House Arrest

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own nothing.

Legolas19: Thanks for reviewing! Course I'll update :-D

ThouandI: Ah yes, dear Lucius was definitely forced, but yes, you'll still have to wait and see what happened.

Cutieak88: Ha ha, I'm hurrying!

FREAK014: I'm glad you were made to read this :-P Thanks for reviewing!

Padfoot n' Moony: Sure!

Jadwiga: Oh yes, Lucius' comment definitely has Siri thinking now. I'll try and make this chapter as fascinating as you think its going to be.

Shinigami: Thank you for that insight!

Eleonora1: Ha ha! I take it I am doing a good job of being cryptic about Lucius' predicament, then?

jc: okies!

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I have decided not to add Andromeda into this story, after all. And the 'Next Chapter' bit last chapter, just ignore that.

Lucius is five and a half months pregnant this chapter.

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Chapter 4: Not So Bad

It was the end of October and Twelve Grimmauld Place was virtually deserted, save for Sirius Black and Lucius Malfoy. The house-elf, Kreacher, had been found dead a couple of weeks ago so they no longer had to worry about him passing information onto Narcissa Malfoy, who would undoubtedly pass it onto Bellatrix.

It was late one morning and Sirius, though he wouldn't admit it to anyone, was a bit worried about Lucius who hadn't come down for any breakfast yet. The blond had been appearing for every meal for the last three weeks, but now he hadn't Sirius had decided to go and check on him. The two of them had been getting on a bit better than they had to start with, ever since the day Lucius had told Sirius how his mother had died, the remaining Black hadn't made a single crack about Lucius' pregnancy. Lucius, also, had stopped picking on Sirius, the two men figured it would probably be easier on the both of them if they tried to put their differences behind them.

Sirius headed up the stairs and to Lucius' room, as he stopped at the door he could hear coughing coming from inside. He sighed and knocked on the door, "Lucius?"

The coughing stopped momentarily for a raspy voice to reply, "What?"

Sirius opened the door, ignoring the very unwelcoming tone, "Are you ok?" he cringed a little when he heard Lucius throw up. "Guess not…"

"No…I am not ok…" Lucius' voice sounded shaky and hoarse.

Before he could say anything more, Sirius heard more retching, he headed to the ensuite bathroom and peered in. Sure enough, there was Lucius with his head in toilet bowl, his hair appeared to have been pulled back in a hurry, and he was shaking. "Can I do anything?" he saw Lucius give a small nod.

"Stomach Calming Solution…bedside table…"

"OK," Sirius went to the bedside table and pulled out the small bottle, trying to ignore the retching coming from the bathroom. He picked up a glass from the bedside table, "How much of it?"

"Six…drops…" The toilet flushed.

Sirius tipped six drops of the solution into the glass before going back into the bathroom and crouched down next to Lucius. He tentatively rubbed the other man's back while Lucius forced the solution down his throat; he heaved a bit and groaned. "Does it work straight away?"

"Yes…" Lucius tried to get up but he was a bit disoriented at the moment and he nearly fell back on top of Sirius.

"Let me help you," said Sirius standing up, he wrapped an arm around Lucius' waist, only getting a minor protest, and he led the man to the sink which is where he seemed to be trying to get. He held Lucius up as the blond man washed his mouth out with toothpaste and mouthwash. "I thought your morning sickness had stopped."

"So did I," replied Lucius hoarsely after spitting the mouthwash out. "I think I need to lie down…" he allowed Sirius to lead him back into the bedroom. He settled back down in the bed in a pair of loose pants and a T-shirt that Sirius had forced up on, and he let Sirius throw the covers back over him.

Sirius sat down on the edge of the bed, he had never seen Lucius look so vulnerable before, which was something he felt quite privileged about seeing because he knew Lucius wouldn't normally let people see him like this. If he had ever been in this kind of state before. "Is there anything you want?"

Lucius hesitated for a moment, he really did not like being so helpless, he also didn't recall Narcissa being this bad when she was pregnant with Draco but he decided to put that difference down to him being a man. "…Can you stay with me…until I fall asleep?"

Sirius was taken aback by the request but he hesitantly nodded, "Yeah, sure…" he climbed over Lucius and sat down in the middle of the bed, his back against the headboard. "Sure you don't want a drink or anything first?"

"I'm sure," mumbled Lucius, his eyes closed. "Just need to sleep…"

Sirius sighed and closed his eyes for a moment before looking back to the drowsy blond. How had it come to this? He and Lucius hated each other, didn't they? Well, no, perhaps not. Sirius would admit that he had never truly hated this man, there had been a great dislike there since childhood but it had never spawned into hate. But then, he had mainly grown to dislike Lucius because of the man's marriage to his cousin, Narcissa. Sirius had admitted to Remus recently that he had had a massive crush on the blond when he was younger, but he had ended up feeling betrayed when Narcissa announced that she was going to be marrying Lucius. But now, feelings that he hadn't felt since James had been alive were starting to reappear, and it was because of Lucius. I can't be falling for him…can I? No, its too preposterous, he doesn't like me even if I don't mind him so much. Mind you, he does seem to be gay, or at least bisexual… Stop it, Sirius! He is still married to your cousin, he is pregnant, and he has tried to kill your Godson, you can not be falling for this bastard. No I think I can…

While he had been mentally arguing with himself, Sirius hadn't realised that one of his hands had gravitated towards Lucius' hair, which he was now gently running his fingers through. The first he really knew of what he was doing was when Lucius spoke again, an amused tone in his voice.

