Beyond the Veil -- COMPLETE

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Updated 11-22-08


Well, here we are at the epilogue. I have had a great time telling my story and ‘talking’ with so many of you at each chapter. As my gift to you for staying with this story, I gathered up all your requests to learn what happened in Lucius’ and Hermione’s new future and tried to weave them all into this finale, hoping that all your questions will be answered enough to give you a sense of completion. This was not written ahead of time, so forgive the slight delay.


First, some answers to questions and comments:


Rini - I hope the epilogue pleases. I hope to have another story starting in a couple of months, if my muse ever gets back from vacation. She left Lucius with his ‘sexpectations’ hanging out.


Utopia - I couldn’t forget my ravishing reviewers – or the other 98% lurkers LOL. The answers to all your questions and comments sometimes takes a bit of time. Woohoo, nice comment on the leftover lubricant. Eww, I’m not going to think about that. To give him credit, Lucius did tell Hermione he was traditional. A leopard and his spots and all that.


Snapes_Goddess - I guess a bit of earthy humor sneaks into my stories here and there. I wonder if he lit his ‘used’ candles for light in his cell over the years? I must admit even I was shocked at the soft porn they allowed on Brotherhood this time. I can’t imagine what Isaacs’ wife thinks, but perhaps she’s used to it…


Voracious Reader – Brace yourself. This epilogue is monumental. I wanted to add everything people asked for and it took reams of pages. I hope your answers are here.


sisterae – I wobble between needy Lucius, ‘lord and master’ Lucius, and devious Lucius. All of them usually show up in my tales. And Hermione winds up a strong character; I think she has to be to balance out Lucius. I hope you like the epilogue.


Heidi191976 – One epilogue coming up right now.


Mia – I hope you still think it’s perfect after the epilogue LOL.


Muffy – [hands you a hanky] You still have the epilogue an it’s kinda long. I’m working on the next story, never fear. I appreciate the hug!!


blue artemis - One vote for Lucius getting his turn at anal sex with Hermione. Good!


Lyra Aphrodite Moon – I love happy endings, too. My ‘semi-dark’ bits never get too bad; I’m not much for excessive angst. Epilogue now!


Citten – I hope you get enough of their future with the epilogue. As for the next story, it will be back in the familiar wizarding world of the present and will – no surprise – be a Lucius/Hermione tale. I’m not sure when I’ll have it finished, but within a couple of months, I think. I’ll be very happy to have you read it!


Scary Bear Hair – Another hanky for you, too. You’ll find out about their child. Glad you liked the unusual sex. Thank you for all the lovely compliments. I like Lucius’ dominating side, too.


jw – I may not give a blow by blow account of the last two hundred years of Malfoys, but I hope the epilogue covers enough for you to be satisfied.


angelprince - Did I say slippery sex sap? OMG, that was really ‘sappy’. I’ll have to watch my penchant for alliteration. It obviously got out of hand then LOL. You favor masterful Lucius, I see. I’m honored you were willing to read my fic when it wasn’t a completed story on AFF yet. Thanks, P-A. Tell T.K. he’s welcome for …um, whatever? Your ‘please’ is duly noted. I’ll chivvy my muse along.


ruck_fules84 – Oooh, a convert to Lucius/Hermione as a pair. Yay! Epilogue is here and I’ll try to finish up my next story if I can work out the details that are currently annoying me. Wish me luck.


FlowersBecomeScreens – Lucius has an overabundance of manliness that does leak out occasionally. Yup, that Brotherhood pic was rather explicit, wasn’t it? (note: see answer to Snape_Goddess in ch.49 for URL). Brotherhood Season Three will probably cost less for the DVD set than signing up for Showtime. Then you can freeze frame and slo-mo. LOL. That scene will probably show up on YouTube soon, anyway. Oh my, I do hope you don’t get wet knickers with the epilogue.


Just to let you know, there is NO explicit sex in the epilogue. Don't want to dash any fond hopes when you reach the end.


Enjoy!

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EPILOGUE


Nearly nine years later…

“Hermione, finish up, please. We’ll be late. The ceremony begins in just an hour and I want to get the children settled in the crèche.” Lucius stood at the side of his wife’s desk in the depths of the Ministry, jiggling his two-year-old, platinum, curly-haired daughter in his arms, trying to keep her from putting his hair in her mouth. “Lilah,” he said, gently extracting his abused hair from her chubby fist, “Mummy has a biscuit in her desk. I’m sure you’ll like that better than Daddy’s hair.”

The baby instantly opened her hand, letting Lucius’ hair fall away and held out her drool-slick fingers to her mother for the treat. “Bikkit!” she demanded.

Hermione put down a time-worn wand artifact from the selection on her desk and glared at the love of her life, “I’ve told you not to bribe the children. A firm ‘no’ would have served. Now she’ll want the biscuit and so will the boys.”

“I’ll want one, too, Mother,” a small feminine voice drew Hermione’s attention to her elder daughter who was examining one of the ancient wands over her mother’s shoulder. Alexis, at eight and a half, was pure Malfoy in looks as were all their children. However, already she showed an aptitude for the same intense analytical work that so enthralled her mother as well as a precocious ability in potions. Her frame was willowy and she was tall for her age; the bright corona of pale hair, long and straight like her father’s, was neatly tied at the nape with a green bow. Her big gray eyes, echoed in her baby sister, stared expectantly at her mother for the treat.

Hermione gave up on her project. Lucius was right, they would be late; it was just so hard to put away the five-hundred-year-old wands recently found in an attic of an ancient reclusive witch in Ireland. The woods were interesting and the magical inner…

“Hermione!” Lucius growled. “Those damned things have been around for a thousand years. They’ll be here tomorrow. Put them away. And give Lilah her biscuit.” Lucius grabbed his tiny daughter to keep her from lurching out of his arms toward the desk; the baby in turn grabbed onto her father’s pristine shirt to steady herself as she lunged toward the biscuit drawer.

