Clothed and Seeming

A/N: Dinner and light conversation, and Harry\'s plans revealed.

\"Another life, another time
We\'re Siamese twins, writhing intertwined
Face to face, no telling lies
The masks they slide, to reveal a new disguise…\"—Siouxsie and the
Banshees, \"Face to Face\"

~~*~~

The day had dragged by slowly for Harry, apart from an alarmed owl
from Ron, who had called over to the Dursleys to talk to him and had
found out that he was gone. He\'d sent a reply telling his friend
that his uncle had tried to hurt him and Dumbledore wouldn\'t let him
leave Privet Drive, so he\'d left on his own, but that he was safe,
in Diagon Alley, and was keeping himself locked in a room at the
Leaky Cauldron, only leaving for meals, or to go to buy books to
read. He hoped that would be enough to placate the boy he regarded
as a brother, and went back to the book he was currently engrossed
in.

He had been reading more and more about the nature of wizarding
politics, its history, and how the Ministry had worked, and he\'d
brought along a few Muggle books on the subject as well, comparing
the two approaches. He needed to solidify the argument he was going
to present to Voldemort, and he studiously took notes and pondered
what would happen next.

Harry knew he was taking a huge risk by going to this dinner
tonight, but he had been given word by the Dark Lord, for what that
was worth, that he would not be harmed in any way. He could only
trust in that, at least until the other wizard heard his ideas. He
could, of course, end up being killed anyways after dinner, but
something told him that Tom wouldn\'t do that. He had seemed
genuinely intrigued.

At around six o\'clock, he decided it was time to start getting
ready, so he went to the shower and began to prepare to meet his
archrival.

Grooming his usually untamed hair and fixing his robes, Harry took
in his appearance. He wore slim black slacks with dragon hide boots,
a dark emerald green silk shirt that brought out his eyes, a belt
with a silver snake clasp, a soft black jacket that matched his
slacks, and a black cloak clasped at his neck with another snake.
Perfect, he thought to himself. Slytherin colors, since he was
meeting with a bunch of Slytherin. It made sense.

Taking a few shrunken journals from his trunk, Harry pocketed them
in his cloak and picked up his wand. Bracing himself for the
portkey, which he still didn\'t care for in the wake of Cedric\'s
death, he looked at the clock and as it hit 6:45, he touched the tip
of his wand to the pebble in his hand, feeling the familiar tug
behind his navel as he was pulled backwards, on his way to Riddle
Manor.

~~*~~

Landing in the posh, but comfortable study of Tom Riddle, Harry
Potter shook his ebony hair, and blinked taking in his surroundings.
A deep crimson, plush carpet was beneath his feet, with a hardwood
desk, massive bookcase, and leather chair facing him. Several
paintings on the wall, both magical and Muggle, with an owl perch in
one corner, and sculpted art all around. Deep cream colored walls
with floating candles in the corners, a large fireplace, and a
seating area, with a coffee table surrounded by a couch and three
chairs were all around him.

He turned and faced, for the first time in two years, his archrival.
He flinched slightly and put his hand to his forehead as his scar
burned, which the Dark Lord and the Death Eaters all noticed, but
Harry shook it off quickly and straightened himself out. He let his
eyes wander over the man who had caused him so much pain in his life.

Voldemort almost looked…human. Black hair, red eyes, gorgeous body.
It reminded the Gryffindor of the boy he\'d encountered back in the
Chamber of Secrets, only slightly older. Said boy also looked good
enough to eat, but Harry decided to shelve that thought for now.
Getting trapped by lust now would just ruin everything.

He looked to the two men on either side of Voldemort. The first was
Lucius Malfoy, which was no big surprise. The other, however, caught
him off guard. It was his Potions professor, Severus Snape.

For their parts, the three men were studying the boy before them,
taking note of his appearance. Without his glasses, Harry looked
almost exotic, otherworldly. His penetrating gaze seemed to bore
though them all, and they took in his clothing, the significance of
the colors he was wearing not lost on any of them. They also noticed
the snakes on his cloak and belt, and wondered why the Gryffindor
Golden Boy was wearing something so…Slytherin.

