The Masked Man
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters.
Lucius whistled softly, and waited. He heard the familiar shuffling of scraggly robes against dirt, and smiled when a eerie, rattling breathing approached him.
"Hello, yes," Lucius said to the Dementor. "How are you today?"
"I've had better days," The Dementor said in a suffocated voice.
Lucius forced a sympathetic smile. "Yes well, I'm sorry to hear that. I was wondering, could you do me a favor?"
"Okay."
"I'm throwing a costume party," Lucius said proudly. "I was wondering if you could fetch me a piece of parchment, a quill, and an owl?" He looked around. "Oh, and some pink curtains. This place is starting to look a bit drabbish."
"Ohhh, a costume party? That's my favorite. I used to go as a princess every year when I was younger."
"Er…"
"May I…" The Dementor glided forward a bit. "…Come?"
"Erm—listen, I'd love to invite you, but uh…the guests, you know, they're not used to you. I don't want anyone to go home soulless…"
The Dementor hung his head. "Yes, I understand…"
"So, that parchment and such?"
The Dementor nodded and slowly glided out of the room, muttering things about "never being good enough" and "only wanting to be a real boy" under his breath.
Lucius sat on his bed (which he had also asked the Dementors to bring over upon his arrival—Malfoys don't sleep on the floor!), smiling to himself and tapping his fingers against his knees.
"Ah, yes!" he said when the Dementor came back. "Good job. Look, I feel really bad about not being able to invite you—listen, you can eat the leftovers, okay?"
"We Dementors cannot eat human food…"
"Um…well, you can feed on the annoying, drunk guests."
"Mmm…yes…that would be splendid…" and the Dementor floated out of the room again. Lucius shook his head, retreating back to his bed. He stared down at the blank parchment and thought hard, chewing the top of his pen.
Who shall I invite? He thought. Well, some people were inevitable. Albus Dumbledore, he wrote down. Harry Potter. He should probably invite Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley at that rate.
"Oh, I can't forget Hagrid!" he said aloud, scribbling down the name Rubeus Hagrid.
Twenty minutes later, Lucius's list was complete, and he stared down at it with pride:
Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley, Severus Snape, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Neville Longbottom, Minerva McGonogall, Arthur Weasley, fuck I might as well invite all the Weasleys, Dean Thomas, Lee Jordan, Barty Crouch Jr., Filch, Viktor Krum, Cedric Diggory, Fleur Decour, Voldemort. He whistled again softly and the Dementor came shrugging back into the room.
"Could you bring me some blank invitations?"
"Oh, sure."
He came back a few moments later with a box of blank party invitations and Lucius began to write on each of them: You Are Invited to Lucius Malfoy's Party at Azkaban! Next Saturday in the Azkaban Ball Room. Be there at 7! (Dementor-free night!)
He attached them all to the owl's leg and watched it fly away.
That Next Saturday
"Do you know what you're wearing?" The Dementor asked. Lucius pulled a trunk out from under his bed and winked at the Dementor.
"I was thinking of going as…" he opened the trunk and reached in, laughing eccentrically as he pulled out a pair of scraggly black robes. "A Dementor!"
"Oh…I'm flattered…"
Lucius smiled. "You ordered the drinks and things, right?" he asked, suddenly anxious. "The pumpkin juice, Butterbeer—"
"Yes," The Dementor said. "The food, too…don't worry…"
"And…?" Lucius asked, smiling mischievously."
"And the firewhiskey for your…lushes…"
"Ha!" Lucius said, stripping off his regular clothes. "That's my boy!"
"Ah…yes…boy…" The Dementor said, and turned to glide out of the room. Lucius draped the robes around his body and pulled the hood up. It reminded him of his old Death Eater robes, minus the scary mask. At a quarter til seven, the Dementor came back to lead him to the Party Room. It was exactly as Lucius had wanted, the drinks and food set up on a table against the wall, an undead band finishing setting up in one corner, the lights dim and mysterious, and various rooms for guests to venture into.
At five after seven, the Dementor came in to alert Lucius that the firsts of the guests were arriving. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley came walking nervously into the room.
"Welcome, Harry!" Lucius said. Harry cast a mean glance at the Dementor. "I'll Patronus you, you git!" he yelled.
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. "Stop it, I think he's a guest!"
Ron rolled his eyes. "You think house elves were bad?" he said to Lucius. "Hermione's starting a new group for Dementors!"
"He's actually not a guest," Lucius said, shooing the Dementor away. "But you all look great!"
Harry was wearing green emerald robes and a blonde wig.
"You're a Slytherin!" Lucius said, clapping his hands together gleefully.
"Not just a Slytherin," Harry said, looking slightly offended. "I'm Draco!"
"Ah, yes…well…Ronald, are you going as Remus?"
Ron smoothed down the fur on his arms and snapped his long teeth.
"Actually," Hermione said. "Ronald and I were having a bit of…fun…and I was trying out this new spell…"
"Oh…" Lucius said, frowning.
"No no, it's all right," Ron said. "The nurses at St. Mungos told us it should wear off soon…but it's perfect timing, isn't it? Just right for your party!"
