Love on the Other Side
A/N Hey hey everyone – thanks for all the reviews (wow! My favourite fanfic author reviewed me! Yay!) Go to the bottom to read your little replies. This chapter should be a lot more interesting than the others: not only does it see Guinevere's first conversation with sexbomb Lucius, but it also sees Draco's first remedial lesson… this is going to be fun J
Disclaimer: I'm not J K Rowling and don't own anything/ one except Guinevere and the plot etc.
Chapter Three: First Impressions
Lucius Malfoy stalked ahead of his new pupil through the dark, dank corridors, wondering when Wormtail was going to get round to decorating the new headquarters. The smell of dry rot was getting ridiculous. He briefly thought about sending an owl to Narcissa at the manor and getting her to send on their new house elf, but then thought better of it: the less communication he had with his darling wife, the better. His contemplation turned to Miss Avery. "At least she's not as cracked as her brother," he thought, "All Avery does these days is mutter to himself and occasionally creep up on one. Far too much of the Cruciatus Curse." He mentally kicked himself: how could there be too much of a curse? Curses were the only things that had kept him from boredom at Hogwarts – first years were such fun subjects.
"So you live here?" Guinevere asked him.
"Yes," He said shortly, irritated that she'd interrupted his thought process.
"I prefer my place, personally, but I daresay some of the actual rooms are a bit cosier."
"Nothing is cosy here, Miss Avery-"
"Guinevere, please."
"-Miss Avery, this is the headquarters of the Dark Lord."
"Yes, I'd noticed that too. So why did it take so long for you to escape from Azkaban if the Dementors are on our side?"
"That is not your business or concern." She was highly curious, this one, he'd have to watch her.
"Sorry."
They paced on in silence for a while. Lucius tried to regain his thoughts, but failed. Oh well – he might as well ask the new pupil a few questions himself…
"You work with dragons?"
"Yep," she replied cheerfully.
"And what exactly do you do with them?"
"I tame them."
He coughed politely, "You, er, tame them?"
"That's right," she replied indignantly, "I've been working with them for five years now, and I'm making some progress."
"I see."
"Fudge thought the research might come in useful, and consequently I'm paid rather well." She sneered, thinking that as Malfoy did it so much it might be a requisite of being a Death Eater.
Lucius allowed himself a short, contemptuous laugh and looked round at her, catching her near the end of her sneer. Excellent: she was already learning to sneer. She looked rather prettily evil when she sneered. Do not become emotionally involved he heard his master say in his head. "Don't be ridiculuous," he rebuked himself, "So what if I find her attractive? I found mudblood Evans attractive – didn't mean anything happened."
"The Dark Lord wishes to see you himself to assess your quality. You may be required to perform a spell-"
"What sort of spell?" Guinevere asked nervously.
"A curse," Lucius replied smoothly, "Then he will find you a mate, for when – or rather if – you become a Death Eater."
"A mate?"
"A husband," Lucius explained impatiently, "All the Death Eaters are married to one another, with very few exceptions. Bellatrix Black was married to Lestrange; I myself was married to her sister Narcissa Black."
"Oh." Guinevere paused, "What if I don't want to marry anyone?"
"You will want to. You must obey the Dark Lord, or face the consequences."
"Ah," She smiled, "You like reverting to the dramatic cliches, don't you?"
This one would try his patience, he could tell.
* * *
Hermione was waiting at McGonagall's desk when Draco entered the classroom. She was poring over her Transfiguration notes and fiddling with her wand nervously.
"Hello Granger" Draco said grumpily.
"Malfoy," she nodded curtly, in an extraordinarily good impression of McGonagall.
"Can we get on with this?" he drawled, "I've got to wash my hair."
She faced him, branding her notes, refusing to be drawn into his goading.
"I thought we'd start quite simply with some third year stuff. Professor McGonagall said there's nothing wrong with your knowledge; it's the practical stuff you've got to worry about."
Draco snarled at her. She raised an eyebrow and couldn't resist saying; "The Professor has told you that I'm allowed to give and take points from you?"
Draco snarled again.
She smiled, "Right, well, I thought we could start with transfiguring rabbits into slippers – you remember that one?"
"Have you got any rabbits on you?" he sneered. He was getting good at this – only a little more practice and he'd be up to his father's standard.
Hermione waved her wand and conjured a white fluffy rabbit from mid-air.
Draco resisted the impulse to gape at the fact she could perform a conjuring spell.
"It's white." He said stiffly.
She waved her wand impatiently and the rabbit turned black. "Better?"
"How did you get its eyes to go that red colour?" Draco asked curiously.
"Thought you might prefer them that way."
"Humph"
Hermione figured that was closest she'd get to a 'Thanks'. Christ, this was going to be a long hour…
* * *
A/N Well, that's all for now folks, as I've got to go out. I'll try to update once every two weeks (hoping I might get 4 reviews per chapter… please?) I've been in Greece on holiday, which should explain the long time between updates – sorry about that! Here's my little comments to those of you kind enough to review chapter two…
Underscore – Thank you so much for reviewing! I'm trying to keep them in character – it makes things much more interesting if Draco and Lucius actually enjoy being cruel.
Brie Cheese Eater – Yep – remedial transfiguration lessons turn a LOT more interesting later on, I promise!
Sio's Death – Um, yeah, sorry about the updating taking so long… Hopefully it was worth the wait…
AJRoald – Lots more twists to come – I'm currently puzzling over a few possibilities as to the endings, but all of them promise to be very interesting and complicated.