Hey everyone!

Happy New Year! Yes I know it's February but I was struck down with a virus for much of January a a fair few other issues and things so I'm saying my 2020 starts this month. I finally feel like myself again and am hoping to get back to writing ad just catching up on everything I lost in Januray. Enjoy the update.

Lots of love,

LM xxxx

Breaking Traditions-Part 14:

Narcissa's thoughts began to turn to a possible room for the baby when she arrived. She knew there were numerous rooms that she could use for the nursery. She had considered changing Draco's old nursery into the baby's nursery but she had so many happy memories with Draco in there that it didn't seem right to taint the memories with Draco.

That was when she began to wander the family wing and see which room would be the most suitable for the newborn. Draco's nursery had been across the corridor from the Master bedroom but Narcissa wanted her baby daughter's room to be on the same side of the corridor as the master bedroom. She then suddenly had an idea and hurried to the room that joined onto her side of the bedroom. It was currently a storage room but it was possible the stuff could be moved elsewhere if needs be.

The witch began to walk around the room looking and imagining the room as her precious baby girl's nursery and was about to get her wand out when she heard a voice.

"Cissa…" it said before she turned and saw Lucius stood in the doorway.

"Luc… I wasn't going to do anything, just draw an image of how the baby's nursery could look," Narcissa told him.

"Don't lie Narcissa. You were thinking about moving everything already and making this room the nursery," Lucius said as he walked into the room and Narcissa sighed, knowing that she had been caught out and nodded.

"Yes I was. I want this room to be the baby's nursery. I want a room to make memories in with her and then I can keep Draco's nursery for just him," she informed her husband before looking over at the window, "I want her close to us… close to me. We'll have to get the door joining the rooms unlocked and working again but that won't take long…"

She stopped as she felt Lucius' hands on her arms and looked up at him.

"That is all fine and well but promise me that you will wait until a child is found. I do not want you getting too far ahead of yourself and possibly jinxing the whole thing," Lucius said, "we've waited for this for so long now that I don't want to risk this all falling through. This means everything to you…"

"It does you too though… doesn't it?"

"Of course it does but you also know that my happiness depends on yours and I don't want this falling through. I don't want the madness coming back and trying to claim you."

Narcissa sighed as she looked at Lucius and nodded. She could see where Lucius was coming from. She didn't know until after the madness had subsided just how mad and erratic she had truly been.

"OK," she sighed, "I promise I won't do anything to jinx this but we do need to discuss possible changes that will need to be made to the Manor… even if we don't make them yet. We know a lot of that already though because of Draco when he was born."

"That we can do because we discussed the exact same when you were expecting Draco. Now we have the Manor to ourselves for the rest of the night as my mother is visiting father so lets go and have some tea," Lucius said before Narcissa allowed herself to be led from the room and to the parlor.

"Are you really going to sit and have tea with me?" Narcissa smirked as she and Lucius entered the parlor.

"Well no but I am going to sit here with you and drink coffee. You know I cannot stand tea," Lucius smirked causing Narcissa to laugh softly. That made him smile. It had been a while since he'd heard his wife truly laugh. He watched her, captivated by her beauty as always. She was the light in his dark moments and he was hers. They worked well together and, at times, it was like they'd naturally come together but it had been a well thought arranged marriage in the end.

The two sat and discussed random topics. Politics, letters from Draco and Druella's stubbornness. It was clear that Narcissa had received her stubbornness off her mother instead of her father but, luckily, it hardly flared up unless Narcissa truly believed in something. Lucius even knew to back down once that line was reached.

Eventually the two put their winter cloaks on and headed out to have a look around the gardens. It wasn't a cold night but cold enough for them to need their winter cloaks.

"Well we'll have to put barriers up around the ponies and peacock areas," Narcissa said, "we cannot possibly have a toddler getting into there without a clue how to defend themselves. Your peacocks can have a nasty bite if provoked. I was on the receiving end a lot when I first came here."

"Yes that is very true and no doubt we will have to create a safe play area for the baby as well. We'd have to change it as she grows up though but it would be the same area of the garden for her," Lucius said, "I think it would be better to have fencing or some sort of barrier so when she is out here playing you'd be able to relax more because she wouldn't be able to run away from you. After all we do have the lake as well."

"That's one lesson we have from Draco," Narcissa said as she rested her head on her husband's shoulder, "he was always trying to get away from me when he could," she said, "he was far too fast and the toy broomstick made it far worse. It might have only been a toy broomstick but I know you modified it to make it faster."

"OK OK. Guilty as charged. I wondered if you figured it out. One good thing that we've learnt is the garden will only need minor changes. The Manor itself is a whole new story," Lucius said before holding Narcissa close as they carried on strolling the gardens into the evening and night, just enjoying being alone and having this rare moment of time together before everyone started coming and going again.