Chapter 13

Severus' POV

I knew how badly Lucius wanted my wife, but I had zero fear of him getting that. Ginny and I are an inseparable team. Nothing will break us apart. He didn't realise it, but even when she was with him, she was mine. She was with him because of the things about him she was missing about me. Lucius needed to realise this fact, but I'll allow him to 'try' to win her back.

When Ginny came to me after she left him, she came to me because she knew there was no one who would ever keep her safer than I would. I am her safe place and she is mine. We will always protect each other, even if the other is more than capable of taking care of themselves.

When we returned to the table, the children were back. Eva had taken Lucius' spot across from Ginny and Wyatt sat on Ginny's one side. As I placed the cup in front of my wife, she looked up and smiled at me. "So what's the plan after we finish here?" I asked.

"Mom and Eva are going off to pick a couple things. Dad, I need to buy something!" Wyatt tries to tell me.

"Lucius, I think you need to go with the boys for the last half of this shopping trip. We don't have much time left and I want to be home in time for Marie."

"Ginny, if we are running late, you could use a loo and Apparate to the house and take my car to pick her up. I would do it myself, but you refused to allow me to take my…"

"Yes, I guess I could do that," she interrupted.

I knew she trusted me, and me leaving my wand wasn't necessary, but she was truly worried about Lucius being armed in a mall full of Muggles. She also didn't want him to be offended. My wife is a very caring person.

Hours later, when Lucius, the children, and I returned to the house, Ginny and Marie were cooking dinner. I should have borrowed her wand and came home to pick up Marie myself. I didn't think Lucius would be as into shopping as he was. I allowed myself to be left alone in a mall with a teenage girl and Lucius Malfoy. It was stupidity on my part, but my Wyatt was very worried about getting the right gift for Ginny.

Marie was setting the table as Ginny was working at the range. The smell of garlic and onion filled the kitchen. Ginny's cooking is one of my favorite things. When she cooks, she understands something most of my Potions students never understood; ingredients can vary based on a number of factors, like wild versus domestic. It's a science of understanding and attention to detail. "Did you all finish your shopping?" she asked as she glanced at the bags.

"For the most part," I stated.

"Mom, I'm going to put this stuff in the gift wrapping room," Eva stated. She knows it drives me insane when she does that, but she is just teasing me in doing it, so it's allowed to slide. I walked over to stand behind my wife. I gently placed my hands on her upper arms and gave her a gentle squeeze as I looked at the colourful stir fry she was making. She glanced up at me and gave me a loving smile. "You survived?"

"Of course."

"Am I getting another set of gloves this year?" she teased.

"Well, if you could keep a pair for more than one season, then I could move on to a scarf!" I teased back. Ginny has the bad habit of losing gloves all the time. "Dinner looks delicious."

She smiles again at me. "Lucius, how did you do with your shopping?"

"Quite well, actually," he replied.

"Hey, Dad?" Eva said as she returned.

Both Lucius and I responded, "Yes?"

It's an odd moment as everything stopped and all eyes turned to Eva. She clearly felt uncomfortable. She looked around the room, then bolted up the stairs.

"Oh boy," Marie said. "Should I go up there?"

"Perhaps I should," Lucius offered.

"Severus and Lucius, you both need to talk to her, but for now, give her a bit of time to process how she is feeling. Then, I think, Severus, you should talk to her first," Ginny suggested. She looked back and forth between Lucius and I. "Please remember; she's only fourteen, and whatever, or whoever, she was addressing, she wasn't looking to hurt anyone. This might be hard on you two, but that's nothing compared to how hard it is on her. "

After dinner, I went up to Eva's room and knocked on the door. There was no reply. I knew my daughter, so I slowly pushed the door open. The room is lit with only her bedside lamp. She was on her stomach, lying diagonally on the bed, facing away from me. I walked over to the bed and sat down. I gently rubbed her calf. "Eva, I want you to know I am here for you, no matter what."

"I don't know what I'm doing," she confided.

"We don't expect you to. This could take years before it seems normal," I explained.

She rolled over and sat up. "I was talking to you earlier," she started.

