Snapelike (snapelike) wrote in malfoycentric, @ 2007-11-26 17:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | author: lysa1, character: lucius, character: severus, pairing: lm/ss, slash, type: fic |
Fic: Dear Severus - Part I (Severus/Lucius, R)
Title: Dear Severus, Part I (Part II)
Characters: Snape/Lucius
Rating: R
Wordcount:~ 20,000
Notes: Compliant to HBP.
Summary: Severus receives a letter from Azkaban. It is the beginning of a long correspondence and a journey through accusations, rows and, finally, truth for the two wizards. Severus Snape's life and goals are to change forever.
Author's notes: Thanks to ldybastet and imma for betaing. Any remaining errors are all mine.
Chapter 1. Disequilibrium
Severus Snape put down the neat bundle of letters on the table. They lay there: cheap envelopes bearing marks of not too careful Owls. In between them lay white expensive parchment with the Hogwarts emblem on top. Thirty letters. Some of them had been read many times, the envelopes a bit crumbled and messy. He looked at the bundle for a moment - as if they seemed foreign to him, as if he had never read them. Fifteen letters from Lucius. Fifteen drafts for replies.
Sitting down, but moving restlessly to look at the clock, Severus pushed the bundle over the table, as if it was a half-dead animal and he was testing if it were still alive or not.
How could it have gone so far? How had Lucius talked him into starting and, even worse, continuing their correspondence? Somehow Severus had to consider himself incredibly naive. First to agree... Well, agree was maybe a bit much - he had rather let himself be goaded into replying to Lucius' Owls. And if that hadn't been enough to underline and emphasise his vast lack of common sense, he had meekly agreed and submitted to Lucius' request that he should be the one to see the pure-blooded bastard out of Azkaban. Didn't the man have any family to do that? Draco could do it. Maybe he could fire-call Draco and ask him to do it? Maybe he could still postpone, or discontinue, the inevitable?
Severus shook his head. He had promised his former friend to come, and as Severus usually honoured his promises, he would. A large package stood on a chair near the door: new robes and a warm travelling cloak as Lucius had requested, so he could leave Azkaban properly dressed.
A long-fingered hand crawled over the small bundle of letters once more, playing with the ribbon that tied them together. Severus couldn't even remember why he had kept them, or rather he tried to repress why exactly he had not thrown them out during one of the fits of rage Lucius' letters usually had sent him into. At least in the beginning. It had been little more than a year since Severus had received the first letter. In the beginning he had hated the Owls. Later, he began to anticipate their arrival. Now, it seemed to Severus as if he had waited forever for Lucius' letters, Lucius' admissions. Maybe he had. Maybe this what was he had waited for all his life.
Somehow Severus had opened the ribbon, and the first of their letters found its way into his hand while he was thinking, waiting, for the clock's arms to reach the moment when his Port-key activated.
Slowly he unfolded the letter, only to be met by the first tentative words between them, the first contact they had had for years. Now, fifteen months later, Lucius' insecurity, a rare feeling for him, no doubt, exuded from the short note. Maybe it had been what made Severus reply in the first place - that Lucius for the first time in his life seemed human? He didn't know, and right now it didn't matter any more.
Severus' fingers slid over the cheap parchment, almost lovingly, as he began to read...
