Preliminaries to conception
Team : Tutshill Tornadoes
position : chaser one
round two
prompts : « you wouldn't have it any other way », pretence, weakness.
The two men sat comfortably by the fireside. The room itself was one of the seemingly endless tastefully appointed rooms of Malfoy manor, although this one had not yet received Narcissa's more feminine touch. Dark green and sombre wood made for a rather gloomy room, even with the windows open to combat the mid-summer heat. Both men seemed to be of a similar age. One was regally dressed, as befitted the heir of Malfoy, golden hair and a fair face not yet abandoned by the last traces of youth, although his body was of a man full grown. Lucius made a comely figure indeed.
The second at first glance seemed older, and wearier. His hair lay not full but somewhat thin and clumped together. His sombre face was harsh, closed, sallow skin giving him an air of a hunting gutter rat or creature of the night, when combined to his stooped hight. Second glance however revealed that though still pale, stooped and frightfully thin, Severus Snape was the younger of the two. His face was totally devoid of the usual blight of teenagers, but his body had the lanky look of a boy who had just had a growth spurt, and now some bits still needed to catch up or fill out.
A steaming teapot appeared by the younger one's elbow, startling him into knocking over the awaiting teacup.
Lucius sighed, went to the liquor cabinet, hesitated at the brandy, before pouring himself a glass of wine. "Still no alcohol Severus?" was his usual question, which was met by it's usual refusal, hence the solitary tea-set. He sat down, angled towards his friend and with uncharacteristic forthrightness, told him to "spill".
The Dour man scowled, but as he had come to his long-time friend and confident, did indeed confide. "Lily is pregnant, or at least she will be"
"They found a way to remove the curse on Potter?" Lucius was an experienced walker on the rope that led to Severus's conversations, knowing when to prod him out of his usual silence, but also when to keep his tongue on a leash, lest he revert to his sullen self.
" No, he won't inflict the coming generation with his...contribution" Snape sneered " however they have decided to... Persevere. Lily has come to me for potion that would require my" he cleared his throat "participation"
Lucius nodded "You've only just regained her favour that she asks you too father her child, but of course, she doesn't know that you are the one to blame for her Husband's infertility. Which I still think was a fit of foolish jealousy and petty revenge by the way, we are few enough as it is. And now you will have to keep up the pretence that it is so very unfortunate, while knowing that it is your son calling another father, and pulling at a teat you will never know." He finished cruelly, friendship between snakes always did involve fangs.
The Potion master glared, " I've yet to decide whether to agree or not, the potion itself is not complicated, any semi-competant brewer could do it. Why even Black could do it, although the way he lives at Potter's side, the potion may be superfluous"
Lucius snorted, swirled his wine "You and I both know you will do it, you wouldn't have it any other way, if only to know something of yours has finally been between those milky thighs. You couldn't stand the thought of the husband giving her a child, you'll not let a stranger do so either. No, now you just want to find the best way to manoeuvre things, knowing you you'll be wanting to see the wailing thing, or gods-forbid, hold it. Oh, sit down, you know it's true. Why else would you be here, you want my help with the relinquishment contract. You'll owe me, they're bad enough when you do want to relinquish the child, let alone finding loopholes to keep contact. Now have you sworn or signed anything"
" Only to keep Potter's condition secret from anyone else, unless of course they already know."
"That must chafe at you, finally a weakness in your grand enemy, one final comeuppance he can never beat or forget, that will stare him in the face for as long as the child lives, and you can't even tell anyone. Tell me are you hoping your nose will be inflicted on it so the world sees, or does your mercy over-rule your pride, will you hope it will die out with you. I believe you would, especially if it was a girl. That would be dreadful for the poor girl, just imagine. Or maybe the child will look nothing like you, your hair is remarkably similar to Potter's you know. Would that be worse for you to know that that child is yours, a dirty little secret, because mark my words, it will be. The child itself probably won't know it, Potter, well, if your mudblood is smart, she won't tell him either, lest she eat a meal prepared by him, and has an unexpected miscarriage. I was always quite surprised by the virulence they showed towards you, those so-called marauders. I always thought they would kill you if they could, so what would they do to a floating defenceless nub of your flesh, especially one that you care about. That is a weakness of yours, you know, but Occlumency has been helping. But not, apparently enough to let another sire a child upon her, it would be easier you know."
"Will you help me, or will you just mock me!"Severus snarled, irritation masking hurt; he may have been the lesser man on the complex totem pole of Slytherin influence, but he had never been one to take insults lying down, if he didn't have to.
"Aah, Severus, your fiery temper will get you in trouble one day, but has my dear volcano researched the contracts?"
The volcano in question snorted, knowing full well this was but a new way to needle him, the rich ponce had been a fount of new ways to irritate and annoy him ever since he had been a snot-nosed firstie, apparently he had been a source of amusement to the rich and bored older classmate, and when he had finally snapped and attacked the untouchable Malfoy, he had sealed his fate as an interesting sort of pet slash victim, and as he grew older and his tongue sharper, their odd relationship had become more akin to friendship; now if only Lucius could refrain from indulging his more sadistic tendencies every time he had a favour to ask, they could even be qualified as close friends. " Yes, I have a rough draft here renouncing all relationship and claims. If you could check it's airtight; I also would appreciate it if you could include a loophole giving claim, or at least guardianship back in case of non-eligibility of all other guardians as a sort of safety catch, but I understand if that is not possible. Lily had mentioned adding me to her will as godfather, but I don't think it will happen, I don't see Potter allowing it, I dare say he will give it to his other half Black. That said maybe you should add a mistreatment or gross endangerment clause."
Lucius sighed, running his hand through his hair " You may be over-estimating what I can do, loath though I may be to admit it. It'll be hard enough to make the magic settle as it is, the Prince line is old, if it isn't a clean break, it may even overwhelm the mudblood's, and the last thing we need is another you, although sucking at teats like that, at least it's temper may well be sweeter, not that that's particularly hard"
"Will you stop talking about her breasts! You should do well to remember who among us is the better brewer of poisons." Severus hissed, his patience finally exhausted, as he gathered his belongings and left, stalking towards the floo, gritting his teeth as Lucius called out after him.
"tell me, do you still pay whores to take polyjuice? How does it feel to give in to that white skin?"
AN
I must say, this was perhaps third on my list ideas for the prompt, the first being a seriously creepy Snape and someone or a golem polyjuiced into Lily. The second was an affair between Snape (yet again) and Lucius, which btw I keep misspelling as Luscious, guess that means what it means. But as the other two would have clearly been NSFW, well, you get a convo where nothing much happens. I may however rework this into a short LM/SS.
I will of course be grateful for any and all reviews telling me how my grammar sucks and my sentences are too long. and yes the title is a gallicism and is a bit crappy, but I had a distinct lack of ideas, I do did not however lack a deadline.
Bye.