Once the family were home inside the manor again, Lucius tossed his coat at side, onto the waiting house elf and went with firm steps across the entrance hall. At the first steps of the staircase he turned around. "I told you that we shouldn't bring him!" he spat at Narcissa furiously. "I said no! Yet you did!"
"Lower your voice!" She walked passed Lucius and began climbing the stairs while carrying a sleeping Draco.
"Don't you dare walk away from me when I'm talking to you!" he screamed after her.
She turned back to him at the corner of the stairs "I dare whatever I want! And I'm going to put our son to bed first." she hissed at him. "Save you energy!"
Lucius rushed up the stairs after her but while upstairs he turned left towards the master bedroom instead of right, towards Draco's bedchamber. He opened the door violently and slammed it shut behind him. He lit the fireplace with a simple spell and went directly to the liquor cabinet to pour himself the third large firewhiskey of the evening. He took the drink with him as he went to the leather settee in front of the fireplace. Once seated he made a heavy sigh and placed his head in his hands.
After what felt like ages, the door suddenly, again, opened violently. "You blame me?!" Narcissa's clear voice was cold and hurt. "You dare to blame me for what happened tonight?"
Lucius removed his head from his hands when he heard his wife's voice. "Well, who else am I supposed to be blaming then?" he said haughty and rose from the settee.
"You're unbelievable." she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes "You are absolutely unbelievable."
Lucius started to lose his temper even further. "Dear wife, you where the one who thought it was a good idea to bring him! And you where the one who lost him while at the Ministry!" His nostrils flattered and he pointed his finger at her.
She copied his movements and pointed her finger at him. "But it was you who didn't let me stay home with him, husband! What else were we supposed to do then? I do not recall that you had a better idea!"
"Don't start with that again!" he roared and turned away from her to face his own reflection in the huge window. "You're unreasonable, woman!"
A few silent moments past. The tension between the two and in the room were thick enough to cut through with a knife. "You know what? Fine, blame me. Blame me for all what I care." Narcissa lowered her hand but did not turn away her eyes. "If it makes your self inflated mind at ease." she added with in muttering.
Lucius heard her. He turned towards her again and his eyes darkened. "You'll do wise to stop calling me selfish." He slowly stepped towards her. "I'll have to donate loads of money to this silly event if someone hopefully ever will forget about what happened tonight!"
"Ha, if that was supposed to make you sound less selfish: you didn't do very well."
"ENOUGH!" Lucius roared. He'd lost it and speed up his pace towards her.
He was close now, too close. Narcissa started to back away from him but he followed her until her back hit the wall. She had nowhere to go, and for the first time in her life, was she scared of the man who stood before her. "Don't you dare touch me" she suddenly whimpered in barely a whisper, far more submissively then intended.
At her words he grabbed her waist and pushed her up against the wall with a force he'd never used on her before. "I dare whatever I want." he hissed in her ear. He took a deep breath to calm himself down a bit and with that inhale her scent, oh the sweet scent. He was this close to pull out his wand and curse her, however his mind suddenly had other ideas. He firmly grabbed her left breast and gave it a light squeeze, while he started sucking on her neck.
"Get off me!-"
He left her neck, crushed his lips on hers and silenced her to a muffled 'mmmph'. Lucius reached down to unbuckle his belt and squeezed her breast once more. He looked up to meet her eyes. What he saw was nothing but eyes of terror. At once he released her and immediately stepped away. What had he become? This wasn't the the way it was supposed to be. It was like a whim made him desperate to show her that he was at charge, that he was the man...- What had he done? "Cissa..."
"Get... away... from me." Her voice shook and she looked everywhere but at him.
The embarrassment and shame flooded over him. He'd never crossed the line before, nevertheless so vulgarly, and what did he think? That she would throw herself on him by his not so gentle touch and after a whole night's quarrel. He'd steady enough to talk calmly and unhooked his dressing gown from the coat-hanger "I'll sleep in the upper west wing, good night." and left the master bedroom without another word.
They say: don't go to bed at loggerheads*, and that's probably very true. One would never forgive oneself if the last conversation you had with your loved one was an argument. Or nonetheless if your last interaction most likely will be seen as an violation.
At the breakfast table next morning Draco was in a unusually good mood and ate everything Narcissa offered him. Apart from Draco rambling about anything between heaven and earth, no one spoke. Lucius sat at the end of the table with his nose in The Morning Prophet, he had neither touched his food nor his tea.
"Would you like to accompany me to my mother and father today?"
Lucius looked up at the sound of his wife's voice, but looked down as quickly again when he understood that she wasn't talking to him.
"Would you, sweetheart?" Narcissa cooed on when she didn't got an direct answer. "To visit your grandparents?"
