By Fair Means or Foul

Chapter 15

Lucius Malfoy saw all was right with his world and decided to indulge himself on this fine Saturday afternoon by reading a novel he had seen at Flourish & Blotts while getting school supplies with Draco. He rarely had the time or inclination to fritter about doing nothing but since he had planted the seed, Lucius chuckled to himself, all he had to do was wait. After last night he knew it would take at least another day or two before Severus even thought of that bastard Shingleton and by then Lucius would have a reason ready as to why that bastard Shingleton had not responded to the letter. Lucius grinned evilly at the thought of promising to exact revenge on behalf of his good friend’s pride. Then, of course, Lucius would pay a little visit to that bastard Shingleton and advise him to stay clear of Severus after toying with his emotions in such a way. Yes, that did sound like a lot of fun. He may not wear the mask anymore but the reputation he had gained as a “suspected” Death Eater was still very tangible and still quite useful.

Sitting down in his favourite reading chair by the window in his library, Lucius opened the book but still thought of the issue at hand. He suspected that it would only take Severus a week before he realized the surprise Lucius had given him and come running to him for assistance. Of course, Severus would never appear to need help but it would, in essence, be just that. Lucius rested securely in the fact that Severus, under all that black attire and hard shell, was still a bit of a tender heart and would not take any drastic measures without Lucius’s knowledge. Besides which, Severus would know not to do anything when it came to Lucius and family. He had discerned long ago that Severus held great respect for the strong attachment Lucius had to his family and name. It was almost certainly one of the things Severus had found attractive about him, considering his own appalling childhood. So, no, Severus would not do anything final in this matter. Smiling contentedly, Lucius rested back into his chair and began to read.

Halfway into chapter two and a weak battle he heard a commotion outside his library door. Before he could close his book and stand up, the oak doors were slammed opened and one of his house elves came running through. Its big eyes wide with fear, which in all honesty wasn’t something rare in his house. It stopped just outside of physical striking distance and fell down onto its knobby knees and trembled.

“Master, sir, I tried to please Professor Snape in the drawing room until I could inform you to his presence, but Professor Snape requested to see you immediately, sir.” The house elf was nearly shivering out of its tea cosy in fear.

“Dismiss the elf, Lucius. I need to speak to you. Now.”

Lucius looked up from the quaking creature at his feet to the obviously displeased potion master striding into the room, cloak billowing out behind him. By Cliodna, he was magnificent! Lucius pulled his errant thoughts together and waved the house-elf away. The creature was more than happy to pop away with no immediate recriminations. Severus stood near the blazing fireplace, his arms crossed upon his chest and a fierce scowl on his face.

“Well, Severus, I assume you have a reason for bursting in in this dramatic way and ordering me about in my own home?” he drawled. He relaxed back into his chair and placed the book on the end table beside him. Severus glared at him menacingly before shaking his hair back away from his face and adopting what Lucius dubbed “the irritated teacher” demeanour. Drumming the fingers upon his left arm, lips pursed, Severus slowly walked across the room towards the chair Lucius sat in.

“Lucius, were you aware that someone tampered with our dinner last night? In point of fact, my wine glass was contaminated.” Severus asked as if he were inquiring about the weather. Lucius’s blood pumped a bit quicker and he felt his mind sharpen. Apparently he underestimated Severus. Again. Keeping his face as neutral as possible, he swiftly moved his schedule up a week.

“Tampered with? In what way? It would certainly be a leisurely poison or am I having a conversation with your ghost come to ask me to seek retribution on your behalf?” he calmly asked.

“I promise you that I am quite corporeal and will most assuredly attain retribution for the deed that has been done against me.” If Lucius were a weaker man he would have gulped at that ominous pronouncement. Instead he merely cocked his head to the side and appeared interestedly concerned.

“And what, may ask, has been done to you?”

“Someone took it upon themselves to add an aphrodisiac to my drink, Lucius, which you are well aware did its job.” Ah, then perhaps the other ingredient had not been discovered yet. Otherwise, he was sure Severus would have cut to the heart of the matter. An angry Severus was a very blunt Severus. Of course, that was only when he wasn’t being a devious Severus. Lucius stood up in mock indignation.

“I hope that you are not intimating that you had to be drugged to come to me?”

“That is neither here nor there. The fact that I was drugged at all is the issue.” Severus walked a few steps closer and stopped directly in front of Lucius with accusation in his eyes. “I would hope that you could shed some light on the villain of this base act.”

Lucius raised his nose a bit higher in the air. “I assure you that I had nothing to do with it. I would not, nor have I ever needed anything to have you. This farce is surely the product of a sorely misplaced sense of righteous anger. The fact that you gave yourself to me last night seems to be a problem for you. Perhaps we should refresh your memory and have done with this indignation.” So saying Lucius pulled Severus into his body and began to kiss him. Severus stiffened but relaxed soon enough and obligingly opened his mouth to his lover. Lucius was not fooled by the capitulation but enjoyed the kiss nevertheless. He nibbled and sucked and licked but quickly ended the kiss and looked into the dark eyes in front of him.

“Now, there. I hope I have put your fears to rest?” Before Severus could say a word, Lucius spoke again. “I assure you that if you found an aphrodisiac in your drink, then it was only to our mutual benefit. You have surprisingly discovered a maiden’s sensibilities, Severus,” he said chidingly. Severus pulled out of Lucius’s embrace but did not step more than a foot away.

“Then you are not concerned at all that you perhaps ingested something against your will?” Severus asked a bit too slyly. Lucius raised an eyebrow.

