Disclaimer: Oops! I forgot to put one of these on my last chapter. You know the drill anyway, so why bother in the first place?
A/N: "I'd like to thank my parents, first of all, then my grand parents..." No, seriously, Thank You to my wonderful Beta-reader, HPFan. You are truly a great friend, girl!
Chapter 3: Introductions
Lucius flitted around his room, looking for his wand. Where was it? It should be here some...where. That stupid git of a son of his was sitting on the floor, chewing on it, getting slime and slobber everywhere. "Narcis-SA! Keep your son out of our chambers in the future! He's chewing on my wand again and I won't tolerate it!!!" Lucius snapped irritably. A blob of white-blonde hair flew through the door and snatched up Draco. Sky-blue eyes peered fearfully at the figure towering over her. "Lucius, he's your son, too. I shouldn't be the one having to look after him all the time!" She said it quickly, before losing her nerve. The glacial person before her drew himself up to his full height. Narcissa cowered before him, a tremor of terror passing over her pale face. "What do you think house-elves are for, woman?" Lucius asked is a dangerously soft voice. Narcissa quickly dropped her gaze to the floor, away from those incredibly cold eyes, that icy, penetrating stare. She quickly deposited Draco on the bed, still avoiding Lucius's gaze. "They are there for the help of cleaning the house, laundry, and dishes. You know that," she whispered. Then she felt a cold hand on her shoulder, gently pulling her around. She turned to see Lucius standing there, an unreadable look on his aquiline face. He moved his hand to touch her cheek briefly, then slapped her across the mouth with a resounding *smack!* She kept her head turned away from him, so he wouldn't see the tears welling up in her eyes, threatening to spill over. "Oh, Sissa, I'm so sorry...I...don't know what I was thinking..." He stammered out, surprise in his voice. The cold hand was back again, this time cupping her chin, forcing her head to face him. She kept her eyes turned downward, silver trails, falling down her cheeks. "Sissa..." She looked in Lucius' face, wishing almost immediately that she hadn't.
***
Severus was nervous. As he paced, he kept looking at his watch, thinking that it had stopped or was going backwards; he couldn't tell. He knew this was something he had been debating on since January. Well, now it was June, and he would have to do it sooner or later. It was time to come clean. Honestly, he didn't know why he was going to do it. Maybe because he was going to become a father of a monster...A child with Voldemort and a vampire's traits, as well as his own, was almost too much to think about. How would it act? Would it be even more evil than the Dark Lord himself? And that wasn't the worst part: there would be another one running around with Lucius Malfoy's traits, instead of his own. Finally, it was time to leave. After making sure his travelling cloak was fastened securely, he Dissaparated to Albus Dumbledore's summer home, where he would confess everything.
***
8:00. Voldemort was waiting with his two bundles of joy. A pair of swishes and pops gave way to the two most feared Death Eaters in England. "Unmask yourselves, I am the only one here," he snapped. Each took off his hood and tucked it away, looking expectantly at the figure before them. "I see that you are intrigued..." Voldemort said with a hint of amusement. "How very touching. Lucius, here is your ravishing girl, an exquisite example of perfection. Severus, here is your little darkling, straight from the dark side of the moon." Severus felt his breath catch in his throat as he peered upon the white face, perfectly complimented by the raven hair around the cherubic face. Full of curiosity, he glanced into Lucius' arms and saw an angel: golden brown hair against creamy skin. With some interest, he noticed that the dark-haired one was quite a bit paler, but had darker lips. Lucius must have noticed it too, for he was muttering to himself about the girls' differences.
Voldemort looked on, unimpressed. "I had hoped for sons, but these will have to do. They are what they are, and they are mine. I plan to put them to good use. Perhaps they will be of even greater use since they aren't male..." He left the thought hanging in the air, watching his supporter's reactions. No change in either one's face. Good. He didn't want them growing attached. "They are to lead as normal a life as possible, to learn magic and the Dark Arts simultaneously. However, they will be brought up isolated from all other wizards until they can be of some use. For this, I am placing them with a surrogate mother in the United States tonight. You are each to take your own child overseas with you now, to an unknown place in Connecticut. I will meet you there in the end. Dissaparate to 66 Skylark Road. See you there." And he vanished with a swish of his cloak. "Well...we'd better go, don't you think?" Severus asked quietly. "After you, old friend," Lucius sneered.
***
They arrived at a relatively large-sized house, respectably hidden from view of the road by a row of tall yew bushes in front. Voldemort was already making his way towards the house when the door opened, casting a long silhouette of a slender figure in the patch of light. "Annika...You will receive compensation for this favor in the end," Voldemort said with an unusual casual tone. He beckoned forward the two standing in the shadows, with their bundles clutched in their arms. As they stepped into the light, they saw that the woman had quite an unusual look about her, almost like she was about to blow away in the light breeze that played along the branches of the trees surrounding the house. Her hair was a mousy brown, her eyes were a gorgeous hazel, and she had a handful of freckles sprinkled across her nose. The only words to describe her were decidedly cute. She seemed to be the type that you wanted to hug all the time. She led the three men to the kitchen, and sat herself at the table, indicating that they were to do the same.
"To business," she said with a surprisingly deep, throaty voice. Voldemort pulled his lips into his terrible grin and outlined the plan for the present to her. The girls were to be brought up learning everything about magic, Dark Arts, and especially weapons, fighting and self-defense techniques, as well as medieval studies on torture. For fun, they were to learn jousting, the old-fashioned way. As Voldemort was explaining what he wanted done, Annie was getting aquainted with the babies. Voldemort sat up suddenly, a gleam in his eyes giving away his excitement. "We have not named them yet! I do believe that it wouldn't do to have them grow up without names...Lucius, Severus, since they are yours, you are to make the choice," he hissed at them. Each man fell into thought, thinking of a name worthy of the children. Lucius said, "I have always enjoyed the thought of having a daughter named 'Mina'. My child shall be named Mina." Severus was lost in thought: 'She looks like the contrast between the moon and the night sky on a cloudless night. '"Luna" means "moon", but it doesn't quite match with "Mina". I think that I shall call her "Leena"...' "Leena," Severus said quietly, "Her name is Leena." Voldemort agreed, then stated, "They shall have the last name of 'Riddle', so the few wizards who do know of my Muggle name can be rest-assured that Lord Voldemort and his progeny live onward. Annie, do well to train them. Should anything go wrong, anything happen to me, at any time, the plan is to be aborted and they shall go to Muggle school from that time on. I expect faithful service. Do not disappoint me." The three men Dissaparated without a word and left Annie to deal with Leena and Mina Riddle, the two innocents on which so much hope and destruction was built upon.