Blackeyed Girl

Thanks to Daughter of a serpent and Dollie Slave for their lovely reviews!! I hope you keep enjoying the story!



@Ari: Thanks for betaing!!! And who doesn’t like to be pounced by lovely Lucius haha. Eleanor certainly does! Lets get ready for more pouncing…







Chapter 18

Make a Wish



Eleanor could not sleep that night. She held Molly tightly to her chest under the blanket. The kitten had tried to struggle free in order to go back to hiding under the bed, but Eleanor held her in a death grip and Molly gave up fighting quickly.



Eleanor’s mind was still spinning. Somehow she could not get Mr. Malfoy’s whispering voice out of her mind speaking of the preciousness of her body and of her exercising her own pain. How could he ask these things? How could he tap around in the darkest corner of her soul where even she never went? How could he even look at her after what he knew about her now? It seemed to not bother him at all but how could that be? Was it because it was true what Harry said about him, that he was a Deatheather? As such he surely would not mind her using the killing curse on bugs, but she did not want to think that he was a bad person. He was too good to her for that. She wanted to think that it should not matter to her what else he was. He was good to her. Of course he had been angry with her and he had scared her but he had not harmed her and he had agreed to not mention it to Snape. Who else would have let her get away like this? He must be a good man in some way she concluded and continued to think of his honeyed voice in a different way, in a way that would have made her blush, if anyone else knew.



The next morning she found her breakfast once more in her room and gladly ate it only in Molly’s company. She stayed in her room all morning not sure what else to do and as the morning progressed she started to hear the noises of party preparations.



She could hear Mrs. Malfoy order the elf around and she could hear people coming and going, delivering things. Today was the last day of the year.



Suddenly she heard something knocking on her window. She turned around and saw an owl tapping its beak against the window. She opened it and took the letter from the owl’s leg.









Eleanor,



As my mission is coming to an end today I will see you at the Malfoys party tonight and I will take you back to Spinner’s End with me afterwards. Therefore I expect you to have your things packed for apparition tonight.

I hope you are well and that you have conducted yourself in a manner that did not give the Malfoys any reason to complain.



Regards, Professor S. Snape









Eleanor folded the letter away. She suddenly felt guilty about hiding the little disaster from the previous day from him but she shoved the thought away. She turned towards her wardrobe and scanned her new clothes. She found the peach colored long evening dress. This was it. This was probably the only day in her life where she had an opportunity to wear it.

She spent her time over lunch arranging her outfit on the bed and looking up the charms for make up and hair in her booklet to prepare for the evening. The elf, which appeared to be very stressed, showed up at some point to bring her lunch and shortly later there was a knock on her door. She stood and straightened.



“Come in!”



The door opened and Mrs. Malfoy entered. She looked around the room suspiciously before she fixed her cold glamorous eyes on Eleanor. Eleanor could sense the coldness and irritation that this woman felt since she witnessed Eleanor’s death threat. Eleanor grew nervous for a moment wondering if Mrs. Malfoy was here to talk about this. Was she okay with her not being punished for it after all? Or did she even know?



“I wanted to ask you if you require any assistance with your personal preparations for tonight?”



“Oh…” Eleanor had not expected this from the cold lady of the house, “well, I don’t know. I know what to wear, but I have not actually tried the glamour charms yet.”



“I can help you”, said Mrs. Malfoy, who already looked glamorous as usual, “the first guests will be arriving in about two hours so you should start to get ready.”



She motioned Eleanor to a chair in front of the dressing table. Eleanor sat down and looked up at Mrs. Malfoy in the reflection of the mirror, who started reading over the charms in the booklet.



“I understand that your guardian will take you home with him tonight?” she said, her eyes still focused on the charms.



“Yes.”



“I hear my husband does not want to inform him about what happened?” She looked up into the mirror now, straight at Eleanor.



Eleanor did not look away: “I am very sorry about what I said. I didn’t mean it. I was just angry. I am sorry for that.”



Mrs. Malfoy raised an eyebrow and took out her wand to start applying the charms.



“I still think he should know.”



“Are you going to tell him?” asked Eleanor calmly.



“No”, she said, “but I honestly don’t understand why my husband lets you get away with this.”



Eleanor looked down and Mrs. Malfoy started to work on her makeup.



“You would have to ask him.”



“I did. I don’t like it when my husband has secrets from me.”



