The Taming of the Shrew - Wizard Style - COMPLETE

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9-25-09 F


A grateful thanks to everyone who has taken time to write me a review. I appreciate your feedback; it helps me polish the chapters to come.


Some answers to your comments:

HarryGinny4eva – Ah, next best thing to naked. A loincloth. Sterling choice. Ease of access, but retaining a modicum of modesty.

Serin Blackmoon – Lucius and Hermione are both used to being in control. Neither wants to give way to the other. Lucius could probably use several glasses of firewhiskey for the dinner party coming up. I’m not sure either of them knows what they want from the other yet.

Linstock – I’d love to consult on the Malfoy Mansion for the new Harry Potter World at Universal Studios in Florida. And on the entire estate, woo hoo! So far Lucius has been ‘reaching out’ to Hermione dressed in his birthday suit. Maybe it’s time he tried your suggestion of high-class Muggle attire or Regency garb or a lounging sheik. The sheik would work on me LOL.

jw – Yes, Lucius will have to tell Hermione about the pedophile label, but he’s worried the news will set him back even worse with her. Severus and Narcissa will be recurring characters with opinions of their own, starting with this chapter.

BeaBibliophile – I am taking my cue from Katherine in the Shakespeare play, so yes, right now Hermione is a terrible shrew and Lucius wants to marry her for his own reasons, including saving his financial empire. He’s not unlike Petruchio that way, with money being a factor in his marriage. We get to see beyond the bedroom door in this story, though. I hope my take on Snape and Narcissa work as characters for you. I had fun writing them. Lucius as a Regency buck is perfection. I loved dressing him that way in another of my stories.

DragonFyre – Hogwarts opens up a whole new vista of possibilities for our couple and for me to write about. A great deal of the story is at Hogwarts. And yes, Snape and Narcissa still get their share of plot time when our couple moves to Hogwarts. Batman would be creamed in a fistfight with Superman. It wouldn’t even be close. I’m glad you enjoyed the lemon! I’m behind on my reviews, too. I know I owe you some.

Katiekrm – Ooh, do I detect a bit of antagonism against Lucius for his part in this unilateral marriage [grin]? Of course, you aren’t alone. Right now their relationship is all tangled up and neither one wants to be the one to show weakness by trying to be conciliating. Stubborn and pig-headed, both of them, even though it’s been six years since the battle. Lucius has much less idea of what comprises Muggle life than Hermione has of the wizarding world. I promise it irons out, but the story is long and we have time for more lemons and Snape first.

sirsevchick – Lucius hoped Hermione seeing him with people who liked him would help her see him in a kinder light. Will it work? Both are very intelligent so they will have to find some common ground sometime. Lucius will show up at your door with his transfigured professor’s robes all tightly buttoned. I think you’ll be expected to undo the buttons manually. Such an imposition. The dinner party at least gets Snape and Narcissa into the mix, but perhaps not quite how Lucius hoped it would be. And yes, the relationship is closest for now if neither one of them is speaking, just playing mattress polo instead.

blue artemis – You may be right that Lucius is opening up a Pandora’s box (or…well…Hermione’s box) on her sexuality. I do think he would enjoy it, however LOL. For all Lucius got roped into the marriage, he was lonely and wanted a settled home life again. I think Snape saw that. Unfortunately, wedding Lucius to a strong-willed Muggleborn has had unforeseen complications. I’m glad you liked the lemon!

Snapes_Goddess – I do like your idea of Lucius as a personal Barbie doll. I suppose he’d be closer to a Ken doll, except he’d have a lot more interesting territory than flat plastic between his legs. Zorro appeals and so does the Viking and the naked with tall, black boots idea (reading over my shoulder again, were you?) We have similar taste in studs.

Aleysiasnape – I hope you like this next chapter with Snape and Narcissa and how Hermione interacts with them at the dinner party.

