Marrying Lucius Malfoy

Lucius awoke early the next morning. His neck was stiff, his back was sore, and his hair stuck up sporadically in no less than five places. He sat in his chair for a few moments, eyes closed and a look of extreme discomfort on his face, and then there was a soft growl at his feet and he looked down to see the female crup, Artemis, gnawing at his Italian leather loafers. He would have sent the horrid puppy-resembling mite across the floor with one kick of his foot, but the door to his room opened, and Selina stepped out.

She had more color in her cheeks than the night before, and she was dressed in a long green shirt that had a giant cobra on the front. The cobra's mouth was open, and its fangs looked truly dangerous. In a curvy, silver script by the cobra's head it said 'Bite me!' The shirt went down to Selina's knees, and she wore a look that bordered on amusement.

"You ought to wear this shirt more often. I had no idea you had a sense of humor, Lucius." She had bathed--he could now see that--and her curls were limp with wetness. She had used his shampoos, and she smelled fresh and spicy and, so like himself. The thought aroused Lucius far too much to be healthy, and he crossed his legs quickly, so as not to let his wife see his growing "admiration". It was chilly and drafty in his chambers, as he liked it that way, and the material of the shirt had thinned over the years, so he could have the small comfort of knowing that he was not the only one with erect privates.

"It was from my old school days," Lucius said, covering his embarrassment with a useless fact.

"I see. I suppose time has destroyed any sense of humor you might have had." Selina was growing annoying cheeky, and such behavior so early in the morning was enough to give him a migraine. His stiffness went on, however, and it was only a matter of moments before Selina would notice.

"Keep it, if you like," he said shortly, and his bite did the trick. Selina looked hurt, and her wiseacre attitude evaporated.

"Send the midwife to my rooms when she arrives. Pamela and I have plans to go over, and the crups need their weekly bath." She turned on her heel and strode out of Lucius' chambers with her nose held high. Lucius instantly regretted her departure. His erection had become most uncomfortable during the past ten seconds, and though he knew that the possibility of bedding Selina was zilch, one could always dream.

Finally, he roused himself and started towards his bathroom. After drawing an ice cold bath, Lucius sunk into the tub. Though the frigidly cold water cured the "problem," the same could not be said for his arousal. For the rest of them morning, the senior Malfoy's thoughts were plagued with spicily scented redheads and flashes of pale, freckled skin.

~*~

The midwife arrived at exactly twelve-o-clock in the afternoon. As fate would have it, Selina and Pamela were walking through the entrance hall at that moment, and so both women were present when Ms. Catherine Bendwargo stepped over the threshold of Malfoy Manor.

Catherine, or Cat, as she would come to be called, was quite young, perhaps two years older than Selina. She wasn't a beautiful woman, so any suspicions Selina might have had about her 'husband' looking for a quick "shag" were erased. In fact, she found herself staring rather rudely at Cat's appearance.

Cat had pale skin, colorless lips, and thin dark hair, which covered both her head and her upper lip, creating a thin moustache. Her eyebrows were made of a much finer hair, and they were actually quite nonexistent. Her eyes were owlish and gray, though it was a much darker gray than that of Lucius or Draco. Her body was thick and burly. Her arms were as thick as Selina's calves, and where Ms. Laverne's weight could be considered fatness, Cat's weight would be considered manly. The young midwife made up for her colorless face with vibrantly shaded clothes. Her cloak was a bright plum purple, her lacy dress was a bright red, and she stuck out like a sore thumb in all the gloom and darkness of Malfoy Manor. After the proper introductions had been given, Cat told Selina that she had been owled a report of her "current condition."

"You're barely one month along, Miss Selina," Cat said, and Selina made no move to correct her address. "Now, normally a muggle woman can't tell she's pregnant until three months into her term. Witches, however, have a great deal of magic tied into their hormones. The reactions to a pregnancy, such as morning sickness and nausea, begin much sooner because the magic in your genes can detect that there's something happening within your body." Cat smiled softly and sat down in the large, dark parlor Selina had led her into. "The sickness also stops at three months, when it begins for muggle women. That's the good thing about being magic."

She paused, took a chance to look around the room, and then continued speaking. "During the next month of your pregnancy, from the third month to the fourth, your body begins to infuse magic into your growing baby, including every magical ability your baby will ever have, such as it's magical strengths, or whether it'll be a Metamorphmagus, etcetera, etcetera.

"When your child is four and a half months along, I'll be able to take a test to determine whether there were any problems with the magical development. I'll be able to tell then if it's a squib or not." Cat paused hesitantly. "Miss Selina, I haven't been a midwife that long. I've delivered only three babies, but that's not too shabby, because I work with women through their entire pregnancy. However, I work mostly with pureblood women, and I've been told by the woman who assigns me my jobs that most pureblood women are...discriminatory."

"Discriminatory?" Selina pretended to be mildly confused.

