Miss Patil Takes a Holiday

Sorry for the long in-between time for the updates. I actually thought I had uploaded this chapter to this site. Pleeeeeease forgive me for my scatterbrained ways...

All thanks go to Jilliane for her red-mousing on this chapter. Thanks Jilliane.



Chapter 19: Family Dinner 2 or Other Post-Modern Methods of Interrogation

Lucius was in the kitchens at the manor feeding one fussing infant a bottle as the other slept in the arms of the sweet-faced crone he had hired as their nurse. Narcissa, after due monetary compensation, a small amount of strong-armed pressure, and consultations between lawyers in the states and the Malfoy family counsel in England, had delivered the children, a boy, Corvus, and a girl, Altheae, to him in only a month before. They had been born a month early but healthy. Lucius offered to allow Narcissa twice annual visitation as long as she never let the children know the cloud under which they were created. As Malfoys they would have enough stigma with Lucius' Death Eater past, without the whole house elf inspired madness hanging over their heads. Lucius had already reserved a place for them in Beauxbatons. It was nice to know that many things remained the same as before the war. A small sum went a long way in greasing the wheels, if one were willing to pay to get what one wanted.

The Manor was almost completely remodelled. Gone were the scars left by both the Muggle vandals and the equally careless Ministry Officials. Also gone were the almost millenia of family portraits and other priceless artefacts of the Malfoy line. Lucius, upon hearing the cost of restoration for the various and sundry wizarding portraits, had not spared a second thought to the idea of saving the tattered remnants of his vainglorious ancesters. It was time that he put the Malfoy past where it belonged. He had saved one portrait, a small one that he found in the attic, of his mother. It was an Elvish one, painted when she was on the cusp of womanhood, the colours still rich after the depradations of the years. She sat, unmoving, as was the Elvish convention, on a settee, her hand to her breast as if she was startled by something. Lucius loved her sweet look of surprised awe at what ever it was that caught her attention. The battlements of a mouldering Irish fairy ring could be seen just out the window of her boudoir. Lucius wondered at the setting. His father had never spoken of his mother after her death at his hands. Lucius knew nothing of his mother's family, other than she had none. He wondered, if she had, would he have been born. Surely some male in her line would have warned her of the Malfoy's proclivity to be widowed early and in strange ways.

Lucius had placed the portrait over the mantle in the still bare library. Many of the books his family had gathered over the years were being repaired, at least those confiscated by the Ministry and not on a proscribed list. Lucius expected less than half of the ten thousand or so tomes to be returned.

Corvus yawned against the nipple of the bottle, his grey eyes heavy with sleep. Lucius ran his hand over the black curls on his head. The boy had not bred true to the Malfoy line, except for his eyes which had changed to the colour of Draco's shortly after his birth. "It is time to sleep, little man. Daddy has an appointment today."

He handed the infant to the nurse who was jiggling Altheae in her arms. "Please see that they are dressed within the hour. I wish to take them with me."

"Very well, sir." The crone took the children from the room, her step light despite her years.

&*&*&

Padma walked carefully along the slick flagstones on the path to her parents house, Tomas and Seamus walked behind her holding hands like two lovebirds. It was yet another Sunday dinner of which she had been unable to duck. Since the revelations of that fateful Monday in November, Padma's mother had been decidedly less cool to her, instead settling on pitying looks and sad sighs. Maa had foregone any efforts to fix her up with an eligible man after the Pradesh disaster. She covered for the lapse in her judgement by insisting that the family was behind Padma an hundred percent, that the evil house elf had deserved its punishment, and that Padma's disgrace, though public, was lessened due to the facts surrounding her pregnancy. Parvati had been alternating between solicitousness and smug superiority. Padma hated her.

Bapa had remained silent about his feelings on the matter.

Padma knew she had disappointed him and it stung her that she had caused him such embarrassment. At times, she wished she could go back to before the holiday in Greece and make a different choice, gone to a different location, not slept with Lucius.

Lumpkin kicked her, and she paused on the walkway, stunned to silence. She had felt flutters before, but nothing like this. Soon, Tomas and Seamus were upon her and she said tearfully, always tearfully now, "He moved."

Seamus moved in front of her, "May I?"

He placed his hands on her belly, just a little pudge of a shape right now, but growing every day. Lumpkin kicked again and his eyes sought hers in shocked awe. "It's real."

"Of course,it's real, you prat." Tomas laughed, "What? Did you think she was just getting fat?"

