Chapter Thirty-four: Father
Consciousness came slowly and with it the awareness of a tell-tale warmth at her wrist. Rose smiled. Lucius would likely scoff, but she swore she could tell Draco's summons from his father's. It was insistent and lacked his father's subtlety, like the little dragon himself.
She sat up with a slight hiss of pain and Lucius stirred. He'd been generous enough to heal her after he'd had his way with her last night, but the soreness, she'd learned, would have to work itself out. She sighed deeply. It was well worth it for the profoundly satisfying pleasure he was capable of giving. Even after only a few hours of sleep, she felt totally at peace, as though she'd worked through a month of stress. She stretched her arms above her head then slid out of bed heading for the pajamas she'd left hanging across Lucius' reading chair.
"Where are you off to, pet?" he asked gently, with none of the coldness she'd heard from him the last few days. If regaining his favor had been her goal, she'd succeeded immeasurably.
"Sorry, sir. I have to go," she whispered. Reverting to calling him 'sir' had been one of the perks of submitting to him last night. Seeing how uncomfortable she was calling him 'master,' he told her that she should return to her former method of address... as long as she never forgot her place. 'I don't want to forget, master,' had been her reply.
"And, why?"
"Draco's calling me," she answered, sliding into her clothes.
"At two o'clock?" he asked, a slight hint of apprehension in his voice.
"He's fine, sir. This isn't unusual. He just doesn't sleep very well. Would you like me to come back?"
"You'd better, and quickly."
"I don't know about the 'quickly' part, but as soon as I can, I promise." With that, she was off.
Draco was a bit of a wreck.
It was rare to see him like this, naked to the waist and bathed in sweat. He sat in the middle of the bed with long legs crossed under him, elbows on his knees, and his precious face buried in his hands. Her heart went out to him. It must have been a really bad one this time.
"Bad dream?" she asked rhetorically.
He released a ragged sigh. "It took you long enough."
"Well, believe it or not, I was actually asleep. Please note the jammies." She tugged at the shoulders of her favorite blue pajamas.
"Oh," he mumbled. It was the closest she'd get to an apology, but his regret was obvious. He was accustomed to her being awake at this hour.
"You want to talk about it?"
He shook his head. "No. It was just a memory, anyway."
She propped a pillow against the headboard and plopped down, resting her head on the polished wood and staring at the ceiling. "Well, those are even worse than nightmares. What happened?"
He shook his head, but elaborated anyway. "It was father," he began quietly. "After that Alex whore tricked him into signing her bloody contract, his 'master' took his wand from him and let those underlings torture him for hours. When he came home..." He paused, shook his fair head, and continued. "When he came home, he was... it was awful. I thought he was going to die."
She grimaced briefly. No wonder he hated Alex so much. All this time she'd thought it was just the fact that she'd hurt him so badly. But, like his father, he surprised her with his concern for another. "Your father's tougher than a Ridgeback, Drac. I'm not sure he can be killed. That's why I'm so scared of him," she joked.
He looked at her with haunted eyes. "That's what I'd always thought, until I stayed up all night, giving him potions he could barely swallow, reading to him when he was restless, watching him suffer. He's not immortal, and the Dark Lord is insane. I never know from one day to the next if he's going to find some reason to dispose of my father. Every time he's summoned, I go mad. If the Dark Lord knew..." He paused, knowing he'd said too much.
Rose let him off the hook by finishing for him. "If he knew that Lucius was planning to take his throne, he'd kill him. I worry about it, too, Drac. But your father's a brilliant strategist. I have every faith in his ability to do this."
Draco lay his head down on Rose's thighs, very much like a frightened child, and curled his body against her legs. "What was your father like?"
She smiled at his indelicate shift of subject, and answered softly in her most lulling voice. "He was my closest friend, funny and adventurous. He taught me to be strong and smart and independent, and he was very accepting of others, no matter what they were like." She chuckled briefly. "That courtesy never extended to anyone who tried to hurt his family, though. He was vicious when it came to our safety." She rambled on for a long time, noting happily that the longer she talked, the deeper Draco's breathing became. Soon, he was peacefully asleep, and she brushed his hair back from his eyes, smiling down at his innocent face.
