FIC: Collision: Chapter Eight (Lotrips/HP, Viggo/Lucius, PG)
Collision: Chapter Eight
Authors: darkrosetiger and telesilla
Fandom/ Pairing: Harry Potter/Lotrips crossover; eventually Viggo/Lucius
Archive: Please ask.
Rating: PG
Summary: Meanwhile back at the ranch (in Idaho) there's brotherly confrontation, horseback riding and cooking lessons.
Warnings: None.
Notes & Disclaimer
The next morning, Viggo wakes up even earlier than usual. There's something about being up here in the fresh air that makes it almost impossible for him to sleep in. Lucius, he notices as he passes the guest bedroom and hears no sign of him stirring, doesn't seem to feel the same way.
Just as well, Viggo thinks, boiling water for his maté. I need to talk to Gerald. Picking up the phone, he dials the house number, knowing that everyone will probably have come in for breakfast at this point.
"Morning Viggo--you're up early."
"It's the fresh air up here," Viggo says, buttering a piece of toast. "We went out and looked at the stars last night; I swear every time I leave this place I forget how clear it is."
"Yeah...." There's a pause and then Gerald continues. "I gotta say, I can't imagine living in the city any more. You got any plans for today?"
"Not much, probably go for a ride or something," Viggo replies. "Look, what in hell was that about yesterday? You have all the pegasii spelled so they can't go off ranch property and given that I've ridden more than one in my life, that not having magic thing is bullshit." He's a little surprised at his own vehemence, but really, Gerald deserves it.
"You're not a fucking Death Eater, Vig. I don't know what the hell Jan was thinking, but Malfoy's bad news."
"You missed the bit about the valuable testimony he's given Jan and the rest of them?" Viggo says. "I'm sure Jan covered it when you called him the other day." That's a guess of course, but Viggo's pretty sure Gerald would have checked in with Jan about Lucius at some point.
"I'm sure he said exactly what they wanted to hear, and just enough to keep him out of a life sentence," Gerald retorts. "And yeah, Jan did say something about that--though when he called me a couple months ago to tell me about this whole thing, he didn't tell me it was fucking Lucius Malfoy."
"Look I know he's a dangerous guy," Viggo says. "I'm just saying that I don't think he's going to murder your stock."
"Maybe not, but I want to make sure he stays on the ground where we can keep an eye on him." Viggo hears him sigh. "I can't believe Jan. I mean, this is one of You-Know-Who's inner circle--he's probably just waiting for a chance to get where his master can grab him and take him back."
"Look if you're so sure Jan made a mistake," Viggo snaps, "then why don't you get in touch with him and ask him. And you know? Come down here and do it, because I'd like to hear what he has to say."
"Fine," Gerald snaps back. "I'll call him, and I'll be down in a few."
By the time Viggo's worked his way through another piece of toast and half a gourd of maté he still hasn't figured out why he's so pissed at Gerald. Well, why he's more pissed at him than usual; Gerold's always been nervous around Viggo and Viggo's pretty sure that he's one of those people who thinks of Viggo as handicapped.
The "pop" of Apparition interrupts his thought and he turns around to see both Gerald and Jan. "Hey," he says, quietly. "Let's take this out to the barn, shall we?"
"I take it Lucius is asleep?" Jan asks.
"Yeah," Viggo says and Jan nods.
"I should talk to him before I go back then--might as well get something useful out of this trip," he says, glaring at Gerald.
Gerlad throws up his hands, obviously irritated that neither of his brothers seems particularly disturbed at the idea that there's a Death Eater asleep in the guest room. "Fine...whatever," he says and stomps out to the barn.
Viggo rolls his eyes, and he and Jan follow Gerald.
"It seems that Gerald doesn't want to take my word for it that Lucius won't--fuck I don't know--sacrifice any of the stock," Viggo says, leaning against the barn door.
"I just want to know what the hell he's doing here!" Gerald snarls. "Did you two miss the part where our brother was skinned alive by that lot?"
Jan holds up his hand. "If you recall, I'm the one who actually found the report in the Ministry files..." Jan begins calmly.
"Did you miss the part," Viggo days, ignoring Jan, "where I started drinking and doing drugs and getting laid so that I wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night screaming? Did you miss the part where I actually fucking heard Dad tell Mom what happened?" He glares at Gerald "Don't you fucking dare drag Henry's name into this!"
Jan closes his eyes. "Okay, both of you need to calm down. Gerald, I understand why you're worried, but I wouldn't have done this if I thought that I'd be putting anyone in danger, and you should bloody well know that."
"Yeah...sorry," Gerry mutters. "It's just--it was in all the wizarding papers here when he got arrested, you know? All about how he'd weaseled out of Azkaban last time by claiming he was under Imperius, and then he gets caught red-handed...how do you know he's not bullshitting you?"
Jan sighs and points his wand at a wooden crate, dragging it over. He sits down. "Everything that Lucius told us was confirmed by a second interrogation under Veritaserum; and I do know that it's possible to resist the effects, but only when you're in top condition--which trust me, he wasn't after being locked up for over a year. Yes, he was one of Voldemort's inner circle, which is why his information was so valuable. And it has been useful; we've already managed to pick up some Death Eaters based on what he's told us, and we've forced Voldemort to abandon two of his hiding places. We may still need Lucius, though, and that means the only options were to shove him back in his cell or to hide him somewhere--because you can be damned sure that Voldemort's got an AK with Lucius' name on it."
