Cheating time, Unwilling fate.

Lucius is one of my favorite villains. The characterization of Lucius had always fascinated me. His fall from the grace was something I could not bring myself to like. In the end he truly cared for his family so there was a potential to exploit. I love the cold and imperious Lucius and he will come back (not for Harry). I don’t know if I want to bring Draco in the picture. Draco was a ponce true and simple. Harry and Lucius must have heirs so I am kind of in a hard place. Mpreg is one thing I have never written about. Opinions are welcome.

Chapter 9

Lucius was sitting in the library reading an old tome titled the Ancient Magics. The book was an enlightening read about the connection of humans to nature and gods and the power of love which could even sway the deities. This kind of a book would be impossible to find in a dark pureblood family. Partially it was because the dark pureblood culture was vastly different than the light pureblood one. In his circles enhancements ritual on kids and spouses were tolerated, suppression of magical heirs until their magical majority was common, girls were treated differently than boys and many heads of the families were killed by the next in line heirs either for power or money. The light pureblood culture was where everything living was held in high regard and children were much cherished. The heirs more or less had equal power over the family decisions as the head of the family; something he wished he had. He both envied Alex in that regard and was fearful of the weight of the decisions his fiancé had to make almost every day.

The ongoing tensions between the heir apparent and his younger brother had not escaped his eyes. He had tried to soothe his frustrated fiancé but the more and more things kept coming up and tensions kept mounting. The said boy was lying on the sofa with his eyes closed and his head in Lucius’s lap, most likely asleep. He looked down at his sleeping fiancé and something in his held his eyes. Sleeping was one thing which softened Harry’s face. At the moment there was no tension in that face. He looked peaceful almost childlike free from the trials of the world. He liked spending his time here sitting like this but he knew there was people out there who wanted his fiancé for their causes; the dark lord for his pureblood agenda and Dumbledore for his fight for the light. None cared what actually happened to them but their causes. He knew that the reason he was contracted to Harry was that the dark lord wanted him to help sway Harry towards the pureblood cause. Well he wanted no part in the tussle. He would make sure his extended family would remain neutral and emerge unscathed from the conflict he was sure would arise in the future. The cold calculating Slytherin part of him then took over and he was lost to the world with the plotting and the planning in his head.

Lily Evans was the reason of the tensions between the two brothers. Well he knew that the girl absolutely hated James. He had spent many of his prefect rounds with her not to notice that. Maybe he could turn the tables and make James see the reasons at the same time. The plan formed in his head and he smirked. It would stoke the fires on both sides and bring out the true feelings; if the girl had any for James Potter. Alex would be satisfied by the results too. Harry turned his head and opened his eyes.

“What have you done that got you smirking like that?”, he asked yawning.

Lucius shut his book and kissed him lightly. “I figured out how to make James behave.”

“How?”

“It’s an old tactic. He had chased after her which did not work. He should make himself unavailable and clean up his act. Treat Narcissa like a queen and make Lily jealous.”

Harry stared at him for a few seconds and then shook his sleep befuddled head. It made perfect sense. All that he had to do was keep sowing a few seeds of discord between his parents and everything would run smoothly.

“Lucius do you trust me?” Lucius gave him a look that translated in Snapespeak ‘Of course I do, you dunderhead.’

Harry took a deep breath. “You wouldn’t mind if I get sorted in Gryffindor.” “

“Looking at the things you do, I know you are a Gryffindor. No.”

“Really?”

“Yes I would mind but there is nothing I can do about it, is there?’

“I need to keep an eye on both James and Lily Evans.”

Lucius looked at him and rolled his eyes. “Yes I would help you. You don’t have to ask.”

Harry smirked. “I need to find Denise and put your plan in action. I love you, my dear Lucius.” He kissed and left the stumped boy.

‘He said the words. Did he really mean it? Knowing him he most probably did.’ Lucius smiled and touched his lips. Harry had admitted so easily the words when it took him enormous, almost all his effort to whisper it to him when he was asleep. This was the real difference between their worlds.

James looked up at the figure standing beside him. Sirius and he weren’t talking since last week when Padfoot had handed over his secret to his dictator brother. Sirius had sought solace with his brother and sister. His sister was perhaps the only person in the family who wasn’t looking at him with disappointment in their eyes. He knew his punishment was probably well deserved after what he had done but in his heart he knew he couldn’t help for long for Lily. Even though Dumbledore had managed to get him permission to go to Hogwarts the rest of his punishments were still in place. His Hogsmead permission had been withdrawn. While he could still visit the village as head boy he would only go to supervise the visits with other prefects or teachers. His money was rationed. He was still confined to his suites in the house and his friends sent home except the betrayer Sirius.

