The next morning I awoke feeling tired than I ever had before. I couldn't even remember what I had done last night - though the only thing I knew was that I wasn't drunk, beacause - oh yeah, I've told you about that before.
I yawned and stretched my arms out, my eyes still closed, still half absorbed in a bizarre dream I'd been having about Jessica being pregnant with Snape - and instantly awoke as my arm touched something to the side of me. I sat up suddenly, and looked to my side - and it was pretty much then that I realised why I was so tired. NO, nothing like that, damn perverts, but I'd stayed awake most of the night talking to Lucius. I was sharing his bed as well, though there was nothing remotely sexual about it - in fact, we'd both gone to sleep fully clothed, which I realised was a bad idea in the boiling heat, as my dress continually stuck to me.
I looked over at Lucius, who was still sleeping soundly, his long hair a mess around his pale face. He was cute when he was sleeping, though I did think he was slightly in danger of swallowing too much of his own hair. He suddenly made a muffled noise, and turned so he was facing away from me. It was only then that I noticed the small tattoo on his arm, the symbol that could only mean one thing. I let out a gasp as I looked at it, the noise instantly waking Lucius, who looked at me with a worried expression.
"What's up?" He asked, frowning slightly. I didn't answer him directly, but gestured towards his arm. He didn't even have to look at it to know what I was talking about. "Ah." He said. "Yes." I glowered at him.
"So the rumours are true then?" I asked him coldly.
"Well," He began, in a very serious voice. "They could be. But that would depend on which rumour you are talking about?" I gaped at him. Wasn't that obvious?
"That you're a Death Eater," I said, unable to remove the disbelief from my voice.
"Ah. Yes, I thought that was coming." He said, staring straight into my eyes. I looked away; I didn't trust myself to be able to argue with him if I was looking him in the eye.
"Well of course you did, seeing as it was blatantly obvious what the problem was."
"Why are you being like this?" He asked. "Why are you just assuming that because I have the tattoo that I am one?"
"You're well known for being the leading Death Eater, Lucius." I said quietly.
"Oh, so it's like that." He said, sounding slightly exasperated. "Yesterday you would have - Would you at least look at me?" He asked, his voice getting slightly high-pitched. He sounded desperate, so without really thinking, I looked up at him. "Right, thank you. Now just last night you were so nice to me, you got along with me, and it was like we were friends, yesterday you would have listened to me but today you won't even give me a chance, you're just going along with all the things your other friends have said!"
"Luce, you have the tattoo, you can't deny that!" I said, pointing at it.
"You're right, I can't deny I have the tattoo. You can see it, and so can I, and there's just no point lying about it. And I can't deny I was a Death Eater, again, the tattoo. And yeah, I was probably one of the leading ones - but not any more! Times change, people change, and you know that."
"Then why aren't you any more?" I asked.
"Because they killed my only true friend, OK?!?" He shouted. "Yeah, I actually had a friend, but not any more, and they promised they wouldn't. Said I'm not even worthy if I'd rather have a friend then hang around with that bunch of idiots, so I left, OK, you happy now?" He said, still shouting at the top of his voice. Again, I looked away and stared down at the bed covers. I was never good with people shouting at me, I ALWAYS got really upset about it, and the last person I wanted to cry in front of was Lucius Malfoy. So I settled for staring down at the bed, concentrating as hard as I could, willing myself not to cry. We sat in silence for a while, me just staring down at the bed; I could feel Lucius watching him, but didn't turn around.
"Hey," He said eventually, his voice much softer this time. "I didn't mean to yell at you like that, I really didn't. I'm sorry, K?" I continued to ignore him. He pulled up one of his hands and placed it gently on the shoulder nearest to him. "Really sorry." He said. "Please, won't you look at me at least?" He asked, pulling himself up into a sitting posistion. I twisted away from him instantly, beginning to cry, just like I knew I would.
At around that moment, someone knocked at the door, and without waiting for an answer, walked in. It was Draco, his hair a mess, his clothes scruffy from where he slept in them. He had a large plaster on one side of his face.
"Oh, hi." He said, looking slightly surprised to see me. "Um..." He said, looking at Lucius, clearly unsure of whether he should go and make himself presentable before talking.
"Go away." Lucius muttered. Draco pretended to not hear him.
"It's just that, you're supposed to be meeting the Minister soon." He began. "Remember? That meeting about that charity?"