"And you know," Viggo says, quietly now, his anger buried again. "He's got his eye on the main chance and surviving, but he's not stupid and I think he's realized that Voldemort belongs to another time and place." Viggo pauses, moving over to stroke TJ's nose. The presence of his horse calms him more and he turns back to Jan and Gerald. "He's very proud of his son and worried sick about both him and Mrs. Malfoy."
"Proud of his son?" Gerald asks, confused.
Jan nods. "Gerald--and this doesn't go any further, understand?--from everything we know, Draco Malfoy was given the job of killing Dumbledore. He's 17, by the way..." Jan pauses. "It's pretty clear that it was supposed to be punishment for his father's failure at the Ministry. Anyway, when it came down to it, he couldn't do it. Despite the fact that the kid's a spoiled, obnoxious brat from what Daniel tells me, he's not a murderer." He glances at Viggo. "Did he actually say that to you, about being proud of Draco?"
"Yeah," Viggo says. "When you've pretty much lived in someone's back pocket for a couple of months, you learn a lot about them. Lucius is trying to rethink his world view and so we talk about...fuck, pretty much everything." He laughs. "You should have seen him talking about Macbeth with Sean."
"He met Sean?" Jan looks surprised. "And he was actually civil?"
"Well, once they got talking Shakespeare," Viggo says. "Lucius came on strong with the whole 'lord of the manor' thing, so Sean's accent went further North, but it worked out well in the end." He pauses, wondering if he should explain what happened with Sean. "Um...well enough, that is. You should probably do some looking into Sean's family on his mother's side. He had a 'crazy' great-aunt, as in our kind of crazy."
Jan arches an eyebrow. "Do I want to know how that came up in conversation?"
"We were drinking," Viggo says, "and they got to talking about Romeo and Juliet and then Lucius mentioned Hogwarts and Sean recognized the name. Are all you wizards such lightweights when you don't have your sobering charms to fall back on?"
Gerald snorts. "You're welcome to test that out with me any time, Viggo...wait. You mean he told a Muggle about our world?"
"Yeah well," Viggo says with a shrug. "If it hadn't turned out that Sean's got Wizarding blood so telling him wasn't strictly illegal, I'm sure I would have called one of you to come in and make him forget the whole thing. As it was I was glad to be able to do it; I've always felt a little guilty about keeping secrets from one of my lovers." He leans back and tries not to look to smug, as Jan and Gerald exchange looks of "Did you know about that?" with one another.
Jan recovers first, pulling a small planner out of his back pocket and jotting something down. "Right..." he says. "I'll check into that. And Gerald, here's something else to think about: Viggo's got Lucius' wand on him. The Ministry decided that it was best if it was nearby in case something went wrong--like the Death Eaters tracking him down--that would need magic to handle." He turns to Viggo. "Has he made any attempt to get it from you?"
"No," Viggo says, pulling it out of his pocket. "I took it out of the box after he had a nightmare a while back. I heard him yell and later realized that if something was going on, fiddling about with the lock on that box wouldn't be much help. And he knows I have it on me all the time and hasn't tried to grab it. Trust me, he's even less enthusiastic about the idea that of the Death Eaters finding him than you are."
"Fine," Gerald says, throwing up him hands in defeat. "I may not trust him, but I've got to figure you two know what you're doing. I don't have to like him, though."
"No, you don't," Jan replies. "Look, Gerald--Lucius isn't a nice man, but he's a very smart man, and also a very proud one. As Viggo said, he's already figured out that the pureblood supremacy thing is a losing battle, and there's a possibility he could rethink a lot that he's always taken for granted--but only if people are willing to give him a chance. And on that note, Vig, I should probably talk to my client before I head back for tea."
"If you two want to come up to the house for lunch or something later..." Gerald lets his voice trail off and then shrugs a little.
"Thanks," Viggo says, knowing the offer for the olive branch it is. "But I think it would be easier on you if we didn't. Lisa's not happy about him being here and I really don't think most of your people would understand what's going on. Just say I'm up here wanting my usual solitude from Muggle celebrity or whatever it is you say when I'm here."
"All right then--I'll catch up with you some other time," Gerald says, "Thanks for coming over, Jan." He give each of them a hug and then heads back toward the main house.
"C'mon in and have some coffee?" Viggo says to Jan. "I can wake Lucius up if you like."
* * *
By the time Lucius and Viggo are ready to go out riding, it's mid afternoon. "Hey," Viggo says, holding out a tube of sunscreen. "You'll need this."
Lucius takes the tube, staring at it curiously. "What is it?"
"Sunscreen." Viggo takes it back and demonstrates how to put it on. "You'll be fucking miserable if you get a sunburn."
"Ah...yes, that makes sense." Lucius copies Viggo, putting the stuff on his exposed skin, and thinking that the worst thing about not having magic is that it's so much work.
"I'm putting you on Maxine," Viggo says as they walk out to the barn. "She's a nice girl, a bit spirited but as long as you're firm with her, you shouldn't have any problems." He starts saddling up the horses, talking over his shoulder. "It's not that I wouldn't trust you with TJ or Uraeus, but they've done stunt work and so they're kinda tricky to ride if you don't know all their cues."
