"I've brought you a present," he said, as he backed her into an empty classroom, the door sliding shut behind them.

"What's the occasion?" she asked coyly, leaning back against the wall and making him keep a distance of roughly a foot between them by stretching one leg out in front of herself.

"Do I need an occasion to buy my fiancée a gift?"

"I suppose not. What, then, is your reason?"

"Do I even need a reason to buy my fiancée a gift?"

"Lucius, you never do anything without reason, and if you think I don't know that by now you must think me quite the simpleton."

He smirked at her, and withdrew a small box from an inside pocket of his robes.

"Oh, a container!" she exclaimed with false excitement. "Just what I wanted! How did you know that I've been desiring such a thing for ages?"

"You," said Lucius in a drawl, "are very difficult."

"Yes, that might be why you like me," Andromeda suggested playfully. "So are you going to give it to me, or not?"

"So demanding," he remarked idly, before leaning over and planting the box in her palm.

She smiled up at him. "Thank you."

"Aren't you going to open it?"

"What, and ruin my precious container?" she sneered, before lifting the lid off the box and having her breath drawn away by its contents. Lying curled on a cushion of white silk was a beautiful necklace. She reached in and pulled it out with tender fingertips. A silver chain unwound, surprisingly light in her fingers for all its grandeur. At the end of the chain hung a single stone, large, smooth, and shimmering, a deep shade of emerald.

She looked up to see gray eyes watching her, waiting for her reaction. He appeared decidedly cool and aloof, but she could tell he was anxious as to how she would receive the gift. Deciding to take advantage of the fact that he wanted her opinion yet would act as though he didn't, she inquired slowly, "Green, Lucius?"

"Pardon?"

"This pendant here." She rubbed it between her fingers. "It's green."

"And your point?"

"It is just so . . . Slytherin."

He smirked. "Do you object to that?"

"Haven't you noticed? I'm not a Slytherin."

"I am," he said softly, leaning towards her.

She put a palm on his chest, holding him back. "I'm in Hufflepuff, Lucius, not Slytherin, yet this necklace you've given me clearly suggests Slytherin tendencies. Are you trying to convert me to your House? Do you not like the fact that I'm in Hufflepuff?"

He lowered his head to look directly into her eyes. "I couldn't care less what House you're in."

Her skin rippled with pleasure at this declaration: coming from Lucius Abraxas Malfoy, this was practically like an 'I love you'.

"I thought you would like the green," he continued. "It looks nice, don't you think?"

"It is good enough," she said haughtily, and his lips twisted into a sneer. She wondered if he knew that in truth she was completely enraptured with the necklace. Sometimes it surprised her how well he knew what she was feeling without her saying a word.

"Besides," he said, "as your fiancé is in Slytherin, I figured you would not mind the color. I thought you might even appreciate it more because of this fact."

"Did you now?" said Andromeda with mild interest.

He nodded.

Andromeda let the hand she had resting on his chest wander to his school tie, and she pulled on it gently, tugging him closer to her. "Well, I'm sure you will be pleased to know that you were right," she said quietly, devilishly.

Lucius smirked once more, placing one hand on the wall, near Andromeda's head. "Of course I was right," he whispered presumptuously, before sealing the space between their lips.