"GO AWAY!" Lucius snarled. This time Draco couldn't pretend to ignore him, and looking slightly annoyed, he left the room, looking like he was about to slam the door but - probably thankfully - changing his mind at the last second. "Look, he's right, I've got to go." He continued talking to me. "Please stay? And we can finish talking later, I promise. I'll tell you everything you want to know, whether you're going to like the truth or not." I nodded, hating the fact that I was believing him. I turned slowly to him, looking very embarrassed from where I had been crying; there had only been a few tears, and they had long since stopped, but I expected the marks were still there.
"God I'm sorry." He murmered as he caught sight of me; clearly I had been right.
"It's fine." I muttered.
"No, it's not, I'll cancel..." He began. I shook my head.
"No, it's not your fault."
"Of course it is, no one other than me has been a complete bastard recently, have they?"
"Yeah, they have." I said slowly, giving him a small smile. He looked slightly confused. "I have, I should have just believed you." I told him, knowing full well that I shouldn't have, but it seemed to cheer him all the same.
"Oh, no, I'm the one who upset you."
"I always cry when people shout at me, it is the most stupid problem ever and I know I'm so damn pathetic, but it -"
"I don't think you're pathetic." I opened my mouth to begin arguing again, but he'd caught me off guard. Instead I looked at him, my mouth slightl open; until I realised how stupid I looked and closed it again, looking away. "Will you stay until I get back?" I nodded.
"How long are you going to be?"
"I don't know, it shouldn't be too long, I'll make excuses and leave if I need to. Draco's here, he'll keep you company, though if you want to kick him out then you can, I don't care."
"I won't kick him out."
"Alright, but just remember, if you want to, you can. And if you want anything, get the house-elves too, I'll tell one of them to make sure all of them know they are to obey you. You want a massage, a meal, anything, you just bug them." He smiled. "Of course, you could always wait for me, I'm sure anything they can do I can do better..." He said, a cheeky smirk beginning to play around his lips. I laughed.
"OK."
"You can look around the rest of the place if you want, and if you want to go for a look around the town or whatever then you can, I'll get the house elves to give you some money...though I'd prefer it if you waited for me to come back so I could come too?"
"I won't be going anywhere."
"OK." He said, watching me with a strange expression on his face. "I'll...um...see you later, then..."
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I spent around the first hour or so, probably more, just exploring the Manor. I don't mean it took me that long to walk round the house, I mean, the house is big but not THAT big, but one of the elves had offered to take me a tour and I accepted. The tour was quite interesting I suppose, it wasn't so much historical facts as it was memorable events that had happened in each room, the majority of which I found entertaining, but by the end my legs ached and I just wanted to sit down. The house elf who was taking me in the tour obliged happily, and lead me to a room on the top floor, just a few doors away from Lucius' room. The elf was planning on taking me to a room that was only accessible from Lucius' room, she was sure he wouldn't mind if he'd let me sleep in his room, and though I really wanted to check it out (Lucius had said he was going to show me but had left before he'd had the time) I wanted to talk to Draco, and I didn't think Lucius would be too happy to find out his son was in there. So the elf, Loge, (pronnounced, Low-g) took me to the other room instead. It was nice, and obviously well used, with lots of squashy white leather furniture that I strongly doubted Lucius liked. All across one wall was a huge TV screen, with piles and piles of videos and DVD's underneath it. I was keen to look through them all but I decided it wasn't really polite, and so settled for watching the ordinary TV instead.
"Would madam be wanting anything?" Asked Loge, bobbing around happily by my foot.
"No, that's OK, I'll get anything if I need it." I said, smiling at her.
"Loge would be much happier if madam was to let Loge get her her things." Loge announced.
"That's nice of you, Loge, but...actually, could you fetch Draco for me?" I asked her. Loge nodded happily.
"Pleased to be of your service, madam!" She said happily as she skipped out of the room.
"And call me Katia!" I called after her.
It didn't take very long at all for Loge to return with Draco. I guess Draco was only a few doors away, though I wasn't sure which one.
"Begging your pardon for taking so long, madam, but Master Lucius had locked the door and I needed help to open it." I nodded.
"That's fine, Loge, and it didn't take long at all. Thanks for bringing him, and please call me Katia." I said. I just didn't like being called Madam, it made me feel uncomfortable! As Loge scurried off, a huge smile spread across her face, Draco fixed me with a curious look.
"What did I do wrong?" He asked. I blinked at him.