"Discriminatory," Cat repeated. She sounded cautious, and she had paused enough when choosing her word that it was obvious she didn't wish to offend anybody. "As in you wouldn't want to have a squib."

Selina had suspected what Cat meant, but Pamela had been not, for her hands flew to her mouth. "Selina would never abort a child because of something so trivial!" the young maid snapped. "Never!"

Cat was alarmed at Pamela's outburst. She seemed instantly frightened, and Selina could only wonder what the poor young thing had heard about the high-class purebloods. She instantly soothed the woman's nerves by holding up her hand. "Pamela's right. I'd never do such a thing. And please, don't be so nervous. I won't bite."

Cat bobbed her head up and down on her broad shoulders. "Yes, Miss Selina. I'll try." It was obvious she still wanted to escape Selina's presence. She made a quick excuse--"I'd like to go and get settled in, Miss Selina, if that's all right by you."--and Selina made no effort to stop her. Once the large midwife had left, Pamela spoke.

"I don't like her." Pamela didn't look Selina in the eye when she said that. She held her head up stiffly, and her eyes were fixed on the spot where Cat had been sitting moments ago. "I don't like her at all."

"She's nice enough." Selina was staring not at the spot where Cat had been sitting but at the doorway Cat had disappeared through. "She's just a little nervous. I'm sure she didn't mean anything by that comment."

Pamela looked at Selina for a long moment. She was thinking something important, Selina knew, but she also knew that she had just done something to prevent Pamela from saying what exactly the important thing was. Finally Pamela broke into a sunny smile.

"Of course," she said softly, and Selina was relieved that whatever small resentments or had been laid to rest early on. "I suppose I'm just a bit jealous. Now I have to share you with another person."

Ah, so that was it!

"Jealous? You have no need to be!" Selina was doubly relieved to know what exactly had been plaguing her friend. "Now how about we go and hitch a ride to town? I have to make some arrangements with the caterer, and then I have to go and try on my dress. You need to get some last measurements as well, don't you?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, of course!" Pamela stood and began walking towards the door. "Let's get going."

The two friends made their way towards the kitchen. They went via the servants' passage, and along the way they ran into the little crups. Selina made to ignore them at first, but her resolve to leave her "babies" behind was lost when little Apollo gave her his patented puppy eyes.

"Oh, come along you little rascals," Selina muttered. She scooped them both up, and Artemis barked happily and snuggled against her mother's bosom. Apollo wagged his rump and tail. He was the quieter, if not the more destructive, of the two, and often his feelings were shown through rump wags and body jiggles. He was also the clown of the sibling duo. Artemis was much more the risk taker, the ring-leader, and daredevil.

"They're getting bigger," Pamela commented once the two witches and two pups had settled into the carriage Lucius had had specially crup-proofed. Artemis began to gnaw on the upholstery, but unlike the fine leather found throughout the manor the material did not rip or tear. Eventually, halfway through the journey, Artemis tired of the endless chewing that was getting her nowhere. Seeing as how Apollo was asleep on her mother's lap already Artemis curled up on Pamela.

The only noise for the rest of the ride was the dream induced whimper of the little crups. Selina was absorbed in her thoughts of the baby, and she didn't note Pamela's silence as strange until much, much later that evening!

~*~

Selina had never known Christmas Eve to be so terribly lonely.

She sat at the vanity in her bedroom, dressed in a dress robe made of black lace over a thin layer of black silk. It was the most expensive item of clothing Selina had ever owned, and Lucius had ordered it custom made from a designer in France. He said it was a token of his "admiration at your ability to cope with your new role," but Selina knew her 'husband' well enough to know that what he really meant was, "you're young, you're lithe, and I want my whole family to see what nice tits you have".

Or something like that.

If Pamela and Riley were around then she might have laughed about it with them. They would have called Lucius a prick, a jerk, every name in the book...But thinking about things such as that served as a harsh reminder to Selina that Pamela and Riley were not with her.

Pamela had been given the winter holidays off by Lucius. Selina would have been touched by the sentimentality and thought put into that "early Christmas gift", but she also knew Lucius well enough to know that dismissing Pamela would weaken her own power within the household. Now only Ms. Laverne was around to wait on Selina, and unlike Pamela, Ms. Laverne would tell Lucius anything and everything that she did in her presence. It would keep her in line, if only until his family, all of whom were visiting for the holidays, left.

Riley's departure was of a much more explainable manner. One of Riley's sisters, Penny, was in France. It had been ages since the two sisters had seen each other, and so Riley had made quick plans to spend the rest of the remaining year in Paris with Penny. Of all Riley's sisters, Penny had always been Selina's favorite, and of course she too had been invited along, but Lucius put his foot down almost immediately.

"No wife of mine is going to be flouncing about with those arrogant muggleborns!" he had snapped. Though he had used the word 'muggleborn', Selina had heard so much malice in those three syllables that she knew what he truly meant.

