The Taming of the Shrew - Wizard Style - COMPLETE

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11-27-09 F


I appreciate all your input to this story. We need some denouement to that last overwrought chapter, settling out and calming down our two protagonists. Now where is Snape when you need him?


Answers to comments:


HarryGinny4eva – More complete realization of each other’s private hurts happens soon and more honesty will prevail (caveat: in general, our Slytherin Lucius weighs the concept of honesty carefully before indulging in it – he isn’t prone to bursts of chest-baring), but our couple will find many less problems between them as the plan takes center stage.

jw – This was a turning point for both Lucius and Hermione. I’m glad you liked the Viking pic and Hermione as a little devil, because you have a couple of chapters yet to go for peace to descend and all the deadwood to be cleared out. But it WILL. Promise!

Voracious Reader – Ah, thank you for the lovely compliment. I’m very happy you liked this chapter. It’s one step on their road to romance, but it was an important one.

Ginnyginny – I can see that if you were reading the story after it was all posted, the frustration factor would be less. I began with Lucius and Hermione miles apart with a forced marriage and great animosity with its roots in the past. Bringing them to a point where two such strong-minded individuals become friends, then develop romantic feelings for one another has taken me some time to make it realistic. In the next few chapters Lucius will have some education in his attitudes. He’s slow to learn, never having to put himself out before. Severus will help him.

lemonade8 – I feel a little better, understanding that spanking and D/s don’t appeal to you. Judging from the various vocal responses, you’re certainly not the only reader who isn’t fond of them. I usually give Hermione her innings in return. This time? We’ll see. I always want to weave a strong plot with sprinklings of explicit sex – something for everyone LOL. Narcissa would be amazed to know that she could intimidate anyone as brave as she perceives Hermione to be. I have to iron out our two lovers soon so we can move on to the plot.

Insolence – Point of confusion – if you died, how could you talk to me later? The chapter was supposed to be a turning point, but not THAT far. Personally, I think you’re angling for an afterlife talking portrait, but don’t even think you’re going to be hung over Lucius’ bed at Hogwarts. (No way - that’s where I’ve drilled my peephole.) I don’t suppose your boss has long, platinum hair, pale gray eyes, and a haughty attitude – nah, or you wouldn’t be threatening to send him my way. Oh, if only Alan Rickman would read my stories aloud… They’re wearing three-piece suits in Knockturn Alley now? Amazing. I already have four cats. What’s one more? Your epitaph - Here lies Insolence, Ran Out of Knickers Before Lucius Ran Out of Libido. Erm, keep the flock of Hufflepuffs for another chapter or two…

word wench – Things will break open for our beleaguered lovers soon. Got to get on to the plan. Hermione has gained some valuable knowledge about her husband.

Snapes_Goddess – A beau! Good for you! (And for him) - Lucius has to take second place to real life. Making the photoshop of Viking Lucius was labor-intensive, but worth it for me. LOL I have to make sure my sympathies don’t make me lean too much toward Lucius. He is certainly spoiled, and so is Hermione, but from entirely different background issues. Melding them together as a unit is like trying to mate a cobra and a lioness. Sigh.

meankitty69 – Things WILL change for the better (that’s no surprise I imagine), and our couple will find more and more avenues of connection…day by day.

Gilly_sirl – Oh, I have a LOT in store for them, but it won’t be as fraught with conflict as before. Calmer waters are coming…

BeaBibliophile – I must admit I adore the way Mr. Rickman looks now. Rather like a cuddly teddy bear. He’s looked magnificent in each of his ages. Have you seen “Snowcake”? His sixty-three year old self inspires one to run up and squeeze his comfortable self. My Snape in this story is adjusting to having a beautiful, warm-hearted, older woman as his wife. He’s just as unsettled in his way as Lucius is, but he’s coping better, being more open now as a personality than sneaky Lucius is. You can relax and be confident that all will come good in the end. It’s just been a struggle to steer those two headstrong characters into a believable relationship given their explosive, contentious beginning.

BitteninParadise – Hello! I happily take all reviews and I’m pleased you are enjoying this tale. I do hope you like the next chapter (keeps fingers crossed).

angeles – I’m glad you liked the chapter. Oh yes, there will be more games. We aren’t through yet.

