Title: Black and Deep Desires

By: Dr. Kim-chan

Harry: So what was with the gracious gift of updating with two chapters?

Me: Because our phone line (and thus my only way to access the Net) has been on the fritz, and I am notoriously lazy. In other news, I'm happy to be introducing my version of the Zabini family, either in this chapter or the next one! My muses worked long and hard to give me inspiration for good, realistic descriptions. Therefore, I have presents for them, too! For Harry, a diary to vent out your homicidal rage.

Harry: Yay! I HATE THE WORLD SO MUCH! (gets weird stares) Sorry. (starts furiously writing)

Me: For Draco, three jumbo bags of Gummi Bears!

Draco: Yay!

Me: And especially for Ron, who was willing to suffer, a Hermione plushie!

Ron: Woot! (grabs it and hugs it. I snicker to myself because he doesn't realize that it has a spell on it…)

Me: And as a present for myself, reviews and Dr. Pepper! Rolling Chapter 8! (clicks the remote and sips)

(Begin (the new) Chap. 8)

...My God, what is wrong with me? This sure as hell can't be love. I absolutely do not love Malfoy's father…then why do I feel so broken-up inside? I mean, I've only been here a day, and people don't fall in love that quickly, especially teenage boys and middle-aged men. Although…I admit…having long blond hair is quite the statement. I'll give Mr. Malfoy that much. And his eyes…a few minutes ago, they looked totally different, like he really felt something for me. I must've had a real stupid look on my face.

Then again, I'm not all that attracted to girls anymore. Sure, I get curious now and then, and Hermione and I used to have this on-again, off-again fling going, but…there was something missing.

But why Lucius Malfoy, of all people? He's a Death Eater! I can't forget, it was him who kidnapped me and took me here…and I sure as hell can't forget...

The pain inside me, him lying on top of me—everything about that night was wrong. I didn't want my first time to be like that, so quick and cheap with a guy twice my age. And that's another thing! He's so older than I am! How could that possibly work out?

But, somewhere inside, I don't care. I definitely feel it. All I want is to make up my mind…or...

Wait. Could this be his trick? Tricking me into falling for him so I can probably cuddle up to him and tell him all of Harry's deepest secrets? I can only imagine what'd happen if I fell for it. Harry's been getting rather irritable lately; I hope it doesn't have anything to do with me becoming prefect.

With a fresh determination, Ron drew himself up from the mattress. He had been lying in his room for a long duration, trying to discern these newfound emotions welling up from inside him. It was probably love; Ron wasn't afraid to give the possibility a shadow of a doubt. But even if it were, the coming war further complicated things. Lucius Malfoy was known to lie, steal, and cheat. After the escapade down in the Department of Mysteries last June, that particular fact was true, too.

"I've already made a lot of mistakes, and I'm not about to make another one. Harry, Hermione, and my family's at stake…it's decided. No matter how mixed-up I feel, I won't let myself fall into his little game," he decided aloud. "It'll take a lot more than that for that bloody Death Eater to fool me."

"Fool you how?"

Ron hastily turned around to see Draco standing in the doorway for another countless time. His arms were folded, as was the young Malfoy's usual custom. Not getting a response, Draco walked fully into the bedroom, then abruptly peeked out into the hallway in both directions before closing the door.

"Did you need anything?" Ron asked mockingly.

"Only for you to tell me what's this business going on between you and Father. First he makes mad, passionate love to you—"

"It wasn't mad and passionate! It was quick and frightening!"

"—then he demands that you wear your shirt like some shoddy little paramour he sets on the side for his disgusting self-gratification, and now you're mumbling about him trying to trick you. I have a right to know what's going on in my own house."

"You know as much as I do that your father still and will always work for Voldemort, even if Harry wins this war. He's trying to get me to fall in love with him, or at least start to pathetically hang on him, and if it's for anything personal I know about Harry or the Order, he can forget it! Besides, even though we've been friends for five years, I still don't know as much about him as he does, and it's only gotten worse since—"

He stopped himself, for he was about to say 'Sirius' in Malfoy's presence.

"—since another close friend of his died recently."

"It wasn't Granger, was it?" asked Draco.

"No. There, and I know you're disappointed to hear it."

"Well, I hate to bring down the curtain on your childish detective work, but if these actions of Father's are tricks as you claim, don't you think he would've made an attempt to be more—oh, I don't know—subtle? After all, this is seduction you're talking about, not full-frontal lust...which this obviously is."

Ron was quiet for a moment, actually considering Malfoy's advice for once. Then he confessed.

"He tried to apologize to me earlier this morning, and thank me for making breakfast, so…when I was cleaning the dishes, he stepped into the dining room and complemented me. Then he caught me off-guard and held me close with one arm, and—"

A pause. Draco raised an eyebrow.