MioneLuv – I wonder if the readers are about equally divided on which character is more the villain? Neither is being very accommodating to the other. Both were shanghaied into the marriage in a sense, although Hermione had much less say than Lucius. Is Hermione being brainwashed by the sex, or is she just finally discovering what many others of her age have been enjoying for a long time? I don’t think she’s so repressed as naïve. Lucius is taking care of that quite quickly. And I’m very happy you like the sex scenes LOL. Yes, everything works out. I haven’t written any dark!fic to date. I probably won’t either, preferring a happy ever after story, mysef.

Angeles- The visual of Lucius as Zorro with only a cape and mask is très intriguing. It’s a good thing he comes equipped with his own built-in sword. 8-)

Aliciana – I suppose Hermione is finding it hard to muster hatred against someone whose major flaw besides marrying her and buying her expensive things is correcting her social and table etiquette, when the flip side is his scintillating sexual offerings. Of course, their relationship weathers their rough beginning and gets better. My stories are always romances (with a tad of mystery sometimes). No fear of me falling afoul of a high school teacher. I graduated quite a while ago. There was this cute art teacher, though…LOL.


Rini – Lucius wasn’t lacking in the ego department before he married Hermione, but she’s whittling it down to manageable size, isn’t she. Ultimately, of course there will be hugs, but for now they’ll just be squeezing a few more lemons. I hope that will suffice? 8-)

Sara B. – I agree. To me Lucius is more multi-faceted than just evil or fluffy. So you see Lucius as wearing the same buttoned up, black robes that Snape wore? Those buttons are so alluring, aren’t they? And the black would look hawt with Lucius’ blond coloring.

Scary Bear Hair – Hermione’s internal dialogue about Lucius making her come is a little tongue-in-cheek. Hermione is enjoying the unusual sex and just giving lip service to any resistance at this point. She’s about ready to accept that maybe there is something to be said for marriage to Lucius. Her body has already joyfully jumped ship on her staid values; her mind isn’t far behind. So no, Hermione isn’t terribly annoyed at the erotic indulgences she’s getting to experience at the hands of a master. Oh ho! Do you really think Lucius would stop having sex with her altogether if she continues to act prissy? Even she doesn’t think so. Lucius is totally clueless about what will please his new wife. He only has experience with Pureblood women so he’s in the dark about what Hermione would really like. When he stocked her room with books he was closest.

LadyJMarie – Will you settle for black leather gloves? Wait a few chapters. Thank you for the suggestion!

Schwertlilie81 - I like your rants. You’ve picked apart the characters’ problems and selfish interests beautifully. To me, neither is entirely blameless, setting aside the initial forced marriage. Lucius was somewhat forced into it also if he wanted his financial empire to stay healthy, but he has little experience of aggressive women in his home life. He’s floundering with Hermione. He may like a woman to have brains, but not pitted against him! That isn’t part of his rosy view of a mate. What woman wouldn’t like jewels? Actually Hermione would have liked them, too, if she weren’t so suspicious of Lucius. He’s intelligent, but his expertise stops at the Muggle world. He hated Muggles and thus now has a big hole in his knowledge of her entire background. He’s struggling to relate to her. If you’ve ever been immersed in a different culture, you know it is hard to know what is common between you and what is behavior that may offend. Lucius is flying blind there, plus he wants Hermione to be a success in his world and is further offending her by trying to correct her social faux pas before she has to enter his clique.

T Stevenson – Oh yes, she’s now lying to herself big time about enjoying a sexual Lucius. She isn’t even convincing herself any more. Snicker - Lucius the devil and Hermione the nun – he’d be poking his pitchfork into her so fast her wimple would wilt. The cuddling points to possible future compatibility if Hermione would loosen up. And she’s not always the passive one – she gave him a nice massage and some scratches. She’s sinking into Lucius’ tender trap slowly but surely, clutching at the straws of her skewed perceptions of him to keep from going under completely. (Maybe I’d better get her some scuba gear…)

On to the dinner...

