"One Firewhiskey, please," Lucius said in a very raspy voice, placing a few sickles onto the counter.
Madame Rosemerta placed the bottle in front of him. "There you are m'dear," she said as she took the coins. Lucius grunted in response and headed over to the front of the pub, sitting at a table as close to the entrance as possible. He looked around at the nearly empty pub; that was perfect – all the better to overhear conversations. Not even two minutes after Lucius sat down, the door to the pub opened once more. Looking up, he quickly pulled the veil that was covering his face completely down, as his son and boyfriend passed by.
"Wow! I don't ever remember ever seeing this place so dead before," Potter was saying.
"Why don't you grab us a table and I'll get the coffees?" Draco was saying, heading towards the bar while Potter grabbed a table close by.
"Excellent," Lucius whispered to himself. His plan was already working out. Just then, the door opened once more. Lucius looked as Hagrid, the Hogwarts game keeper, came into the pub. He narrowed his eyes as the giant oaf headed towards Potter, striking up a conversation with him. It was going to be difficult to get anything out of the love-struck teenagers with Hagrid around. Nevertheless, Lucius learned forward, trying to catch what they were saying.
"'Ello Harry! Not here by yerself, are ya?" Hagrid asked cheerfully. "Where are Ron and Hermione?"
"They're somewhere. And I'm not here alone; Draco's gone to get us some coffee," Potter said, nodding his head in Draco's direction. Hagrid looked over towards the bar, a deep frown on his face.
"I see," Hagrid said, turning back towards Potter; he was no longer smiling.
"I can see you're still not comfortable with this, so if there's anything you wanted to tell me that doesn't include my relationship with Draco, I would like to hear it. Otherwise, I would like to get back to my date." Potter said, rather testily.
Hagrid just sighed. Lucius could have sworn he heard him say, "it ain't right," but was too far away to hear that part. "I just wanted ta see if you wanted to go fer a walk or summthin', seeing as we haven't really spent much time together." Even as Hagrid was saying this, he looked as though he regretted ever going over to Potter. Lucius looked over to the bar in time to see his son heading towards the other two, carrying the two cups of coffee.
"That's very kind of you Hagrid, but I'm actually on a date right now," Potter was saying rather stonily as Draco made his way to them.
"Got the coffees," Draco said, placing the coffees gently on the table.
"I see. Well, do' let meh impede on yer date. I'll see ya 'round." And with that said, he walked out of the Three Broomsticks, without getting his usual bucket of mead.
"That was awkward," Potter said, grabbing his coffee and some sugar that was on the table.
"I'll say. Still doesn't trust me, does he?" Draco asked casually, drinking his coffee black.
"Not really, no. Every time I go to mention something funny you said or did, he always quickly changes the subject." Potter said, taking a sip of his coffee. Draco gave an annoyed sigh, rolling his eyes and looking down into his coffee. "But hey, let's not talk about that!" Potter reached across the table, taking Draco's hand into his own.
Lucius scowled at this. It was disgusting! He sat there, trying to drink his Firewhiskey without revealing his face. The two started talking about Quidditch. Did Draco really want to quit? After everything it took to get him on to the team? Those brooms didn't come cheap either. Not that money was really an issue with for the Malfoy's. But it was still annoying.
Lucius sat there, listening the conversation, drumming him fingers on the table. It was annoying, having to listen to them peddling on about senseless things like Quidditch; and Potter was so corny! He gave an impatient sigh as he stared at the back of his son's head, willing him to end the dull conversation. Just then, the talk turned towards himself.
"You know Draco, you don't have to impress your father anymore. Now you can just relax and have fun." Potter said, grabbing Draco's hand.
"I know. But my even though I don't have to deal with my father anymore, he still kind of scares me."
"Really? Why does he scare you?" Potter asked.
"He's more powerful than you think. He's a very threatening person, and he usually keeps his threats." Draco said.
Lucius listened as Draco told Potter about his constant beatings and complaining about his mother never doing anything about it. Lucius sighed impatiently at his sons constant complaining. Draco didn't seriously think he was going to take him out of school just to beat him, did he? As if he didn't have more important things to tend to. And what was this? Potter actually thinks that he could stop me from ever hurting Draco? Well, he has another thing coming. Ew! Did they just kiss?! I think I'm going to be sick!
Just then, Potter stopped as Draco turned around and looked at Lucius. Lucius ducked his head in time. Although he was well covered, he couldn't risk blowing his plan.
