Narcissa had not returned home yet. After Snape apparated away in a rage the previous night, Lucius secured the box in a cabinet since Snape had destroyed his desk, and attempted to go to bed. He told himself he would take some Dreamless Draught and sleep on the matter. His friend's reaction was unnerving to say the least and he was hard pressed to think of another instance when Snape had reacted that strongly to anything. Upon reaching the bedroom however, he discovered that Narcissa had locked him out. A note was stuck to the door with a piece of Spello-tape.

Go sleep with the hounds

He spent the rest of the night curled up on a couch in the Sitting Room. He was awakened several hours later by the slamming of the main entrance's door. An elf fearfully informed him that the Mistress had left to attend a luncheon with friends in France and to do some recreational shopping. Prying himself off the couch to a cacophony of cracking joints and vertebrae, he made his way back to the bedroom to shower and shave in the master bath. The hot water beating down on his sore muscles felt delicious and he remained in the shower until he could hardly keep his eyes open. Wrapping himself in his dressing gown, he collapsed on the bed, promising himself short rest. Then he would set about the task of determining the best plan to get back into his wife's good graces.

Lucius awoke several hours later. He had slept the entire day and into the evening, judging by the darkness outside the window. Padding downstairs, he asked the nearest elf if Narcissa was home. The nervous elf squeaked out a negative and scooted away. Knowing he was being punished, he entered into his study to fire off a letter to Narcissa's favorite jeweler. A diamond and emerald encrusted necklace should be adequate to begin marital negotiations, only to be reminded that he no longer had a desk on which to write the missive. Tisking at the loss, he pulled a book off of a shelf to use as a temporary desk and sat down in a chair.

Before he could write the salutation, his eyes were drawn to the cabinet where he had stored the box. The damned thing seemed to be calling him. Shaking his head to clear it, he tried turning his attention back to the parchment but found it an impossible feat as the urge to once again hold the box in his hands grew to an almost painful need. With a huff, he set the parchment and book aside to retrieve the puzzle box.

"It seems my friend didn't like you. Why is that, I wonder? What did you share with him that you haven't with me?"

The old, familiar ache in his fingers began and he held the box in his hands. Abandoning all reason, he sunk down to his knees as his fingers moved into place and began to work the designs on the box, but this time instead of thinking about his actions, he allowed himself to be lulled into something of a trance. Once he did, his hands and fingers moved on their own accord. The first stanza of the tinkling melody began to play as the lights in the study dimmed. The same side of the box popped up and replaced itself but instead of stopping there, he turned the box over again and watched in fascination as his fingers moved over the next side, and then the one after that, and the one after that, until on the sixth and last side, the box jerked out of his hands onto the floor in front of him. Lucius sat back in awe as the box became fully automated. The haunting melody was now complete and played as the box arranged itself in one pattern after another.

A nine pointed star.

A shard.

A pyramid.

He had solved it! Now comes the mystery!

Finally the box arranged itself back into its original configuration and went still for a moment before the largest solid circle dropped into the center of the box, leaving behind a black hole. Lucius leaned over and looked down. He began to laugh. Nothing! No gateway to hell, no demons (whatever they were), no dread 'Muggle Magic,' just nothing. What a fool he had been. He wasted a handful of galleons, annoyed his wife, and upset his friend over a puzzle box, albeit a clever little one.

As Lucius continued to chortle, two chains bearing razor sharp hooks shot out of the black hole in the middle of the box and embedded themselves in each of his pectoral muscles. He fell silent in shock until the pain registered in his brain, and then he screamed. Prompted by the sound, two more hook bearing chains shot out of the hole and impaled each his cheeks. Two more drove themselves into his biceps. He howled with the worst pain he ever felt and tried to wrench away but found he was unable to move. The hooked chains were holding him fast. White hot, searing pain shot through his entire body and shredded his nerves as he continued to scream. He felt as if he were being both flayed and electrocuted by lightening at the same time. The pain was worse than from a Cruciatus curse.

He had made a horrible, horrible mistake.

