III
"So little Theodore is that pauper, werewolf's son is he?" Blaise asked. Draco hushed him and nodded, looking around him for eavesdroppers. Blaise looked exasperated "Merlin's beard, Draco...The Dark Lord isn't listening to our conversation you know."
"You never know who could be though. It's a fresh start for the boy; he has learned to deny his past."
The two men turned the corner of the cobbled streets into the dark shadows of Knockturn Alley. They walked single file, Blaise just in front, his cloak whipping behind him as he dodged passed a hag selling what looked like bright red snake eggs. Blaise stopped in front of Borgin and Burkes for a moment before leading Draco in.
It had changed very little since the war. Similar businesses had cropped up in better locations, but Borgin and Burkes remained in Knockturn Alley and refused to expand. Now, it was only used by a select few wizards and witches wishing for advice on only the very rarest of artefacts. It was just as dim inside as it had always been, with a pale light reaching through the dusty, grimy windows; Draco caught sight of the vanishing cabinet in the corner of the shop and felt a sudden sickly pang in his gut. He was gratefully distracted by the emergence of the very elderly Borgin who appeared behind the till and looked somewhat surprised by the sight of Blaise and Draco.
"Why...Mr Zabini, back at last I see; and young Master Malfoy, how very much like your father you look now, although I haven't seen much of him lately. What an unexpected surprise." He repeated in a croaky voice. Draco inclined his head at Borgin's acknowledgment. "Well Mr. Zabini?"
"I only just arrived home from Shandong. I had to attend a little personal business before coming here." Blaise said jovially, Draco smirked inwardly; Blaise's personal business had involved a predominantly liquid lunch with Draco and a good deal of the rest of the time with Ling Su.
"Did you find it then?" Borgin asked rubbing his gnarled hands together, his eyes focused on what Blaise was holding.
Blaise sighed and smiled lazily, lifting a black leather briefcase onto the desk and unclasping the metal fastenings. Draco watched curiously as Blaise opened the case and gingerly extracted a polished wooden box, placing it on the table with care but disappointingly, Blaise did not open it.
Draco squinted as he examined the design, it was somewhat ordinary in shape and size, but was decorated with delicate paintings. On a closer look, Draco saw the pictures were of people who seemed to be writhing in pain as if they were being tortured; they screamed silently, their bodies and faces twisted as if they were the victims of the cruciatus curse. Draco suddenly felt cold, as if there was a draught somewhere in the shop. He looked around half expecting to see someone holding the door open but, apart from Blaise, Borgin and himself, the shop was otherwise empty.
"It wasn't easy to get, I'll tell you, harder than I ever could have imagined. On top of that the Chinese are rather set on recovering their own artefacts for themselves, or at least retrieving it from any foreign wizards who find it before them." Blaise explained, one antiques dealer to another.
Borgin nodded understandingly, still staring down at the box he said;
"Since such artefacts have been legally accepted in the world, a wider variety of wizarding families have sent out their own private dealers."
"And so have the governments but I'm sorry to disappoint you Borgin, I won't be selling that one to you, not yet anyway." Borgin's exuberant expression fell and Blaise swiftly continued. "It's simply too valuable, I don't trust you to give me a good price, nor sell it to a worth buyer."
"I sell to the highest bidder, don't you?"
Blaise shook his head.
"Not with that. Someone put up quite a fight for it, more than I had anticipated..." he trailed off rubbing his shoulder blade absent mindedly. "I'd like to keep it for myself a while. However, I will gladly pay for you to keep it safe here and please check it for me." Blaise finished with enthusiasm.
Borgin looked disappointed, but nodded.
"I understand, excuse me." Borgin went into the back office leaving the two wizards alone. Draco was now desperate to see what was inside the wooden box.
"What is it Blaise? You can tell me." But Blaise did not seem to be listening. Draco looked at him incredulously "Do you really trust it with Borgin?"
Blaise waved his hand, signalling Draco to shut up, as Borgin returned to the main shop. He had with him a very strong magnifying glass with a various different nodules along the side. As Borgin looked at the box with interest, he flicked several of the modules back and forth. Borgin seemed to be examining it for an unnaturally long time, at one point he seemed to jump slightly, he looked up at Blaise with shock. He then examined it again, before stepping away, somewhat breathless, his hand on his heart.
"Mr Zabini... do you possess the key for this box?"
"No I don't but the box fits the description so I'm positive the Jade Dragon is inside. If you can forge the key.."
"I'm afraid you are mistaken." Borgin interrupted staring at the box with an expression that could only be fear. "This is not the Jade Dragon of Shandong...this is something else entirely."