"Here...let me." Viggo hands Lucius the saddle and he checks it over with an expert eye. "We had horses when I was growing up, both winged and not. The Granians flew off one day and didn't come back, but I kept riding Salazar until we finally had to put him out to pasture." He cinches the saddle and gives Maxine a stern look. "No tricks, missy, and we'll get along just fine."
"All right," Viggo says. Lucius obviously knows what he's doing, so Viggo feels perfectly comfortable turning to Ureaus, murmuring to him in Elvish as he saddles him up.
Lucius turns to watch Viggo. "Isn't that...Brego?"
"Yeah," Viggo says. "We got along so well that when they sold the horses off at the end of filming, I bought him. I bought Arwen's horse for her stunt rider because she loved the horse so much but she couldn't afford her." He laughs a little. "After Liv heard about it, she called me up and chewed me out for not letting her know I was doing it."
He gets the saddle on Ureaus and then points over to TJ's stall. "He's a movie horse too; I rode him in Hidalgo."
"Do you always get the horses from your films?" Lucius asks. He climbs up into the saddle with practiced ease, then reaches down and strokes Maxine's neck.
"Aside from just the two, I haven't done that much riding in movies," Viggo says mounting up. "Hidalgo was about a horse race and about the relationship between the racer and his horse, so I did a lot more scenes with TJ than without him."
"Do you have a copy of that one as well?" Lucius asks as they ride out to the trail.
"Somewhere back at the house, I think," Viggo says. "It was pretty challenging; the premise was a somewhat-fictional horse race in Arabia in the late 1800s."
Lucius smiles wistfully. "I've always loved horse racing, in the air or on the ground. Much more fun that Quidditch, if you ask me."
"Quidditch is fucking boring," Viggo says as the horses amble along the trail. "And I say this as a baseball fan."
"It is," Lucius sighs. "I only went out for the house team at school because it was expected--though I will say I was a reasonably good Chaser. And then, of course Draco ended up being Quidditch-mad, so I had to go to all the Slytherin games. He's a good Seeker; it's just unfortunate that Potter's in his year."
"Why's that?" Viggo asks. Although when he thinks about it, he supposes that a Malfoy wouldn't get along with the boy the British wizarding world is looking to as their savior from Voldemort. The fact that his own son is the same age as both Harry and Draco hits him again and he heaves a mental sigh.
"Because as good as Draco is, Potter's better on a broom than he is." Lucius sighs. "And worse, Draco's almost as obsessed with Potter as the Dark Lord is. He can't seem to concentrate on finding the bloody Snitch, only on getting one-up on Potter." He glances over at Viggo. "Mind you, I've come to feel sorry for Potter--and that's something I'd never have dreamed I'd say, since he's largely responsible for my trip to Azkaban, not to mention tricking me into freeing one of our house elves. But all his life, he's been little more than a game piece, caught between the Dark Lord on one side and Dumbledore on the other, all because of something he didn't even do."
"I was just thinking about that," Viggo says. "They're all the same age--Harry, Draco and Henry--and they should be playing Quidditch and chasing girls and not already so grown up. Even here, everyone's worried; Henry's said that they're upping the number of hours of Defense training at Ojai." He reaches down and pets Ureaus. "I was hardly involved and the last war ruined that part of my life for me. I hate to see it happening to another generation."
"I was relieved when the Dark Lord disappeared," Lucius says quietly. "It wasn't that I disagreed with his stated goals, but for some reason, after Draco was born...I was more interested in seeing my son grow up. Just, as you said, not this fast."
"That's why I'm more than a bit of a pacifist," Viggo says. "I want everyone to have that chance." He shakes his head a little. "Well that was preachy."
"A bit, yes." Lucius grins. "But I'm getting used to that."
"Good thing," Viggo says with a laugh. Lucius looks different when he smiles and Viggo finds himself wishing he'd see that smile more often. "Ah, here we are," he says as they reach a meadow. "Feel like doing a little galloping?"
Lucius leans down and whispers to Maxine, giving her just the slightest nudge with his shoes. She breaks into a gallop eagerly, with Viggo and Ureaus close behind them.
* * *
"The problem I have teaching anyone to cook," Viggo says as he starts pulling stuff out of the fridge, "is that I rarely use cookbooks or actual recipes." He shrugs. "I learned some of it from Mom and a lot of it from Chris--which would surprise people if they knew--and then I picked stuff here and there. Some of the time, I just make stuff up. Another reason I have a reputation as a so-so cook."
Lucius nods, trying to concentrate on Viggo's words when he's distracted by Viggo's presence. He's close enough to smell him, a clean, earthy scent that's worlds away from Severus, who always seemed to smell a little of formaldehyde no matter how often he bathed.
"Okay, so...spaghetti," Viggo says. "I'm going for a basic meat sauce here, so...onions, garlic, tomato paste, tomatoes, spices, ground beef, some Italian sausage, mushrooms and some wine." He's been pulling ingredients out of the fridge and various cupboards and now he looks at the big island counter in the middle of the kitchen. "Sometimes I'll use fresh tomatoes, but the canned ones work just as well."
Pulling out a cutting board and a knife, he sets them down in front of Lucius. "Why don't you chop the onion up fine while I rinse off the mushrooms?"
"Very well." Lucius tests the edge of the blade against one finger and finds it nicely sharp. With quick, precise strokes, he chops the onion. Morgana...when was the last time I actually brewed anything? He chuckles softly. "It's good to see I haven't forgotten how to do this," he mutters.
