Lucius Malfoy woke up early that day, it was barely dawn. He laid motionless for a moment, staring at the decorative stucco on the ceiling, then violently threw back the sheets, stretched, and got out of bed. He walked over to the window and flung it open, savoring the summer breeze on his face and the morning chirping of birds. A blissful expression crossed his face for a moment; however it quickly changed to a grimace of annoyance, and Lucius hid into the room.
He waved his wand flawlessly - vests, shirts, trousers, and jackets obediently flew out of the closet, just to hang in a neat row in front of their owner. Though Lucius usually took a longer moment to choose his outfit, today it took him no more than a few minutes; he didn't feel like fancy accessories or extravagant colors. He chose a simple and elegant black that perfectly pointed out his porcelain complexion. He turned sideways, long platinum hair glistened in the sun when Lucius smiled and looked at his reflection in the mirror. His smile however had nothing to do with joy - it was the fake smile of a man who was not twenty-two years old, only at least three times as much. Although he tried his best, he did not manage to completely hide his irritation.
A moment later, he opened the door to his chamber and cautiously looked out into the corridor. As he had suspected, the whole house was sleeping - even the servants and their house elf were deeply asleep.
"It must be before five" Lucius thought as he carefully descended downstairs and sneaked through the large living room and then the Malfoy Manor hall. "Excellent, no one will disturb me."
When he was outside, he ran down the long avenue studded with ancient oaks before he slowed down in the garden. As he traversed his vast estate, even in such a foul mood, Lucius could never get over how beautiful his house and the grounds surrounding it were. Well-kept gardens, a nearby forest crossed by a small river, water-meadows, a pleasant shade of trees, and a lake in which he liked to swim during the Summer days. Lucius loved his house, he knew that as his father's only son he would be responsible for the Malfoy legacy, yet there was this one idea that he hated more than anything, and he didn't know if he would ever accept it. It was the marriage arranged by his parents.
"I know very well why we're having this stupid party today" he thought angrily as he entered the stables and headed to the stall of his beloved black stallion "Mother's birthday, what a nonsense, it's in three weeks for fuck's sake" he thought as he saddled his horse. Lucius had never used magic to do it, this activity always relaxed him "All this just to introduce to me the candidates suitable for my future wife, actually suitable for them, with a sufficiently high dowry."
Lucius led his horse out of the stall, pulled up the girth, put on his riding gloves, and mounted his stallion gracefully. He glanced at his reflection in the window - he knew perfectly well how handsome he was, how well he was built, how regular and delicate, yet masculine his facial features were. For the first time in his life, however, he felt disappointment at the thought of his appearance. After a moment he spurred his horse and left for a ride.
Lucius wasn't stupid, he was well aware of what his parents had planned for him. He knew that he would never really be able to marry a woman he would simply love. Arranged marriage was a common practice, and Lucius knew that his parents would choose him a wife, and his opinion on this matter would not be taken under consideration.
"With a bit of luck, your wife will become your best friend" Abraxas said to him one day, when they drank whisky in the smoking lounge "This happened with me and your mother, now she is the dearest person to me." L
Lucius had smiled sourly at his father back then and changed the subject. He despised this idea but he was resigned to it. Until last week, when something that completely changed young Mr. Malfoy's life had happened.
Lucius dismounted, unsaddled his horse, and tied it to a tree. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, took off his gloves and sat down, listening to sounds of the forest. A small river hummed in the distance, birds were chirping, the wind was pleasantly blowing in his face - it was the peak of Summer, pleasantly warm and blissful. Lucius unbuttoned his shirt at the neck and rolled up the sleeves, which gave him a slightly swashbuckling look. He relaxed and closed his eyes, when suddenly he heard the sound of approaching hoofs. He got up quickly and curiously looked around, rarely had anyone come this close to his house. He waited in suspense for the situation to unfold, his wand ready, and when a rider burst into the clearing young Mr. Malfoy stopped dead in his tracks.
