When his son told him he would have a friend over Lucius would never have imagined that Draco was referring to the youngest Greengrass. To own the truth, he didn’t even know the two of them were friends. His son never told him much about his friends, especially not since the war ended, so perhaps it shouldn’t be too surprising, but still… Back then, the idea of his son being friends with someone who was as progressive as Astoria Greengrass seemed laughable.
So much had changed since then.
Lucius had given up on the pretence of respecting (or at least tolerating) muggle and muggle-borns – ironically, as it was also the first time in his life he felt as if he could force himself to stand them. He simply had no other choice now, and thought he had been doing a good job of accepting what he couldn’t change, but he wasn’t ready for his son befriending a muggle-lover. No, not a muggle-lover. He couldn’t say that anymore.
Perhaps what he couldn’t accept was having the things he despised near his family, but it seemed he didn’t have a choice about that either.
It took Lucius a glass of wine and being dragged by his wife to get him into the drawing room to greet their guest. He had been avoiding society since his duties to the Ministry ended because he didn’t want to deal with the shame. He wished he could forego the niceties of proper etiquette when having visitors and just go back to his office, but he didn’t want to embarrass Draco, especially when he was getting back on his feet so well. Lucius had been through much worse; he could certainly manage to be personable for a couple of minutes.
He fought with his brain to remember what it was that his son said about Astoria’s job, when door to the room was opened, revealing Draco, accompanied by a petite dark haired woman, and Lucius felt it was best if he wasn’t the first to speak.