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Chapter Seventeen

Severus and Narcissa come to Dinner


Hermione was feeling completely out of charity with Lucius for putting her in a situation where she had to play hostess to a woman who had graced his table elegantly for years. The second little Mrs. Malfoy just knew she was going to fail and be made to look ridiculous next to the soignée older witch; sheer dread skated along her nerves.

Hermione’s new gown of black velvet and sequins with a neckline made for an ecdysiast, added to the glower on her face. It made her even angrier that she had brought that particular situation on herself with her recalcitrant behavior toward her new wardrobe. She’d chosen the black dress because it was the most sophisticated evening gown in the new collection Lucius had ordered, but she wasn’t completely comfortable wearing the narrow, form-fitting shape that hugged her curves and displayed her modest claim to cleavage.

Lucius had given her a set of diamonds - earrings, the hair ornament, and a necklace - to wear with her gown, but Hermione wondered if they had come from his vaults and Narcissa had worn them before her. She didn’t want to appear in secondhand jewels.

The jewelry was conspicuously absent when Lucius arrived in the dining room just before their guests arrived. He noticed immediately that she hadn’t worn the gift he had specially selected for her in the Diagon Alley jewelry store, Le Bijou, just the day before and now neither of them was in the mood for guests at all.

“I see you didn’t care for my wedding gift,” Lucius affected a bored tone as he fiddled with his French cuffs. He missed the suddenly arrested look and bitten lip of his wife as she realized her gaffe.

Hermione put her hand on Lucius’ sleeve and was about to confess her petty jealousy when their guests popped into the room. Hermione turned toward the couple and all desire to apologize froze on her lips.

Snape and Narcissa apparated together into the main dining room where Hermione and Lucius had arranged to meet them. Narcissa knew the coordinates from her long tenure in the mansion and Snape had been a dinner guest many times.

She hadn’t seen Narcissa this closely before - it had always been in poor light or at a distance. Hermione didn’t even know she had nursed any hopes of having a normal marriage until she saw Lucius’ first wife standing before her. Her heart plummeted to her black velvet pumps and that was the precise instant she knew she had allowed the supercilious blond wizard to invade a bit more than her knickers.

Her husband had been married to a living goddess. As a couple Lucius and Narcissa must have been unsurpassed. The lovely witch was very simply dressed in an ice-blue A-line sleeveless sheath, her only jewelry her silver wedding band, which Hermione noticed matched Snape’s, and dangling silver earrings with gems made of the same ice-blue color. Her spun-gold hair was arranged in an upsweep with curls at the crown of her head. Flawless, delicately tinted skin in a pale blushing pink rode her creamy smooth cheeks. Where Lucius’ eyes were a mesmerizing, pale gray, her eyes were a beautiful and arresting cobalt blue, fringed in long lashes, setting off her face to perfection.

Snape wore unrelieved black in both jacket and trousers, his white formal shirt his only spot of color. He wasn’t wearing a tie, instead he had merely buttoned his low mandarin-collared dress shirt at the throat with a small onyx button with the Slytherin shield in the middle, making Lucius look extra formal. Hermione thought she liked Snape’s look better and oddly, he looked just right with his new wife – dark and forbidding set off by glittering gold. Snape was a familiar face and he wasn’t so intimidating to her, but Narcissa’s looks just plain flattened Hermione’s ego into a puddle of hopeless misery.

After seeing Narcissa, she realized there could be no lasting room in Lucius’ life for a small, moderately attractive know-it-all as a substitute for that. Hermione faced the dismal fact that she was merely there to serve as a diversion at Hogwarts and to ameliorate the persecution of the Purebloods in some financial sense.

The little witch knew she had all the requisite female parts, which could be conveniently at hand when Lucius felt the need, but she could never compete with this woman. How could Lucius not have been in love with her? How had he ever let her go? Hermione’s only lingering positive thought was that her husband seemed to feel the need of female parts quite often. She was equally sure, however, that any of her own feminine equipment would be forever inferior to what he had enjoyed with this woman. And how on earth had Snape, of all people, managed to marry her?