"I thought so, but Eva, you have yet to call Lucius by anything…"

She shifted around so she could look into my eyes. "I have thought of that and I tried to call him things in my own mind, but nothing seems right."

"Why do you think that is?" I asked her.

"You are my dad. You have always been here for me and you always support me. We might not have the same blood in our veins, but that changes nothing." She reached out for my hand.

"You are right; it changes nothing, I have always supported you and I shall continue to do so," I assured her.

"I wish I could say I don't like him, but I do."

"Eva, Lucius Malfoy is very charming when he wants to be. I know that and your mother knows that, and he was a good friend to me."

"Please explain it better to me how you and Mom got together? Explain how all this pieces together."

I didn't want to tell the fourteen year old the details, but she was old enough to put two and two together. I didn't want to lie to her. "I have known your mother since she was eleven. Because of your Uncle Ron, she was part of Harry Potter's circle and she had a crush on him for some time. You know his story; at some point, he realised she was an amazing human being and they dated. The war was getting worse and the Dark Lord was gaining power. I was asked to make an Unbreakable Vow to protect your other brother; Lucius' son, Draco. His mother asked me to do it. I ended Dumbledore's life, for he was dying and didn't have much time left and I was fulfilling the vow I made. That summer, the Ministry was taken. The Dark Lord placed me as headmaster of Hogwarts. There was another set of Death Eaters there as well, and they were in charge of discipline. The male Carrow had a sick liking for your mother.

"She, Professor Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood were working against the professors and myself. They made it their job to protect the student body, at great risk to themselves. Your mother became the woman she is because of her and her family connection to Potter, and Carrow's interest in her. Plus, she had years before been placed in the Dark Lord's path, so she needed extra protection. I found a way to have her serve a daily detention in my office when she was sixteen. At one point, I saved her from Carrow, then healed her. During the healing, she passed out and overheard a conversation with Dumbledore's portrait. She gathered that I wasn't a traitor as I was believed to be. You know what she's like when she sets her mind to something. She decided to be my friend, and despite the age difference, love grew. I wasn't used to letting others in. I was what your friends call a loner, and I kept to myself."

"You're an introvert, so she did the extrovert thing and made you a friend." She smiled, knowing her parents so well.

"I had no one I could truly trust, except her. When the end of the war came, I allowed my own past hurts to cloud how I viewed things. I believed she was choosing Potter over me. You know how I can be. Well, I have softened over the years. This was all happening very quickly during the battle for Hogwarts. The Dark Lord tried to kill me, and if I hadn't taken a potion that night, I wouldn't be here now. While recovering, Ginny sat at my bedside. I wasn't asleep or awake and I heard Potter ask you mother to date him again. I was sure she was going to return to him."

"You retreated," she confirmed.

"I, being a fool, pushed her away. I allowed her to think I had used her. Even while she took the stand defending me, I wouldn't even look at her. Once I was freed, I didn't want to have to deal with anyone and I stepped out of the magical world. I heard she was going to marry Potter. Lucius was the one wizard I visited from time to time. It was over two years later when I saw her at Malfoy Manor. She had been seeing Lucius for some time. I know him; he loved her, and she seemed happy. But I also knew after seeing her for less than two minutes that allowing her to walk away was the biggest mistake I ever made. Then, a few months later, she showed up at the house in England. She was carrying you. Lucius likes to be in control, but she had left him because he refused to not be in control. I had the chance to have her back and I wasn't going to pass it up! We married before she even started to show."

"Wow, Mom's a heartbreaker! You, Lucius, and Potter; three of the five most talked about men from Voldy's time!'' The kids, ours and our nieces and nephews, all lack the respect, or fear, and therefore show no reservations towards the Dark Lord.

"She's linked to all five of us, actually. She knows Longbottom, although they were only friends, and had a complication with the Dark Lord, but that's a story for her to tell you when she's ready to do that."

"Daddy?"

"Eva, your mother and I want you to be comfortable figuring out what you want with Lucius. He is many things, but I know what family means to him," I cautioned.

She got up and paced the room. "I- I-, you're my dad," she stated.

"If that's what your heart tells you, then that's what it is."

"I don't know what he is! Using his name seems wrong. Mr. Malfoy is too formal." I could see the frustration in her face.

