Family First Chapter 18: January 19

Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

A/N: I want to thank all of you so much. This story would have never reached such incredible milestones without all of you. I'm not going to lie, there have been challenges in writing this, and for a while I did consider abandoning it for a while. I couldn't leave all of you like that though, so in a major way, all of you are responsible for this story being finished. I want to give special thanks to those who reviewed this fic and or PM'ed me. You have provided constant encouragement, brilliant insights and ideas. I also want to think Jasper's Mom. You are an absolutely incredible beta, taking time out of your day to fix my mistakes. You always return them in not only a timely manner, but in an incredibly short time (sometimes just a few hours). I cannot express how thankful I am for all of you.

If I do a sequel, or some other sort of follow up, I'll post a note on this fic, so all of those who have followed or favorited me will be alerted.

Beta'ed by Jasper's Mom

"Albus has been by three times today. He's gathering support among his loyal follower. Right now we still have the upper hand, but I'm not sure how long that's going to last. Cissa, eventually he will get the support he needs."

"There has to be something we can do Lucius."

"There is exactly one thing I can think of, but if we want it to go through before Dumbledore gets his support, then it needs to be done now."

"Adoption."

"Blood adoption, yes."

"We need to tell him."

"It has to be done in the next few days. If we don't tell him now, then there won't be time for him to make his decision."

"I still don't know how to ask something like that."

"You just ask Cissa."

"Well, there's no time like the present.

"Harry, we need to talk to you."

"If it's about the-"

"No," Lucius cut the child off "It's not about that, whatever that may be. It's about Dumbledore, and yourself."

"What about us?"

"He's gathering support Harry. Within the next week or so he is going to have enough votes to overturn the guardianship order. Perhaps I can delay it past that, but in the end it we'll just be playing catch up."

"I want to stay here."

"And we want you here love." Narcissa spoke this time.

"Then I'm staying. I don't care what some stuffy room full of old hags says, I'm not leaving."

"Harry, you won't have a choice, should Dumbledore get the support he needs, the Ministry will remove you from the house, forcibly if necessary."

"There has to be something we can do."

"Indeed there is. However it is irreversible, there is no going back from it, and it can be dangerous. Narcissa and myself have decided that should you be willing, we would gladly go through with it."

"What exactly is 'it'" Harry asked cautiously.

"Blood adoption."

"You want to adopt me." Between the expression on his face, and the tone in his voice, for a second Lucius feared that Harry would break out in tears. But almost as soon as that thought fully formed, a massive smile broke out on Harry's face.

"Ye-" Lucius cut the boy off there.

"We want you to think about this Harry. I don't want an answer right now. As I said, this is irreversible, and it can be dangerous. Before you make a decision, you must be fully informed, and then you must think about this."

"Alright, what do I need to know?"

"It is a complicated process. The potion is extremely temperamental. Severus has almost completed the brewing, should you say yes, I assure you the potion will be fine, should you say no, his time shall not go to waste, as he will sell the potion for quite a handsome price I imagine. The ritual is also fairly complicated, although, I can also assure you that will be taken care of. But the really dangerous bits of it we won't know for sure until after the process has begun.

A blood adoption will irrevocably tie our families together. You shall always be a Potter, but you will become a Malfoy. The adoption will do more than just add your name to our family tree, or tie our families together. It will change your magic, and your blood. Sometimes the blood is too similar, or even too different, or the magic will not mix. In those cases, it's hard to predict what will happen. Sometimes the ritual won't fully take, allowing one of the parent's to be your blood, but not the other, other times the ritual completely backfires, killing everyone involved."

"Really the chances of the ritual not taking are quite slim, they do need to be thought about though. Of equal importance though is what will happen should everything go according to plan." Narcissa spoke in her soft voice, clasping one of Harry's hands in hers. "While this adoption can give you a family, you have to realize what kind of family it is giving you. When you become a Malfoy, not everyone will accept you. Having the last name Malfoy may make things difficult for you. You must think about the emotional side, you must understand, not everything will be easy. Family is nice to have, but they don't always fix everything."

