The Accidental Malfoy

7 | The Sins of the Father

Disclaimer: I do not own this, nor am I profiting off the display of this story in any way.

Lucius frowned at the knock on the door. He really needed to finish drafting this latest version of his will before it was too late.

"Come in!" he barked.

His frown deepened into a scowl as the door opened and revealed his daughter-in-law.

"What do you want, Astoria?" he asked.

"I need to talk to you."

"I gathered that, otherwise you wouldn't be bothering me when I'm busy."

She flushed but came into the room anyway. He sighed as she perched on the edge of the chair opposite his desk. It appeared that this was going to be a lengthy visit. He put away the parchment he was working on, making sure her prying eyes couldn't see it. Astoria might not be in the same league as the Malfoys when it came to intrigue, but she was still a Slytherin.

"How can I help you?" he asked.

"It's about Draco," she replied.

"What about him?"

Astoria gnawed on her lip, obviously not too sure how to proceed. He was the one person in the household she was careful around. It was almost as if she knew he'd destroy her if she put a foot wrong. "I heard something the other day."

"And what was that?"

His daughter-in-law looked up from under her lashes at him, attempting to play off her wiles. She'd have to try a lot harder than that, as she wasn't a patch on Narcissa.

"That there will soon be a half-blood Malfoy."

Lucius paused and narrowed his eyes at her. Astoria obviously wasn't aware that he already knew, which meant she was coming to him in order to cause mischief.

"Is that so? And how exactly has that come about? As far as I know—and believe me, I would know—my son has always been faithful to you."

Astoria didn't question how he would know. She already knew that he had a nasty habit of being aware of everything that happened within the Malfoy family. It was one of the perks of being the head of the household—the house-elves were obliged to tell him any titbit of news they heard and house-elves heard more than anyone gave them credit for. Look at that pesky Dobby.

"Has Draco not told you?"

"Told me what?"

Astoria looked at him for a brief moment as if she was analysing his answer. Lucius wasn't giving anything away, though.

"Well, there was a mix-up with the sperm donations at the clinic and Draco's sperm went to a different woman," she explained informatively, then paused, giving him an opportunity to respond.

He said nothing, just gestured for her to continue.

"He got Hermione Granger pregnant. She's carrying the next Malfoy heir," she said dramatically.

Lucius steepled his fingers and stared across at her. "I take it you're coming to me so I do something regarding this. What exactly do you have in mind?"

It was never a bad thing to work out what others wanted from you before revealing your hand. But he was having a hard time not putting her firmly in her place and sending her on her way.

She threw her hands out. "Stop this from happening! It's ridiculous: a half-blood Malfoy and not with any Muggle-born, but Potter's best friend. Get rid of it."

There was a loaded silence. Astoria looked eager, almost as if she was expecting him to start brainstorming some ideas. But, he was more concerned with trying to rein his temper in. How could this chit of a girl come into his study, sit down and tell him to get rid of an unborn Malfoy? Whether the baby was of tainted blood or not, family meant everything to him.