Everyone has a favourite character. The canon is filled with a multitude of charismatic personalities from the bookworm Hermione to the neurotic Neville. Even the minor characters are granted a particular, self-defining presence. Jorkins is boisterous and foolhardy, Bill Weasley a cool red haired fantasy, and the brief appearance of Frank Bryce offers us a picture of an innocent, quiet-spoken hermit.
If we were to take Frank into the world of slash, our tips from the first chapter of GoF would insist on providing the Little Hangleton gardener with an unhappy affair to explain his reticence, or perhaps the death of a much-adored boyfriend, his true love.. The slightest of descriptions provides a thousand avenues via which to pursue the retelling of a fictional biography, and whether your taste is gen, het or slash, the open nature of JKR`s writing means that almost any interpretation of her characters is equally viable.
I like Lucius. I like him because he is enigmatic his appearances in the canon, breif as they are, are weighted with a palpable animosity from Harry and his companions, and the hint of mysterious dark affiliations. He is offered to us in minute portions, and how we tie these together is entirely at our own discretion. The allure of fanfiction isn`t about what is there but what isn`t, and Lucius` is barely there at all: the canon presents him in simplex terms: a moral vacuumn and a snide, if reserved, wit.
However, his Malfoy heritage and suggested relations with the Dark Lord make him perhaps the prime candidate for the very best Death Eater memoirs and violent encounters of the past.
Lucius` Background.
So what is there, if anything at all? To begin with, it`s assumed Lucius is part of the mid-generation of wizards the group who passed through Hogwarts post-Voldemort and pre-Marauders. As he`s not mentioned at all in the flashbacks to Severus` schooldays, it`s only reasonable to conclude he was not there at the time. Draco tells us his father was sorted into Slytherin, which means he attended Hogwarts. Voldemort`s reign began eleven years before Harry`s birth, and if we`re to accept that Lucius would not study at a school run by the Dark Lord`s adversary, then when we first meet Lucius, in CoS, he is over fourty years old.
His ethnicity? The name Malfoy appears to be derived from the French mal, meaning bad, and fou, meaning crazy: to wit, mad, bad, and dangerous to know. He may be British now, but there`s a definate hint of a European ancestory. Just as Voldemort finds a Muggle historical reference point in Adolf Hitler, Lucius` personality and lifestyle is aligned to the French bourgoise. He`ll be the first against the wall when the Mud-blood revolution comes. Liberte, l`egality, fraternity..
The Malfoys.
The questions of ancestry are a little more difficult. Lucius has passed his animosity toward Muggles and Mud-bloods to his son, and it is fair to presuppose that this biogotry reaches beyond the lower rungs of the Malfoy family tree. It`s plausible, too, that Lucius` father was a Death Eater Ron says that Draco`s family were all once Death Eaters in PS. Draco`s grandparents are noticibly absent from the canon; Lucius upholds the Malfoy estate and the family name. If we`re to take the extensive lifespan of wizards into account, it seems that Lucius` father and mother died before their time leaving many options open for the dedicated fic-author. Murder? Suicide? Did they fall, or were they pushed?
Does Lucius have any siblings? It`s probable, given that most regal families abide by the motto first a heir, then one to spare. (But Draco is an only child. Trouble in the bedroom with Narcissa? Now there`s food for thought for a slash-writer.) Psychologically speaking, Lucius bears all the traits of a younger child. He`s clever enough to know when to keep his mouth shut he`s not as blatant in his dealings as his spoilt son, suggesting he`s learnt from an elder source. And despite his aloof mannerisms, he does lapse at times, throwing what might be considered a tantrum in the final scenes of CoS when he doesn`t get his own way.
Where is the elusive older child, then? Dead, most likely a casualty of the wizard`s civil war, which would only go further to explain why Lucius retains his ties to Voldemort; he`s seeking revenge. But perhaps it was something more mundane: a childhood escapade with a fatal conclusion. And perhaps Lucius was implicated in the surrounding furor. There`s a sense that Lucius` relationship with his father wasn`t as solid as his own relationship with Draco. He over-indulges his son: anything Draco desires is provided for him in advance. It seems Lucius is attempting to show an adoration for his child that he`s never experienced himself.
He`s given, too, to looking for a paternal figurehead he was quick to move into the shelter of the Dark Lord`s arms. Did he want to prove something to his absent father, by entering the ranks of the Death Eaters? Or was he simply aware that his views and those of Voldemort were the same, and chose to do so from a political standpoint? Was it external pressure from the equally absent sibling? Naturally, the answers to these questions are dictated by the fic-author`s personal preference.
What we have after this small character analysis is the picture of a man to whom his current family is all-important, whose unfounded predjudices are ingrained beyond refute, and whose previous family has been all but destroyed.
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Lucius/TMR, Lucius/James, Lucius/Severus.. for a minor character, the number of slash pairings Lucius manages to work his way into is remarkable. Not all, however, are plausible. But plausibility has never troubled the conscience of any slash author to date.
Lucius/Marauder.