"What are you talking about?"
"Isn't that why you made Loge fetch me? Because you want to punish me?" He said, looking more and more confused.
"No." I said. "Why would you think that?"
"Because I'm always locked in my room all day, and I'm only allowed to leave if I need to make a good impression on someone, or if I'm about to be hit." He said. "Sometimes for dinner, but usually one of the elves just brings me up leftovers." I couldn't help but think he was exaggerating - that or I just didn't want to believe him anyway.
"You got out easily enough this morning." I said, raising an eyebrow.
"That's because, thanks to you, father forgot to lock my door." He said. "Thanks for that." I nodded, still not wanting to believe him. "Well, do you want me to go back to my room now?" He asked.
"No...I just thought you'd want to watch TV with me or something, if you want to go back you can though."
"No, I'll stay." He said, looking happier than I'd seen him so far, as he sat down on the sofa next to me.
"Do you want to watch anything?"
"I don't mind."
"Well, do you mind talking? I mean, I made all that effort to fetch you, the least you could do is have a conversation with me." I said, smiling. He nodded thoughtfully, before turning to me, a strange look on his face.
"What do you think of my dad then?" He asked me. I stared at him for a while.
"Well, I don't really know him..." I began.
"I'm sure he's told you all sorts of lies, hasn't he?" He asked, his voice strangely wild sounding. "I bet he told you he'd been single for years, well, that's a massive lie. I saw him talking very privately with my mother last week out in the gardens. And the amount of times he's brought home sluts to keep him company during the night lately! And like he poisoned your drink to get you into bed with him." I stared at him again, choosing to just ignore the first bit.
"What?"
"Well he obviously did. You wouldn't have slept with him for any other reason. I saw you crying this morning, when you found yourself in bed with him." The situation was just so funny I couldn't help but laugh.
"Lucius never left the table for starters, and the elves wouldn't poison my drink. In fact, the only thing I DID drink, was coke, straight from the bottle!" I told him. "And not that it's any of your business, though I shared a bed with him, there wasn't anything sexual to do with it, we both slept in our full clothes, alright?" I said, fully aware of how angry I was beginning to sound. "And he didn't lie about anything, he was honest about everything, he told me everything I wanted to know, and when he gets back, he'll be just as honest as before!" I shrieked, not really aware if I was even making sense anymore.
"He wasn't honest though, was he?" Draco said darkly.
"What are you talking about now?" I snapped, beginning to realise just why Lucius was always so harsh on him.
"Sure, he told you everything about his Dark Mark, once you'd already seen it." He began, smirking slightly. "But he didn't bother mentioning he had one in the first place, did he?" I watched him cautiously for a moment, not wanting him to know he was right.
"Well, it's not the sort of thing you talk about on a first date, is it?" I spat. "Do you really think he's going to go around telling everyone he meets that he has the Mark? Grow up and stop trying to cause trouble!" I shrieked at him.
"I warned you he lied." A voice from the doorway announced. Lucius Malfoy was leaning in the doorway; judging by his cold face, he'd heard every word.
"I was joking." Draco said quickly. "And Katia knows that, right?" He asked me. I ignored him.
"Hey Luce." I said, sounding much happier than I felt. "How was it?"
"It was fine." He said, coldly. "And I'll tell you all about it in just a moment, once Draco explains himself." He said, his grey eyes boring deep into Draco's, who looked positively terrified. Draco opened his mouth to respond, but fell silent at the look on his father's face. "Exactly." Lucius muttered. "Can I hit him now?" He asked me, never taking his eyes away from Draco's. I was going to argue that it still wasn't right to hurt him, but right now I was too annoyed with him to care.
"Do what you want, he's your son." I told him. At this, Lucius glanced over at me, confused at why I wasn't trying to protect Draco. He looked like he was about to change his mind at first, but clearly his fury towards his son was too much. As he approached his son, Draco began to whimper, but Lucius ignored this completely. If anything, it seemed to spur him on more. At last, he reached him, and with a quick look in my direction to check I wasn't going to object, he smacked Draco hard round the face, throwing him to the floor, and kicked him hard in the chest.
"Right, now we've got that out of the way, how'd you like to come back to my room, and we can talk some more there?" He asked.
"OK." I said, getting up and following him, refusing to look back at Draco.