Dear Severus, Finally they have allowed me a correspondence. They are not very helpful, the Aurors, and I hope they actually owl the letter this time instead of throwing it away, or practise Incendii on it. I presume it might have helped the letter was addressed to you, (if you are reading this) and not to Narcissa or Draco. Would it be a horrible inconvenience for you to give them my love? I am not certain I should write too much, they will not allow me to cast protection charms on the letter, only to put my seal on it before they send an Owl off with it. I am certain they read it. (If so, please tell the chef that I prefer my eggs not quite so hard-boiled, Auror Jenkins, and also a bit more... fresh, if possible. And the bread without the mould. LM) I hope you are well, Your friend Lucius Malfoy |
Dear Lucius, Isn't that nice? Give your love to Narcissa? I am sure she will be enthralled. Just like her husband, and with 'her husband' I don't mean you. The only care you ever felt was always directed at your one true love: yourself. Leave me alone, Lucius. I have nothing left to say to you. Our former Lord is dead, and so - to me - are you. Goodbye. Professor Severus Snape, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Hogsmeade, Scotland |
Dear Severus, I see that my letter indeed was delivered. I cannot possibly say how pleased it made me. I hope it pleased you I knew not of Narcissa's... exit. Thank you for bringing it to my attention in such a considerate manner since no one else has taken care to rectify my conviction that I was still a married man. What I have done to offend you so profoundly I have no idea. On the contrary; I had the distinct comprehension that you were my friend. Perhaps I have been mistaken? Do you want me to offer my apologies? For Lord Voldemort's return, for your destiny, for the way your family and the Gryffindors treated you? Yes, I know you are angry - angrier, even - with me now, but isn't it so? That you conveniently blame me for every injustice done to you? If you do expect me to make amends, I promise you that you will be sorely disappointed. I was not the one who suggested you joined the Death Eaters, my friend - and I still consider you my friend - you went willingly, wailing about bloody revenge, your father and that awful James Potter. I suggest you stop feeling sorry for yourself, otherwise you will never get out of the swamp of misery you are sitting in. I can understand you never actually had the bollocks to leave your cosy little dungeon for a real life. I had never believed you to be a coward, Severus, but once more you amaze me. Hoping for the position as Headmaster when McGonagall has gone? I thought that beneath you, Severus. Or have you lost your ambitions? They will never make you Headmaster. Your talent you still have, I presume? What a waste to throw it away in a public school waiting for something you cannot have. Go ahead... rip the letter apart. It will make you feel better. Have I made you angry enough to elicit a reply? Your friend, Lucius Malfoy |
How dare you, you pathetic creep! You, if any, are the reason our world was almost annihilated by that insane fool. You gave him your Galleons, your support, even your own son! You, Lucius Malfoy, lied and deceived and spilled your poison in any ear willing to listen, and if someone weren't willing, you used every means you had to make them. Even before you were of age, you spilled your dirt and lies everywhere. I remember you, just as I remember anything else that happened: how you charmed and lured and promised... I remember your thinly veiled flirting. You were willing to do anything to make Lord Voldemort our master. You made yourself his man indeed. To me, you were nothing but his whore, his whipping boy, embarrassingly angling for his approval while he took everything from you and gave nothing back. Oh, I can still hear his voice when you came back after your little failed trip into the Ministry's hidden stores. 'You failed me, Lucius, and you must pay me back.' Pay him back? With what? He never gave you anything, did he? You had everything, and he took it from you. All of it. What do you call that, Lucius? I would personally label it stupidity, but then again, I am but a boring professor, wasting my talent in an abysmal school for wizarding children with an Order of Merlin in the drawer. What clever words could I possibly have to say to a convicted divorced criminal who almost got his son killed because his actions were so abysmally retarded that they made him end up in Azkaban? How dare you presume that you know what I want from life? How dare you question my choices, when it is abundantly clear your choices were so remarkably clever? See what it brought you, Lucius Malfoy: A nice, but rather draughty, castle in the North Sea. I hope you enjoy the view from your cell. May they never let you out. Do not attempt to contact me again. I will personally wring the neck of any owl you send me. Severus Snape |
