Our Little One

Draconn Malfoy

Story Summary:
Remus and Lucius have adopted a 15-year-old girl, Olivia, who can't do magic. Not everyone likes the fact that the Malfoys are having a happy family - and somebody decides to change it. However, the extended Malfoy clan isn't about to give up easily, and Severus' hidden talent becomes very useful...

Chapter 24 - The Great Victory

Chapter Summary:
Severus's discovery ensures the Malfoy's victory over the Ministry. Later, Hermione wants to apologize, Lucius would like everybody to just ignore his birthday, and Olivia finds something interesting in the garden of the Malfoy Manor.
Posted:
02/22/2005
Hits:
1,132
Author's Note:
Billions of thanks to


.~*~.Our little one. ~*~.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The Great Victory

***************************************

This chapter is not from any particular first-person POV.

***************************************

"As Mr. Lucius Malfoy is biologically Olivia Malfoy's father, there's no need for confirmation of the adoption," Severus's firm words echoed in the grave silent courtroom. "He demanding her guardianship, and it being legally given to him, like has happened in the primary adoption, is enough. And as Mr. Remus Malfoy is Mr. Lucius Malfoy's husband and lifemate, his part of the adoption will be automatically confirmed. Therefore, no trial shall take place, no accusations shall fall against Mr. and Mr. Malfoy, and the custody of Olivia Malfoy shall immediately be returned to them."

For a moment everybody was still silent. Then, however, the judge shook her head as if to clear it. Glancing at everybody around, she then announced her decision. "The custody over Olivia Malfoy will stay with Mr. Lucius Malfoy and Mr. Remus Malfoy upon a simple juridical case. No further suspicions or disagreements shall ever befall them concerning this custody. This trial is over, this court will break, under the eye of Merlin has the decision been given in the case Malfoy and Malfoy versus Ministry of Magic."

In an instant Olivia rushed towards her parents, tears of joy shining in her eyes. Instead of rushing into their arms immediately, however, she stopped in front of Lucius, looking up at him with wide eyes. "So you..."

"Yes, it would appear as though I did," Lucius said with a bit sad smile. "I've done many wrong things during my years as a Death Eater, and none of those I am proud of. It does seem, however, that at least one of them has had some results that I can look at with pride." And with this, he drew the girl into his arms, embracing her warmly, like he was never going to let her go again. The hug was returned without hesitation.

A broad smile spread on Remus's face as he watched his husband pressing their daughter against his chest. Then he, too, stepped forward, and wrapped his arms around them both. For a moment, nobody spoke or did anything; everybody just stared in silence at the happy reunited family.

Then, however, Harry stood up and started clapping his hands. Soon most of the people in the courtroom were applauding. The Malfoys, however, did not seem to notice; they were too concentrated on each other. At last, however, they stepped apart, although Olivia still stayed near her fathers, as if afraid that somebody would come and again take her from them. Fortunately, no one did.

Weasley was collecting his papers and parchments, fuming, when three Aurors walked into the courtroom and to him. They all stood beside him, looking very serious. "Ronald Bilius Weasley?" one of the Aurors asked firmly, eyeing Weasley as if he'd been some trash on the street.

"I am," Weasley replied sharply, glancing up from his papers. "What's the matter?"

"You're now officially arrested," said another Auror. "You're accused of the attempted murder, life-threatening, semi-permanent crippling, and severe damaging of one Sirius Julian Black, a high-ranked Ministry personnel, a former Top Auror, and a guardian and father to the Boy Who Lived."

For a moment, Weasley just stared at him, his mouth hanging open. Then he saw something -- or rather someone -- in the doorway of the courtroom, and he cursed. Loudly.

"My, my, Weasley," Sirius said with a slight smile from his magical wheelchair. "You really shouldn't use that kind of language. There are young people present, you know -- even your own children." He pointed at Hermione, Audrey, and Angelina, who were all sitting as far from the Malfoys as possible, staring at Weasley and the Aurors. Hermione didn't look too happy with her husband.

