Written for the 2011 LJ Wishlist

Requested By: Clockworkorange

Fandoms: BtVS/HP

Characters: Buffy, Draco, Narcissa, Lucius

Prompt: Lucius and Narcissa finally meet the young woman that their son's always going on about.

Crushing Expectations

"This is a bad idea. A really, really bad idea," Buffy muttered as she paced the room half dressed.

"No, it's not. It's a wonderful idea. Very obviously since I came up with it."

"I'm having a freak out right now, Draco. I can't deal with your ego."

"Will you stop," he laughed, grabbing her wrist as she passed by again. "What's not to love about you? You're brilliant. You're beautiful. And most of all, you make me insanely happy. That's all that matters."

"To you maybe. But what about them?" She said, leaning her head against his chest. "I mean, you're just kind of springing me on them."

"They've actually been dying to meet you for months," he confessed, his eyes ticking off to the side when she jerked back to look at him.

"What? They have? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because of this," he said, stepping away and waving at her vaguely. "Your 'freak-out-mode', as you call it. You're so very touchy about things like this."

"Things like this? What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, narrowing her eyes and putting her hands on her hips in way that was disturbingly reminiscent of that awful sister of hers.

"Every time our relationship takes a step forward you attempt taking two back. My persistence is the glue here. Well, that and my amazing prowess in the bedroom."

"That's not true at all! The first part, not the- Not true!"

"Oh really? What about the first time I told you I loved you?" He asked pushing off the post and advancing on her. "You got all glassy eyed and disappeared for two days. I had to track you down in Marseilles and bring you back to London. And when I asked you to move in with me? Gone for a week. I had to track you to Rome. So you can understand why I'd be a bit reluctant to bring up you meeting my parents."

Silence settle between them and Buffy's glare slowly turned accepting and a little sheepish.

"Okay," she nodded. "Okay, you're right. I get a little… flakey sometimes. Relationships haven't exactly worked out for me, as you know. And this… Well, I've just never had to meet a boyfriend's parents before. I mean, my other boyfriends were-"

"Dead?"

"Just two of them! Point is, there were no parental meetings involved. I don't know what to do or say. What if they hate me?"

"So what if they do?" Draco asked, losing his patience. "They hate everyone! And since when have you been one to give a damn what anyone else thinks about you?"

"Since I have to meet my boyfriend's extremely rich and-" she stopped and took a deep breath before adding in a more controlled tone, "Well connected family."

Draco shook his head and looked at his watch. "We're supposed to be there in fifteen minutes and you're not even dressed. Do you really want to start off the evening by be being late?"

Buffy looked down at herself and gave a panicked squeak before bolting into the bathroom. Draco watched her go with his brow furrowed. He really hoped tonight went well and, though he'd never say so to her, between her… oddities and his parents rather judgmental nature it seemed a recipe for disaster. But he still felt she needed to meet them. And, more than that, he felt they should meet her.

He'd better make sure his apparition license for trips to the States and Asia was up to date…

They pulled through the gates of the Malfoy Mansion in Draco's classic Rolls Royce - the only car he'd agree to drive since Buffy always refused to do the apparition thing (his encouragement of "It's not a big deal, feels a bit like being squeezed through a tube" was not at all comforting or convincing). Besides, she liked the car. It made her feel like she should be in an old gangster movie, dressed in a cute calf-length dress with her hair in curls while Draco wore a pinstripe suit and one of those matching fedoras…

They drove through a canopy of trees and around a slight turn, finally revealing the house in all its glory, which left Buffy wide-eyed and breathless. The driveway turned into a circle that went around a huge fountain and Draco followed the curve to park by the front door. Or front doors, she should say. Two mammoth wooden double doors marked the entrance to the sprawling manor - complete with spires, wrought iron surrounded balconies and arched windows that seemed to look down on her with fierce disapproval.

"Home sweet home," Draco muttered darkly.

She had a feeling that his visit here was double-sided. That he loved his parents and genuinely wanted her to meet them, but that he also almost resented them and, even though he didn't say so, was braced for the worst whenever they were involved. She opened her mouth to ask, but closed it and just reached over and squeezed his hand instead - grateful to see the move was apparently the right one because he relaxed a little and squeezed back.

The beauty of her and Draco's relationship, the reason it worked, was because they were honest with each other, but didn't dredge up the details of their pasts. They both had dark and dirty histories, they knew that, but instead of focusing on that in the name of "sharing" they lived in the now - looking forward instead of back was what made them work so well together.

So, that meant that he knew she was a Slayer but not ugly details that went along with it; he knew that she'd had undead boyfriends but not that one went evil and tried to kill her while the other fake-died saving the world; he knew that she had scars inside and out, but not about the times she'd actually died or the times she'd just wanted to.

And on the flip side, that meant she knew that he was a wizard, but not what all that entailed (besides apparently being lazy and using that wand to do every mundane task there was from cleaning a dish to drying his hair); that he was involved in some magical war, but wasn't exactly sure what part he played. She also knew, mostly from reading between the lines, that his parents were borderline evil and magically bigoted - a point she'd almost let slip earlier before calming herself.

