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Challenges listed at the bottom.

Word Count: 464

Hogwarts Assignment 1: Ancient Runes, Task 1: Write about a canonically wealthy character.


Morning Rituals


You watch him as he reads the newspaper. There's something elegant, even in such a simple action, and you wonder sometimes if it's learnt, or if he was born with it.

He'd say he was born with it, of course, because he's very proud of the blood that runs through his veins, but you still wonder.

You can imagine a baby Lucius, being taught how to walk with a walking stick by his father, and the thought amuses you. He glances over the paper at you, as though he knows what you're thinking, and rolls his eyes.

"Whatever you're thinking, stop it," he tells you, and you laugh, because you love being a thorn in his side more than anything else in the world.

"Bite me," you reply cheerfully, taking a bite of your bread roll, to emphasise your point.

"Why do I put up with you?" he asks, and you treat it as a rhetorical question, because you both know why he puts up with you. He loves you.

Besides, it's not like you haven't asked yourself what the hell you're doing there in the past. You have, numerous times, but the answer is always the same. You love him.

He enjoys taking care of you with the same enthusiasm as you use to exasperate him, and it all balances out. He needs someone to challenge him. His upbringing, his wealth, have left him with few people to challenge him.

That's what accounts for his ego, in your opinion.

Regardless, it's entertaining to annoy him while he reads his morning paper, before you have to go to work and he has to… do whatever it is he does. He's never really been able to answer that question, and you don't care enough to push.

When you turned your back on politics, it was with a slammed door and thirty padlocks. You only suffer it now when forced, when Lucius has a ball that he needs a date for, and even then, most of the people in Lucius' circle have learnt that politics is the quickest way to irritate you.

Lucius closes the newspaper and turns his attention to you, flipping his long blond—he refuses to accept that the white blond is turning white grey, no matter how many times you tell him. You accept the hand he lays out, and allow him to pull you from your seat, and into his lap.

His arms are strong, and they wrap around your waist, holding you possessively against him. Smiling, you nuzzle against his neck until he laughs, a carefree sound that only you ever get to hear.

"I love you," you murmur, the words vibrating through his neck. He presses a kiss to your forehead and squeezes you tighter.

"I love you too, Harry."


Written for:

Film Festival: 15. Newspaper

Games Corner: Red: Trafalgar Square: Blonde Hair

Showtime: 14. Thorn

Pucker Up: Charlie Weasley: 1. Carefree

Puzzle Club: Puzzle 5: Second Person

Chocolate Frogs: Xavier Rastrick: Entertaining

NeonFae's Nibbles: Banana Bread: Ego (1) "Bite me." (2) Lucius Malfoy (3)

365: 4. Exasperate

Musical Yearly: 33. 90's: Creep: What the hell am I doing here?

Character Collection: 214. Lucius Malfoy

Insane Challenge: 997. Second Person