A/N: I'm really sorry for the delay, after my exams were over, I went for a short holiday to this resort. I feel really bad for the delay..:(
More flashbacks through the pensieves. I know we have not seen yet what is so significant about Snape's death to Lucius' hunt for the Elder Wand, but it'll definitely be revealed. Is it possible that Dumbledore did not know about the Elder Wand as much as he thought he did?;)
Looking around in the pitch black emptiness that had become his home now, Harry tried to feel for anything that was not cold hard stone. It was surprisingly calm, especially to be away from the wrath of Lucius Malfoy. Initially, all sorts of weird, hideous thoughts and imaginations came flying to Harry, implanting vivid horror in his heart but after what seemed like a few days, the fear somewhat abated, leaving a mysteriously calm Harry.
He had lost track of time because he was no longer sure how long he had been in the dungeon – it could have been a few hours, a few days or even weeks. There were no windows for sunlight to seep in to separate day and night, only the timed visits from Draco Malfoy who would enter nervously to push a glass of water into Harry's hand. He would watch Harry drink it and take it back once Harry was done perhaps, Harry reckoned, because they did not want to give Harry any form of way of hurting himself or attempting to escape.
Harry was hungry too – he was ravenous and this, he had not expected. Becoming too weak to even move around and furiously turn the door knob which he had found through feeling the walls with his hands, he lay on his back on the cold stone floor, closing his eyes, trying hard not to think of the next few days.
Then, he heard footsteps, getting louder and louder. The loud metallic clicking sound of a key being turned in a lock, followed by the sound of the door knob turning. The door opened.
"Well, Harry, are you ready to tell me where the other half is?" whispered Lucius.
There was no malice in his voice, no menace. He seemed calm, perhaps even confident that Harry will relent and tell him where it was. Problem is, Harry frankly did not know where on earth it was. It must have dropped somewhere… but where?
"Harry, you've been in here for thirteen days," spoke Lucius again as confident as ever, like a supervisor who had everything under control. "Be wise and give me that broken stick, Harry."
"I don't know," said Harry through clenched teeth as he sat up straight to face Lucius who was standing in the narrow beam of light that slipped through the tiny opening of the door that stood ajar.
"You don't know?" repeated Lucius, his cold eyes contracting to narrow slits of gray. "I'm not going to take that for an answer. I need that broken piece, you understand?"
"Well, I can't help you," retorted Harry fiercely. "And even if I could –"
Before Harry had finished his words, Lucius had hoisted him roughly by the collar to level Harry's face to his. Staring into the icy gray eyes that were opaque like the foggy glass windows in a misty, snowy night, he could see the insanity evidently somewhere behind those glass windows.
"What?" challenged Lucius threateningly. "If you could, you wouldn't? Is that it, Harry? You broke that wand without thinking of the consequences. Not only is the wand unusable now, but you released the danger that the wand has always kept away from the world."
Releasing him, Lucius saw that Harry was staring at him, the defiance in his dark eyes gone, replaced by what could be credited as curiosity. For the first time, Harry was entertaining the thought of looking for the other half, perhaps deluded by the idea that there was a possibility, however faint it may be that Lucius might be right after all…
"What danger?" spoke Harry slowly, but still not letting his guard down.
"Only Severus and I knew of this danger," replied Lucius, looking away, a hard expression on his face. "No one else knew. Not even that know-it-all Dumbledore. So are you going to help me, Harry?"
"And if I don't? Will you kill me?"
It was a mere question. There were times when Harry and probably many other tortured wizards, held captives by Death Eaters in the past when Voldermort reigned, thought that death was a much kinder fate.
Lucius tilted his head to one side, now gazing at Harry, looking as though he was considering. There was a menacing glint in his eyes. "Maybe. Maybe I won't. Have you ever thought of that?"