Aliciana – I’m getting such a dichotomy of responses to these two characters that it’s difficult to keep a balance; I think I’m lucky the story is already written, although I’m revising this one much more than any other story I’ve presented. I feel like one of those athletes in a curling competition, sweeping the ice just before the stone rolls through. I’m happy with the result, but it’s harrowing at times to post the next chapter. Don’t worry, though, Lucius will have his education. Can you imagine Hermione letting Lucius ignore her without compromise? The pendulum of their relationship is still swinging, just not as wildly now.

TStevenson – I admit my mind constantly strayed to that red triangle, too. The black leather gloves are for a few of my friends who especially like them. For those two stubborn lovers, things had to break open before they could heal their relationship. Neither of them likes his/her behavior in that nightclub, but at least they’ve reached some true point of contact between them. Hermione uncovered a side to Lucius that she understands she tormented into surfacing; both of them are sorry about that.

Serin Blackmoon – As much as I like green and I know it’s a Slytherin color, in my opinion Lucius would choose onyx black. He wears a great deal of it in the movies, so I’m going with whoever dressed Jason Isaacs fro his role, LOL. And your favorite spanking item is?? Hermione and Lucius will come to a better place soon in their relationship.

Rini – Aw, Rini, you know this is a romance with overtones of mystery. Don’t worry, Lucius and Hermione need to solve the mysterious force pulling down the wizarding world. They can’t do it with broken hearts.

aleysiasnape – I think they both have stubborn steaks as wide as their bloated egos. A bit of deflating happened for both of them at the nightclub. What next?

Joani – Welcome and thank you! I’m happy you are enjoying the story.

Scary Bear Hair – They each have rather overweening personalities, used to being the most clever, the most skillful, the most knowledgeable. Hermione’s weakness is her concern about her looks; Lucius’ is a bit more subtle, he isn’t very sensitive to others and doesn’t quite understand how to do it or why he should care to. Making a unit from those disparate egos is a definite task. We both know they will find a way, though! Your perceptions are always so thorough and deep. You amaze me with the layers you add that I only dimly see myself. Hugs!


The next day...

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Chapter Twenty-Five


Alone


Hermione woke up in her own bed and instantly turned over onto her stomach to relieve her backside. Her rug rash and the two welts felt like they were on fire and she began to remember the evening before. Her face dropped into her hands as she came to understand she had nearly lost her husband’s regard completely. She had been playing with fire and he had applied that fire directly to her backside, burning into her skin his disapproval of her antics. She didn’t want to think about why he had stopped.

She had been in the wrong, she knew she had, but the aftermath had been a nightmare of dread that she had lost what she hadn’t, until that moment, realized she wanted. The pulsing pain in her derriere brought back the warming remembrance of her rash attempt to please her husband, and a secret smile played across her lips. Lucius had pleased her many times in their marriage, opening up a new world of sensual excitement even when she had been less than pleasant to him. She acknowledged that he had profited from their intimacies as much as she had, but he had always been careful with her smaller size. Her husband’s lovemaking was sometimes forceful – she could feel his strength in the very restraint he commanded as he swept her into the shattering orgasms she had come to savor. Her brief glimpse of his dark side didn’t worry her now. He could have hurt her, but he didn’t.

Living with him and sleeping with him had worn down her distaste for the ex-Death Eater until she was nearly panting when he was near. Sweet Goddess, he was just so beautifully put together and his innate charm and his flashes of humor made him irresistible. She was coming to realize one of his flaws, too. He was socially inept. Oh, he was eroticism incarnate under the covers and his looks blinded one to seeing any deeper, but she wondered if his very attention to sexual detail hid a blundering insensitivity to the personal feelings of others. Draco wasn’t the most caring individual; had he learned his lack of skills at true intimacy from his father?

Lucius had superficial charm in abundance; what he didn’t have was an awareness of people on an intimate level. She thought maybe she’d seen the only stab at sensitivity he’d ever shown her - on their wedding day when he’d crooned her to sleep. So he had possibilities. It was actually rather endearing - when he wasn’t annoying her - that such a rich, gorgeous man should have such a glaring fault.

Odd to think that he wasn’t mean so much as obtuse about the feelings of others. He must have stumbled through his first marriage, but Narcissa was too timid to teach him to care. Lucius was telling the truth – he hadn’t loved her. A weight lifted from Hermione’s chest. Then she drew in a painful breath – last night she had got between him and the only two people he truly felt a connection to, barring Draco. No wonder he had been so angry.

