"The Mudblood" One-Shots

Old Friends

Year: July of 2001

Canonicity: Canon to "The Mudblood", Chapter 129

Point of View: first person, Lisa Fitzroy

Notes: When Lainey and Lisa visit Malfoy Manor to retrieve Teddy, this is the conversation Lisa and Lucius have in the dining room when Lainey storms out.

From the original, Lainey's POV:

"Lainey," Lisa cut in softly, placing her hand on my forearm. My heart was pounding wildly as I recalled all of the offenses he had committed against me and my family. He was nearly as evil as Rookwood in my mind, and now that I no longer had any connection to his son, I wanted nothing more than to throttle him— "We aren't here to reopen old wounds. I know everything that Lucius has done, and while I don't forgive him, I am willing to be civil with him. Are you?"

"No," I growled instinctually, pushing my chair out to stand. I'd thought I could do it—I'd thought I could look into Lucius's eyes and not feel burning enmity, but I had not mastered my emotions well enough for that. Before I could explode with wrath, I spun on my heel and stalked from the dining room.

Lisa's POV:

"Lainey," I cut in softly, placing my hand on her forearm. What little I had maintained of my Gaudium senses told me of the inner turmoil she was experiencing, but even without those senses, I would have understood. It was difficult for me to look at Lucius now, one of my closest friends, and know that he had been the one to shatter me in that hospital corridor. "We aren't here to reopen old wounds. I know everything that Lucius has done, and while I don't forgive him, I am willing to be civil with him. Are you?"

"No," Lainey growled without hesitation, pushing her chair out to stand. It wasn't just hatred in her eyes, though, as she spun to leave: there was also longing there, and a deep, deep sorrow that very few could begin to comprehend.

Once her footsteps disappeared from earshot, Lucius and I finally really made eye contact, and then, before I could utter a word, he'd moved from his chair into the one beside mine and taken my hand with feverish intensity.

"You're alive," he barely whispered, his grey eyes welling with tears. Through those eyes I could see that his soul was the same as it had been in our younger years, only now marred by the tragedies he'd provoked and endured. I wasn't a Seer, but I had always known that my poor friend Lucius would be doomed to a life of misery and self-loathing.

"I-I... When Augustus told us that...that you were you again...I didn't want to believe him. I didn't want to hope..." A cry escaped his lips as he bent his forehead to my hand, his white hair draping over my knees. Lucius had always been so confident, but now... The Dark Lord had drained any self-assuredness from him, but he had also, somehow, drained the malice that had been so embedded in his core. There was nothing but remorse now in Lucius Malfoy; he didn't have to say the words for me to know that he meant them. "I'm s-sorry."

I kept quiet and still, trying not to think too much about all of the laughs we'd had at Hogwarts, all of the times I'd provoked that rare but brilliant grin of his.

"I-I didn't want to, Lisa, I swear it. I had n-no choice. I couldn't have let the Dark Lord have you. I-I knew that wasn't what you wanted, and I knew he would come back—I knew he would come back and kill Narcissa and—"

"I don't forgive you," I interjected, stroking his hair softly as he sobbed into my hand. "I don't forgive you for tearing my family apart. But what you've done to me..." I used my tear-stained hand to lift his chin and lock his gaze with mine. His eyes were bloodshot and his face was shiny with wetness, but he controlled his breathing enough to listen when I said, "You saved me. You saved me from the curse, Lucius, the curse of happiness. If I still had my Gaudium powers, you wouldn't be able to cry right now—you wouldn't be able to give me a proper apology. You would feel content while my bitterness would remain. I'm free now to form real relationships, to see the truth in the people around me. It is such a blessing to have you share your sorrow with me."

He sniffled, choking on a sob while a smile spread over his wobbly lips—a smile born of natural elation rather than one forced by magic. The thing that should have ripped us apart was what had made me really value his friendship. He could have captured me for the Dark Lord or erased me from existence, but instead he broke my curse and preserved me for a time when I could safely return to the world, unhindered by magic. My family was considerably smaller now, yes, and I would never forgive him for the years he stripped from me—the years in which half of my family had died and the other half had been forced into hiding—and for doing nothing while Voldemort made Lainey his servant, but the outcome had been worth it. I would have rather been alive now, a fraction of my former self, to watch Lainey become a woman, than be extinct.

"But," I began again, wiping a tear from his cheek, "I do have one qualm with you. Why is it, Lucius, that you don't wish to share grandchildren with me? Surely you know that my daughter is in love with your son?"

He swallowed, his cries ceasing as he recomposed himself. "I believe that is an issue that relies solely on the choices of our children."

My eyebrows rose warningly. "You didn't tell your son he had to marry a pureblood? You didn't deem Lainey off limits simply because she's a half-blood?"

"Why would I do such a thing?"

"Because you've always been obsessed with blood purity."

His expression sobered a bit as his eyes flickered between my face and his hands. "Draco makes his own decisions now. Lainey and I have...never been on particularly good terms, but I did advise him in her direction. He was too heartbroken to listen, and now he's too proud to even consider asking for her back. If you want what's best for your...daughter, you should advise her to stay away from the Malfoys."

I nodded thoughtfully. "Perhaps that's for the best, considering we are related now. My brother married your niece so...that makes us...cousins of some sort? Or perhaps you're my...uncle-in-law—"

"God," he scoffed, sitting up straight. "Don't say that."

I smiled to myself, enjoying this familiar banter. Augustus and I now joked, but Lucius had always been my preferred companion. For Lainey's sake, though, it was probably best that nothing romantic had ever become of Lucius and me, otherwise Draco would have grown up as her brother rather than her crush.

"Well, I suppose I should advise Lainey not to get romantically involved with her uncle-in-law." Lucius scrunched his nose but I continued anyway. "We will still have little Teddy to bond us. You surely know that Lainey plans to take him as her own today—"

"Finally," Lucius grumbled as he stood from his seat. "That child... What can you really expect from the offspring of a half-blood and a werewolf—"

I slapped his arm lightheartedly, and I knew he was joking because he simply smirked before extending that same arm to me.

"I have waited a very long time for this day to come, Lisa. Shall we walk and catch up?"

I nodded, using my weakened limbs to hoist myself out of my chair. Augustus and I had been taking daily walks for the past few years to strengthen my muscles, but I was still frail and physically inferior to what I'd once been.

"I hope I haven't eased your conscious," I joshed, looping my arm through his as he helped me take my first few steps across the room. "Do remember that you haven't been completely forgiven."

"I won't forget," he replied darkly, his posture stiff and his eyes fixed ahead. "I don't expect to ever be completely forgiven."