Dolasitas

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“Now, if you will,” said Lucius eagerly. “You know how keen I am for this to progress, and I am certain that Lexy is desperate to have the poor child back.”

“Very well. We are to Apparate there, I presume?” Lucius nodded, fingering his wand. “And do you have any kind of a plan, or are we just to burst in there unprepared?” Remus asked doubtfully.

“It is only Avery,” Lucius said dismissively. “I figured that you could go in and take the boy whilst I am duelling him; he is no match for me, after all.”

“You have always had a penchant for the dramatic, haven’t you Lucius?” Remus said, shaking his head. “Perhaps subtlety would serve us better here.”

Lucius looked dubious. “Do you have anything in mind? I certainly do not intend to sit here discussing it all morning.”

“You have been to Avery’s house before, I presume?”

Lucius nodded impatiently. “Of course.”

“Do you know the layout well? Well enough to recreate it here for me?” Remus asked.

“Yes, I suppose so,” Lucius replied, waving his wand as he bit upon his lip. The plans for the Avery house rose in the air in front of him and Remus moved closer to study them.

“Just two bedrooms…” he muttered to himself, “… the smaller will be the boy’s, I am sure.” He raised his head. “Lucius, when you visit Avery, does his wife serve the both of you?”

Lucius seemed surprised at the question. “Of course. They have no house elf, so it is her role to fulfil.”

“Naturally,” Remus replied, rolling his eyes. “That certainly simplifies matters. Avery was never particularly intelligent, so I am certain that the wards will be nothing we cannot undo easily enough. Lucius, I need you to pay attention now. This is clearly important to you, and if you listen to me it will go as you wish. Do it your way, and there is a strong chance you won’t.” A thought crossed Remus’ mind, and he held up a hand. “You… you do have permission from our master, I presume?” he asked nervously. Punishment from Lord Voldemort was not something you recover from easily.

A shadow crossed Lucius’ face, but disappeared as Lexy’s face rose in his mind. “Yes, I gained permission. At a cost, of course, but nothing that I did not consider worthwhile.”

Remus was stunned that Lucius was going to these lengths. Throughout this he had assumed that Lucius wanted Lexy as nothing more than a status symbol and sexual plaything, but he recognised the conflicting looks on Lucius’ face. Perhaps there was something more to this, he thought, frowning angrily. He shook his head to clear it; he should be relieved for Lexy, not upset. “Very well, the plan. It is quite simple, you will be relieved to hear,” he said disparagingly, his anger not quite driven away. “We will work together to silently drop the wards, particularly the anti-Apparition one, before you enter the house. All you need to do is keep the Averys occupied whilst I Apparate into the child’s bedroom. I will take the child and bring him back here using Side Along Apparition. We will be waiting for you in the drawing room.”

“That sounds acceptable, Lupin. However, I must insist that you do not inform my fiancée of your role; anything that lessens her gratitude to me will not do,” Lucius said with a smirk.

“You have my silence,” Remus replied grudgingly. He had little option if he wanted to return Will to Lexy’s care.

Lucius looked at him appraisingly. “You know, werewolf, you didn’t turn out too badly in the end. We were all most surprised when you seemed to be winning the fight against your, ahem, natural instincts,” Lucius chuckled, “but your nobility seems to have been admirably defeated. What brought about your change?” Lucius was truly intrigued by the werewolf’s turn; it had never been fully explained to anyone other than the Dark Lord, as far as he knew. Even Severus had been unable to explain it.

Remus kept his voice steady as he replied, “I merely saw the folly of denying nature, and of remaining on what would clearly become the losing side.”

“True, true. But what finally made you see?”

“Dumbledore’s death. It was obvious to all those who had had close contact with him that Potter was mediocre to say the least, and clearly would not have the talent necessary to defeat the Dark Lord. With Dumbledore gone, I was certain that our master would soon complete his takeover.”

Lucius accepted the explanation. “And you were, of course, perfectly correct. Come then, Lupin, let us bring forward my marriage.” Gracefully, he rose out of the chair and let the way out of the house so they could Apparate to the Avery’s.

