Happy August everyone! Well it's still a crazy year and I don't think anyone could have seen 2020 turning out the way it has. Anyway congrats on making it to level 8 in Jumanji! I am officially back at work and I'm still ahead on updates and loving being back at work. It feels good to be back working and it appears to have unblocked my mind and I feel creative again. We wll see how it goes.

Stay safe.

Lots of love,
LM xxxx

Breaking Traditions-Part 26:

Lucius was now in a situation he didn't want to be in. Saying that he would talk to Narcissa about the statement was one thing but managing to do it was an entirely different matter. He sighed as yet another day went by when he hadn't mentioned it to her. He'd cursed himself for not seeking his mother's advice on how to broach the subject with his wife and wondered whether the fathers were already crafting the statement anyway. One would have to be released at some point so he knew they'd probably take the lead and start just in case anyway.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" Lucius asked as he walked over to his wife as she removed her earrings and placed them on her bedside table, "I thought if you weren't doing anything we could have tea together…" he said before biting his lip as he waited to see how she would react to what he'd just said.

Narcissa had frozen as soon as she'd heard Lucius say about having tea together and she looked at him in the mirror.

"Why do you want to have tea? I was going to brave Diagon Alley in the morning. I don't feel ready but I need to get a couple of things and the longer I stay here the more my mother wins," Narcissa said as she looked at Lucius, "I can't let her do that again."

"Can't a husband just have tea with his wife? Does there always have to be a reason behind it all?" Lucius asked, feigning that her question had hurt him a lot.

"Lucius there is always some sort of motive behind your actions and I know that you have been struggling with since I spent the afternoon at Helena's," Narcissa said as she looked at Lucius and raised a eyebrow, "just stop denying it please and then everything will be fine."

Lucius sighed and looked at her before kissing her neck softly.

"I just want to spend the afternoon with you and yes I do have something that needs discussing but it's an easy thing to discuss so you will have to bare with me whilst I try and explain what is going on but please know that there is only your best interests at heart."

"Am I being sent away?" Narcissa asked and Lucius shook his head, "no. You are staying right here where you belong Cissa. I would never dream of sending you away because of what's happened. Your home is here and it always will be," Lucius said softly as he kissed her shoulder before going to get ready for bed.

Narcissa was on edge all morning as she wandered the streets of Diagon Alley and could see people looking at her but she held her head high. She was a Malfoy after all and that was nothing that anyone could take away from her no matter what.

She waited until 4pm and then headed into the parlor and took up her usual seat and waited to see if Lucius would stick to his word and take tea with her. It had been rather an odd request but she had agreed after all.

Just when she thought that he'd gone back on his word he walked in and sat down and asked for the tea to be served. Narcissa looked at him and part of her wanted to ask him to tell her what he needed to speak with her about as it was clearly something that made him nervous. One thing she'd learnt over the years was that Lucius Malfoy rarely ever did struggle to find his words and yet here he was struggling.

Silence fell on the room as the two sat and drank their tea before Narcissa looked up at him and caved.

"What is it that you need to speak to me about?" She asked as she looked at him before watching her husband sigh deeply and place his cup down.

"When you were at the Greengrasses for the afternoon the other day your father and my parents came over and we had a discussion about what Druella did and how it should have been our decision when the plans were announced but she took that out of our hands and that you and I have to take back control," Lucius said.

"So talking about me behind my back," Narcissa said as she looked at Lucius.

"No, only that you are stronger than before and that you will not let your mother run you down," Lucius said, "anyway we came up with an idea that would keep the pressure on Druella and serve as an extra punishment to the one your father will give her."

"What is that? Why do you have to ask me beforehand?" Narcissa asked, confused with what Lucius was asking of her.

"Our fathers want to issue a statement on the whole issue and keep the pressure on your mother for what she did as it was wrong," Lucius said, "but I said nothing could happen until you'd given permission. I wanted to leave it up to you," he said.

Silence fell on the room as Narcissa weighed up everything that Lucius had said to her and she sighed, running a hand through her hair before eventually nodding,

"OK fine. Yes. What my mother did was wrong and she should be held accountable and if our fathers can figure out a way to do that then I am happy to allow it," she said softly before Lucius went and sat by her.

"She will not destroy this," he said softly before placing a kiss on her neck.

It was only another four days before the well crafted statement from Abraxas Malfoy and Cygnus Black was all over the pages of the Prophet and it wasn't much longer afterwards before the owls were arriving at Malfoy Manor.

The owls, as expected, had been a mixture of good and bad. Some showing sympathy for what had happened and others expressing support for what the Malfoys were considering and hoping to do. The only one who was truly horrified was Druella as she had been shamed and she would certainly ready to face her husband and in-laws about the public dressing down she'd just received.