If you've read my story Cosmic Love, you will recognize the character of Felicity introduced here, but rest assured she won't be playing the same role and some aspects of her backstory vary. She's just a very dear OC to me and I thought including a foil for Draco here could be fun. I just wish I had incorporated her family a bit earlier in this story! Hindsight is 20/20.

"Felicity is going to have to stay with us this summer," Narcissa announced to Lucius over breakfast. Draco was due back from his third year the next day, and they had both been in a state of calm anticipation of seeing him before this news had arrived.

"Is that from them?" Lucius asked, nodding to the letter she had laid beside her. Narcissa made a noise of acknowledgement. "Are they even going to see her before leaving?"

"She'll be here in two weeks. I was talking to Decima about this last week when she was here; they're going to Montenegro or some such place, perhaps for most of the summer. Such a strange vacation choice."

"She'll have to come to the beach with us then," Lucius sighed. "And we don't have enough tickets for the World Cup for her – I'll have to work on it. We can't count on waiting for them to come back."

"Felicity is a lovely girl, Lucius. Don't be so disappointed."

"Of course we love Felicity. But it is supposed to be a family vacation."

"And Felicity needs a family. Draco will be happy to have a friend with us."

Ignatius and Decima Grey were significantly older than Lucius and Narcissa, although their daughter Felicity was in Draco's class. She had grown up with her grandparents in France until just a few years before starting Hogwarts, at which point her parents were finally released from Azkaban. Stripped of their dignity – but not their fortune – in a way the Malfoys had not been, they leaned heavily on the loose association of other former Death Eaters for their social circle, and they relied particularly heavily on Lucius and Narcissa to babysit as they continue to destroy what little reputation they had left. The Malfoys never minded it, except to be unnerved for the shy, polite girl growing up without her parents.

Ignatius came over one day to supply a small fortune to Lucius for Felicity's care over the summer. Lucius asked predictable questions about their holiday plans while he counted the Galleons into the safe; really, he couldn't have cared less about why they needed to leave their daughter behind yet again. Better she was safe with the Malfoys. Perhaps, he thought idly, they would never return and Felicity really could thrive in a new family unit. Narcissa would like that. She had finally decided to commit to furnishing a bedroom entirely with Felicity in mind, and he had seen how much joy the feminine trappings brought her.

"Are we alone?" Ignatius asked, and Lucius snapped back into reality and lost count of his task.

"Of course." Lucius tried to straighten his back and prepare for whatever fresh hell this could bring.

"How is your Mark?"

He pretended to keep fussing with something in the safe for a moment, only turning when he thought his face was sufficiently cool.

"The same. Dull."

Lucius knew Ignatius knew that was a lie. In truth, his Mark had looked ready to pop off his skin for years now.

"He's not dead," Ignatius went on with one eyebrow raised. "Decima and I have always known it, and we hope to find Him, and help Him, this summer."

"That is…" Lucius was having trouble catching his breath. "That is very noble."

"He will reward the faithful, Lucius."

"Ignatius, my wife would be so disappointed to hear me involved in this conversation."

"So Narcissa is no longer supportive?" Ignatius asked with a feigned nonchalance.

"That is not what I said. I do hope you find him. You can let him know we are doing our part here in England by taking care of the next generation of well-bred pureblood children."

"Your point is taken," Ignatius scowled. "I just wanted you to be aware that one day your arm might burn again, and it would behoove you to answer."

Draco made a face when greeted with the news.

"All summer?" he asked.

"Not all summer," Lucius replied as Narcissa sighed and pinched her nose. "The tone is unnecessary. You like Felicity. Be happy a pretty girl will be around so much. I would have been at your age."

"She's pretty enough," Draco agreed, "but since she was sorted into Ravenclaw she's just another girl who wants to impress Harry Potter. Is that the kind of person you want us associating with?"

"Do I want our family associated with a sympathetic charity case who is well-liked by Harry Potter? Yes, Draco, it may shock you to know that is exactly what I want."

"Lucius…" Narcissa spoke up. "She's not –"

"You're right, Cissy. Felicity is not a charity case. She and her parents are friends to this family. No more arguing. Go get dressed for dinner."

Draco stormed out and Lucius collapsed onto the loveseat beside his wife.

"I had so hoped they would like each other," she sighed. "She has such good blood."

"They're 14, Narcissa. Give it some time and see if we all live through the summer. Not to mention he does have a point. You don't want him ending up with a blood traitor."

"That will start to matter less," she replied. "And don't argue that with me."

"No, Cissy, I won't."

Felicity came alone with her trunk and dark circles under her reddened eyes. Narcissa took her gently and led her to the bedroom she had decorated for her on the same hall as Draco's. The girl spoke very little, but a bright flush and murmured words of pleasure showed how much she liked the little pink hideaway.

"My room at home isn't –" she began, and then stopped herself. "It's a very beautiful room, Mrs. Malfoy."

"Your braid is so pretty," Narcissa replied to save Felicity any more discussion of it, although she was beaming with the compliments. She ran her hands down the girl's long plait, curling the ends around her fingers in appreciation.

