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Turn on the Light

Chapter 3

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Gwen cranked the windows down as she sped down her street, resisting the urge to grin as Lucius's face twisted in surprise. He whipped his head around to glare at her, shouting over the howling wind.

"I wasn't aware that driving in a car involved taking one's life in one's hands."

"Don't like it? You can drive next time." She shouted back, looking over the tops of her sunglasses briefly at him and then back to the road.

Usually she was a fairly conscientious driver, but today she couldn't resist. An ugly, seething anger bubbled just under her skin when she thought of the man sitting next to her. What must he have been like at the height of the war? She could only imagine, and her imagination was not kind. Whether it was right or not was besides the point, but at the moment he was a very convenient outlet for an anger she thought she'd let go of a long time ago. She couldn't lash out at him, scream and shout and throw him out of her car like she desperately wanted to, but she could at the very least annoy the shite out of him.

Lucius looked like he was about to open his mouth to respond, but before he could get a word out Gwen leaned forward, spinning the volume dial on the radio up higher. He was immediately drowned out by the up-beat pop vocals of Britany Spears. He sighed and seemed to resign himself, turning his attention to the dashboard to examine the buttons and dials.

The rest of the ride continued in a similar manner, if Lucius tried to initiate conversation she leaned forward to give the volume dial a passive aggressive crank until eventually Britany and her cowbell accompaniment were loud enough to rattle the windows and Lucius looked about ready to snap. She could practically see the vein bulging in his forehead as he bit his lip in frustration.

Good, let him bite through it.

She finally pulled the car into the parking lot, easing into a blue parking stall and studiously ignoring the glares from pedestrians that were obviously unimpressed by the earth-shattering racket seeping out of the windows. The silence that followed when she turned off the engine was deafening.

Lucius struggled against his seatbelt for a few moments, tugging and poking at it while Gwen watched. When a lesson in exiting a vehicle was not forthcoming he sighed and leaned back into his seat. "You know, it'll be a very long year if we spend it like this."

"Let's make one thing very clear, Mr. Malfoy." Gwen leaned in, pushing her sunglasses down her nose. "You may have convinced those bonehead aurors that you've had a change of heart but I'm not buying it, and I have no intention of letting the scorpion ride me across the river." To punctuate her statement she deftly pressed the release on his seatbelt, letting it snap open. "You may be my responsibility for the next year, but I am not your babysitter and I am not your friend."

He stared at her for a moment, mouth slightly open in shock. She didn't wait for it to wear off, flinging off her own seatbelt and practically throwing herself out of the car. She wasn't exactly proud of her outburst, it went completely against the whole point of him being there after all, but she couldn't bring herself to regret it. Infact, her rage only deepened. She had worked so hard to move on, to move past the war and its impact. It had taken her so long to even be okay, and now here he was: someone whose decisions had had so much fallout that it had permeated the fabric of her life and body at a cellular level. A man who had been instrumental in the return of the dark lord, who was responsible for setting in motion a chain of events that had caused so much suffering.

The absurdity of the situation hit her like a truck as she finally heard his car door click open. She bit her lip so hard she almost drew blood as she snatched her cane from the back of her car and barreled towards the main entrance. She kept walking until the sticky August breeze was replaced with the cool, still air of the mall.

When she heard the doors slide open behind her she turned and motioned for Lucius to follow her, leading him through the mall and to the closest tailors she could find before plopping down onto a nearby bench. "Start here, pretend you're a foreign business person or something and come get me when you're ready to pay." Her tone was clipped and raw as she struggled to keep her anger in check, refusing to meet his gaze. She registered a nod from Lucius before he turned and entered the store, leaving her to wallow in her anger and the grief that had begun to bubble up like bile in her throat.

Eventually he emerged from the shop and she stood up with a wordless nod before plastering a smile on her face and heading into the store and up to the register. A confused looking cashier greeted her.

"You'll have to excuse my associate, he's still getting used to how everything works here. It's very different from-" She paused to let Lucius fill in the gap.

"Bulgaria" He filled in, with a surprisingly convincing accent. She gave an exaggerated and knowing nod.

"He's from a very small community, very isolated, you understand."

The cashier nodded back, curiosity seemingly satisfied as she prompted Lucius through the payment process, her eyes watering at the price. Of course, he'd picked the most expensive of everything, and he seemed to have been fitted for at least three custom suits to be picked up at a later date.

