Lucius Malfoy had barely stepped foot out of school. His family had managed to get him a starting job at the Ministry of Magic, however, he didn't need it. His status and heritage meant that whatever he did, he'd still be loaded. Girls fell to his feet, but no-one had particularly interested him. His friends had kept him happy enough, and with his new job, he couldn't see himself in a better situation. It was the summer of 1967 and nothing could bring him down. He had power; the one thing that he relied on.
He had spent his last year of schooling in Durmstrang, and the difference that had made was incredible. He was now a broad shouldered, muscular, handsome young man with his life ahead of him. However, the few friends that he had made in Hogwarts were mainly in the lower years. (Rodolphus Lestrange for example.) He had planned to meet up with him to round up on the news of the previous year. Lucius loved the fact that wherever he was, his name was high up in the rankings. He had been incredibly close to a few others at Durmstrang, but talk of Tom Riddle was now never too far away.
Rodolphus had several crucial pieces of information to tell his friend, who was intending to return to England that day, mainly to do with his family and his father. He hoped that Lucius would know all of the ins and outs, but he probably wouldn't know at all. That was what worried the 15 year old as he walked down into the dining room. Grabbing a piece of toast, an owl landed on the end of the table with a letter. Rod took the parchment as he left to grab his jacket before he would leave.
'Oi wanker you left your shirt in my case somehow. Come and get it before I burn it and tell your mother that you did it.'
He read the letter as he stepped out of the house, taking the walk around the block to where he would meet Lucius. There was only one person who would write such a letter to him in only the first few days of the holidays. Bellatrix Black. The raven haired seductress. At least, that was what he thought of her. He clearly didn't mean that much at all to the girl, but he was okay with that.
Lucius stepped out of the fireplace into the living room of Malfoy Manor, and with a small smile he slipped his cloak off. He then apparated straight to a spot just out of Central London where he had arranged to meet with Rodolphus. They'd go to Diagon Alley to discuss the stories so that he could grab a Prophet on the way. Tension was rising and Lucius knew that the next few years of his life would be crucial. He felt a good step older than a lot of his friends, but that, he felt, gave him a slight advantage.
Lucius spent the next few minutes glancing around at passing people, taking in the London air. It was disgusting really, but what more could you hope for? It was a congested City, in the centre of the building world. Nothing was going to stop development now.
Rod walked along the road and to the shop, standing next to the door before peering around the corner and seeing the blonde immersed in shadow. "Lucius muggles aren't that scary you know," he chuckled as he walked down to the older boy.
"Took your time didn't you?" Lucius asked with a small smirk.
It seemed weird that one of his closest friends was two whole years younger than him. However, Rod was a real friend. Someone to fight with, but also someone to trust. Lucius pushed a stray strand of platinum hair from his eyes before shrugging.
"No-one's come in the shop though the time I've been here. No idea why," he laughed. "So what exactly took you so long?" he asked, clapping his hand gently on Rod's back. He started walking, knowing that their destination was only around the corner.
"Woke up late, had to eat something and then I got a letter from Bellatrix. You know who I mean right, curly black hair, just shorter than me..." Rod described the girl to the older boy.
Luke raised an eyebrow. "Yeah I know her. Why the hell was she writing to you? It usually took too much effort for her to even look your way," he laughed.
"Hey Lucius... have you heard from your father recently? About Tom?" he asked abruptly, "or about any girls or what not?" he wondered. Abaraxas had been telling him about Tom, but he just wondered if he too had been told who he was to marry.
Rod had been told only a few days ago, that he was to woo Bellatrix. However, their sparring did not make that easy at all. However he would take this chance to try and make things a little better between them. What was the harm? There was none. He could only try, and the worst thing was a couple of nights in St Mungos.
Lucius stepped through the small pub on the corner before entering Diagon Alley with a small smile. The smile tilted to a low frown. "No I haven't. Should I have? I litterally got home, dumped my things and apparated here. I couldn't be bothered with the formalities," he shrugged. Again, his question was brushed off.
"Oh and you'll never guess who we met last year..." he chuckled to himself as he walked with the 17 year old down the road to the Leaky Cauldron. "Do you remember Bella talking about her little sister? Yep... we met Narcissa. She's alright. Nothing like Bella though," he laughed.
Lucius had never really been told much about Narcissa, or any of the Blacks. Their family tree was dotted and burned. Even if they deemed themselves pure, they, in his father's eyes, were always a little too short of the full story.
"Nothing like her in a psychotic or a cuddly way?" he asked, a small, low chuckle escaping his pale lips. "She's what...11?" he asked, taking his coin purse out to buy a prophet on the way past the stool.
"Yeah, just started. 11 years old bless her. She doesn't quite understand anything at the minute. She's a bit... now what's the technical term... dim," laughed Rod, before leaning against the stall. He felt it wobble and he stood up immediately, hands behind his back as if he hadn't done a thing. He liked to think he could've gotten out of trouble if there had been any, but it was best avoided.
Luke smiled a little bit. "Bless her? Rodolphus Lestrange are you a softy?" he laughed. He paid for the paper and rolled his eyes at his first before following him. The headlines weren't particularly interesting, so he simply folded the paper and rested it on his lap. He had seen Rod grow up. He had come running along the platform and had almost missed the train on the first day of his very first year at Hogwarts.
"I'm not a softy," Rod frowned as he looked at Luke before shaking his head. "And…" he started, "I'm pretty sure Narcissa isn't psycotic though. However she is only 11. She might be like Bella and turn into the devil child at 13. I'm pretty sure she's not though. She seems absolutely lovely," he smiled softly before he walked with Lucius to outside of Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlour. He fell into a seat and took out the letter, showing it to Lucius. "Look... I need to go over there later. I'm pretty sure Bella would love to see you too," he smiled.
