Part 3

A week later, their boundless excitement was tempered by the cruel practicalities Severus had mentioned before.

Draco was sensitive to wool. All his wool jumpers and socks and hats had to be replaced with cotton, and his irritated crying was soothed with anti-allergy creams and a soft bird toy that chirped when held.

Food also became an issue. Draco despised anything that wasn't sweet. Narcissa found herself wearing more of his dinner than he ate while trying to distract him from spitting by waving his bird around.

Night and day made no difference to Draco, either, and if he was awake, then he wanted someone to play with. The bird toy in his crib was not enough, and Severus and Narcissa rotated climbing out of bed to reassure Draco that he wasn't alone. Usually they aimed dark glares at Lucius, fast asleep on his side of the bed. If he hadn't been working from sun up to sun down fighting a new proposal to increase taxes on rented properties, they might have bullied him into taking his own share of the work. But the dark circles under his eyes rivaled the circles under theirs, and they knew suffering when they saw it.

Raising a child was infinitely preferable to working in government. When Draco whined and spit up and needed a new diaper, at least he was cute about it.

But no one knew how loud Draco could wail until it came time for his first teeth to peek through. The wyvern's blood in him showed itself in the ridges on his baby teeth, useful for cracking eggs but merely painful for a human child. Silencio couldn't be used. People, especially children, panicked when they couldn't hear their own screams of pain. Strong painkilling potions were impossible for an infant.

The cries went on for days and only stopped when Draco exhausted himself. That he couldn't help crying only made their frustration that much more unbearable. And St. Mungo's wouldn't prescribe the remedies that might have worked without examining Draco first.

"You can only make Baby's Breath powder in large doses," Severus repeated at the dinner table, once again answering Lucius as to why he couldn't do anything. "Huge vats of it. And the Ministry regulates how much pixie dust can be bought at one time. I can't gather that kind of amount and if we tried to buy what's needed, we'd have aurors on the doorstep within the hour."

Narcissa sighed and hefted Draco into his chair, drying his tears with a napkin and giving him another teething ring. The cold only lowered his volume a little, and Draco had only napped during lunch. When she handed him off to Severus and went to the garden to catch sleep for herself, she found that the walls only muffled the crying.

"God, there has to be something," Lucius moaned, covering his eyes with his hand.

"Were you as bad as this?" Narcissa asked, and she had to raise her voice to be heard over Draco.

"According to my mother, I was worse," Lucius answered with a grumble. "And they soldiered through it, or so her portrait swears. But that was nearly forty years ago! Surely something's been discovered since then."

"Not many wyvern crossbreeds to experiment on," Severus snapped.

"Maybe something should've been done when he was still in the cauldron," Narcissa sighed. "I thought you said you altered the potion."

The slight to Severus' skills stung, and he retaliated in kind.

"I never expected anything like this. And I thought women were good with children," Severus muttered not quite under his breath.

Narcissa looked up in hurt, then scowled. "I thought a potions master would make a child, not a banshee."

"Stop it," Lucius warned them, one hand pressed against his head.

"Certainly," Severus said in a far too agreeable voice. "Not like we can be heard over his wailing and her snapping."

"As if anything could get a word in edgewise with you," she all but hissed.

"Both of you, stop it!"

"How?" she demanded, turning on Lucius. "Does the master of the house have any bright ideas?"

"I meant your bickering," Lucius clarified. "I haven't the slightest how to quiet the--"

"Of course not," Severus said. "Since when do you help with Draco?"

"I have to mind two other infants in this house," Lucis snapped, and his voice grew louder with each word. "And your childishness is not helping anything--"

"How dare you call me childish--"

"I'm only defending myself--"

"For the love of God!"

None of them would ever admit who threw the first volley. They all seemed to reach for their plates at once. A spoonful of mashed potatoes, the contents of a glass of pumpkin juice--Narcissa snatched the tray of treacle tarts while Lucius managed to steal the wine carafe out of Severus' reach. Ducking a flying tart, Severus had to settle for the basket of biscuits, the smallest arsenal of the three.

When Lucius got lucky with the carafe, showering Narcissa, she retaliated with the rest of the tarts and the tray itself, which went clattering to the floor, followed soon by a gravy boat that narrowly missed Lucius' head. The biscuits caught her full in the face, momentarily blinding her with the basket. Without missing a beat, she ran her hand across the table and grabbed the first thing she touched--her lemonade, which she cast in a wide arc. Two roars of indignation told her she'd struck true.