Lilah wiggled and glared at her father who was effectively restraining her, “Bikkit, dammut. Now.”

“Language, Lucius,” admonished Hermione, but she knew his slipping language meant he was getting seriously agitated.

Lucius lifted one expressive eyebrow at his chastisement. That was usually his phrase for his wife’s more colorful expressions. Now he deserved it from her and it didn’t sit well, considering her continuing preoccupation with the old wands when they were on the verge of being late.

“Wait for your mother, Lilah. It’s bad manners to beg and I don’t want to hear that word from you again.” Lucius stepped back from Hermione’s desk to reduce the temptation he had initiated with his ill-judged bribe.

“Bad you word,” the baby pouted at her father, but kept one eagle eye on her mother’s desk drawer.

Hermione carefully packed the wands and put them in a drawer, “The wands are only five-hundred years old, Lucius, and you’ve caused your own problems with Lilah, pussyfooting around her behavior with bribes. She’s definitely your child. That didn’t sound like she was begging. More like a command. Where are the boys?” Hermione looked around the large room but didn’t see her twins, Romulus and Remus. She handed out two biscuits from the drawer, one to each of her daughters who happily accepted them.

“They’re probably playing in the mummy’s case again,” groused Lucius, now helplessly watching a cascade of crumbs litter his formal robes from his baby’s enthusiastic munching. He certainly hadn’t thought out the ramifications of his lazy stratagem. He didn’t dare put the tiny girl down or she’d be off like a shot after her brothers.

The last time he was lax enough to let her down, it had taken ten minutes and one of the treasured biscuits to coax her out of the innards of the life-size, dragon effigy in the back storeroom. Peering up the arsehole of the stuffed dragon waving the treat had been humiliating. “Alexis, please fetch your brothers. We need to leave immediately.”

Alexis and her biscuit took off for the secondary storeroom at the back of the workroom. Her thin, reedy voice soon floated back, “They’re not in the mummy case, father. They’re building a fort with empty crates.” Seconds later two light-blond six-year-olds shot from the storeroom and skidded to a halt in front of their mother’s desk, their stick-straight hair flopping in their eyes.

“We want biscuits, too,” said Remus, his big gray eyes focused on the desk drawer where he knew his mother kept the cherished items.

“Allie said you would give us each one if we came out,” his identical twin, Romulus, added, trying out his gap-toothed grin.

Two small open hands appeared in front of Hermione’s face. She doled out one biscuit to each rather grimy palm and tsked, “You are both filthy already. Dust off your clothes, especially your knees, Rom. You two know we have to go to a special event.” Hermione popped a biscuit in her own mouth and stood up, brushing a few smudges of dust from her own pretty, blue robes.

“Don’t I get a biscuit?” Lucius asked plaintively. Baby Lilah clapped her hands and Lucius stared down at the mischievous sprite smiling happily in his arms, “No, not for you. You had yours.”

The tiny girl pushed out her lower lip and sniffed making Hermione laugh as she pushed a biscuit into Lucius’ mouth, “Yes, definitely your child.”

Lucius mumbled around the remains of his biscuit, “I don’t pout.” His lower lip stuck out, making his children laugh. He swallowed the rest of his treat and said, “We really must go now, Hermione.”

“Mother, can you feel the baby today?” Alexis put her small hand over her mother’s blossoming seven-month tummy hoping to feel a little kick or punch.

“I think he’s asleep right now.” She smiled at her daughter who was fascinated by each new Malfoy creation, having been their first.

Lucius, ever more impatient, said, “I’ll take Lilah and the boys and meet you at the school grounds. Do not get out those wands again.” He told his sons to grab his legs firmly, then he activated his portkey leaving Hermione to take Alexis with hers.

