Chapter 10

Lucius practically skipped as he left his tutoring session for that morning. After the Mr. Collins incident, Draco had hired a new instructor, and had not only outlined in detail how he expected Lucius to be treated but had also placed Mitzy in charge of overseeing all sessions. The house elf was expected to report back to her master if the tutor so much as raised a finger to his charge. Therefore, Lucius didn't so much mind his tutoring sessions anymore, but that wasn't to say that he didn't look forward to being able to play during his free afternoons. And on a day as warm and beautiful as today, he wanted that play to be outside in the garden.

The boy made his way down the hall and into the dining room, where his guardian already sat waiting for him. Narcissa was conspicuously absent.

"How were your lessons? Did you learn anything exciting today?" Draco asked as the child took a seat at the table. The man tapped the tabletop once, and their meal appeared instantly.

"Mmhm. I learned about pixies! I'm going to see if I can spot any when I'm out in the garden this afternoon."

Draco almost laughed at the boy's enthusiasm but instead raised an eyebrow at that final statement. "I'm not sure if that will be possible today, Lucius. Mother is going to be away at a social function for much of the afternoon and I have a mountain of work to catch up on."

The younger Malfoy's brow wrinkled in frustration. That was not what he wanted to hear. "Can't you send Mitzy with me?"

The man shook his head. "No, Mitzy has work to catch up on now that she's done supervising your tutoring session."

The boy scowled. "Well, can't you come outside with me just for a little while?

His query was met with another head shake. "No, Lucius. I'm much too busy. You'll have to find something to entertain yourself with inside."

The child crossed his arms over his chest and slumped down in his chair. He turned his head to the side, away from his guardian. "Maybe I'll just go outside without you." He muttered after a moment, mostly to himself.

Draco heard him, though. "Look at me."

The boy turned and locked eyes with the elder Malfoy.

"Do I need to spell out what will happen if you step one toe outside of this house without me knowing?"

Lucius sighed, and then shook his head. As his guardian narrowed his eyes, though, he gave a verbal response. "No, sir."

"Very good." Draco said. "Now, eat your lunch."

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After the meal was over, Lucius ran off in search of something to occupy his time, while his guardian returned to his work in the study. However, the boy wasn't in the mood for most of the indoor activities he usually enjoyed – drawing, puzzles, reading. He seemed to have an excess of energy and no way to spend it. He was chased off from jumping on the bed by the house elves who were trying to make said beds. He was tempted to jump on the couches in the drawing room or library, but he was fairly certain Draco would disapprove if he happened to walk by or overhear. And when he chased Artie into the study and did laps around the elder Malfoy, he was quickly dismissed and told to go play elsewhere in the Manor.

He finally took to wandering around the approved parts of the house, trying to come up with something fun to do. He was about to give up and go play with his miniature quidditch set when his eyes settled on the potted plants in the foyer. If he couldn't go out and search for pixies, maybe he could play pixie expedition inside!

He set to work. There were three potted plants in the foyer, and it took him several moments to position them as desired. The two big ones were quite heavy, and he had to lean against the pot with his full weight in order to slide it across the floor. Next, he made his way into the drawing room and pulled out the four different potted plants of various sizes in there. Finally, he moved down one of the side halls toward the library and found two more plants.

By the time he had finished, he had recreated a miniature forest in the middle of the foyer. He raced upstairs and retrieved his Slytherin scarf, a pair of children's quidditch goggles (that had likely been Draco's once upon a time), and a toy spyglass. Making his way back down to the foyer, he practically dove into the middle of the plants – Artie by his side – and began playing explorer.

"Shh, Artie." He said, patting the dog's back, "We're searching for pixies. We have to be really quiet, or else they may not show themselves."

The boy lay down and crawled on his stomach, pausing from time to time to look at the plants with his spyglass. "Nothing there. Let's look over here. No, wait, Artie – sit!" He said in a hushed tone as the dog licked at his face. "You can't lick me. Pixies can smell dog slobber from a long distance away." He added, clearly abandoning any facts about the creatures that he had learned in that morning's lesson for his own more colorful ideas.

"Wait, I think I see one over there, behind those trees!" He said, scanning the 'trees' with his spyglass again. "Maybe she's shy. I know! We'll get some nectar to lure her out."

