Chapter 9:

Draco walked into the London underground with Melissa the next morning. It had been awful for Draco when he was told the closest apparition point was actually six blocks away from his apartment but the nearest station was on his block. It only made sense when he timed it, he was shocked to find the muggle transportation was the faster because of the walk to and line at the apparition point. Now, both purebloods had gotten over their culture shock and took the subway every day.

The two walked off the train with the other muggles going to their muggle jobs. They walked off to the phone booth that would lead them to their place of work. Within minutes, they had bought coffees, a muffin for Melissa, and a copy of the Daily Prophet. Draco folded it up and didn't read the headline just yet, preferring to drink his coffee and read some of the news before starting on the mountain of paperwork on his desk. With a kiss, the two separated until lunch (unless Draco's slave driver made him work through his contracted hour again) and the Malfoy boy sitting at his desk. He took a sip and opened the newspaper. "Holy…" he started, but was knocked speechless. All he knew was that he had to get to the Auror corps.

Draco walked through to find his cousin's desk. He noticed suspicious looks being thrown his way as he walked through. Some of the newer Aurors moved out of his way, but clearing a path to Kiki's cubicle. He felt sorry for his Uncle Severus' wife. She was putting on her usual brave front, but even he could tell she hadn't been sleeping enough even with a new baby. Dark bags were under her eyes and she was very pale. But now he had to deal with suspicious Aurors. "Look, I'm here for Nymphadora Tonks," he said.

"Why do you want that klutz?" one of them asked.

"Because she's my cousin." The path cleared to the desk diagonal from Kiki's. He walked by and was careful not to make any contact with Kiki and knew she was smart enough not to make any movement of acknowledgment either. He finally made it to his cousin's desk and Tonks shot up to hug him before shooting a dark glance at her colleagues. They quickly went back to their original business. Draco looked over at Kiki, who was just approached by Ace. "What is this crap?" he asked, tossing the paper down on her desk.

"It is Evelyn Wita and her desire to see her name in print," Tonks replied, "on a story bigger than floo and apparition point reports."

"I hope someone is going to correct this rather large lie."

"Sources tell me that Bianca, Albus and Carl might be on it."

"As they should be," Draco replied, watching Kiki leave. "This is killing her, isn't it?"

"Kiki is a strong woman."

"But even strong women have their breaking points." Draco knocked his cousin's desk and hugged her again. He nodded to Harry and Ron before heading back down to his department to tackle his own work.

Rawlins crept into Sam's room. He wanted one of the books that Narcissa had given them, but they had to keep them hidden. Lucius didn't want them to have anything besides the food and the clothes. The man didn't understand children at all. Sam figured that he didn't spend a lot of time with Draco when he was a child. He didn't understand that they weren't mindless drones who would sit and stay if he ordered them too. They needed to be entertained, even if they had to themselves.

He continued creeping until a soft voice startled him. "You don't have to creep in my room. Only in the hall. And if you have a book, run as quietly as you can," Sam's voice came from above him.

He looked up to see Sam sitting on her bed, watching him. She jumped down and straightened out her green plaid jumper. She looked him over as he smiled. "What do you want?" she asked. "Or do you just want to browse?"

"I know what I want. Can I get it?" Rawlins asked. Sam nodded. The Lupin boy picked up the book and held it close.

"Be careful. We never know when Sir Ogre will pop up again," Sam warned, trying out a new nickname for Lucius. Rawlins smiled and nodded. "Good. See you at dinner."

"See you at dinner," Rawlins replied before running back to his room. Sam hid the books again and jumped back on top of the bed. Before long a knock came to the door before it was slammed open. Kreacher followed Lucius into the room.

"What do you want?" Sam asked, standing on the bed so she was at eye level with her captor.

Lucius sneered at her. "Didn't your parents teach you not to stand on the bed?"

"Yes. And they also taught me to always look someone in the eye when talking with them. So, either you stoop down to meet my gaze or I stand on something to meet yours," Sam replied.

Lucius smiled an impressed smile. "You have your mother's courage, your father's coolness and a very political mind," he said, tapping her underher chin.

"Mr. Malfoy, what brings you here?"

"Ah yes, why I paid a visit to this god-forsaken room. Kreacher," he turned to the house elf. With a wicked smile, the Kreacher dug under a pile of spare blankets. Jamie and Lily walked in. "What brings you here?" Lucius asked.

"The noise. We wanted to check on Samantha, sir," Lily responded, looking up at Lucius. The man nodded before returning his gaze to the Snape girl. He couldn't tell since she was good at putting up a façade, but the twins knew something was up since she was holding her chin up higher than usual. They watched Kreacher emerge from underneath the pile of blankets, clutching something. With dread, both realized that it was where Sam was hiding the stack of books Narcissa gave them.