Seamus smiled. "You know what I mean, love. I can't wait 'til we can have one of our own."

Tomas beamed and leaned in to give Seamus a resounding kiss. "I can't either, love."

The door to the house opened and Maa was beckoning them in with some impatience.

&*&*&

Getting about with two infants was not something Lucius would recommend to anyone. He was late for his appointment after having to change his robes twice. Vomit now decorated his frock coat and his sleeve. Altheae apparently had a sensitive constitution. Corvus had discovered his fist and was currently trying to cram it into his mouth while Altheae fussed piteously. Lucius cradled his daughter's dandelion-fuzz covered head while gently jiggling Corvus in his carrier as the train started its motion. Lucius cursed himself roundly for not establishing a better mode of transportation than a Muggle one to his destination as Altheae, with a hiccoughing cry of outrage, began bellowing in earnest.

A Muggle woman with a child of her own in tow smiled at him in that smug knowing way that women had. "Is Mummy taking the day off?"

"No." Lucius sneered. Impertinent Muggles and their innappropriate observations. He jiggled Altheae who had proceeded from hiccoughing sobs to full out yowls.

"Oh, you poor dear, are you... a single father?" The Muggle,whose face had fallen to the facsimile of concern, moved to the seat across from him bringing her monstrosity of a child with her. The girl, no more than three, goggled at Lucius and then stuck her thumb in her mouth. Lucius unbent enough to give the girl a frosty smile to which she responded by butting her head against her mother's ample bosom.

"May I?" the woman asked reaching for Altheae. Lucius snatched his daughter back, muffling her cries against the fur of his cloak which had fallen back in his efforts to seat himself.

"If you'll just... here," the woman said, taking Altheae expertly and placing his daughter facedown on his lap. "Now, hold her head and jiggle you legs back and forth..."

Lucius looked on in surprise as Altheae quieted after emitting a loud, squelching burp.

The woman shot him a look of satisfied smugness. "My Prunella had the same problem when she was that age. I had to work and so I put her on formula. You might get your doctor to recommend something different."

"Thank you, Madam," Lucius replied with less frost than before. "I shall endeavour to do so."

The train pulled to its stop and the woman said, "Oh, my, this is my stop. Good luck, you poor dear."

Lucius watched her leave the compartment, her large backside brushing against several of the passengers as she exited. Her daughter looked back solemnly at him and waved before pushing into her mother's side. Lucius inclined his head in response. Altheae seemed content to lay on his lap and so he left her. After a few moments, he surreptitiously wiped at his sleeve on his trousers, unable to do more to make himself presentable in the company of his former enemies.

Soon enough he was at his destination, and he gathered his children and they exited the train.

&*&*&

Padma was in the garden when her father found her. She had been dead-heading the flower stalks in preparation for spring. She wondered why Bapa had not done so earlier in the year.

He ambled down the path, humming a song from a film they had watched that afternoon, his warbling tone soothing Padma as no other sound could. He came abreast of her and watched silently as she pulled another head off of the aster, crumbling the cushiony material so that the seeds would be able germinate in the coming weeks. Spring was near.

"Flea."

Padma looked up to see Bapa's concerned face turned toward her. She hunched her shoulders against the censure in which she knew he held her. "Bapa, I know I disappointed you. I'm sorry."

Bapa joined her in her efforts to ready the garden, his deft brown fingers picking at the heads of the asters and scattering them with ease. "Lucius Malfoy called on me this week."

"He did?" Padma paused in her labours. Lucius had been in contact with her, writing weekly about the renovations to the Manor and his preparations for the twins, and going with her to the midwitch when he could. He had been solicitious but distant. His attention had been elsewhere.

Padma moved to the next bed. "What did he want?"

"I think that's for him to tell you." Bapa followed her and began shifting through the seed pods of the Butterfly Weed an American cousin had sent to him years before. She pulled the first one off, the husk empty and blackened by the weather. Bapa sighed gustily and began singing again. After a short while he said, "I've never been disappointed with you."

Padma's hands rested for a moment on the stalk of the plant on which she was working. "Yes, you are. I know you never wanted me to be pregnant and unmarried."

"You're correct about that," Bapa answered, and stooped down to clear some imagined speck of dirt from his pristine walkway. "But it doesn't shame me that you are. Things happen."

He waggled his head in that familiar way of his and Padma smiled. "I love you, Bapa. I don't think I tell you that enough."

