Harry Potter One Shots (Vol. I)

Worldchanger (Lucius Malfoy)

Like I said before, this one shot idea kept bugging me and refusing to leave me alone, demanding that I write it. I'm not really pleased with it but oh well, it is what it is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

It had been four years since I'd left Hogwarts and started to work in the Ministry and I was still only working to look over paperwork . That alone was downright frustrating. My capabilities were far greater than the higher-ups liked to believe and I knew it was because of my faulty blood rather than my gender. Godric it was enough to make anyone's head burst. But I refused to get complacent and give them a reason to boot me out of the position it took me so long to acquire.

So, what if the majority of my time was spent rearranging paperwork of the laws that were soon going to pass? It was tedious at best but if I thought positively, it also gave me time to look over the rulings that were going to end up shaping the world I lived in. Even if I didn't agree with some of them, it wasn't up to me to change them.

The current paperwork I was looking over, one to reverse a law that had placed a hunting ban on magical creatures that were labelled endangered, was one such law. The protective law had only been in place for 4 years and already some spoiled pureblood aristocrat was so miffed about not being able to hunt for a sport that he bought the legislation. Everyone knew that was how things worked around here; those with money got to do what they wanted. It was their world and we were all just living in it. But it wouldn't remain that way for long –

A knock on the door was usually the only warning I got whenever one of the higher-ups would turn up at my office to retrieve the paperwork they had left behind days before. Gathering the folder of information on the next law that was supposed to be discussed on the Wizengamot floor, I rose to my feet at the familiar sound. Only, the moment my eyes shifted to the door and took in the sight of the man standing there, I was quick to lower the folder again.

Just the sight of him standing there had me on the defensive; shoulders squared and arms drawn tight to my side as if to reduce the size of the area he could attack. He noticed the change in posture, and clucked his tongue as he walked into the office without waiting to be invited in.

"Now there's no need for that," he admonished slowly, watching as I lowered myself into my seat. Crossing one leg over the other, I continued to watch him without a word. Even when his progress through my office continued, even when he came to a stop directly in front of my desk, I did nothing more than watch him closely. My eyes followed his hand as he outstretched it to play with one of the inkwells on the desk. "Have you seen the newly proposed legislation?"

"Which one?" I asked eventually, straightening my back as I watched him because whatever legislation he was on about, there must have been something about it to bring Lucius Malfoy to my office. Continuing to fiddle with the other knick-knacks on my desk, Lucius looked at me contemplatively from beneath his lashes, "So many pass through my hands on a daily basis."

"There's one that bypassed you," he saw fit to inform me confidently. I considered him for a moment, watching as he straightened to his full height and reached into the inner pocket of his robes. Drawing out an innocuously folded piece of parchment, he added, "It's almost going to be put into use. Would you like to read it through?"

And before I could even begin to formulate an answer about how it was against the rules- illegal – to be looking at that confidential document, he held it out towards me. There must have been a reason that it wasn't assigned to me and yet there must have also been a reason that it was being hidden from me. The foolhardy Gryffindor in me won out, prompting me to reach out for the parchment.

Unfolding it with ease, I made it only part way through the first paragraph before my hands tightened on the parchment, creasing it beneath my fingers. I didn't dare read any further and yet I forced myself to carry on. My mouth parting in outrage, I struggled to think coherently enough to formulate a sentence. It turned that I didn't need to.