A/N: I don't post a chapter before I have written a few ahead of it. But I so loved your reviews and loved your comments, I decided to post early. Lucius's scar will come in next chapter, not this one. Enjoy.
Chapter 9.
The conference was just starting. The attack had delayed it. It was delayed even more when Lucius Malfoy refused to leave, claiming either the conference was going to wait for him or he would be going to the hospital after the conference.
The healers finally decided to patch him as best they could and they would stay with him until after the conference when he would go to the hospital. He was sitting in the first chair, having straightened his appearance, right next to the Minister of Magic and all the department heads of the Ministry of magic. The reporters had seats behind them. All were partaking wine to sooth the nerves. A lot of topics were to be discussed at the meeting today. First though Dumbledore had something to say.
Dumbledore, the Potter's, Black and Lupin were all on the make shift stage. Black and Lupin were the only two standing. One of the children, the red head, was sleeping in the crib, while the black haired was in Lily's arms. Lily had refused to let him go after the incident. After screaming and crying for a while, Harry had gotten tired and fallen asleep again.
Remus had not dared to tell anyone that he might be crying for Lucius. He preferred to be healthy thank you very much. Everyone knew Lucius Malfoy was not to be trifled with. He was considered second only to the dark Lord, except for the fact that he was not a mad evil megalomaniac hell bent on conquering the world.
Remus had told Sirius and the Potters all that had happened. They owed him Harry's life not once but twice.
James had gotten his ears burnt not just from Lily and Remus, but from Mad Eye Moody, his boss, and the Minister of Magic himself for his rash actions. He did not tell anyone what Dumbledore had told him, he did not want to get him in trouble as well. It was not like he did anything wrong, Lucius Malfoy was a death eater after all. When he told them that, he was told that there had never been any proof of his actions as a death eater, beside he had cleared all up that with Crouch and everyone believed him.
James had grumbled to himself for a while after the incident, before he had to control himself to present a united front in front of the Reporters.
Dumbledore stood up and spoke to the crowd. Lucius watched, eyes and senses all alert.
"Hello, everyone welcome. I know you are all anxious so I would like to tell you first that the attack on the Ministry was a rebellion of the death eaters against the knowledge that Volde-", the whole hall flinched, "-mort is dead".
On shouts from the reporters he continued, "Please listen to everything I have to say. You can ask your questions at the end of the session. Thank you." He then continued, "Voldemort attacked the Potters on All Hollows Eve, and tried to kill Sebastian Potter, a child," Dumbledore said, disgust evident in his voice.
Lucius could feel his jaw clench and tried to control himself. He had to be strong, he could not defend his Lord, not yet, but someday, they would all know.
"Peter Pettigrew, their secret keeper, betrayed them. The aurors are looking for him, even as we speak. When Voldemort tried to kill Sebastian he failed. Sebastian blocked the curse with his hand, which caused him to have a scar of a Phoenix and we all know how light Phoenix are." He said, pointing to Lily to bring Sebastian. Lily put Harry in the cot and picked Sebastian, stood and bought him to Dumbledore.
Al the reporters and ministry workers were on their toes, unable to believe that a child was powerful enough to block the killing curse. Dumbledore took Sebastian from Lily, turned his hand over and showed the phoenix in the scar of his hand, a scar that was still bright red, as if recently burned and not healed.
"Why does it look as if it has not healed at all?" a reporter asked.
"As you all know that the killing curse does not leave any mark. It is my belief that it the magic Sebastain exerted to block the curse caused his hand to burn. Because it was the killing curse, this mark has not been able to heal completely. It is his left hand and it should have normal movement according to the healers, but the scar might never go away," Dumbledore said, happy with the question when another one was raised.
"Why a phoenix?", came the drawling voice of one Lucius Malfoy, who was known for asking questions that were better left avoided and unspoken. "Is there actually a phoenix? Or is it your interpretation?" he continued, eyes amused at the position he had just put Dumbledore in.
Dumbledore was well aware of his position, no rooky like Malfoy was going to cause trouble. There was one way of dealing with this. "Why don't you come up here and look for yourself. It might be easier if you were up close", Dumbledore allowed.
The healers were just about to protest when Lucius raised his hand and they quietened. Lucius stood up and transfigured a cane out of thin air, a very difficult transfiguration, took it in his hand and started limping towards the stage.
The female reporters let out sigh, which caused a smirk to come on Lucius's lips. He knew he looked a dashing figure, even while limping. The limp bought his more elegant sides into play. His silver hair, glinting in the light and brilliant sapphire eyes had been known to stop hearts after all.
He walked up the stage, crossed the crib little Harry was in, and stood to the side of Lily, waiting.
James stood as well, wand in his hand, waiting for any wrong move to attack. The fool, as if he would attack in front of the entire ministry and Dumbledore. Dumbledore took hold of Sebastian, who had woken up and was looking around, and showed his hand to Lucius.
Lucius looked in those plain blue eyes of Sebastian, just like his fathers, and had to admit that the boy was powerful, as powerful as Harry and would probably cause trouble but he did not have that something special that was in Harry's eyes. His blue eyes looked dull in comparison. He then looked at the hand, which had somehow convinced Dumbledore that he was the Chosen one. Yes there was a scar, quite clear, it looked nothing like a phoenix though.
Dumbledore pointed at a single point and drew an image on the child's hand. Yes Lucius could see it now. There was a Pheonix in his hand. Lucius felt a chuckle coming up, if you looked at it from another angle, it looked like a goat with a beard, how accurate.
He looked at Dumbledore and took out his wand, James tightened his own.
"May I?" he asked.
"Of course, my boy", Lucius withheld a shiver, how he hated being called that.
