Marrying Lucius Malfoy

"Riles, what's that song you're humming?"

Riley's graceful movements didn't pause at all, like Selina had hoped they would. She didn't stop humming either. The situation was fast becoming vexing. Her friend had been humming the same tune for over two weeks now.

"Riley, what's the name of the song that you've been humming?"

Riley shrugged. "Don't know the name. Just heard it somewhere."

Selina left it at that. She had a hunch that there was more to the story than what Riley was choosing to tell her, but Dr. Fuller was scheduled to come by in ten minutes, and she didn't have the energy to pry something out of her friend. Dr. Fuller's visits always ended badly-not because Selina was rude, but because every time she left Dr. Fuller either extended their meeting time (which was currently four and a half hours) or Selina's stay at the Lewis Ludwig home-and now Selina was actually depressed. Lucifer had taken to limiting Riley and Pamela's visiting time over the past week under Dr. Fuller's orders. It didn't help one stitch that she'd been on bed rest for little over a month. She was going crazy, being stuck all alone in that too-cheerily-decorated room.

"Time to go," a nurse said, leaning in the doorway and pointing to Riley. "Dr. Fuller's on her way."

Riley grumbled and sulked on the way out, making a show of her displeasure and swearing that before the weekend was out she'd have the nurse's job. Idle threats were always aplenty when Riley was thrown out of Selina's room. Pamela would say it all with a resentful glare. Neither were held with wide regard among the nurses, and it was only through the intervention of Draco Malfoy that either were allowed to spend more than fifteen minutes a day in Selina's company.

Dr. Fuller arrived five minutes after Riley had departed. It was now the first week in February now, and it had almost been a month since Selina had awoken. Almost a month since Dr. Fuller begun to try to "alleviate Ms. Graham's depression." But so far nothing had worked. For an obvious perfectionist like Dr. Miriam Fuller, that was not tolerable. And so, soon after Fuller herself entered the room, two more psychiatrists followed her in. They all held clipboards and they wore identical smiles of sugared sympathy and trained understanding.

"Mrs. Graham, I must inform you of the circumstances that have forced me to bring my colleagues into our sessions. Your brother-in-law is extremely worried about your wellbeing. We've had little less than a month together, and as of yet, our conversations together have amounted to no more than,"-all the doctors peered down at their clipboards, searching for a number as if they truly didn't know it,-"twenty-three words. Twenty of these words were orders of you issuing me to leave, and the last three were foul words that no proper lady should ever use.

"And I must tell you, this vexes me and worried me for your sake, Mrs. Graham. Your brother-in-law, Mr. Graham, requested the best the Lewis Ludwig home could provide when Dr. Carfunkell advised a psychiatrist. That, of course, was me. But seeing as my efforts have amounted to little, I've requested that the best from Margaret Mercy's Private Hospice come and assist me. I trust that together we three can put you on the road to health. Now, allow me to introduce you to Doctor Janis Hokins and Doctor Rodney Murry."

Hopkins stepped forward, her eyes alternating between her clipboard and Selina's stiff form. She, unlike nitpicky Dr. Fuller, seemed to be a people-pleaser. She was surprisingly easy to analyze. Her plump, red face read like an open book. Though she couldn't be much older than thirty she looked as though she were going on forty. Her apparent need to help others had compelled her into a counseling career. Had the circumstances been different Selina might have liked Dr. Hopkins.

"Now, it says here that your husband hasn't been allowed to visit."

"Or even been told of your whereabouts," Dr. Murray interjected.

"Your brother-in-law seems to think that his elder brother, your husband, is not well enough in the head to be allowed in your presence. Tell us about this. Does it make you mad? Sad? Angry?"

Selina stared out the window. What right did they have to ask these questions of her? In the twenty-one days that they'd seen each other Dr. Fuller had never breached the subject of Lucius. Selina had no idea how much the woman had been told, but she was appalled that now all three strangers, no matter their intentions, knew even a bit of what was going on in her marriage. It might prove to be the straw that broke the camel's back.

