Warning: a wee bit of voyeurism.
Tender Hooks
By: Replacement for the Stars
Chapter Fifty-six:
Break
Alone. Yes, that's the key word,
the most awful word in the English tongue.
Murder doesn't hold a candle to it
and hell is only a poor synonym.
Stephen King
(O.o)
Year: 1972
Date: March the Thirty-first
Severus kept his gaze on his dull shoes as he was perfunctorily examined by Abraxas and Callidora Malfoy, Lucius's parents, in the entrance hall of Malfoy Manor. He had not gotten the chance to change out of his school clothes, and this outfit was particularly burnt and stained as he had been experimenting with moonseed and shredded Dittany, which turned out to be rather explosive and flammable. He had wanted to make something that could repair scars infested with poison, but hadn't had much luck. Lucius had promised to supply Severus with any ingredients he could possibly need and had encouraged the gaunt boy to experiment to his heart's content.
Nessie was standing next to Lucius, half-asleep and leaning back on the wall behind him, eyes lidded and trying to stay open to focus on Severus. He had easily gotten through the extensive wards on Malfoy Manor, but the effort had clearly tired him out, just as going through the Platform 9 ¾ at King's Cross had done. Severus wanted to look up at him but didn't move, afraid of seeing the looks on the two Malfoys' faces. It wouldn't particularly bother him if they didn't like him, but Severus knew it would bother Lucius, and since Lucius was his protector, Lucius's opinion mattered.
"Hold out your hand," Abraxas ordered, his voice deeper than Lucius's, with the same arrogance in the corners, and before Severus could move, a rough hand snatched up his right hand and he gagged as the now-too-familiar sensation of wrongness flooded his system, his magic rebelling and his gut feeling like it was made of snakes. It only took a moment for Abraxas to examine the ring on Severus's finger, but it was a moment too long. "Good craftsmanship and spellwork, Lucius," Abraxas murmured to his son, and stepped forward again to reach abruptly into Severus's shirt and snatch his Salutem off his head. "Fascinating, son."
"Father…put it back on him," Lucius rasped, starting to move forward but a dark look from his father stopped him. "It must stay on him."
"Quiet, Lucius," Abraxas bellowed, handing the Salutem over to Callidora, who flicked her wand at it and nodded approvingly at whatever results she saw.
When she spoke, Severus couldn't stop but look up. Her voice was soft and low, filled with song, and it made Severus suddenly, viciously, miss his own mother. He did not say anything, but only stared at her. "Very well made for one done in such short of time, Lucius. You bound it to your wand, I can see, and…interesting. You bound the spells to the leather."
There was an awkward pause in which it was clear Lucius didn't know he was allowed to respond, but then he sniffed and drawled, "Yes, I figured binding the magic to the leather would be smarter than binding it to the metal. The metal can be pulled off but the leather was spelled so no one other than someone of Malfoy blood."
"You bound it to our bloodline?" Abraxas asked, his voice neutral as Callidora handed the Salutem back to Lucius to put on Severus.
Severus bowed his head again as Lucius put the Salutem around his neck, leaning into the blond's touch when Lucius cradled his jaw in his palm, his fingertips stroking the soft skin next to Severus's eyes. "Yes," Lucius murmured, and swung his head around to look at his father, wrapping his free arm around Severus's waist and pulling the boy up against him. "I followed your orders and kept an eye on the boy, and he is more than what I ever could have imagined."
"Later, son. Put our guest to bed; it is getting late."
"Of course, Father," Lucius replied and pulled Severus up to his bedroom, quickly showing Severus where the bathroom was and how to call a house elf if he needed anything. To Severus's relief, Lucius quickly left him alone, Nessie coming out of hiding behind the door and curled up on Severus's chest, vowing to never let him go, whispering over and over again how much he loved Severus. He would show Severus, somehow, that he was enough, that Lucius wasn't necessary to keep him safe.
Severus smiled sleepily as he and Nessie curled together, and as they both fell asleep, he found himself wondering he was somehow pushing Nessie away from him by keeping Lucius around.
