Chapter 3

The journey took about half an hour on Tonks' Comet Two Sixty. Lucius was steering, with Tonks sat at the back of him. She had her arms around his waist and was holding on tightly, resting her head on his shoulder. She breathed in, trying to identify his pleasant smell. It was.fresh and clean, she decided, unable to place the familiar smell.
At last they reached the Malfoys' mansion. As soon as the broom touched the ground three house elves scurried out of the house: one took the broomstick, and the other two carried Lucius and Tonks' cloaks, handing them on a Medusa headed stand that stood in the hall.
Tonks smiled inwardly at the house elves' eagerness to please their master, it reminded her of Hermione's S.P.E.W. Hermione would certainly want to help these poor elves she thought in shock as she saw Lucius kick one of them into the kitchen. He turned round and smiled warmly, taking her by the hand. Tonk's was led into a dining room dimly lit by candles and a roaring fire in a marble fireplace.
"Who's home?" she asked frowning, noticing that three places were already set. "No-one but us, my servants just feel it necessary to set the table for us all, whether we're here or not." He shot the nearest house elf a withering look and flicked his hand at him. The house elf bowed so low that he nearly fell over, then turned and fled from the room.
Lucius pulled out a chair at the right hand side of the head of the table and motioned to her to sit down. She complied reluctantly, a thought coming to her mind.
"Where's your wife?" This man, with whom she was happily dining with, had a family. Did she really want to be the one that is responsible for breaking it up? Not to mention the hell that would break loose when her friends had learned that she was falling for a Malfoy.
"She has passed."
"What?" To Tonks' knowledge, Narcissa was still alive, not that she kept contact with or cared about her aunt. Her AUNT! Eugh, Lucius was her Uncle! She stood hastily, dropping the napkin from her knee onto the plate.
"What- where are you going?"
"I'm not, I can't do this, you're my uncle for Christ's sake!" Tonks' gasped.
"I'm not and you know it. Your family don't even aknowledge your existence, you've been disowned, remember? And besides, all pure blood families are inter-related, but it doesn't bother anyone. Narcissa died of a broken heart, she found out that Draco was dating a Weasley. She just couldn't bear the embarrassment of it all."
"And what about you?" Tonks' shot the question at him after a moment of uncomfortable silence.
"I haven't spoken to him."
"Because of what happened, or because you haven't seen him?"
"Both." He answered tersely. "Look Tonks, we both have different lifestyles, different social groups. I'm not going to let it interfere with us, and I'm not going to talk about yours incessantly, forever going on about how much I dislike them."
Partially satisfied, Tonks sat down.
"Are you upset?" She asked eventually.
"What about?"
"Your wife's death."
"We had grown apart. I still loved her as a person, but I wasn't in love with her anymore. I miss her, but I moved on long before she died." He suddenly looked downcast. Tonks could tell that her death had affected him more than he had said. She took hold of his hand.
"I'll look after you," she whispered, leaning over and kissing him softly on the lips.
"but I thought -"
"Shh." Tonks leant over and kissed him deeply.