"No, I didn't think you hated me as much as you like to think," Sirius jerked his hand away from Lucius' hair, and received a quiet laugh in return. "You don't have to stop."

Sirius frowned a little, "I thought you hated me,"

Lucius stayed curled up on his side with his eyes closed, he gave a little shake of his head, "I have never hated you, in fact, I was in awe of you after I first saw you stand up to your parents. That and I was jealous that I had never had the guts to do that."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm," Lucius practically purred when Sirius started stroking his hair again. "You have no idea just how much it really unnerved your parents when you stood up to them and stormed out, wanting to be your own person instead of another pureblooded robot like Regulus, or myself."

Sirius settled down on his side behind Lucius and continued running his fingers through the other man's hair, his own head propped on a hand, "…You didn't want to become a Death Eater, did you?"

Lucius snorted quietly, "He offered you sanctuary away from what you hated, and I was stupid enough to believe all the promises he made. Then, of course, I found out that becoming a follower of the Dark Lord was a lifetime of service, and that you couldn't back out when you had had enough. So I have been stuck with a stupid teenage mistake ever since, until now of course, but being stuck here isn't much better."

"No its not," replied Sirius quietly. "That's why I went to Platform nine and three quarters last year to see Harry off, I had no idea that you'd recognise me as Padfoot."

"Wormtail was useful for some things," said Lucius, "Even if he was a snivelling little coward."

"He was," agreed Sirius bitterly. "I wish the little bastard would die."

Lucius opened his eyes a little, "What made you put the Potters' lives in his hands?"

Sirius sighed deeply, "I thought Remus was the traitor in our group…and I didn't think anyone would suspect Wormtail of being the Secret Keeper, being the weak, pathetic little bastard he is. I thought it was a good bluff at the time, I felt sure that Voldemort-" he felt Lucius flinch a little. "Would suspect me, being James' best friend and all. It didn't occur to me at the time that he was surprisingly eager for the job."

"Yes, well look where it got him," said Lucius in minor amusement. He often revelled in other Death Eaters' failures. "Fingerless, Lordless, and the remaining Death Eaters wanting him dead. Of course, then we thought that you had done the deed for us."

Sirius huffed quietly, "Sometimes I wish I had done it, and then sometimes I wish I had never gone after him in the first place."

"Did you love him?"

"Who?"

"James," Lucius opened his eyes and turned his head in Sirius' direction when silence greeted him. "Should I take the silence as 'yes'?"

Sirius turned onto his back and put an arm behind his head, "As a brother, yes. As the best friend I've ever had, yes… And I loved him as more…not that it mattered, he was always after Lily." He laughed quietly. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this, even Remus doesn't know."

"People tend to spill their deepest secrets to me, for some reason," replied Lucius, he wasn't just asking these questions to be nosy. He was genuinely curious. "I can stop asking questions if you would like."

Sirius turned his head back to Lucius and he found himself staring into those grey eyes, which looked quite different when they weren't scowling or glaring in his direction. "Ask away if you want, its nice to have someone different to talk to." He was curiously aware of the limited distance between their faces, and it seemed Lucius had certainly noticed as well. "What made you go after Narcissa, anyway?"

Lucius raised his eyebrows slightly; he turned onto his back as well and placed an arm over his stomach, "Arranged marriage."

"You're kidding."

"No, I am not," he replied. He glanced at Sirius and saw the curious expression on the dark haired man's face. "You know how it is with arranged marriages, I'm sure. If both parties don't agree to marry then we don't have to, but of course, I didn't agree and Narcissa did, so I had no choice but to marry her. Though I think the status and the money was the only reason she agreed."

"And you slept with her."

Lucius smirked a little, "I made sure I had fed her plenty of fertility potions and cast plenty of fertility charms to make sure she got pregnant the first time, so that I never had to sleep with her again. Needless to say it worked, and that horrible little snot was born."

"That's no way to talk about your son."

Lucius rolled his eyes, "I am sure you've heard plenty about him from your godson and his friends to know what Draco is like," Sirius nodded. "He wasn't much different at home, and if I have to be honest, I have hit him before. Several times."

"From what I've heard about him, I'd like to smack him as well," replied Sirius. He thought for a moment before tentatively placing his hand on Lucius' growing abdomen, conscious of the grey eyes watching him intently. "Do you know what sex it is yet?" he was yet to find out who the other father was, but he didn't think now would be a good time to bring it up, no matter how talkative Lucius seemed at the moment.

"No. I want to wait until it's born to find out," replied Lucius quietly. "…I'm surprised you haven't asked me who the father is yet."

Sirius gazed back at the blond's handsome face, "I want to, but we're getting along really well at the moment. I didn't want to jeopardise that with asking about something that is obviously a touchy subject for you…unless you want to talk about it?"

Lucius gave a small shake of his head, he then moved Sirius' hand to where he could feel the baby was at the moment, "I don't…not right now anyway. I'll let you know if I decide I want to talk about it."

Sirius smiled slightly, "Well, you'll know where to find me."

Lucius opened his mouth to speak again but a yawn came out instead.

Sirius sat up and removed his hand from Lucius' stomach, "I'll let you get some sleep," the blond nodded, as Sirius got off the bed. "It's been nice talking to you."

"You too," Lucius watched as Sirius headed for the door. "Sirius?"

Sirius looked back to the pregnant blond, "Yeah?"

"Thank you, for giving me a chance," said Lucius sincerely. "It means a lot."

Sirius smiled, "No problem."

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A/N: Finally, an update! Possibly not what you would have wanted to see but it's the best I can do.

Next Chapter: Christmas. Kids are back. Remus is back. Lucius and Sirius are growing closer.