Tom\'s eyes raked over the body of the child before him, and he
unconsciously licked his lips, which Harry noticed. The boy was
delectable, and he stole a glance at his lover, whose steel gray
eyes told him he\'d noticed the same thing. The question briefly
flashed between them—would they attempt to seduce the boy? They
nodded to each other, opting to see where things went that night.
Perhaps they would get more than just a strategic alliance before
the night was over. Harry saw the look that passed between the two
men, a small part of him thrilled with the idea that these two
beautiful and deadly men seemed to find him attractive. But he knew
better than to get ahead of himself. He\'d see what happened that
night first.

Severus was absorbing what he was seeing. Whatever it was that had
changed Harry, it was profound. This boy was not the wide eyed,
almost irritating innocent he\'d known for six years. This was a
poised young man with a determined gleam in those emerald eyes, and
a way of carrying himself that suggested that he was not going into
this lightly, and he wouldn\'t take being patronized. Admitting a
grudging respect for the boy, Snape decided that he would watch
Harry carefully, and try to figure out what happened.

Finally breaking the silence, Voldemort nodded to the young boy
before him and said, \"Welcome to my home, Harry Potter.\" Waving his
hand towards the chair across from him, the Dark Lord motioned for
his guest to sit down, and after removing his outer cloak, Harry did
so, facing the three men before him.

Before any of the men could say anything, Harry turned to his
professor and addressed him. \"Professor Snape, I can understand his
presence here,\" he began, motioning towards Lucius, \"but you…\"

\"Are a spy for Dumbledore?\" finished the Potions master, asking the
question on his student\'s mind. \"Hardly, Harry. The old fool thinks
I spy for him because I leak just enough information to him to stop
an attack now and then, but Voldemort has always been aware of my
actions.\"

\"Oh. I didn\'t realize…\" Harry began.

\"And you would have had no reason to, either. I keep my cards close
to my chest, Harry. It\'s how I\'ve survived as long as I have,\"
replied the Head of Slytherin, and the boy nodded in understanding.

Looking at the Gryffindor intently with his garnet eyes, Tom
commented, \"Those are interesting colors on you, Harry, not to
mention the accessories. Any particular reason why?\"

\"Well,\" replied the young wizard, \"Far be it for me to wear
Gryffindor colors when I\'m visiting the heir of Slytherin, don\'t you
think?\" he asked, brazen grin on his face, and Voldemort
chuckled. \"Besides, it was almost my house as well. Why not wear
them?\"

Stunned, the three men looked at him. \"Do you mean,\" asked
Snape, \"that you were almost sorted into Slytherin?\"

\"Yes,\" came the quick response. \"The Hat told me it was all there in
my head, and that Slytherin would lead me to greatness, but I begged
it to put me anywhere else instead, so it said Gryffindor.\"

\"Why did you ask it to sort you elsewhere?\" wondered Lucius. Emerald
eyes looked at the long haired blonde, and the boy began to speak.

\"Because I had met your son, who had insulted my friends, and all I
knew about Slytherin was that you,\" answered Harry as he looked at
Voldemort, \"had been there, and what Ron had told me, which was that
there wasn\'t a dark witch or wizard that hadn\'t been in Slytherin. I
didn\'t want to be in the same house as the man who\'d killed my
parents, and I didn\'t like Draco, so I asked to go anywhere else.\"

\"I can understand those reasons, but I\'m confused. Why would the hat
suggest Slytherin in the first place?\" inquired the Dark
Lord. \"You\'ve never struck me as the type, and your parents were
both Gryffindor. Why would the Hat say that?\"

\"Because the curse that gave me this,\" replied Harry, as he lifted
his hair and exposed his scar, \"imparted some of your magic into me,
such as parselmouth. It also left me with a connection to you.
Whenever you feel particularly murderous, or when you\'re near, it
burns.\"

Voldemort was stunned. He\'d never known that anything connected the
two of them apart from parselmouth and their similar backgrounds. He
knew the boy was powerful in his own right, and he\'d seen a lot of
himself in the green eyed lad, but he never would have guessed this.

\"So does it bother you now?\" asked Severus. \"I saw you grimace and
touch it earlier, before you sat down.\"

\"It was just a reminder of where I was and who I was with,\" said the
Gryffindor. \"Right now, it\'s dormant, since all we\'re doing is
talking. But it\'s there, particularly in the wake of your
resurrection in the graveyard,\" commented the boy as he gazed at his
archrival once more.

\"How so?\" wondered Tom.