"Potions?" Viggo asks, setting the mushrooms aside and pulling out a large skillet. He gets out the oil and then starts slicing up the mushrooms.
"Yes. I always rather liked chopping onions. At least they're not slimy."
"Why is it that so many potions have the most disgusting ingredients possible?" Viggo asks, starting in on the garlic. "Henry used to love to try to gross me out by telling me all about potions class."
"I asked Severus that once," Lucius says, smiling. "He just gave me that look of his--and believe me, when Severus Snape looks down his nose at you, you notice it."
"How long were you lovers?" Viggo asks, getting out the olive oil.
"Twenty years, give or take. He was a first-year when I was a sixth-year, and from the time I walked in on Potter and Black bullying him, he followed me everywhere. He was brilliant at potions even then, and I was eventually given the task of recruiting him." Lucius sighs. "After Draco's second year, when I no longer had the excuse of being on the board of governors to visit, he started telling me it was too risky to continue on as we had been. I assumed that Dumbledore had put pressure on him and didn't want him consorting with his former colleagues."
"That's a long time," Viggo says, briefly resting a hand on Lucius' shoulder. "You must miss him."
"I thought he didn't trust me, and while that came as no surprise--we're both Slytherin to the core, after all--it was still rather difficult," Lucius admits. "Whatever his feelings for me, however, I have no doubt he cares for Draco, and I strongly suspect it's thanks to him that Draco is still alive."
"That's some comfort at least," Viggo says. He takes a deep breath and turns to the stove, pouring a little oil into the skillet. "What we need to do here is sauté the onion and the garlic. So you wait until the oil is hot...."
Once he's shown Lucius what to do, Viggo backs off and lets him do it. He gets out a pot for the sauce and then begins opening the cans of tomato paste and tomatoes, keeping an eye on the stove.
Lucius watches the stove as if it might suddenly decide to get up and run away. Perhaps I'll try doing this at home. In five years, that is, when I can use magic again. The thought isn't as painful as it was at first. Is it possible we're the ones who are crippled, because we're so helpless without magic?
Looking over at Lucius, Viggo smiles. "Relax, it shouldn't blow up or catch fire or anything like that. You just want to get the onions a little soft and then we can add the meat."
"Oh...right." Lucius pokes at the onions with a spatula. "I think they may be ready."
"Yeah," Viggo says, adding the meat. "What you want to do know is just cook this until the meat is all completely done. No pink showing." He heads to the cupboard. "I was going to have a glass of wine; you want one?"
"Yes, please." Carefully, Lucius stirs the meat and onion mixture. Once he's got his wine, he sips it as he keeps one eye on the pan. Every so often, he glances over at Viggo. Damn it all to hell. I want him now, and I can't exactly run upstairs for a quick wank.
Glancing up, Viggo catches Lucius looking at him and waits for a question. When one doesn't come, he mentally shrugs and starts tearing up lettuce for the salad. When he next looks up, Lucius is concentrating on the skillet, his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth in a way that reminds Viggo of Sean. Kind of weird, given how very unlike they are.
"That wasn't so bad," Lucius says, once the sauce is simmering. "Thought I expect I should reserve judgment until I've tasted it."
"It's going to taste a lot like mine," Viggo says. "The trick with spaghetti sauce is making it your own, adding more or less of a spice or using hotter sausage or something. "
He heads into the living room and kneels in front of the fireplace. "It's an interesting mixture of science and art," he continues as he works on building a fire. "Particularly something like this. Soup, stew, chili...they're all meals that were designed to use whatever was around at the time. Once you break it down to a few techniques, you can have a pretty impressive repertoire."
Lucius nods, settling onto the sofa. "It will be useful, especially since I have several years to go before I can use magic again." He pauses. "It's odd, in a way...I hadn't realized before how dependent I was on having it."
"You've had it all your life," Viggo says, using his lighter to light the edges of the kindling. "Of course you depend on it; it's like seeing for you." He smiles a little. "Putting you into the care of someone who's been blind from birth makes sense really."
"Does that bother you? Having me here, I mean," Lucius asks, studying the reflection of the flames in his wineglass.
"It did at first." Viggo pokes at the fire a little more than necessary. "Now...I have to remind myself...well, why you're here." And that's a hard thing to admit, even to himself.
Lucius looks up at Viggo. He's not quite sure what Viggo means, and he doesn't want to break the moment by asking. Quietly, he murmurs, "I do too, at times."
"I'm glad," Viggo says after a moment. He turns and looks at Lucius. "There is a great deal we don't agree on, but...I'm glad you're here."
"Do you know...I am as well," Lucius says. He gives Viggo a genuine smile, something that's become more common in the past few months than in all of Lucius' life so far.
-tbc-
Disclaimer: You get two for the price of one here: 1) Not RL; didn't happen. If you think this has anything to do with the real people involved, then you need to put down the crack pipe. and probably seek professional help. 2) Neither of us is J.K. Rowling, these are her characters not ours.
Notes: I know this is terribly late; some things happened and there was a big rewrite needed and it's pretty much all on me. Sorry about that. Many thanks go out to kyuuketsukirui for her excellent beta; she was totally right about the rewrite.
In order to bring some things into parallel, we've messed with the timing of events in the HP universe. Year One is now 2000. Collision begins in February, 2006, in the middle of what would be Year Seven of HP canon.
