Wasn't Meant to Be

It had been nearly two years since Artemis was told that she needed to put off having anymore children and she and Draco had obeyed the medi-witches orders implicitly. After a few days, Artemis had given up pouting over it and decided that perhaps they had been right about the entire ordeal. Instead of having another baby Artemis threw herself into being a mother to her four children and began working more regularly on her bridal line. Though she and Draco had been very careful over the years, just six days before her husbands thirty-first birthday Artemis found out that she was with child. As thrilled as she was Artemis decided to wait until the morning of her husband's big day to tell him.

"Wake up," Artemis said, in a sing song voice, gently shaking her husband awake. Never having been much of a morning person, Draco just rolled over onto his stomach so that he was facing away from her. Not one to be deterred, Artemis sat up and straddled her husbands lower back, leaning down so that her face was just inches from his. "Wakey Wakey," she joked.

"It's my birthday, you have to let me sleep in," he grumbled rolling over and taking her with him. "But you're not going to let me, are you?" Artemis shook her head playfully. "Might as well make us of our morning then," Draco said, trying to lift the hem of her nightdress.

"Wait," she laughed, "I got you something and I want you to open it first." Artemis reached over and picked up a small box off of the bed side table and handed it to him. Propping himself up on his elbows, Draco ripped the shiny paper off of the gift and removed a tiny babies t-shirt that said 'Number five' on it. For several moments Draco just stared at the shirt trying to figure out what it meant. After ticking off the children on his fingers and only coming up with four, he realized just what she was telling him.

"You're pregnant?" Draco asked, not having seen this one coming. Artemis nodded excitedly. "But we were being so careful."

"Not really," she corrected. "We were only careful when we planned on having sex, most of the time it just ended up happening. Kind of like yesterday when I came by the office."

"Oh right... that was fun," he laughed. "Have you been to the medi-witch yet?"

"Yes and she said that everything seemed to be in order and that four years should be long enough of a recoup period for me," Artemis beamed, noticing that Draco was having a hard time hiding his happiness behind his worry for her well being.

"How far along?" he asked, after kissing his wife.

"About a month," she said. "I don't want to tell Luce just yet. He start's at Hogwarts soon and I don't want him to feel like we're focusing our attention's elsewhere. He's just so excited about it."

"No problem, after he gets settled in we'll owl him and let him know. You haven't told the girls have you? They can't keep a secret to save their lives," the young father laughed.

"No not yet."

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Artemis and Draco spent the next three months trying desperately to hide her pregnancy from the children. This was difficult given the fact that she had always been one to suffer terrible bouts of morning sickness while pregnant. Ophelia, Hero and PJ were none the wiser but Luce was entirely too perceptive and observant to have not noticed. Continually, he questioned his father about why his Mum was always getting sick and why she was gaining weight. Draco just said that she had a weak immune system and she was having a hard time fending off germs. Needless to say, Luce didn't buy it and he made sure that his father knew it.

"Luce do you have everything?" Draco asked, as he took stock of his son's luggage before shrinking everything but his trunk.

"For the hundredth time, Yes!" shouted the annoyed eleven year old as he stood at the foot of the stairs. "Can we go now I want to get a good seat?"

"In a sec, I've got to get PJ dressed," his mother said, as she carried her wet and naked son from the playroom. Artemis had just given PJ a bath and when she turned around to get a towel the four year old boy took off down the stairs in search of his stupid broom. Nearly fifteen minutes later the entire family was dressed and in the car ready to take Lucius to the train station. Just as they approached the familiar sight of the station Luce addressed his parents.

"Mum, I think you're pregnant again." The car screeched to a halt. Draco hadn't expected to hear that. Apparently neither did Artemis, as she stared at her husband dumbfounded.

"What make's you say that?" asked Draco, looking at his son in the rear view mirror.

"Well she's got morning sickness for one thing and she's gaining weight. I'm not stupid, I know she's pregnant. If you don't believe me go to St. Mungo's, they'll tell you the same thing." Without another word Luce got out of the car leaving his parents to soak up what he'd just said. Several minutes later, Artemis and Draco gathered the other children and joined a very smug looking Luce on the platform.

"We already knew she was pregnant," Draco said, taking his son by the hand and walking a few feet in front of the other's so that they could talk. "We just didn't want you to feel like we were trying to rain on your parade. Starting school is a big deal."

"Dad, I know you and Mum love me. You don't have to keep things from me. I wish I had known sooner that way I could have helped mum with PJ more. He is a handful." Draco nodded at his son's statement. PJ most definitely was a handful.

"Sorry, bud. Next time I'll remember that," Draco assured, unsure of when his eleven year old son became so mature.

"Well, this is my train," Luce said, as they approached the shiny Hogwarts Express. Turning to his family Luce began his farewells.

"Ophelia, you be good and ease up on the switching roles with Hero or you'll drive Dad mental." Lucius leaned down and hugged his sister before giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Hero, same goes for you," Luce hugged and kissed her goodbye as well. Just before pulling away he leaned close to her ear and said "stop dressing PJ in girl's clothes... it's not healthy."

