An Unexpected Guest
In all the years he had spent growing up and living his entire life in Malfoy Manor, Lucius Malfoy had never once expected to find himself in this situation.
He was walking into the grand dining room that morning when he suddenly froze in his tracks at the sight of none other than Harriah Potter — the girl who defeated his former master, saved Lucius' entire family from Azkaban, and was now engaged to Lucius' only son — sitting calmly at the head of the table waiting for him.
Potter stared at him for a few seconds, gauging his reaction. She eventually stood up and bowed her head politely in greeting.
"Mister Malfoy."
Lucius noticed that Potter was obviously suppressing her true form (and he knew this because stolen pictures of her true form as a veela somehow always made their way into the gossip section of the Prophet these days). Instead of pointing that out, he said nothing and merely returned her nod with a curt one of his own as he watched her sit back down.
"Miss Potter."
He kept the expression on his face perfectly composed as he let his gaze wander around the dining area. When he found no trace of his wife, nor his son, Lucius frowned and made a move to exit the room.
"Excuse me—"
Potter picked up on his attempt to leave and cleared her throat, drawing Lucius' attention back to her. "If you're looking for Draco or Narcissa, they're both in London this morning to meet with some wedding suppliers. I specifically scheduled the suppliers to meet with them today so that you and I could have this opportunity to talk alone while they're gone. Neither of them actually know that I'm here." She said quietly.
In spite of himself, Lucius couldn't help but smirk at Potter's impudence. Though, he supposed he shouldn't have expected any less given everything he's already seen the girl do (including the time she had the actual gall to go up against him back in her second year).
"Who knew that Harriah Potter could be so manipulative?" He drawled.
Potter ignored his comment and leaned back against her seat. She lifted her chin, meeting his amused gaze directly.
"I would prefer not to waste your time, Mister Malfoy. So if it's okay with you, I'd like to skip all the unnecessary small talk and get straight to my point."
"You're welcome to waste as much of my time as you'd like, Miss Potter." Lucius didn't bother trying to prevent the sarcasm from leaking into his voice. He obliged her and sat down into the chair that faced hers from the opposite end of the long dining table. "I am still under permanent house arrest, if you recall; so I quite doubt that I have any urgent matters in the foreseeable future that require my immediate attention." He added lightly.
Potter seemed to pause at that, looking visibly uncomfortable with his statement. Lucius ignored her reaction and motioned lazily to a nearby house-elf, waiting until the latter had served him a goblet of wine. Before he dismissed the house-elf, Lucius glanced back at Potter and arched an eyebrow at her in question.
"Red wine or white?" He asked.
She shook her head. "I'm fine, thank you."
"To what do I owe the pleasure of this charming visit then?" Lucius drawled.
Potter sat up in her seat and folded her hands primly on the table in front of her.
"Your son and I are getting married next week." She said simply.
Lucius snorted at that and barely resisted the urge to sneer at her. "Yes, I am well aware. It's all over the newspapers. Not to mention how my lovely wife gushes about nothing else but gowns and lace and bloody floral patterns these days."
He thought he caught the way Potter's lips seemed to twitch with amusement at the dry humor in his voice but she went on.
"Be that as it may, I was going through the final guest list a few days ago, and I couldn't help but notice that you weren't coming to the wedding." Potter paused and glanced at him again, her sharp green eyes trying to pierce through his perfectly stoic mask. "And this is despite the fact that Draco took considerable lengths to make sure we could hold the wedding here. In Malfoy Manor. For your sake."
Lucius said nothing, merely staring back calmly at her before he lifted his goblet to his lips and took a long, languid sip of wine.
Potter looked annoyed by his silence. "Given our less than amicable history, Mister Malfoy, I understand that you and I may never really come to like each other. I also know that you may never truly see me as a member of your family — and I'm perfectly willing to accept that."
Lucius quirked an eyebrow at her words. Frowning, he opened his mouth to say something but Potter ignored him.
"I am well aware that I'm far from the kind of woman you wanted your only son to marry. I'm not dainty or well-bred. I'm not elegant, nor am I a properly-raised, elite pureblood heiress. I was raised as an orphan; my mother was a muggleborn witch; and to top it all off, I'm also a veela. So yes, my blood is very tainted — certainly quite far from being magically pure as, say, another daughter from one of the Sacred Twenty Eight families that Draco could have ended up marrying instead."
With a shake of his head, Lucius set his goblet of wine down so he could refute her properly but apparently, Potter wasn't done yet.
"But all questions of blood purity aside, I can honestly assure you that I love your son more than anything in this world; and I happen to know that he feels the same about me. And so, despite our differences, the reason I'm here today, Sir, is to personally convince you to attend your son's wedding next week."
She paused again and stared cautiously at him, obviously waiting for him to react. Instead of answering, however, Lucius just smirked at her and nodded silently for her to continue.
Potter let out a sigh of frustration. "I know that the relationship between the two of you has been strained since the war ended, but Draco is still your son and you are still his father. Despite everything that's happened, I know that Draco still cares very much about you. And it would break his heart if his father, the man he respected and looked up to all his life, wasn't there during his wedding."
She gave Lucius an imploring look.
"So please, Mister Malfoy, the real reason I came here today is to ask you to do just that. Please come to our wedding next Sunday. For Draco's sake."
Lucius was silent.
