Walden stayed silent, taking note of Rodolphus's words. Lucius seemed to do the same, grey eyes flicking quickly between Narcissa and this 'Lord Voldemort'. His brow furrowed slightly and he reached out mindlessly, snatching a champagne flute off of a passing tray, sipping at the bubbly liquid gently as he further analyzed the scene, apparently deep in thought. Walden nudged him gently, prodding him from his mental wanderings. "Luc, if you want that first waltz, I suggest you move quickly. The orchestra's going to start any second now, and then she's fair game." This seemed enough prodding for Malfoy: he jolted out of his thoughts with a start, passing off the champagne to Rodolphus and striding across the ballroom floor to where the lovely Miss Black and this so-called 'Dark Lord' stood.
"Narcissa-," he bent to kiss her hand, smiling at her gently from over her knuckles. "It's always a pleasure to see you, and even more so on such a wonderful occasion. I trust your birthday is going well?"
She smiled at him warmly, the orchestra beginning to tune for the upcoming waltz. "Yes, of course. Thank you for asking, Mr. Malfoy."
"And I don't believe we've met. Lucius Malfoy." He carefully released her hand and instead offered it to her escort. "And yourself?"
Lucius unexpectedly felt the smooth coolness of a Leglimens sifting through his mind. Had he been less aware of every eye in the room following his movements, he might have stumbled in surprise. The red eyes trickled over his face, then scanned his body. The thin lips turned upwards into something of an unpracticed smile. "No need for introductions, Lucius. Your name precedes you. I am known by many names, but for now, Lord Voldemort will do. But we shall talk later; for now, yes, you may borrow Miss Black for this waltz." The man swept away, with nothing less and nothing more said. Lucius slowly, mechanically took Narcissa's offered hand and swept her into position one as the waltz began, and lead her through the steps.
"Lucius?" Her voice snapped him out of his shock, her blue eyes questioning.
"Hm? Sorry, I was just thinking." He smiled at her in what he hoped was a reassuring manner.
"Yes, I noticed," she replied dryly, a wry smile tugging at her lips. "Anything wrong?"
He paused. "Not wrong, per say. Do you know the fellow that escorted you?"
"Not well, no," she frowned. "He's an associate of my fathers, I believe. Someone he knows through my uncle Proteus, a sort of politician I think. He thinks rather highly of him, and he told me last minute that he'd asked to escort me in to my cotillion, and my father apparently thought it a fabulous idea. But I don't know much of him other than he's a Leglimens and has some special interest in Bellatrix and I."
Lucius raised his eyebrows questioningly, but Narcissa simply shrugged. "I have no idea, no one will tell me anything. I don't think Bella knows either. But he's asked about you, Walden, Pleione, and Reggie as well. A lot of our schoolmates, in fact. I don't know what his aim is, though."
Lucius nodded carefully. "Well," he paused; taking note of the other couples that had now joined them on the floor and lowering his voice. "I'll do my best to find something out. I have a feeling I'll be speaking with him some time this evening in any case. If I can pass anything on to you, I'll of course let you know."
"Lucius, be careful," she sighed. "He's dangerous; I can tell that much from the few conversations we've had. He's not the type you can bribe or intimidate or dispose of like you've done with all our other problems."
"Worried?" He smiled at her bemusedly.
She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Yes, if you must know."
He chuckled, stepping away from her and bowing low to kiss her hand. "I shall do my very best to keep your necessary worry to a minimum, my dear. In the meantime, do enjoy your cotillion. I'll speak to you soon, I trust." He passed her hand to the next waiting pureblood, whom he didn't even bother to look at in his exit.
He returned to the edge of the dance floor, to the waiting Walden and Rodolphus. "Lovely dance, mate. It'll be all over the Prophet tomorrow." Walden smirked cheekily, gesturing to the press. Lucius nodded his agreement, grabbing another champagne flute. Rodolphus snatched it from his hands and put it back on the tray, sneering at the blonde.
"Enough with the bloody champagne; you're a man, drink like one. Let's get us some firewhiskey." Walden shrugged at Lucius, and the two followed Rodolphus's lead, weaving through the crowd to one of the four open bars. "Three double firewhiskies," he commanded, and then turned back to his companions. "It's about time we all get a good, stiff drink. I hate these things." He passed a glass each to his companions, a gentle steam wafting off the crystal tumblers.
"Trying to kill us, Rod?" Walden smirked, gently swirling the liquor in his tumbler.
"If only it were that easy," he smirked.
"Very funny," Malfoy said dryly.
"Anyway, a toast: to the beginning of a new chapter in our lives," Rodolphus raised his glass.
"Well, for one of us," Walden added, grinning at Lucius.
"No, you idiot," Rodolphus drew back his glass. "For all of us. You saw the Dark Lord. This is his first reveal to society, to what will surely be his future allies. With him leading us, we shall surely rise to the top, to where we belong as the cream of the crop."
