Chapter Text
Lucius shot up in bed, his heart beating frantically in his chest and his magic whirling wildly around the room, knocking over the furniture and blowing out the few lit candles placed around the chamber. Sweat was pouring down his face, plastering his blonde hair to his cheeks and forehead, and his his breath was coming in short, haphazard gasps. The dark, swirling, burn-like mark on the side of Lucius’ neck, just under his jaw line was burning horribly and caused him to reach up and clutch at it as he hissed out in pain.
His mate was coming into their inheritance and it was a rather torturous one if the pain racing through his body was anything to go by.
I have to get to him, Lucius thought, every fiber of his being pushing him to run from his bedroom and find his mate to curl himself around them and comfort them through this transition. He had stood shakily from his bed and magically changed his clothes before a sickening, heart-wrenching thought stopped him dead in his tracks.
It wasn’t his mate in pain, it was Draco’s.
He had waited twenty years to feel his mate through their bond and now that they were there, he had no claim to them. He had thrown it away eighteen years ago when he had given Narcissa that potion. Lucius didn’t regret it, he would do it all over again if given the chance, but that didn’t lessen the tightening in his chest.
Lucius sighed before quickly walking over to the fireplace along the back wall of his bedroom. It wasn’t equipped for floo travel but he could still contact his son. He had just reached his hand into the floo powder jar sitting on the mantle, when Draco’s frantic face appeared hovering above the green flames.
“Father!”
“I’m here.” Lucius said calmly as he bent down and leaned forward enough for Draco to see him.
“My mate is coming into their inheritance.” Draco told his father quickly and Lucius tried his best to appear shocked and happy for his heir, his time as a spy helping to mask the heartache he was feeling. “I can feel their pain but I don’t know how to get to them, I can’t sense where they are.”
“Calm down.” The older Malfoy ordered, “If they’re behind powerful wards, then you won’t sense their location. Go find a map in the Zabini library, cut your hand and place it above the map and concentrate on the mating bond. The blood should fall on their location no matter what magic they’re using to conceal themselves.”
Draco just stared at his father that he was crazy, as though he didn’t believe that something like that would work and Lucius was half tempted to reach through the fireplace and slap the kid. They didn’t have time for him to question Lucius.
“Trust me.” Lucius hissed, “leave this connection open and go do it. Tell me what you discover before you apparate.”
Draco stared at Lucius for a few more moments before sighing and standing up from his kneeling position. “I’ll be right back.” Lucius heard his son’s voice reply before the sound of a door opening and slamming shut echoed through the Master bedroom of Malfoy Manor.
That boy didn’t realize how lucky he was. Lucius had been waiting for his mate, researching everything he could about the bonds for half of his life, while Draco had lucked out and found his mate a month after his own inheritance. He would never have to marry a random suitor to keep the Malfoy line alive or know the pain of pining for a person he had never met and wasn’t even of age yet.
Lucius squashed down the creeping feelings of jealousy and roughly reminded himself that this was what being a parent meant. Working to ensure that your children had a better life, an easier life, than you did.
“They’re in London.” Draco gasped as his face reappeared in the fire. “12 Grimmauld Place.”
It felt as though someone had doused him in ice water. That was the order headquarters and there were only a handful of children staying there over the summer. Only one of which, had a birthday in July.
Potter.
Good Merlin, it could have been anyone else. Maybe Draco’s life wasn’t going to be easier than Lucius’ after all.
“I know the place.” Lucius admitted with a sigh and held up his hand to stop the flood of questions that immediately spilled from Draco’s mouth. “Meet me on the sidewalk out front.” He didn’t wait for his son to reply before he ended the fire call and stormed through the Manor to the apparition point.
His feet had no more than crossed the threshold of the apparition room, when he disappeared with a pop and reappeared outside of the Order of the Phoenix Headquarters. The only streetlight on that stretch of road was flickering ominously and every light inside of 12 Grimmauld place was brightly light and blood curdling screams were echoing through the night. Thankfully the building was under a fidelius or every muggle on the street would have been awake and alerting the authorities.
“How do you know this place?” Draco asked as he popped into existence beside his Father, every muscle in his young body taunt as he heard his mate’s screams inside of the unknown house.
“It’s the Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix.” Lucius replied. “The only reason you can see it is because of that blood magic you preformed and the fact your mate is inside.” Draco hadn’t torn his eyes away from the building and Lucius would have been surprised if the teenager heard even half of what he had just said. “It’ll be filled with light wizards, so watch your tongue.”