Hermione smiled grimly. She was beginning to understand herself better as well. Lucius had become a sort of drug to her; his sexuality was nearly hypnotic. And until the night before, she had hated herself for it. Her self-hatred spilled out into acidic remarks designed to make him as miserable as she felt, wanting him and knowing she was nothing but an encumbrance to him.

But after last night her mindset had changed. She was willing to admit that their marriage was forever and she, Hecate help her, wanted it that way. She wanted to move on and make something more positive of her marriage with a man who had proven to her satisfaction that he could play master to her maid; he certainly held the whip hand, even if he hadn’t truly used it, and she was now content to have it so.

He obviously had brilliant business skills, but great power and billions of Galleons probably paved the way for him in those situations – witness his buying of her contract. His social ineptness she could work with; she even reluctantly admitted to herself that his brand of stodgy, old-world courtesy had its attractions. When was the last time Harry or Ron had pulled out a chair for her?

A sense of peace stole over her - for the first time since she was a child at home, she could relax and loosen the reins of control - as long as she had input on any intimate civil situations. He would have to be her guide at first in the Pureblood world, but that would be a paltry undertaking after living with him.

She knew herself well enough to know it wouldn’t be all roses – she wasn’t truly a follower - but her husband had the strength of will to more than hold his own with her. In return she could teach him how important it was to sense and interpret the nuances of intimate social behaviors. It was an exhilarating thought.

Then Hermione began to worry. It couldn’t be a good thing that she had awakened in her own bed. It must have been his choice to reject her by not staying with her in her bed. Hermione lamented her treatment of him, trying to make him into less than she knew he was. Her adverse reaction to him had been almost uncontrollable, however, as she fought to stay independent from a man she had sensed from the start could take her autonomy away from her, and worse, with her own contrivance.

At first he was merely a distant monster in her life who had suddenly, frighteningly trapped her into a binding marriage. After that first morning kiss, she had been even more frightened, but it was for feeling anything but disgust for the charismatic man. As the initial days passed, she had begun baiting him as a pastime and payback for his usurping her free choice.

It wasn’t until she had seen Narcissa up close for the first time that the tentative détente she and Lucius had been moving toward in their brangling had been shattered. Her feelings of worthlessness whenever she saw her husband near Narcissa made her strike out with all her weapons. The tense situation between them brought out a jealous anger she didn’t recognize in herself - that and a fierce, competitive compulsion.

She couldn’t imagine where any of it had come from. She was usually so much more reserved than that. Around Lucius she had turned into a horrible shrew when all she wanted to do was… was… Hermione sucked in a harsh breath. What did she want from him? A lifetime of adversarial skirmishes that became a tug of war with their future children in the middle? Living in a strained state for the rest of her life? Her future children deserved better than that. And, she admitted, both she and Lucius deserved better than that, too.

Hermione understood that she had the power to make their lives at least cordial even if she might never be anything more than a ghost with side benefits living in his house. She was still a little mixed up about where they went from here, but she knew she wanted to see what her marriage could be with him, obtuse social skills and all. That much was clear to her; she had to be the one to adjust. If she did, she was confident that he could learn to pay more attention to her feelings and their lives together could at least be more mellow and amicable.

