Happy New Year: Fics for you

[icarus]

Thank you to underlucius for the beta review.

This is goseaward's fault. We got on the subject of music and piano months ago, and I wound up with the image of Lucius Malfoy, practicing on the harpsicord, surrounded by his life of privilege. I wondered... why would he give it up? Why follow and be humiliated by Voldemort? He already has everything.

Title: The Metronome
Author: Icarus
Website:
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Lucius, Tom Riddle, Gen
Warning: None
Summary: To everyone else, Lucius had everything. But he only saw what was out of reach. An unknown dark wizard makes him an offer.


Read the rest here: To everyone else, Lucius had everything. But he only saw what was out of reach. An unknown dark wizard makes him an offer.


Snippet of 'The Metronome'

Afternoon sun pooled on the plush oriental rug, warming burgundies and greens to a soft glow. The open window beside Lucius let in barely a breath of wind, playing with the curtains in an unkind tease of freedom. Behind him books lined mahogany shelves, interspersed with artfully arranged family trinkets, most of which were cursed, the work of centuries of dark wizards. The deadly displays were interrupted here and there with low tables and the occasional heavily framed mirror. A candelabra on the harpsichord was unlit, given the lovely summer's day, while a metronome beside it clicked an insistent, steady beat.

Lucius sat straight-backed, his fingers poised over the keys as his tutor paced the room, nose in the air, hands folded thoughtfully behind his back.

"That was better, Mr. Malfoy, much better," he crooned, buttons stretched over his potbelly. "Let's have it once again."

The subtle slump of Lucius' broad shoulders was barely detectable, an unheard sigh, though his eyes remained fixed on the music in front of him.

He was a tall young man, all elbows and angles, with the uncomfortable apologetic manner of one who'd grown very suddenly over the summer and was still surprised. With a tap of Lucius' wand the notes crawled like insects across the page, tumbling over each other until they reformed into the beginning of the piece. His eyes narrowed as a final quarter note, tardy, scrambled into place.

Click, click, click…. The metronome set the pace.

With cold, crisp precision, Lucius' hands floated over the keys, his body unmoving, mouth a firm disciplined line. His teacher's head bobbed; one finger circled, mapping the notes in the air.

Lucius completed the crescendo and the final chord, finally seeming to breathe as he glanced up, steady gaze wary, but hopeful. Sometimes he was released a few minutes early. He'd had ten years of this weekly torment.

The man nodded. "Good, good." He reached over and tapped the sheet music with his wand and the notes scrambled in circles again. "Now let's try an adagio, something with a little more, hmm, feeling for a young man like you, eh? A little more evocative?"

He gave Lucius a tight-lipped smile completely at odds with the praise. He always asked for more feeling. The metronome continued its steady beat.

Jaw set, Lucius' glance flicked only briefly at the window, as the curtains stirred once again.


Read the rest here: To everyone else, Lucius had everything. But he only saw what was out of reach. An unknown dark wizard makes him an offer.

Comments

[pushdragon.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes yes!!!! Such an important question - why *would* Lucius give up his life of privilege to follow a wizard of dubious ancestry? You've answered the question so well by setting their first meeting with Lucius at an impressionable and reckless age where he might just be hungry for something more than the familiar. I'm fascinated by this mediocre Lucius, too. It resonates with his constant thwarting in canon. There were just too many exciting ideas in this to articulate - I love his attraction to Bellatrix, and his initial disdain for Riddle is deliciously ironic. And as usual you capture teenage boy dialogue charmingly, from the faltering bravery to the locker-room sexual bragging.

You haven't told us a lot about Lucius' father, other than a few throwaway lines, but he comes across as an ineffectual presence. Which is unusual characterisation for a Malfoy patriarch in fic. Is that part of the reason for Lucius' decision, in your thinking? Desire for a strong father figure, a powerful masculine role model?

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Lucius grew up around so much bullshit, anyone who's willing to tell him the harsh truth is someone he'll listen to. He looks down on Avery and is offended by him, but he's friends with someone of slightly lower class because Avery is refreshing.

Having that kind of honesty from someone he respects, even if it's unflattering (actually, especially if it's unflattering) evokes a level of dedication that's almost trust.

For Lucius, there's not only the usual B.S. of a high class veneer (the fact that his tutors praise him for what he knows is just average work, though occasionally he starts to believe it...) but also the fact that, for all that he's the center of attention, Lucius is invisible to his family.

They really believe he's going to be a star Quidditch player, they really think he's a great musician, they really think he's just like his father. They're proud of him, but they're proud of non-existent accomplishments. It doesn't seem to matter what he does or doesn't do, he always gets a gold star. Lucius is a little hooked on the perpetual praise at the same time doesn't trust it.

Deep background but not in the actual fic: He's compared to his father constantly, yet his father's a brilliant Arithmantist, a businessman with an uncanny ability to predict the future who has little interest in people. His son is a set of magical calculations to him, as is everything else. Lucius' father married late and spends most of his time in his office tower, fine-tuning his Arithmancy. He's a respected eccentric.