In order the stories are (please note that "Keeping Faith" and "Favor" overlap each other to some extent):
Dual Citizenship
Keeping Faith
Favor
Collision
Authors: darkrosetiger and telesilla
Fandom/ Pairing: Harry Potter/Lotrips crossover; eventually Viggo/Lucius
Archive: Please ask.
Rating: PG
Summary: Meanwhile back at the ranch (in Idaho) there's brotherly confrontation, horseback riding and cooking lessons.
Warnings: None.
Notes & Disclaimer
The next morning, Viggo wakes up even earlier than usual. There's something about being up here in the fresh air that makes it almost impossible for him to sleep in. Lucius, he notices as he passes the guest bedroom and hears no sign of him stirring, doesn't seem to feel the same way.
Just as well, Viggo thinks, boiling water for his maté. I need to talk to Gerald. Picking up the phone, he dials the house number, knowing that everyone will probably have come in for breakfast at this point.
"Morning Viggo--you're up early."
"It's the fresh air up here," Viggo says, buttering a piece of toast. "We went out and looked at the stars last night; I swear every time I leave this place I forget how clear it is."
"Yeah...." There's a pause and then Gerald continues. "I gotta say, I can't imagine living in the city any more. You got any plans for today?"
"Not much, probably go for a ride or something," Viggo replies. "Look, what in hell was that about yesterday? You have all the pegasii spelled so they can't go off ranch property and given that I've ridden more than one in my life, that not having magic thing is bullshit." He's a little surprised at his own vehemence, but really, Gerald deserves it.
"You're not a fucking Death Eater, Vig. I don't know what the hell Jan was thinking, but Malfoy's bad news."
"You missed the bit about the valuable testimony he's given Jan and the rest of them?" Viggo says. "I'm sure Jan covered it when you called him the other day." That's a guess of course, but Viggo's pretty sure Gerald would have checked in with Jan about Lucius at some point.
"I'm sure he said exactly what they wanted to hear, and just enough to keep him out of a life sentence," Gerald retorts. "And yeah, Jan did say something about that--though when he called me a couple months ago to tell me about this whole thing, he didn't tell me it was fucking Lucius Malfoy."
"Look I know he's a dangerous guy," Viggo says. "I'm just saying that I don't think he's going to murder your stock."
"Maybe not, but I want to make sure he stays on the ground where we can keep an eye on him." Viggo hears him sigh. "I can't believe Jan. I mean, this is one of You-Know-Who's inner circle--he's probably just waiting for a chance to get where his master can grab him and take him back."
"Look if you're so sure Jan made a mistake," Viggo snaps, "then why don't you get in touch with him and ask him. And you know? Come down here and do it, because I'd like to hear what he has to say."
"Fine," Gerald snaps back. "I'll call him, and I'll be down in a few."
By the time Viggo's worked his way through another piece of toast and half a gourd of maté he still hasn't figured out why he's so pissed at Gerald. Well, why he's more pissed at him than usual; Gerold's always been nervous around Viggo and Viggo's pretty sure that he's one of those people who thinks of Viggo as handicapped.
The "pop" of Apparition interrupts his thought and he turns around to see both Gerald and Jan. "Hey," he says, quietly. "Let's take this out to the barn, shall we?"
"I take it Lucius is asleep?" Jan asks.
"Yeah," Viggo says and Jan nods.
"I should talk to him before I go back then--might as well get something useful out of this trip," he says, glaring at Gerald.
Gerlad throws up his hands, obviously irritated that neither of his brothers seems particularly disturbed at the idea that there's a Death Eater asleep in the guest room. "Fine...whatever," he says and stomps out to the barn.
Viggo rolls his eyes, and he and Jan follow Gerald.
"It seems that Gerald doesn't want to take my word for it that Lucius won't--fuck I don't know--sacrifice any of the stock," Viggo says, leaning against the barn door.
"I just want to know what the hell he's doing here!" Gerald snarls. "Did you two miss the part where our brother was skinned alive by that lot?"
Jan holds up his hand. "If you recall, I'm the one who actually found the report in the Ministry files..." Jan begins calmly.
"Did you miss the part," Viggo days, ignoring Jan, "where I started drinking and doing drugs and getting laid so that I wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night screaming? Did you miss the part where I actually fucking heard Dad tell Mom what happened?" He glares at Gerald "Don't you fucking dare drag Henry's name into this!"
Jan closes his eyes. "Okay, both of you need to calm down. Gerald, I understand why you're worried, but I wouldn't have done this if I thought that I'd be putting anyone in danger, and you should bloody well know that."
"Yeah...sorry," Gerry mutters. "It's just--it was in all the wizarding papers here when he got arrested, you know? All about how he'd weaseled out of Azkaban last time by claiming he was under Imperius, and then he gets caught red-handed...how do you know he's not bullshitting you?"
Jan sighs and points his wand at a wooden crate, dragging it over. He sits down. "Everything that Lucius told us was confirmed by a second interrogation under Veritaserum; and I do know that it's possible to resist the effects, but only when you're in top condition--which trust me, he wasn't after being locked up for over a year. Yes, he was one of Voldemort's inner circle, which is why his information was so valuable. And it has been useful; we've already managed to pick up some Death Eaters based on what he's told us, and we've forced Voldemort to abandon two of his hiding places. We may still need Lucius, though, and that means the only options were to shove him back in his cell or to hide him somewhere--because you can be damned sure that Voldemort's got an AK with Lucius' name on it."
