In the Company of Snakes
By: Cousin Mary
Part11
Lucius was still sprawled across the bathroom floor when Severus went to check on him the next morning. The black hared professor gave a pained hiss when he saw his old schoolmate condition. With dried blood across his cheek, still naked and red skinned, with lingering trails of burns and welts, there weren't many that would recognize this man as the highly polished aristocrat he once was. Severus moved to the unconscious heap on the floor and carefully rolled him onto his back. The man let out a low moan as morning light hit his swollen eyes.
"There, there Lucius, you're all right," Severus was surprised to hear himself try and calm the other man. And even more surprised when it seemed to work. And Poppy said he had no bedside manner! Using mobilicorpus, he moved Lucius into the bedroom and laid him out on the cool black silk sheets, if the man had regained consciousness during the night it was apparent he no longer needed the medicinal bath.
Severus stared down at Lucius. Oh how the mighty had fallen. Once upon a time, in his younger school days, Severus had looked up to Lucius as all that he would never be. Though Lucius had only been two years ahead of him, he would admit, at least to himself, that he'd in some sense looked up to the older boy. Malfoy had been popular, or at least as popular as any Slytherin could be. He'd exuded charm, but also an inherent menace that Severus had admired and tried to imitate. Yes, Lucius Malfoy had always seemed so sophisticated, so in control of himself and the world around him. Never a hair out of place, always well dressed and so full of the right breeding, wealth and culture that it elicited either envy or awe in all he met.
But now… Severus pulled a chair to the bedside as he pulled just the sheet over the burned man, flinching as Lucius let out a moan at the unpleasant sensation on his too sensitive skin. Now Lucius was helpless, vulnerable, stripped of all his finery, his beauty, his ability to steal another's confidence with a single arched brow… now all there was, was a fellow human being in need of help. Snape sighed, pity was –not- something he'd ever thought he'd feel for Lucius Malfoy.
"What are –you- doing here?" Lucius's eyes cracked open and his voice came out in a horse croak.
"Stealing the silver of course," Severus sneered at him, "What do you think I'm doing here Malfoy?"
Lucius frowned, "Draco called you."
Severus began to grow annoyed, "You're very lucky I am here Lucius, though your son is more gifted than he ever let on in my class, it should have taken a small army of mediwitches to save your sorry life."
Lucius glared, but said nothing.
Snape held his glare with one of his own for a full minute before rising and fetching a few pre-made potions from the cabinet in the bathroom, "Here," He thrust a small pink bottle at the other man, then a few more for good measure, "Drink this, then the blue. Are you hungry? After breakfast you'll need to take more."
Lucius was silent as he swallowed the potions with a grimace, "Where's my son?" He asked then.
"Still sleeping I'd assume." Snape sank back down into his chair, "He had been up for," He glanced at the clock on the wall, "Nearly 40 hours straight."
Lucius started
at that, looking at the clock himself before closing his eyes tightly, "Was it
that bad?"
"As I said, you're lucky to be alive Malfoy," Snape answered softly, "Your son was relentless. I can honestly say he did as well as any potion master twice his age."
Lucius let out a bitter bark of a laugh, "So at least one of them was loyal."
"You speak of your daughter?" Snape leaned closer.
"Maggie? No. Narcissa…" Lucius's eyes reopened and he struggled to sit up.
"Lay back," Snape ordered brusquely. He sighed then, "So it's true then?"
"I'd think that's obvious," Lucius was breathing hard from just the exertion of trying to rise, he collapsed back into his pillow gratefully, "She looks just like me."
"I didn't mean the girl," Snape glared.
"I know," Lucius's lips quirked up into almost a smile, but then his eyes took on a far away look as he stared up at the coffered ceiling. "I never expected... Narcissa is my other half. She…"
"She's left you know," Snape told him almost sharply, but there was something in his voice that was also kind, stopping Lucius before he waxed poetic about a woman who'd tried to kill him. "Her things are gone, the children know."
Lucius didn't so much as blink, but he grew impossibly still. Snape almost had to look away when he saw blue eyes glisten before a hot tear fell across still red cheeks. "She's gone?" His voice was small, it nearly cracked.
Snape stared, unable to believe what his eyes were telling him. In twenty plus years of acquaintance he'd never seen Malfoy express an emotion other than distain or amusement, even at his wedding he'd seemed only mildly pleased. But now… Lost, it was the only word to describe it. Lucius looked like a lost child, a lost child in a very cruel world. "Yes," He answered simply.
For another long moment Lucius was silent. No more tears fell, but his breathing grew shallow for several breaths before he closed his eyes and drew a long breath through his nose. When his eyes opened, he turned to the potions master and shook his head, "I don't know why you came Severus, but thank you."
Snape stiffened, Malfoy expressing thanks, another first, "You're welcome… Lucius."
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