."
"I won't put you through that, Hermione. As long as you're healthy, that is all that matters to me and to Draco."
"Thank you," Hermione said, squeezing his hand. "Luckily the only Pureblood events I'm invited to are with the Weasleys and the people in this room. I don't think they'll care what I look like."
"In France, we celebrate the women's body and the changes childbirth brings," Phillipe added. "The soft stomach shows she is a strong woman."
"Well, that settles it," Hermione quipped. "If I can't lose the weight, we'll have to move to France."
Lucius kissed her head as they laughed at her declaration.
"Happy Christmas, love," Draco said, kissing Hermione's cheek.
"Morning," Hermione grumbled.
"Happy Christmas, Hermione, Draco," Lucius mumbled from his side of the bed.
"Wake up you two, it's time for presents!"
Christmas was Draco's favourite day of the year. As a child, he would wake up at five in the morning and insist his parents watch as he opened all his presents. Christmas day and his birthday were the two days of the year that he could do and say anything without getting in trouble. Lucius had always made sure to be home from work, and the family would spend the entire day together. It was something he hoped to do with his children.
"Merlin," Hermione groaned, "you're like a toddler. Let me use the loo and I'll be right down."
Hermione walked through the door off their far bedroom wall. Lucius had added it after their wedding. It led directly into the dressing room that was part of the set of rooms she had first moved into. Draco had a matching door on the other side of the room that led into his bedroom. They'd found that, while they could share the bed easily, three adults trying to use one bathroom and dressing room was too much. Draco had left his bedroom as it was, even if he hadn't slept in the bed in months. Sometimes it was nice to have a place that was his to escape to. Hermione had asked the house-elves to change her old bedroom into the nursery so their son would be close by once he was born.
Draco had been hesitant when Hermione had asked to decorate the room in a blue and grey nautical theme. Malfoy sons always slept in rooms decorated in green and silver until they graduated from Hogwarts. It was no secret that every Malfoy heir had been sorted into Slytherin since their family moved from France to England. It was Lucius who'd changed Draco's mind, reminding him that their son would be his own person, regardless of the color on his nursery walls.
Leaving his room after getting dressed for the day, Draco found Hermione seated on one of the benches that lined the hall near the top of the stairs. As her stomach had gotten larger, and her feet harder to see, Hermione had agreed that she would only walk down the stairs if he or Lucius were there to guide her. She had fought with them that pregnant women had been walking down stairs unaided for as long as stairs existed, but finally relented when Lucius had told her how scared he had been when she fell before.
Draco led his wife into the sitting room where Lucius had already split their presents into individual piles. They had opened most of their gifts last night when everyone had been over, but Draco still felt a little sad when he only saw two presents before him. They had limited each other to one gift a piece.
Lucius opened his first present, laughed and thanked Draco for the new bottle of cologne. Draco had been confused at the reaction until he opened his gift from Lucius and saw a similar Chanel bottle inside his own box.
"Ooh," Hermione cooed. "I like both of those scents. I think those are more of a present for me than for you though. So, thank you both." She pointed to the matching boxes before each of them. "I got you two the same gift, so you have to open them at the same time."
Draco ripped the wrapping paper off the box then waited for Lucius to finish before opening the lid. Inside were several pieces of paper and it took Draco a few minutes to read them before he understood what the gift was.
"Driving lessons?" Lucius asked.
"I see how you two drool over sportscars," Hermione said. "I thought it would be nice if you learned how to drive them."
"This is wonderful." Lucius kissed her.
"Does that mean I can buy an Astin Martin Vanquish?" Draco asked. It was his favourite car.
"Once you pass your driving test you can," Hermione told him, leaning in to kiss him.
"Thanks, Otterpop! This is a wonderful present."
"You two have so many things, so I wanted to get you something to do, not just another thing to put on a shelf."
"You've done splendidly," Lucius told her. "Truly. I've always wanted to learn to drive."
"I have one more thing for both of you, but I didn't buy them, so it doesn't count towards the gift limit. Pick one."
Hermione pulled two sealed envelopes from her back pocket and sat them on her legs. Draco nodded for Lucius to go first. Lucius grabbed the one closest to him and opened it. Draco watched in fascination as his father's eyebrows continued to march towards his hairline as he read the short letter she had given him.
"How?" Lucius asked.
"Armand. How else?" Hermione shrugged.
"What is it, Father?" Draco reached for the parchment.
"Hermione has convinced our ancestor to help change the rules of the entail of the estate in instances of Malfoy triadic marriages."
"I didn't think that it was fair that your estate could transfer to another branch of the family tree if Lucius is the father of this child," Hermione explained. "He gave me the location of a second grimoire, the one that details the blood magic on the land and how to make changes to it."
"I didn't even know there was a second book," Draco admitted, Lucius nodding along with him.
"It, along with another Malfoy secret, has been hidden for hundreds of years."