This voice, of course, made many of them look up. Olivia let out a shout of joy, and the other Malfoys and Harry all grinned broadly. Then, they all hurried towards Sirius, Severus ahead them all.

"Sirius!" Remus exclaimed, hugging his best friend tightly -- well, as tightly as he could, considering that Sirius was indeed sitting in a wheelchair and thus not as easily reachable as usual. "You're here!"

"Why, of course I am," the Animagus said, grinning broadly. "Did you really think I'd be absent of your great victory?" Then, he winked at Severus. "Nice trick, love," he said. "I came in just in time to hear your little ending. That was truly something!" Glancing at Weasley, he added, "Although I'm quite proud of myself, too. Getting that rat into a trap was almost too easy, once I got into it."

"Is it true?" Harry asked quietly. "Did Weasley truly cause your accident?"

Sirius nodded grimly. "I saw him, just before he cast the charm that caused the so-called accident," he said. "The proofs are undeniable. My memory of the event was shown in a Pensieve to several Aurors, and I also gave my testimony under the effect of Veritaserum. There's no way he's going to get out of this easily, and definitely not without several years in Azkaban."

"How are you, love?" Severus asked then concernedly. "Are you really sure you shouldn't just rest?" There was something very rare in his eyes: worry. Severus Snape was never worried, or if he was, he never showed it. Now, however, everybody could well see the worry and concern in his obsidian eyes.

"Absolutely sure," Sirius replied with a wide grin. "The mediwitches in St. Mungo's said that if I want to get fully recovered before the end of the year, I should get to my feet as soon as possible. Even though you aren't letting me to walk on my own yet, I'm definitely not going to rot away in bed while you're celebrating the great victory!"

"I'm not letting you walk on your own because neither of your legs are capable of carrying you," the Slytherin pointed out coolly, but the undoubtedly warm tone in his voice was obvious to everyone present. "Besides, if you jump up to your feet now, you'll be nowhere but in your grave by the end of the year. I don't know exactly what they were telling to you, but your state is called 'semi-permanent crippling.' The worst cases are known to have taken decades to recover from!"

The discussion continued, everybody being happy and relieved that all things seemed to be clearing themselves out. Harry, however, was pulled aside by a hand on his arm. Turning around to see who had dragged him away from his family, he frowned. "Mrs. Weasley," he said coolly.

"Please, Harry, don't be like that," Hermione pleaded with a quiet tone. "I'm so sorry, you have to believe me. I let him control me, I didn't think for myself... I'd had bad experiences of my own in the past, real phobias, even but I should have known better than to shut you and the others out just because of your sexual preference. There are bastardous gays around there, true, but so are there just as bad straight men. Now I see just how far Ron was ready to go just to get his so-called revenge. I'm not even sure he did it because you are gay, it might be more because he thought Malfoy had taken you from us, from him."

"I understand, Hermione," Harry replied, just as quietly. He felt relieved. Seemingly there was still some of the old Hermione underneath all that coldness and nasty behaviour. "Once, I let myself be led to hating Slytherins, just because of the House they were Sorted into. Nowadays, I've gotten rid of that habit."

"One could truly say so," the witch said, smiling sadly, and eyeing the bunch of people some way from them. The Malfoys -- all four of them -- and the Blacks were now watching the two, all looking very careful. They were most probably worried about what she was saying. "Harry... Can you ever forgive me?"

"I do think so," the bespectacled wizard replied. "What are you going to do about -- about Weasley?"

"I'll divorce him," she said with a bit sad tone. "No matter what he feels towards me, or what I feel towards him, I don't want to be married to a man who can try to murder an innocent man just because he wants to get revenge. That's why he did it, you know -- he thought that with Sirius dead, Snape couldn't go through with the trial, and they'd lose Olivia. It was nothing about whether she could or could not live with them, it was all getting back to the Malfoys, and, through them, to you and your fiancé."