"And I notice here that you're twentieth birthday is next April. You're only nineteen, and yet your husband is over forty. Tell us about the circumstances that brought about your marriage." Drs. Fuller, Hopkins, and Murray all poised their quills above the clean white parchment, as if suspecting their banding together would cause her to break.

And in a way, it did, though the affects were far from what they wanted. Selina began to cry. It was too much, being isolated and held captive in her tiny blue room while complete strangers probed into parts of her life that she herself wasn't ready to revisit. The doctors were suddenly tensed and worried. Something told them that these weren't tears of open relief, and though the Grahams were a secretive people--many who came the Lewis Ludwig home were the secretive sort--Dr. Fuller knew enough to know that Selina's husband was an old school pureblood.

If she were to cause a breakdown in his wife...

"Mrs. Graham, we'll be leaving now," Dr. Fuller said quickly. "You need time to think this all over, alright?"

Her colleagues seemed to understand the century old galleons backing Selina too, and they scampered out after her. Selina was thankful for their departure, but now she was unhappier than ever. Riley wouldn't be back for another four hours; she'd have gone to her new shop, which opened in April, instead of waiting around for Dr. Fuller to declare Selina even more depressed and leave in a frustrated huff. Pamela was back at the manor, watching the crups, and wouldn't be by until at least six that evening.

Selina was surprised, then, when the door to her room opened and shut with a tiny 'click'. She rolled over in her bed to face the door, fully expecting Dr. Carfunkell or Lucifer, but instead finding a stern Ms. Laverne standing tall and strict in the doorway. Selina hadn't seen Ms. Laverne since their confrontation Christmas Eve, and she hadn't spent much time dwelling on her crabby maid during her stay in the hospice. She didn't know whether she'd rather face-off with Delilah Laverne or put up with Dr. Fuller and her two colleagues. She did have her manners though, and she greeted Ms. Laverne cordially enough.

"Hello, Ms. Laverne. It has been a while." Selina gave a weak shadow of a smile and smoothed her short, wild red hair. She waited to learn why Ms. Laverne was visiting her, and how she had even found out where Selina was.

"You look positively ill," Ms. Laverne commented. She obviously didn't believe that courtesies were in order. "I take it they haven't let you out of this room for a while?"

"Not even out of this bed," Selina said woefully.

The surprise of Ms. Laverne's visit had passed, and now she wanted to be left alone. Ms. Laverne sensed this dive in Selina's mood, and she moved towards the bed. When she reached it she cupped Selina's face, much thinner than a month before, and held it for a second. Selina was awed by the show of affection. What had she done to make Ms. Laverne so sympathetic?

Nothing, it turned out.

Instead of rubbing Selina's cheek comfortingly Ms. Laverne drew back her hand and slapped her. And not just any mild mannered slap, mind you. Delilah Laverne packed a full-on catfight slap that left a vivid red handprint on Selina's right cheek. Understandably, this made Selina angry.

No...Not angry...Enraged was more the word!

Fury coursed through Selina's veins so suddenly that it frightened her. She didn't know what sorts of words were tumbling from her lips, but she knew that every other one was a curse. Finally, when she had her wits about her, Selina lunged out towards Ms. Laverne to return the favor.

Her wrist was caught, and Ms. Laverne said, quite coolly, "I'll bet you, Miss Selina, that this is the first time in weeks that you've felt anything other than sympathy for yourself."

And just as suddenly as Selina's rage had come, it was gone. She sunk down into her bed, more exhausted than she'd been in months. To start feeling again after you'd flat out stopped took up a lot of energy. She watched as Ms. Laverne took her seat in her chair and began to talk.

"They put me away in a place like this when what happened to you happened to me," Ms. Laverne said. She paused, and Selina could tell she expected a question, but when none came she added, "I was married, once."

Selina's interest level shot up. "To whom?"

"No one you know of, I'm sure. Years ago his family was a very rich bunch of purebloods living in France. That's where I grew up you see, with my Momma and Poppa and my two sisters. I was rich back then, though my bloodlines weren't as pure as most. When I turned sixteen I was withdrawn from the tiny, private all girls school to marry him.

