A/N: This one shot is for the Unforgiveable Competition. I had a lot of fun writing it because historically 1717 is actually a super interesting time in scientific history. Probably had more fun than I ought to have had just reading about Isaac Newton and the way people dressed, etc. This was a great story with a really nice twist on how you look at the Malfoy and Weasley family.
A word on the relationship explored here- A Weasley and a Malfoy. I have oft wondered if there was one in the Malfoy line and came to conclusion that there had to have been give the whole "sacred 28" mentality and the smallness of the wizarding community. This is my take on that. Not as hard fought as you would think. Very fun characters though.
The hunter and the fox: Orion and Vulpecula
Orion Malfoy was the 7th generation of Malfoys to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Prior to their emigration to the British isles, the Malfoy ancestry could be traced back at least ten generations in France to a small village still sparsely populated with men and women (muggles, all of them) by the name of Mal Foi. It was a well-guarded secret in the Malfoy family that they had emigrated from France because their line continued to produce squibs. Andromède Mal Foi, the family matriarch at the time placed a curse on the family tree disowning any family member who produced or was a squib themselves.
Their beginnings were humble. Because of Andromèdes curse there were only three remaining members of the family who were recognized after the emigration. Herself, her son, Draco, and his Spanish wife Lacerta and though they were not large in numbers they asserted their dominance and influence on the British Isles almost immediately. Draco set about subjugating unsuspecting muggle Lords in the Wiltshire region, receiving a position in the muggle government and from there conniving and confounding his way into a Dukedom. The foundation of Malfoy manor was laid a mere five years after the family arrived.
He also made quick work of the Magical population of England. Previously uncivilized and ungoverned he suggested a treaty of alliance between twenty-eight more prominent families. This alliance allowed for intermarriage- within reason, as Draco did not want to repeat his family's squib history in England-unity and faster trading of magical goods. With the ratification of the treaty the villages of Hogsmeade and Godric's Hollow became magical centers of population.
It could be said of the Malfoys, in 1717, that they had been the impetus for the unity and the peace that wizards and witches enjoyed in that age. Many, however, were less complimentary. The current heir, Orion Malfoy, was considered to be arrogant, wasteful, manipulative and domineering and he was, in the majority of wizarding England's eyes, like all Malfoys before him. Orion was only tolerated among the other twenty-seven families of the continued alliance because they feared the magic imbued in the original treaty if they were to break with it and remove a member. It was right that they feared it. His removal would have, in fact, ensured the end of all of their lines. They had the spell work of Orion's old crafty Spanish grandmother to thank for that.
So it was, with a hauteur of expression that only a Malfoy could affect, Orion walked through the double doors of the great hall and began his last month at Hogwart's as the Head Boy in his 7th year. His long widowed mother had spared no expense in his dress that year. He wore only the finest silk robes as the weather was getting increasingly warmer and stood nearly a head taller than all of the other boys. His features were sharply aristocratic: strong jaw line, high cheek bones, pointed brows. He was crowned with a wavy halo of bright blond hair that reached just a touch beneath his collar and was tied behind his head in a fine silk band. His black waist coat beneath his robes was topped with a cravat that flowed in stark white folds from a black high collar studded with a serpent pin with emerald eyes. The ruffled sleeves of his undershirt were just barely visible under the folds of his robes and added to the effect of grandeur when one spotted the matching silver serpent lined cuffs of the shirt.
He sat among his house, Slytherin, and struck up a conversation with Sirius Nott about the current exfiltration in earnest of the British Isles due to the increasing rent prices that were prevailing in the muggle market. They drew the conclusion that the magical and muggle community's economies were more closely linked than the two wizards would prefer and Orion sneered and disparaged his muggle neighbors choosing to ignore that it was on their work that his family made their riches.
As breakfast drew to a close the headmaster, Vindictus Veridian, stood and addressed the student body with his usual sternness, "Students are advised that the use of several of my published curses and counter-curses are strictly prohibited- not the least of which is my Hair Loss curse. You will find that detention with me, should you be caught, will be most unsavory and even perhaps… befuddling. " There were snickers at the Gryffindor table where a young ordinarily wild black haired wizard by the surname of Peverell attempted to pull his hat down lower over his now bald head. Headmaster Veridian lifted his wand and a jet of pink light shot from it silencing the table. Orion held back his own desire to laugh at the irony of the Headmaster using the very same banned tongue tying hex on the students.