“Nobody would, Madam.”



Mrs. Malfoy looked up at her sharply: “I hope for you, that you are not in over your head.”

“I don’t think I understand.”



Mrs. Malfoy only gave her a look and continued with her work on Eleanor’s hair. Eleanor grew ever more uncomfortable but did not show it.



“I do hope that you don’t.” she said coldly and continued.



About 20 minutes later Eleanor looked just as good as she had when Gwendolyn had styled her. She doubted that she could have done it so well herself but when she thanked Mrs. Malfoy, the woman only replied with a very cold “You’re welcome.”



Before she left the room however she hesitated and turned back once more: “You may be young but you are a charming looking little thing. I do see that. You should be careful. There are men who see that too and they only have their own interests in mind.”



With that she left the room.



Eleanor remained sitting before the mirror. She looked back at herself, into the deep black eyes that seemed like tunnels. Even she couldn’t see the end of the darkness. She tried to look at herself as though she was a stranger. She looked a little older and a lot classier. Could Mrs. Malfoy be right? Could there be grown men who thought she was ready for anything… She remembered watching Snape and that woman. Their rough, strange and twisted encounters she could still not make sense off. What she had seen was so different from the dreams she had. Could it be that what she had seen was reality? Was that what men and women did? What about those romantic pictures of people in love, cuddling and kissing and smiling? That was what she thought of when Lucius Malfoy was in her dreams. If this was the truth then sex was frightening, far too frightening for her to ever get near it, she thought.



She was both glad and sad at the thought to leave Malfoy Manor tonight. She did not want to leave, even though it was clear to her now that Mrs. Malfoy did not like her much. She was suspicious of her in some way. Perhaps she was onto her and her husband’s secret? Perhaps she sensed, just like her husband that there was more to her death threat and she did not approve of her husband’s decision to keep it secret. Could her suspicion be about something else? She was confused. She put on her evening dress and bound the silky scarf around her neck. She looked back at herself once more and tried to smile. She was surprised to see a different version of herself. She felt less awkward somehow. She wanted to impress Mr. Malfoy tonight and remembered what he had told her: shoulders back chin high….



When she ventured out from her room her eyes widened at the transformation the manor had gone through. The walls in the reception hall were now lined with elegant wooden tables on which bottles of champagne were cooling in buckets of dry ice. Uncountable glasses were lined up next to them. Both wings of the main entrance were open and Eleanor only realized now how huge the front door was. A red carpet was placed over the entrance steps and led through the reception hall to a room on the left also with wing doors that Eleanor had never noticed before. Slow swing music was coming from its direction. She glanced into it carefully and found it to be something like a narrow but long ballroom with large green velvet curtains on the windows and to separate the long room into two. As she entered she realized that the room was in fact L- shaped and continued around a corner into a smaller, darker aria. In the corner was a small plateau on which a quartet was playing. Lucius and two other men stood near it engaged in a quiet conversation. Lucius looked up when he saw Eleanor.



“Well, well, if that isn’t Miss Prince”, he said and the other two looked up. Eleanor had not planned to interrupt their conversation but now it seemed impossible to turn around and leave. She walked towards them with a shy smile at Lucius.



“Gentlemen, this young lady just arrived from Romania this summer to immigrate back into our wonderful country. Eleanor, this is Mr. Albert Runcorn from the Ministry and Mr. Edward Greengrass, he has two daughters at Hogwarts.”



“Prince”, said the man called Greengrass, while shaking Eleanor’s hand, “are you related to Alistair Prince?”



“I’m not sure…” said Eleanor shyly and looked at Lucius for help.



“I believe so,” said Lucius.



The tall and sinister man called Runcorn raised an eyebrow and said: “You should spend a little more time studying your family tree, young lady. Alistair Prince was a great man.”

Eleanor studied him and then said matter-of-factly: “I never met this man. Just because he might be …”



Lucius interrupted her: “The Romanians don’t seem to have realized the importance of family history just yet. Even better that our dear Miss. Prince is back home now to catch up.” He emptied his glass and the other two men followed his example.



“I don’t believe my daughters have mentioned you to me. What house are you in at Hogwarts?” asked Greengrass a little more kindly than his friend.



“Severus, we’ve been waiting for you!” said Lucius suddenly before Eleanor could answer spotting the tall man who had appeared behind her.



