The Taming of the Shrew - Wizard Style - COMPLETE

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12-18-09 F


Hello! Ready for another chapter? A big thank you to all who wrote reviews for the last chapter. My responses to you are now all on my LiveJournal account. They are with this chapter's pictures and the URL is at the end of the chapter; don't forget to visit there.


Onward...

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Chapter Twenty-Eight

Communication



That evening after a surprisingly amicable, if quiet dinner in the formal dining room, Lucius and Hermione adjourned to her sitting room by common, silent consent. It was time to talk.

Gesturing to Hermione to sit on her pretty, flowered sofa, Lucius sat down on it himself, hitching his trousers for comfort and heaving a great sigh. “We need to clear our marital slate, I think. As I am the original transgressor, having married you without your consent, it is only fair for you to start.” He sat back and waited patiently for the first salvo, expecting to be blasted with a litany of all her grievances.

Hermione sat gingerly, her innards just a little sore still from their afternoon’s torrid reunion. Her two weeks of inactivity without Lucius’ constant carnal attentions were responsible for the unusual, lingering throb of her sheath. She smiled inwardly; even with the slight physical ache, seeing Lucius in one of his beautiful, formal evening suits, which he always wore to dinner, was making her wish she could skip the discussion entirely and slip under her counterpane with him for another round of sex. She reluctantly put away that lascivious thought for later. He was serious about clearing the air and finding some commonality in their marriage; she could do no less.

With a self-deprecating smile, Hermione acknowledged, “Yes, you began our association in an unpleasant, conniving manner with only your own agenda in mind.” Lucius nodded at her unpleasant truth and Hermione continued, “Because I was furious I exacerbated the antipathy between us in any way I could. All I knew of you was an enemy, a cold Death Eater who had tried more than once to kill me. Your family was pardoned by the Wizengamot after the battle, but we were never friends. Had the circumstances been reversed and I forced you into marriage, I think your behavior would have been worse than mine. As perhaps it was in that upstairs room at the nightclub.” She raised one eyebrow in inquiry.

Lucius hadn’t ever thought about what it would have been like if he’d been the one coerced into an unwanted marriage with her. His lips quirked in wry response, “I admit that your feelings on the subject were of little interest to me when I was – and still am – bleeding thousands of Galleons every day. You were mostly a means to an end, namely repairing my wealth by discovering what is destroying me. To do that I needed to be made Headmaster at Hogwarts so Severus and I could use it for our plan. We wanted to investigate by using the school as a microcosm, reflecting the wizarding world as a whole. However,” he held up his hand when Hermione looked like she would speak, “I also intended to honor you as my wife and provide for your comfort and, I hoped, eventual happiness in any way I could. I went into the marriage expecting to be a husband in all ways. I know you didn’t want me at all for the role, but if I was casting myself in the part anyway, I wanted to make a success of it with you.

“But you are absolutely correct that I would have been livid if I had been forced into a marriage I didn’t want.” He chuckled, “Perhaps I should say another marriage I didn’t want. I don’t know what I would have done, but I think I’d rather not speculate. It was insensitive of me not to care how it would feel to you, being pressed into our marriage. Merlin knows I should have known, having been the victim of the same thing myself, but I confess I’m somewhat old-fashioned. I admit the idea of a woman being delivered into a marriage not of her choice isn’t so abhorrent to me as it should be.

“You saw me at my worst when I briefly let the old infusion of my Dark Mark free for a few moments in the nightclub. I am sorry for that lapse in judgment. I control it, but that night I allowed it a moment of freedom. It will always lurk inside me; Severus and I have never found a way to banish the dark magic completely, but we do control our Marks. That will never again be a worry for you. I make you the solemn promise of a Malfoy on that.”

“And how do I know that?” Hermione asked in all seriousness. “It appears you lost the desire to control it when you got very angry. You said I can make you more angry than anyone else. Perhaps you can’t promise my safety under those circumstances.”

“I can promise you because I never used the Dark Mark on Narcissa or Draco and now I include you. I know I married you, but it never felt like you ever wanted to be my family…until now.” Lucius captured her eyes with his, trying to communicate the difference to her.

Hermione nodded slowly, but felt compelled to add, “My ire wasn’t merely because you were an old enemy, Lucius. You also crushed my hopes for a future romantic courtship with the mysterious, handsome someone most young women dream about meeting and marrying.”