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Lucius seemed rather calm and serious after his encounter with Draco. He muttered an apology for whatever his son had said, and then allowed me the oppurtunity to ask any questions about anything Draco may have said. I spread myself out across the bed, facing him. ((don't worry, I'd changed since then and was now wearing black velvet trousers with a matching velvet vest-top)) Damn his bed was comfortable.
"He said you'd met your wife last week and were talking 'very privately'," I said, quoting Draco. "What's that all about?"
"You know all he wants is to make you abandon me, right?" He asked. I nodded.
"I got that feeling, yes, but you did say you would be honest, and judging by the way you're avoiding answering...?" He frowned slightly, more at himself than at me, before sitting down on his bed and leaning against the wall. I sat up and moved out of the way slightly till I was sitting right next to him.
"First of all, ex-wife, we just don't make that very publicised as it would ruin both of our respectivity, etc etc." He said, still frowning to himself. "And second of all, yes, I did talk to her, yes, it was private. Not because I didn't want anyone to know I was talking to her, but because I didn't want Draco to hear, and judging by the way he isn't launched himself into pathetic attention seeking hysterics yet, we succeeded in that."
"He heard you though..." I said, feeling very confused. Lucius shook his head, and turned himself around slightly so he was just facing me.
"He knew I was talking to her, but he didn't know what we were talking about..." He seemed to be thinking hard. "Look, she'd come to see me to talk about Draco. Draco wouldn't like it if he heard, and so I haven't told him yet, I'm saving it till I need something big to use against him."
"Did she want to take him or something?"
"Not really, but something like that." I nodded.
"But you don't want to tell me the whole reason?"
"I want to, but I really can't...maybe...maybe if we're still getting along in a few weeks I'll tell you?" I nodded.
"It's up to you," I told him, though I thought it was obvious that I wanted to know. So I'm nosy. Live with it.
"Anything else you want to ask?"
"Um...Were you going to tell me about the Mark?"
"Of course I was, because even if I didn't, I'm sure you'd have found out before too long. But yeah, I was going to tell you, just not straightaway. If it was up to me, you wouldn't have found out just like that. I wanted to wait till we were properly getting on, so I'd know you wouldn't blow up at me for it." I nodded. "Anything else?" He asked again.
"I don't think so."
"OK, then can I ask you something?"
"OK," I said nervously, slightly worried by the serious note in his voice.
"Will you stay the night again?" He asked, smirking at the look on my face. I laughed slightly.
"Sure."
"Great," He said, grinning. "In that case, you better let me know what you want to eat, because no matter how much you tried to hide it, I saw how much you hated yesterdays dinner." I laughed.
"It was delicious considering I hate pies, yes." Lucius laughed as well.
"So what do you want?"
"Well, I know being as posh as you are you've probably never tried it, but what would you think of eating fast food?" Lucius looked at me with an expression of mock horror.
"This fast food - it - it disgusts me!" He said.
"Right, we're having it then. McDonalds it is!" I announced. "Sure you can live with it?"
"I'll try." I watched him for a while, thinking about him, until I realised I was staring and looked away. "What?" He asked, curiously.
"You're just a lot different to how I expected you to be." I said, blushing. "My friend Je-" I stopped, thinking she wouldn't have wanted to be named. "-nnifer works with you sometimes and she's told me all sorts of rumours about how awful you are. And you're not at all like she said."
"Jessica, you mean," He smirked. I glared at him.
"How did you know?"
"Heard her on the phone."
"Yeah, it was kinda hard to miss, wasn't it?"
"Precisely."
"But you really are different. Like just now. I didn't expect you to really tell me all that stuff."
"Well, is this different to how you expected me to be?" He asked suddenly, leaning over and kissing me. I kissed him back for a few seconds - he was so gentle, so sweet, and his lips had a slightly sickly-sweet taste to them that I loved - before suddenly pulling away from him and looking down at the bed. I didn't know why I pulled away; I really liked him, I was enjoying the kiss, and yet I just suddenly decided not to.
"Sorry." He murmered. "There I go again, I'm always being like that to you."
"No, I don't know why I pulled away from you." I muttered. "It's not you with the problem, it's me."
"OK," He said, not sounding remotely convinced. "Do you want to go and talk to Draco or something while I stay here?"
"Not particularly." I told him. "But if you're just trying to get me to leave, I will."
"It's nothing like that. I just thought you'd want some time away from ME."
"Of course I don't." I said, leaning over and kissing HIM to prove my point. Again, it was only a short kiss, but it got him to pay attention all the same. "Now, if I'm staying the night we need to think of more topics to talk about all night long."