"Now, though it is quite late in the year, I would like to introduce and sort a new student today. Vulpecula Weasley," he reached out his arm, "If you please young lady." The new girl took his arm. From where Orion was seated he could only just make out her slight frame and bright red hair. Recognizing the name and receiving confirmation from the family hair color, Orion cast a couple self-satisfied smirks at others of his tablemates as if to reinforce the fact that the Weasley family procreated like a band of wild animals. It was curious, however, that this girl looked so old and was not already included in the hoard of Weasleys in residence at Hogwarts.
Vulpecula was quite unnerved at being the center of attention but she followed the headmasters lead with poise and allowed him to put what appeared to be a battered old hat on her head. Immediately she heard a voice inside her head,
"Vulpecula Weasley! I have been waiting for you of all your family and I am not disappointed. Now, let me see. You are quick witted and clever so perhaps Ravenclaw, the home of the wise is for you." She winced a little.
"Oh, I see. Singled out for being the smart one and berated likewise. The plight of the gifted witch. There is one other house that could match your cunning but I am sure you would excel in Ravenclaw, are you sure you do not wish it? All right, better be
"SLYTHERIN!"
At the sorting hats announcement the great hall erupted. A Weasley in Slytherin was unheard of. A Weasley in any house other than Gryffindor was unheard of. Headmaster Veridian coughed and attempted to gain control of the student body to no avail and finally pulling his wand out, he applied it to his throat saying in a roaring voice, "Silence!"
He continued, "You will contain yourselves and welcome Miss Weasley, no matter her sorting, in your ranks. That is all. You are dismissed to your classes." He turned to Vulpecula,
"Miss Weasley, your head of house has your schedule for today." He raised his voice spotting his unlikely victim,
"Mr. Malfoy!" The young blond turned his head to acknowledge the headmaster with a small bow,
"Please escort Miss Weasley to the dungeons where Mrs. Black is standing by for her orientation."
"Very well sir." The headmaster released Vulpecula's arm and then bowed quickly and excited. Orion turned to the lady and bowed low as he pulled her hand into his own and kissed her lace witch half gloves.
"As the headmaster neglected proper introductions, I am Orion Malfoy and I am pleased to make your acquaintance." And it was true. On closer inspection the girl before him was a great beauty. Her red hair was pulled back from her face in a high crown around her forehead and the most delicious loose curls were gracing her beautiful neckline. She had deep cerulean blue eyes and a round face devoid of any blemish or freckle. Her skin was a fair ivory and accentuated by a hammered copper choker necklace with a deep teal square cut blue topaz. Beneath open witches robes he noted a fine silk and wool dress with a square cut neckline that allowed just a peak of her décolletage.
She shyly withdrew her hand from his and answered his slightly wandering gaze with a pert remark, "I have heard much of you Mr. Malfoy. The French translation of your name is widely circulated as a true reflection of your person."
He graced her with the patented Malfoy sneer, "I see my reputation precedes me again. Did no one tell you, my newest pet, that though I myself may possess, as you say, bad faith, I expect unswerving allegiance from my other snakes."
"For which I am to be repaid nothing?"
At this he chuckled, "Ah, that old rag of a hat does know how to sort them. We will discuss your payment at a later date as I would like to continue to explore that delectable mouth of yours. I suspect that until today I have had no reason to possess the type of faith you would term good. That has perhaps changed."
She gasped at his impertinence and was struck speechless. For an unfamiliar wizard to talk thusly to a witch hitherto unknown to him! It defied manners and breeding. The rumors of the Malfoy heir were clearly true and she became more angry by the minute at the liberties he took in their conversation. By the time they made it to the dungeon her soft features were stony and impenetrable. After taking them in it appeared for a moment that Orion may seek an apology but he quickly wiped the look of penitence from his face and replaced it with a smirk.
"This is our destination, love, and I am for potions." He bowed and left her in the cold entry of the Slytherin quarters still fuming.
Her first day was typical but as her mother expected she was thoroughly bored with class. Unbeknownst to her classmates, Vulpecula was actually a bastard. She was one of several illegitimate children of the current patriarch of the Weasley family. Her mother was a witch, Duchess Sarah Jennings Churchill of the landed gentry and a lady of the first stare whose long dead husband had been old and senile at the time of her pregnancy and willing to claim her child as his own and his heir. Vulpecula had been raised in privilege which was fortunate given her intelligence. At the age of four she could read full verse and by her tenth birthday she read and understood the entirely of Isaac Newton's Principia. Her mother, noting her genius moved to the village of Cambridge and allowed her daughter free roam of the halls of that institution. She was, of course, disguised in boys clothing and given stern instructions never to betray her sex. Under Newton's and his contemporary's tutelage she was one of the first scholars in a new branch of mathematics: Calculus. At her current age, 16, she had outstripped all of her compatriots amongst the muggle population and had finally become interested in the intersection of muggle mathematics and magic.
