How to Lose Friends and Manipulate People – Part One
"I'm going out, don't expect me home for dinner," was all Narcissa heard as her husband stomped determinedly out of the Manor that morning.
He had really distanced himself these last few days from her. She had noticed his demeanour changing, how much more often he locked himself in the study, drinking firewhisky. That's all he had really been doing, drinking, and she was worried. He had hardly spoken to her, it was as though he was pulling away.
Lucius on the other hand was purely, just more focused. He didn't notice his wife's looks of hurt and confusion when he came home late and chose not to spend time with her, how he hardly held her in bed, and just general loneliness on her behalf. His obsession with finding the truth was driving a wedge between them and he could not see it for his preoccupation clouding their life as a family.
He looked up at his destination. The foreboding darkness that was Azkaban sent chills throughout his body, goose-bumps rose on his arms. He shuddered and pulled his coat closer around his exposed neck. Taking a deep breath, he allowed blackness to seep into his heart as he stepped through the doorway of the prison, his steely mask on display.
He had gone over and over this plan, how he was going to get into the cells of captured death eaters, two in particular, and get the information he was looking for. He knew that he could be very persuasive when need be. He was Lucius Malfoy after all, not a saint.
Holding out the ministry-sealed parchment, the guard at the front desk snatched it out of Lucius' gloved hand. The guard eyed him judgingly as he knew the blond well from the tabloids and was one of the many who felt this man to be guilty.
The guard raised his eye-brows as he read the contents of the ministry's letter. It was personal correspondence from the Minister himself, Cornelius Fudge. He looked at Lucius with a distrustful expression but merely nodded in response to the letter. How he managed approval from the Minister to enter the maximum security area was rather disbelieving on the guard's behalf, but being a skilled auror, he could tell that this was definitely an order from Minister Fudge, and therefore did not question it.
Lucius could read this guard's expression, he knew that the guard was surprised the Minister gave approval for Lucius to enter the high-security area of the prison, let alone allow him the opportunity to rub shoulders with the most nefarious criminals of the time – the Death Eaters. Lucius, again, could be very persuasive, besides, he had family in that section, and they were precisely the people he was there to see. It was an easy win with the Minister to sign approval given this fact.
"Your wand, Mr Malfoy," the guard requested.
Lucius snapped back to the present and stared at him for a moment, narrowing his gaze. Suppressing a deep exhale, Lucius handed over his wand - elm, eleven and a half inches, dragon-heart string. The guard looked at Lucius suspiciously, as though he knew the man was up to something. Lucius merely raised a questioning eyebrow.
"You know, I do play by the rules occasionally," Lucius hissed at the guard and smirked arrogantly.
The guard nodded whilst placing Lucius' wand in the vault behind the desk. Before Lucius could register what was happening, the guard had turned around swiftly, his wand pointing directly at Lucius' chest. Lucius flinched in reaction before putting across his cold expression once more and raised a questioning brow.
Without further thought, the guard flicked his wand up-ward sharply muttering "arma-ostendo" under his breath, casting a yellowish hue over Lucius. Lucius this time expressed the deeply held breath. Stupid auror can't even produce a silent weapon revealing charm, and he's here to prevent criminals from escaping… pathetic.
Lucius snorted at this thought, it wasn't even a strong enough charm to reveal the contents of a magically concealed pocket in Lucius' robes. Pathetic, he repeated to himself. He had really taken a gamble on concealing the items that he had in the first place and he generally did not take gambles, being the precise type of wizard that he was. No room for errors kind of deal.
Finally, the guard spoke once more, "you seem to be all clear. Right this way then Mr Malfoy," and turned off in the direction of the narrow, damp stair case. Twisting and turning, on and on, the stairs continued, the musty-darkness of the walkway was constricting, before the two men finally reached their destination.
Lucius shuddered at the thought that this could have been his fate only years before as he stepped into a room that any claustrophobic would react to. The roof was low and walled in, the floors rough and the space dingy, as though someone squared out a cave for the sake of making more room. Taking up the centre of the room were a dark, metal table and chairs facing opposite one another. Lucius took a seat on one side. He could not see the table top clearly for the room was poorly lit, but he could only imagine the unhygienic surface in front of him and the vile sticky spots that he presumed would be present following certain visitations. He felt nauseated instantly.
"You have an hour Mr Malfoy, there is another guard at the end of the hallway should you have any issues." The guard said curtly before strutting back to his post at the front desk.