Lucius went still, realizing that his and Snape’s plan had ruined more than Hermione’s simple freedom to choose her own husband. Of course he knew he hadn’t been her choice, but now he saw his unthinking arrogance – and Snape’s – had robbed her of so much more. He’d never had a daughter and only had a vague understanding of what Hermione had lost, but he remembered the intricate and extensive plans Narcissa had insisted upon for her wedding to him so long ago. If Hermione had a tenth of the interest Narcissa had had in those feminine fripperies, then he’d cost his new wife dearly, ruthlessly sacrificing her lace-edged dreams for his empire. He winced internally at the memory of her wistfully picking out the wedding dress in his costume cabinet.

After a minute of frozen silence, Lucius said, “I can’t give back what I’ve stolen from you, Hermione, but I can still offer the divorce, if that is what would make you happy.”

Hermione shook her head, “No, Lucius. When I received your note offering the divorce, I thought about all that then. It would be rather pointless to pursue a divorce now and I don’t want that. I am just explaining some of what caused me to be so antagonistic toward you.” She sighed, “You can’t put the genie back in the bottle. I may not have gone into the marriage freely, but you’ve shown me a hidden part of myself I never knew existed. I want to explore that with you.”

“You mean sex,” Lucius said flatly. Was he still nothing more than a collection of parts to her?

“I mean spectacular, uninhibited, glorious, technicolor, multi-orgasmic sex,” Hermione said firmly. “I don’t want to go back to my prudish, padlocked ways. And neither do I want to search for any other man to do with me what you’ve shown me. Can we use our obvious physical affinity as a base for building a deeper relationship? When we weren’t fighting, there were a few moments of accord and, I think, a tenuous connection between us. Am I wrong?”

Lucius shook his head decisively, causing his shiny, white-blond hair to slide over the shoulders of his fine, black wool jacket in emphasis, “No, you’re not wrong.” He gently ran his hand down Hermione’s arm to her hand, twining his fingers with hers. “As long as you’re willing to start over with this marriage, I am in no position to dictate how you want to proceed.” A slight frown marred Lucius’ forehead at the concession, then he relaxed and his lips quirked up into a teasing smile, “And if proceeding to widen your sexual education is one part of my duties as your husband, I can guarantee you’ll have an excellent teacher.”

Hermione grinned and pressed his hand between her two small ones. “Good. Now, I think we need to decide on a plan of action for living together more amiably. I suggest we try to mention items that annoy either of us only in non-threatening, polite ways. We will have to mention them because keeping our various irritations at each other to ourselves will only build up resentment and divide us again. Neither of us is very good at swallowing our exasperations. I hope that as we go along, less and less will be mentioned, but we need to keep talking to each other - just in pleasant, civilized tones. And we will each listen if the other has a reason to offer for continuing a behavior that one of us dislikes. Agreed?”

Lucius wondered if Snape and Narcissa had any strategic plan for their marriage; he thought not, but clearly he needed some path to follow in his own. If Hermione would be pleased at hearing him tell her in sweet tones that she was hogging the house elves, maybe they could find more and more compatibility as time went on. He had nothing to lose and possibly a good marriage to gain. “Agreed. Now about that sex education?”