With that statement, Lucius scrambled to his feet and took off down one of the hallways to the kitchen, Artie at his heels. Pausing just inside the doorway, he noticed that Rosenbabble was currently distracted making one of her famous pies. He moved forward slowly and had concealed himself below the lip of the island counter when Artie followed him, his nails clicking on the marble tile. The chef's head shot up.

"Dogs is not being allowed in the kitchen! Out! Out!" She said, waving her stirring spoon in the air.

Luckily for Lucius, Artie was soon distracted by the defrosting meat the elves had left on the sideboard, and took off toward those delicacies - taking the kitchen elves attention with him. The boy seized the opportunity to climb onto a stool and lift down a nearly-full pitcher of lemonade. He dropped to the floor with it, proud of himself for only managing to spill a little bit.

He scrambled out of the kitchen - unknown to the elves - and was rejoined a few minutes later by Artie, who had been successfully shoo'd away from the prime cuts of meat.

"Okay, boy. We have the nectar." Lucius say as he emptied the decorative potpourri out of a bowl that had been sitting on one of the long, elegant side tables in the foyer. He poured some of the lemonade into the bowl. "Now we'll set it out and wait."

He positioned the vessel of sweetened liquid in the middle of his collection of potted plants, and then knelt down behind one of the 'trees' to wait.

"I see her!" he said after a moment, lowering his eyeglass from where he had positioned it against his eye. "Though, I think she's still too scared to come any closer. Let's go in here." He patted the dog on the head and then backed toward the coat closet.

Artie followed, though not before upsetting the bowl of lemonade. Lucius' eyes widened at the puddle of liquid that had suddenly splashed over the floor. He reached forward to pull the hound away, all while deciding that he would have to retrieve something to clean that up.

Then the front door opened.

The polished bit of wood knocked into the plant closest to the doorway, which was in a tall, slender vase and thus somewhat top-heavy. The vessel wobbled and then fell sideways into the plant next to it, which also toppled and took down several others with it along with the pitcher that was still half-full of lemonade. Artie, who had been surprised by the falling plants, leapt sideways, knocking over the plants further away from the door as he did so.

Soon, the foyer floor was covered in leaves, mounds of dirt, and lemonade. The liquid mixed with the dirt to make a muddy mixture.

Lucius looked up to find Narcissa standing in the open doorway with a guest, an older witch dressed in pristine white robes. Artie, excited by the new presence, ran through the grimy mess – straight toward the two people standing at the front door; Lucius and Narcissa both watched in horror as he jumped up at the guest, spattering her robes with dirty footprints and mud splatters.

Narcissa recovered from her shock at the sound of the other witch's horrified squeals. She grabbed the dog and pulled him away from the woman before turning her gaze on the boy still standing on the other side of the toppled houseplant forest.

"Lucius Malfoy!"

In the study, Draco's quill stilled at the sound of his mother's voice. Her tone momentarily transported him back in time, to when he was nine and had accidentally shattered the drawing room windows after stealing her wand and trying to use it.

Laying down his quill, the elder Malfoy stood and went to investigate what exactly his charge had done to invoke that tone from his mother.

As he rounded the corner of the hall and took in the foyer, his eyebrows rose to meet his hairline. In front of the still open front door stood Narcissa and Mrs. Crabbe, both of which were covered to a degree with dirt and muck. His mother was wrestling the hound, trying to get him to sit. On the other side of the foyer, next to the coat closet, stood Lucius. He had backed up against the wall, as if he was trying to get as far from the scene as possible without actually fleeing. In the middle of the floor was a giant mess of plant stems, potting soil, and some sort of wet substance, in addition to a stray broken pot or two.

At his approach, the hound, who was overcome with excitement, broke away from Narcissa and starting running in circles around the entryway, making tracks through the grimy mess.

"Artemis, heel!" Draco commanded, and he almost regretted speaking up when the dog turned in his direction. But the hound looked past him. Turning to look down the hall, the elder Malfoy groaned internally upon spotting Hermanito, Astoria's cat. Eyes trained on the feline, Artie bounded past his master and chased the smaller animal into the drawing room – leaving a veritable trail of dirt and grim in his wake.

Draco turned to regard Lucius and the two women in the doorway. He watched as Narcissa escorted the other witch around the mess toward a side passageway, already in full damage-control mode. Turning to the boy, he was pleasantly surprised to see that his charge had somehow avoided becoming covered in dirt. "Lucius," He said with a sigh, "Go wait for me in the study."