Unaware of having dashed her hostess’ vague, newly discovered hopes into dust, Narcissa smiled at Hermione and further crushed the little witch. Straight, white, even teeth in an unconsciously seductive smile. Did the woman have any flaws? Hermione felt like a pygmy from the rainforest greeting Aphrodite.

Narcissa advanced a couple of steps with a smooth, sensuous gliding motion, “Hello,” she said in a breathy, lilting voice, her essential gentleness apparent even to Hermione, who was now torn between raging jealousy and a niggle of contempt for the quiet, docile woman. If Lucius expected her to adopt such a meek air, he could sooner expect to win the Ministry’s Peace Prize for Muggle Relations.

Hellcats didn’t mix well with baby kittens.

“We haven’t met, really. I’m Narcissa. I’m sure you know my husband, Severus. Thank you for inviting us. We’re honored that you’re receiving so soon after your wedding.” If Narcissa understood the quagmire she had just pushed them all into, she didn’t let on.

Hermione decided not to remind the soft-spoken witch that they certainly had met before in the main drawing room of this very mansion. Hermione’s throat had been under Narcissa’s sister’s knife at the time and, with the dire exigencies of the situation, they had missed out on a formal introduction, so maybe that event didn’t count to a Pureblood.

Hermione understood from the beautiful witch’s pleasant greeting that Lucius had told them the invitation was from both Malfoys. Further, apparently it was not in the best form to have anyone over so soon after one was married in the Pureblood’s stratum of society. Hermione shot a covert glare at Lucius who wasn’t looking at her, but at his guests.

Lucius wasn’t looking at her, but both Narcissa and Severus were and the glare wasn’t lost on either of them. Snape stepped forward to mitigate any fireworks caused by his wife’s innocent comment. He knew Narcissa wasn’t trying to cause trouble. She didn’t have it in her to be anything but thrilled that Lucius had found a better mate. Unfortunately, Hermione couldn’t know of, and apparently didn’t share, Narcissa’s enthusiasm for the young witch’s marriage to Lucius.

Inwardly Snape sighed with resigned irritation. He and Narcissa could have been cozily ensconced in front of their own fire, trying out that new massage cream he’d formulated. Instead they had been thrust into a maelstrom. Leave it to Lucius to dump him into the blond’s marital troubles.

Severus had an instant of guilty recollection that it had been he who delivered Lucius into his predicament, but the impulse died with the knowledge that Lucius had agreed to it. No one made Lucius do anything he didn’t want to unless dire coercion was involved and Severus knew that better than most. The Pureblood wizard had certainly come in for his share of Crucios from Voldemort for being pigheaded. Snape had rather admired that about the supercilious snob. Tonight was another story.

Dammit, Snape groused to himself, somehow Lucius has managed to bollix up his new marriage already or I’m Father Christmas. What a bloody horrible dinner this is going to be. He had heard from Lucius that his attempts to create a closer relationship with Hermione had met with bitter defeat and now the dour wizard could see why Lucius was failing if he was so blindly tripping over his wife’s feelings. Lucius hadn’t learned from his first marriage, it seemed. Severus’ initial plan to offer Hermione a compliment on her attire he shelved for the moment; the tension in the room was thick enough to cut with the Gryffindor sword.

Snape also saw that the diamonds Lucius had so proudly showed him that afternoon weren’t gracing his new wife’s throat, hair, or ears. How could one foul up giving beautiful jewels? Unless Lucius for some reason hadn’t given the jewelry to Hermione yet. It would definitely not be politic to ask about it, so Snape settled for smoothly coming to stand in front of Hermione, raising her hand briefly to his lips.

“We both want to offer you our best wishes for a long and happy marriage,” Severus intoned in his deep, velvety voice. “Lucius is a lucky man to have you as his wife.” He half turned to motion Narcissa forward and she glided up to add her warm wishes, slipping her hand through her husband’s arm.