Hermione jumped up and used her husband’s hand to pull him up beside her. “Last one naked on my bed is a horklump!” she taunted with an adorable leer. The little witch easily beat him into her bed by reaching up and rumpling his hair, knowing he had more clothes on than she did and that he would stop for a few crucial seconds more to smooth his tresses down again. So predictable, her finicking husband. And so delectably naughty between the sheets.

~~~~~

After dinner the following evening, as the sun was causing the shadows to slant and grow long in the estate gardens, Lucius and Severus were ensconced in the green leather chairs in Lucius’ study, going over last minute items that Severus wanted Lucius to know before he moved into the Headmaster’s rooms and assumed command of Hogwarts. A decanter of aged firewhiskey sat on the low table in front of them, already half gone. For the moment both matching glasses were empty.

The green leather chairs had undergone slight adjustments and now they were in reclining positions allowing both wizards to lean back in comfort.

“How did you think of changing these chairs?” Snape asked, his eyes closed, half asleep in the cradling position he had chosen.

“I didn’t,” Lucius said from the depths of his chair. He was lounging laid out all the way. “Hermione showed me some pictures of Muggle chairs called reclining chairs a few weeks ago. She told me how they worked and I decided to fix mine. The spells were a little more mechanical than I usually attempt, but they came out well, I think. Sometimes, if I have a headache from the financial straits I’m drowning in, I sit in one of these instead of sleeping on the sofa. They’re very soporific, aren’t they?”

“Mmmm,” Snape murmured, peacefully digesting his firewhiskey. “You seem more relaxed now. Have you and Hermione come to a rapprochement?”

“I think so,” the blond replied. “We talked a little when I returned,” Lucius smiled at his homecoming, “and she told me to tell her when her words or behavior bother me and I’m to do the same for her. In pleasant tones. Quite the concept,” he smiled. “So far it is less irritating and much quieter. I think it’s working. She seems happier. Oddly, neither of us has had to mention much to the other. I thought we’d be pleasantly complaining all the time, but we aren’t. At least now we’re both cordial and that’s a step forward.”

Snape nodded and several moments of quiet bliss ensued until he realized he now had less time to give Lucius his information than he had planned. Somehow, he had fallen asleep for several minutes.

“Well, to business,” Snape reluctantly moved his chair into an upright position and waited for Lucius to do the same. “I have a few details to mention about Hogwarts before you go that I prefer not to discuss in front of Narcissa; she always has ideas on outfitting the school that are better suited to a high class spa.” Lucius smiled in commiseration, but said nothing, letting Snape go on.

“Many of the teachers are younger than we were used to in our day,” Snape began by explaining. “They have less experience in controlling the little bast-… erm, children, and you may be called upon to adjudicate more than Dumbledore ever had to between a student’s complaint and the teacher’s side of a story. Part of it is because of this hidden agitation we’re all experiencing, but part of it is, I believe, merely students scenting weakness in their youthful instructors.”

Lucius leaned forward, his interest plain of his face, “What punishments exactly am I allowed to hand down? I don’t suppose cleaning the owlery with a toothbrush is still legal?” Lucius had fond memories of getting the Marauders into trouble as a Prefect and suggesting that particular penance. Slughorn had leapt on the idea and the rowdy pack of Gryffindor ne’er-do-wells had been covered in owl scat for days.

“Sadly, no.” Snape’s lips quirked up in a nasty smile, “I did enjoy sitting and watching those pillocks scrubbing the stone tracery, though. I brought some apples from the Great Hall so I could munch and make comments on their shoddy workmanship. Too bad it didn’t last all semester. I paid for my temerity in the end, but it was well worth seeing their misery. I’ve never regretted being slung head first into the hippogriff manure pile in retaliation.”

“And they label Slytherins the vicious ones,” Lucius tutted and two identical, crafty smiles decorated their faces. “So then what may I do? And let me have some fun, please. The rest of the job is going to be unmitigated hassle and boredom.”

“Well, speaking of hippogriff paddocks, you are allowed to send students to shovel manure. It actually is good for the greenhouses, so make them cart it over. Don’t allow them to use their wands, of course. It would take all the lesson out of the punishment.”

“And the fun for me, seeing their little, woebegone faces. Were we ever such pansies, Severus?”

“I wasn’t. You were more a gilded chrysanthemum,” Snape jabbed good-naturedly.