Hermione marched over to his bedroom door and knocked firmly, needing to move forward with her new ideas. When no one answered, she peeked in and saw he was already out for the day. No surprise there; he was always an early riser. Sighing with impatience, she returned to her room and prepared for her own day, firmly deciding her behavior had to change immediately. And that included making friends with Narcissa. Snape she wasn’t so sure about.

~~~~

Hermione dressed for dinner that evening and arrived at the dining table a few minutes before the appointed hour wondering what she was going to say to the man whom she had pushed so far that she had uncovered a part of him she hoped never to see again; his Slytherin Death Eater had emerged and used his belt on her, even if it only lasted two strikes. The optimistic young witch stood by her chair, not wishing to sit until she had to – the numbing ointment had worked fairly well on the welts and the rug burn, but a residual throbbing remained.

Hermione waited, nervous, wondering what was keeping her husband; he was usually extremely punctual. After fifteen minutes dragged by, Hermione called for a house elf, “Floribelle, why is your master late?”

“Master not here, Mistress. Master goes far away this morning,” the little elf replied. “Master left Mistress a message on your sitting room mantel.” The young house elf looked confused.

“What? He’s gone? Where? A message?” Hermione was shocked that she hadn’t known that he’d been gone so many hours, but it wasn’t necessarily odd that she hadn’t seen him all day. What truly worried her was his unusual behavior in not telling her in person he was going away. His upbringing would have demanded that courtesy - his old-fashioned, stodgy courtesy that Hermione had maligned so often.

A tidal wave of fear engulfed her, turning her face chalk white. She had gone too far with her rancor. The realization dawned that she hadn’t repaired anything. Her marriage was still broken and she didn’t want that at all. She Apparated to her sitting room, snatched the small, rolled parchment from the mantel and read -

Hermione –

I have so many things to apologize for, I don’t know where to begin. I do know we cannot go on as we are. Please believe I still want our marriage to succeed, but after my dark magic demonstration, I’ll understand if you want to end it. The divorce is yours if you wish. Cowardly of me, but I prefer to conduct the legal proceedings through our solicitors. Please contact your solicitor, who will contact mine.

If, however, you can forgive me and start again, send the eagle owl with the black tail feathers, no message needed. It knows where to go. If I receive the owl, I will return in two weeks. I do think we need some time apart.

Yours,

Lucius

She hurried through their adjoining rooms to his, stupidly hoping he had returned, but Lucius still wasn’t there. He wasn’t anywhere in the mansion. Hermione wandered back to her sitting room and sat, staring at the flowered wallpaper without seeing it. He was offering her the divorce that she thought she had wanted before the nightclub. He wanted to stay married, but she knew he didn’t love her. Her confident plans for him faded some as she faced the stark reality of a future with a husband who might never love her. She had a choice now. Should she stay married anyway?

Was she brave enough to tie herself to a marriage where her husband was physically mesmerizing, but either emotionally callow, or so closed up she might never be able to reach him? If she chose the divorce, she could walk away with only a few cracks in her heart; she wasn’t dying of love for him yet, either. If she stayed, it would mean she was willing to fall in love with him. That might mean total heartbreak. Hermione’s mind skittered back and forth until she had a blinding headache. Finally, she trailed back to his bedroom and crept under the covers in his bed, needing his surroundings to comfort her.

After a night spent alternately crying and worrying, hugging one of his pillows to catch the faint pine scent of him, Hermione rose the next morning to discover Lucius was indeed still gone. The elves told her the same as the message, that he expected to be gone for perhaps two weeks, but they had no information on where he went. She felt battered by her introspections, but her mind was now clear. She couldn’t go back. Her only way was forward with a man she wanted to know and perhaps to love. Hermione sent the special eagle owl, watching it lift into the air with a great flapping of its big wings, then returned to her own research business, which was always busy. She could only wait for Lucius on his terms.

~~~~

Two lonely weeks trudged by with Hermione more and more morose. With time to develop a better perspective on their whirlwind relationship, little by little, she began to see more of her husband’s side of the marriage.

It was a puzzling truth that he had forced her into the union when he hadn’t needed to take advantage of her. With his power and influence, couldn’t he have bullied the School Governors better than that? Then he could have married one of the Pureblood women hanging out for a rich husband like Narcissa said. Hermione was sure he could have had his pick. Why then had he forced himself on her? Gaining influence in the Ministry through her was ridiculous. It was the one question that had never been satisfactorily answered.