Kreacher ran up to Lucius looking like he just struck gold. "Heres they be, Master. Just like Kreacher tolds you!" he said, making Lily flinch from the bad grammar.

Lucius smiled a cold one. "Thank you very much, Kreacher. Go now; I'll reward you later," he said, dismissing the house elf. Kreacher shot a look at Jamie, who shot one back, before disappearing with a "crack." Lucius turned to Sam and held the books. "Well, well, well. What have we here?"

"They appear to be books, sir," Sam replied.

"And how did you get them?"

Jamie jumped on the bed. "Why do I get the feeling you already know?" she asked.

Lucius sneered. "Being a smart alec, Miss Lupin," he responded. "No one likes it. But, you are right. I do know how you got them. My worthless ex-wife. Now, the question is, what should I do with them?"

"Give them back?" Lily suggested, remaining on the floor. "If you please, sir."

"Aren't we little Miss Polite?" Lucius asked. "Of course, why would I let you keep the books?"

"Because we're little children, sir," Lily replied.

"And little children need to be entertained," Sam added.

"Or else we run around the entire mansion and get in your way," Jamie threatened.

"You don't scare me! I am Lucius Malfoy and you are just three six-years-olds," he responded, customary sneer in place. He held the books closer and sniffed. "I just need to get the one off of the Lupin boy and then we are done."

"Don't you dare hurt our brother!" Jamie said as Lily followed on Lucius' heels. The man walked up to the little boy, who ran into his older sister's arms while the other one stood in front of them. Sam watched from the door. Lucius sniffed again and then left.

"BASTARD!" Bianca yelled. Her mother came running out of the kitchen.

"Bianca, don't use such language!" she admonished. "You're lucky that Arden is down for a nap. Now, why don't you come into the kitchen? I'll make you something and you can tell me who the 'bastard' really is."

"That one is easy. My editor. Absolutely refusing to retract the story that Kiki was spying on the Auror corps for Severus when he was a Deatheater," Bianca said, slumping into a nearby seat. "No matter what Albus, Carl or I said, he was determined to stick to that point."

"Bianca, darling, I know you love being a columnist, but I think you should jump ships," Giacinta said, placing a small firewhiskey shot in front of her daughter. "Take a sip and then I'll make you a cup, okay?" Bianca nodded and downed the shot.

"So, jump ships? Where to, Ma?"

"Anywhere but the Prophet! When I first moved out here after I married your father, it was a good paper. Now, I've watched it turned into a third-rate rag."

"All after they hired Skeeter. Unfortunately, they haven't improved since they fired her. The only other option for me is Witch Weekly. And I don't want to go there. I want to be in a newspaper. You don't even read Witch Weekly."

"I don't know, Bianca. There's got to be another newspaper working up to pass the Prophet. People who would love to have you."

"Who wants my wife? She's off the market," Sirius replied, walking in. He kissed Bianca before moving to make some tea. "Can I join the conversation? Or is it a mother-daughter thing?"

"No, I think I could use you on my side," Giacinta told her son-in-law. Sirius nodded and sat down. "I think Bianca should leave the Prophet."

"And do what? Become a housewife? I know she loves me and the kids, but she also likes working," Sirius replied.

"Thank you, but what my mother meant to say was for me to take my column elsewhere."

"But where? Witch Weekly?"

"My point exactly," Bianca said.

Giacinta sighed. "There's a new paper starting up. I'll get you a copy. Just, check them out. Okay?" Bianca nodded. "Good. I'm going to go lay down for a while. I'll just leave you two."

"Thanks, Ma," Bianca replied. Sirius leaned over and rubbed her hand as she sighed, putting her head down.

"I take it that your idiot of an editor refused to pull the story."

"You are correct, sir," Bianca replied, lifting her head back up. "And to make matters worse, Wita walked in saying she was going to 'clarify' the story with another story."

"I'm trembling."

"Join the club." Sirius leaned in and planted a kiss on her forehead.

Alida climbed onto her mother's lap and planted herself firmly there. The girl was young enough to not realize something horrible was happening, but she knew her parents were sad. However, she also knew that now no one else was currently trying to get their attention. She had them all to herself.

And her parents were more than happy to keep their littlest daughter close by. Harmony enfolded Alida with one arm as she continued to work on one of her lesson plans. From his desk nearby, Remus leaned back and watched the cozy scene in front of him. Harmony stopped writing for a little bit, just long enough to pull out a spare piece of parchment and a few crayons. Alida smiled and began doodling with the crayons, still too young to color anything but squiggles and circles. His wife smiled and returned to her work as Alida began to babble.