Hermione and Alexis waited until Lucius was gone to grin at each other over the Malfoy patriarch’s excessive caution. Both Hermione and Alexis knew Lucius trusted them; he was merely fidgety about the ceremony. It was a big day for him. Hermione held onto her daughter’s hand and they both grasped the portkey, following the rest of their family to Hogwarts.

~~~~

The Malfoy patriarch and three of his children appeared on a slight knoll above Hogwarts and saw they still had a bit of time before the ceremony started. “Draco,” Lucius called, bringing his oldest son over from where the younger man was helping to set up the last of the chairs. “I see the crèche attendants standing by the playroom door. Will you deliver your brothers and sister to them? I need to get to the dais and speak with the Headmaster before the ceremony begins. Are my grandson and granddaughter there already?”

“Yes, Father, they’re both in the playroom. Astoria is one of the attendants today. She knows how to watch Lilah. He turned to his twin half-brothers, “See? You can play with Scorpius and Selene.” Both Scorpius and Selene were older than the twins, but they were willing to entertain the two scamps to keep them out of trouble. At that moment, Hermione and Alexis popped into their midst. “Hello Hermione, Allie,” Draco smiled. “Nice day for the ceremony. I didn’t fancy standing in rain to open the new library wing.”

As the two witches, mother and daughter, smiled in return, Lucius passed baby Lilah over to her big half-brother and the two boys trooped along beside Draco as he delivered them down the hill to the playroom where, if they were lucky, all the playbroomsticks weren’t already taken. The matching platinum blond hair on the entire little troop drew interested stares and some smiling faces.

It had been decided that the ceremony would tax the patience of any child below the age of eight, so alternate arrangements had been organized. Other families were delivering their youngest children to the crèche also and Hermione waved at Ron and Lavender taking their three little stair-step daughters down the hill.

Ron’s brood had all run true to the Weasley hair and it looked like a small procession of little redheaded ducks following behind their mother and father. Ron started to wave, but had to break it off to grab his youngest daughter before she stepped into a mud patch that everyone else had skirted. Retrieving his child, he shook his head, then grinned at Hermione and Lucius and called, “Congratulations Lucius,” before moving his brood on down the gentle slope.

Harry and Ginny must have already delivered their two youngest boys to the crèche, because they were sitting with Molly and Arthur Weasley in some seats near the podium. James, Albus, and Neville, their three oldest sons, were sitting with them. Molly was holding the youngest Potter, a sleeping infant girl, just two months old.

“Mother, may I go sit with Neville?” Alexis had spotted the third Potter boy and was anxious to see her favorite friend again. Hermione wondered if there would be anything more with those two in a few years. Alexis was remarkably staunch in her friendship with Neville Potter and although he was a few years older than Alexis he seemed to return the favor, when he wasn’t involved in juvenile antics with the other boys his age – but it was early days yet and Hermione didn’t concern herself except idly with that speculation.

After watching to be sure her daughter arrived at the Weasley-Potter seats, Hermione turned to her husband, “Lucius, the new library wing looks wonderful. It merges into the other architecture and yet has a more modern touch to it. This addition is much needed for the burgeoning International Relations curriculum. Now all the library materials can be put together and all those windows will make reading and studying so much nicer.”

Hermione and Lucius gazed at the large, new wing adorning the original edifice they had created two hundred years before. The purple banners for the Lynx stretched, fluttering, over the sides of the wing in a bright display along with all the banners for the other houses, making the whole area a cheerful, colorful place for the ceremony. The day was sunny with just the slightest of zephyrs to keep the sun from making everyone’s good robes too hot to wear.

In the intervening two hundred years, the two physical school buildings, never that far apart to begin with, had long since become one long, multistoried school stretching from the old Hogwarts to the newer academy, and the entire place had become simply the Hogwarts Academy. The shortened name mirrored the simplicity of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, both of which schools had followed Hogwarts lead many years ago and admitted their nonmagical children of magical relatives. The general consensus was if a magical relative was anywhere in a family tree and that family wanted a nonmagic child to be trained at one of the magic academies, it was their right.

Neither Lucius nor Hermione had ever told a soul about their journey into the past. They had discussed it together, but decided that living in the Janus Thickey Ward for Incurables in St. Mungo’s with the likes of Gilderoy Lockhart for the rest of their lives wasn’t their first choice of domicile. Everyone would have assumed they were both crazy. Who would believe that the Veil was the essence of St. Merlin himself with the power to move people through the vastness of time, which flowed like a sparkling river inside the stone arch?

The few conversations they had had with St. Merlin had given them little information beyond the spirit’s disinclination to disrupt the future or the past except in catastrophic cases. Even Voldemort hadn’t qualified. Lucius told Hermione the Dark Lord would have been livid to know his whole Death Eater movement was considered too puny for Merlin to bother with. They had both laughed at that.

Voldemort had still happened, but the Lynx presence in wizarding society had blunted some of the Dark Lord’s plans with occasional Muggle inventions that kept the populace safer than they would have been without the Lynx. Judicious use of pagers gave some advance warning of plots afoot to Aurors who were allowed to carry the Muggle items during the war effort. Many had still died, but some had been saved by the timely intervention of forewarned Aurors.

Most of the previous history of the Dark Lord’s disruptions of the wizarding world had unfortunately still come to pass and Lucius’ reputation would always be a little dented, but now, at 73 (although he hadn’t really aged for 8 of those years), most memories were hazy enough that the Malfoy wealth and generosity kept them afloat quite nicely in a more tolerant wizarding society. Hermione’s reputation had initially helped to repair Lucius’ when she had shockingly married him while he was still in prison. She had immediately begun spreading some of the Malfoy Galleons in deserving places and eased his re-entrance into his world.

The magic world had also ironically profited immensely from the combined efforts of Verill Gaunt and his son, Salazar, who, in the new timeline, had never become the New Wave Master and destroyed the wizarding world. Instead, Verill had trained as a Lynx at Hogwarts and married a Muggle female with a family business in electronics. Their son, Salazar, also a Lynx, had received his letter to attend Hogwarts and then had gone on to a Muggle university, becoming so brilliant at computer science that he had now risen to the position of Minister for Technology in the wizarding world, a post nearly always given to a Lynx. That particular Ministerial seat had been created between Voldemort’s two bids for supremacy due to Arthur Weasley’s championing of Muggle inventions. It had proved to be one of the Ministry’s better ideas. Arthur himself had now risen to the august position of Minister for Magic, but today he was merely enjoying the day as a grandparent and had decided not to be part of the ceremony.

Numerous ideas and inventions had been culled over the intervening years from the Muggle world by the Lynx, one of which had been a delicate surgical technique, which had restored Severus Snape’s arm almost to its previous strength and mobility. He had survived in the new timeline also and Lucius and Hermione had been thankful for that. Draco, in their slightly altered reality, had never worked alongside a Severus with a damaged arm and Snape hadn’t suffered any loss of mobility for long. His specialty chemist’s business had a combination of magic and Muggle medicines and other items which drew wizards and witches from all over, making him quite wealthy in his own right.

Inevitably, a new department in the Ministry had been formed to take responsibility for oversight of any Muggle ideas, inventions, philosophies, or other possible entities that might impinge negatively on their magical world. It had taken over the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office and been expanded to all areas of Muggle influence. The Muggle Inventions and Artifacts Department was housed under the aegis of the Minister for Technology and Salazar Gaunt oversaw that entire segment of the Ministry.

Over the years, the Lynx brought many things to that department, some of which, for one reason or another, never were given the stamp of Ministerial approval for the wizarding public, but were labeled as ‘classified’ and watched purely in the Muggle world. With the advent of the small, handheld phones not dependent on wiring, some of the younger wizards and witches had gotten their Lynx friends to sign them up with accounts in the Muggle world. Technology was creeping into the magic world, and although the Minister for Technology was keeping a firm rein on any proliferation, he decided that fixing the mobile phones so a magic version could be used was necessary. They had become too popular, too quickly, to ban them.

All in all, though, the system worked, keeping the magic world abreast of the outsiders while absorbing and disseminating only selected advantages into their own ranks. If there were quiet, hidden opportunities to divert hostilities in the Muggle world without endangering their own, they occasionally did a bit of magic meddling, but mostly the Lynx infiltrated areas where useful knowledge could be gleaned and brought back to their Ministry – military operations didn’t offer much beyond understanding what Muggles could do with their weapons.

Hermione had been involved in some of the classified Muggle artifacts as an Unspeakable for the Ministry, and she and Lucius had had a few laughs over some of the items deemed too dangerous to admit to their society. The Lynx had brought back a few hair-raising stories of battery-powered bombs, scaring the Ministry. Therefore, anything battery-powered (except the mobiles) was considered too extreme and left in the Ministry storage areas.

Most magic folk could make light with the tip of their wand and the incantation, ‘lumos’, so the idea of battery flashlights was small loss except perhaps to the Lynx who in any case often used Muggle instruments in their own homes while the wizarding world turned a blind eye. But unfortunately the discovery of battery-operated vibrators met the same sad fate.

The large collection of different types lovingly gathered by one of the eager young Lynx, was removed to the Unspeakables’ locked vault after some of the administrators and other ministry employees found too many reasons to visit the Muggle cases in the regular storage area. It was from there Hermione had purloined the vibrator she’d taken to Lucius’ cell.

Viagra, on the other hand, was intensely studied by the leading potions experts, duly stamped with Ministry and Wizengamot approval (many of whom were older wizards) and had become a prized item. Snape had been one of the investigators and got the inside track on distribution. The Viagra, which he kept in discreet, unmarked brown wrappers under the counter, made him extremely popular, especially with many grateful older witches, and had added to his blossoming business.