My dearest Severus, I think you underestimate your own part in this, or maybe you are just trying to suppress it? I did not force you to get on your knees in front of the Dark Lord, nor did I create the mark you carry the remains of on your arm. I did nothing but to offer you friendship, a refuge from the father you hated so much, so you did not have to go back to him during the summer. I find it hard to believe I suddenly deserve to be the target of the rage and anger you feel against our side; I have done nothing to elicit such feelings. I respect your sentiments. I acknowledge you sacrificed someone very dear to you for Narcissa and I. But you know as well as I that Albus Dumbledore was old - dying - when you killed him. He was dead, even then, just still walking. I am sorry you had to do it, Severus, that much I'll give you, although I never liked the man. He was an old fool, but a gifted old fool. I will also admit that I never were, as he was, in any way interested in laying down my life for the incompetent half-blood who presumed he could save and preserve the ways of the wizarding world. Does that make me a criminal? That I sought power for myself and my family, sought to mould a world for them where they could be safe from Muggle influence, from the cultureless bastards who flooded our schools and our society? I know your answer, just as I can imagine the look on your face if you are reading this. I do not write it to anger you, Severus. I have never wanted to make you hate me, nor have I done anything to make your life worse than it already was. Had I only known you were a spy for Dumbledore, that you belonged to him and not to Things might have been different then. I trust that, if you are still reading, your anger has cooled somewhat. Will you tell me how my son is faring? I understand you are not a man I can ask for any favours, for that, our disagreements are too vast. But for my son's sake, please give him my love and tell him I am well. As well as one can possibly be in - what did you call it again? - a draughty ruin in the North Sea? Please, Severus. I usually do not beg. However, I am willing to make an exception if it will make you talk to Draco, and make you tell me how he is. Please? Your friend, Lucius Malfoy |
No! |
My trusted Severus, if not for my sake, then for my son's? He has heard no word from me since they threw me in here. If it pleases you, I can to a certain degree agree that what I did might not have been appropriate. You do understand what this does to my family? My wife is no longer my wife - can anyone blame her? She has a husband in prison, no word, no date for my release. She betrayed me, but it is an understandable betrayal. A Slytherin one. Think of, Severus, how hard it must have been for her. How she has suffered for me. Do you really want my son to go through the same? I love him as dearly as I love Narcissa - no divorce can alter that - but there is no way I can let them know, except through you. These are the first letters I have been allowed to send, you know that, and only the fact that you are a hero for the winning side make them deliver them, I am certain. We are told very little in here, the Aurors are not supposed to speak to us, only that fact they let me have, with some glee, that you were a spy for the Order of the Phoenix all the time. Relieve me, Severus. Please. This is torture beyond reason; to know I have someone outside, someone who can speak for me to those I love. If you will not write to me, then at least speak to them, I beg of you. If you ever were my friend, ever held any feelings for me or my family, then let them know. Speak to them. Tell my son I love him. I will give you anything I possibly can in exchange for that. Some day I will be out of here, and I still have my Galleons. A house? A sum that will make it possible for you to set up your own company? Please, Severus. Name it and I will give it to you if I can. Yours, Lucius |
My Lucius? Now I know you. Now you are willing to sell yourself, any principle you have, to manipulate me. I will not apologise,you wrote, but you do it anyway. You beg. Tell me, Lucius, who is a whore now? You or I? You treat me like one, as if I was ever for sale. It only proves that you were never my friend, that you never cared about me or what I thought or believed in. I am just a tool for you, something to be sold or bought at your leisure. I can hardly explain how much pleasure your letters give me, your futile attempts to use me as your pawn are so familiar - it almost feels as if you are here. Luckily you are not. If I let your message pass on to Draco (I am certain Narcissa doesn't care how you fare, or about your so called feelings. She is Mrs Scrimgeour now, married to someone who holds actual power, the kind that comes with people's trust. Not that you would know about that.) will you stop bothering me? That is all I need from you: to leave me alone. Severus Snape |
