Greetings. Welcome to my first Lumione story. Each chapter will be around 2000 words, I still haven't decided how many chapters there will be but surely it won't be over 40 chapters. I have also uploaded the first chapter of another Harry Potter fanfiction "Within the Walled Alley". The story involves battles and duels, with a lot of new concepts that haven't been present in any HP films or books. So you may want to check it out after reading this one. Reviews, Favourite, Follow will be the determinants of which story will I work on first.
The letter on his desk glowed under lights, as if it was desperate for his hands. Slowly, he reached for it and slid his fingers along the seal. As he read the letter, his lips curled. Then, he reached for the inter-phone and hissed,
"Narcissa, your presence is needed."
That was his usual cold tone when he came across something undesirable. He expected this to happen but never had he imagined it happened that fast. He had only employed her for three months.
A knock rang at the door and Narcissa came in. She always appeared emotionless and Lucius perfectly knew deep inside her, emotions erupted and turmoiled. Little did everyone knew how much he wanted to be left alone and tranquil.
"You called, Mr. Malfoy?"
"You heard me."
Lucius Malfoy was not a man to be crossed, his explosive temper was feared and every staff knew only Narcissa could reason with him. But that did not work for always. Once he threw a book directly in her face, she stood still and later on picked up his book, and acted as submissive as possible, remaining calm as ever. Such behaviour, of course, was all observed by the other staff, and they were impressed by her abnormal patience.
"Write an employment notice for the newspapers," he ordered.\
"And what kind of recruitment is Mr. Malfoy seeking for?"
"Public Relation Officer," he replied. "Taking up Patricia's role."
A small grin appeared on her face.
"How many days shall it be advertise?" she asked.
"A week," he answered, without thinking much, he knew his offer would attract potential employees.
"I will let you have a look before sending it to the newspaper offices."
"There is no need. I trust a senior secretary's ability."
Her eyebrow twitched, he seldom addressed her as the pronoun "you", mostly called her by the name or title.
Despite hating this, she nodded and left the office. Lucius Malfoy stretched his limbs and relaxed his shoulders. Then he stood up and faced the window, glancing at the garden of the centre, where his students were shooting for music videos. It was always amusing to watch them dancing and singing in front of a camera and reflectors. It was part of promotion and profit earning, parents never realised that uploading videos in the internet could gain a few thousand dollars for profit, considering that the channel had been followed by quite a number of parents and children, and certainly some other people who were interested in the children's performance.
His music centre was established twenty years ago, as a memory for his deceased wife. She was beautiful and was gifted with music. Her voice was sweet like angel and her ballads never failed to captivate others. Her first song that attracted his attention was "Scarborough Fair", she stood on the stage in white gown, her skin was milky, her brown hair and her eyes were dark, almost like obsidians. Her voice was just like morning dews gliding off leaves. It made him wonder if she was a maiden from the Elf Kingdom. Soon she introduced herself as Caitlin raised in an Irish family. It took them only two years to join in matrimony. But before they could raise a son of their own to adulthood, she passed away due to illness, and soon followed by their son. The grief lingered until he was informed to take care of his brother's little son, Draco. His brother Lemures and his wife Zelina both died in a car crash, leaving the young boy alone. He took the boy in and treated him as his own.
He left his office and went downstairs for a daily observation of the centre. Music Class and Singing Class were the most popular, followed by Choreography Class. He personally liked Ballet Class more, not that he enjoyed dancing but watching performance of light-gaited ballerinas springing across the stage was an amusement. But ballet performance was not his initial interest until he saw her gliding on stage like a swan.
The ballet teacher greeted him as he entered the room. The pianist stopped and quickly stood up, bowed at him as he walked around the room, examining the girls.
"Who're our little Claras?" he asked.
"Karen Banks and Lydia Sander," replied the teacher.
The dark blonde hair girl from the far left curtsied and grinned and Lucius could remember her name, Karen Banks. Her air reminded him much of Caitlin, only that she was obviously younger and having dark blue eyes. The girl beside her also bowed, she was a lot slimmer and taller, her hair was smooth blonde and her eyes were dark brown, staring at Lucius. He also recognised her as Lydia, the new student who had the perfect professional skill of a ballerina. Personally he liked Karen more, despite of Lydia's skills and elegance, Karen was a more appealing face on camera. Her sweet and angelic appearance was born for advertisement. But then, people could only see the body of the ballerina but not the face, Lydia would be the ideal person to take up important roles.
"Good," he replied curtly, as though he never cared. Expressing overflowed emotions was not what he usually did, though he liked the girls.
Confusion emerged from the girls' face, with a slight hint of disappointment especially on Karen's face. Noticing that his indifference might have upset the girls, Lucius showed a small beam and said,
"The role is extremely important. Continue your practice."
The girls curtsied again, this time wearing wide grins. Seeing them smile brightened his day a little.
He left the room and the melody of Grandfather's dance rang behind him. He walked all the way downstairs to the hall. Music and voices of young children echoed pass the doors. He let out a small chuckle and entered the hall.
Standing at the back of the room, he could clearly see the whole stage. Three girls were singing with a troupe of dancers twirling behind. As the music ended and the girls bowed, Lucius clapped, attracting everyone's attention. He walked towards the stage with a slight grin on his face.
"Good morning, Mr. Malfoy," said the three girls, curtseying.
"Mr. Malfoy," said the teacher.
"Is everything on schedule?" he asked.
He knew the answer, still it was an unavoidable question, this could help him assess if the teachers were working as expected.
"Yes, sir, everything is fine," replied the teacher in utmost politeness.
Miss Elizabeth, had been instructor of a few singing groups in the centre for two years. She was patient with children and with her timid appearance, Lucius thought it would be too harsh of him to criticise her, and even when he wanted to be harsh, her teaching and attitude towards children won parents' hearts. Still, she always seemed to be afraid of him, as if she had
"Mr. Malfoy, can we have chocolate pudding for the celebration party?" asked the little girl on the right. She wriggled her way down the stage and stood before Lucius, continued,
"Please!"
"Now that you mention it, I guess it is a 'yes'."he answered, smiling at the little girl who gazed at him with her teal eyes. "I will take that into consideration."
"Really?"asked the girl on the left. Her curly brown hair fluttered as she jumped down the stage.
"Yes," said Lucius.
The two girls wore big smiles, they hurried back to the stage, with Lucius lifting the teal-eyed girl up.
Sometimes he could notice the teachers gasping with disbelief, and he was not surprised. Children could easily quit learning at his centre, employees would have to consider if they could find a job better than the current. Lucius was more than certain to say that his employees would not consider resigning unless they had to emigrate or to take care of their family members.
While watching children gliding on stage, singing with their melodious voices, Lucius engaged himself in the ocean of memory.
Sometimes he could see her wife singing with the girls. Those were his girls, golden-haired and blue-eyed, with milky skin glowing.
But those were mere illusions, he needed to focus now.
So this is it, for chapter 1. Reviews, Favourite, Follow are always welcomed (Reviews are the best) and please check out my other story "Within the Walled Alley".
Goodbye to my home and welcome to university. If you are reading this on 10 Sept (CST 12:00 noon), I am on the plane, probably sleeping.