Family Rights (that aren't always right)

“Lovegood?” Draco asks, looking at Luna in confusion. Where had he heard that name before? He’s pretty sure he has somewhere…. 

“Yes, Lovegood” Luna replies, looking at him dreamily “Mummy and Daddy created that name themselves.”  

The green and silver purebloods all looked at each other, unsure of what exactly the younger blonde meant by “created that name themselves”, but assumed that she meant that they had established their reputation in the public eye.

“Really?” Blaise sounded surprised, he had never heard of that name before, it could mean that she was a halfblood or a muggleborn…. But she looked pureblooded, with her high cheekbones, perfect lips and eye shape. In fact….she reminded him of someone. Well obviously Draco, but someone besides Draco. He just couldn’t put his finger on it. Maybe he’ll go consult the pureblood history books for the Lovegoods.

“Luna” said Theo, testing her name on his tongue then looking at her “Do you want us to introduce you to some Ravenclaws? I know being a first year can be a bit lonely” 

Luna looks at him with wide eyes.

 “Really?” she asks excitedly 

“Of course,” Theo replies with a smile. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


“Dear Mother, Father, 

I hope you are doing well, the start of term has been rather…interesting to say the least. But I'll get to that in a bit. 

Thank you for the sweets Mother, my friends and I all enjoyed them even though it was gone in seconds when Crabbe and Goyle laid their eyes on them. They want me to write ‘Thank you’ for them and ask which sweets shop you got them at, as there were some brands they hadn't seen in a while.

I met a rather interesting girl, Father. She looks like us. The same platinum blonde and silvery grey eyes which, if I remember correctly from reading the history books, that pairing is ONLY visible in the Malfoy bloodline. 

She says her name is Luna Lovegood, which I don’t think I saw on the Sacred 28 family names. She looks pureblooded though. She has a rather dreamy gaze, which indicates she hasn’t been taught pureblood manners. 

She always seems like she is daydreaming off somewhere, and yet she can still be read like an open book.

Its strange though, she often appears to read people that tend to be more closed off and secretive... Like she knows their deepest secrets. That can’t be right though, because only people who have been gifted access to the ancient magic can even manage that, and she is only a first year.

Luna is a rather….odd thing as well. She talks about magical beings a lot too, like Nargles. She also told Blaise, Theo and I that she's an orphan, her Father just died earlier this year, and she lost her Mother at a young age. We all agreed that even if she is in Ravenclaw, we should still steer her on the right path, so we introduced her to Stella Armani and Toloius De Mevius. 

Blaise had this brilliant idea to show her around Hogwarts the following morning, we ended up in the trophy room and she pointed to a man that looked…like you, Father. She said that was her Father when he went to Hogwarts. He was a Slytherin, and from the date, was in Hogwarts the same time, if not in the same year as you. It is rather odd so I just wanted to ask, 

Is she some kind of lost relative? 

Anyways I have to go, and yes i will keep up in my studies though that Granger girl keeps somehow beating me.
Good bye!
Love,
Draco 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luna woke from her bed from the warmth sneaking through the canopy around her from a nearby window. She looked up at the dark blue cloth, and iridescent intercrossing lines of gold, silver and bronze, as the creatures embroidered onto the silky cloth danced with the breeze. She carefully moved it to the side and got up, careful not to make much noise so she wouldn't wake up her roommates. They were nice, but she knew they found her a bit odd, so she stuck to herself. She quietly creeped towards the bathroom and got ready for the day. 

Today was a Sunday, so she opted to go down and visit Hagrid, and maybe help out in the greenhouses for a while. And maybe say hello to Draco and his friends if she spots them on the way to breakfast. There was still something about Draco that seemed so familiar to her, and she knew that other people saw it too. The way they would whisper about it and point at them in the hallways. Today, she just had this funny feeling that….that something interesting was going to happen. Maybe it was something in the air or her thoughts. But she felt it, and now she felt the course of excitement running through her veins. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lucius flips through the Morning Prophet, looking sideways at Narcissa as she silently gasps. A letter from Draco had (finally) fallen into her lap, and she opened it with thrill. It was hard for her when Draco left for Hogwarts last year but this year she was a….bit better. 

“Lucius”

Narcissa looked at her husband, letter in hand with shocked eyes. “I think you better read this”
Lucius looked up from the paper and raised an eyebrow, then he delicately took the letter from her hand and read through it.
Luna.
Luna Lovegood.

Luna…
The name his brother had promised to use if something ever happened to remember Lucius. Lovegood. The name that had infuriated Father for all these years.

His niece was at Hogwarts. And she was an orphan. Why was he not notified of his younger brother's death? Why didn’t he get custody of his brother's daughter when he died? How did his brother die? His younger brother's daughter was an orphan. Orphan. 

“Why was I not notified?” he looked at his wife, breaking the silence. She looked at him solemnly, her grey eyes filling with tears. 