On a pretty, chestnut mare sat a woman, perhaps his age, dressed in an elegant, black riding gear. Waist-length locks of golden hair fell on her back, shining obscenely in the sun. Her face seemed perfect to him; as if carved out of white marble, lips like a rosebud, small, neat nose, high cheekbones, high forehead. And her eyes… The mischievous sparkle in her large, emerald eyes caught his breath. They stood there for a moment, looking at each other in astonishment, both of them unable to move.
"Who… Who are you?" he stammered after a while "I live next door, I've never seen you ..." It seemed to him that the woman on the horse stared at him as eagerly as he did at her.
"Lonely ladies aren't allowed to talk to strangers" - she giggled and Lucius felt his knees buckling.
Had he heard a hint of a French accent in her voice?
She spurred her horse and rode off in the sunshine, just to look back at him for the last time before the turn. From that moment, Lucius Malfoy was no longer the same man.
He came home as if he was in a trance. He ignored his mother, didn't want to see his father, shut himself up in his chambers and sat there alone without food for two days, thinking obsessively about the girl he had met, as if it was the most precious thing that had ever happened to him. Lucius liked women, he enjoyed flirting, the thrill of excitement - the game leading to the grand finale always gave him great satisfaction. He had countless love affairs, more and less significant, but nothing could compare to what he had experienced in the clearing, while looking in the stranger girl's emerald eyes. Lucius never knew such a feeling, he obviously wanted her, at the same time however he felt that he would simply enjoy being with her, talking to her, riding together.
"I want to hold her hand, stroke her golden hair" he thought, rushing around his chambers "I want to listen to her voice, find out what she likes, what she wants..."
Lucius tried desperately to find the mysterious amazon. He hired his house elf to do so, who, much to his disappointment, turned out to be completely useless. Dobby found nothing that could bring his master closer to knowing her identity. This angered young Mr Malfoy, but he had more important things to do now than to punish his servant. He disappeared for days riding around, hoping to meet her again - to no avail. Lucius became moody, rude, refused to talk to his parents or discuss his marriage - until mother and father finally said "enough" and the date of the party during which the choice would finally be made was set for the next Friday.
"I won't get married with any of these women I'm about to meet" he thought furiously, riding through the nearby forest "I'll kill myself if they'll try to force me... If I'm going to get married I'll marry only her. Of course if…"
"If she would want me" he said out loud, feeling faint.
He tried not to think about the fact that she might not be interested in him at all, but such possibility existed, and that was probably the only thing that really scared him. The very thought of living without her was unbearable. Lucius spent most of the day wandering around. He checked every corner, every little nook and cranny, hoping that this time they would meet and his torment would come to an end. Unfortunately, the forest was completely empty; he didn't meet a living spirit on the road leading to a nearby village, until finally, after a whole day spent on fruitless search he gave up, and decided that it was time to go home. The sun was setting as Lucius made his way towards the house, however he was in no hurry, and by the time he reached his destination it was already dark. As he entered the courtyard he heard the buzz coming from the garden and the muffled sounds of classical music. The awareness of what had just happened hit him with all its might and Lucius stared motionlessly at the front of the house, unable to move.
"I forgot about that damn party" he thought with horror as he dismounted from the horse "Great. Just great."
As he turned to stealthily lead the horse back to the stables, frantically wondering how to enter the garden imperceptibly, he heard his father's low, loud voice behind his back. Lucius looked at him reluctantly, he already knew his father was furious. Though Abraxas wasn't showing it, there were notes of disapproval and anger in his voice, and the last thing Lucius wanted to do right now was having a row with his father.
"Where have you been all day?" Abraxas drawled through his teeth, trying to keep calm "Do you realize how much depends on tonight?"
Lucius looked at his father and felt a rebellion rise within him.
"I was on the ride," he said slowly, "I assume it isn't forbidden yet."
