Chapter 1: Jelly Doughnuts
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches."
The room was icy cold, freezing. The flickering candle light was reflected against the dark scales of a snake that whipped, chaotic, throughout the room.
"Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies." The room was windowless, a dungeon. The Dark Lord sat in a stiff chair, alone save for one of his kneeling servants. His low-pitched voice was cold and dispassionate, but the words ignited a fire within his eyes.
Bellatrix Lestrange did not answer. She wasn't supposed to answer. Cautiously she asked, "Surely there is more my Lord?"
"Yes of course there's more." His tone was pleasant, and Bellatrix flinched at his face. He shoved a nearby table over like a madman, strewing books all over the floor. "...And the Dark Lord knows not. And either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies." He recited the lines perfectly, hating each word that slipped from his pale lips. "I shall not be the one that dies. It shall be your duty to ensure that."
"My lord," Bellatrix said interrupting nervously for a moment. Voldemort spared her a moment's glance. She placed an old parchment in front of him. "I always carry out my duty." She bowed and left the room, her sharp heels crisply beating a staccato on the stone floor.
Voldemort looked down at the parchment and read it. A small sinister smile spread across his lips.
"If the pentagram of power is placed in the Dark Lord's hands he will be unstoppable…none shall be able to defeat him, not even the Chosen…the pentagram shall be formed when the One is of 10 and 6…when the powers of light and darkness are present…the four elements will be taken first…the fifth, the strongest, the One, will have his soul shattered and placed in the Dark Lord's hands…he is the Son of Light and Faith…for he has the power of the Dragons..." Voldemort smiled. So the crazy seer was right; it was a matter of time. And he had plenty of that. The seven were mere children now.
"Lord and Lady Richard Zaire accompanied by their sons Donovan and Albus Zaire." The crisp voice of the ghostly attendant rang through the cavernous ballroom. Two small boys trotted down the sweeping marble stair case under the sharp, disdainful eyes of their eminent parents.
Someone nearby muttered in boredom, "...two hours into this party and they're not bloody done introducing people!"
Blaize felt a small smile creep onto his face. Blaize Riven-Malfoy did not hate many things, but stuffy birthday parties in even stuffier ballrooms were not exactly his cup of tea.
The only reason that he'd been talked into going to the party was sitting right in front of him. Dessert.
Blaize thought about snagging a doughnut of each flavor from the dessert table. But then decided against it, someone could be watching and think it was rather barbaric. Blaize was rather tall and thin, he had dirty blonde hair and the trademark Malfoy silver eyes.
"Why don't you do us all a favor and nip them all?"An amused drawl interrupted, intercepting his train of thought.
"Hello, Draco." Blaize said cheerfully. He waved his wand and only three of the original twelve doughnuts remained. "I think I've narrowed it down since last time."
"Thank Merlin for that. It only took you what, three hours last time?" Draco snorted.
Blaize laughed and took a moment to glance at his friend. Draco's shirt was half open and his robes were completely disheveled. He saw Draco struggling with his cuffs. Blaize grinned, "It looks like you've been having a bit of fun."
Draco rolled his eyes, "Took awhile to shake the bitch off."
"Who was it this time?"
Draco hesitated a moment, finally shrugging. "Wish I knew."
Heavy footsteps alerted them of the arrival of Walden Macnair. Macnair had been arrested at the Ministry of Magic along with the other Death Eaters earlier that summer. He had been in Azkaban a total of two days, after which he had been to every single event all summer long. Of course Lucius Malfoy had no such luck. Although he had managed to talk himself out of Azkaban easily, he only wound up in some rehab centre halfway across the world.
"Good evening boys," Macnair said, picking up a jelly doughnut.
Draco somehow managed a polite "Good evening," followed by Blaize's "How are you sir?"
"Fine, thank you."
Draco gritted his teeth. You shouldn't be.
Macnair took a bite out of his doughnut just as Draco clenched his hands into fists inside his robes. Macnair's face was suddenly bright red - not only from the strawberry jelly that had exploded on him.
"Red's not your colour, sir," Draco said with wide-eyed innocence. Macnair scowled and stalked away as dignified as possible, probably to tell on Draco. He fell flat on his face, slipping on a jelly doughnut.
Blaize bit his lip to keep from laughing. "Did you do that?"
Draco smirked. "It seems as though those jelly doughnuts have a mind of their own."
After a final glimpse at Macnair's retreating back, Draco and Blaize began edging towards the door that led to the labyrinth of hallways in the Risqué manor.
"Let's go somewhere quiet," Draco snapped over the noise and loud music, "My head is killing me!"
