Chapter 15

Lucius didn't arrive back at the Manor until nearly three in the morning. He went straight to his bedroom and was met with a house elf and a most inspiring glass of his preferred spirit.

"Thank you," he said upon taking the glass, sniffing it appreciatively. "Where is Draco?" He was simply curious, of course.

"Young Master is with his young lady guest. He entertained her, just as you instructed, Master."

Lucius smiled. It was so nice to get his own way. He dismissed the elf with his thanks and changed into his black silk pyjamas, complete with the Malfoy insignia over the pocket. He always felt royal in these, even though he tended to see pyjamas as undignified.

He wondered if Hermione wore pyjamas.

Reclining against his luxurious pillows, Lucius drank of his cognac and looked over his agenda for the next few days. Tomorrow was a surprisingly easy day, only a midmorning meeting and drinks around seven in the evening were blocked in. In the interim, he could either go into the office, or work from his desk in the study. On any other day, he would have gone into the office; lately, it had been with the intent to see Hermione, however brief their contact might have been.

Tomorrow, however, he already had Hermione in his clutches, so to speak. It would be no effort at all to convince the young witch to take a day of rest with him.

It wasn't exactly a coincidence that Draco's day promised to be hectic, as he was meeting with a high-profile client on a number of lucrative donations.

He would have Hermione to himself, and he intended to make good use of his upper hand. Draco had an advantage at present, and he had no qualms with levelling the playing field.

Unfortunately for Lucius, the playing field had other plans.

"I'm so sorry, but I really can't skive off today. I promised Draco I'd help with his write-up...it's really too much work for him to be doing on his own."

Lucius resisted the urge to glare daggers at his rather smug looking son. Draco had heard Lucius ask Hermione to spend the day with him, and his offspring was enjoying Hermione's refusal.

"Do not worry yourself over it. The weekend is nearly upon us; maybe we can all enjoy some time together?" Lucius said, almost too sweetly.

Hermione stepped up for a soft kiss, and he obliged, lovingly caressing her lips with his for a moment of watched intimacy.

"I would love that," she whispered, looking to Draco for a seconding notion. He nodded, still looking the cat that got the cream.

"Sounds brilliant, Father. Do you have anything in mind?"

"I hadn't thought on it yet, but I will have time to do so today."

Draco saw Hermione through the Floo, after a soft kiss to cheek. Once their witch was off to work, Draco turned to his father.

"I'd like to speak with you privately, Father. About this whole triad business." His son looked uncharacteristically hesitant, and Lucius felt a twinge of unease.

"Are you having second thoughts?" He tried to keep his voice level, but he so hoped he was wrong.

"Not exactly. Just... my first thoughts still need clarifying." He lightly bit his lower lip, which Lucius recognized as a nervous habit that only manifested itself around those Draco felt most comfortable and safe.

"I would be more than happy to talk with you, of course. Tonight?"

"That would be great." Already, Draco looked more at ease. Giving Lucius a brief hug, which Lucius was too surprised to return wholeheartedly, his son turned to the Floo and left for work.

Draco had had a lot of time to think. He didn't tend to deliberate so much. Usually, his decisions were quick and easy; a benefit, he thought, of knowing oneself thoroughly. But perhaps that had been a misjudgement. Because he did know himself, his faults, his flaws and his redeeming and positive attributes alike. But that was not helping him now.

He knew what he wanted. He wanted Hermione. She was the focus around which everything circled. When he thought of his future, he thought of her. When he thought of his life, she was the star. That part was easy enough.

It somewhat made his decision for him. Because without Hermione, he wouldn't be happy, and in order to have her, he had to have it all. His father, the triad, the magic, everything.

And for the first time in his life, Draco didn't know if he wanted all the bells and whistles that came with the object of his desire.

It was odd. If dinner included dessert, it was better than dinner without it. If a house came furnished with antiques, it was better than a house without them. If a ring had emeralds and diamonds, it was better than a plain gold band. He knew these things, had known them all his life. He had been raised by these standards and had never questioned them before.

But here he was, half wishing that Hermione wasn't a package deal; that he had only her, all to himself.

His father: a good, decent man. A good father. An excellent business man. Someone he'd always looked up to, whether wrong or right. Someone he always saw as part of his life, as a father, a grandfather to his eventual children, a mentor, a safety net. But in his bed?

The triad: Celeste, Michael and Thello had scared him. He didn't want that. He'd thought a triad would be unity, togetherness, wholeness. But the other triad had been anything but. Would they be different? Would they eventually fall apart?

The magic: it was amazing, in theory. Draco was drawn to power, he always had been. He was like his father in that respect. But he learned...they'd both learned...that the person with the most power was not necessarily the person who deserved to be in control. Could he handle the magic? Would it change him? Did he deserve it?

There was so much to think about, and Draco was glad his father had offered to talk to him that night. He might still have a child's naïve trust in his father to tell the truth and do the right thing, but the years after the war had shown him that his trust was well-placed. Lucius really did want to do his best by their family, minute though it was at the moment.

How would it feel to belong to something bigger than himself?

Hermione spent most of the day helping Draco. Some of the help was unwarranted because the man truly did have a handle on his business, but Hermione found it difficult, at times, to let go of a project. It was easy, as always, to work together. She'd worried that their intimacy might make things uncomfortable or difficult between them, but, if anything, it brought them to a new level of co-operation.

