Wednesday, 17 2009

Lucius and Narcissa had just returned from their cruise of the Faroe Islands, and were currently making their way toward the library to meet with their son. As they neared the library doors, they heard voices down around the corner. The couple made their way to the corner, looking around to see their son standing in front of one of the ancestral portraits.

Narcissa moved to step around the corner, when her husband stopped her. A blonde eyebrow rose in a silent question to her husband. He responded with a finger to his lips. Her silent glare caused him to smirk.

"When do I get to see the little ones?" They heard Emeny Malfoy Talbot question, eagerness lacing her voice. The deep chuckle of her father, Emeric Malfoy, quickly followed his daughter's question.

Draco sighed. "Aunt Emeny, right now the twins are still at St. Mungo's and will probably be for a couple weeks or until my daughter and her mother are well enough to go home. As for you being able to see them?" He shook his head sadly. "I really don't know when or if their mother will ever step foot in here again."

Lucius raised a questioning eyebrow at his wife; she shrugged in response, not sure whom he was speaking about either. He placed his hand on the small of Narcissa's back, leading her quietly around the corner. As Lucius opened his mouth to speak, his son spoke again.

"I would love for you and Emeric to meet both of my children, especially my daughter," he smiled tenderly at Emeny, "she looks exactly like you in your naming portrait."

"She does?" There was a slight hitch apparent in the portrait's voice as she spoke.

Draco nodded. "Yes, pale curly blond hair and all."

"Oh Draco, please, you must speak with her. I want to meet mon petit cœur."

Lucius and Narcissa's son stood staring at his ancestor, mulling over her request. After some time, he inclined his head slightly. "I will see what I can do, but sadly, I can make no promises. Their mother can be stubborn sometimes, but this place also frightens her."

Lucius frowned at his son's words, stepping forward; he made their presence known. "Draco, who are you speaking of? Who is so frightened that she will not step foot in our home?"

At the sound of his father's voice, Draco spun to his right to face his parents, surprised to see his parents waiting for him in the hallway rather than in the library where they were planning to meet. "Father, Mother, I did not hear you approach."

Narcissa stepped around her husband, taking one of her son's hands between both of her own. She smiled sadly, recalling conversations with a certain young brunette witch. A brunette witch, who she had slowly become friends with over the last few years and who last she knew, was pregnant with twins. "It's Hermione, she is the mother of your children. My own deranged sister tortured her in our home; of course she would not want to return here. Is this why you did not tell us of your impending fatherhood?"

"Yes, Hermione is the mother of my children and yes, she's terrified of ever returning here because of her, but no, that is not the reason why I didn't tell you." Draco looked back and forth between both his parents. "I didn't tell you, because I didn't know I was the father of Hermione's children until Nouna told me right after they were born."

"What do you mean you did not know?" Emeric's question hung in the air around the three living Malfoys and the two in the portrait.

Draco looked to his ancestor. "Emeric, the twins were conceived at a close friend's wedding on Samhain. Hermione was Maid of Honour and I Best Man. The other day we figured out that when the spells were cast on Adrian and Ginny that the two of us must have been closer together than we thought and we were somehow included in the spells. During the spell casting, I vaguely remember staring at Hermione and she said she remembers staring back at me, but we're hoping that since we didn't speak the vows that Adrian and Ginny spoke, then we're not bound together. I haven't had a chance to make it to the ministry to see if a binding certificate was made in our names. That will be our saving grace if we are able to work through our relationship together at our own pace," Draco shook his head, "but obviously the fertility spell took."

"Draco, that does not explain why you did not know that Hermione's children are your own," Narcissa prompted.

Looking at his parents, he replied, "As you both know the drink was flowing freely that night. Very freely." The young Malfoy grimaced, his cheeks flushing in discomfiture. "The last thing that I clearly remember is the spell casting and for Hermione it was the speeches at the reception. After that neither of us remember anything of the rest of the evening, until the next morning. Hermione woke up before me, grabbed her clothing and fled to the bathroom to change before absconding from the room. She said that she was so shocked by what she had done that she never thought to look to see whom she had been with. Also, I had had my head buried underneath my pillow, so she never saw my face."

"Like you have done since you were a child," Narcissa reminisced.

