𝐎𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 | | 𝕝𝕦𝕔𝕚𝕦𝕤 𝕞𝕒𝕝𝕗𝕠𝕪

𝐒𝐞𝐱, 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲, 𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐃𝐢𝐞

Trade love for one night
Two pills and a red wine
Tough love but I know I don't mind

Katherine woke up in the late afternoon with a throbbing migraine. She was surprised to see that she was in her own room and on her own bed, assuming that Lucius or Abernathy had carried her upstairs at some point during the night. As soon she sat up, she realized that she was still wearing her tight dress from the night before. Slightly miffed at the fact that no one had thought to at least unzip the dress so she could sleep, she stepped out of her bed to get herself into something more comfortable. All she wished to do that day was sleep away her hangover. As she slipped off her dress letting it pool on the ground beneath her something fell out of the side pocket.

"Huh. Chocolate," she mumbled to herself, picking it up off of the floor before tossing it on her vanity. Moving over to her wardrobe, she slid open the doors to dig through her clothes. The Malfoys had no grasp of casualwear (they even slept in fancy garments) and Katherine was always expected to look impeccable at every moment. Much to her dismay, the only comfortable clothes she owned were her satin winter sleepwear. Lucius would kill her if she walked around the manor wearing pajamas. Cursing to herself, she reluctantly pulled a black dress out of the wardrobe before slipping it on.

As she made her way down the staircase and into the foyer, she spotted Lucius sitting at the dining room table, alone with a cup of steaming tea. A new Daily Prophet sat unopened on the top of the table with a stark headline reading 'MINISTRY OF MAGIC HAS FALLEN' at the top. Katherine made her way over to the table before pulling out a seat for herself across from Lucius.

"Lovely morning, isn't it?" she asked quietly, grabbing the newspaper to begin scanning the cover page. A tribute to the fallen minister, news of criminal activity, and the apparent registering of Muggle-borns. Bleak was an understatement, the wizarding world seemed to be crumbling at every waking moment. But for some odd reason, the morning felt...normal. Domestic, even, like they were a long-married couple sharing a regular morning's tea.

"Good morning, Katherine. How are you feeling after last night's little...ordeal," hummed Lucius as he took a sip of his tea.

"Well my head is splitting open and all I want is to fall back asleep in my pajamas. Other than that I'm feeling fine."

"Hm. What exactly happened last night, if you don't mind me inquiring. You went on and on about seemingly everything, I could barely understand a word you were saying," he asked as his eyes stayed staring into his teacup.

"Well, I found out your niece is having a baby, isn't that just darling? And then Victor was going on this rant about how if the war ends with us both surviving he wants to marry me and before I could respond a giant blue orb appeared to say that the Ministry of Magic had fallen and that the Minister was dead. Fascinating night, really. Of course, by the end I was too drunk really comprehend what was happening," she said nonchalantly, turning the page of the newspaper.

"Did you say yes?"

Katherine glanced up from the paper. "Lucius, the government fell yesterday and you're worried about if I told Victor I would marry him after the emerging war? It didn't mean anything, we were all wasted, it probably just slipped out of his mouth. I'm not worried about it."

Despite her casual attitude, she knew Lucius would internalize it. The fact was she hadn't confirmed nor denied, and unless things went horribly awry as the war progressed she doubted she would accept. Her home, at least for now, was Malfoy Manor. Leaving was never at the front of her mind, never an option. But Lucius surely didn't need to know that.

"What does it matter, anyways?" Katherine pressed, flipping to another random page of her paper.

Lucius finally glanced up at her. "It certainly doesn't matter to me. I was simply asking, that is all." Katherine wished she had the ability to read minds like he could. Certainly he was, in his mind, planning Victor's untimely and tragic death. If there was one thing she had knowledge of it would be the fact that Lucius Malfoy was a possessive and jealous lover who was secretly teeming with envy underneath his cold exterior. Oh how he definitely cared.