Lucius was gone. She couldn’t ask him. She’d tried once to speak to him about it and had no response beyond his need for a wife for Hogwarts. Narcissa had said that wasn’t the right answer. Was she right? His ex-wife had known the sexy, blond snob for a long time. All Hermione could do now was wait – and hope.

~~~~~

“When are you going to go home?” asked an annoyed Snape. “You aren’t solving anything by moping around our house. The damn owl came. She wants to stay married. So go home. I’m still nearly a newlywed, you know. You’re cramping my sex life, dammit.”

Narcissa stepped onto the terrace, “Severus, are you riding Lucius again? Leave him alone. He’s welcome here until he wants to go home.” She walked up to her irate mate and pulled one of his arms against her breasts, distracting him effectively from his grievance.

“Narcissa,” Snape sighed, “You know I like to use the sofa in the drawing room for our --”

“Hush, Severus, I’m well aware that our activities are somewhat constrained for now, but you’re being selfish. There are so many other places for us you don’t need that one sofa.” Secretive smiles were traded by the couple behind their guest’s back.

Lucius roused long enough from gazing blindly at the garden from his lounging chair to snipe, “Do let me know when you have the urge to bend Narcissa over the back of that sofa, Severus, and I’ll endeavor to remain in my room, for all the good that does. However, I’d appreciate your using a silencing spell if you will. You both are unbearably noisy. And I should mention that the place you favor is getting a bit worn, Severus.” Their blond guest looked a little startled, then he smiled weakly, “I mean the sofa fabric, not Narcissa’s…” Lucius waved vaguely in his ex-wife’s direction.

Snape snorted before catching himself, and Narcissa laughed outright. “I’m not quite worn out there yet, although Severus is assiduously making it his life’s work.” When Lucius slewed around to look more closely at his successor, Narcissa said gently, “It’s been two weeks and you’re due at Hogwarts in a few days, Lucius. Is it really fair to your wife to hide out here? She has no idea where you are and she has sent me owls asking me to tell her if I hear from you. She must be worried.”

Lucius knew he was only putting off the inevitable, but cravenly, he didn’t want to face the little witch he had so mishandled. He shouldn’t be so upset about a couple of belt marks; how many times had the Death Eaters done worse? Even to each other! But now he had created this awkward situation for himself and he didn’t know what to do to resolve it with the tiny termagant. She was willing to stay married, but for the life of him he couldn’t fathom why. He’d been braced to hear from his solicitor and the arrival of the eagle owl had been a shock. Now what did he do?

Lucius cringed – and how was he ever to gain any respect from such a sharp, assertive spouse when he’d fled her so ignominiously? He’d been in the wrong and he hadn’t been able to find any justification that assuaged his guilt. He’d tried very hard to come up with something that vindicated him in his atrocious behavior, striking his wife with a belt in anger, but the stark truth kept biting him in the arse. She had flipped a switch deep inside him that hadn’t been activated for many years and the ruthless, vicious, Death Eater had peeked out for those hellish minutes. He’d been no better than that jackal LeStrange, the despicable wizard Lucius had taunted Hermione with when he’d married her. She must really think him a monster now. So why did she want to stay married? Lucius’ mind whirled round and round.

The blond wizard barely heard the droning of Snape’s deep voice nattering on, defending himself to his wife, as he sat on their terrace idly watching two starlings mating on a nearby branch. Everyone had someone, even the damn birds! He was excruciatingly horny, listening to his hosts’ nightly caterwauling and he desperately wanted to go home to his wife. He sighed - it was time.

Lucius was grateful to Snape and Narcissa for allowing him to do his pitiful maundering at their home. He had needed to be with them for the moment. He was less sure if they would ever really need him any more. The elegant wizard was realizing lately that his loneliness was truly depressing him. His future lay stretching before him in grim tones of gray if he couldn’t retrieve some sort of relationship with his wife.

It would soon be time to adjourn to Hogwarts and how he was going to co-exist with a witch who not only had no affection for him but probably now actively feared him, he was at a loss to know. She had offered herself up to him after her aborted punishment, but she was always sulky the next day and those were merely spankings. This time she’d got something more from him. How could she ever care after knowing he could whip her when he was extremely angry? That he truly could become the monster she so feared? The dark impulse had been brief, over quickly, but she had seen his dark side and known what she was looking at.

His mind was a maze replaying what he could have done differently. She had been at the peak of her vitriolic behavior and it had begun to spill over onto Narcissa. Was that what had finally pushed him to the breaking point? He was up to Hermione’s weight in verbal combat. Narcissa wasn’t.

Lucius thought some more. If Hermione had continued, Severus would have stepped in. Then everything would have gone up in flames and his two best friends could have been lost to him. Lucius wanted to find a way to have Hermione as his wife and keep his friends. What else could he have done, but what he did? Lucius was getting dizzy from his circular thinking. He needed to go home and see if his mansion was still standing.

He’d finally gone to preview the Hogwarts accommodations a few days before and discovered in the apartment for the Headmaster an adequate living area and dining area with its own small kitchen facilities, but there was only one bedroom with one large, old-fashioned bed big enough for four. He didn’t think even that was going to be enough space for the two of them. Battlefields were usually quite a bit larger and his home was definitely an armed camp. He wasn’t entirely sanguine about his safety; she wanted to stay married, but perhaps it was so she could be a widow. He might be gutted in his bath. The rotten part was he felt perhaps he deserved it.

Lucius turned over and over in his mind how he could have sunk to such a level as whipping his wife. He finally pinpointed what else had gone wrong, but he didn’t feel any better about it.

He was used to a variety of sexual interests and he had been repressing those interests with a woman who epitomized the partner he hoped could someday meet him as an equal, but he hadn’t presented his more intense interests to the little prude, worrying his image would suffer even more with her.

Added to his growing sexual restiveness, Hermione had done nothing but ridicule him, emasculating him with her recalcitrant behavior until he had finally blown up. Baiting Narcissa had been the last straw. He should have just gone to a brothel. Hindsight was always so crystal clear. He’d been living in the proverbial fool’s paradise, thinking her inventive bedeviling and beleaguering weren’t really getting to him.

He knew his temper was explosive, but it hadn’t seemed to matter too much to his new wife and he’d been excited to find his outbursts of spleen basically rolled off her back like a raindrop on a pane of glass. Lucius winced. He had so wanted to channel her belligerence into the bedroom for some sinful fun on both sides. Instead, one too many of her jabs had set fire to the tinder of his ego and aroused his protective instincts, and when she had misbehaved in front of his friends, he’d gone up in flames.

Lucius tossed off the dregs of the latest firewhiskey bottle he’d been living in and reluctantly got to his feet. He tested his stability, but decided he was able to walk well enough to get to his room.

Turning to his friends, the blond wizard bowed with only a bit of wobble, “You’re right. I needed to be away from her for a while, but time is getting close. I’ll get my things and after lunch tomorrow, I’ll go home.”

Snape set his arm around his wife’s waist, “It’s not really about my sofa, Lucius. Watching you swim in liquor for the past two weeks is upsetting Narcissa and I don’t like that.”

All three of them knew Snape was actually saying he was bothered too, but none of them would ever say that aloud. Lucius stood straighter and lifted his chin in the air, “I’ve enjoyed my stay, especially your delightful dinners on trays by the fire.” His lips quirked and they all smiled. The casual dinners had started out as an egregious affront to the blond Pureblood, but he had acclimatized quickly, surprising all of them. Lucius thought he might try the trays at Hogwarts, if Hermione was still willing to go to Hogwarts with him. That was by no means a given.