"And you know," Viggo says, quietly now, his anger buried again. "He's got his eye on the main chance and surviving, but he's not stupid and I think he's realized that Voldemort belongs to another time and place." Viggo pauses, moving over to stroke TJ's nose. The presence of his horse calms him more and he turns back to Jan and Gerald. "He's very proud of his son and worried sick about both him and Mrs. Malfoy."
"Proud of his son?" Gerald asks, confused.
Jan nods. "Gerald--and this doesn't go any further, understand?--from everything we know, Draco Malfoy was given the job of killing Dumbledore. He's 17, by the way..." Jan pauses. "It's pretty clear that it was supposed to be punishment for his father's failure at the Ministry. Anyway, when it came down to it, he couldn't do it. Despite the fact that the kid's a spoiled, obnoxious brat from what Daniel tells me, he's not a murderer." He glances at Viggo. "Did he actually say that to you, about being proud of Draco?"
"Yeah," Viggo says. "When you've pretty much lived in someone's back pocket for a couple of months, you learn a lot about them. Lucius is trying to rethink his world view and so we talk about...fuck, pretty much everything." He laughs. "You should have seen him talking about Macbeth with Sean."
"He met Sean?" Jan looks surprised. "And he was actually civil?"
"Well, once they got talking Shakespeare," Viggo says. "Lucius came on strong with the whole 'lord of the manor' thing, so Sean's accent went further North, but it worked out well in the end." He pauses, wondering if he should explain what happened with Sean. "Um...well enough, that is. You should probably do some looking into Sean's family on his mother's side. He had a 'crazy' great-aunt, as in our kind of crazy."
Jan arches an eyebrow. "Do I want to know how that came up in conversation?"
"We were drinking," Viggo says, "and they got to talking about Romeo and Juliet and then Lucius mentioned Hogwarts and Sean recognized the name. Are all you wizards such lightweights when you don't have your sobering charms to fall back on?"
Gerald snorts. "You're welcome to test that out with me any time, Viggo...wait. You mean he told a Muggle about our world?"
"Yeah well," Viggo says with a shrug. "If it hadn't turned out that Sean's got Wizarding blood so telling him wasn't strictly illegal, I'm sure I would have called one of you to come in and make him forget the whole thing. As it was I was glad to be able to do it; I've always felt a little guilty about keeping secrets from one of my lovers." He leans back and tries not to look to smug, as Jan and Gerald exchange looks of "Did you know about that?" with one another.
Jan recovers first, pulling a small planner out of his back pocket and jotting something down. "Right..." he says. "I'll check into that. And Gerald, here's something else to think about: Viggo's got Lucius' wand on him. The Ministry decided that it was best if it was nearby in case something went wrong--like the Death Eaters tracking him down--that would need magic to handle." He turns to Viggo. "Has he made any attempt to get it from you?"
"No," Viggo says, pulling it out of his pocket. "I took it out of the box after he had a nightmare a while back. I heard him yell and later realized that if something was going on, fiddling about with the lock on that box wouldn't be much help. And he knows I have it on me all the time and hasn't tried to grab it. Trust me, he's even less enthusiastic about the idea that of the Death Eaters finding him than you are."
"Fine," Gerald says, throwing up him hands in defeat. "I may not trust him, but I've got to figure you two know what you're doing. I don't have to like him, though."
"No, you don't," Jan replies. "Look, Gerald--Lucius isn't a nice man, but he's a very smart man, and also a very proud one. As Viggo said, he's already figured out that the pureblood supremacy thing is a losing battle, and there's a possibility he could rethink a lot that he's always taken for granted--but only if people are willing to give him a chance. And on that note, Vig, I should probably talk to my client before I head back for tea."
"If you two want to come up to the house for lunch or something later..." Gerald lets his voice trail off and then shrugs a little.
"Thanks," Viggo says, knowing the offer for the olive branch it is. "But I think it would be easier on you if we didn't. Lisa's not happy about him being here and I really don't think most of your people would understand what's going on. Just say I'm up here wanting my usual solitude from Muggle celebrity or whatever it is you say when I'm here."
"All right then--I'll catch up with you some other time," Gerald says, "Thanks for coming over, Jan." He give each of them a hug and then heads back toward the main house.
"C'mon in and have some coffee?" Viggo says to Jan. "I can wake Lucius up if you like."
* * *
By the time Lucius and Viggo are ready to go out riding, it's mid afternoon. "Hey," Viggo says, holding out a tube of sunscreen. "You'll need this."
Lucius takes the tube, staring at it curiously. "What is it?"
"Sunscreen." Viggo takes it back and demonstrates how to put it on. "You'll be fucking miserable if you get a sunburn."
"Ah...yes, that makes sense." Lucius copies Viggo, putting the stuff on his exposed skin, and thinking that the worst thing about not having magic is that it's so much work.
"I'm putting you on Maxine," Viggo says as they walk out to the barn. "She's a nice girl, a bit spirited but as long as you're firm with her, you shouldn't have any problems." He starts saddling up the horses, talking over his shoulder. "It's not that I wouldn't trust you with TJ or Uraeus, but they've done stunt work and so they're kinda tricky to ride if you don't know all their cues."
"Here...let me." Viggo hands Lucius the saddle and he checks it over with an expert eye. "We had horses when I was growing up, both winged and not. The Granians flew off one day and didn't come back, but I kept riding Salazar until we finally had to put him out to pasture." He cinches the saddle and gives Maxine a stern look. "No tricks, missy, and we'll get along just fine."