Lucius merely snorted and waved an imperious hand for Snape to think about more chastisements he could inflict. Then his icy eyes began to sparkle - this Headmaster business might have a few perks. In the next breath it dimly occurred to Lucius that Hermione might try to intercede in that sphere. He’d have to think more carefully about her duties and how to keep her occupied so she didn’t champion the little culprits. Sex immediately came to mind and the blond wizard’s eyes flashed with lascivious anticipation. She was one perk he definitely was going to enjoy during his tenure as Headmaster.

Snape cogitated for a few minutes while the two men relaxed in the quiet room, the only sound the crackling of the pleasantly warming fire in the hearth, and the flicker of reflected light illuminating the crystal. “There is the old standby of having the miscreant write out his misdeed five hundred times on parchment, but I always found that a waste of good parchment. Which, by the way, you’ll have to re-order. Our supply is dangerously low for starting the school year. None of that colored rubbish that Narcissa raves about. Just get plain parchment color. No sense in livening up the classroom with unnecessary distractions. The children are volatile enough without having them argue over who gets pink and who gets blue.

“You’ll also need a thousand quills and six dozen sheets and pillowcases. Some of the current batch is getting worn. Plus, in the boys’ dorms, the sheets tend to suffer from additional stains.” Snape’s eyebrows rose quizzically and Lucius grinned. Years ago, they’d stained their quota in solitary nocturnal pursuits. “We’ll also need a new supply of candles. And have the Hogsmeade Mill send twenty cords of wood for the fires. You can owl the mill. They will want their money up front. The other accounts can be paid later.”

“Do I have an assistant for those things or must I do the menial record-keeping and ordering and such?” Lucius splashed a little more firewhiskey into his glass and held up the decanter in silent question to Snape.

Snape nodded then said, “I was hoping your wife would do the honors. She’s clever enough to handle all the details. Have the two of you discussed what she’ll be doing while you’re off striding down hallways making all the little girls swoon?”

“Will they?” Lucius asked, startled. “Hermione mentioned something about the girl students being importuning. It sounds tedious. And I don’t want any problems with them which lends any credence to that gawdawful pervert label I’ve been given. That does worry me.”

“Just start wearing the Eastern spice cologne again and no one will bother you,” Snape suggested facetiously. Then he said more seriously, “Threaten them with Hermione’s wrath; her reputation should do the rest. It will be a brave little girl who dares to accost you with your fire-breathing, war-hero wife nearby. Now you’ll get some advantage out of your marriage. The School Governors figured with Hermione around you wouldn’t stray, but it’s more likely she’ll be a shield for you as a deterrent against the formidable teenage girl contingent.”

Lucius sighed, “Hermione has her own research business, which I don’t think she’ll give up, so she’ll be quite busy. She doesn’t need the money any more, but I suspect I won’t be able to convince her to stop work. Actually I don’t think I’ll even try. My face is still recovering from her response to my etiquette lessons. Maybe just the idea that she’s my wife will be enough to keep me safe.”

“Afraid of your own wife, Lucius? If she won’t help with the workload of your office, you’re on your own. Use your own money to hire someone. I don’t have the resources for another position right now. This decaying of Pureblood power is affecting my budget. The Ministry usually got some of its money from the deep pockets of the wealthy Slytherin Purebloods, but as you know, that source is drying up some, so they aren’t inclined to give me much past the minimum to run the school. It’s why most of the teachers are young and inexperienced.”

“Is Narcissa afraid of you? Should I make Hermione fear me? I could. Is that how you make a success of your marriage?” Lucius was annoyed that not only would he have to pay for any office help from his own diminishing pocket, but his masculinity was being called into question.

Severus heaved a spurious sigh, “No, Narcissa isn’t afraid of me. I’m not the one who has trouble making his wife respect him.”

“I’m not sure Hermione respects me as Narcissa does you, but I don’t want her acting the cowed submissive. She’s a bit more obdurate and prickly than I would like sometimes, but I far prefer to take the occasional shot to the ego than have a cipher for a wife. We have a form of détente now, but we’re two very strong-minded people with many different values and finding our way past those differences will be a challenge. So - if you have any bright ideas, I’m a fast learner,” averred Lucius, a hint of smug smile hovering over his lips.

Taking umbrage at the ‘cowed submissive’ remark, Snape immediately scoffed, “Perhaps you’re a fast learner over a conference table, but in intimate spheres? Unmitigated disaster! Let’s review, shall we? Twenty odd years of marriage and you never learned how to handle Narcissa. You’re only doing better with Hermione because she tells you, often and loudly and in painful terms, what her emotions are. If she didn’t, you couldn’t find her feelings with an Accio spell.”