"Love is hard," Bapa replied, his hands resting on the ground as he looked up at her. He sat in a squat, his feet flat on the flagstones of the walkway, his legs wide. "The only thing I ever desired for you was that you were safe. During the war... I tried to get us out of the country like your cousin Devi's family did. The visa's were all taken, and I failed you and your sister. I am sorry about that."

"Don't be, Bapa," Padma said "I couldn't have left my friends to deal with the Death Eaters. You know that."

Bapa nodded, absently rubbing a spot on the walkway with his thumb, his eyes on the ground in front of him. "That is what is best about you, and what keeps me up at night. When you love, you love with your whole heart."

Padma hummed in answer. Bapa continued looking away from her. "Do you love him, this Lucius Malfoy?"

"Yes."

Bapa pursed his lips. "It's not always easy. I should know after almost forty years of marriage."

"He hasn't asked me to marry him, Bapa." Padma replied, her heart thrumming heavily in her chest. "He has other concerns right now."

"Are you sure he's changed?"

"I'm not sure he ever knew who he was until recently, so I can't answer that," Padma answered lightly. "Oh look, Maa's waving us in. Dinner must be ready."

Padma held out her hand and Bapa took it, easing himself up with a grunt an the snapping of tendons. He did not let go of it as they walked back up the path. "When you marry, I want it to be here, Flea. You look lovely amongst the flowers."

"Of course, Bapa."

&*&*&

Lucius picked his way carefully up the cobbled path leading to the house. He stopped, placing the children's carriers out of the way of the drooping plant heads, and cast a quick Tergeo on his clothes, siphoning off the various infantile emissions with less than stellar results. He smoothed his hand over his hair nervously before taking a deep breath to centre himself. Once he collected a semblance of calm he picked up the children, who were now sleeping heavily, along with their bag of necessities and proceeded to the small stoop. He rapped lightly on the lintel, resisting the urge to fidget as he waited for the owner to answer.

The door opened and a scowling woman in a heavy silk sari answered. "You must be here for my daughter."

Lucius answered as politely as he could while he juggled the infants. "And you must be Dr. Patil's lovely mother."

"I am." The woman's hard-eyed gaze travelled over him, taking in the spots that he could not clean properly and his rich travelling cloak. "Well, come in."

Lucius entered the house, which was decorated in warm wood tones and smelled of an exotic mixture of spices and incense. She took Lucius' cloak and then directed him to the formal parlour, sequestered away from the rest of the household. "I'll fetch my husband. He will want to speak to you."

She left the room with a flick of her silvering braided hair and a swish of her sari. Lucius looked about at the room, an odd combination of Eastern and Western decor and all of good quality. His eye was caught by a small statue of a blue-faced man who had a beatific smile. The statue was next to a fat elephant-headed god. Both had offerings of incense and fruit at the base of their statues. It reminded him of his father's aborted attempts at worship to the Old Gods. Their stones stood on Malfoy land still, unworshipped and unappreciated. Perhaps when he had time he would do something about that.

He rubbed his hands once more on his trousers. He had not been this nervous since the Dark Lord returned. After what seemed like hours, the door to the room opened once more and Nagesh Patil entered, his looks a male version of his daughters. Lucius rose, careful not to disturb the infants who slept at his feet. "Thank you for seeing me today."

The man proceeded to a cabinet and poured a drink for himself. "Will you join me?"

"No, thank you. I no longer indulge."

"Perhaps something else then? Tea?" Lucius demurred as Patil laughed a soft, sad husk of a sound in the quiet of the room. He took a long draw from the glass and then grimaced. "I don't normally indulge myself, but it's not everyday that a man loses his daughter."

Lucius smiled, knowing the look was sickly and green. "I should hope that is not the case."

Patil sipped the amber liquid as he took a seat across from Lucius. He caught sight of the children. "These are the poor children Padma told us about?"

"Yes. Corvus and Altheae." Lucius followed the man's gaze to the infants. "I hope my situation poses no problems."

Patil leaned forward beaming at the children, "No, of course not."

The man sipped his drink. "You're sure you will be able to care for my daughter in the style to which she is accustomed?"

Lucius nodded as he said, "I believe I shall be able to provide for her adequately."

"You are divorced." The observation was without malice but Lucius winced. Patil fixed him with a steely gaze. "Your first wife said you beat her."

"Once, and your daughter was made aware of that act. I have no wish to repeat my past mistakes." Lucius glanced down at his daughter who snuffled and then gave a low moan.

"You were a Death Eater."