Blaise looked offended at his sincerity being doubted.
"Listen old man, I know exactly what it is! If you can open it I can prove it to you but-"
"There is only one key that will ever open this lock...I cannot forge the key...but if I could... I wouldn't." Borgin's face was entirely drained of colour. A short silence followed, all three men stared down at the box; Draco with curiosity, Blaise with a mix of confusion and discomfort and Borgin with impenetrable fear.
"What?" Blaise asked, the aggression had faded from his voice. "It fits all the descriptions you gave me!"
"Make no attempt to open this box, Mr. Zabini! I warn you, it was well hidden for a reason! Uncovering it must have taken great skill...but you were very much misinformed. Do not try and open it and do not try to destroy it either. This is most dangerous, and cannot...will not...must not be destroyed."
Blaise's jaw dropped, his expression unreadable.
"Will you keep it here?"
"Not for all the money in the world. You must protect that box from any harm...or else find an infallible way of hiding it."
"What exactly is it, Borgin?" Draco asked he began to feel more and more uneasy. Just a glance at the pained faces of the figures on the box made him shudder.
"I won't say...I don't dare tell anyone what it is, for fear they may see a use in it. Then we've all something to fear."
"But-"
"I release you from our contract Zabini, now get that thing out of my shop." Borgin said standing against the door to his back office, as far away from the box as he could. Blaise struggled a little longer but Borgin simply repeated himself. So Blaise had no choice but to reluctantly lift the wooden box back into his briefcase and seal it shut. They left the shop, but Draco noticed Blaise holding the briefcase a little more gingerly now.
"Throw it away...make it someone else's problem." Draco said trying to resolve his suddenly very quiet friend over a drink in the Leaky Cauldron. Blaise looked surprised.
"Weren't you listening? Borgin said the fear lay in someone getting hold of it, or any damage coming to that box at all. Whatever is locked in it mustn't come out. How can we trust someone else to take it...unless we explain its danger, then who would want it?" Blaise downed his drink, Draco signalled for another. "Draco...you don't understand the artefacts I've come across...dangerous isn't even the word so-"
"Believe it or not I've experienced my fair share of Dark magic." Draco frowned, particularly remembering a necklace made of opals and diamonds.
"No Draco...worse than a cursed necklace or a vanishing cupboard...trust me." Blaise said. He suddenly seemed like his old, surly self again, but much more fearful than Draco had ever seen him. "But I've dealt with dark magic, and no matter how dangerous the object, neither Borgin, nor anyone else ever reacted quite like that."
"What will you do?" Draco asked unhelpfully. Blaise shook his head slightly and downed his next drink, his thoughts were far away.
The two men sat in silence, Blaise lost in his thoughts and his worries and Draco trying to think of something helpful.
"Gringotts." Draco said suddenly. "It will be safe in Gringotts."
"Gringotts isn't an infallible hiding place; things have been stolen from there before."
"In times of conflict or when the treasure was particularly famous and known to be stored there...besides it's a lot more trustworthy now that Goblins don't run it." Blaise looked around the Leaky Cauldron nervously and lowered his voice even further.
"I can't put it in my own account...if someone comes after it then that's where they'll look. I'd have to open a high security vault but that means going through the Ministry, getting signed permission...too many people will know about it."
Draco bit his lip, he had an idea but it was risky if he was caught. Why would he be caught, though?
"Come...Blaise, come with me." Draco said hoisting his friend up by the arm. "Pass me the case."
"No." Blaise said shaking his head and gripping onto it. Draco scowled
"Do you want this plan to work?" he hissed in a low whisper. People in the bar were watching them with a great deal of intrigue, some of which Draco did not like the look of at all. There were some people who were desperate to frame a Malfoy for something. "Please pass me my case Blaise." Draco said louder. Blaise nervously handed Draco the briefcase, it was surprisingly heavy considering it only contained a small box. The two men left the Leaky Cauldron, hoods over their faces they made their way to Gringotts. The sky was darker, and it was beginning to rain.
They walked through the entrance hall and marched up to the main desk. A goblin sat on a high desk examining a series of parchments.
"Yes?" it said in a thin raspy voice. Draco immediately lowered his hood, revealing his face to the Goblin and indeed anyone in the bank.
"I would like to open a high security account...I will discuss the details...in private, show me to someone who can assist me." Draco said in a low but demanding voice. The Goblin looked surprised but nodded and requested that they followed him. He led them into an empty waiting room while another customer continued to be served inside the office.