The words sent a chill to Harry's spine as a voice in Harry's head whispered, Maybe he won't. Have you ever thought of that? However, Lucius did not seem to notice the terrified clamor he had put up in Harry. Dragging Harry by the arm out of the dungeon, up the spiral stairs and into the room Harry had last been in since his capture, Lucius walked over to the other door of the room to close it before stepping towards the pensieve and pouring a silvery liquid from a test tube in his hand into it.
"I think it's time you and I go in alone."
On the count of three, they plunged into the pensieve's still water.
There was a young man with flaming, red hair speaking to what apparently seemed like a young Abraxas Malfoy. They were in the Malfoy's Manor, having an animated, upbeat chat. The man with Auburn hair seemed familiar to Harry for unknown reasons.
"How's wandlore going for you there?" chortled Abraxas.
"Good, very good," nodded the redhead. "Want to see something?"
He pulled out a wand from his pocket and immediately, Harry recognised it as the Elder Wand. Who was this man and why was the wand in his possession? And how? Waiting to be impressed, Abraxas braced himself for something magnificent but the disappointment followed quickly.
"Oh, a wand," said Abraxas colourlessly as the redhead handed him the wand to study it.
"Not just any wand, Ab," chirped the redhead, laughing at his friend's puzzlement. "It's the Elder Wand, you fool! Can't you tell!"
Abaxas' head snapped up, staring at his friend, his face now serious and grave.
"The… Elder Wand?" breathed Abraxas slowly and when the redhead nodded happily, he said again in the same tone, "No… joke, Pete?"
"No! I'm not pulling your leg!" the redhead rolled his eyes though he still looked amused. "It's real, I got it from this man… He came in, wanted me to repair his wand. Only thing, it wasn't broken actually. Just the ends of the stick was coming off but other than that it was in good condition. I'm serious! I took a look at it, and I know for sure it was the Elder Wand. I mean, I've been studying wandlore since I left Hogwarts five years ago – of course I recognised it."
Abraxas was looking at him a little dubiously but seemed to enjoy his friend spinning a tale for him for he was still smiling.
"And this man – whoever he was – just gave it to you?"
"Hell, no!" said the redhead enthusiastically. "This man was quite the fool actually, didn't think he knew what the wand was. But he didn't just give it to me, he wanted me, the wandmaker, to fix it so of course I would have to return it. Only, I duplicated it and gave him the replica. He took it. Took it, didn't notice anything strange and never came back to see me."
The redhead seemed utterly contented with himself while Abraxas still had the look of wonderment all over his face.
"Are you – saying – that the Elder Wand – can be – DUPLICATED?" asked Abraxas, souding so excited and there was no mistaking the greedy glee in his voice.
But the redhead shook his head. "You can duplicate this wand. Have as many as you like. But to duplicate its power… is practically impossible. I've tried."
The scene changed to a green, grassy area where there were no other souls except Abraxas and the redhead, standing next to a large, lone tree. They were staring up at the tree, running their fingers down the thick, rough gray bark.
"The Elder tree…," said Abraxas in awe.
The redhead merely nodded, his face serious for the first time.
"Maybe… maybe this is the source of power!" exclaimed Abraxas. "The power you thought could not be duplicated!"
"Maybe," said the redhead in reply although his face painted a picture of doubts.
Then, the scene dissolved and Lucius pulled Harry and himself out of the pensieve. There was a strange look on his face; it was as though his body was in this room but his mind was elsewhere.
"Who was that?" asked Harry finally, the curiosity building up in his head he thought it might implode soon.
His question startled Lucius who seemed to awaken from wherever his mind had been.
"That's right… I'll get the next test tube," said Lucius quickly, who had probably not heard Harry's question. "You sit and wait, Potter. Don't do anything stupid. Don't ask anything stupid. You'll know soon enough… and remember, you're allowed to know because you're going to get me that other half…"
Harry fell silent and Lucius left the room, slamming the door behind him hard enough for the neighbours to have heard, if the neighbours were not muggles. But before the door slam, his pale face poked into the tiny opening, staring at Harry with his predatory gray eyes.
"Remember, Potter. I might kill you. I might not."