Lucius took a deep breath to steel himself against the sounds of his mate’s pain and walked slowly up toward the doorway, his son on his heels. The door itself wasn’t locked, there were so many other protections on the building that the idea of a deadbolt was almost laughable, and the two blondes carefully made their way inside to find over a dozen people crowded into the the building’s living area.
The screams had intensified now that they were inside and the smell of a newly transitioning dark veela filled Lucius’ nostrils. Potter was lying on the couch in the living area and it looked as though every order member in residence was tending to him, trying to discover the cause of the pain he was experiencing.
“He’s transitioning.” Lucius said over the boy’s screams as he walked into the living area, an arm around Draco’s shoulders to keep the younger man from throwing himself at Potter. In a moment, over a dozen wands were pointed in his direction and Lucius calmly raised his free arm in surrender. “Put the wands away. Potter is going through a creature inheritance and my son is his mate.”
As though on cue, Draco renewed his fight against his father’s hold and even went so far as to reach for the wand in his holster. Lucius was faster however, and swiped it from his fingers before a spell could be cast.
“Are you certain?” Molly Weasley asked, looking back and forth between Potter and Draco as though trying to visibly discover the bound between them.
“Only one way to be sure.” Lucius let his arm fall from Draco’s shoulders and watched in amusement as the boy ran to Potter, knocking over Lupin and Black in his haste, and curled himself around Potter with a growl.
It was only well tuned will power that kept Lucius from growling right back and pressing himself against the boy’s other side.
The moment Draco and Potter touched, the screams that had filled the air, ceased. The dark veela only let out a pleasured moan before he fell to sleep in his mate’s arms.
“That answers that, should we leave them alone and converse in the kitchen?” Without waiting for a reply, Lucius turned on his heel and made his way out of the room, smirking darkly when he heard footsteps following behind him.
“What’s going on here, Malfoy? How did your son get in here, you’re not the secret keeper.” Black thundered the moment the door to the kitchen closed with a thunk. Lucius simply eyed the former Gryffindor in amusement as he slowly took a seat at the long table.
“As I said, Draco is Potter’s mate and it was that bond that allowed Draco entrance. Fate magic is more powerful than that of wizards, after all.”
The other wizards in the room let out a collective, exhausted sigh before taking their seats at the table. It was two o’clock in the morning and despite the excitement, it was clear everyone was tired beyond measure.
“He’s lucky then, that his mate was older than him.” Lupin whispered with his head in his hands. “I can’t imagine if he had to go through that alone, I’ve never seen a creature inheritance that painful.”
“Harry has a high pain tolerance, too.” The youngest Weasley son, Raymond, said. “I’ve seen him take a cutting curse without so much as a whimper. For something to make him scream like that…”
“Yes, dark veela inheritances are well known for their pain intensity.” Lucius replied, “They’re also one of the few creatures that will put off the inheritance until their mate has already transitioned. If Draco were any younger, it could have been years before Mister Potter underwent his change. A self defense mechanism, I suppose.”
"James didn’t have any dark veela blood in his family.” Black replied, moving to stand up only to have Lupin pull him back down by his shirt sleeve.
“Obviously he did, Black or I wouldn’t be here. It must have been so diluted that no one in the line took on the characteristics. Potter’s power and his connection to Draco are most likely the only reasons the blood was activated in him.”
The room lapsed into silence once again, everyone looked moments away from falling asleep in their chairs while Lucius was digging his fingers into the wood of the table as he tried to fight off the overwhelming need to be near his mate.
“Can I have a word with you alone?” Severus asked with thinly concealed anger in his voice. “Afterward I’ll show you to the empty room and you can get some sleep.”
No one argued with Severus’ words and Lucius heaved out a sigh before standing up and following after the tense man. He was led through the dark and dilapidated manor and was roughly pushed into an empty bedroom on the third floor.
He had expected Severus to start yelling or throwing things, which were his usual displays of fury, but he merely placed a complicated silencing charm on the door and leaned heavily against it, his eyes narrowing in Lucius’ direction.
“What?” There was no response and Lucius let out an annoyed sigh as he sat down on the musty bed and waited for his friend to use his big person words.
Severus’ glare seemed to harden and sharpen into twin daggers the longer the two were in the room together. “Do you want me to use Legilimency? Is that what this is? A test to see if I’ve kept the skill up? If not, then you’ll need to talk like a human in order for me to understand why you’re obviously upset with me.”
“Draco’s mate?”
“Could you use complete sentences, please? What about Draco’s mate?”
Severus’ arms were crossed over his chest and Lucius was amused to see that the younger man’s hands were clenching and unclenching rhythmically as though he wanted nothing more than to march across the room and strike Lucius or grab him by his robes and shake him.