"And, after living with us this past while, you must understand, we will have expectations of you, and you will meet those expectations." Lucius added "There is bad and good in every decision. You must weigh them both and come to a decision. If you have any questions, ask us, or Sev, or even Draco if you want."

"Draco knows?"

"Not yet, we are going to tell him next, and he is in no way to try and persuade you one way or another, if he does I expect to be notified. This decision is too important to let someone else make it."

"What if Draco doesn't want me as a Malfoy."

"The chances of that happening are quite slim. That being said, Draco is my son, and I love him. I would give him the world if it would make him happy, but he is a child, and does not dictate who can or cannot be a Malfoy. He does not dictate whether or not you become part of our family. I don't want you worrying about Draco's reaction. I want you to think about what you expect out of life, and whether or not this adoption will bring you a step closer to those goals, or a step further away."

After a few quick hugs and quiet words, the Malfoy parents left Harry alone to think, and Harry did just that.

The Malfoy's were the only real family Harry had ever known, and they had taken him in without a second thought. They were everything he had ever craved out of a family, caring, kind, and attentive. Yet there were those who did not like the Malfoy's, and they would like Harry even less for becoming a Malfoy. Joining the Malfoy family would come with its own set of problems, starting with Dumbledore, and ending with Voldemort. Even if the man was dead, he still had a following, or so Hagrid said. Harry gave a long sigh, looking around the room. From his desk, James Potter's beaming face looked out of Harry's photo album. James Potter, who had told Harry to do what made him happy. Harry made his decision, just in time for there to be a knock on the door.

"Come in." Severus, complete in flowing black robes walked through the door.

"The potion is finished, and the ritual is ready whenever you make your decision. I would like to offer a few bits of advice though, what you do with it is your choice. Every day in this life, every choice we make, or refuse to make comes with risks and danger. The key is not putting yourself in unnecessary danger. You have to look at the risk of each choice, and take the option with the most acceptable risks. The other thing you have to look at took me many years to figure out. I spent my childhood trying to make others happy, trying to fit in, to make friends. It perplexed me that I never achieved any of that. It wasn't until much later in life, too late in many ways, that I discovered why that was. You're never going to please everyone, there are too many people in this world and they all want different things. Don't try to please them all Harry, because it will never work. Do what pleases you, and then look around at who is happy because you are happy. Those people are your friends, your family, no one else matters."

"Thanks Prof- Uncle Sev, but I've already made my decision."

"Are you sure, this is one decision that is enduring, there is no changing it."

"Yes sir, I'm sure."

"Alright then, what is it?"

"How soon can we start the ritual?"

The room, if you could call it that, was absolutely massive. Lit candles stood at seemingly random points of the drawings on the floor. The candles gave a softly lit glow around the room, bur didn't provide any sense of warmth whatsoever to the freezing room. The Malfoy dungeons were clearly built to intermediate.

Harry, Narcissa and Lucius all wore heavy, ornate robes, crafted specifically for the occasion. Harry's robe proudly displayed the Potter family crest, and in an equally prominent position there was a blank space, to be filled with the Malfoy crest. Lucius wore robes similar in nature to Harry's with the Malfoy crest displayed, while Narcissa wore the Black and Malfoy crest.

Over to the side of the room stood Draco, Severus, and Elsenda Sappe, a well respected if little known ministry employee, all acting as witnesses.

Harry was ushered to the center of the design by Lucius, who then took his position, just to the right of Harry. Narcissa picked up a glass container filled just under a quarter of the way with potion, before walking over to Harry's left.

With a quick charm she added a drop of her own blood to the potion, and swirled it counter clockwise a bit. After just a few moments the potion turned from its original onyx color to a light lavender, and Cissa passed it over Harry's head to Lucius. Lucius swirled the potion clockwise, and the potion turned a rich silver color. From the admiring glances the newly silver potion garnered from Severus and Elsenda, that was a good thing. Harry didn't have time to muse over it though as the glass was placed in front of him.