His prejudice of muggleborns was becoming more pronounced as the days wore on. She noticed it also in Draco's behavior and speech about "that mudblood Granger" and other muggleborn students around Hogwarts. He didn't yet know that Riley's mother was muggleborn, though, and Selina had resolved to let him find out on his own.

And so now only Cat was left, as the midwife had no living relatives to speak of, but Cat only spent time with Selina during their twenty-minute daily check-ups. The remaining hours of her day were spent reading quietly in the library, and so Selina doubted that her midwife would make a very good Christmas companion.

The clock, without warning, chimed that it was five-o-clock in the evening. The deep dong, dong, dongs were so sudden in their coming that Selina fell backwards and onto the hard floor. She lay there for a moment, tears prickling her eyes, unable to find the will to stand again. She knew she'd have to get up eventually, that soon she'd have to go down and greet her 'husband's' family, but for then she'd be content to lay their in a miserable heap.

It was her first Christmas without her family. That was what hurt most, Selina supposed. Knowing that this was the first of many Christmases that would be spent without any warm, loving faces or presents from the heart. For the rest of her life, the most happy night of the year would be her most unhappy.

Selina's mood worsened when she thought that this might be her baby's fate as well, should it be born a girl. What if something were to happen to her, leaving her daughter young and vulnerable with a father like Lucius? To have her married off, as Lucius would no doubt do, to a man twice her age?

This time, Selina allowed herself to cry. Her sobs were silent, but they took a hold of her body and made it shake convulsively. She clutched her stomach, protecting her womb, with all her might. Before then the baby had been just that: a baby. A nameless, faceless baby that she might come to love, but then again, considering the father, she might not. Oh, she'd have protected the child, as any mother would have, but only because protection was a deeply maternal instinct.

Now the baby had a face: her face, Lucius's face, the faces of her dead families, and the eyes that haunted her dreams. Suddenly the emotions were coming so freely, so strongly, and Selina couldn't ignore them as she had been doing in all the preparations for the holidays and the New Years Eve Ball (or the NYE, as Ms. Laverne had come to call it). She hated herself for bringing her own flesh and blood into such a cold, cruel, dictated, loveless world. She hated her parents for dying on her like that and leaving her in this position, but hating them only made Selina hate herself even more because she knew it hadn't been their fault. She hated Lucius too, for being so horrible and so unfeeling. For a few seconds that sad Christmas Eve, Selina even hated God, or whatever sort of god she believed in.

And in a second her rage ceased, only to be replaced by fear. She had never hated anything so much before in her life. Truthfully the only person who'd ever seemed to hate so much was Lucius, and now she was no better than him, despising those for the mistakes that she had made. Her tears continued, now worse than ever, but the sound effects came on, and suddenly there were great bitter noises coming from the back of her throat. There were animalistic and primordial, but such was her mind that she did not care. Selina knew that she'd ruin her dress if she kept sobbing like she was, but she did not care one bit.

What finally distracted her from her wallowing was a little nip at her ankle. It wasn't painful, but it was enough to grab her attention. Selina was able to muffle her sobs enough to look down and see a small furry face peeking up at her. The tip of its drooping tail was white, and so Selina knew it to be Apollo. The male crup looked forlorn and beaten, as if he could actually feel her pain. A few feet from where she sat Selina saw Artemis, who watched her with wide puppy eyes.

Neither crup seemed afraid of her disheveled, miserable state, but they didn't seem to like it either. Apollo's love for her overcame his discomfort, but Artemis, who was a bit more logic-driven than her brother, was keeping her distance. Selina was both surprised and a little bit hurt.

"Artemis! Come on, girl! Come to Mommy!" Selina held her hand out and tried to whistle. It came out as a rather broken squeak, though, which only served to agitate Artemis more. "Damn," Selina said, cursing uncharacteristically. "I never have been able to do that." She chuckled at her inability to whistle. It was a long time challenge of hers, and when Sydney had still lived at home, she had teased Selina about it in a sisterly manner. The memory brought a fond smile to Selina's face, and she was surprised to find that it calmed her instead of making her sad.

"Well, what do you know," she murmured, finally mustering the strength to stand. "You, little mister, are a miracle worker." She tickled Apollo's soft belly, and the crup pup yipped happily. At last convinced of her mother's full recovery, Artemis barked too. She put her paws on Selina's shins and looked up at the redhead with pleading eyes. "Alright, alright, hold on!" Selina giggled softly and bent down to scoop up Artemis. Seeing as how both crup puppies were considerably bigger than when she had first found them the task was difficult, and it was in the middle of struggling to grab Artemis that Selina was interrupted.

"I should have known!" A shrill, harsh, angry voice shocked Selina just as much as the clock's chiming had. In her startled state Selina not only dropped a wriggling Artemis, but also dropped Apollo on top of her. The two young crups yipped and yapped and scampered behind their mommy to hide from a deeply scowling Ms. Laverne. Selina's mood plummeted as she realized the trouble she must now be in.

