Happy Christmas, Family Malfoy

Happy Christmas, Family Malfoy

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Chapter 6

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Lucius sighed as he closed yet another thick book full of Wizarding family biographies. He had gone through the family lines of Severus's parents back to the medieval times, not finding any connections to the Weasley family. Rather than the extremely fertile army of redheads he was familiar with, the Snape line was filled with midnight black hair and single children. Severus just didn't fit the picture. Sure, he had dark hair all right, and no siblings, either, but the so far ten children were certainly atypical in his family.

The Lord of Malfoy rose from the reading table, his intention to return the book to the shelf. However, he was stopped dead on his track as he heard a familiar and most definitely unwelcomed voice.

"Well, well," Tobias Snape said from his portrait. "So you finally decided to try to find out the reason behind your dear husband's never ending fertility? Your research will do no good, no matter what you try. The only way to stop him from popping out new children is killing him -- aside from celibacy, that is."

"What the Hell are you talking about?" Lucius snapped. Usually he wouldn't have used such language, but at the moment he was at his nerves' end. He was worried for his husband and frustrated at the mystery he was unable to solve, and he had never liked Tobias Snape.

In fact, he automatically became irritated whenever he saw the face of his father-in-law. This bastard had not only abused Severus for years, he had also stolen Mariah from them. Unfortunately, thought, he could not get rid of the man altogether. His father had decorated the library with pictures of his friends and relatives and applied some kind of sticking charm to the portraits. Taking them down would have taken days if not weeks of hard work, and Lucius most certainly had better things to do.

"Oh, nothing important," the darkhaired man replied nastily. "I'd just give you some good advice if it wasn't too late already. Ten children -- are you mad? You should have killed him in childbirth like I did to his mother; you should know several poisons that would make it look natural. That way, you'd have many children less -- three, if you really wanted an heir. I was lucky enough to manage with only one."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" snarled Lucius in rage. In the inside he was also confused. As far as he knew, Mrs. Snape was still alive. "Why'd I ever want to kill my husband?"

"I said it already," his father-in-law replied. "To stop him from breeding any more, of course. Death is the only way to stop them, you know -- fertile like some bunnies, the Weasleys." At seeing Lucius's puzzled expression, he laughed nastily. "You didn't know, did you? Well, I did do my best to hide the truth. Severus's mother was not my wife; instead, it was Emmanuelle Weasley."

"Why?" asked Lucius, torn between shock and confusion. "Why would you spoil your bloodline like that?"

"I hardly had any choice," Tobias replied. "There is a curse in the Snape blood that was gradually making us infertile. By the time I was the last Snape it had got to being practically sterile. The only one who could bear my child was a Weasley -- while our blood carries infertility, their children bring fertility. Unfortunately, like you've already noticed, both traits were passed on to Severus."

"So that is why he is so unfitted for pregnancy," Lucius concluded. "It's in the Snape blood."

"Exactly." The man in the portrait smirked. "You know, if he had ever complied with your wishes for an abortion, he wouldn't have had any more children. Like I said, the Weasley fertility is in the children instead of the blood. That's why women married to a Weasley are just as fertile if they later marry another man, but a male Weasley does not have to face the bunny effect with anybody but the mother of their first child. The curse, blessing, whatever you wish to call it, is transferred from the man to the woman in that first child; it is not directly bound to the Weasley bloodline even though it usually passes down through it."

"Why exactly are you telling me this?" Lucius asked. "After all these years of hiding, why tell it now?"

"As I said, to give you advice," the other man replied. "You wish for your husband to carry no more children, don't you? The solution is simple. Kill the child he's carrying now, and there will be no more."

Suddenly Lucius felt very cold. His father-in-law's words struck at something inside him. His deepest wish was to save his husband from having to experience the fear and pain of pregnancy and childbirth ever again. He most certainly knew poisons that would kill the fetuses without harming Severus or being detected, making it look like a natural miscarriage. It would be easy -- but was it really what he wanted?

Of course, the Slytherin part inside him whispered. You want to save your husband, don't you? The twins were already so hard on him. The triplets might mean his death, and the babies would most probably die, too. Isn't it better to only lose the children and not your husband as well?

"It looks like you're having a hard time making a decision," Tobias Snape then commented nastily. "Well, I'll tell you something: Although the midwife helping Emmanuelle obviously didn't know it, nobody with the Weasley blessing has ever died in childbirth." Just as Lucius's spirits started to rise a bit, the portrait continued, "However... there are reported cases of deaths due to complications during the pregnancy. Especially when the Weasley blood has been affected by other fertility or infertility curses. And many Weasleys have become invalids for life due to their injuries. But, well, it's your choice, isn't it?"

Then he vacated his frame, leaving the blond man alone with his tormented thoughts.

