A New Family For Harry

AN: Thank you all so much for your sweet reviews! I'm so excited that you all are enjoying this story so far. Please keep up the feedback -- it *really* helps me write more.

Oh, and this chapter is for all of the fantastic people that have reviewed so far -- so thank you to Lilith, myniephoenix, Leentje, shadowama, manx65, AthenaMalfoy, celestialuna, SandRene -- I updated this tonight because of your encouragement!!! I really hope you like this part.

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Lucius closed the door of the den behind him with a sigh. He had spent more time than he had intended, nearly a full hour, tending to matters of business and politics. Not that he wasn't above dedicating himself to such maneuvers when necessary, even if he had to be away from Narcissa and Draco for days at a time. But this was Harry Potter's first day in his household, and Lucius well knew how critical this early moment was for securing the child's trust.

He passed the salon, only to spy Draco sitting petulantly in a cushioned chair, holding his arms to his chest in a gesture that was half-defensive, half self-comforting.

"Are you planning to sulk inside here all morning?" Lucius asked him from the doorway.

Draco frowned, and then took a shuddering breath, as if he had been crying only a short time ago. "I'm not leaving."

Lucius raised an eyebrow. "I beg your pardon?"

"I don't want to go anywhere, just because you found a new boy to be your son," Draco shot back. His full bottom lip quivered even as he mustered a defiant look.

Lucius strode into the room and took a seat himself. "Come here."

Draco stared for a moment, obviously contemplating disobeying, but then he slithered out of the chair and shuffled with a reluctant step towards Lucius.

"Here," Lucius specified, indicating his knee.

Another moment's pause, and Draco hoisted himself up to sit on Lucius's lap.

Lucius grasped both of his slender shoulders, the better to turn the lad towards him. "You are my son. Nothing will ever change that. Of course you are not going anywhere. This is your home, not just because you live here now, but because it belongs to you, and to your heirs, just as it has belonged to Malfoys through the centuries."

Draco's grey eyes narrowed. "But now --"

"But now our family will prove even stronger, with the addition of this new boy to our household. And that is what I want for you Draco, a family which will gain such power and wealth, far beyond even the riches and influence we already have, and this boy will help us to provide for all of us, for the Malfoy name and estate, in that manner."

Draco pouted, and inched a small hand up to play with one of Lucius's buttons on the collar of his robe.

Lucius hid a smile against the near white silky strands of hair on the crown of Draco's head. "You want to belong to the strongest, most powerful family, don't you, my Draco?"

The little boy shifted in his lap, but then nodded. "Yes, Papa."

"And, come now," Lucius said in a teasing voice, tickling his son under his chin. "Wouldn't you fancy a playmate to spend some of your time with?"

Draco tilted his head to the side as he appeared to consider the pros and cons of such a situation. "He'll have to do what I say sometimes," Draco concluded.

"If you use him with friendliness and kindness, I expect he will be happy to do as you say at least some of the time." Lucius sighed and pulled Draco closer. "Draco, he has been living with a family of Muggles --"

Draco's eyes went saucer-wide. "With Muggles?" The boy might as well have said "monsters". It was clear that his interest in Harry, as well as something like pity mixed with fear for what had been the other boy's situation, had risen in Draco's thoughts.

"And even though he is the child who stands to inherit the fortune of an important wizard family..."

Lucius felt himself justified in leaving out the fact that Harry Potter's family was not one that was in any way helpful to the interests of the Malfoys. In this age in which the Dark Lord had disappeared, perhaps to be heard from no more, that did not exactly matter in the way it once had. It had changed particularly since the Potters were, conveniently enough, disposed of, leaving behind only their son who would prove most helpful to the Malfoy family fortunes.

"Even though he has that status -- a boy like you, Draco, who should have been raised with comforts and the sense of family importance you have learned at my knee -- they starved him, neglected him, and perhaps beat him."

Draco examined the fastenings to his father's waistcoat and he chewed on his lip in thought.

"So here is a boy," Lucius continued, "that wishes for nothing more than a family, and we can give that to him -- and, lucky for us, receive a great deal in return."

"Did they really starve him?" Draco asked in a small voice.

Lucius just stroked his son's fine blond hair. "You will meet him tomorrow, I think. Today has been so abrupt of a change for you both. But though I will spend the day with him, to help him become accustomed to this new home and begin the process of learning about the wizarding world which is his birthright, I will not forget for a moment that you are my son, and the heir to all owned by the family Malfoy."

Draco leaned against Lucius for a second in a rare display of quiet seeking of comfort, and then hopped to the floor. "I'll show him my toys tomorrow," he decided. "He can watch me play with them."

Lucius gave him a shrewd look.

"And maybe I'll let him use one or two -- but I choose which ones!"

"I'm sure we'll be able to settle all of that tomorrow," Lucius assured him.

* * *

When Lucius entered the informal dining room, he found a gaggle of house elves, all tripping over themselves to bring Harry more dishes, more treats. Harry sat like a benevolent little prince in the chair in which Dobby had ensconced him on top of two overstuffed cushions to accommodate his small stature and raise him to the proper height to reach the courses laid out before him on the table, and graciously smiled at and accepted the offerings of his new minions.

"Harry," Lucius greeted him.

Harry beamed, then faltered a little. "Mist--, er, Malf--" He stopped, apparently stymied. "I'm sorry, I don't want to say the wrong thing, but I don't know what to call you."

Lucius drew up a chair, and the house elves hurried to serve him tea. When he raised his hand, they scattered at the subtle signal that he wished to speak to Harry alone. "What a smart boy you are, to observe what is pleasing and proper, asking how you should address me. I am glad to see such intelligence in you, Harry."