"Do you have to make so much noise? People were looking!" Blaise hissed. "I want this to be a secret."
"Trust me, more people will be suspicious if I act suspicious." Draco whispered back. They waited silently for about five minutes before the office door opened and a pretty witch in very fashionable, pine-green robes exited, holding a smart, brown leather bag. As she walked through the waiting room she glanced down at Draco for a moment with a small smile playing on her lips and a regal expression etched across her face. He watched her leave the room by the door on the other side, he noticed how her long brown hair was worn in a loose chignon at the back of her neck and admired it; but there was also something terrible familiar about her.
"Do we know her?" Draco asked suddenly. Blaise glanced at the door from which she had just left through as if there was an imprint of the witch left on it.
"Yes she-"
"Mr Malfoy?" a voice interrupted Blaise. A tallish, dark haired man stood in the office door. He looked surprised for a moment, he recognised Draco.
"...Michael Corner?" Draco said unsurely. The man nodded nervously. "You remember Blaise of course?" Blaise stood up, dropping his hood back. Michael Corner nodded and stepped aside inviting them into his office. Draco and Blaise sat down in front of the desk and waited for Corner to take his seat.
"Can I help you, Mal...Mr Malfoy." Corner stuttered.
"I hope so. I want you to set up a high security vault." He said as casually as he could, glancing at the plain office, curling his lip slightly. Corner looked nervous.
"I'm afraid to set up a h-high security vault I'll need the treasure to be registered at the Ministry, signed and stamped and v-verified by officials before we can ag-agree to that." He explained. Draco shook his head.
"That's quite impossible you see...that would mean sending the documents through several different ministry departments, far too many people would be aware of it then."
"I promise, it's all perfectly confidential and only the...what's wrong?"
Draco had stood up and begun rolling up his sleeve. Corner gulped as he saw the vivid black tattoo of the Dark Mark upon Draco's pale forearm. Draco even noticed Blaise's gaze lingering on it for a moment.
"These are orders from the highest power. The vault must be prepared in secret...immediately."
"I'll have to tell someone...to arrange-"
"No!" Draco warned. "Have a goblin prepare it immediately. Keep the details to yourself!"
Corner looked away from Draco, Blaise and the Dark Mark, his eyes seemed to linger on a photograph on his desk. Draco rolled down his sleeve before leaning forwards and lifting the photograph.
"Cho Chang, isn't it? Are you married now?"
Corner reluctantly nodded.
"How nice. A pretty wife like that should be protected – she has a somewhat...murky past...worse even than yours."
"You're not supposed to talk about that!" Corner snapped. He grabbed the photograph back from Draco and placed it back on the desk. His frown was etched deep into his face. "Fine...I'll help you. May I at least examine your wands?"
They were taken down to the depths of the High Security vaults and examined the various different defences against intruders, however little seemed to encourage Blaise at all. In the farthest depths of the bank, a chained goblin led the wizards out of the little car and along a narrow stone pathway. The Goblin began to do some complicated fingerwork, goblin magic, no matter how Draco, Blaise and Corner watched carefully they would never be able to recreate that. The great metal door of the vault opened, and a large gust of steam exploded from within. Waving their hands to clear it the Goblin then spoke;
"First place the treasure in the vault."
Blaise nodded reluctantly, and Draco stepped into the vault and placed the small briefcase in the slate floor.
"What charms do you wish to be placed on it?" Corner asked. Draco looked at Blaise.
"Don't touch it...leave it as it is, just make sure it is guarded. No harm can come to it, so no gemino or flagrante is too risky." Blaise said from outside the vault. The goblin nodded.
"Cast only concealment guises around it...don't touch the object itself." Draco explained and left the vault, turning back once to glance at the innocent looking briefcase. The goblin shut the vault swiftly and it banged shut with a deafening rattle that echoed throughout the deep caverns.
Despite his doubt in the Bank's security, Blaise seemed somewhat more cheerful after they left Gringotts. Draco imagined that Blaise felt less responsible for the box now that it was out of his hands. However, he too found that the moment the vault had shut behind him he had felt lighter and more relaxed, even the weather seemed warmer.
"Will that get you in trouble? Doing me a favour using that as a tool?" Blaise asked, pointing at Draco's arm.
"Well I can't imagine how anyone would find out...but I won't be making a habit of it." He explained. "There are too many people who would love to get a Malfoy in trouble with the Dark Lord; we're not in His best books as it is. But Corner won't snitch; he wouldn't say boo to a goose so he's hardly going to go to the Dark Lord for confirmation. Let it be a load off your mind, but if you need to get it back come to me first." The bell from the clock tower chimed the hour. "I should go, would you like to join the family for dinner?"