Getting up briefly and crossing the room to his cloak, Harry pulled
the shrunken journals he had placed there earlier and returned them
to normal size. Sitting back down again, he looked at the three men,
and replied, \"The answer is in these books. Ever since your return,
I\'ve had visions of every Death Eater meeting,\" he revealed, to the
complete shock of the three men near him. \"Every attack. Every
murder. Every plan you\'ve made. They\'re all here, as well as in a
Pensive I left in Dumbledore\'s office.\"

This was not good, the three Slytherin realized. Harry was far more
dangerous than they\'d given him credit for, as some of those plans
and meetings had been highly secretive, yet they\'d still been
foiled. They\'d often wondered how, and now they had their answer. At
first, Lucius and Tom had suspected Severus of actual betrayal, but
when plans that he had never been included in or informed of were
still stopped, they were sure it was not him. They had never been
able to find the mole they suspected, and now they knew why. The
informant was the Boy Who Lived.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to the Potions master.

\"You\'ve felt the curses as well, haven\'t you?\" asked Snape, thinking
of some of the times that Harry had missed classes. Going through it
in his head, he realized that Harry\'s absences tended to coincide
with some of the more brutal attacks and revels, and he knew that
couldn\'t just be due to seeing them all.

\"Yes,\" said the boy softly. \"Those nights were the worst. At that
point, the scar opens and bleeds, and faint impressions of each
curse flow through me. I\'ve been hyperaware, these past few years,
of everything that has ever gone on in your name,\" he told Voldemort.

Running his hand through his hair thoughtfully, the Dark Lord looked
at the boy. \"Well, that explains why you mentioned a minimum of
bloodshed. I never realized that I caused you actual pain, or that
you saw everything, and based on Severus\' reaction, he never knew
either.\"

\"No one did,\" replied Harry, \"aside from Madame Pomfrey, Dumbledore,
Sirius and Remus, and Ron and Hermione, and none of them would have
exactly run to you with that kind of information.\"

\"But why are you telling us this now?\" asked Lucius. \"What makes you
think we won\'t just kill you, or use this against you?\"

\"The thought occurred to me,\" admitted the Gryffindor, \"But it was
still a risk I had to take. I have to lay this all out so that you
can see I\'m sincere about wanting an alliance. Granted, withholding
that information would give me an advantage, but so does telling
you.\"

\"A very Slytherin observation, boy,\" mused the Potions master. \"It
would indeed be an advantage to you, since killing you would break
the word we made to you, and leaving you be would still mean that
the threat of exposure is out there.\"

\"Exactly,\" responded Harry. \"Which is why I mentioned it at all.\"

Impressed, the Dark Lord fixed his crimson gaze on the beauty that
was his rival, and he started to say something, but he was
interrupted by the presence of a House elf. \"Excusing me, sirs, but
Master had asked that Lendy tell him when dinner was ready,\" bowed
the creature, averting her eyes from Voldemort.

\"Thank you, Lendy,\" replied Tom. \"We will be there shortly,\" he
nodded, and the elf disappeared with a loud crack. Turning to his
guests, the Dark wizard motioned for everyone to follow, and the
four men made their way to the dining room.

~~*~~

Once seated, the food appeared, and the three Dark wizards turned to
face Harry once more.

\"Alright, Harry,\" said Voldemort. \"You got my interest by mentioning
an alliance. How exactly are you considering doing this?\"

Locking intense emerald eyes with the ruby eyes before him, Harry
regarded the Dark Lord and thought about how to answer. Finally
settling on his words, he began to talk, telling the trio of his
ideas.

\"Well, I\'ve spent the past few days reading about the history of the
wizarding world politically, and also looking at the Muggle world
and their politics, and I think I\'ve solved how both of us can get
what we want and both be satisfied,\" replied the boy.

\"How?\" asked Lucius.

\"Simple,\" answered the young wizard with an airy wave of his
hand. \"Marketing. You have an image problem. The right political
moves, taken from the Muggle world, would easily give you everything
you\'ve been fighting for, and you wouldn\'t have to kill anyone to do
it.\"

\"Why would I take a cue from Muggles?\" wondered Voldemort.

