Chapter Text
Lucius Malfoy was sitting by the fire in his private study enjoying a glass of 150 year old Ogden's in peace and quiet. His beloved, Narcissa was overseeing the house elves as they prepared dinner and organized another tuck box to be sent to Draco. Every month without fail she sent their son something. It had always been one of their biggest regrets that they had only had one child, but that was their fate and there was nothing that he wouldn't do for his son or his family. He had even joined in with the Dark Lord to keep his family safe; not that he didn't agree with what he stood for. Lucius hated the fact that his world was changing so quickly. The Mudblood world was taking over such as equal rights for elves. What will they think of next? He sneered at the very thought as he smoothed a slight crease in his robes and picked up his book to read again. There was something satisfying about reading plays and books. Nothing between you and the author but a printing spell.
Narcissa wafted into the room and Lucius stood as she entered. Even in his own home his manners were formal and from a different generation than the one his son inhabited. His wife deserved every courtesy - as did any other lady that crossed his path.
“Would you care for a drink, my dear?” he asked as he made his way over to the tray of decanters that had been set on the sideboard. Narcissa smiled up at him as she sat down in the winged chair. It always made her feel cherished, the fact that he would order the servants to get his drinks for him, but he served her himself. Loved and cherished.
They were safe here for the night. The wards had been doubled over the last week using all the formidable magic that Lucius possessed to make them as strong and impermeable as possible to any but those that had Malfoy blood in their veins. Even Narcissa had to be careful entering and leaving the grounds though her wedding ring is charmed to give her safe passage. She had insisted on that as the only way to keep Draco safe. And she prayed to the Goddess that he would be safe.
Narcissa looked at her husband of seventeen years and smiled; he was just as handsome and virile as the day they had married. It had been an arranged marriage of course, but she and Lucius had fallen in love at Hogwarts. She had been delighted when her father had told her who she was betrothed to. Lucius and she were to be married which allowed the Black and Malfoy houses to join together. Her sister, Bella, had been furious because she had wanted the power and money that came with marrying the richest wizard alive.
She sipped at her birch bark wine. Mudbloods thought they had the best drinks available, but they were wrong. The finest wines and beers were made by wizards and the oldest wizarding winery was Moniacks; they sold their second- and third-rate stuff into that other world, one Narcissa was a little afraid of. One heard such stories about how they treated each other and the things they were doing to the planet. No respect for the Great Mother or the honor that should be given to her. Narcissa smiled at the thought of Lucius dressed as Herne for Beltaine. Beltaine was her favorite time of year, when the waters and the fire purified the land and the Malfoy men gave their blood to the land to keep it fertile. She loved the feeling of peace that descended on her when she had bathed in the clear sacred pools that lay hidden in the forest behind the Manor and the feeling of safety as Lucius pledged himself to her and to his family for another year. The strongest of pledges that could never be broken and all others stood in second place to that one.
The heavy silk curtains swished across the windows as the Manor started closing down for the night. Fires in the bedrooms and dressing room would light automatically as darkness fell and her bath would stand ready, charmed to keep warm, awaiting her arrival in her suite.
Lucius looked up from the book he was reading: he could feel the wards being crossed, and wondered why Draco was approaching at this late hour.
“Draco is on his way,” he told his wife and she smiled at him. Here, with no-one to see, they could truly be themselves and she had to admit she was a little disappointed that their son would be joining them. It wasn't that she didn't love him, he was her pride and joy, it was just that she wanted some alone time with her husband. She sat up a little straighter and waited for the flue to open. When it didn’t, she felt a little perplexed. Draco normally apparated straight into the house, or used the flue in the main hall.
Bubby came in and announced that dinner was ready in the dining room, and vanished again when a figure shimmered into being in front of the fire, and landing almost on top of the dogs. It wasn't their 17-year-old son but a small child, which was obviously a Malfoy from the hair coloring - but unknown to Narcissa. Her heart stopped for a moment. ‘Had Lucius betrayed her with another witch and this was the result?’ she thought. The little one turned around slowly and unafraid of the wolfhounds that surrounded her. It was clearly a girl when she turned, a girl with silver grey eyes and a tumble of white blonde curls that reached down past her shoulders. She was dressed as a Malfoy would be with a pale blue gown and a white pinafore over the top. Expensive and tasteful, but Narcissa didn't know her at all.
Narcissa looked at her eyes. The child was scared and trying not to cry and the tears welling up in her eyes melted the ice that Lady Malfoy had felt in her heart at the thought of a by-blow being in her home.
“Come here little one,” she said softly, and looked at her husband who seemed as stunned as she was.
The sound of her voice brought the child running into her open arms. “Grand-mere, Grand-mere,” she wept as she held on tightly to the woman. Lucius finally moved reaching his wife's side and trying to see who the child could be.
“Little one, what's your name?” he asked.
“Silly Grand-pere, I'm Lucy!” the little mite told him, her tears clearing up and a smile creeping onto her face.
“Lucy, is that your full name?” He wanted to just order her to answer him properly but had to remind himself that this child wasn't trying to be difficult; she was young and doing her best.
“No, but you only use my full name when I'm in trouble. Am I in trouble now?” Her bottom lip started to tremble.
“No,” he told her quickly, trying to stop the tears that threatened to re-emerge, “but I don't think I can remember the whole of your name. Can you tell me it, and how old you are?” He couldn't help himself as he stroked her cheek and she moved into his caress and looked so content that he felt his soul soar.
“I'm four and a half and I am Lucianna Rachel Malfoy, and I've been bad.” she said, pulling away from him and burying her face back into Narcissa's hair.
“Well it's nothing we can't fix; what did you do?' she asked Lucy while rubbing her back and trying to soothe her.
“I played in Daddy's study and I'm not supposed to...” a hiccup warned them that the tears were close again. Lucy pulled herself upright a little and looked into Lucius’s eyes. He fell in love immediately. This little one truly was a Malfoy, but around her neck was a time-turner that hummed with magic. She had not traveled through space, but time to reach them. Who were her parents, and how long was she going to be stuck in the past with them?