Sometime later, a gentle hand shook her awake, and she opened her eyes to see Lucius looming over her, a single eyebrow raised in question. She chuckled silently and held a finger to her lips. With some difficulty she managed to slip Draco's arms from around her hips, and slide her legs from beneath his head. She crept past Lucius motioning for him to follow. When they finally passed through the door, she checked once more to be certain that he was still asleep, then carefully slid the door closed behind her and drew her wand.
"Silencio," she whispered, then released a breath as she turned to face a mildly amused Lucius. "How long was I gone?"
"A little more than an hour. I would have left you there, but I imagined you sleep better when you're horizontal."
She laughed lightly. "Yeah, I do, but I should just get to work at this point. It's almost dawn."
"You need to sleep, pet. I'm well aware that I am an exhausting lover. Go back to bed." He spoke the words gently enough, but it was obvious that the instructions weren't optional.
"Sir, I know you mean well, but I'm up, and I have errands to run in Hogsmeade today, so I may as well get an early start on breakfast." She lay a hand on his arm and turned a warm smile up at him. "I'm okay."
He seemed to consider this briefly, then made up his mind. "I want a word with you about my son, then I'll let you go about your business," he stated in a tone that brooked no argument. "Go and make a pot of tea, then return to my chambers."
"Yes, sir."
When she returned, Lucius was brooding in his chair in front of the hearth.
"Morning, sir."
"Barely," he greeted distractedly.
When the tea was served and Rose invited to sit down, Lucius began to speak. "How often does my son have trouble sleeping?"
"Fairly often," she answered honestly. "Two, three times a week."
He nodded, considering. "And what is it that keeps him awake?"
She shifted uncomfortably. "Oh, he's young and..."
"I would advise you to answer the question honestly, Rose," he warned, his voice edged.
"Okay, but when you don't like the answer, just remember that you insisted, and don't hex me into Hades." Lucius took a slow, deliberate sip from his cup then placed it on it's saucer, pointedly refusing to even acknowledge the request. Fine. "He doesn't go into much detail, but something happened to you... with the Dark Lord. Apparently, he hurt you and you came home in pretty bad shape. Draco thought you were dying, in fact..."
"I was," he interrupted softly. She searched his eyes for a moment, but they were no longer focused on her. He looked beyond her to some other place and time, most likely the one she was describing. A moment passed in which she waited for him to elaborate. When he didn't, she continued.
"As I'm sure you can imagine, that kind of thing can be pretty traumatic for a kid. He has nightmares about it, and sometimes he can't sleep at all. He worries about things." She examined her hands very carefully.
"What things?" he prompted impatiently.
She sighed deeply. "Things... having to do with you," she said resignedly. His eyes shifted back into focus, his gaze piercing through the haze of sleep that had suddenly begun to fog her mind.
"Woman, if I am forced to continue to push you to talk, I will find a punishment that doesn't arouse you and inflict it upon you until you go mad." He was exaggerating, she knew, yet somehow the threat was enough to loosen her tongue.
"Fine." She sat her cup down hard causing a splash of tea over the side. "He's lonely and isolated and bored out of his mind. For Mab's sake, his only real friend is the maid, and no matter how honored I am, I hate that for him. He feels like the only person in this world that he loves thinks of him as a walking sperm bank and a necessary nuisance."
"You're exaggerating," he interjected.
"That's a direct quote, sir." He raised both eyebrows, a gesture she'd come to acquaint with extreme surprise, but she had gotten started now and she plunged on relentlessly, occasionally stopping for a gulp of tea. "And he knows what you're plotting... about the Dark Lord. He's terrified that you'll be killed. Your son adores you, sir, worships the ground you walk on, and you're just throwing that away. If you continue to exclude him from your life, that love will decay, and he'll grow..." she yawned abruptly, "to despise you." She blinked heavily. "Excuse me."
She was suddenly very uncomfortable with the narrow focus of his gaze. He was, in fact, watching her like a hawk as she emptied her cup and yawned again. Her eyes began to sting, and she rubbed them thoroughly. As she drew her hands away, it occurred to her exactly how recognizable this sudden onset of exhaustion was. She shook her head slowly, trying to keep Lucius in focus.
"Lucius Malfoy," she slurred. "I can't believe you..." she yawned again, actively fighting the heaviness that was stealing over her.