This left Lucius' mother as the one who runs the household and as the sole point of human and social contact for the Malfoys. You begin to see why the Malfoys are blind to who Lucius really is. She's a mother and thinks, naturally, that her son is perfect. Everyone who wants something from her goes along with that, reinforcing the illusion. She's also a bit disappointed in the husband she has, so poured out her attention, ambitions, and projected her own fantasy onto her son. When she says Lucius is just like his father, really, she just wants it to be that way. Her husband is distant enough that she can imagine that he's more like her son than he is.

Lucius and his father are not even remotely alike and Lucius knows it. He has a choice of either looking down on his father or considering himself a failed version of the man. Lucius is smart enough to know that his father is flawed, so to defend his own ego, looks down on him. And he's picked up on his mother's disappointment in his father without even noticing it.

Lucius needs a father figure, badly, but what he wants is something that's true, that's real. Voldemort doesn't care about anyone's feelings and, like most sociopaths, he's startlingly accurate in his assessments of people. He's everything Lucius craves like a dying plant.

But Voldemort gave him something more. He proved Lucius' one talent -- didn't tell him about it. Proved it, in a way Lucius couldn't doubt.

The biggest problem with all the BS is that Lucius didn't believe in himself. In his own bizarre way, Voldemort did (unintentionally) Lucius a lot of good. Then he gave the bored dissolute kid a challenge; a real one, where he could test himself. Oh yeah, Lucius swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.


By the way, Lucius is a much better father to Draco. He makes a point to at least pay attention to the kid and notice his faults. If he played out his own fantasy of being Slytherin Seeker by buying Draco's place on the team, well, who can blame him? Parents do that. It's scary that he learned how to be honest from Voldemort though.

Oh Mr Riddle, what a big organ you have...!

[mctabby.livejournal.com]

Love it. Young Lucius is so delightfully arrogant, and the shock of meeting Voldemort is superbly done. Creepy musical dark magic! Wow. Enthralling. *applause*

*collects link for tomorrow's darklord_news*

Re: Oh Mr Riddle, what a big organ you have...!

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

*Plays chord on the big, ahem, organ.*

Thank you! I still have Bach's Toccata and Fugue in G D Minor running through my mind. Strikes just the right vibe, don't you think? *g*

Icarus

[vivien]

I adored this. Your Tom was wonderfully chilling.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I fought with the ending until I realized I could end it with Avery's ironic comment without dragging Lucius' parents back into it.

I still want to go back and... no, no Icarus, stop tinkering.

Icarus

[quilt-stitcher.livejournal.com]

Oooh, that *was* a chilling Tom, yes.

But this fic gave you something you don't often see... Lucius Malfoy saying "mummy." I mean, I haven't read too many where he was young enough to still have his own parents around.

I also really liked your tag name for the piano teacher. Mr. Clavier... that is very Rowlingesque. She (and HP fanfic) have some of the cleverest play-on-word names I've ever seen.

Thanks for writing/sharing this!

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Thank you, yes Tom's quite the sociopath. He's insightful yet completely unfeeling. Lucius really is an experiment to him. He wants to know if pure-bloods really are different or special, magically speaking, and is going to put Lucius through the wringer to satisfy his own curiosity.

And Lucius will cooperate, thinking he's being a tough guy.

But this fic gave you something you don't often see... Lucius Malfoy saying "mummy." I mean, I haven't read too many where he was young enough to still have his own parents around.

Yes, thank you. This story's less about the Death Eaters and Voldemort than it is about the Malfoys. They're not a great family, in fact they're pretty messed up, but they were a family and Voldemort is going to destroy that.

I've gone back and forth over the ending. I really wanted to bring Lucius' parents back into the picture, show the immediate impact of Lucius joining the Death Eaters and how it blows a family apart in subtle ways, but I couldn't get the ending to work. I have five different versions and the seams always showed or the ending was watered down. I tried to bring Lucius' father into it, but worried about introducing a new character -- especially an OC -- at the end. I thought that would be distracting. Eventually I went back to my original ending, but I find myself compelled to write and Epilogue or something... something to bring it back to the family.

Icarus

[quilt-stitcher.livejournal.com]

Oh, an epilogue would be wonderful, yes!

[mad_maudlin]

You know, I read this at 4 am and was just too bowled over to say anything coherent. I thought if I got some sleep I could leave you a worthy review.

Apparently not. ::flails::

FYI, this is Canon!Lucius as far as I'm concerned. You've got him right down to the bone. He's a perfect teenager and also the perfect template for the man we see in the books. And that organ...yeech. Best magical device ever.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

FYI, this is Canon!Lucius as far as I'm concerned.

It is so fabulous to hear that from you, and so many writers I respect (you, mctabby? Whee!).

And yes, that's what I was interested in: who was this Lucius Malfoy and what in him would Voldemort be able to use to get him to join the Death Eaters? Because it's just so implausible that he would, if he were the adult we see in canon. I asked underlucius to help with the beta, just to be sure that even though Lucius wasn't near his confident adult self (and nothing like the suave evil savant people like to imagine) he was still Lucius.

I freely admit to stealing the idea for that organ from Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?