By the end of the day, she became aware that her presence was likely as much of a nuisance as it was a help, despite her best intentions. Draco smiled magnanimously at her when she told him she was sure he could handle the finishing touches himself.

He leaned in for a sweet kiss, tongue only just tickling her lower lip, before he turned her and sent her out of his office.

Once at her own desk, Hermione decided not to think about the things that had transpired. She'd been doing that so much lately that she suspected her actual feelings were being clouded by her analytical mind's machinations. Maybe it would be better to just feel... after all, it had worked wonders the night before, when Draco had....

Well, maybe it was better to just turn her brain off altogether, at least until she could see her two sexy men again...in private.

"Where's Hermione?"

"Taking a bath, I believe," Draco answered, pouring tea for himself and his father. Both men allowed their eyes to glaze over for a mutual moment of imagined voyeurism before coming back to the present.

"Would you like to have that talk now, Son?"

"I would. I hope you don't think me ungrateful," Draco began, wringing his hands together once before placing them on his thighs determinedly. "I just have many questions. Many concerns."

Lucius believed he knew what was coming. He'd had the day to think about it, and he suspected the majority of the problem came with the sheer unusualness of the situation. Draco had always had a bit of a problem standing out from the crowd, at least when it meant he was the object of scrutiny rather than adoration.

"Go ahead, Draco. I can't admit to knowing much more about any of this than you, but perhaps I can at least alleviate some of your more... understandable fears."

"It's not that I'm afraid," Draco insisted, voice certain but face contradicting his words. "I wonder... I wonder how much I really deserve everything that's happening. I want it, I'm pretty sure I do. But, don't you wonder... what we did right to warrant such a bounty?"

Lucius sighed. His son had changed more than either of them had really known. "I don't think it's a question of deserving it... maybe it's a question of earning it. I don't think for a moment that I've been... forgiven, I suppose you might say, for my actions before and during the war. But I do believe in second chances, and even if I don't deserve this now, I plan on spending the rest of my life making sure I do."

Draco sat silently a long time, looking as though he was absorbing Lucius' words. Draco's fears had surprised him. He'd thought his son would be worried about what people thought, about how very different this all was. But instead, he'd shown an unprecedented reticence about what he saw as a reward for bad behaviour. Draco had never been entitled, per se, but he'd certainly believed that he deserved whatever came to him, and now he was nervous that he hadn't earned the happiness they were being offered. It was rather humbling, both as his father, and as another person in the same situation.

"What if I can't handle the magic?" Draco asked softly.

"You've always been in control of your magic, Draco. Even before Hogwarts taught you precision and restraint you had an excellent handle on it."

"That's not what I meant, Father. What if..." Draco took a deep breath and looked Lucius in the eye. "What if it makes me like Him?"

Lucius had never been prouder of his son. "You are nothing like him. You and I know why we did what we did, what we had to do. You re not evil, nor do you have the capacity to become evil. If you have half the faith in yourself that I have in you, I know you'll see that. Don't let your fear hold you back from what you really want. And if either Hermione or I were to ever suspect you turning Dark, you know we wouldn't let you continue down that path. We care too much for you."

Lucius stood and gestured for Draco to do so as well. He took his son into his arms in an embrace that was all the more special for its rarity. Lucius regretted all the years he'd spent distanced from his own son, and he was so grateful for the opportunity to change that. Their second chance was about more than a relationship with Hermione, more than magic...it was also about the two of them, finding something in the other that had been missing for far too long.

Draco folded into the hug easily, making Lucius realize how hungry the young man really was for his attention.

"I trust you to do the right thing, Draco, no matter what. And you can trust me, as well," he assured him, pulling back slightly to place a kiss on Draco's temple.

"Thank you," Draco answered simply. It appeared that the crisis was averted, for the time being; but Lucius did not doubt his son's fears would make themselves known again over time. He was only thankful for the opportunity to ease them.

"Now, let's find out exactly how much our Hermione heard, shall we?"

Draco's eyes widened, and they heard a surprised squeak on the other side of the study door. Lucius waved his wand at the door, which swung open to reveal a pyjama-attired young woman who looked indecisive as to whether to stay and be embarrassed or flee.

"Well, Hermione? Anything you'd like to add?" Lucius said, a smile in his voice if not on his face.

"No, no," she said shyly. "You covered the bases, I think." She stepped into the room, crossing the floor to Draco, who seemed to be having a hard time meeting her eyes. "Draco... you are a good man. Your magic will be stronger, but it won't be different. It's still you. I'm nervous too, but I don't think any of us will be the next Voldemort, and I don't think you really believe that either. If you're having second thoughts..."

"No, that's not it. It's just so much to absorb, and while I do want it, I just hope we know what we're really getting into."

"Well, to be perfectly honest... at this point, I feel like there is no other option. I want to be with you, with both of you. If I have to give both of you up, I'd regret it for the rest of my life. I don't think what we have will be perfect; in fact, I hope it isn't, because where's the fun in that? But I know it can be real, I know it can be good. And I know it doesn't have to be like the other triad, because we aren't like them. We just have to stay open, always talk, and hide nothing."

She nodded her head firmly, as if she'd said all that needed to be said, and quite possibly, she had.