By Fair Means or Foul

Chapter 11

“There is no use making faces, Lucius. Bear in mind next time you invite yourself somewhere, the quality of fare you are exposed to may not meet with your delicate palate. And making uninspiring faces will not help.”

Lucius looked up at his dinner companion. Severus was particularly fetching this evening. The dark hair had a soft sheen about it and it appeared to have been washed recently. That was very interesting. Severus used any and all means to keep people at bay and had used hair grease as a first-rate deterrent. The only time Lucius ever saw it sans grease was when he and Severus had been together quite regularly.

Severus was also wearing a more moderate neckline and had replaced his thick black broadcloth frockcoat with a lightweight velvet robe in a deep chocolate brown so dark it was almost black. Most interesting.

“You’ll have to forgive me, Severus. It is just that the view is so much better than the food that it is disconcerting,” he purred, gazing at Severus so that he understood exactly what constituted the view. Severus smirked and sipped his Brandywine before replying.

“Are you flirting with me? I am practically a fiancé. That would be quite unseemly, wouldn’t you say?”

“Hmm, well, perhaps I can offer you one last bid at pleasure before you are shackled down?” Lucius asked barely containing the animosity that had surfaced at the mention of another man. “Besides, I dare say marriage vows would constrain you as much as they did me.”

“Ah, but you forget. Unlike your position, I am not the stallion but the brood mare. I doubt my new husband would appreciate being cuckolded before the wedding.”

“Speaking of whom, have you received a response from Monsieur Shingleton? Has he sent you a preliminary marriage contract? I would be happy to look it over for you. Make sure you are not taken advantage of.” Lucius watched Severus sip again from his glass. The slight band of gold at the base of the glass barely glinted in the candlelight.

“I shall refrain from being insulted by that remark.” Severus put his glass down with a slight clink. He pushed away his empty plate and rested his arms on the table. “No, I have not heard back yet from Shingleton. No cause for worry though. I imagine the owl was delayed perhaps while in London. Did I mention that he has a flat in London as well as a country home? You don’t have a London flat do you Lucius?”

“Of course not. Who wishes to be surrounded by that many muggles? I do have one in Paris, but it is practically on the outskirts and, of course, in a magical neighbourhood completely secluded from muggles. I shall have to invite you sometime. You’d enjoy it.” Lucius sipped from his own glass, swirling the amber colour liquid watching the light play in it.

“I’m sure,” Severus replied. “I have read a few articles authored by an alchemist who lives in Paris. He has an unusual way of mixing-“

A loud banging at his chamber door interrupted Severus. Before either man could respond, the door was flung open and a man with bright orange hair filled the doorway. Severus and Lucius both rose to confront the intruder. Lucius was the faster of the two to respond.

“What is the meaning of this? Who are you?” The man ignored these questions and stared at Severus. He began to unbutton his shirt and a patch of wild orange hair could be seen pushing its way through the opening.

“Severus Snape, don’t go with this fella. Go with me. I could give you anything you wanted. I may not be rich or nothin’, but I could make you happy and I know my mother would just love having a potions master in the family and if you want a man who could make you howl and scream and come all over the place that would be me.” At the end of this diatribe the ginger coloured man had his shirt off and was already working at his trouser buttons. Before he could make it to the second button he was flung through the door’s opening. Lucius stood before him with his wand unsheathed from his cane. Severus stood behind, halfway between the table and door.

“I suggest that you leave the grounds immediately. If you need a reason to move quickly I shall provide one in approximately thirty seconds when I send a swarm of flesh eating fire ants after your scent,” Lucius stated with deadly calm. The man shook his head from the impact it had made with the stone wall and grabbed for his shirt which had fallen during his flight.

“Twenty seconds,” Lucius said. The man seemed about to say something but reconsidered and quickly hastened away. Soon the torchlight in the hall was indistinguishable from his orange hair in the distance. Lucius muttered something and soon the hall was filled with a small red wave that moved in the same direction as the intruder. As he closed the door and turned to Severus the other man crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow.

“I simply detest rudeness. He needed to be taught a lesson,” Lucius explained.

“Yes, but you are not the one who will have to explain to Albus why there is a half-eaten corpse on the front lawn.” Lucius smiled and moved to stand next to his mesmeric dark companion.