Icarus

[mad_maudlin]

Really? It made me think of Barbarella a little bit. ::blushes::

[mini-snape.livejournal.com]

Lucius IS Barbarella.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

LOL!

Icarus

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

This is one of the best HP fics I've read in ages -- layered and complex in its characterisation, with a use of magic that wouldn't be out of place in canon. And it's original -- I admit that I don't read much Lucius fic, but there are ideas here that I've never seen anywhere else in fandom. It's fresh, and exciting, and good heavens, Tom Riddle is the perfect sociopath.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

*dies of happiness*

I admit, I haven't read much Lucius fic myself but I hadn't seen him as a kid anywhere and just started to wonder about him.

Thank you. This made my night.

Icarus

[lizardspots.livejournal.com]

This was fascinating! I don't usually read gen fic (hardly ever, in fact) but after the tidbits you showed me in IM, I just had to read this. Tom Riddle was so... unbelievably sinister. Wow. Such a brilliant explanation for why exactly Lucius followed Riddle when he had everything a pureblood could ever want. And young Lucius! He was such a spoiled brat, and I like how the meeting with Riddle suddenly matured him in a way he never expected - realising that having Narcissa or Bella was such a petty dispute when all this power was laid out before him, within his grasp if he thought for himself, for once.

I'm so impressed, this is possibly the best portrayal of Riddle I've ever read, and your young Lucius was so canon, I don't think I could accept any other characterisation!

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

So spoiled he knew all the praise couldn't be true.

I understand. Often Gen is such a retread of canon that it doesn't grab me, either. And, well, I am in the fandom for the porn. ;)

Tom Riddle was so... unbelievably sinister. Wow.

I really ought to write more Tom Riddle. At the end of reading GoF I thought JKR really needed to more research on what sociopaths were like. Now what she revealed in HBP was textbook, vastly improved, but she still doesn't quite get what these sorts are like in person.

I'm so impressed, this is possibly the best portrayal of Riddle I've ever read

Oh fantastic. *g* The best portrayal of Tom Riddle I've read is [Unknown site tag]'s grammar-school Tom when Dumbledore fetched him from the orphanage to bring him to Hogwarts.

He was such a spoiled brat, and I like how the meeting with Riddle suddenly matured him in a way he never expected

Oh you know, that snuck in there on its own. I hadn't even noticed. Yeah, he did mature.

your young Lucius was so canon, I don't think I could accept any other characterisation!

That was the hard part, writing Lucius as an uncertain teenager. The Lucius fans may shred me for saying he has no special talents, but it just seemed to me that he mostly bought his way into whatever he wanted in HP, and he got bested by Harry when Harry was only what, twelve? His smooth lies with Voldemort tells me more that know Tom Riddle well, not that he's a machiavellian genius.

So the ending I finally settled on works, eh?

Icarus

[lizardspots.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, the ending definitely worked! I forgot to mention that. :D I think leaving out the mother at the end was a good move, because after that first meeting with Riddle, Lucius' previous life and worries are left behind in the dust, insignificant when compared to this taste of immense magical power. Lucius has all but forgotten about his old quibbles in the aftermath of that meeting, so the reader should too. :D

The Lucius fans may shred me for saying he has no special talents.

I've never given this a lot of thought, but you are so right! Lucius is definitely a smooth talker, very good at negotiating his way out of trouble. But in terms of actual skills, magical talent? Not much evidence in canon to support that, you're right. He's just a rich influential businessman, really. Hmmm. You're making me ponder Lucius a lot more than I normally would! *ponders*

Well done! *applauds muchly*

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Darn. That should read mctabby's grammar-school.

Icarus

[oddnari.livejournal.com]

Brilliant.
I love the way you've written Looshie's cogitations and vacillatiosn - you invite the reader to read between your lines. Very evocative. Vastly pleasurable.

♥

[riddle.livejournal.com]

I am very pleased with your portrayal of me, icarusancalion. Due to your impressive writing, I come across as sinister, intimidating and, most importantly, omnipotent. Highlighting these traits and my general awe-inspiring perfection is a clever way of foreshadowing my ultimate defeat of Harry Potter. Oh, I just spoiled Book 7 for you. I apologize, but did you really expect it to end any other way?

My one criticism, my loyal icarusancalion, is that Lucius notes that I look quite "normal" in the light. I believe you meant to write "handsome", "stunning", or "chiseled", but I am willing to overlook that small detail.

Well done.

[green-and-warty.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. Having followed a rec from a rec, I'm just going to have to swoon a moment, because I feel overly compelled to comment and just say how perfect this is. Everything seemed very real, the characters, the situations-- the fitting backdrop to Lucius's young life. I adore his mother, his absent father, his desiring Bellatrix over Narcissa -- and hah, his brief reconsidering of it -- and I think the organ, with its various effects, is brilliant and an immense series of "yes"s.

I can only think of how disappointed I will be in reading or playing against other versions of Lucius, whom aren't average except in their will, because it works. Works, works. It makes total canon sense.

(And yes, Tom Riddle-- chilling, and I loved how there were certain indications of his class. I laughed outloud at his irritation with Lucius's question and his retort of they're being both Blacks!)