"He was very near causing the death of more than one person," Harry said gravely. "After Olivia's custody had again been taken from them, Remus tried to take his own life. Severus almost lost his sanity during it all, Merlin knows what he could have done to himself if he had, and Lucius would surely have committed suicide if Remus had died. So, as you see, it was not only Sirius's life at stake."

"'Sorry' is not enough," Hermione said, sighing yet again. "It can never be enough. I'm going to try to make up for my regrettable behaviour to you, though. After divorcing him, I'll cut all my ties to that family -- except Bill, Charlie, and Percy, of course, if they're still willing to talk to me after everything I've done. It's going to be hard to win back the trust of people who are really worth it, but eventually, I hope I'll manage."

"I'm sure you can," Harry said, allowing himself to show her a small smile. "You're an extremely intelligent woman, Hermione. You'll have no problem with starting a new life. And I'll help you, too -- you and the girls won't have to worry about what you are going to do without your husband."

"Thank you, Harry," she said, her smile wavering just a bit. Then, hesitating only a little, she took a step forward and hugged her friend tightly. After a second of stunned shock, Harry returned the gesture.

Angelina beamed up at her mother. "Does this mean I get to visit Olivia now?" the little girl said eagerly.

"Yes, my dear, it does," Hermione said with a little laugh. She bent down to pick up Audrey, then eyed both her daughters seriously. "It's not going to be easy to us, little ones," she said. "Not with your Dad leaving -- he's not going to come back. Also, most of your uncles and grandparents will probably refuse to keep any contact anymore. But I think that in exchange, we'll get a whole new family -- will we?" she asked then, eyeing Harry warily.

Without a second of hesitation, Harry let his heart be wholly filled with forgiveness, spreading his arms. "Welcome to the family, Hermione, girls," he said, grinning slightly. "Welcome to the Malfoy clan."

*

"Well, do you like your new home?" Lucius asked with a slight smile.

"I love it," Hermione sighed. "Thank you so very much, Mr. Malfoy!"

"I've said this a thousand times, call me Lucius," the blond man said. "You have made Harry happy, which has made Draco happy. And whatever makes my family happy does the same for me. Let's just forget all those years, okay? They're not worth remembering."

"I'm more than willing to do that," the witch replied, eyeing around in the kitchen of the new house Lucius had helped her buy. "But you all seem oddly forgiving. How can you just look past all those years of coldness and hatred? I know that I hurt Harry very badly."

"We've all made horrible mistakes, and for worse reasons," the wizard replied gloomily. "I've done them most of all. If the others can look past my errors, I see no reason why I couldn't do the same."

"Mommy!" a happy voice called from behind them. "Mommy, look at what Olivia gave to me!" As they turned around, they saw Angelina running to the room, hugging tightly a huge stuffed unicorn.

"Really?" Hermione looked a bit startled. She then saw Audrey coming in with a teddy bear that was larger than the girl herself, and her eyes widened. "But -- we can't --"

"Oh, shut up, Hermione," Harry laughed from behind the little girls. "Everybody's always spoiling Olivia rotten as she's the youngest in the family. She just enjoys doing the same to somebody else."

"Exactly!" said the girl's happy voice from the doorway. She was standing there with Ssaratha on her shoulder. The saroth was watching the little children curiously. On her other side stood Malcolm, who looked just as calm and collected as only a Snape could, but who was, as a very rare sight, smiling slightly. And as they'd walked into the kitchen, Remus and Draco immediately followed. Remus had his own saroth with him -- he'd named him Sarlion.

"Oh, and by the way, Father," Olivia then continued with a teasing tone, "I just came across something interesting as I looked our family up from the wizarding records." As Lucius just raised his eyebrow questioningly, the girl continued, "To be exact, somebody's turned fifty and we didn't even notice!"

"You're right!" exclaimed Remus, looking surprised. "We've totally forgotten Lucius's birthday!"