"I'm really sorry I had to come," Felicity said, undeterred. "I know you all go to the beach and relax over the summer, and I know Draco loves that so much, and –"

"We are all delighted for you to be here," Narcissa stopped her. "Draco and Lucius know what a summer can be like for an only child. It'll be a nice change for all of us."

She left Felicity there with a reminder that they would eat at 7.

"I didn't know you were an only child as well," Felicity ventured to Lucius that evening. They had been left alone at the dinner table as Narcissa had taken Draco upstairs to try on a new pair of trousers, and fuss about the length of his hair. Felicity was still toying with her plate of strawberry shortcake, and Lucius was poring over the newspaper he had neglected that morning. He started at the interruption, but smiled and willingly folded the paper away.

"Yes. Did Narcissa tell you? She's always fascinated by that connection between Draco and myself, because she's so lucky not to know anything about it."

"Draco is lucky, too," Felicity replied. "I'm sure you were as well."

"Don't assume. It won't get you far in life." Lucius couldn't resist the fatherly rebuke.

"You weren't?"

"My parents were older than most, and they had a lot of…expectations. Most of them went unfulfilled. They would not have – they would have rather seen me pick a safer path."

"The Dark Lord," she replied.

"Yes." Lucius had not yet encountered a child who would speak so boldly of his master.

"Then I guess I'm just the opposite of you," she said, and excused herself with a laugh.

Draco took a few days to defrost after her arrival, but once he did the family melted together as they used to before the children had started school. He wouldn't admit it, but it was very obvious to his parents that having a playmate for games of garden Quidditch and explorations of tide pools by the sea did Draco well.

"He's still a child," Narcissa mused as she watched them race to the beach one morning. "I really thought when he came home this year that we would never see his smile again."

"I'm afraid this Triwizard Tournament nonsense coming up will knock the childhood out of both of them," Lucius replied. "What an idea."

"I don't like it either," his wife replied, "but at least all they can do is watch."

In that moment, Lucius's left hand flexed involuntarily. His pulse was jumping at the wrist – three or four sharp, unmissable beats. He muffled any reaction, focusing instead on standing up normally, and going to kiss Narcissa as she continued to look out at her son and desired daughter. How content she was as she tilted her neck to give him a larger canvas. How different from all those years ago when she had stood there alone with Draco on her hip, entirely unhappy with the life he had given her.

"Excuse me a moment, darling," he said, and pretended not to hurry to the powder room. There he ripped his sleeve back and stared at the Dark Mark standing out bold against his newly tan skin. It wasn't burning; this was not a call to action. But He was found.

When the Greys returned for their daughter with barely more than two weeks of vacation left, Lucius had to sigh a small breath of relief. He had come up short seeking a Quidditch ticket for Felicity, despite pulling every string he had the end to. Ignatius drew him aside as Felicity stood stony faced next to her mother in the entryway. Decima was stroking her hair while everyone exchanged pleasantries; if Lucius had looked more carefully, he would have seen her checking for split ends.

"He's here. In Britain. He wants Peter Pettigrew with him, and says he will seek us out when needed. You don't need to go to him yet."

Disgust crossed Lucius's face for a moment at the mention of Peter's name. He had been a clingy boy and a latecomer to the fold.

"We don't understand his infatuation with Peter either," Ignatius admitted. "But he is loyal. The Dark Lord has a plan. He will rise again, very soon we think."

Still Lucius could not find words to respond to this. He was aware of how firmly he was gripping his cane, and how many times he had glanced to his wife and son, standing ten or so blissful feet away from this horrid conversation.

"We will speak of it again, in private," he finally got out. "I do just want you to know that Felicity was a wonderful houseguest. I think it makes Narcissa so happy to have her."

"Did she get onto you all with all her nonsense hero worship of the Potter boy?" Ignatius asked. "I really don't understand it when we raised her so differently."

Felicity had spoken occasionally of her friends, although not much in front of the adults, and when she had Harry was never mentioned by name.

"Not really."

"That's good. Decima and I are afraid we'll have to take her out of school if it gets worse. I mean really, she's been told since we were released about the Dark Lord and how thankful she should be for his sure return. You must have told Draco all the same, and he's obviously gone down the right path."

Lucius had started to frantically telegraph distress to Narcissa with his gaze, and she interrupted them before he had to answer that.

He stared at Narcissa that night as she moved back and forth between the bathroom and the closet, getting ready for bed. It was remarkable how much she still reminded him of the girl he had married – she had been a girl, truly, he realized as the years passed. Not that he had been so mature.

She noticed him as she settled at her vanity to brush her hair.

"Something's bothering you," she said to his reflection in her mirror.

"Hm? No, I – I was thinking about if we have everything Draco needs for school. That's all. There won't be time to go shopping after the World Cup," he lied. He couldn't do it to her yet. She cocked her head at him, and then turned.

"You usually never worry about that. But we're going to pick up his dress robes tomorrow, all tailored, and that'll be all."

"I look forward to seeing them."

"He is so grown up in them," Narcissa smiled. She blew out her candle on the vanity and accepted the place he made for her in the bed. "I do love Felicity," she sighed, "but it is a relief to only have us to worry about now."

"That is certainly true."