He nodded, running a hand through his short blond hair, mussing it. Draco knew that if Hermione could see him now, she would have teased him for his hair's resemblance to Harry's. Like she tended to do after a particularly stressful day.

Narcissa pulled her son into a hug. "My dear boy, I am so sorry this happened this way."

Draco returned his mother's hug for a moment before pulling away. "Me too."

Lucius spoke for the first time since interrupting at the beginning. "What are your plans for when Hermione and the twins leave St. Mungo's?"

"Well, we haven't discussed it yet, but I know she won't want to move in here and I can't say I blame her."

"Neither do we, my son," his mother admitted.

"After I leave here, I will be returning to St. Mungo's to check on Hermione and the twins. Adrian and Ginny as well as Harry and Luna have offered their homes for her to stay in if she is allowed to go home before the twins are able to leave. If that is the case, then once she is released, then she is planning to stay with one of them until the twins are allowed to come home. Once the twins are healthier and have gained a little weight then they will be released to go home." A blush stole across his cheeks once again. "I've offered up my flat for her and the twins as well. It has more space than her one-bedroom flat and that way it would be easier for family and friends to visit them, especially Nouna."

"What about you Draco? Where would you live?"

Draco shoved his hands in the pockets of his trousers, as the blush on his cheeks darkened even more at his aunt's questions, a sign of his reluctance to share something so personal, even with his family. "Err, well about that, my flat has three bedrooms, so more than enough space for the four of us. Plus I would feel much safer if she, if they were closer to me."

Lucius' eyes widened as a thought struck him. "You love her."

Emeny and Narcissa gasped. "Draco?"

Draco squeezed his eyes shut, but nodded his head. "Yes, I do; have for years actually."

"Does she know?"

His eyes popped open at his mother's question. "No, of course not. During the war she would've rather castrated me, during healer training neither of us had a social life, hell, even now, neither of us really does. We have both dated others, but how do you tell someone like Hermione Granger that you love her?"

"You just do, young Draco," Emeric voiced.

Draco sighed, "I wish it were that easy, Grandfather Emeric."

Emeny laid a hand upon her father's shoulder, silencing him. "Draco, what you just listed are excuses, when the time is right, you will tell her." Draco looked at his aunt curiously; she smiled serenely at him. "Trust me."

Draco found himself believing her, but he turned back to his parents. "I wish all of this had happened differently, but what's done is done. We can only move forward from here."

Lucius studied his son for a moment. "Why did you order Nouna not to notify us as soon as you were?"

The young man looked torn. "I had only just found out that I was a father and I wanted to tell you both in person, I felt that I owed you that much since I had messed up enough already."

Lucius opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Narcissa cut him off. "Lucius, leave him be, as he said what's done is done." She smiled at her son. "How are the twins? How is Hermione? You mentioned going in to check on them. Are they all healthy?"

The smile that graced the young father's face lit up the hallway. "Well, they were born about two months early, so they're both a little on the small side, and Elysia has mild jaundice because she was so early, but they already have her on a phototherapy regimen to counteract it. Xavier is doing brilliant, but a close eye is being kept on him too, in case he starts showing signs of jaundice or anything else. As for Hermione, she came down with a muggle infectious disease called the flu. She's fine for the most part, just very tired and hopefully she'll have finally broken her fever when I see her. She's ready to see the twins again and anxious about leaving them in the nursery ward and possibly going home before them, but I reminded her how protected they are there. Two of our close friends and colleagues, Pansy and Susan Bones, are working opposite shifts in the nursery ward to keep an eye on them."

"I know Pansy very well and Hermione has told me quite a bit about Miss Bones, so yes, the twins are in good hands." Narcissa paused, grasping her son's hand. "Your father and I will be here for you, Hermione, and the babies. Please let us know if there is anything we can do."

"I will, and I will let Hermione know, too."

Narcissa's smile morphed into a grin as she clapped her hands together once in a very un-Malfoy-like gesture. "Now, when can I meet my grandbabies?"

Draco chuckled at seeing his mother so happy. "Come by my office tomorrow morning and I'll introduce you both to your grandchildren then."