That calm was eroding now as she watched the left side of the massive front doors open slowly. She almost expected a creaking sound and a one-note piano accompaniment…

But instead of a monster, a beautiful blond couple stepped out. Both a little on the tall side, the setting sun caught those pale tresses and made them seem like something ethereal and benevolent. They took another step forward, revealing aristocratic angles that just added to the perfection. What ruined the image was the lip curling sneer on the man's face.

"What are you doing, Draco? Is that a… muggle contraption?"

And the dismayed, poorly hidden look of disgust on the woman's - who kept from saying anything but made her disappointment all too clear without opening her mouth.

Here we go, Buffy internally groaned.

"It's a classic father and costs more than most people make in a year," Draco said as he came around to open Buffy's door for her. She had a feeling she did this purely to spite them because usually he just opened her door with a wave of his wand (another mark in the "lazy" column for magic use).

"Mother, Father, this is my girlfriend, Buffy Summers," he said when she was out of the car standing next to him. "Buffy, this is my Father, Lucius, and my mother, Narcissa."

If they hadn't still been standing up by the door, she might've tried to shake their hands, which is maybe why Draco had done the introductions like this - these didn't look like the type of people to shake hands. She just offered them a nod and a smile instead.

"A pleasure," she said.

"Indeed," Lucius said, looking her up and down like a side of beef he was considering buying.

Narcissa didn't say anything at all.

"Well, then, now that the pleasantries are over," Draco said, making no attempt to cover his sarcasm. "Shall we go inside?"

The disappointed gaze of his parents peeled off of her and landed on him instead. She thought she'd be relieved, but oddly enough, she found she'd rather have them looking at her like that than their son. She slipped her hand into his as Lucius and Narcissa turned back toward the house and squeezed a little. Draco gave her a quick smile and moved his hand from hers to wrap around her waist.

"Fun, right?" He whispered in her ear, causing her to smirk a little. At least he knew how awful this was already.

The inside of the house ended up making the outside look shabby in comparison. Rich, dark woods with soaring ceilings and arcing windows. Heavy draperies and oversized furniture decorated the space along with moving paintings - mostly dour faced portraits that looked at her with the same distain as Lucius and Narcissa. Draco had mentioned these before, but it had been in an offhand manor that didn't really prepare her for what she was seeing right then. Luckily, she was able to cover her shock with the only outward sign being a missed step and a slight stumble. Of course, her heels made that stumble echo around the space and drew another displeased look from Draco's parents. Draco just raised an eyebrow - he knew perfectly well that Buffy never just tripped. Making sure that Lucius and Narcissa were still face-forward, she looked at the paintings pointedly. Understanding washed over Draco's face and he smirked, then, after checking that his parents weren't looking, made a face at the portraits, causing them to all look shocked and scandalized and making Buffy smother a burst of giggles.

They ended up in, well, Buffy wasn't sure what to call it… A parlor? A sitting room? A drawing room? A study? It was like those fancy forks in different sizes - she couldn't ever tell what they were each for. It was decorated the same as the rest of the house, with dark colors and heavy fabrics. While it was beautiful, it wasn't really Buffy's style. She couldn't help but thinking it felt a little oppressive and felt a pang at the thought of Draco growing up there.

"Draco talks about you quite fondly," Lucius remarked idly, pouring himself a glass of amber liquid from a decanter by the window. He didn't offer anyone else anything. "But he hasn't really told us much about you. Where are you from Buffy?'

She didn't fail to notice the way his lip curled as he said her name. You'd think that someone that named their kid Draco would be a little more open minded about monikers. He seated himself behind a grand desk, while Narcissa took an armchair, leaving her and Draco to sit on the couch.

"California," Buffy said, pasting on a sweet smile and ignoring the way Narcissa seemed to twitch at that revelation. "I lived there up until about three years ago."

"And then you moved to London? Where you met Draco?"

Brushing off the feeling that this was interrogation more than small talk, Buffy shook her head. "I moved to Scotland for about a year after that, then did some traveling. I was just visiting London last year when I met Draco - I kinda ended up sticking around after that."

Draco and her shared one of those gooey couple smiles as they remembered the early whirlwind of romance they'd shared.

"Of course you would," Narcissa said, giving Buffy a smile that was filled with venom. "Draco's a handsome, successful man with great deal of wealth. For a… nomad such as yourself, sharing a life of luxury with him was probably an irresistible temptation."

Buffy blinked at the roundabout way Mrs. Malfoy had just called her a gold-digger, concentrating more on not laughing than being offended.

"Please, her flat's even more posh than mine," Draco scoffed, relieving Buffy of answering. "Buffy is by no means lacking in funds, Mother. And it was very crass of you to suggest that."

Narcissa flushed a little and opened her mouth to retaliate, but Lucius cut her off.

"Is that so?" He asked. "And what exactly is it you do, Ms. Summers?"

"I'm a co-founder in a security firm that serves clients worldwide," she said without pause.

