Expect you think that I should be haunted but it never really bothers me

[like-a-boss.livejournal.com]

*It’s amusing, certainly. The pettiness of His followers

Lord Voldemort is well aware that reverence is as conditional as loyalty. It is a commodity that has always reeked of the in-genuine, a nicety he enforces with punishment in much the same way dogs are kept off the couch – with the knowledge that it is merely a trained habit, rather than a tenet truly understood. He’s always seen through it, that cautious socialization, the half-muttered scheming, the hush of awe, that scrambled and silent yearning for validation – the hope that play-acted respect can make up for incompetence, as if the gold-medallist in the Olympics of grovelling could ever hope to rise in His favour. Much like their painfully human forms, faith is as fragile as it is easy to manipulate. It’s almost fascinating, the way the air bristles now with poorly disguised discourse, the way preparation for the attack has given way to gossip and nervous second-glances. The appointment of Severus Snape as a spy seems to have struck a cord.*

Comments

[dapperdeath.livejournal.com]

*He rubs a hand over his eyes, and his voice is more tired than sarcastic.*

Yes, because you think so highly of me already. I should hate to lose the close bond we've developed over the years, Lucius.

[purely-better.livejournal.com]

*Feeling he's gaining the upper hand back, Lucius smiles a little.*

Oh, not me. You would just be one less person to keep away from Draco. But I do shudder to think of your poor mother.

[dapperdeath.livejournal.com]

*At the mention of Esmerelda, his anger flares again.*

You can't possibly expect me to believe that you honestly care a whit for my mother. You'd feed your own son to a dragon if you think it'd save your own hide.

[purely-better.livejournal.com]

*This doesn't rankle because it's patently untrue, allowing Lucius to just sniff and shrug it off.*

I'd do no such thing. And don't be foolish, I'm very fond of Esmerelda. You've no idea what the grown-ups go through when someone's disowned, I certainly wouldn't wish that upon her.

[dapperdeath.livejournal.com]

*Evan considers it, and then shakes his head.*

I do not believe you've ever cared for another human being outside of yourself in your entire life.

[purely-better.livejournal.com]

*That would almost be funny, if it weren't just this side of insulting. He looks at Rosier properly for a long moment; it's imprudent to discuss these things too openly at this kind of meeting, but Lucius can't let that slide. Not when it implies neglect of his wife and son.*

...Then clearly you know me less well than you thought.

[dapperdeath.livejournal.com]

Do you mean to say that if Narcissa were bitten, you wouldn't cast her aside without a second thought?

[purely-better.livejournal.com]

Don't be ridiculous, Narcissa wouldn't get bitten.

[dapperdeath.livejournal.com]

That's what her family thought as well.

[purely-better.livejournal.com]

No doubt they incorrectly assumed she was intelligent enough not to be outside on a full moon.

[dapperdeath.livejournal.com]

All you're doing is avoiding the question. You say I don't understand you, and it clearly offends you. So enlighten me.

If it did happen, against all odds--what would you do.

[purely-better.livejournal.com]

*Irritated at having his abilities as a husband questioned by this man-boy still clinging to his mother's skirts, Lucius sighs.*

I would get her the most state of the art treatment available, why?

[dapperdeath.livejournal.com]

It wouldn't do a damn thing. There's no treatment that works. That's my point. You'd simply be wed to her as she was.

*The unspoken implication is clear on his miserable face: and then you'd be precisely where I am.*

[purely-better.livejournal.com]

Then you make them find something that works.

[dapperdeath.livejournal.com]

You don't think that's been tried? I'm telling you, there's nothing that works. Nothing.

[purely-better.livejournal.com]

*This is rather beyond Lucius's experience of life, at the grand old age of 27. He has yet to encounter anything that money and power cannot solve, and so Evan's words don't particularly mean what they should. Added to that that it's never been of immediate concern to him personally, and he has very little care for the whole thing.*

How unfortunate for you, then.

[dapperdeath.livejournal.com]

*In his irritation, he snaps.*

If you honestly lack any compassion at all then I'll thank you to leave my getting disowned to my mother alone. She'll be quite efficient about the whole business, I'm sure.

[purely-better.livejournal.com]

*Draco would never do anything to cause so drastic an action, Lucius is certain, and he won't say so here, but he's quite sure there's nothing 'efficient' about disowning a child. He hasn't bothered to think much about it before now, but he honestly can't bring himself to imagine how Druella and Cygnus and Orion and Walburga did it.

Uncomfortable at the thought, Lucius compensates by trying to sound particularly careless.*

As she is with everything else.