\"Because nothing you\'ve tried so far has worked,\" retorted the
Gryffindor. \"Attacks in the dead of night and terror only go so far.
If you want to really have the wizarding world in your hands, you
need to remake your image in the press, and to redefine your
approach. The way you\'ve gone about things might have worked a
century ago, but now there are far more effective and insidious ways
of getting your image out and convincing people to follow you.\"

\"Like what?\" inquired Severus, fully intrigued as to where the boy
was going with this.

\"For example, you want vampires and werewolves and creatures that
are considered Dark on your side, do you not?\" responded the boy,
looking at the Dark Lord, who nodded. \"Well, if you were to
systematically convince people that their prejudices were unfounded,
and that werewolves and the others were oppressed minorities,
shunned for something out of their control, and persecuted unfairly
by others, you could slowly bring public opinion around to your
side. Once the public was convinced, it would only be a matter of
time before they would push for new laws giving more rights to those
creatures. \"

\"So you would play on their sympathy, then?\" said Lucius, stunned at
the audacity of the idea. Very Slytherin indeed. \"What else?\"

\"Well, we all know Fudge is an idiot and a fool,\" started Harry, and
all three men snorted derisively. \"Even after all these years, he
still doesn\'t believe you\'ve returned. If you were to make a public
appearance, especially now in your younger form,\" he motioned to the
garnet eyed wizard he was facing, \"you might be able to garner
sympathy, and you would discredit him fully as well.\"

\"And just how,\" drawled Voldemort, \"would I do that? I\'ve killed
hundreds of people, Harry. I\'m not a good man, and never have been.
How would you all of a sudden move to redeem me in the public eye?\"

\"The same way a Muggle politician or celebrity redeems themselves,\"
came the response. \"Hire a writer for the Prophet who would be
receptive to you, and have them write stories about your miserable
childhood, your estrangement from others, and your insecurities when
you were younger, and use those reasons as why you turned into
Voldemort. Have that person make you a sympathetic character instead
of the monster people see you as, especially now that you\'re fully
human again and not the serpentine being you were before.\"

\"What good would making me look weak and pathetic do?\" asked the
Dark Lord, offended by the idea.

\"That\'s just it—with the right writer on your side, you wouldn\'t
look that way at all. You\'d simply go from being an evil wizard who
people can\'t even bear to name to being simply misunderstood,\" said
the Gryffindor.

\"I can see what you\'re saying, but how does discrediting Fudge help
me? Wouldn\'t people just look for a Minister that would want to stop
me?\" asked Tom, shaking his head in puzzlement.

\"Not if you do a good enough job of convincing them that you\'re not
someone whose name should never be uttered, but rather someone they
can sympathize with,\" answered Harry. \"You could discredit Fudge and
using the press to your advantage, Lucius could conceivably position
himself to run for office. His political connections,\" motioned the
green eyed boy, \"coupled with his wealth and influence make for a
powerful combinantion. He\'d be all but unbeatable, and with the
right concessions on your part, he could win handily.\"

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Voldemort considered his rival and
asked, \"What sort of concessions?\"

\"Well, there\'s the matter of my godfather\'s name, for one,\" answered
the younger wizard, and all three Slytherin looked at the boy
appraisingly. \"If you were to all of a sudden turn Pettigrew in and
clear Sirius\' name, blaming his imprisonment on Fudge\'s incompetence
due to his lack of an investigation, and his refusal to even
question Sirius under Veritaserum or give him a trial before
shipping him off to Azkaban, the effects would be twofold. One,
you\'d be the one to set an innocent man free, and two, you would
further show that Fudge was unfit for office and that he should be
replaced. The act of contrition of setting Sirius free would make
people think you\'ve changed, even if you in fact haven\'t.\"

\"Plus you would get something you want out of it,\" pointed out
Severus, \"in the freedom of your godfather.\"

\"Right,\" said Harry. \"And the idea to get the Dark creatures on your
side by playing on public sympathy about the hardships they face
would help Remus in the long run, because then he wouldn\'t have to
live in the shadows anymore about who and what he is. He\'d be able
to function more freely in society.\"

\"I\'m impressed, Potter,\" expressed Lucius, a tinge of respect in his
voice. \"You\'ve given this a lot of thought. What other concessions
would there be?\"

\"Like I said earlier,\" responded the boy, \"Your methods of terror
and attacks haven\'t worked. To turn the public into your favor would
be difficult, but manageable, only I don\'t think you\'ll like the
idea much,\" said Harry with a sheepish look on his face.