"His name was Timothy Rothfield, and like Mr. Malfoy, he was handsome and debonair. He was sporadic with his kindness, showering me with praises one day and cursing me--and when I say cursing, I mean it in the literal sense--the next. When I was seventeen I got pregnant. Nine months later I had a daughter, and I named her Sia Louise. Timothy was not pleased with a daughter though, and so, when she was a week old, I awoke to find that he'd given her away to some foreign couple."

"Oh, how horrible-"

"It was, at first, but I grew stronger, and after another year's hard work I had yet another daughter. I named her Constance Jubilee, and again, a week later she was gone. I was comforted that Timothy gave her to the same family. Then, when I was twenty-one, I got pregnant again. It seems an awful pattern, but this one was a girl as well. I named her Jessica Marie, and in less than three days she was gone.

"It took me twelve years to get pregnant again. This time we took tests, and it was a boy. As you might imagine, thrice I had given birth, and thrice I had lost my babies, but this son Timothy was sure to let me keep.

"Plans were made. Timothy began to take me out to his family's château in the country. On one such trip something went wrong. No one was ever able to tell me the true details, but somehow the château caught on fire. I was sewing upstairs at the time, and Timothy was in the wine cellar below. He burned to death, and I was rescued by a servant.

"A month and a week later I woke up in a private hospital such as this. I was covered in burns, and my elder sister, Barbara, told me I had lost my son. For the next few weeks I felt nothing but anguish for my own poor fate. I wallowed in my pity, and my mood only served to drop lower when I learned t Mr. and Mrs. Rothfeild wanted me to marry their other son, Leopold. Now, if Timothy was a pig, then his brother was a boar. I wanted nothing to do with either of them.

"When I hit rock bottom Barbara did the same to me as I did to you. She slapped me, and God almighty, did I react. But it got me to live again, and then I was able to focus more solely on how to escape my future marriage. It turned out that an old school chum of my younger sister's, Narcissa Black, was hiring a maid to accompany her back to England so that she could marry the rich, infamous Lucius Malfoy. I, of course, took the job, and here I sit before you."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Selina asked.

"Because, you aren't who I thought you were," Ms. Laverne said. "If you were the person I thought you to be, you'd be dead right now."

"I still had to be rescued," Selina reminded her.

"But until you were rescued, you hung on, didn't you?" Ms. Laverne asked. Tearing the lace of her collar off, she revealed skin scarred by flames. It must have extended down onto her chest and over her arms. "I hung on, too."

The words were hefty with meaning. Selina felt honored to know so private a thing about Ms. Laverne. She'd never guessed that the lace was meant to hide something.

"I can't say that I like you quite yet, but I respect you, and for now you'll have to put up with that." Ms. Laverne stood then. "You don't belong here, Miss Selina. The first opportunity that comes along to escape, you take it."

"I will," Selina promised.

The room had become so silent then that both women started when a loud crack happened somewhere down the hall. Ms. Laverne recovered quickly, though, and threw herself away from the bed. "Opportunity comes in all forms," she whispered, and then all hell broke loose.

~*~

Lucius was still under a close watch. Though he hadn't been acting up lately he was managing to break away for long periods of time to concur with someone or another, probably that fat old maid of his. At the moment he was taking a bath. Lucifer had stepped out for a moment or two to take a stroll, calling upon Selina's maid, Ms. Duraford, before leaving.

When he returned he found Ms. Duraford bound and gagged in the chair outside Lucius's private rooms. "Bloody hell," he muttered. He untied the maid with haste and snapped at her to get her to speak her story.

"God, just run...Oh, he's going to take my mistress...He forced me to tell where she was!" The maid's voice was rushed and breathless and full of fear. Lucifer wasted no time listening to the rest of the story. He dashed down the hall and off to a place where he could apparate to the Lewis Ludwig home. Had he wanted around a moment longer he would have heard Pamela Duraford's soft, lilting laughter.

~*~

Many things happened at once, but Selina only paid heed to those which were of the greatest importance. First, two whirling balls of energy burst through the door, knocking off its hinges and kicking up all sorts of hell. Close to follow were a multitude of doctors and nurses and bored hospital employees that were just there for the action.

