A/N: Hey guys,
finally I finished the new chapter and I hope you'll like it. As you can also say (those who had written me a review in some point of time) I replied to all of the reviews of Chapter 8 and tomorrow will finish the other two chapters' too.
So please share your opinion with me, I always welcome new ideas or points of views of my stories. And please vote on the official poll I put on my profile. It's still Draco's pairing without Jacob in it as I want to write something new.
After Notes as always recently are on my lj feel free to add me.
And I want to say big thank you to vairetwilight for his great work correcting my mistakes as well as for every wonderful review I got.
mj, H-H-H, red*robin, dancer, YOUR FAN!!!, dennis, WhoAmI, dom and Sarah thank you here as I couldn't reply to your reviews.
New chapter should be done by Tuesday.
Take care!
Moment, the First: Virtue
"Your funeral was such a touching event, how sad you could not attend on it," he sneered in a cold way, looking at his best friend who should have been dead for months now.
"I'm sure it was magnificent, after all it was planned by the Great Boy Hero after all," came the stoic reply. "Maybe you should come in."
"How thoughtful of you, Uncle Severus," Draco spat with a hateful glare as he strode by the Potions Master.
Severus thin lips twitched a little as he looked after the impertinent brat who was his godson, before he turned back to him. Lucius examined every bit of the gaunt features, searching for changes and something that showed him, this whole thing wasn't just a twisted and very cruel dream.
"You wish, you could kill me with your own hands; I can see it in your eyes, Lucius," the black haired man whispered stepping closer to him. "They always betray you."
"You are right, I wish, I could kill you," he answered simply, raising his hand to touch the pale face. "But I can't and I hate you more than anything for this."
***
"What do you require my help with?"
"No questions about my survival? Or about my mysterious protector? I'm disappointed, Lucius." Severus raised one of his fine black eye brows at him, taunting him.
"I simply don't care, Severus," Lucius sneered back. "So your request?"
"Follow me."
***
"What is the meaning of this?" he asked, his shock leaking through his voice as he watched the screaming and trashing figure who was tied to the bed posts in the heavily warded room.
"I can assure you, this is entirely Potter's fault," Severus sneered at the sight, but there was something in the depths of those black eyes Lucius couldn't comprehend.
"Potter was here with you the entire time?!" Draco snarled with unveiled fury, but the only answer he got was a disdainful glance from the Potions Master.
"What's happening with him?" the elder Malfoy asked, not turning away from the sickening yet utterly captivating sight.
"Valedictio Acerba," was the simple reply and Draco almost immediately started to laugh which caused him to pinch the bridge of his nose.
"I-Am-The Greatest-Hero-Ever Potter was rejected?" the youngest Slytherin's laugh seemed more hysterical than amused. "How... fitting, for a martyr such as him..."
"Indeed," Severus scoffed not sparing a glance to his godson as he stared at Lucius without batting an eye.
"I assume you know the price of my help will be high."
"For me or for him?"
"We, Malfoys always appreciate beauty and power above everything else."
When Lucius met with the young Dark Lord for the first time, he was a mere child of six years. He was awed by the graceful and striking man who radiated power and would do anything to learn more about him. He had seen, his father's longing glances and eager expression, something he had never seen before and his young heart instantly became conflicted. He couldn't understand why Abraxas had never looked at him or his mother like that and his infatuation with the Dark Lord diminished immediately.
He couldn't comprehend the strange tenderness in his father's eyes because he had never seen it before. But at the same time he knew it was something he wanted to experience even if he also knew it he would never because that tenderness belonged solely to the Dark Lord and no one else.
It wasn't until much later he finally understood the meaning of those looks; his father, his cold, unfeeling father was in love with Lord Voldemort even though his feelings were never reciprocated by the other man no matter the soft caresses and appreciating words that left the wizard's lips.
Lucius could see the cold greediness in those eerie almost red irises, smugness and shrewdness flashed in the depth of the unique orbs every time the Dark Lord touched Abraxas, deceiving the arrogant pureblood easily and Lucius despised his father more for his foolishness because the man was disgracing the Malfoy name.
Malfoys always appreciated power and beauty, but they never submitted to it. It was one of their rule and in his eyes, Abraxas was a weak, pathetic man, because he allowed his greed to conquer his common sense. It was true, he had also found the Dark Lord utterly captivating, yet his own Slytherin treats overruled his respect for beauty and power.
He was and would never be a fool like his father had been.
"We, Malfoys always find a way to gain the most out of everything, even the impossible or horrible situations."
Malfoys were selfish men; arrogant, cunning, perfect. They would deceive, bribe, threaten to achieve their goals and would always win. Lucius was no different either. When he joined the Dark Lord's Death Eaters he did out of selfishness and self-preservation and not because he was devoted to Voldemort's conceptions and methods.
