There was a dripping sound that came from a far-off dank corridor as he lands next to a vault labeled 394. "Minister," the drone voice of one of the Gringotts goblins greets him.
"Greetings. I only now remember why I don't use brooms for regular transport. But after the other day," Cornelius Fudge's voice trails off solemnly.
"I understand. It is why I contacted you immediately," the long nosed goblin explains in a raspy voice, reminiscent of a 50 year smoker. "I think this has to do with the occurrence."
"How did you find the vault?" The minister looks down at the "halfling" as he mentally calls the creatures that run the esteemed wizarding bank, Gringotts.
"It was left open. One of the other goblins," the Minister visibly cringed at the word, "noticed on his morning round."
"And the body?" the Minister continues his inane interrogations.
The clip clap of high-end shoes echo down the hallway, growing louder with each step. "Minister," the smooth drawl of Lucius Malfoy interrupts the semi-private conversation. "I heard that there was a development," the last word drawn out in true haughty Malfoy fashion.
"Lucius, my friend. Thank you for the use of the broom. The floo system is still having problems after the events yesterday and you know the rules of apparition in Gringotts." Fudge hands over the hand-me-down broom to the aristocrat, who looks down his nose at the piece of wood like he was handed a piece of hippogriff dung, even though it is one of his son's prized possessions. "There was a body found in this vault this morning. From what – oh I can never remember your name," the Minister scrunches his nose at the goblin standing before him, "told me, it is one of the leaders of the Black Lake merpeople."
Lucius doesn't look impressed, one of his imperious eyebrows raised, "What is the shape of the body, Minister?" His long, straight nose twitches at the smell emanating from the vault labeled 394.
The goblin answers instead, "Mister Malfoy, the body is charred, nearly beyond recognition. But the odd thing is, the tanzanite in the merman's hand. It is like it was placed after the incident." A spindly finger points to the blackened shape placed in the centre of the room, the source of the charred fleshy fish smell, "The gem, it is special, even in our world. It holds qualities; qualities that I have never seen before."
The men exchange perplexed glances, the Minister asking the question that seems to be on both their minds, "What do you mean 'qualities'? Does it hold special magic?"
The goblin sighs exasperated at the wizards in front of him, "It holds some type of memory. A memory that cannot be accessed by just anybody." The two wizards approach carefully as the he continues, "As you can see, it glows as you approach. But I would recommend you not touch."
Lucius scoffs as the light brightens as the two approach, obviously ignoring the goblin's warning. His finger goes out to touch the gem, only to be sent into the memory it contains.
Nearly like a pensieve, the Malfoy patriarch watches the events of three days past. His wife, stands stately in front of him, scoffing at the men standing around in a cluster in the dark forest that surround Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The sun is setting in the distance as she taps her toes, "What a mess. Draco darling, please come here."
Her son's signature pale blond head shows through the group, yet he does not approach being held back by his aunt Bellatrix LeStrange. Even though a sister, Narcissa Malfoy knows that she cannot be trusted, especially with Narcissa's dear son.
She huffs in exasperation, her frustration written across her face. "These men. They wouldn't know how to create a diversion if it bit them in the arse." Her husband recognizes the members of the group, but more importantly, he recognizes his wife's frustration and knows that something is askew. There are lines that mar her usually perfect features, her hair is disheveled for her, her shoulders - usually high and at near right angles - show a slight slope to them, "I will have to take actions into my own hand."
She stomps off, and her husband's grateful that this is only a memory and that he isn't facing the wrath of his wife, follows still at a safe distance.
He watches as the next few hours progress showing him only the essentials as his wife creates her own plan. She contacts one of her friends, the wife of a fellow Death Eater and one of his colleagues. He knows this witch does not fully believe as her husband does, she has been reported as a potential spy for those they fight against. Together, the ladies coordinate a 'small skirmish' near the school, yet keeping away from the students to protect Narcissa's son. Yet what she does undermines the actions sanctioned by the Dark Lord; it endangers the other Death Eaters that are planted in and around the castle, including her own son.
Narcissa obsesses over her only son's safety, sending him missive after missive telling him to keep himself and those loyal to him inside, no matter what the Dark Lord himself requires of him. She gives no details, and honestly fears only for his individual safety. Lucius watches, knowing the depth of his wife's love for Draco, and understands; he too feels great love and a silent pride for his son.
As the memories progress, the plan becomes more apparent to Lucius. He only can see what she sees, he has no idea what is going on in her obsessive head that could lead to such blatant disregard and betrayal to the Dark Lord and his own orders as her husband. How she even knew of the plan in the first place is beyond him, he fears that that his own son sides with his mother and not truly with the Dark Lord.
Where does that leave Lucius? How can the Malfoy family overcome such infidelity, disloyalty, and betrayal? He must devise a plan of his own.