Lucius bridled at the slur, “Narcissa never expressed the least demurral for any of my actions. Not until she asked for the divorce, and that was because of Draco.” Lucius was still piqued that he’d not seen that coming.

“My point precisely, Lucius. Was it truly because of Draco? Only Draco?” Snape crossed his arms, his casual black robes falling into place around him, “You, my obtuse friend, need a bludger applied to you before you give up on your ideas, your plans, your desires. Thank the Gods Hermione is accomplished at wielding that bludger right upside that thick head of yours.

“Your focus has stood you in good stead with your billion Galleon business – you have a tenacious drive perfect for the cutthroat financial world – but any sensitivity you bring to the negotiating table is spurred by money, not those with whom you do business. I would venture to guess you don’t even know the first names of your business associates. No, your brand of sensitivity stops well short of the home fires. It was the same with your treatment of your son.”

Snape took a sip of his libation, then continued, “I suppose you learned your ‘take no prisoners’ technique at your father’s knee. Merlin knows it was in full bloom by the time you got to Hogwarts, but while socially you became a leader of the Purebloods, it was due to your wealth and power, not your milk of human kindness.”

Lucius was less incensed than he should have been at his friend’s painful truths. It surprised him to know that he had already been moving mentally toward the same deductions. Having Hermione constantly steering him in acid-tipped terms couldn’t help but show him that he was missing important nuances of other people’s behavior and interests, most notably hers.

He wasn’t tuned in to the needs of others beyond the business level because, he admitted with some chagrin, he just hadn’t cared about anyone that much. He wasn’t sure he could. Draco had always been closer to Narcissa than to him. He had found it easier to throw money at his child than try to relate to him and then, disastrously, Voldemort had intervened. They had a better relationship now, but it was partly because Draco initiated their interactions.

Lucius hadn’t a stupid bone in his body, but his personality had always been secretive and aloof. It was hard to get a sense of other people’s feelings from behind the high walls he had built as a child against his father’s bullying and lack of interest in him except for his fitting the mold of Pureblood supremacy. He had felt comfortable behind his walls.

But the worst had happened. He had turned into his father - insensitive and uncaring. That thought sickened him. If he and Hermione were blessed with children, he was relieved to know she would be a bulwark against his poor fathering skills. She had pointed out his poor parenting to him before they ever left the registry office and he hadn’t listened.

“And I suppose you’re the poster boy for sweetness and light?” Lucius replied, just for argument’s sake. He was long inured to Snape’s caustic homilies. He hadn’t much listened to him, either. Perhaps it was time he did. Snape had taken quiet, spineless Narcissa and created a whole new woman. Yes, perhaps it was time he listened.

“Hardly,” replied Snape, losing interest in the conversation. It was wasted effort, talking to Lucius about his behavior. There were more rewarding things that he could be doing, like presenting Narcissa with the new moving portrait he had posed for. She had been hinting she wanted one for her side of the bed. Severus didn’t know why she should need one as he was there to look at in the flesh, but he had obliged.

She liked his formal black evening robes and he had spent several hours posing for a series of photos of him both moving and still. He’d felt like an idiot swishing around in front of the camera, but if Narcissa wanted it, he would tame dragons for her. Walking around with his robes billowing was a minor inconvenience.

“All right,” said Lucius, “I’ll ask again since you didn’t give me an answer. Explain to me what I should have done. I’ll try to learn and fix it.”

Snape snapped out of his fond daydream, where his portrait would lead to Narcissa’s generous reciprocity. “What?” The dark-haired man was honestly shocked. “What?” he said again, flummoxed. Lucius was talking in tongues. He had to be. Or this was a Polyjuice Lucius.

Lucius smiled. Perhaps listening would be entertaining. He hadn’t seen Snape so animated by anything in a long time. Well, he amended to himself, animated by anything Lucius did. Narcissa lit the man up like Hogwarts at Halloween.

Lucius was surprised to feel nothing at Narcissa’s relationship with Snape. There had always been just an iota of shame attached to his being the ex-husband before. Now there was nothing but a slight amusement that Severus was so smitten. Pale gray eyes brightened at that discovery as he settled to hear what, if any, ideas Snape had.