Although Hermione was still irritated at Snape for bearing witness at her forced nuptials, seeing the other couple for the first time as a true unit relaxed Hermione some from her guarded stance. She could see Snape and Narcissa were happy together - it shone brightly from them both and Hermione felt obscurely sorry for Lucius.

“Severus speaks for me as well,” Narcissa went on. “We both wish you very happy.” She drew in a breath and looked at the table, startled, “Oh, did you manage to get Lucius to give up his smelly candles? How clever of you!”

Lucius’ head snapped up, “You never said a word to me about the scent of the candles, Cissy. I didn’t know they bothered you.” Lucius began to feel hunted and defensive and they hadn’t even settled in the dining chairs yet. The evening looked to be long and arduous instead of relaxing. He had hoped that the dinner would show him in a more favorable light, having friends who thought well of him rather than expecting him to eat his own young.

Instead, their guests had only been in the room five minutes and he was already guilty of twenty-odd years of forcing his preference in scents onto his ex-wife. Plus, Severus must have seen that Hermione wasn’t wearing the jewels he had so proudly shown his friend just that afternoon, adding humiliation to his plate. What new disasters lurked in the next few hours?

Narcissa seemed to realize she had stepped wrong and sought to retrieve her error, “I suppose it’s my fault, Lucius, it’s true I never mentioned it. I became used to the smell soon enough, as it’s also your favorite cologne.” When Hermione’s eyes went wide and she slewed around to look at Lucius, Narcissa realized that Lucius hadn’t been wearing the cologne recently either.

Groaning internally she swiveled frantic blue eyes to her husband in a silent plea, but saw no relief in the flat, black stare of her husband, only two raised black eyebrows that said You’re on your own. In desperation she joked, “I knew I should have worn slippers instead of these stilettos. Now it’s going to be painfully hard to pry my foot out of my mouth.” She smiled weakly at Hermione, and gave a ‘please forgive me’ shrug to Lucius, and the four of them stood in the dining room frozen in an uneasy tableau.

Then, amazingly, Hermione covered her mouth with her hands and began to giggle. “You hated his smelly old candles, too? I nearly gagged when I came down to dinner the first night.”

Lucius didn’t know whether to be affronted or thankful that the ice had broken as all three of them chuckled at his expense. “Yes, well, the candles tonight have no scent so no one should be inconvenienced. Shall we be seated?” He turned to lead the way to the end of the table where he and Hermione usually sat. Tonight there were two more place settings, but that wasn’t what caused Lucius to stall for just a second in surprise.

Without discussing the seating with Lucius, Hermione had taken out all the extra leaves of the long table and made it an intimate square, putting the two couples all sitting facing each other with no one commanding the head of the table. Lucius blinked once at the change in seating and pulled out a chair for Hermione, seating her at the same time as Severus was seating Narcissa adjacent to himself.

Narcissa said, “I didn’t know if any other people were invited tonight. This is very nice, to be able to have just the four of us.” She smiled at both Lucius and Hermione as she put her napkin on her lap.

Hermione tucked her napkin onto her lap and, feeling uncomfortably pretentious, rang the little silver bell. Immediately a soup course appeared in front of them accompanied by a basket of rolls. She hadn’t the first idea of what to say to the other couple. Narcissa seemed disposed to be pleasant, but the men had so far said very little. Was she supposed to carry the conversation?

As everyone applied themselves to their soup Hermione thought of something innocuous she could say, “Professor, I understand you are now Head of the School Governors.”

Snape raised his eyebrows again, but said cordially enough, “It was that or spend another twenty years trying to prepare dunderheads to understand the intricacies of potions. The decision was easy enough as I am not a masochist. And please call me Severus.” He sipped some soup and decided to add, “To be truthful, controlling the current gaggle of School Governors isn’t unlike teaching dunderheads. It is only an older crew.”

“I hope you don’t include me in your assessment of the School Governors. I was never a dunderhead.” Lucius hadn’t been the most charitable school governor in his time, but no one could have labeled him stupid.

