Author's Note: This story begins during the Second year at Hogwarts, during the Chamber of Secrets and will continue as time goes on. This is my first Harry Potter fanfic and along with my friend, ElfFlame, we are writing a series of four stories, which begins with ElfFlame's story- True Revenge. All four of these stories are interrelated and for the best understanding of the characters as we see them, they should be read in conjunction to each other. As always, I own none of this wonderful world that JK Rowling has created.
Author's Note: At this point in time I would just like to say that in telling events of this story from Lucius Malfoy's point of view, I am merely showing his frame of mind. I do not in any way condone or promote the things he does.
Spoiler Warning: This story contains spoilers, both minor and major from all five Harry Potter books.
The Reunion
Almost two months had passed since Adriana had heard from Lucius, and she was doing the best she could to stay strong for Albus. More than anything, she wanted to run to Malfoy Manor and jump into Lucius' arms. She wanted to make love to him, feel his body pressed against hers. She loved him so much, it took all of her strength to resist him. Even breaking up with Albus hadn't seemed as difficult as this was. Her weight had continued to drop and now she barely recognized herself when she looked in the mirror. She had perpetual dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep. She had begun to stay in her bedroom with the curtains drawn, all day long, soon after sending her last letter to Lucius.
The Triwizard Tournament was going to keep Albus from the New Year's Masque this year, which was only a couple of weeks away. He was worried about Adriana and hoped she might go to the ball. He knew she wasn't doing too well and wanted to see her get out of the house again. He knew Lucius would be there also, and thought it might be a good test of Adriana's will. He had sent her a post saying he'd hoped she'd attend with Severus again.
Adriana didn't know if she could handle running into Lucius without going back to him by evening's end, but she would try for Albus. Going through all her dresses, she found that none of them fit her anymore. She'd lost too much weight to fit in them. She picked a blue dress and magically altered it to her body. It looked good against her now pale skin. Three layers of cloth in different shades of blue, looked like petals of a flower that flared out and ended at her shins. A blue, skin-tight bodice held the dress up.
She wore that dress a couple of weeks later when she met Severus where she had run into him the year before. He was handsome in a black tuxedo. She took his arm and together they walked down the staircase onto the main floor.
Neither one was in a good mood. Adriana was still depressed and Severus was annoyed at somebody from the Tournament, so they didn't dance or talk much. Adriana slipped away from Sev after a while and wandered around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Lucius.
Lucius had hoped Adriana would attend the Masque this year, and was happier than he'd been in months when he saw her arrive, albeit on Snape's arm. She looked more beautiful to him than ever before, and he had to hold himself back from running up to her and making a fool of himself.
Lucius tried to keep an eye on Adriana, but all of a sudden, she disappeared. Snape was standing by himself, looking annoyed. He could only imagine what she was doing with Snape, now that she'd broken up with him. Snape looked up, saw Lucius, and scowled. That was invitation enough for Lucius, who began to walk over to him. "Well, I hope you and Adriana are happy together," Lucius snarled quietly as Snape.
Snape looked at him, frowned and spoke, "And a good evening to you too, Malfoy."
Lucius grabbed Snape by the arm and dragged him to a less populated corner of the room. "Did you have anything to do with this? Are you the reason Adriana won't see me anymore? If I find out it was you, I swear I'm going to--"
"You're the reason she won't see you, not me," Interrupted Snape. "Everything that has happened has been your fault, but you're too stupid and self-absorbed to realize it. You don't deserve a woman like Adriana. You don't deserve to have anybody's love," He continued, digging a long finger into Lucius' chest with each point.
Lucius narrowed his eyes and hissed, "How dare you say such a thing. You're just jealous because she doesn't love you. She's just using you, and you know it. You're really pathetic you know. I don't know why I ever looked after you at school. I should have let those Gryffindors have at you, then maybe it would have saved me a lot of grief later on!" Lucius turned on his heel and strode away from Snape, leaving him speechless and fuming.