"I had quite hoped you would just ignore it," murmured Lucius. Of course, this made everybody laugh.

*

Olivia smiled slightly. It was a frosty evening, and she was walking in the garden of the Manor. Remus, Harry, and Draco had decided to arrange a belated birthday party for Lucius, one that would be on the following day. They were currently busy decorating, Sirius helping wherever he could, while Lucius had been firmly prohibited from even entering the ballroom, and Severus was keeping him company. Seeing that Remus, who'd taken the main responsibility, had certainly enough helpers, Olivia had decided to take a walk outside instead. Even though she'd spent quite some time at the Manor, she knew very little about the grounds surrounding it, even the garden.

As she walked through a tiny forest, she was surprised. There was a row of swings hung on a strong branch of a large tree. Curious, she walked to the one swing nearest to her.

Something was written on the board of the swing. A slight smile curled her lips as she read, "Lucius". Somehow, the thought of her father sitting on the swing wasn't even half as ridiculous as it could have been.

Moving on to the next swing, she read, "Luciane." She had to swallow to get rid of the lump in her throat. Well, this swing was at least long abandoned.

"Draco," read the next one, making her again smile at the thought of her half-brother's hair ever being muzzled by wing and his knees being dirtied by a fall from the swing. The smile vanished as she read the next ones. "Philip," read one, and "Joyce," the last one. These hadn't been left empty by choice.

Sighing, Olivia walked back to Lucius's one, and sat down. Closing her eyes, she pushed herself off the ground, starting lazily swinging.

And suddenly, she Saw something.

***

A little boy, hardly even five, was swinging back and forth on the swing. His long, blond hair was whirling in the air around his head like a halo, his laughter echoing from the nearby trees. An equally blonde woman, in her mid-twenties by her looks, was pushing him going again and again, a little, giggling girl holding onto the hem of her expensive silk robe.

"More! More speed, Mom!" shouted the boy, his face glowing with joy and delight.

"Don't fall, Lucius," said the woman mock-sternly, but pushed him with more speed.

Suddenly, a brown-haired man appeared to the edge of the forest.

"Melinda!" he shouted, sounding irritated to find the woman there.

"Melinda, come here at once!"

The smile on the woman's face faded away. "Take care of Luciane,

Lucius," she said, and then turned around. "I'm coming, Lucipher!" she shouted in reply to the man, and started to walk away.

Lucius put his feet on the ground, his swinging coming to a halt. For a moment, he just sat there, his expression full of sadness. It was obvious that he didn't want his mother to go.

Then, he seemed to cheer up. "Wanna swing, Luciane?" he asked, reaching out his hands to the little girl.

"Yes!" giggled the girl, running to her big brother's embrace.

Little Lucius pushed them both off the ground. They started swinging, their platinum hair mixing in a whirl in the air, their giggles joining the birds' singing in the little forest.

***

Olivia gasped in surprise as the memory faded away. She wasn't swinging anymore; she just sat on the cold, snowy ground at the place where the swing used to be. Used to be, for it was nowhere to be seen anymore. The other four swings were slowly going back and forth in the slight wind.

Determinedly Olivia got off the ground and sat on Luciane's swing. A little push, and she was off the ground again, and in another memory.

***

A girl pushed herself off the ground with a stubborn look on her face. Swinging back and forth, she collected more speed, until her hair just flowed around her head in the air, hiding her face from sight.

"Don't take so much speed, Ane," coolly advised the boy who was leaning against the tree. A Malfoy-green robe, a silver belt, and long, blond hair flowing to his shoulders. Young Lucius Malfoy. "You'll fall."

"I take as much speed as I please!" snapped the girl back. "And for the umpteenth time, my name's Luciane! L-u-c-i-a-n-e! Not Ane!"

Shaking his head, Lucius said lowly, "That'll only end badly."

Like his words had been some kind of a sign, the girl's grip on the ropes faltered. With a scream, she fell to the ground.