Her magic manifested at a curiously young age as well and she was able to cast basic spells wandlessly and wordlessly. Until now, she had remained uninterested in furthering her magical education. Not because it was not appealing but because she felt she had not reached the limit the muggle world had to offer. Now, however she was ready to move on. Leaving Cambridge for the last time, she gave a hearty and tear smeared goodbye to her long time tutor Mr. Newton that left the man without words,
"Mr. Newton, it has been my pleasure indeed to study under you. You are the greatest in your field and I will become greater in mine because of you. Mathematics has been my first love and always shall be. It has escaped you until now, but I feel I must tell you in parting that I am a lady and not the lad you believe you see before you. I am called Vulpecula Weasley and it has been my great honor to know you." Then as if she had not been there a moment before, she seemed to disappear on the spot. For years after, Newton would wonder if his brightest pupil really had been a lady and then if said pupil had even existed. There was no record of a Weasley family in Cambridge. On his deathbed 10 years later he asked after a Miss Weasley. Strangely no one recalled being with him in the last minutes of his life but they all swore there was a beautiful red headed angel at his side.
For now, she sat in Arithmancy and attempted to avoid yawning her way through the first class. Everything the professor covered was in the book that she'd read and worked out from cover to cover in the last month. In fact, upon deciding to enter the wizarding world she had done a great deal of reading and had become conversant and able to do all the course work for all seven years of education that Hogwart's offered. As a barrier to entry, Headmaster Veridian had required her to sit for her OWLs and she had received straight O's and as a further test of her skill she had astonished the old coot when she'd received straight O's on her NEWT level exams as well. He had even asked her why she chose to come to Hogwarts when she had basically validated the seven years and she answered his question with her own, "The wizarding community is a small community, no? Do not you think it would be unwise for one to ignore the networking opportunities afforded one by attending school with my contemporaries?"
The Headmaster nodded his assent and the conversation was over. Now, she wished she been placed in the seventh year. School would be tedious but at least the library was excellent and she could perhaps convince several of the professors to take her on in private tutoring.
In that way, her first month as a student passed rather quickly. She avoided at all costs any further contact with the pretentious heir of Malfoy and his merry band of dandies that he surrounded himself with. He was very forward with her when he could corner her and she got the distinct feeling that he wished to embark on a courtship with her. Other boys began to shy away from her and he cast her looks of ownership in the great hall and in their shared class. Arrogant man- she had better things to tend to than love.
She was on the verge of a breakthrough in her Arithmancy work- it itched at the surface and she was singularly focused on the solution. In her mind the mathematics of Newton had created an ordered universe that ran with clock like precision but human interactions were anything but clocklike. The human brain operated without the constraints of time and gravity and there was currently no explanation of its inner workings. Vulpe, as she was called for short amongst friends and family, was obsessed with finding the inner cogs of the mind and "solving" the brain. It seemed that magic could solve her problems where muggle math could not and she felt sure arithmancy was a part of the solution for out of it was born memory and mind charms such as the obliviate and the field of Occlumency.
On the day of graduation for the current seventh years she was in the library staring at several rolls of parchment covered in her small efficient script. It all blurred together as she felt her mind depart the room. She seemed to soar in the air above herself and examine the room. She felt sure that she was dreaming but her consciousness in that form seemed to belie that though she was bodily within the room, she was spiritually no longer there. In this form she floated through the outer wall of the library and down the banks towards the graduation ceremony. There were rows upon rows of spectators surrounding the graduating students in a horseshoe shape on the banks of the Lake. The weather was slightly chilly but sunny and the scenery was abloom with the beginnings of Spring and the unspoken promise of new life. As she soared over the ceremony she heard the booming voice of the headmaster quoting a founders speech about house unity at school and in the world at large.
Continuing over the trees of the forbidden forest for some time she found herself descending into a lonely clearing. A wizard stood within a circle of trees. He was wizened with age and his hoary eyes seemed not to truly see the woman before him but he sensed her and said in a small whisper, "I have waited these many years to finally meet you young lass."
In her filmy form she looked about wondering how he could see her or talk to her. He continued, "Do not dismay. I can see you and hear you- magic, you see. I am ready to cross to the other side and I have begged Merlin for much of my life for this interview. He finally saw fit to grant it."
She tested her voice, "How am I here?"
He craned at her and smiled and toothless and harmless smile, "Because, deary, I have divined it."
She sniffed, "I do not believe in divination."