Three days later, found Draco sitting in his father's study, the bright Saturday afternoon sun shining through the study windows. Silently regarding his son, Lucius swirled the snifter of firewhisky in his hand before bringing the snifter to his nose, breathing in the potent aroma.

The moment his son shifted in his seat from the weight of his stare, he broke the silence. "What are your plans regarding Miss Granger?"

Draco sighed in frustration. While staring into his own snifter, he used the heat from his hand to warm the amber liquid. "Well, since she's been ill, I haven't brought up the subject of where she and the twins will live. Although, Hermione keeps bringing it up, saying she feels like they will be intruding in my home and no matter how many times I tell her that we can talk about it once she's healthy again, she's dug her feet in." He brought his snifter to his nose, letting the aroma of the whisky wash over his senses, calming him. "I think most of her stubbornness this time around is from the flu returning, and now she has contracted pneumonia with it. Sometimes that witch can be so obstinate, but she has every right to be. I was just happy when she agreed to change our son's name from Marcus to Xavier. After that, I can work to convince her to move in with me."

Lucius raised a pale eyebrow at his son. "Yes, Miss Granger can be quite firm in her convictions, but I did not mean your living arrangements. Are you going to marry Miss Granger?"

Draco choked on the sip of firewhisky he had just taken. Sipping from his own snifter, Lucius did nothing to hide his smirk as his son tried to regain control of his breathing. Lucius was able to savour a second sip of his whisky before his son was able to speak again.

"What? No, yes," Draco sputtered. He took a deep breath. "I mean we haven't discussed marriage or anything even remotely close to marriage."

"Let me rephrase myself, you will be marrying Miss Granger."

"Father, don't. I refuse to force Hermione into something that she may not want."

"Draco, if you don't marry Miss Granger then your daughter will not be the legitimate heir to the Malfoy family."

The younger wizard raised an eyebrow. "Would you like to discuss that with Nouna's magic or the familial magic of the Malfoy Tapestry? Neither type of magic can lie when it comes to the Malfoy family, especially the magic of the patronymic elf. Nouna's magic is tied directly to the Malfoy blood…"

"I know that Draco, but look at it from an outsider's viewpoint. Hermione has given birth to the Malfoy heir out of wedlock; she will be frowned upon. Your daughter and your son will both be frowned upon."

Lucius watched as his son stood up from his chair and began pacing across his study floor, his snifter of firewhisky still clutched tightly in his hand. "Dammit father, I know that! But you also know how proud Hermione can be. You already know she was tormented by the masses because of her fatherless pregnancy. You also know that she will try to bear the brunt of others' hateful comments about our children, because she is that type of person."

Draco stopped his restless pacing. Turning to look at his father, a lost look upon his face, the young wizard sighed. "I would be honoured if Hermione agreed to marry me, but I still refuse to force a wedding upon her if that is not her wish."

"Draco, did I hear you say the word wedding?" Narcissa gracefully hurried into Lucius' study. "Please tell me that you will be marrying Hermione. I would just love to have her for my daughter-in-law."

He turned to look at his mother, shaking his head. "I have not raised the topic of marriage with Hermione. She's having a hard enough time as it is and I don't want to force her into it if she doesn't want to marry me." He took a sip from his firewhisky before speaking again. "I don't want her first thought when I bring up the subject to be that I'm doing it out of a sense of duty. I honestly do love her and I want to show her that I do. If over the course of us taking care of our children together, she wants to get married then I will do it."

Narcissa looked saddened by her son's words, but once she saw the determination in his eyes, she decided against arguing the point with him. Turning to her husband, she stated, "Then as the Head of the Malfoy family, you must step in and verbally claim Elysia as the Malfoy heir and Xavier as her successor and our grandchildren."

Lucius watched the emotions flare across his normally stoic son's face, his own thoughts speeding through his brain. Would claiming Hermione Granger's twins as his grandchildren be enough to prevent the backlash that would surely arise when the Wizarding world discovered just who it was who fathered them? Probably not all the backlash, but they would be able to save Hermione from most of the heartache to come. The Head of the Malfoy family nodded to his wife.

"Yes, I will claim Elysia as the heir to the Malfoy family and Xavier as her successor. We will also gladly claim them both as our grandchildren."