Now, Lucius's coolness was all wiped off. "Did you hurt yourself, Luciane?" he asked with a worried tone, stepping towards his sister.

The girl looked up at him, her equally silver eyes as full of fury as the boy's were full of concern. "I don't need your help," she said sharply. "Go away."

And Lucius, he did turn around, but not quickly enough to hide the clearly hurt expression on his face.

***

And again, Olivia was on the ground, her head spinning. Luciane's swing had disappeared, just like she'd expected.

At the moment, she hated Luciane Malfoy more than anything, for she knew that the little sister's coldness had been the first step towards Lucius's own, emotionless mask.

Sighing, she stood, and walked over to Draco's swing.

***

A blond boy swung back and forth, kicking speed from the ground every now and then. He seemed to be about eight years old, with his platinum hair whirling around his head and in front of his silver eyes. There was nobody else near, or if there was, Olivia didn't see anyone.

Then, a figure parted from the shadow of the trees. A woman, looking startlingly similar to the boy, neared him. She was wearing a robe of exactly the same green hue as the trousers they boy had on, and her platinum blonde hair fell down to her mid-back. As she was almost next to the boy, she whirled her hair over her shoulder with elegance that told of a wealthy family and aristocratic up bringing.

"Ah, little Draco," she said with a mock-pleasant smile that never quite reached her eyes. "I was wondering where you were. Dear Narcissa said you were here in the garden but I couldn't find you at first."

The boy, who'd slowed his swinging little by little while she'd approached him, stopped the swing completely and looked up at her with equally cool eyes. It was evident that he didn't like the woman.

"Aunt Luciane," he said with a cold, expressionless tone that only very few people mastered in his age and none should. "I'd been told you would come, but I didn't really expect you to show up."

"And why'd that be?" she asked, her smile still just as pleasant, but with a dangerous edge in her voice that told the boy to be ware of his words.

"Because I thought you'd be too caught up with your new husband,

Aunt," he replied, instantly giving up a bit of the defiance in his attitude but his cold eyes staying the same. "I meant no offense to you."

"Of course you didn't, Draco," she replied, her smile even sweeter and her eyes even sharper. "Why would you ever want to insult me? Such a polite boy you are, wouldn't have thought Lucius could produce anything like you."

"And what does that mean?" asked a cool voice behind her. The two people turned to look at the direction, as did Olivia. They all saw Lucius, standing in exactly the same place where Luciane had come from, in all his green-and-silver Malfoy-ish glory, firmly gripping on his cane.

"Just that you weren't always the most fine-mannered person around when we were little. Of course, that has nothing to do with the way you are nowadays," she added with her overly sweet tone. "Have I yet thanked you for inviting me and Phineas over, Lucy dear?"

The boy looked as if he'd wanted to snicker at the name, but he kept his cool mask firmly on place. Lucius, however, merely raised an eyebrow, and when he spoke, he made no mention about the name. "Of course I invited you," he replied, with no sweetness in his tone, but the politeness just as false as his sister's endearments. "What kind of a brother would I be if I didn't want to check what kind of a man my dear sister is married to?"

"A horrible one, on that you're true," she replied. Then, her expression turned from overly sweet to sly. "Why're you letting little Draco wander around here alone, anyway? It's not safe, you know, for the last heir of the Malfoy line to go around guard-less." The threat was clearly audible in her voice. Even Draco caught it, his eyes widening slightly as he watched his aunt.

"I assure you, Draco is perfectly safe here, in the garden," Lucius replied coolly. "After all, who else but a Malfoy could break the wards around the Manor without Narcissa and I knowing about it instantly?"

"Who indeed," she said, her eyes flickering for a moment between the son and the father. Then she said, "A swing, Lucius? Isn't that a bit too childish for him?"

"We had swings, too, if I may remind," the wizard said. He'd been slowly walking nearer during their conversation, and was now standing next to his sister and son, his tall form towering above both.

