His Veela Heritage by RiverWriter

chapter 16

The only sounds in the room were the scraping of cutlery against china, and Teddy softly singing to himself in between bites, blissfully unaware of the tension between the adults which was so thick it felt oppressive even in this cavernous space. It had started well enough...

When she and Draco had decided to issue the dinner invitation to his parents, she had done so because she knew it was unavoidable, and she wanted to get it over with. But that had been before they had even known he was a veela, and it wasn't until he'd visited them that reality sunk in: she was going to socialize with Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. By this morning she had been a nervous wreck.

She tried to tell herself that her nerves were irrational, that they were just Draco’s parents and she’d faced much scarier things. But that wasn't exactly true, and they weren’t just Draco’s parents. His mother was one thing, Hermione even had slightly warm feelings about the woman who’d saved Harry’s life. But Lucius Malfoy was another story.

Because for a long time he had been the face of evil in her mind. Her personal boogeyman. And for good reason, he had been the real threat, the human threat who could just march into her school any time he wanted, and had done so on more than one occasion. Voldemort’s name had made her cringe, but she hadn't even set eyes on him until the final battle. No, it was Lucius Malfoy’s cold eyes and haughty voice that haunted her nightmares.

That was not the kind of impression that just went away, no matter how much he resembled the man who held her heart.

She’d been shaking when they'd arrived at the glen. Herself, Andromeda, and Teddy through the floo that Draco had connected solely between the castle and Andromeda’s home; and he with his parents via side-along apparition. But she'd gotten herself under control, and the introductions had gone relatively smoothly. There had been one awkward moment when Lucius had visibly hesitated to take her hand in greeting, but it was quickly brushed aside. She wasn't even particularly insulted, she hadn't expected better.

And then they'd quickly become distracted by the emotion of the two sisters meeting for the first time in nearly thirty years, and after that by the tour of the castle. Narcissa was almost beside herself with delight, and the two Malfoys made quite a picture, Narcissa beaming and bouncing at her stoic husband's side. Effie and the glen elves had made sure Hermione had plenty of stories about the history of the glen and the Black family to give a thorough tour.

Effie had quickly made friends with the villagers, though Hermione got the distinct impression that she pitied the other elves for not having a proper family. But she worked in tandem with them to ensure the castle was well on its way to being fully restored to its former glory, and it was even more impressive now than it had been when Draco had first shown it to her.

The faithful elf took so much pride in the place that Hermione had offered to allow her to be the one to give the tour. But apparently that just wasn't done. As the hostess it was Hermione’s job, Effie was happy behind the scenes preparing their meal.

So, up to that point things had gone better than Hermione ever expected, almost like a normal family gathering. It was when they sat down at the large round table that Hermione had picked out for the dining room (she didn't delight in comparisons to King Arthur, but she did want to avoid anybody being seated at the head of a table, she wanted her home to be a place of equals) that things got difficult. Because they actually had to speak to each other, instead of listening to the stories Hermione told, or simply commenting on the features of the castle. And in trying to do so the full weight of the issues between them sunk in and created the almost unbearable tension in the air.

Hermione found herself stuck in a moment of awkward indecision as to what to do or say next and could only assume the others felt the same way. She suspected that the longer the silence stretched the more difficult it would be to break, she'd-somewhat unfairly- expected Draco to manage the conversation, but he was just quietly eating.