If Lucius didn`t attend school with the Marauders, it`s highly unlikely he would meet up with them later. The Marauders (bar one) were all part of the Voldemort-resistance though there is something to say about the attraction of adversaries. If they met on a battlefield, what are the chances of Sirius or Remus falling to their knees, blinded by the inherent pointy beauty of the erratic Death Eater? Should such a relationship blossom (or simply be loudly consumated on some Knockturn alley doorstep) their meeting must almost certainly spring from a chance encounter.
Sirius rides his motorbike past the manor, catching the eye of the blonde staring wistfully from his tower window..
Remus, wandering through an out of the way library, accidentally brushes the robes of a pale, handsome stranger..
The most popular Lucius pairing to date is Lucius/James, which is fascinating because it is possibly the most unlikely to occur in the canon universe. James marries his high-school sweetheart so anything the duo do manage must contain the eventuality of mutual infidelity. And while Lucius is decidedly immoral, the James the canon offers us is a redoubtable martyr. Perhaps the man`s upstanding reputation and proud disposition camoflagues a deep-seated guilt. Is James a repressed homosexual, who escapes Lily`s drivel in the arms of our favourite Aryan patriarch?
It`s possible. Just about anything is.
Pettigrew slash has been left well alone by most authors. Peter isn`t the most appealing of characters, physically or psychologically. Yet, with his simpering sycophancy, he has a greater potential than the others to satisfy Lucius` libido. The two are on the same political side, after all and have plenty of other things in common. Lucius would not doubt appreciate Peter`s obesience; however, given that Peter is a notoriously fickle character, it`s probable that once burned and betrayed by the man, Lucius would be wise enough to avoid a second affair.
Lucius/Death Eater.
Severus, Voldemort, Mr. Lestrange, etc. There is plenty of opportunity for these various couplings to meet and partake of each other in the most biblical sense. And Severus, certainly, seems to have an unnatural fondness for Draco. Could this be that he shares happy memories of Lucius? Well, to be honest, probably not. When Severus is rejected or made a fool of, he invariably takes it highly personally. So, either Severus is continuing to see Lucius, or he has an alterior motive for befriending the man`s son in seeking Draco`s trust, Severus desires to pry the boy away from Lucius` grip.
(Of course, this reading does not preclude later Severus/Lucius affairs. A tense parent-teacher interview can come to all manner of delightful conclusions.)
A continual relationship between these two Death Eaters is not half as unlikely as it sounds. It`s quite reasonable to see Lucius` marriage to Narcissa as a sham, a union intended only to bring a heir, and nothing more Draco as an only child, after all. And Severus remains a bachelor in the canon. Both could have ready access to portkeys.. so that each night, when Severus retires to his Hogwart`s study, he simply touches a key and is transported to the Malfoy manor and the grave company of his Death Eater compatriot..
Lucius/Draco.
If anyone can find any evidence suggesting that Lucius and Draco have ever gotten dirty, please notify me. Because I sure as hell don`t see it suggested in the canon in any shape or form.
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Lucius is immoral, as I`ve said before: as consequence his sexuality is a blank slate, and subject to any perversion the slash-author can name. He could easily be bisexual or gay; and even if he is heterosexual, this doesn`t necessarily mean he hasn`t had sex with a man. Lucius will go to any length to further his own ends from his ungainly fight with Weasley in CoS, it`s evident that he views dignity as a commodity, rather than a necessity.
Would he have any qualms about prostituting himself to assist the Dark Lord to power? If it`s apparent he does not mind public humiliation, it`s probable he could tolerate it in private, too.
Lucius/Narcissa
And yet he is married. Whether it`s a marriage which has been consumated more than once is up for debate. There are no hints, however, that Lucius and Narcissa` relationship is fraught with tension of any description. Draco is a spoilt and petulant child, and he picks on Harry for having no parents. If marital tension were a sore spot with Draco, it`s doubtful he would bring it so close to the fore. But Draco has never been a subtle creature; indeed, he may view having constantly battling parents preferable to having none at all.
Lucius and Narcissa do remain a stable couple, at least in public, and have been so for at least fifteen years. What they get up to behind closed doors is open to the author`s inference. It may be that one or both of them is frigid. Now they`ve done their duty to the family lineage, they may continue their shared existence as mere friends, and retire each night to their separate bedrooms.
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Please note that these speculations, albiet being referenced directly to the canon, are merely the hypothesis of the author of this short essay. I`m not object to reading Lucius/Marauder, or any other of the various pairings (saving the less than savoury occassions when the affairs bridge the generation gap). I do think, however, that Lucius has the potential to be, at the very least, bisexual. At the same time, I also think he loves his wife. Despite the possibility of various slash relations, I remain a dedicated Lucius/Narcissa shipper because, aesthetically, they are beautiful; and because mentally they are committed to keeping up appearances, if naught else.
And, of course, the context of the canon should never be the be-all, end-all of slash. Writing the unwritten demands only that you give lip service to the loose guidelines set by the source. I write Lucius/Frank Longbottom slash, and I`m not scared to admit it.
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