Dragon\'s Den

Title: Dragon’s den.
Author: ejab.
Pairing: SS/LM and SS/RL
Rating: the story is slash and NC-17.
Feedback: a true gift and highly appreciated.
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the lot.
Warnings: none here.
Category: all over the place, as usual, but if you insist on a category – darkfic.
A/N: many thanks to my betas underlucius and silentpawz. All remaining mistakes are mine. This story is a sequel to ‘Path of the serpent’. I suggest you read that one first.
Summary: witches have their monthly PMS, Lucius his WIS (Werewolf Intolerance Syndrome.

1/?

The moment he entered the hallway, Severus unbuttoned his cloak and threw it to his left. No need to look; Effy would be standing there.

“And breakfast in the dining room, please, Effy,” Suppressing a yawn, the new Grandmaster of Potions quickly walked into the dining room, only to see his husband already up and about even if it was as early as 5.30 am.

“Good morning, Lucius.” Severus took his seat across the table. As if that had been the cue to wait for, Effy appeared. The house-elf laid the table in an almost solemnly fashion by carefully conveying the items on his tray onto the table, in front of his Master, after which he silently walked out of the room. Just as his Master preferred.

“Is it?” Lucius grumbled, eyeing his spouse suspiciously.

Severus sighed, tired and irritated. “Tell me, are you going to act like this every bloody time? I was under the, apparently false, impression that we had cleared the air last time.” A look of annoyance crossed his face.

“I just don’t trust that rug.” Lucius snarled, immediately acting on the defensive.

“Which implicates that you also mistrust me. Still,” the Grandmaster stated coldly.

“No, I don’t! I ca--“ Noticing the increasingly reproachful stare from across the table, Lucius wisely shut his mouth. For about five seconds. “I can’t help it! The thought of you spending the night in the same room as... him! It’s mo--“

Severus interrupted his husband determinedly. “You know that I have to monitor Lupin for twelve months. Two down and ten to go. End of discussion. Deal with it.” To emphasise his words, he gave his better half a long warning glare before reaching for his tea.

Lucius angrily pressed his lips together and reluctantly continued with his breakfast for several minutes.

“Oh, and another thing! That servant of yours was extremely rude this morning! It really deserves to get clothes for its highly improper behaviour!”

Snape gave his husband a tired look and then slumped forward with a loud moan. “Gods, Lucius... stop acting like a nagging housewife, will you?” He slowly sat up again and wearily rubbed a hand over his eyes. He was so bloody tired! But he also knew Lucius well enough to know that this had to be discussed properly before there even could be the slightest change for some peace and quiet.
“Very well. What has happened?”

“I ordered it to bring me my breakfast and it actually had the nerve to refuse! It said tha--”

“Effy is strictly bound to the Snape family, Lucius. Of course he will not take orders from you. Unless the order is for the good of a Snape, like that time when I was sick and needed care, remember? Or on our wedding day; that was also beneficial to a Snape.”

“But we are married now! We are a couple!”

“Yes, but you are a Malfoy.” Severus thought it over for a second and then chuckled rather sarcastically. “Never thought you would see the day that, because of your name, you would be denied something, right? That must be quite a disturbing experience for you,” he said cheerfully.

“It’s not funny, Sev,” Lucius snarled, staring daggers at his spouse and feeling oddly displaced indeed for a moment.

“Yes, it is. In order for Effy to always obey you, you’d have to officially change your name into Snape and, since I am the heir, we’d have to live in Snape Manor. Oh, and I would have to reset the wards to accept and recognise you as a Snape.”

Lucius sat staring at his spouse, unable to comprehend. “Then why bring the bloody thing here in the first place?!” he finally exclaimed. “What’s the use of having a house-elf when it refuses to obey?”

“Oh, but Effy obeys me.” Severus smiled his most disarming smile and placed his hand on top of his spouses’ hand. “Indulge me in this, Lucius. You never knew anything but the sophisticated lifestyle of aristocrats with all the accessory privileges like tons of servants and wealth and such. We had one, already ageing, house-elf and that was about it. Just think of him as my personal assistant, if you will. Merlin knows I need one now with all the herbs I have to gather and potions to make in order to have a reasonable stock the moment my Apothecary opens its doors and-- “

“That reminds me.” Lucius interrupted, managing to act somewhat cool and collected again. “Remember the properties we’ve looked at? I’ve heard rumours about potential buyers for Greystone Alley so we better act swiftly. Which one would you like me to buy for you? And don’t start that old argument again because it’s either the property on Greystone Alley or the one at Burly Street. Take your pick. I don’t care. But you will not set up shop in the near vicinity of the manor.”

Severus rubbed the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger before looking up. “Oh, for Merlin’s sake, Lucius! Stop being so paranoid about it! You still have this mental picture of a long line of waiting werewolves outside of my Apothecary, don’t you? Use your intelligence instead of your fantasy, will you? Any potential buyer will certainly purchase the new Wolfsbane Potion with appropriate discretion; they’d want to avoid any risk of being seen buying it and therefore be labelled werewolf.”

“Yes, you certainly took care of that,” Lucius snapped bitterly, wiping off his mouth with his damask napkin.

“I beg your pardon?” The room temperature seemed to drop several degrees.

Lucius sighed dramatically, piercing the man across the table with his notorious Death Eater stare. “You know perfectly well what I mean.” He then snorted. “Because of your brilliant discovery, it will soon be almost impossible to detect the werewolves. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? A malevolent werewolf can cause frightening damage; they should be controlled at any cost.”

“Circe... not that silly labelling idea again,” Severus groaned, rolling with his eyes.

