In the Eye of the Beholder

Just a quick note guys. This is written from both Lucinda and Lucius' point of view. I have signified changes in perspective with the lines of x's. As the chapters go on, it changes less often (I realise I did it a lot in these earlier chapters and it might be confusing). Anyway… enjoy! If you want to subscribe or review that would much appreciated!

Chapter 1: Monday Meeting

The heels of Lucinda Lovegood's shoes clicked determinedly across the foyer of Hospital. She knew there was no need to rush for her meeting this morning. She had left her apartment earlier than was strictly necessary, as was usual for her. She could always have just apparated to work but often preferred to walk. Lucinda only lived a short distance from and enjoyed the hustle and bustle of early morning London. However, she was already beginning to regret her sleep-addled brains' decision to wear her extra tall heels for the meeting. She had felt that seen as though she didn't have to wear her uniform, she might as well go all out for a change. Lucinda had been working at as a healer on Level 4 for nearly six years now. She had quickly proven her skills and been promoted twice now, most recently to Senior Clinical Lead for her ward, A4. Hence her attendance at the assembly this morning. She had narrowly managed to avoid the bi-annual Funding meeting since her arrival there, but this year she wouldn't be so lucky due to her new promotion. The meeting was an intense and overly-long debate of the funding arrangements for the coming financial year for the hospital. It was attended by the hospital's director and his deputy, all of the clinical leads for each ward, and a rather unusual and select group known as the patriarchal funding committee. It was a panel consisting of mostly older, and extremely rich, wizards who Lucinda often thought looked more like they should be in one of the patient beds than sat in the conference room. There was only one member of the committee who was less than eighty years of age. Lucius Malfoy. If there was one person whose presence Lucinda did not particularly fancy indulging this morning, it was his. After being exonerated by Harry, Ron and Hermione after the war, the Malfoy's had practically disappeared from wizarding society for several years. There was the odd whispered rumour spread around the Three Broomsticks, of course. That Draco had trained abroad and now worked for Gringotts, that Lucius and Narssisa had separated. Not that Lucinda paid much heed to idle gossip of course. As far as she was concerned, the less she heard the name 'Malfoy' the better.

Lucinda stopped outside the conference room, a sigh emanating from her as she braced herself to enter. A floating sign indicated the meeting's purpose: Conference Room 2- Funding Debate (05/04/2004) 09:30-15:30.

Clutching the parchment with her notes on, she pushed open the door and made her way to her allocated seat. The room was set out with a large oval table and high backed chairs, jugs of water placed strategically along the oak surface, along with quills and pieces of parchment. Lucinda placed her bag down by her side and put her wand on the table. She stared intently at it and it moved slightly under her attentions. Her wand was a 13 inch elm variety, with a unicorn hair core. Unlike her sister Luna's wand, which flourished dramatically and tulip-like at the end, Lucinda's was much simpler, just flaring slightly at the top. However the bottom end of her wand was heavily twisted and coiled, and looked almost as if the wood were turning to liquid to better aid the flow of her magic from it. Yes, Lucinda mused, their wands were not the only thing her and Luna did not have in common. Although she loved her little sister very much, no one could ever suggest they were similar. Despite them both sharing bright blonde hair, Luna's eyes were blue like their Father Xenophilius's, Lucinda's hazel like their Mothers. Luna was all far-away looks and strange ideas, Lucinda was grounded and had often tired of her sister's ramblings, although she mostly found them endearing now she had gotten older. She had to admit, Luna had become considerably more level-headed since the war had ended. She had taken over their Father as editor-in-chief of The Quibbler and had moved in with her boyfriend Neville, who was currently writing his first herbology textbook. Hogwarts had already pre-ordered a thousand copies for their students.

