Lucius
March 1st, 1999
The room was dark and cold, wind blew in through the barred windows. The bare stone walls were taunting him, laughing at him for where he was. The furniture in his cell was nothing like the ones he had in his Manor, although they were much better than they were the last time he was here. The bed was lumpy and the blankets were itchy. They were nothing compared to his comfortable bed and silk sheets.
Every day in the lonely cell was the same. Read The Daily Prophet, eat, sleep and repeat. It was the same routine.
If you could even call it a routine.
He would have never wanted his life to turn out like this. The food tasted like shit, although their menu had gotten better since the first time he was in Azkaban. The Prophet was filled with lies and he wondered how they hadn't fired Rita Skeeter already. Everybody knew most of her writing was a bunch of lies and she was coming up with whatever she could think of to get money.
His son had yet to visit him and his wife was able to visit him monthly, although that was only for a few hours at time. He knew his wife was keeping something from him and he made it his top priority to find it out.
Lucius missed his wife and son dearly, although he knew why they rarely visited. He hadn't said it much during the war, but they were everything to him and they were what kept him going after a long day with the Dark Lord sitting at his table.
He kept himself sane by thinking about them. He had another two and a half months in this terrible prison before he got to be free with them again. Draco would hate him, but he made a promise to himself to try rebuilding a relationship with him. Narcissa would be happy to see him but would be reluctant to be in a relationship like the one they had before the second war.
Pushing aside the thoughts of his family and his life before the war, Lucius turned to his cell door. The Prophet would arrive any minute now. Even though he knew everything was terribly written, it was his only source of entertainment for a long time. He smiled when the Prophet came through his cell doors.
He wasn't expecting what he saw on the cold morning.
There was a picture of an alley in Diagon Alley, he knew that fact for sure. That wasn't the part that caught his attention. No, what caught his attention was his son kissing Hermione Granger before pulling away and they smiled at each other. The image looped and kept on restarting as Lucius stared down at the paper. He couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from the image.
He decided to read through the paper, needing to know exactly what the hell was happening.
Ex-Death Eater and War Heroine Fall In Love?
Article by Rita Skeeter
Speaking of the devil. Lucius rolled his eyes at the name but continued reading.
What started off as a normal day in the Wizarding World quickly changed to a confusing day after our photographer caught war heroine Hermione Granger on a date with Ex-Death Eater Draco Malfoy. Our photographer stayed close during their date although he wasn't able to get any pictures of the possible couple.
The two were seen on a picnic in the outskirts of Hogsmeade. They were seen getting extremely close and were constantly touching one another. Our photographer said that they were whispering to each other a lot and seemed a lot like a couple.
It is a wonder how the two became close, given their history. Mr. Malfoy was a known Pureblood supremacist for years along with the rest of his family. He was particularly rude to miss Granger during their years at Hogwarts. We can't forget to mention that they were both on different sides of the war. From what we gathered, Mr. Malfoy has made an effort to redeem himself.
The real question is, what caused Miss Granger to befriend Mr. Malfoy in the first place? There could be many answers for that question. Is she under the Imperius curse? Is she just better at forgiving than other people? Is she after the Malfoy vaults? Is he paying her to go out with him? Any of these could be the answer and they are all realistic possibilities.
Our reporter was able to get a response from Miss Granger as they were getting up to leave. To our question about what was going on between then she said, "Draco and I have been seeing each other for a bit now, we're trying it out. I look forward to seeing where this goes. He's been very kind to me and treats me well." We were not able to get a comment from Mr. Malfoy.
We can only wonder how Mrs. Malfoy reacted to her son's new relationship. It is well known how much the Malfoy family wanted nothing to do with Muggle-borns and fought for the side that wanted to kill them all. Will she be able to push aside her feelings for her son to be happy, or are we going to get news of an arranged marriage between a Pure-blood witch sometime soon?
We at the Prophet tried reaching out to Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter but got no response. Ginerva Weasley, girlfriend of Harry Potter, said that she was fine with the relationship and she got some time to get to know Mr. Malfoy better. She says that Mr. Malfoy will challenge Miss Granger and will make her happy. We were not able to get a response from any of Mr. Malfoy's friends, but we are assuming that they know.
Well readers, this news is most certainly surprising, but we will keep you all updated.
Lucius put the paper down on the floor, keeping his eyes on the moving picture. His son was dating a Muggle-born, and not just any Muggle-born. No, he had to go and date the most famous one, one that had gotten him stuck in this lonely cell with limited human interactions.