Dr. Fuller was their fearless leader, and it amused Selina to no end when one of the two dervishes hurled itself at her over-bearing psychiatrist. Dr. Fuller went berserk and flailed about like a headless chicken while Hopkins and Murray pretended to fend the wild little tyke off. The other creature began to crash about the room, not focusing on anything in particular but still managing to do twice the damage as its partner.

Second, Ms. Laverne moved to the window. It seemed a small matter, but Selina had a gut feeling that Ms. Laverne, while not the ringleader of this chaotic mess, was second-in-command. Sure enough, Ms. Laverne pulled through the window none other than Lucius Malfoy. He looked elegant and dashing and, though it pained Selina to admit it, rather handsome. He moved swiftly to Selina's bed, and he kneeled down so that he was looking up at her.

"I know," he said in a low voice, "that I'm the last person in the world that you'd want to be rescued by, but please, consider this. It's me or that shrink my brother's been forcing you to see. It's freedom--of course, we won't be returning the Malfoy Manor--or being stuck in here for Merlin knows how long. I may not be the best way out of here, but regardless of that, I am a way out."

Maybe it was the fact that he was a way to escape from the Lewis Ludwig home. Maybe it was because Selina was ready for something new and the adventure that would ensure her escape. But in the end it was the fact that Malfoys never said please, and that if Lucius could humble himself to say the magic word than she could humble herself to go with him.

~*~

They were somewhere in Italy.

That's all the young maid had told her last night when they'd arrived at the country villa the night before. Lucius had procured a portkey in the form of a chunky, ridged golden key, and they'd sailed off the very edge of a vast, vast field of grass. There a roomy carriage had awaited them. The carriage had borne no driver and no horse. The moment Selina and Lucius had stepped in and shut the door it had taken off with a swift smoothness that only magic could bring about.

'No muggle would be allowed within a thousand feet of such blatant magic,' Selina had managed to think in the sated state that followed her escape of the Lewis Ludwig home. 'This must be an ex-mat property.'

Other than that, Selina was very unsure of anything. She had no idea how in the world Lucius had managed to smuggle her out of the Lewis Ludwig home. She had idea if officials deployed by the ritzy private hospital were combing the UK for her, claiming that she still needed intense treatment. She didn't know what Lucius expected her to do for in exchange for her liberation.

She might as well go and find out though. Not necessarily from the man himself, but perhaps from a maid. Selina smoothed her hair-it hadn't grown a bit in the past month, and she was still adjusting to the shortened length-and swung her legs over the bed. The frame of the bed had been built for a person a good two feet taller than Selina, and her feet swung inches above the hard stone floor. In a vigorous effort to launch herself back into a life where she was not confined to the bed, Selina catapulted herself to the ground.

That proved to be a big mistake. Her legs, which had not been used for over a month, collapsed under her, and her body flailed all over the place. Her left knee struck the corner of a wooden table, and Selina found out the hard way that just because her legs wouldn't work properly they would still feel. Pain exploded in her knee, and she let out fly a string of yelps and curses.

Not surprisingly, no sooner had she cried out than the door near her bed was thrown open. Lucius burst in, a towel around his waist and a razor in his hand. His blonde hair hung in wet clumps around his shoulders, and a few strands stuck to the shaving cream still slathered on his face. Only a few seconds later two maids burst in. They all stopped short when they saw Selina sprawled on the stone floor. All three froze as they sized up the situation. When all three stayed rooted to their spots Selina began to question their competency.

"How did this happen?" one of the maids asked. She had surprising curves for a woman so young, with rich black hair and pale green eyes. She was very lovely in a fragile, feminine way, and she managed to look down her nose upon everyone in the room. Selina wondered why she had opted for a life that would bring so much servitude.

"I tried to leap from my bed," Selina said. "But my legs won't work."

The other maid, who was a great deal more down to earth in the looks department, rushed over and laughed in a motherly sort of way, though she couldn't have been much older than twenty-one.

