Fernburgh Ⅳ

However, before the three men can continue their conversation, their wives appear at the door. "Dinner is ready," Molly proudly announced as the hostess.

The three men rise to their feet, while the toddlers run towards their mothers. Andromeda and Molly pick up their two-year old's, while Narcissa's slow-growing belly is still hidden by the folds of her gown. Lucius places a gentle kiss on his wife's hand earning a shy smile from Narcissa, and an envious look from Molly, who glared at her husband as if asking, "Why can't you be more romantic like that?"

Ted hugs his wife and daughter in his arms, while Arthur collects Bill from the table before they all make their way to the dining room. It was a medium-sized room with a good-sized table large enough to easily seat twelve individuals at a time. The dining room is moderately decorated with tasteful decorations thanks to the aid of Narcissa and Dromeda. They had taken Molly shopping one evening for furniture for her new home and had ensured that she purchased tasteful, but useful bits of furniture that would last for many years to come.

Seeing all the delicious food on the table, Ted says, "Ladies, you have outdone yourselves."

The three women flash smiles of pride at Ted, especially from his wife. Being the gentlemen that they are, they first pull out the chairs for their wives, before seating the children, and then themselves. With everyone properly seated, Molly glances at Arthur, who blinks foolishly for a second, before recalling he is the host for the evening.

Clearing his throat, Arthur a tad apprehensive, hoarsely says, "Thank you for joining us this evening in our humble home. We hope that there are many more such occasions to come. And-, and that as a family that we always remain whole. Now let us eat!"

Arthur quickly sits back down with a lobster-red face as Molly pats his hand and leans over to whisper, "You did good darling."

"Thank you, Mollywobbles," Arthur whispered back, before turning back to serve Bill first, before serving himself. He would serve Molly, but she would just snap at him otherwise. As such, he let her serve herself a plate of food and Charlie.

For a time, the only sound in the dining room is the soft chatter of voices and the clinking of silverware. When at last they had eaten all that they could, the men retired to the parlor with Bill, while the toddlers remained with the women. Once the men were gone, Andromeda and Molly gathered the dishes, while Narcissa was tasked to entertain the two toddlers.

Both women laughed at the panicked expression of Narcissa. Wiping the tears of laugher from her eyes, Molly says, "Narcissa, you have a little one on the way. You must learn how to deal with children or else what will you do?"

Narcissa's face is mutinous for a moment as she mutters rebelliously under her breath, "That's what nanny house elves are for."

However, Molly's sharp ears heard Narcisa's words. "Narcissa Malfoy," Molly exclaimed as she put her hands on her hip to stare down at the younger woman. "From what I know your mother took care of you quite often rather than just leaving your education to house elves. Aren't you going to do the same for your children?"

A glint of fear and worry can be seen on the younger woman's face. Molly's face fills with sympathy as she says, "Narcissa, you won't be alone. You will have your mother, Andromeda, and me to help you. But you still need to practice dear before the baby comes."

"Yes, Molly," Narcissa said in a rather resigned tone of voice that caused Andromeda to chuckle loudly at her younger sister earning her a dark glower from Narcissa.

Abandoning Narcissa to the whims of the two children, Molly and Andromeda wash and put away food ensuring that a nice basket of leftovers would be sent back with Andromeda for Ted. Not that they could not have done the same for Narcissa, but Lucius would under no uncertain terms ever accept such a thing unless it was dessert.

Lucius had a notorious sweet tooth that had come as quite a shock to Molly, but she always made sure to pack a small basket of desserts for the cool natured young man. Not that Lucius would ever admit to such a thing, but he always finished every single last dessert crumb on his plate whenever Narcissa returned from visiting Molly Weasley with fresh baked goods in hand. To be honest, it tickled Molly pink to know that the usually so collected young man enjoyed eating her desserts with such relish. As such she always baked an extra basket of desserts and goodies just for him.

After having packed up everything, and pulled out a pie for dessert, and platted the slices, Andromeda and Molly served the men first and leaving the rest of the pie with them, before returning to the dining room with a slice of pie for the children and themselves.

Thankfully, Narcissa seemed to have survived her time with the children intact except for her pride. When the two women returned, they found Narcissa playing with the children on the floor. With a loud snort, Andromeda started to laugh at the usual polished image of her younger sister being so casually destroyed.

Narcissa flashed her older sister a cold sneer, before climbing to her feet as the two children eagerly rushed towards their mothers with their hands outstretched. They knew they would get dessert as they had been good. Mostly.

