Pursuing the Prince
Disclaimer: I don't own them; I don't know anyone who does. Oh, JK does but I don't know her :)
Rating: Umm…T
Summary: Eileen makes a trip to Azkaban…
A/N: I'm so sorry this took me soo long to update, I know I'm slack and I'll use the excuse of "I'm in yr 12 leave me alone" lol
I hope you enjoy!
Crumpled in the corner of his cell, Lucius Malfoy's nose pricked unsteadily as a distantly familiar sent came wafting down the cold corridors of Azkaban prison. It was something homely…mingled with spices and a strange sort of overbearing essence of maturing vanilla. As soon as the elegant sound of heels began to click on the cold harsh surface, his stomach dropped, the impact reverberating slowly through his body, paralysing him from shock.
He lunged to the bars of his confinement and, drawing his matted blond hair out of his eyes, tried to avert his gaze down the hallway when he was suddenly filled with a happy memory…something which had never before occurred in the home land of fear…
"I'm not sure about this Lucius," a deep deliberative voice sprang from the lips of the sunken form of the eighteen-year-old Severus Snape.
"What's not to be sure of?" an younger image of himself asked as he pushed away from the wall by his foot and, floundering dramatically to the window, he over looked the muggle children playing in the street. "Filth," he hissed, his eyes narrowing. "Supremacy is no longer as far away as we have envisaged it Severus." He turned back to the man 6 years his junior. "Think of it like this…you will begin a movement that will soon enrapture the world."
"Enrapturing the world isn't high on my priority list," mumbled Snape, his black eyes flitting around the tediously bland room at the Hogs Head. "I just want him to stay away from my mum..."
The clicking noises stopped and he found himself staring at a pair of those boots, those knee-high worn boots, black and fraying around the edges, appropriately reflecting their wearer. He inclined his head up the length of the red cashmere travelling cloak to the pointed pale face, his eyes danced.
"My, my…"the woman drawled, "Lucius Malfoy…. what have they done to you?"
He got to his feet, swaying slightly, before a devilish grin cascaded onto his face, "An abominable crime, Eileen." There was a slight pause, "you know, news travels fast in enclosed spaces…" Eileen arched her eyebrow ever so slightly, "and if I were to take a stab at why you are here, I'm sure I wouldn't be wrong."
"Do you know where he is Lucius?" she asked softly, running her tapered fingers down her neck, caressing an old black pendant. His eyes wavered unsteadily over the pendant before looking into her eyes. Quite tall in stature, she wasn't much shorter than he was.
"This is not the first time you've asked me that question," he murmured slightly…
…stepping over the motionless body of his muggle father, Severus turned testily away and slumped into his mothers favourite black velvet armchair, and hunched in on himself.
The blond wizard pushed his foot under the older man and turned him over. His face was greying and harsh and had that stunned look of surprise that many of Lucius's victims wore. Looking up at his younger friend, Lucius smirked, "what's your problem?"
"He's not dead," Severus said slowly.
Although appearing confused for a minute, Lucius suddenly vomited one of his mirthless laughs before walking boldly over to his friend and clapping him hard on the shoulder. Severus pulled away from him.
"That's not what I mean Lucius," he said, almost whispering. "He's just going to wake up and keep going and he'll be angrier and I wont be here to protect mum."
"We'll erase him memory."
"Still nothing will change"
"We'll kill him."
"He's still my father—"
"Who has been beating up a pureblood witch from the moment you were born! Justice Severus! Retribution!"
Snape got up and sauntered out of the living room. Lucius watched him leave, but as soon as he did, he squatted down next to his victim.
"Filth," he muttered. He pulled out his wand and traced the hard lines of Tobias's face. With a flick of his wrist the immobile body was writhing in pain, yet the mind had not yet woken up. "You dare lay a hand on a pureblood witch," came the deathly whisper. He considered the man's face…and as much as he wished that he could say 'only mildly unattractive', his whole body itched with hatred and revulsion.
A sudden movement aroused Lucius and he glanced up as Eileen was standing in the doorway. "What have you done?" she shrieked, "What did you say to him Lucius?"
She rushed forward, dropping the parcels she was carrying and he heard something shatter. She groped over to her husband and he son's older friend. Her delicate fingers hovered over the hooknose and greasy hair, then her black eyes fixed on the roguish young man who had stood up to survey the scene from afar.
"Was this your idea of…of fun?" she asked, her black hair whipping around her face; the door had been left open.
"Fun?" he asked then chucked, "I would never do something like this for fun Eileen, I promise you. It was for your own good, for Severus's own good. For my peace of mind."
She got up and he stepped towards her but she violently shoved him away.
"Where is he?"
"Who?"
"Severus. Do you know where he is, Lucius?"...
