It was ten days until Christmas. Lucius had been kept late at a meeting that day and came home in a thoroughly sour mood, banging the door closed behind him and throwing his cloak and coat to the floor where they pooled in a heap of rich dark fabric. He shivered, half-frozen, still feeling the icy wind from outside bite into him.
He was halfway down the hall and into the drawing room, about to call for an elf to fix him a drink, when he paused, wrongfooted. Something wasn't right. The hallway was dimly lit by series of large, ornately carved white and gold candles leading to the entrance of the drawing room, out of which poured a soft, warm light.
"Is that you, darling?" Narcissa called from upstairs. "Happy Christmas! Do you like it?"
"It's lovely," he said, stepping into the drawing room and admiring the scene set out before him. It was perfect - from the three stockings hanging charmingly askew on the mantle beneath green garlands of holly, to the majestic, glittering spectacle of the Christmas tree in the corner, its many bulbs and ornaments refracting the soft glow of the candles across the room in warm, sparkling shards of light. The white and gold angel atop the tree gazed benignly down upon the room, offering silent sanction. "Just lovely."
He heard footfalls as Narcissa hurried down the stairs, and turned to see her standing in the doorway of the drawing room, smiling at him, clad in white robes with her golden hair fanning out over her slim shoulders, framing her pale oval face. She held a wine glass lightly in her fingers.
"Draco and I were busy today," she said, by way of explanation.
Lucius smiled back at her. "I can see," he said. "Where is he?"
She shrugged, coming over to him and slipping her arm around his waist, resting her head against his chest. "He ran off once we'd finished decorating the tree. Probably upstairs somewhere."
Lucius nodded, content. Here in his warm, welcoming home with his loving wife to look after him, he felt his cares slowly ebb away.
Narcissa took a sip of her wine. "He was very helpful," she said pointedly. "Very obedient."
"A first time for everything," Lucius said lightly.
"It would be very nice," she went on, ignoring him, "If you would tell him how much you appreciated his helping Mummy with the decorations - "
She stopped, and turned. Draco was standing in the doorway, eyes wide with curiousity.
"Oh, Draco," Narcissa said in a sweet voice. "Come here, darling. I was just telling Daddy - "
"I heard," said Draco. "I was very good today," he added absently to no one in particular. He went over to the tree and tried to pluck one of the delicate glass bulbs from its branches, rattling the whole tree very slightly as he did so.
Narcissa gave a small cry of dismay. "Ooh, don't touch, precious, we spent all afternoon - "
"Leave that alone," Lucius said sharply. Draco fingered the bulb for a moment more, defiant, then let it go.
"We had a lovely time today, didn't we darling?" Narcissa asked in a cooing voice.
Draco looked up at Lucius, his face palely lit by the light reflecting off the Christmas tree ornaments. "Do you like it, Daddy?" he asked in his soft, mumbling voice.
"It's very nice," Lucius said curtly.
"I decorated the bottom and Mum did the top, 'cause I couldn't reach. But I picked out the angel to go on top," he said quickly.
Narcissa smiled at him. "He has very good taste, doesn't he?" she asked fondly.
"Yes. Very nice. Can you - ah, darling, will you go and fix me a drink?"
Narcissa went obediently to get him a glass of wine. Lucius could feel Draco watching him and was distinctly out of sorts.
There was a silence. It made Lucius uneasy and he cast around for something to talk to the child about.
"How are your studies going?" He asked at length.
Draco shrugged. "Okay."
"Have you been practicing your penmanship?"
"No," Draco said contentedly.
Lucius frowned down at him. "Don't be cheeky, Draco."
The child gazed up at the Christmas tree and did not respond. Lucius tried again.
"What about your arithmetic? You like arithmetic, don't you? You've been practicing that."
"Some," Draco admitted. He had a slight lisp that Lucius found off-putting. He watched as the child's small fingers wandered lightly over the branches of the tree.
"And have you been reading aloud with your tutor?"
"When I feel like it." Draco cast a quick glance back at his father, excited to see his reaction. He could see stormclouds gathering, but just then his mother came back in with his father's drink and saved him from retribution.
Still, judging by the look on his father's face, it was time to move to safer ground. He hurried over to his mother, cuddling against her and gazing back at his father from this safe zone.
Narcissa, pleased by the attention, knelt down to kiss his cheek and ruffle his hair. Lucius watched them sourly and took a sip of wine.
"Well," he said, "when will dinner be ready?"
"At eight," Narcissa said, straightening up reluctantly, her fingers still brushing over Draco's pale hair.
"You'd better go and wash up, Draco," Lucius said. Draco regarded him for a moment, chewing on his thumbnail, before he turned obediently and left the drawing room. They both listened for a moment to his footsteps crashing up the stairs, the bathroom door banging open and the water being turned on full force.