He nodded, "Aye. Shall I test your theory?"
"You do not have the proper implements. Tea leaves and crystal balls and cards and such rubbish."
He laughed a cackling laugh that sent chills down her back from some reason, "Those with the true eye do not need such hogwash. Come closer dear and let me show you your future."
Her consciousness glided forward unbidden by her body. "This is why my dying wish was to see you." He seemed to grip her hand and then they spun on the spot and appeared in a beautiful and stylish drawing room. It was a dark room with very little ambient lighting. The floor was tiled in black marble and the walls were wood paneled and covered with family portraits. Of note, all of the portraits centered around platinum blond men. As smart as she was she recognized the family and assumed she was in Malfoy Manor.
The old man pointed a palsied hand at a large portrait, "The question you are seeking to answer is here."
"But I have not asked a question."
"You will." And it was upon closer inspection that she recognized the face of Orion Malfoy in the forefront of the portrait she was staring at. He looked older in the portrait and held what looked to be a young boy in his arms. She gasped. To his right stood a woman with bright red hair, a woman she saw every day in the mirror.
"It cannot be!"
"It can and shall be."
"Never."
"Always. It is your fate."
She shook her head, "Why?"
"Ah, the deeper question and the real answer you seek. Think harder my dear. You have a head for divination after all."
She felt her mind race furiously ahead of itself and fall back into an old habit of rational study of the facts. It was clear to her that Orion Malfoy fancied her in the present day but she had not encouraged him. She would likely not need to. He would probably go directly to her mother and request a courtship. She would agree on the match in accordance with the customs governing their society. He was wealthy and had inherited an estate and the land and the position of power that went with it. He would probably investigate her mother's bloodline which was closely tied to the Shacklebolt family. She was pure enough. That was an easy solution and therefore she doubted that it was a part of the ultimate solution.
As she observed the room and her surroundings her mind began to order events. Theirs was a very old looking portrait, faded with years. There were many more surrounding them and then, as if wishing him into a existence a man who look startlingly like Orion with a slightly taller and narrower build entered the room. His hair was tied behind his head in a long tail. He was dressed oddly to her eyes but she reconciled it with the knowledge that she was viewing the future. He was followed by a teenage boy and two women. They all appeared to share some resemblance. The second woman had dark and wild curly hair. The scene began to unravel as other men came in the room with what appeared to be captive teenagers.
She watched in horror as the maniacal curly haired women let loose her fury on all present and then singled out the young witch and cast a spell she had never heard before, "Crucio!" The girl writhed in pain. Vulpe had never heard such a curse and never seen one work on the mind in such a way without bodily harm. Arithmantic figures began to float around at the forefront of her brain and then she felt revelation. Utter revelation. This spell was one of her creation- she was one figure and mere runes away from it in the library. She gasped in disbelief and over the din of a chandelier falling, her aged guide just chuckled and spun on the spot.
They were in a dark and small bedroom and a kindly looking woman lay asleep in her bed. The same platinum blond teenage boy she'd seen at Malfoy manor entered. He raised his wand at the woman and said quietly, "Imperio" and there was no response from the woman but time lapsed and she watched the woman slip a deadly potion into a bottle of fine liquor and post it by Owl to a Hogwarts professor. She also took what was certainly a cursed necklace from a hard case and gingerly placed it in a velvet pouch and gave it to a teenaged girl. Again Vulpe realized that her calculations lent themselves to that spell with the same one off arithmantics. This too was her creation. The old hand again held her tight and they spun on the spot until they were back in the forest clearing only it was night.
There were a group of men and women standing in a circle around what appeared to be two wizards. One was obviously a dark, dark wizard. His features were evil and snake like and his eyes glowed red. He was pontificating to a young, naked teenage wizard whose facial features looked reminiscent of the present day young Mr. Peverell. She averted her eyes from his nakedness and focused on the words she was hearing and then like lightning the dark wizard raised his wand and shouted, "Avada Kedavra!" The young boy dropped to ground lifeless and she felt her heart and her soul rip into a thousand tiny shards. This evil was her creation.
The old man touched her again but this time they did not move locations and in a small whisper he said, "Watch." Instantly she was transported closer to the boy. One of the women from the drawing room scene came forward at the Dark wizards command and felt at the boy's throat and then both women saw it. His chest moved and his eyes flitted though stayed shut. On her shoulder the hand tightened and the spun again. It was day again. Spring, 1717.
If she could have, she would have fainted or collapsed but the only recourse left to her consciousness was to scream in rage and the old man let her. She raged against herself for succeeding where others had not. All the equations before her in the library had solutions. The mind was a great clock and could be tortured, controlled and killed with the greatest of ease and she had found out how. When her anger subsided she asked,
"Why did you show me that? Was it real?"
