Happenstance

Chapter 5: Compromise

When Luna returned home from Diagon Alley, she was an absolute mess. Over and over again, she played out the entire scenario with Draco in her mind, second guessing her decision. For the most part, she felt like she had done the right thing by denying Draco his request of being a part of Landon's life, but deep down she couldn't help but feel like she was taking from him something that wasn't hers to take. After feeding Landon and laying him down for bed, Luna headed to the kitchen to fix herself something to eat. As she was settling down at the table for supper, there was a loud knocking at her door. Upon opening it Luna was shocked to see the father of her son standing there.

"Luna, please," he said, his hand stopping her from slamming the door in his face. "I just wanted to talk to you without an audience, without my parents there. Please, just hear me out." Opening the door all the way, Luna allowed Draco to come inside. As she walked back to the dining room, Draco followed.

"Do you want some pasta?" she asked, gesturing towards the dinner she had made.

"Um, sure," he said, skeptically, unsure of whether or not she was capable of making anything edible. Silently, she readied their plates and, deciding that the situation warranted it, Luna poured them both a glass of wine. The first few minutes of their supper was eaten in silence but realizing that this wasn't getting them anywhere, Draco finally spoke. "It's really good."

"Thanks," she whispered.

"Why are you angry with me?" he blurted out, setting his fork down and bringing his wine glass to his lips.

"You threatened to take away my son," she snapped.

"No, you were angry with me before that," Draco argued. "If you weren't then you would have told me you were pregnant, or at least not refuse to let me be a part of his life once I did find out. So, what was it? That night in the tower, did I hurt you and just not know it?"

"No," she replied. "Not anymore than was necessary.

"Was it just bad? Because if it was, than that's not necessarily my fault. I've been told that the first time always sucks for the girl," he said, laughing awkwardly.

"No, it wasn't bad. I really wasn't angry with you until you threatened to take him from me."

"You were yelling long before I said that. If you won't tell me why you're mad at me, than will you at least tell me why it is you're so hell bent on my not being a part of my son's life?" Draco asked, resuming his meal.

"I don't like your family or what they stand for and I don't want my son to have his head filled with that rubbish," Luna replied, downing her wine in one gulp.

"I'm not my father. I know I've made some mistakes and done some pretty rotten things but I'm not a bad person. I'm just as capable of being a good parent as you are. When we had sex neither of us planned on bringing a child into this world, but we did. And I have just as much right to be his father, as you have to be his mother."

"What do you want?" she asked, tersely.

"Why can't we be a family?" he asked. "We could give you and me a try."

"No. "

"You're not even willing to try?"

"No, I'm a seventeen year old mother. I don't have time to give us a try," she replied, pouring another glass of wine for herself and another glass for Draco. "

"How about we trade every week. You get him one week, I get him the next," Draco offered, trying to hide his being hurt by her not wanting to give a relationship with him a try. Luna didn't know it, but Draco had thought a lot about her over the last year and to know that she apparently hadn't thought about him, hurt him greatly.

"One problem, well there's more than one problem with that plan, but this one's the biggest. You don't have breasts," she said, laughing. Draco pulled a confused look. "Landon is still nursing. If you don't have breasts than he doesn't eat and if he doesn't eat, he doesn't shut up."

"Oh..."

"Besides Draco, when I asked you what you wanted, I meant, what would it take to get you to leave us alone," Luna clarified, jabbing at her pasta with a fork.

"You're making a big mistake, Luna," Draco warned, genuinely upset by the position she was putting him in. "I don't want to do it, but you're not giving me any other choice. You'll be hearing from my lawyers first thing in the morning." Standing, Draco stormed out of the dining area, leaving a very worried Luna behind.

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Luna didn't sleep a wink that night. How could she, when she had the prospect of dealing with the Malfoy family lawyers, first thing in the morning, looming overhead. And we're not talking about one or two lawyers. Lucius Malfoy had an entire team of twelve of the magical world's most powerful and influential attorneys working for him, round the clock. Luna wouldn't deny that she was petrified by the thought of losing custody of Landon but she simply couldn't allow Lucius Malfoy to corrupt her baby's malleable mind. She would not raise a bigot.