“I came here directly. I thought I come early and …” he trailed away. He seemed to have forgotten that he had been talking. Eleanor had turned around to him at the sound of his voice. Snape stared her up and down obviously lost for words.



Eleanor smiled at him: “Hello Professor. I’m glad you are back.”



Snape did not seem to have heard her as he continued staring for a long moment. He was entirely perplexed. He hadn’t had much time in the last few days to think about what Lucius had said to him about Eleanor. He should have known that he meant what he had said about getting her a new wardrobe, though he had not expected this kind of transformation. He only knew Eleanor in her plain black dress and her uniform. He had never bothered imagining her any other way. This was not the girl he had dropped off at the gates and for a moment he panicked to what extent Lucius might have changed her in ways that he could not immediately see. This was not the scruffy oddball that he had felt mildly related to because of her appearance, her intelligence and lonesomeness. This was a young, elegant woman with intense, mysterious eyes and angelic skin. She looked grown up but her innocence was still written all over her. He found her an explosive mixture of things and she did not even know. She was dangerous; she was a danger to herself. She looked adorable and graceful, but she had no idea of this new weapon of hers and he could already see it easily being turned on her.



“What…happened to you?”



Eleanor needed a moment before she realized that he must mean her appearance. She gave an insecure look to Lucius but then looked back at Snape and smiled softly again.



“Mr. Malfoy insisted… he gave me all this and I rather like it… don’t you?”



Snape shot Lucius a dark glance. But Lucius was unimpressed and stepped forward: “Told you Severus, she needed a proper wardrobe in order to be at my party.”



Snape only glared at him, then shifted his eyes back on Eleanor. Eleanor watched him carefully, hoping to see in his expression what he was thinking and how he was going to react now, but she could not tell.



“And have you found her a husband as well?” he asked his voice dripping of sarcasm.

Eleanor blushed and lowered her gaze to the floor. Greengrass coughed.



Lucius rolled his eyes and said quietly: “You don’t have to be so dramatic about it, Severus.”



“I would like to speak to you alone about this. If you don’t mind.”



Lucius smiled at Eleanor as though to tell her not to worry and with a nod to the other two men he then led Snape out of the ballroom.



Eleanor looked after them a moment, then she realized she was now standing alone with Runcorn and Greengrass. She gave them a quick awkward smile, which Greengrass returned, while Runcorn only glared and she walked away.



She went into the opposite direction that Snape and Lucius had gone and turned the corner of the L-shaped ballroom. The darker and smaller second part of the room was deserted and a bit quieter as the music did not reach it so directly. There she stood alone. She did not want to sit down, but she was not sure what else to do now. That moment someone else entered the room. She noticed it only because this person cast a shadow over her. She looked up. It was Draco. Only now she realize that she had not seen him all evening.



“What are you doing?” he asked when she looked up at him. Weeks ago, even days ago she would have been excited to be spoken to by him but after what he had done to Molly she felt nothing for him anymore. He was still that damn good-looking boy, but he had hurt Molly.



“Nothing. You?”



He shrugged and stepped closer into the room. He stopped and looked at her again. She looked down at herself wondering if something was obviously wrong with her appearance but when she couldn’t see anything wrong she looked back at him: “What?”



“Nothing”, said Draco but continued to look at her.



Eleanor sat down, not wanting to return his stare anymore. She leaned back on a sofa and looked at the painting on the wall instead. It was a ballerina stretching and preparing for a show. After a moment however she started to feel silly as she could still feel Draco standing there and looking at her. She turned to look at him again:



“Do you have to do nothing right here where I am doing nothing? Cause it’s a little awkward.”



“I can do nothing where I want. This is my house”, said Draco taken aback. Eleanor returned her eyes to the painting.



“It’s not your house. It’s your father’s house.”

“Same thing.”



“No it’s not.”



“What do I care about your opinions?”



Draco snorted but walked closer and chose to sit down next to her but on the other far end of the sofa.



She turned around to him slowly and set her black eyes on him: “What are you doing?”



“Our conversation is running in circles, isn’t it?” said Draco now smugly.



“We have a conversation?”



“It seems so.”



“I don’t have conversations with people who hurt cats.”



Draco was silent a moment, then he said: “I didn’t hurt your cat.”



“So you made your dogs hurt her, big difference!”



