A Day Like Any Other
When Lucius Malfoy awoke on that particularly bright Wednesday morning in June, there nothing about the clear blue sky that indicated there would be anything out of the ordinary about that day because that day began just like any other. Lucius had an early meeting at the Ministry that morning to discuss the latest mudblood protection acts being spearheaded by that disgusting blood traitor Arthur Weasley. The laws were supposed to be voted on by the Wizengamot on Friday. Well, not if Lucius had anything to say about it. Weasley might have support but it was gold that made the world go-round.
Mudbloods didn't deserve the Ministry's protection, not when they were purebloods out who needed. . .no who deserved it more. Lucius was going to do everything in his power to make sure they did not get it. And with an idiot like Bagshot for a Minister it would as easy as taking candy from a baby. One massive donation to St. Mungo's and Bagshot would be eating out of the palm of his hand. Yes, it was going to be a very good day indeed.
Lucius joined Cissy and Draco for a delicious breakfast prepared by their new house-elf Dobby. Their last elf, Blinky, had been such a disappointment and Lucius Malfoy did not toleration disappointment, especially from his servants. Cissy was going to Diagon Ally to pick up their dress robes from the cleaners. The Fire and Ice Ball at the Ministry was in less than a week and the Malfoy's would of course look their best. Seven-year-old Draco had a play date with Timothy Nott's son Theodore.
Good, it was never too late for the boy to be making good contacts. If things went well he would meet Cissy for lunch. At seven-thirty, Lucius kissed Cissy goodbye and ruffled Draco's flaxen hair. He was at the Ministry by eight. His meeting was at eight-fifteen.
Lucius decided to spend the time greeting some Ministry up and comers. Good contacts were, after all, very important. He was chatting up the Head of Magical Games and Sports when she rounded the corner. "Lucius!" He turned just in time to see her rushing down the hall towards him.
Lucius smiled and politely ended his conversation with the Ministry official and gave his little sister his full attention. Caprica had been working at the Ministry since graduating from Hogwarts. She'd just been promoted to deputy head of the Experimental Charms department. It wasn't a surprise really; Caprica Malfoy was as beautiful as she was intelligent. She hugged him in greeting, smiling cheerfully.
That was Caprica for you, always friendly and congenial. "What are you doing here?" she asked, brushing her sun whitened bangs from her sparkling grey eyes. Caprica had cut her hair since he had last seen her; a stylish layered bob had replaced her long curls. Caprica's hair changed as frequently as the whether but she always looked beautiful. She was a Malfoy after all.
He smiled at little smugly down at her. "I have a meeting with the Minister to make sure she has our. . .ahem best interests at heart," he said meaningfully, soothing his robes so she could hear the gold tinkling in his pocket. Caprica's sunny smiled flattered and faded a bit. "Oh, well, I hope it goes well," she said but without much feeling. She always got like that when it came to certain topics but never went so far as to voice a word of protest.
Lucius ignored her expression as always and thanked her. The idea that his little sister might be sympathetic to those. . .those vile creatures was simply preposterous. Not to mention unthinkable. Caprica was a Malfoy, a member of one of the oldest pureblood families in Britain. Malfoy's were not sympathetic to mudbloods and blood traitors.
"Have you gotten your invitation to the Fire and Ice Ball?" he asked. It was always best to change the subject when those awkward pauses arose in their conversation. Caprica immediately brightened like a child on Christmas morning. His sister loved parties and balls. "Yeah, I got it last week and I've already got my dress from the cleaners," she said happily.
Ah yes, Lucius knew the dress, Caprica's favorite dress. She wore it to practically event she attended. "Well I'm sure you'll look lovely." "Oh please Lucius I'd be a knock out in a bloody paper sack," Caprica chortled with a grin. She'd always been a cheeky little brat.
And Lucius loved her for it. Lucius chuckled and shook his head in mock weariness while Caprica laughed. She glanced down at her delicate wristwatch. "Oh! I better get going, we're testing a new charm today," she said excitedly. "Well then I wish you the best of luck," Lucius said sincerely.