Harry colored a little with pleasure, and Lucius reflected how food and necessities were obviously not the only things withheld from this small boy.

"Let us think," Lucius proposed. "Though I will care for you as a father would, you have had a father already, though you were not able to know him. Thus I do not thing we should employ any of the words for father when you speak to me."

At this the boy's eyes shone with unshed tears, but he gave a jerky nod in agreement.

Lucius moved closer so that he could stroke a knuckle across Harry's soft pink cheek. "Some have children associated with their households call them Uncle or Aunt, but that seems odd to me, to conflate blood relations with emotional ones. Though quite possibly we are distantly related, as so many wizards of the premier families are..." (Harry seemed surprised by this notion) "...still, I think we could come by a better solution."

"I could call you Sir," Harry offered, even though he seemed discomfited by that title. "I called my Uncle that sometimes, when he made me."

"Ah, but then I shouldn't imagine it has any good associations for you, and I want you to think well of me." Lucius smiled, and Harry returned the expression, his face showing his eagerness to receive kindness. He even ducked his head a bit to gain one last touch from Lucius's finger just as Lucius began to draw his hand back.

Fascinating. The child was so starved for loving touch...

"Many wizard children address their godparents by their first names," Lucius observed. "So you may call me Lucius, exactly as if I was the person your parents entrusted to care for you, the one who would look out for you and make certain that you were raised with love and respect."

Harry's small lips formed a small "o" as he considered this. "Lucius," he breathed out reverently.

"Just so." Lucius reached over and carded his fingers through the ruffled black hair on Harry's head, and Harry blinked trustingly at him.

One of the house elves edged back into the room, and Lucius said, without turning, "You have come unbidden..."

The elf squeaked, and deposited on the table a stack of packages that had obviously arrived moments earlier before turning to run out of the room.

"Ah, it appears that some of your things have arrived," Lucius observed.

Harry stared at the paper-wrapped boxes and parcels without blinking. "My...things?"

"Not your tailored robes, of which you will have several sets, of course. We must go to Diagon Alley to have you measured, and there we will procure other such items that must be made special for you. But yes, for the next few days, these should be sufficient."

Lucius wordlessly summoned the topmost package with his wand, and after a surprised noise from Harry, the boy actually clapped his hands in delight as the item floated over to him and then landed squarely in front of him.

Another wordless charm from Lucius, and the wrapping split evenly to allow the boy to view the contents.

"For the next few days?" Harry laughed aloud as he pulled out armfuls of trousers, piles of socks and underwear, shirts, pajamas, shoes, and other items of clothing. "This would be enough for me for, well, years!"

"I think you'll grow so quickly under our better care here that none of this will fit you for more than a few months at the very most," Lucius corrected him. "But again, none of these are custom made, and you shall have better far quite soon."

Harry licked his lips as he sorted through the clothing.

"Of course, some things are more interesting to boys than apparel, I find," Lucius remarked as he prepared to summon other packages.

Ten boxes later, Harry was surrounded with three teddy bears, a set of cards for Exploding Snap, packages of Chocolate Frogs, the deluxe selection of Honeyduke's most popular candies, a set for Gobstones as well as one for Wizarding Chess, and other games and toys which towered all around him, like he was a mini rajah who had just been favored with his annual gifts.

It was the toy broom, however, which occasioned the most excitement, and Harry needed only a few phrases of urging before he agreed to mount it inside the room and take a few practice turns about the perimeter.

"Won't Mrs. -- your wife -- not like it if I fly inside?" Harry asked breathlessly. His cheeks were flushed the most exquisite pink, and his hair stood on end from all the excitement. Of course toy brooms only hovered so far off the ground, but it was no doubt a remarkable ride to this boy who was so new to the very idea of magic.

"You know Harry, I think we just won't see fit to mention it to her," Lucius told him in a confidential tone.

Harry giggled with pleasure, and then unexpectedly yawned.

"Tired, are you?" Lucius asked.

"I'm sorry," Harry said through a second yawn. "I just --"

"It's been quite a day for you."

And just as he had done earlier, for his son, Lucius patted his knee. "Come here."

Harry's eyes went wide at that, but he came forward much more quickly than Draco had done, and eased onto Lucius's lap with a happy little sigh.

"I should take you to your rooms," Lucius said, his lips hovering just over Harry's head.

"I don't know it yet," Harry answered, as though that were a perfectly reasonable rationale for not doing so just now. "I'm just so -- this is all --"

Lucius thought for a moment that the boy had fallen asleep already, but a beat later, Harry asked quietly, "Am I really going to get to stay here? With you?"

At that, Lucius did kiss Harry's head. "Yes, Harry. This is your home. You will stay here with us from now on."

Harry turned slightly in Lucius's lap, and ever so slowly, almost coyly, snaked a hand to twine up around Lucius's neck. "Thank you," he said in a sleepy voice.

Later Lucius reflected that if the boy wasn't so tired, he may not have done what he did next. But his defenses were obviously lowered by the gifts and encouragement which to him were likely akin to something out of a fairy tale, and he was no doubt thoroughly exhausted by all that had taken place.

At any rate, Harry watched Lucius, his eyes a rich green even when they were heavy-lidded with tiredness, and raised his perfect little rosebud mouth for a kiss.

Perhaps the day and the new adjustments had been tiring for Lucius as well. For instead of laughing lightly and turning his head so that the boy's lips would meet his cheek, he tipped his head down and brushed the boy's mouth with his own, met the small sigh that came from Harry's mouth with a flutter of his lips, a soft and loving kiss sealing the position of this new ward to the Malfoy household.