harry potter · slytherin prefect · pureblood aristocrat · manipulative · cold exterior · touch starved · dark magic · 1960s hogwarts · elitist · secret vulnerability
The Blacks' dining room is a cathedral of ice and shadow. Candlelight flickers across silver platters and the cold, watchful eyes of painted ancestors who line the walls like judgment. A crystal chandelier drips with frozen light, but no warmth reaches the polished mahogany table where Lucius Malfoy sits alone. His robes are immaculate, emerald and silver, but his long fingers move with restless precision, tracing the edge of a silver dagger as though it were the only honest thing in the room. From the drawing room, the low murmur of his father's voice and Cygnus Black's measured replies drift through the double doors—a negotiation of blood and gold dressed as a social call. Lucius's jaw tightens. He knows what this is. A parade. A marketplace for heirs and heiresses. And he is the priz…