~~~~

Lucius, who wasn’t at all in need of any geriatric supplements and who abided wholeheartedly by the maxim, ‘use it or lose it’, gently herded his ungainly love down the slope and deposited her in the front row of chairs, laying his cane over two others beside her, one for himself and one for little Alexis if she returned.

At that moment, Severus Snape portkeyed to the festivities and strode down the slope, his ubiquitous black robes floating behind him, as he found Lucius in the growing crowd. The dark-haired wizard had a few silvery strands at his temple, making him look quite distinguished; he had never married, but rumor said he wasn’t at all lonely for feminine company. He bent over Hermione as she reached up for a kiss on his cheek, then she got up and wandered over to chat with Ginny, leaving the two old friends to shake hands.

Severus said, “Beautiful day for your ceremony. Where are the children?” He looked about him and noticed Alexis sitting with the Potters. “She’s with Neville again, I see.” Turning back to the blond, his black eyes held an impish spark, “Seen any good dragon arseholes, lately?”

Narrowed icy eyes graced Snape with a withering look designed to depress, but all he got was a grin from the other man. “I hope that event does not leave the family, Severus. Rom shouldn’t have regaled you with that bit of information. I suppose I’m doomed to be the butt of dragon jokes forever.” Then Lucius grinned, too. “Come for dinner tomorrow. We’re having that Muggle glop, fish fingers, and I know you like it.” The juvenile dish was served at the Malfoy table because all the children liked it. Lucius went with the crowd, but it wasn’t a favorite meal for him.

“Thank you, I will,” Snape nodded, then moved on to talk to some others who were waving at him.

Hermione returned to her seat and Lucius bent down and murmured to her about Snape and dinner, then with a last possessive pat on her burgeoning bump, he excused himself to his wife and flowed up the risers to the stage, his crumb-covered robes lifting and swirling in his wake. He glided across to the slightly raised podium, behind which several of the dignitaries and Administrators were already gathered. Dusting the remnants of his daughter’s biscuit off his chest, he shook hands with the Headmaster, chuckling inwardly at the vast difference inclusion of the Squibs had made to their society. “Fine day for the ceremony, Argus.”

It wasn’t such a stretch to imagine that Argus Filch, erstwhile caretaker of Hogwarts in the previous timeline, was in this timeline the longstanding Headmaster of the Academy. He had always been responsible for running the entire physical plant of Hogwarts in Lucius’ previous reality, an arduous and complex task. That he had been marginalized as a caretaker when he could have been so much more but for his nonmagic limitations, always brought home to Lucius how right it had been to embrace the Squibs who weren’t weak at all, merely different.

So many of the academy’s subjects, once the stigma had been erased, turned out to be accessible by all the students, Lynx and Magical alike, that little reason existed to separate them in school. A way had even been found to allow the Lynx to participate in Quidditch with a speed and direction spell mimicking dressage on the broom itself, so life for all the students was immeasurably richer with the addition of all those born to the magic world, including those lacking magic skills.

Likewise, there was no reason to limit the Headmaster’s position to a magical person. Argus Filch was very capable of guiding the entire school and making decisions based on good administration techniques. No magic was required for that. He had subordinates for any magic necessities called for.

As might have been expected, Argus wasn’t best friends with Lucius, whose Death Eater past still loomed in the minds of some and whose wealth still put him in a higher stratum of society than most, but Dr. Filch, who had also gone on to university and received his PhD. in public administration, shook hands cordially enough with the wizard who had just endowed his beloved Hogwarts with their magnificent new library.

Filch’s smile for Hermione in the front row was a little warmer. She had upon occasion (when she wasn’t in the later stages of a pregnancy) given special seminars on ancient artifacts to the students. She and Harry, who was the Defense Against the Dark Arts Instructor and Head of House for Gryffindor, teamed up in his classes with lectures that proved so popular that many parents came to hear them also. Those lectures had to be moved to the Great Hall to accommodate the extra guests.

Hermione was always happy to do the lectures because invariably someone would come up afterward and mention some old, dusty relic they had in their attic and want her advice. She got many new additions to her subterranean artifacts department that way.

In the few circumstances where Hermione’s eight-year gap in knowledge might put her at some sort of risk when she went in public, the Veil unfailingly sifted the pertinent information into her brain, just as he had when she and Lucius were in the past, tacitly reminding her that she was always watched over and guarded in perpetual reward for her and Lucius’ help in saving their world.