"Dear me, I'd think not! Darling, you haven't walked for little over a month! And prior to that your legs were broken! Honey, you'll have to undergo a bit of physical therapy!"

"I've had enough therapy to last a million lifetimes," Selina growled.

The maid wasn't taken aback by Selina's ornery attitude. "Well, it'll be much different then what you endured at the Lewis Ludwig home. I'm Andrea Briello, by the way. I know a bit about massages and the like, and your husband has asked me to help you learn to walk again."

"I hope he has better taste in therapists than his younger brother," Selina snapped.

"Well, you'll be the judge of that," Andrea said brightly. "But first, let me tell you what the next week will entail. Basically you'll need a lot of massaging, to get your muscles not to totally cramp up or anything bad like that. I'll teach your husband those massages, of course. He'll also be key in supporting you as you walk along."

Lucius looked strangely uncomfortable. "I volunteered to help," he told her.

Selina's surprise must not have been well masked, because, immediately following that, Andrea said, "Oh, come now dear! He's your husband! He should want to help you!" This brought more awkwardness to the room, and Andrea seemed to sense this. "Oh, he doesn't know most of the massages yet, so I'll just massage that bruise. If I don't it'll form a knot. So if Mr. Malfoy will just wait down in the library for us...?"

Lucius seemed glad to be excused to go and clean up his appearance. He nodded and turned to go, but his towel caught on a corner of the wooden table, and suddenly he was totally naked. He paused for five seconds at least, whether in surprise or to show Selina just what she had been missing, and when he did turn to go, he didn't dash, like other men might of. Instead he strode to the door, in all his naked glory, before disappearing into his rooms.

"Well, Miss Selina, I don't know what's the matter in your marriage, but I'd forgive a man anything if he was built like that!" Andrea crowed.

"His abs are rather fetching, aren't they?" the pretty maid asked.

Andrea shot her companion a devious look. "Oh, darling, I wasn't talking about his abs!"

The maid's mouth made a small 'O', and she blushed. "Don't say such things in front of Miss Selina, Andrea," she corrected. "Whether she favors it or not, Mr. Malfoy is her husband!"

"I apologize, Miss Daphne," Andrea said.

"Miss Daphne?" Selina asked. "Surely you're not-"

"The lady of this house? Why, I am! Surprised you, haven't I?" The pretty woman gave a tiny bow. "I'm much like you are now, Selina. I married a man much older than I, due to reasons which I'll keep to myself for now. I came from a poor family from Liverpool, and when my husband--he's borne of an Italian businessman and a French socialite--met me at a party he brought me right over to Italy. I hated marrying him, but duty calls for sacrifices. Andrea's been my constant companion since after our honeymoon, and I find that I like dressing simply rather than luxuriously."

Selina rather liked Daphne, but she noticed that Daphne had left out the key interest point in her short story: had she ever fallen in love with her husband? Oh well, questions could come later. For the time being Selina stuck her leg out from the body and allowed Andrea's fingers to work the tender skin of her knee. Five minutes later, when Andrea was finished, the bruise wasn't completely gone, but it felt a million times better.

The next twenty minutes were spent being hauled about by Daphne and Andrea around her suite. She was assisted in taking a bath, and then Andrea found Selina a loose green dress. The skirt was made of an airy fabric that would be easy to move about in. The castle was still cold with winter though, so to keep Selina from catching a bad cold Daphne produced a pair of skin tight leggings. Once she was fully dressed Andrea summoned a fancy looking wheelchair and motioned for Selina to sit down. Once the pretty redhead complied, they were off.

~*~

The villa was large, but it was no match for Malfoy Manor. There were only four stories, and after devising a method to get Selina's wheelchair down the wide, main stairway, they reached the library with little effort. Selina was willing to bet that besides a possibly existing ballroom that the library was the biggest room in Daphne's home. It was, like many of the other rooms in the villa, tiled with unsmoothed gray stone, and the several large bookshelves had been pushed against the walls. Lucius sat at the lone table in the middle of the room, and he stood to attention when the ladies walked in.

"I assume you'll be showing me the proper procedures?" he asked.