"That's what happens when you drink half your weight in Mai Tais, Draco," Blaize reminded him. After taking a look at his cousin's face he quickly added, "But there's a lovely library near the drawing room."
"That's what I thought you said," Draco hissed, pulling Blaize into a closet to avoid the reporters and photographers covering the birthday event. Much to Draco's relief there was no one in the corridors, except the occasional lovers. Blaize stepped forward to open the double oak doors of the library. Inside, standing in front of the fireplace were two people standing close together. The boy was leaning in… Draco pulled out his wand to activate the lighting charms. Lumos.
"Well look at this, what do we have here?" He sneered.
"What?" Blaize asked curiously, looking at his cousin. Draco closed his eyes in annoyance. "Oh right." Blaize chirped happily, clearing his throat.
"Looks like a couple of lovebirds!" Blaize cried in a mock-baby voice, the kind you would use on a puppy.
Yin and Artemis jerked apart. Yin's porcelain doll face had a rose flush sweeping across it, her almond eyes were wide. Artemis ran a hand through his long raven hair, a nervous gesture for him.
"Drayce, Blaize why...what are you doing here?" Artemis Kenda Fole asked as smoothly as he could with his two best friend's silver eyes on him. Blaize suppressed a giggle. A smirk that was running around Draco's head reached his lips.
"Does this mean you'll admit that you're soul mates now?" He asked sweetly, Yin Ming gave him a disgruntled glare, tossing her hair coldly. There was an awkward pause in which they all stared at each other. Artemis cleared his throat, "So...is anything important happening?"
"Well...someone lit themselves on fire. It was funny, the lead guitarist was like 'shit! You're on fire!' and threw the punch bowl at him." Blaize said smiling broadly. Artemis snorted clearly stating that he thought Blaize was immature. Draco frowned half way through a smile, confused. A dull pain has risen in his chest, causing him to loose his ability to follow the conversation. His breath stopped short as a spasm gripped him, and he vaguely heard Blaize's voice.
"Voldemort's got all his cronies out; things aren't looking good for Memta right now. I mean we haven't even come close to infiltrating his inner circle. Or any circle! One of our directors is down, and Arty, your parents are getting suspicious. Draco, I don't think Auntie Narcissa is going to take that much longer to figure it—and us—out."
Yin and Artemis nodded. Yin turned her head and noticed Draco on his knees clutching the table for support. "Draco! Are you okay?" she asked him, waving her hand in his face.
"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" Draco asked calmly, leaning on the same table. This was the second time this summer this had happened, but no one knew except for him.
"I thought you were going to code on us," Artemis said, watching him with mild concern.
The group trooped back to the ballroom reluctantly, it would be an insult to the family if they didn't. Blaize made it a bit of a game counting all the couples, and people going into hangovers. Draco lingered in the tall arched doorway for a moment watching several purple and silver acrobats do flips across the air, he smiled. Yin shrieked suddenly catching his attention. A mime jumped back in suprise, Yin placed a gloved hand to her chest and burst out laughing.
"Oh my that gave me quite a start!" She said smoothing out the folds of her delicate silk robes, which were fresh off the Milanese fall haute-couture runway of Eleusian's wizardwear. The mime dramatically imitated her.
"He's so cute! Do you think Daddy would let me have him?" She asked Draco smiling broadly. Draco said nothing; it was not a question.
"Why on earth would you want a small black and white man?" Artemis asked bewildered.
"Artemis you have some competition." Blaize muttered amused. The mime turned towards him and Blaize inched away; he was terrified of any sort of mask or clown. Draco rolled his eyes and waved a dismissive hand; the mime bowed and skipped off. Across the ballroom Draco spotted Rem Risqué talking to several adults and noticed one elderly witch pinch his cheek. Hard.
"Should we rescue Rem?" Blaize asked Draco watching Rem attempting to be polite. Draco smirked and took achampange flukefrom a passing house elf. "And miss the fun?"
"Young man. Artemis, no?" A respectable looking gentleman shook hands with Artemis. Artemis smiled courteously, he turned to Draco clearly thinking: who the hell is this?
"I know your parents," Artemis stiffened and his steep cobalt eyes became icy. "How are they?"
"Fine. Yes, they're both fine. Thank you." Artemis said nonchalantly and calmly. The man smiled patronizingly and walked away; Artemis let his smile drop into a glare.
"Alright, I think I've had enough, shall we get our cloaks and leave?" Artemis said flatly. Draco was preoccupied rubbing his temples. Yin nodded her assent and Blaize openly yawned.
"Hey! Leaving so soon?" An annoyed voice asked. Draco turned and found himself looking into Rem Risqué's hazel eyes. Besides him was Zane Shan leaning heavily against an organza draped column.