Lucius waved his wand over the mark, which was difficult as the boy had started fidgeting around, and cast the detection spell. There was dark magic here, which should have disappeared after a couple of hours, even the Killing curse did not leave magic that lingered for this long. There was something else at work here. He put his wand back, looked at Dumbledore and gave a sudden nod.
"You are right Dumbledore. This mark is not normal, there is something special here. A phoenix is the symbol of the light and this boy is the hope of the light", Lucius said, with eyes that had started to brighten as if he knew something no one else did. Dumbledore was confused for a moment before he put it out of his mind. No there was nothing Lucius Malfoy could know. It was not like he was there that night. He would have detected it if Lucius was there.
Lucius gave a small bow to Lily, who had taken the struggling Sebastian in her lap the moment Lucius had let him go. The whole room had started whispering excitedly. If Lucius Malfoy could not refute it, it meant the Child was the BOY-WHO-LIVED.
Lucius was crossing the crib again when Harry woke up. He opened emerald eyes, and stood up on his feet, holding the crib and raised his hands towards Lucius.
"UP", he shouted.
Lucius looked at the child wondering why the boy was so attached to him. It was probably the hair. Before he could do something, Sirius went to him and picked him up.
"Hey, Little one. You finally awake?"
"Pafoot", Harry clapped his hands.
Lucius nodded to Sirius and then left back to his seat. His injury was paining him. This conference had better end soon. He got what he needed, he would just see what else he could pick up here.
"Professor Dumbledore", spoke a reporter, "could we please have a toast to the boy who lived?"
"Boy-Who-Lived?", Dumbledore pondered, it was a good name,
"Yes of course, To the Boy who Lived"
"BOY-WHO-LIVED!", everyone toasted with the glasses they had while Lucius looked at the two kids. Sebastian was sitting on his mother lap, who had gone back to her chair, and was looking all around the hall and was jumping now. Harry on the other hand, was ….. trying to take Black's wand? Oh what an interesting child. He would grow up marvellous, Lucius would see to it himself if he had to.
The rest of the conference were reports of different departments to the press, the most important being the Law enforcement. They had captured a few death eaters at the attack and their trials were going to be held in a couple of days. The whole Wizangamot would be attending these trials and people were going to be strictly looked at, for any sign of dark activities.
Lucius listened to the reports, a part of his mind observing the kids make themselves a nuisance for the parents, while another was pondering over the dilemma of the scar on Sebastian's hand. He knew it was not caused by the Killing curse, which meant it was by the fire. Come to think of it, what kind of fire could not be taken out by the Dark Lord himself? Even if said lord was mentally imbalanced, it did not affect his powers.
Fiendfyre came closest, but the dark lord had stopped that curse before. No one had cast that curse in that cottage and the curse would have gone uncontrollable until it destroyed everything in its path, so it was not that, but what else could it be. He knew he was on the right track but he was missing something. He had to think on it.
"Thank you", Lucius looked to see crouch just about finishing his speech, on the stage.
"Now Ladies and Gentleman, I want you to know that the Department of Law enforcement will do all it can to capture all rouge death eaters. As for the matter of Peter Pettigrew, as Dumbledore has already told you, we have aurors looking for him. I am sure that we will find him", Crouch ended. He was just about to get off when a reporter questioned.
"What proof do you have that Lucius Malfoy is not a death eater?"
The hall was suddenly silent and Lucius felt like laughing. It seemed that the reporter would have to look for another job. Crouch looked stumped and then furious.
"I myself have looked at Lucius Malfoy's history and vouch for him. Other than the fact that he just saved the Life of the Boy-Who-Lived twin, twice by my count, he was never accused of death eater activities in any official capacity. The only crime he ever committed was of being a pureblood who believed in the dark Lord's doctrine," Crouch barked out.
The reporter looked towards Lucius Malfoy and froze when he found the other staring right at him, as if about to squish an irritating fly. He swallowed and sat back down. The other reporters though had taken courage by then,
"What about his wife's sister? Lord Longbottom recognised her at a raid? What about the other Lestrangs? They have also been thought of as death eaters", another asked.
Before Crouch could reply, the hall went silent again as Lucius Malfoy stood up and limped to the podium, nodding to Crouch and turned to face the crown of reporters. Dumbledore and his group watched excitedly. James was giddy and wondered how Lucius would protect himself now.
"Although I had planned on telling this to a reporter of my choice in private, if you insist on doing this here, then so be it", Lucius said, his distaste quite clear.
"Most of you have met my father during his lifetime, you are aware of the sort of person he was", Lucius bagan. He hated to do this, he hated splashing his private life across the pages of the tabloids, but if this was what it took to get them to believe, then so be it.
"There is a curse, a dark curse, which a lord can use on the heir of an ancient house. The curse was designed to deal with rebellious heirs. The curse went out of fashion in the early 16th Century but its record still exist for those who are desperate enough," everyone was quite, exited to hear about the skeleton in the Malfoy closet.
"My father was such a desperate man. He performed the curse on me. So yes, I do have the dark mark, but I never followed or would ever follow a mad man who would kill a child. I was forced to do something that I never wanted to do. There are reports, which I gave to the Minister and Mister Crouch, which show that the curse has been cast on me during my lifetime. Thankfully father died before I could be forced to do more. Since then I have made sure that there remains not even a name of that curse, so don't even bother searching. The people who know are bound by oath" Lucius finished.
The whole hall was spellbound. No one knew quite what to say to that.
"As for my wife, she does not have the mark and never will. I cannot say anything about her sister, because I do not know. I hope that satisfies you all. Thank you. No more questions please." Lucius stepped down from the stage and left the hall, the healers following behind.
A/N:My longest chapter yet. What I find awesome is that Lucius did not tell a single lie. The guy is just brilliant. I am going to increase the rating of the story for the next chapter. *hint hint*. :-D What do you think?