"Drugged you?" he finished for her, his voice light with amusement. "Oh, come now, pet" he said affectionately, sliding his arms beneath her and plucking her from the chair as if she were a child, "I'm a Malfoy. That's our way. Besides," he added, depositing her gently in the bed, "you must understand that, one way or the other, no matter how much I like you, no matter what you think is best, I will be obeyed." He smoothed the hair back from her forehead and kissed it gently just as her consciousness began to slip away. "You need sleep, and you will have it. It's a fast-acting, but short-term potion. You'll feel more yourself in a few hours."
It was the violent sunlight that awakened her, she was sure of it. Rose blinked hard into the radiance, trying to focus on thoughts that wouldn't stand still. She yawned and stretched and slowly recalled the memory of how she'd gotten there.
Less than a minute later she was at the door of the study.
"Draco, your calculations in the third column are completely wrong."
"Sorry, father," came a familiar voice, much more timid than usual.
"Don't apologize, son," Lucius scolded lightly. "Put it right. You're about to lose your inheritance in an easily-avoidable exporting blunder."
"Yes, father."
A few moments passed in which the only sound was the scratching of quills. Rose waited quietly.
"That's much better. Is it becoming more comprehensible to you?"
"I think so, father."
"Good, now if you'll just balance those accounts while I work on this, I'd be most appreciative."
"Yes, father."
Rose rounded the corner and leaned on the doorframe, arms crossed, smirk in place, and cleared her throat. Draco jumped a bit and gave her a warm smile when he saw her. Lucius continued his work as if he'd heard nothing.
"What are you boys doing?" she asked with a small laugh.
Lucius laid his quill aside and looked up with dignity.
"I'm teaching my son how to balance the family accounts."
"Not quite as exciting as racing bludgers around the garden, Drac," Rose teased. "How you holding up?"
He smiled broadly, something she'd never seen him do in his father's presence. "Father promised he'd teach me how to duel if I helped him with the accounts."
Rose's eyes flew wide open. "Which brings me to my reason for interrupting. I'm headed for Hogsmeade and the Alley... where I'll be picking up many, many restoratives and healing potions... for no particular reason."
Lucius arched his brow. "I'm quite capable of teaching my son to duel, madam. He's already quite competent on his own, actually. He merely requires private instruction to hone his skills."
She held up her hands in surrender. "Alright, okay. He's your link to the future."
"He's a great deal more than that," he corrected, then smiled wickedly, glancing at the clock on the wall. "Did someone oversleep?"
Brown eyes narrowed at the obvious reference to his use of the sleeping draught, and she shook her head slowly. "That was some impressive sleight-of-hand, sir, but I'm opting to forget that you did it."
"I would suggest you bear it in mind," Lucius responded seriously, "along with the lesson it entailed."
"Yes, sir. Understood," she responded soberly. By the confounded look on Draco's face as he watched the two of them talk, it was easy to see that he had no idea what his father and the maid were on about, and she was somehow relieved that he didn't know how easily his father had deceived her. "So," she continued cheerfully. "Do you gentlemen need anything?"
Half an hour and a long, hot shower later, she was in the Hogsmeade market buying summer vegetables. A short, middle-aged wizard with sinewy arms and a gap-toothed grin called to her from across the aisles.
"Little Rosie, it's a pleasure, as always. Looking for anything particular today?"
"Just the usual, Phillip."
"Of course, Of course. But, we have some very nice tropical fruit just apparated in from South America. Perhaps, do you think Master Malfoy would care to indulge?" He gestured to a huge display that she had somehow missed.
Her eyes opened a bit wider on closer inspection and she hastily began picking the choicest pieces on the table. "You know, Phillip, a nice fruit salad might be just what the mediwitch ordered. If not for him, then definitely for me."
"I'm happy to hear that it pleases you, my dear. Please give Master Malfoy my regards." He stepped away, then stepped back hesitantly. "Is... uh... everything alright, Miss? He's treating you with proper respect, ain't he?"
"Phillip, everything's fine," she assured him for what had to be the tenth time in their brief acquaintance over the past few weeks. "Mister Malfoy treats me very well. You know how I hate it when you insinuate otherwise. Honestly, I don't know what all the fuss was about."
"Begging your pardon, Rosie, it's just that I worry, you see. He's been accused of awful crimes, and his association with You-Know-Who..."
"Phillip, really!" The little man stepped back a bit at her vehemence. "His son was in danger. What would you have done had it been your Stephen or Lila the Dark Lord was threatening?"