“They didn’t hurt it either, did they? It was just a joke…”



Eleanor’s eyes glittered as she fixed them back at the painting. It was easier to hate him when she did not have to look at him: “You have fantastic humor.”



Draco was silent for a few thoughtful moments before he eventually replied quietly: “Get over it already, will you?”



Eleanor turned on him, pure menace in her face and she replied just as quietly: “What I said to you yesterday, I meant it. Now go away…. GO… AWAY.”



“Like a silly little girl can scare me.” He scowled at her, got up and walked away.



Eleanor remained on her own for a while, but then other people started to take over the room, occupying the other sofas and chairs, engaged in conversations. She was about to get up and look for another quiet place as someone sat down right next to her. As Eleanor looked at the person she saw a young man she had never seen before. He held a glass of white wine towards her.



“Drink?”



“I’m…”



“-Thirsty? Here”, he shoved the glass into her hand. She looked at it, as though surprised where it had come from and smelled at it carefully. The young man laughed.



”It’s not poisoned.”



She looked back at him but did not crack a smile: “Who are you?”



He extended his hand: “Oliver McDowell. I’m a doctor at St. Mungos. And your name is?”



Eleanor opened her mouth but Snape, who had appeared out of thin air once again and glowered down at them answered for her: “Eleanor Prince, a 5th year student at Hogwarts.”



The young man’s eyes widened as he stared almost fearfully up at Snape and jumped off the sofa away from Eleanor: “Oh, I didn’t know….!”



“Now you do”, said Snape darkly and seemed to almost chase the man out of the room with his glare. As Eleanor watched the man scurry off she spotted Draco who apparently had still been near by and watching her. She frowned and had Snape brought back to her attention only when he snatched the wine glass out of her hand.



“Is it fun to play adult?” he asked



She got up from the sofa to be slightly closer to his level in height.



“How am I supposed to know?” she said looking straight into his black eyes, which started to glitter at her reply.



“Watch that attitude”, he warned in a quiet thunder and she broke the eye contact to stare at her feet again.



“I like the dress Mr. Malfoy gave me. You may think it’s ridiculous but everyone else said it’s nice and I think so, too.”



‘She really had no idea’ he thought, ‘not the slightest clue how breathtaking she looked.’

“It’s not about the dress”, he said irritably.



“What then? It’s not my fault that man sat next to me. I didn’t even know what he wanted.”

“Of that I have no doubt.”



Eleanor blushed and looked down again before she collected herself and faced him once more: “Then what? What do you want, Sir?” Snape could see in her expression that she was serious. She did not mean to be confrontational.



“I do not approve of what Mr. Malfoy has done. You will stay where I can see you all evening, do you understand? And you will not speak to any men.”



Eleanor sighed, she felt nastily reminded of the day Snape forbid her to have contact with Harry. Snape detected the sigh.



“Don’t you dare mock me. You are a child, you know nothing about men. Don’t you forget that!”



“I wasn’t mocking you, Sir. I just wish you would not make problems where there aren’t any.”



For a moment Snape wanted to shout at her. Her remark hit him like an insult and it took him a few seconds to realize that what she had said was nothing disrespectful or offensive.



He breathed deeply before he replied: “Like I said, you know nothing. And you will do as you are told. You can be glad I‘m not taking you home right now.”



Eleanor swallowed down her frustration and replied as collected as one could sound: “Yes Professor.”



As the hours went by more and more guests arrived. Snape engaged in few conversations but never let Eleanor out of his sight. She chose to stand gloomily against the wall in the ballroom and watching the musicians. Once in a while she noticed Draco looking at her and returned his glare with a brooding look or ignored him. She saw Mrs. Malfoy in conversation with her guests but no matter how thoroughly she kept scanning the room she had not seen Mr. Malfoy reappear since he had left with Snape, this worsened her mood even more. She could feel Snape’s eyes on her and did not dare to even look at the men in the room. It happened again that a young man approached her and tried to talk to her and she almost did not dare to reply “No thank you”, when she saw Snape’s deadly glare as though it had been her fault that man had chosen to stand near her. The only thing that would have brightened things up would have been to see Mr. Malfoy, if she could only watch him that would have been enough, but he didn’t show.



