Chapter 2
Lucius noted how the boy seemed to almost blend with the shadows, and he had not been keeping as close an eye on them as he had been, it would have been quite easy for the Slytherin boy to escape his sight, which made sense as to why Lucius had not heard of him before. Or really even seen them despite the fact that he was a Slytherin. While Lucius had little to do with the younger years, that did not mean he had nothing to do with them after all. They crossed through the expanse of the castle without much to stop them, though that only made sense considering Lucius was...well...Lucius. Most people tended to avoid Prefects and the Head Boys as a general rule considering just how much danger many of them posed in the first place. People tended to avoid them for good reason after all, particularly the Slytherin ones.
"Come," He ordered the moment they stepped up to the portrait, waiting for the boy to walk besides him and finally meet his stride. Moving quickly, he pushed the other in front of him, and shoved through the portrait to get him into the common room. He did not want the other to try and escape, after all. He had no idea who this was, and it would be a pain to try and hunt him down again. Lucius would prefer to avoid having to do that if at all possible, and he was not one to just let interesting things escape his attention. Particularly when it was related to something that he could find useful, like the other Slytherins. It was not often that halfbloods got sorted into Slytherin, much less the poorer halfbloods, so he had to admit that he was rather curious as to what it was about this person that proved their merit to the Sorting Hat.
Lucius pointed towards the armchair as he sat on the couch opposite to where he had the boy sit. Plucking his nails on the arm chair as he stared at the boy he tried to assess what it was about them...it was interesting, that was for sure. The incident that he had intervened clearly had thrown the boy off his game. It was obvious that he was still unnerved over what Potter had almost done, and Lucius could not fault him for that. It was admirable enough that he was trying so hard to avoid showing just how badly the scene had affected him, and for that Lucius had to give him some credit. That was quite a Slytherin thing to do, though then again, he would not have been placed in Slytherin if they were anything less than half a slytherin's merit.
"What is your name?" Lucius questioned, after a few minutes of sitting in silence. It was obvious that the boy was not going to speak unless he had to, and the side eyeing of the common room door meant that he fully anticipated teachers coming for him to speak with him about the incident. Lucius sighed, he would not put it past Dumbledore to try and do something stupid like attempt to shove detentions on the boy because Potter was an idiot and decided to one up a Slytherin student when they were previously alone and underprepared for an ambush. Because that is what it was. Lucius knew. An ambush. They waited, likely, until he was not paying attention enough to his surroundings, probably absorbed in that book of his, and then attacked him. It really is quite miserable, and not anywhere close to the so called gryffindorian bravery. No wonder they got so angry when he spoke of bravery of the Gryffindors. "Do not worry about anyone other than answering my questions, at the moment, if you would." Lucius responded. If anything else he wanted to at least know the name of the person he was curious about before the teachers did in fact come barging in. he knew at the very least Dumbledore would send for them.
"Severus," The boy's S's sounded almost hissed, as though he were a serpent, ever more befitting. It almost made Lucius laugh, but he had far more decorum than that. "I do not see why it is necessary for you to know, however," The boy, Severus now, spoke his words as quietly as ever, and Lucius was beginning to note was just his natural vocal inflection. Even besides that, there was an undercurrent, a light bite to how he spoke. It was...utterly fascinating. Lucius did not normally find himself interested in people, that was just...normal for him, but this person...this person there was just something...dark about. He was captivating. And different. Or perhaps, perhaps he was so captivating because he was so different.
"I suppose you would not know why I see it necessary, but that does not really matter all that much in the end does it now? Just that I wanted your name. I got it now either way." Severus inhaled sharply, but other than keeping his cold eyes latched to Lucius' own, he showed no sign of argumentation. It was...even more interesting. Lucius wanted to get to know this Slytherin, and understand...his power. Lucius could practically feel it under his skin. It was intense. Also likely why the Gryffindor trio was really too frightened to go against him on their own.
"Lucius!" The words were screeched by that dark haired Black woman that Severus had seen hang around the Malfoy heir a few times. Rumor had it that Lucius was going to end up marrying one of the Black sisters, but noting was really set in stone yet, and which sister he would end up with was highly debatable, assuming he was to end up with one of them. Although according to what Severus had managed to gather Andromeda was on quite thin ice when it came to the Black family. Severus had heard mutters of excommunication from the family. It was something he knew well enough to be quite serious. Even his mother had not been truly excommunicated from the Prince line, but that could also be because there were no heirs to hold the lineage. "Dumbledore wishes to see that..." She paused, glancing at the Halfblood Lucius was conversing with, and closed her eyes, almost rolling them but refraining the last moment. "Him."
"Very well," Lucius said standing up, and holding his hand for the Slytherin boy to grab. Severus refused his hand, however, pulling himself up from the couch and Lucius clicked his tongue, gently shoving him back down into the couch. Wide black eyes stared at him, but Lucius just held out his hand once more, waiting. Severus grit his teeth, obviously displeased but placed his hand within Lucius' own, who pulled him up. Lucius could hear the other muttering under his breath, something along the lines of control freak, but he did not care to listen all that closely. "Let us go meet Dumbledore, did he happen to say where, Bellatrix?" Lucius questioned, his cold gaze landing upon the Black sister's own.
"The infirmary," Lucius sighed.
"Of course he would want to meet Severus there." Bella's eyebrows shot up at the causal first name basis Lucius was using with the poor Slytherin boy. She did not say anything about it, merely shrugged and pulled herself further into the room.
"Either way I held up my end and told you. I'm going to get ready for class now,"
"Very well, thank you, I appreciate it." Lucius called over his shoulder as he grabbed Severus by the back of his shirt collar, and pulled him forwards through the portrait hole. Severus tried to jerk out of the hole, but Lucius' grip was fast, there was not going to be any relinquishing it. Lucius felt himself quite pleased when the young slytherin stopped fighting against him and merely went along without complaint or fight.
"You do not have to get involved." The boy hissed, his eyes flinted as they finally neared the hospital Wing.
"No, but I do wonder how Dumbledore is going to try and spin this. Furthermore, it is not just for you. The Potters have been quite the nuisence to my family for generations. This is something that will benefit me as well as you, so I would suggest you shut up and let me do the talking, alright?" Lucius demanded, more or less. Severus cast his gaze to the floor and reluctantly nodded, but in the end there was not much more he could do but agree.
Barring that, he doubted that Lucius would have backed off just because he had asked them to. He seemed...overly controlling in a lot of ways...clearly. It was easier to just go with it. Lucius would have likely continued whether Severus told him to back off or not. He had heard about the other, after all. Everyone had heard of Lucius Malfoy, Heir the the Malfoy family. Immense pressure was on the likely of the heir of any old family, but Lucius had taken to it quite well. Severus would wager it was the Slytherin adaptability, because it was obvious that there were some things that did make them uncomfortable, though he would have never admit such things, and Severus himself was not aware of those factors either.
"Ah...Th...There you are." Dumbledore's voice paused upon his eyes lighting on Lucius. "I was wondering were you ran to." Severus's fingers clenched slightly. Lucius' grip on the back of his shirt tightened, and Severus released a heavy breath.