Not that she needed it. Caprica smiled as she leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. "Thanks Lucius, we'll need it." Lucius inclined his head politely as his sister continued down the hall. Caprica turned just before she rounded the corner and waved merrily at him over her shoulder just before vanishing from sight.
Had Lucius known what was about to happen he would have called her back. Had Lucius known what was about to happen he would have hugged her tight and never let go. But Lucius had no way of knowing what was about to happen and continued upstairs for his meeting, thinking that if it ended early and she had the time, he would invite Caprica to lunch.
Half way through his meeting with Bagshot, Lucius and the Minister felt the explosion. It was faint as they were on the top floor but it knocked several trinkets from the bookshelf and sent several paintings and degrees crashing to the floor. At first, they thought it was an earthquake. It was rare to have earthquakes in England yes, but they did happen from time to time. Very quickly, however, they realized something was very, very wrong.
Bagshot always kept her office door open and within moments of the tremor people were rushing past like mice in a maze, looking utterly terrified. The Minister rushed to the door and caught a young intern by the arm just as she was running past. "What on earth is going on?" Bagshot demanded. There were tears on the young girl's face. "There was an explosion on the Experimental Charms floor!" the girl burst out.
"A charm they were working on backfired! Please let me go, my boyfriend in down there!"
Lucius was on his feet and running down the hall. She was fine. Caprica was just fine. She was smart, no, she was brilliant. She was just fine.
The smoke was thick when he reached the corridor leading to floor where Caprica worked. Lucius could barely breathe but he kept going. Caprica was fine, she was just fine. Any moment she was going to come rushing towards him, a little shake up but fine. Healers in lime green robes were rushing about, tending the wounded and taking some out on stretchers. There was debris all over the floor, furniture had been sent flying into walls and smashed into splinters by the sheer force of the explosion.
All around him there were people holding each other and sobbing. Why were they crying like that? Everyone was fine, a bit banged up but fine. Lucius sneered at them as he passed. Weak, simpering fools.
The further he walked the worse the damage become. It was like someone had set off a bomb. This wasn't a corridor, it was a war zone. And still Caprica was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she had already been seen by the Healers and had gone to look for him.
Yes, yes, that was it. Even as he thought it, his search became more desperate. "Caprica, Caprica!" he called amid the chaos. The place was crawling with aurors and members of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. Infective bunch of idiots!
Where in the hell was Caprica! Someone was screaming, a woman a few years older than Caprica with blood streaming down her stark white face as a Healer desperately tried to tend her. "It's a miracle, all this damage and only one death," Lucius heard an auror to his colleague say as they rushed past. The blood ran ice cold in his veins. One death.
Only one death. "Caprica, Caprica!" Where was she? Oh God where was she? Across the corridor where the damage was the worst, just behind an over turned desk a sheet covered the form of a body on the floor.
It looked like a broken doll. A slim hand with pink nails was just visible beneath the edge of the sheet. The fingers never moved. Deep down, Lucius had known all along. He had felt it in the pit of his soul.
Beside the still hand was the tiny pink purse made of dragon hide Caprica had gotten last month for her birthday.
"She always had such wonderful taste," Cissy said. The hangers squeaked on the metal pole and rattled against one another as Cissy examined the clothes in Caprica's overflowing closet. Cissy's voice was a watery tremor. She had crying off and on since Lucius had given her the news. Draco was inconsolable.
Lucius's grief was beyond tears. Caprica's flat was bright and airy but so empty without her personality to fill it up. Everything was as it had been the day she died. The Daily Prophet on the kitchen table open to the society pages beside the empty coffee mug with her pink lipstick on the rim. He kept expecting her to burst into the flat laden with shopping bags and eager to share the latest gossip.