“I am sure that the simpleton will know the correct way to block the ants. And, if not…” Lucius shrugged his shoulders and slid past Severus to walk back towards the table. He made a careful inspection of Severus’s glass and saw that all but the tiniest sip had been swallowed. Lucius calculated that the effects would begin to show themselves within the next ten minutes. As Lucius swallowed the last of his own sweet liquor he contemplated the best place to be when those effects became apparent. He’d always thought about the potions classroom as a quite provocative location for what he had in mind.

“Well, since you’re here, would you care to see my latest attempt on my grand work? It’s currently in the classroom,” Snape said from behind him. Lucius could have kissed him. Well, actually he would.

“How is that coming along? I understand that you were able to locate the counter agent to dried bristleback leather?” Lucius smoothly pursued Severus across the hall and down a few doors to the classroom. Severus opened the heavy wooden door and disappeared into the dark depths. As Lucius followed after him he heard a shocked gasp and the distinct sound of clothing rustling. The torches were lit immediately with a spell and Lucius was greeted to the sight of Severus towering over the partially clad bodies of two students scrambling to get off one of the student work surfaces and each other. Lucius had never seen Severus with a fiercer scowl on his face. He decided to stand back in the shadows and watch the fun. Severus was always his most amusing when riled.

“I do not need to ask what you were doing but you will explain why you felt the need to come down from your dorms and choose my classroom to do your filthy fornicating,” the teacher hissed.

The girl was obviously sorely embarrassed and the young lad was doing his best to try to assist her modesty by holding up his own shirt in front of her as she quickly buttoned her blouse. By the looks of the school ties, Lucius deduced that they were a Hufflepuff and a Gryffindor. As the girl slid down from the tabletop the boy found his voice. Unfortunately, he was still progressing through the thick of puberty, or the sight of a seriously irate teacher had caused a relapse of voice squeaking.

“Uh, well you see sir,” the boy paused to cough and to try to reign in his spasming vocal cords. “Um, you see, we were, um, we were just looking for my, uh, potions book and uh,” the boy trailed off.

“And you decided it might be found in Ms. Kennedy’s knickers?” Severus supplied silkily. The boy and Ms. Kennedy blushed.

“Oh, uh, no sir, um,” Severus’s glare intensified at the boy’s vacillation. This caused the boy to squeeze his eyes shut and begin blurting out words. “Sheila said that I wasn’t adventurous enough and that I was boring that I was getting boring and that she could find more excitement from a paper bag and I didn’t want to lose her right before Valentine’s Day so I said that I could be brave and that I wasn’t afraid and she said that one of the other Gryffindors had dared her to come in here after hours to see if you slept hanging upside down and I said that I’d go with her and when we got here and no one was here I thought I’d show her that I could be even more exciting and we started kissing and I started taking off…”

“That is quite enough, Mr. Georges. I assure you that I have no need to populate my nightmares with any further details. You both will receive detention, separately, with Mr. Filch for one week, thirty house points will be deducted from both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor and your parents will be receiving letters about their children’s sordid behaviour.” Both students gasped in dismay at the last pronouncement. “Now, you will both leave my classroom and return to your dormitories with no time wasted on finishing what you started or there will be suspension paperwork filed in the morning. Dismissed.”

Mr. Georges and Ms. Kennedy quickly made their exit thankful that they hadn’t been cut up and put in the specimen jars as Seamus Finnigan had told them that that was what Snape did to the students he truly hated. Most students were still looking for the empty one with Harry’s name on it.

As the door shut behind them Lucius chuckled and moved back into the sparse light from the torches. He watched as Severus cast multiple cleaning charms on the work surface the amorous students had just vacated. Lucius realized he might be a bit too close to the torches as he wiped a bit of sweat off the back of his neck. When Severus turned around to face him, the teacher’s face was flushed.

“Ah, young love,” Lucius said with a smirk.

“Young lust you mean,” Severus replied. “I should have them scrub the entire classroom of their filthy perversion.” Severus pulled at his collar as he stalked away to a worktable at the back of the room. There was a torch that cast light upon that table and made his black hair gleam and the chocolate colour of his robe iridescent. Lucius became enraptured with watching Severus’s smooth white hands open a book with hand written notes in it. His elegant finger traced back and forth as he searched through the script. Lucius had reached his side without even realizing he had been drawn there. He had been so completely captivated by the details of Severus that he was as astonished as the teacher when he suddenly turned Severus around by the shoulder and claimed his mouth.