Lucius Malfoy smiled inwardly to himself, 'well, getting in was much easier than expected'. Though he knew his task at hand was not going to be all smooth sailing.
As the door behind him creaked slowly open once more, Lucius felt the room temperature instantly drop ten degrees as his brother-in-law shuffled towards him, shackled in chains. There must have been a Dementor guarding the door. The prisoner's emaciated appearance shocked Lucius somewhat, he really didn't know what to expect, but honestly, what came through the door should not have surprised him as much as it did.
Rodolphus Lestrange, the wife's sister's husband, stood weakly in Lucius' presence. He merely nodded in acknowledgement then proceeded to seat himself on the other cold metal stool across the table from where Lucius positioned himself.
Lucius studied Rodolphus. He could see that Rodolphus was now a broken man, but probably remained just as unintelligent and highly suggestible as he had ever been. Lucius would use these points to his advantage. Though he didn't think his darling sister-in-law Bellatrix would be so easy. She was wild and unbalanced before she was incarcerated, the Azkaban madness would only feed her love for depravity even more. Lucius shuddered at the thought. But then again, she also had her weaknesses being human after all and he would have no hesitation in finding them out and using them against her if it ever came to that.
"Well, well, well," Rodolphus broke the men's silent staring match, "My cheerful brother-in-law Lucius Malfoy is tarnishing is prefect reputation to finally come visit me in Azkaban... How touching." He sniggered to himself, "you know it's lucky you got off from those charges, these yellow prison robes would do no favours to your complexion." His bite was a pathetic attempt on Lucius' soft option of claiming the imperious curse all those years ago and the Malfoy trademark vanity.
Whether it affected Lucius, he did not show it. He just merely stared back at the man, before looking down to wipe away invisible lint on his own, perfectly cleaned and pressed robes, "Nice to see you to Lestrange. You're looking like a train wreck, as always. It truly is insulting to be related to you, even if it is only through marriage. It's really tragic to see you failing as a prisoner in Azkaban just as you were failing as a wizard and really just as a human, in the real world. You know, you'd even make a terrible muggle…" Lucius continued to look around the small, cold room that they were in, scrunching up his nose in disgust. He was very glad that he did not have to call this place home.
"Cut the chit-chat Lucius," Rodolphus bit. "What are you doing here?"
Lucius gave a mocked impression of being offended before sniggering, "Oh come now, you haven't had a visitor since you've got here, the least you could do is be nice." Lucius stared at Rodolphus now, smirking, "I really love what you and Bellatrix have done with the place by the way," sarcasm dripping off every word.
Rodolphus looked contemptible. "Honestly Malfoy – what do you want? I have another however many years of my life left in this place and the one thing they could have afforded me is to not be visited by a ponce like you".
Lucius dropped his smirk of satisfaction, allowing his frozen stare to penetrate into Rodolphus' eyes. It made the prisoner slightly unnerved and shift on the stool. Lucius was many things, but he was not a ponce.
"Well, if you must know Lestrange," Lucius placed a bitter hiss on the man's name as though it made an unpleasant taste in his mouth whenever he spoke it. "I am here simply for the truth. You just happen to be the first of many people on my list to ah, visit, if you wish to call it that."
"The truth? About what?" Rodolphus went a little vague. "And who else are you meant to be visiting?"
"The truth about my daughter," was the icy response. "And I will be the one asking questions, fool." Lucius' tolerance was running in the opposite direction very quickly.
Rodolphus remained quiet, if not, slightly unsure about what exactly Lucius wanted to know, or how much Lucius actually knew about his daughter.
"Tell me Lestrange – what do you know about the accident at the hospital?" Lucius continued.
Rodolphus shrugged his shoulders. "It was a long time ago," was his response. He was not prepared to give away anything that he knew about the incident. Rodolphus was not in a position of advantage right at that moment, he had to play this conversation right.
Lucius looked at him, thinking of what next to say. Like Rodolphus, he was not prepared to show all of his cards at once. The two men just stared at each other in tense silence; they knew that they could never trust any other Death Eaters except for themselves. Everyone had an agenda and the outcomes were always for purely selfish purposes.
"It has recently come to my attention," Lucius spoke again changing his approach, "that there has been new information about my little Ophelia. And I am very interested in finding out whether or not it's true."
