*Discontinued* No Longer

Planning Ahead

**Era Damon White

Era sat down at his desk and pulled out a sheet of parchment. He'd thought over how to do this, and had cautiously settled on a plan of action. That's what he was doing now, he was putting it into place, and expected the results to come quite soon.

Cordial greetings, 

  Lord Malfoy, I respectfully invite you to the nightclub 'Nighthowlers and Orchids' for an exchange of information. I assure you that it is something you will wish to hear, and urge you to consider carefully before refusing, as it is a matter of great import.

   Go to Prince's Woodworks in Knockturn Alley at 9 pm this evening, and, when prompted, say your favorite orchid is Brassalova Nodora. Ask the bouncer for Era White, and then we can talk.

Always,

Era Damon White

Era was confident in his plan. While he'd made basic semblances of respect, his overall address of Lucius would come off as slightly sarcastic, and would draw the man in. He was further assured of the man's coming by the faint curiosity and compulsion charms he'd laid in the words. It was actually quite clever of him, if he did say so himself, as the magic inhabiting the message would only activate and become tangible through the reading and processing of the words themselves, making any scans for compulsions and magical tampering to be ineffective.

Era supposed he ought to feel bad for his blatant manipulation, but it was really just to get Lucius to come and realize Era's status as his mate so he would allow a relationship between them. Everything else would settle into place from there.

Briskly, he folded the parchment crisply so that the edges were perfectly uniform, dribbled some hot wax onto where the edges overlapped, and pressed his 'family' ring into the pool before it hardened. With the wax still warm, he surrounded it with magic and sent it on its way to his mate.

^^^

Era lounged in the private dining room he'd set up for him and Lucius to meet in. The bouncer would direct the man here silently, and if his mate chose to ask questions, they would all be ignored, so that Era would be the one to explain everything.

He expected Lucius to arrive any second now, and had an anxious knot lodged in his stomach, even though every logical cell in his body was telling him he wouldn't be rejected and that Lucius would come.

Sure enough, twenty seconds later, the door opened and a miffed Lucius came striding haughtily into the room, head high, shoulders back, and graceful even as he walked purposefully in.

"You'd better have a good re-" Lucius started saying, quite heatedly, before he made eye contact with Era and abruptly cut off.

"Ah, good evening darling. Care to finish that sentence?" Era said, stalking closer to Lucius with an almost feral grin on his face.

Era had no idea why he was acting thusly, but he couldn't stop himself. Lucius lowered his head and bared his neck to Era in a show of submission. A low whimper left the older man's throat, and he found himself sidling up until he was standing directly in front of his mate.

"N-no sir."

With that word, Era had a sudden flashback to saying just the same thing to Vernon Dursley as Harry Potter, in the hopes that he wouldn't be hit if he was polite. Chills crept across his skin, and he tilted his mate's chin up until Lucius was forced to meet his eyes.

Softly, Era said, "Please call me Era, love. No need to be so formal."

Lucius nodded his head, his eyes nervous and stance unsure. With purposeful slowness, Era removed his hand from Lucius' chin and stroked it down his hair. The other man leaned into the touch like a cat, contentment asserting itself on the man's aristocratic features, even though fear was still in his eyes. The reaction to Era's touch was a byproduct of the bond, and he knew that Lucius would already feel affection for him. If that affected lessened or grew, well, that would depend on Era's actions and words from here on.