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Chapter 13: Twelve

The Lion and the Maiden

Just before midnight the same day, Lucius Malfoy could be found striding down the major corridor of Headquarters to the Dark Lord's office, his brisk pace not at all influenced by the prickling sensation of his son's eyes darting all around them in wonderment. He had a report to give and a request to make, and Draco was necessary for the latter; he would not give in to the urge to snap at the boy for his lack of discretion-

The telltale 'click' of Draco's phone camera going off told him enough was enough. Oh, what Lucius wouldn't have given for his son to be in control of his impulses for once in his spoiled life instead of acting like a mudblood seeing Diagon Alley for the first time!

Click. "This is so cool," Draco muttered under his breath.

Lucius stopped short in the middle of the corridor, spinning around to glare at his son. "You will comport yourself, Draco, and delete those photos until such a time in which you receive permission - it is a security risk."

Eyes wide as saucers, Draco hastened to do as he was told, flushing with embarrassment. This, at least, was as it should be. But his stiff, straight posture was undermined by the excitement shining through his features, a grin fighting its way onto his face despite himself, as they reached the Dark Lord's outer office; Lucius wondered if he ought to have disciplined his son with more than mere words over the years. He had never exerted himself to inflict physical punishment upon the boy, but Abraxas had raised him beneath the cane, and Lucius sometimes pondered if Draco would have been more.. proper, was the word that came to mind, had he done the same.

"Wow," Draco breathed, twisting his head this way and that. "It's even larger than the library at the Manor!"

At least in part because the Dark Lord copied all of our books. Lucius suppressed a sigh, wishing his son had Assistant's easy composure. Lord knew how the mysterious boy had been raised so well. Perhaps he would ask, someday, and see if Draco could be treated the same.

Averting his eyes to the floor - lest he catch Draco's fidgeting - Lucius knocked on the closed door to the Dark Lord's private office and was granted entry, his son fast on his heels.

"Ah, Lucius, I had wondered if I would see you this evening," the Dark Lord mused. Lucius looked up from his usual low bow to realize two things: one, that Voldemort appeared to have rearranged the furniture in his office, and two, that lying against him on the oversized chaise divan, wine in hand, was the Dark Lord's Assistant.

"Yes, my lord," Lucius answered - a bit unnecessarily, but he was somewhat lost for words. "I have the usual report."

The Dark Lord's left hand was curled low at Assistant's waist; as he sipped his wine, his fingers absently stroked Assistant's side, lingering at the waistband of the boy's tight-fitting trousers. "Your report and your heir, I see," Voldemort mused, swirling the glass of white wine in his other hand.

"Indeed, my lord," Lucius nearly stuttered, refocusing his eyes away from the spectacle, "it concerns a secondary matter I hoped to bring up with you after making my report." Salazar, he was talking too much - the last thing Lucius wanted was to come off as snivelling like Wormtail had-

Slowly, Assistant sat up, extricating himself from the Dark Lord's lazy embrace. "I'll be in the outer office, Sir," the boy promised, clasping his hands in the small of his back. His wine glass floated over to the desk, left behind, as Assistant swept from the room at the Dark Lord's dismissal, fairly gliding across the carpet without acknowledging Lucius or Draco directly.

Speaking of Draco. "This is a war matter," Lucius informed his son. "Wait outside."

Thankfully, Draco did not embarrass himself by protesting - only hesitated a moment before doing as he was told. As he began his report of the latest happenings in the Ministry, it occurred to Lucius to wonder if the sudden adherence to decorum was because of the Dark Lord's observant gaze, or because Assistant - about whom Draco had not shut up for weeks - was out there, too.