"Hullo Rem, unless you give us something to do, yeah." Blaize said rudely, Artemis poked him in the ribs.
"Happy birthday, Rem!" Yin said loudly sufficiently drowning out Blaize's indignant "owww!"
"I'm sorry this sucked, we'll do something later okay?" Rem said lighting a joint. Draco laughed and caught Zane's unfocused eyes. Zane curtly nodded and threw up violently.
Artemis looked over, slightly concerned. "Zane...did you overdose again?"
He shook his head. "Can't." He sighed closing his eyes, the groups attention was focused on him. "Ever since my fu-sorry...my parents put me in rehab, I've been under this potion crap that makes my regurgitate any kind of toxic substances. This is withdrawal, apparently."
"I think you're doing great, Zane." Blaize said in a happily supportive tone. Zane glowered at him.
Draco cleared his throat, "I think tomorrow would be an excellent day for a Memta meeting."
The group stared at him in a startled way– it was rather bold of him to mention that in public.
"Why?" Rem asked looking around.
"Well... we're on the verge of an apocalypse," Blaize helpfully clearing up Rem's doubt.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Artemis retorted sarcastically.
"Don't mention it!" Blaize said cheerfully. Draco rolled his eyes.
"So, what are we going to do?" Yin asked bluntly, moving on.
"All we can," Draco said, in his usual drawl, "Memta meeting tomorrow."
Draco had slept well the night after the party. He stretched luxuriously; it had been a long time since he had gotten a decent amount of rest. The sun shone brightly in his face and he sighed. Another reason to hate summer: the early rising sun. Slipping out of bed, he ran a hand through his tousled hair and sat in a large, slightly worn chair that had been in the Malfoy Manor since the Elizabethan era. He twined his long, delicate fingers under his chin, going back to thoughts he had not visited in a while.
Father...
Draco rose in frustration- his thoughts on this subject always led him to the same phrase – damn you, Harry Potter.
He could hear his mother, Narcissa, pacing in the hallway. She was undoubtedly formulating a terrible speech on last night's antics with Macnair. She was never really upset; quite possibly she had in fact found it very amusing. But she would feel it her duty as a mother and a Malfoy to make a reprimand. Draco sighed, tilting his head to the back of his chair. There were always repercussions for a Malfoy.
But there was time for explanations later. He should probably take advantage of the fact that his mother was preoccupied for once, and get through to Yin. The Memta gang had all met up last night at the party.
Memta, or the Magically Enhanced Muggle Technology Academy was a secret society for research in both muggle and magical fields of science and technology. It was headed by his father, Lucius Malfoy, and two other directors: Blaize's mother, Aryana Malfoy Riven, and an ex-Auror, Ash Rai. Draco was always at odds with Ash; he didn't always trust her, despite her presence in his life. However, his father trusted her, so Draco abided by her rules. Most of the time.
Memta had several divisions. One of them was the Junior Division that was established when Draco was eight. Draco and his team were the first group of Junior Memta scholars. Draco scribbled a note hastily, and walked over to where his silver and black falcon stood proudly. Malifque would only obey Draco; anyone else who tried to get her to do anything would find himself or herself covered in claw marks and missing an eye. She waited for Draco's command, watching him with her steely eyes.
Yin,
Arrange a meeting for tomorrow night. I'll be quite occupied with some meaningless punishment today. I assume Blaize mentioned the Macnair affair; honestly, it's been blown out of proportion. It was quite amusing, naturally. Should anything else happen, owl me.
A Demain,
Draco
"Draco?"
Damn."One moment, mother." Draco hastily closed the window behind Malifque and draped a green blanket over himself. He opened the door to a curious looking Narcissa. Draco forced a smile. "Mother...good morning."
"Was that Malifque that you just sent out the window?"
"No…why would I? It was warm last night I left the window open."
Narcissa visibly relaxed. "Good. I don't want you to post anything to anyone for another few weeks. You know how things are..." She was staring out the window, distracted, her eyes tearing; obviously thinking of Lucius.
Draco didn't know what to do. He wasn't good with emotional people. He had no clue how to comfort them. As a Malfoy wasn't expected to, of course. Instead, he cleared his throat.
Narcissa blinked, conscious of where she was again, and where her husband was. She inhaled, and let her breath out slowly. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror next to Draco's closet. "You know what I need, Draco? A haircut. Perhaps I'll get one. But never mind that." She cocked her head and smiled at him. "You're grounded."
Draco groaned, it was as if someone had smacked him. He hadn't expected such a severe punishment.