"I will," Andrea assured him. "I'll even watch over you for a while. But then I will have to tend to my other duties within the household. Does this suit you?"

"It does," Lucius said. He then watched as Andrea took him through various muscle stimulating massages and showed him how to support Selina as she walked. Once she was satisfied with her pupil Andrea excused herself. Daphne left not long after Andrea, and then Lucius and Selina were all alone. For a while they were able to focus of helping Selina's muscles strengthen again. Lucius would support her, and they'd walk back and forth across the spacious room. It didn't take long for Selina's legs to begin to regain their former strength, and soon she was able to totter about unaided for a yard or two at a time. It was then that Lucius began to tread sensitive waters.

"Don't you want to know how I was able to find out where you were staying?" he asked as Selina rested against a bookshelf. Her green eyes were closed, and her short red curls clung to her face like a cap, plastered on by the light sweat she had worked up during the exercise. She did not answer. "Must you be so stubborn?" Lucius asked after a good deal of waiting a good deal of being annoyed.

Selina opened her eyes to glare at her 'husband'. "Me? Stubborn? Just because I won't listen to you brag about how you helped me escape from the hospital?"

Lucius wished he could glare at her, but he was too fascinated with her anger towards him. As of yet, the emotion was mild, but it brought out a beauty in her that was most appealing. It wasn't so unusual for a woman to be prettier when her temper was roused, but for a sweet young woman such as Selina, whose good looks were based upon her sunny smile, it was particularly sexy.

"I won't brag, I promise. I just thought you might be curious as to how you came to be here. Or where here even is." Lucius kept his tone level, though he wanted nothing more to infuriate her. To see how angry she'd grow with him, to see what that anger would propel her to do. It was too much to be hoping that she'd jump his sorry bones, but a man could always hope.

"Fine then. Go ahead. Just how did you find me?"

"Your friends helped."

Selina couldn't hide her shock. "What?" She pushed herself up so that she was balanced on a

"From your friends. Ms. Bryce and your maid." Lucius was smirking again, and if he'd just discovered something better than sliced bread. "And, Selina dearest, it was they who approached me. Ms. Bryce sought me out three days ago and protested that she was tired of watching you wilt away in that place. So they negotiated. They'd tell me where you were if I'd steal you away."

Selina was still reeling from the confession, but she managed to stumble over to Lucius and glare at them. "I find it very hard to believe that Riley would help you with anything at all."

"She would if I promised to help her start her business," Lucius retorted.

"I find it even harder to believe that she'd accept charity from you."

Lucius snarled, which in itself was quite unappealing, and glared at Selina. "There's no living with you, is there? Well let me explain to you just how things worked out! Your friend Riley had a brush with the law a few weeks back. She cursed a man's hand completely backwards in some muggle bar.

"She wants to remodel the building she'll be setting up in, you know, but she's bought a building that's over one-hundred years old. To do that she has to be granted a whole cauldron-full of permits. As you might imagine, cursing a muggle man's hand backwards halted the granting process. If I hadn't gone up to the Ministry and called in a few favors then Ms. Bryce's shop would not be opened until the year 2005."

"It's always blackmail with you, isn't it?" Selina asked.

"Don't you know it, darling?" Lucius flashed a devilish smile.

"There's no living with you!" Selina spat. She was getting the hang of walking again. Whether it be her magical based stamina or her infuriation with her so called better half, she was able to teeter about.

"It's not as if you try at all," Lucius grumbled. "You're just as set in your ways as I am in mine!"

Selina resented the accusation so much that she could barely fathom that it was true. "Don't you compare me to you!" she growled. She was seated on the other end of the table.

"I'll do what I like," came the response.

"And with whomever you like!" Selina spat. If he wanted to start a fight then she'd be sure to bring her fair share of blows.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gray eyes flashed as an opposing pair of green ones simmered.

"You think you're so high and mighty, Lucius, but you pawn yourself off to whatever filly catches your eye! If you're so magnificent then why do you screw all those women? Are you not precious enough to screen your bedmates?"