"Oh, dear, it's five-thirty...And I should have been downstairs-"

"A full twenty minutes ago. Mr. Malfoy is quite angry that you didn't show up to greet his family. He had to stop working early and go down to greet them himself!" Ms. Laverne gave a grunt of annoyance. "And just look at your dress! Covered in dust and crup hair! My god, Miss Selina! What have you been doing up here?" Before Selina could answer Ms. Laverne took a good, long stare at her face. "Crying?" she asked snidely. "You've been crying?"

Selina suddenly felt like the stupidest woman in the world. She knew how much Ms. Laverne had expected her to botch things up, and now here she was doing exactly that. "Well, it's my first Christmas away from my family," she admitted softly.

Ms. Laverne frowned heavily, and Selina knew she'd find no sympathy from her maid. "I've not spent a single holiday without my family for the past seventeen years, and you don't see me caterwauling about it. My first Christmas alone was the toughest one I've ever had, but I didn't have a collapse!"

Selina's cheeks burned red. She was all cried out, and so much to her relief, no tears threatened to spill down her cheeks. She was sure that Ms. Laverne would have gone on, but a low, dangerous growl began from behind her. Selina looked down to see her crups, and then she stepped back. Her crups, usually so sweet and cuddly, had transformed into snarling little animals, their lips pulled back to reveal sharp, shiny teeth.

"Dear Merlin!" Ms. Laverne stepped back as well. "Miss Selina, you get those foul little blights under control! Miss Maxine will go positively mad if one of them nips at her children!"

Selina, after getting over the initial shock of the crups' transformation, found it rather amusing. Artemis and Apollo were much more loyal to her than she would have guessed. She knew that, from then on, Ms. Laverne would think twice about insulting her, at least in the crups' presence. She would definitely have to owl Pamela and Riley with the news. It would no doubt have them rolling in the aisles to hear that the mighty Ms. Laverne could be cowed by two young pups.

"I'll do my best," she promised, kneeling down to rub Artemis's head. The female crup jumped about happily, and her joy, which was so infectious, reminded Selina that she did have friends, even if they weren't of the human sort. After dusting her dress off and kissing each crup twice on the head Selina straightened regally and drew in her stomach. It was time to do her 'duty'.

It was time to face the Malfoys.

~*~

"Lucius, darling, when is that little redhead of a wife of yours going to join us?"

It was Maxine, his cousin, and, as always, she was acting snootier than even Malfoys had a right to. Lucius would have liked to forget about Maxine and her husband, Ivo, and their two brats, Oriele and Morse, but it would cause conflict, and as much as he hated to admit it, Ivo Hahn was a superb connection to his business in Germany.

"I agree, Lucius." Now it was another cousin, Maxine's elder sister, Carew. Carew was an old maid, which made her all the more bitter and snippier than Maxine, and Lucius did forget about her most of the time. "It isn't proper for a wife not to obey her husband's orders. Why didn't she greet us? Is there some sort of trouble going on between the two of you?" Carew was also a shameless gossip.

"Now, you two both leave him alone." Finally, a friendly face! Lucius thought. It was yet another cousin, though not Carew or Maxine's sister. It was Dionyza. She was the youngest child of his favorite aunt and uncle, Pandora and Octavian, and she was a breath of fresh air compared to the rest of his boring, snippety family.

"Well, Dion, I just wanted to meet her!" Carew sniffed haughtily. "After all, when she ran off at the wedding...Well, things like that just speak for themselves!"

"Do they now?" It was Lucifer, and he was defending his elder brother, as he always did. "Selina's quite a nice girl. She's pregnant, too, and her nausea sometimes gets the best of her. She'll be down soon enough."

Most of the family already knew of Selina's pregnancy, bit everyone tittered and congratulated Lucius as if it was new news. Draco sat sullenly in the corner while they did this, and Lucius almost felt guilty for waiting until his firstborn arrived home from school to tell him of his new sibling. It had been a stonily cold conversation, and though Draco threw no fit, Lucius could tell he didn't like the new arrangement. He didn't treat Selina any worse though, and Lucius had decided to leave Draco be to solve his resentment in his own brooding way.

"Have you discussed any names yet?" It was Aunt Pandora, and Lucius gave her a 'Malfoy smile'.

"A few," he said. "I've mentioned a few family names, as has she, and we're trying to narrow it down to a few." That was pure bullshit--Selina and he had barely discussed the baby in the past few weeks, much less discussed a name--but after the mention of Selina's absence at their wedding, he had to make it seem as if they were something of a functioning marriage.

"You shouldn't give into her, Lucius," Maxine said as she bounced a pouting Oriele on her lap. "Your child shouldn't be named after anyone but a Malfoy." She pursed her lips. "Perhaps, if it's a girl, you could name her Maxine Carew. It would be a nice gesture." Her lips became an overly sugary smile.

"Perhaps." Lucius, of all the Malfoys, had mastered the art of being emotionless, and he used that to his advantage then. It would be a bad business move to openly reject the suggestion. Ivo Hahn was notorious for being controlled by his overpowering wife. Should he offend her, he might as well forget about expanding his business ideas into Germany.

