from Time to Time | Lucius Malfoy

That's why you have staff

1991

Lucius walked straight to his study on the second floor. He knew this woman from somewhere, he had seen her before. Did he really remember all the girls he'd ever - no, he definitely had not been intimate with Severus' wife-to-be. But still he had the feeling that he had been close to her before.

"Damn it...", he cursed when one of the big boxes slipped out of his hands. He had stored away half his life in black boxes. All neatly labeled, year after year. These boxes were stacked in a hidden chamber behind a bookshelf. A little secret hiding place, only he himself could come up with something like that... in his own house... but he didn't want Narcissa digging around in his life and this woman was just too curious.

The contents of the box were spread across the wooden floor. He looked back at memories from the year he was 9, knelt over the clutter and began sorting everything back neatly by hand. Of course he could have used magic, he wasn't a stupid muggle. But firstly, he was able to determine immediately whether he had met or got to know this woman in the year he was 9 and secondly, he had forgotten the spell for it. After all, who cleans up in their own house? That's why you have staff. Speaking of! "DOBBY!?" his voice rumbled through the house and with a soft plopp the house-elf appeared next to him and bowed so low that the tip of his nose touched the floor.

"Master has called for Dobby. Dobby appeared immediately, how can Dobby-" this constant chatter was driving him mad! "Shut up and make yourself useful! Get me a glass of firewhiskey. No wait, pour the whiskey into a teacup, the mistress doesn't need to know everything..." Dobby nodded and with another soft plopp he was gone.

Earlier in his childhood he was very fond of Dobby. He had spent a lot of time with him and the elf had always been there for him. He played with him because Lucius didn't have any friends at all before he started school.  At some point however he obviously understood that house elves are not friends because they aren't human at all but second class creatures and cannot really be relied on. Dobby did take care of him because his mother died when he was 6 and for some reason his father didn't have a nanny-

"DOBBY!" he shot. When the house-elf reappeared with a cup filled to the brim with firewhiskey, he stared at him. "Dobby, Severus' fiancee..." he began, speaking very softly but clearly, "...are you aware?" The elf stared at the ground. "Yes sir. Dobby knows miss Sterling." Lucius swallowed. "Do I know her?", he hissed at the house-elf who ducked and kept looking down but then finally answered. "The master knows miss Sterling, he can certainly remember her if he only thinks a bit-" - "How dare you! Of course I know her! Get out of here! Stupid elf!" Lucius snatched the cup from Dobby and placed it on the ground beside him. Did that stupid creature just tell him to think a little harder? The elf backed out of the room, apparently afraid to have its back to his master.

"Wait! How far...?" he snapped at the elf. He looked up briefly, obviously he couldn't do anything with the question. Lucius rolled his eyes and sighed. "Good lord, how far back should I think?" Dobby blinked. "Master was 7 years old..." And with a soft plopp the elf was gone.

That of course narrowed down the search immensely. Apparently this obnoxious elf could be used for something important after all. Lucius put the box in front of him aside and reached for the one that clearly had the year "1961" on it. Excitedly he opened the lid and reached for a paper napkin from an ice cream parlor. Strange... who keeps a paper napkin? Apparently himself. He put it aside and reached for a photo album. Among them was the tin dragon, which he remembered very well. Every Christmas he put it on the shelf above the fireplace. It had been given to him by a former nanny. This nanny had become something of a surrogate mother for him, he loved this woman. But one day, he could swear it was around Christmas time, she disappeared without a trace. So his father was beside himself. For years he had hoped she would come back, but of course she didn't. Good employees is still hard to find, he thought to himself and opened the photo album.

He skimmed through the pages of boring photographs that a house-elf must have taken on behalf of his father. Then he found a picture where he was flying on a broomstick. He had to smile, it was the nanny's broom and she had taken the picture. Merlin, his father would not have allowed such a thing... Draco got his first broom when he was 5 years old, by the time he was 7 he was almost overripe. "My first flight lesson with C...." it said. The name was scratched out. Who does this? Who was C?

He kept turning the pages and after a while he found a picture that almost gave him a heart attack. Christmas 1961. He was standing in front of a beautifully decorated Christmas tree. He proudly held his little tin dragon in his hand. It was now gathering dust in the box. She was kneeling next to him. HER. His nanny. His mummy. Caitriona. Severus' fiancee.

"Merlin's beard, that can't be-!" His mouth dropped open. "Accio glasses!" He had to take a closer look, maybe it was just a strange coincidence. But even after he had his glasses on the fact that the woman in the picture waving at him looked like the young woman who was just sitting on the patio having tea with his wife and Severus, chattering about the peacocks in the garden.

Impossible. An evil spell. A sleight of hand. A touch of dementia in his mid-30s. All right, late 30s. There had to be an explanation? Who was playing a naughty game with him here?

What was going on here?