Narcissa stood one hand on the glass, while Lucius held it from the other side.

"We are going to add your blood now Harry. Should the potion react correctly we will split it, and partake of it. Then the ritual should be finished." Narcissa spoke gently, hope and excitement mixing in her soft voice.

She grabbed Harry's left hand, and Lucius grabbed his own wand, muttering the incantation for a cutting hex for the third time that night. Harry felt a brief bite of pain, and then it was over, a drop of his blood adding itself to the potion. This time there was no movement of the glass, as the Malfoy parents held it perfectly still. Harry held his breath as nothing happened, seconds, minutes ticked by and nothing happened. Then suddenly, the potion turned a brilliant gold, bubbling up slightly, until Harry feared that it was going to spill out. Then it did spill out, and yet, as the liquid rose over the rim of the glass it became a vapor floating in the air.

Narcissa broke out into a brilliant smile, and Lucius chuckled a bit, before preforming a spell to split the glass, handing one of the now smaller glasss to Narcissa and another to Harry.

"To family." Lucius gave a small toast before tipping his own glass back and swallowing. Narcissa and Harry followed suit.

Harry waited for what he felt was a considerable amount of time for something to happen. For his hair, or eyes, or cheekbones to change. Yet nothing was happening, until something did happen. Quite suddenly in fact something did happen. The Manor wards went off, buzzing out an obnoxious sound.

Narcissa shot her husband a worried look as she followed Severus' lead in pulling out a wand. Lucius had also removed his wand, and turned to the boys.

"Stay behind me."

"Yes Sir." Both boys answered promptly, crowding behind their father. Severus led the way up the stairs, with Lucius following, leaving Narcissa, and a confused looking Elsenda to carry up the rear.

They all marched quietly along until Severus came to a sudden halt, forcing everyone else to stop.

"Headmaster. Auror Shacklebolt." He sneered. "It is common curtsey not to invite yourself over into another's home."

"Indeed Severus, however, we have the documentation necessary to remove Harry from this place. We hoped only to spare you all from having to drop him off yourselves. Harry if you would come over here please." The Headmaster spoke in a cheery voice.

Harry didn't move, but even so, Lucius hand clasped down on his shoulder.

"I wish to see the paperwork first." Lucius demanded.

"Of course, here it is, you'll find it all in order I suspect."

"Your suspicions are not all that accurate Headmaster. This is an order for the ministry approved guardians of Harry Potter to hand the boy over."

"I fail to see the problem."

"We are no longer ministry approved guardians, in fact, you just missed a lovely little ritual in which we become the boy's blood parents."

"I see, yet, I do feel that these documents still apply."

"And yet they do not, as your Auror friend can tell you."

"Malfoy's right Albus, there is nothing we can do here." Shacklebolt motioned to another Auror, who had been lingering around the edges of the group, poking and prodding various objects.

"Let's go Milford." The other Auror snorted in disgust, throwing the slipper he had been examining onto the floor.

"Bloody arseholes" He mumbled as he walked by the group of Malfoys and invited guest.

Harry held his tongue until the small group was just starting the apparation process, and then let loose.

"And you're all bloody hobknockers!"

"Harry!" Narcissa gasped, sounding completely outraged.

At the same time, the discarded slipper, once laying harmlessly on the floor rose up and delivered three sharp smacks to the boy's backside.

"Welcome to the family." Draco smirked

"Yes, Harry James Caelum Malfoy Potter, welcome to the family." Lucius shot a look to Harry's robes. Where there had once been a blank patch, there now stood the Malfoy crest.

The End

This is it people; this is goodbye, at least as far as this fic is concerned. Tell me what you thought of all of the fic. That's what I want for Christmas, reviews. For all of those who celebrate Christmas, have yourself a marry little Christmas, and a happy new year. For those of you who don't have a fantastic day, and a great new year!