I yawned and stretched my arms out, my eyes still closed, still half absorbed in a bizarre dream I'd been having about Jessica being pregnant with Snape - and instantly awoke as my arm touched something to the side of me. I sat up suddenly, and looked to my side - and it was pretty much then that I realised why I was so tired. NO, nothing like that, damn perverts, but I'd stayed awake most of the night talking to Lucius. I was sharing his bed as well, though there was nothing remotely sexual about it - in fact, we'd both gone to sleep fully clothed, which I realised was a bad idea in the boiling heat, as my dress continually stuck to me.
I looked over at Lucius, who was still sleeping soundly, his long hair a mess around his pale face. He was cute when he was sleeping, though I did think he was slightly in danger of swallowing too much of his own hair. He suddenly made a muffled noise, and turned so he was facing away from me. It was only then that I noticed the small tattoo on his arm, the symbol that could only mean one thing. I let out a gasp as I looked at it, the noise instantly waking Lucius, who looked at me with a worried expression.
"What's up?" He asked, frowning slightly. I didn't answer him directly, but gestured towards his arm. He didn't even have to look at it to know what I was talking about. "Ah." He said. "Yes." I glowered at him.
"So the rumours are true then?" I asked him coldly.
"Well," He began, in a very serious voice. "They could be. But that would depend on which rumour you are talking about?" I gaped at him. Wasn't that obvious?
"That you're a Death Eater," I said, unable to remove the disbelief from my voice.
"Ah. Yes, I thought that was coming." He said, staring straight into my eyes. I looked away; I didn't trust myself to be able to argue with him if I was looking him in the eye.
"Well of course you did, seeing as it was blatantly obvious what the problem was."
"Why are you being like this?" He asked. "Why are you just assuming that because I have the tattoo that I am one?"
"You're well known for being the leading Death Eater, Lucius." I said quietly.
"Oh, so it's like that." He said, sounding slightly exasperated. "Yesterday you would have - Would you at least look at me?" He asked, his voice getting slightly high-pitched. He sounded desperate, so without really thinking, I looked up at him. "Right, thank you. Now just last night you were so nice to me, you got along with me, and it was like we were friends, yesterday you would have listened to me but today you won't even give me a chance, you're just going along with all the things your other friends have said!"
"Luce, you have the tattoo, you can't deny that!" I said, pointing at it.
"You're right, I can't deny I have the tattoo. You can see it, and so can I, and there's just no point lying about it. And I can't deny I was a Death Eater, again, the tattoo. And yeah, I was probably one of the leading ones - but not any more! Times change, people change, and you know that."
"Then why aren't you any more?" I asked.
"Because they killed my only true friend, OK?!?" He shouted. "Yeah, I actually had a friend, but not any more, and they promised they wouldn't. Said I'm not even worthy if I'd rather have a friend then hang around with that bunch of idiots, so I left, OK, you happy now?" He said, still shouting at the top of his voice. Again, I looked away and stared down at the bed covers. I was never good with people shouting at me, I ALWAYS got really upset about it, and the last person I wanted to cry in front of was Lucius Malfoy. So I settled for staring down at the bed, concentrating as hard as I could, willing myself not to cry. We sat in silence for a while, me just staring down at the bed; I could feel Lucius watching him, but didn't turn around.
"Hey," He said eventually, his voice much softer this time. "I didn't mean to yell at you like that, I really didn't. I'm sorry, K?" I continued to ignore him. He pulled up one of his hands and placed it gently on the shoulder nearest to him. "Really sorry." He said. "Please, won't you look at me at least?" He asked, pulling himself up into a sitting posistion. I twisted away from him instantly, beginning to cry, just like I knew I would.
At around that moment, someone knocked at the door, and without waiting for an answer, walked in. It was Draco, his hair a mess, his clothes scruffy from where he slept in them. He had a large plaster on one side of his face.
"Oh, hi." He said, looking slightly surprised to see me. "Um..." He said, looking at Lucius, clearly unsure of whether he should go and make himself presentable before talking.
"Go away." Lucius muttered. Draco pretended to not hear him.
"It's just that, you're supposed to be meeting the Minister soon." He began. "Remember? That meeting about that charity?"