“That’s a matter of opinion, Lucius,” Snape said with a subtle glance at Hermione’s bare neck, then serenely bent to enjoy his soup.

Hermione’s attitude took a leap upward when she understood it wasn’t necessarily to be three old friends nattering on and leaving her to flounder. She knew the two wizards were longtime friends, but it seemed as though their very comfort with each other bred what she could only call amiable bickering.

She snickered to herself; obviously there were three couples at this table, not two. Hermione saw Lucius in a slightly warmer light as she realized he could sustain a long-term, solid relationship with Severus who was far more abrasive than she had ever been. Things looked up for the little witch.

Narcissa smiled, “Hermione, your dress is lovely. It flatters your feminine curves delightfully. If I wore that dress I’d look like a black, fuzzy fence post.”

Hermione froze for a second, wondering how to reply to such an odd comment. Was that a compliment or was Narcissa slyly pointing out that Hermione was much plumper than the new Mrs. Snape? Trying to relate to another woman who was older and more worldly was something of a trial, but Hermione decided to take it as a pleasantry.

“The dress is new,” Hermione replied, “and Lucius made the decisions on fabric and style. He consulted with Madam Malkin on my entire wardrobe. I’m not much of a clotheshorse. He has the artistic flair in the family.” Hermione put a faintly derogatory emphasis into her words. “I’m more interested in research on contemporary topics in the wizarding world including our educational system.”

Lucius winced at the sardonic grin Severus shot across the tablecloth at him. He would hear about his flair for fabrics for months. After Madam Malkin had flooed him nearly in tears due to Hermione’s atrocious selections of materials and patterns for her new clothing, Lucius had seen the choices for himself and found his little termagant had sabotaged the wardrobe he wanted her to have. Lucius had been required to spend three hours jettisoning Hermione’s quite horrible decisions and replacing them with clothing and styles attractively designed for her coloring and shape.

Some of Hermione’s obstructive choices gave Lucius a chuckle because he knew she had deliberately made selections even a colorblind streetwalker wouldn’t wear. A few were even inspired in a grotesque way – like the shocking pink bouffant-skirted suit with the ‘matching’ tunic jacket lined in tomato red and turquoise faux fur cuffs.

He gave the prize for the worst creation, however, to a formal gown with an electric blue and neon purple plaid bodice joined to a swirly chiffon skirt of fluorescent green. It would have served his obstreperous little wife right to have to wear that monstrosity tonight, but he wasn’t that cruel. And he wouldn’t have inflicted that putrid color combination on his guests in any case.

It surprised him that Madam Malkin, whose taste was usually exquisite, should even have such horrible fabrics, but there was no accounting for taste and the woman was in business after all. How her business could flourish sending clients out wearing those fabrics, he had no idea, but they would never be seen on his wife.

The blond wizard was well aware that his undutiful spouse was retaliating for his nasty ‘ashes’ comment on that hideous dress she had worn at their first dinner together. And she had quite neatly called his bluff about dressing her only in see-through negligees and thongs. Lucius had ordered a nice selection of those particular items in colors guaranteed to raise his blood pressure, but they hadn’t been part of the delivery she had received that afternoon.

“Oh, I see,” nodded Narcissa. “Yes, Lucius always had an eye for nice clothing. He has impeccable taste. I usually asked his opinion on any major wardrobe purchases.” She turned to Severus who had been silently needling Lucius about the style and fabrics comment with little side-glances and a curled lip. “Severus, that reminds me. Did you tell Lucius about the stationery store I discovered?”

Not letting Snape interject a single word, Narcissa gushed, “Both of you must see this store to believe it. The inventory is enormous. You can get any kind of parchment or paper supplies. And they have the most cunning little watermarks with whichever Hogwarts house you’re from. Or your business logos. In a variety of colors. I bought some parchments in a pretty light willow green with a faint watermark of ‘S’ all through it. It really stands for Slytherin, but it could also stand for Snape. Isn’t that clever? I also got some dark green ink and pretty plumed quills.” Narcissa looked around the table and saw that the men’s eyes had glazed over. She looked at Hermione imploringly, “Are you interested in pretty stationery, Hermione?”

