Life Goes On

Though it took some time, the Malfoy family's lives returned to normal, though each of them still carried their loss with them. Artemis had moved past her anger over not being able to have another child even though she had not yet accepted it. Within a year of Grace's death, Draco had finished all of his expansion projects, leaving him free to spend more time with his family, for which they were all grateful. Every year on Grace Mackenzie's birthday the entire family, including her grandparents and Severus, would all meet at her grave and celebrate it with her. They would decorate her mausoleum and have a picnic. Ophelia and Hero would even help Artemis hand make Grace a cake. After they ate, each member of the family would be given some time to talk to her in private so that they could share with her how their lives were going and let Grace know how much they missed her, even though they hadn't ever met. The only downside to so public a celebration was that the media, namely Rita Skeeter, felt it was necessary to impose upon their festivities. Every year, on the day after Grace's birthday the Prophet would run a story about her death and how the family was coping, and every year it reopened the wounds that the family was struggling to close.

Though Artemis had moved on, she had yet to actually accept the fact that she wouldn't be able to give birth again. She'd read every book she could find and spoken with every specialist who would see her, all of them said the same thing... no more babies. She figured that if she tried hard enough she would be able to get pregnant, however after four years of trying without success the young witch finally gave up.

"What did it say?" Draco asked, only asking so that his wife felt he was being supportive. Every week it was the same thing, they'd shag like rabbits for six days and on Sunday she would take a pregnancy test and every time it came out negative. More than anything Draco hoped that his wife would come to terms with their inability to conceive, as he didn't feel her fixation on it was helping matters.

"I'm not pregnant," she whispered, tossing the vial in the trash bin and approaching her husband who was still lying in bed, as it was just now eight o'clock in the morning. As she settled herself against his warm body beneath the covers, the permanency of the situation struck her. "I'm never going to have another baby."

"No, we're not," Draco agreed, making sure to emphasize that he was right there with her. "But we've got four beautiful children who we can shower with all the love we would have given to another child, four children who love you more than words could ever describe."

"I know," she smiled, her eyes rimmed with tears. "You're not going to run off and leave me for some skinny witch who can have children, are you?" Draco didn't say anything for a very long time. He simply held his wife tightly, his breathing labored.

"It's not a very good sign that you didn't answer," she said, finally breaking the silence brought on by her question.

"I'm trying to not be offended by that question," Draco murmured, not wanting his wife to know just how angered he was by her tough-in-cheek accusation. Though he couldn't blame her for having thoughts like that in the back of her mind, he couldn't believe that she would actually bring it up. At no point during their eighteen years of marriage had Draco ever been unfaithful to his wife, nor had he done anything that would ever make her believe he wanted to. As a matter of fact, the contract that they married under physically enabled him from committing adultery, so why she would ever question him was beyond his understanding. All he knew was that his father had been unfaithful all through his marriage until he left the Dark Lords service and Draco never wanted to be that sort of husband. Artemis' asking him about his fidelity was like being stabbed in the back.

"Offended?" she asked, raising herself up on her elbows. "Why would you be offended?"

"Have I ever even looked at another woman since we've been married?" Draco asked, making sure to control the tone of his voice. "Have I?"

"No," she replied. "It's just..."

"Have I said anything to make you think I wanted someone else?" he interjected, not letting her finish her statement.

"No,"

"Then why would you say that?" he asked, his hurt evident by the way he was looking at her.

"I was just joking with you," she softly argued, not really having meant anything by it.

"It wasn't funny," he declared, lying back down and staring at the ceiling silently.

"I'm sorry, Draco. I really didn't mean anything by it. I know you wouldn't be unfaithful. Hell, you can't," she explained, hoping he would stop giving her the silent treatment. As he had gotten older, Draco had mellowed out. It took a lot to get her husband upset and when he was angry he was good at letting you know it without so much as saying a word.

"It's fine. Just don't joke about stuff like that again. I take our marriage very seriously," he replied, his expression softening as he turned to look at his remorseful wife. "We have to take the girls and Lucius to Diagon Alley today to get their supplies and uniforms," he reminded, noticing that his wife had closed her eyes like she planned on going back to sleep.