(O.o)
Year: 1972
Date: April the First
Nessie seemed faintly depressed the next morning as he greedily watched Severus change into simple, elegant-cut black robes with a sheer grey underrobe underneath, a white silk shirt covering his thin chest. Severus wondered if he would get an answer but asked anyway, focusing more on pulling on his boots than Nessie's reply.
"P'eves w's g'ing t' pr'nk th' Gi'nt Sq'id t'day," Nessie whispered, moving over and wrapping his arms around Severus's neck. Nessie pressed himself against Severus and his lips rasped over Severus's neck as he continued, "I…I k'nd 'f m'ss h'm, Sevvie."
"That's fine, Nessie. I can see how you would, as you do seem to spend every moment you're not with me with him, right?"
"Y's, or w'th th' Bar'n," Nessie murmured, and as Severus wrapped his arms around the boy in return, he felt strangely heavy, as if he weighed more than he had the previous time Severus had held him, but Severus also could not remember the last time he had held his boy as such. In fact, he was certain he hadn't held his boy so close since the night of the Slug Club dinner. Pushing Nessie away with that heavy thought in mind, Severus dropped his gaze back down his boots when Lucius stalked into the room, unsure if he looked presentable.
"Come, Severus," Lucius ordered, and stood near the door, one hand held out for Severus to take. Severus obeyed, feeling his magic settle even more as Lucius's fingers wrapped around his own and touched his ring. "We are going to breakfast with my parents, and then my mother will take you to the potions lab we have in the basement while I speak with my father. She will not touch you, I will make sure of that. Are you ready?"
Severus nodded, clutching Lucius's hand even harder as he was led out of the room, uncomfortable with being stared at by Lucius's parents again. He couldn't tell if they liked him or not but he figured that Lucius would have done something to make him change for the week they were there if Abraxas and Callidora did not like him, not like Severus cared one way or the other. He just didn't like being stared at.
Lucius led Severus down the hallway, the small boy turning his head at the last moment to see Nessie standing just outside the doorway to Lucius's room, staring solemnly after them as they left him. Severus held in his gasp and restrained himself from running back, feeling Lucius's hand fall from his and take its place on the back of his neck.
Severus smiled behind the curtain of his hair but made sure the expression was off his face when they entered the dining room, not meeting either of Lucius's parents' gazes as he took the seat Lucius pulled out for him, closer to Abraxas than he was to Callidora. "How was your night?" Abraxas boomed, and Severus frowned, looking through his hair at the Malfoy Lord. Lucius took the seat to Severus's right, reaching over and resting his hand on Severus's thigh. Severus stared down at it for a moment, uncomfortable, and then ignored the strange swooping sensation in his stomach.
"Well," Severus replied stiffly, and looked back down at his plate, lifting a hand a tracing the delicate designs on the outer rim—two stags fighting, a wolf and a beautifully carved lily inlaid with pearl. He felt uncomfortable at the sight and turned his head to peer at Lucius, who gently squeezed his thigh and it almost felt like the blond moved his hand higher, but Severus pretended not to notice, only resting his right hand on top of Lucius's left in his lap, feeling his magic relax at the skin-to-ring contact.
"Mine was well, also," Abraxas told the boy, and Severus frowned down at his plate, wondering why he would care.
"That's nice."
The table shuddered with the force of the Malfoy Lord's laugh, and it seemed forced to Severus, who flinched away from the sound, unwilling to look up. "I like this one, Lucius. Keep him around. Darby!"
A house-elf appeared and snapped its fingers, covering the table with a breakfast feast. Lucius served Severus a bowl of plain porridge and filled his own plate, and once their goblets were full and they were settled, Lucius put his hand back on Severus's thigh, content with eating his meal using only one hand. Lucius waited until his parents had begun eating before digging in himself, but Severus had no such manners and immediately began, causing Callidora to shoot her son an amused little smile. It was clear to her and her husband that while the boy seemed to be a bit strange and anti-social, their son was quite fond of him, and that was good enough for them.
(O.o)
Lucius stood in the hallway outside his father's office as he watched Severus and his mother walk away, crossing his arms over his chest and immediately retreating back into the office when his father murmured his name. A wave of Abraxas's wand closed the door behind Lucius and Lucius took his usual seat in front and just to the left of Abraxas's wide desk, crossing his right leg over his left and carding his hands in his lap, keeping his gaze on his father.