"Something wrong?" Potter asked, looking over Draco's shoulder to see what he was looking at.
"Nothing, I just thought – well, it doesn't matter." Draco said, turning back around. "Why don't we go for a walk? See what else Hogsmeade has to offer." They got up and left the pub. Lucius waited for only a moment before getting up and following them out of the pub.
It was quite easy for Lucius to follow them; there were plenty of stores to hide behind, and crowds to get lost in for every now and then, Draco would consciously look over his shoulder. It was like he could sense him. Lucius never took his eyes off the pair, however. He followed them all the way to Honeydukes. It wasn't until they were nearly there when he tripped over a stray cat that ran his way. He let out a shout as he caught himself on the ground. He quickly got up and hid behind a barrel just as Draco abruptly turned around.
Lucius couldn't hear anything they were saying as he was swearing under his breath at that mangy cat. He stayed his ground until the two teenagers were in the sweet shop. He looked around to make sure no one was watching as he stumbled from behind the barrel and made his way into the shop. Of course they were over by the chocolate; Draco had the biggest sweet tooth out of anyone he knew. He pretended to look at the abnormal candy shelf nearby so that he wouldn't lose sight of them, but this was proving difficult; there were so many people in the shop, it was difficult to get a clear look at them. Just when he was thinking of waiting for them out of the store, someone stumbled into him, causing him to nearly fall into the barrel of Blood Pops. When he looked up, he found it was Draco.
"I am so sorry!" Draco said, leaning in to help him up.
Lucius put his hand up to stop him, saying, "twas an accident, I'm sure." He quickly composed himself and casually walked out of the door, trying not to act too suspicious. He decided it would be best to wait outside behind another barrel outside of the sweet shop instead. He didn't have to wait too long before the two teens walked out of the shop.
"Alright, where to next?" Potter asked, as they stepped out into the open street. "You ok, Hun?" For Draco looked paranoid. Lucius nearly gagged at nickname allotted to his son.
"What?" Draco asked.
"Ok, what is going on? You've been acting strange ever since we got here," Potter asked.
"Sorry, I don't mean to act strange, it's just that – well – I feel like someone's been following us all day." Draco said, looking around. Lucius shrunk a little behind the barrel. "I keep getting this feeling that someone is watching us, and it's very unnerving."
"Listen, this is our first date and you're nervous; I get that. But no one's openly judging us anymore, so there's no need to –"
"It's not that, Harry. It's something else. Do you remember that I bumped into? She was in the Three Broomsticks earlier when we were there. And when I bumped into her, she refused to even look at me and ran off in a hurry." Draco explained. Lucius gave an irritated sigh. And here he thought his disguise was pretty good.
"And you think that this old woman has been following us all day?" Potter asked, a little skeptically. "What would her motive be? We don't even know her."
"You don't know that, babe. She kept her veil on the entire time. For all we know, we could." Draco said. Lucius nearly gagged again at this, and decided that it was a good idea to apparate then; he had everything he needed to know.
He was back at Malfoy Manor. Lucius immediately discarded his disguise and headed up to his office, where he knew the Dark Lord was waiting. He got to the door and stopped, taking a deep breath before knocking on his door.
"Enter, Lucius," the Dark Lord said.
Lucius opened the door and entered the room to find the Dark Lord sitting at his desk, his long fingers interlocked on the desk.
"What news have you for me?" Voldemort asked.
"My Lord, I followed my son and Potter as you wished. They are, indeed, very close. My son seems to feel the safest with the boy." Lucius said.
"Safest in what way?" Voldemort asked.
"Well, one conversation lead to another, and it appears that Draco is afraid I am coming for him. To which Potter's response was to promise to keep him safe as long as Draco is with him." Lucius said, cringing once more at the image of his son kissing Potter.
"Hmm. This please me indeed." Voldemort said, giving Lucius one of his creepy smiles.
"And why is that, my lord?" Lucius asked, inclining his head slightly.
"Because we now have an advantage over Potter that he himself would not have overseen." Voldemort simply said.
"I'm sorry, my Lord, I'm afraid I don't understand." Lucius said, starting to get uncomfortable.
"Are you really that naïve, Lucius? It is clear that Potter will do anything to protect your son if it came to it. We put Draco in danger and Potter – being the insufferable hero he is – will come to his aid." Voldemort said, looking Lucius dead in the eyes.
"I see," was all Lucius could say.
"Sit down, Lucius. There is much to discuss on the matter."
Lucius took a deep breath and sat down, not particularly enjoying where this conversation was headed.