“Why in the name of Merlin are you referring to Potter as Draco’s mate, when he’s yours?”
Oh, that’s what had Severus’ wand in a knot.
“Because he is Draco’s mate. I told you this was how it had to be, I’m not going to let Draco suffer because of my mistake.”
“Usually having a child isn’t referred to as a mistake.”
Lucius didn’t validate that statement with a response and instead stood from the bed to walk gingerly over to the window and to peer out at the darkened garden.
“He wasn’t the mistake, the potion was, Severus. Please don’t act like an imbecile.”
Severus was there, he had been the one to make the potion in question and had tried to talk Lucius out of the rash decision he was making at the time. There was no reason for him to act ignorant the events in question.
“You’re the one being an imbecile. You’ve been waiting for a mate for decades. You deserve one after everything you’ve been through. Why would you give all of that up, Lucius?”
“I’m giving it all to Draco.” Lucius said softly, still staring out the window at the fading stars and the full moon.”It wouldn’t be fair to him to ask him to share. You said I deserved a mate, but so does he. He deserves someone that will love only him for the rest of the their lives, not someone he has to share with his father.”
“You are willing to do that for him and assume that he wouldn’t do the same? I’m amazed at how little you think of him.”
“Even if he was willing.” Lucius huffed, angry that Severus would dare doubt his feelings for Draco. “I doubt Potter would be thrilled with being passed between two Malfoys. I imagine Draco will have enough of a challenge getting that boy to accept just him as a mate.”
“Lucius-”
“Stop it, Severus. I’m not going to change my mind on this, it doesn’t matter what you say.”
He hadn’t made this decision rashly. Unlike his choice to slip that potion into Narcissa’s wine at dinner at those years ago, this one had been made after weeks of consideration. He had read through every journal in the Malfoy vaults that were written by Fae in his situation and spent hours venting his thoughts to his best friend.
This was what was best for everyone, of that, Lucius was sure and it didn’t matter what argument Severus came up with, his stance on this was solid and infallible. The other man was just wasting his breath.
“You’re too stubborn for your own good.” Severus whispered and Lucius spared a glance in his friend’s direction to find that he was slumped against the door with his eyes closed tightly and a frown pulling at the corners of his lips. “I know you’re not going to listen to me but...just remember that you do have a chance to be happy, Lucius. Working toward that happiness doesn’t mean you’re working against Draco’s.”
“He didn’t have a choice in this.” Lucius replied, ignoring the hope that had built in his chest after his friend’s words. The feeling was pointless and false, all it would do was make the pain even more unbearable. “He shouldn’t be the one that has to pay for it.”
“You’re not listening to me!” Severus finally growled and Lucius froze when potion stained fingers gripped him my the robes and spun him around. “No one needs to pay for it, Lucius! No one needs to suffer, you’re just being a Gryffindor and sacrificing yourself for nothing.”
Severus’ eyes were alight with an internal fire, his anger was almost palatable and his hands were shaking uncontrollably where they were clenched around Lucius’ robe. He had never seen his friend this angry and for a split second he was tempted to remark that the spy’s carefully crafted mask, was slipping. Now probably wasn’t the best time to point that out.
“Your mate is still alive, Lucius.” Severus remarked softly, the anger in his eyes having died and been replaced with something softer. Pain. “Please don’t throw that away.”
“I’m tired. I should get some rest in preparation for my son’s coming battle with Potter.” Lucius replied, his voice cracking as he recalled the death of Severus’ mate at the hands of the Dark Lord, the screams that had left his friend’s lips as he was held down and forced to watch Regulus as he was tortured for hours before the Dark Lord ended his life.
“This isn’t over.” Severus snarled and released his hold on Lucius, throwing him roughly against the wall before turning on his heels and storming out of the room with his robes billowing out behind him.
It most certainly isn’t. He thought to himself and let out a soft sigh before climbing into the small bed and willing himself to sleep.
It felt as though he had only just closed his eyes when he heard a thunderous crash from below him, followed by the entire Manor shaking with the after effects of a rather powerful blasting charm. “What the fuck did you think you were doing, Malfoy?!”
“Ow, stop that!”
“You were groping me in my sleep! Ow! Ow! Owowowowow!”
“Stop cursing me and let me touch you!”
“Do you think I’m stupid! Ow! I’m not- ow- letting you lay a finger on me! Ow, what the hell is that?”
Lucius laughed softly to himself before casting a wordless and wandless sound dampening spell on the room and pulled the blankets tighter around himself before falling back to sleep.
Draco would need to handle his mate in his own way.