Happy New Year everyone!

2023 was one of the hardest years of my life but I made it. I heard views were slowly coming back so thought I'd update. With all the issues with fanfiction and emails I missed a tonne of reviews last year. Please DM me if you have an account and you wish to ask/tell me something about my stories. I feel awful about missing all the reviews, so please reach out to me if you can.

Hope 2024 is amazing for you.

Lots of love,
LSH xxx

Breaking Traditions – Part 68:

It had been about a week since Meredith had been reunited with her family. She had been avoiding being alone with her Father and brother as she hadn't wanted to face talking to them. The moment was fast approaching and Narcissa and Priscilla had decided to take matters into their own hands and that was something Meredith would both thank them and yell at them for at the same time.

The two had slipped off to Diagon Alley but had only told Meredith so when Lucius had walked into the Library expecting to find his mother or wife, he had a shock.

"Where are Mother and Cissa? Where's Rosalie?" he asked as he looked at his sister.

"They went off to Diagon Alley. I wasn't aware that I wasn't alone," came the older sibling's reply.

"Is it just us?" came another voice that sent both children into a spin.

"Yes, it is Father and it appears that we have been set up indeed," Meredith sighed, "they've been pushing for the three of us to come together to try and clear the air and now here we are…" she said as she closed her book, looking at her Father and brother.

Lucis bit his lip and looked at his Father.

"Well should we just get this out of the way so we can move on?" he asked.

"'Get this out of the way so we can move on?' Do you have any idea what you put me through back then?" Meredith said, "do you have any idea how difficult you both made my life? I was a top Auror and was going to be made the head of the department and then the War happened and you two both revealed you had the Dark Mark and that was almost it for me. My Father and brother were Death Eaters and the daughter and sister was an Auror…"

Lucius and Abraxas appeared to be braced for Meredith to start shouting at them but they hadn't expected her to launch into it straightaway. It seemed odd that Meredith would launch a wall of words at them but, then again, they had all been tiptoeing around each other for a week or more.

Abraxas sat down and had to think about his answer as simply saying that he was following his own father would not have worked. Lucius, on the other hand, had more of an explanation ready and one that he knew his mother may well have told his sister before.

"I had to join to protect Draco and Cissa," Lucius said, "this you know already though I'm sure. The Dark Lord had wanted to Mark Draco but I refused to let him brand my son when he was born so I took the Mark to prevent Draco having to take it when he was a baby. I have no idea what the Dark Lord had planned for Cissa if I should have refused so I had to do it to protect my family. I was backed into a corner…"

Abraxas looked at his children as they were talking and he felt like his explanation wasn't going to be as good as Lucius'. He inwardly sighed as he wanted to wait until his presence was remembered.

"Mother has told me that story before and I can believe that that from what I know of the Dark Lord from those crazy days in the Auror's Office when the War was at its height," Meredith spoke. "I can believe that rather and know that I would have done the same in your shoes brother," she said as she sat down in the window seat that she had stood up from.

"Why did you decide to go undercover?" Lucius asked, "it is something that has bothered me since I found out and I really want to know why you chose to do that… and for so long as well… You stayed away for so long."

"Maybe because I was partly running from the family name… running from what my father and brother were," Meredith spoke as she looked out of the window, "I needed to get away from the darkness that surrounded the Malfoy name. Was I ashamed to come from this family at one point? Yes. I'm not afraid to admit that. I wanted to get away… make a name for myself… as someone else partly but everyone will come to know who it was. I reached out to Mother because she would understand me and wouldn't judge me for what I did."

Lucius could see the pain in his sister's eyes as she remembered back to that decision she made all those years ago.

"Why now?" Abraxas asked, "you could have come back years ago. Why didn't you?"

"Because this had to be on my terms and that is something that I wasn't sure I was ready to do," Meredith said, "then Mother told me about Rosalie and I saw the Prophet coverage and I knew that Draco lost out on all his years of knowing me and I wasn't going to make the same mistake with Rosalie. I reached out to Fudge and my last undercover was wrapped and now here I am."

"I wish I had a better explanation for my actions but I was simply doing what was expected of me and that is all I can say," Abraxas said with a sigh.

"Of course you were. You never were able to do the right thing and I wouldn't expect anything but that kind of response from you," Meredith spat as she looked at her father before looking back to Lucius.

"Are you that angry with me?" Lucius asked as he looked at his sister.

"No I am not," Meredith said, "I knew you'd done it to protect Draco and Cissa. Mother told me years ago. I just wanted to hear it from your mouth brother dear," she said and smiled slightly, "you did it to love and to protect the ones you love," she said as she rested a hand on Lucius' shoulder and watched him, "you are forgiven brother. Father on the other hand… I will not be able to forgive in such a manner," she said.

Abraxas could only watch as his daughter grabbed her book and walked out of the library leaving a relieved brother and an anxious father behind.