A/N: Yes, this did take a while. I sort of wrote most of the next chapter before I wrote this one because it was more fun, but I did this one today… on my own day off this week. Hope you guys enjoy.

Chapter 5

An entire year of sleeping on a hard uncomfortable bed without a pillow and hardly a blanket for warmth and you would think sleeping in a huge lavish bed with two comforters and twelve pillows would let him sleep like a baby.

Not so.

Lucius hardly slept for three hours before he had woken himself up from the fitful sleep. The bed was too comfortable. It would just never work. He hated that fact, but perhaps once he had his mate beside him, the bed would be more enjoyable and comforting.

He would figure something out later.

"Master Lucius." A voice called gently.

Lucius looked up from his storming emotions and thoughts to see little Eva standing in the doorway to his bedroom with two potions in hand.

"Yes, Eva." Lucius responded, his voice gruff from sleep, and his tone bored –aching for more sleep that would not be coming any time soon.

"Eva brought Master Lucius his medicine." Eva told him obediently with a small bow.

Lucius sighed heavily at her words. He hated the way the potion tasted, but it would do him good to get a nutrition potion down. He wondered, though, what the other phial in her opposite hand was.

"Master Snape brought to Master Lucius this." Eva explained as she slowly approached the bed. She leapt up onto the end of the bed as she neared it, then continued to gracefully walk toward her master without shaking the phials up at all. "Master Snape says 'stronger will you be than normal potion does' and 'better than potion you is taking before'." She nodded several times as she spoke, as if she approved of what Snape had told her. "Fix your bones, says he. Only two doses is needed, says he. Very expensive, says he. Is powerful potions', says Master Snape. Is taking from sun up to sun up to work all good." She handed the phial she had been speaking of to Lucius. He uncorked it and promptly downed the whole thing without hesitation, thinking only of how much stronger it would make his weakened body. He didn't even notice the smell or the taste until it was already on his tongue. "Is very bad tastes, warns Master Snape." Eva added, a bit too late for use.

The combination of the terrible smell and the horrible taste on his sensitive body caused him to want to heave over the side of his bed, but he realized that the potion would then be useless, so he bared the attack until the taste was dulled considerably.

Lucius eventually looked back at Eva. "And that?" Lucius demanded a bit grumpily as he gestured to the other potion.

"Peppers up." She answered, her words a bit skewed, but the meaning got across to Lucius, and that's what was important. Draco and he had decided on a trip through the gardens, and for that he would need all the energy he could muster. He gratefully took the potion, much more aware of this one's taste and after-effects.

Returning the phials to Eva, Lucius began to rise and immediately knew that something was different. The potion was already taking affect. He could feel his legs holding him up with more ease now.

"I shall take another bath, then be down to the Dining Hall for a meal." Lucius informed the elf as he walked by her.

She nodded to him and disappeared with a pop.

With much more grace than earlier, Lucius made his way to the bathroom and undressed again. He started the water, but growled when he realized it wouldn't be the proper temperature for a while. He pulled a robe on to keep him warm while he waited for the infernal water to turn hotter. If his magic were strong he would be able to just spell it hotter, but as it was, he could hardly call the soap to his hand wandlessly.

Outside, on the other side of the Manor, Draco fell back onto an intricately designed stone bench that sat beneath a great willow tree which shaded him from the sun.

"Oh, Merlin!" Draco panted as he wiped his forehead free of sweat with the handkerchief from his pocket. "It's bloody hot out here." He grumbled as he looked around at his finished work with satisfaction. Of course, he had enlisted the help of the half of the Manor's elves that weren't working on meals and tidying up all of the Manor's nooks and crannies that Draco hadn't cared for before. Even though had had half of the house-elves help in making the gardens presentable again, he had still needed to pour a great deal of his own magic into helping out. He had been working for most of the last two hours on recreating the integrity of the gardens.

It had been no easy task considering the gardens spanned most of the Malfoy lands. For nearly eight acres around the Manor, there were the beauty of gardens that had been seen by merely a select few, and beyond that were the forests and riding paths that had become overgrown as well. He had placed cooling charms on his clothing after the first five minutes of labor, but he still felt his skin was on fire from the bright sun.