After that all things that had needed to be said had been said. The Malfoys were never one to waste words, and they rarely ever grew uncomfortable in long silences, so the room became eerily quiet. It was so quiet, in fact, that when Selina approached the door she thought that she had lost her way. Upon peeking in she found her husband, stepson, and found twelve assorted people all sitting stoically. Even the three children, none of whom could have been over eight, sat silently by their parents, hands in lap and eyes somber with boredom. It was one of these children, a pretty toddler with elaborate twisted blonde pigtails and forget-me-not blue eyes, who was the first to notice her. The little girl forgot the oath of silence and squealed.

"Pretty! Pretty! Pretty red!" She clenched an unclenched her chubby fists and pointed to Selina. Of course, everyone turned to see who had disturbed their peace, and when they saw who it was they all rose, and all but Lucius bowed deeply to her. The little girl was still gurgling, and the woman next to her, presumably her mother, blushed deeply.

"Forgive me, Selina. Juno often forgets how rude it is to point." The mother scooped up tiny Juno. "It's your hair she likes. She's never seen a person with red hair before."

Selina smiled. The woman was very kind, and she had no doubt that this lady had also married into the Malfoy clan. "It's quite all right. I take it as a compliment."

The lady smiled in a relieved manner. She quieted down though, and though her daughter did as well, both looked sorely regretful to do so. Selina had her suspicions that this had greatly to do with the tall cruel looking man behind them, a man whom she had never seen before. His eyes were coal black, as was his hair and goatee. He looked nothing like Lucius, and yet she was sure they were related.

"Selina, I'd like you to meet my cousin, Tiberon. This is Tiberon's wife, Elena, and of course you've met their daughter, Juno."

Many introductions followed the first, and in the end Selina only remembered the names of Dionyza, the cousin who had given her diamonds, and Tiberon's family. When they moved into the dining hall for dinner she made sure to sit between Elena and Dionyza. It was traditional, she was told, that on Christmas Eve women ate with women, men ate with men, and children went to bed early. To prove this fact there were two separate tables.

As soon as everyone had been seated food appeared before them, and the low murmurs of stiff conversation began. The men discussed politics, while the women began to discuss what women of society were expected to discuss, which was equivalent to nothing of importance. After fifteen minutes Selina had heard enough about German tapestries from Lucius's snotty cousin--her name began with an M, something like Madine--to last her a lifetime. Just when she was sure that she would die of boredom, an unexpected escape was offered in an unexpected form.

"Mr. Malfoy?" Ms. Laverne's normally steady voice was broken and demure. She had appeared in the large doorway to the dining hall, and instead of striding over to Lucius as Selina had expected her to, she stayed where she was, even going so far as to back into the hallway. She didn't meet his eyes either, and opting to stare a hole in the floor. "Mr. Malfoy, I'm so sorry to interrupt, but little Miss Juno is awake, and she having a terribly hard time falling back to sleep. She want...I think...Miss Selina."

Lucius frowned. "She wants Selina? Whatever made you think that?"

"Oi, isn't that Narcissa's old dumb maid?" It was the old maid cousin, bitter and cruel as ever.

"Yes." It was Lucifer. He was jeering cruelly. "Lucius, has your maid gone and finished school and become a psychiatrist behind our backs?"

"She doesn't know the meaning of the word," whispered the old maid. All throughout his family's taunting of Ms. Laverne, Lucius sat quietly. He let them tease her. He didn't seem to care at all.

Now, Selina had always been pleased with the way her 'husband' treated Ms. Laverne. It wasn't quite with respect, but he didn't ever insult her or treat her like a stupid cow, like most rich purebloods did of their own staff. He treated Pamela more or less the same way, without the perks of elegant meals and the like, but now, as he stared haughtily at Ms. Laverne, he became every ounce as horrid as the rest of the pureblood bastards that frequented their manor so often. Selina hated him at that moment for putting on such a show for his family, mocking her for no other reason than to provide them a bit of dinner entertainment. She hated his family as well, even seemingly kind Elena, for chortling at Ms. Laverne's embarrassment, as much as she might dislike the woman. Only Draco didn't laugh at the elderly woman's humiliation, and Selina wondered for what reason that might be.

"Well, sir, she keeps asking for a...'Pretty Red,' and I assumed that that was Miss Selina. I've known nothing else to be red in this entire household."

Though Lucius knew that to be correct he sniggered--a grown man actually sniggered!--and shook his head. "No, I'm sure you're wrong. And at any rate I will not have her leaving that table."

In a moment Selina decided to turn the tables on her dear 'husband'. Perhaps it was because she knew the same humiliation from her encounters with Arielle DeSanders, but she felt suddenly allied to Ms. Laverne. "You won't have me leave this table?" Her voice was clear and crisp, and the very second she spoke the entire hall quieted. Most looked utterly and completely floored, and, to Selina's divine satisfaction, Lucius looked as though he had been slapped. It was too late to back down then, so, in one poised movement that Ms. Laverne herself had taught her, she pushed her chair back from the table and stood. "Because I will be leaving. And as much as you'd like to believe it, you do not own me! And you never will, you arrogant, womanizing, moronic little bastard!"