“I am meeting with Dumbledore. Now. Excuse me.” he got up, leaving the breakfast table for his study to write a very (very) heavily worded letter to the Headmaster of Hogwarts. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Green flames burst to life in the headmaster's fireplace, spitting like angry fire, which, given the person currently stepping out of said flames, was probably a fair response. 

“Albus.” said the cool tone of Lucius Malfoy.

“Ah Lucius, what a pleasant surprise! I just received your letter and was just about to read it - lemon drop?” asked the headmaster in a cheerful voice, looking at him pleasantly with twinkling (yuck) eyes. 

“You know why I'm here.”

“I do?” 

“Don’t play games with me, you old fool.” the usually calm Slytherin snapped. “Why is it that I just got a letter from my son informing me that my NIECE is currently at Hogwarts and has been an ORPHAN for months now, and I have yet to be contacted?”

“Well you see-”

“Legally” Lucius stopped whatever the headmaster was about to say holding up his hand “I am now her guardian. Legally, you have no right to her. Legally, it was I who should have been contacted when my brother passed.”

Dumbledore looked at him with amusement, a ghost of a smile brushing his lips.

“Well, my dear boy” the Headmaster said, in a calm, cheery voice, eyes full of mirth “You are not, what did you say? Ah yes ‘ legally ’ her guardian anymore. You see, when your brother disowned himself, that meant disowning him AND his descendants. So no, you are not ‘legally’ her guardian.”

Silence filled the room, tension so thick that you could slice it with a butter knife. Lucius glared, while the Headmaster stared back pleasantly, taking a lemon drop and popping it in his mouth. 

“You got me there, Albus” finally came the reply of the blonde man, looking at him with hatred filled eyes. “But”

The headmaster raised an eyebrow, silently challenging him to continue his sentence: “But?” he asked in a mocking tone, looking nonchalantly at him. 

“But” Lucius continued slowly, carefully choosing his words “But, I will find a way with or without you and your…interference. Technically, I can still add her back to the family tree and undo what my brother has done.” Lucius didn’t mention the part that his father never touched the family history book after that night, magically or otherwise. 

“Let the games begin, Lucius” the headmaster replied with a scheming look.

“Yes, let's. Good day, Albus.”

And with that, the blonde man spun on his heel and stormed back to the fireplace throwing, floo powder as he went, yelling out Malfoy Manor before disappearing into a whirl of bright green flames. Leaving the headmaster alone once again, in his office. Little did both men know, a certain professor had overheard their whole conversation. Her hand came over her mouth in rage. What had Albus done now?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lucius stepped into his study and threw his cane on the ground. He was fuming. How dare he? How dare he? He went to his liquor cabinet and filled himself a full cup of Firewhiskey. He was going to need one more glass….or 5 to finally calm down. He heard a knocking on his study door and didn’t even bother looking up, assuming it was Narcissa. 

“Lucius…” 

Not Narcissa. 

“Father,” said Lucius, looking up at his father calmly. The two men stared at each other, Abraxas letting out a deep dramatic sigh that sounded like he had been holding it in since the 1800s.

“Lucius, I taught you better than this, drinking will NOT solve your problems. I will not be dealing with two raging alcoholics in this house” 

Mother. 

Lucius groaned internally. One time he wanted this study to himself. One time. And now it's a whole family reunion. He finally looked up at the door and saw Narcissa standing there, giving him an apologetic look as she gracefully walked in. 

“Mother, Narcissa.”

He greeted them, returning back to his cup and quickly draining it in one gulp. He looked longingly at the bottle but held in his self control. When he's alone (maybe).

“How did it go darling?” Narcissa asked quietly, coming up behind him and massaging his shoulders to ease the tension in them.

“Horrible” came the reply “I swear to Merlin I am going to kick that old git out of Hogwarts before Yule.”

“How rude Lucius” tutted his mother while grabbing an empty glass from the tray and filling herself up a cup of firewhiskey. 

“Now I see where Lucius gets his drinking problems from, Belovina” Abraxas deadpanned looking at the cup in his wife's hand in disdain. 

“Shut up I just learnt my youngest is dead and has left a daughter behind and we didn’t even get contacted. I am most surprised, my darling husband, that you haven't opened up the wine cellar yet.” Came the retort. 

Lucius looked at his wife, silently asking her with irritation. “Did you seriously invite them over from France? And how did they even know about this?”

She looked at him and leaned in, whispering in his ear: “Someone tipped them off. Dobby. That useless house elf.”

"Ah,” came the short response. Now that made sense. 

After the elder Malfoys seemed to have drained (particularly the older Lady Malfoy) liquor cabinet they turned to their now apparently only child and his wife. The older Malfoy patriarchy raised a brow, waiting for an answer expectantly. 

“Well? We don’t have all day you know”

Lucius sighed with what felt like the hundredth time that today “It went horribly if that is what you would like to know, Father. Horribly. Dumbledore is an old buffon with nothing new to do so he decided to play with my family. I imagine the Rosi-” 

He stopped there. Evan. Did Evan know of the unlikely circumstances? Most likely not, as Dumbledore didn’t even inform him, he highly doubts he informed the Rosiers. 