"All right," Viggo says. Lucius obviously knows what he's doing, so Viggo feels perfectly comfortable turning to Ureaus, murmuring to him in Elvish as he saddles him up.
Lucius turns to watch Viggo. "Isn't that...Brego?"
"Yeah," Viggo says. "We got along so well that when they sold the horses off at the end of filming, I bought him. I bought Arwen's horse for her stunt rider because she loved the horse so much but she couldn't afford her." He laughs a little. "After Liv heard about it, she called me up and chewed me out for not letting her know I was doing it."
He gets the saddle on Ureaus and then points over to TJ's stall. "He's a movie horse too; I rode him in Hidalgo."
"Do you always get the horses from your films?" Lucius asks. He climbs up into the saddle with practiced ease, then reaches down and strokes Maxine's neck.
"Aside from just the two, I haven't done that much riding in movies," Viggo says mounting up. "Hidalgo was about a horse race and about the relationship between the racer and his horse, so I did a lot more scenes with TJ than without him."
"Do you have a copy of that one as well?" Lucius asks as they ride out to the trail.
"Somewhere back at the house, I think," Viggo says. "It was pretty challenging; the premise was a somewhat-fictional horse race in Arabia in the late 1800s."
Lucius smiles wistfully. "I've always loved horse racing, in the air or on the ground. Much more fun that Quidditch, if you ask me."
"Quidditch is fucking boring," Viggo says as the horses amble along the trail. "And I say this as a baseball fan."
"It is," Lucius sighs. "I only went out for the house team at school because it was expected--though I will say I was a reasonably good Chaser. And then, of course Draco ended up being Quidditch-mad, so I had to go to all the Slytherin games. He's a good Seeker; it's just unfortunate that Potter's in his year."
"Why's that?" Viggo asks. Although when he thinks about it, he supposes that a Malfoy wouldn't get along with the boy the British wizarding world is looking to as their savior from Voldemort. The fact that his own son is the same age as both Harry and Draco hits him again and he heaves a mental sigh.
"Because as good as Draco is, Potter's better on a broom than he is." Lucius sighs. "And worse, Draco's almost as obsessed with Potter as the Dark Lord is. He can't seem to concentrate on finding the bloody Snitch, only on getting one-up on Potter." He glances over at Viggo. "Mind you, I've come to feel sorry for Potter--and that's something I'd never have dreamed I'd say, since he's largely responsible for my trip to Azkaban, not to mention tricking me into freeing one of our house elves. But all his life, he's been little more than a game piece, caught between the Dark Lord on one side and Dumbledore on the other, all because of something he didn't even do."
"I was just thinking about that," Viggo says. "They're all the same age--Harry, Draco and Henry--and they should be playing Quidditch and chasing girls and not already so grown up. Even here, everyone's worried; Henry's said that they're upping the number of hours of Defense training at Ojai." He reaches down and pets Ureaus. "I was hardly involved and the last war ruined that part of my life for me. I hate to see it happening to another generation."
"I was relieved when the Dark Lord disappeared," Lucius says quietly. "It wasn't that I disagreed with his stated goals, but for some reason, after Draco was born...I was more interested in seeing my son grow up. Just, as you said, not this fast."
"That's why I'm more than a bit of a pacifist," Viggo says. "I want everyone to have that chance." He shakes his head a little. "Well that was preachy."
"A bit, yes." Lucius grins. "But I'm getting used to that."
"Good thing," Viggo says with a laugh. Lucius looks different when he smiles and Viggo finds himself wishing he'd see that smile more often. "Ah, here we are," he says as they reach a meadow. "Feel like doing a little galloping?"
Lucius leans down and whispers to Maxine, giving her just the slightest nudge with his shoes. She breaks into a gallop eagerly, with Viggo and Ureaus close behind them.
* * *
"The problem I have teaching anyone to cook," Viggo says as he starts pulling stuff out of the fridge, "is that I rarely use cookbooks or actual recipes." He shrugs. "I learned some of it from Mom and a lot of it from Chris--which would surprise people if they knew--and then I picked stuff here and there. Some of the time, I just make stuff up. Another reason I have a reputation as a so-so cook."
Lucius nods, trying to concentrate on Viggo's words when he's distracted by Viggo's presence. He's close enough to smell him, a clean, earthy scent that's worlds away from Severus, who always seemed to smell a little of formaldehyde no matter how often he bathed.
"Okay, so...spaghetti," Viggo says. "I'm going for a basic meat sauce here, so...onions, garlic, tomato paste, tomatoes, spices, ground beef, some Italian sausage, mushrooms and some wine." He's been pulling ingredients out of the fridge and various cupboards and now he looks at the big island counter in the middle of the kitchen. "Sometimes I'll use fresh tomatoes, but the canned ones work just as well."
Pulling out a cutting board and a knife, he sets them down in front of Lucius. "Why don't you chop the onion up fine while I rinse off the mushrooms?"
"Very well." Lucius tests the edge of the blade against one finger and finds it nicely sharp. With quick, precise strokes, he chops the onion. Morgana...when was the last time I actually brewed anything? He chuckles softly. "It's good to see I haven't forgotten how to do this," he mutters.
"Potions?" Viggo asks, setting the mushrooms aside and pulling out a large skillet. He gets out the oil and then starts slicing up the mushrooms.