They Disillusioned each other as soon as they got there, and looked around warily. There did not seem to be anyone about, so Remus and Lucius moved to the rear of the property to begin dropping the wards. It did not take long; Remus was correct in suspecting that Avery was too lacking in talent to do create anything that would cause them problems. They lifted the disillusionment and shook hands before Lucius walked round to the front door. Remus heard Avery greeting him and moving inside, and gave them five minutes for Avery’s wife to attend them before Apparating into the child’s bedroom, instantly placing a silencing charm on the room. Will was sat in the corner, quietly playing with a teddy bear, and looked up interestedly when he heard the pop of Apparition. “Hello,” he said cheerfully.

Remus’ heart lightened when the child smiled at him; it did not seem that he had been mistreated in the year he had been away from his family. “Hello, Will,” he said softly. “My name is Remus.” There was no doubt that this was the son of Hugo and Victoria; despite being only three years old, he already bore a strong resemblance to his father, though he had his mother’s fair hair. Will nodded placidly and carried on playing as Remus hurriedly moved over to the dresser and took a selection of clothing to take to Lexy. Aware of time passing, he walked over and lifted Will into his arms. “Would you like to go and see your sister now, Will?” he asked, though he was unsure if Will would even remember his real family.

Obviously, though, he did. “Lecky?” he demanded excitedly.

Remus chuckled. “Yes, Lecky. Give me a cuddle then, Will, and we’ll go and find her.” Concentrating hard, he Apparated them both to outside Malfoy Manor, wincing as Will’s wails pierced the air. “I know, little one,” he said tenderly, “that didn’t feel so nice, did it? It’s all gone now, I promise.”

Will’s cries slowly abated, and he looked up at Remus tearfully. “Lecky,” he repeated. “Will wants Lecky,” he said insistently.

“Yes, we’ll go and find her now,” Remus replied soothingly, carrying the boy into the drawing room where they were to wait for Lucius. He felt slightly awkward with the child in his arms. He had not taken care of an infant since Harry was young, and that was nearly twenty years in the past. Even then, he had always felt as if he would break Harry, or do something wrong, and despite James’ many assurances that he trusted him implicitly, he never quite relaxed around him. Whilst he had always supposed that you felt different with your own child, it was not something he ever envisaged feeling – the risk of passing of on his lycanthropy was not something he could overlook.

He sighed and settled Will in the corner when they reached the drawing room to wait for Lucius. They were not waiting long; Lucius returned not five minutes later, a look of smug satisfaction on his face. “Ah, you have the brat Lupin, well done. Mobby!” he called and the house elf peered from around the corner. “Go and fetch mistress Lexy from the dungeon and bring her here,” he commanded.

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Lexy had not had as uncomfortable a morning in the dungeons as Remus had envisioned. When the house elf had brought her a small glass of water with the information that it would be all she received all day, she merely smiled slightly. Lucius was clearly unaware that the Beaumonts had a tendency towards wandless magic, and she had been working in private to develop hers for the last few years. Therefore, it was no great hardship for her to simply refill the glass every time she drained it. However, she was careful not to do anything else, despite the temptation; this ability was one she wanted to keep to herself. She did chance a slight warming charm on the dungeons though; she had been naked when Lucius had thrown her in there, and if she merely created some new clothing, that would be certain to give the game away.

When the house elf returned to call her to the drawing room, she was deeply suspicious. Lucius had not indicated that she would be spending less time in the dungeon than they had agreed; perhaps one of his ‘friends’ was here, she thought apprehensively. Nonetheless, there was nothing she could do, so she followed the house elf out of the dungeon. Lexy did pause briefly when she realised that she was walking through the manor naked, but a wicked smile descended across her face. If Lucius wanted her to be in a fit state to meet his friends, then he would have to either return her wand to her or give her clothing to wear.

The house elf, its eyes wide with fear, ran ahead of her into the drawing room. “Mistress Lexy is coming, master,” it squeaked, “but…” Lucius cut it off from further speech, and rose to greet her. She walked through the door, her shoulders back proudly, and he stepped back, stunned at her brazenness. “What in Merlin’s name possessed you to wander the manor naked?” he demanded furiously, his temper not helped by his instant erection.