As they walked out Lucius seemed to be deep in thought until he finally turned to her. "Is there anything you'd like?" His tone was almost timid. "As a token of appreciation for your help."

Gwen's jaw tightened and she spun to face him. "I cannot be bought, Mr. Malfoy." She struggled to keep her voice at a reasonable volume.

Lucius stopped short, his forehead creasing with dismay and frustration. "I wouldn't assume anything of the sort. I meant it to be an olive branch."

His sincerity gave her pause and she swallowed a retort about what he could do with his olive branch. "Whatever, let's just get out of here, people are starting to stare." Indeed, the other customers were casting curious glances at the pair. Between Lucius' billowing robes, Gwen's visible scars, and now their sharp words the two were drawing far too much attention.

Yet again Gwen took the lead, stubbornly refusing to look back as she wove back through the mall. The concourse was beginning to fill with people as the lunch rush swiftly approached and Gwen was determined to get Lucius and his overpriced robes out of there before any muggles started asking questions. She could already hear passers-by curiously asking their companions if there was a play in the area.

When they finally reached the car Gwen sank tiredly into the seat, her poor muscles were already starting to throb and she rubbed her left leg as she waited for Lucius to get in. This time he needed no assistance, taking a seat and clasping his seatbelt without a word. She got the feeling she wouldn't have to drown Lucius out this time but she hit play on the tape deck anyways. The track flipped to a sappy ballad and she was tempted to fast forward through it, but that would mean more time in the car with the sullen Malfoy patriarch. Instead she pushed the car into gear with a sigh and pulled out of the lot.

Sure enough the ride back to the house passed in complete silence, with the exception of the increasingly balmy ballad. She made a mental note to take the tape out of rotation. A quick glance at the clock on the dash told her it was barely noon yet and she had to suppress a groan. If the rest of his time with her passed as slowly she was in for a long year.

She left Lucius to sort out his bags and trudged into the house, her legs were heavy and she was hit with a sudden wave of fatigue. It wasn't surprising, the hard floors of the mall always did a number on her joints and she'd spent so much of the morning stomping and trying to rush ahead of Lucius that she'd probably overdone it. She'd pay for her outburst later, but she couldn't really bring herself to regret it even if she did know at a certain level that she was being childish. Didn't she have a right to be childish after everything she'd been through though?

Instead of sitting to rest like she knew she should, she made a bee-line to the kitchen and started poking around in the pantry for something for lunch. Sitting down would be admitting defeat. Not only that but it might invite Lucius to try to converse with her, and she had no interest in either making small talk or continuing their previous conversation. She finally settled on sandwiches, making an extra effort to look busy as she heard him slink into the kitchen behind her.

Wordlessly, she dropped a plate at each end of the table and sank heavily into her chair. To his credit Lucius seemed to know better than to disturb the silence, picking up his sandwich without comment. The ticking of the clock and humming of the fridge were the only sounds to accompany their lunch.

Gwen raised her eyebrow as Lucius stood, picking up his empty plate and then reaching across the table to collect hers. He silently crossed the kitchen, deliberating for a moment, before placing them in the sink. He looked back at her, as if seeking reassurance that he"d put them in the right place. The sight was almost enough to make her snort, seeing the former political powerhouse seeking her approval for clearing the table was borderline surreal. She gave him a curt nod, not ready to break the silence. With a sigh she heaved her aching body up and out of the chair. She briefly considered starting the dishes before scrunching up her nose and turning away. Who cared if they sat in the sink for a few hours? It wasn't like she was trying to impress her guest. Maybe if she was lucky he'd continue taking the hint and she could get a few more hours of quiet with a book in her living room before they had to do this whole song and dance again for dinner.

A sharp, tugging pain in her chest was the only warning she got before her ears began to roar and her legs buckled under her. A familiar pain roiled in her chest, building in intensity as it barreled into her extremities. She knew from experience she must be screaming but she couldn't hear herself, couldn't hear anything over the thundering in her ears. Her consciousness began to slowly fade as her sight blurred, blackness closing in around the edges of her vision. She was vaguely aware of a frantic set of hands on her, lifting her towards a warm chest as she tumbled into unconsciousness.