“Labels?” Lucius repeated with disdain. “Oh no no no. I was referring to putting them down. I was actually working on a bill concerning the legal termination of these creatures but then, ironically enough, my husband of all people creates this new potion to suppress and control the abnormality.”

While staring at his hand, Lucius bit his lip, obviously lost in thought for a moment. He then sighed and focussed on his husband again. “Is that really what you want? To go down into history as the saviour of all werewolves? You can’t possibly be serious to want to throw your life away like that!”

“I will go down into history as an exceptionally intelligent and skilled Grandmaster of Potions.” Severus now completely lost any remaining appetite and shoved his plate away to his left. “Apparently my work displeases you,” he stated coldly, slowly rising from the table.

“Oh, shut up, and don’t be so dramatic!” Lucius magically pulled him down onto his chair again. “You know that I am extremely proud of your work. It’s just the effect of this one new potion that I am upset about...”

“Yes, well, strictly making and selling potions I ‘like’, would remarkably soon force me out of business,” the new Grandmaster snapped. “Definitely Burly Street. Greystone Alley is too close to Diagon Alley”

Slightly surprised by the sudden change of subject, Lucius frowned. “And that’s a problem because...?”

“Former students, pushy parents with their hideous spawns... “

“People in general,” Lucius translated, not without a hint of mockery.

Snape gave him an exhausted look. “Do you have any idea how many requests for apprenticeship I receive on a daily basis?” He rubbed over his forehead, sighing deeply.

“Headache?”

“And tired.”

“You will accompany me to the reception tonight,” Lucius said with a sharp voice.

“Oh gods, don’t remind me...” It took Severus quite some willpower not to bang his head on the table and scream in agony. Being married to Lucius Malfoy had turned out to be everything he’d hoped for. And more. However, it also meant having a social life. Or to put it in more disturbing terms: receptions, parties, openings, gatherings...

Obligations. People. Again.

He loathed that part of his new life. Every second of it. Contrary to his spouse. Lucius often said he disliked it as much as Severus, but the new Grandmaster knew better; Lucius revelled in all the attention and manipulations. Not to mention the fact that the man had a truly frightening knowledge of all pure-bloods, past and present. Give him a name and Severus had no doubt that Lucius would even be able to tell what that person preferred to eat or who at one point had deflowered him or her.

“Who are we honouring with our presence this time?”

“The reception is being held in order to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Derwent-Cornell Educational Centre.” Lucius decided to ignore the cynicism and poured himself another cup of tea.

“And why exactly do we care about that?”

“We don’t.” Lucius stated matter-of-factly. “But we are invited and will attend. Deal with it.”

That last remark made Severus look up with fierce indignation; Lucius just sounded too bloody happy to ‘return the favour’.

“Oh, and please try to behave yourself tonight.” His husband sighed somewhat theatrically before slowly getting on his feet..

“I am not to blame for other people’s behaviour, Lucius.” Severus smiled the smile of the innocent while his better half stared at him suspiciously for a moment, not sure if this statement could be considered a forerunner of another disastrous performance by his spouse or not. Because, as soon as the new Grandmaster of Potions had discovered that weak excuses, sudden ‘illnesses’, being extremely ‘busy’ (‘That time already? How very unfortunate but I will not be able to accompany you, Lucius; I really have to finish this’) or even going into hiding (‘I was simply taking a walk and enjoying the different views of the estate. How was I supposed to know that it is already that late?’) were no longer accepted and therefore working for him, he immediately changed tactics. If Severus was forced to be present at whatever place he certainly did not want to be, then he had every right to at least amuse himself. Snape-style.

Most of the people he was forced to meet nowadays already knew of his notorious reputation, through stories they’d heard from sons, daughters, nieces or cousins unfortunate enough to have attended his classes. Severus was only too happy to affirm that reputation by treating all these new ‘acquaintances’ with little ceremony. He couldn’t exactly lash out like he wanted to and did frequently move dangerously close to the edge of the boundaries of etiquette, but so far Lucius had been able to smooth the ruffled feathers of those his husband had offended every single time. An act Severus quite often watched from a safe distance with unabashed amusement, much to Lucius’ frustration.

“You are a Grandmaster and therefore a genius; they look up to you.” Against his better judgement, Lucius tried to coax his husband into more social behaviour.

“People expect geniuses to be eccentric and antisocial. I do not have the heart to disappoint them.” Severus yawned again, only then noticing the hard glare Lucius was now giving him.
“What?!”

“Any intention of eating anything in the near foreseeable future”? Lucius drawled, staring pointedly at all the food on the table.

“And when was I supposed to do that? I had to defend my actions the moment I came home because my own husband obviously does not trust me.” Severus snapped, returning the glare with rapid increasing enmity. “Don’t you have an office to go to?”

“Love you too,” Lucius summoned a house-elf to bring his cloak, rewarded its services with an irritated slapping gesture and made his way to the door. Only to turn on his heels after a mere four steps. “I will be home at five. That should leave us with enough time to enjoy a good dinner before we enter into obligations.”

“By no means hurry back,” Severus didn’t even bother to look up and proceeded with stirring sugar through his tea. The considerable suspicion and mistrust Lucius, again, had displayed only minutes ago stung him into protective indifference.

Tense silence followed.

“With the purchase deed of the property on Burly Street.” An apology Malfoy-style.

Snape now looked up and stared at his better half. He just stared, his facial expressions completely unreadable.
Lucius hated it when he did that. It was as if Sev was looking straight through him while reading every twist and niche in his brain. A feeling that always made him extremely uncomfortable and nervous.
The Grandmaster finally indicated the acceptance of the apology by a curt nod after which Lucius heaved a small sigh of relief and left, cursing the fact that he still was unable to control his own demon of jealousy.