Malfoy's desires

Chapter eleven: A cup of tea and some Malfoy.

All names and places associated to Harry Potter belong to JKRowling and associates. I'm just borrowing its world for fun… no money is to be made from this.

Katherine took another bite from her plate of fish and chips, as she continued her perusal of the latest issue of the Prophet. She was waiting for Bill to arrive, having promised to have lunch with him.

She glanced up at the clock on the wall and wondered if he had forgotten their lunch date. No matter, she thought distractedly, she had gone ahead and ordered her lunch anyway. She only had a one-hour lunch break after all.

She went back to her reading, not paying much attention to the sounds that surrounded her.

She was taking another bite when someone came along and sat next to her. Thinking it was Bill, she swallowed quickly and turned to the newcomer. 'Bill, why are you so late...'

'Firstly, my name is not Bill.' Lucius said with humor in his voice, 'secondly, how can I be late?'

'Oh! Mr. Malfoy, I wasn't expecting you here' Katherine said quickly.

'Obviously, Miss. Cardiff.' He smiled at her as he undid the clasps of his cloak. 'But here I am, ready to share some time with you. Would you mind the company?'

Katherine blinked at the question, 'Um, I guess not. Are you here alone?'

'For now, yes. But I'll be meeting someone later on. I stopped by since I still had an hour's wait till then. Can I offer you something to drink?' He eyed her appreciatively, enjoying her slight discomfort at his presence.

'Nothing for me, I still have my pot of tea to finish up.' she indicated the lovely bright blue pot at her elbow. 'No liquor while on duty I'm afraid. But thanks for the offer.' Katherine was feeling oddly nervous by his sudden appearance, but she knew she could easily leave at a moments notice if he started to bother her. She silently cursed Bill for forgetting to be here.

Lucius gently arched one of his brows, 'quite understandable, my dear. Your professionalism is commendable, I might add. We so rarely see such upstanding ministry workers these days.'

Katherine wasn't sure if what he said was meant to be praise or a thinly veiled insult. Rather than start a row over it, she smiled sweetly and nodded her head. 'Thank you for the complement, I guess. But then again, I never imbibe alcohol so early in the day. That being said, I have to finish eating before I risk being late for work.'

Malfoy nodded at her words while signaling the bar-witch to order his drink. 'A glass of your finest port, mademoiselle.' he said casually to the young witch.

After the bar-witch deposited his glass before him, Lucius started to eye Katherine as she finished her meal. She ate heartily, wasting no time to finish her plate. As she took her napkin to delicately wipe the corners of her mouth, she caught his stare, wondering what could possibly be interesting to him.

'Do you usually stare at people while they eat?' she asked after discarding her napkin.

'No, I never do. But today, you have captured my attention and I can't seem to look away. Does that bother you?' he smirked as she twitched her nose at his comment.

'I can't say that it bothers me, I'm just wondering what you want from me at this very moment.' Katherine didn't believe in cat and mouse games, she preferred the direct route when she wanted to know the truth about something.

Lucius chuckled at her frank talk, finding it refreshing from one so young and of the female gender. 'Hmm, right now I want nothing else but some friendly conversation, if that is agreeable with you.'

'Friendly conversation? After the other night's war of words? Is that possible between us two, it makes one wonder...' Katherine put a few galleons on the table to pay for her meal.

Lucius wanted to wince, but being a Malfoy, he could not show any weakness. He quickly glanced at her, evaluating if she would put up with any bravado on his part. He saw her own calculating stare and knew he couldn't lie his way out of the conversation.

'Well... I do believe that I owe you an apology, Katherine. My intervention that evening was clearly out of line and very distasteful. I hope and pray that you accept my humblest apologies...' He wasn't groveling, or barely... He just wanted to keep things friendly between the two of them.

Katherine stared down at her cup of tea, evaluating if his apology was sincere or not. The apology had come without much coercion from her part, though it didn't explain his rather unexpected rise of anger. What had triggered him off?

Giving him a hard stare, she finally nodded her acceptance. 'I accept your apology, Mr. Malfoy. But would you mind explaining what riled you that night? One minute I'm dancing with Bill and the next one, you were literally coming down on me. I knew I hadn't offended you in the first place, since I didn't even know you were there!'

He lowered his eyes, fiddling with the foot of his glass of port. The girl was a straight shooter, to say the very least. And this made him very uncomfortable; how could he admit his jealousy to her? They had shared only one kiss and he was ready to defend her honor like a younger man would do for his intended. He wasn't some heart sick pup, for Merlin's sake!

'I... ' He started weakly, 'I really don't know how to explain it, Katherine.' He carefully looked back up, taking in her 'try me' look with some trepidation. 'I came in the restaurant and the first thing I see, is that 'boy' kissing you like there is no tomorrow.'

