Shoutouts to:
MissesE: Yeay! Thank you for the wonderful review! More LuciusxClaire moment in this chapter. Enjoy! ;)
Chapter 14 Fortune and Lovers
FRIDAY came in very quickly that same week. Claire Rollins hadn't been in her right mind since she had initially kissed one Lucius Malfoy on that Tuesday night.
It hadn't been an innocent simple peck on the lips either. Oh no. She had to feel dominate - dominated him, and he had allowed her to.
Ever since then, Claire had been thinking about it constantly and no matter what she did, she couldn't get it off her bloody mind.
She had enjoyed kissing him and it was driving her crazy!
What drove her to do such thing, she still wandered up until now.
After they had kissed and embraced, Lucius, being the gentleman that he was, had wished her a good night rest before he'd apparated back to his Manor.
Claire hadn't seen the man since then. Not that she wanted to, at the moment.
From what she had heard from Severus, both the Malfoys had been darn busy settling an important business deal that had gone wrong. Even Severus himself had been asked to help out at times.
Speaking of the black haired man, Claire was thankful that he had gone to bed early that Tuesday day. For some reason, she had a feeling that he had a hell of the day on that day; the half empty bottle of Firewhiskey had told her so.
Should Severus knew that she had went out with Lucius of all the people, after he had countlessly warned her not to. No doubt Claire would be in trouble with the ex-Potion Master. As much as she loved Severus and knew how much he adored her, Claire would not willing to risk of being hex by the drunken and tempered man.
She had however, told him the whole truth the very next morning while they had their breakfast.
Poor Severus had burnt his tongue by the hot coffee when she had told him that she had been the one who initialled the kiss first and that Lucius had been a gentleman enough not to touch her.
Severus' only words were:
"As a friend to another dear friend, I'm advising you to be careful. Men like Lucius, they will do whatever it takes to get the woman for as long as the chase is interesting enough for them to run after. I'm not talking ills behind Lucius' back, but this is the ugly truth about him; he will be extremely loyal to you and will means it when he said he loves you. However, he can still be easily distracted should there be another woman who is interesting enough to capture his attention. That applies to all men, mind you."
Claire had taken his advise to heart, and told herself to not let her feelings toward Lucius got to her head, at least not too much.
She didn't need another Caleb in her life.
As Claire pondered on these thoughts while waiting for customers to come at Thomas' Deli, all the sudden, she heard the sound of camera's snapping closed to her. Turning to her left, she was surprised to see an unknown man from few distances away, was taking pictures of her!
Realizing he'd been caught, the man began to run full speed away from her.
"Hey wait!" Claire chase after the man, leaving her post and a shocked looking colleague behind.
"Wait! Dammit, you! Wait up!" She chase the man through the busy street of London, before she followed him to a dark and narrowed corridors when she finally stopped. The man she'd been chasing had disappeared! He had literally vanished into a thin air.
Realised how far off she'd went what had just happened, Claire looked at her surroundings. Claire was extremely shocked to find herself standing in the middle of a sitting room, inside of an old building. Before she could make a run out of the building, a sultry male's voice greeted her.
"You've come. Finally, child."
Claire instantly on her guards. "Who goes there?"
Her eyes searched for any sort of movements before they finally landed on a tall manly figure standing with his back against the wall, near the staircase. The man was dotted in a formal wizard robe she had seen many times in the Wizarding world. What caught her attention was the top hat he wore on his head and the tarot cards in his hands.
For a moment, the man reminded her of Willy Wonka based from his attires.
For as long as she'd been in the Wizarding World, Claire had never seen any of them wore any hats let alone, top hats. Even Lucius didn't wear it, and he's a Malfoy.
Decided to be wary of the hat, Claire tried breathe in and out deeply and remained focus of the situation.
"Were you the one who'd taken pictures of me?" Claire asked, carefully.
"Perhaps."
"What do you want, Wizard?" She decided to get straight to the point.
The Wizard grinned at the title she'd given him. He straightened his back, and then he bowed and scraped at her.
"Ah, so a young Muggle who knows the existence of the Wizarding World! I'm impressed. It seems my efforts haven't gone to waste after all."
"What do you want, Wizard?" Claire asked again, with a demanding tone this time. The longer she stayed here, the harder Claire found herself unable to control the terrifying feeling and the warning siren in her head telling her to stay away from the dangerous man.
As if sensing her turmoil, the Wizard's grin grew widened.
"At the moment, none from you, my dear. However," He threw three tarot cards at her direction. The cards stopped before her.
The Emperor, The Fool and The Moon.
"Ah, The Emperor; he is the Masculine Principle, the Animus and the Patriarch. He represents power and authority, and his stern attitude is quite a departure from the sensual beauty of the Empress. The Emperor is a powerful leader who demands authority and dominance. He is most comfortable in a leadership role where he can command and direct others. He has established a solid family line and is often seen as the patriarch of a wide network of family members. And last but not least, the Emperor brings security and comfort to those around him."
The Wizard said without even looking at the cards floating in front of her.
