**Just another short one-a teaser to fill in the background. Enjoy!
Lucius paced before the fireplace in the empty drawing room of Malfoy Manor. In the wake of their acquittals, he'd vanished every furnishing and fixture, including the large gilt mirror above the mantelpiece. The room had since remained empty, Narcissa and Draco refusing to enter it, so it had become the perfect place for him to make and accept fire-calls when he didn't wish to be interrupted, even with his now-empty mansion.
"There are plenty of wizards more worthy of my sister's hand, Malfoy. She need not wait for your son's," said Thedore Nott.
"Really? How many others are so desperate to be married, that they'd accept the illegitimate French-born daughter of a convicted Death Eater?" he retorted.
"As if Draco is such a prize? Given that he is also the child of a Death Eater, one's pardon notwithstanding. He's a closet pillow-biter with a Harry Potter obsession that's rumored to have been less about siding with the Dark Lord and more to do with wanting to lift his shirt."
"How dare you—"
"What? Tell you the unmitigated truth? You haven't changed one bit, Malfoy. Father always said you were calculating and slippery. Remember, that it is I who is doing you the favor. That you would sell your own son to obtain it, leads me to believe I might perhaps do better to offer it to the highest bidder."
Lucius glared at the face in the flickering flames before he collected himself and resumed his cool, aloof manner.
"I will have it, Nott. Your sister will wed and her bride price will be enough to help restore a semblance of your family's lost fortune. I have a highly skilled specialist on the case. You shall be hearing from me in short order."
"We shall see," Nott replied tersely before disappearing from the flames.