Lucius had lost sight of Adriana for an hour or so as he mingled among the crowd, and was shocked when he bumped into her behind one of the pillars. He looked down at her as she stared at him. Reaching his hand out, he brushed his fingertips against her cheek. "Adriana," He whispered.
Adriana gasped at his touch, placed her hand over his and held it to her face. "Lucius," She spoke inside his mind. Lucius moved his hand and lightly ran a fingertip over her lips. He longed to kiss her, his body ached to be inside her. It hurt him to be this close to Adriana, yet not be able to love her. Suddenly she shook her head, and stepped away from Lucius. "Don't, please, that's not fair," She begged him without opening her mouth, tears forming in her eyes. "We can't be together anymore, I promised Albus, I promised..." As her breathing became more rapid, she turned and walked away from Lucius, leaving him wondering if she had broken up with him unwillingly. What did Dumbledore have to do with this?
Severus had looked away for one minute and by the time he turned to speak to Adriana again, she had disappeared. "Damn it," He thought to himself, scowling. Sometimes Severus hated his life, and this was one of those times.
Adriana walked around, looking for a person to talk to. She didn't care if it was a complete stranger, she had to forget about Lucius. Walking over to the refreshment table, she found someone to talk to. A tall, red-haired boy in a powder blue tuxedo that had a carnation sticking out of the jacket pocket, who could hardly be more than a year out of Hogwarts, was standing next to her. Adriana looked at him and caught his eye. Smiling, she said, "Is this your first year here?"
The young man leaned against the table, his coat tails dipped into the punch bowl, and grinned at her. "Yes, I work for the Ministry of Magic, for Mr. Barty Crouch to be specific, and am enjoying myself immensely. Say, I don't recognize you from the Ministry, who are you here with?"
"Severus Snape. And who are you with?" Adriana asked, completely ignoring how tactless that question was.
"Oh, I came by myself. I heard there are lots of attractive women here, and I didn't want to miss out on them by having to be stuck with a date. And I must say, there is at least one pretty girl here tonight. What is your name, by the way?" The boy asked, grinning at Adriana.
Trying not to laugh, she spoke, "Adriana, and what is yours?"
"Percy. Percy Weasley. So you came with good old Severus Snape, did you? I'm not the bragging type, but I was one of his star pupils when I attended Hogwarts," He took her hand and kissed it wetly. Adriana bit her lip to keep from bursting out laughing. When Percy finally released her hand, she wiped it on the tablecloth.
"Well, Percy, I want to thank you for making my night, you have no idea how fun it was to meet you. Happy New Year," With that, she turned and walked away, laughing quietly.
Lucius had emerged from behind the pillar to see a short, frog-mouthed, blonde troll of a woman standing in front of him. He could feel the bile rising in his throat as the woman asked for a dance. Dolores Umbridge, quite possibly the ugliest woman to ever walk on the face of the earth. Yet it wouldn't do to displease her, she held considerable power within the Ministry. Lucius always felt that he should keep the Ministry happy and at bay, he found it always helped with his plans.
Narcissa and Adriana exchanged their traditional annual un-pleasantries over glasses of wine. Though this year things were much less snippy between the two, they were still far from friendly. They were standing side-by-side when a dancing couple passed by them. Adriana stared as she watched Lucius dancing with a very ugly woman. "Who is that?" She asked Narcissa.
"Dolores Umbridge, she works for the Ministry," Narcissa replied, with a look on her face that showed she was clearly disgusted by that woman.
Umbridge was slow-dancing with Lucius, her face crushed against his chest, her hands wrapped around his waist, groping his backside. Lucius was trying to not touch her, but wasn't very successful, as she was plastered to him.
