The Affair

Chapter 24: Confession: The Malfoys





Do Not be angry with me if I tell you the truth – Socrates







Lucius was swearing under his breath as he stormed into his study and headed straight for the liquor cabinet. He called for a servant as he poured a large glass of whiskey and demanded a bowl of ice. He flexed his hand repeatedly, his knuckles aching and bruised. He could heal them with a simple spell but he felt a certain satisfaction in the pain. If Potter hadn’t stepped in he would have happily beat Weasley to a pulp for tossing Hermione about the way he had.





The evening hadn’t gone at all as planned. He had definitely not intended for anyone to find out about he and Hermione. He wasn’t ashamed and he didn’t feel guilty for it, not that anyone would expect him to. In fact he would wager a guess that no one was surprised that he would have an affair with another man’s wife, but she was a different story, the gossip was going to hurt her and he couldn’t stand it.







“How dare you humiliate me that way in public!” Narcissa stormed through the study doors, her face red with anger. He rolled his eyes and went to sit behind his desk, shoving his battered knuckles into the bowl of ice his servant placed on his desk.





“I am not in the mood to listen to you right now, Narcissa.” She stopped in her tracks. Lucius hadn’t spoken to her like that in years. She got over the shock quickly and slammed her hands down on his desk.





“I don’t care what you are in the mood for! The entire wizarding world knows that you were cavorting with that mudblood librarian of yours!” Her voice had a tendency to get shrill when she was angry and it hurt Lucius’s ears.





“No one knows anything, they assume they know.” He sighed; he knew it was going to be a long night. “Might as well get this over with.” He leaned back in his chair, taking the bowl of ice with him. “I’m sorry you were humiliated, Narcissa.”





“No you aren’t! You are only sorry that your little librarian got her precious feelings hurt!” Lucius was watching her, his eyes narrowed. Her skin was mottled in her rage and her shrill voice reminded him of temper tantrums Draco would throw when he didn’t get his way as a small boy.









“You know nothing of how I feel. You haven’t given a damn about my feelings in ten years so don’t pretend that you understand them now.” He kept his voice low and even.







“You aren’t sorry for any of it are you?” Her face was a mask of incredulity. “You don’t regret having an affair at all do you?”





“No.” He answered so quickly, so succinctly that she actually jolted.







“You were carrying on right here in these rooms weren’t you?” She shook her head slowly, a grin on her face that had nothing to do with happiness. “You were sporting with that little trollop in my house. With me here. And you didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty for it.”







“To begin with, this is MY house. Hermione is NOT a trollop and no, I didn’t feel guilty at all. Why should I? You certainly didn’t want any part of me, I figured you would appreciate the fact that I wasn’t availing myself of your oh so generous offers to share your bed.” He propped his feet up on the desk and saw the annoyance on her face.









“You can not speak to me like this!” She stamped her foot and he nearly laughed.







“I am tired of your spoiled behavior, Narcissa, and I do not feel like dealing with it anymore.” He said, dropping his feet back to the floor and tossing the bowl onto the desk, spilling ice everywhere.





“My behavior? You dare to comment on MY behavior when you have been caught fornicating with a mudblood? Another man’s wife! You have no right…”







“I have every right! I have been ignored, insulted, disrespected and denied affection from you for the last ten years and I allowed it because I felt guilty for what I brought into our lives, for the choices I made that hurt this family and for almost costing my only child his life. I ALLOWED your behavior because I thought it was what I deserved. You knew it too, you knew that I felt horrible and that all I wanted was your forgiveness and you withheld it deliberately.” He was nearly snarling at her as he leaned over his desk. He shoved away and walked to the open library doors and stared inside at the empty room. “I was content with my punishment…until she came along. She acknowledged me, accepted me. She who had no reason to, forgave me when my sins against her were unforgivable. I stood by and watched that insane sister of yours slice her young body with a blade and did nothing, yet she forgave me for it.”







“From the sounds of things she did a whole lot more than forgive you.” Narcissa sneered.







“You know nothing about it, Narcissa.” He said quietly.







“What is it you think I don’t know? You were having sex with that little tart. I’ve had sex, Lucius, remember? There is nothing about you and sex that I don’t know about.” She scoffed.







“There is plenty you don’t know about me, Narcissa, even after all these years.” He turned slowly and stared at her. What had happened to the love he once felt for her? When did it fade away? When was his sweet, complacent bride replaced with this spoiled harpy? “What I had with her was nowhere near the cold, emotionless couplings I shared with you.” He wanted to hurt her, to get back at her for her years of hostility. He could feel bits of the man he used to be emerging, traces of the old evil surging through his veins.





“Oh don’t play that hand with me, Lucius. You couldn’t wait to share my bed from the moment we married. If it was so bad then why did you keep coming back again and again?” His words pricked her pride.







“Because once upon a time I loved you and I felt it was important to remain faithful to the vows I made to you, even when you shut me out.” He said.







“It didn’t last though, did it, Lucius?” She leaned back against his desk and folded her arms across her chest, he could tell that it gave her a thrill to know that her treatment of him had hurt him, had made him unhappy, it made her feel powerful.







“A man can only take so many nights in bed with a frigid woman before he grows weary and restless.” He fired, his arrow hitting its mark and causing her face to flush.







“So you jump on the first bit of fluff that waggles her tail in your direction, very classy, Lucius.” She was angry, seriously angry.







“Bit of fluff? Hermione? That’s rich.” Lucius chuckled. “And she waggled nothing in my direction, unlike any number of other witches in the past, your sister included. I didn’t take any of them up on their offers.”





“Then why her? You’ve had all these years, all these women who wanted you…why did you choose the frumpy married mudblood librarian?” She asked. She really did want to know the answer because as she looked at the younger woman, while she was passably pretty, she was nothing glorious to look at.





“I don’t expect you to understand, but it has nothing to do with appearance. It was something far deeper than surface.” He said.







“Oh dear lord!” Narcissa gasped, her eyes wide. “You are in love with her aren’t you?”







“Why do you care?” He didn’t deny it.







“Oh how the mighty have fallen.” She shook her head. “Lucius Malfoy, wealthy pureblood and top death eater is in love with a mudblood.” Narcissa’s lovely features twisted into something ugly. “You can’t have her.”







“Do not tell me what I can and can not do, Narcissa.” Lucius warned.







“You CANT have her. Even if she and that Weasley were to split you can never have her. Do you know why?” She stepped closer to him and fisted her hand in the front of his robes. “Because she makes you happy. I saw it, Draco saw it, you changed when she came. And because she makes you happy I will make certain you can not have her. I will never give you a divorce, Lucius, NEVER. I intend to spend the rest of our lives seeing to it that you are miserable.” She let go of his robes and with an arrogant swish of her skirts she left the room.













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Don’t fret…there are still 7 chapters to go………