Happy Christmas, Family Malfoy

Happy Christmas, Family Malfoy

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Chapter 7

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"So this is what has become of the Malfoy Manor?" asked a dry voice, looking at the garden. Once finely cared for, elegant and stylish, it was still a joy to any eye viewing it. However, the once pure green grass was now scattered with colourful balls, forgotten dolls, toy broomsticks, and wooden sticks representing wands. It was clear that this house was inhabited by children -- lots and lots of children.

"Yeah," sighed another voice, this one female. "Shame, isn't it? Once so great and prideful, it has now been lowered to the stage of a brat farm. I just can't understand Lucius' attitude with all this." The speaker, a tall, slender blonde, shook her head, long hair falling down her back.

Her male companion laughed shortly. The cruel tone could not be mistaken. "Well, what else could you have expected from someone who first became a father in the age of seventeen?" he then asked nastily, brushing back his own chestnut-brown hair. "They should have just given the kid to Snape's parents. If those people were desperate enough to call their bastard grandchild their own, why not make some use of it? Sure, let them marry each other if they want, freedom to everyone and all that crap, but why drag the family name down to mud with an illegitimate heir? Why couldn't they just skip the responsibility?"

"It's probably just for the better they didn't," she snorted in response. "Knowing Lucius' dear husband's fertility they probably would have soon got another kid, married or not. Better let it all out than try to make everyone believe that Mrs. Snape would actually have yet another child. At least now the rest are really legitimate and not just claimed by Lucius after getting married."

Now, their third companion, another female with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, chuckled. "It sounds to me that you're just bitter about him still inheriting the Malfoy fortune," she said with a nasty tone. "You wouldn't have minded getting it for yourself, would you, Caroline?"

"Shut up, Narcissa," snarled the other blonde. "I think that you are bitter about the fact that Lucius is married to his beloved Severus and not you. Everybody knows you were after him back then. You'd probably be delighted if they had never gotten those dangerous ideas from the Lupins. If they hadn't gotten married, you might be Mrs. Malfoy -- and in possession of that fortune along with Lucius."

"Now, my fine ladies, do not fight," the brunet man cut in. "It hardly is our goal to make a scene on your brother's yard, Caroline, now is it? No, we're here for a much more important reason." Raising his wand, he finished, "That reason being, convincing the said brother that divorce would be the best choice."

"Indeed," Caroline snapped. "I can't believe that Lucius could be so blind as to think that all those kids are his. There's never been a redhead in the Snape family, and the gene most definitely doesn't come from our side! We must show him the truth about his husband and his supposed fidelity!"

"And, if in any way possible, make him disown all those kids and leave you with a bigger possibility to actually inherit some of the Malfoy money one day," added Narcissa smoothly. "Not that you'd ever have even thought about that until I now mentioned it, no. Your motive is merely to ensure that your dear brother gets all the love and loyalty he deserves from his husband so that they can live happily ever after." She then snorted and added sarcastically, "Yeah, sure. As if anybody could ever believe that."

"Well, then. Shall we get to work?" asked the man. Not hesitating any further, he walked to the front doors of the Manor. Pushing them, he found them unlocked -- of course. There were probably kids running in and out all the time. With a snort, he walked inside, the two women right behind him.

"Shouldn't we try to find your brother first?" asked Narcissa from Caroline. "We can't exactly go around like this. He'll probably sue us for breaking and entering; that'd be just his style."

"We never broke anything; the door was open," the other woman replied. "And besides, he will thank us when he sees the result of our work. Now, however, he would most probably refuse -- he so naively thinks that his husband is actually faithful to him. Well, we're about to prove him wrong. And don't worry about him suddenly turning up -- I made sure that he is away at the moment."

"Where are the brats, then?" asked her male companion. "They hardly are at school, it being over five o'clock. But surely there is somebody looking after them, right? His husband, most likely."

"Oh, no," Caroline said. "They're looked after by house-elves. The said husband is away as well; we don't want him to come barging in right in the middle of our inspection, now do we, Sebastian? No, we only have to find the brats and start casting paternity charms on them."

This proved to be a lot easier task than it could have been, had they been unlucky enough. Usually the Malfoy kids were mostly running around the Manor. Sure, they could have been targeted by sound if that had been the case, but catching them might have proven much more difficult. So, they could consider themselves lucky as they stepped into one room to find a heap of kids sleeping in the middle of it.

"Oh, for the love of Merlin," Narcissa snorted. "There sure are a lot of redheads here. How could Lucius ever think they're his?" She nudged one of the sleeping red-haired children with her foot. The girl slept on peacefully, not disturbed by this intrusion of her peace.

"There sure are a lot of children here," Sebastian commented. "An absolute disgrace, don't you think?"

"Indeed." Caroline grimaced, then drew her wand with a tiny smirk. "Well, then. Let's get to work, eh?"

"Oh, yes." Narcissa pointed her wand at one of the darkhaired children, then said, "Paterna Lucius Malfoy!" In an instant the girl started to pulse with a bright, white light. Raising her eyebrow, she commented, "Well, well. It looks like this one actually is Lucius'."

"Well, some of them have to be," Caroline said calmly. "If there wasn't any possibility for them actually being his, not even Lucius with his naive thoughts of love and loyalty could make the mistake of thinking them as his own. He does know about birds and bees, after all. Forget the darkhaired ones, it's just a waste of time. Let's concentrate on the redheads instead; they're sure targets."

