JK Rowling owns Harry Potter - I'm just borrowing it for a while. See if you can spot the line from Gladiator.
Bad News and a Choice
The Christmas holidays came, and Luc, with his brother's permission, stayed at Hogwarts instead of going home. Indeed, most of the students were staying over the holidays - Lord Voldemort had increased the intensity of his attacks to the point where owls bought news of new deaths every morning. Society was under siege, and most parents obviously thought the children were safer at Hogwarts. As for the children of Death Eaters - well, they were staying because their guardians would be out all night on the Dark Lord's service, and because to go home when others stayed would be far too suspicious.
The other three Houses, drawn together by their shared losses, started to actively ostracise the Slytherins, publicly accusing them of being Death Eaters, and of spying for their parents and the Dark Lord, and the harried teachers, under pressure themselves, did nothing to stop it, merely encouraging the other students to have faith in the Ministry and the Headmaster.
Indeed, there was a sense, even from the teachers, that the Slytherins were to be shunned and feared; Dominic and Michel, neither of whom had any relation to Voldemort and his servants, found themselves lumped in with the rest of their House - even their cousins in Gryffindor, children whom they had grown up with, fought and laughed and played with, had rejected them utterly. Now that not even Caine could afford to befriend them, publicly or not, they no longer had the option of separating themselves from the other first year Slytherins, and found themselves drawn further into the world of the High Clan, into the murky half world of Slytherin, and Death Eater politics.
On Christmas morning, waking to a thick coating of snow and perfect crisp weather, the two de Sauvigny, untroubled by their ostracism, were in a jubilant mood as they tore open their presents. Watched with a tolerant eye by the others, they forgot about Slytherin impassivity and reacted like the children they were.
Dirk, since his mother's death, had loved and hero-worshipped his father (but would have been mortified by the very thought of showing it), and had received a thick, extravagant coat and a book of advanced Dark Arts curses, hexes and spells - he had never, for a moment, ever had cause to doubt his father's affection for him.
Rayden didn't have any family - his parents were dead and his brother was in Azkaban, but he had received a small parcel from his aunt, Shan's mother. Mr. Andahni, a dedicated Death Eater, didn't believe in coddling children, so his mother, who had been a Ravenclaw, sent discreet gifts for her son and his cousin behind her husband's back.
Brandon's father was a vicious tyrant whom everybody, but especially his son, hated - he had never received a single jot of affection from his father, and so had not been surprised at all to find no presents waiting for him.
Rayden and Brandon, deep in their innermost hearts, knew that they would have killed to have a father like Dirk's.
And Luc, who had a mother, but no father, an indifferent brother and an ambiguous mentor, received a letter from his brother, a curt nod from his mentor, and nothing from his mother, who had so publicly disowned him some time ago.
But they were all three of them used to it, the indifference, or the abuse - it was not deprivation when none of them had ever had anything to be deprived of in the first place. They had life, they had money, they were High Clan - why did they need affection, or love, or presents?
Watching Luc read his brother's letter, Dirk saw him pale, and then go absolutely still. Curious, because it was rare for him to show such an obvious reaction, he wondered what news the letter held that could cause such a lapse.
Reading through his own letter from his father, skimming through the sometimes ironic commentary, he came to a piece of very interesting news.
"...And I have heard that congratulations are in order for Narcissa Malfoy..." the letter ran. "...They have been married for nearly four years, now, so I'm sure Malfoy is quite relieved...She believes she is due sometime in the summer..."
Putting the letter down, he met Luc's eyes and tilted his head towards the door. Following the other boy out into the common room, he asked, quite bluntly, "What are you going to do?" Dirk was not in the mood for subtlety.
Luc looked at him as if considering a flippant remark, but then sighed. "What can I do?"
"You have to do something. A legitimate heir will kill any hope you'll ever have of becoming Clan Lord - and don't tell me that you've never thought of it."
"It will also kill any hope I have of becoming more than expendable."
Dirk blinked. "Damn. I didn't think of that."
Luc laughed. "Dirk, you're so safe with your father that you base all your speculations on the thought that you can't be...removed. And that is a mistake. I live with that thought everyday, I assure you, and while before I had a slight chance of living past my majority, now my life is worth less than nothing."
"Unless you can get rid of the child."
"Unless I can get rid of the child. But not while Narcissa is pregnant, it's too easy to prove that way."
"So you'll have to hang on until summer."
"Hmm...yes I will. It will no doubt prove interesting."
Dirk hesitated. "Luc...have you ever thought about becoming a Death Eater?"
Luc opened his mouth instinctively, but then shut it. "Yes. But not while I still have a choice."
"It's the best way - you'll have more status than Snape's pet - oh, I know you've got that here, but standing among the children doesn't mean a thing to the Death Eaters. And no one will be able to openly get rid of you."
"I know that. I also know that if I take the Dark Mark, I put myself beyond the pale to the rest of society."
"Who cares about the rest of society?"
"The tai-pan does."
"Shit, Luc, you've been disowned publicly. There's no way you're going to be tai-pan now."
"I'll find a way, Dirk. And when I do, it'll be a real help if I'm not outed as a Death Eater. Society is so Gryffindor-centric that the only way a Slytherin can survive in and as a vital, essential part of it is if I play the game."
"We're High Clan, Luc. We're not part of mainstream society, we are apart from it. You don't need to play the game to gain power."
"The House is an essential part of mainstream society, as you put it. The tai-pan cannot afford to stand apart from it." He paused. "And besides, I don't just want power. I want acceptance. I want to be accepted by mainstream society, to become a respected, familiar and integral part of our Gryffindor-centric world." He grinned fiercely. "And then I want to throw that in the faces of everyone who has ever shunned me."
He met Dirk's eyes firmly. "And I cannot do that as a Death Eater."
Dirk returned the gaze just as firmly. "It may come to the point where you no longer have a choice."
Luc only smiled. "I know that." His smile tipped into a rakish grin. "But not yet. Not yet."