Eleanor looked up at the bewitched sun clock that hung above the band on the wall. This year was another half an hour long. What a depressing thought. This year had been so full of events, so exciting, so life changing, and there was going to be 30 minutes more of this total boredom and disappointment. She did not want to feel ungrateful but she could not shake off the feeling that Snape had a talent for ruining things.



With a sigh she scraped herself off the wall and made a decision. She walked back to Snape who was skulking behind a group of people who were in a heated discussion.



“I’m going up to my room to pack.”



“I thought I had asked you to be ready for departure.”



Eleanor was too depressed to lie so she looked into his eyes and straightened.



“Yes and I am. I just want to go and be with Molly.”



Snape could feel her disappointment and her wish to be alone. It was a feeling he knew from his own youth very well. He nodded and let her go.



She left the ballroom and the music grew instantly quieter. There were only a few people in the reception hall. She walked towards the small staircase that let up to her room but noticed the door to the drawing room standing open. She stopped and saw Mr. Malfoy sitting inside on a sofa alone with a glass of champagne. Her eyes wandered quickly over the room but she could not see anyone else there. She saw him smile at her.



“Come in”, he said.



She entered the room unsure.



“Close the door”, he said.



She closed the door behind her and the music was almost inaudible now. They were completely alone.



“Why are you here on your own?” she asked insecurely.



Lucius smiled: “Same party every year. It bores me. Besides, they don’t even notice I’m not there.”



“I did”, Eleanor said before she could stop herself.



“Did you?” he said and held his glass up towards her before he took a sip, “well, isn’t that sweet. And what brings you here?”



“Snape”, she said, again she could not control what she was saying. She felt as though Mr. Malfoy was her accomplice in this and she felt a desperate need to confide in him.



“Pardon?”



Eleanor shrugged: “He doesn’t like my dress… and he doesn’t leave me alone. I can’t talk to anyone. It’s no fun this way… I wish he was different.”



Lucius sighed dramatically: “Oh yes, our dear Severus. Shame he can not appreciate how beautiful you are.”



Eleanor blushed so hard she felt she had to cover her face with her hand in order to hide it. She suppressed it but bit her lower lip instead and tried to look away as she could not suppress a grin. Lucius noticed it and smiled. Wordlessly he patted the seat right next to him on the sofa.



A rush of excitement washed through Eleanor and she walked over to him and sat down just in time, as her knees grew worryingly weak.



Mr. Malfoy laid his right arm on the back of the sofa behind her and turned to her. She felt as though it was strangely intimate, sitting together alone with him like this.



“All he sees is a risk.”



“Risk? Is that what he said to you?”



Lucius nodded, his eyes fixed on her body as supposed to her face.



“He thinks your new appearance… is more than you can handle. I told him he was wrong. It is just a dress and a few charms, nothing on it’s own, It’s the woman underneath that makes it beautiful.”



She jumped a little as she felt his fingertips trail down her naked back. A wave of heat washed over her and she could feel her heart beginning to beat harder. Not sure how to deal with it she looked down at her knees.



Lucius noticed her strong reaction to his touch and leaned back a little to give her space. His arm rested on the back of the sofa again.



“What else did he say?” asked Eleanor quietly, still not daring to look up again, “I mean, does he not think any good of me at all?”



“Aw, poor thing. You’re lonely, aren’t you?” said Lucius sympathetically with the most honeyed voice.



“I just… I mean I really try to please him. I try to be good and appreciative and no matter what he asks of me I do my best to obey him and it never seems to be enough and…” she stopped herself.



“Yes?”



“I shouldn’t…”



“What is it? You can tell me.”



“I know I have no right to demand it and I guess I just don’t deserve it and if it is that way then it is not my place to complain about it but…”



She stopped again. She felt awful to complain about the one man who had taken her to him, the one man who was looking after her.



Lucius turned away for a moment and filled another glass with champagne. He held the glass towards her. She hesitated.



“I don’t think I should… and it’s not even 12 o ‘clock yet.”



“To hell with 12 o ‘clock. Go on, it’s only champagne. You deserve it.”



She sniffed at the sparkly liquid and tasted it. She was surprised to find that this tasted much better than that smoky, dry red wine Snape had given her on Christmas Eve. It was fresh and bubbly in her mouth to then instantly warm her throat as she washed it down.



