melfinatheblue (melfinatheblue) wrote in luciusfqf, @ 2008-01-08 13:56:00 |
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Entry tags: | fiction: lucius, gen |
A Trip to Diagon Alley
Title: A Trip to Diagon Alley
Author/Artist: melfinatheblue
Rating: G
Pairing:gen fic
Summary: Lucius takes his granddaughter to Diagon Alley
Warnings: None, other than it's set in my Epilogue verse which is slightly AU (Draco is NOT balding).
Prompt: A dusty statuette, the color gray, and a screeching owl
Notes: This takes place in the Lucius Malfoy and Cauldron of Doom verse, and it helps to have read One Drunken Mistake (since that's where Cassie was introduced and her parentage was explained). Fic is Epilogue compliant if you squint.
Word Count:1775
Cassie wandered into her grandfather's study. It was very dusty. Grandpapa wouldn't let Lurch in to dust much. She ran a finger along a dusty statuette.
"Dirty," she said, staring at her gray finger.
"Cassie? Did you want something?"
Her grandpapa looked over at her. He was still dressed in his professor's robes.
"Pans is busy with Pee and I'm bored. Papa's still at a meeting or something."
Her grandpapa groaned.
"Please don't call your little brother Pee. There's got to be a better nickname for him."
"He smells like pee."
"He's a baby. Sometimes they smell like that. Now, what would you like to do?"
Cassie paused.
"Ice cream, please?"
"You want to go get ice cream? I suppose I can take some time from my grading to take you. After all, I've got all of break to get it done."
"Yay!"
She was so cute when she smiled and jumped up and down. His first grandchild. Not exactly what he had been expecting, but wonderful nonetheless. She looked like a Malfoy, even with the bushy hair. Blond hair, gray eyes, and she looked a bit like Draco at that age. Much more interested in books than Draco had been, but she still loved Quidditch. And with his duties at Hogwarts, he didn't get to spend much time with her. A trip to Diagon Alley was most certainly in order. He had been meaning to pick up some books at Flourish and Blotts anyway.
“Now, do you want to apparate or use the floo?”
“Apparate, apparate!”
“Alright, let's get our traveling gear on. Where's your cloak?”
Cassie grabbed him by the hand and dragged him along.
“Cassie, no pulling. Now where's your cloak? It's far too cold for you to go without it.”
“Papa put it up somewhere.”
“You're old enough to put your own cloak up. It's probably in the cloak closet then. Come along and we'll get you wrapped up.”
They wandered down to the cloak closet, hand in hand. Cassie's cloak was not in the closet, but there was an old gray cloak of Draco's in there, and that would do. She was impatient enough as it was. He wrapped her up in it, and added a Slytherin scarf.
“There now, you're all ready to go.”
“So we can go now, grandpapa?”
“Yes, we can go get ice cream.”
“Yay! Apparate!”
“Now hold on tight. Stand on my feet, that's it.”
There was a whoosh of air, and they were standing in Diagon Alley. It was covered in snow, and looked a bit like a Christmas postcard. Cassie stepped off his feet, and started pulling him towards the ice cream shop.
“Alright, Cassie, I'm coming. Remember your old grandpapa doesn't move that fast.”
She stopped pulling him and started hopping up and down excitedly. She was so cute. He noted the hostile stares of passersby. He was never going to shake that Death Eater thing, and perhaps that was for the best. He did worry about how it would affect her once she found out. Would she still look at him with adoration in her eyes once she found out what he had done?
“Grandpapa!”
“Yes, I'm coming.”
He walked carefully, since the snow was slippery and he did not need to fall again. Once a month was plenty, and it would be hard to deal with Cassie if he threw out his back again. She kept jumping up and down, and he was worried she was going to fall.
“Slow down, Cassie, and be careful. I don't want you to fall.”
“Aww.”
“Sweetheart, we'll get there.”
“But I want to get there NOW!”
She could be just as stubborn as Draco had been. That probably spelled trouble for her beaus when she got older. And for Draco when she became a teenager. Hopefully for her mother too, if she ever stopped dropping her with Draco. Mrs. Granger-Weasley might be a busy woman, with a world-spanning career and a two year old, but that was no excuse for not paying enough attention to Cassie. Pansy managed to balance both Cassie and Pius, so why the mud, no, muggleborn couldn't manage it was just another sign of her incompetence.
“Grandpapa, hurry up.”
He wasn't walking fast enough for her. There was really no fast enough where Cassie was concerned. But the street was quite icy, and people kept bumping into him. Everyone was doing their Christmas shopping, except for them. His had been done in October, and 'Cissa had taken Cassie to shop for her parents and step-parents a few weeks ago. Someone slammed into him, and he slipped, barely catching himself with his cane.
“Dirty Death Eater. Should be rotting in Azkaban.”