~~~~~

When Lucius was again by himself, he sat in his for-the-moment quiet, guest bedroom with a cup of tea, gazing out at a pretty fountain in the garden and contemplating his life.

Lucius decided he would never be lucky in his wives. The instant the war was finished and Voldemort was finally dead and out of their lives, Narcissa had sued for divorce, wanting to get totally away from the turmoil their lives had become. But what had she done? Two years later she had married Severus. Lucius knew his arranged marriage to Narcissa Black hadn’t been a love match and there had always been some sort of bond between his friend and his wife, but he hadn’t seen that one coming.

The Snapes appeared to be happy together, if Severus could ever be said to be happy about anything. After the initial awkwardness, the three of them had settled into a comfortable friendship. Their rearranged threesome had taken a little getting used to, but the fit was better for all of them.

Snape had carried on as though nothing had changed and Lucius knew the dark wizard was supremely uninterested in what anyone thought of his bizarre choice of bride. Narcissa was free to marry whom she wished and neither Lucius’ sentiments nor anyone else’s entered into it at all as far as Severus was concerned. That had made the transition somewhat easier for Lucius and Narcissa.

The blond wizard was skeptical about their assertion that Snape had argued long and hard to get Narcissa to marry him; it didn’t fit Snape’s personality at all and the fact was that Narcissa knew the two men were lifelong friends and their similarities were many. Lucius couldn’t quite see Narcissa actively going after another man who was so similar after she’d shed the one she had, but the whole affair was decidedly odd.