*

"Lucius? Hey, Lucius?" A hint of irritation was starting to creep into Severus's voice now. "Are you even listening to me?" He glared at his blond husband, waiting for a response.

"What? Oh, I'm honestly sorry, Severus." Lucius smiled apologetically. "What is it you were saying?"

"I was just reminding you," Severus said slowly, "that Remus and Sirius are coming over for dinner tonight. Or have you already forgotten about that?" He raised a questioning eyebrow at his husband.

"No, I haven't forgotten," Lucius replied quietly. "I was just in my thoughts, that's all. Oh, and by the way..." He reached over the table and clasped one of Severus's hands in his own. This was a rare occasion of some one-to-one time to them. With the elder kids at school and the younger ones napping, the two parents were left all by themselves. Now, there would be no distractions. Good.

"What is it, Lucius?" asked Severus, rather curious. He looked questioningly up at his husband.

"What... what would you feel like if..." Lucius swallowed, then forced himself to finish, "What would you feel like if you lost the triplets for some reason? I mean, before they were born?"

Now, the darkhaired man was startled. "Why on Earth do you ask that, Lucius?" he asked, shocked. "Nothing bad's going to happen to the babies; Remus will make sure about it!"

Now, the blond sighed and closed his eyes. "I asked a 'what if' question," he said quietly. "There's no way that could happen in reality -- I wouldn't allow that. But if it happened... how would you feel?"

"I'd most probably be devastated," replied Severus softly. "I mean, I know what pregnancy means -- especially to someone like me. And I know that I might very well die because of the triplets. But still, the thought of my children dying... even, or perhaps especially before I've even got to hold them... it is more awful than the thought of dying in childbirth. That would be sort of a... natural way to go, I guess."

"Don't talk like that," whispered Lucius, almost choking at the words. "Severus, I love you... I won't let you die." In his mind he prayed that he'd really had a choice. But in the end he didn't, not really. He couldn't save his beloved husband... unless he killed their unborn children...

"Well, then let the gloomy subjects drop," ordered the shorter man. Raising an eyebrow, he then asked, "What has got into you? Usually you would rather die than discuss the dangers of my pregnancy."

"Like I said, I've been thinking," Lucius replied quietly. "That's all there is to it."

And then, even though Severus still questioned his strange behaviour, he didn't say anything else.

*

"What are you doing?" asked Remus amusedly, leaning against the doorframe. He had just walked into the bedroom to find his husband standing in front of a mirror, looking at his reflection intently.

"I'm fat, aren't I?" whined Sirius, turning towards him with a pitiful look on his face. "This baby is making me fat!" He gave his husband the most adorable pout, accompanied by the infamous puppy eyes.

"No way," laughed the werewolf. "I could never think of you as fat, love. You're hardly even showing. And even when you were pregnant with Keith, you were never fat. And now, do hurry along. We're going to be late from the Malfoys," he added cheerfully. "You don't want that, do you?"

"Okay, okay. Just give me a damn minute!" yelled Sirius, hurriedly running to his wardrobe. Remus couldn't help but grin. Despite being pregnant for the second time at the moment, Sirius was in many aspects quite a stereotypical man -- like how he wore practically the first thing his hands met in the closet.

Then again, that was just one of the things he loved in his husband. And did he ever love him much.

*

Lucius sighed inwardly. Remus and Sirius had just, happily and full of excitement, told of the baby on the way. Nobody else was allowed to know, not even Keith -- most probably they would have to try several times before they'd manage to get it through, and they didn't want to disappoint their son. However, even though the secret would never leave his lips, it encaged him like a well-placed trapping spell.

His last hope was now gone. There was no way he could discuss with Severus what Tobias Snape had told him. Remus would be just as impossible; he valued each and every life -- the very reason he'd become a mediwizard in the first place. Even though he had suggested abortion to Severus before, it had only been when the darkhaired man had been in danger of death. Under other circumstances Remus would not agree with killing the fetuses, and never without Severus's permission -- which they would never get. And as for Sirius, well... he had been Lucius's last hope of somebody to talk things over with, but now that he was pregnant, he was also out. How could he tell this man, so excited about having a tiny life growing within him, of his own half decided-on plans to destroy the children Severus was carrying? No way.

"What's it with you, Lucius?" asked Remus, frowning. "You are obviously distracted. You even smell strange, you know." He tapped his nose with his finger. "You smell scared... and worried, too. But there is also something else in this scent... Something I can't quite identify."

"If you find out what's wrong with him, would you be so kind as to inform me?" asked Severus dryly. "I've kept asking him to tell me what's wrong for the whole day, and he won't even listen."

"It -- it's okay," Lucius said, then abruptly rose to his feet. "I think I need a bit of fresh air," he said, then headed for the balcony. He could practically feel the three gazes on the back of his head, but he ignored them. Fresh air was indeed what he wanted now, fresh air and some solitude.

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