Infurated, Lucius grabbed the napkin holder and aimed at Narcissa just as she got the basket off. She ducked as the wooden ring went through a window and napkins fluttered everywhere.

Fingerbowls followed in three directions, all of them hitting their mark as they were too busy throwing to duck. As the last dishes went sailing, smashing on the floor or against the wall, a final furious wave of Lucius' wand sent all the silverware into the air as the tablecloth went flying.

With nothing left to hurl, the fight seemed to leave the room. Panting, Narcissa stared at both of them in shock, arms slightly out as she took stock first of her soaked dress and then of their soaked hair. Her immaculate French twist had avoided damage, but Lucius' ribbon had fallen askew and Severus' hair hung drenched in his face.

As they all caught their breath, they noticed the silence and turned to Draco in his high chair. Smiling, he gnawed on a corner of treacle tart that had fallen in his lap. He looked at each of them as if he expected the show to continue.

Lucius took a deep breath, held it, and let go. Narcissa and Severus glanced at him, then at each other. Neither of them knew what to do. Neither dared speak. Talking had gotten them into this mess. They looked as if the other would know what to do, and when they didn't see any answers, glanced back at Lucius.

"Filly, Dobby," Lucius said softly.

The two elves appeared with a pop, looking around the mess and then at Lucius in terror.

"Yes, master?" Filly said.

"Fresh drinks and that pizza thing Severus has hidden in the pantry," he ordered.

Startled, Severus gathered his wits enough to mention to the elves that the instructions were on the box before Filly and Dobby disappeared again. How long had his husband known? Severus hadn't been able to completely give up some muggle food. He wondered if Lucius knew about the soda in the back?

Lucius sat down and tucked away his wand. After a moment, Narcissa and Severus followed suit, still afraid to speak. As their new drinks appeared, Narcissa hid behind her lemonade.

"I trust everyone is all right?" Lucius said.

They both nodded. And then she giggled. She tried to squash it down, but another one escaped before she could.

"I'm glad you're so happy," Severus said without any sarcasm. "Considering your dress..."

"What, the wine?" she asked, waving one hand as if it was nothing. "We're not muggles, dear, it won't stain. No, I was laughing because--thank God we weren't in the library."

He leaned back and looked at her with a faint smile. "We would've brained each other with books."

"No," Lucius sighed. "She would be on the floor. She goes for the biggest thing to throw, but the Dictionary of Potions would have sent her backwards."

Severus looked around at the wine dripping from the ceiling and the sour cream on the broken window. He didn't know how the elves would get the room all clean again.

"I always thought purebloods were so refined," he admitted. "Straight-laced."

"I am," Narcissa said. "I couldn't throw as hard as I wanted because my corset's laced so tight."

With a light laugh, he picked up one of the clean napkins and dried his face, pushing his hair aside. The pizza arrived a moment later, sliced into squares instead of triangles. Severus decided not to correct them. The elves had done well, all things considered. If his lovers didn't complain about the strange muggle dish of cheese and bread, he wouldn't say anything.

To his delight, they both seemed to like pepperoni.

By the time dinner was truly over, the sun had set and the windows were dark. Lucius and Narcissa bathed first while Severus minded Draco, then went in once Lucius left the master bath free. By the time Narcissa came out of the guest bath, Severus was just barely visible in the bathroom doorway as he toweled his hair dry. He'd wrapped a towel around his waist and nothing else.

She stopped, draped in her sheer pink nightgown, and stared at him. Either he had finally grown comfortable enough around her to not worry about his looks or else he hadn't noticed the door was partially open.

"Oh my," she breathed, glancing at Lucius. "So that's how he caught your eye."

Lucius followed her look to the bathroom and smiled.

"Yes," Lucius nodded. "He hides a rather nice physique under those robes. But truthfully, I have to thank one of my contacts in Slytherin for arranging our meeting."

"You still keep contacts in Hogwarts?" she asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed and watching Severus unabashedly. His scars stood out, deep ones on his shoulders and side, rivaling the ones Lucius wore on his back.

"It's the easiest way to find new recruits," he said. "When it became obvious just how talented he was with potions, I told Avery to send him to meet me in the Boar's Head."

A shadow crossed his face. It was impossible not to notice, and she leaned closer so they could whisper.
"What was he like?" she asked.

"A kicked dog," he said. "Years of abuse from his father and then from the students...it was months before I saw him smile."

Narcissa glanced at the bathroom--Severus was nearly done--and then back at Lucius.