"Yes…"
"Well don't you like my costume?" Hermione asked.
"No, not really, I don't care for house elves."
Hermione crossed her arms, scowling, and sauntered over to a table to pour herself some punch.
"Awesome costume, Lucius," a pair of voices sounded from across the room. Fred and George Weasley came walking over, grinning.
"You didn't wear a costume!" Lucius gasped.
"Sure we did," Fred said, confused. "I came as George."
"And I came as Fred!" George said.
"Very well…"
The other guests arrived shortly afterwards—Hagrid came as a fairy, Severus and Sirius arrived hand-in-hand, Severus wearing his usual scowl while Sirius smiled excitedly—they were dressed as kittens, looking ridiculously cute with whiskers and perky ears, and of course, long tails protruding from their backsides.
"Evening, Lucius," Severus said, taking a sip of punch that Sirius had gotten for him.
"Hey, I'm glad you could make it," Lucius said.
"The band is superb!" Sirius said.
"Yes, Albus does seem to be enjoying it…" Severus said, peering over at the tall, bearded man jumping up and down among the other teenagers in the mosh pit. "Oh, for Merlin's Beard, is there any dignity left…"
A slow song came on suddenly.
"Come on, Sev, let's dance!" Sirius said. Severus rolled his eyes and shrugged at Lucius, who smiled and shooed them off to the dance floor. He leaned against the wall, watching his friends having a good time, but wishing to himself that he had someone to dance with.
"Lucius!"
Lucius turned his head to see a tall, lanky Remus striding toward him. They smiled and shook hands.
"Sorry, no costume, just now changed back…" Remus said, frowning slightly.
"Not a problem," Lucius said, "you look awful enough to fit in…"
Remus laughed and ran a hand through his honey-blonde hair. "A slow dance, hm…?" Their eyes met. "Would you care to…"
"I would," Lucius said, and they linked arms and walked out onto the dance floor. The night progressed exactly as Lucius expected (and even better, since he got to steal a bit of snogging time with Remus). It got even better when he realized that almost everyone he had invited had showed up—Fleur and Bill were chatting excitedly with Viktor Krum and Hermione Granger, Ron gazing on in jealously. A tall, good-looking boy wearing a blue and red Muggle Superhero outfit, no other than Cedric Digory, flashed a dazzling smile at Lucius before heading out onto the dance floor alongside a herd of redheads.
"Hello," a soft voice said. Lucius turned around and looked into the black mask of a tall stranger, wearing only long black robes and a solemn expression on his face. "Care to dance?"
"Um…sure," Lucius said. The tall man took Lucius's hand in his and guided him out onto the dance floor.
"Do I know you?" Lucius asked the stranger.
"I don't know," the man said, staring into him with piercing eyes. The bass thumped through Lucius and the masked man put a hand on his waist—they didn't dance to the rock music, nor did they slow dance—the stranger just seemed to sway to his own beat, bringing Lucius with him.
"You know, I don't much appreciate people arriving to my parties who weren't invited," Lucius said, although he was smiling.
"Oh?" the man said, smirking slightly. "You're a good dancer."
"Thank you."
"Why are you in Azkaban?"
Lucius shrugged. "Some little thing to do with a prophecy…Voldemort!"
"Excuse me?"
But just then, Voldemort had entered the Ball Room.
"Voldy!" everyone yelled.
Voldemort, clad out in a seeker uniform with a funny scar on his head, smiled and sauntered through the crowd, heading to Harry.
"Look Harry, I'm you!" he said. They began to laugh uncontrollably together, then linked arms and headed to one of the many mysterious rooms that lay beyond the Ball Room.
Lucius, who had momentarily forgotten what he was doing, felt his arms lighten, and realized that the masked man was backing away from him.
"I'm sorry, I—"
The man raised a finger to his lips, and then beckoned him with his fingers to follow him. Lucius did so, following the man to one of the many doors. They entered one with strobe lights and loud disco music, and Lucius felt the masked man run his fingers along his chest. He didn't back away when the stranger pressed his lips against his.
"Who are you…" Lucius whispered.
"Does it really matter…" the man said, and without another word, they began to snog furiously.
"Mmm…" Lucius moaned.
The man pulled a small flask out of his robes pocket and took a swig. "Would you like some?"
Lucius accepted the offer and took a swig. "Ah, firewhiskey," he said, grinning. "Is it your favorite?"
The stranger's eyes flashed.
"I know this is going to sound ridiculous," Lucius said as the man began to unzip his pants. "But you look so familiar…"
"Do I?" the man asked, but Lucius never got to answer because he felt his cock being devoured suddenly and intensely.
After only a few moments, Lucius came, and the man stood up, smiling.
Lucius stared up at him, zipping up his pants. "Tell me…please…" he said, placing his fingers on the mask. "Who you are…"
The man smiled and took off his mask.
Lucius gasped, gaping in shock as his eyes rested on none other than the face of his own son.
"Happy Halloween, father!" Draco said, laughing maliciously, and he pulled the mask back on before opening the door and running back out to join the rest of the party.