melfinatheblue (melfinatheblue) wrote in luciusfqf, @ 2007-12-20 14:57:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | fiction: lucius/narcissa, fiction: lucius/severus, het, slash |
Lucius Malfoy and the Cauldron of Doom part 3
Title: Lucius Malfoy and the Cauldron of Doom (part3)
Author/Artist:melfinatheblue
Rating: PG for safety
Pairing: so far, Lucius/Severus and Lucius/Narcissa.
Summary: After the second Wizarding War, the Ministry has to punish Lucius Malfoy somehow. So they make him potions master at Hogwarts. Must have seemed like a good idea at the time.
Warnings: Um, none I can see
Prompt: Lucius has been a bad boy and as punishment, The Ministry force him to take over the job of Potions Master. No-one ever said The Ministry had any sense.
Notes: The saga continues. Lucius gets to ride the Hogwarts Express. 2000 words in this bit. (and you thought I was joking about a saga) Previous bit here
Lucius did not like this new policy, not one bit. Why he had to ride the train with all the little, and not so little, brats was beyond him. He'd already been at Hogwarts for two weeks, but oh no, he had to be on the train to supervise. Did McGonagall actually think he was going to walk up and down the train and keep order? His plan, and he thought it was quite a good one, was to find an open compartment, scowl at anyone who tried to sit with him, and sleep most of the way there. Luckily they let the professors on first, so he found a compartment near the end of the train, and settled himself in.
Suddenly the crowd outside shifted, and the noise level increased. He realized that they must be letting the brats on the train. Damn. He stretched out his legs on the seat and waited for the inevitable interruption.
"Hey, there are free ones down here!"
A boy's face appeared at the compartment door. He looked younger than Draco, but was built rather like a mountain. Lucius was briefly reminded of Crabbe and Goyle. The boy turned to bellow to someone, "This one's only got someone's dad in it. Why's it got someone's dad in it?" He then opened the door, and plopped down opposite Lucius.
"Do you mind, boy? That seat is reserved."
"Dads can't save seats. The train's about to leave, anyway. You shouldn't be on it."
Lucius raised an eyebrow and offered up a silent prayer that this boy was not in any of his potions classes.
"I am a professor. Your new potions professor, as a matter of fact. Now, out, boy, before I start docking points from Hufflepuff for general stupidity."
The boy looked shocked, and practically ran out of the compartment, almost knocking Draco down as he went by.
"Hello, father. I see you met the dumbest Hufflepuff ever."
"Please tell me he's not in potions."
"Remedial 4th year, I think. Now what did Lurch pack you for lunch, and are there extras?"
Draco sat down across from him. Lucius tried scowling, but Draco just smiled.
"It's not going to work, father. The train's over-crowded. You're just going to have to deal with company, and wouldn't you rather have me and my friends than dunderheads like that one?"
"Draco! There you are. Oh, and Mr. Malfoy."
The Parkinson girl was at the doorway. Behind her was Zabini, Goyle, and Bulstrode.
"Father, would you mind making some room?"
Lucius removed his legs from the seat, then brushed the seat off. Six in a compartment was not his idea of a quiet, pleasant journey, especially not when two of them were Goyle and Bulstrode.
"Mr. Goyle, Mr. Zabini, Ms. Bulstrode, Ms. Parkinson, please come in. Hope you all had a nice summer."
"Um, Mr. Malfoy, why are you on the train?"
"He's teaching potions."
"You're going to be one of our professors?"
"Yes, Ms. Parkinson, I am. And I'm sure the Ministry finds it as funny as Draco here does." Lucius glared at his son, who was rather obviously trying not to giggle.
"Well, you're quite intelligent, so I'm sure you'll be good at it. Do you know who the new head of house is?"
"Oh yes, father. Tell them about Professor Smith. Can he actually pronounce Slytherin now?"
"Yes. It took some rather extreme measures, but he has now memorized our name, the charter, and house customs."
Though, granted, it had taken a week of jumping out at Smith with a beater's bat at odd times and yelling questions about Slytherin at him before he had gotten everything right on a regular basis. And Smith was now absolutely terrified of him. Lucius smirked. That had actually been rather amusing.
"Father, what did you do?"
"Took a page from the Bellatrix Lestrange playbook of how to terrify. Just used a beater bat instead."
Everyone except Draco was now looking very puzzled.
"She had a habit of jumping out sans wand and yelling curses. I'm guessing father jumped out and asked him questions about Slytherin."
"Should I be asking why all this was necessary? Did someone hit him with a memory-modification charm or something?"
"Nope. He's American. Never been in Slytherin, never been to Hogwarts. Shows you what they think of us, doesn't it, that they can't even be bothered to find us a decent head of house."
The compartment door opened again.
"Look you lot, we need you to budge up a bit. It's eight students to a compartment."
Lucius looked at the student in the doorway. He was wearing a Head Boy badge. He also had a Gryffindor crest on and the vacant expression Lucius had come to associate with Neville Longbottom. He prepared his most scathing tone.
"Longbottom, I would prefer not being referred to as 'you lot.' Or are you as incapable of basic thought and observation as Severus always thought you were?"
"Neville, what's going on?"
Oh joy, the Granger mud, no wait, it was muggleborn now. He was going to have to watch that.