He looked behind him. Of course, a Weasley, the bane of his teaching career. He hadn't taught this one, but he had some nasty scars. Must be the one Fenrir got. He had a wife and little girl with him. She was older than Cassie, must have been born shortly after the war. The wife looked familiar, but he couldn't place her.
“Take it up with your father, Weasley. Your father's one of the ones who kept me out, or so I hear.”
“Grandpapa? Are you okay?”
“Yes, Cassie, I'm fine.”
“Good. Uncle Bill, you're a poopyhead! I know not to push, and I'm five.”
Bill Weasley looked suitably chagrined, to be reprimanded by a five year-old. His wife rolled her eyes. The girl just looked embarrassed.
“Sorry.”
“If you want to take something up with me in future, I would prefer you not do it in front of my grandchildren, Weasley. I certainly wouldn't embarrass you in front of your child. Now, Cassie, what has your father told you about that kind of language?”
“He is a poopyhead.”
“Apologize, or there's no ice cream for you.”
“Sorry, Uncle Bill.”
“Now, that's better. Let's go get some ice cream.”
He started towards the ice cream parlor again. Cassie had stopped pulling on him and instead walked slowly next to him.
“I don't like Uncle Bill, or Victorie or Aunt Fleur. I wish they wouldn't come over. Mom always expects me to play with Victorie, and she just wants to play dress-up or with dolls. Dolls are kinda boring. I don't think they like me very much either. Grandpapa, what's a Death Eater?”
“I'll explain when we get home, alright?”
“Why can't you explain while I eat ice cream?”
“We'll see. It depends on how crowded the place is.”
He had been expecting this question to come; he had discussed it at some length with Draco, but had hoped it would not come so soon. Unfortunately for him, the ice cream parlor was nearly deserted. Most people probably thought it was a bit cold for ice cream. They walked up to the counter together.
“Cassie, what kind do you want?”
“Strawberry with chocolate sauce!”
“One child's strawberry with chocolate sauce, and one butterscotch with whipped cream.”
The clerk stared at him like he'd just ordered in Urdu.
“Did you not hear me?”
The clerk turned around and walked into the back. Lucius could hear a whispered argument....
“Look, I'm not serving a Death Eater.”
“And if I said it was that or you get fired?”
“It was nice working here.”
“He's got a little girl with him. You want to humiliate him in front of her?”
“Frankly, yes.”
Lucius's eavesdropping was interrupted at that point as Potter walked into the shop with a young boy, about Cassie's age. Potter's arms were laden with packages, and the boy was carrying an owl. He immediately addressed Cassie.
“Hello Cassie, how are you today?”
“Hello Uncle Harry. I'm getting ice cream with Grandpapa! And we saw Uncle Bill and he pushed Grandpapa, and I called him a bad name. Oh, this is my grandfather, Professor Lucius Malfoy. Grandpapa, this is Uncle Harry and James.”
“I've met Harry Potter before, Cassie. I even taught him for a year. But that was a good introduction. Very nice to meet you, James.”
“Sir.”
Potter looked around for a moment.
“Where has the clerk gone?”
“Into the back, to tender his resignation.”
“Why?”
“The obvious, Mr. Potter. It happens.”
Potter looked confused. Lucius tapped his left forearm.
“Oh, that. But in front of her?”
“It doesn't matter to some.”
The clerk stuck his head out, and brightened when he saw Potter. He hastily walked up to the counter.
“What can I get you today, Mr. Potter?” he said, completely ignoring Lucius and Cassie.
“One banana split and whatever the professor and his granddaughter want.”
“I'm not serving him.”
“Then you're not serving me. Come along, James.”
The owl suddenly screeched, very loudly.
“But Dad, Hector wants ice cream!”
“We'll go to the coffee shop, get some hot cocoa instead. Maybe you and Cassie would like to come, Professor Malfoy?”
Lucius tried to lean down to Cassie, and realized that was just not going to work. His back hurt. That slip had done some damage.
“Well, sweetheart, what do you say?”
“Okay, but grandpapa, can I have a pet for Christmas like James?”
“I think we could manage a kitten, but if your father asks, it's for your grandmother.”
“Can we pick her out after hot cocoa?”
Lucius pondered for a moment. That shop was just two down, not far to walk. And he'd gotten things there before.
“Yes, we can.”
“Yay!”
Potter walked out with his son, and Lucius and Cassie followed behind. The coffee shop was much more crowded then the ice cream parlor, but the staff saw Potter and quickly got them a table. Lucius gingerly sat, while Cassie and James argued about owls and cats and which was better.
“You alright?”
“You care?”
“Not really, but I care about Cassie. She's a sweet girl.”
“Yes, she is. And smart. Too smart, sometimes.”
“I wasn't helping for your sake, you know.”
Lucius smiled sardonically.
“Never thought you were, Potter, never thought you were.”