"Well then," said Rodolphus leaning back slightly, "that would depend on whether you've heard the same stories that I have…" Trailing off to bait Lucius into revealing more about what he knew.
The blonde man though was not that stupid. "That's very true indeed," Lucius' response was that of irritation, "but that was a very unproductive answer Lestrange. You are trying my patience."
Rodolphus smiled nastily. He enjoyed bristling Lucius' temper, especially when he knew Lucius was on a time limit and a Malfoy would almost always walk away with what they wanted. Rodolphus was determined not to let that happen on this day.
"Let's try this again." Lucius' sentences started to reflect his growing irritability at the pathetic man sitting across from him. "You seem to think that because you are in Azkaban, life cannot possibly get any worse. I promise you that if you do not tell me what I require, you'll think that ten years in Azkaban was like a day at the fucking circus once I'm finished with you, do you understand me?"
Rodolphus paled a little but remained silent, Lucius was definitely a man of his word in these kinds of situations. And Lucius knew that Rodolphus was never able to hide his emotions as well as many of the other Death Eaters, but he would continue to put up an exhausted façade nonetheless.
Lucius' jaw twitched in part frustration and part celebration, as he watched Rodolphus fight to maintain a calm impression, so he decided to add to his companion's discomfort.
Reaching into the inside of his outer robe, Lucius took out a vial filled with a thick, bright red liquid and a short jadeite knife, its green blade almost luminous and out of place in the dank, darkness of Azkaban.
A small chuckle rumbled in Lucius' throat as he watched Rodolphus' expression, while making his way over to the other side of the room where the prisoner was seated. "Do you know what this is Lestrange?" Lucius spoke in a deadly whisper, waggling the knife in close proximity to Rodolphus' face, taunting him. "Oh, but you shouldn't be so worried about this little thing," mocking compassion as he again referred to the knife. "No, it's the contents of this little vial that you should be concerned about," another chuckle escaped as he watched Rodolphus squirm.
Lucius was right, he was a broken man and too easy to fracture. It was almost a pity that he had to crack him a bit more, but then again, he was Lucius Malfoy and he took no pity on any such abhorrent thing as Rodolphus Lestrange.
"Now, now Lestrange, no need to squirm uncomfortably," Lucius continued to taunt as he now positioned himself behind the back of the prisoner. He leaned down now so he was a whispers distance away, and hissed into his ear, "You see Rodolphus, as you may be aware, I do not like it when someone fucks around with my family. You understand that right?"
Rodolphus nodded, considering yelling out for help. Though, that thought was quickly abandoned. Lucius grabbed a fistful of mangy, filthy hair and yanked back so Rodolphus was now looking directly up at the ceiling, he could see the top half of Lucius' face and the madness over taking Lucius' eyes.
Rodolphus then considered his options. The worst or best that could happen, depending on which way it was looked at, was that Lucius would slit his throat with the blade and end all of this for him, right then and there. But Lucius was not merciful like that; he would torture him and then make sure he stayed alive so he could come back for more. Lucius was not one to usually get his hands dirty, but when he did, he was beyond frightening. He would literally bleed every ounce of information out of someone if he had to.
"So Lestrange, I'm going to make you a little deal. You and I are going to become little pen-pals, just like little school children. Do you understand?" Lucius continued.
Again Rodolphus nodded.
"Very good. You see, we can call this something like 'rehabilitation' for you. I am going to send you a little care pack with everything you need to start the healing process, and in return you are going to give me exactly what I want." Lucius was impressed, the more the plan was being put into action the more solid it seemed. Rodolphus was as soft as a pigmy-puff and a pink one at that.
Rodolphus snorted "– the healing process… Malfoy, you're mad, what kind feeble excuse is –" But before Rodolphus could finish his retort, he felt a hot, burning sensation run along the back of his neck. The jadeite blade sunk deeply into the man's skin and he grimaced with shock from the pain.
"Rodolphus, you truly are a stupid man," Lucius jeered. He then whipped the fistful of hair forward, pulling the man's face down and opening the gaping, bloodied wound on the back of his neck.
Unstoppering the vial, Lucius poured some of the red liquid onto the wound, making Rodolphus wince as it fizzed as the wound's edges and a scorching sensation travelled down his spine. Lucius seemed satisfied with the potion's reaction on the other man's wound. The bleeding then stopped as quickly as it started, as did the sizzling sound from the potion. All that was left was a long, inflamed strip of open skin.