He could see through the sweet words and huge promises, he was able to see the lies and real motives behind every uttered sentence, because he was just as skilled in politics as the Dark Lord was. He perfectly knew that Voldemort was and had never been a pureblood, his disgusting muggle surname – which he seemingly destroyed by creating his foreboding new one – was more than enough proof to Lucius, yet he had never said anything about his knowledge, allowing the powerful man to play his games, clearing the path before the young Malfoy lord.
But then, that fateful Halloween night came and a simple infant defeated the dreaded Dark Lord, demolishing Lucius' every plan. When he heard the news of Voldemort's possible death he was incredibly furious and wanted to kill that little brat with his own hand, yet his mind had already started to alternate his crushed plans and another part of his brain saw the opportunities the half-blood's demise could bring to him and his family. He finally had the chance to achieve his goals without that pest's insanity that started to show more and more before he attacked the Potters.
However Lucius was not as deluded as most of the Wizarding World, he knew the Dark Lord made sure his survival as the Heir of Slytherin was obsessed with immortality. Lucius had seen some of the countless rituals Voldemort had done on himself to ensure his endurance and they were sickening even to such a power hungry man like Lucius.
And he was right, but it didn't matter anymore, as his plans were done and flawless.
"We, Malfoys always know our enemy better than they know themselves and mercilessly use our knowledge against them."
Lucius was obsessed, although he would never admit it. In his mind he only followed his family's policy and his own plans even when his methods bordered on craziness. But it was necessary to learn everything about the brat who could defeat the darkest wizard of the century. He had to gain every titbit information about the Potter child to be able to find his weaknesses and powers, manipulating this new situation to his own profit.
He used every methods in his possession to collect the pieces of the puzzle that was Harry Potter, yet he gained the most things from Draco's letters. His only child was the perfect Malfoy heir, who hid his cunningness beneath the mask of arrogance and obnoxiousness, but still it was somewhat hard for Lucius to separate the truths from the exaggerations that were steeped by Draco's childish hate after Potter rejected his friendship.
How humiliating it was to lose against a Weasley! And although it was better this way, Lucius vowed to take revenge on those disgusting blood traitors and he had found the perfect way to do so. However on that day, when he hid the Dark Lord's precious black book inside of the She-Weasel's tattered school books something else happened. Something that forced him to acknowledge his obsession with the Boy Who Lived.
"We, Malfoys can not afford to show any weakness because our status as members of the aristocracy."
Harry Potter stood before him, his delicate little hand engulfed by his own and for a moment Lucius hadn't seen anything spectacular about the scrawny kid who defeated the Dark Lord. He felt somehow betrayed and disappointed by the petite, ordinary boy who didn't even have normal clothes, because deep inside he was expecting a real hero and not a simple child with dorky glasses and unruly hair.
He sneered in disgust, ready to dismiss the brat, but before he could say anything he accidentally looked into the emerald irises that openly shone with defiance and impertinence which covered the calculation, slyness and perfect awareness that no Gryffindor should have possessed. The sharp, angular, almost aristocratic features that were softened by that mudblood's characteristics strangely fitted to Potter, giving him an innocent look which the child used to his own gains like a Slytherin would.
The Harry Potter who stood before him was the exact opposite Draco had painted to him and his interest was immediately stirred by this information. The Harry Potter who he met at the bookshop was a sincere and surprisingly private person and possessed the power of captivating anyone's – who was observant enough – attention effortlessly. Harry Potter was brave and cunning... and in time he would be downright dangerous.
Their little encounter was quite informative to Lucius and inwardly he even enjoyed the cheeky, disrespectful attitude the brat used against him, because he was sure he could see through it, just like he could have seen through the Dark Lord's own deceiving act. And it urged him to gain more about the Potter heir.
"We, Malfoys always control our actions. We, Malfoys never act upon our raging emotions."
Lucius made a mistake when he met the boy next time. He acted upon his rage that burned through his veins because the brat dared to outwit him and he almost killed the Boy Who Lived with the two words that failed to kill him when he was a mere infant. He acted rashly, without thinking through his actions and it naturally back fired which only fuelled his anger.
It was a grave mistake, one he had learnt from and promised to never bring such a disgrace to the name of Malfoy again.
"We, Malfoys are destined to be great."
When he first saw his Master after thirteen years, the only thing he felt was revulsion and slight sickness at the sight that waited him in that cemetery. Gone was the strikingly handsome, devilish man and its place was taken by a snake faced, skeletal figure with no nose or lips.
Naturally Harry Potter was there. The Boy Who Lived was bound to a headstone watching silently as the Dark Lord taunted him, telling their entwined history in an overly dramatic tone however those emerald like eyes that outwardly had shone with fear and uncertainty were lit up by an inner fire of hate and fury.