Luckily for Severus, who must have been utterly smitten, she must have finally understood their differences were even greater, no matter who chased whom. Lucius hadn’t envied Severus his courtship while it was going on, nor had he been surprised that the reclusive man had won. He was more surprised that Snape would want to take on a wife at all.

Lucius suspected no small part of the dark wizard’s strategy, if indeed he had done the hunting, had been displaying his generously proportioned weapon to the divorced witch - if she wasn’t already quite aware of the man’s size from before Lucius had married her. Lucius had always wondered about that. It had certainly been no secret in school. The Marauders had made certain of that as they had bullied the young Severus. Perhaps this was his answer.

Lucius knew Severus very well and he had seen the occasional red chafing marks on Narcissa’s wrists and ankles. It amused him that she had gone from one dominant lover to another. If anything, Snape demanded even more from a woman in bed – and out - than he did. Narcissa had liked that part of their own marriage well enough, and it looked like she was accepting her new dark wizard’s dictatorial, domineering ways. Snape owed him for his careful shepherding of Narcissa’s sex life; Lucius bet Severus hadn’t had to put himself out much at all to have the beautiful, submissive creature at his beck and call. She had always been just a little too submissive for Lucius’ taste; she probably suited Severus much better.

Lucius shrewdly recognized that Snape received enormous emotional bounty not only from the surface beauty of a woman who had picked him above others, but from her innately sweet nature and desire to please. The man would have known easily if she truly loved him – all he had to do was look into her mind. She must have passed - it had been a year now and they were still married. Lucius might have been affronted that Narcissa could pass Severus’ legilimency test, if he had cared more. As it was, there was an odd sort of relief among the three of them that their intimate connections were now correct.

Narcissa’s obedient docility in bending to Lucius’ will was the main reason he had been so surprised at her gumption in wanting a divorce. It was because of Draco, Lucius decided. When one’s only child is nearly killed, things are put into a different perspective. Neither of them had wanted another child after her health problems being pregnant with Draco – there was risk attached to any additional pregnancy for her. Snape was not at all fond of children, so it was really a match made in heaven for both of them.

After the initial shock had worn off, Draco seemed to accept his new stepfather, especially as Snape had little interest in taking much more than a superficial part in the role. Everyone had relaxed into the new pattern and life had gone on. Lucius sipped at his cooling tea; he was happy for them, but just a little lonely.

~~~~

In their bedroom that night, Narcissa mused, “Do you think Lucius will be able to make a success of his marriage? It looks rather grim. I had so wanted him to find someone to love and have those children he wanted. Hermione looks like an excellent prospect, if she can get through his thickheadedness.” Narcissa finished brushing her hair and set her silver-backed hairbrush on the glass surface of her vanity. “She’s not afraid of him,” Narcissa said in some wonder. She rose from the vanity stool, moved to the bed, and scooted under the bedcovers, joining her husband.

“Ah, you recognize the failure of your first marriage wasn’t entirely your fault now?” It had been galling to Snape that Narcissa still had episodes of beating herself up over the disaster her marriage to Lucius had been.

“I always realized that, my love. I felt responsible for my behavior and my part in not protecting Draco better from Lucius, if not Voldemort, but I’m ready to let it go. It’s in the past and that weak, mewling female I was, is no longer. I’m spreading my wings with you. Under your care.”

“Did you wish for more children, Cissy?” Snape asked, folding her against him under the covers.

“She looked up at her husband, a sweet smile on her lips, “No, Draco fills that place in my life.” Then she laughed lightly, a happy, silvery sound that never failed to clutch at her husband’s thawing heart, “I think, however, that if Lucius has his way, Hermione is going to find herself with a whole Quidditch team of little Malfoys.”

Snape shuddered.

“I’ll be happily looking forward to Draco’s children, though,” she said artfully, sliding her blue eyes sideways to see her mate’s face while twining her fingers in the midnight strands of his soft, fine hair.

Snape flinched, looking horrorstruck. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, struck speechless.

“You hadn’t thought of grandchildren, Severus?” Her innocent words belied her mischievous expression. At his sour visage, her laughter washed over him, making his obsidian eyes gleam.

“No…shortsighted of me, I admit.” If grandchildren brought her joy he would be pleased for her – while spending more time in his potions lab until the little horrors were all at least twenty.

Then the subject of anyone’s children was promptly abandoned in favor of more immediately gratifying enterprises.

tbc...



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