"At least it's done." He murmured as he watched the remaining elves he hadn't sent back to the Manor, set the water fountains flowing, or put repellent spells on the plants to keep bugs away.

Draco heard a hissing from behind himself and froze with fear. He was just about to jump away when he remembered why the snake hadn't been driven away by the wards around the Manor that kept such creatures out.

He calmed his demeanor and turned his head to glare at the cobra. The snake glared back at him and flicked its forked tongue in his direction from its station atop the back of the bench where it had probably been napping before Draco had sat down.

"Hello to you too." Draco snapped grumpily.

He would be civil to the snake, but that didn't mean he had to like the stupid serpent. Just because he was a Slytherin didn't automatically mean he liked the slithering scaly killers.

His problems had started when he hadn't been able to figure out how to keep mice out of the Malfoy property with his wards. The little annoyances hadn't been repelled by the wards and Draco had been furious when he had seen one in the Manor after his first month of having it to himself. (How his father had gotten rid of them, he wasn't sure.) When Potter had first arrived, he had asked the man –though it was too painful for his pride to admit it aloud, he inwardly knew that Potter had more knowledge on charms than he did- if there was some spell he could use to repel the mice and rats that would surely follow. Potter had smiled at him and told him he would solve Draco's problem.

He had left the next morning for a short trip to Diagon Alley, then Hogsmeade, and when Potter had returned he had had a two boxes with him.

Within the remainder of the week that Potter had been with him, Draco had seen an immediate decrease in the little bastard mice, until there were none that he saw.

On the last day that Harry had been there, Draco had gone up to him and thanked him for whatever he had done. Potter had merely smiled knowingly at the blonde, who had then assumed that he would owe the other man something. However, Potter had said nothing about it and merely nodded before going off.

It hadn't been until a month later that Draco had gotten his first glimpse of Potter's little helper. The blonde had tried every spell he knew to frighten or kill the snake, but nothing worked. Every spell that hit the snake did absolutely nothing to it.

Finally running out of options, he had immediately fire-called Potter about the serpent. Apparently, a certain green-eyed man had placed a very powerful protection spell on the snake to keep it safe from such attacks. He had demanded that Potter rid him of the snake, but Potter had told him that it was either, deal with the snake, or deal with the mice.

Draco had growled, but accepted finally, as long as the serpent wouldn't come into his house. Potter had responded that he had told the snake to remain outdoors and the veela had grudgingly agreed to its presence. That was when Potter had told him about what had been in the other box.

A cat.

He had said that the snake wouldn't be able to keep up with all the mice by itself, so he had bought a cat as well that would stay outside and merely needed a water bowl with a warming charm on it during the winter months, and perhaps some food scraps during the winter as well to keep the cat around.

Draco hated to admit it, but the snake and cat had kept his home free of mice for an entire year so far and both animals had remained civil to each other as well as Draco whenever he ventured out of the house and saw them.

The veela stood from his bench and looked around, watching as the sun bounced off the stunning autumn flowers and shrubbery everywhere.

"This should make Father happy." He whispered to himself with an inward smile of pride at what he had done. A pop sounded in front of him, and he spun gracefully to see Eva bowing slightly to him.

"Master Lucius is awakes, Master Draco." She told him. "He took his potions' and takes a bath before he wills come down for a meal."

Draco nodded to her. "Is the food prepared for him?" He questioned with a raised brow.

"Yes, Sir." She bowed again.

"Very well. Go off and make sure that things are ready for my father." Draco swished his hand at her and Eva was gone within another second's time.

The veela sighed as he sat back down for a moment, tired. He wished suddenly that he could lean on someone, that someone was there to hold him. He missed his lover, but… he had missed his father more dearly for the past year and he wasn't about to give up his alone-time with his father just yet. He would see Blaise next week. It was only Saturday after all.

Lucius passed his favorite painting with a few quick-witted insults and made his way through the corridors until he had finally made it to the main staircase. There were so many paths in the Malfoy Manor that it was hard to keep track of what floor you were on at times.