It may not have been Shakespeare, but Selina would eat her own wand if she wasn't the first person to ever call him those things to his face. Her mother would have died all over again if she had ever heard her daughter use the word 'bastard, and frankly Selina was surprised, if not a little ashamed, at cursing so uncharacteristically. In a way it made her feel like she had sunk to their level, but, as she passed through the giant doorway, she had no time to reflect on such things.

Once she was in the hallway Ms. Laverne was upon her. "You silly Southern screw up! What's in hell's name do you think you were doing?" Selina almost stopped walking in shock. Shouldn't Ms. Laverne be thankful? But no, she was far from that! "Did you think that I'd be glad that you'd stuck up for me? Do I give you the impression of one who needs to be saved?"

"But they were...Lucius was-"

Ms. Laverne let out an angry growl. "My god, you stupid, stupid girl! Have I taught you nothing? It was an act!"

Selina felt no smarter than her 'husband' at that point, and this time there were no crups to save her from the jaws of Ms. Laverne. "An act?"

Ms. Laverne nodded roughly. "Yes, Miss Selina, an act! The way he treated me was an act. Everything in this world is an act. Things here are much different here than they were in Alabama. Everyone whom you associated with do things with their own greedy motives in mind. It isn't like the poor folk who get by on the good deeds and generosity of others! Our kind, the rich, pure kind, get by on the bad deeds of themselves. Survival of the fittest, Miss Selina! Alpha, beta, and omega! Take my advice and conform, or die trying! Do you think you've accomplished anything by cursing like a harlot?"

But this time Selina did stop. And it wasn't because of Ms. Laverne's 'reality check' speech. No, it was coming from down the hall! And it was laughter. Mind you, not the good natured laughter that friends often used, but a cruel, nasally sort. She waited until the laughter--well, she couldn't honestly call it laughter--died down before saying her rebuttal.

"You thank I did that just for you?" she asked. "You think that I didn't do that for myself as well? Because I did. It may just be an act for you, Ms. Laverne, and you may be so frigid that it doesn't matter anymore when people jeer at you when they have no right to do so, but I have too much respect for myself to take that sitting. I'll never change to be like them all either, so don't you ever tell me otherwise."

Ms. Laverne snorted. "Oh, I'll tell you otherwise, Miss Selina, and for your own good. You care too much about those crups of yours. You care too much about the silly things, like whether that bird you saw fall out of its nest earlier is going to survive. You care too much about people who don't give a damn about you. You care too much about your stepson, for that matter! Do you think that because you're going to make him love you because you meddle in his life? Merlin, who is going to like you for that?"

"I will."

For the second time that evening, after saying a few short words, Selina turned on her heel and walked proudly down the hall. She'd get hell from both the people she'd insulted that night, but she wasn't about to let her fear spoil the moment. Her pride in standing up to the two who had bullied her for the past few months was immense, and, borrowing a term that Riley often used, "The feeling was better than sex."

~*~

Selina found Juno's nursery fairly quickly. She had been the one to prepare the rooms for living conditions, so she had hand picked the suite that would serve as a nursery for the three children coming to stay at Malfoy Manor. As she might have expected, the blond little girl was sitting in the front room. Maxine Malfoy-Hahn's children were huddled in a corner, dressed in ridiculous reindeer pajamas. They both glared at Juno contemptuously, and when the little girl in the pair saw Selina she gave a disgruntled huff.

"Make her quiet down! I cannot sleep, and my Mummy will be most displeased if I look anything below my best tomorrow!" She may have had the surname Hahn, but her tone was all Malfoy.

Selina ignored her for the most part and walked directly to Juno. She knelt down softly and smiled. Juno seemed unused to affection, probably because of her father's harsh mannerism, and at first she was suspicious of Selina. However, once Selina offered forth a lock of her hair, Juno brightened.

"Pretty red," she said, clasping the lock in a chubby fist and allowed Selina to lift her up. "Pretty red. I like pretty red."

Selina smiled. "Do you now?"

Juno gave a small tug on the long red curl, and her head bobbed up and down. "Oh, yes. I've never seen a pretty red before. Pretty red is like rubies."

They were in Juno's bedroom now, and Selina set the little girl down on a bed that was far too vast for a toddler of her size. "Would you like to have pretty red forever?"

Juno's big blue eyes widened. "You come to live with us?" she asked. Her voice was sadly hopeful, and Selina resolved to find a way in which to permit Elena to be allowed to show her daughter the love she was so obviously missing.

"No, Juno, that's not what I meant." Juno's face fell so fast that it broke Selina's heart. She swore her child, whether she was happy to have it or not, would never want for love like little Juno. "But tomorrow, at bedtime, I'll give you some pretty red forever."