"The Fool card is a card of potential, new beginnings and innocence. It is all about new experiences, personal growth, development and adventure. The Fool Tarot card encourages one to take a 'leap of faith' and to trust in the Universe. It may also represent a choice to be made—one of vital importance. However, there are always many different options available and the choice must be made wisely."
He pointed a finger at the last card.
"Finally, we have the Moon card. The Moon is the card of intuition, dreams and the unconscious. It often represents one's 'shadow' self, and also a card of illusion and deception, and therefore, it is often suggests a time when something is not as it appears to be."
The Wizard looked at Claire with a knowing glint in his eyes.
"These are not just any Muggle's tarot cards, Miss Rollins. They represent your feelings, the past,present and future of someone's life - of your life, what you are going through at the moment."
"What are you telling me these? What the hell do you want from me?"
"Like I said, none for now. Call it as a way to introduce myself." The Wizard smiled and did a short bow at her.
With a snap of his finger, the tarot cards vanished in front of her and Claire no longer found herself in the sitting room of an abandoned building, but at the corridors where she had lose the man earlier.
Claire didn't know how long she sat there against the bricked walls when her knees had finally given up on her. Her hands trembled. So as her whole body shivered.
That mysterious wizard was a dangerous man. How dangerous he was, she couldn't figure it out yet.
Finally after some moment, Claire was able to get up and got back on her two feet. Instead of returning to work, she headed straight to the city, with a hope of meeting with a man who knew magic better than she was.
LUCIUS had been in a great positive mood despite the chaos that was going on in his company. Just recently, he'd received a feedback by his secretary from one of his staff that someone had been trying to hack into his company's business and erased all of the significant data they've had and saved.
While the his secretary had expected the great Malfoy to explode in anger and scolded them for not doing their jobs properly, she had been in great shock when the no-nonsense Malfoy had simply told her to tell the computer technicians to do whatever they could to put off the problems before she was excused.
Lina Walker, Lucius Malfoy's personal Assistant, put down the phone on her deskafter relaying the message to the person in charge. She sighed loudly, running sharp red painted fingernails through her blonde hair.
She had been on cracking her head out just what had caused the Director to be such in a good morning these couple of days. On Wednesday, he had come with a big smile on his handsomely face. At first, Lina had thought that smile had been just for her. That she had finally be able to capture his attention all these years.
At last her hope had scattered when Lucius had gave the same smile to everyone he met. The same thing happened on Thursday as well. Except on that day, he had treated everyone a nice meal for lunch by making a phone call from his favourite Italian Restaurant.
That was when Lina knew something else must have made him so darn happy! The woman swore she won't rest until she found out just what, or better yet, who was responsible for this.
The elevator made a ting sound and someone stepped out from it.
Lina glanced side way at the person, a female before rolling her eyes.
Great, another one of his tramps. Turning around to face with the woman, Lina was just about to tell her off when the Director's door opened.
"Miss Claire?" Lucius' smooth voice called out to her.
That was when she saw it, that smile.
Lina looked at Lucius then to the plain young woman he was talking to and the smile he was giving her.
She's the caused for it! The little bitch!
"Lina, do you heard what I'd just said?"
Lina snapped from her thought. "Of course, Mr. Malfoy."
"Good. Come inside, Miss Claire." Lucius ushered her in before he shut the door.
Once the door was closed, only then Lina realised, what was she supposed to do? Oh right. Cancel all his upcoming meetings.
Absent-mindedly, she began to make the calls.
Claire entered his office, feeling less shaken than she had been before. Nothing had changed much since the last time she'd been to his office. Claire closed her eyes, took a deep breath and exhaled.
When she reopened and blinked her eyes a couple of times, she met with a pair of concerned grey eyes, looking straight at her.
"Lucius."
"Claire." Lucius reached one hand and pushed few strings of her hair behind.
"I need to tell you something. Something had happened to me just now."
Lucius nodded. Taking her hand, he led her to his desk and helped her be seated on the available seat. Instead of returning to his seat, Lucius sat beside her, still holding her hands.
"What is it, love?"
Claire sighed and began to tell him everything.
By the time she finished telling him what had happened, Lucius' face was hardened by the new information. He gently released her hands, stood up, and returned to his seat.
"This is a serious matter." He spoke quietly after a while. "I can see why you looked so pale and shakened up earlier today."
"I'm feeling bit better now. But yes, I'm terrified of him - whotever he was."
"And did the wizard said anything about himself? Anything at all that might helps us knows who he was?"
"No but he seems to have great interest in Tarot cards. And he wore a funny top hat. Personally I think he looks a lot like Willy Wonka himself."
"Willy Wonka? From the book?"
It was Claire's turns to be in shocked. "You knew about Willy Wonka?"
"Of course. He had been perhaps the greatest and very rare True Seer in the Wizarding World. He'd written a lot of books about the future of the Wizarding World. His rank in the society had been almost the same as Albus Dumberdore."
"Wait! My version of Willy Wonka is a man who owns a chocolate factory. He's a character in a children's book!"
"Is that so?" Lucius said thoughtfully. Muggles often have their ways to twist the truth about anything Magical to fit in their world.
