only the pleasure of a private life [closed]

[malificence]

Who: Lucius and Bellatrix
What: Just a witch and a wizard having a lazy weekend breakfast
When: Over the weekend.
Where: Malfoy Manor
Warnings: Disturbing levels of domesticity. Dark Arts Nerds, probably.

He still goes back and forth between Malfoy Manor and the far more distant and isolated Lestrange property where he had been living - but more of his nights are being spent in his own home, and it has its advantages, no matter how many times he contemplates just moving to the cottage in Cornwall and leaving them to it (a brief and unrealistic fantasy, honestly). One of them, frankly, is his kitchen elves are better than Rodolphus' are - and the spread includes coffee and tea, of course, but also chocolate and almond croissants and his favorite éclairs.

One might posit that after months of breakfasting with likeminded friends, a solitary late breakfast at Malfoy Manor - long after the boys have gotten themselves out of the house - might be lonely. It can be, certainly, Lucius thinks as the coffee pot raises in the air and pours the perfect amount of black French coffee into one cup. But not always.

His arm stretches across Bella's back as he reaches for the sugar. Which obviously he doesn't need to do, either, but. Well. "Cream, darling, or are you too busy stealing books from my library?"

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[malificence]

Lucius isn't averse to using Malfoy property, but then - especially lately - Abraxas Malfoy has largely removed himself, which leaves Lucius a twenty-six year old head of several households while his father stays at the old chateau in Normandy. Still, caution isn't unwarranted, especially when it comes to this sort of ritual. It's not the sort of thing one wants to be caught with in one's backyard.

And the Highlands, or the north of Ireland has several advantages to offer - distance, and stronger magicality than many places in England proper. His laugh is soft and directly in Bella's ear. "I'm certain you're right," he says. "Or else there's all those islands with nothing but lighthouses to keep their ships from crashing into unnoticed rock. I'm certain a solitary, lonely Muggle keeper could hardly resist you." Or him. Or Alecto. They were all so very convincing, after all.

[scinlac]

"An island would be tempting, wouldn't it?" He knows her well enough to recognise the expression on her face, that point where she is about to change a spell, a ritual, any piece of magic into something else. Sometimes, it is merely more devious. At other times, more potent. "We could simulate a world, I reckon. All inhabitants of an area dead on this particular night could do something to a small island, no?"

She is sure to have read something along those lines somewhere, but it's practical conjecture, anyway. And it can hardly be impossible to find a lighthouse keeper with a wife and two daughters, or any three females next of kin nearby.

[malificence]

There are some who frequently underestimate the both of them, for different reasons, but anyone who does it after seeing this sort of look on Bella's face deserves exactly what they get. It mostly makes Lucius smile to think about. "Almost certainly," he says. "Especially on Samhain Night."

Samhain is some time away, he thinks, which gives him time to do one of the things he really does do best - namely, ferret out information about such a place. There are a few eager to please types in the Ministry likely to be able to help, he thinks. "I think I'm going to go to Hogwarts next weekend," he says. "Alecto may have some ideas, too."

[scinlac]

“You do you.” Sitting in his lap, one hand dropping down to entice his cat to join them, feeling a nearly foreign sense of contentment, she does realise that some appearances need to be made by their respective lonesomes. It wouldn’t do to frown at her initial impulse to suggest to accompany him. “I suppose her new lesson plans are due, too.”

Look, if one thing never fails to amuse her, aside from torture, it’s that Alecto wound up Divination professor at Hogwarts. Bless her for taking this curse upon herself.

[malificence]

He blinks when Thessaly leaps up on him and then promptly curls up half on his lap and have on Bella's, and then glances over at Bella as she starts to scritch the cat behind her ears. "Indeed," he says dryly. "She can't rely on tea leaves for the entire year, the headmaster's bound to notice."

There's probably a bit of inherent sexism going into that appointment, Lucius often thinks. Of course, it was important to get a second presence at Hogwarts. Of course, the only position regularly open was generally Divination - so of course, the Death Eater sent to Hogwarts was one of the few women. It probably ought to have been him, but he's just as glad that their Lord overlooked him for the position. He rather likes the Ministry, thank you.

[scinlac]

Bellatrix does pet the cat, but Tess has found her point of interest in a loose corset strap, pawing at it and making it dance. Really, there is room for the theory that, when she had first become an irregular guest at Malfoy Manor, her main appeal had not been ear-scritches or conjured mice for play or no hesitation to let her sleep on the bed, but rather the fact that nearly nothing Bella wears comes without straps that are bound to be undone and just plain a delight to play with.

“We could have bade our time and waited for another position to open up.” Or open one up by force, but with their luck, it would have been Muggle Studies, and none of them were qualified for that. “But we don’t have forever. Besides, you do make an excellent team.” As of yet, she has no idea just how uniquely suited Lucius would have been for the position, nor does she really see the sexism in sending Alecto. The Death Eaters are arguably a boy’s club, and it is, again arguably, due to the nature of their ideology, and as much as she had to fight teeth and claw to gain a rank that, were she a wizard of equal skill, would have been handed to her on a silver platter by her supposed peers… she agrees with the concept. The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black does quite well on the mind-washing front, and Bella’s compartmentalising is truly impressive. She will violate plenty of rules regarding her position – her refusal to have children, her refusal, even, to marry, quiet and secretive and temporary as that is, only stretches to herself.

We all have our defence mechanisms.

[malificence]

It's true that Lucius' clothing is, in a word, less interesting than anything Bella wears. He doesn't even disagree with Tess on this point, as it's quite beyond him to argue with corsetry, garters, loose straps and dangling ribbons. Tess is only a cat and Lucius is only a man.

"We could have," he agrees. But Muggle Studies was the most likely. The others - charms, defense against the dark arts, transfiguration, arithmancy and ancient runes - those are all pure professors and there'd be a bit of an outrage if any of them were removed. Divination does make sense, as it's the most frequently vacated post.

Bella's got no idea how well Divination would suit him, he thinks, and he'd prefer to keep it that way. As close of friends as they are, as tangled as they tend to get together, as many years as they've known each other - there are some secrets to big to keep. A Seer among the ranks of the Death Eaters? Lucius is not entirely certain he wishes to be so useful. "The lesson plans are amusing, at any rate," he murmurs. "My father is rather of the opinion that I ought to have been an academic. Isn't it an amusing thought?" Perhaps in a different life, but there are things he loves more than seeking more knowledge.

Or, well. Ways of seeking that go beyond the pale for academia.