He lowered his head in shame. "I know. You're right, Miss. He did the only honorable thing."
"And, he's an honorable man. I hope that you will refrain from encouraging such shameful ideas about him in the future, especially to others," she scolded mildly.
"I will, Miss."
She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "That's my Phillip. Now, be a dear and tally this up in a hurry, will you? I have a million things to do today."
As the shopkeeper turned away, a shadow detached from the gloom in the back of the market, and slipped toward the maid.
"Well played, Rose," came a silky whisper in her ear as a deft hand slid swiftly into her pocket. Before she could react, Severus slipped past as if she were just another stranger and disappeared into the street.
Author's note: Hi! I just wanted to take a moment to reiterate my thanks to all my readers and reviewers. Your overwhelming support has kept me writing through personal tragedy, financial upheaval, and emotional Hades. What your words have meant to me, I can't express in writing. I wish I could fix all of you a veggie lasagna and some tiramisu, and spend a summer evening in the park just getting to know all of you. Thanks for everything. You guys are unbelievable.
Intel Ewok: It's always so gratifying to hear that you like my characters, especially Lucius as I have such a soft spot for him. His unpredictable personality is, I think, quite calculated. He does it to gauge reactions and keep people intimidated (as if his power alone couldn't manage that), and it's so fun to write!
mary: What do you know, there were more Lucius/Rose scenes. Hope they made you smile.
Fleur K: I'm glad that you liked the chapter and Lucius. Alex's plans are soon to be revealed.
Rycca Wolfbane: Welcome home! I'm so sorry about your brother. What a jerk! It seems that, no matter how much Severus Snape interaction we have, we're never well prepared to deal with real-life meanies. Any idea what made him act that way? Once again, I must reiterate that Lucius is not a slimeball. He's a dominant man, and a vicious one at that, but Rose liked it... whether she wanted to or not, just as he knew she would. I'm sure Sev wouldn't hesitate to burn her if he thought it would get her hot (unintended pun, there). He's already insinuated that he intends to whip her, now. Won't that be fun? By the way, don't tease about that whip. It's been a long time, and you're making me squirm.
Lady Jenilyn: Note to Jenilyn: Don't piss Lucius off. Never gotten into pain? Have it your way, but I must confess that I'm a painiac. Or, does that already show? :-) It's actually quite flattering that someone who doesn't like it that way enjoys my description of how it makes one feel. It's not nearly descriptive enough in my opinion. There's so much more to it that's almost impossible to put into words. Sigh... You miss Draco? Ta-da! Here he is again for your reading pleasure, the little dragon! Yay!! Just between us, he's going to be around a lot more now. The bracelet is scheduled to be burned off (courtesy of Sev's potion-making skill) in about two weeks, it's difficult to tell what Lucius does and doesn't suspect at this point, and Voldemort, I feel, doesn't have much longer to rule. Lucius is relentless once he's focused on a goal. Your out-of-control characters are a very familiar scenario to me. My outline has been shot to hell several times in the past few weeks because Lucius and Rose refuse to do what I tell them to! Honestly, it makes you feel sort of like a puppet, just typing away, recording everything, as you watch them do their own thing in your head. I often compare myself to Astinus, recorder of the world's history, from the Dragonlance Chronicles. Great books, by the way, if you've never read them. Raistlin is like Severus and Lucius rolled into one. You'd like him. I'm sorry about your sister being a Drama Queen. That type has always gotten under my skin. It has to be particularly bad to have one in the family. And, oh, how I relate to the sibling being the apple of the parent's eye! Poor Jenilyn! Families suck!
Lost Emerald: Oh, boy! A new reviewer! Hi! How are you? Sit down, make yourself at home. Have a cup of tea. Somehow, I find it incredibly cool that somewhere in the world, someone I don't know was being teased because they were glued to my story. That's just so... hang on. I gotta go do the happy dance... Okay. I'm back. And your compliments! I'm blushing over here! It's good also to have another bad-boy fan chime in. And the fact that you don't see Alex as being Mary-Sueish just warms my heart. I don't know what all the obsession is about Mary-Sues. I don't mind them, but if I write one, I'd prefer it to be intentional. Alex was never intended to be either that perfect or that predictable. Draco in leather pants... yeah. I feel like a bloody pedophile saying it, but it's a very nice picture to have in one's head. Thanks for reviewing!