Adriana tried not to choke on her wine as she watched the scene in front of her. She smiled ruefully at Lucius while he looked at the two of them and mouthed, "Help me," at them, before quickly smiling down at Umbridge who gazed lovingly up at him. Adriana wanted nothing more than to run up and tear that woman away from Lucius and free him from what must be a horrible experience, but she had to be strong and resist the temptation.
Just as Adriana looked away from Lucius, Cornelius Fudge approached her. Her stomach lurched as he put his hand on her arm and pulled her onto the dance floor. Fudge pressed her body so tightly to his, she could hardly breath. She felt his hot breath on her neck as he whispered dirty innuendos in her ear. Adriana felt nauseated and more than anything she wanted to do something to Fudge. Something bad, something terrible, but she couldn't. He was the Minister of Magic, and as she was well aware of, he was in a position of power and not to be messed with. Not unless she wanted to see what the inside of Azkaban looked like.
Looking over Fudge's shoulder, she caught Lucius' eye. Her heart filled with pain as she watched him dancing with Umbridge. They remained locked in one another's gazes until the dance ended, both trapped in situations beyond their control.
As the dance finally came to a stop, Adriana tried to walk away from Fudge, but he insisted on following her around. Making a bee line for the refreshment table, she downed a glass of wine in one gulp. Seeing as Fudge wasn't going to let her alone, she tried to think of ways to divert him. That pathetic Percy boy was still standing alone at the food table across from them. His coat tails were still probably in the punch bowl. Walking back over to him, Fudge followed her. "Percy, I'd like you to meet somebody, although since you work for the Ministry, you've probably met him many times already. Percy, this is Cornelius Fudge, Cornelius, this is Percy Weasley."
Percy's eyes grew large, he stood up straight and cleared his throat. Holding out his hand, he said, "Minister Fudge, what an honour it is to finally meet you. I'm honoured to work for you sir."
Fudge shook Percy's hand and replied, "Well, I'm sure the Ministry can use good people like you in their ranks, boy. Weasley, say are you related to Arthur Weasley?"
"Yes, he's my father," Percy replied. Adriana would've loved to have stayed and seen how the conversation ended, but she was too busy running for her life.
Spotting Severus, Adriana walked up to him and pulled him onto the dance floor. He didn't look to happy to her, and she was sure he'd tell her why.
"You ran off! I couldn't find you. Albus entrusted you to me, and I can't do my job if you don't stay near me," Severus spoke to her in a disapproving voice.
"Sev, nothing happened. I've been a good girl, I promise. You were being so difficult to be around that I wanted to look around a bit, that's all," Adriana replied.
"Well, I want you to stay with me for the rest of the night. I'll not be the one responsible to Albus for losing you, understood?" Severus looked in her eyes, waiting for an answer.
Sighing, Adriana replied, "Yes, Sev, whatever you say."
They continued to dance several more dances together, until there were only a few more minutes till midnight. Stepping away momentarily from Severus to get another glass of wine, Adriana saw Lucius duck behind the clock across the room. There was only a couple of minutes left before midnight and she didn't have much time to see him again. As she began to rush towards him, a hand caught her by the wrist and pulled her around to face a person she didn't want to see again: Fudge. "There you are girl, now it's almost midnight, and I want you to be my New Year's kiss," Fudge said, smiling at Adriana.
He began to pull her towards him and Adriana panicked. Without thinking of the consequences, she pushed Fudge away from her. "No! Don't touch me! Get away from me!" Fudge's eyes glared at her as she began to run in the opposite direction, towards the clock.
As she rounded the corner, she came face to face with Lucius. Tears streamed down her face and she tried to catch her breath. "Lucius...Lucius...I tried. I tried for so long, but I can't do it anymore," Adriana began to cry harder.
Lucius was thrilled that she was talking to him once again, grabbed her arms and pulled her to him. The clock began to strike midnight as he bent his face to hers and kissed her. She clung to him as though he was going to disappear. He wiped the tears out of her eyes and held her face in his hands. "Look at you, you've gotten so thin, I had no idea it's been like this for you. How could Albus do that to you?" Anger burned in his heart as he saw what Adriana had gone through over the past few months. Lucius held her tightly as they kissed once again. Together, they apparated back to her house.