Of course, he wished that Lily and Jamie were also around, fighting over something or other. He also wished that he could look under his desk and find Rawlins, curled up and deep asleep. But for now, he was going to have to settle with the quiet scene of just him, Harmony and Alida. He sighed and turned back to his own work.

"OH MY MERLIN! I AM GOING TO KILL THAT WITCH! Severus stumbled out of the bathroom and wondered what Evelyn Wita wrote this time to set off his wife. He didn't even bother changing out of his pajamas and ran out to the kitchen. Kiki was dressed in her work robes while little Garret sat in a baby seat, looking at his mother. Severus picked up his son and sat down across from his wife, wondering how to get the deadly weapon—newspaper—away from her hand.

"What is it now?" Severus asked, gently. He reached over to grab her hand to comfort her. Kiki plopped the newspaper down and then broke down crying. This caught Severus off guard and he rushed to her side. "There, there. Shh…calm down, it'll be fine. Everything will be fine."

"Why? What did I ever do to her? Why does she keep printing lies about us?" she sobbed into her husband's shoulder. She gave him the newspaper so he could see what Wita had printed about them now. He read over the newspaper and gave a low growl.

He kissed the top of her head. "She will pay. Dearly," he whispered as Kiki sniffed.

"How dare he take our books away from us!" Jamie scowled.

Lily sighed. "Will you stop saying that? This is the tenth time this hour you've said it."

"Eleventh," Sam replied.

"Twelfth, but who's counting?" Rawlins supplied before turning back to his best friend. Giachi, however, was sharing a look with Jamie, one that made Lily and Rawlins sigh. "Whatever it is, I'm not doing it," the Lupin boy said.

"Party pooper. Besides, we need someone to stay with the kids," Jamie said. "Anyway, Giachi, didn't you have some dung bombs in your pocket?"

"F'om F'ed and Geo'ge?" he asked. Jamie nodded. "I did! Let me go check fo' them!" Within minutes, the boy had found their original outfits and found the bombs. "He'e."

"Yes! Alright, who wants to come and help me teach Lucius a lesson?" Giachi's hand shot up as did Sam's. Lily's hesitantly went up. James' also went up and Madi was bouncing up and down. "Sorry, you two, you're too young. Maybe if we need someone small…"

"Otay," the two toddlers said, pouting.

"I'm alone in this?" Rawlins said, arms crossed. Jamie and Lily nodded before leaving with their friends. Instead, he took the toddlers into the hallway, where they had set up a little bowling alley. (Which no one underneath them liked).

The group returned. "Successful?" Rawlins asked.

"Kinda," Sam answered. Jamie stomped into her room and slammed the door. Everyone watched.

Lily explained to her brother. "Lucius has left the mansion for a while. We only hit his goonies," she said. Within minutes, someone came stomping up the stairs. It was Jolene Malfoy. "Hello, ma'am."

"Oh, don't give me that politeness. Don't think Lucius isn't going to hear about this little escapade," she spat out. "And if I have my way, you will regret it sorely." She turned and flounced out.

"Okay, all in favor of Narcissa?" Lily asked. It was a unanimous vote. "Alright, let's get inside before the smell gets up here," she ushered them in amid the din of showers and curses from below.

A/N: Another week gone by! Wow…anyway, things are starting to get moving here at school as clubs are meeting; I somehow wind up in charge of the ministers for the chapel, oh, and homework is due. All in all, school is school. I know I gave a time line in the first chapter. Yeah, let's mend it to August-December. Anyway, though she's not reading it, Happy Birthday to my little sister! She's 13 today (scary, I know.) Thanks to all my reviewers:

SarahtheBardess: Malfoy is bonkers. He's so out there in the parts I'm writing now that he's OOC. Really OOC. Kids are really good at picking things up, aren't they? Yeah, Cissa is a romantic at heart. Hope you liked this chapter's title!

cerzee: Yes, Narcissa has a heart. We'll see more of this soon. Yeah, Wita isn't the best person in the world. And the funny thing is, I'm a journalist major…as for my friend, update below.

Yeah, the friend I was telling you about? Totally stalling. I mean, "used the dog ate my floppy disk" excuse stalling. She's driving me and another friend nuts. We want to help her build confidence, but it isn't working. She's even gone so far as accusing me of sending an anonymous review to perk her up on the day I was in the City seeing "Lennon." Sighs. Thanks for the help, cerzee. Mac PS: Go see "Lennon" if you can. It's a great show that deserves better audience numbers.