"GO AWAY!" Lucius snarled. This time Draco couldn't pretend to ignore him, and looking slightly annoyed, he left the room, looking like he was about to slam the door but - probably thankfully - changing his mind at the last second. "Look, he's right, I've got to go." He continued talking to me. "Please stay? And we can finish talking later, I promise. I'll tell you everything you want to know, whether you're going to like the truth or not." I nodded, hating the fact that I was believing him. I turned slowly to him, looking very embarrassed from where I had been crying; there had only been a few tears, and they had long since stopped, but I expected the marks were still there.
"God I'm sorry." He murmered as he caught sight of me; clearly I had been right.
"It's fine." I muttered.
"No, it's not, I'll cancel..." He began. I shook my head.
"No, it's not your fault."
"Of course it is, no one other than me has been a complete bastard recently, have they?"
"Yeah, they have." I said slowly, giving him a small smile. He looked slightly confused. "I have, I should have just believed you." I told him, knowing full well that I shouldn't have, but it seemed to cheer him all the same.
"Oh, no, I'm the one who upset you."
"I always cry when people shout at me, it is the most stupid problem ever and I know I'm so damn pathetic, but it -"
"I don't think you're pathetic." I opened my mouth to begin arguing again, but he'd caught me off guard. Instead I looked at him, my mouth slightl open; until I realised how stupid I looked and closed it again, looking away. "Will you stay until I get back?" I nodded.
"How long are you going to be?"
"I don't know, it shouldn't be too long, I'll make excuses and leave if I need to. Draco's here, he'll keep you company, though if you want to kick him out then you can, I don't care."
"I won't kick him out."
"Alright, but just remember, if you want to, you can. And if you want anything, get the house-elves too, I'll tell one of them to make sure all of them know they are to obey you. You want a massage, a meal, anything, you just bug them." He smiled. "Of course, you could always wait for me, I'm sure anything they can do I can do better..." He said, a cheeky smirk beginning to play around his lips. I laughed.
"OK."
"You can look around the rest of the place if you want, and if you want to go for a look around the town or whatever then you can, I'll get the house elves to give you some money...though I'd prefer it if you waited for me to come back so I could come too?"
"I won't be going anywhere."
"OK." He said, watching me with a strange expression on his face. "I'll...um...see you later, then..."
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I spent around the first hour or so, probably more, just exploring the Manor. I don't mean it took me that long to walk round the house, I mean, the house is big but not THAT big, but one of the elves had offered to take me a tour and I accepted. The tour was quite interesting I suppose, it wasn't so much historical facts as it was memorable events that had happened in each room, the majority of which I found entertaining, but by the end my legs ached and I just wanted to sit down. The house elf who was taking me in the tour obliged happily, and lead me to a room on the top floor, just a few doors away from Lucius' room. The elf was planning on taking me to a room that was only accessible from Lucius' room, she was sure he wouldn't mind if he'd let me sleep in his room, and though I really wanted to check it out (Lucius had said he was going to show me but had left before he'd had the time) I wanted to talk to Draco, and I didn't think Lucius would be too happy to find out his son was in there. So the elf, Loge, (pronnounced, Low-g) took me to the other room instead. It was nice, and obviously well used, with lots of squashy white leather furniture that I strongly doubted Lucius liked. All across one wall was a huge TV screen, with piles and piles of videos and DVD's underneath it. I was keen to look through them all but I decided it wasn't really polite, and so settled for watching the ordinary TV instead.
"Would madam be wanting anything?" Asked Loge, bobbing around happily by my foot.
"No, that's OK, I'll get anything if I need it." I said, smiling at her.
"Loge would be much happier if madam was to let Loge get her her things." Loge announced.
"That's nice of you, Loge, but...actually, could you fetch Draco for me?" I asked her. Loge nodded happily.
"Pleased to be of your service, madam!" She said happily as she skipped out of the room.
"And call me Katia!" I called after her.
It didn't take very long at all for Loge to return with Draco. I guess Draco was only a few doors away, though I wasn't sure which one.
"Begging your pardon for taking so long, madam, but Master Lucius had locked the door and I needed help to open it." I nodded.
"That's fine, Loge, and it didn't take long at all. Thanks for bringing him, and please call me Katia." I said. I just didn't like being called Madam, it made me feel uncomfortable! As Loge scurried off, a huge smile spread across her face, Draco fixed me with a curious look.
"What did I do wrong?" He asked. I blinked at him.
"What are you talking about?"
"Isn't that why you made Loge fetch me? Because you want to punish me?" He said, looking more and more confused.
