"Thank you for inviting me to breakfast and indulging my curiosity."
Lucius patted his mouth with a napkin and looked over at Severus Snape coolly. "Your curiosity or Dumbledore's?"
There was a hint of amusement on Severus's dark eyes. "In truth, his, of course. What possible reason would I have to care whether there's a new Lord Black?" He sneered before his sallow face grew contemplative. "It did give me…a needed excuse to see you."
Lucius tossed his napkin down and picked up the finer cup filled to the brim with the best coffee money could buy. "The Mark is getting stronger."
"Yes." Severus said simply.
"Shall we dispense with the usual song and dance?" Lucius asked bluntly.
Severus blinked, as much surprise as the Slytherin Head ever allowed himself to show. "Dispense by all means, Lucius."
"He's not dead." Lucius stated.
"No," Severus agreed, "Dumbledore has been aware for some time that he is not. He lives as a wraith, out of body, but alive."
"Quirrell?" asked Lucius careful to make this tone careless.
"I believe the Dark Lord possessed him although I did not know it at the time." Severus admitted.
"Potter drove him away again." Lucius commented dryly. He took a sip of his coffee, enjoying the bitter aromatic flavour that danced over his tongue and the sour expression on Severus's face.
"I assume the diary was a way for him to return?" Severus countered. "Dumbledore refused to share anything about it with me."
Lucius nodded. He didn't share that it wasn't the only trinket; Severus didn't need to know that and certainly it was something Lucius didn't want getting back to the Dark Lord that could be traced to him. "Potter stopped that attempt too." He said in reply.
Severus's left eye twitched and Lucius hid his amusement by focusing on his coffee. Potter was Severus's weakness, as much a thorn under Severus's skin as the boy's father had been. Really, it was too easy.
"And now the Mark is darkening." Lucius returned to the original trigger for the discussion. "Obviously, the Dark Lord gains strength."
"Pettigrew escaped at Hogwarts." Severus informed him. "Dumbledore believes he will have sought out the Dark Lord to protect him from the wrath of the rest of the Marauders. It is the rat who will assist the Dark Lord in returning to power."
Lucius allowed himself a small grimace. Pettigrew had been the Dark Lord's ace in the hole, one kept completely secret; that the cowardly boy had been a Death Eater…the mind boggled.
"You have a meeting organised with the others?" asked Severus slyly.
"A meeting of my allies is not unusual ahead of a Wizengamot session." Lucius demurred.
"What strategy will be discussed?" Severus requested.
Lucius drained his cup and set it down. "Tell me, Severus, if the Dark Lord shows up tomorrow, what will he expect of those that followed him before?"
Severus made a careful motion with his hand. "That we will serve him."
"Yes," Lucius agreed mildly, "he will expect that we will throw ourselves upon his mercy; to be forgiven for not seeking him out and helping him return to power earlier; for believing a mere baby had destroyed him utterly when he bragged that he was immortal."
"If he shows up returned to strength then it will be the height of foolishness not to beg for his mercy." Severus pointed out. "He never suffered failure or disobedience lightly."
"He is a powerful wizard." Lucius looked at Severus keenly. "So tell me, Severus, what should our strategy be?"
"Mitigation of our apparent betrayal. A very public show of support of some kind," Severus surmised, "a spot of muggle-baiting, perhaps? The Quidditch World Cup would lend itself quite well as a stage."
"Wouldn't it?" Lucius mused. "And indeed until yesterday that was my thought."
Severus's dark eyes narrowed on him. "The Black family meeting."
"The House of Black has invoked its primacy." Lucius stated. "It will not serve anyone. It will especially not serve a halfblood bastard of a muggle."
Severus blinked again. "You don't intend to serve the Dark Lord?"
Lucius raised an eyebrow in silent reproach while quietly taking note of the fact that Severus was already aware of the Dark Lord's less than impressive origins. "All I will say is this: after seeing the magic invoked in the rituals yesterday, I serve the House of Black willingly and will watch it crush its enemies." He smiled evilly.
Severus took a sip of his juice and Lucius knew he was trying to process the new world order. "I see." He smoothed his robes. "One can assume it will not ally with him then as in the past."
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