"This is what you're going to need healing for." Lucius stated as he finished examining the wound. He calmly returned to his seat on the other side of the table, replacing the blade and vial of potion back into his concealed pocket. He smirked at Rodolphus who sat in disbelief and confusion.
He stared at Lucius, questions swimming around in his head. Lucius, sensing the man needed some answers, cruelly obliged.
"Well, seeing as you aren't man enough to ask and unlike yourself, I shall give you some answers that you seek. That cut on the back of your neck will be completely healed across with the exception of an inverted scar by the time the Dementor comes to take you back to your cell – there will be no evidence of what I just did. I suppose that is one of the benefits of cutting someone with a jadeite blade." Lucius looked at Rodolphus for understanding before he continued.
"The contents of the vial, like I said before should be of the bigger concern for you. Within in it contained the blood of a Mudblood." This time, Lucius smirked; Rodolphus looked as though he had been infected by the most evil of viruses.
He then continued, "Do you feel that burning sensation down your back? That's the Mudblood coursing through your veins… Notice how the pure and impure blood doesn't seem to like going together? Hmm, yes, well – this is where you'll need my assistance with the healing. You see, in all my intellect I have managed to mix the impure blood with a spreading potion. It's going to eventually start overtaking your body, until such time, you'll no longer be a pureblood."
Rodolphus sat there, gaping at Lucius Malfoy. The evil, cruel Lucius Malfoy had just got his way.
"Finally," Lucius stated, finishing off his explanation, "I can obviously stop the spread and assist you with cleaning your blood once more, only if and that is only if, you oblige with providing me the information I ask for and agree to follow my rules."
Rodolphus was lost. He did not want to be a Mudblood; it went against absolutely everything he stood for. There was nothing that he could do except accept Lucius' offer.
"Fine! I'll do it – I'll fucking bloody well do it! Just get this… this disease out of me! Ah fuck!" Rodolphus exploded in agitation; he could feel the heat of the potion lingering around his upper spine.
Lucius smiled. He was one step closer to finding out the truth about his daughter and bringing down those responsible for meddling with what should not be meddled with. He reached into his pocket and pulled out another vial, this was one much smaller than the red potion and was light blue in colour. He stood up and walked back over to Rodolphus, unstoppering the vial and once again yanked back the prisoner's hair so he was staring at the roof once more.
"This is a small slowing potion. This will slow the spread of the impure blood and I shall continue to send a small vial with each piece of correspondence I send you in return of information you have supplied to me. The more beneficial the information in a timely manner, the bigger the vial of slowing potion. Get it?"
Lucius poured the blue liquid from this vial into Rodolphus' mouth. The taste was not at all unpleasant and the cooling sensation in his spine was almost instant.
Lucius then let go of Rodolphus' hair, and the man nodded in acceptance of Lucius' terms and conditions.
"Good. And one last thing Lestrange – when I am finally satisfied that you have given me all of the information I shall provide you with a full reversal potion regime. If I am dissatisfied, I shall send you something a hell of a lot nastier than what I gave you today – do you understand me?" Rodolphus nodded and Lucius' satisfaction was scrawled across his face.
They both sat for a moment quietly, just thinking. A loud bang on the door alerted them that they had only five more minutes before Lucius' hour was up and Rodolphus went back to solitary. With that, Lucius stood, gave on curt nod to Rodolphus and knocked back on the door to be released. This part of the plan was now in motion, he didn't need to waste another five minutes with the sorry excuse that was Rodolphus Lestrange.
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Lucius disapparated back to the Manor, choosing to arrive at the end of the long driveway. Today, it seemed, he appreciated the open spaces and the long walk in the open air after being in Azkaban. If an hour had made him appreciate this kind of freedom, he shuddered to think what a lifetime would do.
Smirking, Lucius had a laugh out loud moment to himself. Rodolphus Lestrange was everything as stupid as he thought he was. The poor bastard is now sitting in his cell, freaking out because he thinks he has impure blood in his system.
Lucius laughed harder. He honestly could not believe how effective a localised healing potion mixed with silver nitrate and muggle food colouring for extra dramatics, followed by a mix of powdered blue sherbet and water could be. He conceded that he really must take more notice of Draco's volumes of Spells and Potions for Fun and Practical Jokes.
Today he took a risk and it paid off. But Rodolphus was always going to be an easy target; it's the next steps that Lucius was going to have to be more calculating and precise about.