"You know, Lucius," Francesca rolled over, resting her chin upon his chest in order to see his face, "you've been really horny lately. And I mean, I know how you like sex, but even for you, this week has been something else."
"Hm." Lucius tucked both hands under his head, staring up at the ceiling.
"Any particular reason for this- ah- rise in amorous feelings?"
"No," he replied bluntly. "Why?"
"Oh, I don't know." She stretched against him, slipping a bare leg over his beneath the sheets. "But there was the time in the Prefect's bathroom, and then at night like usual, then the next day in the library, and that same day you stormed out of the Great Hall and I followed you and we ended up doing it in a broom closet, and again at night, like usual, and after I went back to my own bed, you woke me up at, what was it, five o'clock in the morning so we could have sex again. Next day I don't hardly see you but you show up in my bed past midnight, raring to go again! And then tonight-" she laughed, tilting her head back and running her fingertips over his abdomen. "Well, we didn't even get to enjoy the party, did we? Although," she nuzzled his neck, pressing tiny kisses to his jaw. "I think we made our own fun."
"It's getting late," he said abruptly.
"Early, actually," she replied bitterly, fully aware of why he'd pointed out the time. "Can't I sleep in here? Please?"
"We've had this discussion before," he replied lazily, rolling on to his side and giving her waist a gentle squeeze. "I sleep alone."
"Don't you think it's strange that I've never seen you sleep? We've been together years, but even when I visit your house, we fuck in my room, and then you go back to yours!"
"My father would kill me if he found us in bed together," he droned, "and I don't like people in my room."
"Your father knows we have sex, and he wouldn't come barging in anyway."
"Only because Mother stops him, I'm sure. See, he's very old fashion, and hates that I won't have a virgin bride. At the same time, he adores you, and can't stand the fact that he likes you despite the fact you're not a virgin, even if I'm the only one you're screwing. And at the same time still, he would never want to deny his only son and heir the right to have all the sex I want. He's a very difficult man to please, my father."
She shrugged, accepting this answer, before frowning again. "But there's something else. All these times in the past couple of days... you've seemed distant. It's like you don't even see me."
They were moving into dangerous territory. "I don't know what you're talking about," he lied.
"I don't believe you," she replied, apparently noticing how his gaze didn't quite meet hers when he spoke. "If there's something you want to tell me about-"
"Hey." The hangings were shoved aside, and Rodolphus scowled down at them. "Some of us want to get a few hours sleep before first period tomorrow, and it's already four."
Francesca rolled her eyes. "You're drunk, Rodolphus."
"Really?" he bit back sarcastically, words slurring only slightly. "I hadn't noticed. And you're keeping me awake, you useless harpy."
"McGonagall's going to be furious when you show up to her class hungover," she snapped, but clutching the sheet to her chest and scrabbling about for her robes nonetheless. Rodolphus merely scoffed in reply, hovering nearby to assure that her search for clothing was not merely an attempt to make him leave. "Nice underwear, Lestrange" she added bitterly, nodding to the shorts he'd obviously just pulled on as he climbed out of bed. They were white with blue pinstripes, and printed with Kelpies. Rodolphus sneered.
"Nice ass."
She flushed and pulled the sheet around to better cover herself as she snagged her shirt from the floor.
"Leer at your own girlfriend," Lucius defended lazily, stifling a yawn.
Rodolphus narrowed his eyes and replied maliciously, "I could tell you the same thing."
Lucius shot him a warning look and Francesca glanced over quizzically, but she apparently chose to ignore the comment.
"Alright, close the curtains. I'll be ready in a second."
He did so, and moved back to his own bed, flopping down with a heavy sigh. As Francesca dressed sloppily, a sleepy, irritated grumble could be heard:
"Ow, Roddy, that was my elbow..."
"Alright, my love," Francesca murmured, ducking to kiss Lucius a final time. "Sleep well."
"Mhmm," he waved her off and buried his head in the pillow.
"Bye Bella!" she stage-whispered, letting the hangings swing shut behind her. Bellatrix raised a hand in a drowsy farewell, before rolling over and snuggling up to Rodolphus's warmth. He slung an arm around her bare shoulders and pulled the blankets around them, waving his hand idly so the drapes closed as Francesca slipped from the room.
"See, Malfoy, I told you he'd get better," Rodolphus commented loudly as Augustus Rookwood stumbled from his broom at the end of practice, trembling with exhaustion but still conscious. The younger boy flushed and Rodolphus gave him and obnoxious grin, prodding him between the shoulder blades with the end of his broom as they passed. Lucius rolled his eyes.
"Leave the kid alone. He's got enough problems without you harassing him all the time," Lucius sighed.
"You know, Bella says her little cousin Regulus is a pretty good player; he's only a first year, but whoever's captain next year might have a better shot of finding a decent seeker," he raised his voice at the last bit so that it carried across the entire pitch. Rookwood, evidently mortified, rushed straight through the changing rooms and up towards the castle, not even pausing to take off his protective gear. Rodolphus sniggered, and turned to find a new victim. "Hey, Rabby-"
"Enough!" Lucius snarled. "Rabastan isn't bothering anyone."