Draco who just had swallowed the last mouthful of his scrambled eggs looked hesitant. "Do I have to?" he tried.
Narcissa looked at Draco meaningly. "Don't you think they would be happy to see you?"-
Lucius laughed internally. He did not now that Cyngus or Druella Black could feel happiness, such thing didn't seem to be a part of their nature.
-"They are after all coming home from France this afternoon, who knows they might have brought you something?"
Draco, who understood that he didn't had much of a choice in the matter, obliged to his mother's wish.
"Then I think it's a suitable time for a bath, don't you think?"
Draco nodded his head, "I'll tell the house elf to tap up the bath immediately," and sprung to his feet. "Thanks for breakfast!" He yelled half way out of the room.
Narcissa smiled after him. "Draco do not run! I'll be with you in a minute." As she was about to rise from her chair, Lucius spoke up for the first time since last night. "Narcissa-" He'd put down the paper and was now looking at her.
She hesitated but continued to rise without a single glance at him.
"Narcissa?" His voice was gentle almost supplicant. "...just, listen to me."
Narcissa stood straight up with her eyes fixedly on the table surface while tracing one of her fingers in a light slot onto the table. "Why, Lucius?" she swallowed "Nothing out of value has seemed to come out of your mouth of lately."
Lucius clenched both his fists and squared his jaw. "...I'm sorry." The words was strained and unfamiliar to Narcissa's ears. Lucius never apologised. "I'm so sorry, Narcissa." he repeated.
Taken aback by his words she looked down at him. He looked down on his lap, still with clenched fists.
"Please forgive me." he whispered, still not looking at her, this was clearly difficult for him.
Narcissa sat back down on her chair next to him again but didn't say anything.
"I crossed a major line last night. I don't know what got into me, I've been trying the whole morning to blame the alcohol but I know that I hadn't been drinking that much. It's vile and I have no excuse, but I can promise you that something like it will never happen again-"
He talked in a nonstop flow and before she knew it she'd put her hand on his to cease him. When she thought of the arguments of yesterday did it seem quite ridiculous. She too, thought he'd gone too far, way too far, but in complete honesty she had provoked him. "I provoked you, Lucius-"
He shook his head. "No- you may have done, but I did the same to you, and it doesn't matter- You even told me to stop-" he took a deep breath "...please forgive me, Narcissa."
His sudden vulnerability felt strange to her. He was like a child trying to beg for forgiveness. Something inside her told her not to forgive him this easy, but by the fact that he, not only once but twice, had told her that he was sorry made her certain as anything that he meant it genuinely. Lucius Malfoy was not one who begged for forgiveness. She looked up and locked eyes with him.
He hesitated but said the words he had on his lips: "I love you so much, Narcissa. And I am so, so sorry."
She nodded her head and bit her lower lip, "And I do love you," she whispered.
He leaned forward and took both her hands in his. "I'm a fool-"
"Yes, yes you are,"
He hinted a smirk, "-let me finish. I'm a fool-"
Narcissa put two of her fingers on his lips, "You don't need to say more. You're a fool, a big bloody fool, Lucius Malfoy." She locked eyes with him again.
A bit awkward moment past when none of them said anything, or proceeded with any motion. Perhaps it would be best if they both withdrew to lick their mental wounds.
"Do you forgive me?" Lucius broke the silence.
Narcissa was about to laugh internationally but decided not to. How could he still doubt? The man who she knew had never doubted before. Because she did believe him when he said that he genuinely was sorry, and she did believe him when he said that it would never happen again. "If you really need to hear me say it I might as well just say it. The question is how you can doubt-"
"It's not a question of doubt, I just need to hear you say it"
She looked up at him again. "I do forgive you, Lucius,"
A solid relief went trough his body.
"Now, show me that you still can kiss like a gentleman."
Lucius was more than happy and eager to proceed. He leaned in, grabbed her face with both his hands and kissed her surprisingly gentle, making sure not to make any mistake this time. Narcissa broke the kiss shortly after but kept the small distance between their faces, and whispered: "I think I'm needed upstairs, before our son floods his bathroom." She was not going to give it to him easy. A quick peek on the lips was what he deserved, not the snog session he might've wanted. She stroked his cheek and rose to help Draco with is bath upstairs.
Finally I got the time to post this chapter. I'm not sure if this will be the last one or not, as always I'm not quite happy with the ending and would like to continue it.
Thank you so much for reading and please don't forget to review! Write anything, positive or negative, everything is welcomed.
(* I'm not sure if this sentence will make any sense. I've practically just translated straight off from Swedish, were we sometimes say: "gå inte till sängs oense" and the best translation I could come up with was "don't go to bed at loggerheads". Hope this clear out some potentially confusion.)