"You know I've always wanted a little girl, Lucius," Narcissa pleaded with her husband. She wanted to make him understand, to put aside his inherent blood prejudice for two seconds and realize what they were being offered.

There had been a magical explosion in a town just outside of London that the Ministry had been covering up for the past few days. Things had become doubly complicated when they realized the source of the explosion was an unprecedented amount of accidental magic from a tiny three year old. One that had brought the house down around her and killed her parents. They had heard her crying in the rubble.

The Ministry was urging some family to take her in now. She knew they likely would only give the girl to a Pureblood family, as they should. The young Muggleborn needed to be taken in by a family who could raise her properly. Narcissa often wondered why they didn't take magical children from the Muggle world as soon as they were able.

"But, this little girl? A Mudblood? In our family?" Lucius scoffed, "Narcissa, dear, I know we've both had a hard time these past few years, but I cannot see how adopting her into our family would help."

Narcissa sighed and leaned against her husband. They truly had had a difficult few years. She had been through two miscarriages before Draco had stuck, but the delivery might have killed her if it hadn't been for a particularly clever midwife. From then on, the couple had decided to stop trying to conceive, even if it killed them both inside to decide it.

In the earliest years of their marriage, before they were married even, they had often laid together and daydreamed about all the beautiful children they would make to keep their Manor lively and bright. It was a dream both of them shared. And how Narcissa longed to have a little girl. Though Lucius would deny it, she knew he wanted a daughter almost as badly as she did.

"If we adopt her she will have a proper upbringing. Just think of all the innate magical power she must have from performing such a stunt like this at the age of three. We could help her with that, Lucius. We could raise her to truly know how to control her magic, raise her up to be strong and powerful. She could make our family name shine," she trailed off, looking up at Lucius with wide eyes.

He was silent for a long time, so silent that if he hadn't been holding her and stroking her back she would have wondered if she argued too far this time. But then, he spoke, "Draco does seem to be pretty lonely. This manor can make you feel very isolated if you don't have a constant playmate."

Narcissa's eyes shone with happy tears as she let out a very unladylike squeal of glee. She knew he had just agreed. It had honestly been a lot easier than she had expected. She wiped her tears and headed off the her bedroom to fix herself up before heading to the Ministry with her husband.

It was time to bring her daughter home.

Draco had surprised them all by immediately taking to the young girl. The poor thing was obviously quite shell-shocked from the incident, and had spent most of the first days at the manor clinging to Narcissa. The new mother/daughter duo had instantly become attached.

Narcissa and Lucius were both expecting a few temper tantrums from Draco in the beginning. After all, he had grown up an only child thus far and his parents had always been his and his alone. Not to mention he was constantly spoiled by them.

The first evening, however, the newest Malfoy (Hermione, she was called, which Narcissa thought was particularly lovely) was quietly whimpering while Narcissa rocked her. Even Lucius sat by her side and stroked the girl's hair a bit. He would never admit it, he was already a bit smitten with her. It had helped that the family magic had easily accepted the young witch into their family. If he had had any doubts left about adopting her, they were quelled in that instant.

Draco had picked himself off the ground, and climbed up by his mother's side as well. Before she could gently reprimand what she saw as jealousy, he had grabbed Hermione's hand and laid his head on her shoulder. The girl's whimpers had died down immediately and both children had quickly fallen asleep. Narcissa and Lucius had shared a wide-eyed look before determining the two would share a room for the next few years at least.

It was Hermione's fourth birthday and the manor was alight with warmth and happiness. The little girl had come a long way from when she had first arrived almost nine months prior. She and Draco were thick as thieves, and there wasn't a day that went by when the two weren't getting into some mischief on the grounds. Narcissa often had to lock herself up in the bedroom and cry at how magic had given her back what she thought she had lost forever. Sometimes, she even saw Lucius watch the two with mist in his eyes.

"Your friends will be coming soon, dear, we must get your hair done," Narcissa wagged her finger at the young girl who had just entered the dining room. Both her and Draco had been trying to sneak in all morning to catch a glimpse of the cake or of presents.

She pouted at that and Narcissa couldn't help but chuckle. Draco had definitely been influencing the girl at how best to get what she want. Luckily, Narcissa was resistant to pout-face at this point. Most of the time.

