Lucius Malfoy gently rubbed a plague on the wall with a motion rag, trying to restore it to its once shiny glory.
"Father why won't you listen to me?!" Draco whined as he sat in a chair in Lucius's office. "You haven't heard a word I said for the past twenty minutes-have you?!"
Lucius hummed to himself as he rubbed the plague even harder, written on the plaque was, "Lucius Malfoy, number one vice principal in the world." He had received that plaque three years ago after Dumbledore had left Hogwarts, and it was a reminder of who was actually in charge of Hogwarts. The current principal, Fudge, was an absolute moron who had no idea how to run a school, thankfully Lucius was here to help steer the man in the correct path. Which was to stay in his office and pretend to be useful while Lucius did all of the work.
"Father, listen to me!"
Lucius sighed, unfortunately that meant he had to deal with student complaints, and with Draco being the way he was, he'd have to listen to his son rant on and on about the people he didn't like.
"What happened today Draco?" Lucius asked.
"I got punched- in the face!" Draco shouted as he pointed to his bandaged nose, "But I managed to get them back father."
"Did you now?"
"They didn't stand a chance when I got serious father, I wiped the floor with them!"
"Oh that's nice," Lucius said as he breathed on his plaque and rubbed it with the rag, "What happened after that?"
"They ran off like the cowards they were," Draco spat out, "You should have seen them father."
"Right, so why are you here Draco?" Lucius asked.
"I wanted to tell you about-"
Suddenly someone knocked at the door, and Lucius sighed in relief.
"Draco, I have some business to do, hurry up and get home." Lucius said. Draco protested at first, but Lucius shoved him out the door. He then addressed the person who had knocked on his door,
"Yes, how can I help you... Potter."
"Hello Lucius," Potter said as he and Black entered Lucius's office, "We wanted to talk to you, there are some things that need some clearing up."
"'Some things'?" Lucius asked, "You'll have to go into more detail, I don't know what you're referring to."
"We'll go into more detail, but shouldn't you tell your kid to head home?" Potter asked.
Lucius frowned and saw that Draco was still standing out in the hallway, "Draco, go home now."
"But father I-"
"Now."
Draco stomped off in a huff, and Lucius sighed. Really, what did he do to receive a son as worthless as Draco?
"So what do you want to talk about officers?" Lucius asked.
"It's about Quirrell," Black spoke up, "You two were pretty close before you fired him, did he have any friends he liked to talk about?"
"Shouldn't you have asked Quirrell's wife?" Lucius asked, "We were friends yes, but we hardly spoke about our outside lives."
"So you only talked about work?" Black asked, "It doesn't sound like you were friends if all you did was talk about work."
"That's because we weren't exactly friends...we were more like coworkers."
"Coworkers, huh?" Potter asked rhetorically, "Well then if you were coworkers, he wouldn't have mentioned a Lockheart, would he?"
Lucius's heart skipped a beat when Potter mentioned Lockheart's name, but he quickly forced himself to calm down.
"No, he never mentioned a Lockheart to-"
Ring, ring, ring...
His cellphone suddenly began to ring and sweat began to form on Lucius's forehead. He inwardly cursed himself, he had forgotten to put it on silent when Draco was complaining to him, and now he was paying the price for it. Lockheart had called him early this evening, saying something about how the location he was supposed to have gone to had changed. Apparently, the woman he had chosen for the night had come down with some illness, but another one was going to meet him at the Lovitt Hotel. It was far out of the way for him, but today's events had left him worn out, so he had agreed. Lockheart had told him he would call later to discuss payment.
"Are you going to answer that?" Black asked after Lucius did nothing while his phone was ringing.
"It's probably just Draco, ready to complain about something," Lucius lied, "I'll talk to him once I get home."
Eventually his phone stopped ringing and Lucius sighed in relief,
"So back to your questions gentlemen," He said, "I have never met this 'Lockheart' person you're talking about, is that all you wanted to ask?"
"Yes, well since you're telling the truth, we'll get out of your hair." Potter said as he turned to leave.
Black patted Lucius roughly on the back, "Yeah, see you later Malfoy."
The two of them then left, leaving Lucius alone in the room. He waited for a few minutes before rapidly dialing Lockheart's number. He tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for the call to connect.
"Hello?"
"You idiot!" Lucius hissed at Lockheart, "Do you realize how close you were to ruining everything?!"
"Sorry, how was I going to ruin everything?" Lockheart asked in confusion.
"Some cops showed up asking me if I knew if you and Quirrell knew each other!"
"Oh...my bad." Lockheart said sheepishly, "Oh well, nothing we can do about it now."
"You...just how much money do I owe you?" Lucius decided against getting into an argument, he just wanted to get this over with.
"2,000 pounds, like we discussed."
"Fine, by the way is she at the hotel yet?"
"She's been waiting for you for a while," Lockheart said, "Make sure you have fun but not too much fun, I need her ready for tomorrow."
"Alright then, I'm heading over there now." Lucius hung up his phone and grabbed his coat before leaving the office. He climbed into a cab intent on having the best time to make up for today, he smirked to himself as leaned back in his chair. It truly was a great time to be alive...