"Yes, but we were just kids back then, Lucy," she argued. "He's seven, Lucius, soon eight! It's not appropriate for the future Lord of Malfoy to swing at his age!"

"I believe it's none of your business what my son does at which age," he replied, his voice now clearly containing a sharp, freezing cold edge. "I'm the one responsible of his up-bringing, not you."

"And I hope that you'll manage with your task," she said with a cruel smile. "It'd be such a pity if he ended up in, say, Gryffindor. Or even Hufflepuff," she added with a voice that clearly told she thought that to be the lowest of low. As well as the boy's most probable House, of course.

"I'd rather have him be a proper Hufflepuff than the shame of Slytherin," Lucius said coldly, and from the flash of an angry sneer on the witch's face Olivia saw that he had struck a nerve. She must ask her parents about that later, she decided. In the meantime, however, she just watched.

"Very well," Luciane snapped after a moment of pressuring silence. "Take good care of your precious son, Lucius. It'd be such a pity if something happened. He's not safe as you think." And with that, she turned stiffly on her heels and stormed away.

For a moment, both Malfoy men just looked after her. Then Lucius turned towards his son, his expression grave serious. "Draco, you are not to go outside the Manor -- not even to the garden -- without me or your mother with you. Severus or Lilian may also escort you, but without one of the four of us, you aren't to go anywhere outside, no matter who is with you. And especially not if my sister or her husband are with you. Luciane was right, you aren't safe. Not anymore."

"She wouldn't hurt me, though... Would she?" asked Draco quietly.

"I fear that yes, she very probably would, given the opportunity," said Lucius gravely. "You must not talk about it with anybody, though. Nobody but your mother, her family and I are safe."

For a long moment, neither of them said anything.

"So it's Lucy, eh?" asked Draco then, breaking the silence. A broad grin spread on his face. "Wait till Mum hears about that!"

Lucius merely laughed slightly and shook his head, clearly amused at this. Then, as Draco asked him to push him to give him some speed, he obeyed instantly.

Their laughter echoed in the garden for a long time after that, their eyes shining with delight and their hair with the warm rays of sunlight that were cast upon them.

***

As soon as she had sat on Joyce's swing, Olivia was again in a vision. As she glanced around, she saw both Lucius and Remus there. Joyce and Philip were both swinging, and they all looked happy.

Then, however, Joyce stopped her swing. "Where Unca Sev?" she asked.

In an instant, Remus's expression turned sad, and Lucius also seemed very upset. "Uncle Severus is seeing Uncle Sirius, Joyce," replied Lucius, forcing himself to smile at the little girl.

Now, however, Philip also stopped swinging. "When will we see Uncle Siri, too?" he asked innocently.

"You'll see him when the bad men let him go, Philip," Remus replied softly. "Before Christmas, I promise."

"Yay!" Philip immediately continued swinging, and after a moment, Joyce also started to demand more speed from their guardians. However, even though the children soon were happy again, the two wizards stayed thoughtful and secretly sad for still some time to come.

***

Olivia's head was aching when she got up from the ground, where she'd once again fallen to. Glancing around, he saw that Philip's swing had disappeared as well. Her eyes reached the only swing that remained now. On the board she saw only one word, written with finely carved letters. "Olivia," it read.

Olivia felt almost scared of sitting on the swing. All the memories she had seen had been, in one way or another, bittersweet. It was as though should she try to make her own memories of the swings, something bad would happen immediately. Of course she knew that wasn't very probably going to happen, but she still couldn't abandon the feeling. Shivering a bit, she turned away, and then walked towards the Manor.

*

"Ah, there you are, Olivia," Lucius said as he saw his daughter entering the room where he and Severus were drinking tea. Olivia still had her winter cloak on, and she was wiping the last remains of snow from the fur on the edge of the cloak's hood. "Where have you been?"

"I was just walking in the garden," the girl replied. "I found the swings there."

