Choices

Meanwhile

Narcissa hummed as she rocked Draco, the toddler slowly getting sleepier. She ran her hands through his blond curls, smiling as she held him. But Draco jolted when the doors opened roughly, the sound scaring him.

"This is ridiculous!" Lucius stormed into the room, face contorted in anger as he began to pace.

Narcissa glared at him, now having to calm the child "You need to be silent, he was about to sleep"

Lucius turned to her, eyebrow raised "Why don't you leave that to the elves? It would be easier"

"I don't trust others to put him to sleep" she answered before turning to Draco and cooing "He needs his Mama"

"He doesn't need you, you just want to coddle him," he told her, his tone clearly amused by his wife.

"It's a mother's duty" she smiled, unapologetic. "What annoyed you, that you had to come to interrupt our time?"

That reminded him and his expression went back to the angry one he entered the room with.

"They want more money" he explained, wondering if there was anything nearby that he could curse.

"Who?" Narcissa asked, many people wanted their money, it wasn't a brief list.

"The Ministry" Lucius snarled, "They say that due to some of the events of this year, I would need to double my contributes to our society"

"It's about Bellatrix" she sighed, the trials hadn't been pretty, and several times when going out with Draco she'd heard the whispers about her sister.

"Oh, and let's not forget dear old Sirius" Lucius said sarcastically "Can't believe he fooled us all with his sanctimonious act"

Narcissa frowned "I still don't think he did anything they said," she said with calm, an old conversation they had "Sirius was always different from the rest of us"

"Doesn't matter" he said "I wouldn't speak for him either way"

Narcissa bit her lip at that, she sometimes thought about it, she was sure Sirius was not a Death Eater as they claimed and Azkaban was just about the worst place she could imagine but she didn't think she'd be able to speak for him. From a very young age she'd been thought that family was the most important thing, to put above everything else and Sirius had refused them, ran away, and distanced himself from family. The resentment had festered in her ever since.

Family was all that mattered in the end.

"And because they just had to be caught," Lucius said a little too loud so she shot him a dirty look again "Suspicion fell onto us again and if I'm not... generous, they will look into my case again"

"It's really not that much," she said, readjusting Draco in her arms "We have more than enough"

Lucius, however, shook his head "It's not about how much I have, It's about the disrespect, that first contribution should have been enough"

"You know it won't" she stressed "But it's necessary for our family, surely that is the most important"

Lucius turned, his face impossible to read, and got closer looking at her and Draco before gently caressing the baby's head.

"You are right" he smiled "Everything is for my son, the entire world even"

"You have too many expectations, Lucius," she told him albeit with a smile "He is just a baby"

The man shrugged and she laughed "Should start soon so when he starts his magical teachings he shall be the best of his year"

"His magical teachings," Narcissa said "At Hogwarts"

Lucius let out a laugh "Really no chance for Durmstrang, huh?"

"No!"

Narcissa put the now sleeping Draco in his crib, and took a moment to observe her son, one hand clutching his toys, pink cheeks, and rosy lips, white-blond hair shining in the moonlight, he almost seemed a ghost, she always stayed a little longer just to watch how his chest would rise and lower, every breath reassuring her that he wouldn't disappear in the night.

She would leave a house-elf in the room just to make sure.

She then rejoined her husband in the nearby parlour, he was still tense, possibly thinking about how to make the Ministry get off his case once and for all.

"Maybe we should go away for a while," she told him, her arms around his waist "Let it die before resuming our lives"

"We would be away from the public," he conceded "But I wouldn't be able to keep an eye on those that would enjoy seeing us fall now"

It reminded her too much of how little he trusted anyone, if they had someone to rely on, they would be able to just spend time as a family but they were stuck playing games to stay on top, Lucius focused too much on them, staying away from her and Draco almost all day, sometimes she wouldn't even know he'd come back at night if the house-elves didn't tell her. She hoped it would go by soon and that they would be able to just enjoy their time.

"If only He hadn't disappeared" Lucius whispered.

That thinking was what led her sister to be imprisoned and she never wanted to see Lucius end up there, so instead, she let go of him, now glaring "Don't you dare think about it now, it won't help any of us!"

"But it's true! The Dark Lord had no true rivals, if he was still in power we would have been the first to be rewarded!" he said, as he had many times "If it wasn't for that Potter, they can't even find the brat--"

"True or not," she told him, refusing to let him fall to the same rationale as Bellatrix "It doesn't matter! All we are to do now is look as the upstanding members of society that we are and not let anyone have any reason to look too deep"

Lucius sneered "That Arthur Weasley looks too deep, that blood traitor is in love with muggles," he said rolling his eyes "Heard his wife had another child, a girl this time, I don't know why he insists, it's not like he has the money to pay for them"

Narcissa let a bittersweet smile at that.

Noticing the change he tried to backtrack "Narcissa, you know--"

She smiled, anger leaving her "I'm okay," she said gently "I am satisfied with only Draco, truly, I am"

He stroked her cheeks nonetheless and Narcissa let him console her.

"And besides, one day I will be able to be the grandmother to Draco's children," she said and then added jokingly "I will bother him until he gives me at least two to coddle"

"I already feel bad for him" he answered with a smile "You can be terribly persistent"

She smiled proudly.

At times like these Narcissa wondered what the future looked like, would Draco be more like her or like Lucius, what would he enjoy and what would he hate, what person he would be and what he would do.

But they had all the time to discover what was ahead, so she would enjoy their time as it arrived.