"No." I said. "Why would you think that?"
"Because I'm always locked in my room all day, and I'm only allowed to leave if I need to make a good impression on someone, or if I'm about to be hit." He said. "Sometimes for dinner, but usually one of the elves just brings me up leftovers." I couldn't help but think he was exaggerating - that or I just didn't want to believe him anyway.
"You got out easily enough this morning." I said, raising an eyebrow.
"That's because, thanks to you, father forgot to lock my door." He said. "Thanks for that." I nodded, still not wanting to believe him. "Well, do you want me to go back to my room now?" He asked.
"No...I just thought you'd want to watch TV with me or something, if you want to go back you can though."
"No, I'll stay." He said, looking happier than I'd seen him so far, as he sat down on the sofa next to me.
"Do you want to watch anything?"
"I don't mind."
"Well, do you mind talking? I mean, I made all that effort to fetch you, the least you could do is have a conversation with me." I said, smiling. He nodded thoughtfully, before turning to me, a strange look on his face.
"What do you think of my dad then?" He asked me. I stared at him for a while.
"Well, I don't really know him..." I began.
"I'm sure he's told you all sorts of lies, hasn't he?" He asked, his voice strangely wild sounding. "I bet he told you he'd been single for years, well, that's a massive lie. I saw him talking very privately with my mother last week out in the gardens. And the amount of times he's brought home sluts to keep him company during the night lately! And like he poisoned your drink to get you into bed with him." I stared at him again, choosing to just ignore the first bit.
"What?"
"Well he obviously did. You wouldn't have slept with him for any other reason. I saw you crying this morning, when you found yourself in bed with him." The situation was just so funny I couldn't help but laugh.
"Lucius never left the table for starters, and the elves wouldn't poison my drink. In fact, the only thing I DID drink, was coke, straight from the bottle!" I told him. "And not that it's any of your business, though I shared a bed with him, there wasn't anything sexual to do with it, we both slept in our full clothes, alright?" I said, fully aware of how angry I was beginning to sound. "And he didn't lie about anything, he was honest about everything, he told me everything I wanted to know, and when he gets back, he'll be just as honest as before!" I shrieked, not really aware if I was even making sense anymore.
"He wasn't honest though, was he?" Draco said darkly.
"What are you talking about now?" I snapped, beginning to realise just why Lucius was always so harsh on him.
"Sure, he told you everything about his Dark Mark, once you'd already seen it." He began, smirking slightly. "But he didn't bother mentioning he had one in the first place, did he?" I watched him cautiously for a moment, not wanting him to know he was right.
"Well, it's not the sort of thing you talk about on a first date, is it?" I spat. "Do you really think he's going to go around telling everyone he meets that he has the Mark? Grow up and stop trying to cause trouble!" I shrieked at him.
"I warned you he lied." A voice from the doorway announced. Lucius Malfoy was leaning in the doorway; judging by his cold face, he'd heard every word.
"I was joking." Draco said quickly. "And Katia knows that, right?" He asked me. I ignored him.
"Hey Luce." I said, sounding much happier than I felt. "How was it?"
"It was fine." He said, coldly. "And I'll tell you all about it in just a moment, once Draco explains himself." He said, his grey eyes boring deep into Draco's, who looked positively terrified. Draco opened his mouth to respond, but fell silent at the look on his father's face. "Exactly." Lucius muttered. "Can I hit him now?" He asked me, never taking his eyes away from Draco's. I was going to argue that it still wasn't right to hurt him, but right now I was too annoyed with him to care.
"Do what you want, he's your son." I told him. At this, Lucius glanced over at me, confused at why I wasn't trying to protect Draco. He looked like he was about to change his mind at first, but clearly his fury towards his son was too much. As he approached his son, Draco began to whimper, but Lucius ignored this completely. If anything, it seemed to spur him on more. At last, he reached him, and with a quick look in my direction to check I wasn't going to object, he smacked Draco hard round the face, throwing him to the floor, and kicked him hard in the chest.
"Right, now we've got that out of the way, how'd you like to come back to my room, and we can talk some more there?" He asked.
"OK." I said, getting up and following him, refusing to look back at Draco.
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Lucius seemed rather calm and serious after his encounter with Draco. He muttered an apology for whatever his son had said, and then allowed me the oppurtunity to ask any questions about anything Draco may have said. I spread myself out across the bed, facing him. ((don't worry, I'd changed since then and was now wearing black velvet trousers with a matching velvet vest-top)) Damn his bed was comfortable.