"And…then he kissed me. I don't know what came over me, but I didn't run. I just stood there. I got confused and scared, so I ran up here to clear my mind," he explained. "If you were me, you'd know what I'm talking about. When he stopped and looked at me for that brief moment, there was something completely different about his eyes, something soft and likeable."

"Did you say 'soft and likeable'? Weasley, that wasn't a damn teddy bear you were snogging! This is my father we're talking about. A feared and respected wizard and Death Eater, and you're telling me he's soft and likeable? Humph. Maybe he is pulling a fast one."

"Well, he isn't gonna get to me, and that's that. Anyway, do I have orders?"

"As a matter of fact, you do, which is the reason why I came here. Father was busy with something in the private library, so he called on me to find you," the blonde boy informed. "He was acting so oddly, sitting at his chair and reading as if nothing else mattered. He actually seemed kind of sad."

Draco took a leaf out of Ron's book and paused in deep thought. After a few seconds, he waved it off.

"Well, hopefully Father'll be able to pull himself together in time for the Zabinis' arrival…speaking of which, there's two rooms he'd like for you to clean out for them. Mr. Zabini's room will be two doors down from Father's in the north wing. Blaise's will be next to mine in the west. So you don't get lost, remember that your room sits at the edge of the east wing; the south wing is directly connected to the main stairs. There's about five corridors in the north, three each in the east and west, and about two in the south, not including the smaller hallways and shortcuts. Got it?"

Reflecting upon what Draco said, Ron took a moment to absorb it, then nodded.

"Right then. Your cleaning supplies are in a closet down in the kitchen."

Ron sighed and plopped back down onto the bed, conserving his strength for the upcoming work. "At least there's no huge flights of stairs to climb, and it'll keep me busy."

"As if you have other things to do around here," criticized Draco, opening the door and walking out backwards. Ron's face was buried into a pillow, so he didn't see it, but he audibly heard his adversary bump into something. Concealing a snicker, he sat up again, ready to playfully ridicule Draco until he saw exactly what—or more precisely, who—he bumped into.

"He knows what to do?"

"Yes."

"Good."

The door closed, and it was just he and Lucius now. A veil of uncertainly pressed upon the bedroom as Lucius wasted no time in taking his expected seat at the bedside. Still reeling from this morning's perplexing events, Ron avoided any eye contact with him.

"The day is still early, and the Zabinis aren't expected to arrive until eight in the evening. I believe there is plenty of time for the two of us to hold a conversation."

"You want to talk about the kiss," said Ron flatly, seeing past Lucius's formalities and cutting right to the chase. Trick or not, he couldn't take either risk. He was going to stick to his principles and resist Mr. Malfoy at all costs. The nice bedroom didn't matter; any compliments given would hold empty meaning. Nothing would faze him now. No matter what, he had to stay faithful to Harry and the Order of the Phoenix.

"If you wish to be so straightforward, then yes, that's what I want. I noticed the look on your face afterwards, and you ran from me so quickly. Is there something on your mind, perhaps?"

Ron shook his head, and suddenly a crashing silence ensued. The same strong hand which had held his face a few hours before now rested atop Ron's, gently pinning it down.

"There is; you're not willing to tell me is all. It is unconventional for a master to be so intimate with his servant, yet I see something in you I've longed to have for so long."

La la la la la…la la la…I'm not listening! I'm not—

Ron's obstinate musings were interrupted when he felt a jolting change in his position. He jarred from his thoughts to discover himself laying on his side, with Lucius crawling over him. Immediately knowing what would happen next, he leapt up and only succeeded in clumsily falling off the other side with a loud 'thump'. Crumpling to the floor, he briefly forgot about escaping and lay still while he rubbed his sore shoulder. A shadow fell across his face, and he scarcely had time to lock eyes with his assailant before he was roughly picked up and thrown onto the bed. A mass of red hair went into Ron's eyes, further delaying another effort to get away. Furiously shaking his head to regain his vision, he saw Lucius standing in front of him looking none too happy.

"You're forgetting your place again. What I ask isn't a suggestion; it's a direct order."

"You said all you wanted to do was talk!"

"I do. There's no harm in becoming acquainted in the meantime."

"Look at me! How can you be so damn obsessed with me! Are you mad? I'm a Weasley! I have red hair, blue eyes, I'm not all that good-looking, and I have more freckles than I know what to do with! Plus, you're twice my age! It'll never work out!"

"There's another reason you left out, the real reason you don't wish to submit to me," Lucius pointed out.

Ron stopped cold in his rage, knowing exactly what the older man was hinting at.

"That you're a Death Eater? Yeah, there's that, too. It'll always be lust and never true love. I can never trust you. Never. Even if you do love me like you say you do, you'll always love power more than anything. You never cared about anyone other than yourself. Admit it: isn't that why you hired me in the first place? For kicks? Isn't that why Mrs. Malfoy left you?"

