Chapter Three: Neither to Change, nor falter

The stench was the first thing that Victoria noticed as she entered the cottage. It was hard to miss. It smelled of dragon dung, brimstone, and dregs of weeks old coffee grounds. The red glowing mist clinging to the ceiling merely underscored the evil that was her grandfather, before she even saw him for the first time.

If you were to describe a typical Malfoy, the first thing that always came to mind was the impeccably cared for blond hair. There were some that said it was genetically bred into the family, and that the Potters had obviously gone the other way. Abraxas Malfoy had long lost that impeccably cared for blond hair. Instead he had washed out gray hair, streaked with soot. His face seemed to be melted, his wrinkles cascading down as if it was wax dripping from a lit candle, a common feature of an elderly wizard who had barely survived dragon pox. His blue eyes pierced Victoria's soul, only briefly darting left and right to look at her mother and Draco's mother.

"Who are you?" his dry, rasping baritone demanded.

"I am that which you wronged from the moment of my conception. I am the doom of your plans for the future. I am the future. I am Victoria Eugenia Malfoy, daughter of Lucius and Erlene," Victoria said with as much force as she could. It was the first time she had used Malfoy as her name. She hadn't know that it was her family name until earlier today. She had thought that if anything she was born out of wedlock, but she had not been. Her mother was still married to her father.

To her right, Victoria's mother dropped her hood and said, "I am that whose bond you tore asunder at the moment of its greatest depth. I am the path on whom the future comes. I am Erlene Prince Malfoy, mother of Victoria."

Then to her left. "I am that who you used to bend your son's will. I am the fulcrum whose placement you failed. I am the place on which the future turns. I am Narcissa Black Malfoy, mother of Draco."

She watched as her grandfather's eyes went wide, her smile growing, as she and her mothers began to chant.

"Fair is foul, foul is fair
hover through fog and filthy air"

Her grandfather suddenly found himself suspended in the air. With a gesture, her mother turned him on his side, as a conjured bier of marble appeared below him, the work of Narcissa. The thought passed through Victoria's mind that there had to be a term for your father's other wife, but she didn't know it. She began the memorized chant, as they began to weave a phoenix fire lattice over the stiff form of the man responsible for her mother's exile.

"Chains, family you bound,
Through ages evil tilled into ground.
Will, you handed to evil demons
Beyond the gate, beyond the veil
Through the sacrifice of thy entrails
The family line demonic dominion"

Around her grandfather's body, smoke and darkness coalesced. Yet the phoenix fire lattice seemed to burn though the darkness, allowing Victoria to see her Grandfather's surprised expression. Dumbledore's phoenix began to sing as Victoria continued the chant

"By phoenix cry, by phoenix tear
By torn true love, mother's tear
By slow love's growth, wife's tear
By fruit of forbidden love's tear
Fountain filled, bier prepared
Light shall wash, tears cleared"

A torrent of light filled water materialized, as if tears were falling from the ceiling. It swirled around the room, making an island out of her Grandfather's bier.

"For all the bonds you made
For all the commands you gave
Our tears shall loose a torrent clear
Ever bound from torrent wave
Shall let loose all that you made
What you enforced is now empty air"

The black smoke and brimstone seemed to vanish from the cottage, now lit in clear unwavering pheonix fire.

"Promises and bonds were made on loan
That which you promised is yours alone
Now we call upon judgement by phoenix
Let that which wronged be judged
For by the music hearts are swayed
Today, as we call upon song of phoenix."

Fawkes's song rose, and his fire brightened. Victoria's vision nearly disappeared, as she kept her eyes open, unwilling to let herself look away from the judgement of Light on the man who had first set her on the path of ruin she felt herself on. As the song filled her, and the light washed through her, Victoria began to feel a great calmness through her body. A warmth touched her through her white robes, and exaltation seemed to be ready to escape from her lips.

There was a sharp cry of anguish, readily identified as that of Abraxas Malfoy, followed by a screech as if demons were playing back-up to a fiddle down in Georgia. Then the phoenix song rose again.

The light receded, and the phoenix song softened, revealing the marble bier to now only hold the crumbling bones of her grandfather.

Victoria felt the energy fill her body, the song calm her soul, as the spells ended. The once dark and brimestone filled cottage was that no more. Instead it practically glowed, every surface cleaner than a team of all of Hogwarts Elves could ever make it. There was the scent of Spring, even in this, the depths of Winter, in the room.