'And?' Katherine urged on

'I couldn't believe it at first. I never imagined that you would be so bold or brazen to let a man 'paw' you in that way... in such a public setting.' he added quickly. He smiled wryly at her, 'I know that I came forward to try and save your reputation, in a way. But it backfired on me, didn't it?'

She sat staring at him, emotions passing over her face swiftly, until she settled on her next question. 'Why did you think that my reputation needed any saving? I'm not well known like you are. How could it affect me in any way? No one even knew my name!'

Lucius winced that time. 'Well, as I said before, the whole thing backfired on me. Horribly so, I'm afraid.'

She knew he was keeping back something; so she pressed on to get it out of him. 'Maybe you have something against Bill?'

'I have nothing against Mr. Weasley, I barely know the man. I met him on a few occasion at Gringotts.' The only thing he had against him was the fact that he had held her in his arms. Malfoy was feeling a little ruffled by this time.

'Hmm!' she answered back in even tones. Thinking a little more about his words, Katherine finally saw the light of reason. 'You were jealous, weren't you?' she whispered, as she got closer to him, bending over the table to get a closer look at him.

Lucius pulled away from her, his face flushed with embarrassment and irritation. This wench was as keen as they could get. How did she deduce that so quickly?

'I wouldn't go so far as saying that...' he started to say until she snorted derisively at him. '... But I did feel somewhat put-off by the sight.'

'Put-off? That's a nice way of saying it.' she shook her head at him, 'this is just wonderful! One kiss and I'm forever yours?' she said flippantly, smiling at him in wonder.

Her tone angered him, so he looked down at his glass again, trying to diffuse his own feelings. It wouldn't do to blow up again.

'Listen... if you want to see me again, say so. If you don't, just stay away. It's as simple as that with me.' Katherine said bluntly. 'I agree that the kiss we shared the other night was surprising, but entirely brilliant. Would I mind a repeat? The answer is no, I wouldn't mind at all.'

Lucius stared at her, not quite believing what she had just said. He really hadn't expected her to come out with that answer. 'You thought it was 'brilliant'?' he murmured as his brows shot up, his face reflecting his disbelief.

'Yes. Brilliant, toe curling, wonderful, stupendous... whatever word you care to apply that means the same.' she watched him carefully out of the corner of her eye, catching the numerous emotions that were playing across his face.

'Oh!' he simply replied. 'Does that mean that you would be willing to have dinner with me in the not too distant future?'

'I don't know.' she said casually with a hint of maliciousness in her voice. 'Do you think it would be safe to go out with you? Since you were trying to defend my honor and such the other night.' She winked at him for effect.

There it was, his own words coming back to bite him on the... 'You are going to torture me with my own words, aren't you?'

She nodded in agreement. 'Yes, sir!'

He passed his hand over his face in exasperation. 'You are far too bright for your own good, my dear! But I do like a good challenge.'

'A challenge, am I now?' she nodded with approval. 'Good luck, sir! You might need it...' she left cryptically with a devilish grin.

'I should be saying that to you, my dear. I haven't lived this long without learning a few tricks to foil my adversaries.' he chuckled under his breath. Let her learn the lessons that he'll be serving her.

'My, my, my... is that a dare?' she uttered with a low voice, almost like a purr. Her eyes surveyed him with intensity.

'I should say so, my dear lady! You are on official notice then. I will be doing my utmost to seduce you senseless.' he breathed slowly under his breath, his eyes growing darker with un-hidden passion. He put his elbows on the table, pulling himself over the table and closer to her face. 'Will you accept the challenge?'

Their eyes met, his words hanging between them, waiting for her acceptance. She lowered her glance for a second, wetting her lips with the tip of tongue before looking back up at him. 'I accept.' she purred back at him.

Then before he could say anything else, she grabbed him by the nape and pulled him in for a quick kiss on the lips. It was over before it even started.

'I will say this,' she said finally, 'you may think that this will be an easy walk through the park, but I do know that I will be expecting great things from you.'

'Mark my words, my dear! I will be expecting as much from you.' Lucius was more than up for this challenge. All the fantasies he had dreamt up since their first encounter, would keep them very busy for some time.

Katherine stood up suddenly, taking a look at her watch in the process. 'Circe's girdle! I'm going to be late for work. Got to fly now... See you soon!' With a pop, she had apparated away without another word.

This had been the oddest conversation he had had with a witch in the longest time. Scratching his chin, he thought about the first thing he wanted to do with this lovely bit of witch flesh. Taking his glass of port, he slowly stood up and went to the stairs that led to the upper rooms of the inn. His meeting was being held in five minutes, giving him some time to think about her and their next encounter.