the perfect criminal is a gentleman

[malxfoi-blog]

penance | LUCISSA

Black soles of polished shoes pace around the carpeted floor, stepping over the ashes with single hand in a pocket while the other played mindlessly with the wand in his fingers. Leaning against the white marbled structure decorating the chimney in the infamous snake’s nest, he taps the surface with the tip of his wand - pale blue eyes too calm and too focused all at once. Yet these shoot up towards the end of the hall, by the girl’s dormitory, at the slightest sight of movement. If anyone caught glance of Lucius Malfoy on this lovely Saturday afternoon, they’d think his fiddle fingers are a simple result of the nervousness in his heart and impatience to see his beloved betrothed. Poor boy, so sweet of him, they’d whisper, to yearn for his awaken future bride - a tragic love indeed!

They knew little of the twist in his lungs, a blaze-like sharpness that cut him open, rising vile to his throat and acid to his tongue.

Cold drops of sweat ran down his back at the flashes of that dreadful night. In a blink of an eye, a night of meticulous planning and cheer diversion turned into a cruel, living nightmare. If he closed his eyes, he could still see the light dissolve from Bellatrix’s stare, dead cold still as the limb body of his sister thrust into the wall. Narcissa Cygne Black - a porcelain doll with blood stains smearing pearly flesh, tinging perfect golden curls spread over the blackened floor. It was petrifying, the piercing silence that reined - panic slipping through their senses and running high on the bloodstream of all three wicked warlocks. And he should have stayed - Merlin knows he should have stayed. He, the husband to be, the protector of their future family, left the scene a scurry rat too scared of getting caught. All the wizard had done was leave her inert, delicate figure curled against the wall.

Coughs attack his lungs, taking out a handkerchief from his pocket as he cleaned the sweat on his neck. Lucius Malfoy was no suspicious man, even less a man of God, but he couldn’t help the nagging feeling tugging at his heartstrings telling him that this was justice.

When he hears light steps approaching, the aristocrat turns around - feeble smile on his lips, and an arm offered for her to hold. He can barely meet her eyes - striking, clear condoning eyes - when his gaze wavers to the side. What is she thinking? How will she react? Does she curse his beating heart in the privacy of her mind?

“Narcissa,” he licks his lips, breath caught in the back of his throat. “It’s good to finally see you.” Leaning over - slow and vacillating - he places a soft kiss on her cheek, with an arm gently hugging around her waist; purely a show, he knows, for those curious eyes lingering in the common room.

“May we go out, darling?”

[malxfoi-blog]

alcxrrow:

“ Fuck’s sake, Lucius, who’s wand do you have up your arse? It’s just a smoke. I’ve never been scolded by one of ours for sneaking a smoke after curfew before. I’m not hurting anyone and no one’s hurting me. ”

"Listen, Carrow, you may not have gotten notice but things have changed. The spot light is on us - all of us, despite what everyone else says. To shrug it off would be foolish - it would be idiotic. So as endearing as your I don’t give a flying fuck attitude might be at other times, currently it’s inopportune and pestering.”

[malxfoi-blog]

alcxrrow:

“ I’ll take my time, Malfoy. A proper smoke can’t be rushed. ”

"No, you won’t take your time. You will finish it and you will go back inside - for Salazar’s sake, Alecto. This is not a game.”

[malxfoi-blog]

alcxrrow:

“ Because I don’t care about curfew. That, and the dungeons were getting smokey and I needed the fresh air for a fag. ”

"Unfortunately for you, it’s not about what you care, Alecto. Finish it and walk back inside, will you? I don’t have the mindset nor willingness to lecture you today.”

[malxfoi-blog]

             "The curfews are final. There’s no negotiating time, so I hope you have a better excuse for being out this late.”

[gulcayn2-deactivated20210101]

Boyd Holbrook by Willy Vanderperre for Dior Homme Fall 2015

[daffodxl-blog]

       ❝ You’ve a mind for politics don’t you, my son? While I appreciate the merit of a silver tongue, it does nothing to assuage the distress of a father. Should the ties of the agreement between our two families stay in place, you may yet understand the task of rearing a child of Black blood and all that it entails. Alas, that all remains up in the air until Narcissa awakens and you put your Slytherin cunning to use in order to jump the hurdles of those restrictions. Any means, Young Malfoy - live it and learn it for the sake of longevity. Ah, but you see something did happen! Narcissa was not there, and it’s safe to presume that there was no business in either the dungeons or the first floor to preoccupy her. She wasn’t on her ascribed floor, or the floors above if we’re to believe Mr. Lupin was descending from the Gryffinor tower as he said. Do you see what a working mind can accomplish? ❞