“Should I be?” he asked in a voice that anyone other than his companion would find intimidating.

“If you did, I am sure it was to our mutual benefit.” Severus smirked. Lucius narrowed his eyes and it was his turn to now cross his arms. Stepping back, he leaned against the end table and looked at his lover.

“Very well, Severus. We shall take the matter seriously. You believe you were drugged. Now, how do you come to this conclusion?”

“Quite easily. I tested the Brandywine left in the bottom of my glass. I discovered two relatively common aphrodisiacs.” Severus explained as if to a dullard. “I have come to the conclusion that as the only other person in the room, you had to have been the one to do it.”

Lucius held up his finger to make a point. “Ah, but other than our selves, there was indeed another person; that vulgar oaf who barged in at the end of our meal. I would submit that he timed his intrusion to catch you as the potion would, no doubt, begin taking effect. He miscalculated and you were not alone as he expected and instead I was the happy benefactor of your… heightened senses. Not that I would ever need anything as tactless as that, mind you.” Severus quirked his eyebrow upwards in an expression of utter disbelief.

“Very good, Lucius. But I had come up with that feeble excuse as well and there is just one flaw in it.” Severus took the two steps closer so that he was again face-to-face. His voice lowered to just above a whisper. “You see, I found another additive in the drink, as I am sure you know. A quite rare and extremely expensive herb that is very hard to find in any apothecary shop. In fact it is barely legal and would only be available in infinitesimal amounts in dodgy places such at Knockturn Alley, without written permission from the Ministry. Bulgarian Tribulus Terrestris. Ever heard of it, Lucius? I am sure that you would not have any knowledge of its rarity or pharmacological properties. It is an herb that muggles like to take to become more muscular. Of course, you would never know anything about that. But you see it has a quite unique side effect. It increases a man’s virility. And in the case of the magically inclined, in a witch or perhaps a wizard like, say, me, it has a nearly flawless rate of increasing fertility. As a matter of fact, it is so potent it can overcome all known contraceptive potions and spells.” His eyes narrowed again. “This particular herb is prohibitively expensive. So much so that I am quite sure our intruder could not have gotten his hands on it, even if he were to sell his gold-digging mother. It occurred to me, Lucius, that only a handful of people would have been able to purchase this little herb. Then, of course, you must factor in the people who would have contacts in the more unsavoury areas of apothecaries and could have gotten it within three days or less. That really only leaves one person, Lucius.”

Lucius had remained still and passive during this entire speech but his mind was quickly going through his options in how to save his alibi. Unfortunately, with every sentence out of Severus’s mouth his paths were limited and eventually he knew he had come to a dead end. Saying farewell again to his image as a beneficent lover riding to the rescue, Lucius smiled.

“Did it work?”

He had to admire Severus’s restraint. Lucius saw his wand fingers twitch, but the potions master held it together.

“Do you think I would have come here if it had not?”

“Well, you still would have the grievance of being drugged with an aphrodisiac, since you obviously figured out our ginger-haired intruder was on my payroll. That would surely warrant some chest beating and injured pride.”

Severus smiled. “Oh no, Lucius, that I was well aware of immediately. Your silly little gold marker was a dead give away. That and the obvious difference in aroma. I would have felt satisfied we were even.” Still smiling evilly Severus moved back towards the fireplace. Lucius, however, did not enjoy being laughed at.

“Yes, you did make a pitiable hint that you had also done some tampering of your own. Should I be counting down the minutes to my last breath then?” he asked nastily. Severus turned to face him as he reached the fire and then shook the hair from his face once again. If Lucius hadn’t been annoyed at that moment he would have had to tamper down rising lust at the gesture. Of course, sparring verbally with Severus was always arousing, so the thought was moot.

“The venom has dissipated. But was quite useful at the time. You can be quite boring in your scheming, Lucius.”

“Boring?” Lucius was quite affronted at that accusation.

“You have a tendency to plan something to inanity. Most likely why you always have toadies about to do your bidding. You rarely get off your mind to do anything. But, I digress. You had made it abundantly clear just Monday that you wished to re-ignite our physical relationship. When this… circus began you quite predictably backed off. You, Lucius, never join the race but merely walk up and take the trophy. You hadn’t done it yet so I simply assisted you in your endeavour.” Severus paused and then pierced Lucius with a look that could only be termed as erotic. “The venom of a Galder snake has the unique effect of evoking the emotion of possessiveness in humans who ingest it. Highly effective in provoking someone to take what they want, wouldn’t you say?”

Lucius realized that he had been played quite beautifully. The entire time he had been calculating how to ensnare Severus, his dark lover already had him in his web. And Lucius had not even realized it. He had assumed that his bouts of irrational jealousy the previous night had been due to the references to his competition or even due to the long span of time since he had had Severus. Never had he thought that his lover had drugged him, and that was indeed a dangerous thing. Lust rose to fever pitch and he strode to the subject of his desire. Reaching him he put his hands into the ebony strands on either side of his head and brought their mouths together in a rough kiss. Soon the kiss became more and both men were groping each other as if they had turned back the clock twenty years.

Lucius pulled his mouth away and instead began kissing his way down the pale throat. Impatiently he ripped at the collar and he was sure he heard two buttons hit the marble hearth before he returned to his ministrations. Severus, head thrown back to allow access was, not idle. His hands were roving all over Lucius’s back and arms, tugging through the long blond hair after pulling the ribbon out that had held it in place.

“Oops. Sorry Father, Professor.”