Lucius and she shared those experiences with each other, but Lucius always grumbled that the Veil looked out for her while letting him stick his foot in his mouth. With some probing, Hermione most often found that Lucius had expected the Veil to give him some knowledge of the future; his grousing was summarily ignored by his unsympathetic wife.

At that moment, Harry rose and left his family in the audience, striding up the steps of the dais to shake hands all round. “At least we aren’t to be rained out. Are we ready, gentlemen?” A rumble of assents gave Harry the permission to start the ceremony. Most of the seats had filled quickly as the event’s starting time had neared. A low murmur of expectation rolled through the attendees as Harry went to the front of the stage, stepped up on the square podium, and took his place behind the small lectern. Withdrawing his wand, he cast a ‘sonorus’ spell on the lectern to amplify his voice, tested it a couple of times, and flicked his wand to create a correct decibel level.

“Kind wizards, witches, Lynx and all guests, welcome to this ceremonial opening of the latest addition to our fine academy, Hogwarts.” At this point a wide, renegade banner unfurled at the back of the attentive audience, but Harry could easily read it over their heads. It proclaimed in big, sparkly letters, ‘Professor Potter is Hot!!’ A few nearby titters soon had the audience turning around and laughter broke out, while the unrepentant schoolgirls ran off giggling, leaving their sign to flutter forlornly down the slope until it lodged against the back row of chairs.

Two of the parents quickly gathered up the embarrassing, if laudatory, evidence and order was soon restored. Harry, now a bright red, continued on without acknowledging his fan club. “I would like to present to you our beloved Headmaster of Hogwarts, Dr. Argus Filch, who will tell you more about the new addition that we will all be touring. Dr. Filch?”

Harry stepped away and Dr. Filch took his place. “Today,” Filch’s voice resonated through the sonorus spell, “is a monumental step forward for our world… if not exactly for our student body. There appears to be nothing new under the sun there,” and he turned with a grin to look at Harry, who had stepped down behind him. The audience chuckled, making Harry’s face glow again and Dr. Filch resumed, “Today, with the opening of the new Malfoy-Gaunt Library, we have been given the keys to a whole new vista of learning with the trend-setting, forward-thinking design of this magnificent new building behind me.

“Soon you will see the marvels that our Minister of Technology and our benefactor and designer, Mr. Lucius Malfoy, have built and made available to all our students, Lynx and magic alike. The new technology allows all of us to have at our fingertips the knowledge we have painstakingly amassed on our culture over countless centuries, while also introducing some of the Muggle world’s knowledge so we may better understand those with whom we share our environment. Mr. Malfoy will tell you about the scope of the project and then our Minister of Technology, Salazar Gaunt, will give you an idea of how the new system works. Afterward, we’ll all tour the new facility so you may ask questions about what you see. Mr. Malfoy?”

Lucius stepped up to the lectern to address the audience in his turn and a few purely feminine sighs wafted through the audience as the still strikingly handsome man smiled. “Good afternoon. Thank you all for coming to support our school and see firsthand what your sons and daughters will be enjoying as an enhancement to their studies. Salazar and I initially wanted just to make a larger library. As you may know the old space was very crowded. However, it didn’t take long for the two of us to begin asking ‘what if’ and the result,” Lucius waved his hand in an elegant gesture toward the looming building, “stands before you. It took five years of extensive planning and coordination between Hogwarts, the Ministry, and myself and I wish to give full credit to our Minister for Technology, Mr. Salazar Gaunt and his parents, Verill and Eunice Gaunt, for providing the intricate knowledge that we needed to make this new library work. Their skills in Muggle science and mechanics and their willingness to transfer countless of our parchments into a form all our students can use, even simultaneously…well, I’ll let him explain. Salazar?”

Lucius made way for the tall, dark man whom few would have recognized as nearly a ringer for his first cousin, once removed, Tom Riddle. Salazar’s looks still gave Lucius a jolt occasionally, but the blond wizard was desperately thankful that his and Hermione’s trip into the past and his prophecy had negated Lucius’ part in creating Salazar as the New Wave Master. The man was truly brilliant if a bit driven, but it was firmly harnessed in the cause of the wizarding world now and everyone was the better for it. Sometimes, Lucius acknowledged with a grimace, he had to give St. Merlin credit for knowing what he was doing, even if the ancient bastard usually gave Lucius more grief than help.

The blond wizard stepped down off the dais and went to sit with his wife while Salazar Gaunt explained in simple terms his creation of a database for magical knowledge that had easy-to-use terminals for calling up the information by merely using one’s voice. All the books in the library were now available in their standard paper form and also through the terminals. It meant that several students could study a book at the same time. Each terminal had a small muffliato spell so voices didn’t disturb other students studying. Alternate uses included incantations where one could write on the screen with one’s wand, or use a typing keyboard for inquiries. Students could use whichever method most suited their personal preferences.

The audience seemed suitably impressed with the basics they were hearing and Salazar Gaunt invited them to tour the facility, offering to answer any questions inside. There was a quick exodus into the building to see the new system and admire the new building itself, leaving Lucius and Hermione sitting together in the front row as people quickly moved into the library.

“How are you feeling? Do you want to take the tour or go home?” Lucius wrapped his arm around his wife, his gaze darting all over her, looking for any signs of fatigue.

“Lucius,” Hermione’s exasperation was clear in her fine, brown eyes, “All I’ve done is sit here for the entire ceremony. The sun is out, the breeze is light and my seat is cushioned. Of course I want to see the library.” She rose with Lucius tenderly helping her to her feet, then turned to see where her daughter was.

“Alexis,” she called across the aisle to the little girl whose attention was glued to Neville Potter as he earnestly explained to her how to stick flobberworms onto hooks for fishing in rapid streams so they weren’t swept away. “We’re going on the tour now.”

“Yes, Mother,” replied the girl absently, her focus entirely on Neville’s gestures as he took an invisible flobberworm and carefully threaded it onto an equally invisible hook.