[malxfoi-blog]

❝ I don’t plan to play politics with the life of my fiance, sir. But that seems to be the only way I am able to get through the barriers in this castle. I apologize for not being able to ease your stress, but I assure you any whisper, any progress and any movement in this castle, will be known to you. Indeed, she was not outside when this atrocity happened, though that does make me wonder what the students tasked to patrol the floors above have to say. Perhaps if the Head Boy and Girl had thought to gather us all in one place, we would not have to wonder why, for example, Mister Lupin wasn’t in his place. Though I am sure he had nothing to do with it, he is known to be loyal to his own. ❞

[daffodxl-blog]

        ❝ Ah yes, your duties. Let us hope you attend to your academic obligations better than you attend to my daughter, yes? I suppose you have some lead, then - with all of your investigations and rounds about this god forsaken castle? Names? A motive, perchance? Certainly, there must be some manner in which you’ve made yourself useful? Because, I cannot see a wink of it no matter how I turn my head. That night, what floor were your duties on? ❞

[malxfoi-blog]

❝ I attend my duties to attend the safety of all students, sir. It is too early to tell. The castle is a place that tends to trick with its inhabitants, and it is hard to presume anything as of yet when the professors have done close to nothing to investigate while still putting restrictions as to how far one can look. There is no motive I can think of that any would have against Narcissa. An incident occurred earlier in the year, and that also went without true investigation, but I will be sure that is not the case this time.  I was in the courtyards, sir. Nothing happened there.  ❞

[daffodxl-blog]

         ❝ Young Malfoy, you’ve a talent of making yourself sparse. Tell us, do you care to elaborate on your absence, or is it possible that you can enlighten us with knowledge we do not already possess? Surely the doting fiance must know the comings and goings of his future bride? ❞

[malxfoi-blog]

❝ Mister Black, I expected you would come. Do forgive me for not coming to receive you myself, our duties as Prefects have tripled due to recent events. Unfortunately, I do not know more than you have been told, I’m sure. Both me and Narcissa were on duty during the night - her with company, and me by myself as en elder student. If I had known something, suspected even, you can be sure we would not be in this situation. ❞

[malxfoi-blog]

broken symmetries | THE UNHOLY TRIO & VEGAS

Shadows slid across the long, hollow corridor - not a sound was made, but that of the whisks from the midnight air and the cooking of large, old owls flying tall above the towers and into the sky. Even paintings were silent and still; all sound asleep in the defining peace of the night. It was a chill that reigned the castle; pitch black clouds blocking moon and stars alike. So b e a u t i f u l l y convenient.

Two out of the three increased their speed, black fine fabrics of expensive cloaks bellowing against fleeting feet. The taller paused close behind, just a few mere steps behind as his companion raised one single arm - striking luminescent rays illuminating the obscured hallway for a sliver of a moment. Then, a plop; a body falling into the cold floor, wriggling against transparent ropes slithering around his legs, to his hands and arms, and finally around his neck.

“So squeaky clean, now that is hardly a surprise…” Chided the figure behind him as he was slow to approach the student in the floor; a tinge of a laugh lingering in the tune of his deep, baritone voice.

“Tact, mate. And these are new ropes.”

Without another word, he levitated the body into the air - slow to turn on his heels and faint smirk on lips, gray eyes now adjusted to the obscured space as he returned to the third shadow at the edge of the hall. It was a simple, elegant method they had done before - one watches, one attacks, and the other is ready to do what must be done. Then, they switch. An interchangeable tactic, developed in hidden corners, under quiet voices and casual discussions; for they must all learn, and the must all have their taste of the thrill and the rush.

Who ever said snakes were not generous?

Nonetheless, it was not a perfect plan. The blond wizard knew this; risk lurked around every corner, and in all frankness, a school setting was not convenient. But it was necessary. There was a lesson needed to be taught; a reminder of what had always been, and what must always be. Life was but a ladder, and some were born to climb it, and others to hold it - and many, many more to fall and never get up again.

The student’s body fell gracelessly into the cold, damped floor, causing a shriek from the boy and a high cackling from the witch in black standing by the door. Next to her, a limp body curled into fetal position; silent and seemingly peaceful, only a line of crimson drops staining the hairline by her ear. Once a room that served to teach young minds the art of defense in late medieval years, now it finally had a new use - a better use. For they were finally achieving what their ancestors could not: justice, for those superior to the rest. For the better race, the better species - for the witches and wizards that had to be quite in favor of the mundane no more.