Lucius raised his eyebrow. "There's only one swing in the garden," he said. "Well, at times there have been two, but at the moment, there's only one. Do you mean you really saw more?"

"Yes, I did," Olivia replied, nodding. "There were your swing and Luciane's, and Draco's, and Philip's and Joyce's. Whenever I sat on one, I would have a vision, and when the vision faded, the swing had disappeared. When I'd sat on every one, there was a new swing -- one that had my name on it."

"And did you sit on it?" asked Severus, raising his eyebrow.

The girl smiled a bit. "To be honest, I didn't dare to," she replied. "I was afraid that something would happen. Every vision I had was somehow... well, somehow sad."

"What was the vision you had from my swing, then?" Lucius asked curiously from his daughter.

Olivia drew a deep breath. "You were swinging, you and Luciane," she said. "You couldn't have been more than five years old. Your mother was there; at least you called her Mom. But then, a man came to the edge of the forest -- I guess he was your father -- came and called her away. She didn't look like she wanted to go, but she went anyway. And you looked pretty sad when she left."

Now, the blond man sighed. "Yes, that was my mother," he replied, "and my father, too. My mother was a Malfoy, although a lot kinder than most of our ancestors. To her great misfortune, she had to marry Lucipher MacNair. Lucipher, of course, took the Malfoy name, but aside from this, my mother had no say in anything. My father -- though I hate calling him that -- beat her and tortured her, making her obey his every little whim, and whenever somebody else was around, he hid everything he'd done. As for Luciane and I, well, he didn't care much about either of us. Luciane took after him, which later made him pay her some attention, and I concentrated on my potions -- mother was also a Potions Mistress, I wanted to make her happy. However, I couldn't save her. One day, she got enough of Lucipher's torment." After a moment of silence, he finished, "Mother drowned herself in the smaller lake in the garden."

For a moment, they were all quiet. Then Severus asked to break the silence, "What about Draco?"

"Well, he was swinging there, he was about eight," Olivia said, obviously just as relieved about the change of topic as the two wizards. "Then Luciane came there and gave him a couple of veiled threats, until you came and saved him." She nodded towards her father as she said the last part.

"I remember that incident very well," Lucius said calmly. "It was the third of July 1988, and I'd invited Luciane and her good-for-nothing husband for a visit. I don't remember much about their visit, only that quarrel and the odd feeling I had all the day."

"Well, of course you had an odd feeling," chuckled Severus, calmly taking a sip of his tea. "It would have been a miracle if you hadn't. You do realize that Olivia was born that day, don't you?" He smirked.

The blonde's eyes widened a bit. "Merlin," he muttered. "No, I didn't realize that until now." Then he glanced at his best friend. "And on the topic of Olivia... Severus, do you think there's any way you and Sirius could be Olivia's Godfathers?" he asked from the other Slytherin.

Now, Severus lowered his cup a bit. "I think I speak for us both when I say that we'd be honoured," he said quietly. "Are you going to change her name, anyway?"

"I'm still present," Olivia pointed out, although she did not sound too annoyed. "And no, at the moment they are thinking about keeping my name as it is. It's not yet a final, though."

"In fact, we said that she can decide herself whether she wants a new name or not," Lucius said. "And she said that she couldn't decide yet." With a glance at Olivia, he asked, "Well, can you decide now?"

"In fact," Olivia said, "I do have an idea." Then, noticing that both men were trying very hard not to look curious, she added mischievously, "But I will not tell anybody but Dad until tomorrow."

"Come on, Olivia," Severus said, raising an eyebrow. "You can tell your Godfather, can't you?"

"You're not my Godfather yet," Olivia said. "So, forgive me, but I have to get going!" And with that and a bright smile, she left the room to search for Remus.

As soon as she was out of hearing, Severus turned towards Lucius. "It's true. She's really your daughter."

Lucius merely threw him a glare.


Author notes: Next: Epilogue: Our Little One

Lucius's belated birthday party, and a happy end to this story.