Author's Note: At this point in time I would just like to say that in telling events of this story from Lucius Malfoy's point of view, I am merely showing his frame of mind. I do not in any way condone or promote the things he does.
Spoiler Warning: This story contains spoilers, both minor and major from all five Harry Potter books.
The Reunion
Almost two months had passed since Adriana had heard from Lucius, and she was doing the best she could to stay strong for Albus. More than anything, she wanted to run to Malfoy Manor and jump into Lucius' arms. She wanted to make love to him, feel his body pressed against hers. She loved him so much, it took all of her strength to resist him. Even breaking up with Albus hadn't seemed as difficult as this was. Her weight had continued to drop and now she barely recognized herself when she looked in the mirror. She had perpetual dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep. She had begun to stay in her bedroom with the curtains drawn, all day long, soon after sending her last letter to Lucius.
The Triwizard Tournament was going to keep Albus from the New Year's Masque this year, which was only a couple of weeks away. He was worried about Adriana and hoped she might go to the ball. He knew she wasn't doing too well and wanted to see her get out of the house again. He knew Lucius would be there also, and thought it might be a good test of Adriana's will. He had sent her a post saying he'd hoped she'd attend with Severus again.
Adriana didn't know if she could handle running into Lucius without going back to him by evening's end, but she would try for Albus. Going through all her dresses, she found that none of them fit her anymore. She'd lost too much weight to fit in them. She picked a blue dress and magically altered it to her body. It looked good against her now pale skin. Three layers of cloth in different shades of blue, looked like petals of a flower that flared out and ended at her shins. A blue, skin-tight bodice held the dress up.
She wore that dress a couple of weeks later when she met Severus where she had run into him the year before. He was handsome in a black tuxedo. She took his arm and together they walked down the staircase onto the main floor.
Neither one was in a good mood. Adriana was still depressed and Severus was annoyed at somebody from the Tournament, so they didn't dance or talk much. Adriana slipped away from Sev after a while and wandered around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Lucius.
Lucius had hoped Adriana would attend the Masque this year, and was happier than he'd been in months when he saw her arrive, albeit on Snape's arm. She looked more beautiful to him than ever before, and he had to hold himself back from running up to her and making a fool of himself.
Lucius tried to keep an eye on Adriana, but all of a sudden, she disappeared. Snape was standing by himself, looking annoyed. He could only imagine what she was doing with Snape, now that she'd broken up with him. Snape looked up, saw Lucius, and scowled. That was invitation enough for Lucius, who began to walk over to him. "Well, I hope you and Adriana are happy together," Lucius snarled quietly as Snape.
Snape looked at him, frowned and spoke, "And a good evening to you too, Malfoy."
Lucius grabbed Snape by the arm and dragged him to a less populated corner of the room. "Did you have anything to do with this? Are you the reason Adriana won't see me anymore? If I find out it was you, I swear I'm going to--"
"You're the reason she won't see you, not me," Interrupted Snape. "Everything that has happened has been your fault, but you're too stupid and self-absorbed to realize it. You don't deserve a woman like Adriana. You don't deserve to have anybody's love," He continued, digging a long finger into Lucius' chest with each point.
Lucius narrowed his eyes and hissed, "How dare you say such a thing. You're just jealous because she doesn't love you. She's just using you, and you know it. You're really pathetic you know. I don't know why I ever looked after you at school. I should have let those Gryffindors have at you, then maybe it would have saved me a lot of grief later on!" Lucius turned on his heel and strode away from Snape, leaving him speechless and fuming.
Lucius had lost sight of Adriana for an hour or so as he mingled among the crowd, and was shocked when he bumped into her behind one of the pillars. He looked down at her as she stared at him. Reaching his hand out, he brushed his fingertips against her cheek. "Adriana," He whispered.