“Just leave him here with her,” Rodolphus growled behind him, impatience tainting his words. “We still need another doll for our game, and you, Malfoy, need a lesson in torture.”

It was a conscious effort not to roll his eyes, a hand raising to welcome his most ravenous friend to step outside, and beginning his hunt. 

A young witch, a Ravenclaw - Salazar knows how she got in there - standing alone, and unassuming, in an empty hallway. Lucius could see why he chose her; a shy mudblood with too rosy thoughts. To dare to try - TO THINK - that she could be like them? Poor foolish thing.

He stood behind, like Rodolphus had done before, and only saw her silhouette; the moonlight catching onto the golden tresses of her hair. Two wands rising with exact synchronization, both ends pointing straight and clean to their prey.

“Silencio...”

“Crucio!”

[dogmaticdecay-deactivated201711]

[ruthlesscasanova]

[abumbling-blog]

" You mean warm blood and actual functioning organs, Malfoy? Makes sense you wouldn’t know anything about that. I’d feel sorry for your future wife if the entire castle wasn’t certain she was finding b l i s s elsewhere. Courtship can be tricky for a below average wizard, yeah? I’m not attempting anything. If a Weasley can be accounted for anything, it’s their honor. I will beat your arse if you say another negative word about Molly Prewett. You reckon your precious blood will look any different than someone else’s spattered on the floor? “

[malxfoi-blog]

"  Why, would everyone look at that? Weasley trying to act his art of the knight. precious, truly. That is the only thing they can be accounted for, no - what else do they have to give? Your honor means nothing to me. You mean n o t h i n g to this world, Weasley, have you not realized that? I will not discuss the matters of a true pure witch with you, but I will tell you that if I decide to threaten you, it will not come with a warning. "

[daffodxl-blog]

" And do you want to be? Distracting, I mean. A girl cannot spend all of her time studying, and I would g l a d l y give you some of mine if you can earn it. Rewards are not given without merit after all, and I would argue that my presence is indeed a gift. In which case we are evenly matched, yes? There isn’t a soul in this common room without ambition. I think then, that the true question is how badly you want my favor. How hard are you willing to try to win me over, Lucius? “

[malxfoi-blog]

" Miss Black, I do not believe you can imagine how much I'm willing to do to win you over. What kind of future husband would I be if I wasn't?  We'll get to know each other, our likes, our values, what we love and what we fear - and I still have a lot to learn about you, Narcissa. But it does seem you've presented to me a challenge, and I must tell you I accept. But first, I do recall a promise of honesty and I'll ask you to be freely honest with me: Is it true that some poor fool sent you a gift this past holiday? "

[abumbling-blog]

" I’d tell you to stuff it but you’re already full of shite, Malfoy. Just give me the blasted dropper and I’ll do my part so long as you keep your hair pomade from dripping into the cauldron. ALSO, I’d kindly ask you to shut your bloody mouth and keep names too pure for your snake’s tongue from passing over your lips. Don’t you dare speak about Molly like that! Though, I can’t say I blame you for the lack of value you put on your life. “ 

[malxfoi-blog]

" Full of shite is still better than whatever you're made of, Weasley. Ah, such mean words for a ferocious wizard! Do your part, but be mindful - this spell can be tricky for the bellow average wizard. Too pure? Why, there's no such thing, Weasley, what foolishness have you believed? I did hear she was gifted quite an ensemble this past holiday, so perhaps you'll have at least one good night. Are you attempting a thread? Now, that is laughable."

[daffodxl-blog]

" You are most reassuring, Lucius, thank you. Would you take advantage of the situation or me, I wonder? Certainly, the answer must be both and I will simply just have to insist that I study as I have been. Although you have piqued my curiosity and it now demands to be sated. Would you say that you’re skilled in the art of distraction? You might find I have an iron will. “

[malxfoi-blog]

" Ah, then I will do all I can to respect your wishes, even though yes - I'd fully take advantage of the situation and use it as an excuse to distract you from your studies. I do believe I am if I want to be. Surely I do not have the charms that you posses in being naturally distracting, but I can find a way or two to gain attention. You will find that I also have an iron will - and an ambitious mind. "

[malxfoi-blog]

" Weasley, of course - I'd have the luck to have you as partner. Now please do step back and be quite, I know potions are not exactly your expertise. Perhaps you could stare at Miss Prewett's behind while you're at it, that'd be the most productive task you could do at this moment."