"I was." Lucius answered as calmly as he could with the growing sense of panic he felt at the interview. "I... realised the error of my beliefs, but too late to do much good."

Patil took another sip of his Firewhisky and then said, "It's good that you can learn from your mistakes."

Lucius pulled a small bag of coins out of his pocket, a token bride price but more than he had given to the hands of Narcissa's father for the honour of marrying her. "I am willing to pay the traditional bride price plus reparations for the indecent haste in which we must undertake this union. I am aware that this in not a custom in which your culture partakes any longer, but it is our way."

He laid the bag on the table, willing Patil to take it. The man sat back as if contemplating the act. Lucius' heart fluttered as Patil snaked his hand to take the bag and then pocketed it. "Padma will bring half my business to the marriage upon my death. Is that acceptable?"

"Most assuredly, sir." Lucius rose as the man stood. He took out his small pen knife and carefully nicked his palm. Patil did the same and they shook, it was the the last and most basic form of blood magic allowed by the Ministry. Lucius incanted the spell that would bind his family to Patil's and then they broke apart.

Patil healed himself as did Lucius. "I suppose you would like to see my daughter now."

Lucius inclined his head in assent as the man ushered him into his home, infants in tow.

&*&*&

Maa whipped into the room, her mouth set in a straight line as she headed for the kitchen. Tomas broke from his conversation with Justin long enough to shoot Padma an enquiring look before returning to counter his point with an emphatic chop of his hand through the air. Padma's gaze returned to the garden after she glanced at the clock. Bapa had been gone at least half an hour. She wondered what kept him. It was not like him to keep Maa waiting when the meal was cooked.

Seamus lounged next to Parvati a look of boredom on his face as she prattled on about Justin's extravagant expenditures on their infant. Padma shot him a look of commiseration and he pulled a face, wiggling his ears as he did so. Padma stuck out her tongue and crossed her eyes. She thought at the very least Seamus would laugh, but he did not. It was when she felt a familiar hand on her shoulder that she realised the room's babble had been hushed as if by a Silencing Spell.

A familiar expensive scent wafted toward her as Lucius lifted her hand and kissed the air above it, murmurring, "You are lovely as always, Mona Lisa."

Shit.

Lucius tucked her hand under his arm. "I would like a word with you, if I might."

Padma caught Parvati's look of outrage as she led him from the room to a small alcove on the deck that overlooked the garden. Lucius enveloped her in his arms and he kissed her thoroughly, his lips hungry and rough. She returned his ardour and clung to him, her heart beating a wild patter under his skilled ministrations.

He said as they broke, "I've missed you. I thought that I might have lost you."

Lucius pulled away letting his hands drift to her silk-clad belly. "I have asked your father for your hand in marriage, but I should like to hear your opinion on the matter."

"Is that it?" Padma queried. "No grand declarations, no lovely speeches?"

Lucius eyes glinted in the gloom of the gathering dusk. "Do you require it?"

"I might." Padma said, leaning on the railing of the alcove, crossing her arms over her chest. "Do you love me?"

Lucius knelt before her on one knee, his gaze searching her face as he started, "Mona Lisa, I come to you a humbled man..."

Padma felt the laughter rise in her as if they were effervescent bubbles in the Muggle colas that Tomas liked so well. She took a breath, trying to contain her mirth as Lucius looked at her imploringly. It turned into a snort of laughter. "I just want to know if you're marrying me for the baby or for me. It's a simple yes or no answer."

Lucius gave a harrumph of irritation and then ordered, "Well, help me up then, my knees are paining me."

"Yes, you are nearly as old as my father, you know." Padma snorted again as she helped him to his feet.

Padma sobered as she crossed to Lucius. "Answer my question. Why are you marrying me?"

"I have informed you that I have deep feelings for you. I believe I even said I loved you." Padma could tell from his clipped tone that he was doing his best to keep his temper. "Of course, I want our child... Dammit, what would you have me say? I am a selfish man. I want it all... you, the children... more if you wouldn't mind. Is that enough?"

Padma launched into his arms, covering his face with kisses which he rapidly traded for his own. He pulled away from her, cupping her face in his hands, his thumbs resting on her fluttering pulse points, "I take it that is possible yes, then?"

Padma sobered long enough to say, "I think that is a definite yes."

She pulled away from him, taking his hand in hers as she pulled him toward the house, "Join us for dinner. I hope you like it spicy."

Lucius pulled her in front of him, letting her feel the effects of her cinnamon skin on his body. "With you? Always."




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