Oh Gods, Snape panicked. Lucius had called his bluff. He wasn’t an expert at relationships. He barely knew why he’d been so lucky winning Narcissa. “Lucius, are you making fun of me? I don’t know why I should be surprised. It’s your most pleasurable entertainment - that and telling anyone who will listen why Merlin affected loose robes in a subversive move to make all of us his fashion slaves.”

Lucius frowned. “Dammit, I try for once to do as you ask and you think I’m insulting you? It was an honest question. Well, a directive. I don’t believe I phrased it as a question - but you may take it as such. How do I strengthen my marriage and make Hermione care?” Lucius chuckled, “There goes my reputation. Yes, I am a dunce at marriage. You’re obviously not. So give me some help. And just to be clear, baiting you is NOT my most pleasurable entertainment. Sex is.” Lucius carefully spread his robes out and sat, expecting to be enlightened.

Snape’s withering look didn’t deter Lucius in the slightest; the dark wizard was at a standstill. There the poncey, blond prat sat, ready to be taught how to please a witch who had always been an irritating mystery to Severus as her professor in Potions class for all the years she had attended Hogwarts. So eager, so helpful to the dunderheads. He had despised her unflagging support for her fellow students, but it didn’t do to say anything like that to Lucius.

“Are you sure she doesn’t care?” Snape asked, trying to evade Lucius’ question one last time.

Lucius frowned, “She’s never said so. She only said she was glad to see me home again, but that isn’t quite the same, is it? The house elves were glad to see me, too. Don’t women tell you ad nauseum when they want you? I’ve always found it so.”

“Lucius, you are hopeless. You’re confusing lust with love.” Snape rolled his eyes, but he began to feel sorry for the blond man.

It was obvious to Snape that all the time he was her professor, he and Hermione had never got along because they were too much alike – both pigheaded perfectionists and loyal to the nth degree. It was why he…hmmm, maybe if he told Lucius what would please him in a marriage, it might apply equally to Hermione. Snape thought about what he enjoyed about being wedded to Narcissa. It wasn’t a complete parallel, but it might do.



“I’ll tell you what I know, shall I? First,” Snape raised his finger in the air, trying to look authoritative, “your most pleasurable entertainment should be lovemaking, not just sex. There is a difference and Hermione will probably notice that nuance. Also, she would not like to be ignored. If she enters a room, you should acknowledge her presence, even if you are busy.” Snape thought about his eager reaction every time Narcissa ventured into his lab. His potions could boil down to dust if Narcissa wanted him.

“I already do that,” Lucius replied earnestly. “It’s only good manners. And Hermione hasn’t any complaints about the sex or she would have said. She’s not reticent about things I do wrong. What else?”

“She might not mention her feelings on the difference between sex and lovemaking to you, Lucius, but we’ll let that go for now. I think the concept is too advanced for you at this point in your relationship, however, I am quite confident you will understand on your own later.” Lucius shot him a quizzical stare, but said nothing, so Snape stood up from his chair, started a slow pacing around the furniture, and threw out another suggestion, “She needs to have her own space and time to herself for her own pursuits. Controlling her too closely or keeping her from her research will make her angry. She wouldn’t mean to slight you. She just has other interests besides you.” Narcissa so rarely came into his lab that he knew she was courteously giving him his space. He loved her for that, too.

“Yes, I’ve learned that.” Lucius remembered standing nude in her sitting room and being waved off, but he wasn’t going to mention particulars to Snape. “Well, I have other interests, too,” Lucius replied. “I have to have time to run my investments, so that shouldn’t be a problem. It hasn’t been so far,” he fibbed. “Very well, what next?” Lucius wondered if he should write down the suggestions, but so far none had been mentioned that he wasn’t already doing.

“Show her you care with little inconsequential touches during the day. A slide of the hand along her back as you pass by, a small compliment on her looks – nothing too extravagant, mind you. Perhaps learning what her favorite foods are, so you can be sure she is indulged often.” It was all he could do sometimes to keep his hands from reaching for his sweet, lovely wife whenever she entered a room.

Snape was dismayed to realize he had assumed his teaching mode of measured pacing as he lectured. He hurriedly returned to his seat and grabbed up his glass, sipping a rather generous amount of his firewhiskey and missing his wife.

His nerves a bit calmer, Severus continued. “It’s little things that signal to her you care, not flashy jewelry or bouquets of flowers big enough for the winner of the World Hippogriff Races. Instead, offer her a single rose or a small posey that you picked yourself from your garden. Lord knows you have enough flowers. Use them. Don’t do it every day. But once a week might be a good amount.” Even though he had stopped pacing, Severus was beginning to get into the lecture and he laughed inside. His past as a teacher wasn’t entirely dead. He still liked to tell others what to do and it was especially appealing to tell Lucius.