"Do you think I don't know what you do while wandering in the woods all day?" Abraxas asked coldly "Yes, Dobby didn't want to reveal it, but in the end he had to tell me that you asked him to look for a girl you had accidentally met on one of your rides.
Lucius was breathless for the moment, this little cunt betrayed him - now his parents will put even more pressure on the wedding. If not for that he could be able to win some more time.
"I don't know what you're talking about, father," Lucius drawled icily. "I have no idea what you are talking about. Since when do you care about my affairs anyway?"
"Do you think I'm an idiot? Do you honestly think I'll let your childish crush affect the welfare of our family? Abraxas's look was sharp as a knife "You will go to your chambers right now, take a bath and change your clothes…"
"Don't order me!"
"I'll do as I see fit. You're two hours late, your mother is distraught; what you've done is reprehensible" Abraxas said coldly "You brought us shame. And now you'll go to your chambers, take a bath, change your clothes, and you will go down to the garden to meet the candidates for your future wife. We've already waited long enough with this."
Lucius looked at his father with hatred and realized that he was in a losing position. He knew when it was possible to try and argue and when discussion was excluded. He had never felt so incapacitated, so out of control of his life as he was at this moment. He pressed the reins into his father's hand and walked away, cursing under his breath.
"We spoiled you too much, son," Abraxas said to himself. "Too much."
Lucius lingered as long as he could, but eventually he had to go to the party. As he entered the garden he felt countless gazes sticking to the nape of his neck and the murmur of excited voices. Everyone was staring at young Mr Malfoy; as if they wanted to see right through him. Lucius never liked parties and banquets, he went there because it was expected of him. As a highborn gentleman he had multiple duties, but if it was up to him he gladly would limit his attendance to social events. He scanned the garden carefully, out of the corner of his eye he noticed his mother approaching, dragging Alice Bulstrode with her. Judging by the lustful expression on her not-so-pretty face, Galatea has already told her everything about the family's diamond jewelry only waiting for the beloved daughter-in-law. The mere thought of it made him sick. Lucius quickly took a glass of wine and looked around in panic, desperately searching for help. He knew he couldn't avoid his mother or those girls all night long, but the longer he did, the better. He noticed a group of his schoolmates at the table with cold entrées and hurried towards them, gracefully evading his mother. The disappointment on her face gave him vengeful satisfaction "Good, let them suffer for a while" he thought maliciously, while exchanging brief remarks with old friends.
"I see your mother's trying to match you with Alice Bulstrode," Avery said quietly. "I can't say I envy you…"
"Oh please" Lucius replied gloomily, "My mother thinks she's an excellent candidate, she has a very large dowry, in addition she's an only child, who will inherit all the family possessions... Yes, from a dynastic point of view she is very suitable…"
"And from your point of view?"
Lucius glanced at Alice's red and swollen face one more time and felt a growing despair. Not because Alice was ugly and unattractive, he remembered the low, silken voice and the delicate face of a stranger amazon in the forest. Her golden hair shining in the sun, slim waist, lips like a rosebud... He felt something broke in him into thousand pieces, something he would never be able to put together.
"It doesn't matter," he said, looking at his parents whispering to each other, "It had never mattered. I'll talk to you later, all right?"
Lucius drank another two glasses of wine, loosened the bow tie at his neck and, finally, approached his mother. Galatea was talking to a group of young women surrounding her. Lucius thought she looked like a hen surrounded by hutchings.
"Oh, there you are, son, perfect, just perfect… Please, meet our lovely guests, you probably already know Alice, I was just telling her about our summer estate in Devonshire…"
Lucius shook her slightly sweaty hand and forced a wry smile. For the next two hours he talked to the women who had been brought to his house by their parents. No one even pretended why they all came to Malfoy Manor, suddenly Galatea's birthday was completely forgotten. Lucius exchanged perfunctory remarks: I hope your mother is feeling better now… Yes, of course I heard about this accident, it's really terrible... You don't like horses? Ah what a pity… Five cats? I understand, cute creatures...