He screamed for elves to come and assist him as wet, sticky blood flowed down his neck and chest and pooled on the floor beneath him. Through the pain, he became aware that a wall in his study began to crumble and collapse, bringing with it an explosive blast of air that blew the books off their shelves, portraits from the walls, and furniture across the room. He looked through the blood in his eyes to the cold, phosphorous light that now emanated from the shattered wall. Terror filled his belly as the silhouettes of three figures began walking slowly towards him. It wasn't until they stepped from beyond the wall and into the study that he was able to see them clearly.

He now understood the abominations Severus spoke about. The beings were humanoid to one extent or another. The head of the first creature bore skin so scarified that its eyes were obliterated. The only discernible feature was jaws of clattering teeth. The scarred skin had pulled its mouth back, giving the creature the appearance of a grinning predator. The second creature was more human looking, but ashen grey and bald with a wire triangle pierced through its cheeks and embedded into its neck. Its throat had been gashed open and was splayed out, displaying the red, glistening tissue beneath. It looked vaguely feminine but regarded Lucius with almost bored indifference as it scraped two curved knives against each other.

The third creature stood in the middle. It was the most human looking making it the most terrifying of the three. It too had an ashen grey, bald head, but unlike the female one, its head and face was covered in a grid of sliced flesh and, at the intersection of each line, a long, thick, pin was driven into its skull. Its eyes were completely black and soulless. All three creatures wore long black garments, almost like a priest's robes except their vestments had been rended, just like their flesh, with sections sewn into and through their bodies.

"Where is this place?" The third creature asked. Its fathomless eyes surveyed the devastation in the room before settling on Lucius who had now stopped screaming and was staring in abject horror.

"Who…who are you?"

"We are Hierophants of the Order of the Gash, to others, the Cenobites; guides to the farthest reaches of experience."

"What are you doing here?" Lucius whimpered in terror.

"You summoned us, did you not?" the female creature asked. Her otherworldly voice held a mocking tone.

Lucius could only stare and pant as he fought against the urge to lose consciousness. When he didn't answer, the pin pierced middle creature raised a finger, stained pink from blood, and pointed at Lucius' erstwhile object of obsession.

"The box. You opened it. We came."

Lucius felt like his bowels had become a mess of icy slush. He might have feared defecating himself if he were still capable of thoughts of modesty. The only thing that screamed in his brain was that of the desperate, panicked drive to escape. He was a caught in a deadly trap of his own doing. Fueled by the primitive instinct of survival, Lucius violently began to struggle against the hooked chains that held him fast. He was entirely willing to permanently disfigure himself by ripping large chunks of his own flesh away to escape, however the only result the action achieved was a new surge of indescribable pain as his skin stretched but would not tear. Screaming out his agony anew, he collapsed to the floor as the creatures chittered while they watched. It was then that Lucius drew upon his other primitive emotion of anger and his nurtured and refined arrogance. Steeling himself against the pain and humiliation, he raised himself back to a kneeling position with his hands bracing the floor on either side of his thighs.

"Enough of this and be gone! Do you have any idea who I am? I am no Muggle! I am Lord Lucius Malfoy and…"

Before his could finish, two more hooked chains snaked out from the hole in the box and embedded themselves in the top of each of his thighs as an answer. Lucius' screams rattled the very walls and foundations as the pin pierced creature threw back its head and laughed. It walked around Lucius until it was standing before him. It reached down and placed its right hand index finger on Lucius' forehead, as if Lucius was a favored pet.

"Such arrogance! Oh how fun you'll be to break! I promise you, Lord Lucius Malfoy that down the dark decades of your agony, this will seem like memories of paradise."

Lucius stared up in the black, soulless eyes of the creature, and seeing nothing resembling humanity in them, was filled renewed terror. All the trappings of Malfoy privilege crumbled away as the creature's inky black orbs stared back at him.

"No! Please! I didn't mean to open the box! I beg you!"

The other two creatures began to titter as if they heard a favorite joke. The pinned creature just smiled.

"Ah yes. We hear that so often. You suffer very well. And now if you're ready, we'll begin."

Lucius began screaming anew. As he did, long chains shot from places unseen and wrapped themselves around Lucius' body until he was completely immobilized from the chest down, and began dragging him towards the cold light beyond the demolished wall.

Lucius screamed out his terror as he was dragged beyond the wall and into the phosphorous light, watching as the wall reformed itself, cutting him off from his old familiar life, with the sounds of sadistic laughter filling his ears.