"Can you believe they're eleven already?" she asked, thinking of how quickly her twin babies had grown into lovely pre-teens. "And Luce is fifteen... he's a teen!"

"I know. When did that happen?" Draco asked, completely agreeing with his beautiful wife's sentiment. "I feel old."

"I don't... I'm still hot," she joked, sitting up and straddling her husband's waist. She didn't know what he was talking about, thirty-five was by no means considered old in the wizarding world. Besides, she still felt like she was seventeen and thanks to the brilliant Potions Master that was Severus Snape, you couldn't tell she had ever even had a child. He'd make a fortune if he went into business selling his salves and rejuvenating elixirs. Hand's down, the man was a genius. When she had seen her stomach after giving birth to Lucius she panicked but just a week after getting home she received a lovely parcel from Severus that included everything she needed to get her body back to its pre-baby form. So at thirty-five and after being pregnant five times, Artemis could proudly say that she still had the body of her twenty year old self.

"Yes, you are love," Draco grinned, just as fond of his wife's appearance as he had always been.

"You're still quite the looker yourself," Artemis replied, leaning down and resting her head on his chest. Though he had aged since they married, Draco was still a very handsome young wizard. He had long since lost the youthful look to his features and had adopted a very handsome facade, much like that of his father. The lucky bastard didn't even have to take any potion's, he was blessed with good genes and an inability to have children.

"Thank you, thank you very much," Draco joked, rolling his wife over. Suddenly, the sound of footsteps could be heard coming towards their bedroom door. Without missing a beat Draco rolled off of his wife and made sure that he was wearing pajama pants. Once they situated themselves on opposite sides of the bed, the door flew open and Ophelia and Hero entered dragging a fully dressed and half asleep PJ behind them.

"You're not ready yet?" whined Hero, tapping her foot impatiently at her parents. "We've got shopping to do."

"Just give us a minute, Love," grumbled Draco, rolling out of bed and approaching his children. "And you wanted more kids," he whispered to his wife, jokingly. After scooping PJ up and lying him down on the bed so he could get a bit more sleep while they got ready, Draco headed for his lavatory, his wife doing the same.

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"Oh God!" exclaimed Ophelia, as she sauntered into the Potions classroom. It had suddenly dawned on her that 'Uncle Severus' would really be teaching them how to brew potions.

"Professor works just as well," drawled Snape, as he snuck up behind his Godson's daughter, startling the poor girl senseless.

"Ha Ha, Uncle Sev," mocked Ophelia, rolling her eyes at his cockiness.

"We talked about this... It's Professor Snape," he whispered, his eyebrow cocked.

"Yes, Professor Snape," laughed Ophelia and Hero in unison before taking their seats.

Unfortunately for Severus this would not be the last time that the twins would try his patience. The girl's first year at Hogwarts proved to be trying for both Severus Snape and their older brother Lucius. It seemed that Ophelia and Hero had developed a knack for causing mischief where ever they went and the hallowed grounds of Hogwarts were no exception.

"Hero!" exclaimed prefect Lucius. "How many time do I have to tell you not to run in the halls!"

"Fourteen thousand seven hundred and twenty two," she replied, rolling her eyes at her brothers bossiness.

"That's it, five points from... Slytherin," he whispered, hating to have to take points from his own house.

"Oh no! That's terrible," she replied, sarcastically. "Now we'll never win the house cup."

"Don't be a smart ass," he spat, turning and storming down the hall.

"Well I'd rather be a smart ass than a dumb ass!" Hero retorted, sticking her tongue out at her brother as he continued his retreat.

"Ophelia, watch you language," snapped Professor Snape, sneaking up on the young witch in his usual fashion.

"No!" she shouted, poking him in the chest threateningly. "Maybe I don't want to watch my fucking language!"

"Detention... tonight Ophelia, my office," Snape hissed menacingly, his face turning a bright shade of red. He couldn't believe Ophelia had the audacity to speak to him in such a manner. He would definitely be informing his Godson of her behavior.