"Hello, Hermione," Armand said as she approached his portrait. "I see you are nearing the end of your pregnancy. How long until the next Malfoy arrives?"
"Six weeks or so," Hermione answered. "That's actually why I'm here. I need your help."
"I am not sure what good I will be as a painting, but I am your servant, ma'am."
"I've read through the entail papers, and I want your help in changing them."
"The estate will only go to Malfoy men, I refuse to change that."
"I know," Hermione said, placing a hand on her stomach. "But my son will be a Malfoy, no matter which one is his father. Is it really fair that it would have to be Draco's in order for him to inherit? Why can't the son of either of them be a legitimate heir? He may be a second son to Lucius, but he will be the firstborn of our triad."
"And what next? You will want a female to inherit if she is the first born of a triad?" Armand huffed. "That is not how things work."
"That actually is how things work in this time, but I digress." Hermione huffed. Of course the old misogynist prat would think that way. "I'm not asking you to help ensure females can inherit, even though I think they should be able to. I'm asking that the firstborn male of any dual Malfoy triad, who bears the Malfoy name, be allowed to.
"I want my son, if he's Draco's or Lucius', to have his birthright."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then I'll use a Muggle potion to remove your mouth, you pompous old wanker." Hermione almost blushed at her retort. Her hormones seemed to have removed her filter.
"I like you," Armand laughed. "There is a hidden safe behind my portrait. Code is 27-6-26-3-64-53-69. Inside you will find the book I kept that will allow Lucius to update the entail. There is a ritual that is required, but I have explained the process within its pages."
"Am I able to look at the book or will it burn my eyes out?" Hermione asked, remembering what Lucius had said about the grimoire.
"You can look at this one. Only the one in the library does that. There is a release button under my right foot to open the portrait."
It took Hermione a few tries before she was able to press the button and Armand's portrait swung open. She had to ask him to repeat the code a few times until the safe unlocked. Inside was a large chest, blackened with age. Opening it , Hermione gasped as she saw a small book, bound in green leather and perfectly preserved. It sat surrounded by crowns, tiaras, and scepters whose jewels were sparkling in the low light.
"Armand, where did these jewels come from?"
"One of my descendants got into a fight with the Muggle king when the king tried to sleep with his wife sometime in the twelfth– no, thirteenth– century. He returned home with that chest, which he had acquired while the king was trying to run away. I believe the king died a few days later."
"So a Malfoy stole the lost crown jewels of England and they've been here the entire time?"
"I will neither confirm nor deny that. The King could have given them to our family, or they could have been made by goblins and purchased by the family at the same time by coincidence. You have no proof."
"You are one sneaky fucker, Armand. I'll give you that."
"Thank you, my dear. Now, once Lucius is finished with that book, you will return it?"
"Of course. And after I give birth, we'll bring our new son to meet you."
Hermione shook her head as she closed the lid on the chest, shut the safe, and returned Armand's portrait to its normal position. She looked up to see him trying to look down her shirt.
"It really is too bad Lucius doesn't keep a portrait of me in your bedchambers. I think I would enjoy that."
"And that is why he doesn't." Hermione called over her shoulder as she walked away.
"I have decided to believe that the jewels were goblin made and that I haven't married into the family that's behind the lost crown jewels."
"Those are goblin made, I'm sure," Lucius said with a smirk.
"What's in the other envelope?" Draco asked, tapping it with his finger.
"The paternity of our son. Healer Shafiq did the spell last week," Hermione continued before Draco could interrupt her. "I haven't seen it. He didn't tell me and sealed the results. I wanted to give you the option, if you want it."
Draco looked to Lucius. "It's up to you, son. I'm happy either way."
"If he's yours, will he still call me Dad?" Draco asked, his voice small.
He and Lucius had discussed this when they first decided to help Hermione, but it felt so different now. He had heard the baby's heartbeat, felt him kick his hand, seen him on a few grainy Muggle scans. Draco had been living with the assumption that it was his son inside his wife, not his brother.
"Of course he will," Lucius said, moving to sit on the other side of Draco.
"Both of you will be his father, no matter what that paper says," Hermione assured him.
Draco nodded. He thought of Theo, whose father was such a complete piece of shit that when he'd died, Theo had thrown a huge party. He thought of Blaise, whose own father had died within days of him being born, but how Blaise was closer to the man who raised him than his own mother. Maybe being a father wasn't about the sperm, but about who stood up and took on the role of being a father. Potter's uncle had the chance to be a father to him, and had never taken it. Didn't that just prove that it was all about who chose to wear the title? And he and Lucius were both choosing to wear it.
"And we'll change the entail no matter what this says?" Draco asked.
After they both agreed, Draco looked at the envelope in his hand before opening it:
Gender: Male
Mother: Hermione Jean Granger Malfoy
Father: Draco Lucius Malfoy
A/N: And now we know who the father is! Are you happy or sad? Let me know!