I don't own either of these two! Though, I wish I owned Lucius. ;)
First fanfiction in perhaps 6 years, so play nice. Criticism and reviews are adored!


033. Too Much

Lucius eyed his wife from across the breakfast table, the Daily Prophet spread over his now empty plate. The two had been married six months, and it was only now, post the newlywed phase, that he'd started to find problems with her. Oh yes, there'd been nitpicking done while he courted her in their teens. Her obsession with shoes had been the primary one. She'd be late for almost any function because she couldn't find the right damn pair of shoes to wear that night.

But this was far more serious. And far more embarrassing.

He cleared his throat, trying to draw his wife's attention. It took another callous faux-cough to draw her attention from the leather bound book spread open next to her tea cup. But it wasn't just a tea cup. It would be the downfall of their marriage. It was large, possibly the size of two normal cups of tea, and looked more like a bowl then a beverage-holder. And she used it all day long. Or perhaps she had two. Either way she was constantly sipping and relishing the warm liquid inside. He wondered if she brought the damned thing out when she had visitors.

Call him untraditional, but Lucius found everything about tea disgusting; the smell, the taste, the coating of escaped leaves that linger on the bottom of a cup. He abhorred it. She reveled in it. She also always tasted of it.

When the blonde woman looked up, smiling that Earl Grey tinted smile, Lucius sighed again. "Narcissa that cup..." He took a deep breath as her fingers encircled it protectively. "Don't you think it's a little too much?"

She scowled and bobbed her head down, taking another long sip. "I think it's just perfect."

Hours later they lay in his bed, Narcissa with her head in his lap as he read one of the leather bound books from his private study. The tea cup was across the room on a mahogany table that he was sure hadn't been there before their marriage, empty for the thousandth time that day. His fingers stoked her hair, undoing the ribbon deftly and closing the book shut. Bending down to press his lips to hers, he sighed loudly and pulled away within seconds. She gave him a quizzical look, sitting up and furrowing her eyebrows.

"I hate the taste of that goddamn tea, Cissa." He snapped at her, and the woman had the nerve to be offended. He swung his legs from the bed opened the top drawer of his dresser. Buried behind his socks, as he had done since childhood, he kept a small box of sweets, mints, and chocolates. He thrust on of the peppermint stones at her. She made no movement to accept the mint. He glared again. "I will not get back into bed until you have either returned to your own or eaten this."

She threw her legs off the bed, snatching the mint and cup up, glaring. "Don't you think that reaction was a little much?"

Lucius smirked, watching as his wife unraveled the paper and slid the piece into her mouth. "I think it was perfect."

The cup smashed as it collided with the wall, inches from his head.