Hermione smacked Lucius’ shin under the table and pasted an intrigued expression on her face. “Oh, my, I didn’t even know parchment came in other colors. I am fond of pretty colors. Perhaps Lucius and I can investigate this emporium. You’ll be needing more parchment soon for your study, won’t you Lucius?”

Her saccharine smile looked more like a crocodile lying in wait than a fond wife talking about paper products to her husband, but his throbbing shinbone had received the message. He easily translated her smile as ‘contribute to this conversation or find cat hairs in your soup’.

Dammit, the blond groused, Narcissa had always been like this, gushing on at length about boring, girlie things. Why did he have to dredge up a better topic? He was no longer her husband. It was Snape’s wife who was sending everyone into the arms of Morpheus. Let him redirect his wife off her boring conversational gambit. Lucius sent the toe of his black patent dress shoe into the shin of the other husband, smacking the dark-haired wizard just as he was buttering a roll. The butter slid off the bread and landed on Snape’s lap.



Severus looked down at his lap then up at the git who had knocked the butter onto his trouser fly. His flashing, midnight eyes promised a particularly heinous revenge for Lucius in the near future, but he merely got out his wand and returned his trousers to their previous clean condition, eradicating the butter.

“Perhaps you might pass me the butter, old man. I seem to have mislaid mine.” He looked at his wife who was gazing fondly back, and his usual sardonic expression changed to amused indulgence, which shocked Hermione. She didn’t think she had ever seen that soft an expression on the potion master’s face before and wasn’t quite certain she liked seeing the smitten side of a wizard who had terrorized her and her friends for years. It was very unsettling - as though a gargoyle had come to life, then smiled.

“Cissy, when did I have a chance to talk to Lucius about your parchment store? I’ve been embroiled in School Governors’ meetings all week.” When he turned back to Lucius a silent communication between the two said that Snape wouldn’t have told Lucius anything about some silly colored paper anyway, but Narcissa, happily oblivious to the exchange, concentrated on her dinner after acknowledging his excuse with a gentle squeeze of her husband’s hand. Snape turned his hand over to catch Narcissa’s fingers in his, squeezed back, then let go.

Hermione, watching the array of verbal, tactile and silent communications going on among the three, was cynically amused by their behaviors. Snape obviously loved his wife, but wasn’t above sharing a silent, bonding message, “Women!!” with Lucius, whose elevated eyebrow and slightly quirked lips agreed.

Yes, the two men were a pair of sorts, probably unified by the fires both had gone through with Voldemort, but Hermione was convinced Lucius wasn’t in a sexual relationship with Snape, even though her husband was still much of a stranger to her and she had no real knowledge of his relationships with others.

The house elves had filled her in on all the quirks of her new mate, information Hermione had early sought out to protect herself. What the house elves didn’t know wasn’t worth concerning herself over. According to the elves, Lucius was very heterosexual. Very. Lucius apparently had some kinky edges the elves were too shy to enumerate, but nothing that didn’t involve women and Hermione was slowly learning those. He certainly was a maestro between her sheets and she often had the sore core to prove it.

In any case, she couldn’t imagine that Narcissa would go from the one man to the other if there were an intimate connection between the two men. That would be a recipe for unmitigated disaster with those two testosterone titans trying to share any female. Hermione was clever enough to quickly see the strength and tenacity of their friendship. Watching them, Hermione decided those two were very like Harry and Ron - fast friends, but prickly at times and impatient with each other in the way only old, longtime comrades behaved.

No wonder she had been shanghaied by Lucius to save their Pureblood sort. With the combined forces of those two working together on their plan, she could never have defeated them. She had been doomed to this marriage from the start. The petite witch’s mind squirmed a bit at the word ‘doomed’ because it hadn’t exactly felt like doom to sleep with Lucius.