"How?" Juno was a smart child, it seemed, and her curiosity was only natural.

"Oh, you'll see." Selina herself was unsure of how to complete the idea that had sprung fresh in her mind, but she'd stay up all night if she needed to. "Goodnight, Juno."

Juno smiled. She apparently liked the promise of pretty red, and that was enough to get her to sleep. She whispered a babyish, "Goodnight" before she was off into the land of nod...

~*~

Her good mood was a short lived one. She had not forgotten the dangers within insulting her 'husband' so publicly, and so it came of no surprise to her that, upon returning to her suite, the door was open a jar. She took a deep breath, and she prepared to face a barrage of insults upon stepping inside. Sure enough, standing tall and proud in her entrance room, was Lucius Malfoy.

And heaven almighty, his face could have scared the devil.

It was worse than their wedding night. It was worse than all of the petty arguments they'd had over their few months as a married couple. Selina was suddenly scared, even more so than she had been of herself earlier that evening. She could think of nothing to say, so she decided to say the obvious. "You're here because of dinner."

Lucius snarled in response, and his anger intensified. "Dinner," he said, and Selina was suddenly very aware that the only other person to live on her floor was standing before her, looking madder than hell.

"I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not." Her brash cheekiness surprised her, and it surprised him even more, and she decided that the surprises of that Christmas Eve would never end.

"How can you not be sorry for the way you treated me this evening?" Lucius's anger had been tamed by his shock, and he sounded a little less sure of himself...But only a little.

"How can you not be sorry for putting on a show for your family at the cost of someone else's humiliation?" Selina gave him the dirtiest look she could muster. Lucius didn't cave in and look ashamed though. Far from it, in fact.

"Ms. Laverne is a servant."

"Even servants are human."

"It was an act."

"You're the second person who has told me that. But do you know what? You can't act being as humiliated as your servant was tonight."

"And why do you care so much about her being embarrassed? The way she's treated you I'd have thought that you'd have been laughing the loudest."

"I care because I'm human too."

Lucius glared at her, and she at him. Their conversation had gotten them no where. If anything it only proved to fuel their fires.

"You care too much," Lucius said. The full force of his anger was being held back by some unseen force.

"You know, you're also the second person who's told me that too. I care too much, you care too little. What a pair we make." Selina was being cheeky, she knew that, and it was not helping her any.

"You don't care a damn about what you did tonight. Ms. Laverne doesn't have the sort of reputation I do. My family thought I was so weak tonight, having such a disobedient wife, that they thought they could laugh at me. They think I'm a fool, a weakling, that I've gone soft. Do you know what could happen if word got out that the wife of Lucius Malfoy mouthed off to him?"

"You'd get laughed at more. You deserve it." By now Lucius was unnerved at her lack of concern for his reputation.

"You made a fool of me in my son's eyes. Do you care about that?"

Selina allowed herself a faint smirk. "I think you did a fair enough job of that yourself," she said.

Too late she realized the mistake she had made. Selina had never explored the void that was the relationship of Lucius and Draco Malfoy, always having been respectful enough to know that some things were meant to be kept private. It was no surprise, then, that she didn't know the subject's sensitive spots. She had no way of know that one of her 'husband's' greatest fears was failing as a father. He hid it well, and he had his own twisted methods in which he thought he could ensure himself that he'd never fail Draco, and most of the time he could blindly ignore the mistakes he was making. Most of the time, he could actually believe that he knew what he was doing. But, every so often, something, or someone, would serve as a harsh slap in the face. They would peel back the foggy layers of lies and denial that made his world run and show him the kind of husband he really was, the kind of father he really was, the kind of man he really was. Nothing was as horrible as taking a true look at yourself and seeing acidic blackness eating away your humanity.

"How DARE you!" Selina backed up against the closed door as Lucius advanced on her. "How DARE you say such a thing!"

Selina was afraid. As any pregnant mother would, her arms flew to cover her womb and to protect her child. Lucius didn't notice that. He advanced even more. Soon he had his body pressed roughly against hers. The doorknobs dug painfully into her back, creating dark bruises that would be tender for days.

"You don't know what you're doing," Selina whispered as Lucius gripped her arms with a viselike strength. They were yanked away from her stomach and pinned above her head. Selina wondered if he meant to strike her. Her mind whirled with ways in which she might protect herself, for ways to throw him off balance, and so she decided to do the one thing he'd least expect. She would channel his rage into a different category.

Without considering the consequences of her actions, which was perhaps the most foolish thing she'd done all evening, and thinking only of her baby's safety, which perhaps made up for her foolishness, Selina leaned out and kissed her furious husband. The kiss lasted for six full seconds as first Lucius went through a short period of shock. Once he realized what Selina had done, however, he pulled back as though touching her had scalded him. He stared at her with intense gray eyes, and he looked as if he was seeing her for the first time that night.

