Harvest Moon

Sorry, had to take this chapter down then repost it. It did weird things in the formatting for some reason.



***

Lucius closed the door behind him and leaned against it. The aurors were still searching the grounds for Liren’s body, he sincerely doubted they’d find it but he still allowed them to look their fill. He’d informed the house elves where he would be and for them to direct any of the aurors there if he was needed for anything. He presumed at this point it was far better to just keep out of their way and answer any questions once they’d finished the initial search. He hadn’t been in this room for years but the house elves kept it cleaned and everything was well maintained like the rest of the house. He looked over the wide expanse of the training room for a moment, remembering.



“Ah, Lucius, you’ll never beat me if you don’t practice,” Liren said, laughing. He turned the swords so the blades were flush against the backs of his forearms, the position to both attack and defend.



“Why should I bother?” Lucius said, leaning on the spear in his hands. “You’ll always be better than I am. It’s ridiculous for Father to have us learn such archaic methods of combat.”



“Perhaps so. But it’s still exciting. You never know when magick might fail and other methods be called for.”



“If you say so,” Lucius said with a shrug. “Personally, I’d rather be reading.”



“Of course you would, you bookworm. It’s one of the reasons Father hates you.”



“Among other things,” Lucius said, sounding bored. “Are we finished for the day?”



Liren sighed. “You go on. I’m going to finish this set then go meet Narcissa.”



Lucius shook his head. “What you see in her is beyond me.”



“I see in her my future wife. Jealous?” Liren said, circling Lucius and grinning.



“Hardly. She’s a brainless bit of fluff. Though I wouldn’t mind waltzing her around a bedchamber. She’s quite pretty. So long as she never speaks.”



Liren had moved in on him so fast he’d barely had time to bring the spear up to defend himself from the swords. His brother twisted and kicked his legs from beneath him and Lucius suddenly found himself flat on his back with both swords at his throat. “Just keep your hands off of my woman, little brother.”



“Happily.”





Lucius snapped back to the present, thinking it was odd that he’d remembered that particular conversation out of all the ones he and Liren had here. He shook his head and walked over to the weapons rack on the wall. He ran his fingers caressingly over the spear he’d used in training during his younger years and smiled a little sadly. It had been ages since he’d had any time to really work with the weapon and he wondered idly if he could remember half of the things he’d learned. He really should figure out some sort of exercise regime, he thought. The notion of getting paunchy in his middle years wasn’t something he was particularly fond of.



He stepped into the center of the room and gave the spear an experimental swing. Finding it felt slightly different to him then thinking he hadn’t touched it since he and Narcissa had married when they were eighteen. Like most men he’d grown between the ages of sixteen and twenty so the weapon that had been made for him then wouldn’t have the same balance for him now. He frowned a bit before taking out his wand and tapping the spear lightly, it expanded a little and on the next swing he found the balance of it easily.



He ran through the first set of movements he’d learned and found that even though he didn’t consciously recall them, for some reason his muscles and body knew the moves. Almost as though recalling a long forgotten dance, he moved easily through the motions, picking up speed and grace as he went.



***



Hermione had gone to Malfoy manor after her talk with Kingsley. She’d pondered the rumors about Liren Malfoy’s demise on the way over. Why was it so hard for her to believe that Lucius might have murdered his brother? Gods knew that he was capable of all sorts of things. Why was this thought so difficult to wrap her mind around? Perhaps it was the thought of deliberately setting about to kill a family member, though she’d certainly seen enough of it in her years studying in the States.



It also made sense in the category of gain. Lucius had stood to gain the most from Liren’s death; the title, wealth, estate, even as she understood it, Narcissa’s hand in marriage. She couldn’t imagine how Narcissa had felt about that. To be handed from one man to another like you were property instead of a person. But she knew from talking to Draco that pureblood marriages were not for love, they were for maintenance of the line. She’d been shocked to find out Draco himself had had a marriage arranged for him but wormed his way out of it somehow.



She shook her head to clear it upon arriving at the Malfoy manor front door. She knocked and again found herself looking down at Tweak.



“Hello, Miss.”



“Hello, Tweak. How are you?”



Tweak blinked, startled at being addressed thusly. “Tweak is well, Miss. Is Miss wanting to see the Master or the others?”



“Others?” Hermione questioned.



“Yes. The others is not like Miss. They is nosing into places only family is going.”



“Tweak, you know why they have to do that, right? They have to try to find Liren Malfoy’s body.”



“Hmpf,” Tweak said. Her hands instantly flew to her mouth. “Tweak is sorry, Miss. She is having no right to say bad things about those who is gone.”



“Why would you say bad things about him, Tweak? He died before you were even born.”



Tweak looked guiltily at the floor then back up at Hermione. “Yes, Miss, but Tweak is hearing from the older elves that the other master was not nice. That he hurt them for fun. Tweak is sorry, Miss.”



“No need to be sorry, Tweak,” Hermione said. Tweak’s words had set the wheels turning though and she wondered what kind of person Lucius’ brother had been. She pondered it for a moment before getting the strange feeling of being watched. She turned to find Bubble staring at her.



“Careful, Mistress. Dark one wants her most of all,” he said before wandering off again.



“I sincerely wish he’d be clearer,” Hermione said.



“Tweak wishes that too, Miss,” Tweak said, staring after her brother. “Tweak will take Miss to the Master.”



“That’s quite all right, Tweak, just point me in the right direction and I’ll find him myself. I’m sure you have other things to do with everyone running around like mad here.”



“Yes, Miss. Thank you, Miss. Master is at the end of the hallway. Fifth door on the left.”



“Thank you, Tweak. I’ll let you go about your business now,” Hermione said.



Tweak curtsied to her and scrambled off to whatever she’d been doing before. Hermione followed her instructions and walked down the corridor to the fifth door on the left hand side. Dear gods, it wouldn’t take much to get lost in this place, she thought. She knocked lightly then pushed the door open to reveal a mostly barren room.



What drew her eye was the man in the center of the room working through a complex set of movements with a vicious looking spear. He moved with a grace and ease that bespoke years of familiarity with the weapon and Hermione wondered why he’d ever bothered to raise a wand to anyone at all.



Your mind won't let you say that you want me

Your mind won't ever, never let you have what you want



He seemed completely oblivious to her presence and she took the time to, clinically, admire what was in front of her. Not that she would ever admit it to him but at that moment he was absolutely stunning. He’d removed his shirt somewhere along the way and just watching the flex and play of lean muscle in the meager light was enough to make Hermione’s mouth go dry. She chided herself for her reaction. She wasn’t some silly schoolgirl to be stunned by the sight of a man without his shirt on. But this man, with his hair down and sticking to parts of his face and back, moving through maneuvers with the weapon at an almost blinding pace had her thinking of some Pagan god made flesh.





He turned slightly and caught sight of her. He moved to put the weapon slightly behind him and started walking toward her.



“Hermione? I hardly expected you to be here.”



“I didn’t expect to be here myself,” she said, trying with some difficulty to avoid staring at him. “I need to ask you a few, quite personal questions, Lucius.”



He nodded. “That will be fine. I’ll have one of the house elves escort you to the library while I shower and change.”



***Mad Ramblings aka Author’s Notes***



The song used in this chapter is Want by Disturbed.