Snape turned more fully to Lucius, his manner more somber, “The troubles seem to be escalating and causing more problems. I’m sure you’ve been feeling some of the pinch.”

Narcissa exclaimed, “Oh, Lucius, are you having more troubles? Is Draco affected? What if something worse happens? I don’t want Draco to be in more danger. Not again. Is it backlash from the old problems, do you think?”

“I won’t let anything happen to Draco,” Lucius said repressively.

“Well, you have a very poor record of keeping your son safe,” Narcissa said, and for the first time, Hermione saw a bit of tigress in the other witch. Perhaps she had underestimated her predecessor.

Lucius was feeling picked on from all sides so he glared at his ex-wife and admonished, “What is this? The little flobberworm has grown a spine?” Two seconds later three shoes landed on his shins, one of them a sharp, pointy heel. He hissed in agony, not knowing where to look first, being attacked from all sides.

“That is correct, Lucius, and this flobberworm is wearing stilettos.” Narcissa’s gentle smile went grim.

“Yes,” he closed his eyes at the pain rolling up from both shins. “I…am now…very aware…of that, thank you,” he whispered. Three feral grins met across the dinner table, before disappearing as Lucius opened his eyes again.

Snape decided that requiring Lucius to also apologize to Narcissa after hobbling him with his booted heel would be excessive so he continued with his previous discussion as though the assault hadn’t occurred. “The sooner we get you installed at Hogwarts, Lucius, the better. School starts in three weeks. Then we can all start investigating the school as any incidents arise. Last year I wasn’t as aware of the miasma that is rolling over us. This year we want to be ready to discover exactly what is turning the other students against the Purebloods.”

“We?” queried Lucius, surreptitiously rubbing his bruised shins with his wand. “Explain to me exactly how you fit into the ‘we’ part.”

“I’ll be overseeing your performance as Headmaster,” Snape pronounced with a straight face, but his black eyes snapped with deviltry. “I can’t just allow you to run amok there. There are many duties attached to that position. I’m sure Hermione will be of inestimable value to you as your helpmeet. Her research expertise is in the wizarding educational systems, you know.”

The dark-haired wizard nodded across the table at Hermione, then speared some glazed carrots and ate them with relish, waiting to observe the imminent eruption of the blond volcano. The poor bastard really was getting lambasted tonight. Snape dispassionately opined that the mini-crucifixion Lucius was getting at the dinner table would do his friend’s ego some good, being overweening at the best of times.

Lucius saw he was expected to object vociferously to his friend’s goading declaration that he was basically incompetent to run the school. He merely smiled and said, “I suppose if I’m too inept, you’ll have to find another headmaster to take my place, won’t you?” Lucius tended to his own cooling dinner as he watched Snape digest the threat.

“Touché,” Snape said. Neither wizard’s face changed expression one iota, but two pairs of eyes, one palest dawn, one deepest midnight, met in perfect, amicable accord, both obviously pleased with their game. The atmosphere lightened as everyone turned to chortling over a few minor social scandals and some recent appointments to various Ministry posts that all of them deplored.

The rest of the meal was punctuated with desultory conversation dotted with little reminders to Hermione about Pureblood etiquette, making Snape and Narcissa look at each other in resignation and some amusement as Hermione doggedly ignored her husband by purposely deteriorating her table manners.

tbc...

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I hope you enjoyed meeting Severus and Narcissa. More to come.

Chapter pics are here:
http://labibliographe.livejournal.com/51405.html

From your responses, you see Lucius wearing such opposites as a loincloth, ultra-tailored, high-class Muggle attire, English Regency apparel, or Lucius in Hogwarts professor’s robes. Other favorites you chose for him are a sheik, Zorro, a Viking, a British Naval Commander, a James Bond type, and Batman. Lucius certainly has a far ranging, flexible image. In comparison, how would you like to see Snape dressed?

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