Pet

*~*~*~*
TWENTY
*~*~*~
Lucius examined the empty Muggle apartment with a critical eye. The few possessions he decided to take with him had been shrunk and placed into his pockets. All the other apartment contents had been incinerated; a powerful “Scorify” charm cleaned the room. He noticed with grim satisfaction that even the wallpaper looked much brighter after the cleaning charm.

Lucius spelled his robes into a Muggle designer suit and disapparated to an alley beside Fiddlesticks. Harry built some sort of relationship with the big man. It was a relationship close enough that he had been forced to “Stupify” and place a calming charm on the man before getting close enough to Rosamond to even see her. Lucius felt a twinge of jealousy at the thought of his concubine sharing a life with another man. He was determined to discover how close they had become.

The dark wizard noted that the club was still closed, but he detected movement inside. He turned the door handle and stepped inside, the stark overhead lights illuminated two men making a final sweep with mops and buckets of water.

“Didn’t you read the sign, Mate?” one of the men called out. “Not open for another hour.”

Lucius looked over the room; it looked even worse without the atmospheric lighting from the night before. The bouncer came from out of an office door, froze when he recognized the wizard, and finally gave a curt nod in greeting.

“Would you like a cup of tea or coffee, Lord Malfoy?”

“You know who I am?” Lucius asked, masking his surprise.

Mark indicated Sid’s empty office and Lucius hid his wand in his hand incase the large man decided to attack. Mark closed the door, shutting out the curious men. “Have a seat.”

“How do you know my name?” Lucius demanded. “Did my pet tell you?”

“Emmy never told me who his master was, but he really didn’t have to. The basilisk is your traditional mark and Rosie does favor her Malfoy heritage.”

Lucius’ lip curled at the familiar “Rosie”. No daughter of his would be called something so common; he could accept “Rosamond” and perhaps “Rose”, but he never would accept “Rosie”.

“Emmy?” he inquired.

“Short for Emerald. Emmy, Em, Emerald. It’s just a nickname the girls gave him. Not too many working here use their real names anyway. How badly did you hurt him?

Lucius ignored the question. He leaned closer, examining the bouncer. “Are you a wizard?”

“No. I’m a Squib. We have met before, though. Years ago you were friends with my Uncle Evan…Evan Rosier.”

Lucius looked at the large man across the desk with a critical eye. He did favor Evan a little.

“Mark?” Mark nodded once. “I thought Evan killed you.”

“When Grandmother could not get him to stop cursing me, she abandoned me in the Muggle world to save my life.”

Lucius was not surprised. She would not have been the first to dispose of a Squib child into the Muggle world. Although many children were murdered when they displayed no magical abilities, others were oblivated and turned away. If they were young enough, many of the children never discovered their magical heritage.

“You’ve done well?” Lucius asked conversationally while attempting to probe into the bouncer’s mind.

Mark snorted. “If you call being a sometimes assistant manager and a bouncer in a strip club doing well…then I am doing well.”

“Did you know my pet was a wizard?”

“Harry. His name is Harry.” Mark said quietly. “And no, not at first. Usually I can sense magic in a person, but Emmy said his magic shattered in the war.”

~*~*~*~
Lucius drained his coffee cup; it was bitter and cold. From the sounds beyond the door, he knew Mark needed to get back to work. An experienced Legilimens, he had probed into the Squib’s memories and, while gratified to discover that the bouncer and his pet clearly shared a platonic relationship, he was horrified by the memory of Harry and Rosamond living in an unheated storage closet.

He stood, planning to leave, but Mark stopped him. “Sid should be here any moment. He owes Em his wages.”

“My p…Harry no longer has need of wages…” Lucius looked distastefully around the club. Several of the provocatively dressed staff members had arrived for work and were openly ogling him.

“I don’t care if Harry uses the money to wipe his arse. Sid owes it to him. He’s put that little boy through too much shit to get away with not paying him.”

Lucius nodded and stepped over to the bar, out of the way of the set-up crew and the predatory waitpersons. He really wanted to get a look at this manager.

The young Russian waiter cringed noticeably as Sid cruised into the club. The manager made a point of singling out his current prey, hands all over the young man. Lucius watched, realizing his concubine had been forced to fend off this man as well. Pulling himself up to his imposing height and assuming his best Death Eater glare, the dark wizard approached and Mark introduced them.

“We have business, Mr. Toffler,” Lucius said coldly as he shut the door to Sid’s office. He did not miss the look of relief on the young waiter’s face.

~*~*~*~
The white blond wizard tucked the thin wage envelope into his breast pocket as he exited Sid Toffler’s office. He nodded once to Mark and stepped into the bright, late morning sunlight.

He probed Sid’s mind and was proud of how well his pet had defended himself. As horrified as Lucius was that his Harry exposed his body to strange men, his Harry had never whored himself.

Giving a final look at the exterior of Fiddlesticks, Lucius allowed himself a real smile. He wondered how well Sid Toffler would accept permanent impotence.

~*~*~*~