\"What idea is that?\" wondered Voldemort.

\"Taking your most dangerous, and sadistic Death Eaters, along with
your most expendable ones, who are nothing but warm bodies filling
your ranks, and sacrificing them to Azkaban,\" stated the Gryffindor
simply.

\"What?!\" thundered the Dark Lord. \"You can\'t be serious, boy. Why in
all the hells would I do something like that?\"

\"It would be a show of good faith on your part,\" answered Harry
quietly. \"You could publicly appear to dismantle the Death Eaters by
sending all of those people to pay for their crimes, locking away
the people who would be the biggest threats, making yourself look
good in the process.\"

\"But all of this would merely be for show?\" asked Severus
incredulously.

\"Yes. It would be the façade of redemption and contrition on your
part publicly,\" Harry told Voldemort, \"while behind the scenes you
would have the Dark creatures on your side after working to grant
them rights they don\'t have now, and with Fudge discredited and
Lucius elected Minister of Magic, you\'d have influence over the
entire wizarding world without having to sneak around in the dead of
night killing people. It would be a bloodless coup.\"

\"And you got this idea from the Muggle world?\" asked Lucius,
stunned. The green eyed boy nodded at him.

\"Have you ever heard the saying `The pen is mightier than the
sword\'?\" asked Harry. All three men shook their heads. \"It means
that what is written about a person is often more of an effective
weapon than brute force. It works in the Muggle world, and with the
right planning, would work here as well.\"

\"You mean this is how things work for Muggles now?\" wondered
Voldemort.

\"Yes. Muggle politics and media are filled with things like this all
the time. The most corrupt men are able to appear sympathetic to the
most middle class or working class person, even if they want nothing
to do with them personally,\" answered the young wizard. \"All they
have to do is convince those people that they have their best
interests at heart, and that they\'re not as evil as people think
they are, and that they\'re misunderstood, and they get elected to
office, or otherwise influence the world around them. They gain
power, and they don\'t even have to use violence to do it.\"

Turning over the entire conversation in his head, Tom studied Harry
intently. What the boy was suggesting was Slytherin to the extreme.
Lucius would be in charge of the Ministry, giving Voldemort a de
facto hold on the wizarding world, and his image would be improved,
if not publicly redeemed—even if he himself never had a change of
heart-- meaning he would be able to walk around more freely in the
world. He might even be able to have a life again, instead of being
sequestered. But there was one unanswered factor. Dumbledore.

\"Everything you\'re saying makes sense, but there is still the matter
of Dumbledore. How could any of this work with him still out there?\"
wondered the ruby eyed wizard.

Emerald eyes turned cold, surprising the three men at the table.

\"What happens to him is of no concern to me,\" said the
Gryffindor. \"He gave up his right to dictate the terms of my life or
anyone else\'s when he sacrificed me to the Muggle relatives I have,
even after I told him about the life I was leading there.\"

\"Sacrificed you? How?\" asked Severus.

\"By leaving me in an abusive environment, where I was beaten, half-
starved, and treated worse than a house elf, even after I confessed
it all to him,\" spat the boy, to the shock of the older
wizards. \"According to him, I can survive two months a year in that
environment, because the wards are stronger there at their house
than anywhere else, and it\'s for my own safety.\"

\"You mean Albus knew you were being hurt, but left you there
anyhow?\" gasped the Potions master. He was stunned. He thought the
Headmaster had liked the child. Why on earth would he allow abuse to
continue? Didn\'t he learn from his mistakes with Tom? Having done
the same with Tom Riddle all those years ago had led to Voldemort\'s
rise in the first place.

\"How else to have a blind, faithful follower in a boy who knew
nothing of the magical world when he entered Hogwarts than by
convincing him that he was cared for and loved and that the school
was his sanctuary?\" scowled Harry.

The three Slytherin eyed Harry curiously, waiting to see what else
he would say. Harry continued on.

\"He fooled me for the first few years, but when I told him
everything at the end of my fifth year and he still sent me back, I
started to see things differently. When I begged him again this
summer to go anywhere else—even after my uncle, in a drunken haze,
tried to rape me, only failing because he passed out from
intoxication first—and he * still * denied me escape, I decided that
he no longer has a say in my life. I do. That\'s why I contacted you,
for the most part. And that\'s why I\'m offering this alliance to
you,\" Harry told Voldemort emphatically.