But Caprica could not come, would never come again. The unicorn calendar on the wall above her nightstand was filled up with her delicate handwriting. Caprica loved going out, loved being around people. She should have been having dinner with her co-workers. Instead she was going to be laid to rest in the Malfoy family crept.
Cissy's hands were trembling as she looked through the closet. They were trying to decide what to bury Caprica in. Lucius was grateful Cissy had come with him because he could not have done this alone. She was so strong, so beautiful. He loved her so damn much.
"I—I don't know what to choose," she stammered, frantically wiping her misty eyes with the back of her hand. "T-there's just so many. . .I don't know what she. . .with mum it was easy, s-she wanted to be buried in her wedding dress, with Aunt Walburga it was easy, she a-a-always loved these black velvet dress robes. . .but—but now I jus—just don't--" Cissy looked away as tears began streaming down her angelica face. Ever the elegant pureblood lady, Cissy turned away and sobbed quietly into a delicate scarp of lace. Lucius found the dress hanging on the back of the bathroom door.
Caprica's favorite dress, the one she wore to almost every event. It was still in the dry cleaning bag. If he closed his eyes Lucius could see her dancing it, laughing as she spun round and round. The belle of the ball. The spaghetti strap dress was palest of pinks.
Caprica's favorite color ever since she was a child. There were shoes that went with the dress, delicate pale pink high heels Caprica always wore when she wanted to feel taller. Lucius took the dress from the door and picked up the shoe box as if handling priceless relics and placed them on the bed. Jewelry, Caprica needed jewelry. A lady is never fully dressed without her jewelry, she always said in the perfect imitation of their mother.
She'd had the little white jewelry box with a little white unicorn on the lid since she was eleven. Lucius gave it to her when she got her Hogwarts letter. He remembered her cry of surprise and joy as she jumped up and hugged him. She felt soft in his arms, fragile. He opened the box and took out their mother's ring a thick band of silver topped with a square emerald, a bracelet of pink crystals, and the delicate gold necklace with a tiny garnet heart charm she'd gotten when she came of age.
These were her favorite pieces. It was only right that she. . .Lucius's heart clenched and it suddenly hard to breathe. His vision blurred suddenly as his throat tightened. No, no, he was a Malfoy and Malfoy's did not loose control like that. Not over a few pieces of jewelry.
He laid everything neatly on the baby blue bedspread. "She liked these things best," Lucius said. Why did his voice sound so thick, so horse? Cissy turned to face him, eyes red and her beautiful face streaked with tears. Her crystal blue eyes shifted to the items laid out on the bed and gave her husband a watery smile.
"She'd want to look her best," Cissy said softly. "She always liked to look her best."
The gleaming white casket sat on a black draped table at the front of the chapel. And the flowers. Lucius had never seen so many flowers. Hundreds of flowers in great gold vases, wreaths of flowers, baskets overflowing, massive display panels that flanked the table. When I get married, Caprica whispered to him during a family friend's wedding, I want loads of flowers.
The entire church is going to be filled with flowers. There would be no wedding for her now. Lucius would never walk her down a rose petal strewn aisle. A mantel of red roses was draped across the casket. She would have liked that, Lucius was sure.
Caprica loved flowers, especially roses. The minister paid tribute to Caprica's brief life. Lucius was numb. He barely heard a word. Cissy sat on his left side, clutching his hand and sobbing intermediately into a lace handkerchief. Draco was beside his mother pale, wide eyed and utterly heartbroken.
"She was so loved," Cissy said as they led the massive processional to the cemetery after the service. "I—I never realized she was so loved." It seemed the entire Ministry had turned out en masse as well as nearly all of Lucius's friends and colleagues, many from the days when he had served the Dark Lord. Good contacts were so very important. The Minister of Magic herself was there.
At the gravesite the minister spoke once more but Lucius never heard a word. That man hated known Caprica. He didn't know that the Celestina Warbeck was her favorite singer or that she supported the Tornados. He didn't know crumble cake was her favorite food and that when she was little she wanted to be a dragon keeper. He had never heard her laugh or seen her smile.