Lucius frowned, remembering Snape’s comment, “Do you think she’s too attached to that boy? She seems to gravitate to him any time we socialize. She’s only a little girl and shouldn’t be thinking of boys for another thirty years.”

Hermione snidely snickered, “It’s obvious you only had a son before. Girls are born gravitating toward boys. As long as Neville keeps showing her fishing techniques and brags how he caught the snitch at last season’s backyard Quidditch game, I think we’re safe for a bit longer. He’s only twelve going on five. But Alexis might have plans for him. If she does, would that be so bad?”

“Potter’s blood aligned with a Malfoy’s?” Lucius’ eyebrows furrowed, then eased, “Well, he’s essentially a Three-Quarter blood and the Potters and Weasleys were both good, if undistinguished lines. Arthur’s Minister now, so I suppose-”

Lucius was interrupted by a rude noise emitted by his sweet, petite, lovely wife. “I can’t believe you’re still considering blood lines after all the upheaval we’ve been through. We aren’t horses, Lucius. What if your father had disapproved of your marrying me?”

“Oh, I’m quite certain he’s turning in the ashes of his funeral pyre, the old reprobate.” He sighed, “Point taken. It’s mostly ingrained force of habit, thinking of marriages in terms of bloodlines. So if I don’t need to consider that, what do I base my decision on?”

“Lucius!” Hermione yanked on the front of his dress robes causing the silver snake clasp at his neck to fall open exposing the stain from baby Lilah’s grubby hand decorating his dress shirt. “You don’t have any decision to make. Someday Alexis will tell you who she decides to marry. It’s not your choice.”

“Is this the Muggle way because it certainly isn’t the way it’s done in my circles.” Lucius’ nose went up in haughty accompaniment to his words as he hastily covered up his infant’s depredations to his formal shirt.

“What circles would those be, my love?” Hermione’s eyes narrowed on her mate.

“Pureblood circ-…” the fiery abyss for clueless, pompous husbands yawned suddenly at Lucius’ feet and he backpedaled before his tongue tripped him and he fell in. He used a time-honored Slytherin technique and attacked instead, castigating virtuously, “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation now when we should be in the new library. We’ll discuss this later,” he huffed, hoping to sound imposing, but he knew he was going to hear more about his gaffe, judging by his kitten’s mutinous face. Oh well, some of their best arguments had borne fruit and were now running around in the crèche.

“I’ll collect Alexis,” he said majestically and turned with a swish of his robes to walk over to his rapt daughter. He smoothly removed her from her juvenile inamorata, who ran off with a wave to join his mates near the crèche.

It was as well Lucius didn’t turn back to see if his regal exit had been admired by his wife because she had her hand over her mouth, giggling at her lover’s dramatics. Gods she loved that man.

“Alexis,” Lucius asked his little girl, the mournful note in his smooth voice warning her that Daddy had manipulation in mind. “You haven’t any thoughts about marriage, have you? You’ve many years of school and university and some fascinating career choices before you think about that.” His left eyebrow shot up in fatherly intimidation, while a serious, pursed pair of masculine lips were meant to sway his daughter’s opinions to his own ideas.

Alexis took her father’s hand and led him back to her mother. “I won’t get married until I’m really, really old, like you were when you first married Draco’s mummy.” She smiled brightly at her nonplused parent before turning to take her mother’s hand, moving them both toward the doors to the new library.

A sour expression passed over Alexis’ head from Lucius to Hermione making his wife giggle again at his backfired ploy. He’d been married to Narcissa very early and Hermione knew he didn’t want that for his daughter.

“Let it alone, my love. It will all come right in its own time,” she said, soothingly, hearing a heartfelt sigh from her husband.

The three ascended the stairs into the learning wonderland that Lucius and the Gaunts had created for the academy. Shelves and shelves of books reaching to the high, open rafters, all made of some dark wood, beckoned readers. Each vertical section of shelves was designed to rotate, rather like a ferris wheel, bringing every row within reach of magic and Lynx child alike. Reshelving was much easier also, although that job usually devolved on a magically inclined student who could send the books back to their positions with his or her wand.

Many large, slanted panes of glass allowed the light to enter the library and bounce around without any harsh illumination. Soft light lit nearly all corners of the immense room divided roughly in half by the bookshelves at one end and several large alcoves at the other. It was in the alcoves that the technology had been arranged. Each alcove could be blocked off for a teacher to hold a class in the library if they wished, with no disruption to other studying students.

Most of the alcoves had rows of desks, called data desks, with screens embedded at a slant in the middle of each desk for viewing by whoever sat at that desk. Room on either side of the embedded screen allowed for parchments and quills and texts. More space was provided beneath each seat. Pull-out shelves at the front gave access to keyboards designed with the magic world’s runes and letters, which most Lynx and many magic students could use, if needed. Students sitting at the desks could look up and see their professors easily or look down at their screens.

The alcoves were filled with parents and other guests all happily using the databases installed in each desk, talking to the screens, asking for whatever information they sought. Lucius and Hermione could see their lips moving, enjoining their screens to find information, but the muffliato spells kept noise to a minimum.

Young Alexis looked around at the soaring architecture, seeing bright flags of all five Houses adorning the walls along with a selection of portraits of bygone Headmasters and other dignitaries who were themselves craning to see their new space and the marvels of the interesting technology. (No portraits had been chosen to grace the library who decried the latest advancements of the school. Those had been left in the Headmaster’s office or sorted onto the hallway walls.)

“Father,” she said, “is this your library? Why does it have our name?” She pointed to the archway over the main doors where letters of an appropriate, sedate size proclaimed one was either entering or leaving the Malfoy-Gaunt Library. “We already have a library at home,” she said with irrefutable logic. “This one is too far away to use.”