The two Malfoys stared at each other for a few minutes before Abraxas smirked and said, "I do like that boy of yours, Lucius. He seems to have taken a shine to you."
"Yes, of course, father. I have protected him from a few Gryffindor bullies over the past eight months and have given him unlimited access to any potion ingredient I can buy. He is very bright and has a knack, like none I have seen before, for potions and Dark Arts. It is like nothing I have seen before. He was able to successfully cast the Imperius Curse the first time he tried, and has brewed poisons the Dark Lord would be proud of."
At the last sentence, Abraxas's eyes flashed and he frowned at his son, fingering his wand. "Are you attempting to recruit him?"
"Of course not. I have already recruited him. He would follow me to death. One cannot accept the Salutem without complete trust in the one that gifts it, and the ring on his finger would not have accepted his magic with mine if he did not already have loyalty to me. You know this, Father."
Abraxas lifted his wand. "Do not test me, boy."
Lucius ducked his head and dropped his gaze from his father's, murmuring a soft apology. When he continued, his voice was gentler, without the arrogant edge Nessie was so used to hearing. The small boy sat next to the fireplace, legs crossed and his chin resting on his hand as he studied Lucius, wondering if what he had seen at breakfast was the truth of his and Severus's relationship. He didn't know if he was comfortable with Severus being in a relationship with someone else, but it wasn't as if there was anything he could do about it. Just because he belonged to Severus—and he did—didn't mean Severus belonged to him back. He could believe Severus was his all he wanted, but that didn't mean it was true.
"Although he is a bit odd, he has a fantastic mind. I have engaged him in debates my own year-mates would not understand, yet he grasps abstract concepts such as wandless magic with ease, and I even watched him attempt wandless magic without prior training or instruction, and he managed to Summon his wand part of ten meters to him." Lucius met his father's gaze and held in his smirk at the impressed look on Abraxas's face. "He is only twelve years old, and can do magic I have never seen done before by someone of his age."
"What Dark spells has he cast?"
"Imperius and Cruciatus, both on snakes, the Blasting, Cutting and Assassin's Curses, as well as a small bit of work with Fiendfyre, which, for only using once, did quite a bit of damage to the room we were in."
"You have been doing this in the unwarded room in the dungeons?"
"Yes, father. He has also been successfully alienated from a Mudblood he associated with, and will be joining the Slug Club at the end of this month. It is a pity, however, that he is a halfbreed…" Lucius trailed off as Abraxas sighed and shook his head.
"Yes, a dear pity. However, with the talents he has, I am certain the Dark Lord will look past such a defect and accept him anyway. You might want to…get him used to physical pain, so to speak."
"The Dark Lord would punish him for something that is not even his fault?"
"Of course he will, son. The Dark Lord is unforgiving in his quest for blood purity, and your little pet is only half-pure. Do you know the pure side of his lineage?"
Lucius frowned as he thought about it, turning his head to stare into the fire. "Prince line, I believe."
Abraxas's eyebrows rose and he sat back in his chair. "Well, my son, that changes things."
Nessie floated out of the room, wondering if there were any ghosts haunting the Manor.
(O.o)
Severus followed Callidora into the massive potions lab residing in half of the basement in Malfoy Manor, not daring to look around, apprehensive of what he might see. He didn't know this woman, and just because she seemed nice when she was around Lucius and her husband, that didn't mean she would be nice now they were alone. He could feel her smiling, however, and chanced a glance up through his hair at her. She really was rather pretty.
"May I call you Severus?" she asked, and her voice was like music. Oh Merlin, he missed his mum.
"If you must," he muttered, and turned his attention to the lab, his entire body freezing with surprise. It was everything Lucius had told him, of course it was, and more; there were ingredients he hadn't even heard of, piles and piles of them, with caldrons of every shade and texture and size, from gold to oxidized copper, and tubes of ingredients such as freely given silver dracorn tail hair, runespoor scales and flitterby wings. He wanted to say something but didn't know what to say. Severus strode immediately to the closest ingredient shelf and started examining the phials with a careful, practiced eye.