The boy regarded him with wary eyes. "I didn't mean to make a mess." He said.

The elder Malfoy worried the bridge of his nose between his thumb and pointer finger. "Obey me, please."

Lucius bit his lip, though he did as commanded. He slid past his guardian with his back to the wall, hoping to keep his backside out of the line of fire.

Draco watched his charge go and then turned back to the miry mess in the middle of the foyer. Sighing, he withdrew his wand and set about cleaning up the disaster.

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Several minutes later – after the foyer had been returned to order and the hound had been found and detained (and all tracks removed) - Draco returned to the study to find the boy standing in the middle of the room, looking up at the window through one of the glass paperweights that the man normally kept on the desk. He watched as the child removed the crystal cube from his eye and then readied to toss it up in the air before clearing his throat.

Catching sight of his guardian, Lucius lowered the paperweight once more. "Am I in trouble?"

"You will be if you throw that." Draco said as he closed the door.

At the man's words, the boy let the hand holding the cube fall completely to his side. "What about for – for out there?" He asked, gesturing toward the doorway with his free hand. "Am I in trouble for that?"

"Should you be?" The elder Malfoy asked, answering the child's inquiry with one of his own. When Lucius just furrowed his brow at the question, Draco sighed. "I'm not sure how you managed to create such a mess, but I do believe we need to have a discussion about it."

The boy's stomach flipped at that statement. He'd had several discussions with his father in this study before, and they had never ended well for him.

"So, you don't have time to play with me, but you have time to punish me." He said with as much sass as he dared.

He was rewarded for his remark by Draco reaching around him and landing a sharp smack on his backside.

"Watch your cheek." The man snapped.

Lucius took a step back from his guardian, eyeing the elder Malfoy with hurt eyes.

Noting his charge's expression, Draco ran a hand over his face before taking the boy's hand and leading him over to the settee. Positioning the boy between his knees, he rested his hands on the child's waist to hold him in place.

"Tell me what happened." The man directed.

Lucius's attention was on his shoes. "Was playing pixie 'splorer"

"Pixie explorer?" Draco clarified. At the boy's small nod, he asked, "Is that what the potted plants were for?"

"Mm. They were the trees."

"I see," The older wizard stooped slightly to try to see the boy's face. "And the liquid, what was that."

Lucius scuffed the toe of his shoe on the floor. "Lemonade. The pixie wouldn't come out so me and Artie had to get somethin' special so she would."

The boy felt his chin lifted, and he was soon looking in his guardian's eyes.

"Which I'm guessing you stole from the kitchen, yes?"

The younger Malfoy sighed, his gaze lowering as much as it could to settle on the man's shoulder. "Yes, sir."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised you were able to get past Rosenbabble with it."

"Artie 'stracted her." Came the boy's mumbled reply.

The elder Malfoy nodded. It wasn't hard to draw conclusions from there about what had happened next to create the giant mess in the foyer. In truth, Draco was highly amused by the entire situation, not that he felt the boy needed to know that at the moment.

He tilted the chin in his hand slightly, regaining the child's full attention. "The next time you want to play pixie explorer," he said, emphasizing the game title, "I would suggest you do so in the sunroom, where there are plenty of plants and you don't need to move any of them to have your forest."

Lucius let out a shuddery breath, and then nodded.

"And if you need some sort of special nectar or elixir, then you can pretend." Draco continued, using the pointer finger on his free hand to tap the boy's temple. "I won't have you filching things from the kitchen and disrupting the elves' workflow." He said as he released the child's chin.

"Okay," the boy said, a small pout appearing on his lips. "What now?" He dared to ask after a moment. It didn't seem like his guardian intended to punish him, but he wanted to be sure.

Draco looked over at the stack of paperwork on his desk and sighed. "Now," he said, "I'm going to take you outside so you can play."

Lucius' eyes lit up instantly. "Really!?"

The elder Malfoy nodded. "Yes, really. I'll take some of my work and sit in the gazebo so I can keep an eye on you." He laughed at the little jump of excitement his charge made. "Go find Artie. You'll need a companion on your expedition."

The boy ran off, only to stop after a few steps and return. He threw his arms around his guardian's neck, squeezing tightly, before letting go and running out of the study.

Smiling to himself, Draco got up and – after summoning some of his files – followed his charge from the room.