The sudden stillness in the room seemed to embarass Narcissa, who suddenly began to chatter about the preparations for their New Year's party. Lucius listened, uninterested, as she told him about the difficulties she was having with the catering company, that she needed him to look over the music she'd chosen for the evening that she was still not certain if the Avery's would be attending and that Sophie Avery -
"They're boors anyhow, darling, I don't see why you invite them," he interrupted before she could launch into a tirade about Sophie Avery, whom Narcissa despised because she felt Mrs. Avery put on airs.
"Oh, but we've known them for so long, darling, and they're friends of the family - "
"Whose?"
"Well - well, ours, of course, don't be silly. We've known them ever so long."
"They may not want to come anyway - didn't Mrs. Avery just have a baby?"
"Oh, that's right, a little boy." This cheered Narcissa immensely. "Hmm. Well, we'll have to send them something lovely for Christmas, won't we? A lovely little something for their new baby." She paused, looking up at him pointedly. "It's their second child, you know, darling."
Lucius drummed his long fingers on the coffee table. "Second child. Really."
"Yes, their first ... you remember, the little girl, Eleanor, we went to her christening ..." She stopped. "Lucius, you know, we had always planned - "
"Narcissa - "
"Two or three children - "
"Narcissa, the doctor said - "
The dinner bell rang. They both listened distantly to the sounds of Draco banging down the stairs and crashing across the front hall into the dining room.
"MOTHER! FATHER!" They heard him yell. "DINNER - MUMMY, DADDY - "
"Besides," Lucius said, tiredly, swiping a hand down his face, "don't you think one is enough?"
She gave him a tiny, sad smile, but he could see her eyes brimming with tears.
"Oh, darling - " he sighed. "Don't be sad, sweetheart. Don't think of this so near Christmas, you'll get yourself into a state, you won't enjoy the holiday - "
She bit down on her fist to stop her tears. "Oh, my dear, I want a little girl - "
"Ah, don't - "
"So badly - "
"MUMMY, DADDY," Draco shrieked.
She buried her face into her hands. They stood together for a moment, silent. At last she looked up, and her face was clear.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I didn't mean to ruin all this." She waved her hand at the decorations vaguely. "I wanted it to be nice," she added in a soft, sad voice. He knew she was talking to herself and reached out to take her hands into his, warming them.
"It is nice," he said. "It's very nice. We have such a lovely home together here, I couldn't want for anything more."
She nodded and smiled, but the longing in her eyes told him otherwise. It hurt him to see her in pain, but there was little he -
"Mummy, Daddy," Draco called exasperatedly from the door to the drawing room, "why are you taking so long? The food's getting cold."
He was parroting Narcissa's oft-repeated reprimand to him when he took too long to wash up. Narcissa gave Lucius a tiny grin.
"Sorry to keep you, old sport," Lucius told Draco in a grave voice. "We'll be along momentarily." Draco watched them suspiciously for a moment longer before turning away and marching back into the dining room.
"Oh, that child needs a good spanking," Lucius said lightly.
Narcissa laughed. "He's just high-strung."
"You're too soft with him," Lucius told her disapprovingly. "I never let him talk to me the way he talks to you."
"It's nothing bad. You'd find things a bit different between the two of you if you were home all day looking after him." She started for the front hall.
"I would not," Lucius said, annoyed. "That's your trouble, you see - you want to be friends with him, not be his mother, and you don't seem to realize - "
She laughed at him over her shoulder as she disappeared down the hall and into the dining room. Exasperated, Lucius followed her.
"We'll finish this discussion later," he murmured into her ear as they sat down. She pretended she didn't hear.
Draco was glaring at them dolefully. "I already said grace," he said loudly as Lucius opened his mouth.
Narcissa and Lucius exchanged amused glances. "Perhaps we could say it as a family," Narcissa suggested. Draco sniffed but did not object.
Lucius watched Narcissa as he spoke their customary prayer, her head bent and her eyes closed. It ached that there was nothing he could do to ease her sorrow, no way to give her the girl child she longed for. A little golden-haired girl sitting beside her mother, her smooth brow straight and solemn and her blue eyes closed, delicate lashes brushing her cheek ...
He bent his head quickly. He knew Draco was watching him and he squeezed the child's small warm hand, gently, whether for Draco's reassurance or his own he didn't know.
They all released hands and Narcissa smiled at him gently, her palm lingering in his for a moment. What a lovely wife I have, he thought to himself. What a lovely family.
He listened as Narcissa told Draco about the New Year's party coming up, and how all his sweet friends - the miserable brats, Lucius thought - would be coming to stay the night with him and count off to the new year.
"So I can stay up?" He asked excitedly. "I can stay up 'til midnight? Really, you mean it? You won't make me go to bed?"
"Really, I mean it," she laughed.
"Oh, boy," Draco said, delighted.
There was sorrow here, sorrow and loss and the horrible taint of war that clouded every wizard family now, but in these moments it was forgotten. Here, now, having dinner with his lovely wife and son, the house overflowing with the love and the rare, beautiful togetherness of the holidays, there was only warmth.