And then without further warning they duelled. The air around them became suffocating with magic and power. Voldemort's icy lighting like power clashed against Potter's own magic which licked at Lucius' skin like tiny but incredibly hot flames. He had never seen such a beautiful sight before and he felt totally entranced by the allure of power that would be able to help him to achieve his goals one day.
After the strange duel Potter escaped once more leaving them behind to the mercy of the dark wizard who was relieving his insane rage by cursing his Servants. Lucius was Crucioed so much that his skin turned raw and red because of the intense nerve damage. And sadly as he lied in his huge and lonely bed in his Manor that night not even the hope of his future greatness could lessen his agony.
"We, Malfoys are members of the highest circles. We, Malfoys are regale and never sink to the level of the commoners."
He was rotting away in Azkaban after the huge fiasco at the Ministry of Magic. No one was there to help him, he was trapped in a little, dreary cell with nothing than his plans and thoughts serving him as company. He was shackled and looked down by disgusting mudbloods and half-bloods as if he was the scum and not them, but he knew better. He could see the flicker of fear in their eyes every time they checked on him. And he felt more than satisfied over this knowledge.
His lovely wife had written him only once, insulting him and blaming him for their son's dreadful fate and suicide mission and silently demanding him to make everything right again. Draco's letters were full of barely concealed despair and terror and Lucius heart ached for his son, the only light and pride in his life, but knew if Draco survived his mission and eventually the war, he would only become stronger in character and will.
He had to wait patiently and see if his calculations had been right. He had to wait and see what would be the outcome of Potter and the Dark Lord's battle of wills...
"We, Malfoys are always see through the lies, because we are the Masters of deceiving."
Finding out that you had been outplayed by a Gryffindor was more than disturbing to Lucius. After the silent and puritan funeral of Severus – something that inwardly twisted his insides with sorrow every time he thought of his friend who was the only person who ever meant something to him aside from his son – the Chosen One simply disappeared leaving Lucius and his family to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives and try to build it up once more.
The annoying little brat who actually became a rather attractive and dangerous young man, just like Lucius predicted, had not even looked at them at the ceremony. Those hardened, catlike and faintly glowing green eyes were stubbornly glued to the marble headstone, not sparing a glance to him or even the new Headmistress of Hogwarts, just stood there a few feet from him and his family silently like a statue. However no statue could possess such a deadly and blazing aura that flared around the Boy Hero, embracing the lithe, feline, graceful figure like second skin.
Inwardly Lucius expected the boy to came over to him and remind him and his son of the Life Debt they owed to Potter, he would certainly have done that, but the Boy Who Conquer just disapparated without a word or glance at them. Leaving him and everything behind, playing his chosen role perfectly, misleading a Malfoy for the first time...
Lucius looked at the exotic creature that was once a scrawny little kid and who was forced to play the games of the adults before he could even understand what he was doing. Their research seemed to be pointless; nothing they had found so far could help on the boy who was lying on his bed unconsciously, restrained by thick silk ropes that were enhanced by magic.
"What is in you that seems to draw me in without my permission?" Lucius whispered to himself, watching as his fingers graded through the sweaty locks of raven hair. "You are a monster yet you were able to make me..."
He snatched back his hand, forbidding himself to finish the sentence with the infamous Malfoy self-restrain before he turned around and stalked out the silent room.
***
"I find your decision a tad bit disturbing," Severus scowled at him from the other end of the recently created library.
"And I find your exclamation quite rich, coming from a dead man," Lucius answered with a sneer.
"So you're still angry about that little decoy."
"Don't be ridiculous. However I am still not going to change my mind."
"You realise you are obsessed with him?"
"Of course I am not. A Malfoy is never obsessed with anything!" Lucius scoffed, highly affronted.
"Then why don't you let Draco–" Severus started with a smug smirk.
"I would never allow my son near to a beast like him!" he interrupted vehemently, however that smirk only widened upon hearing this.
"Or you really do want him to yourself... You want to possess him, own him, devour him. For an eternity." Black eyes flashed him and he barely could hide his rapidly slipping composure.
Those words carried too much truth and even more dark promises and Lucius wanted to fulfil every one of them. Severus was right, he would never allow his son to possess such a source of power like Potter, because he wanted him to himself.
He wanted to consume the magic that oozed off of Potter even in his severely weakened state. He wanted to tame the vicious creature that lurked behind those jade eyes. He wanted to overwhelm the boy's soul with his own imprint, erasing that damned bloodsucker's memory from Potter's whole being and possess the Chosen One entirely.
Yes, maybe he was obsessed... Obsessed with the fiery magic that sang to him so sweetly every time he saw Harry Potter. Obsessed with the possibilities of ruling that power. Obsessed with achieving greatness... And maybe something more. Much more.
"You are wrong, my friend," Lucius smiled a cold, predatory smile causing the black hair Slytherin to narrow his eyes.
"Taming the King of All Monsters are impossible Lucius, but trying to possess it is suicide."
"We'll see."