As Lucius reached the ground floor, he regained his bearings and strode off to the Dining Hall, which was a formal room for a large group of guests. Thankfully, though, he wouldn't have to endure trying to find all of his food over such a long table. The house-elves had managed to transfigure the table smaller and set up a cozy little meal for himself. Another place was set, and Lucius was happy to see his son already sitting there, with changed clothes.

He wore long house-robes that were a dark green, with several long gold rope-tassels tying it together that crossed from back to front, accentuating Draco's form nicely, and tying on his hip. His legs crossed revealing black trousers and boots beneath them.

Lucius had merely worn plain black silk robes that loosely fit his form, and gray trousers underneath his robes. The older veela smiled slightly down at his son as he sat and crossed his ankles to keep from abusing his weak joints further. "Good afternoon, Draco." The man greeted with a nod.

Draco responded with his own nod and a salute with his wine goblet. "To you, Father." Draco drank a gulp, then placed his drink down beside his plate. The younger man sat forward enough to pull a phial from inside his robe, and hand it to his father. "The second nutrients potion." He answered the unasked question calmly, and sat back once his father had taken his burden from him.

"I thought I was supposed to wait twenty-four hours before taking another?" Lucius responded with a raised brow as he puzzled over the potion.

"No." Draco shook his head patiently. "Severus said that it would take that long to work fully, but you can take the potion at intervals of every three hours. Perhaps you should take that at dinner time, but I just wanted you to have it so that I wouldn't forget to give it to you."

"When did you see Severus?" Lucius queried as they began to scoop food onto their plates. It was only a snack after all; dinner wouldn't be until seven. A bowl of assorted fruit, a small tray of meats, a bowl of salad, a basket of breads, pitchers of juice, a bottle of wine, and next to each of their plates was a small bowl of soup of each of their preferences.

Lucius tried the Crème of Broccoli, to see if his stomach would agree, and when nothing protested he picked up a piece of unbuttered bread and continued. After a short while later he decided he would wait until dinner to try any wine, and he poured himself a goblet of pumpkin juice.

"Oh, Severus dropped by while you were asleep, knowing you would need the potions. He asked how you were and all that blather, but he had to return to Hogwarts for obvious reasons." Draco munched on the meat and bread, foregoing his soup and the fruit.

"Obvious reasons?" Lucius repeated, slightly perplexed.

Draco raised his brow with amusement, as if thinking that Lucius should remember why. When his father continued to look at him questioningly he wiped his mouth with the napkin from his lap. "The school year is starting soon…" Draco trailed off as the light went on in his father's head.

The older man nodded as he continued with his meal. It was quite brainless of him to forget the coming school year that would plague his good friend with more bratty pupils, but it really hadn't been very necessary for him to remember such a thing since Draco wasn't in school anymore. That thought caused a idea to strike him like lightning.

"Will you be attending a university, Draco? Is there something you would like to do? I know that you work at the Ministry, but… is that what you want to do for life?" He questioned.

Draco watched his father as he spoke, but he remained silent for a while as he ate his food and considered those questions. After finishing his mouthful, he wiped his mouth again and calmly looked toward his father.

"Well, I was hoping to find my mate, and eventually settle down in life. Perhaps start some kind of business doing something. I hope one day to start a family, and keep a peaceful easy life going for any children that my mate and I have as well. I wasn't planning on going on to a university for any reason. There isn't any business management courses that I could take that would contain any information that you couldn't tell me, and for now, my job at the Ministry is all I need." Draco told him. He really hadn't thought about it all that much, but now that he started to think about having a family, the urge to do so began to grow.

Lucius watched his son as he realized the implications of what he wanted. "Son." Lucius called gently across the table. The soft word brought Draco back to the present, and he worriedly looked to his father for whatever guidance he could bestow at the moment. "You feel it, don't you? The urge to mate and start a family?" He asked.

"Yes." Draco told him with a slight whimper. "Don't you feel the same?" He asked, his curiosity and worry mixing.

"Not as strongly." Lucius responded shortly. "I had you, whether it be with my true mate or not, I had you, and that settled my urges long ago. I, however, can feel a new pull, much stronger than before, that wants me to have another child –one with my mate." He smiled, his eyes glazing as he imagined such a thing. "Perhaps more than one if he'd want that."