Now you know me, you say? Severus, I doubt you even know yourself; if you did, you would see you have left the adult Severus somewhere; replacing him with this petty, angry, childish version. To be honest: you are regressing into that sour, unfriendly teenager you once were. What is it that makes you hate me so much? I doubt it is because I directed your attention to the fact we both had to do things we morally should have detested, and hence avoided. No, Severus. I think I know precisely why: you are jealous, you always were. It is not my fault your family was utterly dysfunctional, that is what comes from marrying outside the wizarding world. It is not my fault that your father was a drunk, or that he beat you and your poor mother. Yes, Severus. I know about that, as does half the wizarding world. How Eileen Prince married below her standing, and how her so called husband disrespected her and her abilities. Maybe your jealous disposition is what you inherited from him? I doubt there was any money left when he died, not a moment too early, if you ask me. Where was I... yes: your jealousy. Is it because you never had enough? Never enough Galleons, never enough status, never enough love? Maybe you are in your current situation because you continuously seek approval for the wrong reasons? This is where I am different from you. I might be in prison, I might not have an Order of Merlin hidden in a drawer, like you. (What did they give you? 2nd or 3rd? No one had balls enough, or cared enough for you to give you what was rightfully yours, an Order of 1st degree, isn't that so?) No, Severus. I will leave this place, and I will regain what I have lost: I will be rich, I will have power, and most of all: I will be loved. If my wife has given up on me and remarried, well... perhaps I can get a better partner with whom I can share my life. There are reasons for many things, and Narcissa was never- Now I am straying. I almost forgot I was in the middle of offending you further. If I am never to see you again or hear from you, I can just as well get it out, not that I in any way believe you are willing to listen to me. The problem with you is that you always wanted more, but never defined what exactly it was you wanted. You wanted revenge, yes. It speaks about your passion, your anger, but unfortunately not of any kind of cleverness, or even consideration. You see, you would not have ended up in a situation like the one you got yourself into, pledging allegiance to Lord Voldemort only to regret it later, if you had had a more clear and determined goal. It had perhaps been better to think and wait? If you had used time to consider what exactly you wanted, and how to get it as cheap as possible, maybe things had been different. This is why I always get what I want - admittedly spiced with a little detour to the Northern Sea - and I advice you to do the same. I do not use people, Severus. I only buy them as inexpensively as I can. There is a difference. If you make yourself expensive, rare, costly, then people will regard you so. Define what you want and reach for it. If you know what to take, you might get it. I suppose our masks are off now. You might not like what you see, but I... I would like to see you without your mask. Yours, Lucius |
You would, would you? You want to see all the rot underneath, the raw bones and the dead eyes in an empty skull? I doubt it, Lucius, because underneath the masks we are alike. Our reasons, however, might look the same, but they are not. As for me, my exterior looks exactly like what is to be found inside: a dark and unforgiving place, torment and disgust and hate. I might have spied and told lies during the war, but everyone who was not blind could have opened their eyes and seen the darkness, the murders, the ruthlessness. The pain. I might be death and disgust underneath the mask that is no mask; death grinning at the world. I do not hide who I am or how I look at the world. I do not suffer from pretence, even if I have my secrets, still. But you... In your case they will see nothing but a shining surface, but under it you are ugly. You are debauchery personified. You have abused everything you ever lay your hands on, twisted and turned to fit into your distorted world-view. You have created ugliness in the midst of the beauty, placed sickening minds around you, created cruel deeds to contrast your handsome face, like an Adonis in a dump. Everything around you is in ruins, and you have not seen it? I doubt it, Lucius. On the contrary, I believe you enjoy it, standing clean and untouched in the middle of the dirt. It emphasises your superiority, your beauty, does it not? I never thought you stupid. But it seems your mind is crippled by the unspeakable things you have done. You will never admit it, that you like to lower yourself into the filth. That you are like me, underneath all the layers of nobility you hide behind. Do you still want to compare masks? Yours; so beautiful and shining; mine; death and darkness and hunger? Do you still want to compare what is underneath? Are you willing to see that, once my mask is removed, there is something beneath it, exactly similar to what is on the surface: the truth that is no mask. Are you willing to accept that what you see is not a facade covering the exquisite mind of a hero; flowers and dreams and poetry? My visage is my mask, and I doubt you will ever be ready to handle the fact. Frankly - and we are frank now, are we not, my friend - I think I scare you because I am the truth whereas you are the lie. Beauty, Lucius, is not found elsewhere than in the mind - if life has left it room and food to feed on. I still hunger. Can you still that? Now leave me alone. I have already said more than I ever wished to say to you. |