A handshake, a short conversation, a forced smile. You look extraordinarily good in black, Mr Malfoy. Thank you, it's very nice of you to say so. Maybe a glass of wine? Maybe a blini with caviar? Lucius felt that he would suffocate in a moment, he felt that he wouldn't bear this farce anymore, that in a moment something terrible would happen - but nothing terrible happened, and he continued to make pointless conversations and shook hands with friends and strangers. It was indecently hot that night, the air was still, saturated with the scent of jasmine; his throat was dry from the constant chatter, the bow tie and the collar hurt his neck, everything was so wrong. All he dreamed of was to run away, lie down in his cool bedroom, fall asleep and never wake up.
When the birthday cake appeared Lucius took advantage of the moment of confusion and slipped out of the garden. He walked through the ground floor and went out into the courtyard. He took a deep breath, untied the bow tie and unbuttoned his shirt, sat down on the steps in front of the house and buried his face in his hands.
"What am I supposed to do now?" He thought devastated and struggled to hold back tears. He didn't think it would be that bad "I don't want any of them, I don't want any of them, I don't want to marry any of them!" Lucius repeated frantically in his mind, tugging at the cuffs of his shirt "I have to do something, I have to…"
He heard a sudden movement in the hall behind him, got up quickly, and hid behind the great boxwoods beside the stairs.
"Where did he go again" said Galatea, she was clearly displeased "Oh, they will be here soon, what's gotten into him...
"You know that he never liked this idea" said his father, Lucius suppressed an angry snort "But he will have to accept it' - there was steel in Abraxas's voice "There is no other way."
The parents fell silent and for a long moment nothing happened. Lucius waited tensely for the situation to unfold.
"They will be here soon, who comes almost at the end of the party!" He wondered. "At least I came at the beginning, mother should be displeased…"
But neither mother nor father seemed displeased, they waited patiently until Lucius heard the rattling of wheels on the gravel and the sound of hoofs.
"Good evening, Cygnus" he heard his father's serious voice "We're really happy that you decided to visit us despite such a difficult time... We're very sorry for Druelia's death, it must have been a huge blow for you…"
"Good evening, Abraxas, Galatea…" Cygnus replied politely "We were all shocked, it happened so suddenly, she passed away when I was in France as Cissy needed my help… I couldn't even say goodbye" his voice trembled slightly "To be honest, I hesitated if we should come, but I figured my girls needed some entertainment… Sorry for the late hour, but I wasn't feeling well, besides I'm still too weak to teleport and by carriage the journey takes quite a long time."
"Ah, yes," Lucius thought "how could I forget about Bellatrix and her father..."
"Oh, that's perfectly fine, it's understandable in a situation like this. I'm so sorry for your loss, Cygnus, it was a shock for all of us as well" replied Galatea "And at that moment your middle daughter decided to disgrace the family name…"
"She is no longer my daughter" Cygnus said icily. "I don't want to talk about it."
"I understand" Abraxas replied in a sympathetic voice "Now please, follow me, I hope you'll have fun."
Two more people left the carriage and all five entered the house in silence. Lucius waited a few minutes before leaving his hideout. Who was the other person? After all, Bellatrix had only one sister, Andromeda, who married this filthy mudblood, disgraced her family, stained blood that had been pure for generations; Lucius grimaced in contempt. Cygnus disinherited her, it must have been someone else. He sighed with resignation and after a while headed back to the garden.
Despite the late hour the party was still in full swing. The atmosphere, however, loosened up significantly. Lucius looked around, in the corner he saw the Department of Magical Law Enforcement's head vomiting on Galatea's beloved azaleas. His deputy clumsily tried to help him. Lucius smiled with pity, but after a while he caught his father's cold gaze. He read the order in Abraxas' eyes and staggered without enthusiasm toward his mother, Bella, and mysterious woman. While nibbling at snacks from the silver platters, Lucius observed their two slender figures, no, they couldn't be sisters. Bellatrix had a storm of black, thick curls and olive skin, she had a southern type of beauty. The woman standing next to her, on the other hand, had fair skin and golden hair.