"He said you'd met your wife last week and were talking 'very privately'," I said, quoting Draco. "What's that all about?"
"You know all he wants is to make you abandon me, right?" He asked. I nodded.
"I got that feeling, yes, but you did say you would be honest, and judging by the way you're avoiding answering...?" He frowned slightly, more at himself than at me, before sitting down on his bed and leaning against the wall. I sat up and moved out of the way slightly till I was sitting right next to him.
"First of all, ex-wife, we just don't make that very publicised as it would ruin both of our respectivity, etc etc." He said, still frowning to himself. "And second of all, yes, I did talk to her, yes, it was private. Not because I didn't want anyone to know I was talking to her, but because I didn't want Draco to hear, and judging by the way he isn't launched himself into pathetic attention seeking hysterics yet, we succeeded in that."
"He heard you though..." I said, feeling very confused. Lucius shook his head, and turned himself around slightly so he was just facing me.
"He knew I was talking to her, but he didn't know what we were talking about..." He seemed to be thinking hard. "Look, she'd come to see me to talk about Draco. Draco wouldn't like it if he heard, and so I haven't told him yet, I'm saving it till I need something big to use against him."
"Did she want to take him or something?"
"Not really, but something like that." I nodded.
"But you don't want to tell me the whole reason?"
"I want to, but I really can't...maybe...maybe if we're still getting along in a few weeks I'll tell you?" I nodded.
"It's up to you," I told him, though I thought it was obvious that I wanted to know. So I'm nosy. Live with it.
"Anything else you want to ask?"
"Um...Were you going to tell me about the Mark?"
"Of course I was, because even if I didn't, I'm sure you'd have found out before too long. But yeah, I was going to tell you, just not straightaway. If it was up to me, you wouldn't have found out just like that. I wanted to wait till we were properly getting on, so I'd know you wouldn't blow up at me for it." I nodded. "Anything else?" He asked again.
"I don't think so."
"OK, then can I ask you something?"
"OK," I said nervously, slightly worried by the serious note in his voice.
"Will you stay the night again?" He asked, smirking at the look on my face. I laughed slightly.
"Sure."
"Great," He said, grinning. "In that case, you better let me know what you want to eat, because no matter how much you tried to hide it, I saw how much you hated yesterdays dinner." I laughed.
"It was delicious considering I hate pies, yes." Lucius laughed as well.
"So what do you want?"
"Well, I know being as posh as you are you've probably never tried it, but what would you think of eating fast food?" Lucius looked at me with an expression of mock horror.
"This fast food - it - it disgusts me!" He said.
"Right, we're having it then. McDonalds it is!" I announced. "Sure you can live with it?"
"I'll try." I watched him for a while, thinking about him, until I realised I was staring and looked away. "What?" He asked, curiously.
"You're just a lot different to how I expected you to be." I said, blushing. "My friend Je-" I stopped, thinking she wouldn't have wanted to be named. "-nnifer works with you sometimes and she's told me all sorts of rumours about how awful you are. And you're not at all like she said."
"Jessica, you mean," He smirked. I glared at him.
"How did you know?"
"Heard her on the phone."
"Yeah, it was kinda hard to miss, wasn't it?"
"Precisely."
"But you really are different. Like just now. I didn't expect you to really tell me all that stuff."
"Well, is this different to how you expected me to be?" He asked suddenly, leaning over and kissing me. I kissed him back for a few seconds - he was so gentle, so sweet, and his lips had a slightly sickly-sweet taste to them that I loved - before suddenly pulling away from him and looking down at the bed. I didn't know why I pulled away; I really liked him, I was enjoying the kiss, and yet I just suddenly decided not to.
"Sorry." He murmered. "There I go again, I'm always being like that to you."
"No, I don't know why I pulled away from you." I muttered. "It's not you with the problem, it's me."
"OK," He said, not sounding remotely convinced. "Do you want to go and talk to Draco or something while I stay here?"
"Not particularly." I told him. "But if you're just trying to get me to leave, I will."
"It's nothing like that. I just thought you'd want some time away from ME."
"Of course I don't." I said, leaning over and kissing HIM to prove my point. Again, it was only a short kiss, but it got him to pay attention all the same. "Now, if I'm staying the night we need to think of more topics to talk about all night long."