Lucius quickly opened a drawer in his desk, taking out parchment and quill, writing a quick letter to Evan. Then he called for his personal elf, Deek, to send the letter to Evan and to see to it that Evan opened it immediately.

“What do you have planned?” Narcissa asked, looking at him calculatingly and with interest.

“Something.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Evan was drinking his second bottle of the day and it was only 11 am. Bother. Guess he’ll try tomorrow to try and be sober. At least he tried today. Oh well… What a failure. Lasted about 2 hours, new record for him. He heard a CRACK and just assumed it was one of the house elves coming to insist he needs food. He lamely waved it off.

“Yes Mipsy I will eat just a bit later leave me be.”

“Master Lucius says you musts open this letters immediately sirs.” Came the reply of a totally different elf that was most certainly NOT Mipsy. Evan opened his eyes and looked at the elf in surprise. Master Lucius? Lucius Malfoy? What did that git want? 

“Tell your ‘Master Lucius’ to bugger off” he replied, reaching for the bottle to take a swig. Then it was suddenly snatched from his fingers. “Hey!”

“My Master is very insistent that you opens this, Master Evans.” Said the elf with wide green eyes. “It is very verys important and needs it opened immediately!”
“Alright alright fine, I'll open it if your ‘Master Lucius’ deemed it so important” Evan annoyedly replied and tore the letter open. Oh! He was certainly not expecting that:

“ Dear Rosier, 

This is entirely out of character and definitely out of the blue but today has rather been out of character today so I don't really care about order anymore. This morning at breakfast, Narcissa and I received a letter from Draco saying that he met Luna. Luna, our niece. Who is now an orphan. Apparently that silly brother of mine got himself killed a few months ago and that buffoon of a headmaster found it fit that he didn't contact either of us because my brother and your sister were disowned. So, he took it upon himself to have her at Hogwarts this whole time. Yes, you read that correctly. And he did so, knowing that we would be infuriated. As I await your responding owl, do find some decent clothing. I think it's time we meet our lovely niece properly this time. Don’t you think?

- L.A.M (b)”

Well, that was certainly unexpected. Evan got up and went to the floo, not even bothering to check if he had proper attire on. Who cares what Lucius Malfoy requested. His choices. He threw in the floo powder and yelled out “Malfoy Manor, the Head of House study” and was whisked out in a whirl of green flames. 

When he reemerged, he found himself in a room with both sets of Malfoys. Old and the current one. Eugh. Extra Malfoys. Just his luck. 

“Well, I see my letter got to you” Lucius said, looking at Evans attire in disgust, wrinkling his nose. “Do you not know how to read Rosier? I specifically said proper attire not….this rubbish” 

“I will have you know this is fine silk from-” “I don’t really care where it's from - just take a seat.” Lucius interrupted, rubbing his face with annoyance. Piss off Lucius Malfoy, check. This day is definitely going splendidly.
Evan walked over to one of the armchairs and sat himself in it comfortably, looking at Lucius expectantly. “So, Luna”

“Yes” pause “Luna. My niece.”

“- Our niece”

“Yes”

Then silence.

“Oh for the love of-” Narcissa looked at the two men, not impressed and crossed her arms, a frown forming on her pretty face. “Get to the point will you? We don’t have all day”

“Of course, love” Lucius replied soothingly then looked at Evan expectantly. 

“After we received that letter from Draco, I went to Albus’s office, and asked a few….questions.” 

“Go on”

“Well, his words apparently because my brother disowned himself and your sister disowned herself, we are not and I quote ‘legally’ Luna’s guardians.”

“What utter cockblusters.” said Belovina with a scoff, clearly having consumed a tad too much Firewhiskey.

“Belovina!” Exclaimed Abraxas, not impressed “I thought we sorted your sailors mouth decades ago!”

“Oh pish posh Abraxas” Belovina waves off his concerns “that half-blooded insult to respectable wizards deserves it” She rolls her eyes and sends him a glare, silencing him. 

“Quite right Mrs. Malfoy, quite right.” Evan replied with a tilt of his head. The Malfoy Matriarch was definitely better than the patriarch. He would love to get to know her better at some time.

“Why don’t we write a letter?” Narcissa suggested, “Wait no, why don’t we just go there and demand we see Luna?” She said, with a bit of mischief in her eyes. 

“No” Lucius said firmly, “It would be bad for our image, and-”

There was a sudden whoosh and a letter appeared out of nowhere in front of Lucius, specifically addressed to him. He reached out and opened it, surprised that he would get a letter from…McGonagall? At this time?

He quickly scanned through it, victory slowly showing in his eyes. He looked up at everyone else in the room, who were looking at him in confusion. 

“Looks like we have an excuse to see Luna,” Lucius said triumphantly.