“No, Alexis, this library belongs to the school. I just had some ideas and some money to build it for them. The special, new data desks everyone is enjoying were designed by Minister Gaunt and his mother and father. This will be here when you come to school, so you’ll have a library away from home, just as all the students here do. The library was just my original idea, so they named it after our family and the Gaunts who made all the data desks a reality.”

Alexis accepted her father’s explanation with nary a blink and dragged him toward one corner where she could see pictures on the wall denoting a children’s area. Ten minutes of watching his little daughter exclaiming over the children’s books and talking to the smaller data desks, housed there to stave off homesickness for the first year students, gave Lucius his reward for all his hard work. These few moments were the best gift he could have had and his heart swelled with love for his child, the first product of his overwhelming love for his wife.

Lucius and Hermione stayed long enough to smile and socialize and answer a few questions, but most of the attendees were captivated by the data desks, so after a short while, Lucius sought out Draco, telling him Hermione and he were leaving and they would see him back at the Manor. Draco was playing with one of the desks, too, and raised a hand in acknowledgement while trying to pull up a solution to an Arithmancy problem that had been annoying him at the office.

Malfoy Industries and Investments had Draco in charge of the Investments side while Lucius controlled the various industries and businesses they owned. It was an excellent division of duties for both. Draco’s family lived in one wing of the Malfoy mansion while Lucius’ growing miniature Malfoy army inhabited another. Everyone got together for Sunday dinners; otherwise, the two families only met for special occasions - except for all the children who ran everywhere on the estate. Lucius, of course, saw Draco every day at the office.

Lucius had part interest in one strange business that Draco had never understood - a thriving couturier who specialized in beautiful embroidery. It had been on the Malfoy books for nearly two hundred years and it made them money so Draco shrugged and left Lucius to his side of the business.

When Hermione and Lucius found the time, they had tried to track down the bordello, but it was no longer at its old address. The entire block had been razed and rebuilt in what was now a very lucrative section of London and Hermione and Lucius surmised that the women or their descendants had probably done extremely well for themselves many years ago, selling out.

Hermione was usually found down in the bowels of the Ministry, buried in her work as an Unspeakable. The Manor had a large flock of elves who handled the home and the children’s safety, overseen by Draco’s wife, Astoria, who loved being in charge of the mansion as chatelaine – another excellent division of duties. It occasionally puzzled Astoria why Hermione wouldn’t wish to quit such dreary work and enjoy the amusing social life of their circle, but the younger witch wasn’t complaining if she got to order the mansion to her liking.

Apparently Lucius got to see enough of his wife, if the increasing number of their children was anything to go by. Astoria might also have been a bit relieved that her mother-in-law, Hermione, wasn’t interested in social events. It was something of an irritant that the Unspeakable witch actually looked younger than Astoria did, although she knew for a fact Hermione was three years older.

Lucius and Hermione gathered up their brood, including their blonde, wide-eyed older daughter - who was found in close, serious conversation with Snape - and the rest of their children still in the crèche. Using their portkeys, they returned to Hermione’s workroom, then apparated their children home. Lilah was already asleep on her father’s shoulder so she was tucked into her bed. Lucius and Hermione enjoyed seeing their devilish little angel so innocently slumbering; when awake she already showed signs of her father’s sinuous manipulation.

Then came the always challenging task of getting their two mischievous sons bathed and into bed. Hermione and Lucius had perfected a team effort, which foiled each boy’s wriggly efforts to evade the sudsy tub; unfortunately the result was usually wet clothes, wet floor, and wet hair for all. No one cared; a few quick wand strokes repaired doused parents and tiles.

Once clean (for the moment), both boys were firmly tucked into bed with hugs and dire warnings about Dementors that caught little boys who slipped out of bed at night. This brought much six-year-old scoffing and laughing at parents who still believed in Dementors. Everyone knew Dementors were only cartoonish figures in the boys’ fairy tale books. Privately, Lucius thought Voldemort must have destroyed all the soulless beings when it looked like they might be a menace to him toward the end. The Dark Lord had been very unstable and paranoid in Lucius’ previous timeline and he figured it had been the same in this one.

With the boys down for the night – they hoped – Lucius and Hermione moved on to their older daughter’s room to say goodnight. They entered Alexis’ bedroom, which she had asked to be made into a multi-shelved mini-lab. The room had an acrid smell, which the open windows hadn’t quite disguised.

“Alexis,” have you been firing up your toy cauldron again?” Lucius walked over and looked down into the miniature iron vessel, seeing the dregs of some black, lumpy material that was still slightly smoking. “You know it is only to be used for the ingredients that came with the set on your birthday.” He grumbled to his wife, “I don’t know what Severus was thinking to give an eight-year-old a working cauldron set.”

“It’s alright, Father,” Alexis’ assured her concerned papa in her high, flutelike voice, “Uncle Severus told me what ingredients to use. I think I used a little more heat than he advised, though.” She looked mournfully into her small cauldron at the failed mess.

“Is that what you were speaking to him about at the ceremony?” Hermione needed to discuss age-appropriate toys with the family’s much-loved godfather to all their children. The man had seen the intelligence in his older goddaughter and had steadily encouraged her interest in potions, amusing Hermione no end. Alexis might wind up as a Potions Master instead of an Unspeakable – or maybe both.

Alexis bit her lip and gazed up at both parents with her legacy from her father – those breathtaking, beautiful gray eyes that always melted Hermione’s heart. The little girl nodded knowing she had gone beyond the line of what was pleasing to her parents, and said in a small voice, “I’m sorry. I was sure I was doing it correctly, this time.”

“This time?” her father said awfully. “You’ve done this before?” He looked from his daughter to his wife, who now looked a bit conscious. “You allowed her to do this, Hermione?”

“Not in her room, Lucius. Severus and I let her try to make the potion under strict guidance in his lab. She wasn’t to try it on her own.” Hermione gazed down at her oldest child, disappointment in her soft, brown eyes. Then Hermione sighed, “I should have known she’d try it again. Your birthday is tomorrow and she wanted to -”

“Mother!” cried Alexis, anguished. “It’s a secret!”

