Chapter 3
"Yes, well, I wished to have words with him, prior." Lucius stated clearly. His fingers wrapping tightly momentarily, before they slid from the back of his neck to his shoulder. Dumbledore's eyes latched onto the point of contact, as Lucius had known that it would. The fool did right in not speaking of anything, instead biting his tongue. It gave Lucius a small degree of pleasure to see Dumbledore silenced so. Along with the Potter family, annoying nuisences as they were, Dumbledore was quite up there along with the rest of them. His father's newest friend was of a similar vein of thought. Lucius shoved those thoughts away from himself as his eyes narrowed upon the Potter boy. He glanced to his side were Severus was staring at the boy with little regret of guilt in his eyes. Interesting.
"How is the Potter boy doing?" Lucius questioned, his eyes flitting towards the figure on the bed. He did not really care all that much, but he did want to know what sort of curse it was that Severus used. Whatever it was had been powerful, and swiftly used without hesitation. Severus clearly knew what he had been doing, and knew the curse well enough to perform it adequately with no apparent drawback. Dark Magic it was, and curses often have some sort of draw back if you do not perform them properly. Though it could have been a different sort of thing...though I am not sure what it was. I could not place the spell. It was something that Lucius knew would bother him quite a bit until he figured it out, but he could not also just ask Severus, that would be admitting that he had not known a spell, and depending on the spell that was used that could do quite a bit of damage.
"He is..."
"He is going to be perfectly fine, do not let Albus fool you." Madam Promfrey said, her eyes cutting a dark look towards the Headmaster. She turned towards Lucius and Severus, eyes lingering on the latter a bit. Lucius felt his own eyes dart down to the stiff Slytherin in wonder. He would have to ensure that the Nurse checked Severus, it would seem, if the look was anything to go by. Her curious gaze towards him told Lucius more than he cared about the state of current affairs. Well, that and the fact that it was obvious Albus was about to try and guilt Severus into something. Either Severus or himself. Unfortunately for Dumbledore, Lucius was far too apathetic for that to work, and it would seem to him that Severus felt no remorse for his actions whatsoever. "It was not that bad, though he may have some burns for a little while." Lucius doubted that it was necessarily that Madam could not heal the burns that Severus had given Potter, but more that she did not want to. Slightly scandalous of a nurse, really, but he was not there to judge her.
"He..."
"Albus do not start with me, you know better." Pomfrey said in a voice that was rather opposite from what little Lucius had seen of her. "You and I both know that the boy was fine, he was hit with a stinging hex, a rather powerful one, but a simple hex nonetheless." Lucius started slightly at the revelation of information, his fingers still wrapped about Severus' shoulder still tightly, though the young boy did not cry out or anything. Lucius kept his gaze as Albus and Pomfrey both locked eyes and kept their gaze stern. Dumbledore, interestingly enough, was the first to crack. He huffed, but did not contradict the Madam.
"Well, Mr. Malfoy, it is interesting to see you here, along with young Severus of course." Lucius could feel how Severus tensed under Dumbledore's decidedly choice usage of his first name. It was showed how much more respect he afforded Lucius, than he did the Halfblood. "I had not realized that you two knew each other."
"Does it matter whether we know each other or not?" Lucius contemplated, his nails practically piercing Severus' flesh through his robes from how tightly he was clenching. Still, the boy held fast and did not mention or show his discomfort. Lucius had to give him props for that. Lucius would check the boy's shoulder himself soon enough. Along with...well, he would let Madam Pomfrey really check him thoroughly tomorrow, but for now, he did not want to rise any more ire from the boy, furthermore, he wanted to question Madam Pomfrey as best he could about the details of the relationship that Severus seemed to have with Dumbledore. It was clear she knew something of it, even if it was not all that much.
"I...suppose it doesn't." Dumbledore tumbled out. Lucius gave the headmaster a small smile, sardonic as it were. "I just wanted to bring Severus here to speak with him about what it was that happened. After all, proper repercussions must be made due to the fact that a student was attacked."
"I think it is fairly clear, actually, what really happened, and I do not think that I must remind you, or at least, I did not, but I shall either way." Lucius said simply. His eyes blinking slowly as he stared down the Headmaster. "Potter and his friends ambushed Severus, proceeded to publicly berate and humiliate him, attack him, and obviously did not expect Severus to retaliate to their blatant abuse of authority due to their superior numbers. I am sure you had heard Madam Pomfrey. Severus used a simple. stinging hex, it did no permanent harm, as opposed to the tactics of Potter and his friends." Lucius sighed heavily out loud, mostly for show. "Do not worry, though, I understand the gravity of the actions taken, and I shall ensure that Father knows what has happened, and will be quite clear that Potter has been punished for his actions. After all, we have been quite kind to the Potters before, but attacking a student under my care? That is a new low for the Potter heir, but despite my obligation to inform Father of what has happened, that does not mean I cannot pull some strings to try and lessen Father's wrath."
Lucius watched as a look dawned upon Dumbledore's face at what he said. He could have laughed, but he had to play the serious prefect before anything else. He knew that this whole thing was not to protect Severus, but himself and his precious little Gyffindor. The man was so horribly obviously impartial that it was almost pathetic. If Lucius had known about this before, Halfblood or not this would not have stood, which also meant he was going to have to comb through the younger Slytherin years to figure out why it was that he did not know about this. He also remembered being quite specific at the beginning of the year to come to him with regards to this sort of thing. He would have to interrogate Severus regarding the reasons as to why he did not.
"If that is all, Professor, I will be taking Severus back with me. It is not healthy for him to be around someone who attacked him for a long term. Barring that, I have a feeling that Potter's friends may want to visit soon, and this conversation is barring that from happening. If you have anything else you may need to know, please let me know."