Rodolphus shrugged and began to undress; the reprimand wasn't enough to keep him from chucking a shin guard forcibly at his younger brother's head.
"Ouch!" Rabastan cried as it smacked against his ear. "You-" he made a threatening move towards Rodolphus, but Lucius grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back. It would be no use to have one of his Chasers beaten to a bloody pulp by his older brother. No matter how hard Rodolphus worked to provoke his team mates, Lucius would not allow him to start another fight. Last year, they'd lost the Cup because the Slytherin Seeker and team captain had been given an untimely concussion by his own Beater.
Rodolphus laughed loudly and Lucius resisted the urge to hex him. He wasn't foolish enough to try and take on Rodolphus in a fist fight; at six foot five inches, he stood a full four inches taller than Lucius. Furthermore, Lucius had little interest in pitting himself against nearly two hundred pounds of solid muscle. But when it came to spellwork, Lucius was unquestionably the more adept of the two. He knew, though, if he sent a stinging hex his way, Rodolphus wasn't above throwing punches in return.
Besides, Lucius liked to think himself above Muggle dueling.
The showers offered a small bit of privacy- stalls had been added around the same time female students had been permitted to play. Not, of course, that a girl would ever be permitted to play on the Slytherin team; the young men of Slytherin viewed women in a slightly more archaic light than the other three houses. The sole connection between females and Quidditch, in the eyes of this particular team, was that they should be in the stands to cheer on their House during games, and be prepared to congratulate them in successful matches and console them in defeat.
Lucius took one shower stall, and Rodolphus moved into the one next to him. The walls were low enough that only their heads (or, in Rodolphus's case, his head, neck and a bit of shoulder) were visible, making it quiet easy for Rodolphus to casually say over the sound of running water,
"I think Francesca's getting suspicious."
"Your clever little comments see to that; I'm surprised you haven't announced it to the entire school yet," Lucius spat.
"I wouldn't do that!" he exclaimed with mock hurt. "I just don't understand why you won't dump Francesca and give Bella's little sister a shot.
"I'm going to marry Francesca eventually. I don't have the time or inclination to start a new relationship- girls need too much attention in the beginning to keep them happy. Francesca and I have reached a comfortable point where she knows what I want, and she does it. Besides," Lucius dropped his voice to a low mutter, "Narcissa's really too young to touch."
"Actually, she's one of the oldest in her grade. Think Bella said her birthday is in late September, so she'll be sixteen in a matter of days. You, on the other hand, won't be turning eighteen until August. Really, you're barely more than a year apart."
This news seemed to cheer Lucius for a moment, before he replied in a heavy, resigned tone, "It doesn't matter. My father expects me to marry by the time I'm twenty. What if I were to break things off with Francesca, and thing didn't work out with Narcissa? And," When had dating her even become an issue? "all I really want anyway is to fuck her."
Rodolphus considered this for a moment as he rinsed shampoo from his hair. "Well... the girl could definitely use a good fuck, I won't argue with you there, but... I don't think that it would be easy. For so many different reasons." Before Lucius could ask, Rodolphus began to list.
"There's Francesca, to start with. She'll be hard to shake loose. I imagine if you were to tell her today that things were over between you two, it would be months before she stopped hanging off of you and whining about how you don't love her anymore. And she'd probably curse any girl who got too close to you, which might make seducing Narcissa a bit of a challenge.
"And then there's Bellatrix. She's incredibly protective of little Cissy, and won't take it well if you show any desire to sleep with her and not take full responsibility for it. Now, if you'd rather try with Andromeda, I've always gotten the feeling Bella likes that sister much less, so you wouldn't risk any hexes in places you wouldn't want them. Andy's actually a pretty nice girl-"
"I don't care about Andromeda!" Lucius interrupted.
"Right, right, okay. So then your last problem is with Cissy herself. She's a prissy little thing, and can be damn vicious, too. I get the feeling she's pretty old-fashioned, wants to wait until she's married and all that-"
"What?"
"No, calm down, don't get too excited yet. That's just what she thinks she wants, I reckon, but doesn't necessarily have her heart set on it. It'll make things a bit more difficult, but since she's not adverse to snogging in empty classrooms after curfew, I figure it won't be impossible just to push her that much further."
Lucius frowned. "I don't want to break up with Francesca. And I doubt I'd even want to date Narcissa- I don't know what she's like, really."
"She can't possibly be worse than Francesca," Rodolphus muttered.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Well, honestly Lucius, I don't know how you listen to her constant bitching about everything. She's a nightmare. Do you really think Narcissa can be more difficult to tolerate than that?"
Lucius considered this for a moment. "You're probably right," he said slowly. "But there are things far worse than irritating. What if she's stubborn and strong-willed? What if she's stupid? What if it turns out that, after all of this, she's incredibly boring in bed and I get stuck with her for the rest of my life?"
Rodolphus shrugged and turned off the water. "Suit yourself, mate."
"Hey, Lucius, do me a favor?"
"No."
"It'll only take a second."
"Fine. What?"
Rodolphus jerked his head in the direction of the seventh year girls' dormitory. "Go get Bella for me, will you?"
