InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I know. It explains so much."

Lucius Malfoy (in_deep) wrote in wished,
@ 2010-02-28 22:42:00

Entry tags:

!1998: 02, !incomplete, lucius malfoy, narcissa malfoy

Who: Lucius & Narcissa Malfoy
What: Coping with Grimmauld aftermath
When: Tonight
Where: The Manor, in the library
Rating/Warnings: Low, TBA

The pain had gone from debilitating to merely intolerable in time to let him carry out his orders without substantial difficulty, and he had expected it to go away once he'd made his amends - but when he had arrived home it had still been with him. He had shut himself in the library and waited for it to pass. He couldn't have slept, and so he hadn't gone to bed. It would only have disturbed Narcissa, and truth be told he wasn't sorry for an excuse not to face her while his Mark was burning. He knew very well what would have been going through her mind - the same thing that was circling endlessly in his even now, a full day later, the same thing that had reduced him to pulling a book off the shelf for the first time in years and trying to think on anything else.

Easier said than done, in a room this dark. He always came here specifically because it was close and warm and a little gloomy, but struggling to make out undersized text about some war he'd forgotten the details of in his second year at school after two days of no sleep at all was only adding a headache to his already considerable troubles. When one of the elves scampered nervously in to offer him a glass of water for something like the tenth time, he gave it a sharp kick to the side before it could get the words out. "You can build up the fucking fire," he growled, even his own voice grating miserably on his nerves. "And get out. And close the door behind you, for once." They always forgot.

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porcelain_doll
2010-03-01 01:56 pm UTC (link)

For once, the Manor was quiet. It seemed as though many of their guests had retired for the night, or maybe they were using silencing charms wherever they were in the house. Narcissa truly did not care at this point whether they were asleep or not. What bothered her was that her husband had not come to bed again. They'd already had a discussion about this very matter and she thought she'd been perfectly clear that no matter what was happening, he need not hide it from her. Trust between the two of them was one of the very pillars that had allowed for their marriage to stand as strongly as it had for so long. Yet she could not find it in her to be angry with him; she had secrets of her own.

It was also difficult for her to be too upset. She knew what was happening and that he was in pain. It crushed her because she knew that meant Draco was suffering for it too. That, perhaps hurt her far more than anything else. Their son was in pain and she couldn't do anything about it. As a mother, it shook her to the very core of her being. As a wife, it wasn't much easier.

Unable to settle in bed, she decided to go looking for Lucius. She knew he was home, and she knew where he would likely be if he was not in their room. Habitual man.. she thought, with only a tiny smirk. She was too upset to feel playful. When she reached the library, it was just in time to see an elf scurry out scared within an inch of its life. It mattered little to her. With all that was on her mind, a frightened elf was the least of her worries. She caught the door before it closed and stepped inside, making sure to close it behind her.

Narcissa walked to where he was, so obviously trying to lose himself in some book that probably hadn't been opened since Draco needed it for school however many years ago. "Put this on your arm," she said, dropping a soft cloth in the middle of his book. "It's been charmed to stay cool. I know it won't take all the pain away, but it should take the edge off. I would've applied it myself but seeing as you've quite forgotten where it is we sleep at night again, well, here we are."

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in_deep
2010-03-02 03:27 am UTC (link)

He was so wrapped up in trying to shut out everything but the Glanmore Troll Conquests that he didn't hear her arrive. He gave a start when something dropped right in front of his nose, and his face snapped up to her - and though his expression immediately faded away from the look he might have given any other intruder, it was still quite clear he was on a short fuse; and he couldn't find it in him to stand up.

"It isn't my fault," he said, snapping the book shut and tossing it onto the table before taking the cloth in hand as he tugged irritably at his already rumpled sleeve. "I assure you, I would much rather be in bed. And I thought perhaps you'd rather sleep than feel me tossing and turning all night long. Do forgive my thoughtlessness."

And then, every time he looked at her, he could only think of Draco - because he was quite certain that was what she thought of when she saw him like this. It was enough to keep him from meeting her eyes. "Thank you," he muttered, more than a little petulantly, as the wrapped the cloth around his arm, and did his best to settle back into something like a proper posture. There was nothing about the situation he found comfortable, and it was all miserably unfair. He hadn't had a thing to do with any of it. It only made it worse to think on things he couldn't help.