A/N: Written for The Ultimate Death Eater Contest, round one, a thread at the HPFC forum. I choose to write my story about Lucius Malfoy, and used the prompts "Money is not everything, but it certainly makes life easier," and "Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty."

Many thanks to mew-tsubaki for beta-reading. Also, dedicated to her, as this is "Wedding presents II."

there are two kinds of blood

"Lucius, old pal!" a man across the bar in the Leaky Cauldron shouted, hurriedly making his way over to Lucius. Because of the smoke in the air, Lucius wasn't able to make out who it was until the man had taken a seat next to him.

"Rosier, hello!" he exclaimed, smiling when Rosier's arm made its way over to pat Lucius on the shoulder. "Care to join me in a toast?"

"Sure, what are we celebrating?" Rosier asked, grinning, while Lucius waved for the bartender to bring him a glass for his friend.

"Life," Lucius answered simply, and Rosier didn't seem to disagree as he rose his glass immediately, leaning it towards Lucius.

"To life, it is." They both gulped their drinks, and…to life, it was. Lucius had never felt better, he realized as he mused over it. He simply was in his element. Only two years had passed since he'd left Hogwarts, and he could bet his wand that his former classmates hadn't succeeded as well as he had.

When the two of them had downed another drink, Rosier tapped his finger against the bar. "So, what I really wanted to say was…" He paused a bit, a grin spreading across his lips. "Not that I mind simply having a drink with you, mate. …anyway, there's a meeting tomorrow. I just got word from Mulciber, and he asked me to pass it on."

"Great. Thank you."

Rosier's eyes suddenly seemed to get a strange twinkle in them, and Lucius felt his stomach twist with anticipation. "And if I'm not completely mistaken, the Dark Lord has his eyes on you. For real this time."

"Seriously?"

"I'm not sure, but there might very well be a chance that you'll be picked this time. And if it goes well, then maybe."

Maybe. The word swirled around in Lucius' mind, much as the last drips of his drink swirled in his glass. Maybe he'd be part of the Dark Lord's inner circle in a few days. Maybe. He knew he was smiling again, but the prospect was so overwhelming he couldn't stop himself.

"I'll pay," Lucius said when he saw Rosier begin to pat his pockets for money. "Really, it's on me tonight."

Lucius' head buzzed when he, together with his fellow Death Eaters, left the room. "So," he said, not really directing the words to someone—anyone who heard him would be fine.

"Yeah?" Yaxley asked, putting an arm around Lucius' shoulders. "You nervous, by any chance?"

"I would like to call it excited," Lucius answered, a smile playing on his lips.

Yaxley returned the smile, but he continued in a more solemn tone, "Just don't be too eager. The first time is…you know."

Lucius nodded. "I know," he said. And he did. He was prepared for this; he had been since…forever, even.

The mission couldn't come any sooner.

To be honest, he felt a bit disgusted. Not because of what he had done, no, not at all. He had enjoyed the woman's agonizing screams far too much for that, because while they had echoed in his head, there had been a faint whisper connected to them promising that now he had done it, now he'd be worthy enough to be part of it all, now, now, now.

So, the repulsion he felt rather depended on the way it all looked. How…tacky it had been. How her blood had looked when it had splashed out against the beige couch beneath her. How her eyes had rolled around in her head as her body had been caught in convulsions. How it had smelled.

And, which he supposed was part of being the newbie and therefore had been instructed not to use Levicorpus, he had had to carry her body out into the garden, and there it was how her blood had gotten stuck on his fingers and how he knew she still had been warm. Of course, as soon as he had dropped her on the ground (and wrinkled his nose at the thud her body had made on impact), he had cleaned himself up with a few, quick spells and been as new again, but it still was all so…gross.

He wiped his hands, again, across his trousers, even though he knew his hands were completely clean.

"How you doin' over there, Malfoy?" Avery asked as he sauntered over to the blonde man.

"Fine," Lucius answered, his tone clear and steady. "Are we ready to leave yet?"

"Just waiting for Rosier; apparently this bird 'ad some fine jewelry up in 'er wardrobes," Avery answered with a grin.

Lucius made a kind of grimace, and once more wiped his hands against his trousers.

"You are pureblooded, correct, Lucius?" the Dark Lord asked, his eyes emitting something Lucius couldn't quite decipher.

"Yes, my lord."

The Dark Lord didn't answer; his eyes were set firmly on the pasture in front of them and the two pigs in there that were playing about in the mud. It was a strange situation, to say the least, and Lucius only wanted to move on. This was the mission he had waited for, the mission where he finally would be able to prove himself completely. Sure, he had been accepted into the meetings that only the Dark Lord's closest men were allowed to attend—but he could feel it. They still doubted him a bit. They still thought of him as too young.

But now, now he had been chosen by his lord to, alone, join him in a mission.

"I am not," the Dark Lord said slowly. Lucius didn't know what to make of it. "My mother was a witch, yes. But my father was a Mudblood."

He turned to face Lucius, as though he dared the blonde to speak up, to say something.

Then the moment passed, and Lucius couldn't for his life figure out why the Dark Lord had picked this very moment to tell him, of all people, that he was a half-blood. They walked quickly down the dusty road and, not long after, they arrived at a farm.

Lucius watched his lord's mouth form a smile, and it didn't take long until the farm's liveliness was completely gone. The animals were now nothing more than corpses, and the people who had been out and about where either dead or wounded. Most of them were dead, though.

"Lucius, do me a favour?" the Dark Lord asked softly.

"Yes, milord?"

"I want that girl—"—he pointed at a young girl who lay sobbing not far from them—"—to be hanged by the door to the barn, where she's going to be the first thing one can see when arriving here. And hurt her so badly that she won't survive more than a few hours. That should be enough until our dear little blood-traitor comes home from a lovely day from work, don't you think?"

Lucius grinned. "Sounds like a perfect plan, master."

The girl appeared to have heard their words, because as Lucius turned to face her, she had crept several feet away from them. She breathed heavily, and Lucius bent down to her. "Oh, little one. Did you really think you could crawl away from us, like some kind of filthy animal? With that cut in your stomach? No, I didn't think so, either."

He pointed his wand at her and levitated her, which caused her to let out a scream.

Soon she wasn't screaming any more but dangling sadly from a rope. Lucius wiped his hands against his trousers and, as he watched the blood drip from her body, he was happy he hadn't carried her, as he had done that first time, but levitated her instead. Much less messy that way.

As he walked out to his master, he found him leaning against the wooden fence with a peculiar expression on his face. "Well done, Lucius," he said. "I must ask you something, though."

"Absolutely, master."

"You do not like it when you have to get your hands dirty, do you?" The expression became even more pronounced.

"I… Sometimes you have to," Lucius said slowly, hoping that it would be enough.

"Sometimes you do, yes," the Dark Lord answered with a hint of a smile playing on his lips. "And you handle that well."

"Thank you," Lucius answered, hoping for the conversation to end.

"I also have a proposition. Something entirely different."

"Yes, milord?"

"I need someone in the Ministry. An inside-man. With the right contacts, with the right friends. Your family already has a reputation as someone." He paused for a second. "And those who aren't our friends but ought to be—you have the money, as well, don't you, Lucius?"

Lucius smiled, looking down on his hands. But they didn't seem so dirty anymore.