Adriana gasped at his touch, placed her hand over his and held it to her face. "Lucius," She spoke inside his mind. Lucius moved his hand and lightly ran a fingertip over her lips. He longed to kiss her, his body ached to be inside her. It hurt him to be this close to Adriana, yet not be able to love her. Suddenly she shook her head, and stepped away from Lucius. "Don't, please, that's not fair," She begged him without opening her mouth, tears forming in her eyes. "We can't be together anymore, I promised Albus, I promised..." As her breathing became more rapid, she turned and walked away from Lucius, leaving him wondering if she had broken up with him unwillingly. What did Dumbledore have to do with this?
Severus had looked away for one minute and by the time he turned to speak to Adriana again, she had disappeared. "Damn it," He thought to himself, scowling. Sometimes Severus hated his life, and this was one of those times.
Adriana walked around, looking for a person to talk to. She didn't care if it was a complete stranger, she had to forget about Lucius. Walking over to the refreshment table, she found someone to talk to. A tall, red-haired boy in a powder blue tuxedo that had a carnation sticking out of the jacket pocket, who could hardly be more than a year out of Hogwarts, was standing next to her. Adriana looked at him and caught his eye. Smiling, she said, "Is this your first year here?"
The young man leaned against the table, his coat tails dipped into the punch bowl, and grinned at her. "Yes, I work for the Ministry of Magic, for Mr. Barty Crouch to be specific, and am enjoying myself immensely. Say, I don't recognize you from the Ministry, who are you here with?"
"Severus Snape. And who are you with?" Adriana asked, completely ignoring how tactless that question was.
"Oh, I came by myself. I heard there are lots of attractive women here, and I didn't want to miss out on them by having to be stuck with a date. And I must say, there is at least one pretty girl here tonight. What is your name, by the way?" The boy asked, grinning at Adriana.
Trying not to laugh, she spoke, "Adriana, and what is yours?"
"Percy. Percy Weasley. So you came with good old Severus Snape, did you? I'm not the bragging type, but I was one of his star pupils when I attended Hogwarts," He took her hand and kissed it wetly. Adriana bit her lip to keep from bursting out laughing. When Percy finally released her hand, she wiped it on the tablecloth.
"Well, Percy, I want to thank you for making my night, you have no idea how fun it was to meet you. Happy New Year," With that, she turned and walked away, laughing quietly.
Lucius had emerged from behind the pillar to see a short, frog-mouthed, blonde troll of a woman standing in front of him. He could feel the bile rising in his throat as the woman asked for a dance. Dolores Umbridge, quite possibly the ugliest woman to ever walk on the face of the earth. Yet it wouldn't do to displease her, she held considerable power within the Ministry. Lucius always felt that he should keep the Ministry happy and at bay, he found it always helped with his plans.
Narcissa and Adriana exchanged their traditional annual un-pleasantries over glasses of wine. Though this year things were much less snippy between the two, they were still far from friendly. They were standing side-by-side when a dancing couple passed by them. Adriana stared as she watched Lucius dancing with a very ugly woman. "Who is that?" She asked Narcissa.
"Dolores Umbridge, she works for the Ministry," Narcissa replied, with a look on her face that showed she was clearly disgusted by that woman.
Umbridge was slow-dancing with Lucius, her face crushed against his chest, her hands wrapped around his waist, groping his backside. Lucius was trying to not touch her, but wasn't very successful, as she was plastered to him.
Adriana tried not to choke on her wine as she watched the scene in front of her. She smiled ruefully at Lucius while he looked at the two of them and mouthed, "Help me," at them, before quickly smiling down at Umbridge who gazed lovingly up at him. Adriana wanted nothing more than to run up and tear that woman away from Lucius and free him from what must be a horrible experience, but she had to be strong and resist the temptation.