She continued: “I just wish he would… it would be so nice if he said something kind once in a while. I mean he has done a lot for me! He has given me this beautiful room at his house and… but I don’t even want him to give me things. I just wish he could say something… just sometimes… something nice like that he appreciates how hard I try or… that he is proud of my good grades. Everyone says he must be impressed with my results in potions, just because he does not criticize me, but can’t he ever say that something is good, when it really is? … It doesn’t really matter, just sometimes I feel like it would really make a difference just because he makes everything so difficult all the time and I try really hard and he doesn’t seem to notice or care… it’s stupid really… and today… I just… I really hoped he would like it.”



“You wanted him to tell you that you look pretty.”



“No, I… no, I just hoped he would like the dress…”



Lucius watched her profile as she was still fixing her eyes on her knees and only lifted her head to take a sip from her glass. She saw him look at her out of the corner of her eyes. There was a feeling in the far back of her mind that she was saying too much. She had gotten used to not talking to people about such deeply personal things. She was used to keeping it inside her and only battling it out with herself. And she felt a little as though she was walking on thin ice, pouring her heart out to this man like this but she felt strangely powerless to stop it. The need to share and the need for comfort were a lot stronger.



There she saw his hand extending towards her and she froze again. He carefully pulled back a black strand of hair that had fallen into her face and stroke it slowly behind her ear. A light shiver came over her.



“You do look beautiful.”



Eleanor grew more and more nervous as he did not back away again and she desperately took a big gulp from her glass to busy herself. Lucius retreated again a little. She swallowed hard and suddenly felt light-headed. She lowered the glass making a mental note to not take such a big gulp again. There she noticed that she could smell him. She had subconsciously registered that smell everywhere in the house but it had been mixed with other smells. Now it was right next to her in its purest form, like cold, clear and wild water, fresh snow in high mountains and expensive champagne.



“He can’t praise you and he can’t appreciate you. That is not how he functions”, he smirked, “not with beautiful young girls anyway.”



He took a glance at the grandfather clock.



“We have another ten minutes. What else do you wish for in the new year?”



Eleanor sipped on her glass. Her first immediate thought was that she wished this moment would never end and she could sit beside him on this sofa forever.



“And don’t say a pony”, Lucius suddenly added wirily.



Eleanor burst into a violent giggle. She was so taken my surprise by it her self that she clasped her free hand over her mouth trying to hold it under control but it was no use. She thought she was going to fall apart and it was an entirely new but wonderful sensation. She bent forward trying to hold in her laugh and held on to his knee in a wild moment of trying to hold on to something. When she noticed it she let go instantly. Yet somehow she felt that Mr. Malfoy was suddenly even nearer and she sobered.



Nervously she took another sip from her glass. She suddenly noticed how everything felt different. She felt as though the air around her head had changed and she thought if she stood up now it would be like trying to stand under water, everything felt a bit burry but yet she could see normally, it was like everything was just ever so slightly out of control and yet everything was fine or was it? Was that his hand on her thigh…and his face so close, so close it was not normal, so close she felt she could drown in his silvery eyes and it would be like falling into frozen water. Only then she realize that his lips where almost on hers. His mouth was right there. It would have taken one millimeter for her to reach it with hers yet their lips did not touch. She froze, too terrified to move and touch his lips with hers accidentally. Her heart started beating in her throat, she could hear it. She did not dare move or make a sound. He was not moving either, except his fingertips were lightly brushing over the silk on her thigh. She grew more nervous by the second and was just about to turn her face away because she started feeling ill of nerves when he graced her lips with his. He was kissing her in a way that was almost too little contact to be a kiss, just about touching her lips lightly again and again. She felt something stirring very low in her stomach and she dared to kiss him back, first just as lightly, then he increased his pressure and she followed. His tongue slipped into her mouth and she shook at the surprising sensation.



Suddenly a loud bang followed by further thunder and lightening erupted outside the French doors of the study and Eleanor jumped back from him to see what it was.



Lucius leaned back slowly and watched Eleanor, not at all concerned by the lightening and thundering.



“Happy New Year”, he said quietly.



Eleanor stared back at him only to then look away blushing again.

“So what else do you wish for?” he asked quietly.



“I… I don’t know”, she replied feebly.



He observed her, taking in her embarrassment and smiling coldly.



-----------------------------------------

Note by the writer:

may I just say that I LOVE dry red wine! Never was a fan of champagne but once someone offered me the really expensive stuff and THAT was really something! …I bet Lucius only has the best….