"You don't want to go there," Lucius warned her. Really, the fact of the matter was that he didn't want to go there. Lucius knew where this path was leading, but he barely knew how they'd stumbled upon it. One minute they were talking about Riley's shop, and then the next they were arguing about his mistresses!

"Don't I?" Selina asked.

She was playing with fire...

She was going to get burned...

"I'm warning you!" Lucius was trying his best to prolong the Armageddon of a fight that was sure to eventually take place between them. Perhaps it was because Selina was so weak, or perhaps he didn't want to further alienate the woman he had fallen for.

"Do you know what?" Selina stood. She balanced the bulk of her weight on her palms, which were pressed firmly against the table.

"What?" Nothing could have prepared Lucius for her answer.

"I blame you for everything."

It was a simple statement, and not at all a surprising one. Many people blamed Lucius Malfoy for their problems. He was, quite honestly, guilty of most of the charges, but he never loved any of the faceless people that he'd destroyed.

"I blame you for being forced to leave my own country for your rigid, society bound one. I blame you for getting pregnant so young. I blame you for not being there to rescue me and our child while I was being beaten. I blame you for letting me rot away in that hospital while you fucked Merlin knows who. But you know what I blame you for the most, Lucius Malfoy?"

He wouldn't, couldn't, shouldn't answer that question…

"You took my youth, you bastard. I'm only nineteen, and I've already been married, gotten pregnant, and miscarried. My life is over, and I haven't even begun to live yet."

She hadn't screamed the whole time. Her tone had been steady, soft, lulling. She might have spoken to a young child using the same pitch, but yet her insults had been scalding. Lucius could only conclude that the words added the bite. If you said things that were horrid enough you could make anything sound bitter.

"Get out." It was a venomous, purposeful order, and yet Lucius was taken aback. "Just get out and leave me be."

"I'll send Lady Daphne's maid up," Lucius assured her. He'd leave, for staying around would only worsen things, but he still had to appear to have some sort of control over the situation.

"You'll do no such thing," Selina retorted. "Leave me to be alone."

"For as long as I feel necessary," Lucius replied. Even coming from his own mouth her could sense how rude they were. They were revolting to any true gentleman, Lucius was have betted, but he was no true gentlemen, and so he let them hang there over the face his wife. He left in a stride that he didn't break until he reached the floor that contained his room.

Lucius settled at his desk and folded his arms. He was no fool. He'd botched things up stupendously well. Selina was sure never to talk to him after he was so rude. And yet he knew she had to. What she'd said in there-"My life is over, and I haven't even begun to live yet!"-frightened him. When one conceded that their life was over they ceased trying to live. It was simple logic to the depressed, anducius had seen it happen before.

And so he had to explain some of the things that had happened that fateful Christmas night. Lucius would have to begin by explaining Arielle DeSanders' behavior that night, and then he'd have to-gasp!-apologize for bits of his behavior. So Selina wouldn't talk to him? That was fine by him! There were other ways of reaching a woman.

Lucius reached for a quill and scented paper, and then he began to write.

~*~

At half past four a letter slid under the door and across the cold tiles. It stopped far from Selina's feet, and so she pointed her wand and summoned it was a simple, "Accio parchment!"

At first she didn't know who it was from. The paper, and even the envelope, were scented. Selina had ruled out Lucius as a suspect because of that until she opened the letter and revealed the swirling, old fashioned cursive that Lucius often used. She debated selling it on the internet or throwing it into a fire, but curiosity prevailed and Selina began to read the letter.

It began bluntly enough.

'Dear Selina,

You're angry with me.'

Well, that was the understatement of the year!

'If I were a better man I'd be able to admit that, yes, I am to blame for all of your troubles. As it is, I'm having difficulties conceding that I've been such a failure in my marriages.'

Selina shifted in her chair. She could tell, just from the first few sentences, how hard it must have been for Lucius to admit such things, much less put them onto paper. She'd have to credit him for at least that!

'I owe it to you to explain some of the events that took place on the Christmas Eve that the child was lost.'

Selina frowned. She wasn't about to read a letter-it was over a page long that merely proclaimed how right he was. Just a few more sentences, to hear his sorry excuse, and she'd shred the parchment.