Draco smiled in a contented way as he imagined having a little brother or sister, then he worried again about his own children. "Father, if Blaise is my mate, could we… have children still?" Draco queried. He had never thought of such a thing before. He had sought information on his powers and what he was, but most of being a veela didn't affect him anyway, so why worry? In his searches for information, he had never come across anything on having children.

Lucius looked over to his son as his glazed look disappeared. "Yes. Any creature with veela blood in them has the ability." He nodded. "There is a spell in the ancient dialect which is an altered form of elvish that must be spoken when you enter your mate, but it will only work with your true mate. The spell will only last for about an hour, so you have that long to finish intercourse. The veela magic will do the rest to create the child. For two women, it is only the veela that can become pregnant, and they must be kissing when they orgasm. If both women are veela, then it is the veela that speaks that spell that impregnates the other; and the spell is also different for women than it is for men." The older blonde explained.

Draco listened with rapt attention as he heard all of this. He didn't really care about the women part because he himself wasn't a women, so it wouldn't matter, but the part about two men together caused a few questions to come to mind.

"So… are you saying that either male may become pregnant in a same sex relationship?" He asked, his brow furrowed in thought.

Lucius nodded as he popped a piece of fruit into his mouth. "Would you want to bear your children, if Blaise is your mate?" He asked curiously, one brow arched in a truly Malfoy-ish manner.

The younger blonde was automatically about to say 'no', but then he began to think of it. To have Blaise's child inside of him… no, it didn't sound as appealing as it had a moment ago.

"Son, what do you feel right now?" Lucius asked before Draco could answer.

Draco raised his brow at his father in wonder, silently asking him to clarify.

"Do you ache for Blaise? Do you miss him terribly and wish to fly to his arms right this moment? Do you think he could be with someone else right now? Does that cause jealousy to run through you?" The older man questioned smoothly.

Draco frowned as he tried to answer all of that. "I hadn't even been thinking that he would be cheating on me right this moment." Draco gave it some thought. "I don't think he would. I'm not worried about it. If he does, then he isn't my mate." He answered.

Lucius nodded to his son. "And do you miss him terribly right now?"

"I will not forego my time with you, Father, if that's what you are thinking. I wish to stay here with you above all else." Draco assured worriedly.

Lucius bobbed his head up and down, then looked Draco directly in the eyes, with a decision obviously made. "I don't think he's your true mate, Draco."

Draco's mouth fell open slightly, before he closed it and narrowed his eyes. "How do you mean?" He responded.

"Well," Lucius began, "even for a partial veela, like yourself, the longing to be with the one you love should overcome the urge to be with family. It should overcome everything in your mind. The fact that it doesn't, doesn't give me much faith in Blaise as your partner. You are also not suspicious of others touching him. You appear far too calm to be worrying over someone else touching what is yours."

"Do you feel these things for Pott- eh, Harry?" He corrected. "You seem worried, yet calmer than I would imagine you being since you are a full veela yourself."

"Yes." Lucius nodded once as his eyes clouded with the worry those words had brought to mind. Several emotions flashed over his face as he thought of others touching his mate and who he had been with while he had been in prison, but he brought himself back to his conversation with Draco as he took a sip of his juice. "I do worry, but I can't fault him for anything. I haven't been around to influence his feelings for me at all, and he has been working so dangerously, which I worry about constantly as well. I also am not worrying as much because I know that I am not up to my own standards yet, and am therefore, not good enough to be put on display for my mate. I am not pursuing him right now, so I am not quite worrying about where he is or who he is with. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Draco sighed as he pushed his plate away from himself. "Yes, I understand. It's just a bit disheartening to know that the man I have been spending so much of my time with really isn't the one I am destined for." He growled in his throat, then settled and looked back to his father.

