Lucifer

Chapter 4

June 1960    

    Lucius woke late, and yawned. The memory of the day before returned...his sixteenth birthday. There had been discreet presents at breakfast, and later, snatched in fifteen frantic moments during the "little gathering" of the trueblooded wizards of his social circle, a more personal present from Adrian. Not even the firewhiskey he was served when he sat with the men around the table after dinner had rinsed the taste of him from his mouth. He smiled, and stretched, languidly.

    Bath, and brunch, and a long session of trying out his new broom. He was sweaty when he came in, and was intercepted by a house-elf with a message.

    He found his father in the green study.

    "Get cleaned up," said Etienne Malfoy, his pale eyes travelling slowly over his son's frame. "We're going to Diagon Alley. I have some business to attend to there, and an element of your education to attend to."

    Lucius nodded, and at his father's faint motion of dismissal, left the room, headed up to his suite. He knew that he was lucky to get this much of a warning, let alone so much of an explanation.

    As he tilted his head back to wash the soap from his hair, it occured to him that he was a little excited about this. But then again, he'd not done much since he got home from school, and his father had been hinting all month that when sixteen and of age, he'd begin letting him in on some elements of his life that he'd hitherto kept hidden. Now was the time.

    The education he'd mentioned could be anything from a series of personal introduction to the dubious sources from whom his father accrued some of his more interesting magical items, to a dinner with some of his Ministry colleagues, or something more mundane, like how to inspect a business that ran itself in absentia. Maybe the clothes would indicate what was going on.

    But, beyond being some of his new robes, tailored to accentuate his slim height, the clothes hanging on the dressing stand told him nothing. As he was fastening the last clasp, his father walked in, looked him over, and nodded. "You'll do. You'll want a cloak. It's going to rain."

    Lucius slid his wand into the sleeve of his robe, darted a final glance at the mirror, and, picking up his cloak from the house-elf, followed his father out. They encountered his mother in the upstairs hall, and Lucius noticed she looked slightly worried.

    "We'll be gone all night," Lucius said to her. "Don't wait up."

    "I won't," she said, her voice preoccupied. But her eyes rested on him with real concern, and her cheek was cool against his as she kissed him farewell.

    They Apparated to Diagon Alley, and strolled along the street. It wasn't until his father stopped and said, "Ah, a busy night, I see," that Lucius actually saw the building, wedged in between two others. Its frontage gave nothing away...an awning, and two discreet bouncers, and a door that bore the number 1069 in gold letters.

    The bouncers bowed. "Mr. Malfoy, welcome," said one, opening the door for him. He nodded, and walked on through, and the bouncer bowed to him. Lucius saw the glint of intelligence in his eyes, and was surprised.

    The lobby was, at first glance, that of a luxurious hotel. Something about the air of the clerks, though, told him differently. But before he could pursue it further, a manager was bowing them into another room, and a coffee set being brought, all of it by hand.

    Etienne Malfoy accepted a cup, then looked at the manager. "I trust everything is in order for my son's....entertainment?"

    "Yes, indeed. If you will just follow the boy, there...."

    Lucius could take a cue. He rose, bowed to his father, and left. The boy took him through the apparently empty lobby, and up a set of stairs. Once he crossed the bend on the stairs, though, the art began to get....interesting. He was keeping up with his guide, but inwardly he was thinking, damn, I didn't know that was possible! He was a little flushed when the boy arrived at a door, an unobtrusive gold number the only marking. "If you have any needs at all, just let us know, " the boy said, and slipped away with a speed that made Lucius think he was part house-elf. It left Lucius facing a discreet door, in a discreet corridor, with not a bloody clue as to what to do. What the hell, he thought, and turned the knob, and walked in.

    The door shut behind him with a soft well-bred thud, but he didn't hear it. He was staring at the woman on the bed. Part veela, from the look of her, tall, with long dark hair, and she was quite naked. Attending to my education...well, father, I think this is going to be one of the single more enjoyable lessons you ever gave me. He smiled, unfastening his robe, as he walked toward the bed.

    It did not surprise Lucius to find his father lounging against the mantelpiece, a subtle air of relaxation about him, when he came out of the bathroom. The woman was gone, the bed remade.

    "When you're dressed, we'll go," he said, and Lucius nodded, reaching for his clothes, which were draped neatly on a stand nearby. He distinctly remembered them being flung, but that was house-elves for you. He pulled on his clothes, slipped into his robe, and fastened it.

    "I selected her myself," his father said, in an unusually expansive way. "There are other...elements...of your education to be seen to, in that regard, but she assures me you two made a good beginning." There was nothing to be said to that, so Lucius didn't.

    It was not until they were out, strolling along darkened streets, cloaked and anyonymous, that Lucius dared to ask the question that had been nagging at him since the shower.

    "Why did you do this...tonight?"

    Etienne Malfoy laughed, amazing his son. Damn, getting laid puts him in a really good mood, Lucius thought, and waited.

    "It is, as I said, an element of your education. It would not do for a Malfoy to be crude and unskilled in the ars amoris, any more than for you to fail Potions."

    Lucius nodded. He noted that he had been brought to and from the brothel in such a way that he could find it again. "Am I permitted to return on my own?"

    His father looked at him in mild surprise. "Of course. Moderation in all things, but it's better than you getting some mudblood pregnant. Don't spend all your allowance on whores, and make no promises."

    His father's tone was final enough that Lucius took it for the end of the conversation. The sun was lightening the eastern sky when they Apparated to Malfoy Manor. Lucius went immediately to his room. He found sleep came quite easily.

    Two days later, he returned. He found arrangements had been made...the same part-veela awaited him, and showed him how to please a woman.

    As the weeks went by, he returned. He kept learning...the different ways to make a woman scream with pleasure from mouth, and hands, and skillful use of what nature had given him, the tricks of dominance and of submission, the games where pain blended with pleasure. He smiled when a young man was brought in, and thought of Adrian, lovely Adrian, and enjoyed the differences and the similarities.

    And then one day, one last trip before he went back to Hogwarts, the young page did not lead him to a room. He picked his choice from a book, over coffee in a small room. The part-veela, who had never given him her name, was not among them, and he realized that his education was ended. He remembered his father's words, "Make no promises", and understood.

    They were useful lessons... the subtle air of mastery that told someone that you were their world until you chose to release them, trained into a sharp glance, was often enough to prevent open scuffling among first-years fighting for their places, enough to back down a rival for power. And Adrian had no complaints about his new skills. But he'd gotten the taste for a woman, too...the softness, the flavor, the feeling. And he decided that what he needed was a girlfriend. Definitely, he needed a girlfriend.