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Who: Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Black
Where: Castle Malfoy, Orkney Islands
When: December 6, 1980
What: Midwinter holidays away from the suspicious eyes of the deviant populace the line of fire their very demanding jobs at the Ministry.

He'd quietly hatched this plan a month before, when Rodolphus had decided to mark his birthday with the end of his engagement to Bellatrix - because, as faux as the relationship had been, it had offered a shield. For Rodolphus and Bella, a shield from parents who were determined to see their lines continued through their children. For Lucius, and really few would have even thought of the Black-Lestrange union offering anything to a young man outside that relationship, it had made it easy to explain away any closeness to either Rodolphus or Bellatrix as merely friendship. They were engaged, after all. Druella Black had been planning the wedding for a full decade, and no doubt had her eyes on Lucius for Andromeda, before she'd run off with the Mudblood.

With the engagement over, however, there was a pretense at distance required, and while neither he nor Bella would admit as much, that was a bit more...difficult than one would expect. He likes to blame it on the ritual they'd performed Samhain night, the one he'd picked to get his unruly visions in line, and it was true it had involved the sacrifice of three Mudblood girls and complex and intense magics. But truthfully, he and Bella are very close and have been since he'd returned from his little European tour. It's not only magic that has them wanting some time with each other. But they can pretend it is.

His expression is dry as he pins an elaborate malachite and silver pin to the inside of Bella's robe after she's locked the doors of her official house behind her. "Keeps the maledictions at bay," he tells her. "My grandmother was most fond of magical jewelry of this sort." And his grandfather had been secretive and reclusive in his latter years, after his Irish pureblooded witch had passed - hence the use of his late wife's jewelry as the keys to the castle, so to speak.

"Cornelius Clagg affirmed I am, apparently, no longer a suspect. I assume Elektra did the same with you, darling?" The whole thing was...well. Less ridiculous than it seemed, even if Clagg had thought his senior and Lucius' former classmate had been punishing him for something by making him interview Lucius, Amycus Carrow, and - and this was probably the worst of it - Rabastan Lestrange.

Lucius Malfoy manages to get the door of his office closed before he collapses into his chair and presses the heels of his hands to to his eyes. The color's mostly leached from his face, and there's a naked pain on his face that outweighs any he's let display in any battle or mission. But he can brace himself for curses thrown at him in the heat of battle; the visions - and the blinding headaches that come with them - are almost always without warning, especially lately. This was easier to hide until recently.

Until recently, it was occasional, he could use his reputation as a lazy and bored pureblood wizard to simply disappear when one started. But with his new position - and with the flood of time deviants - it's become worse, and sometimes he's just...trapped. Today, at least, he takes some small comfort in the fact that no one's likely to walk in. Peter won't be in for another hour, by which time - well, he'll be semi-functional, at least. The Ministry is quiet at this time; it's generally only the Minister himself - unlikely to come by this office, at least Lucius fervently hopes not - and Bella. Bella's been known to drop by, of course, but perhaps she'll be occupied until he can smooth his appearance and force the pain behind a smirk.

He focuses on his breaths as nonsensical visuals and the accompanying pain swamp him. A phoenix rising from the ashes. Open warfare. Faces that are nearly like the ones he knows but...cannot possibly be them. It used to be, before the time deviants, that he could at least make sense of what he saw, but lately he's not sure when he's seeing his future or...theirs. If there's a point when the world he knows becomes the world he sees in these increasing visions, Lucius hasn't seen it yet. He's focused enough that he almost doesn't hear the door when someone pushes it open.

Almost. Fuck, he thinks as he meets Bella's eyes. He hadn't gotten the wards up before the worst of it hit, and for a moment their eyes meet - hers wide, his bloodshot and dark. There's no hiding what's happening, he thinks, and he...he can't come up with a clever lie in this moment. "Ward the door," he says, and there's a rasp to his voice as he lets his head fall against his hands again. "Please."

He's just going to have to trust her.