"Make the decision for yourself, Son. You can't run solely on my opinion. I am not half-veela. I don't know your instincts first-hand; I only know my own. I only know that the moment I realized Harry was my mate and that Voldemort was the threat to his life, that that bastard must die. I watched as Harry was taken away from that battle and I hated every single person that touched him, and took him farther away from me. I treasured every moment I had by his side. I felt jealous when I saw him standing beside that Granger girl during the trial. I loved him when I saw him, I was sad when I was away from him. That is what I felt…" He rubbed at his temples in a frustrated way, then turned back to Draco. "Could we perhaps speak of other things?"

"Of course." Draco nodded vigorously. "I am finished. Are you?"

Lucius agreed.

"Then let's take a walk through the gardens." Draco suggested as he stood.

Lucius stood with him, suddenly feeling his lack of appetite returning.

"Yes, that would be good." Lucius walked beside his son solemnly, but when he remembered why his son had left him before when he'd mentioned the gardens he chuckled aloud, causing Draco to turn on him in query.

"What?"

"So, Draco, what have you been doing since I fell asleep?" Lucius queried as he looked over to his son with a knowing smirk across his face.

Draco's face flushed slightly, causing his father to laugh harder.

The mood had adjusted to a happier one and Draco was adamant to keep it that way.

The gardens were beautiful. More beautiful than Lucius had remembered them, and Lucius told his son just as much. He complimented him several times on his wonderful job and Draco felt his ego swell at these compliments to his performance.

As they continued their walk through the gardens, they began to think of things to start a discussion about. It was Lucius that spoke first:

"So, you said that you might start a business of you own, what would you want that business to be?"

Draco walked with his hands clasped behind his back to keep himself from fidgeting with his hands stupidly, and his eyes focused on the sky as it darkened into nighttime. "Well, I suppose," He debated his choices for a while, "I'm not quite sure." He finished. "Perhaps a book store, or restaurant." He shrugged. "I just know that the prospect of living my life knowing that all my support isn't from Malfoy money, but instead its what I made for myself, is a prospect that I look forward to. I've always been told I was a brat, and 'Daddy's little girl' so to speak, but even though I didn't let those words effect me, I still worried when I was younger that I would never become my own man." He looked over to his father for a reaction, but Lucius was just calmly watching the sun set as he listened to his son. "You know?" Draco asked as he suddenly stopped his steps to see if his father was even listening to him.

Lucius stopped a step after Draco, and when he turned to look at his only child Draco saw the pride and love reflected for him in his father's eyes. "I know." Lucius whispered to him with a proud smile.

Draco fought the blush that crept up on his cheeks at the look his father was giving him.

"You've grown up so well." Lucius told him. "I could never have hoped for a better child. You know how proud I am, don't you?" Lucius asked softly and Draco nodded. "Double whatever you think I think of you. I love you that much more." He told him as he bumped his shoulder against Draco's.

Draco blushed, even though he had tried not to. He had never been this close to his father when he was younger –not meaning physically, but on a different level. He had loved and looked up to his father, but he had never received praise like this before. The younger veela felt somehow like he had completed a great challenge in life. He had fought his whole life to make his father proud of him, and it had finally happened. He had proven himself without realizing it. Suddenly, all he had done this past year, and for his many years before that seemed so worth while. Everything was perfect now.

Well, almost everything. They both still had to find and sway their mates to their influences, but in the sense of father and son, Draco felt completed. He didn't feel as if he would ever have to prove himself again, but he would still keep trying unconsciously.

They had rounded the back of the Manor now and were walking past the stables when it suddenly started to rain.

"Drat." Draco cursed as he looked up to the darkened sky. "Bloody hell!" He cursed again under his breath.

"Some things never change." Lucius murmured, referring to the weather and not his son's comments.

"Fucking weather."

"Language!" Lucius said finally, though the smirk of amusement across his face belied his true feelings. He knew why Draco was so vehement about the weather. It had interrupted a wonderful moment between them.

Lucius had known his son was content with life the moment he had spoken of how prideful he was. He too felt that contentment and had wanted it to continue, but that was the way things were. Things happened.

They turned and headed back to the Manor at a quick pace; not wanting to run, but also very cold and getting soaked by the rain.

They shook off as they reentered the Manor through a back entrance from the gardens.