"Yes. I always rather liked chopping onions. At least they're not slimy."
"Why is it that so many potions have the most disgusting ingredients possible?" Viggo asks, starting in on the garlic. "Henry used to love to try to gross me out by telling me all about potions class."
"I asked Severus that once," Lucius says, smiling. "He just gave me that look of his--and believe me, when Severus Snape looks down his nose at you, you notice it."
"How long were you lovers?" Viggo asks, getting out the olive oil.
"Twenty years, give or take. He was a first-year when I was a sixth-year, and from the time I walked in on Potter and Black bullying him, he followed me everywhere. He was brilliant at potions even then, and I was eventually given the task of recruiting him." Lucius sighs. "After Draco's second year, when I no longer had the excuse of being on the board of governors to visit, he started telling me it was too risky to continue on as we had been. I assumed that Dumbledore had put pressure on him and didn't want him consorting with his former colleagues."
"That's a long time," Viggo says, briefly resting a hand on Lucius' shoulder. "You must miss him."
"I thought he didn't trust me, and while that came as no surprise--we're both Slytherin to the core, after all--it was still rather difficult," Lucius admits. "Whatever his feelings for me, however, I have no doubt he cares for Draco, and I strongly suspect it's thanks to him that Draco is still alive."
"That's some comfort at least," Viggo says. He takes a deep breath and turns to the stove, pouring a little oil into the skillet. "What we need to do here is sauté the onion and the garlic. So you wait until the oil is hot...."
Once he's shown Lucius what to do, Viggo backs off and lets him do it. He gets out a pot for the sauce and then begins opening the cans of tomato paste and tomatoes, keeping an eye on the stove.
Lucius watches the stove as if it might suddenly decide to get up and run away. Perhaps I'll try doing this at home. In five years, that is, when I can use magic again. The thought isn't as painful as it was at first. Is it possible we're the ones who are crippled, because we're so helpless without magic?
Looking over at Lucius, Viggo smiles. "Relax, it shouldn't blow up or catch fire or anything like that. You just want to get the onions a little soft and then we can add the meat."
"Oh...right." Lucius pokes at the onions with a spatula. "I think they may be ready."
"Yeah," Viggo says, adding the meat. "What you want to do know is just cook this until the meat is all completely done. No pink showing." He heads to the cupboard. "I was going to have a glass of wine; you want one?"
"Yes, please." Carefully, Lucius stirs the meat and onion mixture. Once he's got his wine, he sips it as he keeps one eye on the pan. Every so often, he glances over at Viggo. Damn it all to hell. I want him now, and I can't exactly run upstairs for a quick wank.
Glancing up, Viggo catches Lucius looking at him and waits for a question. When one doesn't come, he mentally shrugs and starts tearing up lettuce for the salad. When he next looks up, Lucius is concentrating on the skillet, his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth in a way that reminds Viggo of Sean. Kind of weird, given how very unlike they are.
"That wasn't so bad," Lucius says, once the sauce is simmering. "Thought I expect I should reserve judgment until I've tasted it."
"It's going to taste a lot like mine," Viggo says. "The trick with spaghetti sauce is making it your own, adding more or less of a spice or using hotter sausage or something. "
He heads into the living room and kneels in front of the fireplace. "It's an interesting mixture of science and art," he continues as he works on building a fire. "Particularly something like this. Soup, stew, chili...they're all meals that were designed to use whatever was around at the time. Once you break it down to a few techniques, you can have a pretty impressive repertoire."
Lucius nods, settling onto the sofa. "It will be useful, especially since I have several years to go before I can use magic again." He pauses. "It's odd, in a way...I hadn't realized before how dependent I was on having it."
"You've had it all your life," Viggo says, using his lighter to light the edges of the kindling. "Of course you depend on it; it's like seeing for you." He smiles a little. "Putting you into the care of someone who's been blind from birth makes sense really."
"Does that bother you? Having me here, I mean," Lucius asks, studying the reflection of the flames in his wineglass.
"It did at first." Viggo pokes at the fire a little more than necessary. "Now...I have to remind myself...well, why you're here." And that's a hard thing to admit, even to himself.
Lucius looks up at Viggo. He's not quite sure what Viggo means, and he doesn't want to break the moment by asking. Quietly, he murmurs, "I do too, at times."
"I'm glad," Viggo says after a moment. He turns and looks at Lucius. "There is a great deal we don't agree on, but...I'm glad you're here."
"Do you know...I am as well," Lucius says. He gives Viggo a genuine smile, something that's become more common in the past few months than in all of Lucius' life so far.
-tbc-
Disclaimer: You get two for the price of one here: 1) Not RL; didn't happen. If you think this has anything to do with the real people involved, then you need to put down the crack pipe. and probably seek professional help. 2) Neither of us is J.K. Rowling, these are her characters not ours.
Notes: I know this is terribly late; some things happened and there was a big rewrite needed and it's pretty much all on me. Sorry about that. Many thanks go out to kyuuketsukirui for her excellent beta; she was totally right about the rewrite.
In order to bring some things into parallel, we've messed with the timing of events in the HP universe. Year One is now 2000. Collision begins in February, 2006, in the middle of what would be Year Seven of HP canon.
In order the stories are (please note that "Keeping Faith" and "Favor" overlap each other to some extent):
Dual Citizenship
Keeping Faith
Favor
Collision