"It was real lassie and it will happen."
"Why me? Why was I given this cross to bear?"
"Because none other could. None so smart, none so cunning, none so utterly ruthless."
"But it has cost me my life."
"It has cost you no more than others will pay many times over for the light to prevail. That young man, Mr. Potter I believe his name will be, will conquer death and he must. The dark wizard you have seen cannot be stopped in any other way. No other curse or counter curse would have done- his very life will be protected by that dark wizards use of it. Without you, 300 years from now would be bleak place to live indeed and every muggle in the world would have been subjugated and eventually exterminated. It is the only way. You will call it the killing curse and it can and shall kill to great effect but it is designed for one particular wizard as his downfall. Tell me, what does the arithmantic equation sum to if you reverse the order of operations that simplify to the killing curse?"
She did the math in her head and quickly came to the solution, "Love."
"Correct. The underpinnings of a series of love potions to be precise because it cannot be solved into a spell. You have tried no?"
"Of course."
"Very well. That dark wizard must be killed with love for he was born with but one weakness: the inability to love. That boy will vanquish him twice over. Once with the love of his mother which will counter act the killing and the second with the love of his brothers."
"But it is unconscionable!"
"Precisely."
"I won't release the results. I'll burn them!"
He shook his head sadly, "If you do not there will come someone who does and they will use them to create genocide in their wake before they are regulated. And even then, this dark wizard will rise."
"There must be another way!"
"There is no other better way. I have been haunted with these images my entire life. I have seen every possible path to arrive at that clearing. It must be this way."
Again she raged. The old man allowed it. Finally he interrupted saying, "Dear Lass, don't you wonder why I wanted to see you as my dying wish?"
She shook her head, "Why?"
"Because you are a good witch, a witch of the light and I wished to see you before I went."
She choked, "But the death I will cause…it is unforgiveable."
"But don't forget the life. The life" He leaned forward as if to caress her face with his knobby knuckles, "Farewell my dear lass until we meet again behind the veil. You have brought me peace." She was forcibly pushed back to the library. Where she jolted at the reentry into her body and then further jumped in surprise at a familiar face before her. Orion stood there in all his aristocratic glory.
The knowledge of her future weighed heavily on her and in a soft and weary voice she said, "Mr. Malfoy, I am afraid I am in no condition to talk."
He eyed her skeptically, taking in her slightly disheveled appearance and the work before her saying, "It is my last day here as you well know. Agree that you will write to me."
She thought carefully on this and then said, "I will agree on one condition."
"Name it. Anything."
"Take a wizarding oath that you will grant any one wish of mine."
He shook his head, "As a slytherin I would never give such carte blanche!"
"You will if you ever wish to see or hear from me again. You have one chance before I disappear forever." Her eyes were deadly serious and appeared as if they were viewing something ghastly inside of her. She would stay true to her word.
In a very un-Malfoy move he knelt before her and said, "So be it. Since I saw you that first day I have been your servant you wicked witch. Weasley or no. My father would roll in his grave." He sighed and then continued, "Alas. I, Orion Lucius Malfoy, swear on my magic that I will grant you one single wish to the utmost of my ability."
He was rewarded with a look of favor from Vulpe that quickly hardened as she said, "I do not love you but I likely shall. You will have to win me over."
"Is that your wish?"
"No."
"What then?"
She heaved a heavy sigh, "I have invented three spells. They are unforgiveable when used in a single instance on another human. You and your progeny will help me guard their existence until it is known at large and then put into place a law sentencing the yielder to life in Azkaban."
If she had punched him he would have been less surprised. "Unforgiveable?"
"Yes. Those are my words."
"Very well. I cannot go back on my oath."
She nodded and stacked her things and then turned to leave, "Then it is settled. Expect a letter from me soon."
They were wed three months later on the same day that the Minister of Magic discreetly signed into law a bill. The amount of galleons spent by the Malfoy family to grease it onto the floor with discretion was remarkable and exceeded the expense of the lavish wedding breakfast by far. The paper glowed bright green as his quill finished in a flourish:
The Unforgiveable Curses
Heretofore:
The Imperius Curse, The Cruciatus Curse and The Killing Curse.
So named because the use of any one of these curses on another is deemed unforgiveable.
Use is punishable with life in Azkaban Prison.
Like the future ahead, so it was that a prodigiously talented Witch, a Weasley, a Malfoy and an old wizened wizard once again saved the life of a young boy named Harry Potter.