Full of outraged dignity, Narcissa pointedly ignores her sister's chortles and accepts a slice of pie with cold dignity. Molly hides her own grin and instead carefully seats Charlie on her lap to cut up a slice of pie for him into tiny pieces for him to be able to his fork to eat in order to eat without making too much of a mess.

While the children happily chew their food, Molly, and the three women resume chatting. At one point, Molly says, "I have almost finished knitting a baby blanket for you, Narcissa. I'll have you come to look at once it's done for it's never too early to start preparing."

Narcissa flushes and pales all at the same time creating a rather strange contrast. Andromeda feeling bad for her younger sister changes the subject to scheduling their next tea date. The conversation continues until the children begin to grow sleepy at the growing late hour.

"I think it's time we go," Andromeda finally said as she picked up her sleepy daughter from the ground.

"Mm, yes, it is this little one's bedtime," Molly cooed to the tired figure of her son curled up sleepily in her arms.

Nodding her head in agreement Narcissa leads the way to the parlor room as the men rise to their feet and know it is time for them to leave. Lucius incredibly well-mannered as usually says, "Thank you for having us, Molly. It was an enjoyable evening."

"Of course, Lucius," Molly said with a warm smile. "We're family."

Lucius visibly startles at her words as an undisguised smirk appeared on Arthur's face. Before Lucius can think of anything to say, Molly hands the sleepy figure of Charlie to her husband and says, "I'll be back in just a jiff. I packed a basket of food for you, Ted, for lunch tomorrow. And a special goodie basket just for you, Lucius."

Ted earnestly thanks Molly as Lucius flushes a rather lovely shade of pink, before muttering his thanks to the amusement of everyone in the room. It was rather hard to rile the young pureblood up, but when they did manage to do so, it was rather funny to watch. It must be the strange and inexplicable human instinct to pull on the tiger's tail and see what happens.

Molly returned soon after with the two food baskets and handed one over to Andromeda, and the other to Narcissa. The Malfoy's and the Tonk's quickly left soon after having said their goodbye's. Closing the door firmly shut to their home, Arthur carries Charlie upstairs, while Molly leads Bill to brush his teeth before bed, before putting on his pajama's.

After having read Bill, a storybook, Molly, and Arthur left their dozing children, and carefully closed their door shut. With a tired sigh, Molly begins to undress for the night as Arthur pulls off his boots. "Thank you, Arthur," Molly murmured as she folded her clothes. "It was a lovely evening, and I appreciate the fact that you minded your temper."

"Malfoy wasn't that bad," Arthur admitted honestly out loud. "You wouldn't think it, but he's surprisingly naïve in the strangest of ways for being such a suave pureblood in society."

Molly nods as she pulls her dressing gown over her head, before saying, "Well, it wouldn't surprise me. From what Narcissa has told me is that Lucius's mother died in childbirth, and though Abraxas, may he rest in peace, dearly loved his son, but poor Lucius was largely raised by a nanny house elf. It wouldn't surprise me if he's largely clueless to do with the baby that is now on its way."

The husband and wife continue to chat until at long last, they go to bed, but elsewhere at Malfoy Manor a similar scene is occurring. The Malfoy couple were sitting in bed, while Lucius reviewed some documents while Narcissa read a romance novel about a witch in love with a wizard sea pirate.

After a moment, Lucius puts down his documents and turns to gaze at his lovely wife. "Narcissa, do you think that we should have more of a proactive approach when raising our children?"

Narcissa carefully marks her page, before closing her novel shut. "I think that we should still employ a nanny house elf," Narcissa truthfully confessed. "But I would like to play and care for our child much as Andromeda and Molly do. I rather enjoyed playing with the two small children this evening. And though undignified in public, I do not see it being an issue in the privacy of our own home, Lucius."

"That is exactly what I thought," Lucius murmured in satisfaction like it had been his idea all along, before returning to glance down at the documents that he put down.

But before he can resume reading again, Narcissa idly remarks, "You have recently been getting along well with Arthur Weasley, Lucius. If I did not know any better, I would even dare to suggest that you are on friendly terms with each other."

Lucius mutters under his breath, "Preposterous," but does not vehemently protest like he normally used to do in the past.

With a Cheshire smile hidden and only known to herself, Narcissa returns to reading her novel wondering if the squib pirate would ravish the fair muggle maiden on the next page or would the witch protect the fair maiden and sacrifice herself in exchange? Either way, she could hardly wait to find out.