'I know that the following words will be fairly unbelievable and inconsistent from what you know of me. Perhaps if I could produce some sort of evidence that would give my words a proper foundation, but at the moment I think it's best to keep the evidence to myself. The truth of the matter is that, just before you caught us, I had fired Ms. DeSanders.

As I told you, there is no evidence or reason as to why I fired Arielle. You have little reason to trust in me, but for the sake of it all, pretend that this was so. Pretend that when Ms. DeSanders learned that she would no longer be living on my bankroll, she got rather...testy. Pretend that, between the two of us, some terrible, cruel words were traded. And, if we're still pretending, let's say that Ms. DeSanders saw your approach and found an easy way to get her much desired revenge on me.

You ran before I could even begin to explain things, though, from what I know about you, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. There's no use going down the road of 'what if', though. You lost the child, and even magic can't change that.

You're too young, Selina. As much as it grieves me to admit this, it is the most obvious of my failures, and I must own up to at least this. I'm older and decidedly more mature. I should have used some sort of contraceptive potion, or performed a spell on you. Many things would have not happened if I had taken the right precautions.

You might have been able to guess this, but I fought a good deal with Narcissa. We were in love at first. Not many remember that when we were first wed, it was because we were in love. Things changed, though, and Narcissa and I grew distant. Many things went wrong in that marriage, and when she died, we were not on good terms.

I won't lie and say I was racked with guilt. I rarely am, as you might be able to tell. And then you almost died. As if that was not enough, Arielle lied. I did want that child, however much you may doubt that.

I'm not such a heartless man that I'd despise my own child. I understand that now you'll pobably never want to have another child, or even sex, for that matter, but just in case we both consent to giving parenthood another go, perhaps we should work on our own relationship. I would have been a far better father to Draco if I hadn't yelled at his mother half of his childhood and refused to talk to her for the other half.

Love might not be in our cards, but perhaps a decent friendship would be. For the sake of the rest of our lives, might we try and give it another go? If you'd honor me with your company over dinner tonight, I'd do my best to repay you.

Signed,
Lucius Malfoy

P.S. Five in the arboretum?

Selina put the letter down. Contrary to her previous thoughts, she had not shredded the letter. Even when he wasn't in person, Lucius had a way of making his words flow. He had a way of entrancing someone, and Selina was surprised to find out that she wasn't totally immune to the roguish charm he always displayed.

'If you'd honor me with your company over dinner tonight,'-Selina's hand went to her cheek,--'I'd do my best to repay you.' It wasn't an outright confession of 'eternal thankfulness.' She wasn't looking for one, so that didn't bother her, but dinner? Dinner would, doubtlessly, involve talking. She and Lucius had never been good at talking, but after he'd written her a letter like that-it was a big step. It deserved some sort of reward.

Glancing at the clock, Selina found that she was already late. It was five-ten. Even if she were able to run like a normal person, she'd probably get lost along the way. And yet, she had a feeling that if she didn't show up, Lucius would be mortified and retreat. It would be a harsh blow to his pride...

And yet she knew she couldn't make it on time. She'd have to devise another plan, a means of showing her willingness to work on things. To devise a plan she'd need a team.

Andrea and Daphne hadn't left her a direct means to reach them, but Selina had a feeling thatthey had been strolling by the hallway the entire time, straining their ears for any cries for help. She need only call.

"Andrea! Daphne! Might you come here?"

Selina hoped that she didn't sound too snooty. It wasn't her house, after all. Snootiness didn't appear to matter to Andrea or her Mistress Daphne for they burst through the library doors not a moment later, panting and huffing and looking wildly around the room as if they'd suspected Selina to be lying beaten and deranged on the stone floor. When they saw that she was fine they looked quite confused.

"I need your help," Selina said.

"Help?" Daphne asked. "Whatever for?"

"To help me come up with plan to help me win over my husband," Selina said, and for the first time she used the word without disgust or hatred. "Can you do it?"

Andrea gave a wicked smile. "Oh, I think we'll come up with something, dear!"