My friend, I will not leave you alone. You hurt me and then flee, thinking your words, like daggers, hit the target, leaving you free to roll in your misery, and mine. But you should know me by now. I do not give up when I want something, and your metaphorical anger intrigues me even if hurts me. I never aimed to destroy you, or to - as you so eloquently call it - debauch you. (On the other hand, that specific thought has actually passed my mind. You had extraordinarily long and slender legs as a young man.) I saw you as my friend and wished you only well. I will repeat myself and say that the reason you are hungry and rootless is because you have not yet decided what it is you want. And you will be stranded in that blasted school until the day you die if you do not make up your mind. You were filled by your burning need for revenge and, later, for redemption. But you are no Heathcliff. You are no martyr. You were sorted into Slytherin because deep down you have an urge to flourish and rise beyond what you have now. You were destined for something grand - not that winning the war is not grand - but something... more. Your talent and remarkable brain, your willpower... Severus, you could still your hunger and turn on the light. The rest of your life should not be lived in darkness and longing for something you do not even know what is. Tell me now, friend Severus: Is it so bad to long for a perfect world and for the power to make it so? That was what made me burn, what made me fight. A world free of Muggle-borns who do not understand our culture, who came to us, uneducated and clueless, demanding an equal part of our society. Parasites. You were never like that - you knew, through your mother, how to behave, the truest young wizard who ever came to Hogwarts. I noticed you then, on your first day. You were like a subdued bonfire. A furnace, burning for the Dark Arts, for knowledge. And now it makes me wonder. Has your thirst been slaked? Has your fire burned out? That is the true difference between us, not the masks or what lies beneath them. No, it is the fact that no matter where they put me, no matter what they do to me, no matter how they try to humiliate me, they can never make me stop burning. You, on the other hand, are quenching your own fire - your enemies don't even have to do anything for it. That is the greatest crime, the largest lie. My truth lies in the fact that I am always true to what I want. True to me. To my family. Those who speak of Gryffindor bravery, or of Hufflepuff loyalty - they have never realised what a former Slytherin is willing to do to protect those he loves. I am a hard man, but not cold. My family, my ancestors, my heritage. Those were the fuel for my fire. I have lost my wife, but I am still a Malfoy. I am still of pure blood. I am still burning for this world. A war has not altered that. My fuel, Severus... Now let me help you find yours. Your friend, Lucius Malfoy |
Courage, Lucius... such a fleeting concept. To me, courage is nothing but stupidity taken to a higher level. Just look at Potter and his friends. What are they but thoughtless children, playing heroes? Someone once called me a coward, and it occurs to me it is what you do. I will not advice it. If there is one thing I am not, it is that. I have lived for twenty years not being a coward, but maybe - only maybe - you might have a point in this. I have never had the time, the opportunity or the need to sit down and find out what I basically need or want, I'll give you that. I might have forgotten which house I was sorted into. People still see me as selfish, doing what I did for my own sake, but I did not. I was nothing but a pawn moved around by others, left very little choice but the one I had taken: help bring the Dark Lord down to repent my shortcomings. Maybe it is time I become egocentric, egoistic, and simply demand what I want. You offer me Galleons. But that is not what I need. I have adequate funds, and I am not someone's charity case. You are right in believing I am merely content by being at Hogwarts; my lack of love for children and their ways is not a secret. I believe if I am to alter anything, or at least begin to, it has to be my connection with Hogwarts. As long as I am bound to this school and the events happening there, before the Dark Lord's fall, I might not be able to think clearly. I do not like to admit it, but your less than polite letter made me think. For once you seem to me as an enigma, as more than just a pure-blood convinced of his own superiority. Is this real, Lucius? Are you real? I wonder. Suddenly you choose (Yes, choose. I know you well enough to know you would never let personal information slip without knowing exactly what you might gain from it.) to reveal things about yourself, your thoughts, that I would never have believed you to feel or think. Will you tell me why? I must admit one or two of your supposedly carelessly thrown out pieces of information did surprise me quite a lot. Where do your masks begin or end? You asked me what made me burn. I will tell you: to find the core of things. To reveal the truth. To know. With this you have made me curious if I ever really knew you. Yours, Severus Snape |