"Not tonight, but another time most certainly." Blaise agreed with a tired smile "I had better attend to Ling Su." The two men said their goodbyes and disapparated back to their respective homes.
After dinner, the Malfoys, Andromeda and Theodore sat quietly around the fire. Bellatrix, upon being summoned by Lord Voldemort, had disapparated between her main course and pudding. A red-head Theodore and Andromeda were playing chess, Lucius had decided to come out of his study, as he often did when Bellatrix was not present and Narcissa was reading a her letters with some interest. Draco let his mind wander back to the incident with the box earlier. He wondered if they had any books in the library about Chinese dark artefacts, although he was not sure where to start looking after that. Why had the idea of it terrified Borgin so much? Why could he not even open the box to see what it was inside? And why did there seem to be such an uncomfortable feeling when carrying it, was it purely psychological?
"Lucius, Draco" Narcissa said, a large grin on her face. "I've just received a letter from the Greengrasses, Mrs Greengrass was ever so charming in her letter, I thought we might invite them for lunch this weekend. They have two daughters...did you know?"
Lucius and Draco looked suspiciously at her. Lucius cleared his throat;
"Is this something to do with..."
"I'm not marrying Daphne Greengrass, mother, I went to school with her and the idea is of no interest to me." Draco snapped. Narcissa frowned, looking somewhat offended.
"I said nothing of the sort...besides, it says here that Daphne is married to some foreign wizard...her younger sister, Astoria is not married though. She's only two years younger."
"Astoria?" Draco frowned, he did recall the name but not the face.
"If a young woman of twenty-eight is still unmarried there must be something wrong with her." Lucius said. "Don't promise anything to the Greengrasses that you may regret."
"Times are changing." Narcissa sighed. "Young women often wait to get married these days. Pureblood women must fill empty job vacancies and set an example and they haven't time to look for a husband. If I had been younger I might have done the same." She said whistfully as if she had often imagined herself in a seat of power in an office. Draco and his father exchanged glances and smirked, perhaps Lucius was also picturing the same image as Draco; Narcissa sitting behind a Ministry desk shouting at her employees.
"I should hope not, my dear." Lucius said politely
"You should meet her, Uncle Draco." Theodore said as his Grandmother took another of his chess pieces. "She might be nice."
"That's not the problem. It will be awkward; thrown together into a room with some girl both of us with pressure from each other's family to get married. I mean, what could we possibly have to say to each other in that situation?"
"At least you'd have something in common?" Theodore offered, making Andromeda giggle.
"Thank you, Theodore!" Draco said sarcastically.
"Well your father and I managed, didn't we? Our parents introduced us and we had a lovely chat. Isn't that right dear?"
Lucius smiled.
"I admit, it wasn't as awkward as you might imagine. Especially as the girl was in the same House at you at school...as your mother and I were."
"We were introduced, but not forced to marry. We found we got on rather well and dated like any couple. If you like Astoria Greengrass, then don't be stubborn, get to know the girl."
Draco shrugged.
"Fine...I'll meet her, but I still say it's awkward!" Draco muttered. Narcissa looked overjoyed and immediately excused herself to her own parlour to pen the reply.
"That owl arrived while you were out." Lucius said
"You mean she's been holding that in all through dinner? I suppose she wanted to tell us after Aunt Bellatrix left."
"Can you really blame her?" Lucius asked.
At that moment there was a noise in the hallway as the main door opened, and not long after Bellatrix marched into the sitting room. She was wearing her Death Eater robes still, and her wand was still in hand. She looked excited, her eyes wide and her thick black hair falling into her eyes haphazardly.
"Draco! The Dark Lord has found you a job!" she cheered as if she had just found a room full of galleons. "See how he cares for you! How concerned he is for your wellbeing?"
Draco felt his heart sink a bit, he had rather hoped that the Dark Lord had forgotten about him.
"Well...what is it?"
"The Dark Lord says it will be revealed at the time. Report to him tomorrow night, he will call you." She said pointing to his arm, then turned to leave the room.
"Will you be coming too, Aunt Bellatrix?" Bellatrix stopped and turned around, a small but very sinister smile played on her lips.
"No, Draco dear. I'm afraid I'll be busy elsewhere."
With that she left the room, probably to change out of her Death Eater robes.
"Can I come, Uncle Draco." Theodore piped up. Draco rolled his eyes.
"Hmm let me think...No!"