Just as Draco had promised, the moment day had broken, his lawyers, all twelve of them, arrived at her doorstep and served her with papers ordering her to be at the Ministry at noon. Accepting the summons, Luna assured them that she would be there before leaving so that she could attend to Landon. It seemed that Landon must have sensed what was going on, as he was unusually cranky that morning. No matter how many times she fed, burped or bounced him, he simply wouldn't quite down. The entire way to the Ministry he just cried and cried. Luna couldn't remember a time when the poor thing had ever cried that much. It wasn't until they arrived in the crowded meeting room that Landon finally stopped his fussing.

"Miss Lovegood," Lucius greeted her, snidely. "Nice of you to join us this afternoon." Luna rolled her eyes, ignoring the wizards sarcastic remarks. Glaring at Draco, she settled down in her seat whilst cradling her infant son in her arms.

"As I'm sure you're aware, we are here today to discuss the custodial issue between Mr. Draco Malfoy and Miss Luna Lovegood, in regards to their infant son, Landon Cooper Lovegood. Proper surname to be discussed at a later date."

"What do you mean proper surname?" Luna interjected.

"Miss Lovegood, as your council I would advise that you let me do the talking," her attorney drawled, as he strutted into the meeting hall, fashionably late. The moment Luna told her father about Draco's threat, he owled the Quibblers most powerful lawyer and hired him to ensure that his daughter didn't lose custody of her son. Mr. Macmillan was more than happy to oblige; he and Lucius' attorney's had run into one another on quite a few occasions and had a bit of a rivalry between them. "The child's surname remains the same," Mr. Macmillian said, speaking directly to the opposing council.

"That remains to be seen," Lucius' head attorney, Mr. Houser said, glaring at his cocky opposition. "Miss Lovegood, I hope you're aware that this is merely a mediation. This meeting is your last chance to come to amicable terms of custody with my client. If you cannot, than we shall take this matter before the Wizengamot and pursue sole custody of the child."

"He has a name," Luna snapped, kissing her son's forehead softly.

"I don't care, he's just another a kid to me," Mr. Houser replied, waving off her comment.

"His name is Landon and you'll refer to him as such or you'll find another job," Draco spat, glaring at his attorney. "Luna, I don't want to take him from you. Let's try to find a way to make us both happy."

"I won't be happy until you leave me and my son alone," Luna scoffed.

"You didn't want him to leave you alone that night in the tower, now did you?" Lucius said, laughing.

"Get out," Draco said, looking over at his father. "You're not helping matters. Don't you see that you're a big part of why she refuses to allow me to see my son? Just go."

"I most certainly..." Lucius began, only to be interrupted by his son.

"Go... please?"

"Fine, but you had better bring that child home with you. That's the future of my line she's holding and I'll not have him wasting his life with her when he could make something of himself under my guidance." Turning sharply, Lucius strode out of the room, letting the door slam behind him.

"Miss Lovegood," Mr. Houser began. "My client would like joint custody of Landon. What is your position on that?"

"I.." Luna began, her attorney instantly silencing her.

"No... Mr. Malfoy will not be a part of this child's life," Macmillian replied, a cocky smirk on his face.

"Miss Lovegood, while you are by no means from a poor family, your son's father is considerably more wealthy and powerful. The likeliness of being granted full custody of your son is quite slim. Unless you could prove that Mr. Malfoy is a threat to the child's welfare than you have no grounds to keep him from his son. The fact that you're trying to would most certainly hurt your case. What sort of mother wants to put her child through that?"

"Don't do that..." Draco whispered, elbowing his council in the ribs. "She's not a bad mother."

"I'm not trying to keep Landon from his father as much as I'm trying to keep him from Lucius Malfoy. He's no good, and I'll not have him corrupting my son," Luna said, her eyes tearing up as she realized that she really had no chance of keeping Landon away from the Malfoy family.

"Be that as it may, Miss Lovegood, Draco Malfoy is the child's father and you haven't any right to keep them apart," Mr. Houser replied.

"Can we have a minute alone?" Draco asked, suddenly. "Is that alright with you, Luna?"

"Yes." Slowly, both their council's stood and left the meeting hall so that Draco and Luna could speak in private. "What do you want?"

"I don't want this, that's for sure," he said as he stood and approached her. "I don't want to put Landon through this and I certainly don't want to put you through this. You heard them, there's no way you'll be able to keep me from seeing him. So, why not work this out here instead of taking it to the Wizengamot. If we go there than it'll be under their terms, not ours. At least this way, you get what you want and I get what I want, or we at least come to a happy medium."

"Why do you want to be around so bad?" she asked, gently rocking Landon so that he would fall back asleep. The lawyer's booming voices had woken him and he had started to fuss again.