"We already are at the top, Rodolphus. Let's not be ignorant, now."
"No! No we aren't! Not just financially or real estate wise, or in the free market! Not even just in wizarding politics! In world politics! Over wizards and filthy mudbloods and muggles alike! The pure should be where they once were, as kings and queens, not as simple pawns on the playing field."
"Wouldn't we still be pawns under this Dark Lord of yours?" Walden interjected.
"Well, yes!" Rodolphus agreed hastily. "But only for a small time, until we reach our goal and find our rightful places in this world. Then we shall rule all we can see and much more!"
"I'm no one's pawn," Lucius muttered, staring into his firewhiskey.
"Now I'm not trying to bully you into joining-"
"You, bully us?" Walden snorted.
Rodolphus leveled a glare his way before continuing. "But the cause is just. We all believe in blood purity, we all believe muggles are inferior, and we all believe in the old ways. Why not fight for what we believe in?"
"Why not stay neutral and not risk our necks?"
"What are you, a coward?!"
"Sorry, I don't think I saw you in Gryffindor for your bleeding-heart bravery either," Walden said with heavy sarcasm.
"Alright, fine. Don't join if you don't want to, but I'm just saying, we could all get a lot from being involved in this. Think of it as a long-term investment," said Rodolphus.
"An extremely high risk investment," Lucius muttered.
"And like all high-risk investments, if you manage to make things go your way, the benefits are always worth the time, effort, and money put into it."
There was a moment of silence while Lucius and Walden considered the truth in Rodolphus's words, wondering skeptically if perhaps their friend was on to something. But then, Rodolphus was never this smart or ambitious. He couldn't have been the first of them to discover the leader of this cause and immerse himself in it. That was totally unlikely.
Lucius smirked as he swirled his firewhiskey, staring into the depths. "This wasn't your idea, was it Rod?"
"I beg your pardon?" He sneered.
"Let's be honest: you were never particularly smart, loyal, brave, or ambitious. You wouldn't have found this out and sworn yourself to this cause, least of all without some advice or someone to do it with you. And since you haven't talked to us about it, there's really only one person I could think of that you would blindly follow into the fire…"
"Bellatrix," Walden caught on. "This is all Bella's idea. You're just doing her bidding again."
Rodolphus sputtered for a moment, caught off guard. "Wh-what?! Who says it has to be Bella's idea? Maybe I thought of all this myself."
Pale arms adorned with diamond cuffs slipped around his shoulders, gently squeezing. "Don't give yourself that much credit, dear."
"Well, well, well; look who decided to show up," Walden smirked.
Bellatrix sighed, circling around the stricken Rodolphus. "It's not as if I had an option to not show my face to the guests, however unappealing they may be. There are appearances to keep up, after all," she sniffed.
"I didn't know you cared for petty little things like appearances, Bel. How do you find the time between following some lunatic and leading Roddy here to his doom?" Lucius drawled, kissing her hand gently.
She frowned at him as Walden greeted her. "I'm doing no such thing, Lucius. Rodolphus is an independent thinker, he makes his own decisions-" MacNair snorted. "and I happen to agree with them. The Dark Lord is no lunatic; he is a visionary, ahead of his time, but not for long. You'll figure that out soon enough and make the best decision. In the meantime, I'll be sure to hold a place for you at his right hand until you've learned enough about him to come to your senses. Merlin knows he certainly did a lot of learning about you."
"What's that supposed to mean, Bella?"
"Nothing, nothing," she said airily, waving off his concern. "Or at least nothing that you won't find out soon enough. Come along, Rod. We have guests to greet, appearances to keep." She swept away with a smirk, Rodolphus on her arm.
"Ridiculous," Walden muttered. "She's absolutely ridiculous, telling Rod before us. We deserve to know before that dolt."
"Well," Lucius said thoughtfully. "He is courting her. I mean with him putting up with her antics as much as he does, he's got to get something for his troubles. I know I certainly wouldn't put up with that coming from my betrothed."
"Narcissa isn't the same type of bitch as Bellatrix. She's a whole different sort of problem."
"I wouldn't call her that."
"Lord knows you wouldn't call her that. All you see in that girl is an angel with a heart of gold. Not the tricky, manipulative, scheming little demon Narcissa Black actually is."
"You act as if that isn't part of the package. She's a Black, not to mention a Slytherin. Do you expect her to be any different?" Malfoy smirked, arching a thin blonde eyebrow.
Walden laughed. "I guess not. Whatever. A toast, then."
"To?"
"New beginnings, new frontiers, the possibilities before us, great holidays and a better new year," the brunette raised his glass, smiling.
"Never knew you were such a poet, MacNair." Glasses clinked, the liquor drained.