"Would you like me to leave you alone then, Severus? It is clear you are comfortable here…" her voice trailed off with a smile as Severus firmly ignored her, turning a phial of something or other around to fully look at it. "I will send Lucius down when he and Abraxas are finished."
Callidora smiled gently at the boy and then left; it was moments like these she wished they had not betrothed their son so early.
(O.o)
Lucius knocked on the door to the potions lab and then opened it without waiting for an answer, slipping in and shutting the door behind himself, peering around the darkened room for Severus. Upon seeing his boy peering down into a boiling caldron, Lucius hid his smile and stepped over to the boy, wrapping his arm around Severus's waist. Severus grunted at the contact and twisted his head to stare blankly up at Lucius, who lifted his hand to push Severus's thick hair out of his face. "What are you working on?"
Severus shook his head away from Lucius's touch and picked up a silver stirring rod, dipping it into the potion and stirring it widdershins seven times before taking the stirring rod out and delicately wiping it off with a dirty cloth before turning his attention back to the blond. "The Déjà Vu Potion. It is to be taken directly after an episode of déjà vu and will reveal what alternate dimension the incident is being experienced in at the same time."
"Have you ever brewed it before, my Severus?"
Severus threw Lucius a nasty look as he picked up a jar of Flobberworm mucus. "Of course not. Why would I brew something I had brewed before?"
Lucius smirked and stepped away, leaning back against the wall to his right, content just to watch.
Twenty minutes later, Severus extinguished the fire underneath the caldron and stepped back, frowning down at the book he picked up. "You'll have to help me with this next part, Lucius," Severus told him, and Lucius replied immediately in the affirmative. "Good. Come here." When Lucius did not move, Severus's head swung around and he stared nervously at the blond. "Er…please?"
Lucius smirked and complied, holding the phials as Severus directed while Severus put on thin dragonhide gloves and used a dipper to ladle the potion out. Although Severus did not notice, Abraxas, with Nessie floating beside him, watched from the doorway, his lips twisted in a smile.
(O.o)
Year: 1972
Date: April the Second
Lucius stepped into his quarters and froze at the sound of the shower running from inside his bathroom. For a moment, he considered leaving or going over to his bookcase and waiting, but Lucius knew himself quite well and knew what he was going to do. Quickly removing his robes, he threw them on the bed as he stalked over to the bathroom, waving his wand at the door to silence any sound the knob or the hinges could make. One could not be too careful, after all.
Lucius tapped the tip of his wand to the doorknob and watched it turn, the door slipping open just enough for him to be able to see his shower. Once he had been able to choose his own room, Lucius had chosen this one for this very reason: the shower was open, with a direct view from the door to the shower. He had always been aware—oh, Slytherin. Severus was perfect. Long legs, with that scar Lucius had touched before on his right hip, sallow skin and a thin chest, visible ribs and a cock to match that overlarge nose. He was an angel hidden behind those heavy old clothes he insisted on wearing.
He—a Malfoy, a dignified, elegant Malfoy!—actually bit his lower lip when Severus's slender fingers pulled back through his long, uneven hair to rinse out the suds, and he had to turn his head and look away when Severus bent over a few minutes later to pick up the soap. Lucius watched a few minutes longer, burning the sight of Severus slick with soap and water into his mind before stepping away and dropping himself onto his bed, taking care of a problem that had risen up with a few quick rough rubs.
By the time Severus was dry and dressed, Lucius was completely redressed in his robes, lounging back on his bed and reading a book, and if he pulled Severus into his lap with a small smirk, then that was his own business.
Unseen by both Slytherins, Nessie sat in the darkest corner of the room, palms pressed to his eyes, images of showers and fat men in his head. At his feet, a crafted magic rose, made from love, lay shattered, even as the butterfly fluttered around his head.
Please remember: this will be canon pairings only, with the addition of Severus/Nessie and Lily loves Severus, not the other way around. There will be no other people put together that are not together in canon, except for one couple that won't happen until 1973 and does not involve Severus or Nessie. Please review.