"Oh." He was now backing away from her. "Oh, my!" He sounded completely thunderstruck. Selina could not yet tell what exactly her 'husband' was feeling. She still feared for her safety, but, as Lucius stared at her, almost in awe, her fears dwindled away to mere agitation.

"It's late," she said. "Are we at an agreement?" There had been no agreement, not even talk of one, but Selina was eager for him to leave. She still had to work on the present for little Juno, and then she had to get some sleep, for her morning would be an early one. She hoped that she had stunned Lucius enough so that he too would feel the need to leave. Indeed her wish was granted.

"Oh, ah, yes. Our agreement. Yes, I suppose...Our agreement."

He made no sense. Selina wondered if she had stunned Lucius enough that he would be permanently damaged. She found that she didn't really care, and so, with the greatest caution, she proceeded to kick him out. "Then maybe you should go to sleep. We'll have to get up early tomorrow, you know, so that the children can open their presents."

"Ah, yes. Presents." Lucius nodded as if she had said a very sensible thing. "Well, we'll talk later." Selina had no idea at what he meant by that, but she acted as if she did, and she stepped aside from the door when Lucius made his move to leave. He said no goodnight, no goodbye, and no apology.

Selina thought little of this all. She had not been hurt or beaten or too terribly traumatized. Her baby was not harmed. That was all she could ask for. It was a Christmas miracle that Lucius had not screamed himself silly at her or thrashed her badly. It was a miracle that she had only a few bruises to show for the past thirty minutes' events.

Selina didn't bother to watch her 'husband' walk down the hallway, and she shut the door quickly after he had stepped out. She began humming a Christmas tune and turned to go to her room and make the proper preparations for Juno's pretty red present. In her dedication for a job well done, Selina was able to forget, if only momentarily, about the pain and surprises that had occurred that Christmas Eve. It was a much appreciated present, she thought at the time, but standing outside her door, there was a man who was not as lucky.

Lucius Malfoy would never forget the moment when Selina had kissed him.

He had been so enraged, so dangerous, so raw and wrathful, but she had summoned the courage to kiss him. Her lips had been cool, and he knew that they had been parted and trembling. He had captured every detail of the six seconds that they were joined, though he would never know why it was that thirty years later he would be able to remember that her lips tasted of eggnog. He was never a sentimental man, and he doubted he ever would be, and so he had no way of guessing that those were the sort of things you remembered when you fell in love.

It was impossible.

It was unbelievable.

It was crazy.

Lucius Malfoy knew all this and yet he didn't give a damn. If he had taken the time to count them then the clichés would have amounted to no ends. If he had taken the time to think about the ways things could go wrong then the possibilities would never have ceased. And though time seemed to drag by after Selina shut the door, Lucius Malfoy thought to do none of those things. As it usually is when one falls in love the only thing he could think of was her, Selina, his wife.

It was a good thirty minutes before he got enough sense into him to return to his rooms. It would do him no good if someone, Selina or otherwise, came to find him staring at the double doors like an idiot. When he arrived in his drafty rooms he did not, like any sensible man would have, sit in front of the fire. Instead he allotted to stay hidden in the shadows of his sitting room. Why would he need a fire to keep warm? As stupid as it sounded even to himself, he had his love, and though it may not have been enough, it was something to keep him company on a cold winter's eve.

~*~

And so, as it came to pass, the worst Christmas of Selina's life turned out to be the best of her husband's. Maybe it was not so mch a miracle as a coincidence, or some great cosmic plan useable to even the magic. And to those watching, for there were always those who watched Selina and her new husband for their own devious reasons or because they worried for her safety or because she simply sparked their interest, it was the last unexpected twist to a night that had been chalk full of unexpected twists.

Some wept for joy, for they loved Selina, though she might not ever know their love. They were happy that she might know his love, if only he would find the courage and dignity to admit it aloud.

Some wept for sadness, for they loved Selina so much that it hurt them terribly to see her life take such an unfortunate twist. They saw no good in Lucius Malfoy, and love was not of his nature, and so they saw that only havoc and pain could be brought about by such an anomaly.

And some did not weep, for they were the devious ones, and tears were not meant to spring to their eyes. Instead they raged, for they also saw an anomaly in the love that came from Lucius Malfoy. They plotted the death and demise of Selina, to be caused by a single symbolic blow, and if he loved her enough, they he might take the blow in her spot.

And then there was one unique reaction. One certain soulless existence found no favor or rage or anger in the love that Lucius Malfoy had come to know for his wife Selina. It had known that the love was an inevitable step in its plan, a plan different from all others, a plan that would destroy her in a way worse than death.

It had a certain score to settle with Selina Julliard, now called Selina Malfoy, and it would be stopped by no one.

Not a miracle.

Not a husband whose love for his wife was new and unstable but would become unbreakable.

And definitely not the two combined. But it did not understand love, so it could not know how closely the two were related.

In the end love and miracles might save Selina.

But in the end it might also destroy her...