As the events lead up to the day past, he watches his wife as she walks through all the minutia, she truly is a Slytherin to the core, protecting those that matter to her only and forsaking even her own sister. The plan is executed to precision, Lucius watches his wife in amusement and awe.
At dawn the day prior the attack commences. It is swift, efficient in its destruction. There are 11, a number that no mere wizard would have dreamt up except Narcissa Malfoy, dragons that attack from various points beyond the Forbidden Forest and culminating upon the Black Lake setting the water aboil with the heated breath that the dragons produce. The fire only causes the morning's reds and golds to burn brighter and hotter and with the time of day at hand, the attack looks insignificant.
Her reasoning is sound for the timing of the attack, there should be no one except the random early riser, out of the castle at that time. Even the quidditch teams did not begin their training at that unholy of hours. And the irony of the planning would be that the only team scheduled for the pitch that day would be the self-righteous Gryffindors, which would have given an ample opportunity to attack the brat Harry Potter and weaken his comrades.
As the attack commences, she remains sheltered in the darkest corner of the forest, listening and watching with anticipation for any and every little bit of destruction at hand. She watches as the greenhouses go up in flames, which will later be the joy of many a student including Draco. She watches as the gardens and pastures that supply the hoards of food for the castle are sliced down. She watches as the Death Eaters enter the fray unknowingly and more than a few casualties are felt.
Alas, the one she silently hoped for – her own sister – does not fall.
As Lucius continues to watch the mayhem as it is shown, he admires the woman he married. He did good in his choice of wife; and still he feels the pain that will be incurred when her betrayal is discovered. It shall be left to him to destroy any chance of that, as to protect his family honor.
He removes himself from the memories, only to find a few brief seconds have elapsed. Nothing so significant that even the Minister of Magic would notice, well at least this Minister of Magic didn't notice. Lucius looks down at one of the victims and the gemstone laying in his hand, realizing only now the significance of it.
Tanzanite. December's birthstone. Narcissa's birthstone. The stone that was procured at her birth to be given as part of her betrothal. Her memories were trapped in the stone, a large 11 carat uncut gem, that was given by the Black family to Lucius as part of the deal to secure her marriage to him.
Eleven. Eleven dragons. Eleven carats. A number that is more than ten yet not quite a dozen. A number that no one would suspect – either they would not be counting on the last one or they would be searching the skies for eternity for the lost one. In Numerology, one of the few parts of Divination that both Narcissa and Lucius excelled at, eleven is a master number, a prime, known as the most intuitive of numbers.
It is also the date in which Narcissa was born: December 11th.
This is all leading back to his wife and for him it is obvious. How could he be so blind? How could he not see his own wife plotting to disparage his own family's name? The same name she now holds? Will anyone else see all these pieces and put them together or will this solitary action be the utmost demise of him and his family's legacy?
And why did she have the dragons converge on the Black Lake? Is there additional meaning to that, since it is her own maiden name? Is she trying to destroy the Black part of her also in her plans to betray the Dark Lord for the Malfoy name? Or has she turned as obsessively mad as her own sister, finally giving into the madness that seems to plague the Black family for generations?
Or is this just the brilliance that he knows his wife holds. Very close, like all her emotions albeit her love for her son. A love that seems to even surpass her love for him.
"Lucius," he is brought back to the reality encircling him by Fudge after what seems to be a long self-aggrandizing pontification, "what do you think? Do you think this is a lead to whomsoever planned this despicable act?"
"No Minister, I do not. I fear it would only lead us in a never-ending web of deception and betrayal. Only the truly mad or deranged would conceive such an obsessed plan…" his words drift into the ether as the Minister lets the befuddled words sink in. "This is such a pathetic plan, executed in a way that no one in their right mind would, destroying what little innocence that is left untainted by the Dark Lord's wrath. I fear, Minister, that whomsoever planned this attack is just making a mockery of us all. In so forth that as the saying goes, 'Mimicry may be the highest form of flattery, but mockery is just an insult.' The supposed mastermind of this is just trying to show the Ministry as a farce and ridicule the Headmaster and yourself. If I were in your place, I would look at who it hurt the greatest, and rebut them. Since the attack was against the supposed Death Eaters, I can only assume this was planned by someone of the supposed Order of the Phoenix. That person should reap the punishments for attacking the merpeople and killing their leader. It will have set us back in proper negotiations for generations I fear."
This is meant by Lucius as to lead any possible investigation away from his wife; if only to protect his own hide and family name. It is a diversion, a distraction; one not nearly as obsessively planned as his wife's, since he has to think only on his feat.
"I believe whoever set this attack in motion not only destroyed any future negotiations, but betrayed their own," concurred Fudge.
"Minister, I could not agree more," Lucius concluded before reaching for his son's discarded broom and leaving the vault.
Author's Notes:
House: Slytherin
Year: 5
Category: Short
Prompt: ALL!
Word Count: 2120