"I can't give you the right answer. It's something you need to find what feels right for you."

"I also feel like I'm hurting him by calling you Dad, but it's who you are."

I got up and walked over to her. I took her face in my hands. "Eva, Lucius does get it. And it might bother him, but he knows this is what it is. I want you to know that I support you in figuring things out with him. I won't hold it against you."

She wrapped her arms around me. "Daddy, I love you." I could tell by the sound of her voice that she was fighting off crying.

I held her. "I love you too," I assured her.

"Really? Then will you look at my Potions and DADA homework once I finish it?"

"I suspect that you could already teach Potions yourself, but of course I will. Your mother wants you to come and eat something."

"Daddy," she used the term now to indicate she wanted something, I'm not sure if she knew she was doing it. "Could you explain it to him?"

"I could, but I think you should. Eva, I know him, and as a father he is loving and understanding." I never had a good relationship with my own father, so I wanted something better than that for my children.

Yes, Lucius wanted to take my wife from me, yet I was encouraging our daughter to get to know him. Lucius had his damn pride, but he needed to learn that his money and looks didn't make him better. Eva will likely form some type of relationship with him, but in her mind, I am her daddy. The man she knows she can always count on to support her. There's nothing she can do to change my view of her.

"I don't want to hurt you," she confided in me.

"Evangelina, the only way you can hurt me is by not being true to yourself," I advised her. She smiled at me.

"One more question, Dad; What made Mom the one for you?"

Without missing a beat, I replied, "Because she knew my faults, and for the most part, it's my faults that she loves. She loves the things that no one else could get past."

We both headed downstairs, and as Ginny made up Eva's plate, it's uncomfortable in the kitchen. This was when Marie could be counted on to lighten the mood. "So, Not Dad the Sequel, are you going to watch the Star Wars marathon with us tomorrow?"

"He would technically be the prequel," Wyatt said.

"Not to me, twerp. I knew Not Dad first," Marie replied.

Lucius whispered to me, "What does she mean; 'the sequel?'"

"The second in the series of a story, and most often not as good as the first story."

"Are you?" Marie looked straight at Lucius.

"Seeing as how Lucius is a Star Wars virgin, I expect he will be joining you," Ginny offered.

"Wow, I thought you and Not Dad were the only people in the world that lived under a rock!" Marie exclaimed.

That night, I sat in bed reading while I waited for Ginny to finish in the bathroom. When she came out, she was wearing a sleeping shirt and a towel for drying her hair. She glanced at the bedroom door, then back at me. "You didn't charm the door last night. Lucius heard us."

"You're wrong, Ginny," I lied. The room was charmed so the children wouldn't hear, but the charm I used allowed adults to still hear. Fact is, I wanted to remind him that Ginny was mine. "Perhaps he had a lucky guess."

She hung the towel on the bedpost, took her wand out of the night stand, and performed the charm to dry her hair. "When I got home with Marie, Len stopped me to ask if Wyatt could join him and Tony to go to the hockey game on Saturday night. I said he could go."

"Does it ever bother you that we live Muggle?" I asked her and she pulled back the covers.

"Only in little ways, sometimes, but I am very happy to not have to deal with questions about the war. The benefits outweigh the disadvantages. Why do you ask?" She stood there waiting for a reply to her question.

"Lucius. He thinks he can get you back. Our lifestyle is the one thing I know that you might find lacking."

She climbed on the bed and crawled over to me, straddling me. She brought her arms up and linked her fingers behind my neck. I placed my hands on her hips. "I like our life. I'm happy, very happy, with you and our life."

"I told him he was allowed to try to get you back," I advised her.

"Oh? And am I allowed to sample what he is offering?" She looked up at me coyly.

"If you wish. You know I wouldn't force you to be somewhere where you weren't happy."

"No, my time with him was done the minute you found me on your bed at Spinner's End. You are all I need." She leaned forward and kissed me. I started to pull up her nightshirt. She blocked me. "It would have to be gentle tonight. I'm still tender from last night."

"Tender, you say? Then perhaps I'll just spend the night kissing it better. You know I love it when you cum all over my face," I confessed.

A/N you would not believe my week. leave me a review!