"Maybe I'll show, maybe I won't," she turned on her heels, quietly snickering to herself. Boy was Uncle Snape going to be angry when Ophelia didn't show up for her detention tonight, thought Hero. Normally she would feel bad about doing something like this to her sister but she had warned Ophelia to stay away from James Potter but she didn't listen and for that she had to pay.

Throughout the entire school year, Ophelia and Hero were constantly pretending to be one another. As annoying as this little habit was, the worst part about having the twin's at Hogwarts was the fact that they were both very pretty girls, thanks to their coming from a very attractive family. Poor Lucius was taking this harder than anyone. After just three months as a prefect he had his badge taken away from him for fighting. Every time he turned around someone was gawking at his sisters, it didn't matter how old they were. He'd already lost four friends thanks to the comments they made about the girls and now he'd lost his badge. Luckily, the Headmaster said that next year he could have the position back so long as he modified his behavior and learned to control his temper.

Seeing as how he wouldn't be allowed to return to his role as prefect this year he decided to make the most of it. Every opportunity he had, Lucius pummeled his fellow wizards for ogling his sisters, and if he couldn't out power them than he made use of the wide variety of hexes and curses that Severus had taught him. It usually only took one or two beatings for the young men to move on to different conquests however there were two wizards who just wouldn't give up. Two wizards who Lucius felt were using their closeness with his family to weasel, no pun intended, their way in. Those two wizards were James Potter and Travis Weasley.

"How many times do I have to do this before you get it through you thick head, Potter," snapped Lucius, yanking James' head backwards using a handful of his unruly hair. This was like the fourteenth time he'd had to beat the first year up and he still kept coming back for more. The worst part was Potter never fought back.

"You can keep on beating me up all you want, Lucius," replied James, struggling to catch his breath as he lay sprawled out on the cool grass, his fellow schoolmates shielding him and his attacker from their teacher's view. "Nothing's going to keep me away from Ophelia."

"Yeah, nothing will keep me away from Hero either," whimpered Travis, who lay off to the side already having received his beating from the older wizard. "Ouch, I think you broke my face."

"I hope I did," replied Lucius, turning his attention back to James. "Come on Potty, stand up and fight like a man."

"Nothing you say or do will ever make me harm the woman I love's family," he replied, wiping the blood from his nose.

"Love!" Lucius exclaimed, "you're out of your flippin' mind, you know that."

"Lucius Severus Malfoy!" exclaimed Hero and Ophelia in unison, as the pair rushed over to their fallen boyfriends. The moment they saw the large circle out in the field they knew that their brother was at it again.

"I'm so telling Mum," shouted Hero, kneeling down next to a whimpering Travis. Though she had originally been attracted to James, Hero had later fallen for Travis' sense of humor. When she was around that boy he always found a way to make her smile.

"You're a real prick, you know that," Ophelia hissed, approaching her older brother. Leaning back so that all of her weight was behind her, Ophelia launched her right fist at her brother's face, solidly connecting with his left eye.

"What the fuck, Ophelia?" he grimaced, pressing his hands over his throbbing eye.

"Doesn't feel so good, does it?" she asked, helping the injured James to his feet. "All year you've been running around here beating every boy who look's our way to a bloody pulp and all of them run off. All of them, except for James and Travis. Doesn't that mean anything to you... it certainly mean's a lot to me. When we get on that train tomorrow you had better leave your attitude on the platform. I'll be damned if I'm going to put up with another year of this bullshit. If I so much as hear one word of complaint from you about James or Harry, so help me Merlin I will make your life a living hell."

Thanks to Ophelia's little speech and swift pop to his eye the day before summer break began, Lucius refused to so much as even speak to either of his sisters for two weeks. Finally after forcing to ground them for the entire summer if they didn't tell them what was going on, Artemis and Draco were able to understand where this unrest had come from. When their son came home with a black eye they were worried but they assumed that it had come from one of the boys back at school. They figured that the reason he wouldn't talk about it was due to the deliverer being smaller than he was and that Luce was just embarrassed. When they found out that the person who gave their son a rather nasty black eye was his little sister they were shocked, not to mention highly amused. Neither Artemis nor Draco doubted wether or not their daughter was able to handle herself, anymore.

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