"He's my son... he's a part of me, why wouldn't I want to be a part of his life?" Luna shrugged, unable to come up with a decent response. "Your Mum died when you were nine, so you know what its like to be without one of your parents. Why would you want to put Landon through that? He deserves to know who his father is. Give me a chance, Luna. I'm begging you here."

"What are your terms?"

"Terms?" he laughed. "Can't I just come by and see him?"

"No. We'll need some sort of rules; a schedule even."

"Well, if he's nursing it's not like I can take him on the weekends or anything. What do you think would work?" he asked.

"What if you came over every other day for a few hours. That way he won't miss any meals or anything," Luna suggested, as Landon started to cry.

"Can I try?" Draco asked, holding out his arms. Luna looked at him skeptically. "Isn't it better that I screw up when you're here, instead of when you're not around? At least if you're here you can take over if I screw up."

"Fine," she mumbled, placing the tiny infant into his father's waiting arms. Nervously, Draco gently rocked the boy back and forth before letting him lay against his chest so that he could pat his back. It only took Draco a few moments to get the hang of it and successfully quiet his son. "Good job," Luna whispered, smoothing her hand over Landon's blonde hair.

"I don't think every other day is going to be often enough for him and I to bond," Draco said, softly, careful not to bother the lightly dozing baby. "If you get to see him everyday, than I should too."

"And how do you suggest we manage that without completely disrupting our very separate lives?" Luna asked, sarcastically. For nearly ten minutes, neither spoke; Draco busied himself playing with the tiny baby who simply refused to go back to sleep while Luna watched how careful and attentive Draco was being. Finally, Draco came up with an idea, one that he thought would solve their problems. "We could live together."

"What?" she asked, completely blind sighted by his suggestion.

"I just bought a manor a few miles from here. You and Landon could move in there and than we'd be able to go about our lives and still be there for him whenever he needs us. You wouldn't miss anything and than neither would I," he explained, excitedly, liking his idea even more after actually thinking it through. "What do you think?"

"Draco, that's ridiculous!" Luna said, mulling his suggestion over as she stared at him, dumbfounded. "But it could work."

"Yeah, it could and it probably would," he replied, making kissing noises against Landon's head. "Come on, Luna, you know you want to."

"Okay, we'll try it out. But I want to make it very clear that there will be nothing going on between you and I. The only reason I'm agreeing on this, is for Landon," Luna said, laughing as she watched her son staring up at his father, completely fascinated by the strange noises and faces he was making.

"No problem," Draco said, as he continued to play with the baby. "If at any point you don't think it's working out, than we can give mediation with those buffoons out there another shot."

"Alright," she agreed, standing and holding out her hands, signaling that she wanted him to give her the baby. "We need to get going."

"You want to go to lunch?" Draco asked, as he stood, not yet ready to part with his son. "You know, to celebrate. You don't have plans do you?"

"No, but I usually don't like to keep Landon out too long."

"It won't take long. We'll just get something to eat and then I'll take you two home," Draco offered, walking towards the door so that he could open it for her. Realizing that he wasn't going to let up on his lunch suggestion and that he had no intention of handing over the baby, Luna agreed. As they left the Ministry, Luna couldn't help but feel like maybe she was being a little too optimistic about their prospective living arrangement. She couldn't deny that she was most certainly attracted to Draco, as he had definitely become even more attractive since their night together in the tower. Luna knew that having to live so closely with him would definitely be a challenge.

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DISCLAIMER: The American Academy of Pediatrics considers maternal alcohol use to be compatible with breast feeding. It takes a maternal blood alcohol level of 300 mg/dl to even cause mild sleepiness in a breast feeding infant. Maternal drinking as a rare occurrence is not considered dangerous. Daily drinking or severe binge drinking on the other hand may pose some risk of delayed motor development in the child. However, it's not totally clear if that risk is directly from the alcohol or from other factors in the lives of babies with mothers who drink a lot. I believe we can all agree that Luna is not a binge drinker. The American Academy of Pediatrics states that alcohol is not stored in the milk of a mother's breasts. The bottom line is that the occasional beer, glass of wine, or mixed drink is not harmful to a nursing baby. It is recommended to allow two hours for every alcoholic beverage consumed, to dissipate, before nursing. That means Luna would be expected to wait four hours before feeding the baby again. Therefore, Luna's two glasses of wine that evening, after having already nursed Landon for the last time until breakfast the next morning, are of no consequence.

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