He could never fathom the reason why Lily never gave him one bit of leeway. He was attracted to her since he was fourteen and saw her standing with Snape of all people at the Halloween ball. His heart had burned with hatred toward the greasy git when the girl had given him a kiss on the cheek in front of the fat lady after the ball. He taunted ‘the dungeon bat’ after that relentlessly pranking him and making him the laughing stock of the school. Lily was not pleased. After an enormously humiliating experience for Snape he had succeeded in breaking up the friendship between the childhood friends but that only increased her ire towards him. She ignored him completely nowadays preferring to talk to only Remus, the book worm of the Gryffindor. Remus had tried to help him but Lily wasn’t swayed. In her eyes he was an arrogant jerk. He was desperate for somebody to help him. At this moment his sister was probably the likeliest person to help him understand Lily Evans.

Denise took a seat beside him and silently observed her younger brother. While she had come to admire Alex or Harry as he seemed to prefer, she had developed a fondness for James. James was cheerful and full of life until Alex dropped the bomb about marriage. His selection for herself had gratified her no doubt. They had developed a mutual attraction this summer and her brother had read the signs correctly. Still, his decision regarding James was a bit unfair though technically sound. Unlike James she was not blind towards the growing unrest in Britain. Her maternal grandparents had explained to her the reasons she was hidden away and possible bloodbath her return could cause. Alex had managed to subdue the tensions magnificently but in the pursuit of higher goals he had neglected James. Now her brother was hurting. This morning she was approached by her step-mother and Alex with a solution. She had to soothe him and guide him into respecting her family’s wishes and make him think that he was pursuing his goals too. Alex was a genius and she couldn’t help but be proud.

“James”, she began tentatively.

James took her hands and spoke quietly, “Help me Izzy. I don’t know what to do. Dad and mum are angry and Padfoot hadn’t talked to me since last week. When you and Alex came here I was so happy to finally have a brother and a sister. Now I wish he hadn’t come.”

Denise stopped him. “What do you mean by you wish he hadn’t come. He tried to save lives by coming back. Do you think that if he hadn’t made the contracts the Blacks would have left me alone? They would have tried to kill me the moment I had reentered the social circle and our parents would have retaliated. It could be a bloodbath except for what Alex did. Are you so blinded by your emotions that you no longer care what happens to the rest of us?”

James blinked. Her spoken words made him feel as if he had been drenched in ice cold water. His sister was the sweetest person he knew and when she spoke of blood and killing he shuddered. His heart clenched. Lily was the thing he wanted most in the world but never at the cost of his family.

He hugged his sister. Denise stopped ranting and hugged him back. “I do care about you. I guess I was so mad about things not going my way for once that I couldn’t see the big picture. I am sorry.” He closed his eyes tightly. “I love you.” He kissed her on the brow.

Denise smiled softly. She was an independently brought up girl with a fierce sense of pride. She might have her mother’s looks but she had also inherited her father’s determination to succeed. However she found that her softness melted the hearts of the males in the Potter house; James was no exception. It was this softness that had effortlessly tamed Sirius the Casanova of British pureblood circles after all. She smiled knowing that the family would be united today.

“I love you too dear Prongs. Treat your fiancé with respect she deserves. If Lily and you are meant to be she would see reason. Alex only wanted to make you realize that Lily isn’t the only girl out there; that is why he kept a clause enabling you to nullify the contract should any one of the intended wish to marry somebody they love, when they turn 19. He never wanted to force you. He only baited Blacks with two marriages to keep them in line.”

“He did.”

“Yes. If you weren’t busy breathing fire like an injured dragon, you would have been told sooner. He let you stew in your anger so that you could say you went in the arrangement kicking and screaming exactly the impression he wanted the dear headmaster to have. Quite Slytherin of him don’t you think.”

James huffed angrily. “That’s ……………yes”, he sighed.

“Good! now that everything is settled you would join us for dinner tonight. Your friends are coming; Narcissa too. You would be perfect gentleman tonight and I would see to it that the rest of your punishments are revoked.”

James raised his hands in surrender. Denise laughed, hugged him and left. James walked to the window and looked out. He could see Alex and Lucius kissing in a grove by the lake. He was amazed with the intensity their relationship had progressed. The Lucius he knew in school was a proud and cold Slytherin, never the one to show any weakness or emotion. It was reflected in the iron fisted way he ruled Slytherin. He was the uncrowned prince of Slytherin. Yet here he was writhing in his brother’s arms.

The images he saw on the night of that dinner came to the front of his mind. Flush with getting one over with his brother he had wanted to taunt him. He had found him with Lucius, naked and busy devouring the other boy. He was so transfixed by the sight that he couldn’t move for a minute; blood rushed to his brain a minute later and he had fled. For that one moment in that night he had wished to be in place of his brother and he hated himself for that moment of weakness. It was wrong on so many levels. He had buried the feelings deep inside he recess of his mind but every time he saw them together something in him hurt. He wished he would find somebody who would love him the same way Lucius loved his brother. “If wishes were horses………”, he murmured.