He stared contemplatively at the wine in his goblet, gently swirling the liquid around as he pondered carefully on how best he could try to explain himself. Obviously misinterpreting his reaction, Potter tried to ease the tension between them by speaking in a lighter tone of voice.
"If it makes you feel any better, you can even glare at me with disdain the whole time and I swear I won't complain. Though, I admit that might not bode so well with your wife when she eventually sees how the family wedding pictures turn out—"
"Miss Potter."
Lucius finally spoke, cutting Potter off before she could say anything else. She stiffened at the admonishing tone of his voice and looked up, meeting his grim expression with a bewildered frown.
"I do believe there's been a grave misunderstanding between us. And I would very much like to clarify that before it leads to any more false conclusions on your part." Lucius smirked at her as he lowered his goblet and folded his hands neatly on the table. "First and foremost, I do not think that you are, in any way, unworthy of my son. In fact, it may surprise you to know that I actually think Draco is quite fortunate to have earned your affection."
Lucius was amused when he saw the completely flabbergasted grimace on Potter's face.
"Is that truly so difficult for you to believe?" He arched an eyebrow and gave her a pointed look. "You have proven yourself to be a very magically skilled witch; one that was even skilled enough to take down the Dark Lord himself; and I respect that."
"You respect the fact that I killed your former master?" Potter retorted flatly, her eyes flashing as she sneered at him.
"I respect power, Miss Potter." Lucius averred, inclining his head toward her in a semblance of a nod. "It is a very fickle gift after all, but if you observe, wherever power gravitates, history will follow. And you, my dear child, have just rewritten wizarding history."
Lucius noticed the way Potter looked completely taken back by his words.
"More importantly, you're loyal; and you value family above all else. Everything a Malfoy should be." Lucius reached for his goblet of wine again and took another sip. "And as to the question of your blood purity, it might also interest you to know, Miss Potter, that unlike other pureblood families, Malfoys are not the traditional blood purists you think we are. We do understand that it's important to introduce new blood into the family every now and then to keep our bloodline — and our magic — strong. Otherwise, our future descendants would be riddled with all kinds of genetic diseases and physical deformities. A good counter example I can give you to illustrate this is the Gaunt family, one descendant of which I'm quite sure you are very familiar with."
From the way Potter narrowed her eyes at him, Lucius could tell that she didn't share his amusement where the Gaunt family was concerned. He chuckled to himself anyway and continued.
"The real reason I will not be attending yours and my son's wedding next week is precisely for Draco's sake."
Potter frowned at him.
"I'm afraid I don't follow, Sir."
Lucius allowed one corner of his lips to tug upwards into a grim smile.
"Unfortunately, my son has come to associate me with all the horrible experiences he had to go through as a Death Eater during the war. This is something I will always regret but cannot change; a result of my failure to protect my family when it truly mattered most." He lowered his gaze to the ring on his finger, stroking the tip of his thumb against the Malfoy family insignia that was engraved on the ring's surface. "My family is my honor, Miss Potter. And the truth is, I lost that honor the day I let the Dark Lord burn that wretched mark onto my son's arm."
Lucius slowly lifted his gaze, allowing Potter to see the resigned smirk on his face.
"I would very much like it if my son remembers his wedding day as one of the happiest days of his life. My decision not to attend is simply my way of making sure that I do not tarnish that memory for him."
He would have said more; but Lucius found himself abruptly cut off.
"The war is over, Sir."
Potter suddenly stood up from her seat and began rifling through the pockets of her coat. When she seemed to find what she was looking for, she glanced at him again and gave him a reproachful glare.
"And frankly, if I was able to get past the appalling history between us, then you and your son can too. One of you obviously has to take the first step; it might as well be you. Otherwise, if you and Draco continue to avoid seeing each other for the rest of your lives like this, neither of you will ever be able to move on from what happened."
"If I may be so bold as to inquire—" Lucius' eyes narrowed and he sneered at her. "—exactly what is this 'appalling history' you speak of?"
Potter gave him a cheeky smile.
"You tried to kill me, Sir."
"Preposterous!" Lucius flushed with anger. "You haven't a shred of proof—"
"Anyway—" Potter made an impatient gesture with her hand to dismiss the subject. "—as you graciously pointed out awhile ago, Mister Malfoy, I do value family above all else. So as your future daughter-in-law — and the future mother of the next Malfoy heir — I expect to see you there at the wedding."
Lucius folded his hands together and leaned back slowly against his chair. He lifted his eyes and stared up at her with a challenging smirk on his face.
"Is that a threat, Miss Potter?"
Potter smirked back.
"I'd rather you think of it as an advance notice."
She walked across the dining room toward him, gingerly placing a small photograph down onto the table beside his empty wine goblet. When she saw the utterly dumbfounded look on Lucius' face, she rewarded him with one last shameless smile.
"See you next Sunday, Grandad. I'll be the one in the white dress."
Potter walked out of the dining room without another word, leaving Lucius staring in stunned shock at the tiny picture she had laid out on the table in front of him.
It was a baby sonogram.
Notes: Lol yes, little Scorpius was actually able to attend his parents' wedding ceremony. Aria was already a few weeks pregnant when she and Draco got married. I like to imagine she didn't actually tell him until they were on their honeymoon though.
Also, I don't actually know if wizards and witches use sonograms in the wizarding world? For the sake of simplicity, let's just assume they do. ;)