Fawkes launched from Victoria's shoulder, and toured the room, leaving trails of feathery imprints on the now goldenrod colored walls. He then burst into flames in the center of the room, leaving behind a permanent echo of his song in the cottage.

"Well done, Victoria," came the praise from both her mother and Narcissa, as they hugged her.

The hug seemed to take the energy away from her, like a spark of static on a dry winter's day. Victoria slumped into their hug, and let them take her where they willed.

The music still echoed on the balcony. Lucius had seen his wives and daughter in the frame, ritually removing his father and his father's magic from existence. The torrent of tears that swirled around the bier in the cottage had twisted through the frame and around Lucius, leaving him shivering in wet robes. The warmth of phoenix fire had given way to the cool breeze of the summer night.

Lucius had felt the weight of his father-forced actions lift from his body as his father had been consumed by phoenix fire and washed away by his ladies' tears. His once black silk robes were no longer the deepest black of night, but a cool silver, patterned with the tears. He reached for his cane to pull out his wand and cast a warming charm, to banish the wetness of his clothes.

The wand was gone. No longer was the wand his father had forced on him in its holster in his cane. Instead there was just a puff of smoke, barely even visible in the candlelight.

"Victoria thought you might need this."

Lucius turned, and found his wife Narcissa standing there, still dressed in the white robes of the ritual. She was handing the cherry wand that had been made for him, brother to that of Erlene's. He reached out and touched it, feeling the texture, welcoming the feeling of a long lost beloved friend. He didn't take it from Narcissa. Instead he shook his head. "No, this is Victoria's wand now. I shall not taint it with what I have done. It needs to be in my daughter's pure hands."

Narcissa nodded, putting the wand down on the table. She wandlessly cast a warming charm on him, before taking a seat beside him, calling out, "Dobby!"

"Yes Mistress Malfoy?"

"The feast." Narcissa ordered.

"Where are Victoria and Erlene?" Lucius asked, noting for the first time that the balcony was set for an intimate dinner for two, now.

"Victoria has an appointment with the muggle Child Protective Services early tomorrow morning," Narcissa said. "She'll be spending at least the first part of Yule with Severus and Professor McGonagall at a bed and breakfast in Kingston-on-Thames. They're discussing what her step-father has done to her."

"And Erlene?"

"She's gone home to see what damage Draco has done to watching her three other children," Narcissa said, as the feast appeared. "I volunteered our son to watch them this evening."

"I do not believe that our son has any instruction on child minding," Lucius said, before picking up his fork. "I was also not aware that Erlene had other children."

"Abraxas enforced a muggle marriage on her," Narcissa replied. "She has three surviving children with Fenton Price, Julie who is eight, Judith three, and Joseph who is just sixteen months old. Fenton was arrested yesterday for raping Julie."

"You have offered the family services for revenge?" Lucius asked.

"I believe that Erlene has everything well in hand, save perhaps the need for the family solicitor, though his lack of practice in the muggle world might detract from his success," Narcissa said.

"I intend to fire the firm," Lucius said, before taking up an oyster. Narcissa hadn't had those on the menu for quite some time. "Perhaps your sister Andromeda may be able to recommend someone."

"I imagine that Andy would try to take on the job herself, if she could," Narcissa said. After a few minutes silence, she spoke again. "Erlene will be around tomorrow, I think, for her turn."

"Her turn?"

"You really don't think either of your wives are letting you get away, do you?"

Draco Malfoy dumped the used diaper into the bucket. In the corner, Julie was laughing. The girl had recovered from whatever Draco's mother had given her, but wasn't supposed to lift or do anything for another hour or so. That left Draco to change her brother's diaper.

He'd been told by his mother that he was a big brother and taking care of the little ones was part of the job. Draco didn't know exactly how he'd suddenly acquired three sisters and a baby brother. If you'd asked him just a couple days ago, he would have said that he was an only child. Then he found about Victoria.

He still didn't know what to think about Victoria. She was older than him, and pregnant with her first child, the product of rape by her step-father. The three children he was currently responsible for were the product of her mother's union with her step-father. Draco didn't know what Julie, Judith, and Joseph were to him. Well, aside from Judith being a chess shark. Their was no way that the girl could have just learnt to play chess. He hadn't been so trounced in his entire life.