"PJ don't run around when you're wet and naked, you'll hurt yourself." Lucius led his younger brother away from the rest of his family and whispered to him. "Watch out for Ophelia and Hero while I'm gone. That Potter boy's got his eye on them and I don't like it one bit." PJ gave his brother a mock salute, accepting the order, and hugged him tightly around the waist once more before they rejoined their family. Without saying anything, Lucius wrapped his arms around his Dad's waist and hugged him tightly, much like how PJ had just hugged him. There wasn't really much the boy could say to his father so he left him with a simple. 'I'll miss you.' Lastly, Lucius went over to his mother and wrapped his arms around her neck, as she had kneeled down so that they were at eye level. Artemis and her first born just stood there holding each other for a while, Luce's head buried in the crook of her neck.

"He'll be back in a few months, Artemis. It's not like you'll never see him again," said a familiar voice. Both Lucius and Artemis turned to where it had come from. Low and behold, Lucius and Narcissa had decided to surprise their grandson at the station before he left.

"I know that Lucius, but it doesn't make it any easier," she replied, wiping the tears from her eyes as Lucius lifted his grandson up and hugged him goodbye. After kissing his grandmother and aunt goodbye as well, Lucius headed for the train.

"I love you guys!" he called back just before he reached the door. His entire family waved back at him, returning the sentiment. Just when Lucius looked like he was going to say something back to them a very pretty blonde witch walked by and Luce's attention span was lost. Without word he followed after her, boarding the train and leaving his family behind laughing at just how much he acted like his father.

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Just like his father, Lucius was very popular at Hogwarts. Not only did he have a lot of friends but he had a lot of girlfriends. It seemed the Potions nerd, as Draco liked to call him, was just as much of a heartbreaker as his father had been. Draco was glad to hear of this from his Godfather and his son's Head of House, Severus Snape because he had feared that Lucius may have developed Severus' anti-social tendencies. After just two months at Hogwarts Lucius had managed to become the most popular boy in their year as well as the most sought after boyfriend. He even managed to snag several second year girls for a week or two.

Things were going well for the rest of his family also. Everyday Luce would receive letters from home, or pictures in PJ's case as he couldn't actually spell yet, telling him of how things were going. He was quite relieved to see that things were going well without him there to supervise. He was most pleased to find out that his mother and unborn sibling were doing well. According to Ophelia, their mother was the size of a house and eating everything in sight. Things couldn't be going better, his home life was going splendidly and so was his school life. Little did Lucius know life was about to take an unexpected turn for the worst.

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"Mum, when is Dad coming home?" asked Ophelia, carrying the floppy hat the belonged to Mrs. Butterbridge along with her. Both of the girls missed their tea parties with their father. Draco was working on taking over a California textile firm and he hadn't been home in over a week and his young daughter's were beginning to get frustrated.

"He'll be home in a few days, Love," said Artemis, lifting PJ out of the tub after making sure she had shut the door so he couldn't run out. As she lifted him up Artemis couldn't help but stumble slightly, a dizzy spell having taken hold of her. After closing her eyes for a few moments she was collected enough to continue drying her son off. For several days now Artemis had been prone to dizzy spells and terrible back aches, all of which she wrote off since she was currently six and a half months pregnant with her and Draco's fifth child, a daughter to be named upon her arrival.

"All right," moped Ophelia, turning and leaving the bathroom, the usually hop in her step missing. Artemis knew that the kids missed their father but eventually they would be old enough to understand why he wasn't there at the moment. After dressing PJ for bed, Artemis tucked him in and went to take a shower for herself so that she would be free to get the girls ready for bed when the time came.

Once all of the children were asleep, Artemis too decided to turn in. In no time she was out, running after three very active children while pregnant was beginning to wear her out. Just a few hours after having fallen asleep, her peaceful rest was ended by severe cramping. Quickly she rushed to the bathroom to see what was wrong. When she turned on the light she was shocked to find that her night dress was stained with blood. After checking the sheets on her bed she found that they too were stained. Wasting no time, Artemis grabbed her two way mirror and summoned her husband who was in California.

"Draco!" she shouted, just as the painful cramping started up again. "Draco!"

"Yeah," he said, "I'm in the middle of a meeting."

"There's something wrong... there's just so much blood," she whispered, her face having gone very pale. This was when Draco noticed that her hands were stained with blood.

"Get to St. Mungo's now, I'll be there in a sec," he said, cutting off their connection. Ignoring the worried looks that the members of the board were shooting his way, Draco used his mirror to connect with his father. "Dad!" he shouted, frantically.

"What?" grumbled an incoherent Lucius, while it was daytime in California it was the middle of the night where he was.

"I need you to go to the house and make sure that Artemis gets to St. Mungo's right away, there's something really wrong. I need Mum to go with you so she can stay with Artemis until I get there. After Artemis is at St. Mungo's I need you to get back to the house and stay with the kids." Draco didn't even wait for an answer from his father before breaking their connection. "I have to go." Was the last thing he said before apparating.