She lightly bounded over to the girl and scooped her up, layering kisses on her face as Hermione giggled for her to stop. She carried her into Hermione and Draco's room - the younger boy wasn't around, but Narcissa had a sneaking suspicion she knew where he was - and plopped the girl down by the vanity. She could have had the house-elves fix up her hair, but Hermione had once before asked Narcissa to brush it and she hadn't been able to give up that job since. In any case, it gave her and her adopted daughter some sweet time to bond together.

"Is Pansy coming?" Hermione asked as Narcissa started to braid one side of her hair.

"Yes, dear, she and Millie both are coming. Little Theo is going to be late because they're seeing his mother first before coming over," Hermione nodded as solemnly as a four year old could at that. Theo was one of her best friends, and she knew his mummy was really sick.

"Do you think someone brought me a cat today?" Hermione asked excitedly and Narcissa chuckled. The girl had been relentless in her quest to get a cat familiar, ever since she had spotted one roaming the outskirts of the grounds.

"I'm not sure, darling. A cat might be a bit too much for a fourth birthday," Narcissa replied, knowing full well Lucius was out right now picking one out for the girl.

"That's okay. I'll just get one before Hogwarts," she grinned as Narcissa finished up the other side. She waved her wand to get rid of the flyaways (and Hermione's hair certainly had many of those) before tying two white ribbons at the bottom of the plaits.

"You're all finished, my dear," Narcissa kissed the girl on the forehead as Hermione beamed up at her, "Why don't you go and find your terror of a brother and tell him it's his turn to get ready."

"Okay. Thanks, Mummy," Narcissa froze as Hermione kissed her cheek and ran off quickly through the doorway. Her hand raised to cover her cheek and tears sprang to her eyes. It had only been a week since Hermione had first called her that and she still hadn't been able to get used to the surge of happiness it sent through her. Happiness and relief.

She grinned as she heard both of her children squealing and running down the corridors towards the room. Her house was filled with so much love.

The party had ended a few hours before and she and Lucius were putting the children to bed earlier than usual. Even with their constant running around the manor, today had been an exceptionally wild day for the both of them with all of their little friends running about as well.

Hermione's new kitten, Babbity, followed along, purring loudly and happily. Narcissa thanked the heavens that she seemed to be a well-behaved animal.

Lucius gently laid Draco into his bed, the boy was already asleep and lightly snoring. Narcissa sat down with Hermione, the girl fighting to stay awake so she could say goodnight to everyone. Lucius quickly joined her to sit on the girl's bed and the three smiled together.

"I hope you had a lovely birthday, darling," Narcissa whispered, tucking her hair behind her ear. Hermione's grin grew wider, though her eyes drooped.

"We'll talk more tomorrow about how to properly care for Babbity. I hope your day was wonderful, too, my little Hermione," Lucius leaned forward to kiss the girl on the forehead before Narcissa laid her down and tucked her blankets uo around her.

"Goodnight, my love," Narcissa spoke softly, squeezing Lucius' hand and going to kiss Draco goodnight.

"G'night, Mummy. G'night, Papa," Hermione mumbled, almost unintelligently. Narcissa led Lucius quickly from the room, seeing how the man had started shaking at Hermione's words.

They had almost made it to their bedroom before Lucius started laughing. Narcissa was bewildered as her head whipped to face him.

"She called me 'Papa,'" He said through his chuckles, and Narcissa softened as she realized he was in shock, but he was happy.

"You are her Papa," Narcissa said, grabbing his hand once more as they walked to bed.

"I am her Papa," He repeated, the chuckles gone. His face was the perfect picture of contentment and wonder, "I never knew that I would feel this way about her. I'm glad you convinced me to take her in, dear. She fits so well and Draco is so happy and…" he trailed off, getting choked up. Narcissa laid a hand on his shoulder.

"I love her, too," she said gently.

Word count: 1741

Hedge Maze: (genre) family

Hall of Mirrors: Adoption!AU

Hamilton Mania: (relationship) parent/child; (optional) Hermione Granger

365 Challenge: 242. (relationship) parent/child