Hogwarts. Lucinda hadn't thought about her old school for a long time. She had been sorted into Ravenclaw, as her Father before her and Luna to follow. Their Mother had been from France originally and so attended Beauxbatons as opposed to Hogwarts. She had enjoyed her time there. It had often felt more like home than her actual home, especially after their Mother had died when she was thirteen years old. After that, the house seemed to ache and grieve without her presence, and so Lucinda found herself craving her arrival back to the stone-walled comfort of the castle. She had excelled in all of her subjects, potions most of all. That was at least something her and her sister had in common, she thought. It had been their best subject. When most of Lucinda's form grumbled and sloped off to the dungeons for Professor Snape's lessons, Lucinda had relished the dark mystery of the potions lab. Some of her year, probably jealous of her consistent high grades in a subject with a notoriously difficult-to-please teacher, had chosen to spread rumours about the nature of her relationship with Snape. Of course, they weren't true, but Lucinda had often found their eyes lingering a little too long when she answered a question or over a bubbling cauldron…

Lucinda was abruptly shaken out of her thoughts as she noted her friend, and fellow clinical lead Ava arrive and take her seat two spaces down from her. The two people due to sit in between them had not yet arrived, and so they were free to chat unimpeded for the time being.

"Heya! Haven't seen you much this past week. All ok?" Ava asked, rummaging in her handbag and pulling out some parchment headed with the details of her ward.

"Yeah I'm alright thanks. Well, really busy, but what else is new! What about you? How are things up on A2?"

Ava grimaced slightly before responding: "Not so good in all honesty. We've got three healers off at the minute with 'stress'" She made quotation marks in the air.

"Three?! Well if you need me to come up and cover for a few hours I'm sure I can arrange a visit!" Lucinda said as she leant over and picked up a quill and a piece of parchment to write on.

"Oh that would be great fun! And it would really help us out. But if you're too busy don't worry yourself about it, we'll manage, we always do! How're you feeling about your first funding meeting? All prepared?"

Lucinda didn't know whether to laugh or cry at that last question. She had spent most of the past week preparing for her part of the meeting. All the clinical leads would have to address the panel and directors regarding the current needs of their wards and justify these in order to ensure they received adequate funding for the year. Often it was necessary for one of the patriarchal committee to visit the particular ward they wanted to fund as well, to get a more 'realistic' view of where exactly their money would spent. Ward A4 was the rehabilitation ward, and they were in desperate need of greater potion making equipment as well as more charmable wheelchairs and walking sticks, which, although expensive, allowed the healer to change the piece of equipment to suit the needs of any individual patient over time. Lucinda was not one to usually admit to nerves, but the feeling in her stomach could only be ascribed to a rather large group of butterflies.

"Well, as prepared as I'm going to feel I suppose. They don't pull you to pieces do they?"

Ava let out a giggle: "Of course not sweetie! You'll be fine. Just flash them your best smile and they'll be bowled over"

"Ha! I'm not so convinced that will work on all of the committee members…not one in particular anyway"

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Lucius Malfoy stepped in through the heavy oak doors of , his long black robes flowing smoothly behind him. As he made his way to the lifts, people seemed to glance in his direction and make a conceited effort to avoid him. Good, he thought. He was in no mood for anyone to get in his way. He strode into the lift and checked the time on his heavy gold pocket watch. Merlin be damned.He was going to be late, and if there was one, of many things, that Lucius Malfoy hated it was people who were late to things they had planned in advance. His tardiness was down to a meeting earlier this morning with his estate manager. The utterly incompetent man had insisted Lucius accompany him to update the series of complex boundary charms on the Manor placed there to prevent any intruders.

The lift pinged at the fourth floor and he stepped out onto the corridor, his cane tapping on the polished floor. Luckily the meeting hadn't yet begun when he arrived. There was a slight lull in conversation when he entered which, being an ex-deatheater, he was more than used to, but as he moved to take his seat the chatter picked up again and everyone continued as normal. At least he hadn't missed anything important. Not that there was usually much of importance to miss at these meetings. They were, however, a necessary inconvenience if Lucius intended to stay on the patriarchal committee, which he did. It stood him in good stead for further reintegration into polite wizarding society and he certainly realised that by far the most successful way to do so was by providing , among other organisations, with generous 'donations' on a regular basis. Lucius found it rather incredible the deeds that could be wiped from the slate with the signing of a large cheque.