Another gale of laughter came from the corner as the toddler on the table exercised amazing accuracy, letting loose a stream of urine that hit Draco right on the nose.

As he picked up a clean cloth to wipe his face, Draco looked down at the smirking toddler, and said. "You're despicable, you know that?"

Another gale of laughter came from the corner.

"And don't tell me he's never done that to you, Julie," Draco said, as he wiped Joseph clean.

"Oh, of course he has," Julie replied. "It's still funny, as long as you're not it."

Draco quickly put a fresh diaper on the toddler, remembering how the other looked. "Did I do that right?" he asked the eight-year-old.

"It looks right to me," Julie said. "As long as it doesn't fall off, and he doesn't complain, it's good enough."

"Right," Draco said, lifting Joseph off the table and putting him back down on the floor. "Now back to the chess shark, who no doubt wants to see if I'm willing to try five out of nine."

"You're too easy for Judy," Julie said. "Let a real chess Queen challenge her."

"Then I'll owl Victoria ... or better yet, Ron Weasley," Draco replied. "No one beats Weasley, at least not in my year, and we've all tried. I lost thirteen sickles to him."

"Sickles?" Julie asked.

"That's a coin in our world," Draco said.

"How much is it worth in pounds?" Julie asked.

"Not sure," Draco said. "I've never paid attention to muggle money. This is the first time I've really been out of the wizarding places.

"Really?"

"When I went to King's Cross to catch the Hogwarts Express, it was the first time I'd really seen anything muggle built," Draco replied.

"You mean you haven't seen Westminster Abbey, the tower of Big Ben?" Julie sang.

"None of that," Draco said, watching Joseph toddle over.

"You are deprived, Draco," Julie said, firmly.

Erlene opened the door from her bedroom and looked out to the living room. She'd just come from Malfoy Manner, having dropped Victoria back at the bed and breakfast on her way back. She really wanted Victoria home with her, but Victoria had her first meeting with Child Protective Services the next morning.

She looked around the room, and soon spotted the rest of her children. Draco was seated in the mass of them, Judith leaning into his right side, Joseph seated on his lap, and Julie on his left. Julie was the only awake one, having snared the book that Draco had apparently read himself and the others to sleep with.

Julie looked up, probably after hearing the slight squeak of the door. She was smiling. Erlene had worried that Julie would never smile again, not after what her father had done to her. The book was put aside, and Julie stood, rushing over to hug her mother.

"So, Julie, how was Draco at child minding?" Erlene asked, as her daughter hugged her.

"Not too bad," Julie replied, looking up at her, not letting go of the hug. "Joseph peed on him when he changed his diaper. Judy beat him twice at Chess."

"Let me guess, the little squirt didn't tell him she knew how to play," Erlene said. Julie shook her head. "And you didn't volunteer either?"

"I was out of it for a while with that potion," Julie said. "Can you thank Mrs. Malfoy for me? It doesn't hurt anymore."

"You can thank her yourself, when she comes to pick up Draco, tomorrow," Erlene said.

"Draco's staying overnight?" Julie asked. "Cool!"

Erlene smiled. It looked like Draco was going to be a good big brother for her children, judging by Julie and her sleeping siblings. "We'll see if he thinks that," Erlene said.

"Mum, can we visit Draco's house sometime?" Julie asked. "He makes it sound so cool. Did you know he has a slide from his suite down to the garden?"

"No, I did not," Erlene said, smiling. That sounded like something Lucius would do for his son, though. "Now, why don't you tell me all about it while I make us something to eat." Julie nodded, and finally ended her hug.

Author's Note: I think I'm going to be moving these to the end from now on.

Several PMs have asked what changed to cause this story to happen that didn't occur in canon. The sequence of events that brought us to this story is: Hermione gets pregnant due to the ritual circle in the bathroom during the troll attack. This brings the fact that Harry is abused to McGonagall's attention. That puts Harry on the train for Christmas, which allows Draco to find out about Victoria. He tells Narcissa, which brings us to this chapter, after which Draco's life is never going to be the same. I may do a short, if there is demand, after this story is complete, that shows what would have happened to Erlene, Victoria, and Julie if the point of departure from canon hadn't happened.

I'd like to thank the following for their feedback on this chapter during it's writing on CaerAzkaban: fibinaci, Jim Trig, dragonbard, MoKR, ekoja, and Yamaban.