Dearest Severus, I am very glad we finally are speaking, perhaps I am not mistaken in assuming that you will resume our conversation? At least I hope so; no matter how much you have infuriated me these last months, I am glad. I promise you I will not betray your trust, and I do hope the Aurors won't either. They are reading my letters, no doubt. However, I have yet to determine if they are also reading yours. It is not so easy detecting such things, using only wandless magic - it tends to be quite unreliable, to say it mildly. You might be right to start with releasing yourself from a position that does you no good. You do not evolve there, but are kept in invisible bonds, kept down by the mediocrity of others. You are meant to be a star, a dark star, shining and amazing people with your clarity. It will not happen if you hide yourself in a dungeon. How can you be free if you do not allow yourself to rise, to lead, to shine? Severus, I never thought you a coward, already from your first year you showed that you were not. I would never advise you to step out into the light had you not been brave and courageous enough to manage. You only need to believe in yourself, believe you are not predestined to stay where you are because there is no other place for you in the wizarding world. People forget, you know. Most witches and wizards probably remember you better as a strict teacher than as a Death Eater. You have nothing to fear, just things to decide. Since I cannot be out there with you, you have to let me have this by proxy: success, power, status. To let me watch you find out what you do best, and do it. I know you said you did not need charity or aid. I still want to aid you, and if you need any funds beyond what you have, let me know. I will not offend you by offering them to you for free, but you can borrow as much as you want, on the usual conditions, that saves you the annoyance going to the Goblins. Please, do not turn the offer down, you can make me a partner in what you want to do, if it makes you feel better - just don't turn it down and limit your opportunities because of misplaced pride. Severus, you have given me great joy by letting me in, and I admit I am very selfish, it will give me something to think about when the time feels even more slow in here. But I also wish you happiness. I might have realised I do owe you my son's life as well as one or two other debts. I do not always do things for my own sake or to gain, or even to pay back acknowledged debt. Sometimes I do things because I want to. Or need to. Perhaps you should consider that to be the case? Your friend, Lucius Malfoy |
Dear Lucius, I am not in doubt it brings you some satisfaction to believe yourself in charge of my life, no matter your influence is but minuscule. You never really saw your world to your liking before you had minions and underlings, did you? With you, things were never easy. I have berated myself several times the last weeks that I once more have let you in. It must be a sign that I have taken too many a Cruciatus during my time with the Dark Lord. Or maybe I am a masochist? I must really consider that I like to hand you over control. I think I'll have to kill myself if that is the case. I am not certain I can endure the pain of the realisation. Since my purpose in life clearly is to make you happy, I can inform you I have discontinued my stay at Hogwarts and moved to a small house in Diagon Alley. As you know, I have a Muggle house, only it does not fit my purposes. I have yet to open, but I am starting a business; counter-spells for any Dark Arts curses. I suppose my reputation is the only advertising I need. It will also give me time to develop new protective spells on the side of research. The Goblins have already enquired whether I might be interested in working as a DA consultant for them, so I believe it will be rather successful, at least the I can hardly describe how much I do not like the fact that you were right. What disturbs me most is that it might happen again. If I continue to listen to you, that is. Do not count on it. Draco asks me to inform you he is seeing Daphne Greengrass, and if she is not to your dislike, he might let the relationship continue into something more serious. He is well and so, he tells me, is Narcissa. Draco sends his love, and hope you are in good health. I have told him that you are well enough to try to take over my life, and he seemed to rejoice at the thought. What is it with you Malfoys? You care? About me? Lucius... you are hilarious. You are bored, that is what you are, and no matter how long legs I have, I doubt they might have any influence when it comes to your decisions. Now be content you have once more made me change my life because of your golden promises. Yours, Severus Snape |