“Yes, I see,” said Lucius. “I haven’t been doing that. I did design her a new wardrobe. She’s wearing some of that, but otherwise, I’ve only given her the one wedding gift of diamonds and that was a spectacular failure. She did wear the earrings later, but nothing else. Perhaps she didn’t care for the set. Narcissa always liked gems, the more, the better. Is Narcissa now willing to get a single rose? If so, she certainly has changed.” He frowned.

“I would say rather she has discovered something she likes better,” Snape raised a supercilious eyebrow, intimating that he was that other thing.

Lucius snickered. “Yes, she always liked that other thing,” he said, crudely. “But unless you’ve grown a second one, your ‘thing’ isn’t that spellbinding, even if you’d like to think so.”

“I could say something about how one uses their thing, but I will limit my comments to items about you and your wife. My marriage is doing fine.”

Lucius sighed. “Perhaps the problem is me. Do I have to care about her in return for this to work? She can’t just care about me by herself? I like her. I like to sleep with her. We’re having a few interesting conversations now. I feel it when she points out something I’ve done that she doesn’t like. Is that caring? I want to care, to experience love, but what does that feel like? Do I have to have some sort of epiphany and will I recognize it if it happens? This really is hopeless, isn’t it?”

“You’ll recognize it,” Snape said firmly. “You care about Draco and Narcissa and me, don’t you? You’re not hopeless, but you’ll have to relax and give it time. Narcissa wasn’t right for you, but I think Hermione is. You’re closed off, Lucius, always have been. I understand it because I’m the same, or I was until Narcissa, but we’re talking about you.”

“So, what else?” Lucius asked, his spirits rising some from his friend’s strong assurance that he could learn how to feel for Hermione what Severus felt for Narcissa, that she might be right for him.

Snape started drawing on his own eye-opening experiences with the inventive witch he called wife. “Have you done anything fun with her? A picnic? Swimming in your pool together? Maybe naked? Have you strolled down Diagon Alley with her? Perhaps she feels you’re ashamed of her if you’ve never taken her into the public eye.” Snape had worried about that very thing when he had first married Narcissa, but she had dispelled that concern quickly with several public outings where she proudly walked by his side.

“I haven’t done any of those things, but I’ve been bombarded with scores of broken financial promises and even a few contracts. I’m putting out fires among my investments constantly. Truthfully, I’ve not been in the best frame of mind and when added to my wife’s quite vicious tongue, I’ve been a bit grumpy. She has given her puncturing words a rest, thank the Gods, but it has taken me a while to relax after plucking her poisoned tongue darts out of my hide for weeks. She whittled my ego into doilies and I’m just now recovering.”

Lucius gazed somberly at the dark-haired man, “Gods, Severus, I hope we figure out what is going wrong everywhere before my entire enterprise crumbles.” He rubbed his temple with a shaking hand. “I don’t want to be poor. I couldn’t bear it. I don’t know how you stood it all those years, I really don’t.”

The Head School Governor gazed in resignation at his longtime friend. How had Hermione pierced that walled off soul so easily? Lucius was one of a kind. He had a good heart, but he was so blind to the sensitivities of others, Snape didn’t know if the Granger chit had a chance at retooling the git.

Snape pondered for a moment. Perhaps he should take a leaf out of the little witch’s grimoire and treat Lucius as she did. It was worth a try. Lucius was worth a try. He rather enjoyed Lucius’ bumbling, insensitive ineptitudes in their friendship - it afforded Snape a bit of pleasure here and there to laugh at the man and Lucius had usually taken it pretty well.

But a true friend would make the effort to teach the haughty Pureblood how to relate from a point of equality - something Snape was sure Lucius had never even thought of. Lucius had already lost a wife to him and now was mired in a second marriage to help them both (although Lucius’ Galleons were the blond’s first consideration). Snape decided he’d do it. He would try to pierce Lucius’ clueless cloud of cotton wool. It couldn’t be any worse for the elegant blond than being harangued by Voldemort all those years.

“Lucius?”

Lucius looked up from his miseries at his name, “Yes?”

“Do you realize you have just stomped on my feelings?”

tbc...


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So - how will the two comrades handle this slight hitch in their friendship? Is Snape right to push the issue of Lucius' lack of perceptive social behavior?

Don’t forget this chapter’s pics and responses to your reviews at -

http://labibliographe.livejournal.com/57883.html

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