The Hufflepuff and the Slytherin

Chapter 24- Surprise

Lucius walked slowly down the main staircase, a nervous feeling  forming in his stomach. He loved his mother, but there had been a lot of  things that had happened in his past that made him have difficult  feelings towards both of his parents for what they had allowed to happen  to him. While his mother and he were now cordial to each other, there  was still that dark cloud that often hung over them whenever they were  in the same space. So many things left unsaid. And then there was the  fact that he had you, upstairs, naked in his bed.

The past few  weeks with you had been everything he had ever longed for. Having you  back in his life was the best thing to have happened in seven years. He  had wanted to bring you back here to experience the magic once again; he  had been assured that his mother was in France indefinitely...why did she  have to come back and ruin this perfect moment?

Despite not  wanting to do this now, Lucius knew that if he wanted to keep you in his  life, he would have to be firm, defend you no matter what the costs,  even if that costed him what remained of his family; his mother. He  would never let you go this time. He would suffer a million Cruciatus  curses and he still wouldn't leave you ever again.

With that  knowledge and confidence solidified in his mind, Lucius stepped down  into the marble entryway of the Manor where his Mother was standing,  watching her son walk slowly down the staircase towards her.

Lucius  saw her pale blue eyes light up at the sight of him; she was genuinely  happy to see him it seemed, and was surprised to find him here, back at  Malfoy Manor.

"Hello Mother," Lucius said softly as he walked up to her and kissed her lightly on the cheek in greeting.

"My Lucius," his Mother responded back with her light as air voice. "You're back."

"I should be saying the same to you. You had said you'd be in France. I thought the Manor to be empty."

His  mother's eyes seemed to become sad that he hadn't come back to the  Manor to seek her out, and had instead waited until she was gone. She  didn't know that you were upstairs waiting for Lucius to return from  downstairs.

"Why are you back?" Lucius continued to question.

"Before  I left, I had told the house elves to make sure everything was well  here; to alert me if anyone were to try and enter."

"I'm hardly an  intruder," Lucius said, his eyebrow raised in almost offense.

"Not at  all my dear," his mother said trying not to offend her son. "But I would  like to know who goes in and out of my home."

Lucius' eyebrow  raised even further up on his head, having a few issues with what she  had just said. "The only two people who can access the Manor are you and  myself," he began with an annoyed voice, "Why would you have assumed it  would be anyone else?"

"Lucius dear, I have a right to-" she began to say before Lucius cut her off.

"To know who comes into your home?  Is it your home though Mother? According to the law of our family for  generations, once the patriarch passes away, it goes to the first born  heir...Father is gone now...which makes me..."

Lucius didn't finish his  sentence, but he had said enough. Tosia breathed in a sharp breath and a  faint pink color was rising in her pale cheeks. She was upset. And yet  seeing her upset didn't disturb Lucius in the slightest. If anything it  gave him more confidence to know that he could be firm with his words  around her.

"Well..." Tosia began to say as she didn't address his  last comment, "I thought you'd be happy to see me...we haven't seen each  other in quite some time. When the house elves told me you'd returned, I  wanted to see you..."