Draco growled angrily as he felt the rain soaking through to his skin. "Bloody weather." He groaned again.

"Masters!" A house-elf exclaimed at seeing both Malfoys quite thoroughly soaked.

"It's raining outside in case you haven't noticed!" Draco snapped at her and she cringed away.

"Calm yourself." Lucius warned and Draco took a deep breath.

"How long until dinner is ready?" Draco asked the elf more calmly this time.

"Dinner is ready in an hours half past." She answered with a slight whimper in her tone.

"Retrieve us when it is ready." The younger blonde told her firmly. She bobbed her head before disappearing.

Draco pulled his wand from his wet robes and pointed it at himself before mumbling a drying spell and becoming completely dry. Trouble was, his hair immediately frizzed from the sudden drying and it stuck up at all angles terribly.

Lucius snorted at the sight, then tried covering it with a cough before dignifying himself and fighting a light smirk as he composed his appearance so as not to wound his son's ego.

The younger veela yelled in annoyance. "Forgot about that part of the bloody drying spell." He growled as he tried to flatten his hair with his hand. "You want to be dry, or wet?" He demanded of his father as he glared at him for laughing.

"Just my clothes if you don't mind." Lucius responded, vaguely wondering what had become of his wand and if he would need a new one.

Draco snorted as he mumbled the spell again and dried his father's clothes.

Lucius plucked at his now-dry clothes and smelled them with a snarl. "They stink." He commented.

"I'm not a bloody expert in charms." He responded with a frown. "I can't fix the smell. Would you rather be wet again, then the smell would fit you?" Lucius glared heavily at his son for his lip and they silently agreed to move on to other topics before a loud knock came to the door. "NOW, WHO THE FUCK COULD THAT BE!" Draco shouted in frustration as he stalked off toward the door.

Without hesitation Draco snapped one of the large double doors open and gasped as his brain caught up with him.

"Hello, Draco." The man spoke, his eyes glued to the blonde's head. "Nice hair."

Draco was too shocked at the identity of his visitor to retort back a comment for the remark about his hair.

"Hey, Harry." Draco murmured in shock.

A/N: I'm terrible, I know. I have the next chapter totally planned out though, so it's just a matter of making it worthy of my wonderful reviewers. Yeah! Harry's on the scene! Woohoo! –happy dance-

Thanks to my FABULOUS reviewers, without which there would be no story because I'd be too lazy to write it.

Death-by-inkpen: "Squee" Is that a word? I don't think so, but I love it! Thanks for taking time out of your rushed life to review little old me. -kisses-

Jo Raven: Ah! I threw a little bit of Harry in there. Thought I'd tease, yet add, you know? Hope you like it. –squee-

ShatteredxDream: Eh? –sweat drophands over cookie- I'm sorry I forgot about your cookie. Well, here's my update. It was a little… overdue? Yeah, that's the word. I spent all of my only day off working on it though, so… hope you like.

DaftmMeg: It thrills me that you'd much rather read my story than write your essay. How did that go by the way? –chuckle- Glad you liked the Draco/Lucius family thing. I'm a little sappy when it comes to writing the part of someone's 'daddy'. It's really simple, you see. I just write exactly what I wish my dad would be like. –sigh-

Lakuniko: Hey! Thanks for just randomly reading and reviewing my story! I have a dog named Niko. Your name kind of reminded me of that. Niko says hi. Niko was trying to distract me from updating all day… and it worked, but he's sleeping now, so I'm updating. –chuckle-

Layce74: Kill the Dursleys? I can work with that. I've just thought of someone else to kill off as well. You'll find out later, I suppose.

Dark-Faerie161: It took me forever to spell your name correctly. –gr- Eh, hope you like what I'm doing with the story. If you have anything to add or comment about, or if you think I'm leaving something out, please don't hesitate to add that in your review somewhere. I hate forgetting stupid stuff.