"What happened to his father? His mother?"

"Both are dead," Lucius answered. "From what I could gather afterward--and you must never let on that we know the truth, he prefers to let me believe the lie--his father killed his mother, and Severus killed him."

"What's the lie?" she asked. "That it was an accident?"

"That his father committed suicide," Lucius said. "That after stabbing her--"

She shuddered. At least the killing curse was painless. Muggle means of killing scared her much more.

"--Tobias Snape stabbed himself. But the aurors investigating didn't recognize the scars on his body. They didn't know what it looks like when you heal the dead."

Narcissa leaned back as she thought. Usually people didn't try to heal the dead unless they were frantic family members who couldn't accept the sudden loss. Dark wizards might heal a corpse to bind up deep gashes so body parts didn't fall off during transport, but a sticenia spell left deep furrows on a body that an auror might never have seen.

If Severus had to heal the body, that meant that he hadn't used his wand. He'd used a knife, probably the same knife as his father. And to heal the body to hide the murder--she put her hand to her mouth. He must have stabbed him several times.

The Severus she knew was quiet, brilliant, and a little sardonic once he opened up. She couldn't imagine him driven to such an extreme. She couldn't imagine him killing in a frenzy like a muggle.

In a perverse way, it reassured her. She had two husbands who could kill, both of whom she knew wouldn't recoil from messy work if it had to be done. If Draco ever needed someone to protect him, Severus could be counted upon.

But Severus was done in the bathroom, stepping out with a faint yawn.

"What are you two whispering about?" Severus asked as he joined them on the bed.

"You," she said with a teasing smile, changing from her serious mood. "Your muggle habits. They're so cute."

"What?" He looked over his shoulder at the bathroom. "What did I do this time? I thought--"

"The towel around your waist," Lucius clarified. "I assume that's a muggle habit. I'd never seen until I met you."

"Neither have I," Narcissa said, and her smile turned broader as he looked away in discomfit. "But I like the effect. Your robes are far too modest. Lucius, you should get him something a bit more ostentatious."

"I can dress myself, thank you," Severus said, but there was no heat in his voice. It was hard to get angry with them when they wanted to force gifts on him. "Draco is asleep, yes?"

"Thank God, yes," she said. "For the next few hours at least. Poor baby. I wish I could make it easier on him."

"Mm."

Severus hesitated. He desperately wanted to speak, but he'd seen enough movies of mad scientists to know that there were some things one simply didn't ask permission for. Even dark wizards drew the line at experimentation on their own children, no matter how benevolent the reason.

"I won't have you afraid to ask questions of us," Lucius said, reading his look. "What are you thinking?"

"No, I shouldn't," Severus shook his head. "Please forget it. I shouldn't have even considered it."

"At least let us know what your idea was," she said. "I'll die of curiosity otherwise."

"I thought of trying wyvern eggs," he said when she wouldn't relent. "But it doesn't matter. Even if I boiled them, they wouldn't lose all their venom."

"Why wyvern eggs?" Lucius asked.

"I thought perhaps some instinct in his blood was making Draco try to bite through an eggshell, that part of the pain was simply psychosomatic." When they stared blankly at him, he corrected himself. "That the pain is in his head. He's trying to break free and he's scared because he can't."

"Hm. Snake shells are too thin. What about an opaleye shell?" Narcissa said. "It's closest in texture and it isn't poisonous at all."

"I can't get those here," he said. "They're untradeable."

She smiled like an angel at him. "Not for my girls. I'll owl Morrigan tomorrow. If we're lucky, she might have one on hand already."

Moving slowly so he wouldn't shy away, she put her hand on his cheek and made him look at her.

"And if it doesn't work, we'll try the wyvern eggs, even if we only find out we can't boil all the poison from them." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "We trust you. You should let us trust you more often."

"I promised I would never hurt you," Lucius murmured. "I hope you know that my faith in you is part of that."

Severus fell silent. It was too much. She knew they'd overwhelmed him when he couldn't speak for a moment. How could he accept so much from them when he'd never been given anything by anyone else? She felt such delight with him, sarcastic and infuriating and painfully brittle underneath.

Taking mercy on him, she waved the candlelight away and in the darkness drew him close.

She thought about her two husbands. Lucius, a considerate brat trying to do his best by two high-strung lovers, and Severus, who she doubted would fully lose his awkward nervousness with his family. Between them, Narcissa thought to herself that arranged marriages could make life interesting indeed.

To be concluded...