Willy Wonka had been a great Seer who used unlikely tools for his readings. At first, he had used numbers to predict the future. Then, crystal ball and finally, rumour had it that he used cards for prediction.
While the man had known for his eccentric mind, no one could ever doubt he had been the greatest seer of all time.
Clearing his throat, Lucius looked back at the young woman before him.
"I'm afraid, Miss Claire, that until we figure out just who the Wizard is and what does he wants with you, I can't let you be out of sight. Therefore, I have to ask that you stay at the manor again for a while."
"But what about my jobs? I mean I'd just came back from unpaid 2 months leaves! I can't just-"
"The most important thing youmust know about us Wizards, Miss Claire, is that we do no simply show ourselves or magic to Muggles without any good reasons. A dangerous Wizard like that came onto you knowing fully well who you are can't be a good sign."
Claire took in the information to consideration. What he'd said were true, of course. But still, she could lose her jobs if she keeps up like this.
"I could lose my jobs."
"No, you won't." Lucius took her hands. "You can work with me. Knowing what a hardworking you are, and that you won't simply satisfied if I just simply gave you the money, here's my offer to you then."
Claire had to blink for several times before she could speak.
"You want me to work for you? As what?"
"My In-Home Assistant for Project DEATH. You've been doing a good job in terms of researching the Death-Eaters whereabouts. It'll be a great loss to lose someone like you." There was mischiveous glint in his eyes.
Claire looked at their fingers now entangled.
Becoming his In-Home Assistant? While the payment was more than enough to support her for life, she couldn't help but to think she was taking advantage of the situation.
"Miss Claire?" Lucius' voice broke her deep thoughts.
Claire shook her head. "I'll have to think about it. I mean I can still assist you with doing the files for DEATH and all, but I need some time to think about working full time.. Don't get me wrong, Lucius. I'm grateful that you are giving me the chance, but it's a big decision for me and I don't want to take advantage of the situation."
"I understand." Lucius nodded. He knew his little minx was a strong headed one and had more pride than any of the witches he'd been with. She won't be easily tempted just for the sake of money no matter how desperate she was.
Claire looked away shyly from him.
"Also, there is something else that I wanted to talk with you about.. Us. I want to talk about us."
Lucius smiled widely. He'd been waiting patiently for her to address the question.
"What would you like to talk about?"
Claire stared hard at their entangled hands.
"Since we're both adults here, I'll get straight to the point then." She took a deep breath. "I didn't regret any of it.. Us kissed the other night, that is. I've kissed plenty of frogs before, and I'm sure you have your amount of share too. But on that night, maybe it was the happiness that filled in me that made it so, so special.. You made it special, Lucius. Kissing you felt like out of this world for me.. Not even Caleb, hell, Caleb couldn't even hold the torch for you even if he'd tried his hardest. Kissing you was magical. And I.. Well I.. I've found myself enjoyed every moment of it."
She looked at him in the eyes. Her face must be burning red by now but she didn't care. Claire bit her lips, trying so hard to fight off the blush and get the right words out of her chest.
"I've found myself enjoyed kissing you, Lucius... So very much."
Lucius grinned widely. This was not what he had in mind when she said they needed to 'talk'. He'd expected hesitation and uncertaincy on her side, or worse regret that she had kissed an old toad on that magical night. But to hear her said those words repeatively. He couldn't help but to grin.
Getting out from his seat, Lucius made a short trip and sat on an empty chair next to her. He lifted her hand to his lips for a kiss before putting it on his chest.
He let her continued with her words.
"I'm not ashamed to be around you, Lucius. I am of legal age to chose with whomever I want to be with. However, I do ask that you give me some time to be sure of my feelings. I know now that I love to kiss you, but I am still uncertain of how deeply my feelings go toward you and I refuse to lead you on in case my feeling toward you is nothing more than just an infruation. I apologise."
She looked at him with a slight fear in her eyes. Fearing he would not accept her reasoning. After all, he had confessed to her before that he's in love with her.
When all she could hear was his deep chuckles, Claire was stunned by it, and she looked very confuse.
"My dear, you have nothing to apologise about. I knew how hard it must have for you, especially when you have other fishes waiting to catch in the sea. But the fact that you have chosen to say those words meant a lot to me. You have no idea how happy you made me, Claire. So happy that if I were to die right here and now, I'll die happily knowing at you have felt something for me. Even if it was just a little bits."
Claire smiled warmly a him. She wrapped her arms around his neck while he held onto her.
"You've made me happy, Lucius. It's strange and so very sudden. But I haven't been so alive before I met you or Severus. Before everything that I have except for my dignity and pride,being taken away from me."
Their faces were just few inches apart. Their noses barely brushed each other.
Claire exhaled very softly. Looking into his beautiful grey eyes, her fingers tangled in his soft blonde locks, she pulled his head down to met with her lips in a very slowly and tender movement.
They kissed softly at first and grew passionately as time passed by. By the time the two of them were desperately in need of air, both of their faces were in deep shades of red. Yet, they both smiled at each other, with their hands still tangled.
This time around, Lucius took the initial. He leaned forward, with one hand at her back of her head, and once again captured her lips in a tender kiss.