\"So what would you do about Dumbledore?\" asked Lucius, taking in
what the child had told him, and with a new admiration for what the
lad had endured.

\"Simple. I have all the letters I\'ve written to him, and the images
in my personal Pensive of telling him everything, along with the
letters he\'s written me in response. If he were to attempt to oppose
this, I would go public with all of it,\" he answered simply. \"I\'m
the Boy Who Lived,\" sneered the Gryffindor, rolling his eyes. \"I
doubt the wizarding world would take kindly to finding out that the
Headmaster allowed their supposed savior to be abused and that he
never moved to stop it.\"

\"You said this was only part of the reason you contacted me,\" mused
Voldemort. \"What is the other part?\"

\"Sheer exhaustion,\" replied Harry honestly, looking his rival in the
eye. \"I\'m tired of being the bloody Boy Who Lived. Tired of being
expected to kill you and to save the world. Tired of waking up night
after night, screaming from the visions and nightmares of the Death
Eater attacks, reeling from the curses thrown. Tired of my godfather
and his werewolf friend being on the run. Tired of being a tool for
Dumbledore, and just wanting some peace and quiet for myself. A
normal life, for a change,\" he said firmly. \"I just want it all to
end, and for my friends to be safe and happy, and if that means
helping to create and perpetuate a lie of you redeeming yourself,
and me working to all but give you control of the world without any
bloodshed, and with some compromise on your part, then so be it.\"

Thinking it over some more, the Dark Lord took in the conversation
that had taken up their meal. What Harry was offering had a great
deal of potential, and if they worked together, both wizards would
be happy in the long run, and they could reshape the wizarding world
in the image they saw fit.

It was an audacious, stunning plan, and he had to admire the boy for
coming to him with it. Turning to his two top lieutenants, he
said, \"What do you think, Severus and Lucius? I believe young
Harry\'s ideas here have serious merit, but what say you?\"

Severus looked at Voldemort and, with a thoughtful expression,
replied, \"I agree, my Lord. The ideas certainly have merit, and I
think it\'s something to seriously consider doing. It would
definitely ease the stress we find ourselves under, and it would
give you more freedom to move around in the world. I would think it
over carefully, and possibly take the risk.\"

\"And you, Lucius?\" asked Tom as he turned to his lover. \"What\'s your
take on things?\"

Letting his steel gray eyes momentarily linger over Harry, and
taking a good hard look at the boy, Lucius turned to the Dark Lord
and answered, \"I\'m with Severus. It\'s worth exploring the
possibilities. I didn\'t have plans to run for office, but it would
put a public face on you, and we could shape the laws to suit our
needs, be conciliatory when needed, and consolidate power. The boy
has a good idea.\"

Glancing at the two Death Eaters, Tom took on a pensive look and
fixed his ruby eyes on the young boy across from him. \"Very well,
Harry. We\'ll form an alliance between us, and begin coming up with a
plan. There are still details to work out, of course, but I think we
can come to an agreement that will make us all happy,\" he said. \"In
the meantime, I will put the word out to my Death Eaters that you
are not to be harmed or touched in any way, shape or form, and
neither will your friends, their families, your godfather, or the
werewolf, with the excuse that I have my own plans and they are not
to interfere or they will face my wrath. Also, I think it would be
best if the alliance was kept amongst the four of us. The less
people who know, the better. Agreed?\"

Nodding, Harry looked at Tom and said, \"Agreed. It stays here,
between us. I have no problems with that.\"

\"And with that, gentlemen,\" commented Severus as he stood up to
leave, \"I am afraid I must call it a night. I have potions at my lab
that need tending, and I need to get back to them.\" Bowing politely,
the head of Slytherin house bid his farewells and raised his wand,
returning back to Hogwarts.

\"And how about you, Harry?\" asked Voldemort. \"Are you in any hurry
to leave, or would you care to stay for a drink?\" At the boy\'s wary
look, the Dark Lord chuckled, \"Don\'t worry, child. We won\'t poison
you. You\'ll be drinking from the same bottle as Lucius and myself.
What do you say?\"

\"That sounds fine. I can stay for a while longer,\" replied the
Gryffindor with a small smile.

\"Excellent,\" said Lucius. \"Shall we retire to the study, then?\"

~~*~~