A/N: I'm afraid this vignette does contain a gratuitous use of the word 'trollop', and the characters of course belong to JK Rowling.


Lucius Malfoy pasted a ridiculously false smile onto his face as he stared repulsed at the grizzling, blanket-wrapped bundle in his arms. The smile was for Narcissa’s benefit – she had handed him his son so proudly. But the child was ugly! There was no other way to put it and no way round it. His face was wrinkled, misshapen and beet-red. Narcissa though seemed not to have noticed as she cooed over him. Lucius wondered idly whether the strain of childbirth had weakened her mind.

Lucius found that he was entirely at a loss as to what he was expected to say. No amount of training in the etiquette of a gentleman had ever prepared him for this moment. He stared at the child again, who had now opened his eyes to reveal their steely hue.

That was something at least, Lucius decided. It meant the child was most likely his. Narcissa hadn’t been playing away, or, if she had, she’d been careful enough that he hadn’t been cuckolded.

That hardly seemed the thing to say though – “Congratulations, darling, he has my eyes, so I won’t have to set you aside for being an unfaithful trollop!” No, that certainly wouldn’t suffice.

He supposed the accepted route would be to say that the child was ‘beautiful’, but Lucius wasn’t sure that he could utter that with a straight face. ‘A fine heir’ perhaps? Or maybe he ought to compliment Narcissa? Although she looked little better than the child in truth. Perhaps he should suggest that she had done well in giving him a strong son?

He knew that the silence was beginning to stretch too long now as Narcissa continued to stare at him expectantly. Lucius moved to readjust the blanket around the baby’s face to buy himself time and his finger brushed the baby’s tiny palm.

It happened so suddenly that Lucius did not expect it and his heart was utterly unguarded as the child’s fist closed around his finger. Lucius’ smile suddenly widened, finally becoming genuine, and he raised his matching grey eyes to meet Narcissa’s eager gaze.

“He’s perfect,” Lucius said, the words tumbling unbidden from his lips before they had even had time to form properly in his mind.