"Extraordinary how history has a tendency to repeat itself," Lucius drawled through the bars of his cage. "It seems only yesterday that you were asking what had become of him."
"Well a moment like that is hardly one to be forgotten by a mother Mr Malfoy."
He sneered, "your mudblood did get what he deserved that day, you must be able to see that now. But enough on that subject…"he trailed off, "you're here about Severus. So let me guess…you want to track him down and turn him in and receive millions of galleons for your trouble…? It would be a splendid way to be welcomed back into all good society…"
"And by good society you don't surely mean your lot my darling…?"
He smirked again and began to pace like a lion, contemplating which way to devour his prey. "My lot? Ah, my devilish Eileen, they are your lot too, they are your son's lot…they are your son."
"Skip the formalities Lucius," she snapped. "Where is he? Is he hiding with Narcissa?"
Lucius shook his head, "Indeed he is not, for that would be both foolish and obvious." His mood changed and he stopped pacing, looking into her black eyes.
"I almost had you convince, if you remember," he said quietly. " When I was recruiting, and you turned me down…yet you did help us on occasion. A few of your muggle loving ministry friends proved invaluable, I think I forgot to thank you."
"You're quite welcome," she responded and smiled malevolently.
"You should have taken the Mark," Lucius said.
"And ruined all your fun?"
"How could you have possibly ruined my fun?"
She arched her right eyebrow, "I'm a bit old to be gallivanting around the countryside…too old to be murdering."
"One is never too old to murder Ms Prince."
"True, but one's hand becomes slower, one's wits become dulled. You will find it is much easier to cheer from the sidelines when you become older. And yet, casting spells was never my specialty. I was always rather more accomplished in potions and poisons."
"And yet you haven't exercised your skill with that insufferable Muggle. Even when Severus and I gave you a way out many years ago, you couldn't allow yourself to finish the job."
"What you boys didn't realise at such a young age is that acting in such a way inspires guilt, and guilt stays with you. It's not easy to live with someone who has injured you and you him, but it can help with redemption."
"It's not too late to join now you know," he preached, forsaking her argument.
"Why would I consider it now if your position at this moment is telling a part of me that it would be futile running from the Ministry? After all, you had such an influence, so much money…and I have neither."
"You have deception and cunning and you are a Slytherin."
"Perhaps you're right Lucius. Perhaps I would be doing the right thing by taking the Mark, but right now, the only thing I'm concerned about it finding my son."
"And what exactly do you expect to do once you find him? Chastise him? Praise him? Bring him home? Turn him in?" he chuckled, "that'd be a class act and so very appropriate. I could get a cell mate."
"I doubt that the most wanted of Death Eaters get to converse with one another."
"So I take it the thought has crossed your mind?"
"No, but it appears it has crossed yours."
"To the point, Ms Prince. You want to know his whereabouts, am I correct in saying?"
She nodded.
"You are foolish to believe that he would be staying with Narcissa, for that would be obvious and doubly dangerous both for Severus and for my family. I presume then, that he is not in the surrounding area of Wiltshire, as deep down, Severus has a mild affection for them and would not wish to cause them more trouble than is necessary."
"I suspect he is with the Dark Lord then?"
"It would seem to be the most educated guess," he said quietly. "However, something about that doesn't seem right to me. Severus has never liked the idea that someone is continually watching over him, babysitting. He enjoys being his own master at times, and although the Dark Lord would have offered him the world, Severus would probably have opted to maintain a low profile, slipping into the background of raids, shrinking away from tortures…"
"You seem to know my son as well as I do."
"I have had long enough to evaluate the intricacies of his personality. He appears to many, most notably my sister-in-law, as a man who shirks his responsibility to our cause, but he indeed always pulls through."
"If he should be living in an invisible location, how am I to contact him?"
"Why do you need to? You did not answer the very same question earlier…"
She tossed her hair over her shoulder. "I am his mother, is that not reason enough?"
"No. You may very well be his mother, but I need to protect him and the rest of the Death Eaters. Besides, I do not know in detail the events occurring outside his dank cell. But, if you were to break me out of here, let's say in an acct of allegiance, I'm sure I can help you…"
"So that's your game?"
"You doubted that I had one?" he chuckled, "A Slytherin always has an ulterior motive. After all you managed to raise a sneaky, duplicitous and conniving son. Surely you didn't think that I would help you for free, or that I could help you when I am…. what shall we call it? Stuck?"
"How do I get you out?"
"Draught of the Living Dead," he said plainly.
"It won't work," she said quickly, "It's not strong enough to get past the Dementors, they'll realise that you're sleeping. No…. we need something to simulate death itself…"
"If I scratch your back, you'll scratch mine…?"
"Yes."