Lexy smiled. “Why, my Lord, you left me with no clothing to wear and no wand to Transfigure any. The house elf told me you wanted my immediate presence, and I dared not disobey.” Her smug look was replaced by an embarrassed blush as she caught sight of Remus Lupin stood behind Lucius, his face red. He quickly took a seat and turned away, desperately trying to hide his own erection. Remus knew he would be unable to rid his mind of the beautiful young woman stood before him in all her glory; truth be told, he was not sure he wanted to.

Lucius seemed torn between fucking her senseless where she stood and restraining himself until later. The latter option won out in deference of the others in the room, and he pulled off his robe and thrust it at her, not trusting himself to stand too close. “Wear this for now, Lexy,” he spat. “I am not entirely sure that you deserve what I have worked so hard to get for you,” Lucius said as she put the robe on, “but now he is here you may as well have him.”

Lexy’s eyes lit up and she searched the room frantically until she saw what she was desperately searching for. “Will!” she said, running across the room and sweeping the child into her arms.

“Lecky!” he said blissfully, planting a wet kiss on her cheek. Tears were running down her face as she clasped her brother tightly to her chest.

Lucius regarded them, clearly satisfied. He beckoned Remus to him imperiously. “You may go now, Lupin. Thank you for your help today; I am glad to know that there will be somebody at Hogwarts other than Severus that I can rely upon when Lexy returns.”

Remus followed his gaze over to the young woman. “Look after her, Lucius. You have a wonderful prize there.” He deposited the clothing then left without looking back, missing Lucius’ eyes following him out of the manor.

Lucius nodded decisively and looked into the corridor, summoning the nearest house elf. “Elf, please prepare the nursery. The mistress’ young brother will be living with us from now on. You will find his clothing in the drawing room.” That done, he walked over to Lexy and kissed the top of her head. “You are pleased, then?”

Lexy looked at him incredulously. “Pleased does not even begin to cover it, Lucius. Will is the dearest thing to me in the world, and you have returned him to me. I can never fully repay you.”

“You know how you can repay me, Lexy, and we will discuss it fully when the child goes to the nursery. I am having the room prepared as we speak.”

“Yes, he’s beginning to tire already,” she said lovingly, shifting Will in her arms as his eyes began to close.

“Shall we walk up and see if it is ready, then?” Lucius asked. “Once he is in there, you can get out of my robes,” he said reprovingly, but with a glint in his eye.

Lexy chuckled softly, but did not meet his eyes. “Yes, okay.” The silence between them as they walked upstairs was not uncomfortable, and Lexy smiled tenderly as Will fell asleep in her arms. When they arrived, the nursery was indeed ready, and she settled him in the small bed before turning back to Lucius. He sighed softly, his heart constricting as an image rose in his bed of Lexy settling their first born child that way. Lexy heard, and impulsively reached up and kissed him on the lips. “Thank you, Lucius,” she said quietly.

“You are welcome, Lexy, but I will not pretend I did it for selfless reasons. We had an agreement, and it is time for us to discuss its fulfilment. Let us retire to the bedroom,” he said soberly, and she nodded, leading the way.

They entered the room and Lexy sat on the bed, her heart thumping as Lucius reached into his pocket, taking out a small box. “You promised me you would wear this when I returned your brother to you, Lexy. Take this ring now as a symbol of my desire and regard for you, to seal our agreement of marriage,” Lucius said, his eyes burning.

Lexy swallowed. “I accept, Lucius, but I have one last request to make of you before our marriage becomes binding. I would like a one-month courtship.”

Lucius raised his eyebrows, intrigued. A courtship would be quite enjoyable for the both of them; Lexy, he was certain, had never experienced such a thing, and he had not had the opportunity to do so with Narcissa. “Then a courtship you may have, princess, on the condition that we marry as soon as the one month is up.”

Lexy nodded, pleased. “I accept your terms.” Lucius placed the ring on her finger, and they felt the magic begin to bind them.