The Dark Lord's Playbook of Nefarious Misdeeds

Calm Before the Storm

Over at Malfoy Manor- the day before

Lucius Malfoy stood in the room swaying slightly on his feet, hoping that the other occupants do not notice that he is...was only mildly inebriated.

He was struggling not to see double vision; he felt the only reasonable explanation as to why he wasn't seeing duplicates of everyone is because of the shock. The disbelief of seeing this dark-haired curly man claiming to be the Dark Lord was just too shocking. And Malfoy's did not do surprises. However, even in his pickled

state, he could not readily deny that this wasn't the Dark Lord in disguise.

The magic that seeped out of him and engulfed the room was undeniable; the power was definitely the Dark Lord's. But it was different...less sinister, less like a cold dead fish was rubbing against your skin; a horrible feeling that created equally severe shudders of disgust. The only person that seemed to revel in the sensation was Bellatrix, and everyone that came into contact with the Black woman knew she was a few hippogriffs short of a herd. Lucius snorted ungracefully at his wit, causing the usually proud Malfoy patriarch to pitch sideways and stumble on wobbly feet. He reached out unthinking to steady himself, but in the unbalanced act of reaching out, he knocked his drinks cart making it roll quickly, causing it to hit the wall. The expensive Cumbrian crystal jostled together emitting a long resonating ring; many of the taller stemware toppled over with one tumbling over the edge shattering into numerous shards upon impact.

After all that effort, he still found himself on all fours and world spinning before his eyes.

"Lucius Nicholas Malfoy, you will take yourself upstairs to freshen up. You smell like a distillery and in turn, embarrassing yourself and our family in front of our guest" his lovely, but annoying wife had to point this out in front of said guest shrilly. He didn't appreciate the scolding like a child, though right now he couldn't articulate that thought. Maybe he was drunker than he had realised if only he could get up off the floor. He found it all somewhat emasculating.

The dark-haired man quirked an eyebrow while holding out a hand for Lucius to take. He attempted to glare at the proffered hand, but instead, the surrounding muscles twitched repeatedly, making it look like he had a facial tic.

He batted the hand away. However, that loss of stabilisation caused him to lurch forward- smacking his forehead against the hardwood timber flooring. He groaned heavily, letting his body slump on to the side, cursing his inability to resist that last nip of Ballanhairn's single malt whiskey. His humiliation was complete with the barely stifled snort of laughter from both the man and his dearest faithful wife.

"Narcissa your hospitality has been gracious as always, and I will not intrude any longer. However, I need to discuss with you some plans I have moving forward when Lucius isn't in the process of trying to preserve himself from the inside out", if Lucius was in a better frame of mind perhaps he would have said that the dark curly-headed man was actually sincere, aside from the apparent distaste in his tone in the last remark about his liquor consumption.

While Narcissa was in the process of helping him up off the floor she promptly let go clapping her hands together- she always got excited at the prospect of entertaining guests- in the action of letting go it meant that Lucius had nothing propping him up, and he once again slumped to the floor. Hearing the thud, Narcissa looked down and sighed.

"Essa! Bartle!", she called out, the sound making Lucius cup his ears in a startled state. Two simultaneous pops resounded nanoseconds later. The accompanying elves were two of four that remained in the Malfoy household. The ones that the Dark Lord didn't kill and the ones he seemed to like. Lucius couldn't understand this line of thinking they were inferior creatures only worthy of servitude! He threw a disgusted look at the creatures, Bartle was dressed in a pale blue pillowcase that was fraying at the seams and Essa in a navy blue one with yellow flowers that was ripped and heavily stained. Pitiful creatures.