"Why can't you get her yourself?"
"You know I've never been able to get the hang of that staircase thing you do..."
For most of his third and fourth year, Lucius had worked on finding a way past the enchantments that kept boys away from where the girls slept. He had come close, but hadn't discovered the final spell until the clever misfit Severus Snape had been sorted into Slytherin during Lucius's fifth year and helped him with the final charm. It was a bit tricky, but managed to cover the stairs in a magical coating that held once the steps flattened into a slide. Unfortunately, it only seemed to work for the caster, and not for any friends he might try to bring along with him.
"Just call up to her, then."
"That's barbaric."
Later, Lucius would realize what an idiot he'd been not to immediately see through this. Since when had Rodolphus been anything but barbaric? Since when could he not ask another girl to go up? And what could possibly have been so important to Rodolphus, who didn't care about anything, that Lucius had to go right then?
But Lucius, fool that he was, shrugged. "Alright, then."
"Tell me, Cissy. I know there must be someone."
"No- really Bella, there -er- isn't..."
"Liar!" Bellatrix laughed. "I can guess, I know it. Is he on the Quidditch team?"
Narcissa pressed her lips together, and her sister accepted this as a 'yes'.
"Ooh, well that certainly narrows it down! You know, you can tell a lot about how a boy is in bed based on how he plays Quidditch."
Narcissa flushed and rolled over on her stomach, burying her face in her hands. Bella ignored her mortification.
"Take Roddy, for example. He's a Beater, and Beaters are always the most aggressive. He's forceful, but never sloppy- very precise, whether it's hitting a bludger or-"
"I get the picture, Bella!" Narcissa cried from between her fingers.
"Now, if it's a Chaser you're in to- Chasers are team players for sure, and have a good deal of stamina- they're scoring the whole game, if you catch my drift..."
"Bella," she groaned.
"But after a while, the Chasers get boring. I mean, it's just the same thing, over and over again. Score, score, score. I wouldn't want to date a Chaser.
"If you're after a Seeker- well, they're the attention hogs, aren't they? I'd bet that any Seeker would want all the glory for himself, and they never have to worry about what's going on with the rest of the team, just looking for that little Snitch, that little gold nugget of self-gratification. They finish their part and whoops, game over... Seekers might be impressive, but I reckon they're horrible lovers."
"And... Keepers?" Narcissa asked in a tiny voice. Bellatrix considered this for a moment.
"Keepers are tougher. They don't seek glory like the Seekers do, but there's only one Keeper. Keepers have to be very alert- I'd say they're attentive in bed, but also risk-takers. A Keeper can never make exactly the same save twice, you know? There's lots of innovation there, and probably considerable dexterity too. I don't think a Keeper would be too bad," she decided at last.
"So which is it for you, Cissy? I think I can rule out Rookwood, right? He's only in his second year. Rabastan's in his fourth, so still probably too young for you. I'll assume you have no interest in Roddy, so that leaves two Chasers, Wilkes and Yaxley, the other Beater, Rosier, and then Lucius is the Keeper.
"Let's see... Yaxley and Rosier are in Andy's year, and I've never seen you talk to them. Wilkes is in your's..." She gave her sister a piercing glare. "Is it Wilkes?"
"No," Narcissa confessed. "It's not. I've snogged him a few times, but he's just so pushy and grabby, and really just an all-out dreadful kisser."
Bellatrix laughed, and Narcissa couldn't help but to join in.
He cast the spell and took the steps two at a time, pushing open the door and calling casually, "Hey, Bella."
And then he froze. Bellatrix was sprawled out across her bed the wrong way, legs and arms hanging over the sides, and next to her, giggling...
Narcissa.
In a bed.
Laying down.
"What is it?" Bella chirped, sitting up.
"Er..." Why had he come up here? There'd been a reason, he was sure he'd had a reason, a reason that hadn't involved Narcissa in a bed, in his bed, in his bed naked and gasping his name-
"Lucius?"
"Rodolphus!" he exclaimed, relieved that he had managed to recall his best friend's name. And by 'best friend', he obviously meant 'worst enemy'. "Rodolphus wanted me to get you."
"Why?"
Lucius shrugged; he was pretty sure he wouldn't remember even if he'd been told.
Bellatrix gave him a suspicious look as she passed, but he scarcely noticed.
Narcissa sat up slowly, watching him with a curious gaze.
"Hello," she said at last, and Lucius realized he'd been staring again.
"Erm, hello." He wanted to kiss her. He was sure he'd never wanted anything so badly in his life. He wanted to stride over to the bed and take her in his arms, tilt her back on the mattress and claim her with his lips, his hands. He wanted possess her, taste her, feel her wanton and willing against him.
He wanted her.
"Was there anything else you needed?" she asked tentatively, twisting a lock of hair around one finger nervously.
He was making her nervous. What was it that she had almost said in the kitchens? The question had haunted him all night. Am I making you uncomfortable? And she had replied, I don't know. I feel... What had she felt? It's probably just the heat in here... Had she been affected by the temperature, too? Had her entire body being burning as well? He had to know.
"Nothing," he replied at last. "Have a nice evening."