Just as Adriana looked away from Lucius, Cornelius Fudge approached her. Her stomach lurched as he put his hand on her arm and pulled her onto the dance floor. Fudge pressed her body so tightly to his, she could hardly breath. She felt his hot breath on her neck as he whispered dirty innuendos in her ear. Adriana felt nauseated and more than anything she wanted to do something to Fudge. Something bad, something terrible, but she couldn't. He was the Minister of Magic, and as she was well aware of, he was in a position of power and not to be messed with. Not unless she wanted to see what the inside of Azkaban looked like.
Looking over Fudge's shoulder, she caught Lucius' eye. Her heart filled with pain as she watched him dancing with Umbridge. They remained locked in one another's gazes until the dance ended, both trapped in situations beyond their control.
As the dance finally came to a stop, Adriana tried to walk away from Fudge, but he insisted on following her around. Making a bee line for the refreshment table, she downed a glass of wine in one gulp. Seeing as Fudge wasn't going to let her alone, she tried to think of ways to divert him. That pathetic Percy boy was still standing alone at the food table across from them. His coat tails were still probably in the punch bowl. Walking back over to him, Fudge followed her. "Percy, I'd like you to meet somebody, although since you work for the Ministry, you've probably met him many times already. Percy, this is Cornelius Fudge, Cornelius, this is Percy Weasley."
Percy's eyes grew large, he stood up straight and cleared his throat. Holding out his hand, he said, "Minister Fudge, what an honour it is to finally meet you. I'm honoured to work for you sir."
Fudge shook Percy's hand and replied, "Well, I'm sure the Ministry can use good people like you in their ranks, boy. Weasley, say are you related to Arthur Weasley?"
"Yes, he's my father," Percy replied. Adriana would've loved to have stayed and seen how the conversation ended, but she was too busy running for her life.
Spotting Severus, Adriana walked up to him and pulled him onto the dance floor. He didn't look to happy to her, and she was sure he'd tell her why.
"You ran off! I couldn't find you. Albus entrusted you to me, and I can't do my job if you don't stay near me," Severus spoke to her in a disapproving voice.
"Sev, nothing happened. I've been a good girl, I promise. You were being so difficult to be around that I wanted to look around a bit, that's all," Adriana replied.
"Well, I want you to stay with me for the rest of the night. I'll not be the one responsible to Albus for losing you, understood?" Severus looked in her eyes, waiting for an answer.
Sighing, Adriana replied, "Yes, Sev, whatever you say."
They continued to dance several more dances together, until there were only a few more minutes till midnight. Stepping away momentarily from Severus to get another glass of wine, Adriana saw Lucius duck behind the clock across the room. There was only a couple of minutes left before midnight and she didn't have much time to see him again. As she began to rush towards him, a hand caught her by the wrist and pulled her around to face a person she didn't want to see again: Fudge. "There you are girl, now it's almost midnight, and I want you to be my New Year's kiss," Fudge said, smiling at Adriana.
He began to pull her towards him and Adriana panicked. Without thinking of the consequences, she pushed Fudge away from her. "No! Don't touch me! Get away from me!" Fudge's eyes glared at her as she began to run in the opposite direction, towards the clock.
As she rounded the corner, she came face to face with Lucius. Tears streamed down her face and she tried to catch her breath. "Lucius...Lucius...I tried. I tried for so long, but I can't do it anymore," Adriana began to cry harder.
Lucius was thrilled that she was talking to him once again, grabbed her arms and pulled her to him. The clock began to strike midnight as he bent his face to hers and kissed her. She clung to him as though he was going to disappear. He wiped the tears out of her eyes and held her face in his hands. "Look at you, you've gotten so thin, I had no idea it's been like this for you. How could Albus do that to you?" Anger burned in his heart as he saw what Adriana had gone through over the past few months. Lucius held her tightly as they kissed once again. Together, they apparated back to her house.