While not exactly a lie, Buffy actually hadn't had a problem telling them the truth. Draco had nixed that idea right off the bat though, saying he'd rather her not flaunt her Slayer status. This, of course, had led to fight about him being embarrassed by what she was, but ended in the revelation that he just didn't trust his parents. He'd said that being a Slayer was a dangerous enough job without people that could potentially spread that information to the wrong crowd knowing about it. She'd agreed, even though she still thought he was overreacting, but now that she was there… Well, it didn't seem so silly after all.

"Impressive," Lucius said, his tone implying he actually thought it was anything but. "And where did you go to school?"

She felt Draco tense beside her. She knew what was coming, he'd warned her about his parents' prejudices, but she still answered honestly, "California. I went to the local college after high school, but that didn't really stick-"

"High school? College?" Narcissa questioned in confusion. Her eyes widened and she half stood from her chair as understanding hit her like a brick. "She's not magical?"

Buffy could feel the tension radiating off Draco next to her. Between that, the pale look on Mrs. Malfoy's face as she collapsed back in her chair and the half sick, half furious look on Mr. Malfoy's face, Buffy wondered if maybe she should've lied after all. But Draco had never suggested it, even after telling her (in a huge underestimation) that his parents weren't fond on non-magical people, or muggles. And even now, he still slipped his hand into hers in the face of his parents' outrage. Suddenly she felt better about this. This was something he had to do, she realized. Both for himself and for her.

"No, she's not magical," he said, his voice unruffled and his body slowly losing its stiffness.

"This is… this is unacceptable, Draco. I happen to know Pansy Parkinson is still single," she said, ignoring Draco's snorted "big surprise there" and continuing, "And there's also the daughter of the Spanish diplomat-"

"Mother, I'm twenty-four years old," he drawled. "I believe that's old enough to pick one's own romantic pursuits."

"Obviously not, if this is the best you can come up with," she huffed.

"That's quite enough-" Draco bit out.

Buffy interrupted though, feeling as if they were going to talk about her, they could talk to her.

"Wait. So… Since I can't change my socks with a wave of a wand, it makes me unworthy of loving your son?"

"Not at all. It just makes you unworthy of being loved by him," Narcissa said.

"Mother!"

"You weren't raised this way," Lucius spoke for the first time since the revelation. Buffy felt a trickle of adrenaline enter her system when she looked at him. He'd stood from his chair behind the desk, hands flat on its surface and a look of barely repressed violence on his face, quite in contrast with the quiet calm of his voice. For the first time, Buffy saw that Lucius Malfoy could truly be a dangerous man.

"Your upbringing taught you the importance in carrying on magical purity, Draco. How could you-"

"And look where following your ideals got me," Draco hissed, his voice colder than Buffy had ever heard it. "Trying to get your approval, following the letter of the family law… It not only almost killed me, it almost broke me. I'm happy now. With her. You'll either get over it or you won't. That's the end of this conversation."

Buffy took her eyes off Mr. Malfoy to look at Draco. She had to admit, she was totally impressed with the new forceful side to her usually sarcastic and laid back boyfriend. Impressed and a little turned on actually…

A distant bell rang, but it didn't stop the stare-down between two Malfoy men.

After a beat of tense silence, Narcissa rose slowly from her chair, the flush leaving her pale face as she regained her composure. "Let's just eat, shall we?"

After a few more seconds, the stand-off ended, both men looking away at the same time.

"An excellent idea," Lucius said, his voice still clipped as he rounded the desk and left the room with Narcissa in tow.

Draco stood as well, pulling Buffy with him. As she stood, she noticed that his wand had dropped from his sleeve into the palm of his hand at some point. Seeing where she was looking, Draco gave a grim smile and tucked it back out of sight. As Buffy left the room with him, she couldn't help but wonder what a wizard fight would look like. The only thing she'd ever seen Draco use his for was ordinary, everyday stuff, like removing the stain from his tie or gathering his papers or floating a beer from the fridge to his spot in the living room (seriously, it was a wonder he stayed so fit since he never seemed to move any more than absolutely necessary). So, she couldn't help but think a wizard fight would be super lame. Still, she was curious…

Not curious enough to want to see one tonight though…

They walked through the wide hall to another doorway. There the dining room sat in all its splendid glory. The spread on the table was a thing of beauty - Buffy had no doubt that Mrs. Malfoy had nothing to do with it though, they must have a cook. Lucius pulled out a chair for Narcissa while looking over the table with narrowed eyes.

"Are we going to carve the ham, Pinky? Or do you just expect us to dig in with our hands and teeth like barbarians?" Lucius barked.

Pinky? She glanced at Draco as they approached the table, raising a questioning eyebrow.

There was a sudden crack right behind Buffy, which sent her instinctually spinning around in a defensive posture. At first she didn't see anything - until she looked down. A tiny, wrinkly, butcher knife wielding demon was staring up at her with crazy googly-eyes. Without a second thought, she lashed out with her strappy heel clad foot. The little monster went flying into the hall with a high pitched, "eeeeeeee!"

Silence reigned in the dining room and Buffy risked taking her eyes off the twitching creature to glance behind her. Draco and his mother were looking at her with wide eyes and gaping mouths. Lucius though, watched her thoughtfully for a second before crossing his arms and nodding.

"I take it back, Draco - I think I like her," he said approvingly.