"Maybe it's some distant relative," Lucius thought and took another glass of wine "I'd know if Bella had a third sister…"
After a while, however, he came to the conclusion that he had never been friends with Bella. They knew each other from school of course, but she had never confided in Lucius. He watched them for a moment longer, Bellatrix exchanged a few words with Lucius's mother, and walked away. As he approached Galatea and the stranger, he couldn't help the impression that there was something unusual about the mysterious woman's alabaster skin. Its whiteness was brought out by a bull-blood-colored dress, cut tight on her back. He put the empty glass on the table and slowly walked over to his mother and her companion.
"Ah, here you are, son," said Galatea calmly, but Lucius stopped listening to what she was saying, he had lost all interest in what was going on around him. He was looking at the woman in a maroon dress, the one with alabaster skin and golden hair, and he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Here in front of him, in his house, at the party during which he had to choose his wife, stood the same woman he had met in the woods a week ago. Though she looked completely different now than she did then, it was her, there could be no mistake. Lucius looked into her emerald eyes - despite the disbelief in them, he could tell that she remembered him too.
"Lucius, LUCIUS" his mother's voice brought him back to earth, "What's gotten into you," she hissed through her teeth. "I wanted to introduce you to Narcissa Black, the youngest daughter of Cygnus Black."
"It's nice to meet you" he muttered, trying to control his shaking hands. "It's very nice to meet you, Lucius Malfoy."
"I'm honored," she said softly, looking into his eyes. "I'm very glad to meet you."
They shook hands, her skin was cool and velvety, Lucius thought he didn't want to touch anything else anymore. Narcissa looked at him curiously, he could see the vivid interest in her eyes. With great regret he tore his eyes away from her face and looked at his mother, who was staring at him suspiciously.
"Please forgive him," she said quickly. "I don't know why he's acting like that."
"Oh, it's nothing" Narcissa smiled, perfectly in control "I'd like a glass of wine, would you go with me?" She looked at him in a meaningful way.
Lucius nodded, they left his surprised mother alone and headed to the table at the farthest point of the garden. They didn't say a word to each other. Lucius was convinced Narcissa could hear his heartbeat. When they felt they had gone far enough and made sure no one was eavesdropping they sat down at the abandoned banquet table, but neither of them broke the silence. They stared at each other greedily, Lucius wanted to remember every little detail of her face, previously he hadn't noticed that she had a small mole on her left cheek. They sat there for a good twenty minutes, looking at each other.
"Is this really happening?" Narcissa asked suddenly, she had a low, silken voice "I can't believe this is really happening."
Lucius didn't know what to say. The moment he had been dreaming about every day for a week has come, it turned out to be even more perfect than he had imagined. He was torturing himself with the thought that his beloved could come from a Muggle family, he wouldn't bear it, not to say his parents, but fortunately for him, his mysterious amazon turned out to belong to one of the best pureblood families. In addition, his father wants to get her married, so she is free and not bound by any commitments. Lucius couldn't believe his luck, oh, if only she would want him.
"I'm not sure," he said slowly and pinched himself, "I suppose so."
Narcissa smiled at him, her emerald earrings twinkled in the moonlight, Lucius thought he had to put it all on the line. He couldn't miss such an opportunity, he didn't even know when they would meet again, he didn't know if they would be alone either.
"I was thinking about you. I've been looking for you everywhere, this whole week has been the worst torment of my life." He said softly, ashamed of his own audacity "I was afraid that I would never see you again. I know that what I want to ask for is a lot, I... Could I write to you? Or maybe… Could we meet sometime?" He looked at her hopefully. Suddenly, he didn't like the fact that he was sitting in front of her so scruffy, drunk, his shirt unbuttoned at his neck. She was so fresh, so beautiful in the moonlight. Narcissa wasn't looking at him, Lucius knew that now he only had to wait.