"What are my limits? Until when? And…blast it Mother, why?" He was annoyed now. He couldn't be grounded! It would be a minimum of a week, and he needed to be at the Memta meeting tomorrow.
Narcissa held up two fingers on her right hand, and touched the tip of one with her left index finger. "Two reasons. Reason number one: because I said so. Reason number two: because your father would have said so. You can chose which reason you prefer to tell your friends."
Draco gritted his teeth. "Since WHEN do you punish me? I'm your favorite son! I'm your only son!"
Narcissa narrowed her eyes. "I guess that leaves us with 'because your father would have said so.'"
"FUCK!"
"Watch that tongue, boy!" Narcissa snapped. She turned, muttering "I can't believe I just said that...I sound old!"
With that she made her exit.
Draco was astonished. It was difficult for him to comprehend what had just taken place. One of his parents had actually punished him! Not that it mattered, of course. So his mother decided to actually be a mother; she had never said how long he was grounded. For all he knew she could have intended to ground him for two minutes. Or two weeks...
"Two minutes it is," Draco muttered under his breath. He smiled as he glanced out the window; watching a slightly swaying figure sluggishly getting out of a yellow viper sports car. Being grounded had never felt so good.
"Tomorrow night! He wants us to postpone it until tomorrow? We're already HERE! He must have Voldemort's arse for a head if he thinks for a moment..."
"That's quite enough, Blaize." Ash scolded. The small smile on her face softened the chastisement, and Blaize was grinning again.
"What should we do now?" Yin asked. She was already bored with the makeshift meeting.
Ash was the only director present, as Aryana no doubt was on a shopping spree and Lucius was, well, not present. Yin casually craned her neck to the other side of the room to look at Artemis. He was Memta's prodigy; his specialty was Physics. Next to Artemis was Zane Shan. He was the head of Espionage and Transfiguration for the Junior division. Rem Risqué was in charge of Culture and Arts. He, however, was probably getting wasted at some Muggle party; Rem was notorious for partying. And Draco was probably snuggled up in his bunny jimjams at home. Yin sighed. This wasn't working.
"I'm quite sure Draco's aware of our present predicament. He's usually a responsible boy, I'm sure he'll find a way to reach Healer Ming's home tonight." Ash said, thinking of how she could inform Draco of what was going on. Ash's plan was dependent on Draco. It was his talents she wanted to exploit. His division had the most impressive research work in Memta despite their age. Their consent was unimportant simply because she was in charge."Ash," Zane looked up suddenly alive, "What is our present predicament?" Zane's amethyst eyes were narrowed in suspicion.
Ash set her jaw. There were enough unanswered questions in her mind already. She didn't want to answer anyone else's. Instead, she said, "I don't want to explain anything before Draco and Rem arrive."
Zane smirked. His eyes glanced at Artemis."We don't want to know everything," he said coolly to Ash, "just something."
Artemis nodded, his lips twitching to prevent a sneer. "For example, do Aryana or Lucius know about it?"
Ash slowly turned to stone, her expression impassive. She managed to grit out a "No."
Yin closed her eyes dramatically. There was no point in questioning her any further. Ash had been almost emotionless since word from a little birdhad reached her that Sirius Black died. This surprised them, as they could not understand why she would be upset.
"You were in love with that blood traitor?" Draco asked coolly, Ash gave him a slow impassive glare. He held a small cream colored scroll and pulled the silk ribbon.
"Ash Rai and Sirius Black request the pleasure of your presence as they join in marriage..."
Ash gave him a stony look, and looked at the pictures he threw at her with a cold smile.
"That's why you've been acting like this? Because of some lunatic murderer?" Draco asked, sneering at her openly. Ash looked at him, her eyes somber and unreadable. She drew her hand back and brought it to Draco's ivory cheek with such a force that Draco collapsed. His frail skin instantly bruised; Ash left the room without a word…
The library door whooshed opened, cutting Yin's memories short. Draco stepped in shouldering a drunken Rem.
"Peace dudes," Rem hiccupped softly before crashing to the marble floor, taking his hippie garb and large purple sunglasses with him.
Draco smiled. "It took Rem awhile to realize where the party was."
Ash arched an eyebrow. "So you took it upon yourself to be his tour guide brought him to us. We are eternally grateful."
Draco smirked. "You could have fooled me."
Blaize laughed weakly. "Who cares? Now Ash can tell us what's happening."
Ash smiled mysteriously. "Not yet."
Zane stood up, surprised, and the others groaned in outrage.
Ash made a single gesture to quiet them all. "I want you all to continue your individual research. I will expect report updates periodically." She stood with her natural grace, daring anyone to comment. "That's an order."