He took a moment when the Director stood to welcome them to glance around the room. He noted all the usual faces were there. But his eyes stopped at a seat towards the end of the table. A young woman was sat there whom he did not recognise from any previous meetings, although her face did seem familiar. She was blonde, almost as blonde as him, with full lips and high cheekbones. He noted that she was wearing a ID badge on her deliciously fitted black dress. He did recall something being discussed at the last meeting regarding the retirement of one of the clinical leads, but he hadn't paid much heed to it at the time. After all, the matter hadn't concerned him. Now, looking at the young woman intently, he assumed she must be their replacement. She rather intrigued him, yet he wasn't quite sure why. He tried to lean his head slightly to catch the name written on the card in front of her but couldn't quite make it out properly. The woman had been intent on a piece of parchment in front of her when she looked up to meet his eyes.

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She could feel his eyes on her from across the table. Lucinda tried desperately to focus on the words in front of her but they suddenly seemed to be less relevant than they had a few minutes before. Tentatively she looked up at him from under her lashes. His eyes did not flinch and for several seconds warm hazel met cold grey, before he promptly turned his head back to the Director at the head of the table. He was still speaking, but Lucinda found herself not listening to a word. Why had he been staring at her? Did he recognise her? Know who her sister was? No, she told herself, she was being ridiculous, there was no way. He was probably just intrigued as to her presence at the meeting. That was all. She felt a shiver run down her involuntarily, with what she wasn't certain. Fear, surely? But it didn't feel like any fear she had known. Not like the fear of duelling with deatheaters during the battle of Hogwarts, or having to attend to the injured as best she could in the heady yet grief stricken aftermath. She shook her head slightly, some hair falling from behind her ear. Whatever it was, she couldn't dwell on it now. She had to concentrate.

After what seemed like an age of talking and not deciding very much, they eventually moved on to the individual funding pitches. Lucinda had chosen to go second. She felt that was best for her first time, get it over with fairly quickly, but not before hearing someone more experienced do it first. Alistair McGirevy from ward A1 was first to talk. The time seemed to tick by very fast all of a sudden, and before she knew it, they were clapping as Alistair took his seat again. Lucinda couldn't recall what he had been talking about. And now, oh shit, it was her turn.

"And now, we shall hear from Miss Lovegood, who is our new Clinical Lead on Ward A4, our specialist rehabilitation floor. Over to you, Lucinda" The Director motioned for her to come to the front and then sat down. Grasping her notes like they were going to somehow save her from her fate, she made her way up, hoping no one would notice her legs wobble under those stupidly high heels she'd chosen to wear. She could feel his eyes on her again, following her to the front of the room with what could be described as amusement, or possibly interest, etched on his face. She couldn't tell. She took a deep breath and began.

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Lucius watched the woman make her way to the head of the table. He didn't recall ever meeting this particular Lovegood before. He did remember her younger sister however. She had been held at the Manor under the Dark Lord's request five years previously, but he hadn't had much contact with her then even. He was too busy desperately trying to keep together the remains of his family, to reach out to his son.

He shook himself from his thoughts when the woman began to speak. He had to admit, she was rather erudite and spoke well, and he found himself much more engaged that he would normally have been. She clearly knew her area of practice well and by the end of her speech he was not at all surprised she had attained such a high ranking job role so young. When she asked if there were any questions he couldn't help but test her limits though.

"May I ask" He paused for effect while her eyes met his again "Miss Lovegood, how many of your current patients require these expensive pieces of equipment, and how many are likely to be used in the future? Are they a…worthwhile investment for the hospital?"

He could see her breathing deepen as he finished his question. And he waited for her answer, his eyes taking in the slight flush that had spread over her cheeks and moving to her lips. She did answer, and very well, something about the length of stay on the ward and the value per patient use over time. But his eyes were fixed on her lips still. As she finished her justification he pulled his eyes away.

"Well, I daresay we'd find little to argue over given your explanation, Miss Lovegood"

Several of the other patriarchy committee nodded in agreement and the young woman nodded back and took her seat back at the table. And so the meeting continued on…and on. Lucius sighed inwardly.

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Finally, after several more hours of speeches and questions, the meeting was over. Lucinda was about ready to strangle someone, possibly Malfoy. He really was an arrogant bastard, wording his question to make it seem as if his money was too good to fund vital healthcare equipment, although she had to at least concede that he had commended her justification. She rose from her seat at their dismissal, feeling the tenseness in her muscles fade as she began to walk to the door. She took a last look around the conference room before she was ushered out for a coffee by Ava. She realised Malfoy had already gone.