The second after the preceding inquiry, Lucius's hand lashed out and grabbed Ron by the throat, pulling him up close until only thin wisps of oxygen could've been capable to pass between them. His expression had changed from mild exasperation to murderous animosity.

"Listen to what I say, you dirt-scrawling, disobedient child. It was of Narcissa's own will that she considered stepping foot out of my house, and I say good riddance! You think I wanted her? You foolishly believe my ambition drove her away from my side? There was nothing but trouble from the day I married that deceitful harlot! It was only for our families' expectations, the glory of receiving an heir. After that she was a useless leech, destroying everything I held dear! You can have the pride of being right in one fact: that I've never known love before, but don't ever jump to the conclusion that I loved Narcissa!"

"Ah ha!" choked out Ron.

"What?"

"You just proved my point! You have so much pent-up frustration from an unhappy marriage that you feel the need to take it out on me!"

What occurred next was peculiar. Lucius instantly released his seize on Ron's throat, dropping him back on the bed. As Ron coughed and tried to catch his breath, the lethal grimace on the older man's face was thoroughly wiped away. He dropped his arms to his sides and turned away, dwelling on a particular thought in his addled mind. Unfortunately, Ron's victory didn't last long.

"You believe you're such a clever wizard, don't you? Then answer me this. Why would I be so asinine as to dispense my wounded emotions on a little boy if I didn't hold the better judgment that there was something special about him for me to be attracted to in the first place?"

I hate it when they use these big words! This is why I tune out from Hermione's conversations half the time, Ron complained. He conjured up every memory he had of the definitions of the complex words, then figured out what he was trying to say. So he's saying that if what I say is true, then why would he be so stupid as to just randomly choose me as his lover in the first place…damn, why didn't I think of that?

The prolonged silence allowed Lucius to assume a victory of his own.

"I agree that I didn't marry my wife because of love. It was just expected to be. I did admire her grace, but after a period of time, she began to be wearisome. She shared my views about the imminent clash between wizards and Muggles, but abhorred the times when the Dark Lord would call on me at all hours of the night for covert missions. She was especially distraught after Draco was born, and I could sense that our marriage wouldn't endure for very long," he said, now sitting close to a mystified Weasley. "Ever since my Hogwarts years, women were frivolous and didn't hold my interest in the least. However, my family wouldn't hear of it. Back then, I did what I had to in order to please everyone…even if it meant denouncing what I truly was."

"Rough," Ron simply condoled.

"It may seem like a spur-of-the-moment affair, but believe my word it isn't. You remind me of the one that got away when I was about your age. In my final year as a Slytherin, there was someone I had an eye on—a couple years younger, no real division. By the time I felt ready to express my emotions, however, Narcissa had returned from her schooling in Beauxbatons, and I went back home to face my wretched existence. Besides, he already loved someone—a girl in his own House."

"That sucks! So it was an arranged marriage?"

"Not exactly. I had met Narcissa at a social one summer and talked to her quite a few times. There was no real basis for a romance, and somehow she got mixed messages. Both of our families supported all the arrangements. I liked her, but not as a future wife…and now that she's finally gone, I feel unrestricted for the first time in years. Therefore, you face a decision. You can choose to trust me and give me a chance, or drop the whole affair and forget everything that was said here. Either way, I'll still expect indulgence from time to time until your family pays your debt," he explained.

"Wait a minute! If you really do love me, then you wouldn't force me to have sex with you!"

Lucius stopped at the threshold on his way out, but only to reply.

"There's a difference between meaningless sex and actually putting heart and soul into the process. If you want to take the risk and be my lover, you'll learn the difference soon enough. Right now, what is expected of you is nothing more than a mere duty. The question is, do you want to make it more than that?"

(End Chap. 8)

Me: Finally! If this chapter gets out late, then it's my fault. I had to make it sound exactly right. Sorry, guys, but the dinner will have to be pushed to the next chapter. But hey, you'll be in for a treat—figuratively, that is.

Ron (in the distance): AAAHHH!

Harry (looks at me skeptically): Kim-chan…

Me: What makes you immediately suspect I did something?

Ron (storms up): Is this your idea of a joke, Kim-chan! (in his hand he holds up what used to be a Hermione plushie, but over the course of the chapter, the spell made it gradually morph into a Lucius Malfoy plushie)

Draco: That is sooo cute!

(Me, Ron, and Harry give him weird looks)

Draco (nervously): Uh…

Me: Anyway, there's something y'all might want to remember closely for later. Look up where Lucius says, "You remind me of the one that got away when I was about your age", blah-blah…and then he says, "Besides, he already loved someone else—a girl in his own House."

Harry: Is it anybody we know?

Me: Maybe…all I know is that the reviewers better not guess! But yeah, it is someone we know…until Chapter 9!