Lucius looked down at his precious little girl. “I can have my birthday adjusted for two days from now, if that will help. It is always the birthday person’s choice when to have his birthday and I’ll choose to have mine two days later, if I’m going to get something special for my gift.”

“Truly? You can choose?” Alexis’ face lit up with joy as she looked from her mother to her father.

“Of course. Mind you let your mother and Snape guide you. No more cooking in your room. Promise?” Lucius’ heart jumped in his chest with love as his little girl flung herself against him, hugging his waist.

“I promise!” she said solemnly.

Ten minutes later she, too, was tucked into bed, leaving two doting parents to enjoy what was left of the evening of a wonderful day.

The two walked down the front stairs, their footsteps echoing on the marble steps, and wandered toward the back of the mansion to the large, oak-wainscoted family room, furnished with several sofas, all sporting well-worn upholstery, a big, round table with chairs for games, and shelves all along one wall housing books, toys, and whatever dirty treasures the boys had unearthed in the estate acres. Currently there was an old bird’s nest, some white stream-smoothed rocks, and a tiny, dessicated mouse corpse in pride of place on a bit of tattered velvet. Hermione wondered if Crookshanks the Third had had a paw in the mouse’s demise, but decided not as it was still intact.

Husband and wife both dropped thankfully onto one of the sofas, propping their feet on the battered coffee table strewn with the pieces of a puzzle half-done. Simultaneous twin sighs made them both chuckle as Lucius reached over to hold Hermione’s hand, threading his fingers through hers.

“How are you feeling, love? This was a long day for you. I could have handled the boys in the tub.” Lucius stroked his thumb over the back of Hermione’s hand, his concerned, wintry eyes trained on her for any sign of fatigue.

“I am just a little tired,” she replied, leaning in and cuddling against Lucius’ shoulder. He slipped his arm around his petite wife and dropped a kiss on her curly head. Both sat quietly for a few moments, just savoring the delightful silence, a rare commodity in their happy home.

“That was clever of you, assuring Allie that you had the power to change your birthday.” Hermione smiled up at her handsome husband. Just looking at him never failed to make her blood heat. She thought she would likely never get used to his male beauty, even when they were both in their hundreds. He was still a mesmerizing sight and her vision caught on his hypnotic, frost-colored eyes as they studied her in concern. Hermione licked her lips unconsciously, feeling the familiar ache build in her pelvis.

A shot of pure lust jolted through the blond wizard at that dazed, lascivious look she was giving him. His heartbeat sped up to double time; he knew what that meant and he lowered his head, seeking her lips with his, drawn to the pink tongue that had just wet those lips. The kiss began gently, Lucius careful of his wife’s blooming belly and watchful of her reaction to his proffered invitation, but within seconds the kiss turned steamy and Hermione wound up straddling her mate on the sofa as he lay on the cushions squeezing her breasts through her robes.

Hermione’s baby bump was keeping her from lying comfortably on her husband. She sat up and put her hands over his on her breasts, stilling his rhythmic molding of her, as she caught his attention. “Lucius?”

“Hmm?” he asked, looking for the catch on her robe to better get at the fascinating items he’d been fondling.

“Lucius, where did you put the jade columns?” Hermione had discovered that Lucius had not let Draco in on the Malfoy joke yet. She suspected her husband was a little reluctant to discuss the private matter now that he was remarried, having no interest in answering uncomfortable questions.

Gorgeous, inquiring gray eyes snapped up to big, soft brown ones. “The jade columns? I put them in our bedroom safe as you asked. Why?” Hermione had come home one afternoon to find her twins using the columns as part of a castle they’d built with blocks on the games table. They had climbed up on a chair and removed the columns from the mantel of the library without permission, which they knew they would never have. Two forlorn little boys had raked leaves for several hours that weekend.

The petite witch petted her husband’s cheek with the back of her fingers and whispered throatily, “I’m in the mood.” Hermione felt his breath hitch, bumping her up and down as she sat on his diaphram. It jiggled her blossoming chest, but Lucius’ eyes never left his wife’s.

“Truly?” Icy beacons of glowing hope gazed at the little fecund witch. “Are you sure? It’s somewhat physical for you right now.” Lucius sighed, “I think it’s too much, Hermione. Even just using your arms.”

“Well,” she pretended to consider, “Instead of the jade, perhaps we can use the new vibrator I bought yesterday.” She laughed to see his awestruck expression.

“What? You bought a new vibrator? For me?” Lucius lifted his tiny wife off his chest and tucked her in his lap as he sat up. Their old sex toy had burned out a few weeks before. Vibrators were nominally outlawed in the magic world so Hermione had to buy them covertly in the Muggle world.

“Yes, my love, for you. I’m not going to be much use for sex soon and then for a couple of months after the birth. You know that drill. Plus, like I said, I’m in the mood.” She ran her fingers through her husband’s pale hair, noticing there were a few white hairs among the platinum.

“Where is it?” Lucius grinned at the love of his life, faint, sexy lines radiating from the edges of his remarkable eyes, drawing Hermione farther under his spell. His special smell of ‘lime and Lucius’ surrounded her, enfolding her in his loving desire. He had kept up the lime scent just for her.

“Why don’t you apparate us and our unborn son, little Severus here, upstairs to our bedroom and I’ll show you,” she murmured, wiggling suggestively on his lap and delighting in the response she could feel through his trousers.

“Gods, Hermione, you make me so hard,” Lucius groaned and he stood up, holding his diminutive wife in his arms. Settling her more firmly, he grinned, “What color is our toy this time?”

She whispered naughtily in his ear, “For my devious darling? Slytherin jade green, of course.”

The End

(Those wanting more sex may re-read chapters 13 (solo/M), 22, 23, 26, 30, 32, 34, 36, 41, 42 and 49.)


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I would love your final reviews, especially from those who have waited till the end to provide one. Thank you, all of you, for reading!!
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