Fragonknight01: Lucius is my second fav. –cuddle with plush Lucius- Thanks for the compliment. –sends love and cookies-

Strega: Feel free to always leave really long reviews to my story. Thanks for noticing all those subtle little hints I added. It makes me feel good to know that my extra effort is noticed. –blush- Hehehe, Lucius didn't even have to last a whole week. Harry's already here, but then he's also not ready so… when next we see our fav veela it will be… panic mode Lucius. –chuckle- Should be fun to write. PS. I'll never get annoyed with long reviews. I wish some of my closer friends appreciate slash fics, if they did then I probably wouldn't be so starved for reviews to tell me what I'm doing right and wrong.

Yana5: Ha! Harry finally makes the scene! Chapter seven should be interesting. –smirk-

Immortal Memories: You were the first person to comment on my little hint. We'll just see where that plays out to. I only drop hints, I don't reveal the story too soon.

Lanku: You rhymed. –smile- I'm glad some people were paying attention to my little hints. I'm not divulging any secrets yet though… especially ones that I don't know the answer to. –chuckle- Holy shit! An 80 chapter story! Wow. I can't imagine rambling on for that long. –sigh- Eh, yeah, I do beta. I have a couple of authors as crazy as I am that tolerate my comments. –smile-

A-Brighter-Dawn: You updated a story of yours. I'm not sure what it was because it wasn't the one that love of yours, but… I suppose it's fair that I update too. You called me a Slytherin! I laughed so hard when I read your review that I nearly peed myself. All my friends were looking at me strangely because I had been online with my cell phone when I'd read it. I'm glad you liked all the details I put in. The painting thing was a stroke of genius that just sort of popped into my head when I thought of a spunky young Lucius who needed some kind of outlet where he could be rude and nasty without having to wear a mask, you know? It was also kind of inspired by Mrs. Black screeching at everyone that walked by, except this was a person yelling at a painting. Ah, and Harry has finally arrived. This should prove to be an interesting meeting, though you'll have to wait to see their reactions to each other.

Jen: Thanks for reviewing. Hope your enjoying the mean little cliffy I put up. You'll get to see loads of Harry in the next chapter, so don't worry about that. –smiles evilly-

Oh Slashy One: Brilliant name. –chuckle- Glad you like the story. Thanks for the thought.

Ura-hd: I'm very happy that you think I did the father/son interactions well. I was worrying about it a bit. Thanks for noticing the work that I put into this. Hope you review again.

Anna May: Thanks for the compliments. I tired to form their relationship as best I could, and now Harry's on the scene. Should prove to be quite… interesting, neh?

Prongsbalcks: Yeah! Harry finally got to the scene! What will happen? Tune in to the next episode of… -snort- Yeah, I'm a weirdo. Thanks for reviewing this weirdo.

Nemi Jade: Yeah, Harry's here. I wouldn't leave you hanging for too long. Did you honestly I could write a week's worth of shit for Lucius to do without Harry around. There's only so much pining-for-Harry I can write. –laughs- Hope you enjoy.

Saavik13: Yes, I agree. It is nice reading a story where Draco isn't scared shitless of Lucius, or that Lucius is beating Draco or forcing him into Lord Voldemort's bed or something.

Veresti Tristian: Did I spell you name right? I hope so. You read my profile? Cool. Here I thought it was just a bunch of rubbish that people skipped over. –blush- Thanks for taking such initiative with my story. Thank you so much for commenting on what you liked. Thanks for saying something. It makes me feel like sending you a box-load of homemade cookies or something. –smooch- You're so wonderful. Thank you. When I wrote a lot of reaction etc. doing this, I reread it and thought, 'This doesn't seem very Malfoy-ish,' then I thought 'If I were this veela person and I were a Malfoy, I would still act like this' and if people don't realize what I mean when I write that stuff, then that's too bad. I'm glad you saw it like that, and thanx for the confidence.

Anux: Yeah, Harry/Lucius interaction is on the horizon. You'll just have to be patient. –sigh- I know it's terrible to say that, but hey… at least Harry's there. –laugh- Things are progressing!

HecateDeMort: -blush- Thanks. Hope you enjoy.

Betsanne: I'm thrilled that you like my story. It never gets old hearing that a zillion times. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well as the last few.

Review if it suits your fancy to make me want to update. I already have the next chapter half written, so all it will take is initiative!

Love you all! –smooch-