Luckily for them, apparating was nearly instantaneous. Within seconds Lucius and Narcissa had made it to Malfoy Estates and taken Artemis to St. Mungo's. Once Draco arrived, Lucius apparated back to the house taking his daughter with him, leaving Narcissa and Draco with Artemis. Just like when PJ was born, the medi-witch insisted on having Draco and Narcissa wait in the waiting room instead of in the room with Artemis. While out there, Draco couldn't help but notice that they weren't in the delivery wing, they were in the emergency care area. Just thirty minutes after their arrival the medi-witch joined them in the waiting room.

"I'm sorry Mr. Malfoy, there was nothing we could have done."

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The medi-witch spent about ten minutes with the surprisingly silent young father explaining to him just what had gone wrong. Once she left the stunned young man to his family, Draco broke down, his mother the only one there to console him. For nearly twenty minutes Draco just cried while he let his mother hold him, something he hadn't allowed since he was fifteen.

"What am I gonna tell the kids? They'll see right through any lie I tell," he sobbed, pulling away from his Mum and burying his face in his hands.

"Just tell them the truth," Narcissa replied, draping her arm over her son's shoulder and pulling him against her.

"I've got to go break the news to Luce before they need me back here," Draco said, hurriedly getting to his feet and rushing for the door, all the while violently wiping away the tears that refused to stop falling. Draco knew he had about an hour before the medi-witch would allow him in her room, so he would make good use of the time he had before then.

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Immediately upon arriving at Hogwarts, Draco rushed to the Headmaster's office hoping that he would understand the unannounced intrusion. Just as he had expected, Dumbledore understood and he called for both Lucius and Severus to come to his office immediately. Severus was the first to arrive and Draco chose to tell him first, wanting the older wizard to be prepared to hold it together when he told Luce. It only took the young boy ten minutes to make it to the office and when he did he was greeted by the peculiar sight of his crying father being consoled by his Head of House. Instantly, Lucius knew that something was terribly wrong.

"What's happened?" he asked, fearing the answer. Draco slowing turned and approached his son.

"About and hour and a half ago your mother woke up and she was bleeding and having contractions. The medi-witch did everything she could to save her but... she didn't make it," Draco whispered. The only sounds that could be heard were Lucius' sharp intakes of breath and his violent sobs. This was Draco's undoing, he had tried to compose himself when he told his son of what had happened but the sounds of Lucius' hurt were more than he could bear and he once again broke down.

"What do you mean they did everything they could?" shouted the angry young boy, forcefully shoving his father away from him. "If they did everything they could than my mother would still be alive!"

"Your mother?" gasped Draco, suddenly realizing what his son meant. "No, Luce, not your mother... your sister. Your sister didn't make it. Your mum is still alive. Right now their working on nursing her back to health and cleaning her up. I didn't mean to make you think your Mum died."

"What?" asked Lucius, unable to decide if he was angry or relieved.

"The baby developed multicystic dysplastic kidney disease in both of her kidneys. She was doomed from the start," he explained, cursing himself for leading his son to believe that his mother had died.

"So she's alive... she'll be all right?" Lucius asked, rushing over to his father and wrapping his arms around him

"Yes, she's alive and the medi-witch says that she'll need some time to rest but that she'll be fine," Draco assured his worried son, returning the boy's comforting embrace.

"How is she taking this?" asked the boy, concerned for his mother's well being. He knew how much she loved being a mother and he couldn't imagine how hard this had been on her.

"I don't know. They won't let me see her until they've given her some potions to restore the blood she lost and seal any ruptures. She lost a lot of blood," he whispered, standing and approaching the door. "I've got to go and check in on the others before I go back to the hospital. We'll send for you when we know when the funeral will be." With that, he was gone leaving Severus to see to it that Lucius was all right. Unfortunately for Draco, the pain of delivering such awful news to his children was far from over as he still had two daughters and a son who did not know that their sister's life had ended before it had even begun.

"Are you all right?" asked Severus, kneeling down next to the boy.

"No," he whispered, wrapping his arms around his 'Uncles' neck and sobbing quietly.

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When Draco told Luce that the baby was doomed from the start, he was correct. If it had been just one of her kidney's that had developed this disease the other one would have grown to compensate for it. However, both of their unborn daughter's kidney's were affected which meant that she had absolutely no chance of surviving. It took Artemis nearly two weeks after their daughter, whom they named Grace MacKenzie, was laid to rest to finally stop blaming herself for what happened. After several visits to Mr. Mortimer, the healer who helped her through her motherhood troubles, Artemis began to cope with her daughters death.

Perhaps the worst part of the entire ordeal was that the medi-witch informed her and Draco that due to the damage done during their stillborn daughter's birth, Artemis would not be able to ever have children again. Not only did they lose the baby they had already conceived but they wouldn't even be able to try again. This news was something that she didn't want to cope with. Artemis wanted more children but it seemed that she wouldn't get her wish.

"Artemis," Draco said, "everything happens for a reason. You and I happened for a reason. Luce, Ophelia, Hero and PJ all happened for a reason. Baby Grace just wasn't meant to be. Our family is complete. You've got to accept that."

All Artemis could do was nod and shed a few more tears for her daughter who just wasn't meant to be.

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