His grey eyes scanned over the letter, before Lucius let out a small laugh. "You're afraid of going alone because you think that she's going to attack you or something," he smirked.
"And I'm not afraid of going there alone, I've done it plenty of times, I just figured you'd like to go over too... I mean, come on, Bella's going to be my wife eventually and I want you to get to know her. Figured you might want to meet Cissy too." He laughed before shaking his head.
"Fine. Unless of course I really need to talk to my father?" Luke asked, cocking an eyebrow towards his friend.
"Your father can wait," Rod said quickly. "I know exactly the shirt that's in her case and she'll tell my mother and I will be shot. The muggle way. Slow painful death. Not fun..." he shook his head.
"I love your mother sometimes. She's great. Scary, but brilliant," he smirked.
Rod pulled a face, shaking his head. "Don't go saying you love my mum Luke or I swear to god. Her and dad are on the rocks so if you say you like her she'll be on you like dragon pox..." he said, jokingly, yet with a scarily straight face.
Luke laughed. "Not in that way," he shook his head softly. He wasn't really the type to date those way over double his age. "Why? Am I just that attractive?" he asked with a cheeky grin.
"Hah. No," he laughed. Rod reached down to massage his shin, biting his lip softly. "My legs are flippin' killing me after being forced to walk from the station to the portkey. Only about 4 miles away," he sighed, dragging out the sentence for added sympathy.
"Now... is there any chance I can get an apparate here?"
"Bugger off," Lucius retorted, scoffing slightly.
"Come on Luke... you've been away a year and I've still got another couple of months until I can learn. I mean, come on," Rod laughed gently, nudging him. "I've walked everywhere the last year, including at Christmas because you didn't come home did you?" he shook his head.
Lucius rolled his eyes and stood up, holding his arm out. "Merlin. If I have to do this till I die, you're getting it Rod," he laughed. "No… I didn't come home. Mainly because it would have been me and my dad sat at a dinner table trying not to make eye contact," he sighed.
Rod laughed. "Listen I'm learning next year so I don't have to go round holding yo-," he said before he was cut off by the jerky, twisting, spinning and turning motion of apparating. When both his feet, or rather his arse, were on the gravel outside, Rod leant over to try and take in some oxygen. It was the only thing he could do to stop himself passing out. He finally stood up and with a deep breath knocked on the door.
He rolled his eyes as he landed on both feet, nudging Rod with one of them. It did amuse him. A lot of the time, Rod would seem cocky and arrogant, but he really wasn't. He was pretty soft considering his surname.
Bella walked over to the wooden door and pulled it open, after hearing the soft tapping, from the inside to reveal the two boys. Her mouth dropped as she saw Lucius before she pulled herself together at the sight of Rodolphus. "Come in, you know where to go. You might be able to stop the fire if you're quick enough," Bella giggled wickedly, slowing down and smiling at Lucius.
Rod's eyes widened slightly. "Don't tell me you actually have," he said before running up the stairs. He couldn't trust her, even if he was to marry her.
"It's nice to see you again Malfoy," she told the blonde, leaning against the doorframe.
"You too. You seem to have him right where you want him," he laughed slightly, before shaking his head.
"Of course I do. I mean, mother and father have told me what's going to happen so I need to teach him that I'm the boss around here..." Bella laughed. "Please do come in, I'll get the house elf to make you a cup of tea," she smiled at him. He was a nice guy. She couldn't help but smile when she was around him.
As she went to close the door, Bella caught sight of her sister in the front garden.
"Cissy! Come inside now!" She called and the little girl jumped. She walked up the drive before seeing her cat dart into the house and between Lucius' legs. Like a 5 year old she made chase. She saw him dive through their visitor's legs and she, in her concentrated state, ran into the man in question.
Bella grabbed her sister's hair and pulled her to her side. "What do you say?" she asked.
"Sorry..." Narcissa whimpered as she looked at the man whom she had never seen before.
"Woah...Bella. It was an accident. Leave her," he said softly, moving his hand onto Bella's to remove her sister from her grasp. Rod came wandering back down the stairs, shirt in hand. Luckily, she hadn't burned it.
Bella looked at Lucius and let her sister go as she felt his hands on hers. She nodded gently before looking up at the stairs in a daze, seeing Rod walk down. "Right... Rodolphus come with me, Luke I'll get the elf to bring tea up for you. Narcissa escort Mr Malfoy to the library will you?" she asked, or rather ordered.
"I know that you and I are being forced together," Bella said as she pulled Rod through to the kitchen. "So stop trying okay. I would rather that you leave me alone until we get married. I'm going to spend the rest of my life looking at that face of yours I'd rather not add another two onto that," she said as she looked at him. She glared at the house elf beside him so that she'd have something else to look at for once.
Somewhere in his chest, Rod felt a small pain. "Wouldn't you rather make something of it? I mean...Come on," he said, sighing slightly. "You don't even want to try and make it work?" he asked, a little shocked.
"You know what Rod? I wouldn't want to make anything of it. I mean, you're just not what I expected..." she sighed.
She had rather been expecting Lucius. She knew he wasn't being saved for Andy so she felt that she should get him. She was the eldest after all. She would easily be able to pin Rod off on Andy... but no. She had him.
"Fine," she finally huffed. "You can take me out for dinner or something... we have all summer Rod," she sighed before looking at the elf. "Is that tea not ready yet?" she yelled at the nearest elf.