He wasn't sure what to think right now. Part of him was proud of his son for choosing a powerful witch that could challenge him and make his son happy, but another part of him was upset that it had to be a Muggle-born. He could have chosen any witch, sure they might not be as powerful or as smart as Hermione Granger but they were pretty and trained in the Pure-blood way since they were children.
He picked up the paper again and tossed it across the room. His mind was swirling with thoughts.
Did Narcissa know about this?
If she did, was she ok with it?
What caused Draco to fall in love with a muggle-born witch?
Was everybody ok with this?
How was he supposed to feel about this?
He wondered if this is what Narcissa was keeping from him. He would have to wait almost a whole month before he could ask her.
---
After a long, confusing month, Lucius was finally able to see his wife. He wasn't sure if he was happy to see her again or not. She was dressed like she normally was; designer dress robes with a small handbag that fit the outfits theme.
She smiled as she saw him and pulled out the chair across the small table from him.
"Cissa," he said coldly
"Lucius," she said, ignoring the tone in his voice, "I'm sure you have quite a few questions for me, and I'll be glad to answer them."
"What the fuck is this?" He pulled the article he had read just under a month ago from under the table. The picture of his son and a Mudblood looping across the front page. He wasn't one to normally keep the newspapers after he was done reading it, but this one was worth saving.
"Well that's our son with Miss Granger. Surely you remember both of them, I was hoping that you wouldn't start to go crazy in Azkaban." She said, sarcasm laced into her tone. Her face was as calm as it was when they were to be seen in public. No emotion showing.
"Of course I know who it is." He spat, "Are you seriously ok with this? You wish for our son to taint the bloodline with a Mudblood?" He took a steadying breath, "Are you sure that she's the right one for him?"
"Of course I am ok with this. At one point I would have felt his feelings were misplaced, but now all I care about it his happiness. Too much has happened in the past few years and if she's the one he wants, then I'm ok with it. Besides, you knew that he liked her, with the way he talked about her it was bound to happen at some point." Narcissa paused to take a breath, "I know this might anger you, but she is in our lives and she is a bright, intelligent girl. I know that she's the right one for our son."
Lucius leaned back into the metal chair and ran his hands over his face. He was expecting to feel different once he got the closure on what he had read, but he still felt no different. He still felt conflicted.
"I know that you wanted him to marry a pretty Pureblood girl, but I don't think that's going to happen." She said, "Miss Granger will be able to revive our houses, you know that we're lucky to have one healthy child. I don't want to see Draco go through the same thing we went through. You and I both know that inbreeding is the cause for our problems and our family line won't last very long if we keep with the Pureblood ways."
"I'm not saying that they will get married or anything, but if they decide that that is what they want, I want you to at least try to support them. You're getting out in a month and a half and I don't want Draco to be afraid to show you his witch. She's amazing in many different ways. If you want to rebuild your relationship with Draco, this will be the way to go about it."
"I do want to rebuild a relationship with our son, but I'm not sure we'll ever get back to where we were before. It will take some time and I still won't like it but I'll...try to accept his relationship." he said
"Good. That means that you can't call her a Mudblood or any other slurs." She said sternly, giving him a small smile when he reluctantly nodded, "Good, this is going to make our next conversation much easier."
"Merlin how much more can you drop on me in one day?" he asked
"I was going to tell you last month but I wanted to see how you would react to the article before I tell you. Besides, it will give you a month and a half to think about things." she said
"Well, I recently reunited with my sister Andromeda. I'm sure you remember her. We've had a lot of sister time in the last month and if you want me to be happy, you'll let her stay in our lives without being mean to her. I'm all she has left and I like her grandson."
"Really?" Lucius asked, "Out of all the things you could have told me? Cissy, you're killing me here, this is too much to take in in one day."
"I know. I'm just also going to add the fact that her grandson is a Metamorphmagus. Andromeda's daughter was one and she told me how everybody was so glad he picked up her abilities instead of his fathers."
"And what magical abilities did the father have?" Lucius asked lazily
"He was a werewolf." Narcissa replied calmly
"Merlin's beard." Lucius whispered, "That's enough information for one day, please I don't want to know anymore. I'll accept your sister back into her family along with her grandson and the Mud--Muggle-born."
"Good," she gave him a bright smile and stood up to walk around the table. She straddled him and brought her mouth down to his. Even as their time together for the month was counting down, Lucius kept her on his lap for the rest of the hours, teasing her, and leaving kisses on her lips and neck.
Their sex life wasn't like it was because he was in Azkaban, but they used the limited privacy the best that they could. Soon enough they would be back doing all that stuff in a much more private and comfortable place.
Soon he would get to see his son again. Soon he would have to accept three people he never expected into his family. Soon he would live a life as close to normal as possible.
Soon.