Raspberry Tea
[heat]
He drank Muggle tea once, raspberry, letting the bag sit until the red exploded from the bottom like blood in water. He had to admit he knew it was Muggle but he drank it anyways, because the man that served it to him was quite possibly the only man he really feared.
Tom Riddle might have been a madman with a penchant for torturing men who reminded him of the taint in his blood, but he had power. Not so much in the magical sense, though he was talented in that regards beyond even the hopes of most.
When Tom Riddle whispered, other men listened. He crept into the corners of one's mind, played upon fears and insecurities, wrapped the arrogant and the worthless up with the offer of glory. If the man who was Lucius's Dark Lord understood one thing better than any other, it was that all men wish for some level of greatness, to be better than his fellow, to be outstanding, to be immortal.
Tom Riddle, Voldemort, had made himself immortal if only that his name (or the foolish whispered substitute for it) would be told to children with dread and cursed in certain history books.
It struck Lucius near the middle of his life that the biggest failing of magic was its inability to take away that which forever connected Wizard and muggle: death. Before, he had been too young and arrogant to believe that he might actually be in danger of something so mundane as dying. But as his son was born and Voldemort rose and fell, Lucius realized that it was inescapable, reliable, the one thing that bound every living being low or high together.
Even Voldemort could not escape death, but all the same, his name would live on long after people had forgotten Dumbledore's or, heaven forbid, the family Malfoy's.
So Lucius drank the Muggle tea even though it soured his stomach, and gave his respect to the man who played other men as if they were puppets, the man who would be immortal as a monster to some and a messiah to others.
The Harry Potter world, characters, and rights belong to JK Rowlings, WB, Scholastic, and not the to me. "The Life and Times of Lucius Malfoy" is a fan work created out of love and appreciation for Rowling's characters, stories, and worlds, and is in no way intending to infringe on the rights of the author and copyright owners.