"Nothing to concern you, Ms. Granger. I was simply correcting the Head Boy."
"Why are you on the train, Malfoy?"
"That's Professor Malfoy to you, mudblood."
"Draco, consider this the one and only warning you or anyone in earshot will get on the subject. Next time I hear anyone using that word, I'm docking points and you're getting detention. "
"But..."
"Do not even think for one second, boy, that you will get off easy because you're my son. You know me far better than that."
"Yes sir."
"Now, Miss Granger, you and Mr. Longbottom can wander along. This compartment is quite full."
"Professor Malfoy?"
"Yes, Miss Granger?"
"What are you teaching?"
"Potions."
"Oh. And heading Slytherin as well, I suppose."
"No, actually that would be Professor Smith, the new Defense teacher. I'm just advising him. Your new head is the Muggle Studies professor, Twyla Tweed, should you care to know."
"Tweed?"
"Yes, Tweed. I'm sure the other houses will waste no time coming up with amusing nicknames."
"Oh. See you in class, then, professor."
She pulled Longbotton down the corridor, and Bulstrode, who was nearest the door, closed it.
"Draco, who else is in my NEWTs class?"
"Well, me, her, Potter, Ernie Macmillan, Ron Weasley, plus whoever from 5th year did well enough and wants to take it. Don't you get a list?"
"No, just a very large number."
"Should I ask?"
"No. Now, I'm going to eat, and then I have some reading to catch up on. I'm sure you're capable of amusing yourselves."
////////////////////////////////////////
The rest of the train journey was rather quiet. No one else disturbed them, and except for a growing pain in his back, it was rather relaxing. Sooner than Lucius expected it was time to change into robes and get ready for arrival. Draco helped him get his robe on, as his back had started to freeze up. When he got off the train, he could hear the half-breed bellowing "Firs' years! This way, firs' years!"
He got into a carriage with Draco and his friends and rode up to Hogwarts. It had been a long time since he'd seen the castle this way, and he had to admit it was impressive, if rather chilly at night. He was glad to get inside and into the Great Hall, where he took his seat. As he looked at the four house tables, he noticed that there appeared to be a new ghost at the Gryffindor table.
"Filius?"
"Yes?"
"Who's the new ghost?"
"That's Fred Weasley. He's haunting his twin brother, George. George came back to finish up and take his NEWTs. Fred died in the battle last year."
"Oh. I didn't know you could haunt a person."
"Well, apparently you can. You'll probably get to know him quite well; George is in your NEWT potions class. By the way, I've been meaning to ask, what did you do to terrorize Smith so?"
"Jump out at him with a bat."
"Ah. You've managed to convince him you're the devil in human form, you know."
"And he has managed to learn a thousand years of Slytherin history and tradition in two weeks. Fear is a wonderful motivator."
"Did You-Know-Who teach you that?"
"No, Severus did. It was one of his rules of teaching."
"Oh. Look, the first years. I do hope we get a good crop in Ravenclaw this year."
Lucius sat back in his chair and watched the Sorting. The hat sang a nice song about unity and he wondered if anyone ever took the silly thing seriously. The first years looked positively terrified. He remembered the older boys on the train telling him before his first year that the hat removed the top of your head and looked at your brain. He hadn't believed it, but he'd told every other first year he could find. Finally the last was placed into a House, Slytherin, actually, and McGonagall stood up to give the start of term announcements.
"Welcome to Hogwarts, all of you. I am so glad to see so many familiar faces return. Now, before we get down to dinner, I have some announcements to make. First we have some new professors. Joining us is Twyla Tweed, who will be teaching Muggle Studies and also heading Gryffindor House, Alan Smith, who will be teaching Defense against the Dark Arts and heading Slytherin House, Lucius Malfoy, who will be teaching Potions, Rebecca Lawrence, who will be teaching Astronomy, and Nathan Peters who will be teaching Transfiguration. Well, stand up everyone. I hope you will make our new professors welcome. Now, I know quarters are tight this year, with many seventh year students from last year returning, and the rebuilding in progress, so several rooms have been turned into dormitories for the duration of the year. Also, Mr. Finch would like me to remind you once again, the Dark Forest is off limits to all students, as are the rebuilding areas. Now, let's eat."
Lucius started to sit, and then realized that he appeared to be stuck. He looked over at Peters, who was sitting on the other side of him.
"Give me a hand, would you Peters? I'm stuck."
"You're stuck?"
"Bad back. Just push me down, please."
"But won't that hurt?"
"Yes. And staying like this hurts, and standing me up will hurt. There really isn't a pain-free option here."
Peters put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him down. Lucius groaned.
"You alright? You're dead white."
"There's a bottle in my pocket. Just open it for me please."
His hands were shaking badly as he took a swig. Peters took the bottle back from him and capped it.
"What happened to you?"
"The Dark Lord. And I'm under no illusions. I got off easy."
"That's getting off easy?"
"Trust me, I'm still breathing, so yes."
"Oh. I'll just be happy I spent the war abroad then."
Lucius glanced up and down the table. Most of his fellow staff members were staring at him. And so were the students. As he looked at them, they turned away. He took a large gulp of pumpkin juice. It was going to be a very long year.
Next bit