"As you know, I recently came back from France" she said, still not looking at him "Oh, of course, you don't know because I didn't tell you that" she remarked reasonably and blushed a little.
Lucius held his tongue, he knew she had come back from France, but he would have felt like an idiot if it was revealed at the first meeting that he had eavesdropped on his parents' conversation with her father.
"You are probably curious about what I was doing abroad? I studied at Beauxbatons because Hogwarts didn't offer a major that would be interesting for me."
Lucius listened attentively, he had at least ten questions ready to ask, but he didn't interrupt her, he wanted to hear the answer first.
"After the death of my mother, my father asked me to come back to England, which I immediately did, abandoning my work on healing magic" she paused for a moment, Lucius heard a note of regret in her voice "Father promised that we would spend the summer in the countryside with his sister who lives nearby. Unfortunately he had recently felt worse because of this embarrassing incident caused by my... Andromeda. He wants to go back to London, I'm not surprised, he prefers to be closer to Saint Mungo... I know he wants me to come back with him." she looked at Lucius finally, but in a different way than before, softly, her eyes were warm "I think that if you write to him and explain the whole situation he should let me stay. I'll also talk to him."
Lucius felt like a great burden was lifted from his shoulders. For the first time in days he felt relieved and at peace. She agreed! Well, of course he didn't know if she would want to marry him, but she wants to stay close to him, she wants to see him! That was something, he couldn't expect more after the first meeting.
"Thank you," he smiled at her. "I think we have to go back now, we're already gone for too long."
"Yes," she said with regret, "Father will be worried soon."
They walked close one another in the moonlight, talking about meaningless things as if nothing had happened between them. Minutes before entering the brightly lit part of the garden Narcissa stopped and took his arm for a moment, they looked at each other, Lucius gently ran his fingers down her silken back. Everything lasted maybe several seconds, in the next minute they were already in the banquet part lit by thousands of chandeliers. Lucius was relieved to find out that no one had noticed their disappearance. Even though it was past three, the party was still going on.
"Cissy, CISSY!" Narcissa turned at the sound of her father's voice "Please, come here!"
They approached Cygnus, Lucius exchanged pleasantries with him, said how delighted he was by his presence, how glad he was that he had brought his daughters, how sorry he was for the death of Cygnus' wife, and how indignant he was at what Andromeda had done.
"We'll be going back now," Cygnus said, shaking Lucius's hand. "Where are your parents? I would like to say goodbye."
"Of course, I'll go look for them."
Lucius easily found his mother and father, he got them out of some deadly dull conversation about banning Muggle-borns from high offices (oh, of course, they are incapable of making the right decisions...) After a while he brought them to Cygnus and they managed to escort their guests.
He observed their carriage for a little while, then turned on his heel and headed to his chambers. He knew he should go back to the party, say goodbye to everyone and then leave, he knew his parents would be upset, he knew he would have to stand their remarques in the morning but he didn't care. The tension that had built up in him over the last week began to fall down and suddenly Lucius realised how tired he was, and this was only the beginning of the coming battle. Tomorrow he will have to tell Abraxas about Narcissa and Lucius felt sick at the thought of having this conversation. He was sure that his father would find a thousand reasons why Alice Bulstrode would be better for him. Though Narcissa's ancestry was more than adequate, there was a scandal surrounding her family and his parents hated scandals. Lucius remembered very well what happened when Galatea had discovered her husband's affair and moved out for six months. Abraxas claimed then that she was in a spa abroad, he forbade Lucius to even mention it at all, and had blackmailed his lover by something so horrible that she had never said anything about their affair.
"Pathetic" Lucius thought while entering his chambers "They wanted me to marry then I will marry" he knew exactly what he was about to do "But I, and I alone, will decide whom." He sealed the door with a spell, didn't want anyone to disturb him, laid on the bed and fell asleep immediately. For the first time in a long time he slept soundly.