My Severus, I can call you that, can't I, since you have admitted that I am now in charge of you? It seems as if you have found something to do that will indeed both be challenging and of great interest to you. You were always inventive, and it seems as if it will give you the possibility of using your marvellous brain. It pleases me greatly if you are happy with this. I never believed you to be a coward, and you are indeed a man of action. Admirable, my Severus. I have no intentions of ruling your life, and I doubt very much you will allow me to. You were always too strong and proud to let anyone rule you. Not even the Dark Lord did but in the few moments you forgot to think. I suppose that is the backside to pride, something we both suffer from. I wonder, my Severus, if we both have overcome it, detached ourselves from the pride that is also fear. Fear for what others might think of us. You never told me, by the way, if they gave you that Order? Was it worth it? Did they appreciate you like you are to be appreciated? Thank you for letting me know about Draco, and for bringing me his message. You may tell him Miss Greengrass is indeed appropriate, and I would be happy should he choose to pursue a serious relationship with her. (Also tell him that the little tart Parkinson is not what I wish for our family, should he have second thoughts about Miss Greengrass. Also, the Weasley girl, if she wasn't killed in the war... No. Absolutely no! I doubt, however, that my son would sink so low.) Now back to your life: I have no intentions of ruling you, did I not promise that I wouldn't even try? Just try to help you, that is all I want. You know me too well; I doubt I could fool you, even if I tried to. And I don't. I won't. Severus, what I want from you is your good company, even if only through Owls. I realise I have missed you. We have had some good times together - if we forget about the hours spent in the Dark Lord's service. Nice evenings with a good bottle of wine and a roaring fire in your cosy quarters at Hogwarts. Or searching for ingredients or interesting Dark Arts books when we were younger, before Narcissa... I have never forgotten, even if you might think so. I have never forgotten your legs either. I am certain my life had looked different, had I let my interest in your legs rule it. Enough of that. Can I ask you to let Draco know I miss him? Also, I would like to know what your next move will be since your working life is now looking so much better. What are your plans? Yours, Lucius |
Dear Lucius, I can't see how my legs should have changed your life, but on the other hand (or foot if you would like to stay in that end) your letters have changed my life quite a bit, so it might not be impossible. I am still at a loss of why I have made you able to control me once more, I wonder if there is a way I can possibly blame Potter for this. I think not, but a man has to try. Business is going well, of course people are not so afraid of the dark spells these days, but there are still those who want their houses or other properties protected, and some who have been hit by hidden curses from the war. I have completed the first few assignments for the Goblins, to both their satisfaction and mine. They pay well, but their contracts... a pity I cannot send them to you, I could need someone with your knowledge to give me advice. I have hired Percy Weasley to drive them insane with rules and laws and paragraphs, and I do not sign anything before he has looked at it and made at least five alterations and revisions. He has already earned me more money than it costs me to employ him, the Weasleys were ever a cheap lot unless it came to their principles. Rest assured the female Weasley will not come near Draco. She is currently chewing through her second husband, Potter got enough of her quite fast - or she had had enough of him, I don't know. Parkinson is now Pansy Longbottom, and currently expecting yet another Neville, one I will have the great pleasure of never seeing in any classroom of mine. My best wishes to the new Potions master, maybe he can be so lucky as to find another job before Neville Jr reaches the mature age of eleven, Merlin forbid it. If the child is to be half as clumsy as Neville Longbottom I doubt it will survive until then. Of course I will not allow you to rule my life Also, I would like to state I am not your anything. Please, remember that in the future. Regarding the future: I have no specific plans. I am considering, though, if I should maybe socialise a bit, at least to further my business. I most certainly won't enjoy it. Your former wife and Scrimgeour have invited me to a formal dinner at the Ministry. I think I should go. Draco is invited as well as Miss Greengrass. It might be enough to make the evening tolerable. Also Draco asks you to rest assured he holds no interest in Miss Weasley. He says he would - and I quote, I would never abuse language