He hadn't loved her. Lucius was glad his parents hadn't lived to see this day. No parent should have to bury their child. No brother should have to bury his sister. When the minister dismissed the crowd, the mourners formed a single line and passed the casket. Some touched it or tossed a flower on top.
One by one they approached him, offering condolences and shaking hands. He kept saying 'thank you'. It was all he could think of to say. Thank you. The words were just meaningless white noise.
His little sister was dead less than a meter away. None of it matter. It was then he saw her, one of the last in the line passing the casket. His heart stopped and time slowed. She must have read about what happened in the Daily Prophet.
It was only right she was here. She was Caprica's best friend after all. Caprica would have wanted her here. Lucius watched her as he shook hands and thanked people whose faces had started to blur. Long, pale fingers brushed the gleaming casket, lingering for just a moment.
She laid a small bouquet of yellow roses wrapped in white paper atop the casket. Caprica's favorite flower. He was touched. No one else had remembered. Many of the mourners had seen her then, some even approached her, speaking in low, hushed voices they shook her hand.
They were looking at her with respect closer to reverence. The beautiful little girl whose brother had delivered the Potters to the Dark Lord. The beautiful little girl whose brave brother was rotting in Azkaban. Lucius expected her to pull away in disgust, maybe even to shout at them but she didn't. She was perfectly composed, smiling politely and thanking them softly.
She had all the manners expected of pureblood society. If only she had chosen the right side. The beautiful little blood traitor. Only when Cissy had been converged upon by the other wives did she approach him. Considerate of her really, her presence would have only upset Cissy further.
She was wearing a man's black pea coat that was swimming on her. Had it belonged to Black? Blue tinted sunglasses hid her sapphire eyes but not the sorrow written so vividly on her beautiful face. Cassie Black took his hand in hers and squeezed it tight for what seemed like an eternity, and then she walked away. She never said a word.
She never said a word because she knew he wouldn't hear it. She never said a word because she knew how meaningless they were. Cassie never said a word because she had buried a brother. A sister should never have to bury a brother. Or lose one to Dementors.
She was the only one there who understood what he was feeling but she couldn't stay. Cassie was his sister's best friend and she couldn't stay. Blood traitor. Mudblood lover. Cissy's cousin and Caprica's best friend.
Sirius Black's little sister. Lucius watched as she slipped unnoticed from the crowd. He watched her as she followed the winding path towards the cemetery gates, leaning heavily on her walking stick. The werewolf was waiting her beside the wrought iron gates. Lucius sneered, filthy half-breed.
He felt a wave of nausea when they embraced. A member of one of the oldest pureblood families, older even than the Malfoys, touching a filthy animal. The very idea was sickening. The half-breed held her like a brother and she held him just as close. How many times had Lucius held Caprica like that?
He would never hold her again. It was all so unfair, so cruel. Why should that disgusting creature be allowed to live when Lucius's beautiful, pure little sister was about to be lowered into the ground? Where was the justice in that? "Lucius?"
Cissy laid a gentle hand on his arm. Cassie and the werewolf had slipped through the gates and vanished from sight. Lucius turned her gaze on his beautiful wife, her angelica face the picture of sorrow. Draco was in his mother's arms, sobbing into the side of her neck. Normally, it annoyed him when Cissy babied the boy but not today.
"It's time to say goodbye," she whispered. Goodbye. It was time to say goodbye. Lucius was barely aware he had nodded as he reached out and caressed his son's baby soft hair. Together, the three remaining Malfoy's approached the flower covered coffin that would be lowered into the crowd when the crowd had gone.
Cissy lightly touched the coffin and said a teary, choked goodbye. "Bye, bye, auntie Capi," Draco whispered, tears pouring down his pudgy cheeks. Caprica had loved him so much and he had adored her. Cissy led their son away so Lucius could say goodbye in private. The gleaming wood was cool beneath his fingers.
"I love you."