"Indeed," Sebastian said dryly, aiming his wand at the closest child -- a redheaded little boy. "Paterna Lucius Malfoy," he hissed. The boy started to emit a dim, purplish light. A grim smile spread to his lips. "Now we are getting somewhere here," he said nastily. "Wait until your brother sees this, Caroline! Imagine this -- his son isn't his at all! He will most probably freak out at this."

"Oh, he most certainly will," Caroline said back. "Maybe we'll even get to see him kicking that whore out of his house along with those cuckolded children. But for that, we'll have to test more of them."

And so, they all raised their wands again. In unison, they said, "Paterna Lucius Malfoy."

*

"I just can't help the feeling that something isn't right," Severus muttered. "I'm sorry, Lucius, but I simply have to check. Something is out of order with the children, I know it."

"Believe me, nothing is out of ordinary," the blond soothed him. "Sure, we can go back and check, if you want to, but there is really no need. The house-elves won't let them do anything bad. And besides, the kids were all sleeping when we left, weren't they? It shouldn't take us that long; I doubt that either one of our kids or one of the Weasleys will wake up before we get back. There is really no need to worry."

"But I still want to check," the darkhaired man argued. "Something just must be wrong."

"Very well," sighed his husband. "We will check on them, if you absolutely insist."

So, they travelled back to their house. Severus first went to check on their youngest children, finding both Severah and Juliah sound asleep. In the corridor he met Lucius, who informed him that Remus and Sirius were still sleeping as well. That was good; it had certainly taken enough time to make them take a nap.

Still, Severus was not satisfied. Lucius trailing behind him, he headed for a very particular room. Finally he reached it, pausing a bit behind the door to calm his nerves. Surely nothing was wrong. Lucius was right; he was just nervous because of the triplets and was imagining things. Everything was just all right.

Suddenly, he heard a voice coming from the room where he'd last left his sleeping children along with their equally exhausted guests. And the words the voice said made him freeze. "Paterna Lucius Malfoy."

For a moment Severus just stood there, unable to speak or move. Then, however, he yanked the door open, rushing into the room. What he saw made his heart skip several beats.

His children were still lying around the room, safe and secure. However, almost all of them were now enveloped in light, along with the Weasley children. The only difference between the conditions of his children and the guests was the colour of the light; all Malfoys were covered with a bright light and all Weasleys with purple. In the middle of all this stood three adults, all looking at him with looks of distaste on their faces. The man he didn't know, but he recognized the two blonde women as Caroline, Lucius' sister, and Narcissa Black. There was only one way in which he could take the scene.

Lucius didn't trust him. Lucius thought he had cheated on him and had asked his sister and her friends to make sure while they were away. So this was why he'd been so reluctant to turn back.

"It's all right to look shocked, you whore," snapped Caroline with a nasty smirk. "We have revealed your schemes. Did you really think that Lucius would never know what you're doing behind his back?"

"No," whispered Severus, not as an answer to her question but as a reaction to the whole situation. This only proved that all their children were indeed Lucius', as they all had bright light around them; what else could it be, considering that he had never even considered sleeping with anybody else but his beloved husband? However, it also proved that Lucius had suspected him of such a thing. And this realization was about as painful to him as if he'd been struck in the chest with a sharp knife.

No, not in the chest. Rather in the stomach as he now doubled over as a sharp pain shot through him. From the corridor he heard Lucius' voice, "Severus, love? What's wrong?" Then, the blond came to stand beside him -- and froze, staring at the scene spread out in front of him.

Still pained but desperate to know, Severus turned towards his husband. "Lucius?" he whispered, almost choking on the name. "Lucius, don't you... don't you trust me?"

At first Lucius just turned to stare at him. Then he turned back towards the people in the middle of the room -- the people who should have had no business here. "What the Hell do you think you're doing?"

"We? We're just proving that your husband has been unfaithful," Narcissa Black commented coolly. "Look at these children. You didn't really think they were all yours, did you?"

"All those with the name of Malfoy are," Lucius replied forcedly. "You mean those with a purple light around them, right? Well, I am so sorry to disappoint you, but those are all Weasleys. They had just come over to play with our children. And I most certainly have never wanted you to perform such tests. I do trust Severus, and nothing you can do could ever change that, you little bitch!"

"Really, Lucius, calm down," Caroline sighed. "We just wanted to help. Okay, so maybe these kids are all yours -- or maybe they have been charmed to react to this spell in such a way, who knows? There certainly are ways, ways that a Potions Master would know. Just when has there ever been a redhead in either of your families? Face the truth, big brother. You've been cheated on."

"That is not true!" shouted Lucius. "I'll tell you a secret, shall I? Severus's mother was a Weasley. Not Mrs. Snape, as you assume, but a woman with the name of Emmanuelle Weasley. That causes the red hair on our children! Now, you little bitch --" However, his rant was interrupted as he heard a whimper from his side. Looking down, he saw Severus, now curled up on the floor, arms wrapped around his stomach.

"Lucius," whispered the darkhaired man, giving him a pained glance. "Lucius, it hurts... The -- the babies..." Tears rolled down the pale cheeks as the younger man clutched his stomach.

"Well, what a talent," commented Caroline. "He's almost believable, indeed."

"Caroline," Lucius growled deep under his breath, "get. The. Hell. Out. Of. Here. NOW. If you are still here five seconds from now, I will not hesitate to tear your flesh off your bones with my own bare hands."

The blonde woman glanced at her older brother, seeing the fierce glow in his eyes. Deciding not to push her luck, she turned around and indeed fled. When Lucius had that look, he could do anything. Anything.

Thankfully, her friends were intelligent enough to follow her.

*