in that way - 'rather cut it off with a dull spoon. The bitch have teeth where others have...' I think you can imagine the rest. I am considering whether Draco needs someone to... mould him a bit or not. I suppose it is the company of Potter and his likes that has let him become a bit unpolished. Daphne - Miss Greengrass - will see to it, I hope, especially since your son seems to think I benefit from his company. I wonder what makes him think that. If his flowery language regarding female parts is to further bloom, I would prefer him to seek other company than mine, the chances are I might hex him into a toad if he continues. Are you well? Anything you need me to do for you? Yours, (At least for this brief moment, even if I stated the contrary.) Severus P.S. OoM 1. You were wrong. |
My Severus, I am glad you agree to be mine, even if it is but a moment. Does it include all of you, all body-parts; legs, arms, shoulders, mouth? I would be particularly disappointed if you deny me the ownership of your legs (and one or two other parts of your body). You say you cannot see how they should have changed my life, those long, slender legs. I can. What if I had swept you off them, off your feet? Or had them wrapped- ah, that may be going into too much detail. But I wouldn't mind going into detail with you if I thought you wanted it. Severus, you must go to the Minister's feast. There are several reasons. First of all I would like you to get word to Narcissa - and from her. It would be the easiest way to do so. You know how important it is to create connections, and with an OoM1 and a recent victory over the Dark Lord, you have all the possibilities you need to create giving connections. Giving for you, that is. And that is all that matters. (Allow me to congratulate you with the Order of Merlin - I am clearly not the only one who sees your value and how much you fought to free the wizarding world from that insane creature. Now, I do not understand why I followed him in the first place. How I actually did believe he was able to rule after the war is beyond me.) Also, I don't plan to sit in here and rot for an infinite amount of years. Having you there, rubbing shoulders with the Minister and my - or now, his - wife, might make it easier for us to get me out. You do want me out, do you not? At least for my son's sake? I plan to attend his wedding, and I am no less than shocked by the way he is expressing himself, my son. You have to get me out before then. A Malfoy behaves properly and according to social rules and conventions. Unless I am that Malfoy, of course. Then the rules don't apply. I plan to do a couple of unconventional things when I get out. You never really cared about your reputation either, not really. Maybe you would like to join me in being... unconventional? Tell my son that I will be out some day soon, and if he hasn't improved his language (if not his view on the Weasley, a view I tend to agree on, after all I knew Molly Prewett, and she was just the same kind of barracuda. At times I pity Arthur Weasley) I will personally overtake a House-elf's task and wash his mouth with soap. Also tell him that I love and miss him, facts that will not prevent me from performing the aforementioned task. Back to the feast. You need to get new robes. Ah-ah, Severus. I know you. You look into your wardrobe and there is nothing but black, am I not right? And no rich, luxurious dress robes. You have practical, if well-fitting, black ordinary robes, maybe one with silver buttons, one you think is suitable for occasions like this. It is not. You go to Madam Malkin's, my Severus, and ask her to make you a robe in a quality and design similar to one she would have made for me. No fabric is too expensive, gems, silver, silk. Ask her to make a cold, dark wine red for you, almost black, but not. Silver buttons, with diamonds, I think. No frilly details, simple, but in an exquisite tailored cut. I will be very disappointed in you if you do not go. You are to charge it to my account. It is my gift to you, and I will not hear any protests from you. You are mine and I want you dressed to my specifications. Also, you will look fantastic, and that is important, since you are out to form connections. I would like to see the robe on you, how the heavy soft silk will encase your body, emphasise your slenderness and your narrow hips, the gorgeous length of your legs when you walk. Please, promise me you will go. I will cherish the image in my mind even more if I know it to be real. You are a highly intelligent man, my Severus. I have no idea why you want yourself connected with a Weasley. Luckily Percy Weasley is known to be slightly less annoying than the rest of the pack, and if he is as helpful as you say he is, you better keep him. You are not... with him, are you? I have never asked you, but are you... No. I am sorry. That is none of my business. It is just that when I asked what you planned to do with your life I came to think of you, having a partner... a wife, if that was something you aimed for or even had thought of. Until next time, Yours, Lucius |